There was no rise and fall of chest, no colour to his cheeks, no pulse. There was no doubt that the body lying in front of them was Kiku, the Queen of Hearts, just as there was no doubt he was dead.

"I... I thought so," Japan murmured, obviously unnerved as he stared down at his double. England looked at him questioningly, and Japan continued. "When I asked Ludwig-san what happened to the real Queen of Hearts, he only told me that the Queens were an example, as ordered by the Council. Ludwig-san was unwilling to say anything more on the matter, and I immediately thought of a worst case scenario."

"Then they were killed?" England frowned, trying to think back to the past few days. "Everyone I asked only ever mentioned something about another world. That was supposed to be the reason we were kidnapped in the first place."

Or was that a lie? Maybe not a lie only he was told—despite the paranoia recent events had caused, he doubted everyone was trying to trick him—but perhaps a lie the kingdoms had told their citizens. If that was the case, then could the body of the true Queen of Spades be lying somewhere in the Spade's castle?

England's thoughts flew to Alfred and Yao, and he felt a rising bubble of anger. If Arthur was somewhere in the castle then he sincerly doubted the two of them were unaware. They must have been lying to him right from the beginning, manipulating him so that he wouldn't figure out he was only a replacement goldfish.

And yet, at the back of his mind, England could still feel Arthur's presence. It was like a weight on his mind, something that never truly went away, and growing harder to ignore as time went on. England desperately wanted to believe he had no link to this world, but if that was true then there was no explanation for the Queen inside his head.

"But it doesn't make sense," Japan said suddenly, voice tinged with confusion, almost saying England's thoughts word for word. "The incident with the Queens should have happened a year ago. If that's true, should the..." He hesitated. He didn't want to say 'corpse.' It didn't suit the body lying in the quiet, isolated room. For some reason, he didn't want to say the man who shared his face was dead, not outloud. "Should he really look like this? He might as well have died only a few moments ago."

That hadn't occured to England, and he quickly looked down at the Queen of Hearts. There was no sign of decay whatsoever. His face was peaceful, and as long as one missed the lack of breath it would have been easy for a casual onlooker to think Kiku was merely sleeping. Even so, there was no sign his body had been perserved in any way.

"Maybe they used a spell," England mused, mostly to himself. "Some sort of magic to stop the body from rotting."

Japan simply nodded. While he was sceptical about the use of magic, after being transported to an alternative universe he didn't think he could argue against it. He turned his attention to the room, to the pale pink walls and ceiling, to the stained glass window.

"It looks like they closed this room off recently," Japan said, nodding to the brick section of the wall. "But why? Are they trying to stop people from finding the Queen of Hearts?"

England didn't know how to answer. There was more to his situation than the King and the Jack had told him, that much was clear. The Queens hadn't been sent to another world; the Queen of Hearts wouldn't be lying dead in a coffin otherwise, locked in a room hidden from the rest of the castle. So then why keep up the pretence that the Queens were being 'retrieved'? What was the point?

Footsteps interrupted the silence. They were muffled enough that at first England wondered if he had imagined it, but both he and Japan glanced towards the rightmost corner in response. The noise grew louder, distinctly the sound of someone walking down stairs.

Hurriedly, England and Japan started to shove and pull the heavy top so that it covered the coffin again, a sense of panic in the air. Convinced they had fitted the lid as well as they could, they all but dived back towards the opening in the brick wall. England barely remembered to pull the section of the wall back in place.

In truth, there wasn't an obvious reason for them to react with such alarm. There could have been many reasonable explanations for the footsteps, not just the idea that someone was about to enter the room and discover them. But their journey through the tunnel had been filled with the noises of voices and clatter from the rest of the castle, noises which had ceased completely when they entered the room with the coffin. The footsteps had stood out, had sounded too close.

With the wall back in place, England and Japan were frozen on the uncomfortable ground, still on their hands and knees. They listened as the footsteps grew even louder.

There was an odd sound, a sort of 'click,' and then the unmistakable creaking of someone opening an old door. England could hear the footsteps stomped across the smooth floor, followed by the taps of quick yet timid shoes.

There was still a small crack of light in the brick wall; England peered through the opening, hoping it wasn't visible on the other side, and Japan shuffled next to him to do likewise. At first, all he could see was the coffin, still set firmly in the middle of the room. Then Yao moved across his vision, followed by Feliciano.

Yao's expression was cold. He swept his eyes across the empty room, stood by the box containing Kiku's body, his dark blue clothes contrasting with the pink room.

"He's not here."

The one who spoke was Feliciano. He seemed nervous, fidgeting and looking at everything in the room that wasn't Yao.

"I can see that." Yao sighed, frustrated. His shoulders slumped slightly. "What am I going to do...?"

"W-well, we should probably look around some other part of the castle. He couldn't have got far, right?" Feliciano gestured desperately towards the other side of the room, most likely at what they had entered through.

England resisted the urge to flinch. Feliciano was such a bad liar it was almost painful, and he wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Yao gave Feliciano a careful stare before his eyes drifted down to the coffin.

"Has this been opened recently?" Yao asked, resting his hand on the top of the box. "It hasn't been closed properly," he explained in response to Feliciano's confused expression.

Swearing under his breath, England shifted his sore knees against the ground, ready to retreat if Yao just happened to notice something odd about the wall. Of course, with the large hole further down the tunnel effectively trapping them, they wouldn't be able to get far.

A smile lit up Felicano's features. "Oh! That's right! I came here to visit Kiku yesterday." He laughed, a giddy noise that was somewhat panicked. "I completely forgot about that."

"Why? Your Queen has returned."

"Well, y-yes..." Felicano hopped from one foot to the other, clutching his hands together at his chest. "But, um, I guess I wanted to see this Kiku again. Just one more time!" he quickly added.

Slow seconds ticked by, and then Yao finally spoke.

"You should be more careful," Yao said with a sigh, turning to push the top of the coffin back into its proper place. Feliciano visibly relaxed.

As if deciding there truly was nothing of importance in the room, Yao hurried back to the rightmost side of the room, out of England's sight, Feliciano following after a moment's hesitation. There was that creaking sound again, that 'click,' and then the muffled footsteps, this time growing quieter.

England couldn't remember the last time he was so grateful for absolute silence. The one to break that silence, however, was Japan, mumbling a relieved "Thank goodness."

Convinced after a few moments of waiting that Yao wouldn't return any time soon, they moved the loose segment of the wall away and were free from the passage once again. England made sure to push the bricks back to the rest of the wall as closely as he could, to stop anyone from possibly stumbling upon their escape route.

The two nations had come to a mutual realisation as they watched Yao: there was another way into the room, which also meant there was another way out. By the time England had stood Japan was already at the right side of the room, his hands on the wall as he tried to find the door Yao and Feliciano had used.

"Have you found it?" England asked, walking towards him. Japan nodded and gestured forward. The light pink coloured wall was smooth, but a thin black indentation was just about visible up close.

Japan dug his fingers into the opening and pulled. Nothing happened and, grunting with the effort, Japan gave a much stronger yank; this time there was a familiar 'click.'

The door swung open easily at this, revealing a set of worn, stone stairs that spiralled up into darkness. Japan stepped back, rubbing at his hands.

England looked up through the doorway. From where he stood he couldn't see any source of light, and thus no indication of where the stairs would lead. It was possible for the staircase to take him straight into the path of Alfred and Yao.

"But what choice do we have?" Arthur said, and though he didn't want to England had to agree. He looked to Japan, whose expression seemed somewhat determined, before taking the first step up the stairs.

—Chapter end.

I am so sorry this took forever. The past few months have been kind of... hectic. I finished my exams and started university, and I'm still trying to get used to the new routine of university life. But I'm glad I finally managed to update this...

Please review and tell me what you think. ^_^