England stared down at the beer bottle Germany offered him. He tried to take Vietnam's advice and started out by seeking advice from Germany but Germany was still finding pasta for Italy while coming up with a list of countries that could be free to help find Korea. So instead of giving England sound advice, he gave him a bottle of beer.

Not exactly what he was looking for.

So England went back to Vietnam. But she too was rather busy; she had to deal with the complaints from some of the countries out there. "I'm sorry." she said hastily to him as she pulled up several windows on the computers. "There's some sort of problem in Mexico right now. I'm trying to sort things out...you don't happen to have a pen around, do you?"

And so England lent her a pen and left the conference room in search for someone who had time to listen.

"Heal me first." France said.

England was sitting in a chair right beside France's bed in the room where he was staying at; he didn't look too badly beaten up although France begged to differ.

Giving France a look, England simply said, "No." He wondered if he had sunken that low to actually go to France for help. What was he doing in there anyway?

France looked shocked. "You come here for help and you won't help me heal? Don't you have any of that magic left over?"

That magic? That? How could he speak of magic so lightly? "I'll consider healing you if you give me advice." England said stiffly. The words sounded weird in his mouth; asking France for advice...asking...France for advice? Again, it wasn't like him.

"But...but...I hurt all over!" France whined. "Please? Surely you can do something, mon cher."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"How can you act like this to your dear old friend?"

"Friend?"

"Okay, let me rephrase. How can you-"

"No need to. The answer is still 'no'."

"S'il tu plait?"

England stood up at once and left the room as France called after him, "If you're like that then why did you come to me for help in the first place?"

"I wonder why too," England mumbled under his breath.

Thinking back, he had heard from Japan that Thailand was pretty wise and he tried to figure out where Thailand was. Back at the conference room, he stared at the chalkboard, searching for Thailand's name and his status. Unfortunately he was out in Mexico evacuating.

"Wait, Vietnam, didn't you say there was some sort of conflict in Mexico?" England asked her.

She nodded while examining a map of Oaxaca.

"Is Thailand there?"

Vietnam glanced up at him, giving him a weird look. "Yes, why?" she asked slowly.

"Can I talk to him?"

She gave him an exasperated look. "Right now?"

"Yes."

She stared at him for a while and then at the monitors. Reluctantly, she agreed to connect him to Thailand. England thanked her and slipped the headphones over his ears. "Thailand, are you there?" England asked uncertainly.

"I'm here, ana. How are you England?" Thailand's voice asked cheerfully. England was impressed with how clear his voice was. But there wasn't any time to be impressed with that; he went straight to business.

"Not very good." England said in a low tone. "Say, do you have any advice for me?"

"About what, ana?"

"My doppelganger."

"You've ran into Dark England, ana?" Thailand asked, sounding genuinely worried.

"No, no, not yet." England said hastily, shooting Vietnam a concerned look. She looked a little impatient, murmuring something about putting Mexico on hold on another line. He considered himself lucky that she didn't whack him over the head with her rice paddle yet. "I feel anxious about mine-"

"Ah, so you want comforting words, ana." Thailand said.

"Er, sure?"

Thailand was silent for a while. England wondered if he was still there. "Thailand?"

"Sorry England, ana. Something just happened." Thailand sounded nervous. England frowned as he heard shouts in the background. "East, ana!" Thailand shouted hastily. England flinched at the sudden loudness of his voice. "Sorry England, ana. All I can say is that you shouldn't worry, ana. Can you put me back on line with Vietnam, ana?"

England surrendered the headphones back to Vietnam and Vietnam hastily resumed her work. England lingered around to learn what happened and Vietnam mentioned that Greece had ran into Dark Mexico in Oaxaca. England hastily changed Greece's status and Dark Mexico's status beside the original's name.

"Is there anything else I can do?" he asked her.

Vietnam shook her head.

Seeing that there really wasn't anything else to do, England reluctantly left the conference room in search of someone who had time to talk to him and wasn't in danger.

Canada fiddled his thumbs nervously under England's blank stare. It was starting to get rather uncomfortable.

"Um...so what is it that you want to talk to me about?" he asked timidly, taking a small sip of his coffee.

England frowned and cocked his head. "Er...you...are...here, right?" he asked slowly.

Canada waved his hands in front of England. "I'm right here in front of you!" he exclaimed.

England seemed to relax a little. "Okay then. I'm sorry. Er, how can I put this? You see...my doppelganger probably...wait, let me think this through..."

Canada and England were sitting in Germany's living room, Canada on one armchair, England in the other. England was sure that he had pieced together the words beforehand but apparently not. On the bright side, Canada had everything under control.

"You're worried about your doppelganger, right?" he asked gently.

England nodded, giving up on putting his feelings into words; he was never really good at that. Sarcasm was better suited for him but he wasn't sure he could use sarcasm in his situation.

Canada laughed and told England that America had came to him about the exact same thing.

"Really?" England asked, surprised. "He was worried? America? America?"

Canada nodded. "Yes, he was really worried. I don't think he is anymore though." Canada added, gazing out the living room window. He smiled; the sky was a beautiful bright blue, just like the day America had went to talk to him. It's about time to bring out his 'Don't worry about your doppelganger' speech again, not that it was quite long enough to be a speech however. It just sounded more formal to call it a speech.

"What...what did you tell him?" England asked quietly, trying not to show too much interest.

Canada tilted his head thoughtfully. "We all want happiness, right?" he asked England. Yes, that was the beginning. Now what else was there? "We want to fly into the air and soar, free from sorrow, poverty, hunger, and anything else that hinders what makes us happy. The happiness we want is warm and comforting like the sun but also high spirited and light like the clouds. That happiness is the opposite of hate, the opposite of the doppelgangers themselves. We chase them in the shadows, but what we need to do is to step out into the sunlight and wait for them to come."

Finished. Canada looked away from the windows to look at England. England merely stared at him. "Um..." England sounded concerned. "Where are you?"

Canada gaped at him. Then he stood up, waving his arms around. "I'm right here, England." he insisted. Waving his hands in front of England, he added, "Did you hear me?"

England's eyes traveled back up to Canada's face and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "There you are. Sorry, I was stirring my tea and when I looked up I didn't see you. How do you do that?"

Canada's shoulders slumped. "I really don't know." he said.

England pursed his lips. "So uh, what was it that you told America? I do apologize."

And so Canada repeated himself and England nodded. "I see. So I just accept it, don't I?" His eyes brightened a little. "It sounds so obvious now...I think I can accept it..." But then his green eyes darkened. "But er, will everyone else?"

Canada smiled at him. "They'll have to. It can't be helped."

England nodded again. "Alright. So... there's nothing worth to worry about, is there?"

"Not at all."

England wasn't sure if he felt completely better about Dark England but he felt a bit better. He smiled gratefully at Canada. "I see. Well, I suppose that's all. Thank you very much...um..." He frowned at Canada, trying to remember his name. "Who are you again? I have your name at the very tip of my tongue..."

"I'm Canada."

"Who?"

Canada gave England an exasperated look. Realization took over England and he added hastily, "Oh, right, right. That's your name. My mistake. Sorry. Thank you very much Canada."

England took his cup of tea, gave one last smile to Canada, and left the living room.

America had blacked out again. Luckily for him he blacked out in the car that he, Hungary, and Korea had arrived in so there was really no harm done. Except that Hungary will have to find a way to calm Germany down after seeing the blood stains on the leather seats.

Hungary expected that with everyone crammed into a car that was supposed to seat five people, it would be somewhat of a tight fit. She had forgotten to ask how the others had gotten to Guangzhou in the first place; Denmark had told her that they all didn't have to fit into the car she, America, and Korea arrived in. "We'll just have Switzerland drive the rest of us in the other car." Denmark said cheerfully.

And so Hungary checked the rear mirror of the car she was driving and smiled to herself at the sleeping figures of Japan and America. Hong Kong was in the middle, looking somewhat bemused by the fact that his lap was sacrificed in order to be their pillows; they were bleeding all over him despite his efforts to bandage them up with his sleeve, which was tattered and torn.

Hungary promised to buy him another outfit like that when they got back to Germany's, although she wasn't sure if Germany had any stores that sold clothes like Hong Kong's. Oh well, that's what online shopping is for, right? Hungary reasoned.

Estonia sat in the passenger seat beside her, glancing behind at Hong Kong, Japan, and America. He smiled, chuckling. "Without the blood, they look like they really are sleeping."

Hungary glanced to the side and smiled at the others in the other car. Switzerland seemed to be annoyed for some reason; Hungary could see that he was gritting his teeth as he drove. Liechtenstein was in the passenger seat beside him, looking worriedly behind her shoulder at the others behind.

Russia was sitting in the middle of the car, smiling pleasantly as Belarus sat on one side and Denmark in the other; the two were bickering it seems. Belarus looked furious and Denmark laughed everything off.

"I'm glad I'm, like, here and not there." Hong Kong said from behind. He too was looking out the window.

Hungary laughed. "I feel sorry for Switzerland. Oh well, it's only for another hour and a half at least. He'll survive."

"It's a good thing he can't shoot and drive at the same time." Estonia said.

"No kidding," Hungary agreed.

Thailand and Mexico exchanged looks. Thailand had came from the north of the country to meet up with Mexico in Oaxaca, where Greece was last spotted. Belgium, who was somewhere in the east near Cancun, was on her way.

"Vietnam, are you sure Greece was here?" Mexico asked.

"I'm sure." she said. "He called me and said that your doppelganger was chasing after him." There was a small pause. She added uncertainly, "His tracker is blinking off and on again every few minutes. It just came back on and he's in the western side. Oh!" Another pause. "It's gone again."

"Ana...I hope Greece is okay." Thailand said quietly, glancing around the street. The last of the citizens of Oaxaca were hustling towards the helicopters that landed on the top of the rooftops of the buildings. People huddled close together with their belongings while being ushered into the helicopters.

The two were silent for a while, watching the helicopters lift into the air to be replaced by another. When everyone from the rooftops were gone, they relaxed and exchanged looks. "They're gone now. Whatever happens next won't harm them." Mexico said, smiling.

Thailand agreed, returning the smile. But then he frowned. "Ana, Vietnam's been silent for a while, hasn't she?"

Mexico reached up to his earpiece. "She has," he murmured. Pushing the button on the side, he asked, "Vietnam are you there?"

Silence.

"Viet-"

Mexico never got an answer; darkness enveloped him before he knew what was going on and he fell to the ground, followed by Thailand.

Finland sighed, kicking a pebble across the street. He couldn't find Bulgaria anywhere and neither could Sweden, who was on the search with him. He could have sworn that Bulgaria was with them before, but maybe he confused him with another; it was all a big mess. He'd have to remember everyone's statuses before setting off but there were so many of them.

"Find him yet?" Finland asked Sweden, who was trailing behind him.

Sweden silently shook his head.

Sighing, Finland scratched the back of his head and swept the street with his eyes. There was nothing in sight. The two walked down the street and turned a corner, peering into any alleys they came across and stopping every so often to see if they could hear any signs of life.

Be careful what you wish for; that's what they say.

Finland heard Sweden collapse on the ground and spun around I alarm. "Sweden, what's wr-"

Finland soon joined Sweden on the ground, unconscious.

Taiwan had ran into the Netherlands right after she was done evacuating northern Germany; the Netherlands was returning to headquarters when Taiwan ran into him and she joined in as they walked back.

The Netherlands was listening to Taiwan excitedly chatter about how amazing it was that everybody was coming together to help each other out. "It's amazing what you can do if you put aside differences, right?" she smiled.

But the Netherlands didn't answer.

Taiwan glanced around and screamed; he was on the ground, bleeding heavily. Before she could rush to him she felt something move behind her. And then she fell, giving in into the darkness.

Germany gaped at the monitors, rooted to the spot behind Vietnam. England was next to him, and he too stared at the monitors in shock.

The red dots that were scattered all over the place were disappearing one by one; the first few in Mexico, the next few in Bulgaria, two close to headquarters, and dozens everywhere else. Only a handful remained, but they were moving around frantically.

"What's going on?" Vietnam whispered.

All of a sudden, the lights in the conference room flickered off. The computers shut off completely and the whirl of the machines ceased. They were enveloped in silent darkness. "The electricity!" England exclaimed. "It's gone!"

"Did the doppelgangers do this?" Germany asked himself. Cursing under his breath, he briskly left the computers and to the windows. He pulled open the curtains and peered out into the dusk; there were no lights on in the city; everything was completely dark. The setting sun was the only light and within another hour or two it would be gone.

"England, go to the basements! That's where all the electric circuits are!" Germany commanded, turning on his heels sharply. "Vietnam, go round up the other countries in this house that aren't wounded here."

England hurried away, followed by Vietnam. When those two were gone, Germany walked up to the chalkboard, glanced it over, and kicked it over angrily. As the board clattered to the ground, nearly cracked into halves, Germany hissed to himself. "Every time we try to do something they're always one step ahead of us!"

Then he kicked over a few chairs, trying to find a way to vent out his frustration.

"Germany?"

Germany glanced up towards the side doors where Italy poked his head in. Although it was dim in the conference room, Germany could see Italy's worried expression. "What is it?" he growled.

Italy ran up to Germany and wrapped his arms around him tightly. "Wh-what are you doing?" Germany demanded, trying to free himself from the Italian's hug. "Don't touch me!"

"Ve, Germany, don't get mad, Germany." Italy said pleadingly. "There are still a lot of good things to think about."

"Like what?" Germany snapped.

Italy finally released Germany and he gave him a bright smile. "We have hope, right Germany? As long as we have hope, we can still win."

Germany wanted to scoff at Italy for being so optimistic but he hesitated and thought it over. "Italy...do you still want that pasta?"

Italy's smile brightened. "Really? Pasta! Pasta, pasta, pasta!" Italy tugged at Germany's sleeve and Germany sighed, following him.