A/N: To malta-chan765… You're welcome. :D

Chapter Fourteen

To recap: Malta found the majority of the Allies fighting the Thing in the kitchen, and Yugoslavia found Italy waiting for his three Axis friends in the foyer. They all gathered again within the fireplace room, which was quickly broken into by the Thing. The nations split up into three groups to scour the house for any kinds of clues that they could find. Italy and Canada found nothing, although Italy discovered something very odd about the Thing when it cornered him within the piano room.

Meanwhile…

-x-

The fireplace room was nearly devoid of people now, save for a select few who dared to stare the Thing in the face and force it to apologize for the pain it had already caused them. These select few were none other than Malta, China, and Russia, standing side-by-side between the Thing and the door. Each nation had their respective weapon at the ready as they engaged in the stare-off with the one thing they despised the most. The faint sound of a ticking clock provided background music for the battle to come.

"Everyone has escaped, aru."

Way to go, Captain Obvious. Malta was fed up of Steve messing with her friends and co-workers. Not only did it do something to Andorra – she didn't even want to think about the possibilities – it also made France and America go missing, along with three out of the four in the Axis group. Including Prussia. Her grip on her knife tightened until her knuckles went white. "Yeah, everyone except us."

"It's not often the three of us get to do something together," Russia commented from Malta's right, pulling his pipe-sword from its sheath. "This is going to be kinda fun~!"

One thought went through both China's and Malta's minds. I'm never doing this again (aru).

Malta didn't let her minor contempt show. "We've at least got to work together a little more…" What's the word? "…harmoniously."

Swinging his wok in one hand, China rolled his eyes slightly. "If you want the three of us to be all chummy and smiley, I have a sinking feeling…"

"Oh, you know what I mean!"

Russia questioned, "Malta, can't you just beat the Thing with that amazing technique you used before?"

"Oh. About that…" Malta never moved her eyes from the Thing's, even as she chuckled sheepishly. "…I was under the impression that this was America's fault, and I got a little angry at him. It was the last straw, and that was the result. Now that I know Steve isn't Tony, I can't do it anymore. My anger is totally gone."

Smiling casually, Russia knew exactly what to say to get Malta's anger to return. "Imagine it ate your strawberries."

That certainly did it. Malta froze, narrowed her eyes at the Thing, and shouted, "Let's go!" before leaping into action.

The three became a fighting force to be reckoned with, slashing and slamming their weapons into the Thing's body at a frightening speed. Adrenaline coursed through their veins, fueling their quest for victory and revenge. One by one, they each showcased their impressive special attacks in attempt to disarm and weaken the creature: Malta manipulated her knife into the powerful Maltese Cross; China showed off his martial arts skills using Eight Extremities Fist; Russia utilized the might of the Siberian cold for his attack Kolkhoze. All in all, they worked pretty well, although the Thing was still up and standing even after several minutes of this torture. If anything, it seemed just as strong as it did then it first crashed through the door.

"YoU… WOn't… ESc…aPe…"

The Thing was preparing for its next attack, the frightening red aura building around its body. Malta had seen that attack before, and the other probably had too, so she had to think fast. Using her friends – Could I really call them that? – as a distraction, she slipped around behind the Thing and tackled it, the floorboards creaking under feet as she leaped up and clung to its back. The Thing let out a furious cry, twisting around in attempt to rid itself of the annoying pest just out of its reach. All it did was give Malta a clear shot in with her knife to its forehead. It dropped to the ground and dissolve under her feet.

Just like that.

China backed away from where the Thing used to be laying, smiling with the warm feeling of success. "We won't lose a second time! But it's weird that it disappears like that… We can't tell whether we won or not, aru."

"Well at least it's not leaving its blood and stuff behind," Malta reasoned, half-collapsing against one of the chairs at the table. Her adrenaline rush was spent, and the blood slowly seeping out from her shoulder wasn't helping.

Russia chuckled lightly, although it sounded more creepy to his companions than anything. "Not quite. Maybe this will never and it'll keep appearing. It's getting really tiring…"

"I'll say." Malta sucked in a breath, ignoring Russia as he wandered off to the back of the room. "You guys aren't hurt, are you?"

"Aiyah, I'm fine."

"Da. I am too."

"Good. Your backup was perfect." Malta ignored the annoyed looks she received when she mentioned backup. "Steve has also grown stronger compared to before. I would've had no chance if I fought alone. …Thanks for your help."

China nodded, a previous thought returning to his mind. "…Why were Yugoslavia's notes in the fireplace anyway?"

"Oh, that. She said she got cold in the night and threw them in because we didn't have much firewood left. They weren't that important anyway, so she threw them in."

Something didn't see right about that explanation, but before China could respond, the room was filled with the sound of breaking glass and bending metal. The sounds were coming from Russia, who was holding his pipe in one hand and the mangled remains of a bronze-colored clock in the other. The Eurasian nation let out a soft "ah" once the deed was done.

Malta spun around to face the sound, maneuvering herself around the table to get a closer look. "What's the matter, Russia?"

"There was this clock that was moving like crazy…" Russia gestured to the clock to make sure the two knew what he was talking about. "I'm sorry. The tick-tock was too loud, so I broke it with my pipe."

"…A clock?" A flash of bright orange obscured Malta's vision. She would have tried to do something about it, but it disappeared just as fast as it came.

"I'm sorry if it was some kind of clue, but it really was so loud…"

Malta nodded and gave him a smile that silently said it's okay. "A clock… Now that you mention it, we can't tell what time it is in this place. Our watches are all screwed up."

"That's really strange," China mused, glancing at his watch as he spoke. "Even though we came here ahead of your group, you've been here longer. …It's 11:42 on my watch."

Russia placed the clock remains into the drawer he found them in and turned his gaze to his own wrist. "Huh? But mine is showing the same time as yours, China."

"What? That wasn't supposed to…" Malta dug into her pocket and fished out her phone, focusing on the clock at the top of the screen. "Oh! I-it's 11:42 on mine, too! But it was 6 o'clock just a moment ago…"

A thoughtful expression passing over his face, Russia commented, "Do you think maybe it's because I broke the clock?"

China sat down in the vacant chair that Malta had left behind, gently rubbing a particularly nasty bruise on his side. "That's possible, aru. At least in this room, the time is right. Maybe we can get the flow of time back to normal is we break the clocks."

"Alright! Then we'll break the clocks in every single room we get in! If we do that, maybe…" Malta trailed off, not sure what she was going to say next. "…Maybe…we can help…France and…America…and the others… Right?"

Her statement was cut off by the sudden blast of distinctively Slavic-sounding music filling the space, making everyone flinch and reach back for their weapons. When they finally realized that it was coming from Russia's pocket, they relaxed a little.

"Russia, it's your cell phone," China muttered, barely loud enough to be heard over the (annoying) ring tone of Russia's.

Slightly shocked, Russia grabbed his phone and looked at the screen; sure enough, he had an incoming call. "Amazing~! As soon as the time got right, the phone also began to work – or not. The antenna isn't up. Anyway, I'm going to answer it. And I'll make it so that the both of you can hear it, too." He punched the send button and put the phone on speaker so that the person on the other end could be heard by everyone present. "Privet?" [1]

There was silence on the other end, as if the caller had to decide what they were going to say. After a few suspenseful seconds of waiting, a single sound was heard: the delicate ting of some kind of instrument. Directly afterward, the line went dead.

Russia tried to speak above the dial tone, which seemed to be growing steadily louder (and more obnoxious) with each passing second. "…Looks like it got cut off."

"It's a bug, aru!"

The others didn't really understand what China meant by that, but Malta spoke up anyway. "I've never heard of a phone bug… What we just heard was a piano. It has to be."

A piano… "Anyway, we have nothing else to do, so let's go back to Canada, da?"

"Yeah." Malta sighed with exhaustion. "If everything goes well, Yugo and England should be able to join us there. Let's just get everything back in order here and hurry."

If she had been filming this, Malta would have chosen that moment to add a tidying-up montage in editing. It took mere minutes to clear up the furniture fragments and grab their weapons from their places on top of the table. Tired of waiting any longer, the three started for the door, with the one female in their party pausing to sling Yugoslavia's bag over her shoulder. It felt a little heavier than she expected. What does she have in here…? Ignoring her thoughts, Malta shrugged them off and diligently followed her friends in their search for answers – and Canada.

-x-

It seemed like ages since they had started running. There was no possible way that it could have only been a few seconds; that just wasn't long enough. And even as the two paused in the third floor corridor with their backs to the wall, desperately sucking in air, they listened to the faint sounds of things crashing into each other in the battle below their feet. The only way they knew how much time had passed was by their hammering heartbeats and their slowly steadying breaths. In a moment, all was quiet. All was calm.

It took about that long for Yugoslavia to start having doubts about her friend's ability to fight the Thing. Sure, Malta was a pretty good fighter, but that Thing was powerful. It could probably rip the poor girl to shreds without even thinking about it. She wiped her sweat-covered forehead on her sleeve and started rubbing her hands together, the anxiety almost too much for her. "I-it looked a little bigger than before. Do you think so? Maybe w-we should go back to help them…"

"They'll be fine," England reassured, pressing a comforting hand onto Yugoslavia's shoulder. He too was out of breath, but he still managed to keep his voice steady as his adrenaline started to recede. "First, we must accomplish the mission that was given to us. Malta can take care of herself. We have to fully understand this house so that we can find a way out sooner."

She had to take a deep breath to calm her wild mind, but she quickly accepted the facts given to her. "…Alright. I do not want to run into that Thing again anyway. I would probably run away again."

England offered her a soft smile. If the other nations had been there at that particular moment, he would have ended up regretting the gesture – France would never let him live it down, that's for sure. "Everything is going to be okay. Anyway, let's search these rooms once more and then…report to Canada and the others." Only receiving a faint nod in response, England led Yugoslavia through the third floor, quickly checking each shelf as they passed. There was nothing of very much importance in any of them – unless an entire shelf dedicated to Japanese folklore counted as important – so they quickly made their way downstairs. They skipped over the second floor – no way were they going to check the rooms with a battle going on only a wall away – and wandered through the first floor. After several minutes of searching, they had looked in every nook and cranny possible in the kitchen and several of the rooms lining the corridor. The only rooms left now were the bathroom and the hall beside the stairs. (They were originally going to search the hall, but Yugoslavia had to go anyway, so they decided not to make a second trip.)

"I'll be right outside the door," England stated as Yugoslavia slipped inside. "If that Thing shows up out here, stay inside no matter what, alright?"

Yugoslavia managed a faint smile of amusement. "Alright." She shut and locked the door behind her, turning around to get a good look at the room.

She didn't expect to see the figure standing only ten feet away.

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! :D I thought I would never get this chapter done, because of the crazy fight scene that I kept procrastinating on. But whatever! I hope I have made many of you flip out and get (a tiny bit) angry at me for leaving you in suspense like that. I like to make my fans spazz. :)
By the way, I'm not going to be writing over the weekend since I'm going on a trip, so this'll be the last update probably before Wednesday, at least. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this. ^j^

[1] – Privet means hello in Russian.