Arthur woke up with a start from his desk. 'Must be another loop' he thought dully 'America is probably running downstairs by now.' He got up and walked to the couch, awaiting an arrival that never came. An hour past before his phone rang at exactly 12:04. He carefully picked it up, answering with a cautious, "Hello?"

"Hey, Iggy! Wanna go to the park or something?" Alfred's voice annoyingly cheerful voice called out without a care in the world.

"Alfred are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah dude why?" Confusion by the question was evident in his voice.

"August 15. Does it mean anything to you?" Arthur's voice was no longer straightforward. Angst showed in his voice as he struggled to evoke a memory in the American.

"No...why?"

Arthur mentally cried. How could Alfred forget about the loops? Did something bad happen to him? He didn't know, but he was determined to stop Alfred from going anywhere near a truck.

"I'll go." His resolve was made.

Arthur once again met Alfred on the swings, where he was playfully pushing his legs back and forth.

"Hey Iggy!" he smiled.

"My name is not Iggy. It's Arthur or England." Arthur replied calmly.

"Ok then Artie!" he said emphasizing the nickname simply to get on Arthur's nerves.

Arthur didn't really remember what happened next. It felt like someone was controlling him; forcing him to repeat some of his actions.

"Stop it!" Arthur lightly hit him on the head. Alfred just laughed anyway. "Artie! Artie!" He repeated over and over again.

"Why you!" Arthur shouted, chasing after the blond who raced across the street. Suddenly, the light turned into a bright red. A truck rushing to get past before it was too late.

The world slowed down as the dreaded scene began to play once again.

"Alfred look out!"

Alfred turned around, a sound of surprise and confusion escaping his lips as he saw the truck racing towards his body. Arthur pushed Alfred away to let the truck collide with his body instead.

---

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Alfred stared at the clocks right in front of him. Where did they come from? Where WAS he, anyway?

Unlike all the other loops where Alfred woke up in his bed, he seemed to have woken up in a room filled with clocks. Nearly all were drenched in blood with no sign of their active function. The only one working sat right in front of him.

Alfred tentatively placed his hand on one of the clocks in morbid curiosity . 'The blood is warm' he thought while his pulse began to race, not alleviated by the clock that fell by his feet at that moment. Alfred jumped. He was jittery with anxiety. "Wha...why did it break," he asked himself while examining the broken glass.

"Arthur..." Alfred mumbled. "Please be ok."

------

Has it been mentioned before how fragile time and space is? No?

Ok, think of time and space as a piece of paper. Specifically the transparent kind used to trace art. Just like that paper, time and space are easy to tear. Whenever Arthur made another loop, it poked the 'paper' and little by little it ripped. Time and space, however, have more sense than that paper so with every new loop they tried to fix themselves.

How did time and space decided to fix themselves? They kicked out the problem.

---

It was the day of the world meeting. Everyone was sitting in their chairs talking to each other, everyone but three nations.

"France have you seen America or England?" Matthew asked.

"I haven't..."

"Canada," stern voice called to mark his presence.

"Yes! Canada...um, no I haven't seen the black sheep or the walking hamburger."

"Has anyone seen them coming out of their room?" Ludwig asked.

Everyone shook their heads. Some of the nations didn't care about the two. In fact, they were pretty happy that there was less noise and the fact that they didn't have to deal with the annoying American or the angry Brit.

Some other nations had some rather...interesting thoughts in mind.

"WEST!" Gilbert shouted, breaking the door as he ran to his brother. "WE HAVE HUGE PROBLEM!"

Ludwig sighed and rubbed his forehead. "What is it now bruder? We're in a middle of a-"

"ALFRED AND ARTHUR ARE GONE!"

"What do you mean by 'gone'?" Sadik asked.

"They've been gone since yesterday," Mathias explained. "They never came back to their room, and the lady at the front desk never saw them leave."

"So they are literally missing?" Jett (Australia) asked.

"Yes and we need to find them quick before one of them dies!"