America:

"Fifty-five…" I trailed off, shocked. "What?!"

Finland shifted uncomfortably. "Ehe~ The tricky part of ending up outside of the space-time continuum," he remarked. "You never really know when or where you're going to end up. Sometime during the trip, when you two got separated from me, I got thrown a good 70 years or so into the future. It appears you guys were pushed 55 years further than me."

"Did you know when we would arrive?" Matthew asked, leaning forwards. Tino shook his head.

"No. I had no idea."

"How did we even get here, anyways?" I added in, glancing at my twin. The question had been eating at me for a while, and I was sure it had been bothering him, too.

"A haywire spell, apparently," Tino replied, smiling in a sort of morbid amusement. "Sealand—Peter—is still alive in this time. He, Italy, Spain, Japan, Prussia, and Liechtenstein tried to go back in time, you know, to stop the titans. The thing is, England… well, England didn't make it, and neither did Romania or Norway, so he had nothing to go on besides what he figured out himself. Naturally, the spell went haywire, and instead of bringing them back it time, it…"

"Flung us into the future," Mattie finished, putting a hand up to his chin. "Or perhaps made a one-way connection with the moment in time they were aiming for, which happened to be at the place and moment in time we were in that break room."

"Yeah," I agreed. "If I'm thinking about this correctly, Sealand must've tried to open up a wormhole to the past, but he most likely didn't account for most of the gravity it would emit. The side of the wormhole on Sealand's end snapped shut almost immediately, while the one on the other side stayed open just long enough for us to fall in. Once both sides collapsed, we couldn't stay floating outside of the space-time continuum, not with us having mass and time and all that. You're the smaller mass, Tino, so when you got separated from us, you were spat out 'first.' Mattie and I lasted a bit longer, but got thrown out, too." I hummed. "In all honesty, it's a miracle we landed on Earth at all."

A long silence met my theory. I blinked, confused, as Mattie stared at me in disbelief, while Tino was openly gaping. I raised my eyebrows, lost.

"What?"

"You lost me after 'wormhole,'" Mattie murmured, eyes wide. Tino still looked shell-shocked.

"H-how in the world…" he trailed off. I grinned.

"NASA," I chirped back. "Too bad 60's or 70's me didn't get thrown here. He probably would've figured out a way to explain things a lot better than I just did. Man, I was a nerd back then!"

"Why do you act like an idiot, then?" Tino asked, his gaze hardening. "Really, Alfred, half our colleagues are still in denial about you being a superpower! If you ever acted like you did right now, then—"

"They would see me as a threat," I shot back. "Imagine if China saw this part of me. It'd be Cold War II before I could say 'I mean no harm.' I'm just fine with Mattie knowing, 'cause well, you're my bro, and the three of us are going to be working together for awhile, so hey, why not."

"Wow, a lot of secrets and explanations are being told today," Mattie remarked, only half sarcastically. "Should I say something?"

I burst into laughter, and Tino cracked a small smile.

"Well, what other the other nations think of you doesn't exactly matter anymore, does it?" he sighed. "What am I doing? I'm just glad to see you again."

I shot the nordic nation a sympathetic look. It must've been tough, to be alone in the future for so long. I tried to think about living without Mattie or Arthur or Kiku, or a version of them that was as unrecognizable as Feliciano, and couldn't do it.

Well, I'd have to fix things, the best way I knew how.

Tino yelped as I latched onto him in a bear hug. "Alfred!" He cried, squirming in my grip. I could tell he was blushing. I chuckled. Mission get Tino to think about something else was a success!

~(...Uh, Alfred? That's creepy.)~

~(You get used to it.)~

~(I had to get used to it!)~

~(Had to?)~

~(Alfred doesn't have much of a sense of personal space. Case in point, this instance.)~

~(...I don't get it.)~

~(Who ever gets what Alfred does?)~

~(Hey!)~

~(Alright guys, I'm sorry I brought it up. Just forget about it, okay? We're recording, here!)~

~(Oh, right. That's a thing.)~

So Tino found a way to get one of his arms loose, and elbowed me hard enough in the gut that I let him go. He rolled his eyes at me, annoyed, but the melancholy look he'd been sporting was gone.

"Anyways, it's time we get going," Tino announced, standing up and brushing himself off. "You need to meet the Commander, and I have to go back to my squad sooner or later."

"Squad?" Mattie asked.

"What, do you think I've just been lying around feeling sorry for myself all this time?" Tino shot back, a smile taking the bite out of his word. "I work with a few of the ex-nations in the Survey Corps. Since I can't die—I don't know if you've figured it out, but we're still attached to the 2007 versions of our nations—I'm pretty valuable."

"No…" Mattie replied as Tino left the cart. I hopped out after him, and my brother followed. "But you have a squad of actual humans? I mean, aren't nations supposed to be a secret?"

Tino shrugged. "Took me a while to get used to it, but honestly, what's the point of secrecy? It's not like we have actual nations or bosses anymore. Feliciano identifies his boss informally as the Commander of the Survey Corps, and my boss has been dead for at least over a century. We don't really have rules anymore. But we generally take care not to be noticed too much outside of the military—the king hardly tolerates our presence as it is. In our community, however, we're pretty well-known, though we don't talk about how we're different much. Besides, save for me, we aren't really that different."

"Because they aren't actually nations anymore," I agreed. "Like Prussia, right?"

"Right. They don't age, and diseases don't get deadly as far as I've seen, but they're just as vulnerable to the titans as the rest of us. Anyways, we're going to be heading back to Wall Rose soon, so I better get you two to Commander Erwin." Tino stepped into the bustle of camp, beckoning us to follow.

Slinging my bomber jacket over my shoulder, I did as he instructed. As I did so, I couldn't help but wonder how exactly a wall was supposed to keep out the Titans, even if they were as strong as Feliciano had described. I mean—

~(So our listeners don't get confused, Feliciano filled us in on the basics of the walls before Alfred ticked him off, before Tino arrived.)~

~(I am perfectly capable of telling this story, you know)~

~(Sure. *Pause* Ow! Alfred!)~

~(Serves you right. Now for heaven's sake, let me narrate!)~

I mean, how could they have constructed walls like that? And quickly enough that humanity was able to shelter from the titans? And if we really were in the UK, why hadn't England made it?

There were a lot of questions, but Tino was already leaving, and I decided to hold off on them for the time being. Besides, watching the Survey Corps' camp was really interesting. No one complained, no one slacked off, and they all moved as quickly as possible to get their jobs done. The camp itself looked to have been set up quickly, though, and I guess that made sense, because of the titans and all that.

Tino directed us a more deserted side of camp, and into one of the old homes. Inside, I saw three people standing in the living room, one side of which was stacked to the wall with crates.

The first person I saw was a woman, with reddish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She was talking vividly to the other two, hands waving in the hair as she spoke. She was facing me, and wore an odd pair of glasses that looked more like goggles.

The second was a man. A short man, who couldn't have been taller than 5'2; I had at least a good half foot on him. He had short, pitch-black hair in a bowl cut, had sported a bored expression, watching the woman talk with small, beady eyes.

~(*pffft!*)~

~(*Hurried scrabbling and the sound of a door opening and slamming shut a few moments later. Soon afterwards you can hear the distant sounds of someone laughing.*)~

...The third was the tallest of the trio. He was facing away from us, and had a large stature and blonde toupee.

~(Are you still going on about that?)~

~(What? I don't care what you guys say, he had a toupee!)~

~(His hair's real, Alfred. Stop being ridiculous and narrate.)~

No. No one's hair is always that neat. Anyways, both of the untoupeed people seemed to defer to the toupeed man, who was watching them intently. After a moment though, the lady noticed our entrance and grinned, waving at us.

The toupeed man turned to face us, and I started.

"Are you British?" I asked, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them . Mattie started, then hit me in the arm. Tino simply facepalmed.

The man raised one truly British eyebrow at me, and the woman's expression clashed between excitement and wariness. The short guy made no movement besides flickering his gaze over to use, though his mood did seem to darken.

"Tino, who are those two?" the tallest man asked, stepping forwards.

"Oh, this is Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams,: the small Finn replied. "My companions. I'm sure you remember that conversation we had a year ago?"

The man blinked in surprise, and looked at Matties and I in surprise. "These are them?" He questioned. "You companions."

Tino nodded. "They fell into the forest, where Feli and part of the Special Operations Squad ran into them and brought them here. They then got me, and I brought them to you. We need to get them to safety."

The very obviously British man nodded, and extended his hand to me. I took it, surprised as to why he wasn't questioning all of this.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones," he said. "Tino has told me of your situation. I'm glad that you've finally made your appearance."

"Thanks," I replied, slightly lost as the Brit shook with my brother.

"I'm Erwin Smith," the man introduced himself. "Commander of the Survey Corps. This is Section Leader Hange Zoe." He gestured to the Italian. "And Levi Ackerman, second-in-command of the Special Ops Squad." He waved at the short man, and I nodded, Filing their names away for further use.

Behind Erwin, Hange seemed to inflate. She was out like a dart and on me in a second.

"So you're really from the past? Like Tino? Are you immortal too?!" The questions seemed to flow from her mouth at a thousand words a second.

"Sure!" I replied, not really knowing what else to say. Honestly, I kinda liked her already. A bit eccentric, it seemed, but she seemed real. Stars danced in her eyes.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you!" She continued at her breakneck pace. "So you're Americahn, right?"

"American," I corrected her. "And yes, proudly the greatest country to exist since Rome?"

"Rome?" Hange echoed, before taking her hands in mine. "You must tell me everything!"

"I'd love to!"

Mattie groaned. "Great," he said none-too-softly. "Now he has someone to encourage him." I stuck out my tongue at him, earning an eye roll.

"So what's that flying stuff you use?" I asked, turning back to Hange, motioning to her year. ""S 3D Manuevering Gear, right?"

"Yup!" Hange's grin seemed, motioning to her gear. "Oo~, I have a lot to tell you! Honestly, we never thought you'd guys actually show up. I have to tell Mike, je thought Tino esd in insane and we had a bet going on about whether he was right—"

"Hey!" The subject of said bet protested.

"He owes me half of his meat allowance now! I can't wait to tell ou about the titans, they are amazing! So fascinating! Did you know that the titans can regenerate every part of their body except for their nape? Or that their body temperature is over 70 degrees Celsius? Oh! Maybe we can experiment later, or—"

Suddenly, Hange's rushed rant was cut as she was suddenly thrust to the ground. I jumped, caught by surprise to see the short guy, Levi, judo-flipping her over his shoulder and onto the ground. Somehow, he seemed even more pissed without giving a damn.

~(Then again, Levi always looks pissed.)~

"You're doing it again," he said softly, yet still pulling off that intimidating aura of his. "Next time, don't go insane with potential recruits."

"Sorry," warbled up from the ground. Levi eyed Mattie and I.

"You'd better be hygienic," he warned. "I will not tolerate having 3 Hange's running around." I blinked, astonished Erwin was just letting all this happen. Levi simply rolled his eyes before kicking the still-prone Hange. "Get up; you're fine. We still have work to do."

"Okay!" Hange replied cheerfully, sitting up with the same amount of energy as she had prior to getting knocked to the ground. Bouncing up, Hange waved at us as Levi dragged her away by the sleeve of her jacket.

A short silence followed the two's departure. Tino coughed awkwardly.

"Sorry about that," he apologised. "Hange is a bit… intense, and Levi is a germaphobe. But they're two of the best soldiers we have."

"I'm just astonished that it was allowed," Mattie remarked.

"They do their job, and they do it well," Erwin put in, crossing his arms.

I shrugged. "I dunno. I liked Hange."

"Takes one to know one," Mattie muttered. Tino groaned quietly.

"Well, we'll get you to safety inside of Rose," Erwin said, a smile quirking his lips. "From there, we can decide what to do with the two of you."

"I'll take them back to the carts, sir," Tino offered. "I just wanted to let you know what was going on. Would you mind if I had Isabel watch them? I have a feeling they would get along just fine."

"She can fill them in on any questions," Erwin agreed. "We'll be heading back soon, so I have to excuse myself." He nodded to Mattie and I. "Pleasure to meet both of you. Hopefully, we'll see each other again."

The ride back to the Walls—Wall Rose, Feliciano had told me; evidently we were still inside the outermost Wall, Wall Maria, which had fallen to the titans three years ago—was mostly uneventful. Isabel, the Special Ops member who had been assigned to us, was fun to hang out with, and freely answered most of our questions about the "future."

To be honest, it was difficult to believe that we were in the future. It was just… so different than everything I was used to. If it weren't for Feliciano having been the one to find and talk to me, I wouldn't have believed it at all. An alternate universe sounded more probable. Three 50-meter walls, hundreds of kilometers long, had been built to keep out some monsters a good nuke could take care of. Sure, the climate was similar to England, and so was the terrain, but I seriously doubted that the trees Mattie and I had landed in had evolved in our absence.

But I kept those questions to myself. Isabel couldn't answer my questions, Tino was out with his team, and to be honest, Feliciano scared me.

Every once in a while, we'd spot differently colored flares would erupt on the horizon, which Isabel was more than happy to explain. It was pretty ingenious in the absence of the radio. Each flare was used to signal scouts out of sight in the formation—green, indicating a change in direction, was the most common.

Evidently, the Survey Corps had been on an outing to restock supplies in unmanned bases outside of Wall Rose. The forest Mattie and I had been their last stop, and now they were on their way home. They were about three hours from Wall Rose when we had showed up. Things were quiet for us; though a good portion of the Corps would at least see a titan on the way home, we were in the cent of the formation, safely tucked away from even the fastest of Titans.

Those thoughts safely occupied me for most of the ride, until I finally remembered a detail that had bothered me when I'd first met Isabel.

"Hey, Isabel?" I asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over the cart. I was sitting by a set of rattling gas tanks, Mattie on my other side.

"Mmhm?" the redhead hummed from her place opposite us, her eyes concentrated on her hands, which were polishing her razor-sharp blades.

"Your last name is Honda, right?" I received a nod in affirmation. "Are you related to or know a Kiku Honda, by chance?"

Isabel stopped cleaning her swords and looked up at us, surprised, but didn't immediately answer as Mattie and I waited for her reply. After all, she looked nothing like Japan, perhaps for their similar height and build.

"Well, yeah, I guess," she finally replied with a small smile. "My brother's raised me ever since I was little, when he took me off the streets. He used to be my dad, but it got kinda awkward when I got older, since he's like Feliciano and doesn't exactly age."

We laughed briefly. Obviously, Isabel was in her mid-to-late twenties, just a few years younger than Kiku's 30, if he hadn't aged much in the last century.

"He took you in? Why?" Mattie asked. Isabel shrugged.

"I grew up in the Underground City, this city situated in this huge underground cavern in Wall Sina. It's basically the ghetto, where all the thieves and criminals end up." Another green flare arced into the sky, and she turned to watch it, the driver of our cart turning with it. "I don't know who my parents were; my first memories were stealing some food. When I was seven I tried to pickpocket Levi." She chuckled. "You don't know him, but he's basically the best soldier the Survey Corps has nowadays. So, uh, it didn't exactly go well. He caught me, of course, and flipped me over his shoulder and tried to kill me. Somehow I got him to talk for a little bit, 'cause I'll be the first one to say that I'm an idiot who doesn't know when to not run her mouth, and Kiku came across us. He'd taken in Levi a year or so earlier, and for some reason he decided the best way to deal with me was to take me home for dinner. And then I never left."

"How'd you get to the Corps?" Mattie questioned.

"The Corps recruited us. The former commander sent Erwin Smith and Feliciano Vargas after us after hearing about some of our escapades in the city. Apparently Feli and Kiku have a history that they won't ever talk about, so when Feli asked, Kiku took us up to the surface with hardly a protest. We joined the Corps five years ago, and, well, the rest is history."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me," I mused. "They were really close in my time."

"And that's about all he says." Isabel returned her attention to her swords, beginning to scrub at a particular spot. "Wonder what happened in the meantime. They both ended up in very different places."

A silence lapsed for a couple minutes after that. Isabel continued to polish her gear, while Mattie and I started on a game of rock-paper-scissors.

After a bit, a large "boom!" shook the ground. Startled, I fell backwards, while Mattie let out a squeak in surprise and Isabel's head whipped to the side to face the front opening of the wagon.

"What in the world was that?" I exclaimed. "It almost sounded like—"

"—Cannon fire," Mattie finished. "I haven't heard fire like that in years."

Isabel stood up, peeking out of the canvas of the wagon. "Just as I thought!" She announced, right as another boom sounded, this time further away than the first one. Glancing back at us, the redhead grinned, waving us over. "Come on! We're home!"

Biting back the remark that my home was actually across the Atlantic ocean and a century in the past, I followed Isabel's example and peeked over her shoulder, getting my first look at "the walls."

And gasped.

"Walls" was an understatement.

Isabel's home was a fortress. A huge, solid stone wall loomed hundreds of feet in the air, blotting out a good portion of the sky. The woman in question smiled even wider at our reaction.

"Welcome to Wall Rose," She announced. "Home to over a million people, and the last bastion of humanity."