Epilogue

A/N: Even as an epilogue, I manage to pass one thousand words for the chapter. I think it's quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself. Well, without further ado here are the final two scenes to Royal Flush.

The empty meeting room in downtown Manhattan once again glowed a brilliant white light and when it was gone ten Nations appeared, back in their original seats.

"Wha-uh, we had a meeting?" America asked. The others were slow to confirm, having forgotten about the entire reason they'd gathered in the first place. Everyone was still in their Cards attire, America and England still had flecks of blood on their azure uniforms.

England pulled out his cell phone and nearly dropped it onto the tabletop when the screen lit up.

"It's 11:33 a.m. February 21st. Like we were never gone."

"I think our appearances are more than enough to challenge that. Look at you and Amérique; look at my poor wrists. Non, that happened."

England jumped when his phone rang. It was a strange sound to everyone after eleven days of Eighteenth Century technology. "...Hello?"

"Hey, my call finally went through!" He put the phone on speaker and Romania's eccentric voice crackled flatly through the small speakers. "I assume that means you guys made it back okay then." It wasn't a question, more of an observation.

"Yeah dude, we're all back. What's up with the time change?"

"I don't know something to do with the gate and Gilbert's magic. I'm not complaining though 'cause I know the next ten days of history. Off to Monte Carlo!" Romania abruptly hung up and everyone just stared at the phone.

"So...what now?"

"I'm going home." Romano said, dragging Italy out the door. France stood next and bid them goodbye, following the Italies' lead. Soon, everyone left one by one, half hoping to forget the whole experience and half convinced it was a dream.

America, England, and Canada, the only Nations left, didn't make for the door immediately like everyone else.

"It happened Ig. Don't you go telling me it didn't." America talked over whatever the Brit had been about to say, earning a scowl in response.

"As I said when I arrived in this bloody city of yours, I'm going home for some much deserved rest." England too walked through the double doors, pausing in the threshold. "I know it happened." He muttered then disappeared.

America parked his car in the driveway of his D.C home and grudgingly stepped out. A trio of little kids chose then to ambush him with questions.

"Mr. Alfred! Mr. Alfred!"

He smiled that Hollywood smile at them. "Sup little dudes? How are you today?" The trio lived around the neighborhood and for whatever reason loved Alfred like he was one of them. Couldn't really blame 'em, could you?

"We need a fourth player for a game and no one else can play. They all said they had stuff to do or something." The little blonde boy, Johnny said, pouting. His companions pouted with him, the little demons, and America caved.

"Alright, what's this game called?"

Johnny pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket and spilled its contents into his hand, spreading them out.

"It's a card game called War." He said, big brown eyes looking up at the Nation expectantly before turning back to the deck. America's smile faltered. "Ginny just found the deck actually, she thinks someone dropped it." He stopped filtering through the cards and recounted. "Aww, it's missing one."

America dared to ask, even though he knew the answer. "Which one is that?"

Johnny looked up at him. "The queen of spades. She's not here." No, she isn't. At least the one he knew.

Ginny, the little brunette girl who'd 'found' the deck, stopped Johnny's shuffling. "Hey wait." She said, looking confused. She pulled a single card out of the stacking order and stared at it. "Mr. Alfred this one kinda looks like you." She handed him the card and he flipped it face up.

Emblazoned in the center stood a defiant looking Alfred in his characteristic blue overcoat with the Timepiece, broken and transparent, in the background. America held the card for the king of spades in his hand.

"Hey Johnny, can I see that deck for a sec?" The child nodded and handed it to him. All twelve face cards -minus the missing queen- both jokers, and the four aces were artfully decorated with the likeness of the Nations' duplicates. Johnny then handed him the box. There was one card left inside.

Printed in scrawled calligraphy was a collection of words and phrases, combining to form a familiar spell. And on the bottom, in even smaller print, was a single phrase:

"Thank you."

The end.

Footnotes:

You can play War with as many people as you'd like (like real war), not just one on one. I've played four on four, every-man-for-himself. It's really fun and breaks up the usual monotony of a stalemate.

I'm really, actually done this time. Oh my gods thank you so much for following this story from the beginning or any point after! It has been so much freaking fun writing this and I'm sad to see it end. Here's the curtain call:

For reading since chapter 1:

pastaaddic, Nolesr1 (and for being my beta), johane, and presumably a guest out there who reviewed chapter 1

And everyone else who commented, favourited, or followed:

whovian732, hufflepuffcanadian, grimyard, autumnkitten25, meapzilla2mouse, amichalap, Shadow fairy princess, Este Savoy, missycanucks, Listenerofshadows, AvelinaTeuton, rioludoodle, Luna55684, ChibiCreep, Lady Rainfall, Ace of Derp, russiaxamerica,

I'm debating on how the sequel is going to go and when I decide on what I'm gonna do I'll post an author's note on this story (maybe, you might just have to look for it). After all I do have loose ends to tie and questions to answer :)

Oh, and two final footnotes:

1: So to all of you who don't know how to play poker or what it is- a "royal flush" is the highest hand one can have consisting of the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of one suit. Nearly impossible to get in a classic game. I thought it appropriate, though apparently unoriginal. Whatever.

2: And the title for the sequel will be *initiate drum roll*... "Boneyard". Feel free to Google at will what that could possibly mean from what I've already constructed for this version of the Cardverse AU.

Thank you and hasta la pasta!