A deserted house in the mountain, about three hours on foot from the world summit place. No one knows how long it has been there, or who used to live in it, rumours said that it was… haunted.

Chapter One: the mansion where none should enter

No chill shot through Japan's spine when he stepped into the house along with his friends, granted it was a little creepy; but not frightening.

If he had to put a finger on it, he would say it was too clean; far too well kept for a house that had been abandoned for years. By the time he would discover the reason for this, it would be far too late to turn back.

"Ve~ it's cleaner than I thought it would be..." Italy broke the silence, echoing Japan's thoughts, sounding completely relaxed.

'A little unlike Italy,' Japan couldn't help but think, 'he's usually just a little stiff and wary when in an unfamiliar environment…'

"H-hey. Can we go now?" Germany asked.

"What's the matter, West? You scared?" Germany's brother, Prussia, teased lightly and then swore violently when a huge clatter rose in the stillness.

"Fuck!"

"!"

"Wha?!"

"Ve!"

Following everyone else's reactions. "L-look, we really should go now." Surprisingly, Germany was the first to regain his voice after that mini heart attack.

"Oh, don't be silly." Japan forced his heart to slow down. "It's not like there are ghosts or anything. Where is your common sense?"

The house being haunted would just be too stereotypical, it wouldn't make sense. This was the real world, it was as real as day and… and… it really reminded him of a certain horror game he had played recently…

'So that's it,' he told himself, 'I merely noticed saw a couple similarities between the game and this situation and automatically thought the worst.'

There was absolutely no basis for his unease.

Japan walked, hesitantly at first, but shook his worries off and headed off in the direction of the noise.

"Be careful, Japan!" Prussia called out, also unable to shake off a steady climbing feeling of dread in the pits of his soul.

"I know," Japan turned to face him, seeing a shadow of worry on Prussia's face -and not realising that expression echoed his own- and gave him a few words of false reassurance, "I'll just go and see what happened. I'll be right back."

""

Just a plate, Japan thought, inspecting the shattered object.; nothing to worry about …but what had caused it to fall?

Japan gave himself another shake; it was just a broken plate, there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

'Oh well, I'd better go back and let Italy know that there's nothing here to be afraid of –and then we can leave.'

""

Japan gave a start when he saw that the corridor he had left his friends in was empty.' Did they leave' he thought, or had something happen to them? No, he couldn't think that way, they must have gotten bored and left. That was the only logical explanation, but why would they just leave him like that?

The front door was stuck. Like something of a great weight was pressing against it to prevent it from letting anybody out…

"P-Prussia?" Japan called out lowly, not wanting to be too loud. "If that is you… please open this door immediately."

No response.

"Italy, are you out there? If so could you get this door open?"

Japan waited for the inevitable 'Ve~ don't worry~', but nothing came.

'I guess they didn't leave then… they must be somewhere in this house, so I'd better go find them. '

He walked down the corridor in a bid to find his friends.

Something large and dark came into his eyesight.

"What's this?!"

Japan burst out, unable to stop himself.

More the colour of off scone, he would think later.

…

…GamE OvER…

…tHE wRoNG cHoiCe WaS MaDE…

StaRt AGAiN

…

Large and dark grey.

Japan froze.

Then as quickly as it came it disappeared.

"Wha… What was that, just now? I… I must be tired." Japan gasped out in shallow breaths, feeling uttermost horror well up through his body to reside in the bottom of his chest like a poison.

Why? Why of all things did he have to be alone?

Italy

'I must find Italy, and then everything will be alright.' Letting thoughts of the bright, happy nation calm his panic, Japan allowed his misgivings to sink to the back of his mind and continued on his search.

'Just find Italy, find Italy and then Germany and Prussia- then we can all get out of here together,' he told himself.

""

Japan swiped a familiar weapon off a bed in the second floor, greedily taking in its worn out appearance. "G-Germany's whip?! What is it doing in such a place like this?"

…And why wasn't Germany with it?

Japan chewed his bottom lip nervously…

'At least it's a lead'. He told himself, 'Germany, at least cannot be too far from this place.'

Japan entered another bedroom almost exactly like the one he had just left, enticed to the closet by a strange, rasping sound. Was that… breathing? Cautiously, he edged the door open.

"G… Germany!" Japan's heart swelled with relief to discover the young nation.

"Germany, where is Italy? –and Prussia?"

No response. Japan noticed for the first time how unfocused Germany's eyes were, on closer inspection he saw worry lines deep in the face of his old ally, how slight tremors ran through his body and his cold, clammy skin.

'Just what had happened here to reduce Germany to this?' Japan thought desperately, and where are the others?

Japan took in Germany's stricken face once again "I'll go get you something to drink." he told Germany, hoping that it would help to calm him down.

""

Japan gave the kitchen tap a turn, it let out a strange, rusty screech as he twisted it and it did nothing more than cough out some dust. 'Well,' Japan thought, 'it does kind of make sense for it to be disconnected from the water supply, but I must at least try elsewhere.'

Japan headed back to the bathroom he had found earlier, right next to the door that had swung shut after that… after he had…

'Th- That thing I saw… what was it..?'

""

The tap stuck, sputtered out some strange, blood red liquid before it ran clear. Japan filled the cup he had taken from under the kitchen bench, flat out refusing to let himself be worried over this out of everything.

On the way back he re-checked the front door, which still refused to be budged.

""

Japan gave the liquid a sniff, before raising it too Germany's lips, it didn't smell like anything shady… so it should be fine.

Germany drank the cold liquid in eager, thirsty gulps. "Is that… really water?" Germany croaked out when he got the liquid down.

"Um… judging by its colour… probably…" Japan told him very seriously.

"I see…" 'that didn't really taste like water' Germany thought, but was too tired to be bothered doing anything about it. "Anyway, sorry for falling apart like that. I feel much better now thanks to you." Uncannily too, Germany added in his mind, like what he d=had drunk was… Red Bull or something.

"That's good to hear," Japan told him honestly, "but Germany, where are the others?"

"I'm… not sure. At any rate, we ran for our lives… and those two went in different directions… I think." Germany swallowed nervously, truly he had no idea. He had run as soon as he saw that –that horrible thing.

"Sorry, just… give me a moment to pull myself together."

'Think,' he instructed himself, 'where could have Prussia have run off too, he was pretty brave and strong, so there was always the chance he had stayed to fight… ' Germany shook that thought off as he felt white-hot panic begin to rise up in his chest at the mere thought of what may have become to his precious brother.

"Okay… I'll go look for the others while you recuperate, stay safe." Japan said, making a move to leave.

"Japan! Wait!" Germany called out just as he was going to close the door, and flinched inwardly at the slightly accusatory look on his face, "H-here, I found a key when I was running, maybe it can help you find them…"

Japan's face softened as he took the key,Study, F:1, it read. "Thank you, Germany." Japan breathed, before running downstairs as fast as he could.

Japan felt a surge of satisfaction as the key easily slipped into the lock of only the second door he tried.

""

Something was not right. The moment Japan entered the room the back of his neck prickled; unbidden, ghost-like thoughts of walls smeared with blood and a ground littered with dead bodies wafted into his mind.

…it's a lie

Japan got a better look at the study, of the unmarked wooden floors and rows of bookshelves. And pulling out an old, faded book that looked like it had been handled many times in a very rough manner, it fell open to a dog-eared page, 'Dismissal' the chapter was entitled…

So it's a strategy book, Japan thought, "Ah, a quick look can't hurt…" he muttered aloud, quickly skimming his way through the chapter, eyes greedily taking in everything they saw as he fiddled with a key that had been under the book.

Japan was wacked powerfully in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards several feet. Sharp claws aimed for him, and Japan barely had time to duck and draw his katana. Slicing his weapon forward he blocked a limb not unlike a tree branch, and got a proper look at his enemy's face for the first time.

…And was frozen by huge pupils wrapped with milky brown irises.

The creature sent him flying backwards, crashing him into the table.

Japan wasted no time and fled for the door… only to find it wouldn't open.

"Fuck." Now he swore for real.

The key, the key… where was it?! On flight mode he turned and was once again caught by the monster. He dodged around the flailing limbs, only to be caught in the back be and sent sprawling to the ground.

Gasping Japan flew back to his feet, whirling his sword around and sliced into the creature, wincing as crimson blood spattered on his clothes.

Then he ran to where he could the small key that he dropped and swiped it up. He stumbled backwards upon seeing another creature and ran around the bookcase in order to avoid it, wrestled with it momentarily to get it to work, before slamming the door shut behind him, and locked it as quickly as he could.

Japan collapsed against the door, gripping his ribcage that he was now sure was broken.

"Wha… What on Earth was that thing?!"

It wasn't until he stood that he realised that the creature's blood was no longer discolouring his pure white clothes.

You seriously have way too much time on your hands if you're reading this… or just really love HetaOni, I guess…

I pretty much wrote the for giggles, so… tell me what you think,

DrowningHeta