On a hillside, two figures press themselves against the back of a large rock. Each have a gun in hand, the green clad figure has a rifle and the pink clad figure has a small, hand held gun. The green clad figure raises a blood stained hand and pushes a strand of short, blond hair out of his mouth. He turns his eyes on his younger sister, Lili, and feels sadness fill him. She was trembling in suppressed fear and shock as she presses herself into the ever shortening shadows. He glances quickly at her legs as she shifts her position, getting a good view of the bullet wound to the back of her right calf and the freshly dried blood.

"Big broder, I'm scared," Lili says in the barest whisper.

"I know," Vash responds, swallowing and looking down at his left hand and the bullet wound there. "Just stay with me. I will protect you," he says as a bullet whizzes past above them, chipping off some of the rock above Vash's head. "They are getting closer," he thinks, turning around and cautiously looking down the hillside. Below them, their counterparts were no more than several feet away. Vash quickly turns back around as Lili starts to tug on his uninjured hand before carefully pointing to a near by tree. Vash turns, seeing a figure cautiously looking out from behind the tree...at them. Vash narrows his eyes, swiveling the muzzle of his gun around. Vash watches as the figure pulls back before re-emerging, this time with a frying pan. Vash lowers his gun at once, recognizing the figure at last as Elizabeta. Vash glances back over his shoulder, then back at Elizabeta, who nods and vanishes.

Elizabeta moves quickly and silently down the hillside towards the counterparts of Vash and Lili, Roderich at her side. They had managed to fight off their opponents moments before they heard the first shots. Slowing down, Elizabeta grabs Roderich and pulls him against her and into the shade of a tree close to their targets. She cautiously points out a path with her frying pan, before looking at her Austrian companion, who nods and starts to move.

Roderich comes to a halt behind the bush that Elizabeta had pointed out to him and turns around to watch the green clad Hungarian for his signal. Brushing nervously at his blood stained and torn blue outfit, he thinks about what was going to happen. Odds are Vash and Lili are going to attack their counterparts with their guns, so he and Elizabeta would have to attack from behind through all the bullets. "How nice," he thinks as bullets start to fly through the air from behind the rock where Vash and Lili were hiding. With a sigh, Roderich sees Elizabeta give the signal. "Well, here goes nothing," he thinks, pulling out his sword and running at Switzerland.

Vash watches as Elizabeta and Roderich run out of their hiding places and attack Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Ducking fast, Vash, pulls the trigger on his rifle again, hitting Switzerland in the chest. With four against two, Vash knows that this battle will not last long. He is soon proven right when the two counterparts start to back towards the trees...and escape. Vash watches as Liechtenstein stops one last time, aims her gun, and shoots...

Without thinking, Elizabeta dives, pushing Roderich out of the way and taking the bullet to her right side in his stead. As they collapse on the ground, she rolls off of her friend and starts to get up, a smile crossing her lips when she feels Roderich's hands under her arms, aiding her. "Thank you," she says.

"No, thank you Elizabeta," Roderich counters, keeping his arms around Elizabeta's upper chest. He watches as Vash and Lili join them.

"Thank you for helping us," Vash says slowly, not making eye contact with the Austrian. He stops when Lili stumbles, her right leg giving out from under her. With a swift movement, Vash helps his sister back to her feet.

Elizabeta looks over Vash and Lili in growing shock. Both nations were badly injured from a long, intense gun fight that they had obviously had with their counterparts. Vash's left hand is caked in dried blood from a bullet that is still logged in the bones of his hand. His left hip is still bleeding from a long, and evidently deep wound that Elizabeta guessed had been caused by a bayonet. A similar scar runs down his right leg, causing him to limp noticeably. Lili is in no better condition. On the back of her right calf is a bullet wound, dried blood surrounding it. Elizabeta guesses that the bullet is still inside the wound. She has a bullet hole in her upper right chest by her shoulder and a long scar down by her left hip going down onto her left thigh. Elizabeta feels that her one bullet wound and several, shallow, sword injures are trivial by comparison. "Ve need to get you help," she says, removing Roderich's hand from around her chest and moving over to Lili. She leans down and picks up the injured girl, leaving Roderich to help Vash. The Swiss grumbles, but doesn't deny the help from the Austrian.

As they move down the hillside, Roderich looks over at Vash and says, "Reminds you of old times, doesn't it?"

After a moment of silence, Vash replies, "Yes, it does,"