What is... "Home?" (Hetalia Fanfic, W.A. '13 Finalist)

Chapter 4~!

WOW. I am thoroughly amazed. You guys are the BEST~! I'll try to update as often as I can, although I won't when I haven't written much. See, I try to have at least a couple chapters as a cushion between where I am in posting and writing, so-

America: Dude, I think they get it.

Bookie: :P Oh whatever. *waves hamburger in air* See the burger? Go get it! *throws it, America chases it into the sunset*

XD Okay, that's enough of my ranting! Now it's gonna get gooood~

~~~

Al and Arthur left earlier than Matthew and I, explaining that they needed to talk to a teacher for some obscure reason. Matthew walked me back to the dorms to make sure I got there safely (-_-') and then left to also talk to someone, taking Kumajirou with him. Do you have any idea how strange it is to have a bear tell you its name? Weirdest. Thing. Ever.

I breathed a sighof relief when he was gone, dropping my male voice. "Thank goodness. I was starting to worry about losing my voice if I had to keep that up too much longer," I said to Zip, who lounged on my bed sleepily. "Just lay there." He did. "Good dog."

I put a hand up to my hair and winced at how greasy my fingers came away. 'I need a shower... And how's that cut doing?' I shed my jacket and shirt, leaving me in just the bandages keeping my chest flat (and my pants and all that, don't forget).

The cut had scabbed over, but somehow got infected while I'd been living on the streets. It was sore and angry-looking, and I knew I should get it treated, but with what? Going to the nurse's office was out of the question, because I'd get found out and probably kicked out. I was never going back to him, not even if you held a gun to my head. Maybe there's a first aid kit somewhere in here? It seemed like a good thing to have in case you got, say, a paper cut while doing homework.

I got up to go search, checking in the closets first. It was just my luck to have a quieter-than-a-mouse roommate, because when I turned around after coming up short, Matthew stood in the doorway, gaping and staring. I froze midstride and promptly tripped, falling on my face and jarring my shoulder.

"Fudge... a duck," I groaned, clutching it painfully. I heard the door shut and looked up to see Matthew walk over and kneel next to me, still shocked.

"Your name... isn't Malcolm, is it?" he said.

I sighed and smacked my forehead against the floor, groaning "I'm doomed."

~

So, let me get this straight. You're not Malcolm Middleton, but Melina Andrews, and you ran away from your father because he drank too much and was abusive," Matthew said as he stuck the bandaid over my now-bleeding cut. "Four days ago?"

I nodded, wincing. "Yes, and I enrolled here as a boy so it'd be harder for him to find me. I was traveling by bus to get as far away from him as possible, and I found this school by accident. It seemes like my best chance, even if it was risky, but now..." I trailed off, in complete despair over the inevitable. I'd get kicked out, and he'd find me for sure.

"... won't tell, I promise," I barely heard Matthew say over my own thoughts.

My eyes shot to his in surprise. "What did you just say?"

He smiled warmly. "I won't tell anyone. Besides, no one pays attention to what I have to say, anyway. I'll help you keep your secret, Melina."

"R... Really?" Matthew nodded. "Thank you so much!" I couldn't help but cry out as I hugged him around the shoulders.I think he might have blushed a little as he patted my back awkwardly.

"Y-You're welcome."

I pulled away from him and got off of my bed, where he'd bade me sitso he could fetch the first aid kit from our bathroom (I failed to notice it earlier, strangely. Usually I'm very observant) and fix me up. It was gross (and painful) to reopen the cut so the anitbiotic cream could get in, but I was confident it would heal cleanly now.

"Thanks for helping my shoulder, Matthew. Where'd you get good with medicine?"

"Try growing up with Alfred. He'd always go off on some adventure and come home with scraped knees or palms, and if Arthur wasn't around then I'd clean him up," he chuckled softly.

"Ah. It's funny, but I kinda did the same thing. Going off on adventures, I mean," I said, thinking back. "I used to believe in fairies and other magical creatures, and I'd go play in the woods around the house all day long, especially when he got into a drunken rage and wouldn't stop screaming at me."

Matthew looked at me with a sad expression. "You've had a rough childhood."

I nodded in agreement before shrugging it off. "It's in the past now, so I'm just going to make a fresh start here and pray every night that he doesn't find me."

"You could go to the police."

Ishook my head. "I'd like to put him away, but I'm not really his daughter and nothing would get done because the police would be investigating me."

Matthew cocked his head to one side in confusion as he sat on his own bed, Kuamjirou crawling into his lap. "Not his daughter? Were you adopted?"

"Not in a legal sense, but yeah. I asked him once where I came from, and he told me that he and his wife, Selena, were hiking one day and found me, asleep on the trail. I looked maybe two years old and had a little white dress with a red bow at the throat. Or so he said. I haven't decided whether to believe him or not because he was drunk at the time."

He beamed suddenly. "I had a feeling you were like us."

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Matthew picked up his pillow and hugged it because Kumajirou was now playing on the floor with Zip. "It all adds up. You finding this place, getting in, and your past. You must be a country."

"Be a what?"

"A country. See, everyone attending this school is like the personification of a country from around the world. We fight their wars one-on-one with the personification of the country we're at war with, and go through the hardships like they were happening to us personally."

I just stared, so he continued.

"If you think about it, nothing could be more true. The test to get into Gakuen is too difficult for a normal person to ace like you must have, and if you found this place, then maybe it wasn't by accident."

I glanced down at his pillowcase and back to his face. "You're Canada, then?"

Matthew nodded. "You see why no one notices me, or mistakes me for Alfred?"

"Is Al... America?" He nodded. "Then Arthur must be... England! Because of the accent. And Francis is France, no doubt." Matthew nodded again with a little smirk at that last comment. "But then... who am I?"

Canada shrugged. "I wish I knew. As far as we know, all the countries are known, but there has to be some country you could be. All the countries start out looking like little kids in white dresses, so that's why your past fits." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe you're a country that was just founded, or hardly noticed like I am!"

I tried not to show it, but I was a little shaken. It seemed... right, somehow. A country? Me? I... I think so!

"Why does this seem... right?" I wondered with a hand to my chin.

Matthew smiled. "Because you are a country, and it's the truth."

~~~

Alright, there you go! She was bound to get found out eventually... And WHAT COUNTRY IS SHE?! The fans are DYING to know!!

*snicker* poor dying fans, that won't be found out until much later in the story...

XD Okay that should tide you over for a while! Now LET ME WRITE SOME! ;) Comments are most appreciated! WUVS~! = =