{Quick recap for anyone who wants to jump in without reading the sequel: Arthur mistakenly transported a young woman named Claire into the nation's world while attempting to summon a spirit ally to get back at Alfred for past grievances. Claire was sent back to her world after waiting for the next full moon due to it not being possible for her to return if the spell was delayed past the end of the lunar cycle. Arthur and Feliciano have been working tirelessly to discover a route for her to return.}
London, England
A quarterly conference of nations had just concluded; the responsibility of hosting the meeting had rolled around to England, and the nation was impatiently waiting at the head of a long table watching the remaining attendees slowly trickle out of the room.
Some of the more sociable countries such as Feliciano, Francis, and Antonio loved to seize the meetings as an opportunity to catch up with friends they would otherwise not see for months on end, and unfortunately courtesy dictated that the host not leave the building until all nations attending had departed.
Arthur was curtly saying goodbye to each country as they exited the room, but kept glancing back at the group of men gathered at the back of the room, specifically glaring daggers at a certain Frenchman who was the root of the problem.
Ten minutes later, Francis and Feliciano had apparently wrapped up their lengthy chat with Alfred and turned to leave the room, leaving behind Alfred who was failing to gather his papers from the meeting. More than half had fluttered to the floor despite the young man's best efforts to stuff them into an overflowing battered binder.
"Do you have to persist in being such a slothenly mess?" nagged Arthur, quickly bending to pick up the remaining papers. "You know we have to get downtown for my status meeting within the hour, and because you demanded on staying at my home instead of the guest housing, I have to drag your arse along with me!"
There were permanent buildings dedicated to providing a place for visiting nations to stay the night during the meetings, each conference center had put together such an arrangement to ensure every required country attended every quarter.
"There's no way in hell I'm staying in a room next to that Russian nutjob, there was only one left, and I wouldn't get a lick of sleep knowing Ivan was plotting to do something as soon as I dozed off," retorted Alfred.
"For God's sake, he's not going to do anything to you! The entire reason for these meetings is to promote goodwill among all attending nations and to share current issues, not to have petty school yard fights!" said Arthur exasperated. Truthfully he wasn't very bothered by the idea of Alfred spending the few days at his home, the two very rarely saw each other nowadays and he still felt the need to watch out for his former colony.
The two men had just started walking down a hallway towards the exit when Alfred abruptly turned about face and started walking back towards the meeting room.
"Alfred where on earth are you going?! We have to leave now or we'll be even farther behind schedule!" yelled Arthur.
"Dude chill, I left my coat on my chair, it'll just take a sec!" said Alfred continuing down the hallway.
"Hmmph well hurry up," grumbled Arthur. He gave up on his attempts to catch up with the younger man and leaned against the wall of the corridor taking a moment to close his eyes; the meeting had gone much longer than expected and he felt completely knackered.
I wish he wouldn't waste time like this, that boy needs to learn to stop throwing his belongings willy nilly all over the place! He would of happily continued in his internal tirade, but he was interrupted by something poking into his forehead.
"Arthur is something wrong? You look so tired, you should come with me and Ludwig to get some dinner at the Italian place down the road!" advised Feliciano. "We were just about to head there, a good plate of pasta will definitely perk you up!"
"Err no, I'm completely fine" said Arthur. Feliciano continued to stand in front of him looking like he wanted to ask something but was too hesitant to voice it. "Was there something you needed?" probed Arthur.
"I know you've been very busy with arranging all of these meetings, but I just wanted to know if you found a new spell to bring Claire back yet?" asked Italy looking hopeful. "You just had to wait until the next full moon right? And that was yesterday!"
"Yes, that was the moment I was waiting for, and I did attempt to cast the spell with some new tweaks, but I'm afraid there was no result," said Arthur. "I think it'd be best if you just forgot about her chap, I'm sure she's safe and happy back in her own home."
"Oh, you think so?" said Feliciano looking crestfallen, no longer bouncing on his heels. The young man was full of energy 24/7 and was rarely seen standing still, he had spent the entire meeting bouncing his knee which made the table creak annoyingly for the full hour and a half of presentations.
"Yes-" Arthur started to say but at the same moment Alfred started yelling down the hall, "Hey Artie, why are there a couple of chicks in here?".
"What do you mean? The cleaning staff should all be gone for the night already, and no humans are allowed on this floor during the meetings!" said England worriedly, the two men starting walking quickly back towards the sound of Alfred's voice.
"Dude then why are they in here?" he asked as Arthur caught his first glance of the two women, they appeared to be sound asleep on top of a threadbare couch that had materialized smack-dab in the center of the room.
"Angleterre, where are yoooouuu?" called a heavily accented voice down the hallway, "Oh bloody hell, I thought he'd already left, quick shut the door!" said Arthur. Alfred quickly slammed the door shut with a loud thud. "Argh you dolt, why did you have to slam it!" yelled Arthur angrily.
"Oh hi big brother!" they heard Feliciano say. "What are you doing?"
"I might ask the same of Arthur, why is he hiding from moi?" said Francis, dramatically pressing a hand to his head in mock despair.
"Alfred said there are some bellas in the meeting room and he went to look!" stated Feliciano helpfully.
"Oh no! We must save the mademoiselles from such brutes!" declared Francis whirling around and snatching the door open.
"Arrgh would it kill you to just mind your own damn business! I am entirely capable of sorting this out by myself, the last time you talked to one of my staff I had two maids quit the same day!" snapped Arthur attempting to push Francis back out of the room.
Francis deftly ducked under Arthur's shoulder and approached the couch, peering down at the pair. Both of the women's faces were obscured by either bedhead, blankets, or a combination of the two, and the men were unable to see if they recognized the pair.
"Would you just leave! If those two wake up in a room full of strange men, I am most definitely going to get backlash from it and this will be the last time we host in my capitol!" hissed Arthur, and the two started tossing insults back and forth. At this moment Feliciano poked his head in and saw Alfred looking at the girls;
"Who are they?" he asked.
"Well let's just wake one up and find out!" declared Alfred and he promptly started shaking the shoulder of the closest women. After a few shakes she started to open her eyes, "Claire knock it off, it's still the middle of the ni-" she cut herself off after her eyes focused enough to take in the situation.
She and her sister were in a strange room she'd never seen before, surrounded by strange men, and one of them was currently throttling her shoulder. What's a girl to do?
A shrill scream tore through the air, halting the slew of insults between Francis and Arthur, and focusing every set of eyes in the room on the panicking female.