Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

"Have another," Greece said, pushing the platter of baklava closer. America declined for once, but Canada helped himself to yet another wedge. "I wish I could be of more help, but when the time drew closer, my mother stayed away. She didn't want me to see."

"So there wasn't anything that could have been done for her?" America lifted the small glass of clear liquid and tried a sip. He coughed violently. "Man. That's... good?"

Greece smiled. "Thank you. And no, of course there wasn't. Her time was up. She accepted that."

"What if her time hadn't been up?"

The brunet yawned and scratched his head. "Then maybe she'd have been more upset? I don't know."

America sighed, setting the glass down before he could be tempted to try some more. He glanced over at his twin, who was busy licking honey syrup off his fingers. He quickly looked away again before he was tempted to do things on Greece's table that the other nation wouldn't appreciate. "Well, sorry for wasting your time."

"My time?" Greece's smile stretched wider. "You're the ones who flew over here."

"I know. You sure you don't want to sign that Phone Funding Pact?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Greece said, and America wondered how.

"We'll just get going now." Canada wiped his hands off and stood. Greece blinked in surprise.

"When did you get here?"

"Never mind..."

The brothers left Greece's table and made their way awkwardly down the pile of ruins. "Should we try Egypt next?" Canada wondered.

"I don't see what good that would do." America raked a hand through his hair. "Even if we could get him to string a few sentences together, he'd probably say the same thing. I guess this was a dumb idea."

Canada wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "It was a good idea. And you're the one who figured that out about the boys! It seems so obvious, I can't believe I missed it."

"Oh, stop." America felt a giggle bubbling near the surface and squelched it. That wouldn't do. "Should we just go home?"

"We could." Canada's eyes grew distant, and America's heart leaped. Canada was thinking! He'd think of something. "Or, instead of delving into the past, we could ask somebody who could help us now."

"Who?"

"Somebody who knows a thing or two about magic."

"So we're going to Las Vegas?" That sounded fun.

"Um, no. I meant England."

"Who knows magic in England?"

Canada let out a breath. "England England. You remember him, right?"

"Stop that. Of course I do. What does he know about magic?"

"A lot? Don't tell me you still refuse to believe in it."

"Of course," America scoffed. "Him and his spells and unicorns and fairies and nonsense."

"You've seen it! Remember when France wanted a love potion to make someone or other fall for him?"

"No..."

"You don't? Didn't you wonder why France flipped out when Russia drank something of his that one time?"

America thought back. He did remember something like that happening at a meeting the previous year. "I thought it was some expensive wine."

"Then Russia started chasing France!"

"I thought he was just being his scary self."

"They made out!"

"Russia's scariness shows itself in many forms. And France makes out with everyone!"

"Well, I've seen England do other things. He's not crazy, you know."

America was fond of his former caretaker, but it was hard to picture the times England had chatted with thin air, patting creatures only he could see, and not think he was a little mentally unstable. "I don't know. I don't want to worry him. This might freak him out."

"Probably so..." Canada just shrugged. "But if he can help us, we'll all get over it."

"Back to the airport?" America made a face. "I hate flying. Unless I'm the pilot. Then it's awesome."

"Sorry, love. We're still flying commercial."

One four hour plane trip later, they found themselves dragging their bags out of Heathrow and into the drizzle of London.

"So depressing." Canada popped his umbrella open. "Must it always rain here?"

"Says the country who's all frozen tundra," America said, unfurling his own patriotic umbrella.

"All?"

"Don't be upset, I love my igloo-dwelling neighbors."

"And I love my redneck friends."

They summoned a taxi, which carried them the rest of the way to England's house, distracting the driver with their cuddling. "Should we just show up unannounced with our luggage?" Canada wondered as they dragged their bags up the walk.

"Why not? I do it all the time. England adores me." He gave the door a confident knock, then pressed down the doorbell.

The door yanked open. "Oh, what?" England snapped. "I was just about to get in the shower. What are you doing here?" His eyes slid down to the luggage. "Bloody hell."

"Nice to see you, too." America pushed past him, into the antique home.

"Ah, we won't stay too long," Canada said. "We just wanted to ask you for a favor..."

"I have a phone."

"We were in the neighborhood!" America said. "Is this new?"

"Put that down!" England snatched the figurine from his former colony's hands. "I've had that for centuries. And how were you in the neighborhood?"

"We were in Greece. It was time for a vacation away from home."

England rolled his eyes. "I see. So what's the favor?"

"It's Canada's favor," America added. "I don't believe in magic."

The Englishman's generous eyebrows rose, and he turned to the other North American. "You're seeking magic, hm?"

"Not really," America said quickly as his brother opened his mouth to answer. "It's to settle an argument!"

"You came to England to ask me about magic to settle an argument?" England repeated in disbelief.

"Yes!" America shed his damp jacket. "So, hypothetically speaking—What?" He scowled at England's awed look.

"You know what that word means?"

America coughed. "Like I was saying. Hypothetically, let's say a nation's time was up, and a new nation appeared to take their place. Like Greece and his mother. Would there be a way to prevent that, preferably without harming the new nation, either?"

England looked back and forth between the twins, brows furrowed. "That... that's the sort of hypothetical situation you two get into arguments about? You have way too much time on your hands."

"Probably. So what do you think?"

"I think it's a stupid question." He gave America a sideways glance. "It didn't happen did it?"

"No! Of course not!" He just wanted an answer, he didn't want to upset England. He would be upset, wouldn't he?

"So a ridiculous situation that isn't going to happen sent you halfway around the world? Is that why you went to Greece, too?"

"Al, you are the worst liar ever," Canada muttered. "It's not hypothetical, we found a pair of twin children who could very well be our replacements."

England turned on him, mouth open to retort, and it slowly closed without uttering a word. It took a few more tries before he managed to vocalize. "You what?"

"We didn't know they were at first!" America said. "We thought it'd be nice to have our own little brothers to raise. But they didn't seem to belong anywhere else, and they did show up in America, and one of them wants to go to Canada, and we don't know who else they could be..."

"Th-that's ridiculous!" England spluttered. "You haven't even been around a millennium. Not even half a one! You aren't going to be replaced. Why would you be replaced when there's still plenty of countries many many times older than you?"

"Like you, I know." America grinned, but only briefly. "That's what we'd like to know. Do you have any ideas who else they could be?"

"They're definitely like us?"

"Yup."

England slowly shook his head. "Twins? Who seem to belong in America."

"Right. And one is happy in the US, the other longs to visit Canada."

"What do they look like?"

"Short. Brownish hair and eyes. Chubby cheeks. Not like us, if that's what you mean."

"They wouldn't have to." England started to pace. "You're not playing a joke on me?"

"Nope. Matt?"

Canada fished some photos of the boys out of his bag, then handed them over to England. "That's them."

England stared at the pictures of Sam and Pierre for a moment, then resumed pacing. "They could be... could be..."

"I know," America whined. "Anything else and we'd have heard about it. There aren't any new countries in the middle of ours!"

"We care for them," Canada said. "So that doubles the problem. How do we save ourselves and still save them?"

"No hero would save himself at the expense of children!" America added.

"This still makes no sense!" England scowled at the photo. "A couple of baby countries like you aren't due for replacement."

"A couple of whats?"

"Unless something bad is going to happen," Canada said.

"Don't say things like that!" England handed the picture back, and walked further into the house. "Come on." They followed him, Canada occasionally nudging America when he paused to give something a hands-on inspection.

They ended up in England's study. By the time they arrived, he was already unrolling a map of North America onto the desk. Neither of them saw anything special about it (more so than usual, anyway, America always thought it was rather awesome), and England didn't seem to draw any conclusions, either. He next turned to an array of dusty old books.

"Actually, this may take a while," he mused. "Why don't you boys go unpack or take a nap or whatever?"

"Do you still have those old pirate clothes?" America asked.

"No doing anything perverted in my house!"

"Fine. Nap it is. Come on, Mattie, let's sleep. Anything else is... forbidden."

Behind them, England groaned.

Once the lovebirds were gone, England ran a finger over the spines of some books of magic. Not finding anything useful on that shelf, he turned around... and promptly fell back against the shelves with a cry of alarm, clutching at his chest. "What are you doing here?"

France glanced up from his study of the map. "I let myself in. That is an alarming problem they have, non? They could use all the help they can get."

"Get out, you wine-addled criminal!"

France just gave him a condescending smile and turned back to the map. "It's no surprise that the two of them ended up in such a relationship."

England rubbed his temples. "Why? Because their countries share one of the closest relationships between two countries?"

"No. Look at what Ontario is doing to those states, it's obscene."

"Get out."