Medicine = Magic [RoChu Fanfiction]

Chapter Twenty Four

A/N Whoo, spicy there other chapter! Now you have to focus on England again! Sorry not sorry~ ...and now a chapter I actually planned before writing!

Warnings include a little bit of flirtiness (it's a FrUK chapter in this fanfic what do you expect) and drinking of whiskey, but not enough to be unsafe. A/N over.

"I think you're right,"

The words were still echoing in England's mind as he laid on his back in the soft but ever-so-lumpy hotel bed. Canada had called him at eight in the morning, which was surprisingly late for how panicked he seemed to be. (It was more of an excited panic really, but the two weren't very differentiable over the phone.) Sure, eight in the morning in Britain was three in the morning in Canada, which made Arthur worry that Canada didn't get any rest, but it was still odd to hear a half asleep, angry, Canadian cursing at him for sleeping too much. (It was especially odd since he had already been awake for a few hours by the time the blond hockey player called him.)

But all of the initial doubt was washed away as Canada rushed through an explanation of why he was calling.

"Cuba thinks you're right Arthur,"

That sentence had been completely without context, and had definitely taken the Brit off-guard at first, even after Canada began to explain what he acutely meant. Apparently, Cuba, without knowing that they were discussing an idea related to what he was about to say, had gotten into the topic of magic and brought up potions. At first, England hadn't gotten what the big deal was.

After all, they already knew there were potions, it wasn't exactly new information. England's mother had worked for years documenting transformation spells, though nothing as weakening or partial as the one they were searching for at the moment. She usually liked full-scale transformations, things like turning into animals or plants, disguising oneself as parts of nature for an upper hand in battle. (The only partial change England could think of was an early spell that she had apparently never finished, something to do with bird wings.)

Canada had quickly explained, however, that this was important because Cuba had no idea that anyone was interested in anything like this and yet he brought it up. It didn't matter that he didn't identify specifics, apparently, it was just important that he generally thought such a process was within-reason. England had almost rolled his eyes at this, of course it was within reason, just as much as any other transformation spell.

Nonetheless, it was quite exciting.

Right then it was far past noon, more than a few hours having passed since their very energetic and sleep-deprived phone call. That call had taken place as he was driving down to the ferry terminal, as he had to get to France within the hour. Many of the European nations were having a meeting, not because their bosses need it or even because they- God forbid- wanted to see each other but instead because they were (again) working out the aftermath of the Cold War.

It had been a while, years in fact, since that war but things were still quite chaotic. Things were getting better, for the most part, but there were still personal and general things that needed to be worked out. Not everyone was there, mostly because no one really wanted to show up but also because too many nations in the same room at the same time wasn't really a fantastic idea. So here he was, lying on his back in the bed he had so kindly referred to as a 'lumpy hotel bed'.

It wasn't really a lumpy hotel bed.

It was lumpy as all hell (or at least he was going to pretend it was, just to be rude) but it wasn't a hotel bed. Yes, that's right, France had decided that a few of the Europeans could stay at his house instead of going directly home, as it was a long drive for many, and others were simply too lazy to get on a plane or even book a hotel room when some they knew was right there.