The phone is ringing. Again. I don't know what it is lately with people calling me, but I wish they'd stop. I'm kinda awkward on the phone. I mean, I'm awkward in real life, anyway, but for some reason I don't like talking to someone I can't see. It freaks me out a bit.

I grab the phone from the wall (it's my landline, only a few close friends have my mobile number). "Guten tag, this is Deitich speaking," I say.

"Deitich! Dude! I'm glad I caught you!" Its America. What the hell does he want?

"Hey.... Are you ok?"

"Yeah, dude, I'm totally fine! I was just wondering, you busy today?"

Oh great. I'd like to say yes, but in reality I have no plans whatsoever for today, and I can't bring myself to lie to him.

"Nein... I'm free. Why, did you want to do something?"

"Yeah! I was thinking, do you wanna go out for coffee or something? Because I'd really like to get to know you better..."

Does he mean what I think he means? He'd better not, or I'm getting my sword out.

"Um... Ok?"

"YES!!!" he yells, before realising I'm still on the line. "Oh. Sorry, dude."

I smile, blushing slightly despite myself. "It's fine. So what time?"

"About eleven? I know this really cute coffee shop near my place. Of course, if it's too far to come, I can always pick you up!"

"Nein, nein, it's fine. I can walk."

"Ok!" He proceeds to give me the name and address of the coffee shop. I write it down on the back of my hand, making sure I have all the details.

"You got that?" he asks.

"Ja, thanks, America."

"No problem! See ya later!" And then he hangs up.

I sit back, wondering if I did the right thing. I'm not really into America, but he seems like an ok guy, and I guess it'll be cool to hang out with someone new for a change. I'd have gone to see what Russia was doing, but he's probably busy. So maybe I'll ask him another day.

Wait a minute.

Russia and America.... They hate each other, right? (A/N: I actually really ship RusAme, it's like my OTP, but in this story they're not together, obviously)

And if they hate each other... And I think they both kinda like me....

Shit.

I'm screwed.

Oh no.

Ooohhhhh no.

I cannot have these two people after me. Not both of them.

Ok, calm down, Deitich. You don't actually know that either of them likes you.

It's gonna be ok.

Probably.

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

"Are you sure it's gonna be ok?" I ask, nervously chewing my lip. England stops and turns to face me.

"Going to, Sophy. And yes. This is important."

"But..." I weakly protest. I really don't want to do this.

"But what?"

"I'm just not comfortable with... You know." I don't want to say it.

"The war? Because you've got to fight, you're on my side. The Allies's side."

"I know, but do I really have to invade Germany? He's my..."

"You're not going to be invading Germany, remember? My troops are going to come to your place and invade him from there."

"But England!" I whisper, tears in my eyes. He stops and embraces me, wiping my tears away.

"You do realise what he's done?"

"J-Ja.... But he's still my brother."

England winces slightly, and I feel bad. "Of course, you're my brother as well. It's just.... Hard, you know?"

He nods. "Yes. And look, Deitich...." He sighs and bites his lip. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I'll just have to explain it to the others." I swallow, hardly daring to believe my ears.

"R-really?"

"Yes. I've got an Allies meeting now actually, you can accompany me.

"What?" I'm shocked. He's never taken me before.

"You might as well. It will involve you sitting next to me in the meeting. Also, if any of them get angry, don't worry."

I swallow hard and look up at him. "Who are they again?"

He sighs. "China, France, Russia and... America." From the tone of this voice, he doesn't particularly seem to like any of them. I've often heard him come home, cursing them (mostly France, to be fair, but a lot about America, too).

America's a touchy subject for us. I know that England raised him like he raised me, and treated him like a brother, but America declared independence and that broke England's heart. And I know that even though he acts like it, he's not really over it. It took a long time for us to warm up to each other, but now we have, we're like brother and sister.

"So when is it?"

England checks his watch. "An hour from now. So put on some fresh clothes and let's go."

Up in my room, I take off my red dress that I wear around the house and put on my good clothes, my white blouse and red skirt, knee socks and sensible black shoes. England bought me an entire wardrobe of nice things to wear, but this is the outfit I like most. I tie up my hair into my usual bunches with two pieces of red ribbon and then go downstairs to where England is waiting for me. He nods approvingly at my choice of attire.

"Are you ready to go, Sophy?" he asks. It's become a habit of ours to address each other as a brother and sister would, but to be honest, he basically is my big brother.

I nod. "Ja." Even though he's taught me English and I mostly sound British now, I do sound faintly German sometimes. I can tell this annoys him slightly, so I try not to do it.

"Ok." He takes me to the meeting place, talking to me all the way. "Remember, don't speak unless you're spoken to. And always be very polite, address them as "sir" and be respectful at all times. Don't raise your voice, even if they do. Even if I do. I want to show them that I've raised a lovely, polite young lady. Is that clear?"

I nod. "Ja, big brother." I'm not entirely sure why he wants to give them such a good impression of me, but oh well.

"And Deitich....."

"Ja, Arthur?"

"Try and stay with English. Ok?" Suddenly, I get it. He wants me to speak with an English accent and English manners because he doesn't want to remind them that my origins are German. He doesn't want to remind them of who my family is. Because obviously they know, everyone knows. But Germany is the enemy here.

"Ok," I say meekly. He nods, satisfied.

England takes me inside, and leads me through a maze of corridors, endlessly turning corners as I hurry to catch up with him. Then we get to a door marked "Meeting Room". We're here.

England pushes the door open and holds it for me. I take it gratefully and walk in after him.

I'm faced with a room with a long table. Sitting at the table are four other people, all men, all older than me. Already I feel at a disadvantage. One, sitting at the head of the table, leaps up and yells at England, "Dude, where the hell have you been?" He has tan skin, with light messy hair and glasses. He seems very excitable.

"I've been busy. I'm sorry I'm late." Arthur sits down and I sit beside him.

"Hardly very British, is it?" says a handsome man with long flowing blond hair and blue eyes. He's very fancily dressed, and he's leaning back in his chair. He has a delicate French accent.

"Yeah, well, we're here now," England mutters.

"Aiya! So come on, let's continue, aru," says a man with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. I think this is China.

The man next to China hasn't spoken yet. He's very tall with silverish hair, but he's not old. He looks quite young, actually. He's pale, with wide violet eyes, and he's wearing a long beige coat and white scarf, despite the fact that it's summer and we're indoors. I notice that China's sitting angled away from him slightly, and everyone's trying very hard not to look at him. He's smiling slightly, but there's a weird feel of dread about him that makes me not want to look at him. I look at my lap instead. Better alternative than anyone else.

"Quite right, China. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to Deitich, one of my colonies," says England. I look up. Oh great, now they're all looking at me.

"Isn't she Germany's little sister?" asks the man with glasses, very loudly.

England scowls and nods. "Yes, but I have raised her well, America. She's far more of my sister than his. She hasn't seen either of her brothers for years."

"How do you know we can trust 'er?" asks the blond man with blue eyes.

"France, if I didn't think we could trust her, she wouldn't be here. Let me remind you that you've never been completely trustworthy." France goes scarlet.

"Says you! I don't think-" He starts on a rant that has clearly been building up for some time. I can feel England shaking with anger beside me.

On the opposite side of the table, China looks slightly worried, probably because they're arguing now, and America's joined in. He taps the man with the scarf sitting next to him on the shoulder and whispers something to him. He laughs and shakes his head. China sighs.

"Anyway!" yells England. "We didn't come here today to discuss how trustworthy we all are!"

"Even though it clearly needs discussing," France mutters. England struggles to control his temper, but he continues. I think he's doing this for my sake more than anyone else's, because I know how angry he can get.

England sighs and stands up. "I've decided that the British military shouldn't attack Germany from Deitich. The plan is too likely to fail, and anyway, we can only send over a small army without arousing Germany's suspicion. So I think it would be more practical to attack from France or Russia."

They all look shocked. "But you've championed this from the start, aru," China protests.

"Yes. But in hindsight, that's not a good way to go about it."

"Why should I attack from my place? Dat's just more inconvenient, da?" says the man with the scarf.

"Don't you see what 'e's doing 'ere?" France says, looking round at everyone. "'E's obviously afraid zhat 'e's too weak to manage zhis."

England flares up, but before he can say anything, America pipes up. "I'll do it, because I'm the hero!" Everyone just glares at him, and he beams. "Yeah! Protecting the weak!" he yells.

"I'm not weak! I have the world's biggest empire!" England says. America ignores him.

"I could win this war with my eyes closed! In fact, I will!" America continues. God, he's so tiring to be around.

"Anyway, what does Deitich 'ave to say about zhis?" says France, his eyes sparkling in malevolent glee. Everyone looks at me again.

I go red and look at the floor. "I, um, think that England is right. My country is-" I'm cut off by France.

"Of course you'd agree, it's quite humiliating to be attacked by your big brother, don't you agree?"

I go scarlet and clench my fists. I hate France so much right now. Luckily, before I try and kill him or something (I haven't got a sword, but trust me, I'd do it with my bare hands if I had to) , England steps in.

"Shut up, frog. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say?" The room is silent. "In that case, I declare the meeting over."

The other countries look at each other for a moment, and then start to leave, too. England goes over to France and starts hissing things in his ear. I sense that now probably isn't the best time to go up to him, so I stay in my seat.

"That was crazy," I mutter to myself.

"They're always like that, aru." I look up and see China standing next to me, looking tired. No wonder. This must be exhausting, to have to come here all the time and listen to people arguing.

"Oh, hello," I say, standing up and offering my hand. "My name is Deitich."

China looks slightly confused, but then smiles and shakes my hand. "I'm China," he says.

"It's very nice to meet you, sir." He looks stunned.

"Wow... You're very polite, aru. England did a good job with you."

I nod. "Thank you." I look around. "So it's always like this?"

China nods. "Unfortunately. I'm actually not sure as to what we're doing here, none of the others seem to like each other." His shoulders slump. "I'm not sure what to do, really."

The second he's said that, the tall man with the violet eyes comes over to us and puts his hands on China's shoulders. "You can come and live with me!"

China jumps and throws him off. "NO! Go away!"

"Come on, China. Become one with me, da?"

"NO. Go away." The man laughs and leaves.

"Who's he?" I ask. China shakes his head.

"Russia. He's sneaking up on me, I can tell. One day he'll make me give in." He straightens up. "But not yet! Do yourself a favour, aru. Don't become one with him."

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

I really think I should start listening to people with more experience than me.