Germany, Japan and Italy were currently seated on a train bound for Amestris. Too bad Nation Hopping had it's limits, or they would have already reached Germany's neighbour more than two hours ago.

Really, it was times like these Germany wished Nation Hopping without exhaustion or any of those pesky side effects didn't only apply to Hopping in one's own country. The Germanic Nation remembered the last time he tried to Nation Hop to Japan's country. Needless to say, he was pretty much conked out for the next couple of hours.

It would have made life so much easier. There was also that little bit of only being able to hop once into another nation's land, and then temporarily lose that ability for as long as they stay on that nation's land or any other land that wasn't their own.

Whoever up there who did the mechanics of Nation Hopping must have decided it was unfair to let Nations go where ever they pleased with Nation Hopping, and decided to restrict the countries Hopping boundaries to their own country. That, or the person was, putting it very nicely, an ass.

Honestly, Germany really wanted to flip them the bird, since they had a rather pressing situation on hand that couldn't be delayed...

Italy was practically bouncing in his seat, humming happily and unknowingly annoying the holy hell out of Germany as the Italian chattered on and on about his last trip to Amestris.

"Veh~ It was so nice! And there were so many nice people! They weren't at all like scary England! Ve~ And Eddie said he'll be moving back to Amestris soon now that he's old enough!" Again, Germany still had no idea who 'Eddie' was, and it was sort of driving him nuts not knowing who Italy was talking about.

"Mein gott, Italien, who the hell are you talking about?!"

"Uwah! Don't hurt me!" Italy wailed, waving a white flag he had produced from who knows where. Germany made a mental note to check if his Italian friend was mass producing white flags again. "And I can't tell you! I pinky promised Eddie not to tell anyone!"

Japan just deadpanned at the two, whilst this was going on. Westerners were so strange...

0o0

After that incident with the doctor, Ling made sure that either Lan Fan or himself were in the room at all times.

It wasn't that they didn't trust the hospital staff. (Alright, they didn't actually trust them quite as much as they had before, but still!) They just didn't want to take the risk of having another psycho trying to murder Xing, even though it probably wouldn't work.

Ling was quite sure that Xing wouldn't want to be out of commission for another week or so on top of that undetermined amount of time he'd be out.

He gave a long sigh. Honestly, he thought that all kinds of craziness would be more or less over, especially after that incident with the Homunculi. But nooo, some idiot just had to find out about the personified nations, and cause all this trouble.

It was at times like these when Ling really wished that Edward was still around to help out in situations like these. He always did have a streak for -sometimes unintentionally- fixing everyone's problems...

Ling's eyes widened as he felt a presence pass Amestris's borders. That felling... it was a Nation's.

The Emperor's eyebrows met as he furrowed them whist trying to remember which nation gave off this chi. Oh wait, it wasn't just one presence. There were three.

Finally, it clicked into place. A Nation's chi that felt vaguely similar to Xing's, one that felt rather... warm and happy, and lastly, one. that felt like one of the Germanic Nation's.

Of course, it was those three nations, Japan, Italy, and Germany.

But why were they here?

0o0

An hour in, and Alphonse still had no luck in finding his two chimera companions. He ran a hand through his golden blond hair in frustration, sighing deeply. Now what should he do? He'd been walking around in circles, without any luck whatsoever!

Plus, those crazy Amestrians were really starting to freak him out...

Briefly, Alphonse wondered why he even bothered to get up that morning.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he was actually still in bed and his teacher was about to come up any minute now to shove him off the bed. Even better, maybe these past fifteen years was just a really bad nightmare whilst he was trying to recover from his malnourished state.

If he could wake up, maybe his brother would be there...

Alphonse pinched himself, wincing.

Nope, he was definitely awake.

The youngest Elric groaned.

0o0

Amestris was panicking. Really, there was no other word to describe how he was feeling.

Why?

Well, quite simple, really.

He had just lost his guardians. Or, his guardians had lost Amestris, but it was did not actually matter, seeing as how both meant the same thing. Either way, the problem still stood.

Amestris was beginning to regret letting go of England's hand...

He shook his head, a determined glint entering his eyes. No, he was a grown country! He had no need for someone to hold his hand any longer. He was over half a millennium old!

Of course, but why did he still have the appearance of a child...?

He scrunched up his brows, deep in thought. Actually, now that he thought about it, why was most of his memories so vague? It was like there was a veil over his memories, preventing him from viewing them properly.

Amestris knocked his head with a fist, frowning slightly. He'd think about that later. Right now, he needed to find his way around.

He navigated his way through the crowd, standing on tip toes in hopes of catching sight of his caretakers, but no such luck.

Heaving a sigh, Amestris jumped up, hoping the extra few centimetres would allow him to catch sight of the older nations. However, as he did so, he caught sight of something, the same something that made him lose track of the Nations.

That armour...

Amestris scrambled to follow the armour that seemed to beckon him, desperately trying not to lose sight of the imposing figure.

Something at the back of his head nagged at him, telling him something important, but Amestris just couldn't seem to decipher what exactly his head was telling him. All he knew, was that he had to follow.

"Wait!" Amestris called, nearly tripping over his own feet.

He paused, panting slightly as he looked around, having lost sight of the armoured person.

Just then, a flutter of white hair that served as the armour's headpiece caught his attention, which resulted in Amestris's running after.

Turning one more bend which led into an alleyway, Amestris felt his eyes widen. The armour had already stopped moving, but it had stopped next to a blond boy who wore a bright red coat.

The boy's hair was braided at his back, and when he turned around, Amestris saw familiar golden eyes.

Why were they familiar?

The answer was simple.

They were Amestris's own golden eyes.

The boy, who shared an uncanny resemblance to Amestris, gave the nation a large grin as a fist thumped the armour's chest plate.

"Remember us."

The red glow at the armour's eyes shone brightly for a moment, and Amestris could have sworn he heard a childish laugh, before the two faded away.

Amestris, stunned, just stared at the spot where he had seen the two apparitions, before his legs gave out underneath him. He slid to the floor, feeling numb.

He brought a hand up to his face, still wide eyed. It was flesh and blood, so why did he feel as though something was wrong with his hand as it is?

"Remember us...?" Amestris whispered, his mind still trying to grasp what had just happened.

"Remember what?"

Something clicked in his head. The apparition of the blond boy... Wasn't his hand automail?

His hand clutched the cloth over his heart. Why did it hurt so much?

"Have I really forgotten something...?"

He looked back at his hand.

"But... what did I forget?"

Amestris found that not even his subconscious could answer that this time.

0o0

Ling could honestly say that no one usually was able to sneak up on him, be it intentionally or unintentionally.

Especially not one as loud as the almost adult teenage looking Personification that had just burst into the room.

"America?" Ling spluttered on his tea that he had been previously drinking, before gaping at the American, wondering how the latter had even found out about Xing being hospitalised.

"Sup, Emperor dude!" Informal as always, America let out one of his trademark laughs while Ling made a face at him.

"Quiet down, Alfred! This is a hospital!" England snapped at the American as soon as he stepped through the doorway, although Ling did note how the English man's eyes occasionally flickered with worry towards America.

"You know, he's right..." Canada mumbled softly, although this was not heard through England's attempt to strangle the loud American.

France patted the Canadian on the back. "Don't bother, mon lapin. They are idiots."

Ling cleared his throat, finally gaining the nations' attention. "Um... why are you all here in the first place?"

"Duh, isn't it obvious? We came to see Xing since Ed told us he felt Xing get shot-!"

"Wait, where's Amestris?" England suddenly cut in, looking around for the smaller blond that apparently had gone missing.

America fell silent for a moment, before the freaking out commenced. "Holy crap, we lost Ed!"

With that, America dashed out of the room, intent on finding Amestris while still freaking out as the others stared after him with a deadpanned face.

"... I have no comment." Ling finally spoke, rubbing his temples as he felt the familiar throb of a migraine coming.

England coughed awkwardly. "Well, I better do what I need to before I go after the git."

The English Nation strode over to Xing's limp form, before pulling the blankets down slightly.

His eyes widened for a split second, before they narrowed into slits.

"Just as I thought..." He muttered darkly as Ling got up.

"What?" Came the Emperor's very intelligent response.

Canada shuffled forward, peering over his glasses before his eyes widened as well.

"Maple..." He squeaked in a small voice, hugging Kumajiro to his chest.

Finally, Ling got his chance to look, his face mirroring Canada's expression. Over the area where Xing had been shot, was a dark purplish bruise that seemed to spiral like a spiderweb.

"Wha- what is that?!" Ling gasped in horror. This was definitely not normal, by any standards!

"Ameriquè had one on his hand," France spoke over Ling's shoulder. "He had been shot there."

Ling spluttered for a moment more, before calming himself.

"Why the hell are people shooting at you guys?!" Alright, maybe he wasn't as calm as he thought he was.

"Someone found out about us Nations." England turned to Ling. "We don't know who did, but we do know that whoever they are, they want us dead, and I fear that they may be close killing us, if they can already drive a nation to this," He gestured to Xing. "-state."

"Oh, that. I knew about the finding out about you guys part."

The English Nation turned to the door. "Anyway, I have to go find both America and Amestris now. After that, I have to go and inform the rest of the Nations."

"Leave that to me, Angleterre." France spoke, for once choosing not to tease England. "You go find mon petite Amestrè and Ameriquè."

England didn't say another word as he strode out.

[A/N Oh my! I actually managed to finish this chapter before the half year mark! Holy shit, I must be dreaming!Ouch, okay, I'm not dreaming. That pinch hurt...Anyway, I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE LATE UPDATE!!!!!!! DAMN IT, SECONDARY THREEEEEEEE!It really feels like my teachers are actually trying to drown us in homework...Welp, I'm dead.Chineseeeeee, why you kill meeeeee?And apparently, my Physics is shit too. Damn turning effect of forces, damn forces, damn measurements, damn kinematics, damn pressure, damn... EVERYTHING!!Whoops, I got distracted again...Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, since I will probably not be updating for a VERY long time because I'm being drowned in homework and revision. But I'll try to get one chapter out every few months or so.Well, see you guys next time!~ Gwntan12