A/N *Sorry I didn't upload daily. Working on other fanfics. Yeah. I write whatever I feel like; I'm so selfish. Gomenasai~ Anyhow, as apology, this will be a long chapter. ;D (I hope you find that to be a good thing.)*

Ch 7

"Umm… England?" Alfred blinked, feeling slightly uncomfortable, "You can stop crying now…"

"I'm telling you, I have stuff in my eyes, you twat!" Arthur snapped, struggling to return to his usual state of tea-sipping composure, "There's so much bloody dust on this ship. They need to clean up once in a while. Enough about me! How do we escape this vessel undetected?"

Suddenly, Arthur felt two hands grasping at his shoulder. He closed his eyes as he felt himself being forced back, his back making contact with the pole Alfred had been tied to a second ago. Gritting his teeth and lifting an eyelid, he saw Alfred leaning towards him, with a serious expression on his normally carefree face. Flickering in those azure eyes of him were a feeling that had no place in such a place: Fear. Since when did America feel fear? Though he would rather die than admit it, it scared Arthur as well.

"W-What the hell, America?"

"We can't run. There is no escape off this ship, England," Alfred whispered, his mouth next to the Brit's ear. Arthur blushed as he felt the younger country's breath stirring his hair, "The only way we'll get off alive is if we overtake this ship. If we can't even do that, then there's no way we can win this entire battle."

"What are you talking about?"

Alfred leaned back, "Did you manage to find out this vessel's destination?"

Arthur flushed, this time at his lack of competence, "N-no. But that was because I was running around trying to save you, you bloody git!"

"Straight to the boss," Alfred answered himself, completely ignoring England's indignant sputtering, "Through various tactics, I managed to find out the identity of the bosses. There are four. I think you can guess…"

A/N *By various tactics, Alfred means annoying the crap out of the Black Sea until he told him what was going on. Strategy includes singing Maru Kaite Chikyuu, laughing like crazy, calling himself a hero… and stuff.*

"The oceans?" Arthur answered incredulously, "Do they honestly think…?"

"Look at what they did to me, the hero."

Arthur complied, his eyes resting on America's sorry state. In a twisted way, the amount of damage the bodies of water had managed to inflict made sense. The oceans made up most of Earth, so obviously their numbers were crushing, but this kind of power sent chills down Arthur's spine. Even though everyone scoffed at the self-proclaimed hero, Alfred had built up reputation and seemed almost…well, invincible.

"The boss is the Pacific Ocean," Alfred continued, "But the person commandeering this ship is the vice captain, the Atlantic Ocean. If the two of us can't even tame the vice captain…" Alfred paused, a pained smile of utter defeat upon his face, "…then can you imagine how everyone'd fare against the boss himself?"

Arthur crossed his arms. There was no debating it. Butt-kicking it was, then.

"Where's your rifle?"

"They took it from me."

As expected. Withdrawing one of his handguns from its holster, Arthur handed it Alfred, along with a few packs of bullets. Alfred accepted it, with a shocked expression on his face.

"A-are you sure? You've always been better at fighting with more than one…"

"Shut up!" Arthur shouted, and striding to America, grasped the taller country by the collar, "You're always worrying about other people, you twat! Look at your state! Worry about yourself once in a while, why don't you?!"

"But it's the hero's job to take care of others…" Alfred muttered, but noticing some murderous intent coming into Arthur's glare, gave a resigned smile, rubbing the back of his neck, "But I suppose you're right. Thanks, England."

Mumbling unfriendly things about America under his breath, Arthur stormed out of the room. There was a momentary sound of banging and gunshots as the Brit took out his anger on some unfortunate guards on watch outside. Grinning at how easily flustered Arthur was, Alfred followed the other country into now the rising sun, forcing his battered body into combat once more. The murky red light brought out the blood-stained state of his clothes and pummeled his wounds. But he wouldn't let England see how tired he was. The green-clad nation had already worried about him too much. It was time for the hero to take matters into his own hands.

Arthur easily slashed through the enemy ranks, putting his single pistol to good use. Though he had not had his wounds treated from the previous battle, for some reason, fighting back to back with Alfred gave the shorter nation some strength. As if now that Alfred was here, everything was alright. But, of course, that made America sound far too much like the hero he claimed to be.

"Do you know where the Captain's quarters are?" Arthur turned back to shout to Alfred after they had taken care of all the watches on deck, before his eyes widened. America wasn't there. Suddenly, he heard the sound of an engine being started.

Turning around, the Brit spied America driving a jet. Not just any jet. His jet. The jet England had flown all over Japan looking for the troublesome younger country. Alfred's hand was pressed down on his right ear, and a second later, Arthur could hear his voice buzzing in his ear.

"Japan~~ Are you there?"

There was a crackling sound, before Kiku responded.

"America-san! Is that you?"

"Yeah. England saved me," he turned to grin at Arthur, who was climbing into the jet, muttering curses under his breath. "Listen, Japan, we need your help."

"I will do all I can, America-san."

"Using the technology you installed on this jet, can you figure out where the Captain's cabin is?"

A shocked pause, then

"Are you planning to take over the ship, America-san? I hate argue with you, but I would highly advise against it!"

Alfred's face hardened, and he hurriedly gave Kiku the same information he had given Alfred in his cell. After he was finished explaining, he murmured, "It's up to you whether or not to help us, Japan. But new guards will be on the deck any second now."

Kiku remained silent. He was worried. Though he hasn't seen America for himself, he knew the country was probably in horrible shape. He wouldn't even want Alfred to overtake a toy sailboat, much less a huge battle vessel. But if what America said was true…

"What are you waiting for, Japan?" Vash's voice snapped suddenly, "You heard the guy! Hurry up and give America directions to kick the Atlantic Ocean's butt!"

"Switzerland! You're alright?" There was no mistaking the delighted tone in Alfred's voice.

"This idiot woke up an hour ago," Gilbert spoke up, "Wouldn't stop worrying about you, America. Which would've been fine, but he wouldn't let me get my awesome beauty sleep."

"Shut up, Prussia!" Vash responded, "I…err… America… I wanted to thank you for saving me. Yeah…"

Alfred laughed, "No problem! It's the hero's job after all!"

"America-san, please turn the jet to face the other direction," Kiku had began talking again, his voice resolute; in the end, there was no way he'd leave such a kind country in turmoil. He only hoped that Alfred knew what he was doing, "I locked onto the Atlantic Ocean's location."

"Aw…" Alfred cooed, "Thanks Japan!"

Arthur closed his eyes and Kiku's calming voice guided Alfred to the Captain's Quarters. He remembered how Kiku had done the same for him just the previous night, when he had been trying to rescue America. And now the young nation was sitting beside him, steering the jet like the true aviator he was. Arthur couldn't help but feel a bit… happy.

"Okay, stop here and then descend two decks. You'll find him two rooms down to your left. Good luck, America-san, England-san!"

After thanking Kiku one more time, the two nations jumped off the jet. Within a minute, they were in front of the Atlantic Ocean's cabin. Exchanging unwavering glances, the two countries kicked down the door. Or rather, Alfred did, while Arthur stood to the side with a shocked expression at how brash his companion was. The Atlantic Ocean was sitting at a large desk in the corner. He glanced up slowly, putting down his pen.

"So you've escaped, hmm?" he got up. Arthur couldn't help noticing with horror at how muscular a body of water was. Suddenly, the ocean glanced at him, before back at Alfred, "I see… This man saved you, didn't he?"

He strode over to Arthur and, without warning, punched him in the stomach. The country doubled over, gasping in pain and shock. Before either he or Alfred could react, the booted foot of the Atlantic Ocean followed, dealing him a kick in his side. He felt a few of his ribs crack. Then, a series of crippling blows followed. Through the faint hearing that his now failing senses were giving him, Arthur could hear Alfred calling out his name, see him attempting to wrench the burly ocean off of him. And then everything blacked out.

"What was that for?" Alfred shouted, finally summoning enough strength to drag the Atlantic Ocean away from his friend. He was met with a smack across his face.

"Both of you are more trouble than you're worth."

And immediately, the point of a gun was leveled at his forehead. Alfred gulped, but forced the tips of his trembling lips to turn upwards. It looked like it was finally the hero's time to save the people that mattered to him.

A/N *Sorry if that was boring. ): I don't think it is. I was super distracted while writing this because I have to pick up textbooks, ect., for high school today. That's enough to make you unproductive for weeks if you're a slacker like me~ Please support the selfish me. ^ ^; Look forward to the next chapter*