Im so sorry, I totally dropped the ball. School kinda got in the way. Anyway, I apologize for any grammar mistakes/ general suckiness. Please R&R.

Italy awoke the next morning with a mixture of terror and confusion at his surroundings. He bolted upright, and tried to remember where he was. And, oh, did he remember. He remembered. His utter denial the night before, the brutal crushing of his heart as he saw their bodies, and falling asleep in the car. He started to cry as he remembered it all. It's not fair. He thought. None of this is fair. With tears in his eyes, he glanced to the table beside him. On it was an old clock and a handwritten note. " You can stay in bed until 11:30. After that, I will come wake you up. We have many things that we need to do tomorrow. Go to the door on the far left side of the second hallway of the house if you need anything. - Austria." Italy inferred that that meant he was in Austria's house, his childhood home. The room had looked familiar. The clock said that it was 10:09, meaning that he didn't have to get up yet. He changed his mind once he heard the clattering of pans and realized that he smelled pastries baking. He hadn't eaten one of Austria pastries since he was so small, but it was one of the fondness memories of his childhood. Besides...him. The sudden memory made him cry harder. The number of shocking similarities between Germany and Holy Rome had grown in the evening before. They both had icy blue eyes and pale blond hair, they both had lived in the same area, they were both stern and serious, with a softer side, they both had loved him, and they had both left him and died. Not only had they both died, but Miss Hungary, the woman who had essentially raised him, and his one and only brother, Romano, were dead, too. He laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, tears streaming down his face. It seemed like everyone he loved died on him. Grampa Rome, Holy Rome, and now Germany, Fratello, and Hungary were all dead. He sat that way weeping, until he couldn't stand staying in bed any longer. He glanced over at the clock, and realized that it was 11:15. He slowly rolled out of bed, still in his clothes from yesterday. He decided that it would probably best for him to strip to his underclothes for the time being, given that his outer clothes were wrinkled and smelled questionable. He looked in the mirror, hoping to make his face slightly more presentable, even though he knew the others didn't nearly screamed when he saw his brother's face in the mirror. He nearly cried again, but he was able to pull it together. He took a few deep, shaky breaths, and walked downstairs, knowing the way to the dining room by heart. As he walked in he saw that Prussia and America were already there, and he heard Austria bustling in kitchen. Prussia looked pale with dark circles under his eyes( and he looked slightly hungover). America looked tired, but the zombie from the night before was gone. He took a seat, nodding at the others, and getting a "Hey" and another nod in return. He sat in silence for a few minutes until Spain shuffled in, sat down, and put his head in his arms. Spain mumbled, " It wasn't a dream, was it?" Italy's blood ran cold. It wasn't, was it? America glanced nervously at the others before replying. " No, it wasn't." Spain picked his head up, and looked the other man dead in the eye. " Damn." Italy winced. He felt the same. Austria walked into the dining room carrying trays heaped high with pastries, milk, and various juices. "Dig in. We'll plan when you are done."

Spain ate slowly and in silence, not relishing the deliciousness. Everyone, even America, were eating pretty slowly, so it was quite awhile before Austria finally said, " I thought we could start by, I don't know, discussing things, or getting down to planning." Italy sat up nervously, and spoke, a tremble in his voice. " I just wanted to say sorry for being so stupid yesterday. I'm sorry if you got upset." America smiled kindly back at him, and replied almost jovially, " Whatever, man. People react differently to stuff. As a wise man once told me: ' Bro, as long as you don't go around axe-murdering people, you can react however you need to.' ." Spain saw Austria and Prussia give each other a weak smile, whatever that was about. " I mean, don't worry about it, ok?" Italy gave America a gracious smile, and looked significantly happier and at peace under the circumstances. Spain wished that he could feel as happy as he looked, but he knew that that would probably never happen again. Romano was his world. He just knew that he would never, ever be the same. He had a burning question that needed to be answered, so he asked. " Why did they die? I don't mean metaphorically, I mean how come they didn't heal like they are supposed to?" Immediately any emotion on everyone's faces besides sadness and confusion were wiped, causing immense guilt to Spain. Godammit Spain. They were happy, ok not happy, but they weren't swimming in misery until you mentioned you question. He thought. America glanced up, looking mournful again. "Yeah, are we even sure they died? I mean, maybe they'll just come back to life later!" He had a hopeful, almost psychotic look in his eye when he said it, and it almost terrified Spain. He shared a glance with Prussia and Austria; they knew how this kinda things usually worked. Austria finally answered for him," Usually when something like this happens, they come back almost immediately. When countries don't wake up within a few minutes,however...they stay dead." America glanced back at his arms, the gleam in his eyes now replaced with tears while he pouted almost like a child. " Fine. Then what the hell is happening here?" Prussia answered next. " I have no idea. Given I'm basically the professor of " Disappearing and Not Disappearing of Countries 101", I don't think anyone else knows either. I know that their economies had been fine, so I really don't know. I'm sorry, I don't. " Prussia looked at his hands mournfully. The Spaniard himself wanted to cry from the lack of information; he knew that if Prussia didn't know, no one would. America started again, nervously biting his lip. " Ok, so there is this show called Doctor Who. It was, like, one of the favorite shows of Eng-..., anyway, the guy is this alien that can regenerate every time he " dies", except he gets a new face and personality. So in one episode, this girl doesn't turn left, so it effects all of the events in the future. The doctor died, but he died so ridiculously that he couldn't regenerate, so h stayed dead. So, maybe that's it?" America didn't exactly look happy, but he seemed a bit proud of his deduction; Spain couldn't deny that he was impressed. Austria seemed taken aback as well, but he continued in a no-nonsense, business type manner. " Regardless of why, we probably have to discuss other things for a while. We have some "things" to plan. I'm not sure if you remembered, but we have a World Meeting planned at 4:00. " Oh God. He's not serious. Spain thought. His feelings were perfectly rationalized by Italy's squeal of terror, America's utterance of " Shit! ", and Prussia's yell of, " Fuck! I totally forgot!" Spain leaned forward on the table, holding his head in his hands. He could not handle this right now. Austria continued after a moment,when the general protests had died down. " It's the perfect time to tell everyone. I know you don't feel ready. and I certainly don't, but it has to be done. One of us could either announce it, or all of you could do a small piece. Either way, we need to get your stuff from your hotels, presuming the fact that you will most likely be staying here for awhile." Spain sat at him and stared. The musician had really planned this thing out. " Oh, and speaking of which." Austria grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket, and held it out to Italy and America. " I bet there are some people you'd like to call."

Japan was in his hotel room, playing video games with Greece, when he heard his phone buzzing. " One sec. I have to take this." He paused the game, and answered the phone. "Moshi Moshi." He waited for someone to reply, but all he heard was a soft noise in the noise increased in volume quickly, and he was startled to realize it was someone crying."Hello? Who is this? Hello?" He guessed from pitch of the person's voice that it was Italy, adding to his already growing anxiety. He heard a rustling noise, an, " It's ok, I've got this." from an unknown person, and silence following the sobbing. He heard a voice ring out, " Hey Japan. It's America." Japan almost recoiled. In all the years he had known America, he had never sounded so emotionless or unhappy. " Oh. Hello America. Why are you calling? Was that Italy?" " Yeah, that was Italy. He was upset because... Well something bad happened last night." Japan felt his blood run cold. What could this mean? Japan thought. " There was a plane accident, and it's a long story, but Romano, Hungary, England, and Germany are all dead." Japan gasped in horror. All of them? How? " We don't really know why, but I'm sorry. I know you were really close with Germany, and um.. England, and that you were friends with Hungary. Spain, Austria, Prussia, Italy, and I will all be at the meeting to announce and stuff, but we'd thought we'd let you know." Japan sat silently on the other end. He had never had that many friends to begin with, and three of them were dead. He waited a moment before replying. " I'm so sorry. If you need anything, let me know." " I'll let you know, bye Japan." He barely had time to say " Goodbye." before he was disconnected. He sat, staring forward and holding his phone. He felt Greece put a hand on his shoulder. " Japan? What happened?" He turned to face Greece, and realized that tears were streaming down his face. " Oh God. It was that kind of news?" Japan nodded, his face virtually emotionless except for the tears. " Three of my friends, Germany, England, and Hungary, are all dead, Romano too. I barely had any to begin with." His face almost remained blank as Greece hugged him, whispering , " It's ok." , over and over again. Normally people touching him was extremely uncomfortable, but for now it was welcome. That was when his facade completely cracked. He sat with Greece and cried, realizing the anguish the other countries must be feeling, and feeling utterly hopeless at the thought.

America hung up the phone, and took a deep breath. For some reason,the others had some idea that Italy should call and tell Japan. The idea, however, had failed miserably when Italy started sobbing on the phone, leading America to take over. That had sucked. Besides the others, it was the first time he had told any one, and it had fucking ripped him apart. Jesus Christ, he could barely think about it anymore, let alone tell someone. He turned towards the others, and saw them either looking at Italy crying in the chair, or staring at himself expectantly. " I told him. He probably didn't take it super well." Prussia sighed, Austria fidgeted, and Spain mumbled under his breath. " Like any of us did.". America decided to take his chance. " Hey Austria, do you mind if I borrow your phone again? I want to call Canada." He saw Spain, Italy , and Austria stare blankly at him; Prussia however seemed to have an idea of who that was. " My brother. He's directly on top of me." Still more blank looks. " He has a polar bear? Likes maple syrup, pancakes, and red maple leaves?" Yet more blank looks. " Really quiet? Looks like me? The hockey guy? " He heard a chorus of "Ohs" and almost laughed. His brother could be so invisible sometimes. " Yeah. So can I call him? I'll be right back." Austria handed over the phone ,and America quickly went to his temporary room. He dialed the number he had dialed thousands of times before, ingrained into his heart. " Hello?". He was so glad that his brother had answered so quickly." Hey Canada." " Oh God what's wrong?" Canada's voice sounded incredibly worried. " Crap man, that was fast." " What happened?" America sighed. " It's bad, really bad. Aw, shit Canada it's bad." Canada was whispering now. " What happened?" " England's dead. He's dead, I can't fucking handle this." He heard Canada squeal in terror on the other line." Oh god. Oh America. Oh my God." Canada was crying now, but he himself couldn't, not yet. " It's even worse. Hungary, Germany, and Romano are dead too. So Spain, Prussia, Italy, and Austria can't handle this either. It's so hard. We're all at Austria's, and I'm trying to stay strong for them, trying not to be just a puddle, but it's so hard." He was crying now too, dammit. Canada had started crying even harder when he had told the rest of the news, and he heard a familiar voice on the other line asking worriedly why he was crying. Oh, France is there. Well shit. America thought. France wasn't going to take any of this well, and he did not need to deal with this. He heard Canada tell him, 'I'll talk later, be back in a sec,' and he asked America the million dollar question . " Do you want me to come over there?" America honestly could not decide. He wanted his brother there, sure, but he wasn't sure if having him be there with all the others, especially Italy and Prussia, was a good idea. They had lost their brothers, after all He wiped tears from his eyes and tried a light- hearted laugh, although it came off as a sigh of despair. " Nah, it's ok. I'll see you at the meeting anyway. That's when were planning on telling everyone else." Canada paused for a moment. " Are you sure?". " Yeah. But would you do me a favor and tell France for me? I seriously don't want to handle that right now." Canada replied quickly. " Absolutely, just call if you need to talk or anything." " Thanks bro. Love you." "Love you too." He closed the phone and dropped it. He leaned against the wall, and put his head in his arms as he slid down the wall. He sat in a ball on the floor, breathing in and out. I can do this. I'll be their hero. I just gotta keep my shit together, and then...ok, no idea.I'll figure it out later. America thought. He stood up, wiping at his face so he look slightly presentable, and walked back out to his friends. He saw some minor looks of concern, but they really had no room to talk. "Ok, so now Canada and France know. So, what now?" He left it as an open question, but naturally it was Austria who answered. " I thought we could stop by your hotels, and pick up your clothes and luggage. I could take you and Italy, and Prussia could take Spain in his car so it would take shorter. Is that fine?" When no one protested, Austria gestured towards the door, and they left the house behind.

Please R&R. I'll try to post sooner next time. Also does any one have any cover suggestions.( I mean, what the heck do I put for this?) Also, seriously, review. If you hate it, love it, tolerate it, please review.