I run down the corridor, panting, white-blonde hair flying. How could I be late for this? This is the most important day for my country since I broke free from the British Empire, and I'm already mucking it up. Great.

I turn a corner, still running. I'm not usually late, but I was up late last night discussing what to actually talk about today with Hungary, and I overslept. Damn it. Of all the days to be late..... I had to pick this one, didn't I? What will Ludwig say?

I burst into the meeting room, expecting it to be full, but it's practically empty. The only one here is England. Oh great. This is awkward.

I lean against the wall, getting my breath back. If I was anyone else, Arthur would be asking me if I was ok, but because this is me, he says nothing. Instead, he watches me out of the corner of his eye, looking faintly amused.

"Bloody hell, are you ok?" he asks. He's sketching something out of the blackboard. Some sort of diagram illustrating iron production, I think.

"Hasn't the meeting started yet?" I ask, looking around. He shakes his head.

"No, you're twenty minutes early."

"Wait, what? I thought I was late!"

"The meeting starts at eleven, not half ten. Is that what you were thinking?" I say nothing. He sighs. "For God's sake, Deitich."

Oh. So we're back to Deitich and England now, instead of Sophy and Arthur? Not that it's surprising; I left his Empire long ago, but I've barely spoken to him since. I just thought.... Well, never mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've barely been here a week and I already hate it. I want to see my brothers again. I want to go home.

I'm lying on my bed with the curtains drawn and the door locked, desperately trying to think of how I can escape. England keeps me secure, though, and I'm barely allowed out. How can I escape when I don't even know where I am?

This place is horrible. The food is terrible, England is mean and I miss my brothers. Prussia had to surrender when England beat him so badly, even though he didn't want to. He had to give me up.

"Deitich? Where are you?" Oh no. England's calling me. I bite my lip and bury my head in my pillow.

"Deitcih?" He knocks on my door. "I know you're in there."

"Go away!" I yell.

"Deitich, come out now. Or I'm breaking the door down."

"Do what you like! I hate you and I will NEVER forgive you from taking me away from my brothers. EVER!"

He pauses outside my door. "Deitich. Please."

"No."

"Deitich.... I'm sorry." I'm taken aback. Did he just say that? I get up and go to the door, but I don't open it.

"What did you say?"

He sighs. "Just come out. Please."

I wait. What should I do? If I open the door, he'll think I forgive him and I most certainly do not. But I can't stay here forever.

I open the door a crack. England looks noticeably relieved.

"Hello. Are you planning to come out any time soon? Because I did adopt you for a reason." I go red. Adopt? That makes it sound like a I was a poor little orphan, no family or anything. Damn him. I have a family, I have two brothers who love me.

"You-" I start, but he cuts me off.

"I don't want to hear any cursing, muttering or threats from you. And no locking yourself in your room any more. Is that understood?"

I swallow. He looks so angry, I don't dare to disobey him. "J-Ja....."

"Yes, England," he corrects me.

"Yes, England."

"Good." He frowns and takes me by the arm. "Come on, Deitich, we have a lot of work to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We sit in silence. I mean, I wasn't really expecting him to be terribly chatty, but still. So I'm relieved when the door opens and Ludwig comes in. He's with Italy, which isn't surprising, seeing as Italy follows him about virtually everywhere.

"Hi!" I say, smiling at my older brother. Ludwig nods and smiles back.

"Guten tag, Sophy. Are you ready?" I nod. "Good." He catches sight of England. "England," he says, nodding in his direction.

"Germany," says England, scowling slightly. I don't think it's directed at Ludwig, it's probably directed at me. Which is fair enough.

Germany sits down in the seat to my left, and Italy sits beside him and immediately starts blabbering about a cute girl he saw on the way here. This is not unusual for Italy; mostly he won't shut up, but I don't really mind that. He's sweet, really. Ludwig can get annoyed about it sometimes, but he doesn't really mind, either.

Slowly but steadily, the other countries trickle in. Japan nods politely to me and I smile back. I don't know him very well, but Germany has had links with Japan in the past, and he says he's very formal but a nice person. I can believe that.

France comes in on his own and sits directly opposite Germany. He sees me there and winks, tossing his head. God..... That guy is so irritating. He's tried flirting with me before now, at World Meetings, which is very awkward, but Germany got incredibly protective and so he stopped. Ludwig can be very scary when he wants to be.

After France comes America with Canada silently slinking in behind him. Now, America.... He's a good guy and all, and he means well, but I've never really liked him much. He's a very intense person to be around, and I'm just not used to that. I much prefer his brother, Canada, although he's so quiet that people mostly don't notice him. Sometimes I wish people wouldn't notice me so much. Just because I'm the sister of Germany and the (awesome) Prussia, doesn't mean I'm automatically amazing.

So that's pretty much the G8. And me. I'm only here at Germany and Italy's invitation, because I'm a fairly large nation that has a lot of resources (Ludwig's words, not mine). Except I'm pretty sure there's another country......

"So! Is everyone here?" asks America, beaming. He smiles a lot.

"America, if you could count, you would  know that we are not all here," says France, smirking. I glance at my hands to avoid his gaze, and as I do, I notice virtually everyone has their fingers crossed under the table. What's that all about?

"Right! Yes! Because we are missing..... Um...." America trails off, unsure.

"I'm here now! Sorry! Meeting hasn't started, da?" A voice at the door says. We all look around to see a tall man in a fawn overcoat, big boots and a long white scarf at the door, slightly out of breath. He's very pale, has large violet eyes and silver-ish hair. In other words, it's Russia.

Everyone flinches slightly as he says that. Russia, who apparently hasn't noticed the sudden tension that he has produced, sits down in the only available seat left: the one next to me. Ludwig casts me a sympathetic look, although the reason for this is unclear. Then I sense Russia staring at me, and I think, oh. Right.

"Anyway, now zhat ve're all here, shall ve start?" asks Germany, taking control as usual. This isn't a bad thing, he's probably the most responsible person here.

"Yeah! By the way, guys, I like, totally came up with an idea!" Ludwig and I exchange a look. We all know it's rare for America to have a good idea, but we kind of have to listen to it.

"Go ahead, we're all fascinated, I'm sure," France purrs. America misses the sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Ok, so we all know that global warming is a pretty big problem, so I came up with an idea to help combat it. I was thinking, if all the countries pitch in to create a huge sheet of metal, we could put it in orbit around the earth so it would block some of the sun's energy!  And then it'd be colder! What do you say?"

There's a long silence in which I think just about everyone in the room contemplates why the hell America is even here. I know I am. Finally, England speaks.

"America, while I'm sure you probably spent a great deal of time thinking about that-" here, he breaks off to roll his eyes "-I'm not sure it will combat the problem. Thank you for your.... Participation, if you can call it that."

America looks slightly deflated, but then beams and sits down. Japan then gets up and starts talking about some manufacturing difficulties in the Far East. I try to pay attention, but really it's rather boring, so my mind wanders slightly.

I'm brought back to my senses when a large hand taps my shoulder. At first, I think it's Germany, then I realise that it's my right shoulder that's being tapped, and I don't really think Germany would bother to reach across to tap my other shoulder. I look around and see Russia of all people beaming at me. I open my mouth to say something (I'm not entirely sure what) but he points discreetly to England and France, who are sitting next to each other.

They appear to be having some sort of furious argument, which isn't exactly unusual for those two, but it's still funny. France is leaning back in his chair, smirking at England who appears to be having a hissy fit. I almost feel bad for him, and then I realise that I don't like him any more.

Russia is quietly giggling next to me, a sound that I didn't think was even possible to come out of that guy's mouth, and I join in too. Me and Russia aren't the only ones to have noticed England and France. The second that Japan sits down, Germany nods to him,  and then says, "France! England!"

They both jump slightly. "What?" asks France irritably, as he's not doing anything wrong. Germany just gives them both a steely glare and they immediately shut up. Ludwig has that effect on people.

Pretty soon, the meeting's over. It was pretty cool, actually, except for the part where France and England were being idiots, but what's new? Germany has to go talk to Japan, so I go on ahead with Italy, who's burbling on about pasta as usual. I'm not really listening, but I nod and smile in the right places, and he seems pretty happy.

"And then big brother France said that there was no more pasta and I was really upset, but then Germany told me he was just being mean, so I went back and told France that he was wrong. And then he said-" I tune out there, because while Italy is a nice guy and all, his constant talking can get a little too much.

We turn a corner, him still going on and me still pretending to listen. In fact, we're so wrapped up in the conversation that we bump into someone on the way.

"Oh, sorry," I mutter, not really looking at who it is. Italy gasps.

"It's ok!" says a familiar voice. I look up and I realise who it is. It's Russia.