Hot and Cold

Seperation

        It had been two and a half years since Madeline and Ivan had become friends - now they were the very best of friends. However, back at home, Francis had started drinking, gambling, and smoking considerably more and this scared Madeline. However, Ivan was there to comfort her - yet she still worried anxiously about Francis. One day, when she had gotten home from school, there was another blonde-haired man in the kitchen, arguing with a drunken Francis. She stood in the doorway, small tears pooling in her large indigo eyes. The other blonde man turned to leave and noticed her in the door frame of the kitchen, and looked back to Francis. "Like I said, I'm taking Madeline. For your own good, you damned bastard! This is not a suitable environment for a little child, especially a girl!" Francis scowled, looking both furious and heartbroken since he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

        "Like hell you are!" He growled, rushing over to the ten-year old Maddi and scooping her up in a hug. He buried his flushed cheeks into her long, soft, silky hair and began to sob while holding her tight. Madeline placed her arms around his neck and hugged him back, her own small and confused sobs beginning to escape her lips. Who was this man, and why was he taking her away from Francis?

        Arthur felt a small pang of guilt when Francis began to sob uncontrollably into Madeline, but stood strong in his belief. This was no suitable environment for such a little child - no, not for any child, period. He walked over to the two, detaching Madeline from Francis, and set her on the ground. He then grabbed her hand and led her to the door, but before they could exit, Madeline looked back. She would never forget Francis' utterly heartbroken expression, not ever. Tears pooled in her eyes again, and she broke her gaze to look at the sidewalk.

        "..Sorry about all that, I really am. I'm Arthur Kirkland, the representative of Great Britain. I already know who you are, however. You will come and live with Alfred Jones and myself. i assure you that this is a much better home than the one you had just exited. I'll take good care of you." Madeline kept quiet, still staring at the sidewalk as they walked hand-in-hand down the street until they arrived at his house.

        The two were greeted before Arthur could even knock on the door by a blonde child had opened it and was chattering about something. "Alright, alright, Alfred. I'll listen to you in a second. Just give me a few, okay?" The Brit waved him away as he led Maddi inside the house. It was nice and had a quaint feel to it, but it wasn't home.

        "Who's that, Iggy?" Alfred paused to study her a bit more. "Wait, that's Maddi. She's in my class, haha! What's she doing here, huh?" Arthur let out an exasperated sigh before shutting the door behind him and taking a seat on the sofa.

        "She's going to live with us for a while." Alfred's face lit up when he had said this.

        "Oh, cool! I'll have someone to play with! What kind of games do you like, Maddi? You're a girl, so you wouldn't like playing bobbies and robbers, huh?" Madeline looked up with slightly curious eyes.

        "W-what's.. bobbies and robbers.. ?" She mumbled. Alfred rolled his eyes, taking her hand and tugging her up the stairs.         

        "It's this really cool game where one of us is a bobby and the other is a robber! The bobby tries to catch the robber and we have toy guns and.. "

        The Canadian let the American chatter on, her mind drifting back to Francis' expression when she had left, but quickly shook her head to get rid of it. "And that's pretty much the gist of it!" Alfed finished when they had reached the top of the stairs. "Hm.. you look like you wouldn't be able to run real good in that dress. You can borrow some of my clothes to play in if you want! Anyways, I'm gonna be the bobby, 'cause I'm the hero! Haha!" Madeline simply nodded with a faint smile as Alfred pulled her into his room and started digging through his dresser. He pulled out a pair of pants and a short sleeved shirt, then handed them to her. "Here, go change in the bathroom over there. I'll go and find you one of my toy guns!"

        After Madeline had changed into Alfred's clothes, he was waiting outside of the bathroom door, holding two cap guns in his hands. "Alright, you ready to play, Maddi?" He climbed to his feet, grinning as he handed her one of the cap guns. She took it gingerly and studied it a little bit before smiling faintly again at his hospitality. In school, Alfred was slightly less energetic than now, but perhaps it was because he had a friend over that he was as hyper as he was.

        Maybe we could also be good friends.. I hope so, he seems like a really nice person, just like Ivan.. Maddi thought to herself, feeling a sudden pang of longing for her best friend. He always was willing to listen to her problems and talk about them, and vice versa. At least she would still see him at school on Monday, but it was only Friday today and she still had the whole weekend to go through. Maybe she could visit him at his house tomorrow, but she would have to do it without Alfred. The American shared a profound dislike for the Russian and wasn't afraid to hide it from anyone, especially Ivan himself. M-maybe I could get them to be friends.. eventually.. She was snapped back to realityby Alfred poking her with the barrel of his cap gun.

        "Hey, you okay, Maddi?" The Canadian looked up with a sheepish smile.

        "O-oui, I was just.. thinking about a few things.." She replied quietly, looking down at her own toy gun that was clasped in her petite hands.

        "You still wanna play?" He looked a bit curious as to what she was thinking about, but then shrugged. "I mean if you don't want to, we can play something else. But just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'll do it, okay? So no dress up, not ever!" Alfred scowled playfully, laughing a bit as well. Madeline nodded, giggling softly herself at the thought of this 'hero' in a frilly, lacy and pink gown.

        "Okay, no dress up. And I would still like to play."

        "Awesome, let's go then! You go and hide somewhere, then I'll find you and bust ya if you can't run away! But I doubt that you can!" The blonde boy grinned, giving her a small push to make her go and hide somewhere. Maddi nodded and scampered off into the house, looking for a place to hide.

        I guess I'll ask Arthur if I can go and see Ivan tomorrow..