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The nations all lay under the stars, simply enjoying each other’s company for once. You see, the meeting had let out early, and as soon as they had seen the night sky, they had all agreed to just lay on the grass and relax. For once there was no arguing, They had all just laid down in the grass and stared at the diamond studded sky. There was no shouting between France and England, no distant ‘kol kol kol’ of Russia, no creative curses from Romano. Just silence.
America, Canada, England, and France all lay together, reminiscing of the times before the Revolutionary War and they were all still a true family. They all still felt very guilty about it and for the role they played. America blamed himself for declaring his independence. Maybe he could've just talked it out with England and they still could be a family. England felt guilty about all the taxes he had placed on America. Maybe if he hadn't done that, America wouldn't have had to fight for his freedom. France felt guilty for helping America. But he knew if he hadn't, England would have won. Canada blamed himself for the entire revolution; he knew he could've kept his family together.
The blissful yet tense silence was soon broken by Italy Veneziano, who had become curious, “Ve~ America? Canada? What was your mother like?”
The two countries stiffened and began to tear up. Romano and Germany lightly swatted Veneziano, chastising him for being tactless. “No.” America whispered. The other nations stared at him in shock, surprised to hear him speak for once. “No,” he repeated, voice growing stronger, “No it’s alright. It’s been nearly 400 years. I think it’s time we talked about it.” Canada stared at his brother in shock (he knew how sensitive this topic was), but the look soon softened and he gripped his brother’s hand, letting him know he was there should the need arise.
America took a deep breath and began his story. “Some of you may not know, but Canada and I were not born from the land. We had a biological mother, kind of like Greece.” He shook his head, smiling fondly, “How she ever gave birth to two blond boys, we’ll never know. She was beautiful, though. Deep brown skin like chocolate and long dark hair as black as the sky is tonight. Her eyes twinkled like the stars above us." He gestured towards the sky, pointing out the two brightest stars. "You’d never know we were related to her if you saw a picture of her.” Canada laughed a little bit, “It’s true, we were such polar opposites, people who met us just assumed she had found us in the woods and we had been abandoned by one of the settlers.”
The rest of the world chuckled slightly, fascinated by this woman they had only heard legends of. A mysterious country known as Native America. America coughed slightly, “We traveled around the eastern coast, all the way up to Newfoundland and down to southern Florida. We would hunt and gather and lay underneath the stars. She’d show us the constellations and the stories behind them.” Canada chuckled, “Our favorite was about a coyote stealing the sun and moon.” America laughed along with him, but sobered up instantly.
“A few years later, our mother got seriously sick. She pretended she was fine and that she was just tired. We didn’t know it then, but her people were slowly being wiped out by smallpox, brought here by the European settlers. One night, she was coughing and hacking horribly. so badly that we had to stop in our journey to lay down together. She held us in her arms and sang us traditional lullaby.” America began to choke up, but he swallowed his tears and wiped his eyes and continued with the story, “When we woke up she was dead.”
All the countries who had colonies in North America gasped and felt a heavy weight on their hearts. They didn’t know which of them was responsible for killing the woman, but each of them blamed themselves. Canada remembered the day clearly. As soon as he had seen that their mother wasn't moving, he had known she was dead. But America hadn't been so lucky. He had poked and prodded her, and soon started panicking. He had screamed and sobbed and cried. But their mother did not move.
Veneziano choked back silent sobs and whispered, “What happened next?”
America and Canada exchanged looks and sighed. “Well,” said Canada, “We found you guys.” America nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we found everyone. Spain ran into us in a village. He didn’t know who we were but he offered us a tomato. Sweden scared us a little, but he gave us small wooden soldiers that he had made himself. Finland was so kind and cheery, he promised us that Joulupukki would come and visit this Christmas. Netherlands had a suspicion about who we were, and he scared us more than Sweden, but we warmed up to him when he smiled and gave us each a handful of tulips.”
The nations who had been mentioned smiled a little bit, they remembered those event so clearly, but never had they dreamed that the two young boys were the young nations of America and Canada.
England cleared his throat a bit, “And what about France and me?”
Canada smiled, “You didn’t give us anything material, but you gave us a family.”
France began tearing up and swept the two boys into his arms, “Je vous aimez. I love you two boys so much.”
“Je t’aime aussi, papa!” the two boys chorused in return. England joined into the hug and swallowed back tears. The other countries looked on at the scene and smiled. Maybe they should do this more often.