"So, what brings you to London then miss?" the cab driver asked as he drove through the busy streets.

"I'm here looking for a friend." the girl seated in the back replied before resuming looking out of the window. The driver regarded the girl curiously, she seemed like a nice girl but she was dressed a little… bizarrely. Granted, not the worst he's ever had in his cab.

Kaitlyn Carmichael had just gotten off of the plane at London Heathrow and was now on her way to Cambridge where her friend Anna worked. Four weeks ago, Anna had been invited to Moscow, Russia, to attend a seminar and she had gone missing. It had taken weeks for Kaitlyn to get a few days leave from her job in order to come to England in order to find any trace of her. Anna had been in an emotional funk lately when she was separated from her boyfriend due to… 'special circumstances,' and Kate wanted to find any clue as to her friend's whereabouts. Starting with her apartment in Cambridge.

"Is your friend American just like you?" the driver asked.

"She's a dual citizen, more British if anything." Kate replied with a smile.

"And you mentioned she went to Cambridge? That's impressive alright!"

"Yes, she's a professor of Military History."

"And what about yourself?"

"Me? I'm actually a translator for the UN." Yes, all of her life, Kaitlyn has been fascinated by the power of language. From the moment she could speak, she loved to talk and communicate with people what she wanted and how she felt at any given time. Her parents used to love to watch Masterpiece Theatre on PBS whenever it was on, showing British period dramas and live showings of theatre from the West End. When she was little she would sit with her family and just listen to the way the people on the screen clipped their contestants, rounded their vowels and simply wove magic with how they spoke. Any words she liked, she would repeat them in real life, often times in the wrong way, leading to her family buying her a dictionary as soon as she could read so that she could look up any words she wanted to know the meaning to.

Her dictionary was her most prized possession, even long after she lost her parents and was hoping between foster homes. It was then that she started dressing a little differently, a little darkly, and became a sort of Goth. Needless to say, that didn't make her very popular with toher children or foster parents. When she was eight, she was adopted by a lovely Italian couple. They adored her and she them, and it was then that she found her talents in learning different languages. At her insistent begging, they taught her the musical sounding language until she was near fluent within the year, at the same time she first met the war history obsessed Anna while participating in a drama group. A lot of the other kids made fun of her for her strange dress, using large words in everyday speech and for speaking italian whenever she was angry, but she found a kindred spirit in Anna. The moment she heard Anna's slight British inflection of speech, she knew they would be friends for life.

It was after the death of their dear friend Ian that Kate anointed herself as the official caretaker of their little group of friends. She would do her absolute best to make sure all of her friends were happy, even if they didn't ask for her help part of the time. Throughout her schooling, she ended up teaching herself Spanish, French, Latin (of all things, she taught herself Latin) and had started teaching herself German by the time she graduated high school and entered a prestigious university in New York. She was recruited to assist a translator straight out of undergrad school and had recently just been promoted to being a high level translator herself. She couldn't have been happier. That is, except for one thing.

At the time she was promoted, her friend Anna had been transported into their favorite tv show. Hetalia Axis Powers.

It wasn't any surprise that such a well read, well spoken and multilingual person such as Kate would also fall under the Hetalia spell. Often times she questioned the sanity of her friends when they chose their favorite characters, because in her mind there was no greater character than England himself. She would deny it if any of her friends told anyone that she worshiped him, but it would be close to the truth. Anna would often get annoyed when Kate would pester with questions about the character and the history of Britain, especially when a certain history blurb came up on the show that she didn't understand. It wasn't just the accent oh no, though it would make her melt every time he spoke, but it was his gentlemanly behavior combined with his ruffian tendencies that entranced her. To her, he was a complex, unique soul that she wanted to connect with and unravel bit by bit. She was so jealous when Anna contacted her and the two other friends in their group, sisters Tris and Kimberly, and told them how she ended up going to that world and meeting England himself.

Kate felt for Anna when she was somehow sent back though, Anna having gotten intimate with everyone's favorite totalitarian Nation Russia whom Anna had adored. She did her best to cheer her up, even saving up to travel to England with Tris and Kimberly in order to see her get her World History PhD. Those few days in England with her friends had been some of the best in her life. So as the taxi rolled up to Anna's apartment, Kate sighed sadly as everything was coated in a rather negative light. The fact that it was raining didn't help either.

"My, that is impressive! Well, here we are miss. I hope you find your friend." the driver said, getting out of the car to get Kate's trunk out of the boot. Kate thanked him and paid him the right amount of cash plus tip before walking up the steps to the apartment. The landlord sent her a pair of keys beforehand so that she could stay in Anna's room as it was paid for until the end of the year, so she immediately went up to the room to escape the pouring rain. The landlord welcomed her and escorted her up to the room, remarking how strange the whole affair was with the previous tenant.

The landlord unlocked the room for her and helped her move her stuff into the room, before bading her goodbye and leaving her in the abandoned apartment. Kate sighed as she took in the sad sight, dust covered the entire space and the echo of someone once living her recently remained in the air. Everything was as Anna left it, just as Kate remembered from when she visited.

"Where are you Anna?" she asked the empty room. Of course, answer came. Kate rolled her suitcase into Anna's room and fell face forward on to the fluffy sheets. Jet lag was a serious bitch… rolling on to her back, Kate was content to snooze for a bit, until she saw that her eyeliner had left a slight stain. Perfect. Huffing in annoyance, Kate proceeded to get up from the bed and decided to get undressed and take a shower. She still felt gross from travelling so long without bathing.

After her shower she redressed in her long black vintage nightgown and tied her long dark brown hair in a loose braid after brushing it her customary fifty times. The shower had woken her up some, so she decided to go make herself a cup of tea. She'll never forgive Anna for getting her addicted to the stuff. As the kettle boiled she walked over to Anna's small bookshelf that sat next to her couch near the TV. A lot of the books were historical, with one shelf reserved for fictional books. It was this shelf that Kate looked through, wondering which books Anna might have had that she didn't already read. One title popped out to her in general.

"You still kept this? Oh Anna…" Kate whispered as she took the book from it's place. Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass… Kate had given Anna this book for her twelfth birthday. It was a shared favorite between the two girls. Standing up, Kate flipped to the part where Alice fell down the rabbit hole.

"...But, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge…" Kate read aloud, smiling wistfully at the strangeness of the book and of the memories she shared with Anna. Unbeknownst to her, a large hole seemed to appear in the floor as she spoke, slowly growing bigger and bigger as she read.

"...In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well…." Kate kept reading, the hole behind her growing larger until it stopped just inches away from her feet. The kettle started to whistle, prompting Kate to stop reading and turn to take it off of the stove.

Only to fall right into the dark hole, screaming as the abyss swallowing her and the book before suddenly closing around them, vanishing as if it had never even existed.

Leaving the room once again empty as the kettle continued to boil.

MEANWHILE IN THE HETALIA VERSE

It was business as usual in the world of Hetalia. Hive activity had been near non-existant, so meetings these days consisted of the usual topics and squabbles. Well, almost usual.

Anna Colins, formerly known as Historia in this world, sat next to her boyfriend Ivan Braginsky, known more commonly as the Nation of Russia. Their hands were interlocked on Ivan's knee, Anna absentmindedly stroking his hand with her thumb as they watched the proceedings. The topic of today's meeting was once again Global Warming. However, one thing was blaringly wrong.

England wasn't jumping at any opportunity to shoot down any of America's hair brained schemes nor jumping at any chance to shoot down France in general. Anna regarded him as he seemed to be totally spaced out, barely even taking notes as countries gave their ideas and presentations on the issue. As Historia, she knew that historically speaking this was cause for alarm.

"…Britain. Hey, Britain! HEY!" America yelled, snapping both England and Anna's attention to the front. The chaotic din had gone quiet as everyone looked at England as he blinked out of his spaced out funk.

"Bloody hell America, what do you want?" England spat out, characteristically annoyed at his former charge.

"Dude, I asked ya a question. Were you even paying attention?" America pouted, though his brow was furrowed in concern. England flushed a little in embarrassment as he struggled to find an excuse when Germany cleared his throat.

"Perhaps ve should take a break, seeing as some people are loosing their focus in this important meeting…" he glared at England as he said this before getting up followed immediately by Italy, other Nations following suit.

"Strange for Mister England to not pay attention, da?" Ivan remarked, Anna nodding in agreement.

"Yeah. Can you get me some coffee love?" she asked Ivan, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. Ivan looked down at her and smiled.

"Of course, anything for my little sunflower." he exclaimed before kissing her forehead and leaving to get her requested beverage. Meanwhile, Anna got up and walked over to England, who was rubbing his forehead and looking quite distressed. She took a seat next to him and smiled.

"Hey Arthur, are you feeling okay?" she asked. Arthur turned to look at her and smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Up close, Anna noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days.

"Hello there love. Yes, I'm quite alright, just a bit tired is all." he dismissed. Anna frowned a bit before giving a sympathetic smile.

"Are you still having nightmares?" she asked quietly. Ever since she returned to Hetalia, Arthur had been plagued by constant nightmares and night terrors. He had told Anna who immediately sensed when something was wrong, and eventually mentioned it to France and America, but for the most part was secretive about it.

"I'm fine, really." Arthur insisted.

"You know, the offer still stands if you want me to Exhume them." Anna stated. 'Exhume' was her name for her ability to read the memories of Nations (their history) and live through the pain with them so that they don't weigh so heavily on their minds. Arthur shook his head.

"Thank you, but no. Go on, I'll meet up with you in a moment." he smiled. Anna sighed but nodded, not wanting to push the issue before getting up before going to join the others in the break room. Arthur waited until she and most of the other Nations had gone before leaning back in his chair and sighing heavily.

He was far from alright.

These nightmares, weren't just relivings of some of his worst memories. He hadn't told Anna this because he didn't want her going to America, Russia or someone else about this, but these dreams… were more like horrid twistings and retelling of some of the darkest moments of his life.

And of those, there were infinite.

He sighed again as his thoughts wandered to the young girl, newly inducted as one of them. He wondered who the other three Culture Personifications would be briefly, and he tried to think when Hive would come out of hiding to strike again. Anna had dealt them a serious blow when she first came here, rescuing him and a few others from torture and saved France from being seriously wounded from a snipers bullet.

The bullet.

Those nightmares began a few days after the bullet exited Anna and flew into his left shoulder. That whole ordeal resulted in Anna being sent back to her world at least in mind as her body healed, much to the fury and horror of Russia. He swore that would be the end of him that day.

Could it all be connected somehow?

His musings were interrupted when his senses picked up the a tingle in the air, a tell-tale sign of magic being performed somewhere. He furrowed his brow as he sat up only to look up suddenly as a giant black hole opened in the ceiling, the sound of a girl screaming getting closer. Before he had a chance to react, a girl with pale-peach skin, long dark brown hair tied in a loose braid and dressed in a black flannel nightgown that looked to be from his Victorian era, fell from the hole and right into his lap. He struggled to catch her and keep her upright as the wind was knocked out of him, the hole vanishing as if it had never been there.

"Oh… my god… thank you so much… for catching.." the girl panted as she grabbed for his shoulders and looked up at him, stopping mid sentence as frightened forest green met surprised and curious emerald ones, "...me?"

"Of course madam. Um, tell me, who are you?" Arthur asked.

"Kaitlyn… Kaitlyn Carmichael… who are you sir?" the girl asked in a tentative voice.

"I'm Britain." he replied. The girl nodded slowly.

"Oh… hello…" she said.

AN: Hello loves! That's right, I'm back and writing a new story in my little Hetalia/OC series! New girl, new pair, new adventure! Please review and favorite, because this one is going to be a doozey ;) This is a sequel to my story to The Girl Who Loved Russia, so if you haven't read that yet please do, otherwise some of this may not make sense. Enjoy!