Thanks very much for the reviews! Well, I imagined to get it out before four weeks have passed. And it's longer! That's better than last time at least, but I'll still try to update back at a normal pace. I've been doing better as of late, so it shouldn't be too difficult I hope. In the meantime, hope you enjoy! Now, on with the show!

Indonesia felt tired.

Days in this prison, even without the Philippines breathing down their necks or South Vietnam here (but by Allah, Indonesia wished he was, she wished he were here instead of doing what horrible things he planned to do to North) to torment her with emotions she never thought she would ever feel again (though he was already doing that without his presence), with the company of familiar faces that she could trust did nothing to assuage her stress.

Grief weighed her down every hour of the day, and every glance at the walls of this prison disguised as a house reminded her of her own helplessness. Of course, it didn't help that sleep wasn't coming to her so easily. Though honestly, before South Vietnam, it was a miracle she had been able to sleep at all. The only positive thing to come of her mental exhaustion.

But now, instead of helping her sleep, it just plagued her every waking moment, stopping her from getting any good rest.

Yesterday, they had the group meeting Tibet had proposed the other night, a chance for everyone to just sit down and discuss their situation. Even East Timor had joined in, despite Indonesia telling her that she didn't have to, which prompted Laos (who had his own history of being babied) to remind her that East Timor, especially as a fellow nation, had every right to join in on the conversation too.

Indonesia, after a bit of effort in her tired state, eventually agreed. She also later realized that it was stupid on her part. Moreover, she would never leave East Timor alone for even five minutes in this prison.

In the meeting and since morning really, Indonesia carefully refrained from speaking a lot with Singapore, who kept giving her these pointed looks but otherwise was almost just as happy to give her space as long as the topic of South Vietnam didn't come up. Which did, inevitably, but not without real justification as Tibet and Laos hadn't been aware of him of the fact that he was not actually dead until then, or at least not the whole context of it.

Both of them reacted with the same, albeit understandable, shock that you would expect when told that a nation thought dead, and with no possible way to avoid said death, was indeed alive this whole time. Fortunately, they didn't, because really, why on Earth would they lie about something like that at a time like this?

"You know we wouldn't lie about this." Indonesia had said solemnly, her hands clutching at her skirt.

'You should know I wouldn't lie about this, not about him' was what Indonesia originally wanted to say, but bit her tongue and made the proper corrections. Indonesia hated keeping her feelings bottled up inside, but she didn't want to cry her heart out.

So that was when Indonesia forced down the grief twisting her stomach and recounted what South Vietnam had revealed to her in the conversation they had.

"It's my fault." Indonesia finally said it, but it was true and everyone should know it. All pairs of eyes turned to her. "I made South Vietnam angry, so angry that he left. If I had been more careful with my words, he wouldn't have

"For the love of – It wasn't your fault." "His plans are crazy. You only reacted as anyone else would."

"Don't blame yourself, Indonesia." Came the unexpected intervention of Tibet, to the surprise of everyone.

Indonesia couldn't help looking at him, betrayed and angry. "You agree with her, Tibet?"

"I am not taking any sides." Tibet responded, calm and collected as he always was. "Perhaps your argument with South Vietnam did accelerate events, in the end we do not truly know for sure. Much importantly is the fact that blaming is never productive. What exactly would persuading everyone that the blame lies entirely on you accomplish, other than remain drowning in the misery you believe you deserve?"

Indonesia opened her mouth. Because she'd deserve felt like her answer, but it wasn't.

"You are in pain, Indonesia." Tibet continued to say, his voice becoming softer in something akin to comfort. "I will not pretend to fully understand how deeply it runs, but I know that you cared a lot for South Vietnam…"

Her heart clenched and constricted, but Indonesia only bit her lip and said nothing.

"You need to stop inflicting this torment on yourself." The monk nation insisted. "It won't do anything good for yourself, nor will it do anyone else good."

His eyes shifted towards a quiet East Timor, who absently playing with the edges of the cotton tablecloth while staring up at Indonesia in a way that just made her heart wrench. And that's when the real struck Indonesia terribly. Had she been hurting her by arguing with Singapore? East Timor was scared. She was still shaken by what the Philippines did and she needed every amount of comfort. But all Indonesia had been doing lately was…

Finally conceding that Tibet had a point, Indonesia bit her lip and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly.

Now that she really thought about it, what she had done was exactly what the Philippines had wanted, right?

"You mentioned that blaming wouldn't be productive." Laos spoke up, also breaking his own silence, the younger nation frowning in apparent thought. "So would be productive for us to do, then?"

No one had a good answer for that.

Nothing phenomenal came out of the meeting in the end, you could say. But Indonesia couldn't deny that she didn't actually appreciated the opportunity to sit down and – and – just talk about their situation calmly. It was good to be with familiar, friendly faces.

"When do you think they're coming back?" East Timor's voice was small, dreading at the prospect of seeing the Philippines again.

"I don't know, Tina." Indonesia answered honestly.

"Are bad things going to happen to us?"

"…Let's hope I'm right and they won't."

Something told Indonesia that if anyone from Philippines's group wanted them gone, they would've done it days ago.

/ / / / /

What followed was what Westerners might call a double take.

"What?! What– What do you mean there's a fraction of another soul inside Mauritius? How– Why–

"First of all, shush!" Romania whispered harshly to him. He took a quick glance around the room as though the others might be listening. "You do know he's right down this hall, right? I want this to remain secret, especially from him."

Egypt's mind was racing. Today had nothing been a day full of surprises, and his stress was coming to a head. And Romania was only compounding that by the sheer effort of being himself!

There was another soul in Mauritius, or rather, a fraction of one. There's a fraction of another soul in Mauritius. There's a fraction of another soul in Mauritius and Egypt was the only person the cryptic fool had told this to. What. Even.

It was with a great deal of self-restraint that a trembling Egypt refrained from snapping then and there. "I've had enough with the cryptic words, Romania. Start explaining everything and do it clearly, and give me a reason to keep my mouth shut about this before I seriously begin lose my mind with you."

Romania threw his hands up in surrender as he squawked, "Okay, okay! Relax, I'll tell you everything. I was about to do just that, anyway."

Still glaring hotly at the European, Egypt nonetheless backed down, telling himself to calm, think rationally. Nevermind the fact that he needed to deal with this troublesome idiot here, this was serious. Egypt knew a fair amount of the soul and the. The implications made him nearly shudder to merely think.

"What I said is exactly what it sounds," Romania had the decency to be serious as he began to explain, red eyes darkening. "I found a portion foreign soul in Mauritius, tiny but still there. It's latched onto his soul like a parasite, slowly sinking teeth into him while he doesn't even know it."

"You're absolutely sure that Mauritius doesn't have an inkling of… what's inside him?"

"Positive." Romania said unhesitantly. Though he then adopted a pensive look as his head tilted to the side. "I noticed that he had been pretty reluctant to let me search his mind, but I think that was the fraction's influence's doing. It was probably scared that it'd get discovered – and, well, as you can see it was right. But Mauritius is completely under the impression that those feelings are his own."

There was nothing in what was said that Egypt liked. "Influence? You mean this other foul can manipulate him?"

"…Essentially, da."

Damn it. He was horrified and confused all at the same time. It was beginning to overwhelm him.

"Whose soul is it? Why was it placed in him? What's the aim?"

Romania gave a wry smile as one index finger scratched his cheek, raising a questioning eyebrow at Egypt. "Uh… Mind picking one of out of those three? Because I'm sure I won't be able to explain all of that in a single paragraph."

Despite the irritation that arose, Egypt conceded that he had a point. He sighed and made his mind up on the spot. "The first one. Whose soul has latched onto Mauritius's?"

Egypt had a horrible feeling that he actually knew the answer, but he desperately wanted to be proven wrong.

"Ah, I wasn't able to deduce that instantly." Romania's humorless smile morphed into a much more serious expression. "But given that there was only one magician at Switzerland's that day, and this soul fragment was absolutely reeking of malice…"

"Nigeria." Egypt immediately deduced, and was promptly hit with a wave of dread. Of course…

"Bingo, Egypt." Romania snapped his fingers, unsmiling. "That cuckoo in the hoodoo is our culprit."

A part of Nigeria's soul was inside of Mauritius… Horror could not even begin to describe what Egypt was feeling. This– This was…

"So here's what I pieced together while you were talking to your mama: Nigeria, and presumably the rest of that lovely gang, knew that they haven't broken Mauritius. But even so, they have absolutely no intention of letting him go. While they were confident of their strength, as we saw, they weren't about to take any chances. So in the unlikely scenario that they lose the fight, and we rescue Mauritius, they would ensure no matter what happens, they would ultimately be the real winners."

"But how would that benefit them?" However, as soon as that question left him, realization dawned and he looked wide-eyed at Romania. "Wait. Earlier you mentioned the soul influencing Mauritius. Is that their plan? To… corrupt him somehow?"

Malice. Romania said that a mere fraction of Nigeria's soul was absolutely reeking of malice. No good could possibly come from having something like latched onto your being. Egypt didn't need to know all of the magical secrets whispered to him since childhood to realize this.

The half-hearted, mirthless toothy smile on Romania's face was all the dreaded confirmation Egypt needed.

"It sure seems like it." Romania mused. "You'd understand it better if you talked to him. He looks fine, seems fine. Just understandably tired and mind a bit fuzzy. Who could blame him, right? Given time, and no one would ever suspect him of anything suspicious."

Egypt started to feel cold all over.

"No one would even notice that Mauritius is rotting from the inside." The European's voice carried heavy bitterness, as well as displeasure. No humor at all. "Like this, they just might be able to continue where they left off."

He remembered the carefree glee Nigeria reacted to being fatally impaled by Anubis, to death itself. How he laughed for all blood gargling in his throat, while lying helplessly on the grass with his life force diminishing by the second. He was so manic even when he lost. Looking back at it now, was it really a lack of fear at his own demise, or…

Thinking back on it, there was a sort of. This isn't over.

Everything was making too much sense for Egypt's liking. This was a clarity that Egypt so very despised with all of his heart. It explained Nigeria's nonchalance. It explained why their enemies didn't bother to teleport Mauritius elsewhere. It even explained why none of the Africans seemed to have taken any action to get Mauritius back in their clutches so far. Did they really have any need to?

"How can Nigeria have this kind of magic?" He asked, still in shock. "Just how does– just how will this affect Mauritius?"

How could this corrupt him?

He hadn't heard of anything like this. Not to say that Egypt didn't have knowledge of the soul and how to, ahem, use it. Far from it, in fact, his ability to manifest as his 'ba' did more than speak for itself.

"An excellent question," Commented Romania rather brightly, which didn't quite leave Egypt very reassured, nor any less displeased at the man. "But first, tell me, how much do you know about West African magic, Egypt?"

His displeasure at the change of topic quickly became forgotten, as Egypt felt a sense of embarrassment as he resisted the urge to avert his eyes, finally admitting. "Not a lot, actually. It's scarce compared to other areas I have knowledge of."

Romania was impressed not a bit. "Am I really the only one of either of us that actually bothered to learn arcane secrets beyond our region?"

"It's not as though I was never interested!" Egypt exclaimed, feeling highly defensive all of a sudden. "It was too strange to me. And the spirits were never very welcoming."

In fact, one might even say they were hostile. In light of everything he'd been discovering, Egypt wondered if certain people were responsible for that. So as to make sure that he – they wouldn't be able to use the same knowledge and abilities the Africans had.

"Oh? That's a surprise." Romania's words puzzled Egypt, but it was swiftly forgotten as the European waved his hand and moved on. "But that's completely irrelevant to the topic. The point is, I for one do actually know a lot about West African magic. I studied it for a while back last century during the whole Africa craze and before Russia put a damper on my freedom. And there, right around in the area that would be Nigeria, I found out that there's a surprising amount of spells and magic regarding the soul."

Now that was a comparatively milder surprise. Egypt looked at with said emotion. "There is?"

"Oh, da," Romania nodded, smiling rather cheerfully now. "Not very surprising, considering that there's already spells rituals dedicated to communicating to the dead, and calling spirits to possess people, or animism as it's called."

"Quite a lot of it is hidden, so it's not like you'd find it on the internet or anything. I actually struggled to find information during my investigation. People were dodgy with my questions. If I didn't know any better, it's like they don't want anyone else to find out about that kind of magic."

The implications left unspoken in the air were obvious.

"As a matter of fact," Romania soon added. "That kind of magic is known to be highly frowned upon."

Egypt's eyes narrowed. "What did you find out?"

"I found out that some practitioners, the especially powerful ones to be precise; can learn how to take out bits of their own soul. As in, right out of their bodies." Romania's smirk was dark as can be while Egypt grew rigid at what he was hearing. "And they can manipulate those bits in a variety of different creative ways. Including, but not limited to, forcefully putting your essence inside another person. And should the mage be strong enough in willpower and such, use that little in many ways."

Like what, Egypt wanted to exasperatedly ask. While this information was certainly intriguing, He hadn't truly gotten any of most important answers question. But he was busy digesting all of said information while preventing his head from falling off. Egypt was normally a person who welcomed receiving vast amounts of new knowledge, but this was near overwhelming.

He's usually better than this, no? Perhaps he's still tired. Yes, that's probably it. Egypt had only just woken up and it's to mountain upon mountain of news and complex information, not all of it delightful. It's always good to be awake and alive, and Egypt's eager to be up to speed, but maybe receiving all of these revelations when he should be resting wasn't the best idea…

Ngh. Displeasure surged in him, making him frown. That– That didn't matter. This was no time to rest. He could rest later.

"Hey." Romania's voice, all of a sudden devoid of his cheer, interrupted him from his stressful thoughts. The man was looking at Egypt with serious eyes. "Back at Switzy's. You faced off against Nigeria, right? Got a look at his skillset and all that?"

Despite being impatient for his answers, Egypt nodded his head faintly. "I did."

"Did you at any point in the fight see something from him that reminds you of… what I'm telling you?"

At the question, Egypt searched through memories of the scuffle. It wasn't long before he realized he did in fact witness something strange.

"…I think I have." Egypt said at last quietly, and vaguely registered Romania's keen attention on him as he swallowed. "Nigeria– He vomited a live snake out of his mouth."

He half-expected to receive an utterly incredulous look, followed by understandable disgust. But Egypt forgot this was a fellow magician he was speaking to, a morbid one at that. So the blonde's reaction merely consisted of very mildly surprise, as well as a lifted eyebrow.

"Huh. That's a new one." Romania remarked, blinking twice, before "Ah. I recall being told you got bitten by a snake somehow. Is it safe to assume that's the one? And did you notice anything odd about this snake?"

Why yes, yes there was. Nausea arose in Egypt's throat as he recalled exactly what happened. The sensation of the serpent coiling tightly around him, the

"I killed it at the cost of being bitten." Egypt explained first. For a second, he thought he felt phantom pains through his arms and legs, and unconsciously a hand rubbed his wrist. He began to frown as he reached to the curious part. "But when I killed, the snake, it… turned into a strange green and it… slammed into Nigeria, even knocking him over. It almost looked as if it went right back into him."

There's no way he could have imagined that.

"Oh, of course it did." Romania said simply. "That snake is a part of him after all."

At this point, Egypt probably should've gotten used to sudden surprises. Even so, he nearly choked. "What? Do you mean–"

"Da, that's what I mean." Romania interjected, and Egypt's not sure if he's getting tired of getting cut off. "I'd bet you this hat that that snake was made from Nigeria's own soul. He can do that. I'm sure he can do a lot of other things with his soul too."

"But that was an exact copy of a western green mamba!" Egypt exclaimed. "It even possessed the same venom! How can do you turn a part of yourself into that?"

Romania looked at him skeptically. "…Didn't one of your goddesses make a snake out of Ra's drool once?"

"Isis and that was one thing," Egypt disliked how broken his calm was. But all of this was frankly taking its toll on his sanity. "Making life out of something inanimate is easy for a god. This is creating life out of a piece of your own soul."

"I don't think you're lying." Playfulness and unnecessary sarcasm aside, Romania wouldn't lie. "Can you truly manipulate your own soul in that manner?"

The remark earned him a fanged smirk from Romania, who spread his arms wide in a dramatic manner. "Aw come on, Egypt! You of all people should know the wonderful and terrifying things magic is capable of. In all seriousness though, it sure seems like Nigeria can do it. Like I said, I'm not making any of this up.

"It sounds heinous." Egypt muttered, feeling his face twist in disapproval. "Not to mention… extremely dangerous. Are there not any drawbacks?"

"Oh, da, it's not safe for the user at all." Romania began to grimace, which really said something considering his morbid interests. "There's the risk of accidentally tearing your soul apart if you're not careful. And then there's the real drawback, which is that when you take out a piece of your soul, a bit of your humanity equal to the amount removed goes with it."

He paused, and a tight grimace came over his features, nearly matching the one Egypt surely had.

"Which… makes way too much sense, actually."

Allah. That might just be an understatement.

"Nevermind that," Egypt dismissed the subject, as disturbingly curious he was of the frightening implications. He directed an accusing gaze at the European. "You still haven't truly answered any of my questions. How will this? Corruption can't be the only thing."

And his suspicions were instantly proven correct by the manner Romania's darted away from him, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Well. Ah… For starters, uh… there's an itsy bitsy chance that Nigeria can track him with the soul fragment. I mean, it is a part of him after all…"

There was a long silence as Egypt carefully allowed that revelation to sink in. All while he never took his eyes off the sheepish Romania. Sheepish.

"A living tracking device is in this house and you didn't tell anyone?" Egypt questioned flatly, while anger began to boil from within once again.

Was that how Prussia found them so easily?

"Again, I have good reasons for that." Romania insisted once again, this time sounding a tad irritated if not uneasy. Red eyes narrowed sharply and darkened. "The soul fraction's not just a leech, Egypt. It's sentient. You already saw this in the form of that snake. Nigeria can't only detect where it is, he can be aware of everything going on in his host's surroundings."

For tenth time today, Egypt felt like he'd been pelted by a ton of bricks. Almost, almost, he lost his balance. "Everything…? No… So… Mauritius can also function as his eyes and ears?"

"Now you see what I meant when the Africans wanted to make they'd be winners? But that's not all. And there's a good chance that if – if we decide to corner him, Nigeria might decide to take control right there and have Mauritius make a run for it."

"Take control?" Egypt repeated. Oh no…

"It's not just corruption, Gupta," Romania bared his teeth in an angry scowl. "He can mess with Mauritius's mind in different ways. And if I'm right with my info, then Nigeria can also take full control of his mind."

Egypt's eyes were wide. Foolishly, some naïve part of him hoped he misheard. "Wh-What? Can – Can he truly do that?"

"Frankly I'd more surprised if he couldn't," Romania said, snorting. "From what all I'm hearing about him, he does sound highly powerful."

At this point, Egypt had a hand grasping one side of his head. "

"And you believe that we or Anubis wouldn't be able to prevent Mauritius from escaping?"

"Not quite the problem." Romania said dryly, but the look on his face was nothing but grave and serious. "Don't ya get it, Egypt? The whole goal of this trick is to turn Mauritius into their living tracking device and spy. If Nigeria catches wind that we know the truth, then that means there's no point in keeping the charade anymore. As in, there's no advantage to be gained from letting Mauritius stay with us. What do you think will happen then?"

What will happen? It was obvious enough to anyone. Egypt's hands curled around the sheets. "We'd lose him again."

All of their effort – everything and France's sacrifice will have been for nearly nothing. Seychelles will have her heart ripped out in an even more brutal fashion. More than anything, Egypt wanted to curse the Order to the high heavens. He wanted to them to burn in hell.

"Exactly!" Romania nearly hissed. "Now do you get it? Everything becoming clear to you? Can you stop giving me flak now?"

"Let me see if I have this… straight."

"Okie dokie."

"At some point before our arrival, Nigeria implanted a part of his soul in Mauritius in order to give him and the Order in the off-chance that they lose the fight."

"Yep."

Egypt tightly furrowed his brows. Yet somehow, he maintained his unfailingly blank, calm tone. "And this soul fragment in Mauritius can allow Nigeria to know where he is, what's going on around Mauritius, subtly influence him in a manner that he won't even notice, affect his behavior and… completely control him? And he can do all of this anytime and anywhere?"

"…Yep. That's a pretty good summary of it." Said the unenthusiastic Romania.

"Damn it."

To say this was not good would be a most massive understatement. Egypt won't even waste time going on and on over how disastrous this could potentially be. And Seychelles - Allah, Seychelles had no idea. She didn't have the slightest clue that Mauritius wasn't as fine as she thought he was. How would she react to learning that there's a tiny bit of Nigeria's soul in Mauritius, biding its time?

"What do we do now?" Egypt demanded. They needed something, anything. They couldn't let this stand. "You've kept this secret to yourself for a while. You must have at least been trying to think of a solution."

There must be something. Could Anubis help? Or perhaps…

"Of course I have, I've been doing more in my rest than just rest." Romania's lips peeled back into a wide grin with teeth, this time full of cheerfully mischievousness. For just once, Egypt didn't feel annoyed to see it again. "I think I have an idea, which just might work, but I'm gonna need…"

/ / / / /

Germany eventually came to the reluctant decision of leaving England behind.

It wasn't an easy one, he'll admit. He was aware of the high risks– he's the one who brought it up after all. Said risks made the decision rather difficult to make. But England was in no state or condition to participate in a war, or be among his allies, many of which still would happily line up for the opportunity to punch him.

He knew this when he, Japan and Canada went to England's room for a second time. Germany knew it the moment he saw the man. When they entered into the sterile room, England was curled up on the bed, covered up to the neck in sheets, and facing away from him. The blonde didn't seem to budge an inch at their entrance. He just remained there, like he was taking a long nap.

Only an idiot would believe that he's actually asleep. Unless he fainted from the mental stress of all of the reality he couldn't deny, which the staff and guards would've notified them about, there's no way in hell he's out.

At first, Germany half-expected Canada's calm to snap again and Germany and Japan would become witness to another terrifying show of brutal honesty. But Canada did nothing of the sort. The North American looked on blankly with something that appeared like pity, and didn't utter a word.

Which left Germany complete freedom to deliver the words he wanted to say.

"We're going to leave." Germany said, essentially. No beg, no plead. "We'd rather not leave you here, but not going to put up with you like this. You'll only be a liability. If you don't want to be one, you need to get ahold of yourself, realize what a fucking idiot you've been, and promise to work your ass off to make up for it. If you don't want to stay here, you have to do that or you're going to have to remain until you do."

England didn't move, didn't stir or make any noise. Germany's brow furrowed. Well, it's settled.

"I'm sorry we have to leave him behind." Germany later said earnestly to the younger nation, who turned towards him with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. The three of them were on their silent way back to the car, the mood in the air less than ideal.

Germany didn't like it. He may not like England, but he didn't like it nonetheless. But what other choice did they have? They're already on the clock. Japan didn't argue. Canada didn't argue. The decision had been made.

Canada smiled, it somehow felt natural and forced at the same time. "It's okay. I told you I'd understand if you'd want to leave him, didn't I? Maybe– Maybe he just needs time."

"Let's just hope it's not a lot of time." Germany said grimly. "And that he can get his shit together before something happens to him."

Then Germany will regret not having hauled the Brit's ass from the hospital.

"Yeah." Canada mumbled absently, but yet Germany could tell he sincerely hope that will be the case.

A brief silence followed before Germany couldn't help look over at him again, this time with concern. "Will you be alright, Canada?"

"I think so. I mean, I have to be." Canada quickly corrected himself, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders and smiling still even as it became more pained. "It's not gonna help me if I don't put myself back together, eh? I'm not gonna mope anymore."

"You don't have to force yourself through the process, you know that? You're already making so much progress than many of us." Germany didn't even think much as the words flew out of his mouth. Then it hit him. His face began to burn and he coughed into his hand to conceal it. "I… I meant what I said earlier. We're allies in this mess. Whether we like it or not, we're in this together. Even if some won't, we're here to help each other through all this shit."

Damn it, he still needed to work on his 'pep talks'. Germany had always been better at speeches related to courage or determination. This - This was still foreign to him and he couldn't lie that it irritated him. A good leader should know how to reassure his men.

In spite of that, Canada's expression lightened somewhat as he nodded faintly, grateful. "Y-Yeah, I know. I'll remember that. Thanks, Germany. I mean it."

Huh.

Miraculously, he mustered some semblance of a smile as Germany wordlessly nodded back. They were all quiet again. Time flew by for him despite the partially unhappy atmosphere. He tuned out all the background noise. Footsteps, quiet chatter and occasionally the staff giving out orders. At one point they met with a couple of people from the government again. But before he knew it, they were at the parking lot.

Things didn't turn out the way they hoped. No point in trying to sugarcoat it. Granted, it's not as though Germany was very optimistic about their chances in the first place, but he still believed in the possibility that England would see reason.

"Hey, Germany?"

"Ja?"

"When we get back, I'm gonna apologize to Michelle for the way I acted." Canada decided with a clear, firm resolve, to Germany's honest surprise. "I was a real asshole, I see that now. And I wanna do the same for Kelvin. Can… I see him?"

Germany mulled it over for a moment. He felt that he should feel more reluctant, but he reached a decision easily. "You have our permission, Canada."

Canada's smile brightened only a bit, but it was now completely genuine.

One painfully long car ride that made Germany's impatience rear its ugly head later, they were back at the house they had perhaps illegally took as their temporary headquarters. And which they technically broke into. And which they technically looted, given that Belize took a considerable amount of money from England's safe. Good God, he hoped this won't come back to bite them in the ass later.

Along the way, Germany hadn't forgotten that he's going to have to explain to the others about England. True, he doubted there will be tears, but the fact still stood that they will all be leaving a fellow nation behind.

Upon entering, they were received by Hungary, Algeria, Romania, Honduras, and the duo of Monaco and Seychelles.

"Hey, hey, you're back! About time!"

"Where's monsieur England?"

Inevitably, the atmosphere became an uncomfortable mix of glum and awkward.

"He... hasn't gotten any better." Germany stated, to the reactions, which ranged from surprise, quiet anger to plain disappointment. "Let's – Let's have everyone convene in the living room again. There's a bit of a story to tell."

"Uh, da," Piped up Romania, who was smiling just a tad nervously. "We ourselves have a bit of news for you."

Should Germany be even surprised that he didn't have a good feeling about this?

/ / / / /

Finally.

It felt like it took way longer than America thought it would've – no thanks to a few complications with the weather and the air – but they're finally here where they need to be.

At the active crater of Klyuchevskaya Sopka. Also known as Klyuchevskoi.

…Yeah, believe him; even he messed up the pronunciation a couple of times too.

Here's the quick summary of this place for you to get why they're here: Klyuchevskaya Sopka is a stratovolcano. He'd be happy to explain the difference between that and a shield volcano, but that's hardly what's relevant at the moment. This place is the highest mountain on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. It's also the highest mountain in Siberia. Pretty neat, huh?

Ergo, it's perfect place for Pele to turn into her seat of power. Even though the lava flowing from stratovolcanoes usually cools and hardens before it spreads too far due to the high viscosity, it's nothing the volcano goddess can't fix. It's her domain after all. Her rage could make the lava more hot and destructive than ever witnessed before.

America's blue eyes calmly observed the massive pool of lava below him, holding Pele still in dog form in his arms. He could feel her shivering and the heat through her flesh. Whether it's out of the cold or excitement at the pit of molten rock below, America reckoned that it's both. Poor girl.

Suddenly, he heard a 'poof' and in the blink of an eye later Norway was at his side again. A broad smile was spread across his semi-questionable older brother figure's face from ear to ear, shining more than usual. You only need one look at the glint in his eyes to see how pumped he's feeling.

"Everyone's ready and positioned perfectly at their respective borders." Norway reported at once. "It's time, Alfred. We shouldn't delay any longer."

"Great, good. Start getting ready to send out the signal then." America. He paused, before asking Norway, "How long do you think we have before the General smells a rat?"

"My guess? Not long if we continue to stay here."

"Right, say no more." America stated, before he looked down at the dog in his arms. "Okay, Pele. It's show time. The time for you to shine has come."

With those words, he carefully and gently set her down at the floor. The furry white dog gave a short but undeniably happy bark before it slowly grew bigger and bigger... Until the fur has vanished to nothing, her paws became hands with slender fingers, and what was once a dog became Pele's preferred human form again.

Pele's first action in Russian land as her humanoid form was to scream.

It genuinely caught America off-guard and nearly sent him jumping back in his alarm. Right in the corner of his eye, he vaguely caught Norway appearing just as startled as he was.

"AAAHH! Cold!" Pele shrilled to the high heavens. Wrapping her arms around her bare abdomen, she collapsed to her knees and loudly cursed in fury. "Cold cold cold cold cold! It's so cold here, Alfred! It's despicably, unbearably and maddeningly freezing and cutting me from the inside and out! It hates me! It wants to bury me! To put me out like she once tried!"

Right, right, of course, idiot. No matter how close they are to the magma, with this altitude and her choice of clothing... Yeah, damn it, she's gonna feel at least a little chilly. And Pele's bad with cold- in more ways than one. He expected this. He knew she wouldn't immediately adjust.

Concern sent his instincts into high gear. He didn't think twice as he knelt to her side, putting his arms around her shoulers in order to give her some protection. To hell with how Norway might tease him for this in front of NK later. America couldn't just there and do nothing.

This close to her, he could still feel her natural warm aura, but it was much subdued. Nothing like how it normally was, obviously thanks to the climate. Now it didn't feel as much as when you open an oven and receive an abundance of heat all up in your face as much as it feels when you lean near a candle. It wasn't necessarily a bad sign, but it's far from a good one either.

"Hey. Hey! Easy, Pele." America whispered. "Shh. It's okay. We're here now. It won't be like this for much longer."

Pele's breathing came out deep and ragged, her breath clear to see as she exhaled."I hated him the day you told me of his existence, but now, I fully understand why you want him gone."

"This isn't even the worst he's capable of."

"I know, I have not forgotten your stories." Pele chuckled bitterly, and, releasing a sigh, she leaned into him. "Ah... Thank you, my Alfred. I must apologize"

America's shoulders ease in relief. "It's okay, Pele. So, you ready for this?"

"I have been for years." Slowly but definitely, Pele rose as America removed his arms from her. The goddess wearing human skin smiled in what might honestly be relief as her eyes fell on the lava below. "I can feel it, Alfred. It's distant, but it's there - the connection waiting to be made. It's warm..."

"Then go, make it and every single other volcano in this country yours." America encouraged, nodding. "Show that General who's really the deadlier element."

Pele let out a breath that might've been a short laugh. "Oh, I will."

She looked at him this time, a smile touching her lips.

"From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best." Pele spoke in a tender manner that she had reserved only for him. "But, I know you well enough that you do not truly need my blessing."

America simply smiled. "Have fun."

Pele's giddy giggling was all that needed to be said.

Pele did a couple of squats, maybe as a warm-up (no, the pun was not intended), as it's not every day she got to jump in a volcano. She cracked her neck around, stretched her arms up before she let them fall to her sides. Then, America barely got to catch the manic grin that blossomed on her face before she ran, running at a speed not. It was not even eight seconds later when America watched her leap from the edge, and plummeted down in a dive.

He silently as her impact caused a big plash and the goddess vanished from view.

This marks the point where they'll start getting serious.

Annnnd it begins! FINALLY! Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't have the whole group meeting as mentioned, but I just wanted to get this out. Also, I'm still a little stuck on that part. Anyway, I wonder if many of you are surprised by the soul fragment plot twist. I did leave a few hints throughout the chapters, but I hope I did it well, haha. It kinda feels nice to finally show one of the twists I've been waiting to reveal for over a year.

I hoped you liked this chapter! Next chapter, we're going to see more overdue progression! Please review, if you have a minute.