After many weeks of being lectured over and over again about how Britain had faked being unconscious just to mess with everyone, it was finally October.

Kalda showered in the morning like usual, hoping for at least one normal day ever since Britain had came back from the hospital two months ago.

To Kalda's surprise, the blonde dye had washed out in the shower.

Her chocolate hair had returned, and Kalda squealed in happiness once she also noticed that she was as tall, if not a little taller, as Britain himself! 

She quickly got dressed, running down the stairs and yelling over and over again at the top of her lungs, "I GREW, YOU GUYS! I ACTUALLY GREW! I'M AS TALL AS BRITAIN! I'M AS TALL AS BRITAIN!"

The five Allies looked at her in what seemed to be a mix of happiness, confusion, and shock.

"Oh my!" France exclaimed, looking at her with pure shock. "You have grown!"

"That is quite the growth spurt," Britain nervously agreed, seeing that Kalda was now eye to eye with him.

"How did you grow so fast?" America wondered. "And overnight, too?"

"I honestly have no idea," Kalda grinned, "but I'm loving my new height! It'll be nice not having to wear heels as much now."

"Looks like someone is excited," China smiled.

Russia just nodded in agreement, silently adoring his girlfriend and her happiness.

Kalda had eventually settled down at breakfast, wanting to act like the lady that she should be.

After a somewhat peaceful morning, Kalda noticed that the five men were getting ready to leave again, knowing where and why.

"Please, don't go," Kalda begged. "I don't want you to get hurt for a third time, or any of you, for that matter."

"It's okay, Kalda," Britain tried to assure her, but he cut off.

He sighed, feeling defeated; what was he doing, lying to her and trying to make everything seem okay when it really wasn't?

He knew that Kalda was smarter than that, and so he didn't lie to her this time.

"Getting hurt is what happens in war," Britain went on, changing his words. "That's a part of life altogether. Anyway, we're going to be fine. Like I said, nothing will turn out worse than it already ha-"

"I'm coming with you," Kalda interrupted, all sadness and crying gone.

Britain smiled awkwardly, not quite sure if he had heard her right.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled nervously with his awkward smile. "What was that?"

"I said, I'm coming with you," Kalda repeated, her voice more firm and defiant now.

The five Allies looked at each other with worry, knowing that Kalda had already made the decision to go into battle with them on her own.

"I'm not going to allow that," Britain replied, his voice just as firm. "You are a lady, Kalda, not a soldier."

"I hate it when people tell me who I should be, or how I should act!" Kalda stated, looking at them. "I'm nineteen, for goodness sake! I can make my own decisions!"

"Kalda, if I got shot in the shoulder, think of what could happen to you out there!" Britain tried to persuade her. "I'm sorry, but the gentleman that I am will not allow you to join us!"

Kalda and Britain sighed in unison, looking at each other as brown eyes met green eyes.

"When will you accept the fact that you can't win an argument with an Italian?" Kalda asked softly.

Britain diverted his attention to the floor, clearly debating over whether he should let her go with them or not.

"Well, what do you boys think?" Britain asked, looking at his friends. "Do you think that she's ready for this?"

France sighed, already not liking the idea; however he knew that it was pointless arguing with Kalda, for being raised by three Italians, she could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

"I can never win an argument against her," France admitted in defeat, "so we might as well let her come along."

"I knew that Kalda dude could fight!" America cheered.

"Just as long as she doesn't get hurt," China agreed slowly.

"Will keep Kalda safe," Russia promised.

Britain nodded with a smile, looking at Kalda again.

"I'm a tough general," Britain smirked. "Just ask these guys and everyone else in my Army. In your training, running laps would be child's play compared to what you will have to do there. Are you sure that you are still up for this?"

Kalda nodded seriously, giving him a proper soldier salute, just like she had done to Russia in the Meeting when they had first met.

"Yes, General Arthur Kirkland, sir!" Kalda replied in a strong, clear voice.

Britain nodded as well, grinning with a ton of pride that he didn't know what to do with.

"Well, then welcome to the Allies, Private Kalda Hush," Britain declared, shaking her hand. "Now go run upstairs and change. I have another green military outfit up there and inside my closet. We have a long journey ahead of us."

Kalda cheered unprofessionally as she ran up the stairs, getting ready for her journey.

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

"Goodbye Kalda Hush," Kalda said as she cut her hair with a pair of scissors, "hello Kalda Vargas."

Kalda had cut her shoulder length, chocolate brown hair in the exact same style that her brothers' hair was.

She had to admit that it was probably her best project done on herself, and with Britain's extra green and brown military outfit, an exact replica of the one he wore almost every day, Kalda thought that she looked exactly like her third oldest brother, Seborga.

She put on the green hat that came with the outfit, giving herself a once over.

This time, Kalda really did look like a man instead of a girl.

Kalda didn't have the unique curl in her hair like her Italian brothers, but she knew that she was still their Italian sister, curl or no curl.

Kalda ran down the stairs, happy and pleased with her new look.

"When do I get my own gun?" Kalda asked excitedly, earning surprised looks and gasps from the five men.

"You...you-" Britain cut off.

"You cut your-" America couldn't even continue.

"What did you do?" France yelled at his niece.

"How did you get it so precise?" China wondered.

"You cut your hair," Russia smiled. "Is beautiful on you. Look just like your siblings."

"YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?" America, France, and Britain exploded in unison, not quite sure what to think at that moment.

Kalda laughed at the mixed emotions that she was getting.

"Duh," she grinned, taking off the military hat to show off her new hairstyle off. "You told me to look like a boy, and so I followed that rule."

"Yes, but that's not quite what we meant," Britain sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Then he looked at her, truly seeing how happy she was; he smiled, too, wanting her to know that he was supporting her change.

"Oh, well," he shrugged. "There's no turning back now, is there? Besides, you look...just like them."

"Well, that was the point," Kalda chuckled, but then she became nervous. "I just hope that the Axis or the Second Players won't capture me or anything like that."

"We'll be sure zhat zhey won't," France promised.

Kalda nodded, putting the hat back on.

"Oh, and Kalda," Britain smirked, grabbing almost a brand new rifle into his hands to show it off, "this is for you."

Kalda gasped, looking at the beautiful cherry wood and black metal rifle.

Britain gently handed it to her, and Kalda almost didn't want to touch it.

"It's so beautiful," Kalda whispered, admiring the gun in her hands.

"It belonged to someone very special to me, but I am one hundred percent sure that they would want you to have it," Britain explained softly, looking at Kalda with a smile.

"How did you know that cherry trees were my favorite?" Kalda giggled, tears forming in her eyes.

"I had a guess," Britain winked. "Now, let's get going, shall we? I have ammunition back at the camp, so I'll help you load it up later, all right?"

Kalda nodded, following the five men out of the house.

I'm a member of the Allies now, Kalda thought proudly, slinging the rifle onto her back like the others. Watch out you Second Player jerks because I'm coming straight for you.

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

"Sir, sir!" a Lieutenant cried, running into the Axis' tent in their camp. "We have just received word that the Allies have a new ally. Not to sound repetitive, or anything."

"Do you know what they look like?" a man asked, his back facing the Lieutenant.

"They were as tall as a British guy, and they were wearing the same outfit as the British guy as well," the Lieutenant started to explain. "They were pretty scrawny for being a soldier, and they had the same hairstyle as...you."

The man giggled.

"Seems fair enough," he said. "Do you know where the Allies and this new soldier are heading?"

"They are advancing from the West," the Lieutenant replied. "They should be here in about...I would say in...about four to six weeks."

"Hmph," the mysterious man scoffed, turning serious again. "That doesn't give us a lot of time to carry out Hitler's order."

"What should we do?" the Llieutenant asked.

The man turned around to face the Lieutenant, and the young man gasped in shock and fear.

"You leave that to me," Luciano smirked, enjoying the Lieutenant's shocked face. "You just do your job like a good boy, yes?"

The Lieutenant nodded rapidly, running out of the tent in fear.

Luciano turned to walk further into the tent, seeing that the three good Axis were tied up, Kuro and Lutz on either side of them.

Luciano went up to his lookalike, crouching in front of him.

Veneziano had a cloth in his mouth, making him unable to speak.

Japan and Germany were in the same situation, all three Axis tied together back to back and sitting on the ground in the tent.

"In case you didn't hear that, Veneziano, I'm afraid that the Allies have been very naughty," Luciano grinned as he took Veneziano's chin into his hand, his eyes flashing from red to violet.

"Yoof wom'f gef fem!" Veneziano yelled, trying to get his words out through the cloth in his mouth.

Luciano laughed at his poor attempt to speak.

"Oh, I think that I will," he replied. "Why, you ask? Well, it just so happens to be that there's a lookalike of us on their side now, a sixth member of the Allies. Any idea on who that could be, my lovely?"

Veneziano's amber eyes widened, not wanting to believe it.

Kalda! he thought in fear, tears forming in his eyes. No! What is she doing here, and being stupid again, too? Why did she have to dress like Mister Britain and cut her hair like mine? Why?

Tears streamed down his cheeks, a look of anger on his face as Luciano sickly enjoyed every single second of his mental breakdown.

This was all too much for Veneziano to take; his little sister was in the War now, on the opposite side, and he didn't know what to do except sob right then and there in front of his evil counterpart of himself like a scared, little boy.

"Aw, you don't need to worry your pretty little head about her, Veneziano," Luciano tried to comfort his crying counterpart, patting his head like a man does to a puppy.

He stood up, his grin still on his face.

"I'll bring her back to us safe and sound," he promised. "Well, mostly."

Veneziano stood up, breaking the ropes and surprisingly setting himself and his friends free.

"Don't you dare to touch my little Kaldy!" Veneziano threatened, taking the cloth out of his mouth and grabbing his pistol.

He cocked it and pointed it at Luciano, but the other man just laughed in mockery.

"Oh, you poor thing," he said in a baby voice, seeing Lutz completely capture Veneziano again and handcuffing him to a tent pole.

Veneziano tried to break free, but the handcuffs were metal and harder to break.

"You know, it's actually quite sweet to see you fighting for your sister," Luciano smirked as he picked up the stray gun, "but I'm afraid that you're at a loss."

The other Second Players proceeded to handcuff their own counterparts to the tent poles, one on a different pole spread throughout the tent so that they were not close to each other.

Veneziano glared at Luciano, wanting him to stop talking.

"Well, we really must be going," Luciano said, signalling to Kuro and Lutz to leave with him. "The Allies and my sister will be here in a few weeks, so we don't have a lot of time to prepare for their attack."

"Touch one hair on her head, and you're a dead man when I get out of these handcuffs!" Veneziano yelled, but it was no use.

They had already left, leaving the three of them alone.

Veneziano felt tears threaten at his eyes again, and he didn't hold them back like he did the first time.

"She's going to die," he muttered, crying.

"Ve vill find her, Veneziano," Germany assured his friend, "I promise."

"Hai," Japan nodded in agreement. "Karda wirr be fine."

"She is a tough girl," Germany added on. "She got zhat from you, you know."

Veneziano looked at his friends with a tear stained face.

"She didn't get it from me," he said in a choked up voice. "She got it from him."

"Luciano is a part of you," Germany replied. "A very small part, but a part of you nonezheless."

"Germarny irs right," Japan stated quietly. "Luciano irs not nearry zhe fighter you are."

"He gains his strength from zhe fear of ozhers," Germany continued on. "You gain your strength from fighting for vhat is right, and right now, you need to fight to save your sister."

Veneziano nodded, knowing that his friends were right; he needed to be strong, for Kalda's sake.

"But I'm not nearly as strong as he is," he stated, losing faith again.

"But..you...ARE!" Germany yelled at him from across the tent. "You are vay stronger zhan he is! He is an idiot compared to you! Only an idiot vould put someone zhey love in danger like zhis!"

Veneziano gasped, his amber eyes widening; for once, Germany wasn't calling him the idiot, and that made Veneziano very happy.

"Germany," he started in a small but flattered voice, "that's the most nicest thing that you've ever said to me."

"Don't make me regret it," Germany smiled. "I zhink zhat I saw zhe key around here somevhere. If I can find it, ve can get out of here."

Japan and Veneziano nodded in agreement, wanting to get out of the camp just as much as Germany.

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

"The first rule of handling a gun is to never aim at something or someone that you don't want to shoot at," America told Kalda.

Kalda was lying on her stomach over the edge of a trench, her rifle on a gun stand.

She had her sight on a stack of cans that the five men had set up, but the gun wasn't loaded yet.

Right now, they were just training her on how to handle it unloaded before they took it a level higher.

"I think that I got that part down already," Kalda replied in a laugh.

"Since this is an older rifle model, one that hasn't been seen or used since the end of World War I," Britain explained, "you have to load and clean it differently than ours, but that's something we can always show you later."

"Can I shoot it now?" Kalda asked, excitement shining in her brown eyes.

"Actually, there was something else that I had in mind," Britain smirked. "Follow me."

Kalda nodded, handing her rifle to America.

"Watch Uccisore for me," she told the dirty blonde, walking away with Britain.

"Wait, what?" America asked, following them. "What does that mean?"

Britain just kept on smirking, knowing exactly what it meant.

"It's Italian for "Killer," Kalda explained with a grin.

"You named your rifle?" America gushed. "That's so cool!"

"I know," she giggled.

"Killer," hm?" Britain repeated. "I never would have guessed. I thought that you would have named it after one of your brothers or something."

"Oh, I did," Kalda grinned. "It's Veneziano's nickname. I...may or may not have given it to him when I was a kid."

The two men looked at her in shock, confused.

"And why did you give him that nickname?" America asked awkwardly.

"Well," Kalda drawled, going into deep thought.

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

Kalda was sitting on a small rock, reading a picture book to herself.

She was nine years old, her three older brothers shooting can stacks together.

Kalda was mesmerized by their black as night pistols, but her brothers would never let her touch them.

They had always put the guns away; out of her sight, and under lock and key.

Today, though, Kalda was going to get her hand on one of the guns.

Just to look, Kalda promised herself. Not to shoot.

Kalda put her book down, sneaking up on her oldest brother.

She hugged him around his leg, since she was still small at that time, and she accidentally made him miss his target due to her sudden presence.

"Ugh!" Romano growled, looking down at her as he put his pistol down at his side. "You made me miss, you little idiot-a!"

Kalda just stared at him, not quite sure what to say.

Then she eyed his pistol with curiosity, putting her arms up to reach out to it since the gun was at his side.

Romano saw what she was doing, so he put it out of her reach.

"Oh, no non ti, manca!" he told her firmly. "Questa è un'arma molto pericolosa."

(A/N: Translation: "Oh, no you don't, missy! This is a very dangerous weapon.")

Kalda ignored his statements, replying with, "Ma voglio vederlo, fratello maggiore."

(A/N: Translation: "But I want to see it, big brother.")

"I said no, Kalda, and I meant it," Romano replied, walking off and into the house.

Kalda looked at Seborga, but he just shook his head with a firm look on his face as he walked into the house, too.

Kalda supposed that he had heard the whole conversation, and so she sighed.

A gun shot brought Kalda out of her glum mood, and she saw that Veneziano had shot his own pistol.

The whole stack of cans fell with a metallic clatter, and Kalda watched in awe.

"You want to look, don't you?" he laughed, seeing his sister's wide eyes.

Kalda just nodded, holding her hands out.

Veneziano laughed again, kneeling on one knee to lightly hand her the gun.

Kalda dropped it once it came into her hands, though, the weight of it being a lot more than she had expected.

"Yes, it is heavy," he told her with a smirk, "but it gets easier to hold it as you grow up."

Kalda nodded a little, picking it up again.

"The bullet goes in here, and comes out there," Veneziano explained. "To make the bullet fly, you pull the trigger."

"Do the cans feel pain when you hit them?" Kalda asked, looking at the fallen stack of cans.

"No, Kaldy," Veneziano shook his head with a smile, "but the people that I have to shoot do."

"Why do you have to shoot people?" Kalda asked, cocking her head to the side.

"It's part of my job," Veneziano replied. "Germany needs help sometimes when people hurt him, and so I always have to be there and be ready to protect him."

Kalda was confused about why her favorite brother was telling her all of this, looking at the house.

Normally Romano would have had this conversation with her, or maybe even Seborga, but never Veneziano.

"Quindi questo ti rende, un grande fratello assassino?" Kalda asked, looking back at Veneziano's amber eyes with her curious, brown ones.

(A/N: Translation: "So then does that make you a killer, big brother?")

Veneziano smiled as he softly ruffled her hair.

"Look who's becoming the living dictionary," he chuckled.

Then, he thought about his answer; he sighed, not quite sure how to tell Kalda the truth except straight up.

"Yes, Kaldy," he frowned for the first time during their whole conversation. "That does make me a killer."

Kalda looked at the gun, then her brother again.

"Uccisore," Kalda told him in one word. "Your nickname from now on is "Uccisore."

Veneziano just smiled, not quite sure what to say.

"I've been called worse," he laughed, hugging his sister as Kalda hugged him back.

"Ti amo, fratello maggiore," Kalda whispered to him.

(A/N: Translation: "I love you, big brother.")

"I love you, too, little Kaldy," Veneziano whispered back, walking into the house with his gun in hand and Kalda by his side.

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

"I think that this is the first time that you have ever told me a real story about you and your brothers," Britain said, sitting down at a table.

"It's very rare that I tell them to people," Kalda answered, sitting down at the table as well.

America followed suit after he had put Kalda's rifle away, wanting to be polite.

"Why do you always keep things to yourself like that?" America wondered. "I mean, isn't it nice to talk about stuff like that to others?"

"It's...kind of how I was raised," Kalda awkwardly explained. "Romano did most of the teaching to me. He basically taught me everything that I know. I mean, I have qualities from all three of them, it's just...Romano made me kind of..."tough."

"So you don't have any weaknesses?" America continued on as Britain just intently listened.

Britain noticed that Kalda and America were starting to get along, and that made him both happy and perplexed.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Kalda smiled. "Everyone has a weakness. We're humans, not superheroes."

"I will agree to that," Britain smiled as well.

Suddenly, the tent door opened.

"General Kirkland, you...might want to come and see this," the soldier said, waiting for an answer.

Britain nodded, standing up as America and Kalda did as well.

"I will be right there," Britain told the soldier, and the young man nodded as he walked away from the tent.

"Trouble?" Kalda asked, turning serious.

"I hope not," Britain replied darkly, walking out of the tent alone.