Thanks to AquaEclipse and HelloThereHowAreYou for reviewing. Hey, look! I finally managed to update at a earlier time than usual. And I still managed to get this chapter to turn out how I wanted in time. Plus, this one has more plot progression! I hope you enjoy! Now, on with the show!

Algeria had been seriously considering going to find Tunisia again.

She hadn't seen him at all since he yelled at her to leave him alone. It really seemed that he'd been holed up in some room by himself with no one to help him. Even more worryingly, he hadn't come down to eat even once.

She didn't learn this until later when she came out of her own seclusion and from paying a small visit to Egypt's corpse (Allah, she would really appreciate getting advice from him) that Belize had taken it up to herself to take the package of food meant for Tunisia to the room he's hiding in. And to say that Algeria was upset that she wasn't informed of this would be a massive understatement. There was a chance for her to help her brother and an easy way for her to get him to come out and someone took it from her without her knowing?

Then again, she chose to keep to herself out of shame and guilt too…

But Tunisia didn't have a reason to be ashamed of himself. Whatever their damn brother did to him, it wasn't Tunisia's fault. Algeria wanted him to know that, and so she set out to accomplish it.

However, she wasn't expecting to see him literally show up right around the corner himself. She had been walking through the hall when she nearly found herself bumping into her brother. It took Algeria by surprise, though not in a bad way.

"T-Tunisia!" Algeria nearly stumbled back in shock.

Her brother froze upon seeing her with his eyes wide in horror, and she noticed that they looked puffy, as if he'd been crying. For a moment Algeria was afraid that he'd turn his heel and run away from her. Then his eyes went alight in fear, then something else flickered (shame?) before they became dull.

"H-Hello, Algeria..." Tunisia greeted quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"Y-You- I was-" Algeria inwardly cursed over how she stumbled over her words. Allah, she never really thought about what she'd say to him first, did she? "You're finally out of your room."

"…Y-Yes, I am." Tunisia responded blankly. "I'm... sorry if I worried you."

If she was worried? If? She'd been worried sick about him ever since they've gotten back here.

"Of course I was worried! But that's not the point," Algeria shook her head, stopping herself before she could on a tirade . She wasn't going to scold him for something like that. She looked at him worriedly. "Are you all right? What happened? Why haven't you–? I- I…"

I'm sorry.

Tunisia winced and began to take a nervous step back at the many questions thrown at him. Algeria instantly felt flooded with remorse for her inconsideration. Damn it, she didn't want to scare him away now that she's finally talking to him again!

All right. One thing at a time, Algeria. You know Tunisia hated being bombarded with questions.

Algeria attempted to reach out a hand towards him, but she stopped herself. Electing instead to say carefully, "I-I'm sorry, Malik. How are you? Are you… all right?"

She felt relieved when Tunisia seemed to relax, even if just a little and despite how he still wasn't looking at her in the eye. Her brother hesitated, pressing his mouth, before finally answering her.

"I've been better…" Tunisia murmured with a familiar resignation, which didn't help Algeria's worries in the slightest.

"Why haven't you come out until now?" Algeria asked bleakly, her heart pained from the implication of her brother not trusting her. "Why couldn't you talk to me, Malik? I would've– I could've helped you."

Was he mad at her for what she did? Algeria wouldn't blame him at all if that was the case, but it still cut deep.

"I didn't want to. I couldn't bring myself to face anyone after..." Tunisia blanched as he trailed off, suddenly looking very queasy. Algeria could very well guess why. "I just couldn't."

"But why?" Algeria had to ask. "What happened to you?"

With a face filled with nothing but pain, Tunisia cast his eyes downward. "I… I…"

The hesitation struck Algeria with overwhelming dread. "Malik."

Tunisia said nothing, and Algeria became even more anguished. And again, she could very well guess why.

"Is… is it me?" It hurt to ask that question, but not as much as the guilt did. Algeria bit her lip. "Are you mad at me?"

Tunisia's head snapped up at her in disbelief. "Wh-Wh– N-No! It's not you, Khalida. You did nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong?!" Algeria gawked in him in disbelief and she scowled. "Malik, I let you down I promised that I wouldn't let Morocco near you and he managed to do that so easily. I let his damn cobra stop me while I watched him drag you away. He did all that so easily and there wasn't anything I could do."

Her brother was too forgiving. If Algeria hadn't been so stubborn about demanding answers from a liar like Morocco and killed him on the spot like she should have, Tunisia wouldn't have had to suffer. Morocco wouldn't have taunted her about Western Sahara and Algeria wouldn't have been such an idiot and fail to see the obvious bait. If she hadn't fallen for it, then…

"And if that wasn't enough, France got himself captured because of me." Algeria was dangerously close to sobbing, but she couldn't care less. Tears stung her eyes "I took Morocco's obvious bait and Francis saved me by sacrificing himself. Now the Order has him, our brother has him and who knows what they'll do to him. And it's all my fault. I failed to protect you and my anger cost us France."

Algeria pressed a hand to her head and shut her eyes, no longer having the courage to look at her brother.

"It's all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"

Her earlier grief, that which she thought had faded since spending the remainder of yesterday and then today telling herself to get a grip, came back with a vengeance. Algeria truly wasn't prepared for this. But she was tired…

She hadn't even realized she had started crying until she brought her hands to her stinging eyes and felt the wetness of her tears spilling down her cheeks.

Algeria could've begun contemplating if she should leave after such a pathetic display, but she flinched when she suddenly felt arms wrap around her. Opening her eyes, she found Tunisia hugging her.

"Wh-Wh…?"

She wasn't the affectionate type. Even hugs were rare with Western Sahara. But the embrace, while far from unwelcome, took her by surprise. Why was he hugging her?

"I'm not angry at you, Algeria."

"You should be." Algeria told him. "At least – You should be furious with me. There's no excuse for what I did."

Algeria wished he was angry. It would be better than otherwise, as if she didn't deserve to have anyone angry at her. She wouldn't it at all. Her adopted siblings had every right to be angry at her, even with how Canada acted yesterday. Seychelles could've had having her friend back with France there to celebrate, but instead she's happy and grieving.

"No, there isn't." Tunisia admitted, though he said it a little reluctantly. He paused for a bit before speaking "I… I'm not happy with what you did there, Khalida. You could've gotten killed. I could've lost you, you know that?"

Algeria cringed, and she subconsciously hugged Tunisia tighter. "I… I'm sorry."

It's pathetic. But what else could she say? Words alone can't fix this.

"But I'm glad I didn't lose you." Tunisia said, to Algeria's surprise. "I'm glad you're here with me."

"How could you say that? You can't be saying that you're happy that France-"

"I'm not. But you think I would've been happier if it was you instead? Do you think I would've been okay losing you? After…"

Tunisia became worryingly rigid. What made it so worrying was that Algeria knew why. "

"Shh, Algeria. It's okay. Just… let it out." Tunisia whispered to her soothingly, not sounding too far from shedding tears himself. "I'm here, and you're here. I wouldn't have been able to take it if you weren't. So please, let's just…"

He held her tightly, clearly in need of the same comfort that Algeria, beneath her immense guilt, desperately wanted. She didn't want to stop talking though. She wished to apologize a thousand times over, even if that won't do anyone any good. She wanted to know what happened to her brother.

But for now, she obliged and said no more.

/ / / / /

Hungary felt her lips curl up in a proud smile as she watched the exchange.

Aw, she forgot that Algeria could be a nice person when she wasn't yelling at her or acting all proud.

But more importantly, thank goodness that things did turn out as nice as she hoped. If Algeria had gone straight to interrogating Tunisia, Hungary might've had to step in… And that had a large chance of ending badly.

Even after she helped Tunisia dry his tears (hopefully no one will notice the huge amount of tissues in the garbage can), it still took a bit of nudging and lots of encouragement on her part to get Tunisia to leave the room and find his grumpy sister to talk to her. He was scared of facing her, said that he felt 'filthy' and that Algeria deserved better than to worry about him when she's already suffering from grief.

It further convinced Hungary that he needed to see a therapist.

Hungary didn't like pressuring him, especially after she had him sobbing on her shoulder for a good fifteen minutes, but she felt that this would be good for the two of them. Well, three of them, actually. She'd also like to prevent Algeria from possibly getting on her case again in the foreseeable future.

But for the most part, she'd like to make sure Tunisia had someone else to hug.

"You'll have to talk to her sooner or later. I think sooner might be better, for both of you."

Tunisia didn't look so excited at the idea. If anything, from his clammy hands and trembling, Hungary would say he's on the slow path to a panic attack or breakdown. "She'll ask me about– about what happened. What am I supposed to tell her?"

While Hungary still had no idea what happened between him and Morocco, she could garner a few guesses, "Yesterday you became traumatized and became mentally exhausted and she's feeling like shit for what happened to France. I think she'll understand if you don't want to talk about it immediately."

"You don't understand how Algeria is. I shut her off yesterday. She's not going to let it go this time. And you saw how… she can be."

Stubborn? Short-tempered? Easily jump to stupid conclusions? Think that Hungary was some kind of sick pervert and that she'd let an ally get molested by the enemy just to satisfy her weird fetish? But Hungary wasn't about to mention any of those things… it'd probably wouldn't do much to boost Tunisia's confidence.

"Well, maybe that's because she hasn't really seen you yet. I mean, no offense." Hungary smiled apologetically when Tunisia's face flushed. "She's worried sick about you. I'm sure she'll respect your space and won't immediately interrogate you."

Hungary still felt sour over the argument she had with Algeria, and it'll stay that way until that proud idiot apologized. But even she couldn't deny that Algeria seriously cared about her brother. Despite her attitude, it's obvious that she's been worried about him.

From the way Tunisia was scowling (which reminded Hungary too much of his sister for her comfort), he wanted to argue against that or find some excuse to back out. the look of frustration on his face was soon replaced with exhausted, and he sighed in defeat. It's as if he spent all his energy for arguing on the long emotional discussion from earlier, which seemed likely. He looked tired. He was tired.

"Fine. But what about you? She's going to wonder what made me finally leave…" Tunisia muttered doubtfully before rubbing his eyes, still puffy from crying.

Hungary felt momentarily stumped at that hole in the plan. But fortunately, her brilliant mind quickly came up with an idea. She smiled confidently. "Easy. Just tell her that I showed up at your door, and that I was worried you. Then one nice pep talk later, you decided you were ready to face reality."

"You want me to tell her that you helped me?" Tunisia asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Just leave out the… gay thing," Hungary smiled nervously while Tunisia blanched, which seemed to be his natural reaction to that subject. "And everything will be okay!"

Or at least, she hoped it'll be okay. She's not completely sure that Algeria won't nearly kick down, oozing murderous intent, because Hungary went near her precious baby brother.

Tunisia still didn't look really sure about this. "Are you sure it's a good idea? You know she doesn't… like you."

He said it like he couldn't find a nicer way to put it, Hungary noted dryly.

"It's better than lying. And it's at least technically correct." Hungary calmly retorted, before her expression softened. "Won't it be better this way?"

"I… suppose…" Tunisia murmured uncertainly, which encouraged Hungary to go further.

"It is. Besides, I don't want Algeria to keep glaring at me and think that I hurt you while we… do this." Hungary wasn't sure what to call it, this new relationship they have. But she put on her best grin anyways, because damn it, she'll stay positive. "She'll get suspicious. If you tell her that I didn't do anything wrong and tell everything minus the… gay thing, then we'll kill two birds with one stone."

"Do you really think so?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try…"

Overall, Hungary would say she's been rather proud of herself.

See? She could do more than mess up. She could fix things, even if it wasn't easy. Her bad luck won't strike at every opportunity.

All right, well, this wouldn't mean that everything would always go smoothly. But it's a good start. Now, Tunisia just needed a bit more time to heal and then Hungary could help him with their technically truthful story and try to… smooth things out with Algeria.

She still needed to form a good plan in case Algeria came stomping at her door again though.

/ / / / /

"I can't believe you didn't let me kill him."

"I can't believe we actually managed to stop you from killing him."

Nigeria pouted but said nothing else to that, decided to keep playing with a beaming Haiti's hair.

He wasn't angry at his death, only lamenting that he got a bit too cocky with Egypt, which South Africa and Cameroon made sure to admonish him for. Yeah, he should've a smaller snake so that he wouldn't have to sacrifice his humanity and even more of sanity. He got that now…

However, knowing the brutal effects of the venom and the pain Egypt must've gone through all the way until he finally succumbed was salivating. Egypt's no doubt dead right now. And he happily pointed out that with the amount of potent venom the snake injected in that idiot, he should be out for quite an enemy will be without a caster for almost a week if they're lucky.

Anyway, he wasn't angry at the circumstances or cause of his death. Nigeria enjoyed his playtime with Egypt, that infuriatingly cute little hypocrite. If anything, he ended up winning in the end. They all won, even if they did end up losing the innocent little critter they wanted to corrupt into a ravenous beast.

Oh, now that did annoy him. And there he was, hoping to feed him France's liver to him. But his insurance quickly mended that annoyance and soon enough he quickly went back to laughing to his rotten heart's content.

The end result was dark stains decorating the floor and walls from Nigeria's fire blasts, but somehow, he didn't end up hitting anything made out of easily flammable items or even causing a fire too big to put out. As for how he even managed to shoot fire while Cameroon kept such an iron grip on him, well, the others might've forgotten that Nigeria could teleport.

Long story short, he ended up calming down thanks to South Africa's arguments that maybe what Switzerland did was for the best, his little brother Haiti's presence and the possibility of him getting hurt by Nigeria's rage-induced blasts, Cameroon repeatedly catching him and holding him back until Nigeria's bloodlust passed, and Morocco sitting him down for a long nice talk with tea. Nigeria begrudgingly apologized for his outburst and complimented Switzerland for his plan.

He's still a little bitter though. But just a little. Barely noticeable, see?

…Oh, Nigeria hated being had. And yes, the irony of that wasn't lost on him.

"If it'll help, you can play with France, big brother. I wouldn't mind sharing." Haiti offered shyly, playing with one of his doll's arms.

"Neither would I," Morocco softly agreed, and Cameroon gave an affirmative grunt.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'll pass." Nigeria waved his hand, feeling slightly guilty for the disappointing falling on Haiti's face. "I don't think I'm up for it yet…"

Plus, he doubted that Switzerland will allow him anywhere near France after the 'property damage' he caused.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but he wasn't in the condition to do anything that'll need lots of energy and concentration yet. He felt weak. Nigeria's insides still felt weird too. Then again, what else would he expect? He got impaled by a giant god's khopesh. But hey, who was he to complain? This was a god they're talking about. He got off really easy. It's a miracle he didn't get dragged off to the underworld...

Ugh, he's had enough of complaining. Complaining was for idiots and useless people. And it could get boring after a while. Nigeria lived to radiate positive energy and he wanted to have as much fun as possible. So, let's start by talking to the little brother he hadn't seen in months.

"I'm still surprised you came by, dear brother." Nigeria remarked more cheerfully as he regarded Haiti, cooing. "Not that I mind, no, not at all. But it's a pleasant surprise. How's my cute wittle Hennrick? Big brother's sorry for scaring you earlier."

"N-No need to apologize." Haiti kindly assured him, before quickly brightening up. "But to answer your question, it's been great! France made a fantastic outlet for my stress."

"I can imagine." Oh, he really could imagine, Nigeria thought gleefully. "Did you have fun with him, little brother?"

"Very much," Haiti said happily before sheepishly holding up the mangled France doll up by one of its tiny arms. "I think I'm going to need some time to fix the doll up though."

Nigeria burst into shrieking laughter before lying back down. Oh, he felt so proud. "You didn't really have to stay for the night, you know. I doubt the charming state of my corpse helped give you a good night's sleep. But I'd forgive you if you felt tempted to take a bite."

"O-Oh no, I wouldn't, Nigeria." Haiti shook his head at the idea, blushing. "That'd just be insensitive of me."

"Don't be silly. But seriously though, you didn't need to stay. I'd understand if you were busy."

"It's fine. I wanted to stay. And when I saw you were dead, I couldn't just leave..." Haiti explained in quietly, before he gazed up at him again. "Besides, I wanted to see you."

Nigeria felt a fierce joy at that touching statement. "Is that so?"

"Wi. I mean, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Haiti smiled shyly. "I wanted to see you and catch up."

"Aw, aren't you just precious?" Nigeria gushingly pulled a flustered Haiti's cheeks, grinning at his amused friends. "Look at him, dropping everything to stay by my side. Am I lucky to have such an adorable little brother or what?"

He just couldn't wait for when DRC joined them once he learned magic. Speaking of which, he should really get to teaching him once he finished helping South Africa deal with his neighbors and interrogating his dear other brother Igbo. Heh, he's such a busy, generous man. He's going to end up exhausted again by the end of the day…

But since when did that matter to him? It's all so much fun. And hey, speaking of Igbo, Nigeria was just hit with an amazing idea.

"Say, little brother?"

Haiti snapped up to attention. "Hm?"

A sly grin spread on Nigeria's face. "Are you up for some brotherly bonding?~"

Haiti instantly lit up like a Christmas at the idea, to Nigeria's own delight, and smirked. "Oh, I'd love to, Nigeria! What do have in mind?

"That's what I like to hear! When I have enough energy to teleport around the globe again and after we take care of the intruders in Chris's home, the first thing you and I are going to do will be to pay a visit to Western Sahara's house and find that traitor. Let's punish him for taking your friends, shall we?"

Haiti's eyes flared at the mention of their common enemy, and his smirk became nearly feral. "Count me in. I'd really, really love to know just how he managed to pull all that shit off."

"Ooh, may I come along as well?" Morocco eagerly requested with a broad grin. "I know I'll probably intrude your bonding time, but I would love to see Western Sahara again."

"Of course you can come along." Nigeria said cheerfully, giggling. The more the merrier! "It'll definitely give Western Sahara a scare."

The very thought that made him want to cackle in pure glee. But wait, why stop there?

"And while we're at it, we might as well bring DRC to join in on the fun. He still has a score to settle with Western Sahara," Nigeria smirked. What better to start bonding? "Plus, this would be a great opportunity for you to connect as brothers, Hennrick. We can even help him learn magic later. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

Haiti's grin practically matched Nigeria's. "Oh, I'd like that very much, big brother."

Again, why stop there? Maybe they could also bring CAR for another test run or something, start conditioning him. It wouldn't be smart to leave someone like him unsupervised, even after what an amazing show he made the other day and how good he must feel right now. Nigeria's so jealous of him. Anyway, DRC's the chain that keeps CAR sane and rational. Oh, but they'll need DRC's input on it first–

"Ja, sure, you all go ahead and fun without me," South Africa sniffed, sighing overdramatically in a show of faux-hurt. "Abandon me after you're done having fun with my neighbors. You're so cruel, Adigun, you know that?"

Deeply regretting having neglected to address it earlier, Nigeria playfully pouted. "Aw, don't say that, Chris. I haven't forgotten about you. I'd never forget about you."

"Right, sure you haven't." South Africa snorted, clearly joking but still carrying on with the fact. "I didn't realize that I've suddenly reached Canada-levels of irrelevance."

Nigeria gasped in horror at the idea. "Don't say that, Chris! Don't even think it."

How could South Africa even joke about something so horrible? South Africa, nor anyone else in this team of misfits or even in the entire Order for that matter, would ever become anything close to… to being forgettable. And South Africa was one of the most interesting, heartless, handsome and wonderful people Nigeria had ever had the fortune of meeting. He wouldn't be so drawn to him if that weren't the case.

"I won't lie, I can't help feel kind of left out too." Cameroon admitted just the slightest hint of annoyance in his emotionless tone, along with one of his eyebrows twitching. "And you know I don't appreciate being excluded."

"Hey, hey, you two. Who said I was finished?" Nigeria pouted again and looked to his amused brother for sympathy against this cruelty. "Some friends I have, eh, little brother? They lose faith in me so fast…"

Haiti had the nerve to just laugh like a hyena while leaving Nigeria to fend off two really disappointed-looking friends alone.

"So, you do want to include us?" South Africa asked with an amused grin.

"How could I not?" Nigeria pouted again. "So, you want to come?"

"Well, I would love to, but I'd hate to intrude in your brother bonding time," South Africa sighed loudly, and he frowned a bit. "And I'd just feel out of place in Western Sahara's house."

"I wouldn't mind you coming along, Chris." Haiti piped up earnestly, offering an encouraging smile.

Nigeria beamed at this and gestured at his brother. "See? He doesn't mind."

"I concur. Please don't be silly, Chris. No one is ever left out when we're torturing my dear sister." Morocco said brightly with a sadistic grin. "That's why we share her, as good friends should."

Nigeria wholeheartedly agreed. One of the most fun things they'd do as a group during the masquerade, when torture and cannibalism were strictly off-limits, would be to torture Western Sahara in all kinds of ways.

"So, is there anything else stopping you?" Nigeria asked.

"Well, I was thinking I should probably check up on Lars. If ever do plan on sending DRC as a spy, we should probably alter his memories." South Africa explained with a thoughtful look, but then something seemed to have occurred to him, and he shrugged. "But I guess I can just pull in a couple favors and curse him instead."

"Does this mean-?"

South Africa smirked. "Ja. I'm in."

"Great!" Nigeria broke out into a ecstatic smile.

Perfect. This day was off to a terrific start.

"And do you want to come with us too, Cammy?" Nigeria asked hopefully to the taller man. It's always a blast with Cameroon around. "I would've thought you'd want to help take France to the hideout and have some fun with him."

Unsurprisingly, Cameroon's face darkened at the mention of France, and he cracked his knuckles. "I've considered it, and it's very tempting, but no. I'm not going to let my hatred for France distract me from the group or our priorities.

Morocco clapped "Oh, aren't you so sweet, Cammy?"

"The nicest out of all of us!" Nigeria chipped in with a toothy grin.

Cameroon lips slightly twitched upwards before he settled back into his emotionless demeanor. Classic Cameroon. "So, oui, I would love to go. I'd rather you have as much support as possible when facing Khoisan."

At that, South Africa frowned, no amusement there. "I think I can handle that old twig, Roshaun."

"Rahim said that Abarshane could handle Algeria." Cameroon retorted coolly.

Nigeria winced. Ouch. Leave it to Cameroon to be blunt.

And Nigeria hated to disagree with South Africa, but if there's anything he knew well about his friend (which, of course, was a lot), it'd be that he needed all the support he could get whenever he went to visit that old fart. And it's not because Khoisan's a threat in any way…

Morocco flinched, gasping, and looked hurt as he pressed a hand to his hissing sleeve. "You don't need to go that far, Cameroon."

"My apologies, but I needed to prove a point." Cameroon's voice showed a brief moment of sympathy before returning to its usual tone. He narrowed his eyes. "I want to go, and therefore I'll be going with you to help things go smoothly."

South Africa still looked a tiny bit offended at the implication that he'd need help against Khoisan, "I guess you're right, Cammy. Either way, you're always welcome to join the ride."

"Merci." Cameroon said gratefully, nodding.

"And what about Western Sahara? Do you want to come with?"

"I might as well do. It would be fun to punish her." Cameroon flashed a brief smirk before reverting to his stoicism. "Besides, I am in no real hurry for my other plan."

Nigeria was surprised to hear this. "What other plan?"

Cameroon remained silent, zero emotion and all, for a moment before answering clearly. "I'll be checking up on Chantal."

"Oh? Did I hear that right? You want to visit her, Cammy?" Morocco smirked playfully.

"It is a necessity." Cameroon stated emotionlessly, not a hint of warmth to be found in his voice. "A visit every now and then would help her keep her reassure with her tasks. And seeing her in person would be more effective than a simple phone call."

Smirking, Nigeria barely managed to stifle to snort. There's just something so hilarious about Cameroon talking and thinking about her in such a cold, calculating way. Oh, imagine how crestfallen she would be.

"I still can't believe we trust our future to a weak girl like her." Haiti hissed.

"Come on. Don't tell me you're still not over your jealousy, little brother. It's not becoming, you know." Nigeria said with a teasing grin as he pinched one of Haiti's cheeks.

Haiti blushed furiously. "I-I-I'm not jealous!"

He couldn't help giggling at his cute brother's expense anyways. Then he directed his grin a Cameroon. "So, you'll be staying over at her house ten? Maybe check in on Kokolo while you're at it?"

"Only for a while, but I will not spend a lot of time there when I should be doing my job." Cameroon explained, his eyes narrowing. "I remain on standby. So if any of you need anything at all, you're all free to contact me during that time. The same goes for when after I leave, in which I will be paying a visit to France, just as long as I don't have a higher priority."

"That does leave the issue of who will be taking France to our hideout unresolved though." Morocco pointed out calmly.

Oh, right. There's still that. They all fell into a contemplative silence as they wondered just how they'll fix that problem."

"I wouldn't mind doing it." Haiti offered generously, actually looking really eager to do it.

"Aw, that's nice of you, Hennrick. But doing that will need more trips and we'll already be doing a lot of jumps to pick up everyone." Nigeria said sadly with a pout as he ruffled a embarrassed Haiti's hair. "My heart wouldn't bear it if I allowed my little brother to exhaust himself."

In an adorable fashion, Haiti hastily tried to fix his disheveled strands of hair. "Y-You don't need to worry about me, Nigeria."

"Oh, I insist, little brother! You won't be able to fully enjoy torturing Igbo for stealing your diary while fighting fatigue, will you?"

"I… guess you have a point there."

"Of course I do!" Nigeria chirped, and then looked at the others. "Anyone else got an idea?"

"We can ask Switzerland to take him there." South Africa suggested helpfully, smiling darkly. "I'm sure he really wants to get out of the boss and torture France It'll be like killing two birds with one stone."

Nigeria smirked. "Great idea, Chris."

Cameroon nodded, grunting. "Agreed. He's eager for us to leave as soon as possible anyway."

"It could work as a sort of apology for all the trouble we brought too," Morocco suggested serenely with a pleasant smile.

That part he wasn't so happy about.

"So it's settled then," Beaming, South Africa clapped his hands. "We'll ask Switzerland if we can leave it up to him."

No sooner after that was said did one of the doors open, and from it entered the only other nation in the house, not counting the one currently in agonizing pain downstairs. And Nigeria immediately grew irritated at the sight of Switzerland.

Well, well, well. Nigeria growled. Speak of the Devil. Look who decided to make an appearance.

"Attention, freeloaders... and now Haiti," Switzerland's ever-arrogant voice greeted them as he regarded them with a cool, professional expression. "I have an announcement."

"Oh, Switzerland, good timing!" Lighting up, Morocco gracefully went over to the ever-scowling Switzerland, wearing nothing. "We have an important favor to ask of you."

"Save it for later, Morocco." Switzerland cut him off coldly, giving nothing Morocco but the same distasted scowl as his right hand trembled, which Nigeria had just noticed had a phone in its grasp "Whatever it is you want, I think it can wait."

Morocco was as unaffected as ever by the show of disdain but he cocked his head to the side curiously. "Why, whatever do you mean, Switzerland?"

"Austria is on the phone here. He wants to speak with you?" Switzerland answered bluntly.

Now gave a big shock to everyone in the room, Nigeria included. "Wh-What?"

"Austria wants to speak to us?" Cameroon muttered in vaguely recognizable surprise, his eyes widening fractionally.

"Indeed. I had recently given him a report" Switzerland stated coolly, before a rare smirk crossed his lips. "Let's just say he has some… choice words he'd like to share with all of you."

Nigeria didn't know why, but he felt a chill go down his spine.

/ / / / /

Georgia didn't know which was more bizarre; that a Hawaiian volcano goddess exists and America managed to convince it to join their cause, or that said goddess was apparently madly in love with him.

They were taking the trek away from the crater this time, the reasoning America gave being that they should give Norway a bit more time to 'recharge'. That, and Georgia could guess so America could work on getting Pele to release his arm.

She watched with bewilderment, and just feeling really weirded out overall, from behind as America chatted with an oddly affectionate volcano goddess while North Korea glared murderous at her back and Norway kept quietly reminding him not to try anything.

Wow, that sounded a lot more bizarre than she thought.

Speaking of the woman, Georgia's still reeling from the reveal that this Hawaiiwan goddess- Pele, yes, that's her name - existed. A mythical god exists. And not only that, but Georgia was officially allies with one. She wasn't sure if she could really believe it, and maybe her Christian mind would try to come up with a reasonable explanation for it, but the proof was right there in front of her flirting with America.

Honestly, she's surprised that she wasn't freaking out as much as someone might be or having some kind of crisis of belief like right now. Maybe after the New World Order, nothing really surprises her anymore. Or maybe it's because it's just not her main concern.

And besides, there'll be plenty of time to deal her beliefs after Russia falls.

"You doing fine walking in that form, Pele?" America asked the woman in a relaxed, familiar manner, like she was a friend rather than a short-tempered disaster maker.

"I am perfectly. Spending large intervals slumbering in my crater would hardly make my limbs stiff from misuse, Alfred."

America nodded in understanding, an apologetic smile on his face. "Oh yeah, sorry. Glad to hear that."

"Your apologies are unnecessary," Pele replied softly, snuggling up closer to him with a loving smile. "I find your touching consideration to be one of my most favorite traits of you."

Another frightening growl came from the North Korea stalking behind the pair, glaring viciously at the He was radiating pure rage to the point where Georgia could swear that she almost could see the a dark aura oozing out of him like Russia's. If looks could kill, North Korea would've vaporized the volcano. That is, unless Pele could be worse…

And Georgia had absolutely; totally no doubt about that.

"U-Uh, yeah, thanks, Pele." America's laugh was painfully forced as he slowly got his arm out of Pele's grasp, then swiftly looked back at Georgia while the goddess frowned. "Let's uh- So, let's start talking about the plan to destroy General Winter."

"Ya sure ya don't want to spend more time catching up with your fine friend here first?" Ireland asked teasingly with a sly smirk. Norway sniggered.

America glared at him. "I'm sure, Uncle Patrick. Now listen up!"

"Okay, Bedisa and Uncle P. As you know, Pele here is the key to defeating General Winter," "The plan is simple. She's going to fight the General while we invade Russia, and eventually, she'll wear him down and destroy him. Fire beats ice after all. And it's a god versus a spirit, massive power difference there."

"I am looking forward to it." Pele gave a feral grin.

"Now, I know what you're probably thinking. How are we gonna have them fight when the General will have the home advantage? Well, that's easy. We're gonna put her in one of Russia's volcanoes "

"Wait. Can she really do that, lad? Russia's far away from Hawaii and freezin' cold. Shouldn't that be beyond her power?"

Pele appeared indignant at the question, but she calmed down when America put a hand on her shoulder.

"Actually, that's not true. Pele's the goddess of all volcanoes. And through a series of experiments, we managed to prove that Pele can take over volcanoes far from Hawaii." America began to explain, and his lips formed a small smile. "Remember the St. Helens eruption in Washington back in 1980? And Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines? The list goes on, but it proved that she can spread her influence in foreign volcanoes."

"Wait, this lass caused the St. Helens eruption?" Ireland gawked while mindlessly pointing at the aforementioned goddess.

"My name is Pele." The volcano lady glared daggers at him, and the air seemed to grow hotter.

"Aye, sorry, Pele." The ginger-haired nation apologized with a wry smile, which seemed to satisfy the goddess.

"She also caused the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions over in my poor little brother's nation." Norway added with an overdramatic sigh. "My, did that cause quite the inconvenience. Worst flight disruptions since World War II."

Georgia could barely stifle a squeak. She did what?

"There was too much snow in that place." Pele grumbled, saying snow like it was the worst thing ever, as if that explained why the eruption was so disastrous. She smirked. "Oh, but I had so much fun there. I enjoyed the meltwater."

"If only we could say the same for Iceland." Norway mumbled offhandedly with the slightest hint of annoyance.

"So, she can make any volcano from any country erupt?" Georgia asked, preferring to street the conversation back on track.

"If she can do all that, then there's doubt she can do the same with Russia." America stated matter of factly. "See, he's got a bunch of volcanoes up in Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east, which is conveniently located near Alaska. Our plan is to put Pele in the nearest volcano as soon as possible before the General catches wind of what's happening, where she'll take control of it, cause a massive eruption and proceed to spread her power in the magma, eventually reaching the other volcanoes and doing the same."

"But that's not all. Since she can spread her influence and being and all the goddess of the consequences of volcanoes, she'll be able to cause destructive activity across Russia. You know, cracking the earth open and have lava spraying out and other such consequences."

"With this, General Winter will be left with two options," Norway continued from there. He smirked, which looked way too creepy… "Either he can find Pele, stop the lava and try to take her down at the cost of allowing our armies to successfully invade Russia. Or he can leave Pele unchallenged so he can stop us, resulting in her causing mass destruction in the process."

"Aye, that sounds all dandy, Allie," Ireland piped up dryly with a frown. "But you're gonna end up with a massive wasteland and a hell lot of pollution by the end of the day, Al."

Georgia frowned, and she agreed with Ireland. Russia being reduced to nothing but an inhabitable desolate place, while really appealing, would probably cause problems after Russia's demise in the long run.

"That's right. And how are you going to make sure we won't get hit by lava or something?" Georgia pointed out skeptically. She felt bad not, but she did not want to know what getting killed by lava felt like.

That turned out to be a mistake. Suddenly, she noticed the air slowly started to feel hot against her skin and clothing and a chill went down Georgia's spine.

"Are you two attempting to say that I will only cause problems?" Pele's voice was dangerously seething and laced with a real threat that Georgia recognized.

Eyes widening, Georgia gulped and nervously stepped back with her hands raised up in surrender. "N-Not at all! I'm just curious!"

"Aye, lady! No offense intended!" Ireland also exclaimed.

"Cut them some slack, Pele." Thank God, America's cool voice cut in and the blonde gave the surprised woman a look. "They're new to this, remember?"

"But Alfred, they should have more faith in you." Pele frowned at him, and then snapped her head back at them again with a fierce glare. "How could they think of asking such foolish questions as if they have never crossed your mind when they have spent years as ignorant as those foolish nations and the humans? Have they not already seen the feats you and comrades can accomplish?"

"U-Um, actually, I have." Georgia found herself stammering out without much consideration. Well, terrifying lady did bring up a good point. "Alfred did help me get my land back…"

He had even had a whole plan devised years ago. And everything went off without a hitch, all in a single day. Her faith in America paid off and to repay him, Georgia's now helping him and the group that help make this possible. Now that she thought about it, maybe Georgia should stop doubting that America didn't have a plan for anything.

"And I did see ol' Swede eat a poor bastard's heart," Ireland commented dryly with a slight grimace. "Something that'll surely end up haunting me in my nightmares."

Oh, no doubt about it. Georgia didn't care about what happened to South Ossetia and Sweden was a nice enough person (but still terrifying as always), but… that's a scene she didn't think will ever forget.

"They are rookies." North Korea interjected with his typical coldness while shooting a similar glare at Pele. "They are still learning. So, be quiet and let Alfred enlighten them."

The two of them then entered a staring contest. It's a lot less funnier than it sounded. Georgia wondered if this was a common occurrence.

"So, Alfred, why don't you start talking?" Norway helpfully suggested with an amazingly calm smile.

"Yeah, good idea." America said hastily. "Anyway, don't worry about it. We have a plan for all that."

"Wait, you do?/You can do that?" Both Georgia and Ireland gawked at the same time.

"Well duh, we're not gonna have a wasteland in the new world." America scoffed as if it should've been obvious from the beginning. "Here's how it is: Did you know that volcanoes produce some of the world's most fertile soil?"

Georgia did recall hearing that, but she was puzzled at why America brought it up. "Yeah, I heard about that. What about it?"

"Oy, you're not going to launch into a whole scientific lecture, are ya?" Ireland whined while rubbing his temples. "I'm no good at those."

"Relax, I'll keep it short and simple, uncle. Anyway, but you need rain to cultivate it. And that's where Kamapua'a, the Hawaiian god of rain, comes in."

Yeah, Georgia had no idea who that was.

Sorry, sorry, but knowledge about mythology wasn't one of her strong suits.

"Wasn't he your rival or ex-boyfriend?" Ireland asked the goddess. Georgia kind of envied how calmly he could talk to her.

"Both. But we are now currently in much better terms thanks to my dear Alfred." Pele said in a voice that could be described as adoring, smiling as radiantly as a destructive temperamental goddess could at the blonde.

America chuckled awkwardly while next to him North Korea oozed murderous intent. "Haha… moving on… please."

This was weird on so many levels…

"Anyway," America cleared up his throat, returning to his serious demeanor. "When Russia's gone and the land is now under the New World Order's control, we'll have Kamapua'a rain all over the damaged land. And since the General will also be gone by then, we won't have to worry about the cold. So, with Pele's soil and Kamapua'a's rain…"

With that information it only took Georgia a couple of seconds to connect the dots. And what followed was a dawning sense of realization over exactly what all this meant.

"You'll have an unbelievable amount of fertile land without ever needing to worry about the General's storms." Georgia realized with her jaw dropping. God, that was...

Ireland's jaw dropped to the ground. "Holy feckin shit, that's genius."

"I know." America beamed and actually looked damn proud of himself.

"What else would you expect from my dear Alfred?" Pele cooed adoringly before wrapping two arms around America's shoulders, the latter of whom promptly froze.

Georgia could only sweatdrop at the scene. She really did have to wonder how America managed to get a temperamental volcano goddess to fall in love with him. Well, not that she could blame her. He's truly a charming man, especially in his real personality. But still, this was weird.

"Yes, except he is not your Alfred." North Korea growled with extreme irritation through gritted teeth.

Pele glared at him for the about the fifth time, and Georgia thought it was a wonder that North Korea's still standing.

"Yeah, but anyway…" After gently removing Pele's arms off him, America smiled at the two newest members. "We have everything planned out. We'll take care of the pollution. And we already have a bunch of routes planned along with backup plans to make sure our forces won't get caught by Pele's wrath."

"So, it's foolproof?" Georgia brightened up.

"It won't be easy, but yeah, if you ask me, I think our victory is guaranteed."

"Wow, I guess you do have everything planned."

"Hell yeah," America smirked, it looked oddly charming on him. "Spending centuries in the shadows gave us plenty of time to be prepared for any scenario."

/ / / / /

"Alright, let's start," Germany said finally, glad that they're finally doing this. "I'm not sure if everyone knows what happened at Switzerland…"

"Yeah, we know what happened." Belize spoke up in her usual lax manner, but there's no smile on her face. "You went to Switzerland's house, fought some psychopaths and giant man-eating birds, and you got Mauritius and Liechtenstein back with only two temporary deaths on your side."

It was a simple explanation, easy to understand, and in all honesty not a bad way to describe what had transpired even without the more… painful details. But there's one thing they couldn't avoid mentioning.

Belize frowned, and she lowered her head slightly as she said the last part blankly. "But you… we... lost France in the process."

The atmosphere, which already felt dreary, became heavy at the last sentence, at the reminder that one of their number was missing... gone, maybe soon for good.

It wasn't any easier on Germany either. He clenched his fists on his sides as he gritted his teeth in anger. Dammit, he was mourning France too. He never thought the day would come, but here he was. And needless to say, it hurt.

His attention drifted over to France's siblings, the ones clearly suffering the most from this. The look on Seychelles's face was heartbreaking Monaco looked grim and she actually seemed to be making a great effort not to show her grief. Tunisia was sitting stock still, something that hadn't changed since he showed up, but he's clearly upset. Canada's expression was similarly dark from how it was yesterday when he lashed out at everyone, but now he looked more pained than anything and thankfully didn't seem to make any effort to get angry at anyone.

Algeria noticeably shifted into her lone seat, her expression filled with pain and guilt as she gnawed on her lower lip. In a mixture of pity and just wanting to keep the conversation on track, he decided not to make any effort to draw attention to her. Germany won't lie that he's also mad at her, but at least she knew she made a mistake and was clearly agonizing over it.

"Ja, thank you for the very brief summary, Belize." Germany said tightly, anxiously grasping at the collar of his jacket. He recalled that he had provided those details yesterday when they've just returned from Switzerland. Good. There's that. "But has anyone here been told anything beyond that?"

He knew that he had stated the day before that he wanted to hold off explaining everything until they got their corpses to a better location and the wounded could have someplace to heal before he'd drop dead from all the blood lust. But they still had a right to know exactly what happened, especially France's siblings...

"Um, we might've told them while eating the Chinese food we ordered." Hungary was the one who answered the question, and she smiled sheepishly. "You were clearly going to be resting for the rest of the day and they were curious, so we decided to fill them in on the rest of what happened."

"It was hard not to be curious, given your... heavily injured states upon return." Monaco weakly commented from next to her worried sister Seychelles.

Ah. Germany nodded in understanding. "It's all right. You all have every right to know. I apologize for holding off a proper explanation."

Germany settled for giving them on an adequate recap on the events that transpired yesterday, just to make sure everyone's up to speed.

"France sacrificed himself," Germany was aware that everyone knew this already, but it deserved to be mentioned a thousand times over, "Not only so to save Algeria, but so that she, Tunisia and Egypt can escape."

Algeria tensed, but otherwise offered no comment.

"It must've taken a lot of courage to stay behind, especially since he has been tortured by his former colonies." He felt that everyone should be aware of that too. Not just anyone could've done what France did, he deserved recognition for that. "There's not much we can do for him other than hope he can hang on until we somehow find out where he is and rescue him."

"You better find him," Canada muttered, which did not go unheard.

"We will," Germany growled without thinking. The thought of not being able to do was unbearable.

"Do you truly think we will?" Monaco asked, her voice strained and her eyes watery. She was clearly using all her restraint to stop herself from breaking down in tears.

Germany's expression softened. "If we managed to discover Mauritius's location and we rescued him and Liechtenstein, then I don't see why it can't happen with France. Obviously, it won't be easy at all in the slightest, but I don't see how it's impossible."

He wasn't saying that just to make her feel better. There's nothing that suggested that them being able to find and save France was completely impossible.

"Where is Lili, anyway?" Hungary asked with a worried frown. "Why isn't she here?"

"She's upstairs. I told her everything, including about Vash." Germany explained curtly while feeling a twinge of worry for his semi-official ward. He gave Hungary a grim look. "She needs time, Elizaveta."

Painful realization dawned on Hungary's face and she pressed her mouth in a thin line, clearly understanding and sympathetic to what Liechtenstein must be going through, and didn't say another word.

"What about Kelvin, monsieur Germany?" Seychelles's meek voice piped up with the question. "Is he… all right?"

Germany's breath constricted in his throat and all the courage he believed he had went straight out the window as Seychelles's big, worried eyes bore into his soul. Dammit, he was never the best with women, especially younger girls like Seychelles. How the hell was he supposed to break the news of Mauritius's condition, that being that they have nothing, to her?

Keep it together, Germany. "I-I… I'm sorry, Seychelles, but we're still not entirely sure if we can trust him. Our investigation is inconclusive. He'll have to continue to be locked his room and with no visitors for the time being."

The look of utter dejection on Seychelles's face was heartbreaking. "Oh… I… I understand monsieur Germany."

Oh, god… Why did Germany feel so guilty? And the looks of sympathy or pity everyone were giving her weren't helping either.

"Erm… well…" Germany hated how he faltered and tried to get his act together before clearing his throat. "Now that we have that out of the way, let's get to the first order of business..."

Th-They need to get on with it, after all. And to his relief, everyone was paying attention.

"I believe there's something the ones who remained here owe me a good explanation for."

He won't be angry. He wasn't angry. He didn't exactly have any reason to be furious… yet. Yes, he should first hear the story then decide how he should react to it.

And so Germany slammed his hands on the table and yelled at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS I HEAR ABOUT HAITI SHOWING UP HERE YESTERDAY?!"

Alright, so maybe that didn't come out as well as would've liked...

His sudden furious shouting, which should've been expected in his own opinion, startled nearly everyone in the living room. Some flinched, others cursed out loud in alarm, a couple of others simply cringed at the familiar occurrence, and of course Italy yelped and scurried to hide behind one of the chairs in terror.

Germany scanned the entire room, looking at them all impatiently for answers.

"Well?" God, don't let the silence be a sign that it's worse than he thought. "Is anyone going to explain?"

Belize, who was practically sweating bullets, gulped before answering with a shaky smile. "Uh, right. Yeah. We can totally explain that."

In a repeat of yesterday, Honduras wore a nervous smile as she put herself in front of her neighbor and spoke in a reassuring tone. "Alemania, please, we know how bad it sounds. But I promise that it's not!"

"Haiti just showed up where you all were, meaning he knew where we were, which I will be getting to later, by the way." Germany said pointedly to everyone present while barely managing to restrain himself from yelling again. "How is that not bad?

"We're still alive and not cursed, isn't that enough?" Belize offered dryly, before her expression slowly morphed into one of uncertainty. "At least, I think we're not cursed."

Italy jumped from his hiding spot from the small chair. "Mio Dio, what if we're cursed?!"

"Don't worry, I don't sense any curse on anyone here." Romania assured everyone with a relaxed smirk. "You're all in the clear."

"That doesn't answer my question, you know." Germany deadpanned.

"G-Germany-san, please do not get frustrated." Japan pleaded in an almost fretting manner, with beads of sweat running down his face. "I vouch for Honduras-san's words when she said that it is not as bad as it sounds. True, it was far from pleasant... but no harm was done."

A mirthless laugh broke out after that was said, coming from none other than a sneering Panama. "No harm done? You nearly pissed Haiti off into doing God-knows-what while trying to stall him. He even threw a needle at China."

"Panama…" Costa Rica warned in an uncharacteristically harsh voice, which made the other Central American falter.

Germany had officially lost count of the number of times his jaw dropped in shock. "He did what?"

"But he missed. It was a poor throw, aru," China commented unhelpfully.

"That doesn't matter!" Germany yelled impatiently, ignoring the offended huff from the Asian nation, and scowled. "What the hell happened?!"

"I told you, we can explain. Honest!" Belize pleaded in a panicky voice, hands grasped together to go with it. Honduras nodded quickly from beside her, giving Germany what was clearly meant to be a good disarming smile.

Well, they weren't going to get anywhere with this meeting by yelling at everyone, were they?

Germany hit his head with his palm and sighed exasperatedly. "Just… tell me what happened. Please."

It was then he was giving a slightly choppy explanation of what happened, mostly provided by Monaco, who was there when Haiti first appeared out of the blue, Japan, who would take over to ease Germany's nerves whenever he'd be flabbergasted by a certain detail, and Honduras, who happily described the migraine-inducing way she tried to stall Haiti. The others freely inserted their commentary on the incident, including a very angry Panama.

After hearing Honduras was right. It wasn't as bad as he thought. Germany felt his face heat up a little at the acknowledgement. In hindsight, maybe he somewhat overreacted. But how was he supposed to react to discovering that one of your enemies just up and appeared where your allies were without any issue?

All in all, he was honestly impressed with how the group handled the situation, despite the risks. They couldn't lie to Haiti, he kept threatening them if they didn't tell him where France was (which in turn would lead him straight to Switzerland's and make the situation more difficult), and they had no idea when Germany's group was going to back. So, the only thing left was to stall for time until, in Belize's own words, 'they conveniently came back right in the nick of time'. Hell, Honduras's plan was good for something came up on the spot.

"You gave Haiti the idea to call his allies to find out where we were?!" Germany snarled dangerously, sending Italy cowering behind a sweatdropping Honduras.

"It was an accident!" Italy yelped, because that made it so much better.

Germany in turn glared at him even more harshly, which did end up finally causing Italy to wail like he often did. Great.

Though, to be fair (and he didn't really want to be with this idiot), he really have to wonder about Haiti's logic when he couldn't realize the simple solution to his 'problem' that even Italy knew about.

"I just thought we were making fun of Haiti's logic," Italy whimpered pitifully and remorsefully, looking on the verge of bursting into tears.

From her place behind Honduras, Belize groaned and slid her hands down her annoyed face. "I told you, Sofia's plan was to stall Haiti for as possible until Germany and the others came back right in the nick of time, not point out the obvious solution to such an easy problem."

"I was so proud of my plan too…" Honduras muttered mournfully while hanging her head dejectedly.

"B-But I know that now!" Italy exclaimed desperately. The streams of waters from his eyes were already starting to create a puddle.

"Enough!" Germany yelled before this could drag on any further. "There's no point in scolding Italy for his stupidity now, especially since things turned out decent enough."

"Hey!"

"Si, don't be angry with him." Panama interjected resentfully, regarding them all coldly while folding his arms. "After all, that slip up practically saved their lives."

"At the risk of our own," Romania grumbled in annoyance.

Germany thought about that. While telling Haiti where they were was no doubt a terrible idea, only giving him the idea to call his fellow members and find France himself was… something else entirely. But one thing did bother him.

"While I'm not saying Panama has a point, we're lucky that all of you came out unharmed." Germany sighed in relief, but then he scowled. "But what I don't understand is why Haiti didn't appear at Switzerland's house."

"Because he still didn't know where France was." Monaco was the one who began to explain, pushing up her glasses. "While he now knew what to do to achieve his goal, there's still the matter of calling every nation who he believes could have leads before he found out just where Francis was doing and what he was doing."

"He must've taken a long while, da?" Russia was smiling to tell, but right now it's impossible to tell what the underlying emotion was. "We did not see him anywhere in the scene. It must have been too late when he found out the truth."

"And I'm sure Nigeria would've hardly had the time to answer his phone, much less have it with him in the first place." Algeria pointed out with a distasted look.

"Da, so let's be glad he took so damn long." Romania huffed while leaning back against the couch next to his concerned little brother Moldova. "I'm not sure we would've been able to handle another nation, not to mention someone with magic."

"You wouldn't have." Panama said darkly, earning him more than one glare.

Sensing an incoming argument, Germany quickly jumped in to keep the conversation peaceful and on track. "There's no point in dwelling on what could've or might've happened. We should be glad that we- most of us got out of our messes in one piece. We won't always be this lucky."

"Does that mean you forgive me, Ludwig?" Italy asked hopefully with a bright smile.

Germany stared at him blankly. "Nein. Regardless of the circumstances, you put still me and my group in danger with your inability to keep your mouth shut."

Italy flinched as if struck, and admittedly a part of Germany did feel smacking him. "B-But–"

"I'm serious, Feliciano. You may have 'saved' your group's lives, but you could've cost me and my group's lives with your 'accident'. Either way, it was irresponsible."

"Very," China agreed with a resentful glare directed at Italy, nodding.

"Totally irresponsible." Belize said disapprovingly.

"My precious plan…" Honduras kept lamenting to near-tears while an uncomfortable-looking Nicaragua patted her back.

"I-I apologize, Italy-san, but I think Germany-san is right." Japan admitted in what was obviously a gentle tone, and his lips twitched up in a slightly poor attempt to smile for Italy. "Perhaps try to be more careful with what you want to say before saying it, all right?"

Italy practically deflated to the floor in utter dejection and let out a weak 've'.

As he watched flatly, Germany realized with a twinge, a tiny, tiny, twinge of guilt in his heart that he might be being too harsh on Italy. But he cast those thoughts aside. It was only the truth. There was no room for being lenient with Italy's… flaws in this war. If he won't do something about himself soon, then there might be some grave consequences in the future.

"Anyway, now that we have that cleared up, let's go over the next item on the agenda…" Germany stated clearly. Now, what else

Oh. Oh, right, there was the whole situation with South Italy. Germany admittedly felt concern well up within him.

"Uh, Honduras?"

Said nation perked up and smiled brightly at Germany. "Si?"

"Did you manage to convince South Italy to leave?"

A loud gasp came from Italy. "Si, that's right! How is my fratello? Where is he? Is he safe?"

Germany was so used to expecting the worst that he was taken by surprise when Honduras's smile broadened and she puffed her chest proudly. "Not to worry, Italia. I just got a text from Romano saying that he managed to leave the country and is now on his way to my house!"

Italy gasped loudly. "He is?!"

"He is! And he hasn't encountered any problems at all!"

Italy practically exploded with relief and in the blink of an eye he had a mildly surprised Honduras in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, grazie, grazie, Honduras!"

"Hey, get your hands off her, Italia!" Nicaragua barked, angrily trying to pry off the man off her neighbor.

Germany had a small urge to smile, but instead he focused on the next question, "When do you think he'll

"It shouldn't be long now. I told him to call me when he arrives at my house."

"Good. We'll make a plan to pick him up later," Germany nodded, and then he took a deep breath. "Now, if we can continue, there's something important I need to tell you all about. I'm sorry to ruin the mood after getting good news, but…"

He clenched his fists, suddenly aware of the lingering pain in his limbs and what he could swear was the faint taste of blood in his mouth.

"My boss is dead, and so are the entire Parliament and any other human of significant importance in my government."

The shocked silence that followed his statement, in comparison to the others that came before from other equally or more unbelievable revelations, lasted very little before it broke and his allies properly (and loudly) reacted to this news.

"What?!"

"Doitsu's boss is dead?!" Italy exclaimed in a shrill voice after jumping up from his dejected position.

"How the hell should I know?! I wasn't there!" Germany found himself barking, startling the room into silence, and he realized that it was a little unfair of him to lash out. He sighed and rubbed his aching head. "I-I don't know how it happened, but I know it was a massacre. I heard gunshots and my people screaming. They were all killed together."

Most likely during a gathering, Germany bitterly noted. But that brought up more questions. He wracked his brain for any meeting with his boss or Parliament he might have forgotten about in the midst of everything happening here.

"Hm, I should've known that was what was happening," Russia remarked in an almost infuriatingly calm tone as he stared off absently at nothing. "Blood from mouth, weakness, and clearly suffering from extreme pain… I was wondering why it seemed familiar."

"It does explain the unusually strong headaches." Japan remarked with worry. "I… I am sorry for that, Germany-san."

Germany mumbled a thank you for the concern. Though, to be frank, he didn't feel really broken up over the deaths of his politicians. In fact, in these

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, Ludwig!" Italy began fretting and ran up to him in tears. "Are you okay? Do you need me to make you pasta?

"I'm fine, Feliciano. I've had plenty of time to recuperate." Germany replied with only half as much of the usual impatience and annoyance. He may still be disappointed in Italy, but he wasn't ungrateful for him wanting to help in this case. "So don't try to hug me, you dummkopf."

Italy didn't look convinced "B-But… Everyone in your government is dead!"

"Ja, I know. I felt it." Germany replied dryly.

"Are you sure, Germany-san?" Japan asked with visible concern.

"I'll be all right, Japan." Germany assured him, hoping that he didn't sound exasperated.

Okay, he'll admit it. He really wasn't fine. Having your entire government massacred wasn't something you could just get over, much less in the span of less than a day. But Germany was tired of sitting around and he needed to put up a strong front for the group. Things would fall apart if he didn't help.

To make things worse, a lot of the other nations didn't look like they were buying it for a minute either. He was getting a lot of sympathetic or concerned looks, particularly from Italy, Japan and Hungary. Others just appeared flat-out unimpressed with his 'soldering on', most notably from Russia, China, and Nicaragua. It didn't make Germany feel any comfortable, needless to say.

"I'll try to not to take it too hard for now though." Germany added, perhaps with a little more deadpan than intended. "But there's still a lot to do, you know."

Luckily, the subject was dropped and they continued on with the matter.

"So, they wiped your government out… just like that." Romania stated like he could hardly believe it himself. His face scrunched up in distaste. "That's not good. If they can do that, and not be detected, then…"

"I should've known it was only a matter of time before they start killing our bosses, aru." China mused with a disgruntled frown. "It's a difficult but basic move for weakening your enemy."

"Germany…" Hungary began with her expression filled with concern. "When did this happen?"

"I felt it while I was fighting Switzerland." Germany said.

"While he was trying to kill you? And you survived?" Hungary sounded impressed.

"I wasn't going to die that easily." Germany said gruffly, allowing himself a bit of pride at the accomplishment. That'll teach Switzerland for calling him a failure.

"Yes. Do you have a clue as to who could have been responsible for this, Germany-san?""

Germany had been wondering about that for a little while now. "Nein, I don't. I'm not sure who could've…"

But then a memory flashed in his mind.

"Well, well, well. What's this? Blood from the mouth, hand clutching your heart, and a look of indescribable agony on your face? Ah, Prussia must've begun his grand plan!"

No… Could it really have been him? Oh, what was he saying? Germany had already accepted that his brother was a filthy liar who threw him under the bus for the sake of his goals. To deny the very likely possibility that Prussia could've been behind this would be ridiculous.

"And I have to say, how delightfully convenient that he executed the order as I'm trying to kill you."

Even so, it didn't make it any less painful to think about.

"…I think Prussia's the one to blame."

The mention of one of their Order's leaders caused the temperature in the room to drop, or perhaps that was just Russia's aura. But the atmosphere became heavy with tension. And unless it was his imagination, he's sure that he saw Hungary's face darken. It was still a sore topic for the both of them.

"Ah, of course. Your brother, one of the very leaders of the New World Order himself." Russia said with a mirthless smile, which soon vanished when Ukraine shot a disapproving glare in his direction.

"How can you be sure?" Hungary asked, and Germany could tell that she was trying her best to keep her cool.

Germany tried not to let his simmering anger under control as he explained, "When Switzerland noticed what was happening to me, he knew. He said that Gil- Prussia must've begun his 'plan' or… something along those lines."

"I have to say, their timing is rather impeccable." Romania remarked with suspicion. "Do you think they planned it, like timed it exactly so that you'd be weakened while Switzerland or someone else was trying to kill you?"

"Yes. If they bombed my capital and Gupta's during the fight in Paris, why can't they do it with Germany?" Algeria noted bitterly. "But to be honest, it feels too convenient."

"I agree. I don't think that's likely, Romania, aru." China raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the aforementioned nation, with a tone suggesting that Romania was dumb for suggesting for such a thing. "They'd have to be absolutely certain Germany would be coming along, and even then it'd probably take too much time to organize."

"Well excuse me for asking an innocent, reasonable question." Romania grumbled under his breath.

That's a good point. Unless Germany was wrong somehow, Switzerland and the Africans had no way of knowing for sure he'd be on the group leading the charge. Granted, it would be natural assumption, since Germany had the most reasons to participate. But if it was deliberately timed to incapacitate him, they would need to have known for sure that Germany would be there?

Besides, judging from the way Switzerland worded it, Germany had a feeling that bastard was referring to a different type of plan.

"Regardless whether the timing was deliberate or of who ordered the attack," Which ultimately could always be traced back to Prussia, but Germany pushed that thought aside. He gritted his teeth. "My government has been destroyed. It's only a matter of time before my country falls into disarray."

"Just like with Miss Belgium," Italy murmured worriedly.

"Exactly," Germany said, growing anxious at the thought.

"Hey, and speaking of dead bosses," Belize spoke again with a pensive look. "Wasn't France's boss also killed during that whole bloody mess in Paris?"

Germany's eyes widened at Belize's question before he was struck with the fact that, yes, France had mentioned that before. And he suddenly felt a more worried for the man's well-being than he already was.

"Indeed he was," Monaco confirmed grimly, "Along with the vice-president. As far as I know, France is currently without a leader."

"Actually, make that my boss too." Algeria added morosely, her face twisting into a scowl. "I didn't want to worry anyone but I am sure he was killed when the Order bombed my capital."

Germany's eyes widened. Algeria too?

"W-Wait. Egypt's capital was bombed too." Seychelles spoke up for the first time since the meeting began, stuttering and fretting. "Did he say if his boss was killed when it happened?"

"I think he mentioned that he was." Hungary said.

Oh, well, this was fantastic.

"So, what will you do, Germany-san?" Japan asked, going back to the main topic.

"The only option there is." Sighing, Germany straightened up and cracked his knuckles. "I'll have to take over until the war is finished."

"You mean run the nation by yourself? While leading the fight against the New World Order?" Romania asked incredulously.

"For once we agree, idióta," Hungary frowned. "That sounds like too much work."

"It's either that or let my country collapse into chaos." Germany fired back. He couldn't let that happen.

"U-Um… But are you sure, Germany-san? It might be too much for you." Japan looked like he wanted to plead Germany to reconsider.

In all honesty, Germany wasn't all that confident either, but it's the only option. "I'll have to try. There's no other option and someone has to make sure we'll be able to use my resources for the war."

And keep Liechtenstein safe, he mentally added.

"That's all fine and dandy, but I think you're all missing the takeaway from this." Belize's dry voice interjected, and she was looking at all of them as if she couldn't believe them. "France's boss is dead, Belgium's whole government and royal family are dead, and now everyone in Germany's government got massacred. For all we know, that could happen to any of us."

As that idea sank in, Germany's eyes narrowed, and he wanted to curse. He realized with mounting dread that Belize had a point. This could happen to anyone at any time. It's clear that the New World Order had the means to do so and since they can't be detected…

"I'd normally welcome any chance for my boss to die," Nicaragua said darkly, her semi-permanent scowl looking angrier than usual. "But I'm starting to have second thoughts."

"Me too, Nica, me too," Honduras nodded with a somber expression.

"Yeah, this isn't what I meant when I kept praying to God that my boss would 'disappear'." Belize commented wryly while scratching her head.

"We'll figure out how to counteract that," or at least, Germany hoped they will. "That's not the only news we have. England has been found."

He wasn't surprised to be met an array of groans and scowls from many of the other nations.

"It's about time, I'll say, aru," China harrumphed, scowling impatiently. "Was Opium passed out somewhere after getting drunk, aru?"

Germany didn't beat around the bush "He was found alive with many injuries lying in a puddle of his own blood in the middle of an alley."

That bombshell swiftly dissipated the exasperated mood of the room and was replaced with understandable shock. No matter who nation it was (or how troublesome they were), such news was bound to get such a reaction.

Canada in particularly looked deadly pale, and choked, "Wh-What? How- Who-"

Germany had been asking himself the same questions.

"U-Um, I'm afraid we don't know that, Canada-san." Japan said, clearing his throat. He appeared a little queasy. "I… won't go into detail about his injured state, but it was not pleasant."

"Is it really that bad?" Seychelles asked nervously.

"Possibly worse than you might think," Japan said, swallowing. "But what is possibly the most disturbing part was that he did not die, even during the trip to the hospital."

"Ah, of course." Russia said lightly, but for once, he wasn't smiling. "Whoever attacked Britain must've wanted him to suffer quite a lot."

Yes, Japan had commented on that earlier, Germany recalled. "Ja, and there's no doubt that he was attacked. The question is who did it."

"Hey. Do you think he ran into Bosnia in crazy mode?" Romania suggested with a contemplative look

"I think the only one who can answer that is England himself." Germany could say without a doubt. "No point in throwing guesses around when we don't have any evidence to work from."

"And when can we see him?" Canada asked sharply, eyes narrowed.

"Until his government gives us permission to see him, which, if we're lucky, should be sometime today." Germany answered calmly. He's glad that Canada's on better behavior today.

"But going back to Bosnia," Hungary's voice was tight and obviously restrained, and her smile just obviously forced. "Why don't we tell them what he did yesterday?"

Germany tried not to wince as all eyes were on him again. God, he had almost forgotten about that.

Why did there have to be more bad news than good news?

Yeah, I would've liked having the entire meeting in one chapter, but it just got too long at this point. It'll wrap up next chapter, and with some (hopefully) interesting stuff happening too. I would've had more segments, but this chapter is more dedicated towards the plot than the characters. I'm happy with how it turned out though, and that I finally got to the meeting part. But the next chapter will also have more characters appearing, including the ones we haven't seen in a while, so we have that to look forward to. Please review, if you have a minute.