Thanks to Miss Akiyata, Gort, Thatwolfbutler and an anon for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 5: Information Search

All the pieces have been assembled.

And now, the game can finally begin.

…

Matthew awoke, quite content. He was back home, in Canada. And, by now, Matt was probably back home as well.

"Who are you?" a familiar voice asked.

Matthew's mood immediately took a nosedive. He turned to look at Kumajiro, who was regarding him with the usual blank look.

"I'm Canada," Matthew said. "Your owner. The one that feeds you."

"Oh. I'm hungry."

Matthew sighed before he stood up, before leaning against the wall. He felt an uncomfortable wave of dizziness wash over him.

"Are you okay?" Kumajiro asked.

"I'm fine," Canada said. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

As he carefully made his way down the hall, he caught his reflection, and smiled. It would seem Matt arrived at his home safely, and was now sprawled on the bed, snoring quite loudly.

And yet, Matthew couldn't help but feel a nagging sense of unease plaguing him.

…

There was a yawn as another book was set aside.

"Don't," England said. "Please, don't."

They had been up all night, searching for any information regarding what was happening. So far, no luck.

"We need to sleep," Wales said. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting exhausted."

"We don't know what kind of threat this is," England said. "We don't know how dangerous it is."

"We've been at this all night and all morning," Northern Ireland whined. "It's already past noon."

"Artie," Scotland said, "let's take a break, okay? If we're tired, we might miss something. And it's dangerous if we're tired."

At the mention of danger, they all looked towards him. He had a point. It was dangerous for all five of them to be tired at any given time.

"Very well," England sighed. "But not too long."

…

Oliver giggled. He had watched his counterpart through the mirror, and heard the bickering between the brothers. It was kind of amusing.

He had searched through his own books, keeping a mirror nearby in order to see what Artie was doing, and listening to any indication that they had found something. Neither side had had much luck.

When he heard that the others were taking a break, he was almost disappointed. Didn't they know how to work for days without break? Oh well, it's probably for the best. He had to get to Poland's house. They had to discuss what they had learned…

…And know who else was in on the game.

…

Norway yawned. The other Nordics were asleep, but he was still pushing onward. He had to find out what was going on. And fast. He had no idea what dangers the other world could pose.

They had worked through the night, but had found nothing. The others had collapsed out of pure exhaustion, and Lukas was on his way as well. Thinking that it was about time for him to get a cup of coffee, before he too collapsed, he made his way toward the kitchen, aware that he was being watched.

It was as he passed a mirror that his suspicions were confirmed.

"Hello Lukas."

He paused. The voice sounded so very much like his own, but there was something different. Different emotions. What he could identify were mischief and… sadism.

He stepped back to the mirror, coming face to face with a white-haired version of himself. Asides from the white hair, something else caught his eye.

"What are you wearing?" Lukas asked.

The other frowned, before looking down at his outfit, then to Lukas's.

"Something that isn't boring," the other said.

Lukas sighed. He had a feeling that the other might be quite similar to Denmark.

"Alright, fine," Lukas said. "May I ask your name, since you know mine?"

The other giggled, and Lukas could feel his eye starting to twitch.

"Sigurd," the other said. "Matthias and Tino seem like fun. Definitely an improvement to my Denmark and Finland."

"You've been spying on me," Lukas said.

"I'm always watching. All I need to do is look into a mirror and I can see you, no matter what you do. Whether or not you're in front of a mirror too."

"I see. You guys are responsible for what's happening."

"Nope. We only saw you guys yesterday. Nothing to do with it."

Lukas frowned before some sort of alarm went off. Sigurd looked towards his watch.

"Oops. Looks like I'm almost late. Well then, see you later!"

And Sigurd disappeared in a swirl of colours that made Lukas nauseous. At least he knew one thing.

The other side had no idea what's going on either.

…

Canada paused. He was making pancakes for him and Kumajiro, but something felt off to him. He just didn't know what it could be.

Shaking it off, he flipped over the pancake he was currently working on, but there was still a nagging at the back of his mind.

He couldn't help but think that a past choice is coming along to bite him in the behind.

…

Felic was surprised by everyone that turned up. He knew France, Lithuania and the magic trio would show up. He did not expect Spain and Prussia to show up. Especially Prussia.

"So Poland," Spain said, "what's this about a game with our reflections?"

Poland sighed, but he figured that the sadistic Spaniard might be good to have on their side.

"They seem to have a light that we lack," Poland said. "What do you say we extinguish that light? After all, it's boring to play with humans, and what's the fun with everyone in our world? We know each other too well, and messing with each other's become way too normal. Gentlemen: we have a chance to torture fresh meat."

Spain and Lithuania instantly perked up at this, and even Prussia looked interested.

"We're working on a way to cross over to that world," Romania said. "Until then, it would seem we can only observe and torture them with our words."

"Ugh," Spain groaned. "Verbal torture. What's it good for?"

"Break their spirit, and you break them," Prussia said. "I saw my counterpart. He's a little on the arrogant side."

"That's putting it mildly," France scoffed. "I watched him last night when he and that Spain went out drinking with my counterpart. If I hear the word 'awesome' one more time…"

"That's another thing," Poland said. "Exchange of information. For example, I learned that their history's not the same as ours."

"It makes it difficult," Lithuania said. "We can't easily do research on their histories like we normally do."

"But it would definitely make things more interesting," Norway said. "Also, they have no idea what's going on either."

"And they appear to be avoiding mirrors," France said. "My counterpart's a bit of a narcissist, and I can see it's torturing him."

"And it would seem that Artie saw us the other night," England said. "He was disgusted."

"Vlad was the same," Romania said. "I heard him muttering to himself."

Poland smirked. Everything was going smoothly.

…

France, with Prussia and Spain by his side, knocked on his rival's door. The fact that all three of them could see strange reflections of themselves was cause for concern, and perhaps England would know something about it.

But it was not England that opened the door. France swallowed nervously when he saw who it was. That never meant something good.

"Scotland?" France said.

The redhead looked down at him, a scowl on his face. There was a chance that the Scot was hungover, because he did not look like he was fit to be awake.

And France seriously hoped that England was not in the same state.

"What do you want?" Scotland growled.

Now, France was not a fool. While he always picked a fight with England, he was wary around the rest of the British Isles. Wales can be quite scary on the rare occasions that he was mad, Ireland was too lucky when it came to a fight, and Northern Ireland was extremely sneaky and unpredictable. But it was Scotland he was most wary of. An angry and/or drunk Scotland was a dangerous thing.

And Scotland was in an irate mood.

"Ola," Spain said, completely oblivious of the potentially dangerous situation. "Is England here?"

Scotland's eyes narrowed.

"And why do you want to see my younger brother?" Scotland demanded.

Now France was worried. Only those who knew him would realise that he had gone into protective big brother mode. And he only got that way when something was wrong.

"We need to see him about totally unawesome reflections," Prussia said, as blunt as ever.

France did not expect the Scot's eyes to widen in surprise. It was as though he had an idea, even a vague idea, about what Prussia was talking about. That set off warning bells in France's head.

"Come in," Scotland said. "I'll go wake him."

"Is he taking a siesta?" Spain asked, looking at his watch as the trio entered the mansion.

"Something like that," Scotland said. "We all were."

And now France understood. Scotland was upset because he was awoken. In a way, it was reassuring.

At least it wasn't Wales they woke.

…

Kumajiro watched as his master placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. He didn't tell him, but he really liked the pancakes. He assumed that his master knew this, since he never complained, and Canada always made it for him.

He knew exactly who Canada was, he just never let him know it. He knew that Canada tended to be forgotten, and he was slightly afraid that Canada himself would forget. It happened once before, when the Nation was still very young. He doubted that he himself could remember. But it was scary.

So he constantly asked him who he was, not because Kumajiro needed a confirmation, but because he needed to make sure that history didn't repeat itself.

Although, he had to admit, it had gotten better since the other Canada started appearing in the mirror. He acknowledged him, and ever since, Canada had become happier. It had been a long time since the little white bear had heard his master crying behind a locked bathroom door.

But now, Kumajiro had something else to worry about. Canada was looking very pale this morning, and he had no idea what to do to help. But no matter what, he would protect his master. He had a promise to fulfil.

…

France, Prussia and Spain were all sitting in the living room of the Brit's house as Scotland went to retrieve his younger brother. They waited in silence, since none of them were overly comfortable with being in England's house. And, judging by the glasses on the coffee table, Scotland was not the only brother in the house. And that caused the trio to be on edge.

"What do you want, frogface?" a familiar, irritated voice demanded.

The trio turned to see England, looking as though he had just woken up, with all four his brothers by his side.

And the trio grew even more nervous. While they would mess with the blonde, they stayed well away from the intimidating brothers. Especially when they were together.

"We were hoping you could help us," France said, "seeing as you like magic tricks."

All five Kirkland brothers' eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" England asked through gritted teeth.

"Ever since the world meeting, I haven't been able to see my normal, gorgeous reflection," France said.

"And my reflection was totally unawesome," Prussia said.

"You're lucky," Spain said. "Mine is scary."

The brothers immediately lost their glares. England stared wide-eyed at them, but there was a knowing look in his eyes. Wales and Scotland shared a look, as well as the two Irelands.

"Different reflection?" England said. "Tell me, does the colouring seem off?"

"Now that you mention it," Spain said. "Si. Mine has darker hair and brown eyes. Also longer hair."

"Longer hair," Prussia said, "blue eyes."

"Extremely unkempt," France said, "but I saw that his eyes were a different colour. Violet, perhaps?"

England sighed.

"I've seen it too," England said. "Different hair, different eyes. And different interests. I saw my reflection baking a human into cupcakes."

"Confirms that the British don't know how to cook," France said.

And again, five sets of green eyes were glaring.

"Poland said something like this as well," England said. "I saw what his reflection looked like, and it wasn't good."

Prussia grimaced when Poland was mentioned.

"I also saw Norway and Romania," England said. "Frankly, I think we're seeing another world. A dark world. And I'm afraid that, somehow, seeing will be replaced by facing them without a glass barrier."

"How can you be sure that it would happen?" France asked.

"The fact that you can see them is cause for concern," Wales said. "Already, a certain boundary has been crossed. If any more boundaries are crossed, then it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to cross the final boundary and come to our world. And from what I've heard, that would be a bad idea."

England frowned. He turned towards his eldest brother.

"Wait a minute," Arthur said. "Are you saying that you don't see anything different in a mirror?"

"Nope," Wales said.

"Me neither," Scotland said.

"Considering my reflection is right next to me…" Northern Ireland said.

"I haven't seen a difference either," Ireland said.

That was when England's cell phone rang.

…

"Like, how come you have to have so many books?" Poland huffed.

Romania sighed. It was not the first complaint that he'd gotten out of Poland's mouth, and he knew that it wouldn't be the last. Luckily for him, he had convinced the Pol to bully Lithuania into helping, and now he wasn't alone in dealing with the annoying blonde.

"Unlike you, I actually read," Romania snapped. "So I need to have a lot of books."

Lithuania watched this in silence. It had become routine. Poland would complain, and Romania would snap. He quietly picked up another book.

"Um, Romania," Lithuania said. "I think I might have found something."

Romania went over towards Lithuania, looking at the words written on the page.

"'When evil can be seen through mirrors'," he read, "'make sure that two faces are never reflected in the same mirror, for the evil shall find another to follow, and like a plague, the evil shall spread.'"

"Like, what is that supposed to mean?" Poland said.

Romania thought about it before it clicked.

"Poland," Romania said, "you started seeing a strange version of yourself after seeing another strange reflection in the mirror, right?"

"Tak," Poland said, looking confused.

"And I started seeing my other reflection after you showed me," Romania continued. "We were both reflected in the same mirror. That means that if you're reflected in the same mirror at the same time that someone that's already seeing their alternate, then you will start to see your own alternate."

"What?" Lithuania asked.

"It's a long story," Poland said. "So, because I like saw that other reflection while I was looking at myself in the mirror, I started to see my own whacked out reflection?"

"Pretty much," Romania said.

"Um," Lithuania said. "I think I know what you're talking about."

Romania groaned.

"Not you too," he said.

Lithuania nodded.

Romania sighed, and pulled out his cell phone, first calling Norway, and then calling England, who informed him that the bad touch trio was in the same boat as them.

"Now," Romania said, "who did you see the first time?"

Poland frowned in thought.

"I, like, can't remember," he said. "It's totally weird. I know what the reflection looked like, but I can't remember who it is, or who the original Nation is. Everything's hazy."

Romania frowned. He had a feeling that this wasn't normal Poland forgetfulness. This was something serious.

Only question is, how serious?

…

Matt was awoken by a paw hitting his face. He opened his eyes and glared at the little black bear glaring down at him.

"You've slept long enough," Kumakazi said. "Time to get up."

Matt swatted the bear away, but did so anyway.

He would occasionally sleep when he was at his house, but only when he was truly exhausted. And driving from Russia to Canada would definitely do it. In spite of acting mean towards him on occasion, Kumakazi was very protective of Matt, and he would openly threaten anyone that dared get too close to his master. And then there was the bear's ability to somehow grow three times larger than a regular bear when agitated, so whenever Matt had his bear with him, the other Nations gave him a wide berth.

He had wanted to ask Matthew if Kumajiro could do it as well. It might be interesting if that could happen.

When he entered the bathroom and saw Matthew, he wasn't really surprised to see Matthew with a stack of pancakes in front of him. He also enjoyed the fluffy goodness with the sugary gift from heaven. He's just useless in the kitchen, and he didn't dare try to cook.

He sighed. An old, familiar thought crept up on him. He really wanted to meet Matthew in the flesh, and perhaps have a one-on-one hockey match. He wanted to taste the pancakes that Matthew makes, since if he was useless in the kitchen, then Matthew would be great. And he really wanted to pound some sense into the Nations in Matthew's world, and get rid of his anger towards them.

He sighed, placing a hand on the surface of the mirror, before withdrawing it immediately.

Something was not right.

He removed his glove, and placed his hand on the glass again. Instead of the cold he was expecting, the mirror felt warm, but not hot. And it didn't feel solid. It almost felt like the surface of water instead of a mirror. He pressed harder, and was surprised when it appeared that ripples started to appear.

And he saw Matthew tense.

The name for Kumakazi is somewhat derived from Kamikaze. I just thought it would be cool.