Matthew drove Zachary home, taking a route different from the one they took to America's house. It was eight by the time Zachary saw the front porch of his house. He bid the nations farewell and finally came home.

"Mom?" he called out, "I'm home!"

His mother's greeting came from the study, and he went there to give her a brief hug before going up to his room. Zachary's phone vibrated and Hedwig's theme resonated throughout his room. The name on the screen read Sydney, and Zachary jolted with realization that he had forgotten the reason why he went to the conference center in the first place.

He swiped right and mumbled. "Hey, Syd."

"How's it going, Zach?" Sydney answered. "Couldn't find you after work today, what happened?"

Zachary hesitated. "Um, I couldn't find you either. Called and texted you a couple times, no reply, so I guessed you were helping out a bit longer and I left. When are you going to stop this habit of doing extra? I know it's an internship, but still."

"Hm." Zachary decided Sydney wasn't completely buying his lie. Years of friendship had given her the ability to detect Zachary's lies-which, to be honest, weren't so great anyway. Zachary had not gained this ability for Sydney, but he knew that thoughtful "hm" was a sign of her doubt.

"Just take a break sometimes, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. But-"

"Gotta help Mom with something, bye!" Zachary quickly ended the call. He hated lying to anyone, but he couldn't possibly tell Sydney the truth.

He scoffed at the idea. 'Hey Sydney, I met some anthropomorphic countries today. Yeah, and I look like one of them and some organization is after me now. Crazy, I know.' The call screen disappeared from his phone screen and said country stared back at him. Zachary had sneakily taken a picture of Matthew's picture of Alfred before leaving. He didn't know for sure at the time why, but now it served as proof that everything that occurred was real.

Zachary tossed his phone somewhere on his bed, and tried to take a nice, normal shower.


Life had almost been regular the next day. He carried on during school like nothing had happened. It was bizarre but the familiar procedure of his classes kept any thoughts of secret organizations and countries at bay. However, he should have knocked on some wood.

He was walking home when someone rushed at him from a woody area on his left. They gripped his arm incredibly tight and pulled him in. It transpired so quickly that a hand had slapped over his mouth before he could even scream for help. Whoever got him knew what they were doing.

"I don't want to hurt you. Only here to talk. Don't scream, or maybe I will hurt you." They released him after whispering those words to him, an underlying threatening tone in their voice. "Don't try to run, because I am too fast for you."

Zachary nodded and backed away a few steps warily as he observed his kidnapper. It was a teenage girl his age. Did he somehow offend one of his classmates? But he kept to himself, so that wasn't possible. She had chin length blonde hair that looked like it had been cut by toddler with a pair of craft scissors. Blue eyes with shadows underneath them narrowed at Zachary. The teen looked haggard, but ready to fight. She was feral.

"Who are you?" She spat out, looking impatient. Not a good sign.

"Zach-"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. Zachary's eyes were drawn to a paper wristband on her wrist. Brown spots covered the white paper. "No, what is your number?" She said, "I am I07S04."

"I don't have one." Zachary replied dumbly.

I07S04, puzzled, scrunched up her face at him and then looked side to side as if checking her surroundings for enemies. She shook her head eventually. "You do not know anything, do you?" She searched for something in his eyes, and seemed to not find what she was looking for. "No time. I have information for America, but I cannot find him. Here."

She reached inside her large coat (splattered with brown spots again) and pulled out a file. Zachary accepted the file she handed to him. "Wait, I don't know where he is either."

"Deal with it." I07S04 gazed at him blankly, and then snapped her head to the right at something she saw or heard. Zachary strained his eyes and ears but couldn't find what caught her attention.

"What is-"

"Shh!"

"Zachary!" Someone, Sydney, called from outside the shady area they were in, surrounded by trees. Zachary turned back to look at I07S04. She had disappeared out of thin air. Quickly shoving the file into his backpack, he went out into the open where Sydney was.

"Hi Syd!"

Sydney turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "Where did you come from?"

"How did you find me?" He asked back. Not that he wasn't grateful for the rescue.

She shrugged as Zachary walked beside her. "Zach radar. Nah, you take the same route every day. I was across the street and I thought I saw you, so yeah. Good thing I was right, or I would have looked like a crazy person."

Crazy person. Zachary thought back to the girl, I07 something , and how truly crazy she looked. It wouldn't be difficult to believe that she came from an asylum. His backpack felt heavier than before. What was in the file could be more dangerous than looking like a country. She called Alfred America, so maybe she knew? But she had also said he didn't know anything. Was he carrying top secret country information? Probably. Zachary gulped.

"Hey, earth to Zach!" Sydney snapped her fingers in front of his face. "You're really out of it today."

"Bad day at school." And life.

Sydney nodded sympathetically. "High school sucked. This probably won't make you feel any better, but wait until you get to university. You've got a big storm coming."


Zachary and Sydney hung out at a cafe for a while. They caught up with each other while they ate their snacks, making up for yesterday's lost time. The whole time, the thought of the file gnawed at the back of his mind. Zachary hurriedly sprinted up the stairs to his bedroom when he got home, shutting the door closed while unzipping his backpack.

The file was still there of course, and he took it out with trembling hands. The blonde opened it, finding lots of papers. A birth certificate for a man named Jason Rogers. Pretty standard and normal. The next thing made Zachary's heart skip a beat.

Paper clipped was a photo of Alfred.

Alfred or America's face had stared at the camera with no emotion. Unlike the selfie, his features held no joy or radiated the energy America had before. The blue eyes were dead. He couldn't be Alfred. This was another person entirely, and this was what confused Zachary the most.

He flipped the photo over and saw a logo of an arrow pointing upwards. Zachary made a mental note of that and then continued reading the information. He shuffled through the other papers. They were some kind of biography on Jason Roger's life. Jason had turned nineteen this year, and was getting ready to go to college when he got dangerously weak.

His condition had started affecting him since he was a preteen. It got in the way of his life, but he managed to carry on. However it seemed like the disease had gotten worse as he got older. Two months after when he was supposed to head off to college, he passed away.

Zachary ran a hand through his hair, in deep thought. What was happening? There was another person who was in the same situation as Zachary, and he died. One lookalike was already enough, and now there were two?

The blonde slid his phone out and found himself tapping his mother's number. While he waited, he looked back and forth at the picture of Jason Rogers and then in the mirror, at himself. He looked identical to him. Or did they look identical to Alfred? Everyone's hair was styled slightly different from each other, there were other small things that were unique to each person, but they were chilling doppelgangers of each other. Zachary could feel a headache coming.

"Hello?" His mom's voice brought him back from to reality.

Zachary got straight to the point. "Do I have any cousins or relatives that look like me?"

"That's an odd question. Is something wrong?"

"I just," he could feeling a burning sensation at behind his closed eyelids, "Stuff happened."

Zachary's mom spoke gently to him. "I just got some groceries but I'll be home in like five minutes. We can talk then, and-"

Zachary tensed at the sounds of his mom's phone clattering to the ground and a struggle. "Mom? Mom! Are you okay?" He felt the panic rising within as the sounds of struggle stopped. Someone picked up the phone.

"If you want your mother to be safe, meet us at the woods of the park. You have an hour." The call ended.

Zachary let his hand fall limply from his ear. His eyes were wide as he tried to breathe deeply. His emotions went from shock to panic in seconds. His mom, his only family, was in danger. He tried to think of what to do in a hostage situation. Call the police! Yes, he should, but he had a gut feeling it wasn't a good idea. His gut told him to do something else.

And so he called Canada.


"Is there something bothering you, sweetie?" Zachary's mother noticed the thoughtful look on her son's face. She was reading some documents while the child made an absentminded spectacle with his toys. To any other onlooker he would have looked like he was having fun, but his mother knew his mind was elsewhere.

The younger Zachary pouted and fiddled with his toys. "Today at school we talked about our families. Everyone had dads, aunties, cousins...Mommy, do I have any?"

She couldn't stop the wave of sadness as she looked back at her son's innocent eyes. "No," she choked, "Zachary, I'm sorry, but it's just Mommy and you. We're all we have."

The boy felt sad too. There was a small part of him that wanted to throw a tantrum, but he squashed the urge. He's never seen his Mommy look so upset, and even though he didn't really understand, he tried to be a big kid.

Zachary wrapped his arms around his mother's waist. "It's okay, I like just us. I love you Mommy."

The two continued to live with and love each other. Zachary had times when he wished he had another parent or sibling too, but he got over it. His mother was all he needed.

And now his mother needed him.

Zachary was a nervous wreck as he paced around the house waiting for Canada. He swung open the door a millisecond after the doorbell rung. Canada and England were a bit surprised at the efficiency, but Zachary had no time to waste.

"Let's go," he muttered before sprinting to the car. The nations understood and followed him just as urgently.

"Is there a plan?" England asked.

Zachary met his eyes through the mirror. His face contorted in confusion. He had been so caught up with the capture of his mother that he hadn't considered what to do. Zachary just knew he would do anything. "No," the sight of the park met him when he looked through the window, "I guess we'll improvise."

Canada had drove them to the secluded area of the city park at speeds which were surely illegal. Zachary almost left the car before it completely stopped, running with the countries to where the silhouettes were. He would have just ran at them but Canada laid a hand on his shoulder. Zachary looked at him to see him smiling reassuringly.

"Forgot to tell you, but nations are stronger than humans. Stay behind us just in case," Canada said as he and England moved in front of him.

They were now nearing the kidnappers. Beside two cars were dangerous looking people surrounding a shady man in a suit and Mom. He despaired when he saw his mother gagged and tied up. She looked anxious but not harmed. Zachary tried to communicate with his eyes that he was going to get them out of this mess.

The shady suit man greeted them. "Didn't expect nations, but hello nonetheless. We're all here to just talk."

Zachary didn't believe one bit of that last sentence. He glowered at him. "Give my mother back and we will."

The people surrounding the man looked to him for instructions. Suit man shrugged and one of the people pulled his mother back to her feet and to them. Some of the tension went away from Zachary when he hugged his mother after untying her. Zachary was still cautious though, as the security could still try to take his mother back.

"I can't believe this is happening already," Mom whispered.

Zachary furrowed his brows, "What do you mean already?"

Their conversation was cut short as the man cleared his throat. "Don't forget your part of the deal."

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk. My name's Andrew, what's yours for starters?"

Zachary narrowed his eyes at Andrew. He didn't trust this guy one bit. "Harry Evans." There was no way he was revealing his real name. How would he hide with his mother then? " What do you really want?"

"Straight to the point, I see. What is your identification number?"

"Don't have one..."

Something changed with Andrew. He scrutinized Zachary in a different way that made him feel like he was under a microscope.

"Are you a country? America?" The nations in front of him tensed up at the mention. Zachary himself was even more wary. This person knew. "No offense, but countries are so fascinating and mysterious. I don't have a deep enough understanding of how it works. Did you pop into existence after America? Since he, you know..." Andrew waved his hand around nonchalantly, "died."

England got really loud at that. Canada held him back but his mouth was set in a grim line too. Zachary felt like Canada wanted to get at Andrew. But Andrew had answers and they couldn't get into a fight just yet.

His mother gripped his hand hard. "Countries? What?"

"What do you mean he died?" Canada asked calmly, almost politely with a smile. It was terrifying in its own way.

Andrew smiled just as politely, though it faltered at first. "We sent people to kill him," he stated as if it was so simple, "and now our plan is in motion. But, it seems like you might get in our way." He directed this at Zachary, and at the motion of his hand, the security burst into action.

Canada and England immediately defended them. They were definitely superhuman. Their movements were far quicker and stronger than the seemingly highly trained security. The countries fought them off with each other so well it looked practised. Zachary wondered if they had fought together before. Even individually they were highly skilled. From experience?

The security understood that hand to hand combat was going to be useless, and so they got their guns out. Canada and England disarmed them with ease, but one had slipped past their struggle and was heading towards Zachary and his mother. The woman raised her gun at them and said, "Get over to our cars and nobody gets-"

A blur collided into the woman, causing her to fall. The blur took the gun from her, and aimed a kick at another incoming security person before facing Zachary. This person was hooded, so he couldn't get a good look at them.

"The country's car is safer. Go." He recognized the voice.

Running to the it with his Mom, he hesitantly asked to confirm. "Are you...I07-"

"I07S04, yes."

"Oh god, this is happening," muttered Mom.

Zachary turned his head to look at her. "Do you know some-"

"Let's go!" England yelled from behind, running with Canada. The security was down on the ground. Not dead, but incapable of running after them. Andrew was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone got into the car as quickly as possibly with few words. Once they were a good distance away, Zachary's mother spoke up.

"Who are you two?" She regarded the hooded I07S04 suspiciously. "And who is she?"

"I'm Matthew, and this is Arthur. Terribly sorry we had to meet you in these circumstances... "

"Jane. So why were you called countries?"

"It's complicated," Zachary replied, "and this is uh, I0S..."

"I07S04."

England faced them from his passenger seat. "Mind taking your hood down? Might make us trust you more."

She tilted her head. "But I don't trust you."

"Hey guys-" Canada started.

"Zachary, how do you know these men?"

"Guys-"

"Please take down your hood."

"No."

"Guys!" Canada shouted, "Did you all forget? America's dead."

I07S04 jolted. "Alfred?"

"You know him?" England narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yes," she sighed, removing her hood and revealing her face, "I was supposed to give him information. Do you still have the file?"

Zachary nodded. "It's at home."

"It's important. We need it to figure out why," she glanced at Zachary, "why you are here."

"Let's go get it then."


Zachary's mother, Jane, was still in disbelief of what had just happened. She was kidnapped, in the middle of a fight, and now she was letting strangers inside her home. Maybe if she wasn't so tired she would argue, but something told her that this had to do with that.

"Hey Mom?" Zachary said as they entered their house. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry this happened, I don't know wh-"

"It's alright. I'm...a bit shocked but I'm good." Jane smiled and ruffled Zachary's hair. "It's not your fault. It's mine."

Zachary gaped at her. "Mom, of course not! Are you crazy?"

"No, not that. I meant..." she sat down on the couch, "you should sit down first. There's something I've been keeping from you. For years."

Her son sat and held his breath in anticipation. The nations and the girl sensed the tension in the room and silently sat down too.

"Zachary," her voice was barely above a murmur, "you have a brother. A twin brother."


Hello! I guess the Hetalia fandom isn't big on reviewing, eh? No matter, I just hope you guys liked this chap! Updates may take a tad bit longer with school starting soon, but I'm hoping I can get one chapter/2 weeks at the latest.