Author's note: First of all, I'd like to thank an anonymous reviewer for reviewing in the previous chapter. Whoever you are, thank you for your review, I really appreciate it. I also appreciate to everyone who favourited and followed Another. I am ecstatic that you guys enjoyed my fic. I'll try to improve my writing more for you all. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well!

Disclaimer: I never owned Axis Powers Hetalia and I never will. The characters of APH don't belong to me and they never will.

ANOTHER

Chapter 2: Alfred Suspects Something

Alfred entered the room with his usual smile. He was the host for this month's World Conference and as usual he was late. 'At least it wasn't like last time!' Alfred cheerfully said to himself reflecting on the last time he hosted a meeting. That was six months ago. The meeting time was one o' clock in the afternoon as usual. Unfortunately, Alfred completely forgot about it. He ended up going into the meeting room five minutes off their schedule. By five minutes off schedule he meant five minutes before the meeting ended. He could still clearly remember Germany's face when he lectured him about being on time. He snickered at the thought and earned himself a few confused gazes.

"Hey dudes! Never fear, the hero is here!" America shouted with glee as he burst through the thick, mahogany doors. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?" America asked with only the slightest hint of interest. When he saw that some of the nations had already left, a playful pout etched his face. "Aww... the hero can't give his awesome speech if no one is here to listen!" He scanned the room for any nations that stayed. The only nations that remained were Germany, Italy, Romano, Spain, England, France, Prussia and a floating polar bear that Alfred was sure belonged to Matthew. Italy was seated in between Germany and his brother. Spain was beside Lovino. England was seated on the other side of Germany with Canada's bear beside him. Gilbert was beside Canada and France is sitting beside Prussia.

Alfred immediately expected harsh words coming from Arthur. Something along the lines of 'you stupid git!' or 'what do you think you're doing, wanker?' and a stream of harsh words and curses. He expected Francis to grope Arthur and Arthur would direct his anger at the Frenchman no matter how much Alfred hated it. He wanted Arthur all to himself but never says it out loud. Matthew knew of course but his brother was too nice to even think of saying it to anyone. 'Heroes don't do that Mattie!' Was Alfred's immediate response when Matthew suggested he tell Arthur.

'I'm getting side-tracked.' Alfred thought to himself as his thoughts strayed further and further away. He picked up where he left off and resumed imagining the events that would take place. 'Maybe their brains are still asleep.'

Then Germany would rise up and continue where England stopped and lecture him about punctuality just because he was five minutes late. Then Italy would cling to him and say 've~' over and over and Germany would blush and try to get Italy off of him. Romano would then try to strangle Ludwig all the while calling him a 'tomato bastard' and showing off the colourful language he's so famous for. Then Antonio would call him Lovi and nuzzle him then Lovino would shout even more profanity and hit him on the head. Then the other two members of the BTT, namely Francis and Gilbert would call them 'lovey-dovey' and Lovino would direct his anger on Francis. The Frenchman would then go overly dramatic and Germany would yell so that they will all keep quiet. Alfred waited for the events that transpired in his mind to take place but none of it did.

England was still calmly having his afternoon tea while eating a few cookies. Francis looked so forlorn like he lost his girlfriend or something. Alfred cringed as he suddenly remembered Jeanne d'Arc. He best not mention that name or anything similar to it while France is around. He remembered the last time a random nation he couldn't pronounce did it and well... all hell broke loose. Still, it was creepy. Francis looked so blank it would put Iceland to shame. Germany still had the same stern expression but it looked kind of panicked. Prussia looked like he wanted to leave the room immediately. It was masked by his usual smug look but Alfred could see right through it, Prussia wasn't trying to hide it. Spain was still smiling but he was holding onto Lovino for dear life. Lovino wasn't even showing signs of anger. He looked ready to piss his pants any moment. That wasn't what scared Alfred. Yes, Alfred was scared. He was scared at seeing Feliciano. He wasn't smiling his ditzy smile. He didn't even cling to Ludwig. He just... sat there looking grim. Like someone died.

"Uhh... why is everyone so quiet?" Alfred asked. This time, France was the first to speak. "Mon cher, do you know what time it is?" Alfred glanced at his watch. "Yeah, five minutes after... no wait, before... wait, five after one, why?"

At this, Gilbert laughed. He was the only one that did though. He stopped quickly after he started. "Fix that watch of yours Jones. It's five after four." He grumbled. Odd, that's nothing like the Gilbert Alfred knew. He turned to France for confirmation. The nation nodded glumly looking at England for a split second before immediately standing up. "Well Amerique, I'd love to stay and watch as Ludwig lectures you but I best be off. I have a date with a beautiful woman and I wouldn't want to keep her waiting." The Frenchman hurriedly left the room not caring to shut the door. Odd. France always shuts the door regardless if he's in a hurry or not. Something he shared with England and something that the Brit denies.

"Oi, Toni, wanna go egg some sucker's house?" Gilbert suddenly asked. Weird. Gilbert would usually wait for Alfred and Francis usually tagged along. Besides, it was too early for them to be egging someone. They would surely get caught. So why was Gilbert taking that risk? Gilbert always said that 'awesome people don't get caught' so why would he do something that might break his 'uncaught' record? "Hey Birdie, you wanna come?" Alfred looked at his brother whom he could see now. 'Where did Matthew come from?' Canada shot him an apologetic look before looking at Gilbert and smiling hesitantly.

"Yeah, Gil let's go! Let's stop by that resto we saw a few days ago too. I'm starving." Antonio smiled now. That was good. Alfred thought aliens were impersonating them but it seems that he was just paranoid. Well, who wouldn't be when they find out that they've been late to a very important conference that could decide the fate of the earth? Not to mention everyone is acting weird. 'Maybe they made a script to scare me? Yeah, right! The hero never gets scared!' Still, Antonio didn't ask Lovino if he wanted to go. Something is off... "I'm going with you, tomato bastard." Lovino growled. Or at least he tried to. His voice wavered.

Something was definitely wrong now. Alfred suppressed a shudder. As everyone else left, he was left in the room with Germany, Italy and England. Italy still wasn't smiling and his face looked dark. "Alfred..." Alfred was forced out of his thoughts when Germany strode to him. He didn't even notice when Germany got so close. Italy was still sitting, fingers intertwined with one another with his head resting on the slim digits. Eyes closed as if in prayer. "Alfred..." Germany called again. He suddenly pulled Alfred to the corner of the room. "Alfred..." Alfred swore that if Germany and Italy weren't in a relationship, he would have thought that Ludwig was hitting on him. What with his constant 'Alfred's, what would he expect? "What?"

Germany swallowed nervously. "Alfred, something's changed. We're not sure if he is just having his mood swings but..." He paused as if uncertain whether to continue or not. Germany shot a wary glance towards England before continuing in a hushed tone, "Be careful. There's something about him that's just not right." Alfred gave a shaky nod. Something was wrong with Arthur? As soon as Germany acknowledged his understanding, he backed away. Italy was immediately at his side. Alfred didn't even notice the Italian leaving his seat. Seriously, did everyone become ninjas in the short span of time he was gone? He was gonna ask Kiku when he gets out. He watches as Ludwig and Feliciano head towards the door. Ludwig gave him one last look that just screamed 'don't die' and turned away. Italy was left behind a few steps and sent Alfred a small smile and he hurried off after Ludwig. The two were gone from his sight much faster than Alfred would have liked. He wasn't sure whether to be reassured by Feliciano's smile or be frightened.

Arthur still hasn't left his seat. Alfred slowly approached him, afraid he would do something that would get the irritable Brit riled up. "Hey Iggy." Alfred internally berated himself. He constantly reminded himself not to call England 'Artie' or 'Iggy' or any other nicknames for the matter. He tried and failed everytime. He just went along and pretended to call Arthur that on purpose. He just couldn't help himself. Instead of yelling at him like Alfred expected, Arthur smiled. Alfred froze and hoped with everything he had that Arthur didn't notice. He breathed an internal sigh of relief when the Brit didn't. "Hey Alfie!"

Alfred growled at the memory. One moment he was smiling and the next he was ready to punch someone's face in, no matter how un-heroic that sounded. He didn't even know why he was happy when he remembered that day. Maybe it was because it was the last day of his blissful ignorance? The day no one yelled at him for being late? Alfred didn't know. All he knew is that there's something about that day that made it important to him. Alfred felt that it had something to do with Arthur. 'Speaking of Arthur, which one is he today? My Arthur or the other one?' Alfred shook his head at the thought. 'Arthur's not mine, remember that Alfred Fucking Jones, remember that.'

He immediately smiled when he noticed some of the nations were looking at him funny. Like he deserved to be put into an asylum. "Well... I guess it's time to start the meeting!" He cheerfully announced. He was the host for this month's conference. "And why did you decide that after ten minutes of just standing there?" Germany growled. Looks like everything is normal today... so far.

Alfred shrugged and grinned. "Nah, it's nothing dude. Just thinking about how my plan to save the environment would be so awesome and how it would totally destroy the destroyers of the environment." America replied nonchalantly. He snorted when Germany slapped his forehead with his hand. "So... let's get started!" He glanced around at the unenthusiastic faces of the other nations. His eyes lingering on England's still form. 'Which one is he? Which one is he? Which one is he?' He kept repeating the mantra in his head, hoping that today, he could drop his mask and just be him. The United States of America.

His hope was shattered into millions of tiny fragments when England looked at him and smiled. Not the smile that America loved, no. It was, psychotic and... mad. It had empty glee that was obviously unmasked yet seemed so real. It was void and hollow and lifeless and dark and happy and serene and understanding and... sorrowful? Was Alfred seeing right or has his mind finally snapped? Alfred knew that this England was England but was not. 'Great, even I'm confusing myself...' Alfred muttered.

"What?" 'Shit! Ludwig heard me!' "What?" Alfred countered back in a desperate attempt to pretend he didn't say anything. Ludwig looked at him like he was completely insane. "A-anyway, let's start the meeting!" 'Shit I hope no one heard that!' Alfred wished.

The meeting went by blissfully. At least it did to Alfred. Arthur (Version 2.0) didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Except the constant giggles and the smiles. Alfred was sure some of the other nations were getting creeped out. 'Just a little longer...' Alfred prayed. In truth, he couldn't stand the other Arthur. He was always happy and cheerful and empty and just... wrong. Alfred wanted to see Arthur laugh, smile and be happy. Hell, Alfred'd give anything for Arthur to be happy and Alfred was sure he'd be the happiest person in the entire fucking world if Arthur wants to spend those times with him. But not like this. It was like Arthur was a completely different person.

Alfred wanted the old Arthur back. "Alfie~!" Ugh, that obnoxious voice. It was his (Arthur's) and not his but still his... "Yeah?" Alfred tried not to let the other Arthur notice. If this Arthur really was different, who knows what'll happen if he knew that Alfred knew. What'll happen to Arthur? Alfred decided to pretend to be clueless. He's going to find out what exactly is going on with Arthur. "Hey, ya wanna go somewhere?"

Author's Note: Finally done~! I thought I won't be able to finish this... This was ridiculously difficult to write yet fun to work on as well. Though it didn't get the result I was hoping for. This was supposed to be done in Olliver's viewpoint yet it somehow ended up being Alfred's. I had also originally planned for Alfred to not know anything yet he somehow knows everything. Yeah...

So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know there isn't much USUK in here but if it did I'm sure Alfred would get extremely side-tracked. I promise Germany is going to play a big role in this. Japan... not so much but important in one part. Also Romania will be appearing somewhere in the future. Hahaha, I shouldn't give you spoilers so I better shut my trap.

Again, any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Please review and let me know what you think, they are greatly appreciated. If there are any grammatical/spelling errors, please feel free to tell me.

-Ripper26