"....And then the left foot will be pointed out," Kalda said to herself, looking at the drawing that she was working on.

It wasn't much, and it wasn't great either, in Kalda's frank opinion, but it was one of the only calming things that she could do pretty well.

"That's actually pretty cool," she heard Veneziano say over her shoulder.

"It's actually not that great," Kalda replied, looking at her drawing that was supposed to be a woman dancing.

"Better than I could do," Veneziano answered happily. "All I know how to draw is animals."

"That's a start, I guess," Kalda chuckled.

Kalda had received a letter from Britain saying that he didn't need her help today.

He didn't state why, but then again, Kalda never replied back to ask.

"She looks a lot like you," Veneziano commented, bringing Kalda back into reality.

Kalda looked at her picture again, and she supposed that the dancer did look like her.

Well, in a sense.

She was skinny like Kalda, had the same hair length, the same eyes, everything.

The only thing that was different about her was that the dancer's eyes were green and her hair was a much darker brown than a lighter brown like Kalda's.

"Yeah," Kalda said absentmindedly. "I guess so."

Who does she remind me of? Kalda asked herself, looking at her drawing more closely. She looks familiar to me, for some reason.

"Can you draw a picture of me?" Veneziano wondered.

Kalda giggled, but it sounded like she was preoccupied with something else.

"Okay," she agreed. "Do a pose and I'll do my best. I can't promise that it'll look great, but I'll try my hardest."

Veneziano grinned and obeyed her command.

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

The rest of the day was just Veneziano and Kalda drawing together and catching up on things that Kalda had missed since she had been gone a lot, and before the duo knew it, supper time came.

Then bed time quickly followed, so Kalda trudged up to her room because of her brothers' orders.

Kalda realized that she couldn't argue with the two Italians since they had insisted that she should go to bed.

She did just that, knowing that she couldn't win the argument against them anymore.

She sighed as she curled up in her bed, feeling sleepy.

Kalda decided to lie on her back, all sleepiness fading.

She suddenly felt so awake, it was like she was nocturnal.

I feel like something is keeping me up, she told herself.

Kalda looked at the picture of her dancer and smiled.

I don't know who she is or who she reminds me of, she started, but she sure is beautiful.

Kalda had finished coloring the picture, so the woman was wearing a red dress with white ballet shoes. 

Kalda didn't know how tall she would be in real life, but she could imagine that she would be a little taller than Kalda was.

Just a few inches, maybe? Kalda wondered.

Kalda felt sleep fall upon her, her smile still on her face.

Kalda closed her eyes, and she started dreaming about the dancer.

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

"That's it, Maria," a man said to an oddly familiar woman. "You're doing great."

All Kalda could see was the woman dancing, not the man.

She could only see the man's back, and she silently wished that she could see what he looked like.

Turn around and face me, Kalda thought. I want to see what you look like.

The man's voice sounded slightly familiar, but Kalda couldn't place it at the moment.

"Thank you, my dear," Maria, the woman, replied with a smile.

"You are quite welcome," the man answered. "Come. Dinner is about to be served."

He held out his arm and Maria linked her arm within his.

They walked away, and all Kalda could see now was their backs.

The couple walked through a door, and they disappeared from her sight for what seemed like forever.

Then, Maria ran back into the room, grabbing a bag.

She stopped in her tracks, turning to face Kalda.

Kalda gasped as she looked at Maria.

Maria was wearing a red dress, white ballet shoes, her skin was pale like Kalda's skin, her eyes were green, and her hair was dark brown.

The woman from my picture! Kalda thought in shock. Does she really exist?

"Maria?" a calm voice called.

"Coming," Maria called back, not taking her eyes off of Kalda.

Maria turned away from Kalda, walking through the door.

The door closed, and Kalda never saw the woman or the man again after that.

How can that be? Kalda questioned to herself. There's no way the woman that I drew is real! Not a chance!

Kalda felt the ground beneath her shake, and she suddenly saw the place that she was in, a beautiful dance studio, fade away as she started to disappear along with it.

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

Kalda heard birds chirping outside her window, and she slowly opened up her eyes.

She saw the sun peeking through her window as well, and her eyes immediately drifted off and over to the picture of her dancer.

It wasn't a dream, but...it wasn't a nightmare either, Kalda reasoned with herself. That dream, or whatever it was, seemed so real, it felt like I was in the dance studio, too. Maria even looked at me.

Kalda got out of her bed, walking over to the picture of Maria.

What was more surprising, however, was the fact that a man was with Kalda and Maria.

Kalda couldn't see much of him, but his voice seemed familiar to her, and yet it wasn't at the same time.

His hair was also blonde, but a lot of men had blonde hair.

Kalda didn't even know his name either, she realized.

Maria just called him, "my dear."

That wasn't a name, Kalda knew, but it was all she had right now.

Kalda started to feel woozy, so she shook her head to clear out her thoughts.

She quickly grabbed a quick breakfast, packed up her clothes for the rest of the week, and wrote her brothers a note since they were still asleep.

She also grabbed her other personal belongings, leaving to get on the next plane headed for England as soon as possible.

Britain told me to come for the rest of the week, just not yesterday, Kalda reviewed in her head. Why?

It was weird, Kalda knew, and it was not like him at all.

I wonder if something bad happened to him? Kalda started to worry.

The plane landed a few hours later, and Kalda quickly got to Britain's house.

She opened up the door without even knocking, seeing that the house was empty.

"Aw, come on!" Kalda whined. "That's not fair at all!"

"What's not fair?" Britain asked, walking into Kalda's view with his nose in yet another book.

Kalda sighed with relief.

"You're okay," she calmly smiled.

"Well, of course I am," Britain answered, closing his book with a soft clap. "What did you think happened to me?"

"I don't know," Kalda lied casually. "I was just worried because of your letter yesterday. That's all."

"Alright then," Britain snapped. "You can work right away or never. Either is fine with me."

Kalda was slightly confused by his new change in attitude.

He's usually a little more nice about me working for him, Kalda told herself. I wonder what's going on?

"Wow," Kalda smirked. "Who spit in your tea this morning?"

Britain sighed at her comment, calming down a little.

"Just...please get to work and leave me alone for a while," he answered. "I thought yesterday was enough time to get over it, but I apparently have a lot of things to sort through."

"Sorting?" Kalda grinned. "Sounds like a job for Kalda Hush, then."

"I'm afraid that this is more personal, Kalda," Britain replied, being ever so calm now. "Please just get to work, all right?"

With that he walked away and into his study, leaving Kalda alone and confused at the front door.

Kalda sighed as she put her suitcase up in her guest bedroom, walking back downstairs to get working.

She started with the kitchen first, and saw that some things were shattered and broken.

The more important and scary thing was, however, was that Kalda could see alcohol bottles lying around on the floor.

Empty alcohol bottles.

I figured as much, Kalda sighed to herself. Once you start, you can never let go, can you, Britain?

Kalda swept up the broken glass bottles, putting them outside to recycle.

She mopped up the kitchen floor, and organized everything else that seemed to be out of place.

She also cleaned off the dining room table, and then began to make some fresh tea for Britain.

His hangover will take a while to go away, Kalda confirmed. Luckily, tea is a great alternative because you can't get drunk on tea.

Kalda fixed the living room while the tea was steeping, so she did her best with the short time frame that she had before the tea was done.

She dusted off the bookshelves, lamps, and sidetables, making sure that she also folded up all of the blankets that seemed to be messed up.

Kalda heard the tea kettle whistle, and so she knew that the rest of the living room would have to be put on hold.

She poured the tea in a little cup and then she put the cup on a saucer, making sure that she poured enough tea in a glass teapot.

Kalda put the cup, the saucer, and the teapot on a silver tray, carefully walking over to Britain's study.

"Hey," she said softly and with a smile. "I made some tea if you want it."

Britain gave Kalda a weak smile, silently accepting her offer.

The English and their tea, Kalda mentally giggled to herself.

She walked over to his desk, setting the tray in front of him.

"I don't want to pry, but-" Kalda started nervously, but she got cut off.

"It was an accident," Britain admitted in a sigh. "I didn't mean to drink as much as I did."

Kalda became confused, and she had no idea how to respond to such grown-up honesty.

"That's not what I was going to ask you about, but thanks for being brave enough to admit that," Kalda awkwardly replied.

Britain just blushed in embarrassment, and Kalda did, too.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'm still a little woozy."

"I can tell," Kalda chuckled.

Kalda pulled up a chair to the other side of his desk, wanting to listen to him talk to her about what had happened.

"What happened, exactly?" she calmly  asked.

Britain sighed again, seeming reluctant.

He then sat up as straight as he could, his face showing no emotion whatsoever.

"I had a dream last night," he explained, and Kalda gasped a little.

Adults can dream, too? she thought. I actually didn't know this. My brothers don't. Or...at least not that I know of. Then again, I'm sure that everyone dreams at some point.

Kalda supposed that this just went to show Britain how much she knew about life.

"It was about the first woman that I had ever fallen in love with," Britain continued, sounding sad.

Kalda gave him a comforting smile, but that didn't seem to be helping him as much as she had thought.

"So many memories were brought up, and it became too overwhelming for me," he added on. "I was in such a frenzy, that I had no idea that I was drinking at that time."

Kalda calmly put her hand on top of his.

"It's okay," she said softly. "Everyone gets stressed out when painful memories are brought up. It happens to everyone, and all we can do is try to let them go."

Britain smiled softly, not quite sure what to say.

"Thank you, Kalda," he answered. "I guess that you did sort this out for me after all."

"But sometimes," Kalda started slowly, ignoring his response, "I remember the painful memories because I guess that's all I have. I was alone for practically my entire life, so I don't really have any happy memories from my past except from a few years ago."

Britain didn't answer her as he went silent.

Does he want me to go on? Kalda wondered in confusion.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Kalda," he comforted softly. "That must have been hard."

"It was," Kalda answered, looking at him in his beautiful green eyes, "because I almost died from my past."

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

Britain was confused by her words.

"What do you mean?" he wondered.

Kalda sighed.

"Well, loneliness is a hard thing for someone as young as myself to go through," she explained. "Not really knowing who I am or where I come from is pretty scary."

"I couldn't imagine going through that," Britain said honestly. "How did you manage to survive?"

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure," Kalda replied with a smile. "I kept having these weird dreams of people who I didn't know. Later on, though, as the dreams kept coming to me, I soon knew who the people were."

"And who were they?" Britain questioned, suddenly interested in her story.

Kalda shrugged, putting a hand to her head.

"I honestly can't remember them, anymore," she sadly replied. "The dreams stopped coming to me once Veneziano, Seborga, and Romano took me in."

"I'm sorry to hear that something like that had happened to you," Britain told her honestly. "I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."

"It was actually kind of fun to see people who I didn't know interact and fall in love with each other," Kalda answered. "They were from all over the world, and that's what I thought was so cool about my dreams."

"That does sound wonderful," he smiled.

Kalda smiled, too, and Britain thought that Kalda looked so beautiful when she smiled.

She reminds me so much of her, Britain thought sadly. So beautiful and happy, just like her.

"Well," Britain said in a strained sigh as he stood up, "I should start sorting things in the library."

Kalda nodded, standing up as well.

"Of course," she replied politely. "I will leave you to it."

She turned her back on him and started to walk to the door.

Britain stopped her with his voice, though, making Kalda face him again.

"Thanks again for the tea, Kalda," he politely thanked her.

Kalda curtsied, giggling as she did so.

"You're welcome, Mister Britain," she winked.

Kalda then walked out of the room, leaving Britain alone.

He sighed to himself once she was out of earshot.

Why does Kalda remind me so much of the woman that I had once loved? Britain questioned, not quite sure how to handle the situation.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door and all Britain could hear was Kalda and France speaking to each other before he disappeared into darkness.