I'm back!!!!!!!! It continues! *laughter* And guess what? This series of Random was declared epic! Happiness!!

Disclaimer: Must I really keep saying that I don't own these guys? If I buy enough fan art can we call it close?

Occult Day

November – 18th

"Where is it? I could have sworn I put it up here last year," England muttered to himself as he dug around a high shelf full of strange jars and bottles.

Even on his stepladder he could only just read the labels on the bottles closest to the front. He pulled one out and frowned, just powdered hens' teeth. It was closer then the last jar; this was at least teeth, but not the ones he was looking for. With a sigh he reached to put it back and then stood on his tip-toes to try and reach another promising jar at the back of the shelf.

"Come on," he grumbled as he stretched to reach the jar. The tips of his fingers just brushed it. He stretched a bit more, nearly there…

"England, the phone is ringing!" a bright cheerful voice called from next to his left shoulder. At nearly the same time he suddenly did hear the phone, right next to his ear.

"Gah!"

He instinctually jerked away from the loud phone, but unfortunately, that wasn't something the old stepladder was going to allow. It wobbled violently and England grabbed the self below the one he'd been searching to try and stabilized himself. It was touch and go for a moment, but eventually he got the stepladder back under control. England sighed and looked up to glare mildly at the giggling fairy holding the phone. She giggled a little louder and held out the still ringing hand set to him. With another sigh, he took the phone, pressed the call button, and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"England, it's Hong Kong, have you seen America recently?"

England raised an eyebrow and started digging through jars with one hand. "No, why?"

On the other end of the line, Hong Kong sighed. "I've been trying to reach him for hours. No one's answering at his home and he's not with his boss. I've called everywhere I could think of and he's not anywhere! I need to speak with him by tomorrow morning at the latest."

England frowned at the jar he'd just pulled and then glanced at the one that the helpful fairy who'd brought the phone had picked up. Wrong one, he shook his head and she put it back to get another.

"Have you asked Mexico?"

England shook his head at the next two bottles the fairy showed him and pointed to the one he'd been trying for.

"Yeah."

"How about Canada?"

"Oh…"

There was a pause. England shook his head at the fairy; still not the right teeth.

"Oh right, Canada. Um…"

"Do you want me to call him for you?" England asked with another sigh as he continued his search.

"That would be great."

"Ok, I'll do that and tell him to just call you."

"Thank you, England! Bye."

The little nation hung up.

"Wonder what that's all about," England muttered as he dialed Canada's number. He leaned against the shelf while the phone rang, occasionally shaking his head at the jars the fairy picked up.

"Hey England, what's up?"

"Have you seen America lately? Hong Kong's been trying to reach him."

"Nope, Al hasn't been by for a while. Should I go check on him?"

"Probably, it's not like that idiot to not answer his phone. Can you call Hong Kong when you do find him?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, bye."

"Bye."

England hung up and put the phone down, staring blearily at the colorful bottles in front of him. Really, all he wanted to do was a simple spell. He only did it once a year so he was pretty sure it shouldn't be this much work. The little fairy landed in front of him and pointed to a jar next to the hand he had resting on the shelf.

"You found it!"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Elsewhere, Canada had returned his phone to its station.

"Now what's Al doing, eh?" he wondered aloud. "Probably something to do with scary movies again."

With a shrug, he grabbed his jacket, Kumajiro, and walked out the door. The fastest way to find out was to just go and see what his brother was doing. A few hours later he was standing in front of America's door, still wondering what was going on. He'd tried to call on the way down, but no one had picked up. Now he was standing on his brother's porch, ringing the bell for the third time in ten minutes and starting to get mildly concerned. Finally, the door creaked open.

"Geez Al, finally what is…going…oh…"

Canada blinked. America hadn't opened the door. He looked down.

"Hi, Tony."

The gray waved casually and stepped back into the house.

"Where's Alfred? Were you two watching horror movies again?" Canada asked as he entered, closing the door behind himself, and following the gray into the living room.

Tony shook his head and plopped down in the darkened room, picking up a game controller. "America's in his room hiding under the covers."

Canada blinked. The TV clicked and he looked at it. It had been oddly quiet for a game, and realized that it was some kind of horror game. Could this be the reason?

"What are you playing? Is this why Al's hiding?" he asked, watching deformed ghosts and ghouls pop up on the screen.

"It's Fatal Frame, but America's been hiding under the covers nearly all day," Tony whispered as he energetically clicked photos of the ghosts.

"Ok, I'll go check on him. Kumaki, wanna stay and watch?"

The bear in Canada's arms blinked at him. "Sure, who are you?"

Canada sighed and left the polar bear and alien to navigate the virtual haunted village. He jogged up the stairs and found Al's door closed. He knocked.

"Hey Al, you in there?"

No answer. He knocked again.

"Ok, I'm coming in Al."

He pushed open the door…and stared at the shivering lump on his brothers bed. He blinked just to be sure he wasn't seeing things. Nope, still the same. America was really, truly, hiding under his bed covers like a terrified kid.

"What the heck?" Canada muttered. "Al, what's wrong?"

America just whimpered a bit. Canada shook his head and moved to sit on the edge of his brother's bed.

"Why are you hiding in here, Al? Your phone's been ringing." Canada pulled up a bit of the covers so he could actually see his brother.

"They can't get me here," America whispered into the pillow he was clutching.

"They who?"

"Them!" America stressed, suddenly looking up at his brother.

Canada just stared into America's terrified eyes, confused. Here was his brother, Mr. I-Am-A-Hero-and-Fear-Nothing, hiding from some unknown people.

"Al, your acting like England just took you on a Halloween tour of all of his old castles," Canada pointed out, trying to get his brother to make sense.

America just shook his head furiously, "You don't get it, Matty! Today's my least favorite holiday!"

Canada raised an eyebrow and petted his brother's hair. "Another one? What is it then, Al?"

America reached out to hug Canada's middle, pulling himself partially into the younger nation's lap. "It's Occult Day, Matty." America whispered into Canada's stomach.

"Occult Day? What you mean you have a day other then Halloween to celebrate things like ghost and black magic?"

America nodded and hugged Canada a little tighter. Part of the problem was that he could feel the few people in his land who were celebrating the day. He was happy for them for having fun, but the supernatural terrified him.

Canada's eyes softened. He laid one hand on his brother's side and continued to pet his hair with the other. "Do you want me to keep you company?"

"Please!"

"Alright."

Canada continued to comfort his brother until he fell into an uneasy sleep. Then he pulled out his cell phone, called Hong Kong and advised him to just call the next day. Hong Kong sighed but thanked Canada for helping before hanging up. Canada put the phone away and looked down at his sleeping brother. With a smile and a shake of his head he resigned himself to being there for a while.

"I guess, Happy Occult Day, Alfred."

Canada leaned down and kissed America's temple before leaning back and closing his eyes.

Ahh… Such a change of pace. This one just was bound and determined to NOT be as funny as it's brethren, but oh well. There's always next time! Bwahahahahahahahaha…*cough*

Eh, anyway. Feel free to take that bit at the end as you will. I myself will happily hand it to my inner Yaoi fangirl and watch her run. *grin* Hope you review cause I like hearing from people. Hope you Occult Day was good and for those celebrating, have a good Thanksgiving!