Chapter 2: Time To Play

Arthur Kirkland sighed for the hundredth time that day. The first days were always the hardest, with bored-out-of-their-mind campers depressed to be stuck in a second rate cabin with no phones or electronics to speak of. It wasn't like he was doing this for the first time, as he was well versed in what was to happen next.

He knew it would take some time, however, but everyone would soon get the hang of it and even start to enjoy themselves within a week. That's how these things usually worked. "Hey, it's about time to start."

Arthur turned his attention to one Lukas Bondevik, in the exact same boat as he was. "You're right. Let's get started, I suppose."

The two of them reluctantly walked out to the front and spotted the seven campers. They were a rather strange lot, it seemed. Although, they were no stranger than the other campers that had come over the years. He even knew two of them. They had met up with Vlad Lupei, the last of their group of councilors, who had been the one to wrangle the campers and get them outside. Arthur cleared his throat and begun.

"Alright campers, welcome to your first day at Camp Hetalia. I am Arthur Kirkland, and this is Lukas Bondevik and Vlad Lupei, and we will be your councilors this summer."

Lukas asked the next question, "Are there any questions?"

After no one had provided one, Arthur moved on. "Alright then, let's move on to our first activity, shall we?"


The thing about the camp cabins was that they always kept to themselves. You wouldn't often see campers of two different cabins mingling with one another, and Wendigo Cabin was no exception. The only real difference was that each of the four main cabins had around twenty to thirty campers, while Wendigo only had seven. Well, at least with this arrangement, it wasn't as loud, noisy, and crowded. The first activity was a bit tedious.

"For the sake of getting to know each other, let's go around and introduce ourselves. State your name, age, where you're from, and one interesting fact about you." Lukas instructed.

Natalya was on the right, so she got to go first. "My name is Natalya Arlovskaya, I'm fifteen. I'm from Belarus and I have lived in America for eight years. I'm an acrobatics prodigy."

Next to her, Lili began. "I'm Lili Zwingli, and I'm thirteen. I moved here from Liechtenstein when I was five, and I'm close to becoming an expert marksman."

Moving on, next up was Matthew. "My name is Matthew Williams and I'm fifteen. I was born on the border between America and Canada, and I've been living in Canada for the first part of my life. I'm the MVP on my school hockey team."

Emil went up next. "I'm Emil Steilsson, twelve years old, and I came here from Iceland when I was little. I'm a Viking enthusiast and I'm studying broadsword fighting."

After that, it was Alfred's turn. "I'm Alfred Jones, fifteen. Like Mattie, I was born on the American/Canadian border. I'm applying for a football scholarship to MU."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Elisabeta Hedervary. I came from Hungary and I'm fifteen. My hobbies are riding horses and hunting."

"Uh, I'm Lei Wang. I'm from Hong Kong. I'm, like, twelve years old, and I like setting off firecrackers."

Finally, the introductions had all come to an end. "Alright now, what's say for our first true activity, we take a walk around the woods?"


Lili honestly hadn't known what to expect after she had returned to the camp after all these years. Her fellow cabin-mates seemed nice enough, but she kept to herself mostly. She had old scores to settle, which was really the only reason she was there at all. She wasn't there to make friends, and despite her brother's wishes, it would probably not be as fun as a summer camp should.

"And if you look over in the distance, you'll see Mt. Hidekaz. Legend has it that monsters inhabit it and leave their nests to hunt at night." Vlad explained in a scary but childish tone.

To most, it would seem to be no more than a mere camp legend, but Lili knew there was more to it than that. The fact that monsters existed anywhere near the camp had been clear to her since long ago. Her legs became almost immobile as she stared at it. That mountain that had become the source of all her paranoia. "Um, Lili, right?"

She came back to her senses and turned to the Hong Kongese boy who had spoken to her. "Why do you keep, like, staring at that mountain?"

Playing it off, she merely shrugged. "Oh, I just think it's pretty to look at."

She didn't miss the skeptical look he had given her before they had moved on. She needed to be careful, otherwise her entire operation would be blown out of the water.


"And, oh, it seems we've come upon the old Founder's Cabin." Arthur noted as he spotted the house in the distance. "The camp's founder, Himaruya Hidekaz, had this place built as a way for him to supervise the camp. No one really goes inside unless it's for a camp tour." Alfred raised his hand. "Can we go inside?" Arthur silently discussed it with the other councilors before answering. "I don't see why not. I suppose this counts as a camp tour, after all." Emil looked at the house skeptically, as it had an air to it that signified mystery. The perfect place to do some snooping around. Carefully, the campers and councilors entered one by one, and just as Emil had suspected, the place was mysterious, and it slightly signaled danger to anyone who would dare to try and unlock its secrets. Emil only found himself intrigued. As the councilors were pointing out directions, Emil took notice of a medium-sized safe in the corner of the room. It wasn't any different than another average safe, but he received the strange feeling that there might be something inside. And just as well, he wasn't the only one eyeing it with interest. Lei, the Asian boy standing next to him, had struck a familiar chord within Emil. He didn't remember where, but he could have sworn that the two of them had met before. Quietly, he decided to ask. "Um, excuse me, I know this may sound like a weird question, but have we met before? You look kind of familiar." There was a flicker of emotion in his eyes, but other than that, he remained stoic. "No, I don't think so." The Icelandic boy only blinked. "I see." There had to have been something there, though. Emil didn't want to just let it go. He knew he had met Lei somewhere before. But where? They were the same age, so maybe in school? But Emil figured he would remember something like that, unless it was preschool. But they were both born in foreign countries, so maybe they moved to America at different times. Maybe preschool wasn't even possible. Looking back at the Asian, he realized he may have been hiding something. Then again, Emil was hiding something as well, si he really had no business looking into other people's secrets. But if Lei was hiding something that had to do with him, then he would have to do what he could to figure it all out.