Anamnesis
(originally titled "Heads or Tails?")

Chapter 1
Suspicion

WARNING: Characters might be OOC. (Except for Italy, because I purposely made him smart)

ARTHUR KIRKLAND/ ENGLAND

For the first time in decades, the British man was bored.

As Ludwig explained his suggestions to his fellow nations, Arthur's eyes focused on the paperwork he did before glancing upon the empty seat beside him. He tried to focus on the topic at hand, but to no avail. Not even the green creature he calls "Flying Mint Bunny" or Tinkerbell, who knew what the problem was, cheered him up. Instead, Arthur played with his pen while a hundred thoughts ran in his head. Soon, he got tired of the calm atmosphere (he hated to admit, but he liked the obnoxious atmosphere America offered to that room more than the calm atmosphere that was supposed to be) and stood up. Ludwig stopped and looked at the Brit, along with the other nations that attended. Arthur took notice of this and sighed.

"I'm sorry,"he spoke, voice rough as if he didn't talk in a million years. "But...I need to get a glass of water first. I'm not feeling okay...actually." But when he was about to take a step, Francis Bonnefoy held Arthur's shoulder. The owner of the shoulder gritted his teeth. But Francis spoke up before the Brit could call him a git and release his anger on him.

"Wheat's wrong with you, Angeleterre?! If it's because l'Amerique is not here at the moment...well..."

"Well what, frog?!"Arthur yelled, a hand turning into a fist. Italy immediately held Germany in fear as the other nations looked frightened. Sure they were supposed to get used to the fact that the two nations will always fight. But for the first time, the atmosphere felt different. It wasn't just the same. It wasn't the atmosphere that made them at ease (and usually, that atmosphere was the reason why the meeting could never finish). It was cold, bitter feeling. And they felt afraid.

Francis sighed. He knew it was hard to calm the Brit down. No wait, scratch that. It was never easy to calm the Brit down. In calming him, a person needed to take risks to do that. Arthur isn't just the type of guy whose anger would disappear in three blinks of an eye. When he's made, he's mad. They all knew that. And they tried to avoid him when he's in that state. But this time, the French man had to try so he could he reason out. He needed to say what he wanted to say. He had to try.

Inhale, exhale, he thought. That's what mama taught me.

Finally, he was able to speak up again.

"Look, I'm sure l'Amerique has his...reasons as to why he's absent or not present at the moment. But it's not like he's the only person, right?" And this made the other nations curious. Wait, curious is not the right word to describe the feeling to be in this atmosphere. Something related to that term is more appropriate than "curious". Suddenly, Feliciano Vargas stood up, his curl (or what he would like to call "his ero-zone") while doing so. His face wore a frown, which is something he rarely showed to the others. At long last, the Italian grabbed their attention.

"Ve~, what do you mean, brother France?"

Francis then pointed at the seat beside Yao Wang. All eyes then turned to that empty chair. "See?"Francis spoke. "Has anyone noticed?" And upon seeing the chair, Yao gasped at the sudden revelation in front of him. So that's probably why it felt quiet...other than that American, aru, he thought. "But, it's weird. Normally, Japan's present, even if he's busy or if he's far away,"Ludwig said, his eyes starting to worry, another rare feeling he got every time Feliciano was in danger. Yao frowned and turned to the other nations and asked, "Does anyone know where they are, aru?" But none of them even gave the Chinese man a single nod. Furious, he turned to the British man. "Do you even know where that American idiot is, aru?!" Unfortunately, Arthur, who was finally calm and was released by Francis' tight grip, shook his head and said, "I didn't get a single call from him. What about you, China?" But said man shook his head. "Lately, I haven't received any calls from him," He then turned to the remaining former members of the Axis Powers and asked, "Have any of you even seen them, aru?" But Ludwig shook his head and replied, "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen any of them since the other day." The same went with Italy, his response being, "Ve~. I don't really know where Japan was. I didn't even see America since the other day."

Arthur sighed as his brows furrowed. "I have a feeling that something fishy is going on, and I don't like it," Yao nodded. "Same thing here," Then, he stood up. "And I want to get to the bottom of this, aru." Arthur nodded.

"Me too."

KIKU HONDA/JAPAN

When Kiku woke up, the first thing that registered into his mind was pain in the head. And the next one was the cold, metal floor that touched his back.

Moaning, the Japanese man slowly opened his eyes, only to see a ceiling made of cement. Noticing that no light came in, he assumed that there were no windows that were made for this room. But for some reason, he could still see his surroundings.

He then sat up with a bit of pain on his back while muttering, "How unpleasant." When his sight finally became clear, Kiku turned to see a certain American leaning on the hard, cemented wall on Kiku's right, still unconscious. For some reason, he didn't understand how Alfred got there. After watching Alfred for several seconds to see if he would wake up, Kiku crawled to his friend and shook him gently. "America-san, America-san..." Slowly, Alfred's eyelids opened to reveal his icy blue pupils only to see a blurry figure in front of him. Soon, the blonde-haired man then realized what was missing.

"My glasses..."

Kiku went a bit clser to him. "W-What is it?"

Still, Alfred desperately choked out the words.

"M-my glasses...I...can't see..."

Finally, the message registered into his mind. "Your glasses..." He then looked at one of the few things that filled this lonely room: a brown closet found in the right corer of the room if one looks behind the bars. Kiku then stood up and walked towards the closet. When he opened it, all he could see was a coat, a slingshot with some rocks beside it, and a pair of small, squared glasses (the frame color is black). The Japanese man then took it and sighed. I guess this will work for now until America-san gets his real glasses back. Kiku approached the American and placed the glasses where they should be put. Alfred blinked a few times before realizing that his sight was clear again. Though the first figure made him surprised.

"J-Japan? W-What and how, dude?"

Kiku sighed. So America-san also didn't remember anything? The Japanese man frowned and answered, "I don't know either, America-san. But something tells me that this place is dangerous." He then heard Alfred sigh as Kiku helped the blonde haired-man sit up. Alfred then fixed his hair before focusing on his surroundings, only to find the jail bars as the first thing he saw...other than Kiku, of course.

"We're in a cell, huh? That's weird. I swear that we were just in my house last night,"The American grinned weakly and chuckled. "Were we drunk or something?" Then, he coughed. Kiku decided to help by rubbing his back gently until the cough was gone.

Kiku grew concerned. "Are you okay, America-san?" He then went back to the closet to find at least one bottle of water, but to no avail. He sighed and went back to Alfred.

"I'm sorry, America-san. But I couldn't find some water to help you with your throat,"

But Alfred managed to give a weak smile. "It's alright,"

Kiku sighed, wishing he could do more for this poor nation in front of him..

Stomp!

Stomp!

Suddenly, both heard a pair of footsteps coming to their cell. Alfred growled while Kiku, who still supported Alfred's back with his left hand, frowned. As the man's footsteps became louder, neither of them knew what to do. Japan thought, If we fight sporadically, we will only end up defeated. Suddenly, the memory of the Pictonian invasion made the Japanese man give a small smile to himself. Weird, he thought. I just thought of something I've said to Germany-san before. But he frowned again when he looked at the bars that blocked them to freedom. Suddenly, he heard a voice that came from a frightened soul.

"What's...going to happen?"

Kiku's expression softened when he turned to Alfred. Mainly because this was the first time he saw his own friend scared. Sure, he was used to the fact that America screamed every time they would watch a horror movie or play a video game. But this one was different. The feeling of Alfred at that moment reminded him of the old days when China would comfort him whenever Kiku had a bad dream or jumped the moment the thunder came. He could remember China's sweet voice when he sung that lullaby to him when he was still so small. Japan bit his lip, refusing to cry. Instead, he decided to act like the big brother by comforting his own friend.

"I don't know, America-san," He shook his head. Though he tried his best to resist, a few tears managed to slip out of his eyes. "I don't know."

Then, the sound of the footsteps stopped. Kiku's eyes focused on the figure outside of the cell. Normally, a person in this situation would feel clueless. But to the Japanese man , he had a weird feeling that he knew the person, as if he saw him just yesterday.

His head ached again. Kiku bit his lip.

Kami, what did we do last night? He thought.

Then, the figure spoke.

"Get up, you lazy assholes. Or you'll be tortured mercilessly."

Kiku gasped. That voice...feels familiar.

Soon, the figure grabbed the keys and opened the ceiling bar door. As the figure approached, the two men gritted their teeth, their hearts pounding faster as sweat dripped from their faces to the cold floor.

It was then that everything was clear.

Kiku recognized it.

The mask on his face.

And before the man brought out his whip, Kiku's eyes widened as everything came back like a bullet going through his head.

I...remember...everything...

ARTHUR KIRKLAND/ENGLAND

5672130

Arthur growled. This was the tenth time he called Alfred, yet nothing. And it seemed like he was running out of patience. But this time, no nation dared to calm him. Not even France.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

And once again, Alfred's voicemail rang into Arthur's ear.

"Yo dude, the hero's here. If you're hearing this voicemail, it means I've turned my cell off either because of some meeting stuff, my boss called, or I'm just annoying the hell outta Iggy again. Just leave a message or something, will ya? The hero needs to do something one of these days, am I right?"

And again, Arthur sighed in frustration. He then decided to text the fifty-second message he sent to Alfred today.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU BLOODY GIT?! YOU BETTER ANSWER RIGHT NOW OR I'LL STRANGLE YOU AND SEND YOUR ASS TO ANTARCTICA THIS INSTANT! YOU'RE MAKING EVERYONE WORRIED! AND THIS BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER APRIL FOOLS' JOKE OR SO HELP ME!"

And again, no response.

Arthur gave up and sat down. Then, he saw Yao having a hard time contacting the Japanese man. He could see the frustration building up inside the Chinese man as he called for what seemed like the hundredth time Yao did. Minutes passed, and he eventually gave up.

The other nations sighed in defeat.

"So none of them have answered?"Francis asked, sighing. Antonio stood up with a frown (another rare thing about the Spanish man). "Maybe there's something going on in their countries?" But Arthur stood in doubt."If that would be the case, it would already be in the news. But so far, nothing big happened. Plus, I don't think their bosses will pull the representatives of their countries from going to a world meeting.," Then, to everyone's shock, Feliciano stood up with a serious face. Even Ludwig, who knew Feliciano for half of his life (most if you include the stories about Italy that he heard from people who knew him his whole life), was surprised to see the happy-go-lucky Italian serious. But instead of naturally screaming (because that would be embarrassing and for some reason, hilarious to look at his priceless face), he cleared his throat and asked, "What is it, Italy?"

Feliciano cleared his throat and began to speak.

"What if something happened to them themselves?"

And this made the nations confused. But for some reason, they felt that Feliciano was right for once. Arthur then turned to the Italian. "What do you mean, Italy?"

Feliciano sighed and continued. "Think about it: if nothing is going on in their countries, then they would still go to the meeting today. But it's weird that they didn't answer their phones, even for Japan. And even if Japan's cellphone needed to be charged, he always has five more to carry. So...what if something bad happened to them, like they were kidnapped or something?" And though the thought made England and China wince a bit (especially at the last sentence), the rest thought that the theory seemed legit, which shocked them even more. Especially that all of this came from someone who only knew how to clean the house, wave white flags, call for Germany when he's in danger, run, flirt with girls, and make pasta.

Ludwig, still shocked, stood up and spoke, "That's...smart. How did you even think...all that?" Then, Feliciano smiled nervously, and answered, "Recently, I've been watching Japan's cartoons."

Arthur nodded. "Then it's settled. As the host of this month's world meeting, I declare the meeting canceled. What's important now is that we find them and ask them what the hell's going on. Understand?" Then, the rest stood up and nodded. But as everyone left, Arthur felt a little uneasy. Though we know now what our game plan is...why does something feel weird? And where is America, anyways?

End of first chapter! (HOLEH NIGHT! YAWS!).

Germany: I can't believe Italy...how could you, Vancouver!?

Me: *winks* Just wanted to. And I'm sorry if it was a month delay, I guess? School happened and I had to wait until the holidays would start. Thankfully, the exams were done (and only one more set til I get summer vacation). So think of this as an early Christmas present, guys! I still love you all! And a FrUK oneshot is in the works now. So, yeah! Happy holidays, minna-san!

-Vancouver and Germany, signing, off-