Oh… it's this dream again…

The sky was pitch-black, and so was the water. Italy flailed his arms, trying to keep his head above the waves that were crashing around him, tossing him around like a rag doll. But every time he surfaced, another wave took the place of the last, trying to smother him into oblivion.

As he was pulled under, he opened his eyes and tried to orient himself, ignoring the excruciating burn of the seawater.

Which way was the surface? Was he just swimming in the wrong direction? All he could see was just the black void of the ocean, so he committed to the direction that felt like up and swam as fast as his aching muscles would allow.

Please wake up… he told himself. I don't want to see this again.

His arm bumped into something. He grabbed for it…

Stop!

Italy's eyes flew open as he lost his balance and tripped over a log. He looked around for the beach, where he had fallen asleep. He was shocked to see dense forest all around him. How did he get to the middle of the island?

Some bushes next to him ruffled, and in the distance he heard soft thuds accompanied by crackling leaves as someone ran by. Italy scrambled to his feet to get a glimpse of what was making the noise, but it was too dark to see more than a foot in front of his face. It must have just been some animal. The thought of the potential food source made his stomach growl, which only alerted him to how much the lack of food made his stomach burn.

He willed his legs to carry him back to the beach, but they wouldn't move. They seemed to have taken on a mind of their own as he sat down on the log he had just tripped over. He leaned back and solemnly gazed up at the moon, but the moment was ruined by a series of shouts.


"I'm starving, and I'm sure everyone else is too, so I've come up with a plan!"

"Can't we discuss this in the morning, when we've all had our beauty sleep?" France was still lying down on the sand, and didn't even bother to open his eyes.

"America…" Canada whispered softly as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

"Right, so I couldn't go to sleep and I am literally starving over here! Since I can't sleep, I was thinking that we could go around the island and hunt for some hamburgers!"

"You woke us all up to hunt for hamburgers?!" China complained.

"You don't hunt hamburgers, idiot! Besides, there are perfectly fine fish that we can catch." England pointed to the ocean, "So go back to sleep."

America winced and glanced at the spot he was just sleeping in. There was no way he was going to fall asleep again. He quickly calmed himself down and crossed his arms, "If there are so many fish in the ocean then why haven't we caught any?"

Prussia muttered in his sleep, "The awesome me has caught a fish."

"One fish, one time!" America shouted with obvious exasperation.

"Well maybe if everyone actually did something other than lounge around all day, we would have food, but until someone," England glared irritably at France, "actually gets off their arse, we are all going to starve."

France was taken aback, "Don't look at me like that! I don't know how to fish!" now fully awake, he managed to shout.

"Well it's not like you need a fishing rod! Have you ever heard of a spear?" England snapped back at France.

"Umm, excuse me, but I went been spearfishing yesterday." Canada timidly said, softly raising his left hand to the height of his shoulder. When no one looked his way, he felt once again that he was being ignored and decided to drop his hand hesitantly back down by his side.

"I don't have a spear, you insufferable moron!"

"Well, what? Do you expect one to fall from the sky?! Make one yourself!"

"Why don't you go fishing then? Don't blame me for all of our problems when you aren't doing anything about it either!

"Right, so if we all just followed my plan…" America jumped in enthusiastically.

"Oh shut up, America!" England snapped.

"Yeah, stop causing a commotion! Why couldn't you just let us sleep?"

"I agree with America, that we need some sort of plan to find food." Japan reasoned, now fully awake from their ruckus. Despite his usual calm demeanor, there was a bite in his words.

"No one asked your opinion, da?" Russia said, grinning at Japan and failing to scare the crap out of him.

"You guys, please stop fighting…" Canada faintly chipped in.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Germany sat up unexpectedly and harshly slammed his fists in the sand, making two shallow dents that quickly filled back in, "AMERICA, GO BACK TO SLEEP. ENGLAND, SLEEP SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN RIGHT NEXT TO FRANCE. PRUSSIA, CHINA, JAPAN, AND RUSSIA, GO BACK TO SLEEP. ITALY-…Italy?" Germany scanned the area for Italy, but didn't see him in the place he was sleeping just a few hours before. He was just about to open his mouth before he was interrupted by an all too familiar panicked scream.

Italy shot out of the jungle stumbling, practically tripping over his own two feet and into the middle of the crowd. "Oh! You guys! You guys! I was getting so worried! I couldn't find my way back and the island is so scary at night and then I thought I heard this big animal but I couldn't see it which made it even scarier because what if it was a monster but I didn't know because it was too dark to see and…" Italy said hurriedly, heaving for air and waving his arms around as if he were playing charades.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE?!" Germany scolded Italy, but his words were subtly laced with worry.

Italy's entire body tensed up as he tried to think of a good lie. They would probably see right through it, Italy thought to himself very worriedly. "Uh, well you see," He said nervously placing his right hand behind his head to make himself seem as if he didn't have anything to hide. "I was really thirsty so I thought I would look for some water but then the animal came and frightened me so I got disoriented and then I couldn't find my way back…"

Germany pinched his nose, "Right… just don't do that again. If you want some water, then tell me."

"Speaking of water…" Canada started, "How long has it been since we've had any?"

No one said a word and stared quizzically at Canada. England was the first to ask the question that was on all of their minds, "I'm sorry… who are you? And what are you doing here? Were you here this whole time?"

"I…what?" Surely they remembered him being there… right?

"Hey," Prussia snapped his fingers "Are you deaf? Were you just eavesdropping on our conversation? And wait, are you stranded on the island too?"

Canada chuckled, thinking it was a joke. Prussia would never forget who he was. He was the only person who had remembered him every time without fail… until now, apparently.

"Very funny you guys. I'm going to go back to sleep now." he sighed and half-fell back to the ground.

England poked him as Canada started to lie back down on the sand. "You can't sleep with us yet. We don't even know your name; let alone what you are even doing here."

They were being serious, Canada realized. They didn't remember who he was. It must be the dehydration. It's been… let's see... Russia found some vines with water a couple of days ago, and we drank all of them dry within minutes. We didn't even think to save them for the future... We haven't had any luck since then, so we've gone two and a half days without water.

Even though his eyes were willing themselves to close, he stood up and announced, "I'm going to go find some water."

Italy clapped his hands together and beamed, "Wait, have you found water here before? We haven't had much luck yet. Could you maybe some back for us too?"

Canada forced a smile, "Yeah, I'll bring you back some water."

He strolled into the jungle of the island. It was astonishing how quickly it went from a barren sandy beach to impassable undergrowth. As he inspected the vines, he saw that every single one of them had slash marks from previous attempts to find them water-filled. He broke apart any vine in his reach, but again, they were all dry.

After what must have been about two hours of searching, Canada found a log and sat down, looking up longingly at the moon. What he wouldn't give to be anywhere but here, with nine dehydrated people who couldn't remember his name or who he was.

But maybe it isn't just the dehydration.

Canada thought, they have forgotten my name before, and they've forgotten that I exist, but they have never completely forgotten their memories of me. Maybe it was bound to happen sooner or later. Besides, I've never done anything so important to make anyone want remember me.

"Well you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that." Canada jumped up to face a man with long blonde hair standing behind him, smirking.


Hours passed as the possibility of water diminished the tension that was once there, but too many hours had gone by now. The sun would rise soon, leaving them without the time to sleep. The strange new blonde boy had not returned with the promise to relieve their aching throats, and no one was willing to fight sleep to search for him. As the others lie down once again and shut their eyes, America tried to push away his dreams' calls.

I have to stay awake, America told himself, but his eyelids were so heavy. His lack of sleep from the nights before had finally caught up to him. No… open your eyes you idiot… He scolded. But he finally embraced unconsciousness.

Not this dream again…

America observed his dream-self facing a man with long blonde hair pulled back with a ribbon. He wore a red cloak and a shirt that resembled something out of the olden days. The man looked like he just walked out of a Pirate movie.

Everything around him was black. He could only make out himself and the man in front of him.

He saw himself draw out a sword and point it at the man's chest. All the man did was smile eerily and chuckle darkly, "Oh, a sword. I'm so scared." He threw his hands up as he mocked, "Is this really the best you can do?"

America saw himself grit his teeth. He gulped as he withdrew the sword, letting the tip hit the ground, an uncertain look in his eye. But he got a hold of himself, tightening his grip on the sword's handle, and in a flash he lunged for the man with the long blonde hair.

The sword went right through him, but the flesh that the sword should have carved seemed to turn into fog. It just cut through air.

Gasping at the sight, America swung again for the man's head, but this time the man completely disappeared. America frantically whirled around, searching for him. He swung his sword wildly in all directions.

Then someone with blonde hair appeared in the room, behind America. The minute America saw him appear out of the corner of his eye, he thrust his sword at his midsection.

But the America who was awake, seeing the whole thing for what must have been the third time, saw who Dream America was really swinging his sword at. "Stop!" He yelled, even though he knew his dream self wouldn't be able to hear him.

And then a pair of bright green eyes widened in shock as Dream America pulled out his sword, laughing excitedly at his success. He didn't realize...

England clutched his bleeding stomach as Dream America stopped cheering long enough to see who he had really just hit. The smile fled his face and was replaced with a look of absolute horror.

England dropped to his knees and stared at his wound. Blood soaked through his shirt, and poured into his hand. Dream America reached out for his friend...

The scene faded away and a new dream started, but this time America wasn't aware that he was dreaming.

America could even feel the waves this far underwater. He knew he had fallen into the ocean facing the surface, but he couldn't see any daylight. Not that there was any to begin with. The entire day, the sky had been black like night was.

He looked over to his right. A boy with wavy blonde hair, slightly longer than America's own, was falling deeper in the water beside him. But his eyes were closed now and he wasn't moving at all. He must have already…

Who is he again? He seems so familiar… I don't think he came on the boat with us… did he?, America thought.

Well… regardless of whether he had been with them on the boat, he didn't deserve to be alone in his last moments, if he even had any moments left. He reached out and grabbed the boy's hand. He felt a small squeeze before it fell limp. America smiled and closed his eyes. It was so cold…