Okay, I have a very valid excuse. I deleted everything remotly related to Hetalia fanfiction on my computer in a fit of insanity and rage, so I had to rewrite everything I was working on *wails* because I'm such a frickin' idiot. *sniffles* And I was almost done with the chapter too! *sobs harder*
So...yeah...more cliffhanging.
And yeah, my linebreaks are annoying me too, so I'll change it to my traditional, time-lapse indicating, handy-dandy, standard, well-used (you get the point) !_!_!_!_!_!_!_! break.
Glynnis stood at the foot of the stairs, eyes widened in shock. It quickly transformed into rage, and she was suddenly in front of him and clutching his throat. "What," she snarled, "are you doing here?" Her eye twitched in annoyance.
Gathering whatever courage he had, he spat, "Who are you, really?" She seemed shocked. "What do you want to know?" She whispered. "Everything." He hissed with the last of his air. She let him go and clenched her fists.
Kaia ghosted down the stairs, looking very much awake and not at all like she had just woken up. "What-England!" She yelled. "What-but-why-" She sputtered angrily. "What are you doing here?"
He rubbed his neck. "Same question I got just a minute ago."
Her sister shot him a glare before saying, "He wants to know what we are."
"Hah!" He yelled. "You are something else."
Her eyes glinted dangerously and she grabbed his arm. "Shut up before I make you."
America, Canada, and Russia appeared in the door. "Are we...interrupting...something...?"
She growled. "No. Better you see." She trembled. "Now you'll see."
"O-ow!" He swore colorfully. Her fingernails dug into his arm, but she didn't seem to be increasing her grip. She shuddered again and the air rippled, her skin stretching and bones twisting. In only a fraction of a second but what seemed so much longer, she transformed into a wolf. Shaking out her long dark brown hair, she snarled.
He stumbled backwards, shocked.
She writhed again, and collapsed to the floor, twisting. She twined around his legs now, rattling and hissing, her scales shining in the low light.
She leapt back, returned to her normal form, hair mussed up and expression neutral, and pulled her sweater sleeves down, but not before she could hide the scars stretching down her forearms and circling her wrists. Pushing herself up off the floor, her eyes were carefully locked on the ceiling, not deigning to look at anyone.
Kaia smiled. Her laptop appeared in her arms. "And I make things appear! Not out of nothing, I mean. I transport things. Not people, yet. I think." Her sister glared at her before facing everyone again. "You can stay in the living room." She opened a closet, tossed some blankets at them, and stormed off.
Her sister shrugged. "Ignore her. She gets really angry sometimes. Anyway, you can roam the island if you want. Don't go poking around suspicious things, because they might be dangerous, but other than that you guys can stay here." She smiled again, although it was more of a Russia smiel than, say, an Italy smile, and ran up the stairs.
England rubbed his neck, watching Russia, America, and-what was his name? oh!-Canada stare at him questioningly. "Just sleep." He snapped.
Oh, how he wished to be anywhere else...
!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!
He woke up much, much too early. The early morning sun had ever so delightfully decided to rise and shine on his face, thereby burning his eyes and making his day miserable before it started. Grumbling angrily under his breath, he looked around.
He was sitting on a couch, Matthew out cold on a blanket next to him, his brother sprawled out neatly on the floor, and Russia on the other couch, hand outstretched and mumbling something in his dream. The rest of the house was silent. He looked out the window to see bruised, ugly rainclouds.
If that doesn't not make sense, he thought wearily, nothing makes sense. Not bothering to question his strange phrasing, he shuffled out the conveniently open back door.
The strange shining was emanating from the other side of a tangled hedge. He moved forward cautiously, gripping the edges of the thicket before stepping around it.
Glynnis was crouched over a glowing rent in the ground, obviously bent over it protectively. She stood, kicking him to the ground, eyes crazed. "When-" she hissed, "will you learn?"
God, now I'm done. Obviously, it's different from the first draft, but since *sniffle* that's gone, this is all we've got.