a/n - What am I doing?

Anyway, I had this idea and figured I'd build on it.

The writing in this disappoints me, though. :( I've been away for too long.

Chapter One:

This was the best thing Lorelei had ever discovered. Finally, she had a reason to throw out all of those stupid bears she had amassed over her childhood. She'd keep a few of them, for personal reasons, but the rest she'd give to her mom, so she could decide what to do with them.

Lining her wall, sitting on a shelf that hung over her bed, were all of the Hetalia paper craft she had created over the past week. After finding it online, she had quickly set to work to make her favorite characters. First, Prussia. Then, England, America, and the rest of the axis and allies.

There they stood in all of their paper craft glory, each staring at her with little colored eyes. Normally, she found dolls to be the creepiest things on the face of the earth, but these she didn't mind so much. Maybe because they were familiar to her, or something. Her friend who was a wanna-be psychiatrist would probably come up with a reason.

"Alright, you guys." Why was she talking to them? Oh well, her family already thought she was nuts; why not add a little more fuel to the fire? "I think I have you all placed correctly. Western, here. European, over here. Asian, over here." After adjusting them a few more times, she hopped off her bed. Turning to look at them one more time, she admired her precision and handiwork. Maybe she should pursue a career in arts and crafts...

"PIXIE DUST, PIXIE DUST, PIXIE DUST!" At that moment, her little sister came running into Lorelei's room, dressed in the Tinkerbell costume she had forced their mom to buy for her, and tossing sand from a pail all over the room.

"ANNA!" Lorelei screeched, desperately trying to grab her hyper little sister. Although, she was as slippery as soap in the shower, and ran out of the room before Lorelei could do any real harm. "MOOOOOMMMMM!"

And yet another day ensued for the Easton household.

Debra Easton pinched the bridge of her nose to keep herself composed. With a small calming breath, she looked at her two daughters. They sat on the couch, both on opposite ends, so as to be as far away from each other as possible. "Lori, apologize for yelling at your sister."

Lorelei was positively affronted. "Why?! She's the one who ran into my room and threw sand everywhere, I was nowhere in the wrong!"

"You are not "mom", Lorelei. When problems happen, you do not have the right to discipline Anna, as you would like to believe." Debra explained levelly, "So apologize to your sister."

The look on her mom's face let Lorelei know that there was no option here. "Fine. Sorry, Anna." She said it as sarcastically as possible, which only earned her a dissatisfied sigh from her mother.

"MOM," Anna cried, "She didn't mean that! She was being mean."

"Lorelei, apologize nicely." Her mother crossed her arms against her chest, narrowing her eyes at her lately-rebellious teenage daughter.

"Mom, I'm not ten. Stop treating me like I am!" Lorelei complained, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

Debra's eyes narrowed further. "Well, then stop acting like you're ten, and I'll stop treating you like it. You're seventeen, for god's sakes. Lorelei, just apologize to your sister."

"Fine." She snapped back, then took a deep, calming breath. "I'm sorry, Anna." She didn't mean it, but it sounded more convincing this time.

"Good. Now, Anna, apologize to your sister."

"WHAT?!" It was like you had told the eight-year-old that they decided that they weren't going to make Barbie dolls anymore. Her world was shattering before her eyes, crumbling by her mother's command.

"You heard me." Debra's patience was thinning. "You had no right to run into your sister's room, and even less of a right to throw sand in it."

"But I was just playing!" She retorted, tears building at the corner of her insufferably adorable brown eyes. "And then she was mean to me, so she needs to be punished, not me!"

Lorelei had to resist the urge to interrupt with sarcasm. It was a habit her mother didn't appreciate. "Anna, we've talked about this. You can play outside, and you can play in the living room, and you can play in your room. Unless Lorelei says you can go in her room, you can't play there. And, you know outside toys stay outside." Debra explained with what little patience she had left, "Now apologize to your sister."

"Fine!" Anna cried, "Sorry, Lorelei!" She shouted, also not sounding very sincere.

"Okay," Debra sighed, "Now each of you go to your rooms and stay there until dinner."

"What?!"

"But mom-!"

"You heard me." Debra snapped impatiently, "To your rooms, and think about why this happened and how we can prevent it in the future. I expect an answer when I call you down for dinner."

"Yes ma'am," The two sisters responded, each trekking their way to their room rather angrily.

"I hate you," Anna whispered, sticking her tongue out as she passed by her sister to get to her room.

"I hate you, too." Lorelei whispered back, sticking her tongue out as well.

"ROOMS!" Her mother's voice boomed, making them yelp in surprise. "Yes ma'am!"

Lorelei slammed her door shut with force, flopping down on her bed before she remembered that it had been covered in sand. "Great," She climbed off of it with a grimace, shaking herself off. Grabbing her sheets, she shook them out, cursing her little sister the whole time.

Why did her mother need to have another kid? She would have been perfectly happy as an only child. But no, her mother had to go and get married again after her father died when she was three. She couldn't have stayed single? Lorelei would have been happy even if it was just her and mom, even if they didn't see eye to eye all the time.

Though the thought was far from unusual, she couldn't help but wonder what things would be like if her Dad hadn't died when she was young. Her mom always said that she was his 'spitting image', in all aspects. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, round face, and an upturned nose. She was the exact opposite of her mother: Natural blonde, bright blue eyes, oval face, and an aristocrat's nose. Her mother was gorgeous, and she was...well, she was cute, sometimes.

Her mother always described her dad as 'one-of-a-kind', and said that Lorelei had inherited that part of him. When Lorelei would ask what that meant, her mother would just smile and ruffle her hair. She didn't know what her mom meant by that specifically, but she knew it was true. She was different from her other family members. Her mom was a lot like Germany; stoic, neat, and always composed. Her little sister was like America; hyper, self-centered, and could pull out those 'puppy eyes' on a moment's notice.

And Lorelei... well, she was different. Not in a bad way, not in a good way, just... Different. It was hard to explain to her mom how out-of-place she would sometimes feel even in her own household, like she wasn't really needed there.

Her eyes subconsciously trailed up, towards the little Hetalia paper craft figures. If they were real, she thought, they would understand.

They would understand...