Ludwig stared at the floor and then looked up with an expression of confusement. "Why though?"

Antonio sighed. "We don't know. We don't know anything."

"But it was one of you" Ludwig stood up and glared around the room. "It was one of you, and there aren't that many of us left now, so your options are limited. Come out with it. Which one of you was it?"

"There are..." Francis trailed off and stared around the room. "Seven of us left? No. That can't be right. How many did we start with? Alfred?"

"Sixteen" Alfred sat upright. "There were sixteen of us at the beginning."

"That can't be right though" Antonio stuttered.

"Elizaveta" Roderich held up one finger. "Feliciano, Vash, Yao, Arthur, Kiku, Lovino, Ivan and Gilbert. Nine. Nine plus seven is sixteen."

"Scheiße" Ludwig said. "Nine? That can't be..."

"Well it is right" Roderich snapped. "Because as you just saw, I just counted them all. Elizaveta, Feliciano, Vash, Yao, Arthur, Kiku, Lovino, Ivan and Gilbert. Nine. Nine people dead. Nine people killed by someone in this room. And which ever one of you it was, I'll let you know now that I hate you."

"Which one of you was it?" Alfred hissed. "Because it has to have been one of you. It wasn't me, so it was one of you. So who was it?"

"Not me" Ludwig glared at everyone individually. "Gilbert was mein bruder. I wouldn't kill him. Feliciano and Kiku were my allies. I wouldn't kill either of them either."

"Dude, we can't be having lame excuses anymore" Alfred shouted. "We've all lost someone now. That means that whoever killed them is prepared to kill family. Francis, Matthew and I have lost Arthur. You've lost Gilbert. Antonio lost Lovino and Feliciano. Roderich lost Elizaveta and Vash. Juan..." he trailed off and stared at him across the room. "Hasn't lost anyone."

Juan glanced up and stared at him as though only just tuning into the conversation. "Hm?"

"It was you" Alfred stared at him. "It was you wasn't it? You killed them all."

"Me?" Juan blinked. "No, no, no, no. It wasn't me. I barely know any of you. Why would I kill people I don't know?"

"Say that to the terrorists" Francis glared at him.

"What?" Juan coughed. "I'm not... I... it wasn't..." he glanced at Antonio in a pleading way. Antonio didn't look up.

"One of the things we've been standing by since the beginning is that isn't someone who has family or close friends here" Roderich stood up slowly. "Name one person you know here who is dead."

"I..." Juan trailed off and went silent, staring at the ground.

"Just what I thought" Roderich sneered. "I think we've found our killer."

"Honestly, it wasn't..." Juan started.

"No" Antonio stood up and went over to stand next to him. "At this point I have to put my foot down. This is Juan we're talking about. He cried when he squished a fly once." Juan went bright red and muttered something under his breath. "There's no way he'd be able to kill anyone. He's got no stomach for starters, so how would he have killed Yao? He's never used a gun before and he is weak as anything. Arthur was strangled. There's no way Juan would have been able to beat Arthur."

"You know Toni" Francis said. "There's such thing as a hidden talent."

Antonio gave an exasperated sigh. "There's no way he'd have been able to hide it. I raised him and the rest of South America under the same roof. Nothing ever went unheard of. Ever."

"That still doesn't cancel him out" Ludwig glanced around the room. "Matthew, you've been quiet for this entire talk. What're you hiding?"

"Me?" Matthew yelped and looked around.

"Yes, there is only one Matthew that I know of in this room" Ludwig growled.

"Heh" Matthew scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah."

"So was it you?"

Matthew jumped as though he'd tried to ignore the question and swallowed. "It wasn't. Honestly, it wasn't."

"There are a couple of 'honestly's flying around this room at the moment" Ludwig said, glaring at Juan, who flinched away guiltily.

"That doesn't matter" Alfred shouted. "I can't believe you've gone back to this Ludwig. It must have been a mistake when we found his glasses next to Yao." He looped an arm around Matthew's shoulders. "He's my brother. He's Mattie. Mattie wouldn't ever kill anyone. Ever. Ever. Ever. Same as me. Same as Francis. Same as Antonio. None of us have a history or stereotype of violence. You on the other hand..."

"What are you trying to say?" Ludwig straightened up to his full height and stared down at Alfred intimidatingly. "I'd be very careful with your next words if I were you."

"I... uh... I didn't mean it in that way" Alfred stuttered. "I just kind of... you know... uh... it just came out that way and... uh..." he gulped. "Sorry dude."

"You're unbelievable" Ludwig sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before storming out of the room.

"He said that it had to be one of us here right?" Antonio glanced at them.

"What about it?" Francis said.

"I know it's been said before, but what if it isn't?" Antonio said. "What if it is someone who we think is dead. Like Ivan. It could still be Ivan. I only assumed he was dead because I saw his scarf and a figure near the bottom of the gap in the road. People have been known to cheat death before. Why not now? We're nations, probably the people on this planet most likely to be able to cheat death."

"Fair point" Roderich mused. "Why shouldn't someone have cheated death? It'd be a perfectly logical thing to do right?"

"Yeah" Francis nodded. "So let's see. Is there any way Elizaveta could have done?"

Roderich shook his head. "No way. Yao checked her, I checked her. Everyone was there when she died. Feliciano definitely wasn't alive. It had to have been someone who knew they could have done so. Maybe there weren't many people around?"

"What if it was Vash?" Matthew said.

Roderich stared at him. "He was definitely dead."

"No, I mean... if you think about it..." Matthew hesitated. "Yao was the only one to see him really. Everyone else heard about it from Yao and Ludwig, but all Ludwig did was open the door then run to get Yao. Yao died within the same twenty four hours. What if they were working together? Vash's death is the only one that doesn't make sense."

"But why would he risk his neutrality?" Roderich raised an eyebrow. "It couldn't happen."

"He wouldn't have to" Matthew stared blankly at him. "With the nation dead, there would be no one to go to war against. With no one knowing who he was, there would be no war."