Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

Festivals of Light

~Four months later~

"Hey, Willow? What's with all these lights?"

Willow looked down at her younger sister, who was holding her hand and trying to walk through every single rain puddle in her path. Her rain boots were mismatched, the left with the black and orange Oregon State Beavers decals and the right one decorated with the celebrated Oregon Ducks green and yellow logo. It wasn't raining right then, but the thick gray clouds high overhead were threatening to pour down on everything mercilessly.

"I'm glad you asked, sister dear," Willow said jovially. "Because it is that time of year once again, where we give presents to the people we love and get presents in return. It's called Christmas!"

"Oh, oh!" Alice exclaimed excitedly, and hopped up and down without letting go of her sister's hand. "I heard Tino say that word once! I didn't know what it means, though. I really get presents?" 

"You do!" Willow assured her happily. "You're probably going to get a lot of them, too. Christmas is kind of a big deal for us all. And this year, we're going to stay with the other states for a couple of days before we get to visit the Nordics."

"Woohoo!" Alice cheered at the thought of going to see the Nordics. She always had fun when one or more of them babysat her.

The two of them stepped off the sidewalk and scurried inside the huge Seattle mall's front doors just as the first signs of a downpour were showing. "So... Why are we here in the mall?" Alice inquired, taking note of the little green trees all wrapped up in colorful stuff and put on display everywhere.

"I thought it would be a good idea to get some shopping done earlier rather than later," was Willow's reply to that. "You wanna help me?"

"Sure~" Alice sang cheerfully. "What else happens at Christmas?"

"Oh boy, are you in for a treat."

~~

"What are these for?" Estonia inquired curiously as he peered at the festive baubles and sparkly garlands that Poland was in the middle of unpacking. Sitting around the older blond were half a dozen well-weathered cardboard boxes, unopened and brimming with possibilities.

"It's almost Christmas!" Felyks answered in a chipper voice. "Like, one of my favorite holidays ever! Except for all the fashion atrocities everywhere, but, like, I can overlook those most of the time."

"What is 'Christmas?'" Eduard asked, sitting himself down behind Felyks so he could watch him unpack all the shiny decorations. To amuse himself, he picked up a bright red ornament and stared at his warped reflection looking back at him.

"Christmas is this, like, Christian holiday, and we give presents to people. And it's, like, really fun to go shopping for everyone! I totally give some of the best gifts in the whole dang world! But the whole point of the holiday is to celebrate the birth of Jesus."

Estonia fixed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled at one of his caregivers. "That sounds like a lot of fun. Do I get to give gifts, too?"

"Like, totally!" Poland cheered happily. "You wanna pick stuff out for the other kids, maybe?" By 'other kids' he meant the only people who were even remotely the same age as Estonia; the five of them were more or less friends because they always were grouped together at world meetings and sent to play in Mary's Magical Daycare.

Mary had been delighted when her "business" was dubbed as such by America, and the name had stuck ever since. Rayn was usually "employed" to help out because she was one of the few nations that could talk to all five of the children at once. The language barrier is a formidable obstacle.