((So, I've had this idea for a while now. I'm doing it for Camp NaNo, so it'll probably update fast. Also, seeing as it's NaNoWriMo, this is all unedited, so I apologize for any weirdness or mistakes or just plain crappyness. Also, I really suck at titles, so suggestions are welcome.))
The date was July 12, 2013. The nations of the world were gathered at England's house to celebrate his birthday (They weren't exactly sure which birthday it was, but it was his birthday, and that was the important part). Nearly all of Europe was there, along with some of Asia and the North American brothers, America and Canada. Even Russia was there, which England found rather terrifying, but he appreciated it nonetheless.
Things went rather as expected; There was the awkward greetings, the usual three-way brawl between England, France, and America, everyone avoiding England's scones, Japan sensing the mood, Russia terrifying everyone, Greece finding a stray cat… It was about as normal as a party at England's house could be. Despite the strangeness and occasional death threats, it was quite pleasant.
Finally, it was time for presents. Or, more accurately, America and his short attention span had decided it was time for presents.
"Sit down, old man," he told England, shoving him into a small plastic folding chair with balloons tied onto the back.
"Get your hands off me, you twit," England snapped, though not resisting very much. He reluctantly sat down in the chair.
"Right, you're going to open my present first because I'm America and that's how we do things," America announced, dropping a package with wrapping paper depicting racecars and electric guitars into England's lap.
"Happy birthday, you jerk," he said, grinning.
Smiling slightly, England carefully tore the wrapping paper off and revealed a box with a picture of a woman wearing some sort of fleece robe and a large "As seen on TV" stamp. Taped to the top of the box were gift cards for McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King.
"…You got me a backwards bath robe," England said slowly, as if not entirely sure what he was holding.
"Dude, no! It's a SNUGGIE!" America insisted, acting as if the older nation had said something horribly offensive to him. "It's not a bathrobe, it's a blanket with sleeves! You know, so you can do shit without being cold!" he explained, glaring.
"…Right," England mumbled, deciding it would be best not to argue with the hot-headed American. He shrugged and put it aside.
Next came France. He presented England with a red paper bag with tissue paper and a rose sticking out of the top. Inside was an expensive designer suit from France. This was a pleasant surprise for England, who quite liked nice clothes.
"Not bad, git," England said with sincerity, too surprised to sound more snarky.
"I knew you would like it," France replied, chuckling. "If you need an occasion to wear it, I-"
"I still hate you," England interrupted, glaring.
France pouted slightly. "Oui. Well, I suppose some of us do prefer solitude."
England shot France a look, but ignored the comment, placing the clothes next to the blanket-bathrobe-thing from America.
The next present was given to him by both Spain and Romano, which wasn't too surprising.
"Feliz cumpleaños," Spain told him, while Romano snickered.
Suspicious, England carefully opened the package, wary of any traps it may contain.
Inside was a book titled "Cooking for Dummies".
"…Go to hell," England told Spain and Romano, giving them a look.
"It may prove useful to you, Inglaterra," Spain said sympathetically.
"Yeah, if-a you can even read it," Romano added, laughing like an idiot.
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," England mumbled.
Next came Italy, who gave England a painting of the old Allies. Russia gave him a foot in a box; China gave him a Hello Kitty plushie; Canada gave him maple syrup. Japan gave him a katana, Germany gave him a pair of work boots, Prussia gave him an electric guitar, and Greece gave him an antique urn. There were various gifts from other countries, too.
Finally, all the presents had been opened. While the other countries went to go chat, England began carefully cleaning up the garbage.
"Hmm? What's this?" he wondered out loud, picking up a book that was lying on the table. It was black leather, with an intricate circular array carved on the front in white. It was studded with rubies and had gold edging. It was clearly a magic book, but not one England owned, or even recognized.
"Did you get this for me, my friends?" he asked the supernatural beings crowding around him. They all shook their heads.
"Get what for you?" America asked, not noticing the creatures.
"Oh, nothing," England mumbled distantly, slowly tracing his fingers over the array on the cover. It was certainly a beautiful book, although something seemed a bit off, and he didn't recognize the array. Intrigued, he opened the book and flipped through the pages. Something immediately caught his eye: A teleportation spell.
Well, this could certainly be useful… It would make travel much easier, England thought. I'll need someone to test it on, though. But who?
He looked around the yard, scanning the crowd for someone he could use. Russia was definitely out of the picture, and probably China as well; America didn't believe in the occult, and Germany was terrified of supernatural things; Canada- Wait, who was I looking at again? France would never agree to it… Suddenly, a brilliant thought occurred to England.
I know! I'll use Italy! He's so slow and gullible, I can easily convince him to help me. It's perfect! England thought, smiling mischievously. Proud of his wonderful plan, he casually strolled over to Italy.
"Ciao, Britain!" Italy said, waving enthusiastically. "Did you like-a the painting?"
"Yes, it's lovely," England replied, not terribly interested. "Oi, Italy, how would you like to help me out with some magic?"
"Oh, yay! I love magic! It's so cool!" Italy exclaimed. "What can I do?"
"Follow me and I'll show you."
"Ok~!"
England hid the book in his jacket and led the way to his basement, with Italy skipping along excitedly behind him.
"Alright, wait here," England told Italy, pointing to a small stool in the corner.
"Ok," Italy replied, nodding and sitting down.
Taking the book out, England quickly found the page with the teleportation spell and read it carefully. Double-checking to make sure he understood everything, he retrieved a piece of white chalk from the desk drawer and began to draw the array on the floor.
"Ooh, pretty! Magic circle!" Italy commented, watching England work. He drew graceful curves and carefully arranged, perfectly straight triangles. He put old zodiac symbols at various points, and wrote cryptic inscriptions in elegant cursive. Finally, he stood up.
"Alright, it's finished," he announced. "Italy, please stand in the middle."
"Si," Italy replied, doing as he was told.
"Aperi januam
I supra portam.
Corpus, Mens, Anima
Fuligo et Album, Vita et Mors.
Fac hanc mercaturam aequipollentem,
Et Aperi januam," England chanted, and pressed his hands to the circle. It immediately began to glow, surrounding Italy with a bright blue light.
"Wow! So amazing! Hey, England, what's going to happen?" Italy asked curiously.
"Well, assuming I did this right, you should be teleported outsi-"
Suddenly the glow turned from blue to an eerie dark purple. The torches went out, and wind swirled around the room.
"Uh… Britain? I-is this normal..?" Italy asked nervously.
"I… I don't think this was supposed to happen," England replied, slightly horrified.
"Italy? Are you down here?" called Germany's voice from the hallway. Before Italy could answer, a portal of sorts opened in the middle of the room, and tiny black hands reached out and grabbed him. He screamed.
Upon hearing Italy's scream, Germany immediately ran into the room.
"Italy! What's wrong?!" he demanded, throwing the door open.
"Germany! Help me, please! I can't-a get away! GERMANY!" Italy screamed, the hands pulling him in despite his struggles.
"Wh-what the hell is this?!" Germany shouted, horrified and confused. Shaking his head to clear it, he put all his questions aside. Italy needed him.
He grabbed a sword from the wall and began slashing at the hands, hoping to sever them. To his surprise, the sword went right through them.
"No! Let go of me! I don't want to go with you! GERMANYYY!" Italy shrieked, terrified and crying.
"I won't let you take him!" Germany shouted, grabbing Italy's hand and pulling as hard as he could, but it was too late. Italy's tear-filled eyes met Germany's for a brief moment before the portal closed, with Italy gone.
"ITALY!" Germany screamed. He turned to England, who had been standing there the whole time, in a daze.
"You!" Germany growled, grabbing England's shirt collar and slamming him against the wall. "What the hell did you do?! WHERE IS ITALY?!"
"I-it was an accident, I swear! It was supposed to be a teleportation spell!" England stammered, legitimately scared.
"Shut up, you bastard! Just tell me where he is!" Germany snapped.
"Ah… He was supposed to be sent outside," England began, "But-"
Ignoring him, Germany immediately ran outside.
"ITALY!" he shouted. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"What the hell do you want, potato bastard?" Romano grumbled, glaring.
"Romano! Italy's missing!" Germany exclaimed, pausing to catch his breath.
"What?!"
"Eh? Something happened to Ita?" Spain asked, shocked. The whole crowd went silent, worried and confused.
"Where is he?! What did you do to my fratello?!" Romano demanded, getting ready to punch Germany.
"It wasn't me! Britain did it!" Germany replied, pointing. Everyone suddenly started talking again.
"What happened?"
"Is Italy alright?"
"How could he do something like that?"
"Not poor petit Italie!"
"This is a disaster, aru!"
"No way, man! You can't be serious!"
"Surely Germany is joking, da?"
"I hope Italy is ok…"
"Everyone please calm down," said Japan, always the voice of reason and calmness.
"How do you expect-a me to do that?! You heard potato head! My brother's missing, damn it!" Romano shouted, slamming his fist down on the table.
"Romano, settle down, por favor," Spain insisted, putting a hand on Romano's shoulder. "Let's listen to what Japan has to say."
Everyone turned their attention to Japan, who cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this," he said. "Germany-san, would you please tell us what happened?"
"I was in the house looking for Italy, when I heard him scream, and-" Germany gratefully accepted a beer offered to him by Prussia, and chugged it down, "…There were these… things... These hideous black hands, they were grabbing him and pulling him back, and somehow disintegrating him at the same time. I tried to stop them, but nothing worked."
"Where did this happen, aru?" China asked.
"In a room in the basement. There was some sort of circle design on the floor," Germany explained.
"Woah, that is creepy, man!" America shouted. "What the heck were you doing, Britain?!"
"I was… I was just trying a new spell," England replied quietly. "I found a spell book with the presents, and it included a teleportation spell, so I decided to test it out on Italy. I had no idea this would happen… I never wanted any of this… I feel awful," he admitted, biting his lip and staring at the ground.
"Of course you didn't, England. It wasn't your fault," Canada said soothingly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Like hell it wasn't! This is what happens when-a you mess around with dark magic!" Romano argued.
"Look, pointing fingers isn't going to get us anywhere," Canada replied, giving him the closest thing to a dirty look Canada could possibly give.
"Come on guys, accusing Britain won't help get Italy back," America insisted. Canada sighed.
"I say we work on finding a way to get him back," Prussia agreed. "We can deal with the rest later."
"Let's have an emergency meeting tomorrow," Russia suggested.
"Why don't we check the room? For all we know, Italy could be back there again," Spain pointed out. There were murmurs of agreement.
"Alright. Prussia, Japan, Romano, Spain and I will all go investigate the basement," Germany announced, having calmed down signifigantly.
"Hai," Japan replied.
"He better be there…" Romano mumbled darkly.
"Relax, amigo," Spain told him. "I'm sure Ita will be fine."
The five nations hurriedly went to the basement, all praying that Italy would be there, safe and sound.
What they found was most certainly not Italy.