The building where the Asians were currently residing was falling apart upon itself, cracks and holes present in the architecture after years of abuse from the weather and events in recent history. It had been the Asian headquarters of the UN city, quite a lot of Asian countries now residing in the destroyed building. Rubble and abandoned construction materials surrounded the palish-gray building, stripped of its outer protection and insulation, leaving their new home bare and uncomfortable. It had been the style of a traditional Asian temple, before being modernized to suit the needs of the Asian countries. Now, it was comparable to an abandoned haunted house, barely livable.

Though, with the building materials left over (the building having just been built a few weeks before the declaration of war throughout the globe) the Asians had used them in their own defensive strategy. Intelligently, they had built barricades to defend themselves and their safe house. At the moment, it had proved useful, working fairly well against the mutants that occasionally attempted to get in. They had built a large fence out of leftover wood and metal, using barbed wire to wrap itself around the parts of the fence, cement to hold everything in place, the gate itself almost higher than the building it surrounded. And now, with no electricity present, it was one of the best defenses for the struggling Allied forces, the Asians in District four having a great deal of protection.

Alfred stepped closer to the gate, looking carefully around for the padlocked door. At times it was difficult to detect it, the door blending in perfectly with the rest of the gate. Of course, those smart builders of the Asians had planned it this way, to prevent enemies from entering the only place they considered somewhat safe. He looked closely, watching for the familiar gray of the padlock, Emily keeping watch, her bat ready and in hand in case of mutants ready to launch themselves at them.

"Found it." Alfred whispered to Emily, taking out his key that Vy, the female representative of Vietnam, had given him. Putting down his machine guns for a few seconds, he jammed the key into the padlock, turning it quickly, the door slowly opening, allowing the Americans entrance. Picking up his own weapons, his sister joined them, and they walked down the cracked trail to the building that now represented the capital of District Four.

Alfred stepped into the doorway, peering inside the room where he knew the Asians resided. It was the former meeting room, the long round table removed and in its place the Asian's living area. They were all in their own little mini groups, starving and emaciated looking. Alfred didn't flinch or bat an eye when he saw them all visibly jump out of fear and worry, but calm down immediately when they saw who had entered their abode.

"Hey there Japs and Chinks~!" Emily snickered, glaring darkly with a malicious Cheshire look as she looked around the room. Chun-Yan and Yao, the weakest looking of the Asians, spat in her direction and looked away, sitting quietly in the corner, inhaling their Opium pipes. Chun-Yan took a long drag from her own, blowing the cloud of smoke in Emily's face, who gagged and waved the smoke away, Yao snickering.

"Emily!" Alfred spat, looking around for the two Asians he wanted. Emily snorted and crossed her arms, moving to stand beside Alfred.

"Fuck Al, I'm hungry. These Asians are bound to have some sort of food dammit! And we need it!" Emily whined, tugged at his sleeve. Alfred snorted, smacking her hand away.

"Shut up Emily." He grumbled, smirking when he noticed Sakura walking delicately towards the two Chinese smokers, the jittery female striding past the two and approached Chun-Yan, Yao having become close to falling unconscious due to his high. The two Americans followed her with their eyes, fairly curious.

"Here." Sakura whispered quietly, handing a small plastic bowl to Chun-Yan. "…some broth I found and a few stale crackers…I thought you might be hungry." It was kind of redundant for her to say that, everyone starving.

Chun-Yan smiled fondly at her, nodding and about to take the bowl when Emily suddenly swiped the bowl away from them and scurried back to her brother, grinning. "Yo, Al! I got food!" she laughed, Sakura looking at her in horror.

"Ignore her." Chun-Yan mumbled, shaking her head and chuckling. "It's the thought that counts. No one even bothers to feed us old folk." She teased, winking, causing Sakura to chuckle lightly. She gave a small nod, moving to sit down next to Chun-Yan, stroking her back gently, watching her fondly as she inhaled more of the drug. Alcoholism and drug using was now quite common, the only available source of pain relief available nowadays.

Alfred watched as his sister yapped and talked away, slurping down the foul smelling broth that she had stolen from Sakura. She had offered him the crackers, but he turned them down, causing her to shrug and wolf down those as well.

"Kiku." Alfred called, finally noticing the Japanese male. Sakura had left Chun-Yan for the moment, now working alongside her brother. A project that the Americans and Japanese had begun to work on only just recently, an almost desperate attempt to escape the apocalyptic world that had become their world in the last sixty years.

"Not now Alfred-san, can't you tell I'm quite busy?" he grumbled, going over a few hastily scribbled down notes.

"You're always fucking busy…" Emily snapped, the two Japanese turning to glare sharply at her, seemingly still upset over her stealing the little food that they had managed to scrape together. She rolled her eyes, narrowing her eyes at the two.

"We're trying to find a method of escape." Sakura replied, looking over at her brother. "Alright, Kiku-san. Try to sleep again. I'm positive that if you concentrate, we should be able to contact him again."

Kiku nodded, the room becoming silent as he strode over to the sole bed in the center of the room, which was strictly his when it was times like these. Yong Soo and Xiu were shooed off the mattress, but for once they did not complain, knowing the importance of this. The Japanese laid down on the mattress, curling up to sleep.

This was one of the rare times when the group would allow themselves to be somewhat hopeful, wondering if when Kiku would wake up, they would find out a secret that would allow them to escape the city and restart their lives. Everyone stayed quiet as to not disturb him and awaken him. Kiku gave out a groan and a spasm, and he was in dreamland, having a connection.

*~!~!~!~!~!~!~*

Kiku felt himself floating, blinking in slight shock and fear, trapped in a void of white. He looked around, finding the area blank and empty. With a sigh, he felt the familiar feeling of his feet finally touching the ground (and yet he always wondered how there was a solid surface in this odd place), and the brown eyed male looked around once more, wondering where the red eyed male was.

His search came up successful when he saw the other walking towards him, mirrored versions of each other it seemed. Crossing his arms, the brown eyed Kiku gave a huff, and glaring at the desperate looking other.

"What do you want now? This is the second time this week you've been in my dream." He grumbled, narrowing his eyes at him once he saw him open his mouth to speak.

"That is because we are desperate for help…" the red eyed one whispered weakly, looking at him. "Can't you help us? We are all weak and starving! Many of us are injured and sick! We are suffering! Please, assist us!"

"I don't believe that you even exist."

"What can I do that will make you believe?" the other cried desperately, extremely out of normal character.

"There is nothing that will change my views on you." He snorted in response. "You only come to me in dreams…I must be eating or drinking something late at night that causes these reoccurring dreams…"

"You are the biggest baka I've met!" Red-eyed Kiku gave a yell of annoyance, obviously beginning to get flustered and enraged. "I'm aware I'm also calling myself an idiot, yet I can't help but do it! You're so stupid and stubborn, can't you tell that my universe needs the assistance that you can provide!"

The other Kiku gave a small sigh, shaking his head. "…oi…you're as stupid as I am, then. I refuse to believe you." He shook his head again, looking towards the fuming Japanese soul.

"Fine then." He spat, glaring darkly at him. Though, he felt the weariness of his body, even in his dream. Glancing at the angered man once more, he decided to give in finally. Sighing loudly, he looked at him, appearing visibly exhausted. "What do you want to know?"

"A method of escape." The other whispered, appearing a bit hopeful that maybe he was finally getting somewhere with him. "We need to escape the city, to at least hope to have a chance of survival."

"I don't know a way of escape out of the G8 city, I shall admit that." Another sigh, fingers running through dark hair. "But if this really is an apocalyptic world…then…there must be some starving people as you mentioned. There is an underground well, built in the sixth district near the African capital. It has food, water, everything you need." He felt himself beginning to disappear, to his relief. The dream was over then, thank god. "This is all the information I shall give you. Now, leave me alone." The last thing he saw before waking up was the other's relieved face, as if he had just received the cure to a family member's crippling illness.

*~!~!~!~!~!~!~*

Kiku gasped, sitting up straight in bed, panting and wheezing slightly, bursting out into a cold sweat, stunned by what he had just witnessed. He felt his body trembling slightly, eyes wide in shock, struggling to fully calm down. That dream just wouldn't leave his system, would it? It ravaged his mental status, eating away at him. If he kept resisting it, maybe it would leave him alone finally, especially how he humored him this time. Even though he kept a calm exterior when conversing with it, he still felt stressed and strained from how common it was becoming. All he wanted was a decent night's sleep without being constantly awoken by that…thing. And how odd that it looked like him. That frightened him slightly.

Pochi lifted his head, curled up on his pillow next to Kiku's tatami mat, where he was currently sitting up in. He whined slightly, standing up and shaking his fur out before going to curl up on his lap, licking his shivering hand. Kiku cooed to him weakly, stroking his pale fur gently, glancing out the window at the dark night sky, the moon glimmering down at him in response. The night was quiet, grass illuminated with the faint traces of dew and the shining stars in the sky. Kiku would have felt peaceful, if it weren't for the stress he knew was occurring in the world, war on the horizon. He was old enough to know when a large war was about to begin.

Kiku looked towards the door when he heard it slide open the slightest, Sakura peeking inside. He smiled when he saw his precious sister. "Ah, Sakura-nee. Do you need something? What time is it?"

"It is three-thirty." she replied, opening the door more and stepping inside her brother's room, Tama the cat following loyally behind his owner. "And no, I don't need something. You woke me up by the noise you were making in your sleep. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Ah, I'm fine. Just a dream." he chuckled quietly, holding Pochi in his arms, looking sadly at his sister, upset that he had awoken her. Even though he's had multiple dreams with his parallel self, he wouldn't admit it to his sister. It would only worry his anxious sister. "Are you alright as well? No nightmares or anything of the sort?"

"I am fine; do not worry over me either. We don't need both of us worrying." she managed a slight giggle, sitting down next to Kiku on the tatami mat, crossing her legs and placing Tama in her lap. She mimicked Kiku, holding her pet and stroking it gently.

Kiku smiled back at her, leaning back against his pillow, Pochi yawning sleepily. He frowned slightly, remembering what his other self had said. An apocalyptic world...? No, that could never happen to them...they were civilized human beings that would not succumb to what had happened in his dream. He still doubted the truth that the other presented…

"…you know…" Sakura began, Kiku perking up and looking towards his sister in curiosity. "…Emily texted me right before I came here to check on you…"

"Ah? And you said it's three thirty?" Kiku scoffed, crossing his arms, Pochi giving a small yip. "Hrm. It's quite early, even for those Americans. They disturbed you and awoken you from sleep?" he grunted, appearing a bit annoyed at that. "That is quite rude of them, you know."

"Oh, nii-san." Sakura managed to laugh weakly, shaking her head, reaching over to pat her brother's shoulder, who grunted in reply. "Don't worry. Emily, she just…" her expression turned slightly downfallen, shaking her head. "…she just wanted to tell me something…"

"Oh?" Kiku raised an eyebrow. "What did she want to tell you?" he stroked Pochi a bit nervously as he looked towards his sister. He felt anxious, almost aware of what she was about to say, remembering the meeting they had come back from just last night. Pochi sensed his owner's anxiety, licking his fingers gently.

"…she wanted to tell me that two countries had declared war on each other." She whispered quietly, shaking her head as if in disbelief. "…Germany…declared war on America…"

Kiku paused in his petting of Pochi, blinking at his sister in shock. It really wasn't all that surprising logically, if it were considered the quarrel the two nations had at the last meeting. Yet, it was still a mental blow, to know that war had actually occurred between two countries. America had just about finished wrapping up a war, and now this…

"Kiku?" Sakura whispered, frowning at her brother's answer, which was nothing. Tama gave a small mew, looking over at both of them curiously. "…are you alright nii-san…?"

"Hai…I am fine…I am fine…" he replied, breathing a bit quickly, struggling to take in the information. The possibility for a third world war was on the horizon, and all it took was something to snap, and war would occur. That snap had likely happened with the declaration of war, and soon, very soon, it would snowball into something devastating. "It's just…a bit…frightening…you know…?"

"World war three is now fully possibly because of this." Sakura murmured what Kiku had just relayed in his head, looking down at her cat. "…everyone will be dragged into this eventually, in one way or another…"

Kiku shut his eyes and gave a nod, "…including us…including us…"


AN: Thank you for reading this chapter. I apologize for the choppiness of this chapter. Chelsea, the one who I was writing this with, got grounded and no longer had access to a computer, so I had to somehow combine these parts. I understand this is confusing and boring, and tell me if something doesn't make sense, I'll connect the storyline better. Majority of this will be found out soon, hopefully in the next chapter as well.

Please review, if you wouldn't mind. Feedback is always wonderful to read :)