"Hey stop!" Hong Kong tried to turn the two peoples' attention from each other to himself, but they just ignored him and kept fighting each other.

"You'll regret that, goat-boy!" Ladonia jabbed his dagger at Sealand, narrowly missing his arm. While Ladonia's weight was forward, Sealand took the opportunity to swipe his sword across Ladonia's leg.

"Who's laughing now-uh… TECHNO-FREAK!" Sealand stepped back as Ladonia collapsed in pain from the gash in his leg.

Hong Kong stepped forward in front of Ladonia. "STOP! I don't know why you're fighting, but it's clearly not a good reason. So cut it out!"

"I'll have you know I was not the aggressor here. It was all his fault!" Sealand pointed a finger at Ladonia who was bleeding on the ground.

"MY FAULT?! This was clearly your fault!"

"Look, can we just talk about this, calmly?" Hong Kong put up his arms, shielding Ladonia. "Let's all just just sit down and talk about this, okay? I'll go first: I'm Hong Kong. And I'm here to pick you two up and take you to meet up with your brothers!" He smiled up at Sealand, who was still standing, then he turned to Ladonia, who was still panting and bleeding on the grass.

"Well, I am the great Republic of Finland and YOU deserve what you have coming!" Sealand (Finland?) took a running start at Hong Kong and lept over him at Ladonia. "You insult me, you lose everything!"

Ladonia screamed and threw his arms over his head as Sealand came down on him.

Tino ran through the snow with his coat under his arm. Finally reaching the address Sofia had given him, he stopped and knocked on the door.

"Hello Tino!" She smiled and let him in. Her house smelled like any Grandmother's house, and was filled with wooden and glass trinkets. She led Tino inside to a small living room. "You sit here, let me go get something!"

So Tino sat on the small red couch, and waited. He watched the clock on the wall over the mantle. It looked hand-made. He picked up a little figurine and turned it over in his hands. It was a little toy soldier with a rifle carved from black wood.

"I'm back!" Sofia had a tray with some tea and cookies on it. She placed the tray on the table and sat in a poofy armchair across form Tino. "Now we can get down to the good stuff."

Tino laughed. "I really can't thank you enough for all this, Sofia." He looked at her and picked up a cookie.

"Oh, it's nothing Tino. You know, it's been a long while since anything exciting happened to me!" She winked at him mysteriously.

A knock sounded at the door. Tino stood up. "I'll get it." He motioned for Sophia to stay seated. He felt she had done enough for him already.

He opened the door to a tall, pale man dressed in a black turtleneck and long blue coat.

"Moi! Can I help you?" He tried to smile at the man.

"You dr'pped th's." The man handed Tino a flower, a lily. Then the two men stood for a long moment just looking at each other. Tino was uncomfortably aware of the man's face, the way it was slightly pink from the cold. He found himself starting into the man's embarrassed looking smiling face. The silence was broken by Sofia who came up behind Tino.

"Well, don't be shy, dear! Invite him in." She smiled and took a hand from each of the men and pulled them inside. "Come on in! There's lots to do."

5 minutes earlier…

Berwald panted as he paused his chase after Tino. His chest felt tightened as he wheezed his way along. For a moment he stood still in the snow, coughing. Then he continued his way along the snowy road. Tino had long since disappeared around the corner of the road, blocked off by houses. He looked around to see if anyone could have seen where Tino had gone.

A man in blue stood at the steps of a library,, casually leaning against the railing on the stairs. Berwald approached him, feeling a little awkward, but determined. "Excuse me?"

The man looked up. His deep blue eyes meet Berwald's, who thought the man looked familiar.

"H've you seen anyone r'n down th's way? 'M looking for a m'n named Ti-"

The man pointed down the street. "He went into the blue house." Then the man walked inside. Berwald followed in the direction the man had pointed and walked up to the door of the house.

He tried to check his reflection in the glass before knocking, adjusting his glasses and pulling down his hair, his nose and cheeks were pink from the cold but there was nothing he could do about that. He knocked. A strange urge to not smile came over him; to hide all his emotions. But he couldn't help it.

Tino opened the door. "Moi! Can I help you?"

"You dr'pped th's." He held the flower out to Tino. He didn't take it, but just stood there looking at him. He noticed Tino's soft blonde hair blowing in the icy breeze, and how his smile melted into shock and confusion. From inside the house an elderly woman called:

"Well, don't be shy dear! Invite him in." She came up and took both their hands and pulled them inside. Berwald let her bring him inside and sit him next to Tino on a couch in her living room. He felt happy, he wasn't sure why, but he smiled anyway.

"It worked."

Norway sat on the roof of a library as he watched Berwald get pulled inside the house. He turned to see Iceland showing Denmark something on his phone. Looking worried, Denmark passed his phone over to Norway. The screen read a news article.

'SWEDO-FINNISH WAR CONTINUES: HONG KONG ATTEMPTS TO INTERFERE, WILL CHINA STEP IN?'

Norway looked at the phone, then at Iceland. "Well, shit." Iceland and Denmark looked at him accusingly. "What? This wasn't supposed to happen."

Denmark and Iceland just narrowed their eyes at him. "Norway, what's happening?"

"Okay, okay. I didn't think this would happen, but when Finland and Sweden became human I guess someone had to take their place. I thought it'd be fine if they weren't there for just a few days, but I was wrong... And now there's a war."

Denmark sighed. "We need to get back." He nodded to Norway who took his and Iceland's hands and pulled them through the abyss back to his house.

China sat in his house, on his couch, his head swarming with thoughts. He felt hungry, but also didn't feel like getting up. He tried to close his eyes…

~gRuMbLy-gRuMbLe~ said China's stomach

Fine, fine. He got up and headed to the kitchen, holding his stomach. Russia was sitting at the kitchen table, feeding a panda little bamboo sprouts. China tried not to disturb him. He reached into his fridge. There wasn't a lot inside, but he grabbed an apple and went to sit down.

"Oh hey, China!" Russia looked up from the panda and smiled at China.

China tried to smile back at him; Russia wasn't always in this good a mood. He sat down in the chair next to Russia and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Russia moved his arm around China's shoulders. China froze at the sudden act of affection.

"... Well," he stuttered "I guess I'm just really tired and I'm worried about Hong Kong and-"

"Oh he was on the news, no?" Russia tilted his head with that little smile he always made.

"What, why was he on the news?"

"Oh, I think it had something to do with that war in Finland. Here, I'll show you!" With China leaning over his shoulder, Russia pulled up a message on his phone. "Da. It says Hong Kong tried to interfere with Sweden's war on Finland. It looks like he's trying to step in and-"

"WHAT?! He can't do that, I just told him to go to Iceland's house and NOT cause trouble! That's it. I'm bringing him home right now!" China took out his own phone and dialed Hong Kong's number.

"Hello?"

"Hong Kong, this isn't funny! I didn't give you permission to go and mess with foreign affairs. YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

" -_- " China waited for Hong Kong to respond.

"Well, are you coming or no?"

"Listen, old man. I'm just trying to help. There's been a misunderstanding, and I can fix it I just need t-"

"You will not mess with those westerners' affairs! If you're not coming back here, then I'm going to come and get you!"

China heard Hong Kong hang up. Huffily, he turned to Russia. "The nerve of young people these days! That's it, we're going now to stop him." China grabbed Russia's hand and pulled him along out the front door.

"Hmm. I like you holding my hand." Russia happily followed after the steaming old man.