Chapter 27: Who's Yao?

The morning finally came and everyone seemed to be in a content mood (except for China who was still trying to imagine what Anya had seen to make her the way she was). The girls had woken up much earlier than the guys by two or so hours since they had gotten use to waking up early in the morning. During that time they all discussed how they would pay for the tickets to Iceland and, after a long argument, they decided to ask the guys for assistance when they woke up.

It wasn't until around ten in the morning that the guys hobbled down the stairs still wearing their clothes from yesterday to meet the girls who were sitting in the living area by the fire place, drinking tea/coffee and playing Rummy with a deck they had borrowed from the land lady.

After they had eaten the last of their breakfast, they all had a discussion on what to do next.

Feliciana, who was twirling her hair with her fingers, was the one to bring it up. "I think that we need to have a serious discussion on what we're going to do next regarding our issue."

Everyone looked at her, the guys slightly confused because they were unaware that anything was wrong. Alice sat back on the couch, wondering how they would all react to their request. She looked down at her hands then looked back up at everyone.

She started to speak. "We have a request, though if you deny it's perfectly understandable." She had gotten the attention of everyone in the room quite easily after saying that.

"Hm, what is it?" England said as he took a bite out of a scone.

Amelia awkwardly shuffled her way to the couch and sat next to Alice. "We found out something super interesting after using your EMP radars a while back." She felt uncomfortable bringing something like that back up but she didn't know what else to reference their issue towards.

"Oh ya we remember, that was a real asshole move by the way." America turned to Amelia, slightly annoyed by the thought that they had done something so pointless and dangerous just to keep them out of their business.

Amelia huffed towards America, her mood changing from awkwardness to annoyance. "Shut up, it's over now so we can move on from that."

"You're the one that brought it up."

"Shut up!"

"Hey you two, this isn't the time for such bickering!" François smoothly directed them as she crossed her legs elegantly.

François was able to silence the two for a moment though they continued to glare at each other with obvious intensity, then they continued on their bickering.

"I don't even know how I put up living with an idiot like you." Amelia crossed her arms and looked away from America who had turned a sweaty red.

"Put up with me? Don't you remember who's helping who here?" America snapped.

"BAKA!" Amelia shouted.

Sakura stood up after Amelia had shouted and started to lay down everything. "Stop it you two! There's no point in arguing over such pointless things so just be quiet and cooperate with the rest of us. Remember that we are in their debt after all the kindness they have shown us Amelia."

Everyone looked at Sakura with astonishment; never had any of them ever heard her raise her voice in such a manner. Even though every pair of eyes was on her, she continued to talk smoothly.

"We need to ask of a favor of you all. You see, a while back we found a new rift that, if given a little more time, could become a portal for Kaydoms to come through. You've already seen what they are capable of in small numbers so imagine what would happen if swarms of them came through to your world."

Sakura took in a breath of air and continued on even though everyone was still looking at her with bewilderment.

"We pin pointed this rift to be somewhere around the country of Iceland. Though it is a top priority that we close this rift as soon as possible, we have no way of getting to Iceland. Since we quit our job we have no money income so we can't pay for tickets; plus we don't have passports or any form of ID here so that would come across as an issue as well."

Germany was first to react verbally. "So what is it you need?" Though he already could guess what they needed, he needed assurance.

"We need a way to get to Iceland as soon as possible aru." Chun looked down into her tea cup, trying to read the tea leaves at the bottom.

There was a silence between the group; the guys totally unable to think of a way to react to their request. It wasn't that doing such a thing would be a pain to set up, hell; it would probably only take one phone call. It was just that they had no idea what they would be getting themselves into. Anya could read the anxiety on their faces, though she didn't react since she didn't want to accidentally cause a negative input from the guys.

"Could you give us a moment?" Japan asked politely towards the girls.

"Hai." Sakura answered back before the others could object. They walked out of the boarding house and stood on the porch while they discussed what they needed too.

"What do you guys think?" America leaned back on the rocking chair that was placed a few feet away from the couch.

"If it's what they think is right then we should help them." Italy answered back as he sat down on the couch.

"Italy's right…though what if something bad happens?" Japan pondered at the thought.

"It's bad enough that one of them ended up in a coma, we don't need them to put themselves in any more unnecessary danger." England tried to act like he didn't particularly care about their safety though everyone could see that he was probably the most concerned.

Everyone began to remember how Monika had been severely injured in a fight and ended up in a coma; it took the girls some time to not force the blame on the guys, Feliciana especially. None of them wanted to see anyone hurt like that again but they also didn't want to cause a global epidemic so it was an obvious choice.

"I think, on behalf of our world's safety, that we should allow them to travel to Iceland with us as escorts." France suggested.

"Da. That would work."

Germany raised his hand. "All in agreement to this arrangement say I."

They all said "I" in a chorus of mumbles and shouts.

China went to the door and let the girls back in. "Aiya, sorry about that aru."

Anya looked at him and smiled. "Da, it's fine. We had to discuss a few things ourselves."

They all walked back in, Amelia taking the lead. "So?"

The guys exchanged glances then Germany nodded. "We have all agreed to help you under the circumstance that we be your escorts."

The girls then exchanged glances with each other, and then Amelia turned back to them. "Ok, but don't try and stop us if there's a point that we need to do something drastic, got it?"

"Ya whatever," America waved his hand dismissingly which slightly irritated Amelia but she held back from lashing out since they had just agreed to help them.

"So I guess all we need to do now is find out how to get there and how we're going to pinpoint the exact location of the rift." Alice mumbled as she thought of the trouble that they were heading for.

"We can probably get a private plane there and then we can search once we get there." France said with a slight sense of gloating in his voice.

"Oh wow, a private plane?" Feliciana's eyes shined at the thought of flying in a private plane.

"Ve~, plus we can visit Miss Monika before we leave!" Italy had become just as excited as Feliciana had become.

The two pranced around each other with excitement while everyone else watched with both intrigue and wonder. It had been a while since they had seen Feliciana so care free, though the same thing couldn't have been said for Italy.

"So we'll leave tomorrow morning from England's home, and we'll make it top priority to stop at the hospital before we leave." France seemed to be quite happy with the idea of being on a private jet with the girls though the thought of being stuck with the guys dampened his enthusiasm slightly.

"I can't wait!" Alice was quite content with the idea.

"So it's settled then. We'll make the arrangements once we get back to England's home." Germany said.

They all thanked and paid the kind landlady then went off to England's house which was a few blocks away. When they finally got back to England's home, Germany called his superiors and told them about the issue. Strangely they were quick to agree and the flight was set up.

Since they were all stuck with each other, everyone sort of spread out throughout the enormous house. Anya had decided to sit in the flower garden in the backyard so that she could clear her mind; though when she got there, she found China sitting at the white gazebo in the center of the large yard. Quietly she walked towards China who had dozed off and poked him on the shoulder. Groggily, he opened his eyes and found Anya looking down at him with her normal smile. He was surprised by her sudden appearance and fumbled out of the chair and onto the wooden floor, getting a splinter stuck in his finger at the same time.

"AIYAAAAA!" He hollered as he hit the ground.

Without hesitation Anya helped China back up and sat him down on top of the table. "Are you okay? I did not mean to scare you." She nervously examined China who was intrigued by how mother like she was acting.

"I'm fine aru." He put his hands on the table to launch himself off of it but flinched when the splintered finger made contact. "Ow."

He got off the table and examined the giant wooden shaving that had stabbed his flesh. Even though it looked minor it stung like hell.

"Let me see." Anya lightly grabbed China's hand and singled out the splintered finger.

Feeling awkward, China attempted to get out of the situation. "It's fine aru. I'll just find some tweezers."

He started to walk away but Anya grabbed his arm and pulled the finger back to her, dragging the rest of him along. She put her mouth over the splinter and began trying to get it out of his skin.

"Aiya, what are you doing aru?" China was flustered by what she was doing but was hesitant to pull his hand away.

"I'm saving you a trip, now hold still." China could feel the splinter come out of his skin and Anya released him, spitting the splinter out of her mouth.

"See, nothing to worry about. You shouldn't act so childish you know; it's unbecoming."

Blushing slightly, China turned away, his finger throbbing from the relief. "Thank you aru, though I wasn't acting childish. You may sit if you would like aru."

She nodded her head and sat down, China doing the same a moment later. The night they spent talking to each other was flashing back into his mind and the question that had temporarily taken over his mind came up. "What had you seen?" He thought to himself, not realizing he said it allowed.

It was only when Anya gave him a pained look that he realized his mistake. "Aiya, I didn't mean too…!"

He couldn't finish because Anya had interrupted him with a "don't talk or I'm going to set you on fire" look. She got up and turned to the house, though this time, China stopped her.

"I'm sorry aru, I didn't mean to say that! Please forget all of it."

Anya stood there, China still holding her arm, and then she said something surprising. "If you think I can just forget what I want to forget then you live in a delusion."

She pulled her arm out of his grasp and started to walk into a hidden part of the garden. China followed and found her staring at two birds playing in a bird bath while sitting on a rocking bench. He walked up next to her and looked at the two birds with her.

"Don't they seem so happy together?" Anya said a moment later, causing China to wonder how her mind set was able to change so quickly.

"Ya aru." He smiled at the birds then at Anya whose normal smile wasn't plastered on her face.

"Hey China?"

"Hmmm?"

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

Anya's sudden question made China tense up. He turned to her and attempted to give her an answer. "No, not recently aru."

"But you have friends that you love like Japan, America, Russia and all the others, da?"

"Yes, but so do you aru. In fact, it seems you all get along much better than we do aru." He laughed a fake laugh in attempt to break the tension but only made things worse.

"It's funny to think how war can change someone."

China looked at her with concern, her face hidden behind her ash white hair. He felt bad for causing Anya to feel so depressed. "Did you ever love anyone aru?"

Anya giggled slightly. "I did, but he died in war after proposing."

"Why are you laughing aru? That's horrible."

"I'm laughing because you remind me of him."

China looked down at his sleeves and soaked in what she had said. "What was his name aru?"

"Yao. He was a Chinese general."

Yao...Yao…why was that name so familiar?

"Sounds like a great man aru."

"He was."

They continued on sitting together in silence until the sky turned a deep shade of purple. Though the scenes from earlier caused extreme intensity, it all seemed to melt away with time.

"Yao?" China thought to himself. "I like that name aru."

-Soooooo tired, but it pained me for not writing for so long. Man, I need more sleep *yawn*. Sorry that this chapter isn't very good I'm in total recovery mode right now.