The air was crisp with the oncoming winter as America walked down the street, his hand gripped around Apollo's leash, their footsteps crunching through the thin layer of snow. The sky was grey and cloudy, threatening another dusting, but Alfred didn't mind. He wished it snowed more like it did when he was younger, so he appreciated any bit of snow thrown his way.

In his other hand was his phone, where he was texting his brother about whether to show up to the next world meeting. 

IDK bro. I feel like everyone's just gonna be up my ass.

Give them some credit. Everyone knows our leaders are separate from us.

Well, they don't do a very good job of showing it.

I'm honestly surprised you care. You never used to care about this kind of stuff. 

Alfred read that last line over and over again. Canada was right, after all. Years ago, something like this wouldn't have bothered him. Hell, he would have found the outrage of the other countries entertaining as he jeered and egged on their furosity at whatever new policies the US government was trying to enforce. But these days, America found himself a lot more introspective and aware of the impact he and his people had on the rest of the world. It was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. And it was something that his closest allies noticed as well.

Yeah, well, things have been weird.

I know what you mean.

And Alfred knew just what Matthew was implying. They had talked about it many times over the past few years. This nagging feeling that something is missing. Something important. Somebody? It felt like somebody. A voice giving him perspective in the back of his brain. A voice that when he wanted to tease England mercilessly, it reminded him that that's his family at the end of the day. A voice that kept him on top of taking care of Apollo, who hadn't aged a day since he turned 5. And Matthew had expressed the same feeling of... wistfulness.

Yeah, someone definitely made that word pop into Alfred's head. He doesn't even know what wistfulness means. 

Alfred huffed, shoving his phone in his pocket and turning his attention back to Apollo, who was sniffing the base of a tree mercilessly. This wasn't something he wanted to think about. It hurt his brain too much. It made his chest feel heavy. He'd rather just spend the day with his dog, waiting for snowflakes to start falling. 

Suddenly, Apollo perked up, his body stiffening at first as he noticed a stranger down the street. Then, he began to cry, his whole body shaking as he yanked Alfred forward. Now, Alfred IS a lot stronger than Apollo, being a personified country and all. But the golden retriever did catch him off guard and manage to pull him right into the stranger on the sidewalk.

Apollo jumped up onto the woman, placing his paws on her shoulders and lapping her face. Flustered, Alfred pulled Apollo off of her as she let out a series a sharp, ringing laughs. The sound was so familiar, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Once he corralled Apollo, who was still whining and trying to reach the woman, Alfred was able to stand up and get a good look at her.  Her round face was framed with dark brown, wild curls, her sharp nose standing out against her otherwise soft features. Her grey blue eyes danced with a slew of emotions- she looked unsure if she wanted to laugh or cry in this moment. 

Alfred may have spent way too long staring at her face, trying place it. The woman let him take his time for a while. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Hello, Alfred."

And just like that, it was like a dam broke in Alfred's minding, with a rushing river of memories flooding back to him. Pancakes at the cabin. Fixing magical antics. Stolen looks and butterflies when he managed to make her blush. Her warm body pressed against his chest as he hugged her. And sweet kisses that made his brain feel like it was short circuiting from a jolt of electricity.

"Shelby." He whispered. "You look... you look different."

"Well," Shelby cleared her throat. "Well, I'm a lot older now. I'm gonna be turning 26 soon."

Such as crazy concept. It was take Alfred a millennia to reach 26 even though he can been around for hundreds of years. "You look... good."

"Well, not really." Shelby brushed off. He remembered that she had a lot of self-esteem issues. "But I'm a lot happier. I actually just graduated with my doctorate. I have a real career now. Things are starting to look a lot better."

Alfred was having trouble finding words, which was really saying something for him. He quickly tried to rack his brain for any memory of Shelby's schooling, but all he could come up with was that she had gotten accepted into PT school.

"I... I am so confused." Alfred muttered.

Shelby frowned. "I know. Really, it would have been more fair of me to leave things how they are. After all, you and Apollo are perfectly happy here. Selfishly, I hated that I ... well, dropped myself off the face of the earth. I want to say my goodbyes."

Alfred's mind was reeling. He felt like he had just relived the last decade of his life in about three seconds, and now the biggest part of that chapter was trying to walk away again. "I guess I don't understand why you're saying goodbye." He stated, his tone coming out a bit harsher than he initially meant it to but he stuck to his guns.

Shelby blinked. "Well... we're very different. And I'm not talking on a personality level. I'm talking like, planes of existence. You see, in my world, you don't exist. You're a fictional character. Just like... like Captain America. There a whole lot of people who know who you are because there's all kinds of stories out there about you, but they're all made up. This world," Shelby gestured to their surroundings, "is one of those stories that I made. I started writing it during a really dark time in my life as a way to cope with high school and how unhappy I was with my life."

There was a tense silence between the two of them. Alfred stared at Shelby with a mix of disbelief and anger, while Shelby looked at him with gentle understanding. "So this wasn't real."

"Well, technically, no, to anyone else, it's not real. But here, in my mind, this place it's all very real. Everything we're ever said or done, all our memories, they're all very real to me and I hold them very dearly. I hold you very dearly."

She reached her hand forward and Alfred took it. Her hands were so warm and soft, the touch of her skin against his sent goosebumps up his arms. "If this is all real then why do you have to go?"

"Well... I guess to me it felt like if I didn't put a real end to our story, that you would be stuck in limbo forever. And because this all exists in my head, my brain would be in limbo forever. It's time for me to move on. I'm ready to become a real adult instead of a teenager stuck in an adult's body. So I can't keep either of us in limbo anymore. It's time to say goodbye." Shelby explained.

Her words came so eloquently, Alfred had always been amazed at how her brain could string a sentences so effortlessly. His lip quivered as he pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tightly. "I'm going to miss you."

She squeezed him back, taking in a deep breath, as if taking in every last bit of his essence as she could. "No, you won't. I promise."

He reeled back in an attempt to argue with her, but before he could, Shelby grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him down to her height, kissing him with vigor and passion. Chills went up Alfred's spine as he melted into her lips, grabbing her face and holding onto her desperately. If their kiss never broke, they would never have to part.

Suddenly, a bark caused Alfred to jolt awake. He sat up in his bed, sweating. Apollo was pacing at the foot of his bed, whining and barking to be let outside. Alfred looked at his phone, cursing as he realized he had slept in. "Okay, okay, Apollo, I gotcha." He muttered, hopping up and leading the dog to the backdoor, allowing him to run outside while America stood in the doorframe. 

As he watched Apollo switch from urgently needing to go to the bathroom to playing in the snow, Alfred tried to recall what in his dream had him so frazzled when he woke up. His fingers touched his bottom lip, the skin tingling like the after effects of an jolt of electricity. He pondered for a moment before shrugging it off. Maybe it'll come back to him later.

Fin :)