Fortune Maiden: Hello! It's me, the beta of this story! I get the top A/N to myself this time so I'll be doing the disclaimer. Singing Maiden does not Hetalia, Hetaoni, yada yada and I'm just the beta so neither do I. Also the delay for this chapter was my fault, so do not send any complaints to the author of this fic. Send them to me…I'll just have Belarus shred them up though ^^.
On with the fic.
~.~.~.~.~
11H42M09S
Japan stared at Canada, blinking a few times before regaining his voice. "Are...Are you sure, Canada-san?"
The Canadian nation nodded his head, clear certainty in his violet eyes. "I live close to America, and I have met Tony several times before," he explained. "I'll admit they do look alike, but Tony would never attack America."
"At-Attack?" England gaped at Canada's words. "It attacked America?"
"Ye-Yeah, it knocked America to the wall but he survived and began shooting at the Thing. It had no effect on it though…"
"So that's why we heard gun shots!"
"We tried to help," Russia added, "but then that Thing knocked us out in the end. Like I said before, they were gone when we woke up."
"I'm sorry, it was my fault really," Canada sighed and patted Kumajirou's head. "If I hadn't let my guard down, then maybe Russia wouldn't have tried to protect me and gotten knocked out as well."
"Oh, you weren't a burden!" Russia piped up happily. "But it was hard to fight while protecting someone. So how about this, thank me by becoming one with me, да?" Everybody cringed at that, but Russia didn't notice. "So anyway, now that we know what's going on, there are three nations missing and we should look for them. And now that we also know that America had nothing to do with it, we cannot feel at ease that the Tony-look-alike would go easy on us."
Japan nodded. "Yes, and please also keep in mind that in here we are only humans, so please be cautious."
"Got it!" They all said.
"Oh!" Italy suddenly gasped when he saw something shining in the fireplace. The other nations turned to him as he crouched in front of it.
"What is it?" Germany asked.
"The wooden box we threw in had something in it!" Italy exclaimed and tried to get it out of the fire with his bare hand, but he drew back quickly and waved his hand around as he cried, "Hot! Hot! Hot!"
"Careful," Germany handed Italy a clamp to use. Carefully, he got the thing out of the fire and set it on his palm but then he dropped it as he shouted, "Hooooot!"
"Careful!" honestly, where did that serious Italy go?
Japan took out his handkerchief and picked up the item. His eyes went wide when he saw what it was. "It's a key!" he exclaimed.
The nations snapped up at Japan, eyes shining as they stared at the key in his hand. "What's it for?" Italy asked while blowing on his hand.
Luckily, the sticker on the key wasn't completely burnt off, so Japan could make out the words. "'I – Hallway Key'. Hallway?" There was a door to a hallway?
But the nations just cheered, "We have a new breach!"
Japan closed his eyes and smiled, before he threw the key into the air and caught it in his hand again. "Finding a way out was our priority, but first we must find our friends. If we are thorough with our search, I'm sure we'll find them. Those three are tenacious, so they have to be alive somewhere," he gave a smile to Germany then, who returned it with his own rare smile. He noticed Canada nodding in agreement and England just smirking and muttering, "Of course they are, that bloody frog and git."
"Friends, huh? That sounds interesting," Russia mused. "I was caught by surprise before, but next time I see that Thing," Russia's violet eyes shone with the intent to harm, "I'll have a lot to thank for."
England stood up from the table. "Let's go then. I don't want to lose any more people."
"We'll split into three groups," Germany said to them, "it is too dangerous to go alone, so each group should have at least two people."
"There are a lot of rooms in this mansion," Italy pointed out. "Japan may have opened some of the doors with the keys he found, but we didn't check all of them. There might be more keys or clues in them."
"So we'll have to search all of the rooms and find the missing ones," China summed up.
"I found this weird piece of paper yesterday," Japan held up the said paper for everyone to see, "it might be a clue."
"Okay!" England announced and everyone gathered together and prepared for the mission. They all looked into this. The British nation was smirking as he rolled up one of his sleeves. "Now let's try to synchronize our watches and…uuuraaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
"Wha-What?" Italy jumped back from the sudden scream.
"My watch is going insane!"
As the other nations checked their watches only to find the same thing, they gaped and shouted in confusion. Japan mentally facepalmed. "Yes, about that, you see for some reason-"
He was interrupted as everybody grew quiet when the door knob rattled once. Not sure if they even heard it correctly, they slowly turned their heads towards the door, which rattled again...and again...then the door was pounded on.
The Thing knew they were in here.
"So it found us after all," Japan sighed. "This room is no longer safe."
"Was it ever safe?" England backed up a bit when the next slam was louder the last. "What are we going to do now?"
Japan held the key in front of him, before turning to his comrades. "My group will take care of it. Germany-san, Italy-kun," he tossed the key at them and Italy just caught it in his hands, "you will search for the room to that key."
"B-But-"
Germany took Italy's arm and pulled him to the wall near the door. "Got it."
"Then I'll fight with Japan!" China stood up and reached for his swords.
"Can I join you? I really have to thank it for aaall the trouble," Russia asked and readied his pipe.
The door was being pounded on again. England went over to Canada quickly. "Then that just leaves me and Canada. There's a room I want to investigate."
"Go ahead," Japan told him. Everyone looked ready (Italy looked a bit reluctant though).
"We'll meet you guys in the piano room!" England said; he and Canada got into position to run.
"Be careful guys!" Italy told them as he and Germany pressed themselves against the wall. The German gave the nod that they were ready.
Japan slowly made his way to the door as it was pounded on constantly now. "Well then, everyone," he placed the corresponding room's key into the lock, "I wish you luck," and he unlocked the door to allow the Thing to come hurtling in. Japan jumped back and landed on the table before signalling the others.
"Now!"
~.~.~.~.~
Germany and Italy raced down to the first floor before the Thing saw them escaping. Japan's group did a good job distracting it so they were safe.
Italy was panting as he slid down onto the floor when they reached their destination at last. "Are you alright?" Germany asked.
"Vee...I'm fine, Germany," Italy said and looked back upstairs, a worried look on his face. "I hope Japan and the others will be alright though...maybe we should go back and help them."
"No, we have to accomplish our mission first. Japan can take care of himself. We need to understand this place in order to lighten up his burden, Italy."
Germany saw Italy's eyes looked downcast as he slowly lowered his head. Maybe he's just really worried, he thought. It took a moment until Italy finally stood back up and put on his cheery face.
"You're right," he smiled. "Germany knows the best, of course. Japan and the others can take care of that big boogeyman, so I shouldn't worry. But you know," Italy suddenly frowned and faced Germany seriously, "if we run into an even bigger one, let's run away, okay?"
"A bigger one?" Germany frowned at him. "What do you mean 'an even bigger one'?"
"Didn't you notice? That Boogeyman just then was a bit bigger than the ones we fought with before. And if we did kill one, there shouldn't be another one walking around after we killed it. And if it was the same one, then it shouldn't look different from the previous boogeymen. And also..."
He didn't notice Germany staring at him, completely stunned as Italy ranted on and on an on about his theory. It took a minute until he finally noticed. "Ve? Germany?"
Germany never thought he would say this, but, "Italy...that was a good observation."
There was silence between them. Italy was staring up at Germany with his brown eyes until he finally laughed happily. "Vee! Really?" Italy began to cheer and bounce up and down, oblivious to how Germany tried to calm him down.
It took a while for Germany to be finally able to hold the bouncy Italy down with his hands firmly placed on his shoulders. The Italian nation smiled at him, "I'm happy. It's not every day that I get complements from you, Germany."
He gently pried his best friend's hands off him (also smiling a "Viva!") and skipped down the hall leading to the Japanese room. Germany stood there for a while before following him. He wondered if this mature Italy would become permanent someday. He would no longer have a useless Italy in his daily life and everybody would be happy if that happened.
He heard a door being unlocked followed by a squeal. "Veee! It opened!"
They both went through the door together. There was indeed another hallway in front of them, and at the end, there was another door to their left. Right next to them on the left was another but smaller Japanese room.
They wondered if that door at the end of the hallway was locked or not, so they decided to find out. But when they took one step onto the floorboard, they heard something slide open.
They both turned to where the sound came from, and when the lights flickered on and off, both of them ran out of the room, screaming their heads off when the Thing suddenly emerged from within the Japanese closets.
"There really is another one!"
"Run away! Just run away!"
Germany was leading the way while holding Italy's hand tightly. But through the confusion, he didn't even notice that he was running in circles in the larger Japanese room! He made a quick glance behind him, and saw that the Thing looked bigger than last time (Mein Gott, Italy is right for once and it's still a bad thing!). Germany wondered if he could fight the Thing alone while Italy escaped. It was better than if they both got caught and wouldn't have survived anyway.
Italy will be safe. He'll find a safe place to hide and everyone else will look after him...right.
After making up his mind, he turned his head to his friend, but before he could tell him his plan, Italy's hand slipped from Germany's firm grip and he began to fall forward to the ground. Germany ran a few feet forward before he could stop himself. "It-"
Everything played in slow motion next. Germany saw Italy throw out his hands to the floor and let himself roll forward from the momentum. Once he got on his feet, Italy quickly balanced himself before he shot up and ran down the hallway with the stairs.
Germany stood there in complete awestruck until the Thing knocked him down and chased after the escaping Italian. Germany groaned as he stood back up, his head had collided to the wall when he was knocked down and he could feel it throbbing underneath his rubbing palm.
He looked down at his free hand, the one that was holding Italy's tightly. He couldn't understand how Italy's hand suddenly slipped from his grasp. It couldn't have been because their hands became sweaty from the constant running. Didn't his leather gloved hand prevent Italy from slipping or running away?
Germany debated this again and again, and there was only one possible conclusion in the end, which seemed impossible as well. But when he thought about it, it was actually the only possibility.
Italy didn't slip; he pulled himself away.
I was so worried when that Thing chased after you!
Fortunately or unfortunately, it seems to be targeting me. But I'm good at running away, so I was able to escape.
Oh no…he wouldn't think like that, Germany though rationally before a single doubt added: …right?
His feet pounded against the wooden floorboards as he ran down the hall and towards the hallway to his left. Both the library and kitchen were empty but the door in the kitchen was (surprisingly) not locked. However, the small room filled with bookcases and a safe was deprived of Italy.
He slammed the door shut, swearing that he didn't care about what was in that room right now; all he wanted was to find Italy.
Germany rushed down the hallway again, only slowing down when he needed to make a right turn. He came to a halt when he stared at the two doors.
"Italy?" he shouted. He remembered Japan's description of the mansion and which rooms that were accessible. If he remembered correctly, there would be a low chance of Italy behind any of those doors alive…
"Ger-Germany?"
His heart stopped when he heard the voice. Taking a deep breathe, he marched up to the door that lead to the toilet and saw it open. A hair curl bounced into view, followed by a teary Italian's face.
Germany sighed in relief that Italy was alright. But then he quickly snapped out of it, stomped into the toilet and cornered Italy to the wall with his hands on both sides of his face.
"What were you thinking?" He demanded in a low voice.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Italy asked nervously.
"You knew that Thing was after you, yet you didn't think of the consequences of your actions and risked getting yourself killed. Again!"
"Vee!" Italy cried but Germany wasn't finish yet. "Why did you think risking your life was the a great idea? Did you think I was not strong enough to protect anyone? Even you? My training may or may not have taught you to think and move swiftly in a battlefield, but it wasn't supposed to teach you on how to escape and do something so reckless!"
"I-I wasn't thinking like that! Honest!"
Germany snorted at Italy words. "Then why did run away?"
"Because I was scared when our hands slipped!" Italy wailed loudly, he averted his eyes from the blonde. "Please, Germany, you're scaring me!"
Germany stared down at the Italian's trembling form, but he didn't move. "I have held you a lot of times Italy, and I know you couldn't have slipped away from my hand just because your hand became slippery in my gloved ones." Italy sniffled but wouldn't look up. "And now that I think about it more carefully, it didn't feel like our hands 'slipped', it felt more like you pulled it away from mine."
Their eyes didn't meet when he finished. Italy's hiccups and sniffles echoed around the tiny room. After waiting for a few more minutes, Germany now thought the useless Italy was much better than the mature Italy. He could get the useless Italy to admit his mistakes (even if he would do it again anyway). This mature Italy thought he did the right thing and wanted to get praised for it. And if he was waiting for that, then forget it.
He finally moved back; allowing some space for Italy to wipe away his tears with his hands. "If you do that ever again, your training will be doubled and I will add ten laps onto your schedule for a week."
Italy hiccupped again before he muttered, "Yes, sir…"
The trip back to the hallway with the small Japanese room was tense. Italy wasn't skipping happily like he always would and Germany still had the stern look on his face. When they reached the door that lead to the hallway, Germany reached back and grabbed Italy's hand, the grip was tighter than before, which caused the Italian to yelp.
"Just making sure you won't run away again."
They walked in and searched the room cautiously, not wanting another surprise attack from the Thing. It turned out the door at the end of the hallway was locked, to their disappointment. But they did find another clue; it turned out the closest that was still closed had a piece of paper like the one Japan found earlier in it.
Italy bent down and picked up the piece of paper and examined it with Germany. Instead of one green and one blue bordered rectangle, there were one yellow and one red bordered rectangle. Both of them studied it silently for a few moments, until Italy finally piped up, "It looks like the cross-section view of pasta!" He didn't notice Germany twitched at his words.
"Why?" he managed to ground out.
"Ve? You think it looks like something else? Well it doesn't look like a map…hmm…What is it…"
They continued to wonder what the rectangles meant. Germany couldn't think of anything else, so he decided that maybe they should compare the paper to Japan's one. He opened his mouth to tell Italy, but then he let out a (manly) shriek when something that sounded like the shrill ringing of a phone was heard.
"Ekk!" Italy jumped back quickly, their hands releasing. "D-Don't scare me like that, Germany!"
"S-Sorry," the German apologized and then he realized where the sound was coming from. "That sound…isn't it from your cell phone?"
"Ve?" Italy blinked before quickly digging into his pocket to get his phone out. The phone was indeed ringing. "Y-You're right. But why? Our phones can't get any signal here!"
"I don't know! Just answer it! We might be able to ask for help!"
"V-Vee…but it's a number-withheld call…" Italy murmured before finally answering. "C-Ciao?"
There was no answer at the other end, so Italy turned the phone to loudspeaker to see if he could hear better. When he did, both Germany and himself heard something that sounded like a piano followed by a weird voice saying "La" before it hung up*.
Germany and Italy stared at the phone as the end of call tone echoed around the room. "Wasn't that a piano?" Germany asked.
Italy gave a nod before he put his phone back in his pocket. "What does it mean…Maybe it was a prank call?"
"Who knows…Anyway, let's head back to England. Once we all meet up, we can piece this paper and Japan's together to figure out what it means."
"Okay."
~.~.~.~.~
The Thing had its eyes focused on Japan and the two other nations next to him. It didn't notice the others running away as it focused on its preys and readied its claws. At that moment China ran up to it and punched the Thing in the sides before using all his strength to kick it away from himself, and watched it slide away.
Japan, China and Russia took out their weapons. The Japanese nations had his talismans and katana all powered up and ready. When the Thing got up, it ran towards them and Japan held up two talismans, one to shield him and the others from the attack, and the other to throw onto the Thing's head. It let out a shriek of pain and tried to pull it off as it stumbled back.
"When did you learn that aru?" China asked his little brother.
Japan just smirked at China. "Oh, a while ago. I didn't know you can still do kung fu, China-san."
"Yeah, I was surprised myself when I used it aru."
Russia smiled happily at the two small nations. "You know, it's not often the three of us get to do something together. This is going to be kinda fun!" he sang.
"I just wish we would work together a little more harmoniously," Japan sighed.
"If you want the three of us to be all chummy and smiley, I have a sinking feeling aru…" China mumbled.
"I suppose you are right. A union like this is more fitting."
The Thing glared at them as they talked and readied itself to attack. China prepared himself as well. "Well, if we live through this, I will treat everyone their favourite Chinese dishes aru," he whispered.
Russia hummed a happy tune before he replied, "I can't wait."
"I look forward to when we find everyone and escape then," Japan added, a small smile graced on his lips.
The Thing came running towards them and would have gotten them if they hadn't stopped talking already. China raised his twin swords and ran around to get behind the Thing to slash its back. The Thing hissed and spun around to knock China onto the wall and made him loss consciousness.
"China-san!"
The Thing turned back to Japan and Russia and knocked them away as well. It turned to China's still form, and started to snarl. "YoU…"
Japan got back onto his feet and rushed up to the Thing to stop it from saying anything. But before he could reach it, Russia whacked his faucet pipe onto the Thing's head really hard, causing it to stop.
"That was a thank you gift for giving me that painful wound you gave me," Russia said before stepping forward and hitting it again. "That is for hurting my comrades," he hit it a third time, this time bashing away the claw coming at him, causing it to twist at an odd angle. "And that's for making one of them unconscious!" He shouted and smacked his pipe to the Thing's jaw. There was a sick, cracking sound and the upper and lower jaws were now misaligned.
Japan was distracted by the now even more disgusting face. Russia turned to him, a smile on his face. "Hey, Japan. Why are you so slow all of a sudden? What happened to the Japan that could kill the Thing quickly?"
Japan felt miff but kept a composed face on as he replied. "Well, it's because now that I know that America-san was not behind this, I can no longer kill it like before since I don't feel angry."
Russia hummed before he stepped back to escape the claw that was aimed for his head. "So you're almost as useless as England now."
Japan gripped his katana tightly in his hands, the talismans scrunching up under the movement. He quickly ran up to the Thing while shouting, "Don't underestimate me just yet!" and slashed his weapon into its chest dozens of times before pulling back to let the blood spill out. He stood back and readied his talismans.
The Thing glared at Japan, and then it tried to use its lightning attack. But the words that came out of its mouth sounded like something a crazy demon would speak in. So instead, it decided to claw at him with its good arm.
Surprisingly, the Thing could use both its claws well, so the hit to Japan's right arm was accurate and caused painful damage to Japan as he got knocked to the floor, his katana and talismans flew out of his hands in the process. There was now a palm sized bloody claw mark on his arm and he winced as he tried to stand back up.
Russia stood between the Thing and Japan, a blank expression on his face. "Japan, try to get China to wake up. I'll watch your back."
Japan just nodded and hobbled towards the unconscious Chinese nation. He heard the fighting noise between Russia and the Thing behind him. He knelt down and shook China a bit, whispering to him to wake up.
China didn't stir but Japan could see that he was breathing through the dim light. He tried to wake him up again, but heard the Thing trying to growl something constantly.
He turned around and saw Russia was cornered to the wall by the Thing. Japan quickly stood up and took out another bunch of talismans in his pocket, and prayed to give the talismans power. But before he could throw it at the Thing, it finally managed to finally say something.
"DIE!"
The room plunged into darkness quickly and Japan gasped. He quickly created a barrier around himself and China before the purple lights could get either of them. When he saw the impact between the lights and the barrier, Japan wondered what happened to Russia. Was he alright?
The lights came back on dimly and he saw the Thing moved away from Russia, who was still standing, but his head was bowed down and he leaned against the wall like it was his support. Japan feared for the worst scenario, but when he saw Russia slowly lift up his head and show off his violently violet eyes, he felt both relief and fear.
The room suddenly went even colder and Japan shivered. "Oh, now you've done it…" Russia's voice further chilled the dim room. Japan felt a cold breeze blowing through his hair, and he thought he saw snowflakes fall from the ceiling. Russia's dark aura started to surround him; it rose out of his body and started to materialize into something…or someone.
At that moment, China stirred and opened his eyes. He saw Japan above him and when he saw Russia's aura coming into view; he quickly shot his hand up and grabbed Japan to pull him to the floor as he shouted, "Duck!"
Japan was confused but then he saw the aura burst and a strong blizzard shoot out from it. China and Japan lowered their heads as the strong icy wind blew onto them and the wind screamed in their ear. They also heard the Thing's scream and Russia's 'Kol'ing.
Once it was over, the Asian nations looked up; the whole room, including themselves, was covered in snow. The Thing was frozen like an ice sculpture, with icicles dangling from its limbs.
Russia walked up to them and helped them up. "Oh, China! You're finally awake!" he exclaimed, his voice high pitched and childish again. He handed the twin swords back to his comrade before he continued. "You missed a lot while you were knocked out, but you can kill it yourself if you want to."
China looked down at his weapons, then at Russia and Japan. Russia might have been hiding it, but it was clear that he was hurt all over and Japan had a bloody wound on his right arm. China gripped his weapon tightly and waltz towards the Thing; he saw its eyes moved franticly as the Chinese nation got closer. He then suddenly jumped up and howled loudly, "Sorry, but we won't lose the second time!" before stabbing both of the swords into the Thing's forehead.
A loud moan came from the Thing as it stared to disappear along with the snow in the room. When the lights came back on, everyone sheathed their weapons and gathered.
"It disappeared again," Russia muttered as he stared at where that Thing had been previously.
"It's weird how it disappeared like that," China added. "I mean, we can't tell if we killed it permanently or not aru."
"Well, at least it won't pollute the environment," Japan sighed. He didn't want that disgusting Thing's body to rot anywhere on his land.
"I'm not so sure..." Russia hummed. "Maybe this will never end and it will keep appearing. This is getting kind of tiring…" he sighed and walked around the room.
China eyed the bloody wound on Japan's arm, a worried look on his face. "You're hurt."
Startled, Japan turned to China. "Eh? You mean this?" he moved the wounded arm a bit but winced from doing that. Noticing the Chinese nation's frown, he added quickly, "It would have been worse if you and Russia-san didn't fight with me! I could have died if I had fought it alone."
"I was knocked out the whole time."
"Oh…that's right…" Japan fell silent. China left him and went to get something in his bag. "At…At least you warned me about Russia-san's attack before it was too late. I could have been frozen as well and you took out the Thing, so…oh?"
China was holding one of Italy's white flags that were left in the room and small bags of different types of dried up herbs in his hands. He gestured to Japan to follow him to the table and take a seat. He then ripped up Italy's flag into thin white strips before taking small amounts of each herb and put them together on one of the white strips.
"Your arm aru."
Japan lifted up his arm, wincing a bit when China rolled up his ripped up bloody sleeves to gently clean the wound with another white cloth. Once he was done, he began to wrap the fabric with the medicines around his wound. "These herbs are good for healing injures," China explained gently. "Maybe it will help speed up the healing process." Once he was completely done, China stood back up and sighed. "I can't believe I have to treat a nations wound as well."
Japan blinked as the Chinese nation walked back to his stuff, stuffing the bags of dried up herbs and the remains of the flags into his (Shinatty) backpack. He stared down at his now bandaged up arm before saying, "Thank you, China-san."
China turned towards the younger Asian nation, and gave him a small smile. "No problem." He then turned to Russia, who was now raising his pipe to strike something in a drawer. China gasped and shouted, "O-Oi! What are you doin-"
The sound of something being smashed interrupted him, followed by Russia going, "Oh?"
Japan slowly turned to Russia, but then something pale orange quickly flashed before his eyes when he moved. When it was gone, Japanese nation shook his head and looked around the room. Everything was white and a few of the things in the it were in different colours, but there was nothing resembling the colour he just saw.
"Russia, what did you do?" China spoke up, making Japan snap out of it.
"There was this clock that was moving like our crazy watches," Russia told them, a small confused frown on his face. "The tick-tock was getting annoying, so I broke it with my pipe. Sorry if it was a clue or something."
China promptly facepalmed while Japan blinked at Russia. "A clock?" he walked up to the big nation and looked into the drawer. He found the clock that the Russian broke. It was in pieces.
Japan frowned, now that he thought about it, the only clock he had seen in this mansion was hidden in the messy pile of books on the table in the library downstairs. Were the clocks in this mansion hidden on purpose?
"Speaking of clocks," Russia continued, "weren't our watches going crazy before the Thing barged in? We can't tell what time it is in this place because all our watches broke, right?"
Japan nodded silently. He lifted up his left arm and showed his watch to Russia. "Yes, they have been like that since we came in."
Russia bowed down to Japan's wrist level, staring at the watch intently. Japan felt nervous, because Russia might have wanted to smash his watch as well…along with his wrist.
"But Japan, your watch is working just fine."
Startled by those words, Japan looked down at his watch and let out a gasp. His watch was now actually running smoothly and read '11:42'.
"Why…"
"Aiyaa!" China's shouted in surprise when he looked at his watch as well. "Mine reads 11:42 aru!"
Japan and Russia whipped their head around when China ran up to them to show them the time. Indeed, his watch also read '11:42'. The Russian nation then looked at his watch. "Mine too!" he exclaimed. "I wonder why."
They all thought about it silently. China was the first to speak up. "We were supposed to arrive before Japan's group, but for some reason, we haven't been here for even an hour, they have been here for a day already."
"Our watches were acting funny as well," Russia added, "and so was that clock."
"There was another clock downstairs that was well hidden in a litter of papers and acted strange as well," Japan piped up. It might have seemed impossible but it had to be true. "The time flow in this mansion is not in order; that's why our watches were malfunctioning ever since we came here. But since Russia-san broke the clock in this room, our watches returned to normal. Could that mean the time in here flow is fixed now?"
"Only this room?" Russia asked
"Yes. Like I said before, there was another clock hidden downstairs. Perhaps only this room's time flow is fixed because you broke that clock. Here is my hypothesis: if we find and break all of the clocks in this mansion, the time flow will go back to normal."
"If we do that, then perhaps we'll be able to save the others aru!" China yelled happily. "Then we'll be able to get out of here!"
Japan nodded; knowing that he could find France and America soon relaxed him.
The sudden ring of a cell phone was heard throughout the room and surprised the three nations. Russia quickly went into his pocket and pulled out his ringing phone.
"It's ringing aru?" China gaped.
"We also fixed the reception in this room! That's amazing!" Russia piped up but when he looked at his phone, he frowned. "Or not. Still no signal."
"Whoever it is, we can ask them for help! Please answer it!" Japan's heart was racing. They could also get help now!
"I'll turn the loudspeaker on so that we can all hear it." Russia said before answering the phone. "Алло?"
There was only silence on the other end. The three of them looked confused until there was the sound of a piano note, and someone saying "Sol" before hanging up.
Hope plummeted back down to Earth as Japan inwardly sighed. So much for telling someone we're here…
China scratched the back of his head. "What was all that about aru? A bug?"
"I never heard of a 'phone bug' before," Japan said. "We just heard a piano, didn't we?"
"Yeah, and it seems to be the 'Sol' note," Russia stuffed the phone back into his coat's pocket. "Well, how about we go break all the clocks before we meet up with England and Canada?"
The Asian nations agreed and headed out the door to begin their new task. On the way, they ran into Italy and Germany downstairs. Italy almost fainted at seeing Japan's bloody shirt and offered to let him heal it but Japan declined the favour, since China's herbs stopped the bleeding and he would be fine in an hour or two. Russia and China also reassured him but Italy didn't seem too convinced but didn't say anything when Germany told him to let it go already.
After that Japan asked both of his friends to help them, which they gladly did. Together they retraced their steps to all the rooms they visited previously and destroyed the clocks. However, while Japan kept on destroying the clocks he found, he kept on seeing the pale orange flash after each break. But he just ignored them, they disappeared too quickly when he tried to figure out what it was.
~.~.~.~.~
England and Canada were standing beside the white grand piano.
"Okay, we'll examine this room before the others gets here," England told Canada. The Canadian nation nodded before he set Kumajirou down on the floor and lifted up the fall of the piano to look at the keyboards. England examined the books on the bookshelves in the room until Canada let out a surprised yelp.
"Oh, England! Look at this!" Canada pointed at the keyboard. England quickly walked over to him and saw that the white keys had different numbers on them. They were coloured either in red, blue, yellow, or green. "How weird…why would anyone do this?"
"Maybe that Thing was bored?" England shrugged and walked back to the shelves.
"No…I don't think so…" Canada mumbled quietly and he sat down on the stool and lifted Kumajirou up onto his lap. "Could these be clues? Do we need numbers for something?"
England was not listening as Canada continued to mumble to himself. "Numbers…they could be a code for something…Something that uses numbers…" his mind started to fill up on what numbers were used for. He might have been the quiet nation that nobody remembered, but he was the opposite of his brother, America. That meant that if America was the idiot, Canada was the smart one. Two brothers, polar opposites of each other.
Canada listed the things that needed numbers in his head. "Numbers…puzzles…security…for a security breach?" he shook his head. "This mansion isn't that high-tech…so…a safe?"
Somewhere at the back of Canada's mind, he heard England saying something about the books in the room were useless and that he would check the library next door. The Canadian absentmindedly said okay as he continued to think.
"Why would they write numbers on a piano? Could there be a code that needs fifty-two digits? ...No, that can't be right, then it would be pointless to paint them in four different colours…" he sighed and patted his polar bear's head. "Why does America always get us into troubles like these? Why can't he be more considerate, I mean…"
Canada heard the door swing open and closed, but he didn't lift his head and just muttered out, "Oh, England, is that you? I'm sorry but I haven't found anything yet. And also!" he piped up quickly. "We were told not to do anything alone, remember? So I'm coming with you this time." He turned around to where he thought England was, but his heart stopped instantly as he realized just who was exactly before him.
It was not England.
It was the Thing.
Canada stiffened and hugged Kumajirou tightly in his arms. He may have been silent, but if there was anyone in this world who could hear his thoughts, he was screaming loudly on the inside.
Wh-Wha-Wha-Wha…What… Canada couldn't move. He couldn't lift his arms off Kumajirou to get his bow and arrows.
The Thing stared down at Canada for a long time before it began to look around the room and walk away. It stood a few meters away from Canada before it finally turned back to him.
Wh-Wh-Why did this have to happen just when I'm all alone! Canada screamed in his head. Maybe the others were all killed? …No, this Thing looks a little bit different. It looks smaller…but I didn't see the Thing properly back then…No! I mustn't think like that! Bu-Bu-But… Canada watched as the Thing came a little closer. Wh-Wh-Wh-What am I going to do?
Canada continued to remain still as the Thing moved around the room. He wanted to run like the wind but his legs were frozen. The Thing looked like it lost interest in his prey...or was it...
Huh? Canada tilted his head as the Thing walked to the far corner of the room. I-Is it…seeing…me?
"Ummm…can you see…me?" Canada asked quietly, ignoring his mind rapidly shouting 'What are you doing?'; but the Thing didn't seem to hear him as it exited the room.
It took a moment for Canada to finally relax his muscles and let out a long sigh. "Kumasanrou, I don't know if I should be happy or sad about what just happened."
'Kumasanrou' looked up at Canada with his beady eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm Canada."
The door suddenly opened again and Canada sat up straight. An irritated England walked back in and sighed. "It's no use. There was nothing that could be particularly useful."
"Really?"
England heard the weary tone in Canada's voice and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"No no…nothing…I get it…since the time in this place is all odd, you didn't run into it…"
"Huh?"
"All I'm going to say is that it is not going to be coming in here for a while."
~.~.~.~.~
With everything done, the seven nations gathered in the piano room and started to report on their findings. When Italy came in, he was still sulky about Japan not letting him heal the wound but finally let it go when England warned him about using his powers too much. "Not that I'm jealous or anything, but really, you shouldn't over use them."
Japan told England and Canada about the clocks in the mansion that were connected to the time flow distortion. If they broke the clock ("Like how Russia-san did it," he pointed out), the time flow would be fixed and might get them closer to saving the others and escaping the mansion.
"We already destroyed all the clocks in the rooms that are accessible," Japan added and remembered the mochi on the fourth floor. It was still stuck in to the wall no matter how much they tried to pull (Japan had warned China about pulling it too hard, and he didn't even let Russia try). "Now there's only this room's clock left."
Germany took over after his friend finished. "We found a piece of paper that looked like the one Japan found." He took out the sheet and gave it to Japan. The Japanese nation stared at it before taking out the one he found and pieced them together. Now the colours went in the order of yellow, red, green, blue.
Everyone had a look at it as they all passed it around. Canada was the last one to get it and he blinked. "The colours look like the ones on the piano's keyboard."
"Ve? Really?" Italy asked.
"Yeah. I thought it was weird that someone…or the Thing would do that." He mumbled, before he piped up. "I think it's like this: there are four numbers that are supposed to go on this piece of paper and give us a four digit code. Each of those numbers are of a different colour."
"Oh, that's really observant of you aru!" China praised.
"I was observant as well! Right, Germany?" Italy asked his best friend.
The German nation just stared down at Italy. "Yeah, but it doesn't really help and makes us feel even worse."
"Why's that?" Japan asked.
"Italy noticed that the Thing we fought was not the same as the one you fought. There are more Things in here."
"What?" the nations shouted. Russia grimaced. "More of those Things?"
"I would prefer to know there was actually only one! What if we have to fight two or three of them at the same time? That's bloody insane!" England spat.
"Ve!"
"Everyone, please calm down!" Japan pleaded. "It's better to know than to be caught off guard when they show up together." Everyone became silent before grunting to agree. Japan sighed and continued where they left off. "Anyway, somehow we have to figure out which four numbers are correct out of all fifty-two white keys."
"That's insane!" England complained. Then the sound of his phone ringing echoed across the room. "Whoa! Sorry, it's my phone."
"Yours too? Russia's also rang earlier," China remarked.
"Ve? So did mine! Me and Germany heard a piano!" Italy exclaimed.
"Hey, so did we!"
"A piano, huh? Well, anyway, let's answer it." England pressed the 'call' and 'loudspeaker' buttons. There was silence until they heard a single piano note and a voice they did not recognize saying 'Re' before hanging up.
"It really was a piano," Japan said as England put his phone back in his pocket. "But we heard 'Sol' from Russia-san's phone. What about you, Italy-kun?"
"Ve? Umm…the one we heard was 'La', not 'Re'."
"Only one note…" Germany whispered. "If there's one more, we could maybe match those notes to the piano."
"Yeah! Then we'll have our four-digit code!" Canada said in excitement. "But what would it be for? …A keypad? …A password? …A safe?"
"Ah, yes! I found a safe on the first floor!"
"Really? It might be for that then!"
"If that's true, then we'll finally make some progress!" Russia chimed happily.
"Yes," Japan agreed. "If that is true, then we'll soon be able to find America-san and France-san. Though I think they'll get mad at us and shout, 'You're late!' for taking so long."
"What?"
"Huh, what are you talking about, Japan?"
Everyone stared at Japan silently. He looked around anxiously and felt uncomfortable under their stares. "Umm, did I say something wrong?"
China looked up at the big Russian next to him. "Russia…"
"Yeah, I know. It's okay."
"Pardon?" Japan looked at everyone, he was confused.
"You said 'something wrong'…was that on purpose?" England asked. "Not that I care to correct you but…poor Prussia."
"Prussia-san?"
"Yeah, why did you say America and Fratello France, Japan?" Italy asked, a confused frown on his face. "The ones that we have to save are Prussia and Fratello France. So why did you say America?"
"What?" Japan and Canada turned to Italy.
"Italy, what are you talking about?" Germany asked the Italian. "America came here as well, remember?"
"Ve?"
"C-Come on, you guys," England laughed nervously. "What's wrong with you?"
"That's funny, isn't America the only one who's missing?" Russia asked.**
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. "Only…America-san?" Japan shook his head to get rid of the confusion in it. "We…Well, America-san said at the World Meeting building that he wanted to come here…And then I said…I'd come with him…" Why can't I think straight? Japan wondered before he continued, "so I came here with him…"
"Japan, you came with Italy, bruder, and I," Germany reminded him sternly.
"Yeah, you came with us!" Italy backed his best friend up. "America didn't come and Fratello France got separated from Russia and the others!"
"You guys," China murmured, just as confused as the others.
"America did come here with us!" Canada insisted loudly, he was so confused and angry that some of them forgot about his brother. "America and France disappeared with Prussia, didn't they?"
England shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "Okay, I accept that you said France separated from Russia, but America did come with us, Italy!"
"No, America's the only one that disappeared," Russia hissed. He didn't want anyone to disagree with him.
They all continued to argue over who was missing. The only ones that kept on insisting that three nations were missing were Germany, England and Canada. The others kept on insisting that only one or two were missing while the others didn't come at all.
"What is going on?" Japan muttered to himself, tired from the never ending debate. Who was right, and who was wrong?
~.~.~.~.~
Survivors: 7
Missing: 2…3…2…3…1…2…3…
~.~.~.~.~
England: 1, 2, 3? What?
Singing: I'm just acting like HetaOni Creator-sama, doing mind screws.
Japan: I thought she's famous for doing cliffhangers.
Singing: That too. *And if you're wondering why I have to put up the 'La', 'Sol' and 'Re' sounds, Fortune Maiden requested it, since she doubted all the nations could recognize the notes that easily. **And also, I don't get England's part in the video (see part 5-3 to see yourself), so I made only Italy, Japan, China and Russia having 'memory problem' and changed the dialogue a bit.
Russia: And Алло?(Allo?) means "Hello"~ But only when you answer the phone.
Singing: …Wait, shouldn't Italy say his translation before you? *turns to where Italy is*
Italy: *in a corner* Germany was angry at me...
Germany: *in another corner* Italy must be mad at me...
Singing: Good grief. *facepalm* I'll say it myself, Ciao means 'Hello'…and 'Bye' for some reason 0_0
I started Uni AGES ago, by the way. I finished this before I started, but you know, Fortune here had life caught up to her…I believe…
Russia: Everyone will be happy once they become one with Russia, da? (^J^)
China: Argh...
Canada: Why do fans think I'm paired with him?
China: Speak for yourself! Singing Maiden here seems to be shipping me with Japan aru!
Singing: Look, it just turned out like that, okay? I like you two together as SIBLINGS! NOT to the level of shonen-ai! And besides, if you have seen the future parts and preview, I believe I have to show more of those siblings/parent figure/friends moments in here, because that's what the Creator of HetaOni-sama wanted.
Russia: Well, it will keep you away from writing anything that is beyond that for a while.
*nations nodded*
Singing: …I swear, after I finish working on my fan!RPG fanfics , I'm going to torture you guys!
Nations: Like to see you try!