"Vhy can't ve come to a diplomatic solution? You can't do this!" Hungary shrieked as Russia dragged her down the hall. He stopped and twisted around to glare at her. Seeing the terrified look on her face, Russia's expression cooled into a smirk.

"It looks like I can," he told her. He tightened his grip on Hungary's arm- now she was sure it would bruise- and continued walking.

"You should have thought of this last time," he continued, "before you turned against me."

"Is dat vat this is about? I thought ve got over that years ago," Hungary protested.

"YOU got over eet," Russia corrected, and left it at that. Reaching a door near the end of the hall, Russia opened it and shoved Hungary inside.

"You will stay here until I decide what to do with you," he commanded. He then slammed the door, locked it, and walked away.

"I am going out," he said flatly as he passed the Baltic states in the hall. He needed to go pick some sunflowers. Ever since his home had become warm enough to support them, it seemed Russia had begun drowning his sorrows and getting stress relief from sunflowers rather than vodka.

As soon as Russia was gone, all the household's occupants assembled in the kitchen.

"So," Estonia said, "what should we do about Miss Hungary?"

"One of us should talk to her or something," Poland said with a shrug.

"I could do it," Ukraine volunteered. "We were neighbors. She knows me best. I think she'd trust me."

Everyone except Belarus- who did nothing but pout nowadays- muttered in agreement as they tried very hard to stare at her face and not her chest.

Reaching down her shirt (from which everyone deliberately looked away), Ukraine pulled out a key and stepped out and down the hall. She unlocked the door and opened it, finding Hungary sitting on the crude cot staring at the floor.

"Hungary?" Ukraine asked softly as she crossed the room and sat next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I should have known she vould do dis," Hungary said bitterly. "I should have stayed home. I should have allied vith Austria. I should have done anyzing ozer den dis."

Ukraine patted her arm comfortingly. "You will be fine, I promise. Leetle Brahther isn't all dat bad once you get to know him."

"That's a lie," Hungary sniffed.

Ukraine paused. "Well… you have the rest of us," she offered. "At least you won't be alone."

"I guess so."

"We're all prisoners here," Ukraine continued quietly. "Some of us are more free den others, but Russia steel owns us all. Even me and Belarus. He says we're free to go any time we like, but he doesn't mean it. He would probably keel us if we tried."

"I know," Hungary told her. "I've been his ally before."

Ukraine sighed and stood up. "Well… Just remember you have someone here you can talk to."

Hungary smiled. "Zank you."

"Yell if you need someting… I have to lock da door."

"Okay- oh, vait… could you please call Austria and tell him vat has happened to me?"

"Sure," Ukraine said with a smile before leaving, the door clicking behind her.

xXxWest of here…xXx

Austria sighed as he threw out the dead, wilted edelweiss flowers he had tried so hard to keep alive. It only made sense- if you can't grow any crops, why should you be able to grow flowers?

Shaking his head, he wandered back to his piano and sat back down, only to stare at it blankly. He felt no inspiration. There was no music flowing through him, no invisible force pulling his fingers across the keys, nothing. What was wrong with him?

The phone rang. Austria stood and crossed the room to answer it. "Hello?"

"Um, yes, hello… dis is Ukraine," came the female voice on the other line.

Austria raised a brow. "Ukraine? Russia's sister? Vat do you vant?"

"Hungary wanted me to tell you eet didn't work out with my leetle brahther."

"'Didn't vork out' vith him? Vat do you mean?" He knew what she meant, he just had to be sure.

"Well… she's locked in da guest room right now, so..."

"Ah." Austria closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep his cool. "Vell, vhy did she expect me to care? It's her own fault for zinking she could negotiate vith him."

"I don't know. She just wanted me to tell you. You don't have to be such a dick about eet."

"Actually, fraulein, I do," Austria said matter-of-factly, and hung up. What happened to Hungary was none of his business, he told himself. Not only had their union ended very long ago, so they were just neighbors, but in this day and age it was every country for his or herself. And yet… Austria felt a pang of guilt. Hungary had gone out of her way to bring him food, after all. She deserved the same sort of treatment.

The two had drifted farther and farther apart over recent years. It didn't make sense, Austria realized- with everyone around them going crazy and dying, they should be driven closer together.

Austria sighed and picked up the phone again. Hungary had done so much for him, even after their divorce. And- while he had tried so hard to convince himself otherwise- Austria still loved her.

He dialed and put the phone to his ear. Seeing how essentially everyone else in Europe was dead, there was only one person Austria could think of to call.

"Yo, what up?" came a voice that did not belong to the person Austria thought he had called.

"Uhh… Who is zis?" Austria inquired, confused. Surely he didn't have the wrong number.

"America, dude. You wanna talk to Germany, right? Who is this?"

"Zis is Austria. Is Herr Germany available?"

"Umm… I think he went to take a dump or something. He'll be back in just a minute, if you just hold on… (Hey, China, where'd Germany go?)"

"China's zere too?" Austria asked. "Vat are you two doing at Germany's house?"

"We're all allies now. Pretty sweet, huh?"

"(You don't have to tell the whole world about it-aru!)" came China's voice in the background.

"… Should I call back later?"

"Nah, man, it's fine. He'll be right back- (shut up, China!)- in fact, I think that's him."

Austria listened impatiently as a door opened and shut, and America told Germany he had a phone call from Austria, and China complained that America was going to tell everyone about their alliance and get them killed… then there was an argument over whether or not secrecy was really necessary… Finally, Germany took the phone.

"Hallo? Are you still zere?"

Austria sighed in relief. "Germany… I need your help. Russia has taken Hungary as a prisoner."

"Vat do you vant me to do about it?" Germany grunted.

"(Whoa, what? What happened?)" America asked.

"(Russia took Hungary. Now shut up.) Listen, Austria, I'm sure vatever mess Hungary has gotten herself into is her own fault. Ve all have to fight our own battles-"

"(What? Hungary's in trouble?)" America cut Germany off. "(Dude, that's whack! We gotta go save Hungary! Who IS Hungary, anyway?)"

"(America. Ve are not ze police of ze vorld. You know as vell as I do zat minding ozer countries' business only gets you into trouble.) Vat vas I saying, Austria?"

"Fighting our own battles. I know. But… Hungary needs my help. Und I need your help."

Germany groaned.

"… Vat if Russia had kidnapped Italy?" Austria tried. It seemed to do the trick.

"… Oh," Germany said softly. "Vell zen… Come over here. Ve'll see if ve can figure somezing out."

"Danke," Austria said, then hung up