"I can't help but have a very unpleasant feeling about this place," Francis said. The sunlight streaming through the windows seemed to mock him. He glanced over at Arthur. "You've been really quiet for a while now. What's wrong? Is there something strange here?"

Arthur frowned, his green eyes thoughtful. "No," he finally said. "There is nothing—or no one—at all." That in itself was a bit disconcerting but was no big problem, not in an abandoned house. He would have expected some animals, at least.

"Russia and the others are on the first floor," Yao reminded the two Westerners, glancing over his shoulder at them. He hadn't quite gotten around to opening it yet.

"Yes, I know that," Arthur replied. "When I said there's no one here at all, I meant…How should I put it? It feels…as though everything has been consumed." His voice dropped to a low, thoughtful murmur as he spoke, his expression dark.

"You mean you cannot see the usual illusions?" Francis asked, leaning casually against the wall. "If even illusions have been consumed, maybe we really should keep out."

"I agree. In that case, I'll go and take a look upstairs." Yao brushed past the two of them doorway and then paused to look back at them. He was going to ignore the open door and hoped the other two would as well. "What are you going to do, Opium?"

Arthur glanced around the empty hallway, feeling uneasy but unable to determine the source. "I don't really want to stay on this floor," he admitted reluctantly. "I'll go upstairs too."

"What, you're leaving me here all alone?" Francis joked, smiling slightly. "Well, then, when you are done checking upstairs, we'll meet again, right here." He gestured around them.

"All right, then we'll leave the second floor to you," Yao told him.

"A half-hour should be enough time. Don't fall asleep on us, France," Arthur warned as he followed Yao to the stairwell.

"You can trust me!" Francis called after them. "Well, see you later." He walked past them and down the hall, ignoring the half-open door in front of him.

"Are you going to start from that room over there?" Yao asked.

"Yes," Francis retorted. "That room is bad news, isn't it? I'll leave it for later!" Never mind that Yao had glanced around inside, he was going to go as far away from that nausea-causing door and explore there.

"Let's go quickly," Arthur urged. "If we make America wait, he won't shut up about it."

"You look pale," Yao observed as they climbed the stairs. "You really hate it here, don't you?"

"…I never thought I would envy people who can't see so badly." Arthur sighed at the thought.

"Hmm? I couldn't hear you," Yao told him, frowning slightly.

Arthur made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Nothing, nothing."

They crested the stairs and looked around. The third floor was smaller than the bottom two, but seemed to have just as many doorways. Arthur took the lead and went to the right, to the first doorway he had seen.

The door was unlocked, but the two of them had to spend a moment blinking at what was inside. White walls, white floors, and white bookshelves with white books on them. What little color the room held was soft, muted, as if it thought being anything other than white was a crime. They rifled through the shelves in companionable silence, the sound of rustling books loud in the white room. Nothing seemed important.

The books were in many languages, Arthur noted, though they didn't come from any specific time and there seemed to be no system of organization. Maybe they were a purely aesthetic choice.

"So many books," Arthur said quietly. "Japan would feel more at home." He had always thought that the quiet Asian man must feel more at home at a library than a lecture hall.

Yao sighed and returned a book to its place. "I wish I was with Japan instead," he mused, thinking of his little brother.

"Even I would prefer Japan over you," Arthur commented dryly. "That reminds me, has he replied yet?"

"Hmm?" Oh, to the message I sent him?" Yao thought about it for a moment. "Last time I checked, I was out of range."

"Me too. Maybe the reception is bad? If Japan also wants to come over, that would be a problem. We should leave."

"I don't think he wants to come, though," Yao said, tapping his fingers on his chin as he thought about it.

Arthur shrugged, replaced the book he had taken off the shelf, and then led the way out the second door in the library. After a brief look around they went to the door in the middle of the long hallway.

They were met with a blinding whiteness yet again. This time the only thing in the room was a white piano, placed directly in the middle of the large area. Arthur frowned in confusion and Yao sighed. This place just kept getting weirder.

"There is something about this room that is bothering me," Arthur admitted as he wandered over to the grand piano. The air seemed too still, maybe. Or there was that feeling of being watched, but that seemed to come with the house, not the room….

He glanced at Yao and without speaking the two of them turned and exited the room. They went upstairs, to the smallest level, and to the first door they found there. Arthur's hands were shaking slightly, whether out of anxiety or excitement he could not tell, and Yao wore a forcibly passive expression.

We missed something, something important…

This room wasn't white, thankfully. Instead it looked almost disappointingly normal, with clean wooden floors, two beds, three loveseats, a coffee table, and some drawers. Nothing strange here. Except…

Arthur walked over to the far wall and frowned. There was a lever, which was currently in the top position, and a plaque hanging next to it. "What? 'Up is Heaven. In the Middle is Earth. Down is Hell.' What?" It took him a moment to read it, there were random Italian words just thrown in there. "Better not move it down, then." He scratched the back of his head, thinking, dimly aware of Yao poking around on the other side of the room.

After a moment he shrugged and decided to leave the lever alone. It's not hurting anyone the way it is. He caught Yao's eye and flicked his head towards the door and the two left. There was one other door on the fourth floor, and this time it was Yao who led the way. Arthur sighed at seeing all the empty space in it, the furniture—including one garishly red chair—pushed to the walls.

Arthur decided to take a closer look at the red chair. Frowning in thought, reached out to touch the soft-looking leather.. "Oh! This is—"

"What a creepy chair," Yao interrupted, coming to stand beside him. "It looks like a cursed chair I saw somewhere."

Arthur raised his eyebrows at the Asian man, slightly miffed at being interrupted but also amazed that Yao seemed to remember. He let the subject drop, though. "Well, we've come all the way to the fourth floor, but…everything seems pretty normal. The air is terrible, though." Which is to be expected. This house is abandoned.

"Yes, but…the bad feeling still isn't gone." Yao looked around them for a moment, brown eyes darting about. "Let's go back to France and go home, all right?"

"Yeah, well, let's—"

BANG.

The two men turned abruptly, flinching, at the sound of a gunshot.

BANG BANG BANG.

"That sound…" Arthur started.

"Is it the sound of America's pistol? He fired a lot." Yao took a deep breath to recover from the sudden shock.

Four shots. That means two left, he may not carry more rounds, he's not always the best at remembering but he tries… Arthur bit his lip, worried. "That means something must have happened. Right?"

"In a place like this?" Yao chuckled slightly. "Are you sure he didn't just fall for Russia's provocation?"

"Oh." Arthur felt a bit silly, now, about being worried. He still was, come to think of it. "Well. They do get carried away when they mess around with each other…" He didn't sound convinced, not even to himself.

Yao watched him for a moment and then sighed. "No. This is something different, not them messing about…anyway, let's join France and then go see what happened.

It was slightly reassuring to Arthur that he wasn't the only one upset. "If you insist," he said, sighing almost theatrically. Can't show how worried I am. He hadn't spent so much time on this world by showing worry.

The two trekked back down to where they were supposed to meet Francis. He wasn't there, or in any of the branch hallways they quickly looked down. Arthur glanced at his pocket watch.

"Fifteen minutes," he said. "Isn't France coming?"

"What's the meaning of this?" Yao asked, looking around. "It shouldn't take this long to check out the second floor." Not if they had done the third and fourth in that amount of time.

"Perhaps he got tired of waiting and went downstairs?" Arthur suggested. It sounded kind of like the Francis Arthur knew, to get bored and wander off.

"Well," Yao said after a moment of thought, "he does get bored easily. I'll check the rooms on this floor to make sure we didn't miss each other. Wait here, okay?"

"Yeah, or else we might lose each other."

Yao strode off down the hallway, leaving Arthur to his thoughts.

The first doorway he encountered was unlocked, thankfully. Through it was a room with two beds and a single long couch, but no Francis. He turned around and went to the other end of the hall, passing Arthur sitting on the stairs. The next room was just as devoid of the Frenchman as the first. The third had an interesting glass table and a nice fireplace, but no Francis. Yao was starting to get really worried now. First America shoots something, now France is missing. This is not good. He frowned and walked over to the fireplace. There were some ashes and burnt logs at the bottom, still slightly warm.

"Burnt firewood. So this is the source of the bad air." He stared into the fireplace for a few moments and then noticed something hanging from the chimney. "What? These are…no doubt about it, these are Japan's clothes…" He pulled on the dangling sleeved and then tumbled backwards, barely saving himself from falling. The jacket landed on the wooden floor in front of him, sending soot everywhere.

"Why….why is it covered in blood?" he breathed, dark eyes wide. He stepped over the jacket and then raked his hands through the half-burnt mess. "There are…remains of several things,' he observed.

"But I can't tell what got burnt."

He backpedaled out of the room and walked shakily over to Arthur, who was staring at his hands. Yao looked at his own hand, at the soot on it, and wiped it on his pants. It didn't help.

"Well?" Arthur asked, noticing him. "Did you find him?"

Find who? Oh, right, France. Yao chuckled uneasily at the way he didn't seem able to string a though together. He hated going into shock, but he couldn't stop it, not after all these years.

"You…you look frightfully pale," Arthur said, standing up and peering at Yao's face. "What have you got there?"

Yao looked at the hand he hadn't wiped on his pants and then held it up to show Arthur. "It's Japan's clothes. Most of it is burnt, though." Calm, yes, I can do calm, not falling-to-pieces-in-shock.

This house was supposed to be empty.

"This is blood…right? Wait, did you say they're Japan's clothes? You mean they—"

"This place is dangerous." Yao shoved the half-burnt jacket into his back pocket, not caring that he looked like a gang member or a mechanic. "But if Japan is here, it's a different matter. I'll look for him, and then go home."

Arthur sighed.

"Calm down," he suggested, his tone soft. "Try thinking about it rationally. Why would Japan be here?" He glanced around, trying to order his thoughts. "Look, we only came here because we went along with America's idiotic story and because we had nothing better to do, right? Right?"

"That is why something is wrong!" Yao shouted; annoyed that the Brit just didn't see what was going on!

"You said it yourself, didn't you?" Arthur continued. His voice was still soft, the kind of voice people used for talking to injured animals, and for making threats that were promises. "You sent that message to Japan. When you talked to him about it at the meeting place, he said 'I'll see what I can do', which is what he says when he doesn't want to do something. So he didn't come. And when we got to the mansion, you sent him a message telling him we were here. And he replied 'Be careful'. Only once. Once, China. He sent that from the meeting place!"

Yao looked at the floor, at his soot-covered pants and hands, and sighed. "Oh."

"Just think about it. He's in the meeting place right now! He couldn't possibly have gotten here before us." Arthur watched Yao carefully, hoping that the shock was gone. He had seen Yao throughout too many wars to watch him crumble in an abandoned building.

"Then how do you explain it? Those are the same clothes that Japan was wearing today!" Yao rubbed his hands on his pants again, unaware that he was just spreading the ashes around. "Why would the same clothes be burning in the fireplace?"

"Well…" Arthur stammered, trying to buy time and get his thoughts straight.

"France is missing too,' Yao stated, his voice calm again. "America was shooting at something. This place is strange, too strange! I'll go talk to the others about it."

"All right," Arthur sighed. "Anyway, let's go back. The chances that those belong to Japan—well. We can't be sure of anything yet."

The two went down to the first floor and, after a brief moment of consideration, down the eastern hallway. The first door they encountered was unlocked. It opened in on a library, devoid of anything but books but, thankfully, not entirely white. They proceeded in uneasy silence to the next door, at the end of the hallway.

Something is wrong. Yao yanked the door open and took a few stumbling strides into the room and turned, looking around wildly and what the hell is that thing but there was Ivan, yes, and Matthew as well. Yao was frozen, unable to think clearly, when Arthur ran into him.

"What the—!" Arthur caught sight of the monstrosity and bit back curses he had never uttered on dry land.

"What the hell is that monster?" Yao yelped, hoping Ivan or Matthew would have an answer. The thing was just standing there is the air different here was it even going to do anything? Was it dangerous? Nothing can survive long alone without being dangerous. Nothing. Yao looked closer at Ivan and Matthew and realized that they were hurt. Dangerous, yes.

Ivan glanced at them and then smiled and returned his attention to the thing, which had taken a step towards him when his gaze was gone. "Ah, you two sure took your time, didn't you? As you can see, we're in the middle of an assault." Even as he spoke the thing crept closer, as if it didn't want to be seen attacking while Yao and Arthur were in the room.

"Y-you two better run—" Matthew stammered.

It attacked.

"Russia!"

"That hurt," Ivan said, laughing in a mad sort of way. He kicked the thing away from him and glanced at the wounds now open on his arm. "The water pipes in this place really are no good, no good at all."

"It's good that I brought one of my own, yes?"

He swung at the creature and missed, overstepping a little and giving it an opening why isn't the monster attacking what is this Russia be serious and then stepping back, as unconcerned as if he was at his own home practicing.

"It's no use!" Matthew scolded, panic bleeding into his voice. "Even if it's yours, it's just a tap!"

No, it's not.

Ivan brandished the pipe as efficiently as any dervish and when the metal connected with the creature, it cut. Black ichor sprayed from the cut, making a fine mess of the wall. Ivan smiled thinly.

"How come the pipe is a sword now?" Yao muttered, taking a half-step towards the fight. His own hands, still covered in ash, groped for his sword.

"Ah, this is actually a sword cane," Ivan informed them, watching the thing writhe in pain even as it came closer. "I asked Japan to make it for me. It's really sharp, yes?"

He turned on his heel and brought the blade down with a smack that left a thin wound on the creature how come he's using the flat of the blade this is no time for games and then slashed a few more times, catching nothing but air on some but spraying more black liquid along the floor and wall on some strikes. He never takes battles seriously not anymore not since the War.

Matthew sighed and looked at Yao. "It does no damage, none at all," he informed the two men standing there. "Blood without a wound."

"Let's give them some reinforcements!" Arthur shouted, and the two ran forward.

Where the hell is my sword ah there Yao managed to get his sword out and at the ready before he reached the creature, which hissed at him what the hell but seemed unfazed by the blade. England was chanting something as Ivan attacked again I hope his magic works today and both Yao and Ivan scored touches, if this was fencing we would win but it wasn't a game no matter how Ivan laughed. A flash of green and an ungodly wail told Yao that Arthur's spell worked, at least for now and what the hell is this pounding is it my heart or that thing's and a single long, swiping blow from the creature hit him and Ivan and added red stains to black. Damn it can hit but Matthew was there, a concerned look on his face, and a few muttered words helped relieve the hurt I guess he would have his own magic so Yao readied his sword again. Ivan was ready, too, and that bear Matthew held what was its name again? Kumi? Arthur got another spell off, this one bringing fire with it and the thing burned it smells rotten even when it burns and why won't the pounding stop and Yao slashed, connecting with nothing but it felt sort of like control why won't the pounding STOP please stop.

It attacked.

The pounding stopped.

Matthew cursed as Yao and Arthur fell to the floor, tumbled together like tired children. Ivan was still laughing, softly, but he was no help, not right at the moment, no. Matthew fumbled his bow off his back and managed to get a shot off, it was weak but it hit. Not invisible now, no. The distraction allowed Ivan to attack again, once again streaking black ichor along his blade. And the creature screamed, screamed so loud Matthew wondered if his ears were shattered it doesn't matter attack but his vision was red, his mind was red, everything was red and everything was screaming.

Black replaced red.

"Ah, too bad. It didn't work at all," Ivan observed, panting, as Matthew slumped to the ground behind him. He glanced at the other two and noted that they were still breathing. That was good. But the weariness in his own limbs and the blood dripping down his own arm wasn't.

"Wait," Ivan commanded, seeing the creature move towards his fallen companions, who stirred as if sleeping.

Someone comes.

There was a wail of pain from the creature and the dull, meaty sound a blade makes when it is dragged through flesh. Ivan stepped back to avoid a spray of the black ichor but failed, his clothing becoming spattered with it.

"I won't let you lay a hand on my friends," Kiku said, his eyes dark with painful intent. His katana dripped black gore onto the floor and Ivan laughed to see him.

"Japan?" Arthur asked, his voice muddled and bleary. Ivan glanced to see that he and Yao were recovering from whatever had made them pass out.

"Now everyone is together," Kiku said, smiling slightly. "However, I'll ask you to wait a little before we can talk."

Arthur struggled to his hands and knees, panting in short, sharp bursts as he untangled himself. "I can't help, much," he admitted, his eyes unfocused. "This place itself is blocking my magic; I can only use a small part of it."

Yao burst out of unconsciousness like a swimmer coming up for air. He fumbled for his sword, which was out of reach, and then kicked violently at the monster, that dreadful thing, that was bleeding and being ignored. Yao hissed in pain as his movements pulled at his wounds.

"Japan!" He shouted, seeing his brother. "So you did come here."

Ivan stepped in and gave the creature a short, sharp rap with his sword to keep it from moving. Yao and Arthur slowly fumbled and crawled their way to the table in the center of the room and then stopped, panting, out of reach of the creature. Matthew was still unconscious.

"You are all right, I suppose?" Kiku said, barely looking at them. He kept his attention on the creature even as Ivan's attention wandered. "Excuse me while I deal with this Thing, then."

"It's strong," Ivan said dismissively. Kiku smiled at him.

"No need to worry." He finally seemed to notice the wounds on all of them. "It really did a number on you, didn't it? Allow me to pay it back in kind for the injuries you sustained."

Kiku took a short, measured step forward and swung his katana almost lazily at the thing. The air pulsed with the heartbeat again, it has to be that thing making it and it ducked out from under the slow arc of the blade. The creature retaliated damn that was close and Kiku sidestepped, parrying, bouncing his blade off of the creature's arm is it an arm? It seems humanoid and then there was a blur and Kiku's head felt like a bell that had just been rung, he shouted, a warrior's cry that sounded more like a roar, don't touch me don't touch mine they are MINE and then…

And then it was over. Gone, faded into nothing like a picture left in the sun.

"Wow," Ivan said, laughter running through his voice. "It looks just like Canada now."

Matthew sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just say it disappeared, will you?" Ivan shot him a toothy grin that was reminiscent of wolves.

"Can you stand up England?" Kiku asked, wandering over to where the blonde man was sprawled against the couch. Yao didn't look too much better; both of them looked like they had gone through a boxing match with a tornado.

"Y-yeah. Anyway, Japan," Arthur said, hauling himself upright. "Have you fought that monster before? It wasn't the first time…was it?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Kiku frowned at the other man. "You have fought it before, too, haven't you? You got here first, after all."

Everyone stared at the Asian. Kiku fidgeted slightly, nervous to be under such scrutiny.

"We haven't been here for an hour yet," Yao said, slowly, as if trying to puzzle it out. "And you…you weren't even supposed to be here yet."

"That's true, when you put it that way," Ivan added cheerfully. "I mean, China sent Japan a message and Japan replied from the meeting place, right?"

"Yes, and then Italy started saying that he wanted to come too, and so Germany, Prussia and I came with him…but…" He trailed off, frowning again.

"What? But it takes three hours to come here from the meeting place!" Matthew looked around to the others, hoping someone else was just as bothered by this as he was. Everyone else was deep in thought except for Ivan, who was smiling slightly and didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the conversation. "We really have been here for only about an hour. Don't you think that's a little odd?"

"There are many things we need to talk about," Kiku said, ignoring the Canadian. "First of all, let's go to the second floor. I know of a safe room there."

"Wait a minute!" Yao took a few shaky steps toward his brother, pulling the burnt jacket from his back pocket. "What about this, then? What's with these clothes of yours? They're covered in blood!"

"Oh." Kiku seemed entirely unbothered by the bloody, burnt jacket Yao was waving around. "Those are the clothes that I threw into the fireplace. Why do you have them?"

"I found them when I went to that room! Aren't you…hurt…"

"Ah, that is…tomato."

"Huh?" Yao stopped waving the clothing around to look at it closer.

"I'm fine; I'm not hurt at all. Now," Kiku said, looking at all the nations. "Let's join Germany and Italy and I'll explain the situation to you."

The others filed out of the room slowly. Arthur and Yao walked slowly, wincing whenever the movement tugged at bruises and wounds. Matthew was lost in thought and Ivan was humming an old drinking tune, his eyes darting around. Quickly, before the others noticed he was lingering, Kiku walked over to the counter and bent down to look at the broken plate. It was clean porcelain, the colors as bright as if it had been painted yesterday. He pocketed a piece and hurried after the others.

Upstairs he settled them into the Conference Room and then went to find Ludwig and Feliciano. He had left them in the room he had first found Ludwig in. Feliciano was sitting on the desk, swinging his legs like a schoolboy and humming a snappy tune. Ludwig was nowhere to be seen but some faint building noises emanated from beyond the iron door he had made.

"So everyone is here!" Feliciano exclaimed, moving to meet him. "Let's go back to the fireplace room, then!"

"Yes," Kiku agreed, smiling at the Italian. "Some are missing, but we'll have an emergency meeting now."

Kiku walked over to the iron door in the corner and rapped his knuckles against it. The faint buzzing from within stopped.

"Germany, if you're ready, let's go. They can't wait."

"Understood." Ludwig could barely be heard through the door. He swung the door open and stepped through, brushing something off of his clothing. "Sorry for making you wait."

"Are you okay now? Do you want to go in there again?" Feliciano bounced over to where Ludwig was, his concerned expression almost theatrical.

"No, it's all right." Ludwig shut the door firmly and then gazed at it, frowning slightly. "I probably won't come back here. Or rather, I hope I won't."

"Really?" Kiku asked, his tone conversational. "I hope so. Now, let's hurry up. We can't take our time here. We need to talk to them as soon as possible."

"You haven't found my brother, have you?" Ludwig asked, oblivious to Arthur's annoyance.

"…No," Kiku murmured, pointedly not looking at Ludwig.

"It...it'll be okay! Cheer up, Germany! If you're like that, we'll never find Prussia!" Feliciano bobbed around like a bird as he spoke, wringing his hands anxiously. Ludwig smiled thinly at him.

"You're right. Sorry."

"Come on, they're waiting for us."

They trekked over to the room in silence. Upon entering all of the Allies stared at them, some of them grabbing for weapons in surprise before relaxing. It seems we are all on edge. Kiku stood at the table across from where Ivan and Yao were seated. Feliciano and Ludwig went to stand by the fireplace.

"Sorry for making you wait," Kiku started, bowing his head. "Now, without further ado, I'll explain our situation. First, as you know, I received a message from China saying that you had arrived here, and Italy thought that it would interesting and wanted to come as well. So Germany, Prussia and I came here with him."

He nodded to Feliciano, who waved cheerily from beside the fireplace.

"I went to take a look around, but while I was gone, that monster you saw before appeared and attacked them."

"Were you all right after that?" Arthur interrupted, concern flashing across his face.

"Yeah, somehow," Feliciano replied. "For better or worse, it seemed to be targeting me, and I'm good at running away. So, I got to escape."

"You got away?" That's amazing," Yao told him, and the Italian beamed.

"In the end," Kiku continued, drawing the attention back to him, "while we didn't know the true nature of that thing, we all got together again and spent the night in this room. We had a sense of security because we had the key to it."

"The night…" Ivan murmured, looking at his hands. He seemed thoughtful.

"That really is odd…I mean, we—oh, I'm sorry," Matthew spluttered, blushing. "Please, go on."

"We've run out of firewood," Feliciano stated, seemingly ignorant of the other men's conversation. "Can I burn this wooden box?"

"Yes, let's burn anything that can be used as fuel." Ludwig fumbled through his pockets before locating the matches. The two bent to their task, and Kiku decided to ignore them.

"We decided that one of us should keep watch, and Prussia kindly took up this duty. But, maybe because of our sense of security, the three of us fell into a deep sleep. When we woke up…Prussia was gone." Kiku paused to gather his thoughts and the short silence felt like a funeral. "There were bloodstains in the hallway so I followed the trail, but...eventually…"

"The trail ended," Ivan finished. Kiku nodded grimly.

Ludwig and Feliciano moved to stand by the table. The fire was crackling merrily and seemed to banish the feeling of being watched. Feliciano smiled sadly at the Allies, looking as if he was going to cry at any moment.

"We tried looking for him, but we didn't want to lose anybody else, so Germany and I stood by. And then Japan found you guys, right?"

"Yes. And that's what happened to us." Kiku nodded at Feliciano and the Italian slouched against the wall, looking relieved not to be talking. "But…I thought for sure that America and France would be here too."

"The six of us came here on America's suggestion and split into two groups," Arthur informed him. "China, France and I went to check out the second floor while America, Russia, and Canada looked around the first floor."

"We had a bad feeling while we were on the second floor so Opium and I went to check out the third and fourth floor," Yao continued. "When we finished looking and came down to the second floor, France was…gone. And I found Japan's burnt clothes in this room, and I wondered what had happened."

"We came back to the first floor and found Russia and Canada fight that…thing." Arthur scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling like he had spent several days awake and heavily intoxicated. His tongue felt like it had grown fur. "That bastard disappeared the first chance he got."

"Really? Hm…" Kiku tapped his fingers against his chin as he thought. "I vaguely noticed it when I was fighting it, but that strange creature…"

"It resembles a friend of America's, doesn't it?" Ludwig asked.

"That's right!" Yao smiled triumphantly, chuckling. "I noticed it the moment I saw it! That's definitely it! Ah…its name was..."

"Tommy, wasn't it?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah, that was definitely its name. They look identical. Do you think this was America's doing?" Arthur asked, stifling a yawn. "He's the one who heard the rumors about this place and asked us to come here, after all."

"I see! So this is just a prank of America's that went too far!" Feliciano laughed, relieved that that was all this was. "Well, in that case, there's nothing else to say! We just have to find America."

"You're mistaken," Matthew said softly, his gaze trained on the floor.

"Huh?" Arthur frowned at Matthew, annoyed that the theory was being discounted.

"That's not Tony."