Don't Party Too Hard!

Explanation Please?

Your POV

Spelled.

That one word seemed almost impossible to comprehend. It didn't seem plausible enough, it didn't seem like I could just easily blame it on a supernatural event that may or may not have happened.

But

It was the only way that...this...could ever occur.

We were spelled. But how?

There were only 3 people capable of using magic: Norway, Romania...and England.

"Arthur!" I ran over to him, calling his name until I remembered he was deaf. Grabbing his hand, I made my way over to the large whiteboard hanging on the wall, erasing the festive and colorful "Merry Christmas" I had drawn there earlier. Grabbing the red marker, I began to write.

Did you notice anything weird last night? Can you feel if, like, someone used magic here? Or if you did?

His indignant and slightly annoyed expression caused me to add On accident, of course!

He scratched his medium-sized leafy elephant ears and then shook his head.

Exasperated, I thought of what England could have done. He made the scones, but no one ate them, so that was out of the question.

But he also brought drinks.

I made a mad dash to the coolers, my tail swishing behind me, and searched for a bottle, at least one of the colorful sodas that were supposedly from England's house. Grabbing the light-green-filled bottle, I ran back to him, holding it out for him to grab. Once it was in his hands, I turned his attention to the whiteboard.

Do you recognize this bottle?

He took a look and a moment later there was an ear-splitting "AMERICA!"

Said fish-person lifted his head out of a red cooler and, with a panicked expression, walked over. "Is there something wrong?"

"WHAT?"

"I said 'Is there something wrong?'"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID 'IS THERE SOM-"

I couldn't take it anymore: I slapped them.

"Shut up, you two," I hissed, "before you blow everyone's eardrums out!" I erased my previous message and wrote Please lower your voice. Now, what's wrong with these bottles?

He hesitated. "Well..." I nodded my head to show that it was an OK volume,"These are the bottles that I put the fail- unsuccessful potions in. Because of the chemicals, you can't just dump them anywhere. But America," he pointedly looked at the American, "must have gotten the wrong crate. He would have seen that one of them was filled with regular soft drinks: Splite, Dr. Plebby, Flanta, you know."

Alfred took the green marker from the board and below my writing, he wrote I thought you said box!

"Well, you also thought I said to go into my magic room. Guess you were wrong both times!"

"Enough!" I shook my head. "Now, listen up, whoever can understand me. Either way, this is kind of America's fault."

"Hey!"

"I'm going to go and check his alibi, since Arthur claims he grabbed the wrong box. I'll be right back." I started to walk through the small group of transformed countries to the door, but a small tug on my Christmas sweater stopped me.

"I'll come with you too, aru!"

Oh, right. China. Why does he have to be in love with me, of all people?

"Al...righty, then. We'll walk to his house together."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walking towards me. I turned to see that it was Ludwig. He pulled out his phone and sent me a text.

I'll drive you. It's probably cold outside with all of the fresh snow.

"OK." I turned to everyone else. "Stay here. We'll be back soon."

Getting Arthur's house keys from him, the 3 of us left the World Meeting Room.

-----------------------------------------------

"Well...here we are."

We stood inside the house, staring at a large crate full of drinks. I picked up one from the crate, staring at the colorfully printed Flanta on the can.

"Who wants to try it?"

Germany just shook his head. He clearly had a 'I'm not going to risk it' look on his usually stoic face.

"I'll do it!" Yao motioned for me to give him the can. "Anything for you, aru!"

I heard Germany make some kind of grunt and turn his head to the side. "You OK?"

He nodded, but slowly, turning his attention to one of the paintings hanging behind Arthur's couch. It seemed to be of Japanese origin. 'Maybe Kiku gave it to him,' I thought.

Yao cracked open the can and took a sip.

And another.

And another.

...And another.

"So?"

He swallowed. "It tastes like regular Flanta!"

A breath I didn't know I was holding came out.

"Whew! I guess it really is OK! Come on, we'll bring the sodas with us. Ludwig?"

He seemed to be deep in thought.

I walked over to him and tapped the back of his shoulder.

"Ludwig?" He turned towards me.

"Can you carry the drinks, please?"

He nodded and picked up the crate, walking to the door, which Yao held open for him. I came up behind him, shutting the door and locking it behind him. I opened the trunk from the front of the car and, after getting Yao in the car, I went over to him.

"Thanks for driving us here, and for carrying the crate," I said as he pushed the crate in the trunk. He turned to me and was probably going to nod if I hadn't hug-tackled him. Silently gasping in surprise, he stood there for a moment, then decided to hug me back. But when I tried to release, a sharp pain in my head stopped me.

"Ow!" On instinct, I backed up, but he held me close. A blush formed in my face as he messed with my hair a bit, then he put a hand on my face so I would look at him.

His iron cross necklace had been stuck in my hair.

He jangled it in front of me, to show me what he was doing, and for a brief moment, looking into his eyes, I had the strong urge to kiss him. So, I leaned in.

He immediately blushed, and was about to do something, but a loud HONK snapped us out of it. He quickly removed his hand from my face and jogged towards the driver's seat. This time, I sat in the back with Yao.

Throughout the car ride, Yao would cuddle into my side and talk. I can't, for the life of me, remember anything he said- I stopped after the compliments and the weather. But every so often I would look through the rear-view mirror, and meet upset blue eyes that would look a different way each time I spotted them.

I sighed.

When we pulled in next to the main door, I immediately jumped out, trying not to think about what happened earlier. The best thing we could do was to tell everyone what we discovered.

To my surprise, there was no one there.

The room was a little messy: bottles littering the area, food scraps on the table, and a trash can had been knocked down in the corner. The Chinese Christmas banner was hanging by one tack, and 2 of the window wreaths sat on the carpet, rumpled and no longer retaining their circular shape. A piece of mistletoe fell onto the table, right next to the plastic-covered Schnitzel sticks.

Where did everyone go?

...Great.

Merry Christmas, I thought glumly.