2p!America (Allen)'s POV:

Tears of frustration and anger streamed down Nick's face as he hammered away on his laptop, his shoulders shaking with confined sobs. Ali'ikai stood next to her big brother, her brown eyes wide and shining with tears as she looked up at him, clutching the hem of his jacket tightly. I watched the two of them with an emotionless expression as they tried to track down the signal from Canada's phone vainly. My fingers twitched and I glowered at the ground, cursing myself for not acting sooner. It was already too late, I could feel it...

"How's it going?" I turned to see Alfred and Matthias* standing in the doorway. America leaned tiredly against his Danish friend, his eyes filled with worry and half-lidded from lack of sleep. I shrugged in reply and Maryland howled in frustration, slamming his fists down on the keyboard so hard I thought it would break. Alfred flinched and looked at his younger brother/son/whatever he thought of him as in defeat.

"No luck? Still? You've been at it for hours, Nick," America said with a grumble. Maryland took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, sighing shakily and placing a hand on little Hawaii's shoulder. They exchanged a glance and she gave her brother a small nod before scurrying out of the room, her grass skirt rustling across the floor, making a sound that resembled the sound of a thousand snakes hissing. I couldn't help but shiver.

"No, nothing. Matthew's done a good job of covering his tracks. I tracked down the phone before, but it was in the middle of a park. A few more signals led to some other places. I think he uses a different phone every time he contacts us and then throws it away somewhere. If that's the case, then this is a pretty lost cause until he contacts us again," Nick said, his lip quivering as he stared at the computer screen helplessly. I glanced from Alfred to the young state as the former walked over to him slowly, coming up behind him and placing a hand on both of his shoulders, squeezing them gently.

"Thank you, Nick. You've done so much to help. Why don't you go and sleep? You can pick this up again in the morning, alright?" America whispered softly as he hugged the younger man from behind. Nick sniffed and shook his head, but a loud yawn made America's expression harden.

"You need to sleep, Nick. You won't be any help to your siblings if you can't stay awake," Alfred said in a commanding tone. Nick nodded in defeat and put his glasses back on. He pushed out his chair and slowly lumbered out of the room, followed closely by Denmark as he stumbled his way towards his room. America sat down at the computer and gestured for me to come over.

"Where was James in your world? Everything has pretty much matched but the order of killings, so he and Matthew are probably in the same place," America muttered. I looked at the screen from behind my tinted glasses.

"Move out of the way." America complied and got up out of the chair. I quickly sat down and started typing away, trying to remember where he had been. I wouldn't let what happened to me happen to Alfred as long as I still lived and breathed.

*APH Denmark's human name