Well, here it is, Rachel. Happy Halloween!

America and Japan were walking slowly down the road on a beautiful fall afternoon. The sun had begun to sink in the horizon, casting a hundred colors across the sky above their heads, as leaves began to blow off the trees.

America was grinning widely, the way he always did, swinging his arms back and forth as he walked. "Dude, look at the sunset!" America shouted suddenly, causing Japan to flinch slightly. "That's freaking awesome!" He stared up at the sky, as if he hadn't noticed it before, which likely was the case.

Japan took a deep breath and glanced up at the sky. He couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. "Um, hai, I suppose it looks nice—"

"Yeah it's sweet! Ha, too bad most of that is probably chemical waste. Oh well! So anyway," he continued, not noticing Japan's annoyed look, "it sure was nice of Italy to invite us over for dinner huh? I bet he's gonna make us a ton of food! Man, I love Italian food! I hope he makes that sauce with the cheese and—"

"America-kun, I already told you, you weren't invited," Japan interrupted softly.

"Huh?" America glanced over at him, looking slightly confused.

Japan sighed, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. "I already told you, it's a get together with Italy, Germany and me. Just the old Axis Powers. You…You weren't invited."

America stared at him. "Aw come on, can't I come?" He started begging. "Can't I? Please? Pretty please?" Japan sighed again and continued walking. America pouted. "Well, anyway, I should at least walk you over there and stuff, right? I-I mean, what kind of hero would I be if I didn't walk you home after that scary movie, huh…?"

Japan glanced up at him. America did seem slightly more nervous than usual. He had invited Japan over for the usual scary movie earlier that day. Actually, even Japan thought that the movie was a bit scarier than the usual idiocy he had to sit though. But, of course, Japan wasn't the one who turned into a whimpering mess after every scary movie.

Was that why America was 'walking' him to Italy's house?

After a few more seconds of walking, Japan sighed in defeat. "Err…fine. I suppose you could at least walk me there…" he mumbled weakly.

"You're welcome!" America replied exuberantly. "So come on! Let's go!"

America took off down the road, grinning. Japan blinked, then ran after him. "W-Wait, A-America-kun…!" He called weakly.

…

They got to Italy's house as the sun began sinking down over the horizon. America looked around, laughing nervously. "I-It's gonna get dark soon, huh?" He asked.

Japan sighed yet again. "I guess that I can ask if you could stay for a bit if you really—"

America hugged him. "Thanks, Japan! You're the best!"

Japan pushed him away quickly and knocked gently on the door. They stood there for about a minute. Japan frowned slightly and knocked again. "Italy-kun?" He called softly. "U-Um, Italy-kun, I'm here…"

America laughed at him. "Come on, dude, he'll never hear you like that!" He stepped in front of Japan. "Here, the hero will help! HEY! HEY ITALY!" He shouted as loudly as he could, banging his fist against the door furiously.

The door creaked open.

America and Japan froze. America blinked. "Whoops," he mumbled, glancing sheepishly at Japan. "Must've knocked harder than I thought. Well, uh, hey Italy! Sorry 'bout the door!" He stepped inside. "Hello? Italy? Dude, you here?"

Japan stepped behind him, then paused for a moment. He cast a quick glance toward the door. It didn't seem broken… He sighed and quietly stepped past America. "Italy-kun, I'm sorry that I'm late," he called out. He glanced around. There was no answer. "Italy-kun?" He frowned. "…why is it so dark in—?"

SLAM

America yelped and grabbed Japan. Japan looked over his shoulder. The door had slammed shut behind him, suddenly submerging them in darkness.

"D-D-Don't worry, Japan…" America whimpered, hugging Japan tightly. "T-The hero will protect you…"

Japan sighed. "Relax, America-kun. The door just must've blown shut." Japan pried America off of him. "I wonder why the light is off. Italy-kun!" He called again. "You forgot to turn on your lights!" He paused again. Usually by now, Italy would've burst in with a smile and some sort of food, shouting something about pasta. Did Japan come on the wrong day? Was Italy even home?

Japan glanced back toward where America was. "America-kun, see if you can find a light switch."

"R-Right, uh, give me a sec," America called. "Uh, right, um, okay…" there was a thud, "jeez, i-it's dark in here…Ah ha! Got it!" He shouted triumphantly. There was a soft click. And another soft click. "U-Uh…crap…"

Japan sighed. "It's not working is it…?"

Suddenly America grabbed Japan's shoulder. "D-Don't worry Japan. The hero will protect you!"

Japan glanced up at him. "Protect me from what exactly…?"

America shrugged. "You know, ghosts or zombies or ax murderers! That's always what's in a haunted house!"

Japan grimaced. "This is Italy-kun's house, not a haunted house," he replied.

America patted his shoulder. "Come on Japan, we're in a dark house, there's no one here, the power's out, the door shut behind us by itself, of course it's a haunted house!" He laughed nervously.

Japan sighed. "I'm sure you're just overreacting—"

There was a loud crash, and the sound of something shattering. America jumped and grabbed onto Japan again. Japan looked around. "What was that?"

"I-It was the axe murderer! I-It must've gotten Italy or something! C-Crap crap crap!" America was practically crushing Japan in his grip, wide-eyed.

Japan sighed and headed toward the sound of the crash, gently pushing America off of him. "Maybe Italy dropped something in the next room. You're just nervous from that movie we watched. Hmm, it sounded like it came from the kitchen…"

America pulled his arm. "D-Dude, what're you doing?" He asked quickly. "Weren't you watching that movie too? It's always the people that head toward the scary noises that get eaten first! W-Why don't we just leave? Come on, dude, we could go home and eat Italian food there."

Japan rolled his eyes and continued walking. "Italy-kun, are you alright?" He called as he walked into the kitchen, America still pulling desperately on his arm. "Italy-kun, are you in here—?"

Suddenly Japan slipped and fell forward. America yelped and pulled up on Japan's arm before he hit the floor. "W-Whoa! H-Holy crap, Japan, are you okay?"

Japan blinked. "W-What on earth?" He stammered, pulling himself to his feet. "What did I just…?" He slowly bent down.

There was a sticky red liquid spread across the floor.

America screamed and grabbed onto Japan. "OH MY GOD!"

Japan frowned. "It's just pasta sauce," he insisted. "Italy-kun just must've spilt it—"

"O-On the walls too?"

Japan glanced up at the walls, which were also spattered red. "E-Err, w-well I mean—"

America screamed again, causing Japan to practically jump out of his skin. He turned toward America. "C-Could you please stop doing that?" Japan asked weakly, trying to force his heart to slow down.

America whimpered and pointed toward the other wall. Japan turned and stiffened. Germany was lying against the wall, unmoving, red stains on his shirt. Japan stared at him, wide eyed.

"Ve~ hi Japan!" Came a happy voice. "You're here!"

Japan turned. Italy stood in the doorway, a big smile on his face. And a stained knife held up in his hand. "How come you were so late? Oh hey, America's here too! Ciao!"

Japan and America blinked. Then they both screamed and sprinted out of the room.

Italy cocked his head. He stood there a moment. "Japan? America? Where are you guys going?" He frowned and looked around. Then he noticed Germany. "Germany! Are you okay?"

Germany groaned slightly. "Next time you need to put things away in your cabinets, let me do it." He reached up and gingerly rubbed his head. "Your damn pot fell off the shelf…and there was still some sort of sauce in it…" He glanced down at the stains on his shirt.

Italy looked up at the broken pot on the ground. "Oops. Sorry Germany!" He looked up. "I wonder where Japan and America went. And I can't find Prussia anywhere either…"

…

America and Japan sat wide-eyed behind a couch in the next room. "Holy shit, Italy finally snapped!" America whispered frantically, trembling uncontrollably. "H-He killed Germany! I knew this day would come!"

Japan swallowed. "I-I'm sure there's some other e-explanation—"

America shook his shoulders frantically. "Dude! H-He f*cking killed Germany!" He hissed back, eyes wide. "H-He's snapped! He's finally snapped! A-And now he's gonna kill us too! O-Oh my god, I'm too young to die!"

Japan shook his head. "America-kun, you need to calm down." He peaked out from over the couch. "P-Perhaps if we talked to him—"

America yanked him down. "A-Are you freaking insane?" America hissed. "Don't you get it? H-He's going to kill us! T-Then he's going to grind up our dead bodies to make pasta sauce and meatballs!"

Japan stared at him, wide eyed. "H-He wouldn't do that…w-would he?" He asked, his voice only coming out as a whisper.

America nodded. "It's just like the movies, Japan! He's gone completely crazy! And he's gonna kill us next!" He peaked out from over the couch cautiously.

Japan swallowed nervously, suddenly starting to feel faint. "U-Um, okay, w-what should we do then? I think I might know another way to the front door. If we could just—"

"Japan!" America snapped. Japan jumped slightly and looked up at America's disapproving look. "We can't just leave a murderer to just go about his business! He'll just go out and murder someone else!" America stood up and made some sort of pose. "We have to stop him! It's the heroic thing to do!"

Japan stared at him. "W-What?" He scrambled up and yanked America back down. "Y-You can't be serious!" He whispered. "A-America-kun, this is insane! We should get out of here!"

America frowned. "So you don't want to be my sidekick? Aw, and I'd thought of a good sidekick name for you, too. I even have a cape." He pulled a small blanket out of his pocket, with the word 'Capitalism' sewn into the back.

Japan rolled his eyes. "I don't want to be your sidekick—w-where are you going?" Japan suddenly asked as America started army-crawling toward the other side of the room.

"I don't care if you're helping, but I'm gonna do this," America replied, crouching and doing a somersault past a lamp.

Japan stared at him. "W-What? America-kun y-you can't just—!"

"Good luck without me!" America called, slipping into another room.

Japan blinked, suddenly feeling woozy. He ran after America. "W-Wait, A-America-kun! D-Don't leave me!"

…

In the next room, someone had his ear plastered to the door, a mischievous glint in his ruby-red eyes.

"Kesesese…"

…

"Alright, so, uh, what do we do now?"

Japan glanced up at America. They were currently somewhere on the second floor of the house. Italy's house wasn't the largest house in the world. Which meant that he and America had very little room to hide…

"I thought you would have a plan," Japan replied slowly, craning his head around a corner, trying to see if there was anyone there.

America rolled his eyes. "Come on, man, you know I hate thinking…" America leaned back, thinking hard. "Kay, well, we're gonna need some weapons or something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol. "Good think I carry this around with me!"

Japan stared at it. "W-Why on earth do you have that?"

America shrugged. "Second amendment rights? I dunno, I like guns." He inspected it closely. He pulled open the barrel. "Oh shit! No bullets! Shit shit shit!"

Japan sighed. "A-Alright, calm down, America-kun," he told him. "We need to think about this logically. Now, what do people usually do in horror movies to protect themselves?"

"I dunno. They usually die at the end."

Japan flinched. "U-Um, a-anything more helpful?" He asked weakly.

"Sometimes they'll get a chainsaw and bust through as many zombies as physically possible before finally being subdued and having their brains devoured."

Japan shut his eyes. "They still die at the end though. A-And we're not dealing with zombies."

"Well, sometimes they have sex before Jason bursts in and kills everyone."

Japan blinked. He looked up at America, horrified. "W-What? Why? That doesn't even… Something useful please?"

America scowled. "That's all I got. Sorry man. Oh, and I'm not having sex with you. Creeper." He crossed his arms and pouted.

Japan groaned softly. "T-That's not… Never mind. We could try to find something to defend ourselves with." He peaked around the corner again.

"Ve~ Hi Japan! There you are!"

Japan screamed and jumped backward. Italy smiled at him. "Why are you two up here?" He asked. "I was just gonna make you guys pasta! Come on!" He held up the stained knife with a big smile.

America backed up. "S-Shit! W-We don't want you to make us pasta!" He yelled, wishing he had a gun, or anything. He glanced around quickly. Then he noticed a small vase sitting on a table. He slowly began edging toward it.

Italy stared at him. "You don't want me to make you pasta?" He asked, looking absolutely horrified. "W-Why? Pasta is so delicious! Especially with red sauce! Germany loved it a lot too~!"

America grabbed the vase and whipped it around. "Say hello to my little friend!" He screamed, hurling it at the Italian.

The vase shattered on the wall several feet behind Italy. Italy jumped and looked over his shoulder. "Um, hello…? W-Why did you just throw my vase? That's so mean. I just—" He turned back around, only to find that he was alone. "Huh?" He looked around. "America? Japan?"

…

"I-I think we lost him, America-kun!" Japan panted weakly. They were now back downstairs, hiding in the living room, behind the TV large, both wide-eyed and gasping.

America was trebling uncontrollably next to him. Japan cast him a worried look. "America-kun, are you alright?" He asked.

America nodded. "I-I've always wanted to do that…" He mumbled.

Japan gave a weak laugh. "H-Hai, that was very brave of you," he reassured him.

America nodded. "W-Well, duh. Heroes are always brave." He frowned. "Well, we're gonna need another tactic if we're going to stop Italy. You got any wooden steaks?"

Japan shook his head. "I thought stakes were for vampires," he whispered back.

"Yeah, but I'm hungry man. I can't think of plans on an empty stomach. I thought were gonna eat pasta when we got here…"

Japan looked at him, confused. "What? America-kun, you understand what a stake is, don't you—?"

"THAT'S IT!"

Japan jumped. "W-What's it?" He stammered.

"Pasta!" America replied. "All bad guys have some sort of weakness, right? So Italy's has to be pasta! It makes perfect sense!"

"A-America-kun, that doesn't make any sense—"

"Alright, we're gonna need to sneak back into the kitchen to destroy the pasta. Stay behind me, kay?"

"I feel like we're just going in circles—"

America started crawling out from behind the TV. Japan sighed and followed quickly after. "Why me…?" He wondered.

The two of them slipped silently into the kitchen. Japan quickly started searching through the pots and pans spread out around the counter. He peaked into the largest pot, then let out a relieved sigh. "America-kun, I found the pasta. I really don't think it will help but—" He turned and paused. "America-kun?" He looked quickly around. "A-America-kun, where are you? A-America-kun?"

CRASH

Japan jumped. "America-kun?" He yelped. He quickly strode toward the nearest doorway, where he'd heard the crash. Then he paused. There was the puddle he'd slipped in earlier. And the spatters on the wall. So where was Germany?

"AGH!"

Japan jumped again and scrambled through the doorway.

"OH MY GOD ZOMBIES! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT"

"VERDAMMT, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET OFF OF ME!"

Germany swung around and tried to pry America off of him, who was trying ineffectually to strange him. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He screamed again, his facing turning red with fury.

"CALL OF DUTY WAS RIGHT!" America screamed frantically. "SHOOT ITS BRAIN!"

"I WAS JUST GOING TO THE BATHROOM! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?" Germany finally managed to grab America and throw him off. "Verdammt!" He swore angrily, turning toward Japan. "Japan! What the hell is going on?"

Japan yelped and stumbled backward. "D-Don't come any closer z-zombie-san I-I have a weapon!"

Germany blinked. "What? Have you both gone insane?"

America smashed the back of his head with a book. "Get away from Japan you brain-eating psycho!" He shoved Germany and sprinted forward, grabbing Japan's arm. "Dude, come on!" He pulled Japan into the next room, then skidded to a stop.

Japan yelped. "W-What's wrong?" He looked up.

Standing in the doorway was a person, skin a pale white color, with scarlet stains all across his shirt. "I'm soooo hungry…" he mumbled, stretching his arms out in front of him. "Must eat brains…! Kesesese…"

America and Japan screamed and ran in the opposite direction.

Germany strode in. "Damn it, Prussia, what on earth are you doing?"

Prussia was doubled over in laughter. "I-I don't know but that was awesome!"

America and Japan sprinted up the stairs, ran into the nearest room, and dived into the closet. "S-See, I told you it was a haunted house, damn it I told you! S-Shit, I don't want to die here!" America hugged Japan. "I-I still haven't eaten at every single McDonalds!"

"I-I still haven't seen the end of Naruto!" Japan lamented.

"I don't wanna die a virgin!"

"What?"

"What? Huh? Who said that?"

Suddenly the doorknob began to turn. America and Japan yelped. America pulled out a coat hanger. He held it in front of them threateningly and shut his eyes.

"What the hell are you two doing in my closet, damn it?"

America and Japan blinked. They looked up.

Romano stood there with a tired expression, scowling down at them. Japan's mouth fell open. "R-Romano-kun?"

The lights all came on simultaneously. America and Japan flinched. Romano glanced up. "Finally. Stupid power outage. Hey Veneziano!" He called. "I found your friends! They were in the closet! What'd I tell ya?"

"Ve~!" Italy skipped merrily into the room. "Hi guys! Were you playing hide and seek?"

America and Japan both sat there, mouths dangling open like fish. Italy frowned at them. "Are you two feeling okay? You're acting really weird today…"

Germany strode in, dragging his brother behind him. "Hey Italy, do you have any paper towels? Prussia somehow got red sauce on his shirt and is making a mess."

"Verdammt, West, let go, the Awesome Me can do whatever he wants, get off, oww!"

Japan spoke first. "You're not a zombie…?"

Germany glared at him. "Excuse me?" He snapped. "What are you talking about?"

Japan turned toward Italy. "A-And you're not…going to kill us?"

"Why would I do that?" Italy asked, looking confused. "I just wanted to eat pasta with you guys!"

Japan stared at them. Then he turned toward America. America looked over at him sheepishly. "Eh heh heh…uh, oops?"

Italy was smiling at them. "Was that why you guys were running around all day? Ve~ That's silly!" He hugged Japan. "So did you want to eat pasta now? Please~?"

Japan stared up at him. Then he shut his eyes. "…I…I-I think I'm just going to go home now…" he mumbled slowly.

It's been forever since I uploaded this, huh? Well, I hope I'll be able to add a couple more later. Sorry. Happy Halloween everyone~!