"I hope you understand how serious this is." Mr Vargas glared at them in an uncharacteristically serious way, quickly turning his eyes back to the road. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. "We do not take truancy lightly."

England merely nodded, hearing Alfred say a bright, "Yes, we understand, sir." He felt dazed. He now knew the truth, the sinister reason behind the world he had found himself in. But how did that help him? Alfred made it clear that they were always watching, that England had no choice but to pretend to be Arthur if he didn't want to catch their attention, (that is, if they weren't already suspicious after this little event…) but was that it? Was he supposed to just stay here for who knows how long, pretending that nothing was wrong?

And how was he supposed to escape?

"Hey, Artie!" Alfred waved a hand in front of his face. England slowly blinked at him. Ever since the 'teachers' had burst in an scolded them for skipping school, then proceeding to force them into the car, Alfred had been as cheery and generally stupid as America. It was as if their conversation had never happened.

England was beginning to wonder if that was actually the case. Maybe it truly hadn't happened. Maybe he had imagined the whole thing. That actually sounded more reasonable than the virtual world theory. Sure, there had been a few fanatics in the past who had attempted some kind of kidnapping plot, but they were always caught or labelled as crazy before they could do anything dangerous. None of them had the capability to create an entire virtual world, designed for the sole purpose of keeping someone occupied, and especially not one that seemed so…real. As far as he knew, no one on Earth had that kind of technology.

Unless his 'kidnappers' weren't exactly from Earth…

…Oh God. America must have been rubbing off on him.

He realised that Alfred had been saying something to him for the past few minutes, quickly stammering, "W-What?"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Wow, what's with you? You're acting so spacey…" He shook his head. "Whatever. As I said, you agree with me, right?"

"Oh, um..." Agree to what? "Yes?"

"See, sir?" Alfred looked towards the two teachers in the front seats. "I told you. I just figured that it'd be boring for Arthur to be locked in his room all day, so I thought it'd be fun for us to hang out around town."

He was glared at through the rear-view mirror. The blond man next to Mr Vargas looked suspiciously like Germany, but seemed a lot older and had long flowing hair. "If he really didn't feel well enough to go to class, then he shouldn't be well enough to leave either."

"Yeah, maybe…" Alfred rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"But it's unusual for you to need so much time off…" Mr Vargas was now addressing England, his tone laced with some kind of concern. "Do you think you have a concussion, at all?"

"No." England shook his head firmly.

"I see. Well, maybe we should take you to a hospital, just in case."

"Oh, you don't have to do that." This time it was Alfred who answered. "I mean, he's seen the nurse, like, a million times!"

"True. But…" England did not like the way those eyes were regarding him. "…It still be could be dangerous. A head injury should always be taken seriously, no matter what the circumstances. Who knows what it could lead to if not checked properly?"

A shadow briefly passed over Alfred's face, a small break in his obliviously happy façade. Even when it had returned, England could see that he had tensed slightly.

"But Arthur's fine. Right, Arthur?" Alfred gave England a 'for-the-love-of-God-stop-staring-like-an-idiot-an d-say-something' look.

"…Right," England said.

The rest of the car journey continued in an uneasy silence. England decided to turn away from the disappointed glanced Alfred would occasionally give him and looked out the window. What did Alfred expect? After everything that had happened over the past few days, not to mention that bombshell the American had dropped not even half an hour ago, of course England was going to be a little out of it. He just needed a little time to actually accept it and stop questioning his own sanity. He had appeared calm and when Alfred had first told him, but now…

The scenery past by slowly. The city may have been desolate, but more and more life became evident as they neared the school. England couldn't help but find it rather amazing. From where he sat, he could see the wind blowing through the trees and ripping an occasional leaf away. A woman was pushing a pram, smiling down at her baby with genuine warmth and affection. She laughed and held onto her hat with one hand as another gust of wind hit, and England could imagine the baby laughing along with her.

There was so much detail, so much effort…No mere amateur could have built this world.

What, exactly, was England dealing with?

Late update late update! T_T I am soooo sorry :'( I had some writer's block and my motivation for this story was getting lower and lower by the second…But don't worry, I tend to get more interested in stories after thinking about their plots for a while, so…XD I just hope it doesn't take me forever to update again…0_0 Because of the writer's block, this chapter was short, so again I'm sorry T-T But even so, please review and tell me what you think ^_^

Note: I've gone back and corrected mistakes in past chapters :) Not much was changed, but there are a few edits here and there...