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Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas.

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It was a warm summer's day; the sky was a deep shade of blue and many animals were out and about getting fat on this year's bounties. Children everywhere were outside playing various games and having fun in the warm weather. Two children however wanted more than just games to play; they wanted an adventure.

On this beautiful day, two boys were playing in the yard outside their house – they weren't allowed to go further for fear of getting lost. To their community, these two boys were known as Alfred F. Jones and Matthew Williams, but to the world, they were known as America and Canada.

America and Canada were currently building houses for small insects out of dirt, leaves, and grass. The activity took a while and it took a lot of concentration to get the tiny houses to stand and not cave in on themselves.

"I'm boooored," America suddenly droned.

"You came up with this," Canada said back," You shouldn't be bored of it."

"Yeah, but it's boring," America retorted.

"Then what do you want to do?" Canada asked.

America thought for a moment before his eyes lit up with an idea," We should go on an adventure!" The enthusiastic boy exclaimed. "We could go out into the forest and find things or go into town…" America went on, listing all of his ideas for various adventures they could go on.

"I don't know…" Canada interjected nervously," We aren't supposed to go outside of the backyard."

America was now faced with the task of convincing his brother to come with him on this, he knew he could do it, he'd convinced him to do much worse, like the time he'd convinced him to try one of England's scones after all the poor boy had been introduced to was France's cooking. The look on his face had been priceless.

"Come on, Canada, we'll go out for a little while and England and France won't even know that we're gone."

"I think they'd know, they're both pretty smart…"

"No they won't," America scoffed," When have they ever caught me doing something?"

Canada took a big breath and opened his mouth to answer, but America stopped him," Okay, I know they catch me a lot, but that's beside the point, they aren't even here right now, if we're back before they get back, they won't even know we left."

Canada considered it for a moment, the argument was pretty sound and convincing," Fine, America, but if we get in trouble, you have to promise to take responsibility for it."

"Okay, I promise, let's go!"

(…)

Unbeknownst to the two boys, someone was listening in on their conversation while standing in the doorway leading to the backyard. England crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. He thought about the different options he had right now. He could stop the boys from going on their so called 'adventure' or he could let them go on it.

Of course, if they went, they'd end up getting punished for breaking the rules, but he had an idea for the punishment – he'd make their adventure more…interesting. He went to his office to grab a few key items that he'd need for this excursion, namely his spellbook which would be an important factor in all this.

He quickly flipped through the book, looking and marking any spells that would scare the two boys, he didn't want them to actually get hurt, but just scared enough not to do it again. He also had to make sure America got the worst of it as he'd dragged Canada into this, besides, if anything happened to Canada, France would kill him - the man was very overprotective of the boy.

Grinning, England stepped out of the house and ventured into the forest to find the two boys and give them their punishment, this was going to be fun.

(…)

America and Canada had been walking for about five minutes now. America was practically glowing with excitement while Canada seemed nervous. Canada's bear, Kumajiro had started to follow them as soon as they'd left and it made Canada feel a little better and less nervous.

As they walked, Canada decided to observe their surroundings. He had to admit that it was quite beautiful; the afternoon sunlight streamed through the treetops, causing the ground to be dappled with little bits of light. The ground itself was covered in springy pine needles and dead leaves. The tall pine trees on either side of the path gave an illusion of being in a tunnel with their sprawling branches reaching far overhead. In the distance, a small creek could be heard gurgling as it made its way downhill. Along with the sound of the river, birds were chirping and other small animals were making sounds as they went along with their daily business.

"Hey America," Canada said.

America looked back at him, waiting for the question he knew was coming.

"Where exactly are we going?"

America thought for a second before saying," Let's go down to the creek, there's bound to be something fun down there."

Canada nodded, water sounded like something friendly enough that probably wouldn't kill them. They continued in silence down the path until they neared the creek. Upon reaching the water, Kumajiro went down to it to get a drink of water while Canada stayed uncomfortably at the top of the hill leading down to it. America followed the little bear down to the bank of the creek before looking back up at his brother.

"Hey Canada, don't be a scaredy-cat, come down here!"

Reluctantly, Canada made his way down to where America was standing.

"Let's go across it!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, America."

Canada wasn't sure why, but he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen if they crossed the creek.

He opened his mouth to voice this, but America had already gone ahead and was starting to wade through the creek, to a normal sized adult, the creek would only go up to about mid-calf height, but to a little kid like America, it went a little above his waist.

Canada let out a sigh as he realized that his brother had left him. Then, the boy awkwardly picked up Kumajiro – he couldn't get across by himself – and followed America to the other side of the creek. As soon as he reached the opposite shore, he put the bear down on the ground, then ran off the catch up with America.

On this side of the river, the path was a lot more overgrown than the one on the other side, and it seemed like nothing except the rare animal ever traveled down it. Canada stopped, he really didn't want to continue down this path, but America grabbed ahold of his arm and started pulling him down the path, as if he knew he was about ask to go back.

As they continued to walk, the area seemed to grow more and more foreboding, the trees grew thicker here, causing the sunlight to just become just a faint trickle coming through the thick branches, giving just enough light to see by. The birds stopped chirping and the animal sounds became few and far between before they stopped completely.

At this point, even America seemed a little put off with the lack of the usual forest noises. Then suddenly, from behind them came a very loud crash followed by a long wooshing sound.

Upon hearing this, both boys stopped completely," Was that a g-ghost," America stuttered.

Canada looked at his brother, he sounded scared, and his hand was gripping tighter on Canada's arm. Apparently America was afraid of ghosts. Canada didn't exactly want to run into anything supernatural, but he wasn't scared of them, so he decided to use this fear to his advantage.

"It probably was, maybe we should go back now."

Trembling, America nodded, pulling his brother back the way they'd come. Canada followed gratefully, now maybe they wouldn't get in as much trouble.

(…)

England smiled to himself, his plan was working quite well. He was just going to freak them out a little bit more before he went and got them. He had already cast a spell that would cause them to wander around in circles for a little a while.

He had had the suspicion for a while that America was afraid of ghosts, and now he was proven correct with what had just happened. Now he just needed a few more ghost noises and everything would be fine.

(…)

America and Canada had been walking for a few minutes," Shouldn't we have reached the creek by now?" Canada wondered out loud.

He kind of regretted saying that as America started panicking a little bit more and they started walking faster. Then he suddenly stopped.

"Haven't we been here before?" America questioned.

Canada looked around," Now that you mention it, it seems familiar."

"Weren't we walking straight though?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Then what's going on!?" America exclaimed.

"I don't know, but let's keep-" Canada was cut off by a sound that went Ooooooooo.

America looked terrified and almost as if he might cry. "America, it'll be okay," Canada said comfortingly, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Then suddenly, something wet pressed up against America's hand and he jumped and yelped. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked down and saw it was just Kumajiro trying to be nice to him. He patted the bear's head," Sorry, I thought you were a ghost."

Kumajiro said nothing, just stood there and tried to make him feel better by continuing to nuzzle his hand.

"I think we should continue to look for the creek," Canada said.

"Okay," America said, wanting to go home now.

They continued walking toward where they thought the creek was, but ended up at a very familiar looking spot.

"I think that this is where we were before," Canada said, stopping. "There was a tree a while back that had a knot in its trunk that looked just like that."

"So, we've just been walking in circles?" America asked, growing discouraged.

Canada nodded," It seems like that."

"What are we going to do?" America cried," We're not going to get home and then England and France will worry about us and they'll come out looking for us and then you'll get in trouble, all because I dragged you out here."

Unsure about what to do, Canada hugged his brother and said," Don't worry America, we may be lost right now, but we'll find the way out, I promise."

"Okay," America sniffed.

"Maybe if we try going another direction, we'll end up finding a way out," Canada offered his idea.

"Alright, let's do that," America agreed, he definitely didn't have any other ideas.

The duo (plus Kumajiro), started walking in a different direction than they had before.

(…)

England watched the two boys with curiosity, it was interesting to see what they'd do. He did feel kind of bad for scaring America so much, but not too bad. It kind of amazed him that Canada was the one really leading them and being stronger; he usually seemed more passive and timid than his brother.

It was almost time to stop this and bring them home – it seemed like they'd learned their lesson, but first, he wanted to have just a little more fun with them…

(…)

They'd been walking for a few minutes and America seemed to be more like himself as he was taking the lead and charging ahead. Canada was glad about this, he didn't like to see his brother so depressed, and besides, he didn't like to be in the lead.

Then, as if from nowhere, a giant crashing noise echoed throughout the entire forest and an eerie howling filled the air directly afterward. America's eyes widened at these noises and he started shaking again. For him, the idea of ghosts terrified him like nothing else.

Almost without thinking, America started running away from the sound, Canada soon following him. As he ran, all he could hear was his own breathing and the soft thudding of his feet on the forest floor.

Then suddenly, he hit something hard with his toe, causing him to stumble and then fall. The momentum from the running caused him to be catapulted forward and he rolled on the ground for what seemed like forever. During the rolling, his head hit a large stone resting on the ground, which caused him to slow to a stop. He felt a sharp pain and his vision started blurring.

The last thing he saw was Canada running toward him," America!" he yelled.

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Thank you so much for reading this story. Please review and tell me what you liked or I'm always open to constructive criticism. I hope you enjoyed reading this and will stick around until I finish this.