After a few hours of sailing, the nations reach the shore of the island mentioned in the letter they received. It seems to be a very strange kind of island, looking very artificial and unnatural with its lack of vegetation and life and its cobble-covered ground. However, looming in front of the nations stands a large building, looking like an enormous mansion but without the splendor. They approach the massive front door, inspecting it curiously. "Whoa, whoever built this island must be loaded!" America exclaims, looking over it. Although it's not as externally beautiful as his place nor any other nation's, its large size would most definitely appeal to him.

England frowns a bit. "I have a bad feeling about this place…" he says quietly. "It feels like there's something evil looming over us."

A few of the nations look up, seemingly searching for whatever England is speaking of. They don't see anything, although there, indeed, is something evil above them. In a window near the top of the mansion sits Luca, who looks down on the nations with a devious smirk. Just as she had planned, the nations had taken her bait and arrived to greet their genderbends. What they didn't know, however, was that she had much bigger plans for them than that. She'd sent them the letter without Michaela or Lynn's knowing so that she could lead the nations to their deaths; or, at least, incapacitate and trap them so they would no longer hold power. If these larger nations were to disappear, it would make her dreams of conquering the world even more real. If the world belongs to her, she'd no longer have to be annoyed by the people like Lynn and Michaela because she'd have more than enough authority to kill them.

There were crossbows planted outside in the ground that the nations wouldn't have noticed; once the doorbell was rung, they would all release themselves from the ground and fire endlessly at the hapless nations. Then, Luca would travel downstairs and trap them, as well—if they wouldn't already be dead. She sees one of them near the bell, before everything freezes abruptly. Luca finds that she can no longer move, and the trap doors beneath the cobble path seem to be frozen, as well, as the doorbell is safely rung. Luca stares on helplessly. "What the-?! How is this possible?!" she questions in her mind, trying in vain to move.

...

Alice is let back into her room about three hours later. She finds herself shivering, sitting on her bed with her spellbook lying in her lap, unopened as she lays her hands on its cover. Her memory is a blank, minus a few tidbits; namely, she remembers how Lynn dragged her to the basement and she remembers sitting with Anya and simply staring around for a while. Everything beyond that is just out of her memory's reach, and this terrifies her. So there she sits, listening to Michaela announce that more nations will be brought to the basement and 'shipped'. She wants to escape and do something about this—she really, really does—but the door is firmly locked, and no matter how many times she attempts the unlocking charm, it won't budge from its place. "Damn it!" she eventually shouts, standing abruptly. Her spellbook falls to the floor, opening to the page showing a spell she used earlier, but she doesn't care. She kicks one of her bed's legs, and her big toe immediately screeches with pain that she doesn't show. The spellbook begins glowing turquoise as she kicks the bed again, and there's a brief flash that forces Alice to stop kicking the bed.

"I've accidentally casted a spell…!" Alice realizes, kneeling so she can see what spell she casted. She sees, with slight relief, that she only casted Impedimenta again. "But then again…what did I cast it at…?" she wonders. She hopes that, by some off chance, she managed to freeze Michaela and Lynn and scare them to bits. And if she did this, that could meant that whichever unlucky nations were in the basement could escape from there and possibly help the others escape, as well. A smirk grows onto Alice's face. The insane fangirls would never know what hit them. However, her thoughts are interrupted when the sound of a bell echoes throughout the place she's captured. "What the hell…? Who could that be?" she wonders.

...

The other nations watch curiously as China rings the doorbell, and they hear chime. They wait for a minute or two, but they're disappointed when nobody comes to open the door. "I hadn't been expecting it to be opened for us, anyway," Germany says, looking over the door inquisitively.

"Hey, does that mean that we get to break it down?" America questions excitedly.

"No, of course not. We still don't know what we're dealing with here. Whoever lives inside this mansion could react negatively to that kind of force, and the women inside could be in danger," Germany reasons. "Perhaps there's a back door."

"Dude, we can't look around for a back door! We need to break in! Looking for a back door would take to long!" America argues.

Canada looks to America a bit timidly. "Um…America…?"

America turns. "Huh? What? Do you agree with me or something?"

"Um…no. The door's open…" Canada says, gently pushing the door open.

"So we'll let ourselves in!" America announces, marching gauchely inside. The other nations reluctantly follow after him, not really thinking that letting themselves in would be the right move.

As they go inside, they see the somewhat elegant entry room, with beautiful wallpaper and antique furniture all around with a few potted ferns abound. A few of the younger nations look around in awe, but the more experienced ones immediately begin to search around. Quickly, France finds the elevator in the corner of the room near the stairs leading up. "It seems that it's already in use," he observes, looking up at the dial as it travels from the B1 label on the very left to the F1 label nearby. It moves slowly, but it is apparent that the elevator will arrive soon. Germany draws his gun, prepared to shoot when the elevator doors open if he has to. The other nations crowd behind, looking on curiously.

After a few more moments, the door opens. Almost immediately, the nations are caught off guard, as they see that two teenage girls are now standing in front of them. Germany lowers his gun slightly, and the other nations look on in confusion. In the elevator, there is a girl with short blonde hair and viridian eyes and, beside her, another girl with fancy-looking brown hair in a French knot. Both of them look dazed at first, but upon seeing Germany's gun, the brunette girl jumps back in horror and the blonde girl looks on in even further confusion. "Please don't shoot me! I'm too young and pretty to die~!" the brunette cries. Most of the present nations can hear her French accent very clearly.

Germany further lowers his gun. "N-no…of course not…" he mutters, staring on and becoming just as flabbergasted as the other nations. "So then…who are you girls…?"

The brunette girl finds her composure. "I-I'm France. It's a pleasure…" she says quietly, still a little perturbed by the situation, by the sounds of it.

The blonde beside her clears her throat. "And I'm Germany," she adds, sounding much more collected than the woman beside her.

"There's no way you can be France! I'm France!" France says, taking a step forward to further examine the brunette woman, who gives a little smile.

"Your delusion only makes you sexier…" the French girl says seductively, and France chortles.

"I was going to say the same thing…" he says.

England stands in the back with a scowl to hide his inner confusion. "Okay, let's not forget that we came here to save some kidnapped women, not to seduce some mysterious ones."

Germany turns around, seeming to be surprised that there were other people behind him, before he nods. "Y-yeah." He turns to the blonde girl calling herself Germany once more. "So then…Who are you really?"

"I'm Germany. I just said that. Don't be an idiot," the blonde says, leaving Germany even more surprised.

"Hey, maybe the letter we got wasn't lying…!" Italy exclaims, looking to the girls with a smile. "These might actually be girl versions of France and Germany!"

"No, Italy, that's impossible…" Germany says, but he doesn't sound too convinced of this, himself.

The blonde girl looks past Germany and glances at Italy. "That's not Italy," she says. "I don't know what you all are talking about. Who are all of you, and what are you doing here?"

America nudges past the other nations, and stands in front of the women determinedly. "That doesn't matter! Just tell us where the other kidnapped women are!"

The blonde and the brunette exchange looks, before the brunette looks back to America. "You know about them?"

"Yeah, of course we do! Someone sent us a letter telling us to come here and rescue you guys!" America replies. "And I, being the hero, led everyone here to save you!"

The blonde can't help but frown a little bit. "We were about to search for the others. We needed to secure an exit. The front door is unlocked and open. We can begin to search. You men can accompany us if you'd like. Be wary of our kidnappers. They could have abilities or weapons that we haven't yet seen yet."

The other nations nod, and although it's a tight fit, they all pack into the elevator and they begin to go up, not knowing which floor they should begin with but not really caring. Eventually, they end up on the seventh floor, and the elevator opens to show the living room that the blonde girl and the brunette girl had seen earlier when the guards took them to their rooms. "I know this place," the blonde says, stepping out of the elevator. "The others are in these rooms. We'll need to break down the doors to get in."

"Hell yeah!" America shouts, running to a door and readying his leg for a kick. Just as England is about to shout at him, he smashes through the door, leaving it broken on the floor and revealing another woman, this one having two brunette odango. She immediately looks up at the loud noises, and she gasps in shock.

"What the hell?! How did you do that? I've been kicking at this door for hours now!" the woman questions, her Chinese accent thick. China can't help but chuckle a bit, before he brings himself back to his senses and steps forward.

"You wouldn't happen to call yourself China, would you?" he asks.

The woman is taken aback. "Y-yes, I do. I'm China. Who are you?"

"I'm also China," he replies.

"But we can't both be China…!"

"That's the dilemma we've been having for a while now," China says, looking behind him at the blond girl and the brunette French girl.

The girl with odango looks behind China. "Germany and France? What's going on? Who are these people?" she asks.

The brunette girl shrugs, and the blonde wears a similar unsure expression. Germany leads the girl with odango out of the room and brings her to where the French girl and the German girl are sitting on the couches in the center of the room, before America successfully kicks through another door. Sitting in this room is a girl with shoulder-length golden brown hair, but she soon stands and looks at America with awe. "Dude! That was awesome!" she exclaims, clenching her fists.

"Yeah! It's a good thing that there are plenty more doors we need to smash!" America exclaims.

"Oh yes, exactly what we needed; another America…" England retorts, scowling as he looks away and attempts to distance himself from America and the girl he's found.

"This will take too long if we let America kick down all of the doors," Germany decides. "If everyone takes on a door that hasn't been opened yet, we'll be able to free all the women much faster."

And so, each of the countries that were capable of doing so decided on a door and broke it down. Eventually, there was only one door left standing; and one genderbent left unfound. "The only 'counterpart' who is still missing is England's," Japan says. England is leaning against the only door which hasn't yet been broken open, and everyone is looking at him expectantly as they wait for him to break it down as he's been trying to do for a while now. Even after throwing a lot of his weight against the door, it hasn't budged, and he's adamant about breaking it himself, telling off whatever nation attempts to help him. After he gathers his breath again, he throws himself shoulder-first at the door, but still finds no luck.

"Damn it, why won't this door open?!" England questions indignantly, kicking it with a growl.

"Hey, Iggy, no offense, but I think you might be too weak to open the door," America says. "I think you should let someone else try."

"No! I'm not weak! I'll break it open eventually!" He throws himself at the door once more, and it stays in place. "Fine, then! Have it your way!" He shouts, bringing out his spellbook.

"England, don't use a spell to break down the door! Something bad might happen!" Germany warns loudly, but England ignores him as he shouts something written in the book and points his hand at the door, causing it to create sparks and make the door shake. England smirks, putting his spellbook away, before he, again, throws himself at the door, this time with a yell to accompany him. This time, the door gives in, causing England to fall into the room.

England is dazed at first, and he expects to fall onto the floor, but instead he lands on something softer as there is a strange turquoise flash. He immediately gets to his feet, and he sees who he had fallen onto. Lying on the floor is a young woman with pale blonde pigtails, red glasses, and pale green eyes. "What the hell? Where did you come from?" the woman questions England, sitting up and brushing herself off. She seems somewhat annoyed, but also glad that the door is open. England can see that a spellbook that looks quite similar to his is sitting on the floor, opened to the page showing the room-sealing spell.

"Hey, your counterpart is kind of cute~," France says, looking over England's shoulder as the man stares in mild disbelief. England is easily able to ignore his rival nation in this state.

Eventually, England manages to regain his composure. "Hello…who are you?" he asks, although her answer is predictable.

"I'm England. Who are you, and how did you get through that door? Only other magic users are supposed to be able to open doors sealed by that charm." His counterpart looks at him somewhat fiercely, but as he's able to dish out this look himself, he's able to receive it just as well.

"I'm a magic user, too," England says, pulling out his spellbook. "See? We have similar spell books."

The woman looks confused for a moment, before she regains her sternness. "This is the third time I've asked, and I intend it to be the last; who are you?"

"I'm England." His answer almost sounds unsure, as though even he isn't sure if he's England anymore.

His counterpart raises an eyebrow. "I believe that our kidnappers said something about you all. It's at the very edge of my memory, but if I'm correct, you're the England from this dimension, are you not?"

America groans behind England's back. "Oh jeez, not this again. Don't tell me that you actually believe in that crap," he says sardonically.

England ignores America's comment. "Yes, I am. So then…does that mean that the letter was correct in saying that you all are from another dimension?"

"I don't see any other way how there could be a male counterpart to me standing in front of me," the woman says, standing. "Honestly, I only half believed it before now, but I guess those three weren't insane, after all. I'm almost certain that there's no one else who'd be capable of opening that door-with precisely the same spell book as mine, no less."

"Oh yeah! I forgot all about them saying that!" America's counterpart says in understanding. Gradually, the other counterparts remember as well, and the nations are even more shocked that the story told by the letter's author turned out to be true.

England looks at his counterpart with a bit of newfound respect. "So then…you're me as a woman?"

"Yes, it seems to be that way. Although I suppose I shouldn't really be calling myself 'England', as our kidnappers also mentioned that we were transformed into humans when we were brought into this dimension," The young woman says, before beginning to think. "Now then…what the devil was I calling myself before I got corrected…?"

"Ah! I remember!" Italy's counterpart exclaims, running up to stand beside England. "You called yourself Alice! Alice Kirkland, I think!"

England's counterpart pauses, before nodding. "Yes, that's right. I'm Alice. So then, since I'm a human, alternate dimension me, my name is Alice Kirkland…until I can get back to being a nation again."

"Well, Alice, can't your kidnappers just return you to where you came from just as easily as they brought you here?" England asks.

"Apparently, our ages as humans are 'off', so we have to wait for a few years before we can return, according to them," Alice replies. "I assume that, since the only difference between us as of now seems to be our gender, you live in the same place as I do, yes?"

England nods. "Yes…"

"So then, I'll be staying with you until I'm able to leave this wretched dimension."

England flinches a little bit. "What? W-why would you want to stay with me? Shouldn't you get your own house?"

"Where would I get the money?" Alice says, shrugging. "And besides, it would just be simpler that way, wouldn't it? Your place is technically mine, anyway."

"I suppose…" England says, considering this. "Since we're similar to each other, I'll trust that you won't break anything or go snooping around anywhere you're not supposed to."

Alice nods. "Alright. I'll try not to get into trouble in my own house." At this line, England is about to say something about this, but he changes his mind before the words escape his lips.

Germany looks around after the counterparts stop speaking. "I think it would be for the best if all of us allowed our counterparts to live with us until they're ready to return home. Otherwise, this sort of thing could happen again."

The other nations agree, and they begin to leave the mansion as their counterparts introduce themselves with their freshly-remembered human names. However, once they go down the stairs and reach the entry room (as the elevator would be a cramped fit), they see that there are two women standing in their way. "There are two of the kidnappers I was talking about!" Alice says to the others, pointing to them. "The black haired girl has psychic powers, so be careful! It really, really hurts…"

"Stop right there!" one of the girls, the one who Alice soon tells them is named Michaela, cries, extending her palm at them.

Germany whips out his gun, and immediately both girls shriek and step out of the way as quickly as they can. They watch, glowering slightly, as the nations and their counterparts all leave their mansion. "That almost seemed too easy," America says, as he and the others with him climb aboard the boat the nations originally arrived to the island on. They sail away, heading towards where the nations had originally boarded in Berlin, as Michaela and Lynn watch disappointedly with fear.

"If Luca wasn't always holed up in the attic hanging out with Gillian, they wouldn't have gotten away so easily…" Michaela says, frowning.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Someone needs to keep her occupied," Lynn says. "And besides, it shouldn't be too hard to get them back, even if they are with their genderbends now."

"What do you mean? It's going to be way harder," Michaela says, pouting.

"Don't worry. I have a plan." Lynn smirks, adjusting her glasses in a way that she sees as being devious-looking.

...

In a matter of hours, all of the kidnapped women are at home with their male nation counterparts, immediately becoming comfortable with the familiar surroundings. Although some of the rooms differ from their native dimensions', they find that they're finally able to know where they're going and what they're doing. Not only that, but it seems as if Michaela was as absent-minded with the other women as she was with Alice, meaning that a majority of them have a plethora of familiar objects; some of them even have their weapons, even if the guns they may have received are absent of any bullets and the swords are too dull to cut anything more than paper. So, in short, everyone got the raw end of a deal.

But that's beside the point. Calling back to the difference in rooms, none of the female nations could sleep in the rooms they usually slept in as, of course, their male counterparts were already settled there. Instead, a majority of the women became settled in a guest room that they'd later be able to title as their personal bedroom, as they'd all be staying in their male counterparts's houses for at least four years.

Alice, for example, set up her dwellings in the guest room that even she had no idea about, even though it's her house. As one would expect, it's dusty and it doesn't look like the most stupendous lodging in the world, but as it was that or sleep at the end of her male counterpart's bed like some filthy animal, Alice decided that she'd have to make the best of things. Unfortunately, the quilt that she'd sewn for herself many years ago that she usually used as bedspread was not there, so instead, she had to make do with the old, stiff, white bedsheets in the guest room. "If I get the chance over the course of the apparent six years I have to stay here, I need to sew myself a new quilt…" she thinks with annoyance as she lies down in the bed uncomfortably, trying to see if she can find a sweet spot in the painful mattress. It's only about six in the afternoon, but Alice is so exhausted from both the boat ride and the experience preceding it that she can't help but be tired.

Of course, since it was still so early in the day and as it had been about thirty minutes since she had been told that there was a guest room (England was just as surprised as she was; it seems like neither of them got overnight house guests too often), it would be expected that England would enter the room just as Alice begins to sink into sleep. "How are you finding the guest room…?" he questions. It's somewhat obvious that he's trying his hardest to give his genderbend a good experience while she's stuck staying over at his house, as the shaky smile on his face shows.

Alice sits up, not taking a little glare off of her face. "It'll do for now. I do wish that it wasn't as unused as it is, though. This mattress is springy and uncomfortable. And I suspect that mine must be the same way…" she says, rubbing at her back a little bit. Even though it barely hurts, it's a habitual motion, because she knows that if she were a nation right then, it would be far sorer than it is in her seventeen-year-old human body. Even if her nation form is far harder to injure or kill, its age makes her sore at times.

"Yes, well, house guests here are uncommon. But I suppose you already know that, don't you…?" England chuckles a bit awkwardly, and Alice glares a little bit more, even though she knows that her counterpart is right.

After a few moments of silence, England speaks up again. "So then…I know that you explained everything you managed to learn about your kidnappers on the boat ride back to Berlin, but I'm still curious about something. Do you know if you and those other eight women we found were the only nations taken from your world?"

Alice stays silent for a spell, considering this. "I'm not sure. Probably not, though. If they were able to take the nine of us, now that we've escaped, I suspect that they'll try to take more nations from my world, if they haven't done so already."

"Right then. That makes sense." England glances behind him as if he's hearing something, before he continues speaking. "So, I guess I have to make enough dinner for two people tonight, don't I…? I'd imagine that we have the same tastes."

"Yeah. It'd be odd if we didn't, considering that we're both England here." Alice picks up her spellbook from her nightstand, and she begins looking through it. "And while you're cooking, could I take a look at your spellbook?"

England gives her a confused look. "Why do you need my spellbook?"

"I just want to check something. Now give it here." Compliantly, England brings out his spellbook, and he lays it on Alice's bed with bafflement before he leaves to prepare supper. Immediately, Alice opens her counterparts' spellbook. Looking at the front page, she sees both read that they belong to England. "Alright, so he's not a liar…" she mutters, inspecting the handwriting further. While there is a slight difference in their hands, Alice can see that both look quite similar. She yearns to inspect England's wand as well, but it doesn't seem like he pairs it with his spellbook like Alice tends to do. "Probably because the bloke has more pockets to keep things like that in…" she reasons with a frown, looking down at her skirt with discouragement. Even without the wand, however, she's made as many conclusive comparisons as she feels that she needs without even needing to flip through his book and see all of the spells he has recorded. Thus, she closes it, leaving it on the foot of her bed as she flips through hers instead, attempting to cast a few spells that she found herself unable to cast when she was in Michaela and Lynn's custody.

About forty-five minutes later, England returns to the guest room, sporting a stained white apron. "I've finished making dinner," he says. Alice stops herself just as a small ember spark erupts from her palm, and she closes her spellbook, allowing the ember to burn out. England looks at her palm, recognizing the spell she was beginning to cast, and he scowls. "Hey, what do you think you're doing, attempting such a dangerous spell inside the house?" he questions, getting somewhat heated about it as he takes a step towards Alice as if to stop her. "You could have set this house up in flames if you weren't careful…!"

"Watch who you're yelling at! By implying that I wasn't being careful with my magic, you're implying that you aren't careful with your magic, either," Alice says, immediately getting as heated up as England. She delivers a little smirk

England is taken aback, and he growls. "Of course you'd be a smartass…Just come to the dining room. I've made something for us to eat." He begins to leave the room, and Alice jumps off of her bed and follows him. She can already smell the familiar food up the hall, and she can't suppress a small smile. England seems to take notice, and he smiles a bit in secret. "That's a refreshing expression towards my food…" he thinks.

...

About a week after the female nations were rescued from their three captors, one of those aforementioned kidnappers—Luca-is kneeling in the attic, drawing out a diagram on the floor. Across from her sits a young woman, looking to be a few years younger than her. "If anyone gets in your way, don't hesitate to attack. Just make sure that you don't get restrained or captured," Luca instructs. She slides an extravagant sword across the diagram to the young woman across from her. "And remember. Everyone you'll encounter is your enemy, and they all want to kill you. Even if they beg for mercy and swear that they mean no harm, they're lying and they're trying to delude you. You'd be better off pretending that they didn't speak at all." Luca leans over the diagram, delivering a respectful yet loving kiss to the young woman, who bows her head with closed eyes to receive it. "I'm counting on you, Gillian."

The young woman, who was addressed as Gillian, raises her head, opening her eyes and clutching the sword she'd been given with a smirk. "Yes. Anything for you, my sister."

Luca smirks. "Now then, off you go. Make sure that Michaela and Lynn don't see you leave. I've crafted a ship for you to sail to Europe with."

Gillian nods, stands, and approaches the attic's window, preparing to open it. "It'll be painful, not being able to speak with you until I've succeeded, sister."

Luca begins to look melancholy. "Yes. But the sooner you've succeeded, the sooner you can return to me."

Gillian smiles in understanding, and she opens the window, beginning to climb out. "I'll miss you…'sister'," Luca thinks in silence, watching as the young woman departs; there's a worried expression now crossing her face because Gillian can't see her. "Please come back safely."

I know that that's a bit of a jerky ending, but hey, I felt like it would go with the flow a bit more if I left the little bit with Luca and this 'Gillian' character (who only unfortunate readers of the original Genderswapped Nations should know anything about by this point; DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING, GUYS) instead of leaving it with the next chapter, where there would be no dramatic tension because this segways into something that would explain everything and it would just kind of ruin everything and make everything a lot less ominous. Hopefully that makes sense and it doesn't really spoil anything.

But hey, there are going to be much bigger cliffhangers in the future, so this one isn't that big of a deal in comparison. Use this one to prepare yourselves for the horrors that lie ahead in;

GENDERBENT NATIONS!

Next chapter, we'll have Genderbent Mysteries! So be sure to favorite, follow, and post a pleasant review for me!