-rises from the ground- I liiiiiiiiiiiiive! It's really been too long, hasn't it? I'm sorry for the delay but work started to consume parts of my life and when I had the free time, I never had the motivation to write. Gomen! DX I finally got this chapter pumped out after a long period of looking at this and other projects and trying to figure out what to do. So here it is! I hope you all enjoy!

(Can you say filler...?)

Chapter 11

Newcomer

Izaya flopped down on the bed in Egypt's house, relieved to feel a nice cushioned object beneath his body. Egypt had been kind enough to drive them all the way to his humble home on the outskirts of Cairo so they could spend the night there before catching their plane the next day. Once they had gotten to Egypt's house, Izaya had made a beeline to the guest room and ignored everyone else, desperate for some proper sleep.

"Thank god…" he groaned. "A bed…"

As he proceeded to bury his head in the pillows, a low growl came from the doorway.

"Damn flea… Such a lazy ass…"

Izaya peeked out from the pillows to glare at the blond. "Shut up, Shizu-chan… I'm tired…"

Shizuo rolled his eyes and snorted, placing his luggage on the ground as he glared at the other bed in the room. "I can't believe I have to share a room with you. I'm going to end up smelling like flea…"

"Now, now, Shizu-chan~" Izaya purred, lifting his head and putting his legs in the air. "You're my bodyguard, remember? You have to be with me so you can protect me!"

Shizuo growled something unintelligible and began to dig something out of his bags. Izaya smirked and buried his face in his pillow once more, waiting for sleep to take him. However, it soon became apparent that he would not be getting to sleep anytime soon because Shizuo had started mumbling curses under his breath.

"What the hell is your problem…?" the informant asked sleepily, glaring at Shizuo again.

"I can't figure out how to get this thing connected to the internet…" the blond growled, Shinra's laptop in his hands.

"Why do you want to get on the internet?"

"I want to talk to Shinra," the blond said. "He wanted me to contact him once we got off the plane."

Izaya sighed and rolled off the bed, moving to sit next to Shizuo. The blond shot him a glare but didn't protest against the informant being there.

"Have you ever done this before?" the brunette asked and Shizuo shook his head slowly. "Alright then… Well, I now see that Shinra should have entrusted this to me." A low growl rumbled from the blond's throat. "Alright, alright… fine. I'll get started on this. You see the bottom right corner of your screen? There should be a little icon of a bunch of bars. Click on that, look at the available networks, choose one, and ta-da! You're done. Can I sleep now?"

Shizuo nodded and Izaya flopped on the bed again, letting out a deep sigh. Sleep… Wonderful, beautiful sleep…

"What… what network do I want…?" the blond suddenly asked.

"For the love of-!" Izaya growled, pushing himself up to glare at Shizuo. "You know what, protozoan? Go ask Egypt! He probably knows! Now leave me alone so I can get some sleep!"

Shizuo glared at the informant through his azure sunglasses and briefly considered chucking the laptop at the little bastard. Instead, he took a deep breath and rose from his seat, computer in hand.

"Fine… I'll go talk to him…" he snorted and left the room.

The informant let out a long sigh and buried his face in his pillows again, hugging them close to his body. As he tried to drift off to sleep, Izaya's mind wandered back to some of the things Gilbert had told him earlier, about his past as a nation. So there were more people like him, one for each country of the world… no, he could sense that there were more than just countries; he just couldn't tell what the other immortals represented. States, micronations? Frustration grabbed at his insides; why couldn't he remember? He needed to know everything about his past and as an informant, he hated not knowing about something.

Slowly letting go of his frustration, Izaya started to slip into a peaceful sleep, the world around him slowly melting away as he fell into his subconscious. A new reality began to form in front of his eyelids as he slept, multiple shapes and colors blurring together to form a scene that he could comprehend. The first thing he noticed were two bright blue eyes staring down at him, framed by fair skin and blond hair. It was then that a strange feeling came upon the informant; not as if he were in pain but instead, he knew that he was supposed to be hurting in his dream.

"Gilbert…" the blond man in the dream said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

For what…? Izaya thought as he watched the blond man apologize over and over again. And my name's not… He then realized that what he was experiencing was not a dream but a memory, one of Gilbert's memories.

All of a sudden, Izaya felt a rush of excitement. This was his chance to learn more about his past as a nation! As he watched the scene play out in front of him, he made sure to absorb every single detail that was set before him. As the blond man, who he identified to be Germany, apologized over and over, Izaya spotted a blood red flag nearby with a swastika in the middle. The Nazi banner; so this was taking place in the forties…

"Gilbert… Gilbert…" Germany was saying to him, gently shaking his shoulders. "Hey… stay with me…"

What else is there…? Izaya thought, desperately glancing around for something else; an anchor of some sort. There's got to be something else that will tell me what's going on. He looked at Germany's worried face again. There's something going on with me in this… Am I dying? No… Sick? Maybe… What could be happening…? The scene before him started to blur and Izaya panicked, not wanting to let go of this vital information. He clung tight to the memory, trying to keep it in front of his mind's eye. No! I can't let this get away from me, not now!

"What the HELL are YOU doing here?" a voice shouted, penetrating Izaya's subconscious and rousing him from his sleep.

The informant blinked the clouds away from his eyes and looked around, realizing almost immediately that he had been pulled away from what was probably his only chance for getting more information about Gilbert. He cursed bitterly and rolled off of the bed he was laying on, deciding to see what the commotion was about. Before he could leave the room, Shizuo came back with a slightly miffed look on his face.

"What a fucking asshole…" the blond grumbled. "Just when I needed to ask a question…"

"…Do I want to know?" Izaya asked and Shizuo shot him a rather venomous look. "Did you find out what you needed to?"

"Yes…" Shizuo snorted. "But not without a lot of… patience…" he growled the last word, practically forcing it through his teeth as he worked on setting up the webcam on the laptop he had.

Izaya just rolled his eyes and left the room, walking to where he had heard the yell. As he neared the front room, he could make out three voices echoing down the hall. The first two he recognized as Greece and Japan. The third… sounded so familiar but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Whatever was going on, it sounded like Greece and this new person were arguing about… something and Japan was desperately trying to get them to calm down.

He finally rounded the corner to the front room and found Greece being held by collar of his shirt by a tall man in a dark green sweatshirt. Despite being held in such a threatening way, the Grecian nation looked oddly calm, silently glaring at the new-comer with intense green eyes.

"Get out," Greece grunted firmly.

"Who says I have to?" the other man spat. "I came here to welcome Japan!"

"As did I…"

"Who gives a shit about you? I didn't even want to see you today!"

"The feeling's mutual…"

"Wait…! Please, don't do anything rash!" Japan stuttered from the side, looking quite flustered. "Th-there's no need for fighting, especially not over me!"

"You know, you should stop trying to steal my friends!" the man in the green sweatshirt spat, ignoring Japan completely. "First Japan… and now Egypt!" The silent country in question simply rolled his eyes at the remark and left the room to make some tea. "Stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong!"

"For your information, I came here at Egypt's invitation," Greece replied calmly. "He knew Japan was coming with Gilbert and America and knew I would want to see him."

"Oh, so he invited you and not me?" the man growled, pulling Greece closer. "You know what, you little shit? I've just about had it with… wait, did you say Gilbert?"

At that moment, Izaya felt something inside himself yearn for him to move forward and before he knew it, he was inside the room looking between the two and feeling very much out of place. Japan, who had given up on the arguing pair, finally noticed him.

"O-Orihara-san!" Japan squeaked, surprised at his arrival.

Upon hearing what Japan had said, Greece and the yelling man turned to look at the new person in their midst. It was at this time that Izaya got a good look at the yelling man's face. His skin was an olive color and his eyes were an entrancing light brown, almost bronze. Slight stubble encased the man's chin and his dark hair was cut very short and rather close; the informant took notice of a small, strange curl a lot like the one that Greece had that stuck out on the nape of the man's neck. He looked rather familiar; not as familiar as Japan or Germany but Izaya swore he had seen that man before.

Could it be that this is another nation…?

"I didn't see you there…" Greece muttered to Izaya, causing the informant to turn his attention to him. "How long have you been there…?"

"Not… very long…" Izaya muttered, his eyes drifting back over to the yelling man.

"I see…"

"Who's this guy?" the yelling man asked, raising a thick eyebrow at the informant.

Izaya imitated the look and shot it at the yelling man, showing that he was wondering the same thing.

"Sadiq-san, this is Izaya Orihara," Japan told the man. "We're taking him to the Netherlands because we believe he's Gilbert."

Sadiq, as Japan had called him, blinked at Izaya, his bronze eyes scanning every inch of the informant's body. "Huh… I guess I can see the resemblance…" his eyes finally settled on the silver part in Izaya's raven hair. "Ah. I guess that just about proves it, doesn't it? Nice to meet you again, Gilbert… or Mr. Orihara. My name's Sadiq Adnan. You'd probably know me better as Turkey." He held his hand out for Izaya to shake.

Izaya slowly took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you too…" Turkey… So this was Turkey… That kind of explained why he and Greece were arguing earlier. "And please, call me Izaya…"

"Alright…" Turkey said, looking a little confused as he turned to Japan. "How much has he forgotten…?"

Japan glanced between Turkey and Izaya and back again, looking concerned. "Let's talk about that later, Sadiq-san… Orihara-san?"

"Yes?"

"We're only going to be here for a day but I'm sure you'll want to see some of the sights here," Japan offered. "Would you like to go see them?"

"Sure…" Izaya answered cautiously.

"Great!" Japan beamed. "I'll get Egypt-san and America-san to go with you."

"Got it…" Izaya sighed; of course he couldn't go alone…

"Do you want to get Heiwajima-san as well?"

Shizuo too? "Fine, I guess…" Izaya grunted, turning away to head back to the room. It was going to be a long trip to the Netherlands…

…

Shizuo felt quite proud of himself. He had gotten the webcam set up and was now fit and ready to contact Shinra. Now if only he could figure out how to use the software…

"Oi, protozoan!" Izaya called sharply, poking his head into the room. "Get off your ass! We're going sight-seeing!"

Shizuo nearly broke the computer after Izaya disappeared.

That… damn… flea!

One of them was going to be dead by the time they got to the Netherlands and dear god, Shizuo was looking forward to it…