Heart sighed, “looking” down the tunnel, it was obvious that she was worn down, her dull misty eyes were heavy, and her body was bruising from her previous beating. “I want to go back to my own home...” she whispered, exhaustion filling her voice as she moved down the tunnel with Mathieu trailing behind her, still holding her hand.
Mathieu had always been curious about the sweet girl with her normally cheerful personality that could change in the drop of a hat. When he had been looking out from Matthew in the meeting when she was introduced by Prussia and Russia, he was instantly curious about the small framed girl. Since then, he had kept his eye on her, wishing he’d get the chance to talk to her on his own. Now that he could, he couldn’t think of a thing to say.
Before he realized it, they were standing in the light of a sunset, peering through trees above. He saw how she was slowing down, her eyes nearly shut, “Do you want me to carry you?” he asked trying not to sound like he was nervous.
“N-no…I’ll be fine, its not much farther now,” she whispered with a yawn.
Mathieu stayed quiet, not wanting to ruin her concentration.
“I-is there a tree house ahead?” she asked softly, “I haven’t been home in a long time…”
Mathieu looked up to see a huge tree cradling a large multilevel treehouse with a porch and flowers hanging from vines wrapped around the boughs of the tree, making it look like a veil was hiding the building from sight. “Y-yeah.”
She smiled and walked up to the tree base, and gave it a hard kick, making a rope ladder fall in front of her. Once they reached the porch, Heart simply opened the door to a dark and dusty entryway. Weapons hung on the walls, varying from battle axes to swords to spears. Heart smiled and stepped into the building, looking completely natural in the rough house of wood and tree.
A few minutes later she was lounging in a hammock in a sunny room, while Mathieu was laying back in a chair.
“So…Mathieu, right?” she asked with a yawn.
He smiled, “Just call me Matt.”
She smiled, and closed her unseeing eyes, loosely braiding her hair, “I feel like I’ve known you for a long time…” she sighed.
He smirked, “That’s because Canada wasn’t always in control of what he was saying to you to calm you down…” He flicked his shades down over his vibrant violet eyes.
“S-so that’s why you comforted me before?” she asked pulling a blanket around her shoulders.
“Yes…” he answered softly, almost embarrassed.
“Why..?”
“Well, I already said you’re intriguing.” Matt laughed, trying to avoid the question.
“If you only found me intriguing, you wouldn’t have been so open to me.” Heart replied, never skipping a beat.
He almost fell out of the chair, had he really slipped up already?! “W-well…” he started.
“Matt…I want to trust you…its just hard to trust people after so long alone…” she revealed, as her hammock rocked her back and forth in the light breeze.
“I've told you why I'm here... it's your decision who to trust…if you want to trust.” Matt assured her, “I’ll wait forever if I have to.”
France hugged Canada tightly, tears pricking his own eyes as the nation he held cried painfully, “screwed up again... H-Haven't I?”
Francis grabbed Matthew’s arms, and looked him up and down, “YES! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!” he shouted before hugging him again. “We love you so much…!”
