"So why are you three tied up?" Kalda asked, leaning the side of her head on a stone wall. "Did you get on his bad side, too?"

"It vas more of a capture und run," Germany sighed, still not too happy about that.

"It was my fault," Veneziano admitted, looking at his sister. "I broke free and then they captured us again."

Since Kalda had her head on the wall, she couldn't see him or his sorry, amber eyes.

"It vasn't your fault," Germany answered. "It vas mine for not breaking us free sooner."

"Perharps irf Veneziano breaks free, he can knock zherm ourt sirnce he irs faster zhan us," Japan quietly suggested.

"And how do you plan to do that, Japan?" Kalda asked in a sigh, not trying to be mean, rather, just wanting to see him back up his idea.

"I actuarry havenr't zhoughrt zhart farr yert," Japan replied awkwardly.

"I knew it," Kalda groaned.

"At least it vas a plan," Germany snapped at her. "I don't hear you zhrowing out ideas."

"This was a mistake," Kalda whispered to herself, tears falling down her face.

"Kaldy?" Veneziano asked, hearing his sister's sudden silence.

"What?" Kalda snapped in a choked up voice, sniffling.

"Why did you do it?" he questioned, his voice soft.

"Do what, North?" Kalda replied, looking at him as she held back her crying.

"Why did you join the War, West?" Veneziano replied, his voice still soft. "You know how dangerous this is, so why did you do it?"

Kalda and Veneziano, as well as Seborga and Romano, said each others' nicknames sometimes whenever they were upset.

Romano was the South, Veneziano was the North, Seborga was the East, and Kalda was the West.

Kalda sighed, putting the side of her head on the wall again.

"Perché sono un idiota," Kalda answered, still silently crying.

(A/N: Translation: "Because I'm an idiot.")

Veneziano tried to snuggle with her to show her that it was okay to cry in front of him, but he couldn't; so, he went with the next best idea.

"Se ti fa sentire meglio, lo sono anch'io," he told her in a light chuckle, trying to make her feel better.

(A/N: Translation: "If it makes you feel better, so am I.")

Kalda let out a choked up laugh, looking at him with a grin.

"You are not," she giggled, letting her tears fall.

"I knew that you could laugh," Veneziano stated, rubbing noses with her.

It was a gesture that only he and Kalda shared with each other; if one of them was ever sad, and they were sitting right next to each other, they rubbed noses to make the other one feel better.

"But it goes deeper than that," Kalda sighed, no longer crying. "I guess I just...ugh, I don't even know why I'm doing this. I guess Britain was right. I went out on a stupid hunch, and look where that got me."

"Ve did too," Germany agreed. "However, I zhink ve need a plan."

"I agree with Japan's idea," Veneziano replied. "I think I have something sharp in my back pocket."

He grunted, trying to find what he was looking for.

"Ugh!" he grunted. "I can't find it!"

"Here, let me help," Kalda said, scooting closer to him and digging through the pocket.

She didn't care how awkward it was; all she wanted to do was escape and run away, never to come back.

"I think I got it!" Kalda cheered. "It's...it's...an ornament hook for Christmas ornaments?"

She looked at her brother with unamusement.

"Seriously?" she asked in a flat tone. "This is what you were looking for?"

"Try my other one," Veneziano ordered calmly. "I know that I put it in one of my pockets."

Kalda rolled her eyes, tossing the ornament hook away from them; she dug into his other pocket, getting a grip on something thick and metallic.

Kalda pulled the object out, gasping in both awe and shock.

"Since when did you carry around a pocket knife and didn't tell me?" she interrogated.

"I'll explain it later," he dismissed. "Right now, can you break these chains?"

"I can try," Kalda sighed, "but I'm not sure if I'll be able to."

Suddenly, they heard voices.

"Please just Kalda go!"

"I said no, and I meant it, Ollie! Seriously! You're really getting on my nerves, buddy!"

"But she's just a child, my child! You can't just tie her up and expect her to do your bidding!"

They suddenly heard a slap and a grunt; Kalda gasped, not wanting to fear the worst.

She quickly unlocked her own chains, standing up; Kalda unlocked her brother's, then Germany's, and then Japan's.

"Don't ask me how I did that," Kalda whispered to them, walking out of the room.

She saw the quarrel, and that Oliver was holding a hand to his face.

Oh no, Kalda sighed. Oliver.

Kalda knew that enough was enough, but she didn't know how to stop it; she quietly started to walk down the opposite hall, Germany, Veneziano, and Japan following close behind.

"Going somewhere?" Luciano asked, cocking his gun.

They stopped walking, standing straight as poles; Kalda whimpered, knowing that they had been caught.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And this is why I'm done with this War," Britain said in annoyance, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Do you know how to stop the Second Players?" America wondered.

"No, but I'm going to try a Spell," Britain replied. "Perhaps I can lock them up somewhere and seal them there."

He stood up, grabbing his rifle as he looked at the map that was on the table.

"Since we're in Normandy, I figure that it's about a four to six week walk to the German border," he explained. "We don't have that time, I'm afraid, so we'll need another idea."

There were sounds of planes flying over the camp, bullets falling rapidly to the ground as fighters from both the German and French sides fought each other on the ground.

"Did someone call for the air calvary?" Canada's voice rang through the radio, and the five Allies looked at each other in shock.

They ran out of the tent, looking to the sky.

They saw a fleet of about twenty planes, all of them shooting bullets at opposing soldiers on the ground out of the machine guns attached to their cockpits.

"Whoa, ho, ho! Whoo-hoo!" America cheered to the sky. "Way to go, Mattie!"

"I have to go down and re-fuel!" Canada told his friends. "The rest of you, continue flying!"

Canada flew his plane down, landing a long ways from the tent.

The five men ran up to him, seeing the work of art in front of them.

Canada shut his plane off, some soldiers already putting in plane fuel.

"Whoa, dude!" America gushed in awe. "This plane is so cool!"

"It's the least that I could do to save Kalda," Canada replied, taking off his goggles to put on his glasses. "I was thinking of flying her out of here, but it looks like our enemies had other plans?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Britain answered, "but never mind that. They took her to their side of the border. If you leave now, you should make it there by sunset."

"Can I go with you?" America questioned excitedly. "You could use the extra pair of eyes, anyway."

"Of course," Canada nodded with a smile, taking his glasses off as he put his goggles back on.

He turned his plane back on as America put on his own helmet and goggles.

As no one would have ever guessed, Canada was much different on the battlefield and on the hockey rink; he was no longer the sweet, quiet, and somewhat innocent boy that they all knew and loved.

"You two be careful out there, all right?" Britain smiled softly. "I don't want to lose my brothers, too."

"We will," Canada and America promised in unison, the plane taking off and into the sky.

"Zhey will find her," France said, holding onto Britain's hand for comfort, "I promise."

"I know," Britain nodded, leaning the side of his head on France's arm, "I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kalda sighed as she tried to get comfy in a living room chair.

She ached in places that she never thought she had, and she didn't have anyone to thank except for Lutz himself.

He made her do army workouts as a punishment for escaping, Luciano taking Japan, Germany, Veneziano, Kuro, and Oliver with him to the battlefield.

Lutz was named "official babysitter" since Luciano didn't trust Kalda to be home alone by herself, even with the door locked.

Kalda became thirsty, stiffly walking into the kitchen.

"Ugh, I hurt everywhere," she whined to herself.

She heard the thumping of combat boots and a sigh, and Kalda looked behind her to see who was in the room.

Lutz was already fast asleep on the couch, and Kalda quietly laughed to herself.

"Falls asleep just as fast Veneziano," she muttered with a smirk, grabbing a glass of water.

She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, glass of water in hand.

"Hey, buddy," Kalda said in a slow, nervous tone, "how's it hangin'?"

"Vhat do you need, Kalda?" Lutz questioned, opening one red eye and looking at her.

"So, you're like...the personality of my good brother, right?" Kalda asked, setting her glass of water on a sidetable. "You're not as..."smart" as they say?"

"Ja, vhy?" Lutz replied as he opened his other eye in confusion, confirming that fact.

"And you're like, the opposite of the good Germany, right?" Kalda continued. "A cute, adorable, sweet, innocent, and lazy human being?"

"Ja, Kalda," Lutz said in annoyance with an eye roll. "How many times do ve have to go over zhis?"

"It seems like you're the perfect candidate, then, so onwards!" Kalda beamed. "I need a favor."

"Seriously?" Lutz inquired, clearly not amused. "You have all of zhe freedom you could ever ask for, und yet you need me to do somezhing for you?"

"That's not the point!" Kalda replied. "The point is, this is a very important favor."

"How so?"

"Well, let's see. The whole world, and the balance of it can I add, hangs within the invisible hands of this favor."

"Yeah, you're on your own."

"Please?" Kalda begged, getting on her knees. "Please don't make me do the puppy eyes. You'll die from the cuteness, and I don't want to bring that upon you."

"If you have nozhing to say zhat interests me, I vant you to leave me alone," Lutz told her, becoming irritated.

"Really? That's still not enough?" Kalda asked. "Ugh, okay. Well, how about I tell you that-"

"IF YOU HAVE SOMEZHING TO SAY, SAY IT VOMAN!" Lutz yelled at her, happy that the others weren't home at that moment.

"Technically, I'm still a kid," Kalda said slowly, "but thanks for recognizing me as an adult."

"Vhat do you need, child?" Lutz begged in agony. "Seriously! Vhat do you vant from me?"

"I need you to get me out of here," Kalda answered seriously.

Lutz calmed down, thinking through her answer.

"Ask Kuro zhat," he said. "He und good Japan make all of zhe rules now."

"What?" Kalda questioned in confusion. "Since when? I thought my psycho brother and your good counterpart did that."

"Zhey did, until both Japans vent on strike," Lutz explained as he tried to be sarcastic, even though he still hadn't quite grasped the concept of sarcasm yet. "Now zhey make zhe rules."

"Well that sucks," Kalda sighed. "I was really hoping that you would be able to-"

"I VAS BEING SARCASTIC!" Lutz interrupted her.

Kalda laughed at that.

"Seriously?" she chuckled. "You really need to work on your sarcastic voice."

"Did I not sound sarcastic?" Lutz asked.

"Nope," Kalda replied.

"Damn it."

"Language."

"Right, sorry," Lutz sighed. "Anyvay, no. Zhat's one risk on mein head zhat I am not going to take."

"I was being serious," Kalda told him.

His red eyes widened, shocked.

"You vere?" he asked.

"Yes," Kalda stated in annoyance. "I was."

Lutz hesitated, still not liking the idea.

Kalda sighed, knowing that she should bend him to the right side once and for all.

"Come on," she smiled. "You know deep down in that big, soft heart of yours, that you really hate my psycho brother, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Lutz asked, not seeing the point of the conversation.

"Well, you want an end to this War, I want an end to this War, him, I don't know, but the others definitely want an end to this War, so...can you please help me out of here?" Kalda answered.

When Kalda didn't get a reply, she frowned.

"Look, buddy," she started, "I'm not forcing you to do this. I'm just asking, and if you don't want to do it, I guess I can't push you because I'd be a terrible friend, then, and I don't want to be a terrible friend, so I'll just shut up and leave you alo-"

"I'll do it," Lutz said quietly, cutting Kalda off.

"I mean, I'm already in over my head anyway, so what's the point of-" Kalda stopped, processing what had just happened.

She looked at him in confusion.

"What was that?" she questioned.

"I said, I'll do it," Lutz firmly repeated. "I'll take you to zhe border so zhat you can run to your friends or...whoever zhey are."

Kalda took in a shaky breath, slowly pulling him into a hug.

"W-wow," she stuttered. "Th-thank you. Th-that's really nice of you. Thank you."

"Please stop hugging me," Lutz flatly told her, trying to pry her off of him.

Kalda did just that, giving him a big, happy smile.

"You're the best," she said softly, hugging him again.

This time, though, Lutz hugged her back.

"You're velcome, Kalda," he replied, smiling a small smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So remind me again why we are walking while America and Canada are flying?" China complained.

"Because, China, we need to cover as much ground on foot as possible so that the Second Players don't catch up to us," Britain explained, irritated because of China's complaining.

"You could have said that nicer," China snapped back.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Britain challenged, glaring at China. "Now, right now, when Kalda is captured, Canada and America are out of my sight, and I'm losing practically all of my sanity? Do you want to go, China? Because I will!"

The other three men went silent at his outburst, and Britain sighed as he sat on a rock.

"Kalda was all of the sanity that I needed," he said softly. "Without her, I'm as good as dead."

"Aw, giving up so soon, England?" Luciano laughed with a sick smirk. "Boy, am I saddened."

"I'm not in the mood to see your disgusting face," Britain snapped, cocking his rifle. "Did you bring Kalda with you?"

"Like I said, I'm not making this easy for you," Luciano replied, turning serious. "It was hard enough dragging these three, useless, annoying First Players out here. I didn't need Kalda's insolence on top of it all."

"Please help me, Mister Britain!" Veneziano whined, fighting his chains.

"Shut up!" Luciano ordered, holding up a belt. "Or do I have to whack you again?"

"Lay one hand on my brozher, and you are a dead man!" France yelled, cocking his own rifle.

"Luciano, please stop this nonsense at once!" Oliver begged. "These men have done nothing wrong if you think about it!"

"Oh, do you want to join them, too?" Luciano asked, crossing his arms.

Oliver just looked at the ground, submitting to his leader.

"That's what I thought," Luciano snapped, ignoring a small whimper from the usually cheery, strawberry blonde.

"Britain, I apologize for vhat about I'm about to do," Germany told the British man.

"Wh-what?" Britain asked, confused.

With one, forceful whack on Oliver's forehead, then another whack on Britain's forehead, the two men were knocked unconscious.

"Japan, I apologize as vell," Germany added, doing some more headbutts to the two men before anyone could even say anything.

"Looks like you're on your own now since you and Veneziano aren't out," France told Luciano.

"Oh, pfft!" Luciano scoffed. "Like I actually need those two."

"If it is all zhe same to you," France replied, undoing Germany and Veneziano's chains as well as the unconscious Japans', "you are coming with us."

Luciano glared at the blonde, seeing that he was surrounded.

"Taking me prisoner isn't going to bring Kalda back to you," Luciano explained in a dark tone as France chained him up instead. "I mean, if Lutz hasn't already killed her with his exercises, that is."

"Save it for someone who actually wants to hear you speak," France snapped, pushing the Second Player's back to make him start walking. "Now, onwards with you."

Luciano growled.

"You'll never take me alive," he threatened.

"Oh, I zhink we already did," France whispered into his ear in a dark tone.

The Second Player glared more, walking to the camp as instructed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"VEST!" a faint voice called, someone knocking rapidly on the front door. "VEST, ARE YOU HOME?"

"Who's zhat?" Lutz asked, glaring at Kalda.

"Don't you know?" Kalda replied.

"Nein, I don't," he answered.

"It's Prussia," Kalda explained. "You know, your brother?"

"My brozher is...more quiet," Lutz responded. "He's not as loud as zhis Prussia must be."

"And probably a lot less annoying," Kalda sighed in annoyance.

She slowly grabbed an iron skillet from beside her, standing up and slowly walking over to the man.

"Vh-vhat are you doing, Kalda?" Lutz asked, becoming scared and nervous.

"I'm really sorry, Lutz," Kalda apologized softly. "I know we just became friends, but I don't want Prussia to see you and attack."

With that, Kalda knocked Lutz out with the frying pan.

At the same time, Prussia kicked the door down and stomped into the living room.

He screamed in fear at the sight of Kalda, the knocked out Lutz, and the skillet in Kalda's hands.

"WHO ARE YOU UND VHAT HAVE YOU DONE VITH MY LITTLE BROZHER?" Prussia yelled at Kalda.

Kalda yelped in fear, holding up the skillet for protection.

"I'm sorry!" she replied. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"It is exactly vhat it looks like!" Prussia stated, taking the skillet out of her hands and raising it above his head.

Kalda cowered in fear, not wanting to be hit.

"Bitte schlagen Sie mich nicht, Herr Beilschmidt!" Kalda pleaded, and Prussia gasped in realization.

(A/N: Translation: "Please don't hit me, Mister Beilschmidt!")

He dropped the skillet onto the wooden floor, shocked, as he now somewhat recognized Kalda.

"K-Kalda?" he stammered out. "I-is zhat really you?"

"I cut my hair, but yeah," Kalda answered.

She relaxed once Prussia gave her a big hug, and Kalda hugged him back.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Checking up on Luddy," Prussia answered with a smirk as they pulled apart. "Vhy else vould I be here?"

"I guess so," Kalda smiled awkwardly. "Anyway, help me tie this guy up. I don't want him escaping."

"Who is he, anyvay?" Prussia wondered, taking the upper half as Kalda took the lower half.

"He's your brother, but not," Kalda answered.

"Ugh, zhis guy?" Prussia exclaimed in annoyance, knowing the man well. "Vhat business do zhey have here besides ruining our awesome party?"

"Me," Kalda replied. "Oliver thinks that I'm his kid for some reason, and I don't know what Luciano wants, but it must be something."

"Vell, let's just get zhis guy down und into zhe basement. Ve can talk more zhen, okay?" Prussia answered, his voice calm and soft now.

Kalda nodded with a determined look on her face, following the albino down the stairs and into the basement.