I AM SO, SO, SO SORRY. I totally meant to post this yesterday. I got distracted…

You may notice that I changed the way I was spelling Canada's human name. That's because I hadn't heard of this way when I wrote this; once I found it, I found that I preferred it—it looks nicer, in my opinion.

That aside, there's not much that changed in this chapter… thank goodness. It was tiring enough as it was.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hetalia, Disney, or Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't think I'll ever be able to, either… TT^TT

Here's a list of all the characters I have included so far. Part of the reason why I'll be including this for each chapter from now on is because I really hate it when I'm reading a story and have no idea who someone is because the author is using human names, which leaves me totally lost as to who corresponds to which character and what country.

Kiku Honda – Japan
Matthieu Williams – Canada
Alfred F. Jones – America
Kumajiro – Canada's Polar Bear (not mentioned in Ch 1, but he WAS there)

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Three children sprinted past Jack and out of town, completely unnoticed by the skeletal man as they scurried towards Oogie Boogie's lair.

The three children—Lock, Shock, and Barrel—were Halloween Town's local troublemakers and Oogie Boogie's trusted henchmen.

Mr. Oogie Boogie's lair was quite a ways away from the town. Set up in and beneath a large, old-looking tree, it featured a deep, trench-like moat and a pipe that twisted around it, running from the highest branches all the way down to the ground, and then further still. What looked like a large birdcage hung from one of the highest branches, hovering at the end of the unfinished bridge over the "moat."

The troublemaking trio raced each other to the tree, stumbling every so often along the way. When they arrived, Lock, their leader, turned to face his cohorts, removing the mask of his devil costume.

"Mr. Oogie Boogie wants us to go to the human world and capture some of the important people who live there. With any luck, it might weaken Jack and allow Mr. Oogie Boogie to take over Halloween," Lock whispered. "We have to work together – three of a kind, birds of a feather, now and forever."

"I'm in," Shock and Barrel declared simultaneously, neither of them hesitating.

"Okay. He wants them unharmed, so only bags. Get several, Oogie will get mad if we only come back with one," Lock commanded, authority clear in his tone. "We're gonna use the trick-or-treat method."

Shock and Barrel nodded, cackling in gleeful agreement, and rushed off to gather the necessary supplies.

-~-†-†-†-~-

Meanwhile, Jack climbed the steps to his front door, waving away the sputtering mayor of Halloween Town wearily.

"We can go over the plans tomorrow, Mayor. It's late, and I need some sleep," he stated firmly.

With that, he closed the door behind him, ignoring the mayor's indignant and desperate protests ("Jack, please, I'm only an elected official! I can't make decisions by myself!") as he stalked off to his bedroom, the nagging feeling that something was missing still gnawing away at his bones. Flopping down on his bed, the exhausted skeleton man soon fell fast asleep.

-~-†-~-†-†-†-~-†-~-

Trick-or-treating hours were almost over. The movie had just ended, and Alfred had long since convinced Matthieu to stay for the night.

"I'm gonna change out of my costume and take a quick shower," Alfred informed his twin. "Could hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters, Mattie?"

Matthieu nodded, earning him a dazzling grin from Alfred. Once the older blond had left the room, Kumajiro collided with Matthieu's leg. The bear blinked up at its owner in confusion.

"Who…?" it began, asking a question Matthieu had grown used to long ago. Matthieu sighed, slightly frustrated despite (or perhaps because of) the hundreds of times Kumajiro had asked him that question.

"I'm Matthieu, Kumijari. Your owner, remember?" the teen prompted.

"Oh," Kumajiro mumbled, returning to his nice, warm spot by the fireplace. Matthieu sighed, shaking his head at his pet's forgetfulness.

At length, the silence was broken by the doorbell ringing. The trick-or-treaters had arrived.

"Coming!" Matthieu called, grabbing a bowl of candy as he rushed past. Setting the bowl down on a table conveniently placed next to the door, he swung the door open.

"Trick-or-treat!" three voices screeched in unison. Matthieu turned to see a boy in a devil costume, a boy in a skeleton costume, and a girl in a witch costume.

"Eh?"

Swoosh!

"Got 'im!" one voice murmured triumphantly. "Come on—we've got all night!"

The door was left to swing shut with an ominous slam.

"Hey, Matt, whaddya want for dinner?" Alfred asked, walking out of his bedroom while running a hand through his short golden locks. When no response reached his ears, he frowned. "… Matt? What do you want for dinner?"

He still didn't receive a response. Where there any reasons why Matthieu wouldn't respond? Had he fallen asleep? Was he listening to his iPod? Maybe Alfred made Matt angry enough to change his mind and go home somehow… but what had he done wrong? Alfred couldn't think of anything off the top of his head.

… Could it be that… something had happened to Matt? Was he okay? As panicked, darker thoughts raced through the American's mind and worst-case scenarios played their gruesome tricks, Alfred frantically searched the entire house.

'I can't find anything to even indicate that Canada was ever here! If someone took him, they must be pretty good at making people disappear...' he thought to himself, plopping down on a chair in the kitchen and rubbing his temples.

Kumajiro chose that exact moment to walk in from the living room.

"Who are you?" the bear asked, staring at America.

"Alfred," the blonde responded automatically, thoughts too focused on Matt to register the presence of his pet for a few moments.

"Oh," Kumajiro muttered. After a brief pause, Kumajiro asks, "Where's Matthieu?"

Alfred jolted, turning to look at the bear. "I dunno. He… wouldn't leave without you, would he?" Alfred inquired nervously, praying that Canada had just left because he needed something he had left at home. "Could he have left you here because he was gonna be back soon?"

However, Kumajiro shattered Alfred's every hope when the polar bear shook his head slowly. "No, he would've taken me with in case it took longer than he expected," Kumajiro replied, beady black eyes staring blankly at the stove. "All I know is three weird kids came to the door. Canada went to answer and never came back."

"Weird…" Alfred murmured, wondering where Matt could have gone after he answered the door.

-~-†-†-†-~-

Meanwhile, across the Pacific Ocean, Kiku Honda sat calmly in a comfortable armchair, rereading one of his favorite books. A knock at the door dragged him forcefully from the novel in his hand, leaving the Japanese teen to glance at the clock in confusion.

"It's rather late. Why would anyone visit at this hour?" he mused aloud. Despite his instincts' persistently telling him that he really shouldn't open the door, Japan decided to answer it anyway.

"Trick-or-treat!" a trio of harshly-screeching voices chorused. Kiku's eyes widened as they settled on the three children at his door—a devil, a witch, and a skeleton.

-~-†-~-†-~-†-†-†-~-†-~-†-~-

DUN-DUN-DUN~~! Cliffhanger! Will Kiku get away, or will he be captured as well? *evil grin*

Well, you know if you've read this before… but whatever. For new readers, it's a cliffie.

And now, a message from my (totally awesome) Beta~!

Beta's Note: Hi you guys! I'm Kaito X Len - Banana Split, Xion's beta. There's a lot to say about Xion. First of all, she's AWESOMELY EPICTASTICAL. Number two, SO IS HER WRITING. I had, like, NOTHING to fix. :) And my writing looks like my seven-year-old brother's writing compared to hers. So, please enjoy, and I will personally kick your ass if you flame. So don't.

A/N: Aw, thanks, Austria-san! (Don't believe everything she says—she's a pretty good writer herself [way better than any seven-year-old, even {if not especially} compared to my writing].)

Anyway, that aside… Happy Thanksgiving to you all!