Chapter 4- Night of Fright
~Written by UnlitLantern
~England's POV~
The wizard slowly drifted down the corridor, still suspended a foot off the ground. His fiery emerald eyes darted along the halls, searching for a door.
"My power is too unfocused." England mumbled. "I need to be able to aim it better. I must have a wand, a staff, something of that nature. But it must be powerful too…" The englishman turned his head to the left, eyes narrowing as he saw a door. Unknown to him, it was the same door the axis powers had procured their weapons from. There was a horribly powerful aura coming from the other side of it. He drifted towards the door, and waved his hand in an almost careless motion. The doorknob jerked to one side and the door quietly fell open. England went inside, eyes focused on only one thing.
The red cushioned chair in the middle. Busby's chair. The curse it held was so powerful England could almost see the black magic pouring off of it. Then he noticed a small lined index card with some writing on it. England flicked his hand again and the index card flew into his outstretched fingers. He quickly read it and smiled, the tongues of fire in his eyes burning a little brighter. He let the index card glide to the floor.
"Not likely Romania." The englishman closed his eyes and held out his hands, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. The chair in front of him began to crack and bend to his will. The dark wood broke and melded together, forming a staff. The cushions began to change too, changing it's matter and melting together and forming a spherical, crimson gem. The finished wooden staff flew into England's left hand, the gem into the right. A small black spark flew from the pendant and onto the gem, changing it from red to green. The wizard placed the gem on the top of the staff, fusing the two together. His eyes slowly scanned the room, looking for the perfect bullseye to test his staff on. There was a small bookshelf in the corner of the room.
England lowered the top of the staff and aimed it at the bookshelf. A black lightning bolt shot from the bright green stone. It hit the dead center of the bookshelf, causing the shelves to burst into flames and several flaming books to fall to the ground, smoldering.
England grinned.
It was time to find his 'family'.
~Romania's POV~
Romania watched as England used his new staff to blast the door in front of him off it's hinges. He cocked his head when he noticed how far away the wizard was from the other countries. The vampire smiled deviously.
"I think I'll help England find his dear friend America." With that he casually rested his hand on a black button and pushed down. "After all, its more fun when you're with friends."
Romania observed the screen with England. A portion of the wall to the englishman's right slid to the side, revealing a long hallway lit by torches. England was neither surprised nor frightened when the wall opened. He just simply turned to look at the new corridor for a moment before going inside it. Romania looked at one of the bigger screens that held a map of the castle. It showed the countries locations using their flags. He watched a little icon of the american flag stop and stay with some other european country flags (Austria, Hungary, Spain, Romano, Belgium, and Netherlands.). A small picture of the british flag was headed towards the group at an alarming speed. Romania rested his head on one of his hands, the other was using a finger to gently tap the black button. The vampire grinned, fangs extending slightly.
"Best party ever."
~Spain and crew POV~
"Hungary, I think it's unlikely that Romania would be turning nations into monsters-"
"Don't you see Austria? The mysterious invitations? The scavenger hunt through the castle? The handpicked 'costumes'? Romania's up to something, if not this!" Hungary said. America kept glancing behind him, as if afraid the hallway's looming shadows would come alive and swallow him up. Then Spain spoke up,
"America, what did you say your family was turned into?"
"England turned into this evil sorcerer and he tried to kill us! And France turned into a vampire and then he bit Canada!" America yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands. He was trembling all over. Netherlands looked quietly at America. Finally, he said,
"If this really is happening, then we need weapons."
"We'll need to find Romania too. I'll give that son of a bitch a piece of my mind." Hungary said, pulling a frying pan out from behind her. Everyone took a good step away from her. Suddenly Hungary looked concerned. She turned to America, "Italy's OK, right? Have you seen him?" America shook his head.
"Dude, I don't know what happened to the others, I only know what happened to Iggy, France, and Canada." Romano almost seemed to explode.
"That idiot had better be OK! If not I'm gonna-!" Spain placed his hand on Romano's shoulder.
"Romano. Focus. We need to find some weapons."
"I have an idea." Belgium piped up. The others turned to her. "We can try to find the other countries, and then, once we're together, we can find Romania."
The nations looked at each other, silently agreeing.
Then Hungary spoke, "Right, then let's-" She abruptly stopped speaking, eyes widening. Austria looked confusedly at her.
"Hungary, are you alright?" Hungary's pupils narrowed.
"DUCK!" She screamed. She grabbed Austria's arm and yanked him to the floor just as a swirling ball of black magic hurtled straight through where he was just standing, hitting the floor several feet away. Every head turned to where the shot had come from. For a brief moment, everything was dead silent and completely still.
Then America let out a small squeak,
"I-Iggy…?"
England turned his head to America, his clothes and hair moving in some sort of wind that seemed to affect only him. A cheshire grin was plastered on his face and his eyes blazed. The englishman pointed his staff at America, launching another ball of black magic. America dove out of the way and the countries scattered. England threw back his head and laughed. He pointed the staff at the american and jerked it upwards. The latter was surrounded by a greenish-blue glow and thrown upwards so that he was floating just a few feet away from the englishman. England pointed his staff at the other, aiming straight at his heart.
"Iggy please…" America whimpered, "Don't do this…" The wizard's grin faltered and his eyes returned to normal. And for a split second, he looked almost…
Sad.
But just for a moment.
England shook his head and took aim again. His eyes burned brighter than before. America screwed his eyes shut and braced himself, preparing for pain of some sort.
So he was kind of surprised when he suddenly fell to the floor. His eyes flew open. England was floating menacingly above Hungary, a small splatter of blood covered some of his mussed blonde hair. Hungary's frying pan clattered to the ground in front of America, a small blood-covered dent on one side. England pointed his staff at Hungary. A huge jolt of black electricity flew from England's pendant. It shot straight into the green gem of the staff and back out at Hungary, hitting her square in the chest. Hungary toppled over. Austria whipped around,
"Hungary!" He yelled.
Hungary lay in a heap on the floor, auburn hair covering her eyes. Everyone stood frozen to the spot.
Except Austria.
He ran over to where Hungary lay and put one of his hands underneath her head and lifted her a little. Hungary's eyes opened just a bit and she smiled. Austria sighed in relief, as though he had been holding his breath the whole time.
"Mein Gott… Hungary, you scared me…"
Hungary cocked her head to the side and chuckled.
And through this, England did not do a thing. He just hovered there with a smug smirk on his face. America noticed this, and even he could put two and two together at this point.
"Austria! Dude, it's a trap!"
"Hm?" Austria lifted his head for a moment, and Hungary's hand shot away from her side, hand wrapping tightly around the austrian's neck.
"A-ack!"
Hungary turned Austria's head so that he was facing her. Austria looked straight into Hungary's eyes and gasped. Hungary's eyes were on fire; bright green flames danced around her pupils. A demonic smile crept onto her face.
"A boszorkány macska gazdája.*" Beams of black light shot out from Hungary's hand, enveloping both of the countries. England tapped the head of his staff to the floor and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. A strong wind howled through the corridor, the temperature dropping a considerable amount.
Suddenly, the cocoon of black magic turned green, making the two countries forms become black silhouettes. Hungary's silhouette stood, dress fluttering wildly in the wind. Austria's form however, began to change. He fell on his knees, then all fours. The austrian screamed as his body began to rearrange itself.
The countries panicked when Austria's scream morphed into a feline's caterwaul and his shape bent into that of a cat's.
"Move! NOW!" Yelled Netherlands, grabbing Belgium's hand and yanking her down the hallway. The other countries were spurred into animation. Spain grabbed Romano's wrist, America jumped to his feet and they hurried to follow the two european countries.
*Witch's cat, serve your master.
~The Asians POV~
On the other side of the castle, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand were walking through a corridor, completely unaware of what was occurring in the other parts of the castle.
"Ana~ So China," Thailand said, holding his tiny pet elephant in his arms, "How much longer until we find the, um… The…"
"My zodiacs-aru?"
"Ana~ Yeah."
"I don't know-aru." Taiwan tapped China on the shoulder.
"Is that it?" She asked, pointing to a dead end at the several feet in front of them, on which hung a huge spinner illustrating in black and white the twelve Chinese zodiacs, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, and Dog. In the middle of the spinner was a big red circle that read 'Spin Me!'. Vietnam raised an eyebrow.
"I'm almost positive that wasn't there a moment ago." She said.
"Do you think this is how we're going to get our costumes?" Korea asked. His unkempt hair curl sported an excited face.
"Maybe…" Vietnam mumbled, warily eying the spinner.
"Ana~ That would be neat." At this, Thailand's elephant Toto trumpeted.
" This will be very fun!~" Taiwan said happily.
"Well, since they're my zodiacs, I'm going to spin it first-aru!" China said, putting a hand on a strap of his carrier. His panda bear stuck out a paw and tried to swipe at China's hand. He strode up to the zodiac and gripped one side of it. He yanked and the spinner flew into motion.
Clickclackclickclackclickcla ckclickclack. Click. Clack. Click.
Clack. Click
Clack.
Click.
Tch.
The spinner at last stopped on a greyscale picture of a Chinese dragon, it's snake-like body twisted in an almost cartoony position. Despite this seemingly fun pose the dragon's wicked sharp claws were extended menacingly. It had slits for eyes and long white whiskers.
"Look, I got a dragon-aru!" China said, seeming pleased. His panda turned and looked at the picture. The tiny animal began to growl, the rumbling noise escalating into a snarl. China looked at his pet in surprise.
"Panda, what's wrong-aru?" He followed the panda's line of vision until his eyes rested upon the picture of the dragon. He gasped.
"Hey China, what's wrong?" Taiwan asked, for China's body blocked their view of the illustration. Said picture was no longer a picture. The dragon writhed as though it was a real creature, trapped within the wooden panel of the spinner. China paled and stepped back, eyes wide with fright. One of the dragon's front feet pushed out of the wood, sending a few splinters to the floor. It's pearly-white claws gleamed. China rubbed his eyes with his fists. When the dragon failed to stop moving, China turned on his heel and tried to run.
Too late.
The dragon exploded from the spinner, it's massive jaws opened wide. China screamed in terror and the other countries joined in; they now knew why China was afraid. They too tried to run.
The dragon turned to smoke but retained it's shape. It grew huge, gaining color to it's black and white scales. It towered over China. China turned his head to look at the creature. It's mouth was opened wide, coming closer and closer to him!
China gasped and turned, running to the left in an attempt to dodge the dragon. It worked, but instead of the thing catching China, it caught Korea. It's smoke mouth went straight through the asian's body, but something happened. Korea froze where he was standing, his eyes opened wide and his teeth clenched. His hands balled into fists and his back arched. China paused.
"Korea…?" Every single muscle in Korea's body seemed to tense up. He started trembling. Just when it seemed like he would burst; he threw back his head and screamed. The countries froze for a moment.
And that moment was all the dragon needed.
Before any of them could even blink, the dragon clamped it's smoky jaws around Thailand. Thailand screamed, hands flying to his head. He dropped Toto, who trumpeted in panic. The pudgy animal ran towards Taiwan, who rapidly picked it up. The countries recovered from their temporary paralysis when Korea and Thailand started to change. Korea's arms grew long and thin, hands cracking and morphing into huge white claws. The skin on Thailand's face began to crack and split, forming cinnamon scales. They were both screaming. The dragon turned to the others.
"RUN!" Vietnam yelled. China jumped to his feet and started running. Taiwan and Vietnam followed close behind him.
~Russia's pack POV~
Latvia wrapped his thin arms protectively around his head, trembling. Russia flicked his ear at Germany,
'Let him go now Germany, he'll change soon.' Germany let go of the small baltic's ankle and went to sit by Prussia, licking blood from his lips. As soon as he let go, Latvia curled up into a ball. He whimpered pitifully. Russia padded over to him. He pressed a paw down on the quivering Latvian's head.
'Don't worry Latvia. You will feel much better soon, da?" All of the small country's movements seemed to stop, including his breathing. He looked up at the huge silvery wolf with wide azure eyes.
"M-Mister Russia…?" He whispered. If wolves could smile, Latvia was certain that one just did.
Despite this, Latvia's eyelids drooped. His bleeding ankle throbbed. Russia watched as his tense body went limp and his eyes shut. Germany and Prussia approached their pack leader.
'Russia,' Russia turned to look at Germany. 'Vas it ze best choice to have me bite Latvia? I don't believe zat he's strong enough. Perhaps ve should have gotten a more powerful person to turn-' Russia growled at Germany.
'Are you questioning me?' Germany's face turned into a look of anger.
'No.'
'Good.' He turned back to Latvia. 'And trust me Germany. If we can get all the Baltics turned, it will help.'
Germany looked confused.
'Vhy vill zat help us?' Russia giggled.
'The Baltics do whatever I want.~'
Suddenly, Latvia's eyes snapped open, and he quickly sat up. He gasped and began coughing violently. To anyone else, it would sound like the poor Latvian had almost been drowned. With a final, harsh cough, blood flew from his mouth and splattered on his shirt. Latvia's teeth were now razor-sharp and covered with blood. His eyes widened. Russia snickered. Germany and Prussia looked uncomfortable.
Latvia cried out as his hands began to change. They broke and reformed themselves, creating paws with sharpened claws. His curly blond hair grew longer and spread down his body. His face stretched and formed a muzzle. His back arched and then bent so that he was hunched over. Latvia screamed; he wanted the pain to cease. There were a few loud pops and the buttons to his coat flew off as he grew. His clothes tore. A tail appeared too; the change was nearly done.
Russia leaned in and grabbed the shredded remains of Latvia's coat, tearing it off of the Baltic's now furry body. He whimpered. Russia tore the rest of the Latvian's clothes from his small frame. Latvia was now a full wolf, smaller than Prussia and covered in short curly blonde fur.
Russia picked Latvia up by his scruff and dropped him. He leaned down to him and smiled yet again.
'Now Latvia, be a good omega and take us to find Lithuania and Estonia~'
~Romania POV~
Romania spun once in his chair, watching the monitors like a hawk. His fangs caught the monitor's light and gleamed. He looked around the screens, waiting for something to catch his attention. Then he thought,
'I wonder what happened to China's group?' He looked around until he saw a monitor showing Taiwan, Vietnam, and China sprinting down a corridor. The dragon didn't appear to be following them anymore. Romania placed his head on one of his hands.
'Well, the enchantments on the zodiac were only temporary.' He watched as the three ran…
And crashed right into France and Canada. The two european countries had been wandering about the castle, trying to find someone to help them. The Romania's eyelids lowered, turning his eyes into blood-red slits. He smiled.
This was going to end very badly for the three asian countries.
France and Canada were transformed just a short while ago, which meant they had no control over their bodies if a meal presented itself.
And those three were defiantly a meal.
~Taiwan and Vietnam's POV~
Taiwan grabbed France's hand.
"Come on! We need to hurry!" She handed Toto to China, "Here, hold him." She took off again, this time with a bewildered France in tow. China ran after her. Vietnam looked at Canada and, unlike the other two countries, saw him.
"That means you too." She pointed at China, Taiwan, and France, who ran around a corner. "Move."
Canada looked uneasy and hesitated. Vietnam rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this…" She took hold of Canada's hand and ran after Taiwan. She didn't seem to notice that Canada's hand was as cold as ice.
Or that his eyes had switched from a deep violet to a bright red.
—
"I think its gone." Taiwan said after peeking around a corner. She released France's hand. Vietnam nodded, letting go of Canada's hand. China struggled to hold Thailand's pet elephant. The two vampires glowered at them with their crimson eyes. Their fangs extended and their nails sharpened into small claws. They exchanged a quick look.
"Are you in the mood for take-out Matthieu?" France purred quietly.
Canada grinned, red eyes flashing.
The three asians began to whisper amongst themselves, still a little jittery. France and Canada creeped silently behind them, their rational thinking becoming consumed by hunger.
The three paused their conversation when they heard a low growl coming from behind them. Vietnam turned around.
"What's going ON-!"
Vietnam cried out as France tackled her. Before France could pin her down though, Vietnam punched him in the jaw. He was weakened by the blow and she tossed him off of her. France landed, crouched on all fours. He hissed, exposing his fangs.
China stood frozen. Taiwan tried to yell, but a pale, cold hand shot out from behind her and killed the noise. Taiwan squeezed her dark brown eyes shut. Low growling came from behind her. A thin but strong arm snaked itself around her, wrapping itself right under her ribcage. Suddenly, she felt two long fangs sink into her neck. Taiwan shuddered and tried to move, but found she couldn't. China glanced to the side and did a double take. His eyes widened and he yelled. He let go of Toto, and the elephant, for the second time, fell to the floor.
China pulled out an iron wok and ladle from behind him, wielding them like lethal weapons. He let out a war cry and swung the huge wok at Canada's head. It connected and knocked the Canadian away from Taiwan, tearing his fangs from her neck.
As soon as the blood hit Canada's tongue, he realized what he was doing. His eyes changed back to their original color. Canada swallowed. He and China watched as Taiwan's knees buckled and she fell to the floor, unconscious. Vietnam, who was still fighting off France, saw Taiwan fall.
"TAIWAN!" She yelled. Using the distraction to his advantage, France grabbed Vietnam by her shoulders and bit her neck. Her golden-honey eyes opened wide and she fought back a scream, biting her tongue in the process. A small, strangled sound escaped when France started drinking. However, the same thing that happened with Canada occurred within France. As soon as he tasted blood, he snapped out of his hunger-induced haze. France jerked himself away from her. He quickly let go of her and she hit the floor. He swallowed the blood that remained in his mouth, cursing the tantalizing flavor it left.
He ventured a look at Canada and China, who were staring at him in shock. They looked scared out of their minds. Especially China, who was trembling uncontrollably. Canada extended a pale white hand toward China in a weak gesture of comfort.
"Ch-China-" China jumped like he had been shot at. He hit Canada over the head with his ladle; and Canada crumpled and fell to the floor. China whipped around and ran as fast as he could. France waited until China's footsteps faded.
Canada lifted his head.
"Is he gone…?"
France nodded and looked down at the unconscious countries.
"Oh non… What have we done…" France said.
"Sh-should we help them…?" Canada whispered, climbing to his feet. France sighed.
"We probably need to," He said. He bent down and picked up Vietnam, hooking his arms behind her back and under her legs. He turned to Canada.
"Let's just get ourselves some place where we won't run into anyone else."
~Romania's POV~
Romania frowned. China hadn't gotten his costume. He should've been turned by now. The dragon hadn't gotten him, and neither France nor Canada had bitten him; albeit they had gotten Vietnam and Taiwan.
Now that he though about it, America hadn't gotten his costume either. England should've taken care of that.
Romania shook his head. What was he worrying about? They would get their's in time.
He turned to the monitors. His eyes scanned the screens. Perhaps if England couldn't change America, someone a bit more powerful could get the job done.
~The Nordics POV~
"I don't know how Romania expects us to find a 'demon's horn'." Denmark looked around the corridor walls. The torches that lined the walls flickered ominously. "Where would you even find a demon's horn in this place?"
"Maybe we can split up and look for it?" Finland suggested. "It'll take longer if we're all in one big group. If we separate, we'll find the horn faster." A murmur of agreement rippled throughout the group.
"Hm~ I think I'll go on my own. And I'll be the first to find the horn." Denmark said. Iceland sighed.
"I'll go by myself." Iceland muttered.
Sweden wrapped his arms around Finland and Sealand's shoulders in a silent statement.
"I'll go alone." Norway said. He didn't want anyone else with him. He didn't trust this place; there was something wrong with it. The fairies and such that normally followed him wouldn't go into the castle. They had cowered away from it's towering stone spires. They feared the place.
There was something wrong with their host too. Something about Romania was… Disconcerting. It unnerved Norway.
"Right, let's get going!" Denmark said. He began to walk cheerily down the hallway. The countries broke off to look for the horn. Except for Norway. He wasn't looking for the horn. He was going to figure out what was wrong with this place. He wandered down an abandoned hallway, eyes on the floor, puzzling about the odd castle. Suddenly, he came to an abrupt fork in the hall. He looked at the right. It had the same blackish-green stones and mossy floor that the corridor he was in had. Then he looked to the left and stopped. This corridor also had the same features as the other, but the moss on the ground had deep imprints, as through someone did some hard running away from the hall.
Whatever laid in the hallway had scared someone enough to make them flee.
Now Norway was curious.
He began to walk almost silently down the corridor, his feet leaving a soft trail in the moss. He trekked for a little bit before he came to a door on his right. It was slightly ajar. Norway pushed it open. It swung backwards, revealing a room full of bookshelves, the same one that America and Canada had hidden in after England transformed.
The Nordic country poked his head in and looked briefly around the room. No, there wasn't anything wrong with this room. Aside from the amount of dust, it was fairly normal. Nothing wrong here.
Norway shut the door and continued to walk down the hall. However, the further he walked, the more his surroundings began to change. In a few spots on the floor, the dark green moss was black and burned. Some of the torches on the walls were knocked off their hooks and lay on the ground. The further he went, the more burned out torches there were. Eventually, the hallway was plunged into darkness. Norway sighed.
He rotated his hand once, twice, three times. A small ball of blue light appeared in his hands, illuminating the corridor. Norway kept walking until he came upon another door, this time to his right. He pushed open this one and was taken aback.
The room was filled with magical items, wands, spell books, enchanted items, the works. And all of it dripped with black magic. Norway almost fell backwards. He forced himself to set foot inside of the room. That's when he realized what a mess the room was. Everything was displaced, thrown around the room as if a tornado had entered. Norway turned his head to look around and saw a huge scorch mark on one wall.
'This must be what was wrong with the place…' He thought. He stepped further into the room.
Suddenly something hit him on top of the head. It bounced off his hat, falling to the floor with a clinking sound. Norway flinched and looked down. Laying at his feet was an amulet. It had a triangular blue jewel with a deeper blue center that swirled like a small hurricane. The jewel was tied to a braided black string.
Though Norway's face held a neutral expression, he cold feel his blood turned to ice. This thing… This thing was evil. There was no other word to describe it. It was just evil.
But…
Norway felt mesmerized. He felt his head begin to pound, voices whispered to him to take the amulet.
Take it take it TAKE IT.
Norway shook his head, trying to stop the onslaught of voices. It was no use. He dropped to his knees, one hand on the floor, the other reaching for the amulet. His teeth were clenched.
"I-I can't fight it…" He gasped.
Of course he couldn't. Romania had known how powerful Norway was, so he picked a particularly strong spell for this amulet, so strong not even Norway could resist it.
Norway's slim fingers wrapped around the jewel. His hand began to glow with a bright turquoise light.
"S-stop… it…" Norway whispered. He held the amulet by it's braided string with shaking hands.
He raised it above his head.
'N… No…' His resisting voice was like a dying breath, weak and quiet.
'ThINk aBoUT iT WoN'T yOu…' The voices hissed. It's voice made Norway's head spin. 'We cAN GiVe YoU POwEr bEYoNd YOuR wILdEsT DrEAmS… You wiLL SuRPasS ThE OThEr'S WiTHouT hArDLy TRyInG. YOu WIll CoNTrOl ThEM. So TeLL uS NOrWaY DeAR…' It purred. 'WhY ARe YoU FiGHtInG Us?'
Norway hung his head in defeat. His hands lowered the amulet around his head. He shut his eyes.
As soon as his hands released the amulet, the change began. Bright blue light seemed to explode from within his core, surrounding him. Beams of deep blue shot out of the amulet. Norway's eyes widened. Power surged into his body, filling him to the brim. The light seemed to melt into his skin, but a thin, glowing line of pale blue still wrapped around him.
He flew upwards and levitated about a foot off the ground. Much like England, his body spread into a cross shape, feet together and arms spread; his palms turned skywards.
His sailor's shirt extended, sleeves hiding his fingers and the bottom of the shirt just covering the tips of his shoes. His tips of his gloved fingers extended and turned cone-like, making them look like claws. The Nordic cross beret in his hair grew bigger and turned blue. Norway's hat began to morph until it became a hood-like thing with black lining that cast shadows over his eyes. The country's eyes slid shut, his hands curled into fists.
His eyes slowly opened, revealing pupil-less irises. The colors of blue in his eyes were broken apart by thin lines of black. The hues rippled and glowed like slow moving lava, swirling around the center of glowing orbs.
A morbid smile snaked onto his face.
"I ThINk I'Ll gO HElP DeNMaRk FiNd ThE DEmOn'S HoRN…" He said. "AfTeR AlL, He DId sAY hE WaNTeD To bE ThE FiRSt To fINd It."