18 teenagers are invited to a secret project on a newly discovered mansion in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Strange things start to happen and jealousy as well as rivalry turns the teens against each other. But can you really afford to make enemies in such a haunted and dangerous place?

USUK – plenty of side-pairings.

Genres: Romance, Horror, Supernatural and Drama – with slight traces of Action, Mystery and possibly more genres in the future.


Full of excitement, the American helped the driver pack his and his brother's luggage safely inside the cab. Beaming at his brother who made his way out of the house and towards the vehicle, he practically jumped into the backseat while impatiently gesturing for his twin to hurry.

"C'mon, Mattie! We ain't got all day!"

"Actually, we do", the shorter blond replied, letting out a squeak as his brother dragged him into the cab.

"No, I'll die if we don't get there soon!"

Sighing at the childish American, Matthew buckled up as the car started moving.

"Al, grow up, will you? There will be at least another thirteen hours before we arrive, anyway."

"Aww, c'mon! Aren't ya excited?" Alfred's azure blue eyes were close to glowing in the dim morning light from anticipation. This was all that he'd been talking about for the last eight weeks. Ever since that letter which invited the two boys to the mansion had arrived, the American's mouth had moved non-stop about it. The mansion, being a recently discovered building on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, was the place for a secret project some lucky teenagers had the chance to participate in. Or at least that's what they'd been told. None of the boys had heard of it before and it might as well be a scam for all they knew. Why the two twins had been selected escaped both of their minds. Their parents were normal office workers with no real connection to any higher-ups, and while they weren't failing in school, they weren't exactly the star students either. Not that it mattered. When an opportunity shows up you take it, right? Well, that's what they had done, and that's the reason why they were now heading for the airport.

"Of course I am", the shorter twin smiled, tucking a lock of blond hair behind his ear. The taller boy simply grinned back before picking up his iPod, turning on some American pop song on a way too loud volume. Matthew, glad to finally get some peace, sighed and rested his head in his hand, elbow on the car door, while watching the blur of grey buildings and trees pass by.


The flight had taken forever. And much to the American's disappointment, they weren't there yet. For some odd and completely unnecessary reason they had flown all the way to Iceland only to get on some random boat that would take them to the mansion. As they got on the fairly large boat, Alfred's complains just grew louder and Matthew fought to keep up a good attitude, failing however, as his brother started clinging to his legs. How they were both related – heck, they were even twins! – he simply failed to understand.

During the several hour-long boat trip Matthew engaged in a rather interesting conversation with a personnel of the boat while Alfred slept away by his side. It seemed they would be the last of the eighteen teenagers to arrive. He also asked about the 'project' but was to be both disappointed and worried when none of the personnel knew anything about it. They had simply been given orders to take them to a certain spot in the sea from where another boat would pick them up to take them somewhere – somewhere that the personnel did not know of. After yet another hour, the boat slowed down and stopped roughly fifteen meters from a large cliff that peeked up above the water surface. The two brothers were told to wait, and wait they did. Alfred, who had woken up half an hour ago, fell asleep again and this time his brother joined him. Their escort was obviously late and after almost an hour of waiting even Matthew found it impossible to keep his eyes open.

God knows how many hours passed, but when one of the personnel finally came by to wake them up, the sun had already begun to set. Drowsily, the twins went to get their luggage but were told that it had already been moved. Both slightly confused, they were guided to the smaller boat that was parked just beside the bigger. As the twins gazed down over the rail, they found a man on the smaller boat smiling back at them. Dressed in rather casual looking clothes, the boys could see that he was rather well-built. The man's toned skin combined with chocolate eyes and slightly messy dark auburn hair created an instant impression of coming from the south. From where, the boys did not know of course. Until he spoke that is.

"I take it you are the Jones twins? Alfred and Matthew, correct? It's wonderful meeting you, I'm Mr. Romanum, but please, call me Rome", the man practically sang in a heavy Italian accent as he offered a hand to the boys.

Matthew, whose mind was clearer than his brother's, instantly reached for the man's hand.

"Oh, i-it's a pleasure meeting you too, Mr. Rom-" He didn't make it further though, as the man, instead of shaking Matthew's hand, took a tighter grip of it and pulled the startled boy down onto the smaller boat. With a yelp, the boy stumbled and nearly fell over board before finally gaining some balance. Rome simply patted his back and gestured for him to take a seat in between the luggage.

"You coming, sleepy head?" The man turned his gaze to Alfred who still looked half asleep, leaning over the rail of the boat. He had gained a bed head after brushing up against Matthew and his glasses were slightly misplaced. This, combined with the clueless expression on his face, reminded Matthew of all the times his brother had fallen asleep during class only to get questioned by their teacher the moment after. At first Matthew had saved him, but in the long run it had become a constantly annoying task, so he had simply decided that his brother had to learn the hard way.

Now, however, his brother looked completely clueless not because he didn't remember the name of their third president, but because he couldn't realize exactly what was going on. Squeezed in between multiple bags of baggage, his brother sat, gazing up at him with a slightly amused smile. Next to him, there was a man who smilingly held out his hand towards the American. Blinking, Alfred didn't think further and simply grabbed the hand. Letting out a cry of surprise, the blond fell down into the smaller boat – suitcases of luggage somewhat dampening his fall. Crawling up to sit by his twin, he heard the man start an engine, shout a quick goodbye, and then saw how he took his place behind the wheel and starting driving. Still drowsy, Alfred made a notable attempt to fall asleep again, but was constantly woken up as the smaller boat picked up speed and bumped against the Atlantic waves. Luckily, the day was quite still and beside the salty breeze from the boat trip, there really wasn't much wind either. Alfred barely noticed this – as he stubbornly tried to go back to sleep – but Matthew found it rather odd how it didn't blow more out there in the middle of the ocean. Knowing it would be pointless to try to make a conversation over the engine noise however, he simply fell into a state of daydreaming.


After arriving, Alfred had finally decided that he'd rested enough and was now completely awake, standing in front of the mansion with his luggage in his hands. Gazing up at the building, only five words came to his mind: 'old', 'gothic', 'creepy' and 'totally awesome.' With a huge grin, Alfred turned around quickly to see if his brother and Mr. Rome had caught up. Anxious as he was, he had jumped off the boat as soon as it hit land, grabbing his luggage tightly and spurted up the road that, after taking several crooked turns through the woods, led to the mansion. Alfred really didn't think the word 'mansion' made the massive building justice though. 'Castle' was more like it.

Seeing how neither of the two males had appeared yet, Alfred simply turned around and headed for the huge courtyard. Spinning around in circles, the American allowed himself to get a full view of the gothic building. Grey layers of brick were covered by several climbers – roses among them – and the symmetrically placed windows had patterns of black metal carved into them. In the courtyard there were several flower arrangements which seemed to circle the huge stone fountain – meant to resemble some kind of huge water snake, most likely a mythological one, Alfred guessed – placed in the middle. Alfred made his way towards the fountain and sat on one of the stone benches next to it, taking in his surroundings fully. Even though he hated, really hated ghosts, he was awestruck by the creepiness of the building. Exhaling slowly, he rose from his position and made his way to the entrance, stones clattering beneath his feet as he walked. The huge iron doors only made his grin grow wider as he grabbed the handle firmly and opened the door with an echoing creek.

The inside of the mansion matched the outside appearance perfectly. Besides the grey bricks, curtains and carpets of wine red and dark violet added to the dark atmosphere, and gold framed old fashioned furniture and paintings of all sizes filled the dimly lit rooms. Alfred entered what reminded of a crossover between a lobby and a living room. Facing him was a massive staircase of stone which led up to the second and third level, and considering the fact that all floors had very high ceiling, the staircase reached to fifteen meters above the ground. To the right side of the room, there was an open fireplace – not lit at the moment though – surrounded by several small couches and armchairs, all clad in crimson fabric. Two doors were also placed along the right side wall, while there were seven of them placed on the left one, accompanied by several old-fashioned portraits.

Alfred simply stared into the massive room for a couple of minutes before he had finally taken it all in. There were no people in the room, but on his right side there was a huge pile of luggage he assumed belonged to the other teens. After dumping his own baggage in the pile, he stormed into the first door to his left, thoughts of his brother and the Italian man completely forgotten. The room he entered existed of a simple wooden armchair, a couple of paintings, another door, and a small staircase. Taking no further interest in the room, the American quickly skipped up the stairs only to find himself in a hall that seemed to stretch across the entire building. Considering the size of the mansion, that probably wasn't the case though. Even if the hall seemed eternal, he knew the building was way larger. Windows facing the front of the mansion ran along one side of the hall, the fire-like light bathing the grey bricks with colour.

Choosing a casual-looking wooden door, he slammed it open with excitement. The inside of the room gave the impression of being rather small, maybe because the walls were packed with bookshelves of different sizes, standing so close together that not even a air could force it's way in between. Unlike the rest of the building, the floor was wooden and covered with a moss-green carpet. Two armchairs were placed in the middle of the room with a small table between them, on which a game of chess was placed. The American did however not notice any of this, for his eyes were staring at something else.

A boy was sitting in one of the armchairs with a book in his hands, and when the American had stormed into the room he had averted his gaze from the pages and was now staring into a pair of baby blues. Alfred had never seen such an intense green gaze before. It was as if the other's emerald orbs were staring deep into his soul, devouring him completely. Alfred felt his heartbeat quicken as he took in the rest of the other's features. The boy was smaller than him – though not necessarily younger – and his figure was slender, almost feminine, though Alfred quickly decided that it fit him. His skin was all over pale, almost porcelain looking, except for his cheeks where a faint shade of pink had appeared. A pair of unusually big and bushy eyebrows was raised in a questioning expression, but rather than take away from his looks, it added further character. Framing the boy's delicate face were chops of messy sandy blond hair. Alfred could feel how his heartbeat increased further and blood started rushing to his cheeks. He broke eye contact for a brief second to get a full view of the boy's entire figure before locking their eyes again. The other wore a – clearly ironed – white dress shirt with a black waistcoat, a pair of red plaid pants, which Alfred could have sworn he saw a chain with skulls hang from, and a rather casual looking pair of black shoes. Alfred's heart skipped a beat at the other's over-all appearance and let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

He'd noticed that the boy had scanned him when he first entered the room and now neither of them had any reason nor wish to break eye-contact. The silence that lingered between them was very awkward indeed, and both desperately wanted to end it, though neither of them were quite sure how. The shorter boy was first to take initiative. He cleared his throat before opening his mouth in a question, but the clang of a bell interrupted him.

Cling-cling cling-cling cling-cling

Alfred turned around to gaze down the hall before he turned back to the other boy, who now had risen from the armchair. Alfred felt how his cheeks grew hotter and shot him a questioning look. The other mimicked his blush before clearing his throat again.

"They want us to gather in the lobby." He said, avoiding eye-contact, and turned around to return the book he'd been reading.

Alfred felt his heart skip a beat at the sound of the others British accent, and simply nodded as he stepped out of the doorway to make room for the other who exited first. Closing the door behind them, the American followed the boy down to the lobby in silence.


"Ah, Mr. Kirkland, Mr. Jones, there you are! Will you please join us?" Alfred recognized Mr. Rome as he happily waved them over from a spot before the fireplace. Matthew along with a few others turned around to look at the two newcomers, though while the others shot curious glances, Matthew looked like he would leap up and kill his brother any minute.

"Hey guys, what's up?" The American greeted with a huge smile as he skipped over towards the small group of people and took a seat on the sofa next to his fuming twin. Some of the teens replied with a small 'hello' and smiled while others shot the American annoyed glances. To Alfred's disappointment, the boy he met in the library ignored the free seat next to him and sat in one of the armchairs across the low table instead.

"Well then, now that we all have gathered, you youngsters must be dying to get to know each other, no? I have this erm... rubrics cube here! I thought we could throw it around and, you know, you tell us your name when you get it, where you're from and anything else you think we should know of?" Several sighs were heard and some of the teens exchanged 'is he serious?' glances, but no protests were heard so the Italian took it as clearance to continue. "Well, as you all know by now, I'm Mr. Romanum, but I insist you all call me Rome! Along with my friend here, who prefers to be called Germania, I started this project which we're going to tell you all about later." Everyone's attention was now turned to the tall man who'd silently watched from the shadows of the lit fireplace. Long blond hair covered most of his face and he didn't even bother to look up as he grunted something muffled – probably a 'hello' or some other sort of greeting. One of the tall, blond teens turned his face to the floor, as if ashamed, and an albino guy sitting next to him snickered while roughly patting his back. "Right then. Feli, catch?" The Italian man laughed as he threw the cube in a perfect arch to one of the boys who was sitting on the sofa. The boy reminded a lot of the older man, in fact, he almost looked like a younger version of him. Light auburn hair with a stubborn curl sticking out on the left side of his head. With cheerful amber eyes happily examining the rubrics cube that had landed on his lap, he almost gave the impression of being a little dopey. When he finally spoke he showed everyone's suspicions to be very true.

"Thank you, Grandpa Rome! Well, my name is Feliciano Vargas and I'm from Italy. Oh, and also, I really love pasta! You're turn, fratello!" Some knowing glances were shared in the group as the younger Italian passed the cube to the guy sitting next to him. Unlike his cheerful brother, this boy was sitting with his arms crossed, a pouting expression on his face. Even though his eyes were green and his hair clearly darker than his brother's, he had a similar hair curl. Only difference was that his was sticking out on the right side of his head.

"Whatever. This is fucking stupid anyway." All of the teens – except for the ever happy Italian – were taken slightly aback by the boy's attitude. It didn't match his brother's or his grandfather's at all. A tanned brunet quickly recovered though and gave out a faint chuckle. "I'm Lovino Vargas. Also Italian. I really don't care, so whoever; catch!" The boy's cheeks had turned red at the sound of the chuckle and he desperately tried hiding it by looking down at the floor, throwing the rubrics cube up randomly in the air as he did so. The cube was close to smashing into the table, but a delicate hand graciously shot out before it made contact with the wooden surface.

"Watch it, you idiot!" The brunet called out before leaning back in his armchair again, brushing off his already spotless clothes as he did so. After clearing his throat and adjusting his already in-place glasses, he spoke again. "I apologise for that. My name is Roderich Edelstein and I'm from Austria."

"Ve, but you don't sound Australian..." The cheerful Italian brother noted. A couple of heads nodded in agreement.

"I'm Austrian, not Australian!" Roderich snapped, his violet eyes ablaze. Nobody dared to comment any further, so the brunet cleared his throat once again in an apologetic gesture before nodding towards a girl sitting in the armchair next to him and handing her the cube. The girl giggled slightly while tucking a curl of long light brown hair behind her ear.

"My name is Erzébet Héderváry, though Elizaveta might be easier to remember? I'm Hungarian. It's nice meeting you all." The girl smiled before locking her hazel eyes with a pair of ice blue ones across the table. She threw the cube to the tall boy – though he actually looked more like a man than a boy – who caught it easily with one hand. Straightening his back and running his non occupied hand over his slicked-back blond hair, he spoke.

"I am Ludwig. I come from Germany. I'm looking forward on working with you all." He nodded his head in a greeting gesture which was mimicked by some of the other teens.

"Right, right, bruder. You don't have to be so damn serious, ye know? Chill. Just gimme the cube already." Some glares were sent towards the rude albino who ripped the cube out of the taller German's hands. "Yep, Ludwig is my awesome bruder. But I am the even awesomer Gilbert Beilschmidt! Oh, and I knew you guys wouldn't mind, so I brought my awesome Gilbird with me too. Say 'hi' Gillie!" The albino snickered while patting his pet chicken, which had gone unnoticed by the other teens until now. Letting out a satisfied 'pip', it snuggled up on the German boy's shoulder. Not giving it much thought, Gilbert followed the still blushing Italian's example and carelessly threw the cube up in the air. This time a hand grabbed it mid-air and everyone's gazes were turned to a grinning American.

"'Sup, people? My name's Alfred F. Jones and I'm from the U.S of A!" Winking at the Hungarian girl (who giggled in reply), he gave the group his signature grin before handing the cube to his more soft-spoken brother.

"R-right. My name is Matthew Williams. I am a Canadian citizen, but I currently live with Alfred in the states."

"You guys live together?" The albino asked, leaning forward from his position on the sofa to get a better look of the two. Before Matthew could answer, Alfred quickly put an arm around his shoulders and pointed at the two of them with his thumb.

"Of course we do, dude! Mattie and I are bros!"

"T-twins, even." Matthew managed to stutter out, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention they were getting. The rest of the group fell silent while staring at them in disbelief. The tall, muscular, overly confident guy and that short, slender, nervous boy were twins? Just brothers was hard to believe, but twins? That was just out of this world. Sure, they were both blond (though Alfred's was dirty and Matthew's longer and more on the platinum side) and they both wore glasses, but besides those two features there wasn't much that hinted of the two brothers relation. Even their eye colour was slightly different; Alfred's were of intense sky blue while Matthew's almost looked a bit purple-ish. But if you squinted, you could actually see that despite their very different facades, their faces looked awfully alike.

Matthew, who was now feeling very uncomfortable, twisted a little on his seat before giving the rubrics cube to the other guy sitting next to him. The guy gave him a small smile in return and patted his head.

"Merci, Mathieu. My name is Francis Bonnefoy and I am from the très belle France." This boy looked more mature than the others with blond and wavy shoulder long hair, bright blue eyes, and hints of facial hair. Alfred could see how the boy he'd met earlier frowned in distaste at the sound of the other's thick French accent.

"Just get on with it, Frog-face." Some of the teens tried desperately to suppress laughter at the British boy's insult, but most failed, and a choir of snickers filled the room.

"Ah, Arthur, mon cher, why do you hate me so?" The Frenchman said with acted hurt in his voice. Winking at the Brit (who scowled in return), he rose from his seat and placed the cube on the Briton's lap, squeezing his knee as he did so. Alfred could feel his insides turn at the flirtatious gesture, and the Hungarian girl just barely managed not to squeal.

"Sod off, Francis", Arthur spat back while watching the amused Frenchman return to his seat. "I sincerely apologise for that – for him. My name is Arthur Kirkland and I'm from the UK. England to be more precise. It's a pleasure meeting you all." He nodded his head in a greeting before making eye-contact with a dark-haired boy sitting diagonally across the table. After making sure the other was prepared, he threw the cube in an arch. The boy caught it, after fumbling a bit, and looked up from his lap with a slight blush.

"M-my name is Kiku Honda. I am Japanese. It's an honour working with you all." While speaking, the boy had risen from his armchair and was now making a 90 degree bow. All of the teens gaped at the overly-formal Asian boy, except for the blond German and the Briton who gave him approving smiles.

The cube was then passed to a small blond boy with bright violet eyes. He presented himself as Timo Väinämöinen – a Finn. A Swede who was sitting on the sofa next to the German boys got the cube next. He was slightly taller than Ludwig, had neatly trimmed blond hair and a pair of glasses which framed his clear-blue eyes. His accent was thick and most found it difficult understanding what he said, but he seemed to call himself Berwald Oxenstierna. Unwillingly, he threw the cube to a loud Dane across the table who caught it with a huge grin – almost bright enough to challenge Alfred's. How much gel was used in his hair – one could only guess. It was completely gravity-defying and styled to give a sort of 'blow-feeling' to the thick spikes. Blue eyes and blond hair gave him a stereotypical Danish appearance.

"Mathias Anderssen here. Proud Danish viking!" At the 'viking', he flashed Berwald an enthusiastic thumb-up, his grin growing even wider.

Four people had yet to present themselves. Two of them were sitting in armchairs next to each other diagonally across the table from the Dane, obviously expecting to get the cube next. Mathias did, however, not pay any attention to them or the brunet sitting even closer to him. He stood up and, with some struggle, managed to get past the two Italian brothers who were sitting next to him on the sofa. He stumbled over Feliciano's legs and nearly fell, but managed to get a hold of a blond boy's armchair just in time. With a smile bright enough to put the sun to shame, he put the cube in the boy's hands. The new holder of the cube could have looked happier at the special treatment, but then again, he could have looked more irritated as well. The expressionless boy watched with dull blue eyes as the Dane returned to his seat before speaking.

"Lukas Bondevik. From Norway." His voice was as emotionless as his face. He took his good time re-attaching his cross-shaped hairpin, tucking back some hair which had fallen out over the left side of his face. Ignoring the curious glances he got (or perhaps not noticing them), he then threw the cube to an Asian-looking guy across the table. He presented himself as a Chinese known as Yao Wang before hesitantly handing over the cube to the tall guy sitting next to him whose eyes hadn't left the Asian since the beginning of the group-introduction. Now that he got everyone's attention, however, he averted his gaze (though not necessarily in a hurry) and examined the small gathering. The meant-to-be innocent smile he flashed each individual grew bigger as a couple of teens shuddered from the creepy vibes he was giving out.

"Hello everyone. My name is Ivan Braginski and I am Russian. It's a pleasure meeting you all." The contrast between him and Yao was almost comical when sitting next to each other. While the Chinese had long dark hair put into a silky ponytail, Ivan's hair was rather short and incredibly light – almost white. Being as tall as the Swede, Ivan easily towered a head over Yao. When his presentation was done he let his violet gaze fall back upon the uncomfortable Chinese after throwing the cube to the remaining teenager.

The guy yet to introduce himself was the one who had chuckled at Lovino. He let his emerald eyes fall back on the still slightly red Italian – who scowled and blushed fiercely – before speaking.

"Hola, amigos! My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and I'm Spanish." The warmth of the Spaniard's smile was an incredible contrast to that of the Russian's. A couple of the teens even sighed and sank further down in their seats from relief.

Clap. Clap.

Everyone's attention was turned to Mr. Rome who once again was standing in front of the fireplace – it was first now that they all realized he had left.

"Well then, I'm sure we'll all be great friends! Some of you even seem to know each other, no? It's getting a bit late so I suggest we all go to bed and continue with the information tomorrow. Now then, let's all get some sleep, shall we?" The man walked out of the small circle of furniture, close followed by his blond colleague. He quickly stopped, however, and turned back to the group with an apologetic laugh.

"Oh, and before I forget; welcome to The Atlantic Mansion!"


A/N

Wow, long introduction chapter is long ._. The others will probably be a bit shorter xD As for the pairings and stuff... There will be a lot of them, including some one-sided and love-triangles, but I'm not going to spoil anything ;3 USUK will be the main focus though (this will be a USUK fanfic after all) that much I can tell you xD

Soooooo, this is my first fanfic (I'm not really good with one-shots so it had to be multi-chaptered) xD While I have read plenty of fanfics, I'm still pretty new to this site and I'm currently trying to figure out how everything works ._.

Also, please take in mind that English is not my first language, and this story is un-beta'd (if someone would be an angel and beta this I'd love you forever!) so I'd really appreciate if anyone would point out some of my horrid grammar and leave some criticism! I really want to improve! :3