Germany exited the first floor bathroom with Italy behind him. He just finished helping Italy wipe dirt off of his outfit. His own was still a bit dirty, but he wiped most of it off. Since the whole paint-ball episode ended, everyone has been in the country house cleaning themselves off. Everyone was more awake now that the sun was out and they were laughing about how bad Tennessee and Kentucky looked. Italy sat next to Maryland, who was in the middle of telling a funny story that took place at America's party. Germany continued walking to the kitchen in search for Virginia. He has yet to apologize for what he said in Alabama, not that she seemed like she would accept an apology at this time.

To his surprise though, when he walked into the kitchen, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee were standing around the counter sharing a bowl of cherries and laughing. Virginia's clothes were wiped down and her legs were now clean, while both Kentucky's and Tennessee's hair were soaked from their long showers. "I swear, never before was I so terrified when I saw those three drag me off an ATV."

Kentucky shook his head, "Try getting dragged off an ATV by nations! I could have swore a war started or something overnight and they were coming to get me. Then after Virginia here dragged you off the ATV she put all of her motherly rage into one power walk and came up to me like I damned our whole country. She said we were grounded!"

Virginia's laugh almost caused her to spit out a mouth full of cherries, "Well at least I didn't say 'you always treat us like children!' You sounded like you were in some crappy teenager movie!"

"Don't pretend you didn't combat that with some 'that's because you always act like one' crap. If we really were in a shitty movie you'd be the parent the stunningly charming teen would rebel against."

"Stunningly charming? Didn't look that charming when you were covered in horse shit," Tennessee snorted.

"Oh don't you pretend you came out of there clean! You were the first one hit!"

Germany cleared his throat to get their attention. Both states went quiet while Virginia put down a cherry and stared at him, "Yes?"

"Can I talk to you?" He could barely muster out.

Virginia gave Tennessee and Kentucky a look, "We're taking this," the bowl of cherries was carried out with them to the living room. While the kitchen was empty, Germany still felt the need to lead her out onto the front porch.

Once they were outside, Germany realized there was no going back and began talking before he knew what to say, "I, er, just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I treated you in Alabama. I shouldn't have said what I said, and it was wrong of me to accuse you of betraying America based on the Civil War." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Virginia paused, taken aback by the sudden apology, then uncrossed her arms and sighed, "It's OK. I was kinda expecting this to happen when I first learned of our betrayal to America. You were right though when you said I was practically leading the Confederacy, but that was basically the only thing you got right. I should apologize too. I was being a total jerk to you, and to everybody else after that point."

Germany raised his eyebrows, "You're apologizing to me?"

The state nodded, "Yeah, I really shouldn't have made all those Nazi references while defending myself either, that was very hypocritical of me."

"It's alright, you were not as bad as I was. We really are trying to help."

"I know," She said. "So are we, this is just really hard to handle right now, losing America. Especially after the forth of July, whichever one of us that did it must know that was a big blow."

Germany sighed, "I'm glad we sorted that out, now we can focus on the mission."

Virginia agreed, "I'll go see how everybody's doing. I'll help them push along so that we can pick up West Virginia soon." She went back into the house and Germany smiled after her, feeling a weight lifted from his chest. That was one less thing to worry about, it felt good improving relationships with states too, he knew he'd have to work with them later on when they reach the house. He took a moment to breathe the Southern air, then plugged his nose when a breeze picked up the stench of horse manure. Either way it was nice to have a short brake from the chaotic day.

Germany then felt a buzz in his pocket and glanced at the caller id. He frowned when he saw it was England, but answered, "Hallo?"

"Germany? Are you with Italy?"

"Yes, let me call him over." He opened the door briefly to yell Italy's name, wondering what the Briton called for.

"What is it?" Italy asked as he closed the front door behind him. Germany shrugged and put the call on speaker.

"What is your progress?"

"We're in Kentucky right now, we only have to pick up West Virginia and then we're heading for D.C."

"Good, we're just starting to settle in the house and we have a serious problem."

Germany paused, "Is it the crime scene?"

"No, I already contacted Japan about that, all areas relating to America's attack has been blocked off. This is about the guilty state, they talked to France."

"They what!?" Italy asked.

Germany and Italy exchanged a worried look, "What happened?"

"New York's car was sabotaged and France suspected New Hampshire. While he was following up on the lead he received a call from a blocked number. A filtered voice started talking to him. The voice knew our exact location and situation. Then France was given instructions and in return of passing along the message was sent a picture of America after the call ended."

"What were the instructions?" Germany asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"We were told to leave America by the 8th and never mention America's states again, the states were told to support this state and not to go against the cause."

"And if we don't?" Italy asked.

England paused over the phone, "If we don't then America will never be seen again... and this state will kill us."

"No personification can permanently kill us without effecting our people, economy, or government. They'd have to practically wage war on us, and this personification's just a state!"

"Does it look like this state wants to play by the rules? They claimed there are forgotten ways where we'd die instantly, however they're planning on doing that. I say they just added that part to intimidate us more."

"So what now?" Germany asked.

"Now you two cast your vote. This state wants us out of this immediately, and will go as far as threatening to kill us to do so. This is your chance to back out, and vote on whether we should continue with the rescue mission. France and I are staying, you two are the first I called."

Italy looked up at him, "Back out? But we'd never see America if we did that! What do you think, Germany?"

Germany ran his hand through his neat blonde hair, "Like Italy and I were saying before, this hasn't happened before to this extent. This state wants us out of the picture because my bet is that they only planned to face the other states. Having us being involved was a curve ball no one was expecting, leaving the states to fend for themselves and America wouldn't be helping anything. Also I'm not going to sit around in Europe and wait for things to be played out. I'm staying."

"I'm staying too!" Italy boldly stated. "This state can't follow through any of their threats if we catch them first!"

"Hopefully we will," England said, "So your votes are towards continuing the mission?"

"Yes," Germany and Italy said in unison.

"Alright, I will keep you posted. New York said you two will reach the house next, and judging by your pace and his estimation of time I'll agree with him. Is that all?"

He was about to agree when Italy grabbed the phone from him, "Wait! You said this state sent a picture of America. How is he?"

Germany felt his heart tighten when England responded, "H-He will heal. He's in crucial condition mostly caused by bullet wounds- he was shot in the head- and may take some time before regaining consciousness. He's bound in some unidentified location, but besides that it looks like they barely touched him. Don't worry Italy, we'll find him."

Italy didn't respond, with his head down he placed the phone back in Germany's hand and went inside. Germany ended the call and followed him to the living room, where states were starting to gather up their luggage. Maryland put his blue suitcase down and studied the two states, "Hey what's wrong?"

Germany shook his head and sighed, they were going to find out eventually, he just didn't want to be the one to tell them. The states stopped what they were doing the second America was mentioned, and their expressions changed from confused, to sad, to angry as he continued to share the phone call. When he finished, the states stared at him in shock, "We must reach D.C. as soon as possible. We must find America."

XXX

"I swear the second I reach America's house, I'm done, I'm going to pass out for at least a year," Virginia murmured with slumped shoulders.

Germany was wide-awake however. Throughout all of their problems during their journey, it all seemed like a simplistic task he faced compared to all the things he will have to do when he reaches the house. They reached D.C. thirty minutes ago, and two New England states picked them up. One state with black hair accented with an ahodge, and a blue eye rode a red car, while the other was a petite girl, her light brown hair was styled in a bob cut that mostly hid her eyes, she rode a black van, a rental to make up for New York's broken down car. Germany was in the front seat of Massachusetts' car, while Italy went with Rhode Island.

"So you stayed up the whole night?" West Virginia asked. He seemed similar to Virginia in facial features, but besides that he looked very different. He had gray patchy hair that hadn't looked like it was brushed and an eye that was black, making his pupil barely visible. He didn't know what eye seemed creepier, Virginia's red eye or West Virginia's black eye.

"Yes!"

Massachusetts yawned, "I know how you feel there, we would've been done much earlier if we flew like you guys did, but no, we just had to drive. It would have been safer too, how do you get water in the gas tank of a plane?"

"Wait, do planes have gas tanks?" Tennessee asked.

"Who cares? You guys coming here interrupted my sleep, I'll make sure you Southerners are woken up to get the next group that lands here."

"Do it and I'll sick these two on you," Virginia gestured to Kentucky and Tennessee, "They're dying to continue the prank war."

Kentucky's blue eye gleamed from excitement, "Please let us."

"Not yet," Virginia shook her head, "We all agreed that the prank war is delayed until America is found."

Their shoulders slumped, and Maryland shook his head, "You guys get way too carried away sometimes."

"Coming from Pinocchio," Tennessee looked at him. "Seriously, every word that came out of your mouth used to be a lie, then one day you just stop, and since then every word that came out of your mouth has been a truth. Isn't changing from one opposite to another going a little far?"

Germany stared at Maryland, "You used to lie?"

Maryland hesitated, "Yeah, everyday I did. But that was a long time ago, and I realized the damage it created, so since then..." He didn't have to finish. "Anyways, Tennessee just brought that up to change the subject, because he doesn't want to admit that him and Kentucky go too far." Tennessee rolled his eyes, "What? Are you gonna say I'm lying?" Tennessee muttered his retort.

Germany said, "You states argue about the weirdest things."

"And you nations don't?" Massachusetts asked. He then turned the car and looked at him, "We're here. The driveway goes back awhile."

Germany stared out the window, now the car was riding through a long driveway that he would have mistaken for another road. The winding driveway was surrounded by woods on both sides, he didn't know what these Americans liked about owning secluded houses surrounded by trees. He never saw this house of America's before. He didn't even know this one existed. He only went into America's apartment a couple times before, he didn't visit often which was fine by him before he found out this nation was secretly flooded with personifications. He didn't know what he expected America's house to look like, but when the trees cleared out and the car came to a stop he certainly didn't imagine America owning a mansion. Judging by the dormer windows, the building had three floors and possibly a basement. The mansion was long and wide, bigger than most houses he would ever see. The mansion was tan with a brown roof. The front porch and the balcony above it were both white. Lush gardens lined a stone path that led to the porch and continued around the side of the house. A fence made of red brick and wrought iron surround the house as far as Germany could see, leading to a backyard.

"T-This is America's house!?" Germany asked.

"Yup."

"It's so large!"

Massachusetts slowed the car, "Well yeah, there's fifty bedrooms in there of course it's large. England wants us to enter from the garage, we'd avoid the crime scene better." Most states paused at that, but didn't say anything. The massive garage opened and Massachusetts' red car slowly pulled in, with the rental van not too far away. When the car came to a stop, Germany exited the car, and waited for everybody else to file out. He went behind the car and helped Maryland unload the trunk of luggage.

"Finally!" Italy shouted as the van door opened, "I could have swore we were going to be on the road forever!"

Alabama laughed, "It must have been hard for you, I've only been tagging along since four while you've been going all night and all day."

"Tennessee and I had a great amount of sleep last night," Kentucky teased.

"Oh really? Looks like I know who's going to be getting the next group!" Massachusetts called out.

Germany grabbed a couple of suitcases and started to go inside, Italy followed him while the rest of the states stayed behind in the garage. The garage led to a large kitchen lined with granite counters with an island in the center of the room. New York was sitting on the counter, chewing on a green apple while England was leaning against the wall besides him. "Hello Germany, and Italy," England greeted.

Germany nodded his greeting, "Where's France?"

"He's upstairs taking a shower," New York answered.

Germany stepped aside to let all of the states in. "Don't go near the front hallway, that area is blocked off for obvious reasons. The main rules are to not go off by your own and to tell a nation where you're going if you want to go somewhere nobody else is. You're either going to be told not to leave or will be given permission with nation supervision. Sneaking around will call for immediate interrogation. Whether or not you'll be questioned regularly will depend on what the we decide when everybody arrives," Britain told the states as they started to enter the house.

Florida rolled her eyes, "Great, so the innocent states get punished too?"

The Briton shook his head, "This is just precaution."

"Anyways this is nothing compared to what the guilty states will be getting when we catch them," Massachusetts said. "But we can talk about that after we all get some sleep."

"Thank god," South Carolina muttered. "I'm so tired."

"We all are," Maryland said. "Speaking of that, did you get any sleep?" He stared at New York and England.

England shook his head, "Someone had to keep watch."

"Yeah, and I wasn't going to leave nations alone in America's house unsupervised," New York said stubbornly. The look England gave him told Germany that he wasn't enjoying the state's distrust. Germany had to agree with him.

Massachusetts brought the states through the house and to their bedrooms while Germany, Italy, England, New York, and Maryland stayed behind. Germany nudged Maryland and gestured to New York. The state shrugged, then clapped his hands together, getting their attention, "Well! You countries clearly have some catching up to do, so New York and I will leave you alone."

"And who's going to watch them?" New York asked defensibly.

Maryland crossed his arms, "Clearly not you, just look at yourself man. You look exhausted, and what happened to your hands?"

"I jumped through a window."

The state paused, "Really? Wow. In that case you sure had a long day, so let's get you into a shower and then off to bed."

New York tossed his apple across the room into the garbage can and followed him with dragging feet, "Will you watch the nations?"

Maryland sighed, "Sure, as long as you get some sleep. Now come on." While leading the exhausted state out of the kitchen, he looked back at Germany to silently mouth, "I'll give you thirty minutes, but I already agreed to watch you."

When he left the room, England sighed of relief, "I sure could have used him a while ago. I could have sworn he was never going to leave."

"He really doesn't trust us," Germany agreed. "Which I can't really understand, since we have more of a reason to distrust him than he does for us."

"How are we going to handle twenty states in one house?" Italy asked. "Wait, how are we going to handle fifty!?"

"We'll figure something out," a French accent said. France entered the room wearing nothing but a pair of designer jeans and a towel over his shoulder. His blonde hair was dripping wet and he took a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Massachusetts is watching the states while we speak. For now let's just discuss what we know already."

Germany and Italy listened intently to France and England describing their journey throughout New England. They went into great detail when describing the states and their reactions to the news about America. Germany could tell by their expressions that they were trying to recall every important detail they could remember. Then France took over the story at the end to describe New York's car breaking down, and how it was suspected that someone inserted the water into the gas tank to sabotage it. Then told his conversation with New Hampshire. He ended his side of the story with the phone call and the state's threat, he pulled out a piece of lined paper, where he tried to write down their conversation word from word of what he could remember. "After France told us what happened and showed us the picture, it took us quite awhile to calm down. Most of us, including myself were caught in a raging fit. By the time we reached the house France and I were calmed down enough to decide to contact everybody else. Not a single one of us voted against leaving America." England ended.

Germany paused to take in the information, then when he was ready him and Italy dove right into their experience in the South. Germany let Italy describe most of the beginning since he didn't catch anything the Italian left out. Italy told the good and bad parts of the beginning, their video chat on the plane, Maryland acting nervous at the train station, meeting Virginia, his phone breaking while trying to record them, their race to the lobby. Germany picked up at meeting North Carolina in the airport, Italy jumping in to add them almost missing their plane. Germany handled the rest to his suspicions in Alabama while Italy had to control his laughter when recalling the episode in Kentucky. They took turns adding in little details towards the end on their way to D.C. with the addition of West Virginia. England and France sat in silence, hanging onto every word they said.

After that they started to sort through the information they exchanged. "So which states should we suspect the most?" France asked.

England tapped his finger on his lips in thought, "New York because he's such a twat, also because he organized how we collected the states. If he's working against he gained a huge advantage back in Manhattan."

"New Hampshire," France said with certainty. "He knows the most about mechanics."

"Kentucky and Tennessee?" Italy reported like a question. "I don't have much of a reason, but like Germany said about these states having to go to the extreme to make it this far with America, those two are reckless."

Germany nodded his approval, "I agree. Also I want to question Virginia, I don't think she did it, but she said she has attacked America before. She might be able to tell us what we're up against."

England nodded, "Good idea. So who do we think didn't do it?"

Germany couldn't find an answer to that question, but when Italy spoke he didn't have to, "Maryland. New York trusted him to start picking up states with us."

"We don't even know if we can trust New York," England countered.

Germany paused, "Italy might have a point though. Even if we don't trust him completely, he doesn't lie."

England rolled his eyes, "Alright, as long as he says he doesn't lie let's just take his word for it! Seriously? Everybody lies."

Italy whined at his sarcastic tone, but the argument dropped when France cut in, "England and I both agreed that we trust Massachusetts." That explained why he was one of the states who picked them up. They left him to escort the other states to their rooms also. "Also I trust Vermont."

"Didn't you say she tried to kill New York?" Germany asked.

"Well yeah, but that was only because she thought New York exposed America's secret to us, which he did," France argued.

England crossed his arms, "Alright so we're going to trust the violent hockey player, the truthful saint, and the Red Sox fanatic. Anyone else?

"I think we can trust Virginia," Germany spoke up.

"The Confederate? Didn't you just say that you don't trust her?" France asked.

"No, I said that we could question her. She regrets what she did to America, and she could really help us. Also she has influence, she's known as a big sister to a couple of states."

England let out a dry laugh, "What an army we're building. These states are going to take any trust we give to them and shoot it to death after it's birthday party." Everyone in the room flinched at those words, including England who seemed surprised those words came out of his mouth. His eyes had a bitter gleam to them, "I don't want to trust any of them. We'll question them, but we're not going to trust them. Our only goal here is to find America, not make friends with his territories. Hopefully the others will have better luck when it comes to identifying America's attackers."

France put a hand on his shoulder, "Not all of them are responsible for this. So far forming an alliance became the enemy's weakness, what's stopping us from making it our strength? We can't accomplish this alone, we don't even know what we're up against. If we trust even the most pathetic handful of states, it's better than not trusting them at all."

"I agree with France," Germany pitched in. "We'd be able to gain so much more information from these states that could help us find these states. We could learn their motives, their strengths, their weaknesses, and we'll be one step closer to knowing America's location."

Italy nodded, "Even though we didn't come here to make friends with these states, it would still be nice! Also these are only potential states we could trust, it's not like we can't change our mind after everybody else gets here."

England sighed, "Fine, I'll play along with this charade for now, but if it doesn't work then we're switching tactics."

The stairs creaked on every other step and Maryland entered the kitchen, "Sorry to interrupt, but I already told New York that I'd watch you guys. I can't really back out of it."

"Perfect timing, Saint, we were just finishing here." He gave the Briton a confused look. "Come on France, we can finally get some sleep. I'd suggest one of you staying in the corridors upstairs in case we have any wandering states, and another staying here to contact other nations when they're arriving."

"I'll go upstairs," Italy called.

"That means I'll stay," Germany took out his phone and placed it on the counter for quicker access.

"Au revoir!" France, England, and Italy left the kitchen and walked up the stairs. Maryland stayed with Germany and sat at New York's former place on the counter.

"Saint? What was that all about?"

Germany shook his head, "Let's just say that this is either going to be easier or harder than I initially thought, and it all depends on if we can work together."

"Well do you think we can?" The states asked.

He looked over at the state, "We'll see. Who knows how this will play out."

XXX

Author's Note: Wow I haven't updated in a while, but come on guys, 21,926 words, can that be my excuse? I was working on this chapter like a madman this week since I'm on spring break and I hope everybody has a nice Easter! Or just a good day in general if you don't celebrate Easter! I tried to make this chapter shorter, I swear it, but then it got very long again. They just traveled through a whole section of the U.S. I don't know how short you were expecting this to be. This paragraph is already kinda off topic from the plot so let me just add the fact that I just dyed my hair and it's so soft omg I can't stop touching my hair. Sorry.

Let's get back on track now, what did you guys think of the chapter? I hope I got a good portion of the South right because I'm a New Yorker and the New England section was very easy, the South included more research on my part, and it will probably get harder when we reach the West. I'm just going to add a fun fact here, that most of the places these nations have gone to are real. Well obviously the cities are real, I'm talking about the state's homes, which never would have been accomplished without google maps. The only made up places are New York's apartment, Kentucky's country home, and America's house.

We now have 20 suspects in America's house! (24 if you want to be New York and count the nations) I'm dying to know who you suspect and who you trust and your reasoning. Also if you have any questions about the states feel free to ask because there's no way I'll hesitate to give you some more facts on them. (unless you ask me straight up who did it, you know I can't answer that) Also if you want you can pitch in facts about your own state and I'll consider adding it to their character. (As in consider I mean I totally will)

Well we've seen two states with New York, two with Maryland, now it's time to travel with Canada, Prussia, and Ohio! Until next chapter you guys are awesome and thank you so much for reading!

3/3 Yay! Almost done, you'll get your explanation soon.