Dark France leaned against the door frame, a hand resting on his hip. "Well, well, well...thought you could escape, didn't you?"
England never thought that he could hate France any more than he had, but he saw that he had plenty of room left for his hatred.
Dark France was gleeful at England's expression. "Ahh, what treat! So much loathing and anger, non?"
Vietnam hissed at England. "Don't get too angry! That's his goal. The more anger you have the stronger your doppelganger becomes."
"Where is he then?" England asked roughly. "Where's Dark England?"
Dark France clicked his tongue. "You sadden me too. I'm still not enough for you?"
England responded by reaching into one of his pockets and drew an army knife, making a stab for Dark France's leg. However, he didn't make it that far. Dark France kicked the knife out of his hand. Dark France's kick was excruciating; England grounded his teeth to prevent from uttering in pain. He thought that Dark France broke every single bone in his hand. "Damn you." England spat.
England's knife somehow got lodged into the ceiling; there was no use trying to get it down now. They were left weaponless.
Dark France set Canada down on the ground and reached down to pull Vietnam up by her collar. She cried out in pain, gripping at Dark France's hand. Dark France studied her face for a while. "You gave me a lot of trouble." he whispered dangerously.
Dark France lifted Vietnam up higher with a single arm. She dangled four feet off the ground by her collar. As Vietnam gasped for air, tugging at his hands, Dark France scoffed, "It's about time I let out all of the feelings I had stored during those years. Remember them, ma fleur? Those years were very-very-red."
England couldn't just sit there; he had already put Canada in danger and it made him feel a hundred times worse to see what fate had done to him. If anything, he couldn't let fate do the same thing again to his other comrade. While Dark France was taunting Vietnam, England slowly reached out for the only weapon available; the long knife protruding from Canada's back.
He couldn't imagine the pain Canada would have felt when he tugged at the knife. It took a while because he felt the last of his consciousness seep away. Perhaps...perhaps I have time to rest... England thought feebly, his fingers hesitating to work. He narrowed his eyes and thought fiercely, No, I can't now. Just a little more...
Somehow, the knife was free. Before he was swept away by the incoming darkness and fatigue, England gripped the handle of the knife and glanced up at Dark France and Vietnam. Vietnam was no longer moving. Dark France had started to jeer at her.
A final rush of energy provided him the speed to stab the long knife into Dark France's foot. The sudden attack caused him to flinch, releasing Vietnam. England finally cried out in pain as she collapsed on his legs. The pain must have been too much for him to handle at the moment because the darkness took over and refused to let him take back control.
England woke up at the sound of someone whispering his name. At first, he tried to move his head but it failed. His head just felt too heavy. "What?" he croaked in annoyance.
The whispering ceased for a while, but then it continued harshly. "Keep it down, do you want him to come back here?" Vietnam whispered.
England blinked in confusion. It took him several seconds to remember what had last happened. "The bloody hell..." He strained his muscles only to find that he was completely tied up. Tightly too. "I can't bloody breathe." he coughed.
Vietnam was on his left, lying on the ground just like he was. Canada was on the right and to England's relief, he was awake. "Canada, how-?"
"Canada sweet talked him." Vietnam said gently. "I'm not sure how it works, but Dark France treated his wounds. He's healing nicely."
"You sweet talked him?" England asked incredulously.
Canada gave him a tentative smile. "Aha, well, I don't mean to offend but out of us three, I think he didn't...hate me as much...I told him that I always looked up to him as an older brother. I'm sorry."
"For what?" England asked. "This is brilliant. Canada, you genius! We're not goners at all! Bloody brilliant..."
"I'm not sure if you noticed," Vietnam said with a sigh. "But we're tied up. We will be goners if we don't get out of here on time."
"Why? What do you mean on time?" Canada asked her.
Vietnam's eyes darkened and she closed them for a while. "I overheard Dark France talking to someone. I don't know who but someone else is here." She grimaced and cleared her throat.
"Please take it easy Vietnam." Canada said worriedly.
Normally, she would have waved his concern away and say something about not to worry but instead, she nodded and took five long seconds to recover. "Dark France...he said that he'd transfer us to the Guangzhou hideout. The other person...the other person said that the Guangzhou hideout is where the others are going too."
"Wait, who are the others?" England asked.
Vietnam gave him a weary look. "I do not know."
Canada squirmed. "Um, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that getting transferred isn't good."
"Nothing is good about this situation we're in." England said pointedly. "Can anyone get free? Any loose knots or something?"
Both England and Canada slowly wriggled, mindful of their injuries. England gave up after a few minutes of not feeling any loosened cords of rope but Canada continued. When he stopped to rest, Vietnam asked, "Who has the sharpest teeth?"
England turned his head to give her a strange look. "Now why would that be relevant to anything?"
She shushed him. "Trust me. I can't see any other way right now."
Canada ran his tongue over his teeth. "Mine aren't particularly sharp." he said sheepishly.
England stared at him and then at Vietnam who did the same. "Mine are okay. Yours, England?"
"You're not thinking about biting through the ropes, are you?" he asked uncertainly.
"Do you have another plan to escape?"
To be honest, England saw that Vietnam had a point. Unless they wanted to be transferred to some hideaway for whatever reason, they'd have to bite their way free.
"Amazing..." Canada whispered, peering into England's mouth.
"Your teeth are rather sharp, aren't they?" Vietnam mused.
England grumbled, "Be quiet, you. Now what? Do I just gnaw on a piece of rope until it breaks? That could take hours."
"Not unless you start now. Hurry up and try to free Canada. You don't have to chew through them all. Just enough for him to break free."
England still didn't want to be the dog of the three, but he had no choice. He carefully scooted over to Canada and caught a cord of rope with his teeth. He started to grind his teeth in hopes that it would be the most effective way.
Canada was free within an hour. England had successfully broke through four cords of rope, enough for Canada loosen himself and free himself.
"Incredible, England." Vietnam said, smiling.
England's jaw was terribly sore and his teeth felt numb. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel rather accomplished. "Well, now I've done everything." he sighed, moving his jaw around to test that it could still move up and down and not side to side like it had been doing for the past sixty minutes.
"Except for defeating the doppelgangers." Vietnam said. "Canada, are you able to free us?"
Canada slowly sat up, wincing at the pain his back gave him. He picked at the knot that fastened the entire thing together. Frowning, he eased his fingers through any openings he found and tugged.
"They're too tight." he murmured, still trying to tug at the ropes.
Vietnam frowned. "Try mine."
Canada eased himself off the floor and knelt down by Vietnam, doing the same to the big fat knot of rope. "With this so tight, are you sure it's not cutting off any blood circulation?" Canada asked timidly, pulling at the cords.
"Not that I know of." she sighed. "But I can barely breathe."
England sighed. "Do you want me to use my teeth again?"
Canada bowed his head. "Sorry."
"Don't be. I don't think I would have been able to untie anyone either." England said, squirming in his little rope cocoon. "Come to think of it, that last we have eaten was back at Germany's, right? I'm famished."
Canada glanced around the room. It was rather dim and somewhat musty. The stone walls reminded him of basements, and that was exactly where they were. "France's kitchen is right next to the basement door." Canada said, pointing to the corner. England could make out a silhouette of a small stairwell. "If I can get us food, we can restore our energy even faster." Canada added.
"But what about Dark France?" Vietnam asked. "And in your condition-"
Canada stood up slowly. "I think I can manage it." he said, biting his lip. "I will be back."
As Canada went to forage for food in France's kitchen, England scooted closer to Vietnam and grabbed a cord of the rope with his teeth, starting the entire process of grinding again.
"Search the entire house." America called out, standing in the middle of the living room. Spain and Australia bent down and grabbed the end of the couch and heaved it up as New Zealand checked underneath it. "We have to find any traces of Intelligence we can!"
"And what are you doing?" Romano sniffed at America.
America gave him a thumbs up. "I'm managing."
"America, this is important." Australia said seriously. "There's no time to play around."
The five had searched the entire living room (under America's management of course) and found absolutely nothing else. Spain had tried to find where the real Estonia could be but couldn't find any hints or clues. They moved on to the kitchen and America went straight to the fridge.
"Oh so now you're helping?" Romano asked irritably. "If you're going to check the fridge, let me help too."
Australia and Spain exchanged glances weary glances. "I'm not going to bother." Spain sighed, retreating to the corner of the kitchen where a bookcase was wedged in between the end of the counter and the wall.
As Romano crouched down, moving things aside in the refrigerator and America craning his neck while looking for ice cream in the freezer, New Zealand and Australia tackled the cabinets, flinging them open and taking out pots and pans. Spain leisurely picked a random book from the bookshelf, flipped through pages, stop, read, laugh, and continued to read.
"Spain you jerk, stop reading and start looking!" Romano snapped at Spain.
"You know Romano, you're not doing much either..." New Zealand said from the other side of the kitchen, knelt down beside a pile of different sized pans.
"Shut up!" Romano yelled over his shoulder.
Within an hour they had the house searched and yet they couldn't find anything of use. America even found Estonia's computer and tried to hack it. It failed miserably; Dark Estonia must have thought ahead and programed the computer so that it would shut down seconds after turning on. It drove America insane and Australia kindly reminded him that he could not toss the computer out the window.
"Dude, that is totally unfair!" America cried, pointing at the dark screen. "It didn't get a chance to say 'hello' to me!"
"Is that what you're worried about?" New Zealand asked. "Why don't we try to find out who's around here. We can't rely on Dark Estonia anymore."
Spain tapped his chin thoughtfully. "We can always go back and capture him. We can contact Germany from there."
America groaned. "Another hour in the car again? Can we at least stop by for food?"
Australia sighed and agreed. "Yes, yes, we'll stop for food. But only one meal!"