England sat by the river he had often visited as a child, staring at his (quite dashing, if you asked him) reflection. A few small, vivd orange fish disturbed the surface, sending ripples through his reflection.

"Engwand?"

At the sound of his name, England turned to see a familiar child, wearing a white gown, with golden hair that had one wayward, upright strand at the front. Vivid blue eyes and a charming smile.

"America! Come over here!"

Little America rushed towards him, and England caught the child in a tight hug. For some reason, he found himself unable to let go of the boy that clung to him.

"Gerroff me, Engwand!"

America eventually struggled from his grasp, taking a seat next to him and running his chubby little fingers over the surface of the water. England smiled, and resumed watching the water and the fish that swam in circles within it.

"Engwand?"

England continued to stare at the fish.

"Engwand!"

The fish swam away. England frowned.

"Engwand!"

England looked up to see what his charge was shouting about, and found that he was lying on the ground, covered in a red liquid that looked a lot like... Oh God. The little face stared at him, eyes filled with pain, mouth open in a scream that England couldn't hear. He tore his eyes away, looked back at the water to find that his reflection was splattered with blood, a manic smile on it's face. He reached out to touch the refflection, disturb it, make it go away, but he found that his own hands were shining, scarlet, soaked with the blood of the child on the grass next to him...

"Fuck!"

England fell out of bed, landing heavily on the ground, tangled in the duvet. He flailed around for a while, trying to escape and find the little boy, little America, until he realised that America wasn't so little any more. He stopped flailing and untangled himself from the duvet to find that he wasn't in his own room. What the? Looking up at the wooden ceiling, the opaque walls, and finally the tatami mats on the floor, he realised that he was in Japan's place. Why am I- oh, oh God. The memories of the previous day came flooding back, the meeting, his realisation, the bright green cake, the kiss, running away when he remembered what he had done, being carried by Germany... He couldn't recall anything past that point, but he could only assume that someone had washed him, judging by the lack of icing, and they had put him a bed that he now identified as Japan's, wearing... He looked down, and was greeted with some large pink flowers on a dark blue background. He raised his eyebrows at the... What was it called? Jin-something? In any case, it was clearly meant to be worn by a female.

Looking around the room, England realised why he hadn't been put into one of Japan's spare Jin-thingys that were meant for males. There were futon scattered around the room, four in total. One of them looked like it hadn't been slept in. Probably Italy's, since he usually slept in Germany's bed. Wait, four? Italy, Germany, Japan... who's the fourth-

England's thoughts were interrupted by a yipping sound accompanied by some tweeting. Japan's little white shiba-inu came streaking into the room, followed by a mass of something yellow and fluffy. The dog jumped onto the duvet, staring at England and making noises that could only be interpreted as cries for help. England grabbed the little dog, trying to swat the yellow things away from it. This only resulted in them being covered in the fluffy little things that England could now see were birds. Pierre?

"Kesese! We've got a new target!"

No, not Pierre then. Fuck.

Prussia came bounding into the room, brandishing a rather large stick, bringing yet more of the little birds with him.

"Charge!"

England found himself covered with even more birds. Japan's dog wriggled from his grip and made a break for it, whimpering. England tried to get the little pests off of him, but they settled on his arms and head and refused to move. He sighed, really not in the mood for Prussia's crap. Not that he usually was, but today he was ready to punch the albino square in his smug little-

"Kesesese, what the fuck are you wearing Eyebrows?"

Prussia received one of England's best glares. The ex-nation ignored it.

"I mean, all the birds look pretty awesome, but the whole cross-dressing thing kinda ruins the effect. And the eyebrows, of course, why exactly are they so humungo-"

England stood abruptly, fists clenched, finally unseating all the little birds.

"Shut up you fucking git, or I'll punch you right in your pathetic excuse for a face!"

He advanced on Prussia, whose face turned from one of smugness to one of mild worry. He turned and streaked out of the room, followed by the birds and England.

"I surrender! The awesome me surrenders! Italy, I need to borrow your flag!"

England finally caught up and pounced, both of them tumbling into the living room trying to exchange blows. Finding himself pulled away from the irritating ex-nation by a pair of strong hands, England twisted to try and get back at Prussia. Prussia backed away, laughing, until his back met a wall.

"Kesese, the awesome me didn't need reinforcements, I could have dealt with Eyebrows by myself, she's pathetic!"

Finally calming down, England stopped struggling and just glared again. The hands released him, and he turned to see that it was Germany who had stopped him. Japan and Italy were seated at the kotatsu table, looking worried in one case and grinning stupidly in the other. Germany just looked annoyed. Japan coughed nervously.

"Uhh... England-san, what exactly happened yesterday? I mean, if you feel like telling us..."

When England finished his story (minus certain parts, obviously), three of the four nations seated around the table stared at him in awkward silence. Italy, of course, had a happy but confused expression.

"Veh~ England, you're good at telling stories, but it's not nice to kill America, even if it is a story..."

England momentarily eyed 'Herr Stick', who was on the table next to Germany. He wondered how Germany would react if he hit Italy over the head with it. Perhaps he could knock Prussia out with it too, just for good measure.

"Italy, you dummkopf, it wasn't a story..."

Italy just stared blankly at Germany, still smiling. Well, looked in that general direction. Could he even see with his eyes closed all the time? Germany just sighed, clearly realising that there was no point trying to explain. It was probably for the best, considering the kind of reaction Italy might have when he realised that America was actually- England let out a small noise, a combination of a gasp and a sob. It hadn't occurred to him that America was probably already gone. Japan patted his shoulder in a comforting way, and England closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against the table and letting the tears flow freely again. He stayed like that for a while, long after the tears had run out and the pain in his chest had subsided somewhat, although the pain in his leg and both of his arms from his fight with Prussia hadn't subsided. People were talking, but he couldn't listen to them. He felt empty, in disbelief of what he had done.

Finally, he managed to look up, and realised that everyone but Japan had left the room. Japan grimaced, his big brown eyes sad, and England realised how what he had done would affect everyone else. America had been one of Japan's best friends. Canada's brother. Russia's frenemy. Representative of a ridiculous amount of people. England's... He had been a lot of things to England. Former charge, enemy, friend... and, in the end, potential lover. England detached himself from the last one. It didn't matter now. There was no fixing what he had done.

"Japan... England." Germany had returned, clutching a mobile phone. He looked somewhat sad too, as sad as someone like Germany could look. "Nobody has seen America since yesterday. China said he and Russia saw him, apparently he was coming to find England..." Germany lapsed into silence. Japan stood and walked out of the room. Germany glared at England, then followed. England knew that they all hated him right now. He couldn't blame them.

Prussia walked in a while later, carrying a laptop. He took a look at England, who was now dressed in a black shirt and a pair of trousers of unknown origin that Germany had thrown in.

"Appropriate." he muttered, setting the laptop down next to England and occupying the space that Japan had left. England looked at him questioningly, wondering why he wasn't staying away. Prussia shrugged.

"We've all killed before. Some of us more than others... And anyway, America was more important to the others than he was to me." England nodded. He thought that Prussia was being a little insensitive, but it was probably the best that could be expected of him. At least he wasn't running around with his birds any more. And, if England was honest, he was grateful for the company. And the lack of birds.

They sat there for a while, not speaking, the silence magnifying the sound of Prussia tapping at the keyboard. The noise began to grate on England's nerves.

"What are you doing?"

Prussia looked up, a little stunned as if he had forgotten England's presence. "Oh, uhh, Japan wanted me to write something on my awesome blog. You know, about America."

England raised an eyebrow, questioning Japan's sanity. Had Japan even seen the kind of things in Prussia's blog before? Prussia glared.

"I'm not writing anything bad, arschloch. Gott, why does everyone always assume the awesome me is being a dick?"

The laptop was turned so England could see what Prussia was writing. There was a photograph of America at the beach, one that was obviously recycled from a previous post. The text underneath said 'R.I.P Alfred F. Jones, a.k.a The United States of America. He was a hero, and will be missed by everyone. Especially the awesome me.'

England stared up at Prussia blankly for a moment.

"What?"

"You know, I think this is exactly the kind of thing... he would have wanted."

"Oh. Well, that's good. As long as Japan's happy with it..."

Once again, England raised an eyebrow, this time at Prussia's worried expression.

"Why are you so worried about what Japan thinks?"

"I'm not, I'm just respecting the deceased! ...or something!" Prussia tried his best to look offended. It didn't really work.

A few minutes after Prussia had posted his tribute, both his and England's mobiles received texts. There was to be a meeting in Japan as soon as possible.

"Why the fuck are they coming here?"

"Probably because four nations are already here?"

"Oh, right... wait, four?"

"Well, you're not really a-"

"Shut up Eyebrows."

England chuckled, but there was a somewhat nervous undertone to it. He could imagine it now, all those nations staring at him accusingly. It would take a long time for them to forgive him. He had killed America... The realisation hit him again, but he didn't break down this time. He just felt a little nauseous. Germany chose that moment to appear, followed by a very pale-looking Italy who, upon spotting England, gave him an angry, accusing glare that quickly broke into sadness. Germany finally explained it to him then...

"You heard about the meeting?" Germany seemed to be directing the question towards his brother, but England nodded too anyway. "Get ready and meet me by the front door in five minutes."

The meeting was being held close enough that they could walk there. Although it wasn't a long journey, it seemed to drag on for a lifetime because of the awkward silence. Even Italy was perfectly silent. England noticed that Prussia stuck to Japan's side, but decided it was best not to comment. The thought of that kind of thing made his chest ache anyway, and gave him flashbacks that he would rather not have.

When they finally, finally reached the location of the meeting, they were unsurprised to find that they were the first ones there. Japan took a seat at the large round table, and Prussia sat next to him. Germany sat on Japan's other side, with Italy next to him. England decided to sit next to Prussia, because the albino seemed to hate him the least, and sitting next to Italy with that expression was sure to make him feel more guilty than he did already.

Slowly, nations began to trickle into the room, completely silent apart from a few sobs that England didn't want to look for the owners of. He stared at the table, intent on observing a knot in the wood. The seat on the other side of him remained empty.

"England, I brought you a present. You should thank me, da?"

England looked up at Russia, suppressing a shudder. The tall nation smiled down at him and pointed at what was beside him. A chair.

"Why the bloody hell would I want a- oh." He could see the fault lines and creepy aura again. It took all his power to not punch the chair, or perhaps sit in it himself. He knew that the curse wouldn't work soon enough anyway... A lump appeared in his throat, and if he had any tears left they probably would have escaped. As it was, he was just angry.

"Russia."

"Da?"

"Do me a favour?"

"Da?"

"Sit in the chair."

"Fine, but you owe me, da?"

Russia stared at him as he nodded, still smiling that childish, creepy little grin. He pulled the chair a little way away from all the nations at the table and sat on it, maintaining the smile.

"Aah, comfy..."

The chair gave a harrowing screech and shattered, scattering splinters all over the carpet. Russia frowned, looking down at the splinters, as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Clearly he still hadn't worked out that he was evil. The tall nation shrugged, stepping over the splinters and sitting next to England, smiling again. China sat next to him, giving England a small grimace.

Every seat bar two was filled now, but the room remained silent. Russia's closeness caused England to shudder, and Prussia looked like he was considering moving. Everyone was staring at the empty seats, wondering why there was more than one. ("Kumachintzy, why do they keep staring at me?")

Almost everyone jumped when a tinny version of the German national anthem began to play. Germany muttered something under his breath and pulled out his phone, flipping it open and pressing it to his ear.

"Guten tag."

…

"Nein, ich bin am der- Was?"

…

"Scheisse, wirklich?"

Germany closed the phone and looked up, an expression of shock plastered across his face.

"Italy, you've got a car near here, right?"

"Y-yes?"

"Gut. Japan, Bruder, England. We need to go to Russia."

Gaah, so many things I don't like about this chapter, but if I try to fix them all I'll end up rewriting it again and again and I'll never finish it OTL

I think the German is right... If it isn't, feel free to correct me .