"Mattie! Mattie Matt, Matt, Matt! Materoo! Matski! Mateo! Mattie Dee! Matt Jack! Damn it! I'm running out of names! Wake up!"

Alfred was vainly attempting to wake up his brother, who was rather successfully ignoring him, face buried comfortably in Kumajirou's fur. The two were still in the jeep, this time tucked carefully into the trees as close to the airport as they could get. The promised airplanes had landed a little while ago, and Alfred wanted to get moving before too many people showed up.

But the Canadian wouldn't wake up. He was really stubborn when it came to sleep habits.

"I swear to God Matt, you get up right now, or I punt your ass all the way to London myself!"

Finally, the blond rolled over, slightly more awake than before, but still not opening his eyes. "No Will, I didn't steal your weed…" He mumbled in his sleep, pushing Al's face away from his. "Ask Francis…actin' funny…"

"Kuma-what'syourface! Get him up!" He whined, poking the bear, who was also stubbornly slumbering. "Lazy damn Canadians…" He muttered.

This woke the blond up pretty quickly. "What'd you call me? Arrogant prick!" He snarled, practically leaping to his feet, only for his bad leg to buckle under his weight. Matthew crumpled to the ground, muttering unintelligible nonsense, similar to whenever he stubbed his toe.

"Our chariot awaits broski." Alfred continued, pointing to the large plane that somehow fit onto the small-town runways. "Ready to put your amazing invisibility to good use?"

"Yeah, yeah. Kuma, you wanna hop into one of the backpacks there?" He was bluntly attempting not to punch his brother again for the crack at his invisibility, though something like that would be useful for their current situation.

The request earned him an annoyed glance from Kumajirou, who just sighed, and wormed his way back under the tarp, even though Alfred was already taking it off again. "You got all kinds of fun stiff in here!" He cheered, already picking up guns cheerfully.

"Just take what you can carry with me still on your back, Al. I'll take the necessities in the backpack." He indicated one of the dark army-green packs, which Kumajirou was already curled up in contently, going back to sleep.

"Okie doke bro!"

Once comfortable, Matthew pointed his brother in the direction of a small shed near the plane. "We'll wait for an opening there." He whispered to his 'ride', who nodded seriously.

"Aaaaanndd…now!" Alfred crowed quietly, charging forward just as a trio of attendants turned to collect another set of massive crates. He put every remaining ounce of whatever remained of his nation strength into the dash, up the stairs, and into the far reaches of the cargo plane, now only under the watchful eyes of several cows, and an irritated chicken.

The two decided on a crate of hay that was only half full as their hiding spot, and settled down for the long flight across the Atlantic. Matthew was asleep again almost right away, but Al stayed up for awhile longer, staring warily at the slow-moving muzzle of the dark brown cow above them. He'd been out for a full year, honestly, he felt like he never wanted to sleep again. They were going to swoop in, and save the day! He was really pumped!

But as much as his mind craved staying awake, taking in everything in their current, boxy world, his body screamed for sleep, and he was helpless to disobey.

{}}{{}

The first thing he was aware of when he woke up again, was that there was a long strand of hay stuck up his nose. The second was a sharp pain on the top of his head. The first problem was easily fixed, he just sat up. The second… well, pulling one's hair out of a hungry cow's mouth is never an easy task.

"Gimmie back Nantucket, Daisy, or whatever the hell your name is!" He growled, glaring darkly at the cow, which just stared back at him with lazy brown eyes.

When the tug-of-war was over, he poked his tender scalp, pouting and eyes slightly damp, and then cautiously slid out of the box to check on their current location.

He was expecting to see nothing but water, or clouds. After all, they couldn't have been up in the air for more than a few hours, right?

He saw land.

A whole lot of land that they were rapidly approaching, confirmed by the fact that his ears plugged up quickly in that annoying airplane sort of way. They weren't ready for this. There was no plan ready for when they landed. Would they just hunker down at the bottom of the crate and escape later? Would they go parachuting? Go out in a Chuck Norris kind of way at the airport, beating the shit out of fifty some-odd guys with machine guns while he only had his fists?

He liked the sounds of the last one, but not the odds.

"Al! Get back here!" He turned from the window to see Matthew was also awake, checking to see that Kumajirou was still sleeping in the backpack before slinging it over his shoulders, and pulling himself up to the edge of the crate. "As soon as the plane shows any signs of slowing enough on the runway, we're getting out and running for it, okay?"

Well that was a bit anticlimactic.

{}}{{}

Arthur paced quickly around his study, chewing nervously on his lower lip.

Waiting.

Three days. It had been three whole days since the conversation with Matthew and Alfred. Three days since he learned they were coming to help them. Three days without knowing if they were alive or not.

It was eating him alive. He refused to let anyone come in, not even Tino. The study door was locked tightly, and he refused most food and drink, only caving in when he was really hungry and the Finn was practically begging him to open the door. He hated to think about it, but it was probably bothering the others too, even if they didn't know why.

Still. He couldn't sleep, or work. He couldn't even fix himself a proper cup of tea! How dearly the Brit just wanted to sprint across the room to his desk and call Matthew's cell phone, but how could he? What if they were hiding somewhere, having to keep completely silent to avoid detection? He couldn't call, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't.

"What's eating Artie?" Mathias wondered aloud that evening over dinner. The Dane had been fidgeting all day without realizing it, curious as to what could be bothering Arthur so much.

"S'ppose th're must b' a r'son." Berwald mumbled in reply. He was curious too though. They were all curious. Arthur was their leader. He was the one that was supposed to remain calm, and get them through this. For him to suddenly break away from the other five was a bit unnerving. And Finland was being oddly tight-lipped about it. Freyr and Andreas had already tried to get him to talk, but he was used to being stared down, so their 'silent persuasion' wasn't all that persuasive.

He'd promised not to breathe a word about the twins, and he was a Finn, about as stubborn as they come. But even he didn't know how long he could last without blurting out something about everything.

It didn't help that all the others seemed to know that Tino knew something. He could feel each and every different pair of eyes boring into him, as if daring him to continue the charade.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading~!

Uh, I guess I lied. China does not make an appearance this chapter. He was going to, but I really wasn't feeling it so…next time, definitely! Next chapter will probably be a lot longer now, seeing as I'll throw China's scene in there on top of what I've already got written, which is about 4 pages handwritten so…that'll be nice for you guys!

As always, reviews make me smile! (And now seeing as I had lots of fun writing the crack pairings I've got so far, if you've got any requests, just throw them out there, and I should be able to fit them in :D)