Chapter 2: A Call to Arms

A/N: Wow I did not expect that turnout for the first chapter. Screw seven days, I'm updating every six if I can. I try to PM everyone who reviews/faves/follows so thanks to the guest that reviewed last Wednesday. From here on out nation names are for the canon characters while human names are for the Cardverse characters. Also "Nation" (capital N) refers to the person, "nation" (lowercase) is the actual country.

Warning: Chapter 2 is my least favourite chapter thus far. I just don't like how I wrote it. But I swear better scenes are to come on Monday don't give up on me!

Disclaimer: Yeah I still don't own Hetalia and I'm still not intentionally stealing from anyone.

Antonio, Ace of Diamonds, calmly but quickly walked up to the throne where the king and queen sat in their fiery castle.

He bowed ever so slightly before taking out a scroll and beginning to read, "This is a message to all suit kingdoms under the Cards Dominion: Return the Timepiece to its rightful place in Spades Kingdom in three days' time or we regret to inform you that we will declare war on the offending suit kingdom. Signed King Alfred of Spades Kingdom."

Antonio finished reading the ultimatum and looked up at the leaders of the Kingdom of Diamonds to find emotionless expressions. Francis, King of Diamonds, sighed and rested his head on his hand with a bored expression.

"So it appears our arrogant neighbor has misplaced his pocket watch. How unfortunate." Francis turned to the queen, Lili, who nodded without a word. "Well I regret to inform Alfred that Diamond Kingdom is not at fault here. We are innocent in this crime and, as much as I wish to crush those sapphire brutes, Diamonds will not be entering a four-way war based on clumsy superstition." Antonio nodded quickly and bowed once more before quickly exiting the throne room to relay their response.

Lili's timid voice broke through the silence. "What if they don't believe us? If they think we're lying and ransack the kingdom to find what we don't have-"

"I'm sure that monsieur Alfred knows what he's doing; as much as I despise Spades, they know how to run their kingdom. I think he will be more inclined to believe us than say, Clubs and their…odd leaders. No one would want to waste extra men on a futile mission to search for something that isn't there. We'll just see how this plays out and will defend ourselves when necessary like always." Lili went back to silence before deciding to go find her brother Basch, Jack of Diamonds, and tell him of the war brewing in the north.

It certainly was rare for two siblings to be chosen to lead the kingdom, and at first the kingdom was not happy with the decision, seeing better choice in others more capable of handling the job. That is until those two siblings pitched in after their predecessors were killed in the war ended up bringing Diamonds out of the war relatively unscathed. Since then the quiet Lili and brooding Basch seemed perfectly capable to defend the kingdom against anyone, even the dreaded Heart Kingdom.

Lili found her brother in the quarry, absently staring at the assorted birds and not paying her any attention. She lightly cleared her throat and he turned to face her, scowl melting into a thin smile.

"Halo, Lili. How are you today?"

"Spades threatened us with an ultimatum." She deadpanned. Better not to beat around the bush as they say. His eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger.

"Those bastards…" He muttered.

"What did you say big brother?" Lili asked, green eyes scanning his face curiously. He smiled a rare smile reserved exclusively for his sister.

"Nothing, Lili. What happened to cause this ultimatum of theirs?" Basch never wanted to be chosen as the new jack. But he and all citizens of the Cards Dominion knew that it was "destiny" and if you were chosen it was because you were meant to lead the kingdom. It wasn't that he didn't want the job and the additives that came with it, he didn't want to see his younger sister have to handle such a burden, especially when the only way out was death.

Lili explained the circumstances and skipped over to the birds in her creamy orange dress, the rays of sun almost making it look like flames licking up the fabric. Basch knew that while Spades was the most threatening Kingdom out there, the Kingdom of Hearts was the least trustworthy. He had only met their king once, in passing, but knew enough about him that he would at least think it through before declaring war. Right?

All this because of a gilded pocket watch.

-Line Break-

On the inside, Alfred was getting increasingly worried about this state of affairs. So far, both Clubs and Diamonds had sent a reply swearing they weren't the culprit and if his ace walking up to the throne with a scroll was anything to go by, Hearts would declare the same as the others.

"Sir, Ludwig of Hearts Kingdom regrets to inform you that neither he nor his people are at fault for the theft of the Timepiece and with the speed at which these responses returned, it is highly unlikely that they all conspired against us with this." Matthew said his small voice filled with confidence.

Alfred just shook his head. "So there is a very good chance that one of them is lying and is hoping another will be the scapegoat. I see how it is. Thank you, Matthew."

The ace nodded, "Your welcome, brother." With that he turned on his heel and left the throne room. Alfred quickly stood to find Arthur and Yao.

They had a war to win.

-Line Break-

"All three kingdoms claimed innocence?" Yao asked, debating whether to be proud of his prediction skills or afraid of this foreseen turn of events. "So does this mean we declare war on all three? Surely we can think of another, less deadly alternative."

"I think we should wait the extra two days in case any of them decide to come to their senses and fess up. We can begin preparing the military but we should not deploy until the three days are finished." Arthur suggested, his tone leaving little room for argument.

"Are you prepared for magic-enhanced warfare, Arthur?" Alfred asked, making the room go silent.

"I know you are new at this, Alfred but there is an unspoken rule that all four kingdoms abide by and that is leaving magic out of war. It adds instability and challenges the laws of physics. In layman's terms, it is unfair fighting. If we do not want to upset the delicate balance we currently have I suggest refraining from anything other than standard issue weaponry." Arthur responded, hoping their newly chosen superior would see the logic behind his reasoning. All he got was a long sigh of exasperation.

"Fine then, we'll wait. Is that aid you prepared ready?"

Arthur nodded in affirmation and took the hint to go summon whatever it was that could help them in the war. He wasn't the only mage in leadership ranks among the kingdoms, just the most skilled. Even Alfred could perform basic combat enchantments. He made his way to his workshop to begin the second half of the spell, praying it would not be in vain.

-Line Break-

There were times when America really hated being an immortal personified Nation. All the monotonous meetings, never ending fights, the responsibility of not letting politics collapse, keeping the secret-it was all a lot to handle for the world's superpower.

And then there were times he really loved being an immortal personified Nation. Like right now for instance when he could just relax and people watch. He stood leaning against a parking meter in downtown Manhattan just outside the UN building watching people go to and fro on their daily commutes.

New York City was an especially fun place when there were so many foreigners all the time and he could play a mini guessing game in his head over who was his and who was someone else's. There was still a good ten minutes before people started arriving and for once he was early. G8 plus-whatever meetings were always so much nicer when they were hosted on his side of the Atlantic for a number of reasons. One of them happened to be convenience.

Which is why he was so early today. Early enough to hear France and England arguing from a block away about God-knows-what. He just rolled his eyes and walked over to greet them.

"Iggy! And Francey-pants, how's it been across the pond?" He asked in a loud voice, flashing that obnoxious Hollywood smile.

"Git, don't call me that." England grumbled before shoving France's arm off his shoulder where it had not been a few seconds ago. England successfully annoyed. "Let's just get this blasted meeting over with so I can go home and have some much deserved rest." With that the British Nation shuffled up the stairs and into the building with American and France close behind.

"Ah, rosbif seems a bit tenser than usual, non?" France asked as they entered the brightly lit meeting room.

America considered it for a moment before responding, "Yeah, Iggy's probably all upset that he had to fly all the way here for a meeting."

"Just be glad we have the commodity of flight. I couldn't imagine having to attend meetings by ship." France said exasperatedly, giving his wavy blonde hair a flip before sitting down.

After a while the others eventually showed up, others including Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, China, Romano, and…someone else America couldn't remember at the moment. As soon as everyone was seated Italy stood to begin his presentation, everyone silently pleading it would be worth listening to.

"Today we are discussing…" Italy paused for dramatic effect and everyone groaned inwardly, knowing what was coming next. Germany cleared his throat and glared at the Italian who pouted. "Foreign policy." He said, sighing as he attempted to get through a sure-to-be monotonous speech. The change in topics surprised the other Nations who actually listened to what he was saying this time.

That diplomatic peace lasted all of fifteen minutes when Italy ran out of things to say and began the all-too-familiar pasta speech. Everyone tuned everyone else out and began doing random activities to fill the time. That is until Italy abruptly stopped his speech and cocked his head.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" He asked spinning around trying to pinpoint the location of whatever he was hearing.

"Hear what? Ita-" Germany cut himself off and copied Italy's actions now hearing the sound as well. Pretty quickly all the Nations could hear it: a quiet ringing that slowly grew louder and more pronounced with the passing time.

It got to the point where Italy was covering his ears along with France who was looking around wildly trying to find the source. Soon the ringing was unbearable and all the Nations were curled up trying to block out the painful sound. The room began to glow brightly, a big, white light.

In the next second the light disappeared, taking the ten Nations with it.

A/N: So yeah, like I said, better scenes to come involving certain northern Nations and references within references. See ya Monday!