Author's Note: Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this story! 'Hunting Grounds' is my first time publishing a fanfiction in over a few years already, so I apologise if my writing skills are pretty bad Dx. English isn't my first language, but I did proofread this a few times so there shouldn't be that many mistakes (I hope, anyway).

I've had this not-very-original story idea with me ever since I was fourteen, however I was always too busy with school and/or procrastinating to actually have the time to write this. Now that years have passed I've decided that I may as well just write it to fulfill the wish of my younger self xD. I hope you enjoyed this chapter (sorry for the short length, I promise the next chapter will be a lot longer). Any feedback received is greatly appreciated~

"…and I declare this boring meeting over!"

England sighed with immense relief. Finally he could get the heck out of this goddamn country and return back to his own. It was difficult having to survive in America with all its craziness, especially since he was forced to eat nothing he would consider 'edible' for the past week. How could one even find a McDonald's burger 'delicious', anyway? He almost puked just thinking about it.

Most of the other countries appeared as though they'd just woken up from a nap - not that this surprised him. He couldn't recall the last time anyone other than Germany paid serious attention to the matters being discussed during meetings. England couldn't really blame them, since he shared how they felt as he yawned and stretched, a pile of untouched papers in front of him.

He stayed behind for a bit, waiting for the large bustling crowd of nations hanging around at the door to leave. What was the point of trying to join in on the pushing and shoving, after all? Looking around, he noticed there were others who shared the same sentiment... and others who didn't seem to notice the meeting was over as evident with Greece, who appeared to be deep in slumber.

Once the crowd showed signs of clearing up, England quietly packed up his belongings and began to head towards the door, not bothering to socialise with any of the others. He had already done enough of that prior to the conference, and now he was weary, irritated and more than ready to book the first flight back to his country where he could finally relax. However it was obvious that a certain energetic nation wanted nothing more than to annoy him, as America stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Iggy! Iggy!" he chirped loudly. "Want to eat lunch together?"

England let out an audible groan and glared at him, hoping he would get the message that he didn't want to... not that it worked. When it was clear America was oblivious, he let out a sigh of resignation. "Fine," he responded, noticing the look of pure happiness written on the younger one's face. "As long as where we're eating is not McDonald's."

"Cool," America replied, beaming. "Then we'll go to KFC!" England mentally face-palmed at this. He should've known he'd say that. "I'll pay for everything anyway," the other nation continued, "unless you don't mind paying, of course. I totally think it's cool if you want to pay and-"

"I know you want me to pay," England interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Bloody hell, I'll pay then. Can we just leave this blasted place now?" The fist bump to the air confirmed his thoughts as America nodded, clearly feeling victorious. With a shake of his head - and a subtle but genuine smile, not that he'd admit it - he followed America towards the exit.

However, before they could even take a step out of the meeting room, the door suddenly swung towards them, catching them both off guard. America let out a not-so-manly squeal as he leaped back and crashed directly into England, who collapsed under the sudden weight. "Hey! What the-" he began, but the impact of his back hitting the floor knocked the air out of him and halted his speech temporarily.

When America had finally gotten up and patted the dust off his pants, he glanced at the shut door and frowned, a look of confusion painted across his face. "What the heck just happened?" he wondered out loud, heading towards it and turning the knob. Nothing happened. He tried again. "It's locked?!"

England got up and glared daggers at him. "Very funny, America!" he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at him. "This better not be another prank you've got up your sleeve!" It was bad enough during the last meeting when he tripped over the invisible wire and directly into the chest of Hungary, who was more than ready to whack him with that frying pan of hers.

"I'm not kidding!" America protested, and when he turned around to look back at him, England could see genuine perplexion at what happened. "This time I have nothing planned, I swear!"

Across the room there was the sound of someone clearing their throat - France;England pulled a disgusted face at that - before he spoke up. "Well, whoever's pulling tricks this time will need to stop, as Spain, Prussia and I would like to head out now." Wait, Prussia? Since when did he come in to the meeting room? "Either that or someone can break open the door."

America opened his mouth, probably to volunteer to do the job, but he was cut off by the sudden darkness that engulfed the room as the lights went out.

Before anyone could even process what happened, America squeaked loudly in shock and grabbed tightly onto England's arm. The action almost made England laugh out loud in amusement, but he quickly suppressed it as he began to wonder who was behind this. First the locked door, and now the lights... was it Denmark, maybe? He seemed more than eager to leave the meeting room...

"Okay, this isn't fucking funny anymore." The pissed off voice of Romano sounded from the other side of the room. "Can someone turn the goddamn lights back on?! Or at least pull the curtains back open so the sun can shine through this shitty room?"

"Are you scared of the dark, Roma?" Spain asked, sounding amused.

"The fuck did you say, you jerk?!"

"Ow!"

England rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll go and find the light switch. Hold on." He moved forwards, not surprised at all to find that America was following him too, iron grip not leaving his arm. As he blindly waved his free hand in front of him, England was able to locate the wall and begin to slide his palms across it in search for the switch.

"Hurry up!" Turkey yelled from somewhere close to him. "We haven't got all day!"

"It's hard to find the bloody thing in the dark, you know!" England flashed back angrily at the same time his hands brushed across it. "There, I found it. Now how about you-"

There was the rush of wind from next to him as he felt someone else beat him to the switch. Probably America in his rush of desperation to get it back on, he figured, but as soon as the light returned, he found that the person next to him was most definitely not him... in fact he didn't even know who it was.

The first thing that came to mind was, 'What is with everyone interrupting me?!' and then it was, 'Who's this? A robber?'But even that didn't seem like the right sort of description. The figure was dressed completely in black from head to toe, a contrasting white mask hiding the identity that lay underneath. What stood out was the fact that the jacket they wore was a little too big for them, and so it appeared to slip off on one side, revealing a little bit of... is that a hickey?

Not that he had much time to ponder over it as the figure pulled out a bat from behind him, aiming it right towards England.

"Wha-" Before England could even make a move to dodge the attack, the blunt weapon was brought straight down with full force, hitting him directly on the head. Milliseconds later, England felt a searing pain from the impact and immediately fell down to his knees, making a sort-of choking sound as dizziness began to wash over him, black dots appearing in his vision.

"England?!" He heard his name being chorused in horror by some of the nations around the room, but it sounded distant, as he already felt himself losing consciousness. He fell forwards and hit the floor again for the second time - and this would've been a little humorous to him if it wasn't for the fact that he had just been attacked. A low groan escaped his lips before he felt himself close his eyes and slip away into the darkness.

Before he fainted, he heard the sound of the bat being swung again.