"Ok, listen very carefully aru, this place is full of traps, so all of you have to follow your leaders very carefully. Each group is given a walkie talkie, if you find anything strange; inform the others using the walkie talkie. Got it aru? " China asked as Taiwan and Korea showed the others how the walkie talkie works. He was going to use a messenger dove at first, but he soon found out how dangerous some countries can be when it came to handling small animals.
With that, the three search parties left the room and started the mission. Taiwan led her team to the second floor, Korea on the second floor and China on the first floor, where England and Hong Kong were last seen going to the washroom.
"Ve~ Germany, let's try our best and find them first!" Italy suggested, obviously excited about this.
"It is not a competition, so whoever finds them first won't matter." Germany answered.
"German san is right, but it would be good if we are able to find them first, no?" Japan titled his head to look at the two of them and asked.
"Fine, we will find them first, provided that you listen to me." Germany poked Italy's head, who simply carried on with his ve-ing.
China walked in front of the trio, somehow feeling left out. No matter, finding Hong Kong is the top priority. The thought of leaving Hong Kong alone with England worried him. Who knows what England may do to him? With that, China quickened his pace.
"China kun! Watch out!" Japan suddenly shouted as he ran forward.
"Huh- Ahh!" Before China could react, he had already stepped into the hole that England and Hong Kong had fallen into.
Luckily, Japan managed to grab China's hand, and with the help from Germany (Italy ran to hide right after China screamed), succeeded in pulling him up.
"Aiya, that was close aru. An old man like me should not have to go through this… Thank you for saving me aru." The three of them sat on the floor as China heaved a sigh of relief.
"You are welcome. China kun, do you think that England and Hong Kong san may have fallen into this hole?"
"That seems like the most likely situation. Italy! Stop hugging that pole and come here!" Germany roared and dragged the almost crying Italy away from the pole.
"If that is the case, we have to inform the others aru." China said as he took out his walkie talkie and called Korea.
"Aniki! Did you call because you miss me?" Korea's voice blasted from the walkie talkie.
China was now thinking of hanging up.
"Hey! Give me that! You can't snatch it from me!" Korea suddenly shouted, followed by America's voice, "Hello, this is your hero speaking, we did not find anything suspicious here. But I have to say, nice place you have here, China."
"Ah… Thank you aru. But that is not the point, come down to the first floor now, we found a hole." China went back to the point.
"Got it, we will be here straight away." America sounded excited.
"Aniki!" Korea was heard in the background as China quickly hung up, looking rather disturbed.
He then went on to calling Taiwan, which was much smoother, except for Belarus's shouting and France's screaming for help was in the background…
Finally, the other two groups arrived to join China and the trio.
"Da, that is a big hole." Russia exclaimed as he bent down and looking inside the hole, "it is pretty deep too."
"Oui, so how do we get down there?" France agreed and took a step back.
"Easy! Like a hero!" America volunteered and jumped into the hole, shouting yahoo.
"Hey you guys! Come on down! It's fine!" America looked up and invited.
The other countries just stared at him as if he was an alien, like hell they were going to jump.
"Teacher, I found the ladder." Taiwan pointed to a long ladder not far from them.
"Good work aru, let's use the ladder instead." China praised and with the help from some others, set the ladder in place.
Soon, everyone was down, and the real fun had just begun.
"Hey, did you hear someone talking?" England asked as he kept on crawling.
"No. What did you hear?" Hong Kong asked and looked around, standing up when he realized that there were out of the target area.
"That was weird, I thought I heard America." England also stood up and said.
Hong Kong's heart skipped a beat when England mentioned America. Of all people, why America? Why the person who hurt him the most?
"You… You must be imagining things, why would America be here?" He stuttered. It may be selfish of him to think like this, but maybe, just for a while, England would only belong to him. Once they got out of here, things would be back to normal. But now, it would just be the two of them, just like how it was during those 99 years.
"You are right; nothing could make him leave a party." England had that warm smile on his face as he recalled the past.
Hong Kong turned and walked away in an extremely fast pace, leaving England behind. He knew that smile was not for him, not now, not ever.
"Hey! Hong Kong! Why the hell are you suddenly walking so fast? Wait for me!" England shouted and hurried to catch up with him.
He did not know what Hong Kong was thinking, except that Hong Kong looked shaken when he said America's name. Did anything happen between them? Or was it his fault?
But he knew one thing for sure, that Hong Kong was lying when he sad that he did not blame him for returning him to China.
"Ah, we have a problem." Hong Kong suddenly stopped.
"What?" England was in high alert, ready to dodge any flying arrows.
"The path splits into two here. You will have to make a choice." Hong Kong said slowly.
"… And I thought it was another trap. Just choose one of them randomly and let's keep moving. They have got to lead to somewhere." England said as he walked towards the path to his left.
"Somehow, I think the one on the right is better." Hong Kong muttered, rooted to the spot as he watched England walked to the left path.
"Huh? Did you say something?" England stopped and turned to look at him.
"I said, the one on the right seems safer and better than this one." Hong Kong raised his voice and managed to sound slightly annoyed.
"Ah? But they look the same to me. It's just your superstition, China must have told you a lot about it. Either way, this one is fine, I am sure." England assured, refusing to believe in Hong Kong.
"You are going to regret this." Hong Kong sighed as he followed England unwilling.
"You always choose the one that would hurt you..." Hong Kong whispered under his breath, "and not regret anything."
How foolish.
