Title from: "From wonder into wonder existence opens." - Lao Tzu

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Axis Powers Hetalia or Dragon Age. They belong to their respective owners.

"Hey bro!" America chirped as Japan opened the front door. "Thanks." He said, bumping past Japan as he headed inside the house.

Canada mentally groaned at the look on Japan's face. He could tell that America had lied to him about Japan expecting them. He knew America, so he'd tried calling Japan to confirm their visit beforehand, but the line had been busy. He should have just kept trying…

"I'm really sorry about this." Canada bowed with his hands clasped before him.

"No, I am used to it." Japan sighed inaudibly, stepping back to let Canada in.

"Hey Japan, what took you so long to answer, anyway?" America called out from somewhere deeper in the house.

Japan waited until they'd caught up with him to answer.

"I was working on something. I am sorry, but I need to check on it before I can entertain you."

"Okay. Can I come with?" America was rifling through Japan's shelf of games in the living-room.

"I'm sorry. I will be back as soon as possible." Japan hurried away as un-rudely as he could before America could ask anything else.

Canada smacked his forehead.

"America. I thought you said he knew we were coming?"

"Sweet, he got the new Dragon Age game!" America exclaimed excitedly, already reaching for it and digging out the disk.

"America…"

"I've been meaning to buy it but there are only so many games I can play at once, haha.~" America slipped the disk into the Xbox and turned on the TV.

"America."

"Hm? Did you say something, Canadia?"

Canada gritted his teeth and stalked over to the couch to sit down.

"Whatever, nothing." He snapped under his breath. America didn't appear to have heard him, as he was booting up the game and becoming engrossed in the opening.

Minutes passed, and despite himself Canada was drawn into watching the other play. The game actually looked pretty interesting.

Almost an hour had passed before Canada realized that Japan still hadn't returned. He didn't want to be intrusive, but he was worried about the other man. Maybe he'd been more upset than he'd seemed. Maybe he had finally had enough of America taking advantage of his politeness.

"Hey America, I'm going to look for Japan." He said, standing. America grunted - whether in acknowledgment or frustration as his character took a big hit, he wasn't sure.

He walked cautiously through the halls, softly calling out the soft-spoken man's name, hoping he wouldn't be upset with him for being so rude.

As he reached the end of a hall, he saw a room with the sliding doors closed. It had a fan with Japan's colors on it.

"Um, Japan? It's me, Canada. Are you okay?"

Nothing but silence, even as Canada repeated his calls. Maybe the other man was in the bathroom, and he was disturbing him.

Canada bit his lip and jumped between two choices - going back and waiting, or giving into his concern and going in.

He faintly heard America's shouting from the living-room. Go back to that, or risk Japan's anger?

"Japan? I'm-I'm coming in."

The first thing Canada noticed as his eyes swept the room was that it was devoid of anyone. The second thing was the metal door. On the back of it hung a large decoration that obviously concealed the door when it was fully closed, but Canada could see that it was open a crack.

Canada steeled himself and headed towards it. As he approached, he saw that the reason it was cracked was because it had gotten caught on a bunched up rug. Japan had obviously been in a hurry.

The door had a security pad on it. He could tell that the door was very heavy - if he were human, it might be a struggle to open. As it was, he pulled it open with relative ease.

The inside was set up like a laboratory. It too was empty. Canada took a moment to look around in interest. He felt like he was invading the other man's privacy after a moment though, and moved further into the room to look around for signs of Japan.

However, it was just as empty. Canada bit his lip again and stepped over to sit in the chair at the desk. His foot connected with something solid, and it slid across the floor. Canada looked down to see some kind of device. It looked sort of like a walky-talky, but he couldn't tell what it looked like in front as it was upside down.

He reached down to pick it up, his fingers curling around it to hold it more securely as he lifted it up. As he did, his finger depressed a button.

He blinked, and the world changed around him.

There was the sound of metal clanging, a strange whooshing noise, and screams. Canada was standing right in the middle of it all.

He shouted as something whizzed past him in a blur of light, and he followed it's trajectory as it connected with -

"Maple!" He squeaked out as he took in the huge…thing standing several feet ahead. It was like nothing he had ever seen, something from someone's worst nightmare.

It was swinging its massive arms around, swatting anyone who got too close like flies. There were a few bodies on the ground that weren't moving. Canada looked around himself frantically.

He was in a circular room made of stone, and light seeped in from stained glass windows. That was about all he could taken in, because he caught sight of the other creatures, and the people fighting them. Several people were holding long staffs that they shot light out of towards the creatures. No one appeared to see him, too busy fighting for their lives.

"Do you accept the gift that I offer?" Canada looked back around to see the big creature trying to cast some kind of spell on a fallen fighter, but before it was complete, a girl in robes stepped forth with what looked like a scroll that shined with yellow light, and the creature stopped casting.

That's when he caught sight of a familiar figure.

"Japan!" He gasped. The nation was darting around the creature, getting jabs in with a pair of daggers whenever he could. Canada put the remote away carefully in his back pocket and looked around hurriedly, soon spotting a discarded sword and going for it. He grabbed the shield from the body nearby, uttering a silent apology.

Then he charged forward and joined the flurry to take the behemoth down.

It had been a long time since he had fought with a sword, but it was almost like riding a bicycle. Every move he made just made sense, and the more he fought the more confident he became.

After a time, he became aware that he was fighting beside a man in heavy armor with light brown hair. He glanced back at Canada with a curious look but there was no time for talking.

Finally, the creature fell backwards with a great thump, making the ground shake for a moment.

Canada stepped back and panted, trying to catch his breath. His body was very much out of practice.

There were no more sounds of fighting, and when he glanced behind himself, it was to see that all the other creatures had been slain, and the survivors were getting their bearings.

"Hey, you were great! You're not from around here, are you?" A hand landed on his shoulder and Canada jumped.

"Eep! Um, th-thank you. You were great too." Canada evaded the last question, turning and darting his eyes around looking for Japan.

"Excuse me." Canada sighed in relief as the raven-haired men appeared at his side.

"Oh hey, I saw you fighting too. Those were some pretty impressive moves." The man complimented.

"Thank you." Japan replied politely with a bow of his head. "I am sorry, but I must talk with my friend."

"Right, sorry." The warrior rubbed the back of his head and backed away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the people had gathered themselves, and a group of armored soldiers were looking their away, one pointing right at them. Canada twitched nervously.

"I think it's best that we return as soon as possible."

Canada nodded in agreement, taking out the remote and handing it over just as the soldiers started heading there way.

He was startled when Japan slipped his hand in his, but realized they probably had to be touching for them both to be transferred.

Just before Japan pressed the button, Canada tentatively waved goodbye to the man he had fought beside.

Canada heaved a great sigh of relief when they appeared back in the lab.

He turned to Japan. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have invaded your privacy, but when you were gone for so long I got concerned."

"I understand. If you hadn't come, I would probably still be in that world. I am grateful." Japan nodded towards him, and Canada found himself nodding back.

"Where was that?"

"Another time, another place. One not meant for us to be apart of." Japan replied, staring down at the device. "Perhaps it would have been best if this didn't exist."

Canada opened his mouth, maybe to ask another question but was interrupted.

"Canadiaaa, where did you go? I'm hungry, let's go grab some Mickey D's! …Hey, have you seen Japan?"

The two shared twin looks of pure exasperation.