Dro: Another story. I'm on a roll, though three at a time is my limit. I had this idea and couldn't get it out of my head, especially when the image of Russia and the Italy brothers got stuck there. Anyway, parallel world story! Poor Germany.

Chapter Summary: England accidentally sends Germany to a parallel world ruled by Russia with an iron fist.

Warnings: None yet unless you count some war-torn London imagery

Disclaimer: Still don't own APH. =(

"What did you do?" Alfred coughed, the smoke starting to clear. He had rushed upstairs after hearing the explosion to find Arthur on the floor and Francis hanging out the window. He shook Arthur vigorously, trying to wake him up.

Arthur groaned. "Was trying to send an object to another dimension." He blinked the soot out of his eyes. "It didn't go so well."

Alfred wanted to hit him. "Are you still going on about that magic shit? Come on, Artie, really? Can't you just leave it alone before you blow up the planet?"

"I'm not going to blow up the Earth, you git! I'm practicing serious magic here." He glared. "Not that I expect you to be able to understand something so complex." He yelped as Alfred bonked him on the head. "What was that for?"

Alfred's eye twitched. "You are such an idiot sometimes."

A stifled moan alerted them to the fact that Francis was still halfway out the window. They jumped up and pulled him back in. Francis stumbled, trying to get his bearings. "Mon Dieu, Angleterre! That had to be your worst attempt yet."

Arthur grumbled.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Well, since you've destroyed this room, why don't we go back downstairs? I'm making hamburgers!"

The other two groaned in annoyance but followed him anyway. Francis chastised Arthur on the way down the steps for ruining his clothing. Arthur just ignored him, wondering what went wrong. The object in question, an apple, was gone. But he wasn't sure whether it had just blown up, or…perhaps it had actually gone somewhere?

They sat down at the kitchen table, Francis frantically trying to get the soot off his cloak, and let Alfred serve them lunch. Arthur munched on the hamburger silently, ignoring Alfred's gleaming eyes as he repeatedly asked whether the two of them liked his food or not.

"Meh, it is okay, Amerique. I still prefer my lovely French cuisine however. Nothing will every top that."

"Tch!" Alfred scoffed. "Hamburgers are way better! Especially hamburgers from Mc—"

A loud knocking on the door startled them. Alfred hopped up and bolted to the door, ready to invite someone else to eat hamburgers. He heaved it open to reveal a panicking Italy and an annoyed Romano.

"Oh! Hey, you guys!" Wasn't expecting to see them. After the meeting, he remembered, Italy had been animatedly begging Germany to take him to lunch. Of course, Alfred didn't know why anyone would want to go out to lunch in London. It was English food, for God's sakes! Poison, basically.

"America!" Italy cried out. Alfred realized he was on the verge of tears. Genuine tears. Not the cowardly surrender tears he used when someone attacked him. "Ludwig vanished in a puff of a smoke! Help!"

Wait…what?

"Huh?"

Italy started bawling, and Romano groaned. "The potato bastard vanished, you dumb American! And we think the Brit boy might have something to do with it." He nodded to Francis and Arthur, who had appeared in the doorway.

Arthur was taken aback. "What makes you think I did it?"

"Because it's always your fault!" Romano rolled his eyes.

"Hey, it is not!"

"It is when it involves magic!"

Arthur tried to make a comeback, but he couldn't come up with one. "Okay, so, sometimes I mess up spells. That doesn't mean I made Germany disappear."

Romano narrowed his eyes. "He disappeared in a puff of smoke! And in his place was an apple!"

The silence fell over them like a heavy blanket. Francis and Alfred glued their eyes to Arthur, who couldn't think coherently.

"Oh…so that's where it went."

"And where did Germany go?" Alfred asked.

Arthur thought of his spell: sending something to another dimension. "Oh…shit."

"Bring him back! Bring him back!" Italy roughly shook his shoulders. Arthur stared at him blankly, and Italy paled. "Where'd you send him?"

"I'm not…entirely sure, actually. I was just trying to send something to like…a parallel dimension. Don't know how I made Germany disappear. I was working on the apple!"

"A parallel dimension?" Romano stared at him incredulously. "Tell me you're not serious."

Arthur felt the pressure begin to crush him. "Unfortunately, I am."

"You sent Germany to another dimension?" Alfred looked at him, wide-eyed. "That's…Awesome!"

The five of them broke out into an argument, each one screaming different things at Arthur. Italy's terrified tears stained his coat as the man clung to him. Alfred shook his shoulders, asking him if he'd send him to another dimension. Francis was shaking his head and yelling in French, and Romano was just yelling swear words at him.

God help me.

Something was choking his lungs. He coughed, hacking up dirt and soot and debris. Heavy lids opened to reveal a bare sun, its light blinding him. He rolled over to find himself laying on a huge pile of debris. A destroyed house. He'd been sleeping on a destroyed wall, the beams of the house sticking up in direction where they'd been snapped.

Ludwig blinked, unable to comprehend what was happening. Where was he? He stood up and looked around, the nervous tension in his stomach growing as he realized…the entire city was in ruins. Which city, he didn't know. But wherever he was had faced heavy bombing. There wasn't a single building left standing completely. A few walls jutted up from the ruins, empty shells standing where life had once existed.

"Where…?" The last he remembered was walking into a pub with Italy. "How did I get here? Where is here?" It looked similar to London, but without any of the landmarks he was familiar with, it was hard to…he spotted it off in the distance, a symbol of the true devastation of it all: the London Eye. It stood out from the horizon as a damaged beacon of a once proud city, rising up over the Thames.

He was in London. Alarm ran through his muscles. London was gone. He ran down the debris and into the empty road. London had been destroyed. London had been bombed to the ground! When? Where? Why? Who? A million questions ran through his mind. How could this have happened? And where had he been? There was no way he'd survived the bombing like that, splayed out on a destroyed wall. He couldn't have been there the whole time.

And where were the people? If London had been bombed this badly, they surely would've evacuated, but still…Ludwig realized this destruction wasn't new. Vines and plants were creeping up buildings, nature taking over what man had once created. This is impossible. If it was bombed a while ago, then how am I here? How did I even get here to begin with? And where is everyone? They would've reclaimed London after the bombing, right? They wouldn't have just left it to rot.

"What is going on?" He whispered to no one.

With no other choice, he started walking, hoping he'd eventually run into someone or something that could help him. He maneuvered around overturned vehicles, treaded carefully over broken glass, and ducked under fallen light poles. After an hour, he felt like giving up. Not to mention he was starting to get freaked out. The dead silence was unnerving.

He felt something move under his feet. He pulled back, realizing it was a newspaper, and he swooped down and picked it up. It was dated for a few months prior. He glanced at the headline. Shock overtook him, and he leaned back into the frame of a building for support. His hands shook as he tried to process the news. That's impossible. That never happened. That was months ago. I was there. Everything was fine then. He tried to rationalize, but he couldn't deny what was right in front of him.

US Surrenders to USSR After Nuclear Bombing

Nuclear war. Had that been what destroyed London? Fear consumed him as he realized that if London had been hit by a nuclear warhead then he was in danger of radiation poisoning. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to piece together what was happening. The Soviet Union had been dissolved years ago, so how…? And America? How the hell could that bastard Russia defeat America? How—?

"Put your hands up. Now."

He whipped around, coming face to face with a man armed with a rifle. A rifle pointed at him. "Whoa! Calm down! I'm not an enemy."

"That has yet to be seen." The man wore what looked like a riot police helmet, and he was dressed accordingly. "Name please."

"Uh…um, Ludwig."

"And where are you from, Ludwig? And while you're answering that, you can tell me why you're wandering around London all by yourself. Kind of suspicious, you know?"

Ludwig couldn't help but he feel he recognized the voice behind the helmet. "I'm from Germany. I…I was in London for…a meeting, and then I woke up and it was destroyed."

"What are you talking about? London was destroyed months ago by Russian bombers."

Ludwig let out a breath, happy to know London hadn't been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. "I…I don't know. I just woke up here earlier. The last thing I remember was having lunch with a friend at a pub."

"So you're claiming amnesia, are you?"

"Um, I…I really don't know." Ludwig was exasperated, and he was frustrated he couldn't place the voice.

Suddenly, the man lowered his gun and sighed. "I should probably shoot you because I know there's no way you can be alive. But, I just can't do it." He removed his helmet, revealing a head of blond hair.

"Vash?"

The Swiss man frowned at him, sighing again. "Hello, Ludwig. It's been a while, especially considering you've been dead for six months."

"I…what?"

"You died in the Berlin bombing after Germany retaliated, remember? So, want to tell me how you ended up here, alive and well? Or are you going to stick to your 'amnesia' excuse?"

Ludwig gaped. "I died?"

Vash nodded. "We have your body, Ludwig. And yet, here you are. I couldn't believe my eyes at first. I was sure I was going crazy. But, it's you. No mistaking it. I can sense it's Germany standing right in front of me, and I can't deny that."

They knew what the other was. They always knew. And Germany berated himself for not realizing it was Switzerland earlier. He was so used to being around other countries, he'd blocked out that special sensation.

"Look, Vash. I really have no idea what's going on. As far I'm concerned, I was in a pub with Feliciano and Romano a few hours ago, munching on some nasty 'fish and chips.'" He noticed Vash stiffen at the mention of the Italy brothers, and he made a note of that. "We were at a world meeting, discussing Global Warming. How did all this happen? How did the Soviet Union get back together?"

"Get back together? You say that like it dissolved, Ludwig."

Ludwig stuttered. "I—It did. In 1991."

Vash shook his head. "No. No, it didn't. 1991 was the year that the rest of Germany was given up to the USSR. That you were given up because of Russia's threats."

"You gave me to Russia?"

"We didn't have a choice at the time. And then, of course, appeasement failed, like it always does. Russia started asking for more, and we refused him for years. And then…then he started the war. And the entire world fell apart." Vash's eyes dulled slightly, as if he'd lost something. He looked back up at Ludwig. "Why don't you remember any of this?"

"Because that never happened." Ludwig was starting to doubt himself. He knew for a fact he'd never been under Russia's control. He knew for a fact the Soviet Union had dissolved. He knew for a fact there hadn't been any sort of third World War. So how the hell was all this happening?

Vash stared at him worriedly. "This is really strange. I'm starting to wonder if you're our Germany at all. Come back to our base with me. I have a few questions I need to ask Arthur."

"Arthur? England is all right?"

Vash bit his lip. "'All right' is not exactly the term I'd use. But he's alive and kicking, and he's not planning on stopping any time soon." Ludwig realized Vash was anxiously staring at the sky. "We should get back. They scout three times a day."

Ludwig wasn't sure he wanted to know who they were.

Ludwig was impressed. The…resistance, he guessed, had an extensive underground base. It was a military facility, sure, but it looked a little more homey than bases he was used to. Civilians and military personnel alike lived here, and Vash had told him that everyone contributed. This base was one of seventeen spread across Europe, all united for the sole purpose of taking down the now massive Soviet Union.

It was big before…Ludwig had thought when Vash had told him that. But now…Now it encompassed America, China, all the Eastern European countries…Italy…Ludwig shuddered at the thought of Italy being under Russia's control. Vash had seemed sensitive about speaking of Italy, and Ludwig wondered exactly why that was. He's dead, isn't he? Ludwig wanted to ask. He was almost sure of it, sure that…Feliciano had been killed. A pang assaulted his heart. Feliciano…

He tapped his fingers on his pants legs nervously. Vash was explaining to the other nations present about him. He didn't know who was here, though he was sure he was about to find out. The door to the meeting room opened, and Vash beckoned him inside. He walked in slowly, coming face to face with Arthur, Francis, Antonio, and…

"Gilbert?"

Gilbert rose, a haunted look in his eyes. "Mein Gott. It is you, West." The next thing he knew, his brother was hugging him tightly. "It's been so long, so long since I've seen you alive." He pulled back. "How? How are you alive?"

"Arthur has a theory, actually." Vash said.

Arthur, eying Ludwig warily, started speaking. "We're thinking you may be some sort of temporal anomaly. Perhaps from another dimension."

Gilbert looked at him, not quite comprehending. "What now?"

Francis rolled his eyes. "We think he might be from a parallel world."

Gilbert looked back to him in confusion. "Are you?"

Ludwig wasn't sure what to say. "I…I don't…The last thing I remember is eating lunch with Feliciano and Romano. Then I woke up here. So…maybe it is possible." It was the strangest thing he'd ever heard. A parallel world? How was that even possible? Sure, he knew there were theories about it…He broke his line of thought when he saw how uncomfortable everyone in the room looked. Right after he mention the Italy brothers. "Okay, I'm confused, not blind. Will someone tell me why you all keep cringing whenever I mention Italy and Romano? Are they dead?"

Arthur swallowed nervously, his eyes meeting Vash's, who nodded. "Um, Germany…Ludwig." Ludwig perked up, tension suddenly running through him at England's tone. "The Italy brothers aren't dead."

"Then what's wrong with them?"

"It's just…it's just that…"

Vash sighed. "The Italy brothers aren't dead, Ludwig. They work for Russia."

"You mean, he forces them like Lithuania and…?"

"No, I mean that the Italy brothers are Russia's top assassins."

Dro: Italy and Romano as top notch assassins...what an image that is. Remember guys, reviews encourage me to write more!

Next Chapter: Germany freaks out, the original world Arthur tries to figure out a way to bring Germany back, and we get a glimpse at parallel world Italy and Romano's lives with Russia.