Author's Note: Gah, that took longer than it should have. At any rate, I'm just about done. Only one or two more chapters ought to cover the last few things I've got planned. Sorry about the wait!


France spent a minute staring in silence at his computer screen, thinking over his options. England had demanded that France send him the document, but even if England or any of the other nations had a computer on them at the moment, they would still have to create the chemicals used in the two magical serums, and France was willing to bet that none of them had the resources necessary for that. France, on the other hand, was within walking distance of a lab that had everything needed. He could e-mail the document to England, but the chemicals would have to be hand-delivered.

"All right," France said. "I'll book a flight to DC as soon as I can."

"Why do you need to do that?" England asked. "Just e-mail the document to me!"

"Angleterre, we have to recreate the same magical serum Charles used to make his imposter nations in order to cure Amerique and Lithuania," France explained. "You're going to need to make the serum, and you can't do that where you are. I have a lab; I can make the chemical for you, and then you can augment it with your magic…"

France heard England sigh heavily on the other end.

"How long will that take?" England asked.

"Not long. I should be done and on a flight over there within twenty four hours," France replied.

"Fine," England said. He abruptly hung up, before France could say anything.

France frowned at his phone, wondering what had England so worked up. Pocketing the phone, France decided it best to not worry about that, and instead focus on the task at hand.

He saved the section of the document that contained the instructions for making the chemicals onto a USB device, then shut the computer down and headed for the laboratory. On the way there, he decided to check on the fake Lithuania.

Just outside the fake Lithuania's room, France ran into one of the nurses tasked with looking after the imposter nation.

"How is he?" France asked, gesturing at the locked door of the fake Lithuania's room.

"He's doing much better, monsieur," the nurse replied. "The headache he was complaining about it the other day seems to be completely gone."

France nodded, then quickly continued on his way. Just minutes later, he reached the doors of the lab and let himself inside. He donned a lab coat and grabbed a pair of sterile gloves, then headed over to the desk where the lab's computer was. Inserting the USB into the port, France was able to pull up the instructions for making the chemicals on the computer screen. After reading the first step in the instructions quietly to himself, France immediately set to work.

After putting the sterile gloves on, France went to gather all the equipment. He ended up with an array of beakers, cylinders, syringes, and petri dishes neatly arranged on one countertop, nearly completely filling the space. France quickly double checked the computer for the list of chemicals he needed, then went to gather those. These ended up being placed on a second countertop.

The process ended up taking a little longer than anticipated; some of the ingredients proved difficult to find amongst all of the chemical solutions in the cabinets. France also found himself constantly having to double check the instructions to make sure he had followed the steps correctly, and measured everything out exactly. However, several hours later, at long last, France had managed to prepare a partially completed serum, which now filled one of the graduated cylinders. All that was left to do was to take it to DC where England could augment it with the needed spells, infusing it with the magical properties necessary to counteract the nation-killing virus.

France measured the serum into two syringes; one for America, the other for Lithuania. The excess would be locked in one of the cabinets in the lab for safe keeping, just in case another nation got infected. Before leaving, France cleaned up the lab and locked the rest of the serum away, then took the USB out of the computer and removed his lab gear. With the USB and syringes safely in his pockets, France left the building and caught a taxi back to his house, where he would pack a few days' worth of clothes before going to the airport.

Within two hours, France had made it to the airport and gotten onto a flight. He kept the syringes cleverly hidden in a travel-sized makeup kit, which was being kept inside a satchel that France had brought on board the plane with him. The satchel now rested in his lap as France stared out the window at the clouds.

This time tomorrow, Amerique and Lithuania could be cured, France thought. But what will become of the fake Amerique and Lithuania?

(-)

The other nations had dispersed, each one returning to his own room once England had hung up the phone and explained what was going on. Once again, England stood alone in his room, binders full of his spells scattered all over the bed. There was no point in trying to do much with them right now; he had to wait on France to bring the instructions and the partially complete serum. England slowly gathered the binders and put them away, then settled on the bed and tried to take a nap.

When he finally did fall asleep, it proved to be less than restful. After only a couple of hours of fitful sleep, England left his room and wandered down the hall. He noticed someone approaching him from the other end of the hallway, and for half a second, England could have sworn it was America.

Wait a minute, that can't be America; he's still with the president… England thought. A second later, he nearly slapped himself. Of course; that's Canada!

"Hey, Arthur," Canada said, waving at England as he continued to approach.

"Matthew." England waved back, and the two came to a halt as they met in the middle of the hallway. "Where were you earlier? The rest of us didn't see you anywhere."

"After breakfast, I went outside," Canada replied. "Then I wandered around inside; I was making sure no one was following or trying to spy on us."

England nodded. "That's actually a good idea," he said. "However, unless you've already talked to the others, there's something I need to fill you in on…"

He led Canada back to his room. Canada took a seat on the chair by the desk while England closed the door. Deciding he didn't need to bring the spellbooks out yet again, England simply launched directly into his explanation. Canada remained silent and expressionless the entire time.

"Wait," Canada said once England had finished.

"What is it?" England asked, suddenly confused. I don't like that look on his face… is he seeing something we overlooked?

"According to France, the serum needs a sample of the real nation's DNA in it to work, right?" Canada said. "Well, since he's been infected, we can't use America's DNA. Where are we going to get the sample from?"

Damn it, I hadn't thought of that, England thought. But then again, we're trying to restore America and Lithuania's nation status, not create them from scratch, so maybe…

"Are you sure we need one?" England said, although he sounded hesitant. "We're trying to make a counterspell to reverse the drug's effects so that America's DNA will rewrite itself…"

It was Canada's turn to look confused. "Will it really work like that?" he asked.

England shrugged. "This sort of thing has never been tried before," he said. "We have to hope it does work that way, though. I can't see any other way of restoring America and Lithuania's nation status."

Canada lowered his gaze to the floor.

"If it turns out we do need a DNA sample…?" Canada asked hesitantly.

England heaved a sigh, not wanting to think of the answer to that question himself.

"Unless Charles still has uninfected samples somewhere, then I'm afraid there would be no way of curing America and Lithuania, so…" he began, but trailed off.

"They'll eventually die," Canada said, finishing England's sentence for him.

England winced, but said nothing. For several minutes, the room was uncomfortably quiet while both nations stared at the floor.

Without warning, Canada suddenly stood up and dismissed himself. England didn't bother to try to call him back in; instead, he sat down in the same chair that Canada had just left. He then sat there quietly by himself for several more minutes before giving up and leaving the room himself.

Although he wasn't sure what time it was, the rumbling in his stomach made England decide he should go ahead and find some lunch. If nothing else, a good long lunch break would kill some time while he waited for France to arrive with the serum.

He was only halfway down the stairs when his phone went off.

"What the-"

England got his phone out as he went down the last several steps. Walking quickly through the lobby, England hurried outside to take the call. It turned out to be the president who was calling.

"England, there seems to be a problem," the president said as England picked up.

"What is it?" England asked, although he was certain he already knew.

"It turns out that neither America matches the DNA test," the president replied.

Japan told you it wouldn't work, you idiot, England thought. "I see…" he said. "Well, if you recall what Japan told you, the test was unnecessary anyway. We already know which America is the real one."

"I wanted to be absolutely certain," the president said. There was a pause, then he added, "However, that's not the only problem."

England froze. "Beg pardon?"

"Both Americas started suffering from severe headaches a few hours after their samples were taken," the president replied. "One of them lost consciousness for several hours. They're both fine now, but we don't know what caused it."

"It's that nation-killing drug I told you about," England said. "Those headaches are a symptom."

"Wait a minute; that means they're both infected!"

England sighed. "Correct," he said.

"That doesn't make sense," the president interrupted. "If the fake America was supposed to replace the real one like you and Japan explained the other day, then how is he supposed to do that if he's also infected?"

"He was infected only recently," England replied, starting to walk a little further from the hotel building. "Let me explain…"

The president remained silent while England explained. England made sure to be thorough; even including everything that Japan had told him about the raid in Beijing, where Japan and China found the syringe that was eventually used on the fake America during the confrontation in the abandoned office building. He also told him about the spellbooks and the document that Germany had found and sent to France. He ended his explanation by telling the president that France was already on his way to the US with the document, and that a cure to the nation-killing drug was within their reach.

"Alright, but what happens to the fake nations?" the president asked.

"If there's a way to restore the real America's nation status, it stands to reason there's a way to restore the fake America's human status," England said. "I just don't know what that is yet."

"Right," the president said. "In the meantime, I'll continue to hold the fake America in custody, and release the real America to you."

"Good," England replied, holding back a relieved sigh that the president seemed to have finally come to his senses. "One more thing, though: what will be done with Charles and Ian?"

"They'll be tried before the UN," the president replied. "Don't have a timetable for that yet, though. They're being held in US custody until further notice."

England nodded thoughtfully. "Fine," he said. "Where is the real America now? Canada and I will pick him up."