AN: I really appreciate you guys' support. Go on and enjoy the chapter :3

We're almost done, folks.

We had been riding in the jeep for about five minutes and the buildings I had seen from the air were nowhere in sight. Already I began to doubt that our plan would work, but from the looks on my Units' faces, they were ready for some action.

The man in front of us stared forward with a blank expression on his face. He still had his sunglasses on, so I couldn't tell if he was looking at any one of us in particular. His fingers were interlocked and his hands rested casually on his knees as he sat forward with a slight hunch in his back. I could see something silver sticking out of his pocket, but it was too far in to tell exactly what it was. As part of the plan, I prepared for the worst, so I immediately assumed it was a gun.

The jeep suddenly went over a large bump and everyone bounced in their seats. Not expecting to be jostled around, I reached to my right to grasp America's arm, only to find that it wasn't there. Naturally, I panicked and whipped my head around, my eyes widening and fear beginning to grip my heart when I saw that his seat was completely empty. Before I had the time to open my mouth and say something, Russia turned my head around so I was facing him and put a finger over his lips, then pointed at something.

I followed his finger to where he was pointing and was surprised to see America standing in front of the officer. The man had his back to America as he yelled at the driver of the car to drive slower and watch for holes in the road. He shook his head and sighed, and then turned to face us once again.

As soon as he was facing parallel to our side of the jeep, America pulled his arm back and brought it forward with lightning fast speed and accuracy. He punched the officer right in the center of his face, and with a sickening crack the man's head snapped back and he went entirely limp.

England then bolted from his seat and searched the man's pockets, finding an ID badge, a Swiss Army knife, and a box of Wintergreen Tic Tacs in one, and a small silver pistol in another. He pocketed everything except the Tic Tacs, which he threw over the side of the jeep and into the brush, and then began to strip the man of his uniform. Meanwhile, America had jumped on top of the roof of the driver's part of the jeep and was trying to make enough noise to get the two occupants inside to look out of their windows.

America succeeded and the man sitting in the passenger's side opened his door and leaned out just far enough to turn around and see us in the back. As soon as he did, America planted his foot right into the guy's face. The man fell out of the car and into the road, and as we sped away I could see that he wasn't moving. The driver then stopped the car and stepped out, his pistol shifting between the five of us.

I could see that he was about to pull the trigger on America when Russia's pipe came flying out of nowhere and hit the driver in the head. He dropped his gun and fell to the ground, unconscious. Russia then leapt out over the side of the jeep and poked the man in the side with his foot. Once he made sure the man was out cold, Russia picked up his pipe, high-fived England and America, then began to loot the man's pockets and take off his uniform as well.

I sat in the back of the jeep, shocked, and watched as Korea ran to back to the other officer in the road and began to do the same as Russia. America started searching on the inside of the jeep and paused when he saw that I wasn't moving.

"Lily?" he asked. England and Russia looked up from what they were doing, and Korea jogged back with a bundle of clothes in his arms.

"I don't know what that was," I stated, "but that was not a part of the plan."

America smiled. "That was called improvisation."

I rolled my eyes. "No kidding. But would it have killed you to stick to what we agreed on instead of scaring the crap out of me like that?"

England laughed. "Come on, you have to admit— it was pretty awesome."

I turned crossed my arms and looked off into the distance, a slight frown on my face that was only there to hide the sheer excitement and adrenaline that was threatening to burst out at any minute. "I guess…" I mumbled. I turned to look at what the others were doing and just so happened to come across America taking his shirt off.

Needless to say, I was impressed.

America had abs. Like, he was seriously ripped. They weren't as defined as a body-builder's would be, but they were definitely there. For a sixteen year-old, he definitely had a nice build…

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! I screamed in my head. He's sixteen! You can't think about him like that! This is freaking pedophilia we're talking about here!

A blush crept up my cheeks and my face felt like it had just been doused in kerosene and set on fire. Before America could look up and see me blushing like mad, I turned away…only to see England and Russia taking off their shirts as well.

Well…this is acceptable, right? England's twenty-three and Russia…well, who knows how old Russia is but he's definitely older than America. Holy crap, those abs…

"Lily, can you search the inside of the car while I go scout around the area a bit?"

"Huh?" I asked, suddenly being snapped out of my fantasies. I began to blush again as I realized I was probably just caught staring.

"Can you look for stuff in the car while I go check out the vicinity?" he repeated. He zipped up his pants zipper and took off his glasses, then handed them to me as he replaced them with the officer's sunglasses. "Here, hold on to these for me."

Absentmindedly, I held out my hand and he dropped his glasses into my palm. "You shouldn't go out by yourself. Something could happen…" I trailed off as I put his glasses in my coat pocket.

America shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. I got a gun, so I'm all set. And besides, I said I'm only checking out the immediate area. Just to make sure there are no other officers, you know?"

"…Fine." I caught his wrist before he left. "But don't kill anyone, please,"

"Hmm, I can't really guarantee that," With a laugh, America walked away and into the forest, whistling as he made his way through the trees.

I watched as America disappeared into the woods, and as soon as I lost sight of him worry began to creep into my mind. I stood up and hopped over the side of the car and began to do as America asked, trying to find anything useful while also trying to distract myself from worrying over America's safety too much. I knew he could take care of himself, after all, he had a gun with him, but after everything that had happened in the past few months, after all of the near-death experiences he had encountered, I couldn't just let him walk away on his own without thinking he wasn't in some kind of danger. The woods may have seemed calm and empty, but America had no real idea of what, or who, was lurking around in there, and whatever it was could potentially kill him.

But if America said he was fine, then I should trust him, right? After all, what kind of person would I be if I didn't even trust him with his own life?

I shook that thought from my head and began to rummage through the glove box. It was best to save the worrying for when we actually got into the building. Besides, America had entrusted me with the task of finding anything useful, and I was determined to get something to make this whole trip a little easier on us all.

As I was sifting through the various papers and items in the glove box, I accidentally knocked all of the papers to the floor, but it actually worked out in my favor. For there on top of the pile was a map of the Flying Mint Bunny Incorporated Headquarters building.

Jackpot.

"Hey guys, come take a look at this," I said loudly. I heard a blend of footsteps get louder as they came towards me, and soon Russia, England (both of which were dressed in the officers' uniforms, as well as America), and Korea were by my side peering into the jeep. "I found this. Think it's useful?"

England took the map and held it out into the sun, taking a moment to squint at it. Suddenly, he chuckled. "Useful?" he asked. "Lily, this is a lifesaver."

"With this, we should be able to find where they're keeping Canada in no time!" Korea exclaimed happily. I smiled and joined in with him as he jumped up and down and clapped his hands.

From the woods on the other side of the jeep, America emerged smoothing out the wrinkles in his uniform. "Coast is all clear. I think it's safe that we—what are you guys doing?"

I turned around and took the map out of England's hands, then held it out for America to see. "We found a map of the headquarters!" I said with a smile.

America smiled back and laughed at my enthusiasm. "That's great. We can get around a lot easier now, since I certainly can't remember which room is which. Which brings me to what I was saying: the building is just up ahead and there's a door manned by one guard, but I don't know where it leads. If I could see the map for a second, then I can figure out where we are…"

"Oh yeah, sure," I handed him the map and he took in to the back of the jeep where he laid it down on the floor. The rest of us sat around it in a circle and watched as America began to point to various locations.

"We just came from here," he said, and he pointed to the airstrip where we had landed. "Then we drove down the path-" he dragged his finger over a small road through the trees, "-and we ended up here at the easternmost wing of the building: the Chibi Housing Hall."

I shifted the map closer to me so I could have a better view of the building's layout. The building had two wings: one on the easternmost side and one on the westernmost side. Between the two was the largest section of the entire building: the Central Wing. The Central Wing was divided into four separate areas: the Mess Hall and Final Inspection Room, which were across from each other and by the reception area at the front of the building, and a giant lab on the north side with a small room beyond that was labeled "The Deactivation Room". We landed near the Eastern Wing, and on the southern half of the wing was the Chibi Housing Hall, which we were standing a little ways from at the moment. The northern half was the Chibi Inspection and Monitoring Room. The northern half of the Western Wing was the same but for full-sized Units, and the southern half was the Normal Unit Housing Hall. Outside of the Final Inspection Room was a cargo loading area, and from it a road connected back to the airstrip.

"If we're right outside the entrance to the Chibi Housing Hall, then we should be able to go in, get Canada, and then get out, right?" I asked. Russia shook his head and brought the map closer to himself.

"He could be anywhere in the building. I remember all kinds of Units walking through the halls halfway across the building when I was here. Usually when Units passed the final inspection and were waiting to be shipped back to their capital they were allowed to roam around the headquarters."

"So there's a chance Canada might not be in the southern half of the Eastern Wing at all?"

England nodded. "Exactly."

I sighed in frustration and ran a hand through my hair. "Well, that's just great." I mumbled. "So much for this being an easy task…"

"It's never an easy task when you're up against the FMBDS." Korea said. "Trust me; it's a lot harder than you think."

"Well then what do we do?"

"First off, we have to get Korea a uniform. Now that I think about it, you need one too, but I remember the female officers having a different uniform than the men, and the guard standing outside the entrance is a dude…" America shook his head. "We'll find a female officer when we get inside. Anyway, what we need to do now is go knock out the guard, take his uniform for Korea, then head in and search the first and second floors for Canada, all while trying to find Lily a uniform so she doesn't stand out as much."

"There are two floors?" I asked.

England nodded. "Yeah, but it's basically just a continuation of the rooms on the first floor. All of the rooms are the same, just with more Units. It's like taking a whole other building with the same exact layout and rooms and stacking it on top of this one."

I nodded, and in my mind I began to visualize what the building could look like on the inside. From what the map showed and how my Units talked about it, it was pretty big. Hopefully we wouldn't get lost or confused even if we had the map to guide us.

"All right then," Russia said. "It's a plan. Let's go."

"One quick thing," America interrupted. He turned to me. "What was Canada wearing when he first ran away?"

"His polar bear Halloween costume," I said, and frowned. "Why?"

"So we can find him amongst the dozens of other Chibi Canada Units, duh!"

"Just how many Units are we talking about?"

England's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, just you wait and see."

With that, America led the way through the woods rather than just walking directly down the path. Even though there was only one guard on duty, it would be highly unwise to walk right up to him and try to knock him out when he probably had a gun on him. As much as I was in a hurry to get in, get Canada, and get out, we couldn't risk any one of us getting hurt. So in order to render the guard unconscious without sustaining any bullet wounds or other types of unwanted injuries, Russia left the group and meandered around so he was in the woods on the guard's left. He walked super quietly so he kept the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs as minimal as possible, and as soon as he stopped at the right area and we gave him the signal, he brought his arm back and chucked his pipe out into the open where it landed just a little to the guard's left.

The guard jumped and, visibly shaken and confused, walked over to the pipe and kicked it with his shoe. He looked up and into the forest uncertainly. He must have recognized that the pipe belonged to a Russia Unit, for he picked it up and walked over to the edge of the woods, most likely checking to see if there just so happened to be a Russia Unit in the brush messing with him.

As soon as he stopped at the woods' edge, England and Korea sprang into action. They ran forward quickly and silently, and when they reached the officer, England swung his leg out and kicked the man's legs out from under him. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud and reached into his belt, but Korea was one step ahead of him. He scooped up Russia's pipe with one fluid motion and slammed it down on the officer's head, sending him back to the ground again. For good measure, Korea kicked him lightly in the head to make sure that he was completely out of it. Seeing no signs of the man waking up anytime soon, Korea got down next to the man and began to take off his uniform and raid his pockets for goodies.

As this happened, America and I emerged from the sidelines and met up with England and Russia by the door. We waited until Korea had changed into his new uniform and ran back to us. Now that we were all ready, it was time for the moment of truth. I grasped the steel doorknob and twisted it, my heart beating fast.

It was locked.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," I heard America mumble. A collection of groans, obscenities, and sighs ran throughout the group. I frantically twisted the doorknob again, but the results didn't change. It was still locked.

Suddenly, I heard jingling from behind me and Korea pushed his way up front. He turned around at the top step and dangled a ring of keys in front of our faces. "Always check every pocket!" he sang, then turned around and proceeded to try to unlock the door.

The next five minutes or so were spent trying to figure out which key unlocked the door. This process wouldn't have taken so long if there weren't so many keys on the freaking key ring. Seriously, there were probably fifty on that thing! For a building that had only nine main rooms, how many keys did the guards need to carry around?

Five minutes had passed and still the door had not been unlocked. Korea was down to just three keys that he hadn't tried, but by then everyone was losing hope. If none of those three keys didn't get us into the building, that meant we had to trek all the way back down the path, all the way down the airstrip, and then all the way down another path to the main entrance of the building, which was no doubt teaming with guards. Either that or we had to walk even further to the West Wing, and who knew what would be waiting for us there? After all, what if there were more guards then us fighters? We didn't exactly have a plan if that ever happened…

In fact, the plan we spent four days working on was essentially scrapped. It was like we had never even came up with it in the first place. Our plan from here on out was pure improvisation, and so far it was sort of working in our favor.

"Hallelujah!" Korea suddenly exclaimed. I jumped up from my seat at the bottom step and ran to his side immediately, watching excitedly as he turned the last key, twisted the doorknob, and threw open the door.

The hallway was empty.

Korea and I exchanged confused looks. The hallway was empty…why would it be empty? Russia said he saw Units walking all throughout the building when he was there, so why were there suddenly no Units anywhere in sight? Were the officers somehow alerted that we had knocked out some of their coworkers and were trying to get us out into the open by ourselves? Were we even in the right wing, let alone the right building? What was going on?

I had just turned around and opened my mouth to ask America a question when it happened.

A loud bell sounded throughout the hallway, and it sounded like one of those school bells that rung between classes. It lasted for about five seconds and then the hallway was completely silent.

Suddenly, the doors all down the hall burst open, and dozens upon dozens of Chibi Units ran out laughing and yelling. I saw different Chibi Units ranging from Russia, Korea, China, and Chibitalia, to Switzerland, France, Spain, and—

Canada.

There were Chibi Canadas everywhere.

And none of them were mine.

Of course, that didn't stop me from pushing forward and storming down the hallway. Just because my Canada Unit wasn't here didn't mean I was going to give up and stop looking. I refused to let this drag me down; I refused to let disappointment, sadness, and anger get in the way of me finding my Unit and taking him home with me and the others where he belonged. I was going to ignore the overwhelming urge to wallow in my grief and instead push on, because if I didn't, then I would never get Canada back and sooner or later America would be taken from me too.

Those thoughts sent chills down my spine as I made my way down the hall, being careful to avoid stepping on any chibis. I could hear my other Units running to catch up behind me as I opened the first door I came upon, which was on my left. Unfortunately, it was locked, so I went across the hall. That door was locked too. I let out a grunt of frustration and continued down the hall, checking every door along the way.

"Hey, easy, easy!" America yelled when I pounded on yet another locked door. "There could be officers in there, and we can't afford to be caught now. Not when we've gotten so far."

I chuckled darkly. "We've gotten nowhere, America. We still have eight rooms and a whole other floor left. You can hardly call checking half of this end of the wing any progress,"

"One of these doors has to be open," England reasoned. "Don't jump to conclusions so easily. Like you said, we still have a lot of ground to cover. He's in here somewhere,"

"Yeah well, this next door better be the one, or I'm seriously going to be pissed,"

Just to prove my doubts, I walked over to the door (all while ignoring the numerous chibi Units flinging themselves at my legs) and turned the handle.

Lo and behold, it opened.

"See?" England asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Lucky guess."

Peering in, I gasped and covered my mouth before it could be heard. Korea opened his mouth to say something but I motioned for him and the others to stay quiet. I pointed into the room and then my Units realized why I was so surprised.

The room was a typical nursery. The walls were covered in a big mural that depicted green hills with rabbits everywhere and a cloudless blue sky. Cribs lined the walls but they were all empty, save for one across from the door and in front of a set of large windows. In the crib was a Chibi China Unit, and standing over him attending to a scrape on his knee was a female officer equipped with a handgun in her belt and who knew how many other weapons.

"Why can't I go out and play?" China whined. The officer sighed and squeezed some antibiotic cream onto her finger.

"Because you have a nasty boo-boo from falling on the pavement yesterday, and it still isn't well. We can't let you play when you're hurt. You could hurt yourself further."

China crossed his arms and pouted. "That's stupid," he muttered. Suddenly, he locked eyes with me.

Frantically, I put a finger over my lips and dragged my hand across my neck in a slicing motion to try to tell him to stay quiet. Instead, he smiled and began to giggle, and while I thought it was incredibly cute, it did not help in keeping me hidden.

"What are you laughing at?" the woman inquired. China just shook his head and covered his mouth with his hands.

"Mmm hmm mmm," he mumbled. The woman put her hands on her hips.

"What?"

Still laughing, China extended one of his short arms and pointed directly at me.

So much for staying hidden.

The officer turned around and immediately drew her gun at the sight of me. I blanched and put my hands up, searching frantically for some kind of weapon to defend myself with. Judging by the way the woman's eyes were completely focused on me, I assumed my other Units were hiding out in the hall next to the doorway so they wouldn't be seen. While this did give me some comfort, it only served to lessen my spirits when I realized they were the only ones that had guns on them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the woman asked. From behind her back, China peered out with a guilty look on his face. He pointed to the left and I looked over for a brief second, noticing a table with a sink and a row of cabinets on the wall much like in a doctor's office. On the table was a tray of various tools, and of them I noticed a half filled syringe next to a small bottle filled with a clear liquid.

"Well, are you going to answer or not?" the woman demanded. I scratched my head and began to slowly move over towards the counter.

"You don't know me? I'm the…the new intern!" I lied, hoping she would by it.

The woman scoffed. "We don't hire interns."

"My mistake then," I said hastily as I wrung my hands together. "Intern, trainee…they mean the same thing where I'm from."

"And where's that?"

"Uh, New England…"

The officer turned her head to the side. "Oh really? Because it was to my understanding that a woman and her Units were being brought to Headquarters for an exchange from the New England area. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

She took a step forward and I took a step back, my back hitting the counter. Slowly, as to hopefully not attract any attention, I lowered my left hand and placed it on the counter, then began to search for the needle.

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at being sneaky.

The officer's eyes immediately darted to my hand and she cocked the gun with a loud click. Panicking, I barely registered my Units running into the room and the sudden gunshot that rang out as I took hold of the needle and rushed towards the officer, my arms outstretched.

The next few moments happened in a blur. Time seemed to slow as I sprinted forward and jammed the needle in the officer's arm, then injected her with whatever was in it. At the same time, my Units came bolting through the doorway, their stolen guns at the ready. Whether the gunshot was from them or the officer or both, I didn't know, but in just a few seconds the officer was on the ground, and her gun skidded across the floor and was stopped by England's foot.

The room fell completely silent. The woman yanked the now empty needle out of her arm and looked at it with wide eyes before throwing it across the room at me. She searched frantically for her gun, but immediately stopped when she saw England bending over to pick it up. Closing her eyes, she smiled faintly and her arms fell completely limp by her sides.

"At least I hit one of them," she whispered, before her head lolled to the side and her breathing began to slow.

At this, I panicked. I didn't know what was in the needle when I stuck it in the woman's arm, so I had no idea whether it was deadly or not. If just a few minutes could cause the officer to pass out, then I must've just poisoned and killed her.

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!" I yelled. I turned around and picked up the bottle from the tray, then quickly looked for which drug it was. The bottle was labeled "Lorazepam", and I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Lorazepam was just a sedative used to calm patients when they freaked out, had seizures, or other hyperactive conditions. The dosage I had given the woman was enough to knock her out in a matter of minutes, but it wasn't enough to kill her or get her addicted…hopefully.

As I was getting over the fact that I didn't kill some random person, I heard something slide to the floor and a grunt of pain. A few gasps resounded through the room and England's worried shout of "Korea!" brought my attention back to the situation at hand. I turned around and saw my Units forming a circle around Korea, who was sitting with his back against the wall and a pained expression on his face.

I ran over to the group and pushed past them, then crouched down next to Korea. Both of his hands were covering an area on his leg, and immediately I knew what had happened.

Anger surged through me and I balled my hands into fists by my sides. "That bitch!" I hissed, and didn't even stop to feel appalled at the language I was using. My Units didn't seem to notice either, for they were too busy being worried for Korea.

"Shit! What are we gonna do?" America asked. He looked around the room and when he spotted the cabinets, he ran over to them and wrenched them open. He looked them up and down and slammed the doors shut when he couldn't find anything. "The cabinets are empty, and there's nothing in here to use. He gonna bleed out if we don't find something quick."

Korea laughed weakly. "It's not that bad," he said, and moved his hands out of the way to get a closer look. The wound wasn't that large but certainly wasn't very small either, and the flesh was raw and bloody. The fabric around it from Korea's pants was stained red, and Korea's hands were coated in the red, sticky fluid. "Really," he insisted, "I'll be fine."

"You are most definitely not fine!" I shouted. "You just got shot, for Christ's sake!" I began to apply pressure to the wound with my hands, and Korea yelped in pain and tried to push them away.

"Look, I'll manage, okay? You guys need to get out of here. I'm sure the sound of gunfire has alerted the rest of the building and they're probably sending more guys down here to kill you. You need to leave while you still can."

"Don't pull that on me, Korea. There's no way I'm leaving you!"

Korea grabbed my wrist tightly, tight enough that it actually hurt, and looked at me with pain-filled eyes. Tears began to well up and few slid down his pale cheeks. He stared at me with a broken, pleading expression, and pointed at the door.

"Go," he said firmly. My mouth fell open and I looked at him in shock and confusion. "Leave and find Canada quickly. The FMBDS will come and find you if you don't leave right now. You still have a chance, Lily. Don't waste it,"

I blinked, my eyes beginning to sting. "But Korea, we can still bring you with us! Someone can carry you, and-"

Korea shook his head. "How many times to I have to say it?" he asked angrily. "Just fucking go!"

A heavy silence fell over the room. Slowly, I stood up, and stared at Korea disbelievingly. His small body shook as he fought off sobs, and in a pathetic attempt to appear calm, he put his hands over his wound and exhaled slowly.

America elbowed me in the side and he dumped the woman's uniform and gun into my arms. "You better get changed," he said quietly. "We need to get going."

"I will stay with Korea," Russia suddenly said. I turned to him in shock.

"But Russia-"

Russia shook his head. "It's all right. We'll be fine. I can treat him; I have experience."

Clutching the clothes to my chest, I reluctantly nodded and turned to head for the door. Before I left, I took one last look at Korea and felt a mixture of sadness and anger rising up within me.

"I'll find Canada," I said fiercely, "and then I'll come back for you. And when I come back, you better still be alive, or so help me God I'll…" I paused, tears falling down my face. I shook my head and turned to America and England. They looked at me sadly, but took the hint and walked out the door. "Let's go,"

Immediately after exiting the room, America and England wasted no time getting their weapons ready and advancing down the hall. We found a woman's bathroom and I changed into the female officer's uniform, then equipped her gun and put her various other weapons in the holster. Once I was all set, we walked down the corridor to the Chibi Inspection and Monitoring Hall and continued our search for Chibi Canada.

Though we all appeared calm and collected, I knew deep down everyone was shocked and hurt. At least, I knew I certainly was. As we walked down the hallway I couldn't stop thinking about how we had just left Korea, and come to think of it, Russia, behind. I mean, how stupid was I to just leave them on their own? And especially if Korea was hurt? I could've just forced Korea to come with us instead of leave him wounded and possibly dying.

But that's not what Korea wanted. He told me to leave. Actually, he demanded that I leave. He knew something that I didn't or that he didn't want me to know, so he told me to leave. He said I still had a chance without him, and that I shouldn't waste it.

So I should honor that and continue on without him, right? I know it's what he wanted, and he has Russia there to help and protect him if something happens, but God damn it, it just felt so wrong! I left him to die…What kind of person am I?

"We have to go back," I said after a moment of silence. America stopped and turned back to look at me.

"What?"

"We have to go back," I repeated. "We can't leave Korea there to die. What kind of people are we if we can't protect someone else?"

America looked at me sadly, but I could tell he was getting frustrated. "Look," he began, "Korea's not going to die. His wound isn't life-threatening. Besides, Korea wanted us to go. He wanted us to leave him behind. Don't you think we'd be helping him by honoring his decision?"

"That's not helping him! That's murder!" I yelled. England waved his hands frantically to tell me to quiet down, and I did so after realizing I was putting us in potential danger. "I don't care if Russia 'has experience' or not. We can take him with us and he'll be fine."

"He can't do anything with an injured leg," America said hotly. "If we brought him with us, he'd only slow us down. He'd be a nuisance. I know it sounds harsh, and I feel bad for saying it, but it's true. We either left him behind and had more time to find Canada, or we took him with us and had to keep stopping because he was hurt, and then the FMBDS would find us and then we'd all be killed."

I stared at America, numb from shock and horror. How dare he say something so rude and inconsiderate! "Well then if you don't want to look with Korea so badly, then you and England can go on ahead. I'll go back and bring Korea and Russia with me, and then we'll continue looking by ourselves."

At this point, America sincerely looked like he wanted to strangle me. I could see that he was getting angry, frustrated, and he looked about ready to punch a wall. "That is quite possibly the stupidest fucking thing that has ever come out of your mouth," he retorted.

I reeled back, appalled. "Excuse me?!" I shouted.

America scoffed. "Splitting up is possibly the worst thing you could ever do when in a situation like this. Haven't you ever watched a horror movie?"

Now it was my turn to scoff. "I'm surprised you even know that, considering you're such a wimp when it comes to scary movies. Does Paranormal Activity ring a bell?"

England, who had been observing the rapidly intensifying argument from the sidelines, stepped a bit closer with a worried look on his face. "You two need to calm down," he said in a hushed tone. "We can't afford to attract attention to ourselves…"

America ignored England completely and took a step forward, his finger pointed at me sternly. "First of all, it's common sense. You should never split up; ever heard of the saying 'safety in numbers?' And secondly, ghosts are freaky. End of story."

"Oh my God, somebody call a doctor!" I mocked. "Something's wrong with America! He's actually admitting that something makes him scream like a little girl!"

America opened his mouth to say something, but England quickly beat him to it. "That's enough!" he yelled. "You two need to stop acting like immature children and actually work together so we can find Canada and get the fuck out of here. Do you think you can do that?"

I sighed and looked at America angrily, but reluctantly agreed. "Yes," I said.

"No,"

I narrowed my eyes at America and watched as he tapped his foot impatiently. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he jeered. "I can't work with you."

"And why not? Am I suddenly not capable enough to be searching with you?"

America rolled his eyes. "I never implied that. I can't work with you because I know you'll just start complaining or do something else that will only slow us down, like this!" He gestured with his hands to the three of us as we stood in the middle of the hallway not making any progress.

"I do not complain!" I fired back.

America looked like he wanted to punch me in the face. "Yes you do!" he screamed. "You always do! You complained when I was joking around with Canada that one time-"

"You stuck him in the freezer and almost killed him!"

"-You complained about the distance to Concord the first time we had to go to the hospital-"

"With good reason! I didn't want you to suffer for three hours!"

"You smacked me in the face, too, now that I think about it…"

I sighed and pursed my lips. "So you wouldn't fall asleep bleeding and potentially die from blood loss,"

"You complained when I got Russia out of his crate when he first arrived, and you called me an idiot and started insulting me,"

"Because you could've gotten us all killed, might I remind you." I sighed, growing tired of fighting. "Look, can you just get to the point already?"

"The point is that you're an ungrateful bitch who does nothing but whine, bitch, and moan about everything. You're the whole reason we're in this fucking mess!"

America turned to leave, but I wasn't about to let him go just yet. Quickly, I ran up to him and pushed him to the wall, pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't try anything stupid. England was immediately trying to pull me off of him as I leaned in close to America's face and gave him a murderous look.

"Listen, you little shit," I hissed. America gulped, but his glare did not waver. "I have done more for you than you could ever repay me for. And you don't see anybody else helping you either, do you? No, you don't, because I swore that I was going to protect you and that it was my responsibility to keep you safe. Yes, I may have started this whole disaster, but I promised you that I would fix it. If it weren't for me, you would've died a long time ago when the FMBDS tried to drown you. If anyone's the ungrateful one, it's you. Obviously you don't want my help, so fine, you can go on your own with England. Be my fucking guest. But when you need help and I'm not there…well tough luck, kid, 'cause I'm not coming back." I pushed myself off of him and turned to go back the way I had come. England looked at me sorrowfully and reached to stop me, but I pushed his hand away.

"Lily, stop, it doesn't have to come to this…" England pleaded. "America's just angry, okay? He doesn't know what he's talking about. Please; we can work this out. We can-"

Suddenly, the sound of numerous pairs of footsteps came closer and closer as a group of people came running around the corner. The footsteps were heavy, and were accompanied by the deep voices of various men as they yelled that they were the FMBDS and for us to put our hands up where they could see them.

America pushed himself off the wall and shook his arms. "Shit!" he whispered. He turned to me and glared. "This is all your fucking fault."

"They're in this hallway!" one of the men yelled. "Aim for the Units but not the girl, and fire at will. No matter what, don't shoot the girl. Mark wants her alive."

America grabbed England's arm and began to pull him along down the hallway. "Come on, England, let's go!" he said impatiently. England looked back at me worriedly.

"But, Lily-"

"The hell with Lily! She got what she wanted anyway. We're splitting up, and she can go back for Korea and Russia for all I care. Now come on, let's go!" They ran down the hall and entered a room, then closed the door behind them. Faintly, I heard a pane of glass break, so they had probably fled through the window and back into the woods. I huffed under my breath and took off the same way, but pushed through a set of double doors and into a stairwell. Climbing the stairs two at a time, I made my way up to the second floor and ran around frantically, doing anything to get the FMBDS officers off my tail.

After about five minutes of running, I had somehow made it back onto the bottom floor and in a room in the Normal Unit Housing Hall. Here I blended in with all of the officers and no one suspected a thing. I hid in an empty room like looked like it was occupied by an Italy Unit, and waited for a bit so the officers that were chasing me had already gone through the hall.

When the coast was clear, I reentered the hall and made my way up to where the Normal Unit Housing Hall ended and the Unit Inspection and Monitoring Room began. I still had the map with me, something I knew America and England didn't need, so I look at it as I made my way north. If I took a right I would end up in the main part of the building with the Lab on my left, so I decided to go and search for Canada there.

I looked at my map as I walked so I wouldn't appear suspicious. I hoped the other officers around me would only think that I was a new kid or something. It seemed to work , but I didn't realize walking around without looking to see where you were going was a bad until I turned the corner and walked right into someone, almost knocking them to the ground.

I quickly put away the map and helped to steady the person on their feet. "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" I said and looked up to see who I had run into. "Are you o-"

There, standing in front of me, was my ex-boyfriend Anthony, his arm holding Canada up against his chest by the throat and a gun pointed to his head.

AN: Well shit. That was intense.

"You still have a chance, Lily. Don't waste it," is my favorite line in this entire chapter. Or maybe when Lily went bat shit crazy on America. I haven't decided yet.

See you guys next chapter!

Mei-Ling out. Peace! :3