A whole day had passed since they'd first found Italy here, dying next to his two closest friends, the remainder of the Axis Powers. The silver half moon gave off an ominous glow upon the light pastel grass, and the Axis and Allies were gathered around a fire they'd lit, sitting in what was perhaps an awkward silence. China and Russia were handing out little cups of borscht, looking occasionally at one another in sympathy for the others, and glancing over at the lone figure of Romano a couple of yards away from the fireplace.

"Ah, I wonder what he's doing, aru?" China spoke, for the first time in a couple of minutes. It certainly broke the silence- France and England automatically looked up to see what it was they were talking about, and muttered to themselves when they realised it wasn't anything too interesting. America rested his head half-heartedly upon England's shoulder and drifted off into quiet, and Japan sat upright with his hands folded and his eyes closed.

"He's waiting for Spain," Germany said monotonously, not even bothering to look up and meet China's concerned gaze. China nodded silently in acknowledgement and continued to hand out borscht, Russia adjusting his scarf slightly and taking his place next to France.

"So, how do you like the borscht, everyone? I made it especially to warm everyone up tonight. It's very cold out here!" Russia piped up, smiling as best he could. France turned to him and chuckled softly, remembering the sweet taste and texture of the soup.

"Much better than England's cooking, that's for sure..."

France was greeted by a small yet hard punch in the arm, and an equally small and quiet voice. "You insult my cooking again, there'll be more than just that coming for you." France all of a sudden got a sinking feeling in his stomach that England might not know he was joking, and didn't say anything more, looking desperately at England's blank expression.

"Hey, guys! Nations! I'm here!"

An obnoxiously loud shout came from the near distance, and the figure of Romano stood still until a pair of tanned arms wrapped around him tightly. England pushed America off him and rushed towards the duo, getting a quick armful of Spain and, soon enough, another armful of America. Once the four had greeted each other accordingly, Spain rushed over to the fireplace, where he managed to attack France, Russia, Germany, and China too. It also wasn't long until Prussia, Hungary and Austria came back, saying a quick hi to Spain and sitting down.

"I made it in time..." Spain spoke, and it was immediately obvious he was out of breath. "I came as quick as I could. You see, it took a little while for the message to get to me, and..." Spain looked around, breathless, and paused at Germany, putting one hand to his mouth and slipping the other into Romano's. "Oh god, I'm so sorry..."

Russia beamed, and held out a cup of steaming liquid. "It's OK, Spain. None of us have taken this well. Some borscht?"

"Oh, it's alright, Russia. I'll be OK. Thanks anyway."

At that, Japan opened his eyes and let his hands fall to his sides. Calm and refreshed, he stood up, a familiar sense of authority awakening within him. He called for the other countries to settle down, then began to speak, Germany finally taking notice of what was happening by the amber light of the fire.

"Now, everyone. I know we're all still resting after what happened yesterday-" he took a moment to glance knowingly at China out of the corner of his eye- "and that we're all still a little shaken up, but we can t let go of the possibility that this could happen again, perhaps to one of us here."

Russia was the first to look down, disheartened. No, not one of us... please, no more.

Japan went on, a glint in his eye. "If we are to somehow escape ending up like our friend did, we must know both how and why this could happen, and why only to us nations. And I believe," Japan spoke quietly yet firmly, "that I can explain this, with a little help and your blessing."

The countries sat in silence, looking intently at Japan. Some nodded in agreement. This would, hopefully, explain everything. And if Japan was right as he surveyed the group with a quick glance to his left and right, most of them were seeing red in regards to who or what did this.

"As to what happened when Italy died... well, he died just like a normal human, really. There was blood, there were injuries, and there was lots of pain. When me and Germany found him, we we didn't really know what to do. He was already turning into stone, or whatever it was, from his heart outwards. We couldn't stop it, but we didn't care at that moment..." Japan looked around him and saw the other countries still looking at him, albeit being a bit teary, and then saw Austria shake his head, a concerned expression on his face as he tilted his head towards a shaking Germany.

"Anyways, with any form of death, this would never happen to humans... so I'm sorry to say that if we are killed someday, we may end up exactly like Italy did."

A bitter silence echoed across the field, broken intermittently by Germany sniffing and trying not to let it all out at that moment. Japan stood still, staring at his friend and ally, before getting back on topic.

"So, that covers how he died- it's how we all will, one day, expect we can't die of age..." Japan laughed. "How ironic it is, I suppose, with us being countries. So, then, that leaves why. When China and I were very young, people were scared of nations in human form. Some thought we were gods and feared us for our apparent strength; some thought we were the cause of all wars and tried to appease us so we wouldn't harm them. I-I think that the fear of us has come back again, and the people want to go against us this time, choosing to persecute us rather than stay away from us."

Japan paused for a small moment, knowing that he needed to go on, but Spain interrupted him with his hand outstretched and stood up himself. "Yes, I think Japan is right. That is why I took so long to get here."

Romano looked up at Spain in disbelief, followed in turn by the other countries.

"You see, in my country, these officials and the police were stopping people and asking them about any nations or countries who had been walking about and conversing with the people, and if not then they let them know about how we're in human form. I heard a little bit about me perhaps being a human nation as well. I was scared, so I ran, but they were checking at the border, so I had no choice but to go back to my house and use my only human documents when I finally got back to the borders."

Spain held up a crumpled piece of paper and an I.D bearing the name 'Antonio Carriedo'. His slight wry smile then turned into a very serious frown, and Japan couldn't help noticing a pang of annoyance and anger in his voice.

"Thanks to them, my life was in danger, and so is yours too, all of you. I can't go back to my country, no, not now while this this purge is happening. So the only thing we can do for now is use these identities, and maybe if it gets worse even towards each other. But we need to be careful from now on, okay? They're serious about this. And if the world leaders already know who we are, it's a game of hide-and-seek..." Spain stopped there, chuckled, and sat down again next to Romano. Japan nodded, his face expressionless.

"Yes," Japan began again, "Spain is definitely right. We need to be careful. And and that explains why Italy was targeted. All he wanted to do was be friends with the public and everyone around him, and that's how they found out so quickly."

"So what do we do now, then?" All eyes turned to the source of the voice, America. His face was screwed up and he looked as if he was trying much too hard not to burst into tears. "I-If we can t trust the people in our own countries any more then how do we stop them coming for us? You re right, Spain," he went on, "but if you're right then that means it's only a matter of time until they find us!"

There was no reply to America's outburst. He was right, and everyone knew it. The people could come any moment. They could fly a helicopter over the very field they were standing on and kill them, and yet there would still be Greece and Turkey and Egypt and Cuba and Canada and South Korea and Hong Kong and oh god, Sealand and Lichtenstein and Switzerland and the Nordics and the Baltics and every other nation out there.

It was a snap back to reality when a feminine voice spoke out in the silence. Hungary stood up to have her say, and in that moment Austria and Prussia had never seen her more determined. Her eyes were set, her brows were furrowed, her mouth was straightened and all the tears over Italy's passing had gone from her pale cheeks.

"Now, I don t know about you," she gestured towards all of them with her trusty frying pan, "but I think we're forgetting who we are! We're countries! The epitome of Earth's creations. We have endured millions of years of weird plates underground moving our land around as they please and have now, millions of years later, ended up with a space to call our own and people to call our sons and daughters. Spain over there-" she points at Spain, who looks extremely surprised to be mentioned by the pan-wielding lady- "has people who respect him as Antonio and fear him for the guy he is. But underneath all our human-like looks and ways, we're the countries of the world, for goodness sake! Let's stick together, like we always have. And war? The mere mention of war can go and die in some field and turn to stone for all I care."

Hungary stopped to catch her breath, smirking a little at the looks on the faces around her.

"Sure, some of you may hate each other, and if you argue and fight between now and whenever I die and become a statue it's not up to me, so I don't care, it's your problem. But at least let some of us stick together, and oh my goodness let nobody be left by themselves. Nobody, because," and she stopped and looked at Germany, Romano and Japan in turn," we've all seen today what it s like to be alone.

Hungary looked around. She had done exactly what she had set out to do when she said that, yet still she felt nervous.
And she tapped Austria on the back, turned, and left the fire which the countries were sat at towards another fire where she, Prussia and Austria were sleeping for the night.
And she lay down silently, and went to sleep.
And nobody said a word.

"So I think that sums it up, everyone. Tomorrow we will discuss provisions and groups, and how we can get to the other nations and bring them here, but for now all we can do is rest well."

As the others began to talk in hushed tones, Austria handed Japan a small leather notebook and a pen, and motioned for him to look through it and turn to a blank page. Japan noticed page after page of sheet music, and little notes on chords and tones and modes, and then quite a lot of pages near the end that were blank and empty."

"What is this, Austria? It's a very nice notebook, but what would you like me to write in it?"

Austria took it carefully from Japan's gentle hands, turned the book upside down, and opened to the 'new' front. The blank pages spanned most of the book, Japan noticed as he was handed it once more.

"There. This notebook is for you, Japan." In Austria's eyes, Japan could clearly see a shimmer of hope and dependence, and knew this would be important. He braced himself. "If we're really going to take this seriously, we need to know who's alive and who's...you know."

Japan nodded.

"So I thought that you could pass it around and let everyone write their name- their human name, mind, in case the humans take it from us if we re captured. We need to make sure that everyone is still connected, like Hungary said." Austria subconsciously looked over his shoulder at the fire where he was about to return to. "Here, I'll write mine."

Austria took the notebook again and wrote, in neat cursive script, 'Roderich'. Pausing for a moment, he sighed lightly, and gently wrote 'Feliciano' underneath before crossing it out with a single line.

"You see now? It will help us focus on who we have left to save before it's too late." Austria rested his hand on Japan's shoulder. "I know I've never really co-operated with you before, Japan, but I trust you. I will try to help you as much as I can if it means we can both save the others from what happened to Italy."

Japan stopped short in shock for a moment, before beaming. "Thank you, Austria."

Austria sat down again next to Prussia, and the notebook was passed around from there. Some people, such as Hungary, Spain and Romano, had already fallen asleep, and so the other countries wrote them in too. The last country to write his name was France, who wrote with such elegance and poise that he could almost challenge Austria as for who had the neatest handwriting. But that didn't matter; no, it didn't, and France knew this as he handed it back to Japan and stood near the fire. Something else did, something that had been on his mind since the very start of the pseudo-meeting they d held.

"Oi! Prussia!" France called out, but not without a hint of superiority to his voice. "Come here. I want to ask you something." Prussia was walking away with Austria and Germany as he turned around to see who it was, glaring once he realised it was France and turning completely around to face him when he recognised the tone in the other nation's voice. He took a few steps closer, his deep red eyes gleaming in the moonlight, his wicked smile growing.

Prussia spoke slowly as he grinned and put emphasis on each syllable, as if he was talking to a young child. "I - don t - want - to."

France stood, silent, shocked slightly at Prussia's insolence still, he couldn't say it was completely unexpected. He could tell Prussia had been waiting for this moment for a while, and braced himself for an onslaught.

"What's wrong, Francis? Someone stole your sippy cup of grape juice? Sorry, we're all out. Or perhaps you want some, hmmm, I don't know, 'eau de stone' to satisfy your curiosity?"

So you want to be like that then, Prussia? Fine by me.

France glared back at Prussia, quickly losing his temper. That bastard always had to be stubborn when he spoke to him, always. Maybe this was why Prussia ceased to exist. "Not when I should already have some of your own, Beilschmidt."

Prussia was taken aback. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean." France snarled, taking a step closer himself so as to accentuate what he meant. "You're not a country any more. You don't exist. Germany is one country now, not two; an only child, not a sibling."

Prussia felt harassed, and suddenly turned to the defensive side of things. "So? What is it to you that my so-called non-existent country isn't as high and mighty as yours?"

"It's that you re still alive, damn it!" France shouted, ringing alarm bells in Austria and a nearby England's head. "Northern Italy is dead, OK? Gone forever. Now, I could get over that alone in however long it takes, sure. But what makes me so- so angry- is that he's dead and you aren't! Look at yourself! You still call yourself a country? Well, Italy was a country if I ever saw one! He existed, he lived and breathed, he didn't have the goddamn nerve to try and be stubborn to everyone he met! Whereas you are different. You persist on being a country even when your own brother has taken over your land! Why is it that you feel like you have to waste everyone's time with this nonsense?!"

France stopped there, partially to breathe, and partially to persuade himself to be quiet. If he went on any further, he was sure that he would snap, and he really didn't want to do that now.
Prussia's face for a split second was contorted in rage, and the next moment it was dangerously close to France's. Prussia's finger came up from his side and jabbed France's chest as he began to shout back, breathing heavily.

"Oh? So it's my fault that I can t die now, is it? It's my fault that I haven't messed up and got myself killed? I cared for Italy as much as all you 'proper' countries did, and even so I will say it time and time again: he messed up! He messed up real bad! He thought it was a good idea to trust people, and he died for it. The only reason why you and I are still stuck on this hellhole of a planet is because we've both had the common sense to not be stupid, so don t you dare come rushing to me with this martyr crap and tell me it's now a good thing to wind up dead just because that bastard did!"

Nobody calls my friend a bastard.

That was it. France saw red, and he didn't really know what he was doing as his hand clenched into a fist and smacked down onto Prussia's face with a force he didn't know he had, knocking him backwards onto the floor. As Prussia dabbed lightly at his nose, France took the opportunity to kick him where it hurt, doubling him over and reducing him to quiet groans of pain and mumbled swearing and insults.
France regained his breath and stood triumphant over Prussia, and as he did so he felt a firm hand on his shoulder, shaking it lightly. "France. Come on. France, please. Calm down, let s go to sleep..." Recognising the relatively calm yet shaky voice as England's, he stared at the groaning Prussia for a moment or two before turning on his heel and walking off with England towards where the Allies would be sleeping.

Austria rushed over to Prussia, his eyes wide and worried as he sat down next to him and held a spare, crumpled-up shirt to his nose to stop the blood from pouring everywhere.

"Prussia!" Austria sounded distraught, unable to take his eyes off Prussia's pale face. "Prussia, are you OK?"

"M-Motherfucker..." Prussia mumbled, his eyes watery and his hands shaking. Austria helped him up and they walked slowly towards where Hungary was fast asleep. She would never know of this if they could help it, but in that moment they both swore that some day soon, France would get what was coming to him.

Germany lay down on his small sleeping bag that sufficed as something to sleep on, and looked blankly up at the night sky. It was a swirl of black and silver and white and grey, nothing more, nothing less. He sighed quietly to himself as he tried to focus on that and that only, rather than anything else.

Bleedingalonehurtingscreaming

A swirl of black and silver and white and grey. Yes. A constant swirl of beauty in the night sky.

Stoneheartpleadingalive

It was strange, he thought, that the sun so big was be a star just like the dots that made up the swirl at this hour of the night. Remarkable.

Fadingeyesholdingclenching

That was strange. Germany saw the sky as an even stranger swirl now, much more mixed up. He wondered if he was just seeing things.

Lovingsadnesswoundedstatue

Damn it. He was tearing up again. Germany frantically wiped his arm on his eyes, stopping the flow but causing a sting of pain in his left eye from the irritation. He didn't know what he had been thinking earlier, crying in front of everyone like that, and yet... ugh. Everything was so sentimental today, and he didn't like it one bit. Germany wished that he could just relax and sleep, but he couldn't, not with what happened on his mind.

"Germany."

It was Japan's voice that rang out of the darkness. Germany rolled onto his side to look over at Japan and saw pity in his eyes. Not again. "Hm?"

"It wasn't your fault, Germany."

Germany closed his eyes in slight annoyance. He hated this, this hint that he was now inferior, this attitude towards him as if he were a child. He was fine. Really. He could take care of this as much as Japan could. He didn't need anyone s pity over what happened, he just needed to be kept in check. And most of all, he needed everyone's trust that he could save them, like he always had to. He had to do something to help, not to be dismissed because he was grieving. He was Germany.
He would be fine.

Germany opened his eyes again and met Japan's anxious look.

"I know how you feel."

Germany furrowed his brows in a slight burst of anger which surprised both him and Japan. "So who have you lost, then, Japan? China? Because he's still alive, and so are you."

Japan looked at Germany in a mixture of shock and sadness, a lump growing in his throat. His lip trembled, and he turned over onto his side, away from his ally.

"I-I m sorry, Germany. I ll try to be more careful when talking about this next time."

"Wait. No, I didn't...Japan..." Germany began, regretting what he'd said in spite of himself. "I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"Goodnight, Germany." Japan said quickly, and he sounded as if he was choking.

Germany turned over onto his back. "Goodnight."

Idiot.

Yes, Chapter 1! I had to get this uploaded after the prologue- it's not enough to understand the thing. :)
The idea for the stone people just came into my head when I thought of how their human forms would die. They play a more important part later on...
Have a nice day, and I'll add more up if you all like it! :D