A/N: Hello, I've got a new story here! One that is unfinished and unpolished mind you, but I'm trying to clear up some space on my Notepad to make it appear less cluttered and I have no plans to return to this. However, I don't want to completely wipe it off the face of the Earth, so I thought I'd post it online for the off chance I do wish to pick it up again.

The idea with this story is that Arthur (England) and Feliciano (Italy) are detectives that wind up involved in a paranormal mystery. Unfortunately, with me not being as into Hetalia as I was I just dropped it and never picked it up again. It's been sat here picking up dust so I figured I'd post it to preserve it just in case I want to return to it, but I already said that.

I hope you enjoy this abandoned work! And I'm not kidding when I say it's hard to say that...

No flames please~! If you feel that some improvements could be made, don't be afraid to say so; tell me what I did good and like I just said, improvements are good!

DISCLAIMER - I do not own Hetalia, or its characters; it belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

Chapter I: A New Case

Standing straight with a knife clenched in his right hand, Arthur Kirkland looked down at a raven haired man on the ground. He didn't know where he was, or how he even got there, but it oddly felt like déjà vu. The blonde didn't have the slightest clue who this man was; though despite that, he couldn't help but feel pity for him.

It was raining heavily, and due to the rain soaking his clothes, he was freezing and felt utterly uncomfortable. It was almost as if his clothes had become a second layer of skin, and his hair was even sticking to his forehead, which didn't help. Thunder rumbled and lightning flickered in the dark, clouded sky, adding to the already dreary atmosphere.

For some reason, Arthur felt breathless, as if he had ran for a long period of time without rest. However, the person beside him, who he had immediately recognised as his partner, Feliciano Vargas, seemed completely fine. He had his gun pointed at the defenceless man on the ground; his eyes looked dark and cold, void of any emotion.

"Any last words?" he asked, no emotion present in his voice either, which sent chills down Arthur's spine.

"...Please," the man choked out weakly, before sobbing quietly. "I...have not hurt you...in anyway..."

"Liar!" the Italian screamed, as he shot the man in his left knee. A scream escaped the floored man's lips, as blood spewed from the shot limb. "You were the one behind all of this! It's your fault that -!"

"Feliciano, stop it!" Arthur yelled, but it was pointless. He was, for some reason, ignorant of Arthur's presence; he didn't hear him.

Maniacal laughter came out of Feliciano's throat, as he started to wave the gun around, flipping it over in his hands. "You really are stupid if you thought I would be ignorant of your terrible crimes."

"I didn't...please, Feli -"

"Excuses!"

The gun fired, leaving the unknown man lifeless, lying in a puddle of his own blood. Feliciano looked satisfied, as a disgusting, sadistic smirk appeared on his features, before he emitted a childlike giggle.

"Burn in hell, Honda," he whispered, before Arthur's vision blurred.

Shooting up in his bed, Arthur awoke in a cold sweat, panting heavily. He ran his fingers through his hair, which had stuck to his forehead, and looked towards his window to see that it was now morning. Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he looked towards his clock to see the time 9:30 displayed. With a sigh, he got out of bed and went downstairs to make himself some breakfast: A cup of tea and leftover Chinese food. He knew fast food wasn't healthy, but it was quick and convenient as he often worked late with his partner, Feliciano Vargas.

They were both police detectives, and like all jobs, it came with work; a lot of work, important work. While reheating his food in the microwave, he thought back to that nightmare he had; Feli killing an innocent man in a psychotic rage, uncharacteristically, not hearing the man out before taking his life.

'Feli...Did he have that in him?'

He was knocked out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone ringing. Taking it out of his pocket, his heart skipped a beat; the caller ID read "Feliciano". Not wanting to keep him waiting, he answered it.

"Hello, this is Arthur speaking," the blonde greeted, trying not to make his nervousness apparent.

"Ve~ I know that, silly," Feliciano giggled lightheartedly. "You don't have to be so formal with me, Artie; we've been working together long enough."

Arthur sighed in relief, 'What was I even worrying about? In case Feli really was a psychopath? It was just a ridiculous nightmare, get a grip!'

He rested his hand on his forehead, and composed himself, as he heard his food finish in the microwave with a beep. Clearing his throat, he replied with, "Yes, one year is a long time to have known someone," a sarcastic tone present in his voice.

"I know right!" Feliciano beamed, causing Arthur to promptly facepalm. "I feel like we've known each other longer than that. It's funny how fast a year can go by, don't you think?"

'Doesn't he know what sarcasm is?'

"Why did you call?" The blonde sighed, putting his phone on loud speaker, and placing it on the table, while he got his food out of the microwave.

"Oh, right," the Italian sounded a little embarrassed, as an awkward giggle was heard. "I just called to remind you that we've got an important meeting today, so we'll be in the meeting room, not our office."

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur looked towards his calendar, to see that they did in fact have a meeting. Placing his food on the table, he sighed for the third time that morning.

"Thank you for the reminder. What time is this meeting? I forgot to write the time down on my calendar."

"In roughly an hour. I'm on my way now, and I think you should be making your way there, too. Ciao, Artie~! See you there~!"

With that he hung up, leaving Arthur a little vexed. He lived 40 minutes away from where he works, meaning he had to leave.

'What a pain...'

Arriving outside of the station, Arthur looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. He didn't know why, but looking up at the clear, blue sky always seemed to calm him; unfortunately, that seemed to be a rarity in England. Much to the Briton's disappointment, it was one of those days where the sky was covered by a thick sheet of clouds, and the sun couldn't be bothered to break through the dull, fluffy sheet and greet the world. But on the plus side, there was a warm breeze caressing his face, and blowing his dishevelled, blonde hair slightly, cooling his mood down a little and easing his disappointment.

Looking down at his watch, he saw that he had 10 minutes before the meeting started, meaning he could grab a sausage roll, or a pie from the bakery across the road; but he'd have to try and stuff it in his mouth in under five minutes, and who knows how long the line would be, so he may have even less than that. Growling in frustration, Arthur stormed into the station and proceeded to head up to the meeting room, which was on the top floor. If only Feliciano had reminded him about the meeting time a few days in advance; he could have set his alarm for an earlier time, and would have been able to eat his breakfast. However, with his Italian partner being as ditzy as he is, he didn't remind the Brit until last minute; Arthur had to make sure not to forget to put the time down next time, or if he did, ask Feli. The more the blonde thought about it, the more he realised that he was also at fault, but his pride wouldn't allow him to admit that.

As he stood in front of the meeting room, he straightened his tie and tried to calm himself down. Taking a couple of breaths, he entered and came face-to-face with Francis Bonnefoy, the last person he wanted to see. His mood instantly soured further.

"Bonjour, Arthur," He waved, a smirk on his face as he chuckled. "You look as happy as ever."

"Shut up, frog," the Brit growled, not wanting to get in a fight with 'Mr. I-Think-I'm-too-Gorgeous-for-this-World Bonnefoy.' He wasn't in the mood, nor did he have the energy.

"Oh, how original, you have never called me that before," the French man retorted with sarcasm, rolling his eyes as he leaned back in his seat.

Scowling, the Brit took his own seat, which was, unfortunately, across from Francis. Looking around the room, he noticed that it was just him, Ivan Braginsky and his partner Yao Wang, and Francis there; not even the very punctual and organised Captain Beilschmidt was present.

'This is odd...'

"Hey, Frog-Face, where is everybody? Isn't the meeting in 5 minutes," Arthur asked, trying to hide the frustration of his partner not even being present, despite him leaving before the blonde; and the fact that he had to talk to Francis.

"The Captain is in the back organising the files," he began with a sigh, facing Arthur with disinterest. "Gilbert left to meet up with his partner Matthew, Antonio left to get coffee, and of course Alfred, Lovino and Feliciano haven't turned up, yet."

"Yeah, Feliciano isn't the most punctual person I've met, which is a pain since he's my partner," Arthur said, resting his head on the table. "Neither is Alfred."

"I hate to say this, but I agree with you," Francis replied, turning away from him again and closing his eyes.

"Tired, Francis?" The deep, thick accented voice of the German Captain could be heard, as he rounded the corner, placing the documents in a neat pile on the desk.

"Oui, Capitaine," the French man yawned, opening his eyes to look at his boss.

"What time did you go to bed last night? I've told you this before, but when you're at work, you go to bed early the night before," Captain Beilschmidt told the tired blonde, as he started to write 'Strange Happenings in Red Vale' on the chalkboard. This made Arthur raise a brow in interest.

'This case sounds interesting.'

"Ludwig, don't waste your breath on him," the voice of the Captain's older brother, Gilbert, took Arthur out of his thoughts as he entered the room, with Matthew Williams and Antonio Fernández Carriedo behind him; all with coffee in their hands. The stench of the stuff made Arthur sick to his stomach. "Your advice just goes in one ear and out the other."

"Hey, that is just rude!" Francis yelled, the tiredness in his voice suddenly gone.

Gilbert just laughed in response as he took his seat, a laugh that was soo annoying to Arthur, that he had to cover his ears.

Ludwig, looked at the clock hung next to the chalkboard and sighed. 10:31. They were behind schedule by one minute. Scanning the room, he could see that everyone was present, except, of course, Alfred F. Jones, Lovino Vargas, and Feliciano Vargas. With another sigh, he looked at Arthur.

"Arthur, do you have an idea where Feliciano is?"

"No, he called me at quarter to ten this morning, telling me that we had this meeting," the Brit said, combing a hand through his hair. "Before he hung up, he said he was making his way here."

"Hmm, and you got here before him?"

"Clearly."

Arthur heard the German mumble, "why doesn't he ever show up on time?" before he walked away with a scowl on his face. Turning to everyone present, Ludwig began. "Hello, officers and detectives, today, we're here to discuss -"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed itself open, followed by a familar panicked voice scream, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm late!"

Everyone turned to look at the source of the sound, to see Feliciano panting by the door; hands gripped tightly around the frame, cheeks red, and eyes half-lidded. "I'm so -"

"Shut up, at least we're here!" He was interrupted by his older brother, Lovino, who was not only out of breath, but angry.

Arthur rolled his eyes at his partner's idiocy, and his older brother's unnecessarily moody behaviour. The older Italian always appeared to be pissed off about something; if it wasn't his partner Ludwig, or 'Potato Bastard' as he called him, it would be his childhood friend, and older brother figure, Antonio, and if it wasn't him it was his younger brother, or anyone, or anything, who would dare even a glance at the guy. The Brit believed that the guy had serious issues, if he felt the need to take his anger out on anything that moved. He always wondered why the Captain selected him to be his partner, out of all the people on the force.

The blonde's thoughts were put on hold, when a loud, boisterous voice, belonging to no other than Alfred, joined the not so punctual duo.

"See, I told you guys we'd make it!" He exclaimed, as he caught up with the two Italians; unfazed by their rushed journey.

"I never doubted you, Alfred!" Feliciano smiled, looking up at the tall American. "I knew we would make it!"

"I sure as hell did, you fucking bastard!" Lovino yelled. "If you hadn't decided to stop at fat-man's paradise on the way here, we would have -!"

"Hey! Don't speak about McDonalds like that!" Alfred interrupted, raising his voice louder than the Italian.

"I have every right to, since it's soo unhealthy - !"

"It's soo not unhealthy, because they have salad, too!"

"Yeah, salad that is said to be worse than the burgers and chicken nuggets!"

"Stop behaving like fools and sit down!" Ludwig raised his voice for the first time that day, slamming his fist down on the table. "I don't care why you're late, just sit down so we can finally get this meeting started!"

Grumbling under their breaths, Alfred and Lovino took their seats, as did Feliciano, with his usual cheerful smile. Arthur leaned back in his seat, a slight smirk on his face. He didn't know why, but seeing Alfred lose an argument was amusing to him.

"Wow, Artie~!" The voice of Feliciano interrupted his thought, as he took his seat next to him. "You're really happy this morning, I thought you would be very angry with me, or something!"

"Huh?" The blonde looked confused for a moment. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because, I called about the meeting last minute..." The Italian rubbed the back of his neck, as he looked away with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry..."

"Oh right, well, we'll talk about that later," he wasn't in the mood to lecture the boy, especially when he hadn't eaten, or had a warm cup of tea; and maybe add that nightmare to the list of reasons.

He really had to get over that; it was a stupid nightmare, it wasn't real...

"Yeah," Feliciano sighed, as a contemplative look appeared on his face. Not long after, his face lit up. "I'll make it up to you, Artie~!"

"How?" The Brit raised a brow.

"We'll have lunch together, and - "

"Sorry, Feliciano, I'm not in the mood today," Arthur interrupted, folding his arms and looking towards the front of the room to see Ludwig stood staring at them; his patience looked to be waning.

Was he waiting for him and Feli to stop talking before getting the meeting started?

"I'll pay~," he heard the Italian say in a sing-song voice. "Please~."

Taking a glance at his partner, he noticed that the auburn haired male was giving him the puppy dog eyes, while his hands were together in a praying like gesture.

How could he say no to that?

"Well, it wouldn't really be gentlemanly of me to turn down free food," Arthur stated, placing a hand on his chin as he leaned back in his chair. With a sigh, he said, "Okay, that sounds good."

He could have sworn that he saw Feliciano jump out of his seat, and look at him with his usual smile; a smile that was quite infectious.

"Yay! I can't wait!"

"Are you two done?" Ludwig asked, arms folded and brows knitted together.

"Yes, sorry to have held up the meeting, sir," Arthur said, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other occupants in the room; probably annoyed that the meeting hasn't started sooner.

"It's fine," the German sighed, before turning to the chalkboard. "Alright, as you can see, today, we are going to be discussing the Strange Happenings in Red Vale. Before I go into detail on the matter, Lovino would you please hand out the documents?"

"Why the hell should I?" The Italian grumbled, folding his arms with a scowl on his face.

"Because you're my partner, my deputy, and an assistant in a way," Ludwig started rubbing his forehead with a sigh, mumbling, "and I regret my decision of appointing you as such," under his breath.

"I heard that," Lovino growled, picking up the pile of documents and handing them out. "And if you regret your decision soo badly, why don't you just fire me and hire someone else?"

"This is not an appropriate time to have this conversation, Lovino."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Arthur stopped paying attention after a copy of the document was placed in front of him; the cover was plain white with, 'The Strange Happenings in Red Vale,' written in black text. It sure sounded interesting to the Brit, he almost felt like he had to do this, regardless of whether or not he knew what the mission was about.

Why did he feel like this?

"Alright, does everyone have a copy of the document?" Ludwig asked, prompting Arthur to pay attention again.

Everyone held up their copies, before setting them down again.

"Good. Since we're behind schedule, I'll summarise the key points of this document, and you can read it in your free time, if you wish," the Captain began, taking a deep breath before getting into it. "There have been strange disappearances in the village of Red Vale; most people, after disappearing, are never seen again, where they go remains a mystery. There have been a lucky few that have been found but, unfortunately, they appear to be in shock and are incapable of recounting what had happened to them, why that is also remains unknown. Those even more unfortunate, turn up, approximately, a week later dead, killed in different ways. Methods include, slit throat, multiple stab wounds, hanging, strangulation and even drowning. If you are to take on this investigation, your objective is to find the cause of this and do whatever means necessary to solve the issue. You'll, of course, be accompanied by your partner and have additional support from Lovino and I via radio communication. Decide on whether or not you want to take on this mission and discuss it with your partner; once you've decided, speak to me. Any questions?"

"Yes, just one," Ivan Braginsky spoke up for the first time, raising his hand sheepishly. "Where is Red Vale exactly? And how are we going to get there, if we were to take on the case?"

"Dude, that's two questions," Alfred could be heard snickering under his breath, which got him a glare from Ivan.

Sighing, the German glanced at the clock before answering with, "that information should be somewhere in the document. Again, you can read the document in your own time, if you want to tackle the case, you can inform me anytime from tomorrow; one of my dogs has an appointment at the vet in roughly 45 minutes, so this meeting is dismissed. If you would like to have a different case, the case board is outside."

Ludwig then gathered his coat and folders, and left the room in a hurry, shutting the door behind him. Some people left the room, whether it was to get their lunch, or to continue working on a case they were already working on.

Arthur and Feliciano were the last to leave the room, the latter skipping down the corridor as he talked about having a dream where he was a cat, or something like that, Arthur wasn't really listening; his mind was focusing on whether he wanted to take on that case or not. He hadn't had a good case in a long time, ever since his last partner had retired and Feliciano had become his partner. He missed getting the exciting ones, like bank robberies, or murder cases, or even disappearance cases; instead he has cases that involve kids vandalising private property. Arthur became an officer to live up to his late father's legacy; not to tell off a child for drawing a giant penis on some poor person's front door! Hell, stuff like that wasn't even what he was supposed to be doing!

" - then all the cat versions of us started to investigate the stolen tins of tuna and -!"

"Detective Vargas, that's enough," Arthur paused, turning to face a wide-eyed, slack-jawed Italian. "You said you were paying for lunch, right?"

"Umm...yeah, I said I was..." Feliciano rubbed the back of his neck, failing to suppress a nervous chuckle. "Why did you just call me that?"

"Because, it's your job title and surname, why else? And anywhere in particular you want to go?" The blonde turned and started to walk again, Feliciano in tow.

"I told you before, you don't have to be so formal with me; and no, you can pick."

"Alright, we'll go to the chippy not so far from here."

"Okay, I'll drive!"

"No, you're not I am!"

And that's all I got done with this work. I have written 100 or so words for the second chapter, but I'm not sure if that's worth posting. I might do just to preserve that, it depends.

Thanks for reading!