Chapter Nineteen

*More mentions of ancient fan-characters lol, I couldn't help myself.

A/N This is officially the first chapter I've posted during the school year! I'm just going into 9th grade and doing distance learning, so I should be able to keep working on this. But if my schedule gets messed up I will provide a reason. Peace! A/N over.

It had been weeks, heck, it had been a month and a half since the conference in America's capital. This didn't matter to Japan, who had once again scheduled a meeting for a few select nations. This time however, for whatever reason, he had left out Russia. He didn't know what it was but something about letting him in on the project was starting to rub him the wrong was.

He knew that the white haired man had started the operation, had trusted him enough to let Japan drag America into it when they both knew it was risky. He had hoped they could work out their difference but even with their partial alliance it felt strange to let someone had had diligently avoided worry about his former caretaker. This was especially increased by his pure lack of knowledge of why Russia had even started poking around, but he guessed it was for personal gain.

That was the scary part. He did not, under any circumstances want Russia to be able to use private information against any of them, especially someone that Japan still personally cared about.

So instead of being in the capital (where Japan guessed Russia could easily find them) the five of them were now seated in America's living room. (America had actually tried to complain about this, mentioning something about how it would be even easier for Russia to find them there, which confused Japan because he had been certain the former communist didn't know his address.)

But instead of negative things Japan tried to focus on the good. France had now joined them, which wasn't ideal though it couldn't have been avoided, and they now had someone who could possibly fill up Russia's spot if they indeed stopped communication on the subject entirely. Japan didn't fully trust France, either but he knew that the European was a lot more respectful of personal space and such subjects than his personality made it seem.

So there they sat, sitting around a small coffee table and listening diligently to England as he tried to explain what little information he had accumulated. America was chowing down on some drive-thru food, which was no surprise, as Canada was quietly chewing a maple candy as politely as he could. Japan had brought a bento but he wasn't hungry yet, and it seemed that France and England had done similarly with their own foods.

"...so that's all I could find," England sighed, "It's not much but I'm not the greatest at potions and the runes were harder to translate than I was anticipating…"

"That's alright," Canada smiled softly, "If you did your best it doesn't matter, and plus, any information is valuable,"

"Thank you Mathew," England's face seemed to soften before he turned back to the rest of them, eyes narrowing as he stared at the American who was perched on a pile of carpet squares, "good God Alfred, can you quiet down?"

America rolled his eyes, pushing the partially chewed bit of hamburger to the side of his mouth so he could speak, "I'm listening, what more do you want?" (Or at least that's what Japan guessed he was saying, it was often difficult for the Asian personification to tell what his ally said when his mouth was full of food.)

England seemed to think similarly. Wrinkling his nose, the British man looked disgusted, "Do not talk like that, it's utterly disgusting and no one can tell what you are saying. Besides, it's not very helpful to the conversation."

America snorted and went right back to eating his burger, "E-mf not 'hat hard to understan'," he again pushed the food to the side of his mouth to make his words more understandable, pointing an angry finger at the other blond, "If I wasn't trying to make sense I wouldn't, trust me."

England looked nearly queasy at the speech but he chose to ignore the retaliation anyway. Japan noticed that unlike the Brit neither Canada nor France looked bothered, perhaps that were more accustomed to it? Or maybe they knew how to block it out, Japan didn't really see France spending all too much time with the American after all so the second was probably true with at least him.

"Alright," Japan nodded swiftly, "So we have learned that this was a possibility?" His mind was racing, but he wasn't going to tell the others why. He had already guessed about this, but he couldn't reveal anything to the rest of them in case he was wrong. It didn't matter how much they were supposed to brain-storm together, it still felt like it was exclusively his project.

"Yes, we did learn it was a possibility," England dead-panned, "but not much else."

"Don't beat yourself up," Canada muttered, patting the personification on the back before raising his voice and addressing the rest of them, "this is a wonderful advancement, even if we had a long way to go from here it is very important,"

England murmured a word of thanks under this breath and America nodded furiously, showing his appreciation even though his mouth was full. France nodded slowly, though a slight frown was still visible on his face, "It still doesn't explain any good reason why someone would use it, even if the potion exists…"

"Perhaps," England retaliated, "it was out of curiosity?"

"Curiosity?" France narrowed his eyes, folding his hands gently on the left side of his face and resting his head there, "this is one hell of a thing to be curious about…"

"Whoa whoa whoa," America waved his arms, having apparently finished his food by now, "we don't have to jump to conclusions, we still don't even know if this happened, and if it is this is some pretty intense beginner's luck as investigators."

"True," England mused, "but it's a start."

"A start that is using a lot of energy!" America exclaimed, "Probably statistically speaking we don't need to study this!"

"I'm at least two percent certain that isn't how statistics work," Canada rolled his eyes, capitalizing on the ridiculousness of his twin's outburst, "Any lead is a good lead in the beginning, we need this."

"But I don't think it's a good idea! I might not understand statistics but I still don't think we should put everything into this," America pouted, "And plus, me and Iggy-"

England cut him off, glaring angrily towards him with a look of 'we will talk about this later' burning in his eyes, "As Mathew said, any lead is a good lead, stop bloody arguing, it's annoying."

Japan patted America on the head but nodded as well, "Please let us research this Alfred, I know you don't get along with Yao but I hope you can cooperate with us, you can truly be a big help when you put your mind too it, so please let use have this."

"Fine," America crossed his arms and leaned back, "but don't come running to me when it leads us in the wrong direction,"

They were silent until France spoke up. "It still doesn't make any sense, why would anyone voluntarily use this, especially if it's risky?"

England shook his head, "I'm not sure, but stop bringing up senseless topics, if it doesn't help the conversation move forward it's not important, so I would appreciate it if you don't mention that again."

"It's not a senseless topic mon amour," France grit his teeth, "it's a genuine question, and I'm sure an answer could bring us to the bottom of this- or at least to if this is the wrong path or not- much faster than slow translation."

England looked as if he were about to argue back (though if it was about being called love or being insulted about his translation ability Japan was not sure) when Canada gently interrupted them. "Francis does make a fair point, it would most likely be helpful to find the answers to our questions first, would it not be?"

So England was quite once more, though he still looked slightly annoyed. Japan nodded, taking all points into consideration. As America said, this could seem like the wrong path if he didn't already- nearly- know it was. He still had information he hadn't disclosed with the others and he truly wasn't planning too. But France and Canada were also rather honest in their statements. It was true that their question would be more helpful if they had answers.

Perhaps he could try to find the logic behind such an odd action? He didn't quite understand it either, so… "I'm not sure what thought process could have lead up to that," Japan sighed, "but I do think is important to take into consideration that Yao was a very different person back in the time period where this could have taken place, so it's more likely than not a result of bad judgment or a personality trait that is no-longer apparent,"

England, France, and Canada seemed to ponder this, and finally Canada nodded, "So with the right context this could be explained much quicker?"

"Yes," Japan started, "if it did happen." (As aforementioned he was already mostly sure that such an event had occurred, but he wasn't ready to tell the other's until he was positive.)

"But what context?" America sighed exasperatedly, "what the hell kind of context do we have?" He looked around at all of them, and when no one was able to find an answer to the broad question he rolled his eyes, "yeah, that's right. We don't have context from when ever the fuck time this was, heck, I don't even know when it could have been."

Canada chewed this inside of his cheek, "Alfred, though an internal antagonist makes for a very interesting novel can you please at least try to appreciate theories other than your own?"

"An internal antagonist is often the turning point of a novel," America retorted before sticking out his tongue and leaning back in this chair, "and I'm sure you know how uncomfortable topics like these make me…"

England cleared his throat, cutting off whatever confusion Japan was feeling from the last sentence the American had uttered, "...this is true Alfred, but if you have nothing nice to contribute people at least let us talk it over first."

America's frown deepened as he stood, "Fine, you can talk about it if you want, I'll be in the kitchen when you end up needing me," he walked off, and Japan noticed that the quiet steps held significantly less anger than he was expecting, maybe he was more uncomfortable with the topic than angry at it?

Whatever the case it made his heart hurt to see his friend acting so strangely. But the meeting had to go one, they rarely got to meet and this was a very good opportunity to talk over all the ideas and theories. Even if at this point it had grown past China, though it still clung to him in some ways, and onto research in this type of magic. The end goal was still something about China (though when Japan tried to think of what nothing came up) but if the potion wasn't part of it they would certainly lose some of their motivation.

Japan was brought back to the present by Canada's voice. The usually quiet personification was once again speaking in a calm and collected voice, yet audibly this time, which was new.

"Everyone acts different when they are younger, it probably isn't a far stretch for someone who has been around this long to have done some crazy things, right Japan?" everyone seemed to turn expectantly towards him at the mention, and Japan blinked in surprise,

"Err," he coughed, "well, yeah, of course. That was my point after all, China wasn't exactly the same as he is now in the warring periods, but that's kind of expected, it was a really violent time."

"So you think it was during a time of war?" France tilted his head, seeming interested in this theory.

"Well of course," Japan blushed awkwardly, "most of what happened in the general time period we are talking about was during a time of war, they really didn't change government peacefully in the past, I'm sure you are familiar with that France."

The blond groaned. Oh yes, he was familiar with this. Too familiar. "Fair enough," he muttered, "but really, how different are we talking here? Completely different personality? Mostly the same? What is it?"

"Kind of both," Japan explained, "he was definitely more violent, but that's-"

"...but that's expected," England rubbed his eyes, "I know, my mother was the same way, violence had it's way of keeping you from being killed automatically when there were fewer laws and even fewer ways to enforce them,"

"Your mother?" Canada looked confused, though he answered his own question anyway, "Britannia?"

"Yes," England confirmed, an appreciative smile on his face, "she was a… wild character."

"I didn't ever meet her," Japan hummed, "But I'm sure if her land was near where your's is now she was powerful,"

"Oh yes," the Brit seemed to puff up with pride, "She was the person who inspired most of my pirate phase, though I don't think she would have approved of everything I did…" the statement was complete with a maniacal laugh that truly sent shivers down Japan's spine. No matter how old he got it could never cease to amaze him how deeply terrifying all of their pasts were.

France smirked, "She certainly was interesting… and beautiful too~"

Japan ignored England slapping the other blond, this was a regular occurrence that he really didn't need to spend energy acknowledging. He had heard of Britannia, but as he had said no real life conversations had been made. Many of the people who had lived then were now gone, it was honestly a miracle that he and China were still alive. Or maybe it was some kind of cruel joke? Though living for a long time had it's advantages it had even more tragedies.

A few fuck-ups here and there, a death of a human you cared about, serious injurys that were sustained from battle, the never-ending fight for recognition as a being who needed love. There were too many people who saw them as non-human and treated them terribly (but it could be argued as a fair trade-off since many personifications saw human's a disposable in return).

He felt bad for leaving America out, they were friends after all, but it was reassuring to know that he was possibly keeping him from a trigger. He wasn't sure what could have turned this specific topic into taboo for him, especially because his twin didn't seem perturbed by it in the slightest, but it was still the best to be safe.

Even England, who had been mentioned by Alfred as if he were also supposed to be triggered by the topic, didn't seem the slightest bit bothered. In fact, he seemed rather invested in it. (But maybe that was just an actual understanding of spells talking.)

Japan didn't feel like getting Norway or Romania on board with it, even if they might know more of what to do than England. He was pretty content with the group they had accumulated, and France was much more of a help than he thought he would have ever been. That was much appreciated.

Even without Russia he felt as though they were successful.

Or maybe it was because they were without Russia?

A/N I know I sound batshit crazy with some of these plots but trust me it will all make sense in the end.

...

#I just threw a lot of information at you and I'm not sorry, even if the chapter sucked. A/N over.