Disclaimer: I am not, nor will I ever be, Hidekaz Himaruya.

It was a strange sensation, being a creature made of mochi. There was hardly any feeling to anything. No taste, no touch. Only the vaguest comprehension of sight and sound. It knew that it had been more than this once, but it had been changed. Now words like limbs and walking and human were only that: words. It had been such a short time, it thought, but it had been long enough that it had almost forgotten the sensation of being human. Almost. Because it was there, every second, nagging at the back of its miniscule mind, reminding it that it had once been more than this. Wanting to be real again.

The one who made it abandoned it. Left it. Went where it couldn't follow. It had been searching for a long time now, waiting to find the one who made it so that it could be turned back. So that it could be free. For so long, the one had evaded it.

It had been stuck in the wall for a long time now. Long and short. Time was strange here. But the one who made it came back at last. He had rescued it from its prison and set it free. It was very grateful. And it knew that it would soon be its real self again.

Even if HE was there. It wondered how it and HE could both be here, but the consideration was too much for its tiny brain. It was forced to simply accept the fact without understanding.

The one who made it didn't understand what it was. It had tried to explain, but it didn't truly understand either, and with its limited communication, it could not make him understand what little it did know. So it was forced to wait, and hope that the one who made it would soon understand, and return it to its former state.

England set the mochi down, struggling to understand what it was trying to tell him. Somehow, it was clear that he was responsible for this little creature's state, but how and why, he could only guess.

The mochi happily bounced off towards the kitchen, perhaps hoping to find some friends.

Or dinner, he amended as the creature chomped down on a lettuce leaf Japan had left out. England smiled slightly. Those bright blue eyes were so familiar somehow.

His attention was distracted from the mochi as his phone rang. He fumbled in his pocket for it, wondering who would be calling him. It wasn't like he really had many friends.

"Hello?"

"England!"

England didn't know how to respond. Any other time, he would have made some sarcastic comeback and hung up the phone. But right now, he could hardly imagine anyone he wanted to hear from more.

"Scotland," he finally managed to say.

"Scotty! I can't hear!"

"What'd he say?"

"Scotty!"

"Would you three shut up! I'm putting it on speakerphone; just hold your damn horses!"

England couldn't help a small smile. His brothers. He'd always kind of thought he hated them, but now he knew better. They might drive him crazy, but he still cared about them. He was still overwhelmingly glad to hear their voices.

"Where are you guys?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" Scotland retorted.

"We're at your house, looking for your sorry arse!" Wales clarified.

"I'm not there," England said.

"Yeah, we noticed," one of the Irish twins retorted.

He thought it was Northern Ireland, but it was hard to tell over the phone. They sounded quite similar.

"Listen, can I trust you guys to run the UK for a bit?" England asked. "I'm not sure how long I'll be gone."

"Leave everything to us!" Scotland insisted cheerfully.

"Hey, does this have something to do with that weird solar eclipse that happened earlier?" the other Irish twin asked.

"Or the fact that the aes sídhe have been saying there's something wrong with your entire country's magic?" the one England assumed was Northern Ireland asked.

"England, where are you?" Wales asked. "What's happened? We've tried contacting everyone we could think of who might know, but no one would respond. I know we've been pretty out of the loop for a while now, and to be fair, there are reasons for that, but I can tell that something is very wrong here, and it's not just you."

England sighed. He'd kind of hoped they would be as oblivious as they usually were and not notice the fact that everything had gone wrong. Typical. Once he wanted them to be their annoying selves, they decided to actually care about him.

"I'm…trapped," England finally admitted. "In a very dangerous place. A lot of the other nations are here with me. We're trying to get out, but it might be a while. So, until then, do you think you can hold things together?"

"You can count on us!" Ireland shouted.

"God, why on earth am I trusting you four?" he wondered aloud. "It'll be anarchy when I get back."

"Oh, stop being such a stuck up old man!" Scotland teased.

"It'll be fine," Wales promised.

"If it isn't, there will be consequences," England warned.

"Bye, England!" Northern Ireland yelled, seconds before a click indicated that Scotland had ended the call.

England smiled. Those four. He would never have imagined willingly leaving the United Kingdom in their care, but now that he'd done it, he had to admit that he was grateful. They wouldn't be great at it, but they could manage.

"So, you're letting your brothers run the country?" France asked.

"I don't have much of a choice," England replied.

"There will be consequences," France warned.

"I know."

The slamming of the bathroom door behind him indicated that America had finally decided to stop sulking. England turned to face his former colony.

"I did some thinking," America explained. "I'm sorry for, you know, being like that. I was being kinda selfish back there, wasn't I? Honestly, I've got it easy compared to everyone else. It won't happen again. I'll do my best to stop sulking and be a productive member of the team from now on!"

With that proclamation, he flashed a smile and although it didn't quite reach his eyes, he still looked a lot more like his old self. England smiled, very glad to see the old America. The world always felt a darker place without America's optimistic enthusiasm. The situation might have dimmed his light, but nothing on earth could put it out altogether.

He really hoped it wasn't aliens they were dealing with.

Author's note: Late again! I'm so sorry. My teachers have been dumping homework lately and I've had barely any time. Also, it's another filler/set-up chapter. Sorry, but I have a lot to set up before I can really move on with the plot.

Anyway, the mochi was fun to write. Tricky, but fun. Anyone figured out what happened to it? All the clues are there, if you look closely.

Ashe-Kuro and LustGodVampire91 asked for a Scotland cameo, so I threw in all the UK bros.