Arthur slid onto a stool, giving Francis a pointed look, which the Frenchman ignored.

"Ah, bonjour, mon chiot," he greeted Alfred instead.

The time traveler shrugged in acknowledgement, slumped on his own stool and staring at his hands, spinning slowly side to side.

"I've made crêpes."

"He can see that, you git." Arthur reached over and grabbed his arm, dragging him over to the side. "Why didn't you tell me he was sleeping in the Counter's room?"

"I didn't think it would be that important. You're the one who calls himself a gentleman, so act like one. Can't you see the boy's devastated?"

"I wouldn't say 'devastated'-"

"Then depressed. Frightened. Confused. A lot happened yesterday. You can't expect him to go on as normal when his world was flipped upside down."

Arthur shook his head. "He looks like a big boy. He needs to pull up his britches and get on with it."

"Arthur."

"Francis."

"It's not his fault."

"Are you fooling with me? This is wholly his fault!"

"It's not just him, so stop acting like it."

Arthur sighed. "Look, I get what you're trying to do, alright? I see it, and you need to stop. We're immortals- he's a traveler."

"It's not about that."

"Yes it is. Don't lie to me. Timeys may be..." he trailed off, and then shook his head. "No one can escape time."

"We can delay it."

"No, we can merely live alongside it."

Francis shot a look back at Alfred, staring blankly at the counter. "Then what do you propose we do with him?"

"I've given it some thought during the night: as much as I don't want to, I think calling your little friends (a.k.a. devil's spawn) is a good idea. Maybe they can tell us something."

The Frenchman immediately brightened. "You're agreeing with me?"

Arthur sniffed, turning his head away. "As if. I'd have come up with the idea sooner or later."

"Magnifique! I'll call them now!"

"No, no. They could be anywhere, and they'd take forever to get here. I've a better idea."

He paled.

Arthur grinned. "Better finish those crepes, and then make a batch more. I'll welcome your friends for you."

"Please don't do this."

"If we're going to invite the Spanish pothead, human cat, and the albino demon, I'm going to have some fun. Go on now. I'm sure the timey is hungry."

"Bâtard."

A few minutes later, Francis cringed and Alfred fell off his stool at the sound of an earsplitting shriek.

"WHAT THE F*CK!"

"Glad to see you too, Lovino."

"Arthur! Wow oh wow! It's been a while, hasn't it? What brings us here?"

"Don't hug him, dammit!"

"Where's the beer 'cause the awesome Gilbert is here!"

Alfred was about to go see what had happened, but Francis grabbed his sleeve. "Don't."

"Why not?" he asked as the immortal fixed fresh fruit and two cinnamon-dusted crepes onto his plate.

"Trust me."

He stabbed his fork into a strawberry and settled for listening closely.

"We were in the middle of- put me down, you shitwad- something very important!"

"Aw, its okay, Lovi. The Tomatina comes every year."

"Yeah, once! Don't you know the meaning of 'annual', idiota?"

"Hey, hey, hey now: don't ignore me. Gilbert's here! The awesome has arrived!"

He heard Arthur snap, "Shut up and come into the kitchen. I don't like any of you."

"Way to say it plainly."

The American paused his chewing to watch the three newcomers follow after Arthur: a happy brunet; a shorter, sulking one trying to escape the former's hand; and a guy so pale he had no other choice but to describe him as an albino.

Francis managed a shaking grin. "Bonjour, mon amis."

"Don't you 'bonjour mon ami' me, pervert."

"Don't be mad at me. This was all Arthur."

The Briton frowned. "You're the one-"

Francis waggled a finger and clucked, his grin growing slier. "I thought you came up with the idea over night? Or else, you would have come up with it sooner or later. Oh, and, not in the presence of a child, mon cher."

Alfred looked on at this with a mixture of amazement and irritation. After all, it was really fricking awesome that these guys had just magically appeared in his house. But…these strangers had also magically appeared in his house uninvited and without his knowing.

The shorter brunet caught his eyes and scrunched his nose at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"I- I could ask you the same thing! What are you doing in my house?"

"Relax, we invited them," Francis hummed over the stove.

"Invited us! You let Arthur summon us through a portal!"

"Yes, well. It was that or nothing at all, and I had to take the lesser evil."

The albino got in Alfred's face, smiling widely. "We still don't know who you are." He turned his head to Arthur. "Hey, Mister I'm a Gentleman, aren't you going to introduce us?"

"I figured you could do it yourselves, but-"

"I'm Gilbert!"

Alfred leaned back. Jeez, this guy had no sense of personal space. "Uh. Hi. I'm Alfred F. Jones." He stuck out his hand, which Gilbert took and shook so hard and so violently he genuinely feared for the bones in his fingers.

"Gil! Move over! I want a turn! Oye, Alfred F. Jones! Mi nombre es Antonio Fernández Carriedo -but just Antonio is fine- I'm from Spain, my favorite food is churros, and I've lived for nine hundred seventy six years, which is more than Gilbert."

"Yeah, um, hi to you to."

"No contest, but I'm taller than you, anyway. But lemme start over, lemme start over. I'm Gilbert Beilschimdt, call me Gilbert, I have a badass pet bird-did you know seeing cute stuff is actually a form of panic?- I'm Prussian (German my ass), and I am eight hundred and twenty-six years old."

"Er…congrats?"

"Don't pester him," Arthur snapped. "Your voices are already giving me a headache."

Alfred waited for the third stranger to introduce himself. But he had his back to the wall with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, looking as if he had no intention of speaking unless probed to.

"Uh, and you?" Alfred instigated as politely as he could.

Antonio answered for him. "That's Lovino. He's Italian. Isn't he cute?"

The Italian sniffed disdainfully. "I can introduce myself, bastardo. And you, time traveler- don't rush me."

"I wasn't, but sorry." Oops. Wrong move. Now the Italian was glaring at him.

"If you must know right this very second, you can call me Lovino, as in Lo-vi-no Vargas. Not Lovi or 'vino or any other nickname your stupid Americano mind can come up with."

"How old are you?"

"It's impolite to ask, you asspad. But…" he smirked. "I guess you could say I'm around two thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine years old. So there."

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

Gilbert slammed his fist on the counter, making Alfred's fork clatter on his plate. "Antonio, silence your man! I think being almost nine hundred is pretty damn old, too!"

Lovino stuck out his tongue. "The traveler asked. Call me when you've finally reached a millennia, Potato-Face."

"You're all really old!" Alfred cried.

"It's not supposed to be a compliment," Arthur hissed.

Alfred ignored him. "But I still have another question to ask y'all: what are you doing in my house?"

Gilbert put his hands on his hips. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask the stiff. Hey, Arthur. Why'd you portal us here?"

"We can go over this later," Francis answered instead. "I won't have my cooking go to waste."

Alfred returned to his spot on the couch, curling into himself. Lovino slumped down on the other end, taking up the rest of the available seats. Antonio and Gilbert didn't question it and merely sat down on the floor in front of them.

Arthur stood and clapped his hands. "Alright, good. We can start now." He looked back at Francis for confirmation. When the Frenchman nodded, he continued. "We've gotten introductions and breakfast over with, and now it's business."

Gilbert's hand shot up and waved wildly. Arthur sighed.

"Yes, Gilbert?"

"What's this 'business' you speak of?"

The other immortal sighed and pinched his nose. "If you shut up, you'll see. Please, save your comments and questions until the end. As I was saying: business. Back in the 1830's, Francis and I finally came into contact with Alfred after I sensed his presence nearly a whole century earlier. Though, our meeting was only yesterday for you, right, Alfred?"

He shrugged.

"Was that a yes or a no?"

"Yeah," he finally mumbled. "I was on an assignment."

Arthur nodded. "And then yesterday- the yesterday for all of us- he came into our most recent café, and we came into contact with one another once again. After jumping forwards in time to meet, we came here to talk about the current situation of Holes, which I am sure everyone is now familiar with."

Lovino snorted, and after Arthur had turned away his glare, held up his middle finger at the Briton's arse.

"However, Francis then had the brilliant idea to enter the Counter's room without any permission-"

"I sensed something bad!"

"- and Saw. It appears as if Matthew, the Counter; was pushed off the Circle, with his watch taken."

Antonio gasped, his eyes wide. "¡Señor lo ayude!"

"Comments at the end. But I have no reason to believe this was merely an unfortunate accident. Francis and I have come to the conclusion that the Axis Powers are responsible for this."

Lovino tensed, and Alfred saw Antonio anchor him down with merely a hand on his thigh.

"The Axis?" the Spaniard repeated. "Are you sure? They only go after time travelers."

"And, it seems, Counters. The Holes must be getting worse."

"I'm sorry, Arthur. I still don't understand. Why are we here?"

"We're going after him. Matthew, I mean," Francis replied.

Alfred was relieved. As much as he was unsure about the immortals, he didn't want to be left alone. He needed to find his Counter, but he didn't know where else to start besides to go to the Circle. Which he couldn't get to without his timepiece.

"And you want us to help?" Gilbert asked, not looking up. He was picking at the carpet, his face solemn.

"If you would. It may lead us to finding your lost travelers."

Lost travelers? "You mean these disappearances have happened before?"

"They're called the Axis. They're a group of immortals with the same goals as we have but choose…other ways of attaining them."

"That's it. I'm going."

They all looked to Lovino. The Italian was on his feet, ignoring the pleading look Antonio gave him. "You can't keep talking jack shit, it's not fair to him-" he jerked a finger at Alfred "- or to us. Once they're gone, they're gone. And that's that."

"Lovi, we don't know for sure." The Spaniard grabbed his hand, but he jerked it away.

"It's been five hundred sixty three years, one month and eight days, dammit. Without one trace, one hint, one lead of where Feliciano might be. He's gone, just like everybody before and after him. Accept it already," he spat, turning his heel and storming out. They heard the front door slam, and then Antonio sigh.

"He has a point," Gilbert finally said. "It's as if Ludwig's disappeared off the edge of the Earth…what reason do I have to believe he's still alive?"

Alfred responded. "Mattie is."

"Sure, kid. Sure."

He curled up a little tighter.

Gilbert nodded his head at Arthur and Francis. "I think it's a nice thing, don't get me wrong. A real good deed you two are doing, 'specially with your sort of past. But it's been since 1815 for me, and 1453 for Lovino. Don't you think we spent a good while looking for our travelers? We haven't sensed anything."

"Travelers?" Alfred mused aloud. There it was, that word again. What would these guys have to do with people like him? "But your immortals."

"Not all immortals were born immortal," Antonio whispered.

Gilbert smiled sadly at him. "Hell, it's probably not good for me to be around you. This nostalgia is going to give me a heart attack." He got up. "Well- Arthur, Francis. Good to see you, but this is too sentimental for me. Tschüss."

And then he left, too.

Alfred turned his confusion onto the first two immortals. "What's he mean? Time travelers?"

"Mon chiot, somethings are best to be experienced."

"No, no. Answer me. Why would they need time travelers, unless they're Counters?"

"Do you not know already?" Antonio asked.

"Please, Antone, we haven't told him yet-"

Now he was scared. "What haven't I been told yet? Tell me! You guys are immortals, right? What time travelers was he talking about? Did you take them like you're taking me?"

"We aren't taking you, we're helping you, which you are obviously displeased about-"

"What time travelers?"

The Englishman kept his mouth in a thin line, and Francis busied himself with running his fingers down his hair. Antonio hummed, occasionally muttering something about a 'barkito chickito'.

"Seriously?" he sputtered. "No one's gonna answer me?"

"No one wants to, can't you see that?"

"But why would they be looking for time travelers? Just give me this one answer, please."

"You know what?" Arthur snapped. "Fine. The 1100s was when I was born- but it was the 1300s when I became immortal."

"Arthur."

"Keep your mouth shut. I'm giving the boy what he wants." He pulled up his sleeve. "I found this fancy instrument way ahead of its time, though I doubt it even works now."

A silver watch with a black cover.

Arthur was a Counter.

NOwasthatpredictableorjustbecauseit'smeREGRETS.

"...bonjour, mon chiot,"- "Good morning, my puppy." (French according to Le Parapluie.)

Magnifique!- Magnificent! (French).

"Bâtard."- "Bastard." (French).

mon ami- My friend (French).

mon cher- My dear (French).

Oye- Hey (literally 'Hear') (Spanish).

"Mi nombre es…"- My name is (Spanish)

"Señor lo ayude!"- "Lord help him!" (Spanish)

Tschüss- Bye (German according to Internet).

barkito chickito (barquito chiquito)- little boat (Spanish spelled English) (in reference to el Barquito Chiquito Spanish children's song).

I feel like write with a ton of dialogue. Please feel free to tell me if it's too much; I will try to cut it down in the future. The first part got a little choppy at the end, I know, but I'm not sure how to fix it. It's a little fast this chapter, but hopefully it makes do.

Also, I know that Romano is younger than Spain in Hetalia, but I used important dates for the immortals' ages such as Roman beginnings for Lovino. So for story purposes, Lovino has been an immortal longer than Antonio.

Also, I know nothing about crepes. Unless you count the American kind, where you spread them real thin and pray they cover the whole pan bottom...

That's that. Please tell me what you think! Sorry for long note things. ¡Chao!