Chapter 1: iT'S NoT rEaL

A/N: YOLO HASHTAG SWAG! 8D I'm UltimateOtakuGirl100, and here is my second Hetalia fic (even though I'm too lazy to get past Chapter 1 on the other one, and I'm fairly certain I'll get further than that on this story)—Happy Tears!

SO! This is a HetaOni-based fic, since I looooooved that game. So. Freaking. Much. I was so very pissed when I reached the end, and it said, "Coming in 2012!" when I was playing in 2013… UGH. Nooooot a happy camper.

Anyway! So, there are two HetaOni fanfics I'm currently thinking about, including this one. The other one will be a parody-fic of HetaOni, pointing out all the flaws and humorous details of HetaOni and overall destroying the depressing/sad atmosphere of the game, which I'm probably gonna name something like HetaOni: Destroying the Atmosphere 101 or Talking Doors, Toilet Fairies and Flawless Logic. This story, on the other hand, is going to be (mostly) totally serious, and no one would be able to take it seriously if I wrote the parody-fic first, because I will destroy your view of HetaOni forever. So I'm going to be a smart Hetalia fan and write this FIRST, and THEN I'll move on to spoofing everything. XD

Also, I'm considering making this the first in a series. This series wouldn't actually have any prominent relation to the others in said series; it'd just be a series based off of some HetaGames I can think of Hetalia/OC fanfictions for. Since HetaOni is arguably the most popular HetaGame (and the only one I've actually played myself "-_-), I'm starting with this, which will be Italy/OC (obviously). If—note the if—I do this series, then I've also thought of ideas for a HetaGame America/OC, England/OC, and one that has two OCs that would be America/OC and Italy/OC (of course, having no relation to the other stories in the series). Not tellin' ya which games they're for, though~ (You'll have to actually ask me directly for spoilers!) If I do end up making this into a series, then feel free to suggest a game or a pairing. Or both. No guarantee I'll use your idea, but it'll certainly give me inspiration!

Okay, I'm done. Now, read on!

(NOTE: I edited a few things near the end, 'cuz I realized that I had forgotten to mention something vital… oh, well.)

~A little girl, no more than four or five, ran away as fast as her small legs could carry her; her long hair, wet from the relentless rain, slapped her face repeatedly, yet she paid no heed and continued running, a childish grin on her small face.

Her father came sprinting up behind her, stopping when he reached her. "Honey, it's time to come home. You can't stay out here; you'll catch a cold."

The little girl stopped. She turned around, the joyous expression replaced by a worried one. "But, Daddy," she whimpered, "I don't wanna go back inside. Sammy said that there's this evil monster called the bogeyman that hides under my bed and in the closet and in all the dark corners, waiting to eat me…" The girl shivered, more in fear than from the cold. "I don't wanna go back inside. I don't wanna be eaten by the bogeyman, Daddy."

He stared at her for a few seconds before a smile broke out on his face, a small chuckle escaping as he crouched down to look her in the eyes. "Honey, the bogeyman isn't real. It's just a fake idea that someone came up with to scare little kids. Sammy's just trying to scare you. The bogeyman isn't real."

She frowned. "R-really? It's not real?"

"It's not real."

"…Promise?"

"I promise." Her father smiled at her again before standing, holding out his hand in front of her. "Now, let's go back to the house before you get sick. Mommy's getting worried about you."

The young girl stared at the hand for a while. Then a warm smile broke out on her face. "Alright, Daddy."~

It all began on a searing hot, lonely day, dead-smack in the middle of summer.

I should've known the day was jinxed when we ended up moving away from our last house on a Friday the thirteenth. Oh, yeah, that's right. Friday the freakin' thirteenth. The day of bad luck, black cats, broken mirrors, and whatever other superstitious stuff people have come up with over the years.

Of course, I wasn't ever a huge believer in the supernatural. Heck, I stopped believing in Santa Claus at the age of four. That might've partially been the reason I never saw something like this coming. At the same time, though, I was an avid daydreamer, obsessed with anime and manga and video games and, quite frankly, pretty much anything that made me a social outcast at pretty much every place we moved to. So, maybe I should've expected some crap like this to happen anyway.

But I didn't. And now I was going to suffer for it.

I slammed the door closed furiously, locking it behind me before I stormed into a random corner, sat down, curled into a ball, and rested my chin on my knees stubbornly.

A loud, angry banging sounded from the other side of the door. "TRISTA! OPEN THIS DOOR!" my mom demanded.

I glared at the door darkly from my respective corner. Despite how hard I tried to resist, hot, angry tears pricked in my eyes. "No," I growled, likely in an immature fashion, but I was, quite frankly, too upset to care.

There was a sigh; the banging stopped. "…Trista…" my mom began, voice soft, "I know the move was hard on you… but it's for the best. Now, your father has a new job that pays well, and he can provide for our family better. We'll be able to get out of debt faster."

I said nothing, merely clenching my teeth and digging my nails into my folded arms as I gazed at the boring, empty, undecorated room that still smelled strongly of wet paint from its likely recent coating from my respective corner. I miss my old room, I thought bitterly, squeezing my way-too-small-for-my-age body even further into my new Mr. Corner*(1). The hot tears escaped from the corners of my eyes, dripping off my face and onto my knees. I miss my old house. I miss that one mesquite tree in our front yard. I miss having school right around the corner so I wouldn't have to wake up at five in the freaking morning. I miss meeting up in the hallway and geeking out about anime and video games with our awesome group… I felt my shoulders begin heaving as I suppressed my sobs, sniffling inaudibly as I buried my face in my knees. I… I miss my friends…

I guess I should've expected this to happen. All my life, we've been moving over and over for one reason or another. When my younger brother—Jackson, or Jackie as we call him—turned four years old, we stayed longer so he could grow up in a "stable environment", as my parents put it. But now he's eight and I'm fourteen, and we found another reason to move. Again.

I don't get close to people easily. Because it's really hard to find fellow anime fans in a huge school, it takes forever to finally find a group of us to hang out with. Back at our old home, I had finally found a whole group of us, and our little anime clique were closer to each other than I'd ever been with anyone, ever.

"They have really good high schools here," Mom added when she realized I wasn't going to respond. "You'll get a good education. And there's lots of nice people here. You'll make friends really fast."

My eyes darkened and I averted my angry gaze to the window, still saying nothing, I wanted to go to high school with my FRIENDS, I growled internally. My several-inches-past-my-shoulders brown hair slapped my face a few times as I furiously shook my head from side to side, eyelids shut tightly over my dark blue eyes to rid my eyes of tears.

There was an extended period of silence as Mom awaited the response I wasn't going to give. When this finally sank in, I heard her sigh, and I imagined her shaking her head, her so-brown-it-was-almost-black A-line hair gently brushing her cheeks as she spared one last glance at the door. Then the sound of footsteps retreating reached my ears.

Once I was certain she was gone, I dug my nails even deeper into my light gray and brown-striped jacket, pulling the unzipped overcoat further over my plain white T-shirt. My shoulders began heaving harder, and I made some whimpering and choking sounds, tears staining my baggy black pants as an overwhelming feeling of seclusion and melancholy crashed into me.

…It's… it's not fair…! I sobbed mentally. Why…?! Why?! This always happens to me! I never get a say in my life! I hate it SO MUCH! WHY?!

I gritted my teeth. I rubbed the tears off my face furiously and stood, leaving Mr. Corner as I unlocked the door and strolled out, cold determination set on my face.

Jackie, who had been sitting on the living room floor playing with the Legos he'd brought to occupy himself during the drive here, dropped his toys and stood upon my entering the room. "Where are you going, Big Sis?" he inquired endearingly, looking up at me with those adorable pale blue eyes of his.

Upon hearing the nickname I'd asked him to call me several years before, I paused. Normally, when my younger brother called me that, my foul mood would evaporate and I would start acting like the overprotective older sibling my friends all knew I was, like Iggy or Spain, no matter how upset I was.

But right then, all I wanted was to get away.

I gave him a small, forced half-smile. "Don't worry, Jackie. I'm just gonna blow off some steam for a while. I'll be back soon."

He just kind of stared for a while, his short golden-brown hair practically glued to his head (the ceiling fan was on at full blast, yet his hair was perfectly still). Then he grinned widely. "Okay!" Jackie chirped in that adorable way children do that makes you want to take them home and cuddle them forever. (Until they have a temper tantrum. Then they're not so cute.)

My small smile became genuine for a split second before disappearing as I snagged my oversized dark blue backpack from where I'd angrily tossed it to the ground prior to storming off. I casually slung it over my shoulder, sliding my arm into the other strap as I tossed the door open, calling out loudly over my shoulder, "See ya later, peeps! I'm outta here!"

And I slammed the door behind me, bolting in a random direction before anyone could stop me.

I slowed to a stop, keeling over as I panted unevenly, clutching my knees weakly. After I'd gotten my heart rate mostly steady, I sucked in a slightly shaky breath and straightened. Alright… now… where am I…?

Whenever I became enraged, I would run around the neighborhood until I calmed down (usually I wound up too exhausted to breathe, much less stay angry). Back home, I'd always end up in some random place when I finally cooled off, but since I knew the area like the back of my hand, I would always wind my way back home one way or another, usually without too much trouble.

But now, we'd moved again, and I'd only really seen the block immediately surrounding the new house. On top of that, the sun was now grazing the ground, and there were various hues of pink and orange in the sky. Very soon, the sun would set entirely, and I'd be forced to either stumble around blindly in circles until I finally managed to find my way home, or I'd have to crash on a park bench somewhere like a hobo.

Of course, technically I did have a cell phone, and I could just call Mom or Dad and have them pick me up… but I was stubborn. I'd stormed off because I'd been mad at them; how degrading would it be if I had to call them to pick me up because I'd been too upset to watch my surroundings?

Nuh-uh. I had my pride to think about, thank you very much, and I'd rather lounge on a park bench all night long than admit that I'd pretty much epic failed.

With a sigh, I straightened, concentrated on absorbing my surroundings: several decently-large-but-not-too-tall buildings, few people around, a fair amount of trees scattered around randomly in patches of soil that dotted the vivid-green grass, and almost no cars on the stone-made road—actually, there was only one.

I frowned, realizing dismally that, somehow, without my noticing it, I'd left the city entirely at some point. Just how long had I been running? An hour? Two hours? Three?

Biting my lip nervously, I slowly set down my backpack so I could pull put a water bottle, guzzling a fourth of it down as my mind wandered. I was in the process of re-capping it and placing it back in my bag when a voice came from behind me.

"Hey, little girl, are you lost?"

I froze.

I'm actually fourteen years old, but… well, I'm short. No one can really tell that I'm going into high school; I look like I'm a fifth or sixth grader, not a freshman. It's kind of sad, really…

Anyway. Because I'm so short and all and I look like I'm nowhere near old enough to take care of myself, I've had to learn how to act. Really, really well.

Plastering a fake, childish look of innocence on my face, I calmly turned around to face the full-grown man who wore a concerned look on his face. "H-huh? Oh, me?" I asked as if confused to why he was talking to me, making my voice quite childlike and higher than it normally was. "No, I'm not lost! I'm out running with my dad, and I beat him again. I'm waiting for him to catch up." I paused, beginning to grin mischievously as I added in a quiet voice as if it was something confidential, "My daddy's really fat."

Which was a complete and total lie. He runs marathons on a regular basis, and he's waaaaaay faster than I am, not to mention very much in shape. But he didn't need to know that, now did he?

At my statement, I saw an amused grin tug at his lips, although he tried to hide it. "I'll leave you to your waiting then, little girl." And with that, he turned and walked away.

I breathed a small sigh of relief when he rounded a building and went out of sight, relaxing. I was about to start heading back in the direction I'd come in hopes I could find my way back when I overheard a portion of a conversation from a small group of people not too far away. "Hey, remember that old mansion on the mountain?"

I stopped, intrigued, and began listening in.

"You mean that one?" the other woman in the group inquired, pointing at a mountain in the distance that I hadn't noticed before.

A man in the group frowned. "I thought it got burned down ten years ago."

Another woman, who I assumed to be the original speaker, nodded. "Yeah, that one. Anyway, I've heard word that people have been disappearing up there lately—all around the area where the mansion used to be."

My interest spiked; I always did enjoy a good mystery.

"Wh-what?!" the second woman exclaimed, wide-eyed.

The man shivered. "Freaky."

"IT'S THE MONSTER!" I blinked, taken aback a bit by the sudden outburst. The one who'd spoken was a guy who seemed slightly younger than the rest of them—probably twenty-three or so. His eyes were bulging, and he seemed fairly pale.

The first woman rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Takerou, not this again."

"It's true!" Takerou insisted. "It's the monster, and it's going to eat us all!"

"E-excuse me?"

The group all blinked simultaneously before turning to face me in stunned confusion. Honestly, I was just as surprised at myself as they were. But I'd already called attention to myself, so it was too late to change my mind.

I fidgeted awkwardly under their gazes, mentally berating myself. "U-um…" I began uncomfortably, swallowing as I felt my face grow hot. "I… I'm sorry for interrupting, b-but… I'm new around here, and… I-I'm sorry, but I, um, kinda overheard a bit of what you were saying, and, um… well…" I ducked my head, allowing my brown bangs to hide my eyes, too embarrassed to meet their gazes. "…s-so… um… I… I was just wondering, if, uh, I-if you could… er, I mean…" Finally, I blurted, "C-can you tell me about this 'mansion' you were talking about?"

They just kind of stared at me for a little while. I felt myself shrink under their gazes, uncomfortable with this kind of thing. Stupid, stupid, stupid… why'd you have to go and call attention to yourself? I internally scolded myself. You're not good around new people, especially not adults… You didn't even talk in your feigning-childish voice! What the heck were you thinking?! Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Then, they took me by surprise. Most of them grinned at me widely.

"Sure, kid." This was said by the first woman. She smirked at me in a way that made me instantly like her—she seemed to give off this sort of mocking-in-a-friendly-way vibe, which kind of reminded me of my friends back home.

She jutted her thumb back, pointing to the mountain behind her. "Well… I hadn't actually seen it myself, but we've all heard the stories. Apparently, it was this really big, fancy house north of here, waaaaaaay over on that mountain somewhere." She lowered her thumb, instead opting to cross her arms. "It's really hard to get to; people've tried, but you can't go up the mountain on any vehicle, whether it be a car or a bike. You have to climb it on foot."

I blinked blankly at her. This was starting to sound a bit familiar… Just what did this remind me of…?

"Also, it's really difficult to reach," the woman continued on. "For whatever reason, there isn't any trail for you to follow; you just have to pick a direction and hope you wind up at the right place. Only a few people that I know of have actually found the place.

"When it was still standing, people would usually end up disappearing without a trace when they went looking for it. People who have seen it and come back are always little wusses when they come back. Everyone says that it was…" Her voice dropped to a conspiring whisper. "…haunted."

Well, this was starting to sound more and more like the stereotypical haunted house scenario by the minute.

But, even deeper than that, there was something terribly familiar about what she was saying… I just couldn't quite put my finger on it…

The other woman shivered. "Ooh… cut it out, Hirashi!" she exclaimed, seeming anxious. "You're freaking me out!"

She rolled her eyes. "Mika, you're killing my spotlight, here! Stop being such a wimp."

Mika pouted before turning to one of the guys. "Takashiiiiiii," she whined, "Hira's being mean to meeee. Make her stoooooop."

Takashi raised his hands in the air. "I'm not taking any part in this."

Again, I was stricken with the reminder of my own friends, and I wondered why it was that legal adults were acting like they had the same level of maturity as almost-high schoolers.

Hira groaned. "C'mon, let me continue, please!" she growled indignantly. "As I was saying, people are always saying that that place was haunted, even though I never believed them. But, around ten years ago, a group of people barged into town and stormed the mountain. It was really surprising, because normally we don't get very many visitors around here, and they were all dead-set on the mountain. The next thing we know, the whole lot of them are coming back down the mountain again. And then, the next day, there's a headline in the newspaper saying the whole place got burned down. The whole thing! All of it, burned to the ground."

My jaw dropped, and I finally realized why this all seemed so familiar.

HetaOni.

Heta-freaking-Oni!

A whole group storming the mansion? Burning it down and leaving? That totally sounded like how I imagined the end of HetaOni!

I just kind of stopped, staring disbelievingly with my eyebrows raised. Whatever amount of existing seriousness in this whole thing got crumpled up and crashing out the window as I felt a grin tug at the corner of my lips. Oh. My. Gosh.

Trying (and pretty much failing) to remain serious, I somehow managed to question with a straight face despite my amusement, "S-so… what about that monster you guys mentioned? What can you tell me about it?"

Hira opened her mouth, presumably to respond, but Takerou cut her off, shoving past her. "It's evil!" he cried, this scared, insistent look on his face. "I-it's this freakishly large gray thing, with a head a third the size of its body, a-and these frightening, beady black eyes!"

Yet again, I was reminded of HetaOni, unable to get the image of The Thing—called 'Steve' by fans—out of my head, and I had to discreetly dig my nails into my other nails into my other arm to keep myself from grinning like a psycho. "…So… I take it you've seen it, then?"

Hirashi let out an exasperated sigh and pushed her way in front of Takerou again. "He says he climbed the mountain and saw it just before the people burned the place down, but we all know he's lying," Hira explained, rolling her eyes on 'says'. "The entire day that the place was burned down, all of us were at the mall the next town over—himself included."

Takerou shook his head vigorously. "No, we weren't!" he exclaimed. "We were here, and we were arguing about the mansion! A-and then, I said we should check it out, but all of you were like, 'No, it's just a rumor, it's not really haunted, we'll never find it'!"

"And then we all went to the next town over to get some stuff from the mall, got ice cream, and went home around sunset," Hira finished with this sort of calm certainty.

He clenched his jaw and shook his head again furiously. "No, that's not what happened!" he repeated stubbornly. "You were all saying that I'd never find it, and I said, 'You'll see; I'll find it! I'll show all of you!' And then all of you left, and I climbed the mountain and found the mansion, and I was about to go inside, but then—" Takerou seemed like he was choking on his words. "B-but then… I s-saw… that Thing. It was inside the house, and I saw it through the window, which was barred—almost like a jail cell." He shuddered. "And… and then, I saw this guy inside with it, and he was shooting at it all frantically, b-but it wasn't doing any damage at all! A-and then… The Thing… it just… it… it killed him!"

At this point, I just kind of gave him this blank, 'you've got to be freaking kidding me' look. Now, it was almost too close to HetaOni to be coincidental. I wondered if he'd actually played the game himself, and he was just using the whole 'mysterious mansion' thing to make them believe his story was true, when in reality he was just ripping off an RPG game plotline.

Hira sighed and face-palmed. "Takashi," she accused, "see what you did?! Because you were all convinced that a man-eating monster was up there, Takerou's followed in your footsteps!"

Takashi gulped, and I could tell he didn't like being in the spotlight. "H-hey, don't blame this on me!" he cried defensively. "I was just a stupid high schooler at the time! I was just saying what I'd heard—how was I supposed to know he was going to get all obsessed with the idea?!"

Takerou growled. "I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP! There really was an evil man-eating monster up there!"

Suddenly, the song "Acapella" by Karmin began blaring, making me jump a little in surprise. Hira groaned, seeming slightly embarrassed, and dug through her purse, pulling out her cell phone. She studied its screen carefully, scowling a bit. "Sorry," she apologized, stepping back a few feet, "gotta take this." She pressed something on its surface and turned away, the music stopping. "Hello, what is it?"

Leaving her to her call, I faced the rest of the group, frowning a bit. I just kind of shifted awkwardly, not quite sure what I should do.

"So," Mika finally said, breaking the silence, "you said you're new around here?"

I smiled a little, grateful for the change in topic. "Yeah… I just got here today, albeit against my will…" I broke off. Normally, I didn't share much information with people I'd just met, much less adults, but something about them made me feel comfortable, or at least more so than usual.

I grinned ruefully. "I didn't really want to move; it was my parents' idea. No matter what I did or said these last few weeks while packing, they refused to have us stay. So when we got here, I kind of got fed up and ran off."

Takashi nodded at this in agreement. "I know the feeling. Back in high school, my parents were always expecting things of me and pressuring me into classed I didn't want. I got so angry sometimes that I'd run off to either one of my friends' houses or to Mika's and just crash on their couch for a day or two. Their parents never minded."

I felt a small smirk spread across my face at his wording, my suspicions confirmed. A-ha. So Mika and Takashi are dating~

Mika sighed. "You really scared me sometimes. Like, you'd just suddenly burst into my house without even calling beforehand!"

As the two of them began arguing teasingly, I just kind of zoned out for a while. A tap on my shoulder jolted me back into reality, and I stared at Takerou, who was giving me the most wide-eyed, serious look I'd ever seen. To be honest, it kind of unnerved me.

"Don't even think about it."

I was taken aback. "Wh-what?"

"Don't even think about going up there." There was a look of grim determination in his eyes that was kind of unsettling. "I know you must think I'm crazy, but I know what I saw all those years ago. The Thing I saw…" He hesitated. "Whatever it was, it was terrifying, and unlike anything I've ever seen and probably ever will see. You'll be scarred for life, if it's really back. You don't want to get involved."

"B-bu—"

"No buts, kid." His tone made my heart skip a beat. "Stay away from that place. I don't want you to be traumatized like I was—and have no one believe you."

I opened my mouth to say something; I don't even know what. But whatever I'd been about to say never came out because Hirashi was heading back to us.

She sighed regretfully. "That was Tony," Hira explained, making my mouth twitch a bit in amusement at the familiar name, and I was unable to prevent the image of America's alien friend from coming to mind. "He wants me to come home and give him back his car, so I guess we gotta go now."

Mika and Takashi, who had stopped teasing each other when she came back, shrugged. "Okay. Goodbye, kid. Maybe we'll see you around, then," Mika said, directing the last part at me with a smile before they left and got into the only car. Takerou shot me one last meaningful look before turning away and walking to the car without a word.

Hira took a few steps, but then she stopped and turned around. "Hey—what's your name, kid?"

I blinked. "U-um… I'm Trista."

She looked at me for a second before smiling. "Trista, don't take Takerou too seriously, okay? Do whatever you think you should do. Don't let him or anyone else stop you." Hira turned around again. "Maybe I'll see you again, kid." Then she hopped in the driver's seat and drove away.

I watched them drive away until they were out of sight. Then I just stood there in silence for a brief period of time.

Then realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "…I COULD'VE ASKED THEM FOR DIRECTIONS! D'OOOOOOOOH!" I screamed into the air, clutching my head in frustration and banging my head against the side of the brick building behind me.

I rested my now-aching head there for a little longer, mentally reprimanding my own stupidity before pulling it away and sighing. Great. Now what?!

I was actually beginning to seriously consider calling my parents.

Staring idly off into space as I wondered what on Earth I should do now, I realized with a start that my gaze had subconsciously drifted to the mountain. I blinked rapidly a few times.

I could go up there, couldn't I? Really, what was stopping me?

Takerou was obviously kind of messed up in the head. Why should I pay any attention to what he thinks? Besides, Hira said I should just ignore him. What reason did I have to listen to him, anyway?

If I went to the top of the mountain, I would have the equivalent of a bird's eye view of this place for miles. I'd probably be able to spot at least the basic neighborhood, and I could find my way home easily from there. And it wouldn't do any harm if I just happened to stumble upon the place in my efforts, now would it?

But even I knew that I was just making excuses to satisfy my curiosity. I knew, yet I did it anyway.

I was a fool.

I growled as I batted away yet another outstretched branch out of the way, only to have another one slap me across the face when I let go of it. "Oh, come on!" I grumbled to myself, squirming through the tight spaces between overgrown shrubberies. No wonder Hira said you had to go on foot—the whole forest was so cramped that it put all of the claustrophobia-inducing walls in movies where the walls were LITERALLY closing in to shame.

With one last heave, I broke my way through the thicket, gasping for air as I burst into a clearing. After I regained my bearings, I straightened so I could view my surroundings.

I swear I felt my blood run cold.

Various colors of flowers decorated practically every square foot of grass. However, piles of ashes strewn unevenly throughout the clearing ruined what should be a beautiful scene. A few random planks of severely burnt wood were scattered around; several unidentifiable pieces of metal were lying between blades of grass. Some charred strips of walls of what used to be a grand building stood ragged and seared beyond recognition. Overall, it was… terrifying.

Slowly, I took a step forward. Then another. Then another. My heart began pounding harder with each step, yet I couldn't seem to stop myself from continuing on, almost as if I was… searching for something.

I took another step forward, and abruptly stopped. I looked down, staring at what I'd stepped on.

…A… bible…? I wondered internally. My heart suddenly began thudding even harder than before. Every portion of my body seemed to be screaming at me to run in the opposite direction, and yet… I couldn't help but lean down to grab it. I felt almost… drawn to it. With each inch, I felt a new rush of fear, to the point I couldn't breathe, until—

It suddenly disappeared when I grasped the black leather binding of the book.

I blinked, confused at the sudden wave of calm that washed over me when I grabbed it. But I shrugged it off, deeming it as insignificant in comparison as I allowed myself to become absorbed in my fascination with the book.

The bible seemed fairly normal—aside from the ashes coating it lightly and a pale grass stain on its pages—but that was what made it so intriguing: it was completely unharmed. It was just lying there, in mint condition aside from the previously mentioned ailments, even though it was completely surrounded by all… well… that chaos. It was if it was completely unaffected by time itself.

I had always loved mysteries, and this was practically a Sherlock Holmes novel in reality form.

Eager to learn more, I excitedly flipped it open to the first page. I stopped abruptly. My brows furrowed. What… the…

"Is that… a… contract page…?" I questioned aloud. Then I studied it more intently.

I staggered back, nearly dropping the book. My eyes were wide. "It says… 'Italy… Veneziano…" I breathed, stunned.

A gust of wind blew past me, making my hair whip my face gently, but I wasn't aware of anything around me. I just continued to stare in shock, incomprehensive.

Then reality finally hit me full-force, and, swaying slightly, I took a few steps back, my bangs covering my face slightly. I let the hand clutching what I now knew to be a journal drop to my side.

"Ha. Ha. Ha, ha." I felt myself start trembling. "Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, haaa!" My shoulders began heaving, the force of my hysteria increasingly obvious. "Ha, ha, HAAAAAAA!"

My hysterical laughter mostly died down, but my body continued shaking anxiously. "Oh, that's hilarious. You really thought that something like this would fool me? Ha, no. I may be short for my age, but I'm not stupid." I giggled a bit, a likely psychotic-looking grin plastered on my face. "You thought you could prank me, didn't you? You're probably hiding in the bushes with a video camera, planning on posting this on YouTube later and titling it something like, 'Kid Getting Punk'd!' Heh. Sorry but I'm not falling for something like that. Hetalia's not even real. It's not. How could an RPG based off of something fictional be real? It's not real. It's not." I paused. My only response was another gentle wind flow through the clearing.

Anxiety only increasing, I began babbling on, "Ahaha, yeah, no. It's not real. It's not real! Hetalia's just fiction. A fictional work; a comedy. HetaOni couldn't possibly be real." I let out another hysterical giggle at the thought. "Ha. HetaOni, real! Oh, I wish. I wish. But it's not. It's… not…" I trailed off, eyes slowly drifting towards the journal, which I'd subconsciously lifted slightly from my side while speaking.

Something caught my eye, and I gasped. "Wh-what the—"

A bright light shone from the book, and I instinctively shielded my eyes. I wanted to drop the journal, run away, do something, but it was as if I was paralyzed. All I could do was stand there, terrified, as the light consumed everything.

When my eyes adjusted, I was surrounded by white nothingness in all directions. I swallowed nervously, discovering I could move again as I took a hesitant step forward.

"He… hello?" I called out tentatively. I received no response. Unease filling me even more, I tried again, clutching the journal tightly to my chest. "Hello? Is anyone he—"

"FOoLiSH gIrl."

The voice was so sudden and so grating that I cried out, recoiling. The abrupt jerking caused me to trip over myself, and I landed harshly on the white 'ground'. Searching for the source of the voice, I began shaking in terror when I realized it had come from all directions at once—even my own mind.

"yOu stUpId GIrl. YoU rEaLLy tHiNK YoU aRE iN PoSiTioN tO MaKE sUCh a rEQUeST?!" I wanted to get away from the voice, but once again, I'd become immobilized. Fear enveloped me like a shroud, and all I could do was sit there, trembling as the voice continued. "YOu foOLISh gIrL. DoN'T yOu REaLiZE?! OnCE yOu EnTEr tHe MAnSiON, tHeRE… WiLL bE…" The voice began breaking up, almost like static on a television. "…nO… EsC…aPe…"

My heart stopped.

Suddenly, the world turned—whatever white substance had been holding me up before vanished, and I was left freefalling.

Falling, falling, falling endlessly.

Varying numbers in sloppily written in red—blood?—flew past me, more and more surrounding me the further I fell. Oh, yes, I could definitely tell now—it was definitely blood. Numbers written in blood, everywhere, in all directions, surrounding me. The blood, everywhere—surrounding me until I could no longer distinguish with certainty where the blood ended and I began.

Scenes flashed before my eyes—images I never wanted to see. It went by too fast to entirely comprehend, but I processed enough. A body, dropping. Screaming—then abruptly cut off. The floor, walls, and furniture—all stained red. Figures, running. Desperate to escape—but couldn't. Trapped. They were trapped. But most of all… the… the blood. The blood, everywhere. Everywhere, in all directions… blood…

Finally able to react, I let out a strangled cry, my hair whipping my face repeatedly as I dropped head-first, scared tears escaping the corners of my eyes and dropping, following after me.

Overwhelmed, I soon felt my vision slowly but surely be consumed by black.

The last thing I felt before losing consciousness completely was a sudden agony flaring up in my side, the abrupt impact making my still-unseeing eyes fly open for a split second with a sharp gasp, the wind knocked out of me. My unresponsive body fell limp, my limbs dropping painfully after me, sprawled on the ground around me. The journal fell from my grasp.

Then I knew nothing more.

A/N: Holy crapola. I think this might be the longest chapter I've ever written. Ever. O_o Seriously. Just the actual story itself WITHOUT the Author's Note, it's 6,005 words!

Aiiyah! SO MANY WORDS! D: I seriously doubt I'll write very many chapters this long in the future. Uuuugh… my poor fingahs. They huuurt, aru!

Okay, I'm done joking around. Kinda.

Anyways. NOBODY ask me about anything that will happen, otherwise I'll probably ignore you (unless it's a rhetorical question, which if so I'll treat it like one and not answer). You CAN, however, make guesses about what will happen. When you guess like that, not only does it give me inspiration, but it also helps me know where I'm being too predictable and helps me improve my writing. So, PLEASE make guesses. Just don't outright ask, otherwise I'll either ignore you or (in rare occasions) tell you what will happen… then I won't feel motivated anymore to write, and I'll end up discontinuing it… ugh. Please don't make that happen.

Also, I played PianoDream's HetaOni English Project. If you haven't played it, then I recommend you go download it from the website (the link is on my profile).

One more thing. I guess I didn't really give much of a description Trista's appearance, did I? "^.^ I did in the original, but… I wrote it in a journal, and accidentally left it on the bleachers… and some heartless kid found it and tore it into pieces… and threw it in the dumpster behind the school…

…

AAAAUGH! I HATE THEM! I WILL STRANGLE THAT PERSON IF I EVER MEET THEM! AAAAAAUGH!

…Sorry… I'm kind of pissed about that. I went Goth for about a week, wearing all black… in mourning… over the loss of my precious notebook…

…Ugh…

…Anyway. There is one reference here:

*(1) – Mr. Corner. That's a reference to Soul Eater, in which, in the manga, Crona (a depressed gender-neutral character) goes sulk in a corner with a pillow and calls it "Mr. Corner". It only happens in the manga (so not the anime), and only once. But my friends picked up on it, and it became an ongoing gig that we'll randomly mention whenever one of us is sulking/depressed. I referenced it quite frequently when I found out my journal had been destroyed, although those references were usually soon followed by threats for whoever destroyed my precious notebook.

Alrighty, then! Onto review topics! :3 (You don't have to answer all the questions, although it's always great when you do. Just answer whatever ones ya feel like answering.)

Review Topics~

Which time loop will Trista wind up in—the first, or the one in the game? Or some random loop that wasn't mentioned?

Will Trista's presence in HetaOni affect the storyline? And if so, how will the storyline be affected? (If not, why won't her presence impact the storyline?)

Does Trista seem like a Mary-Sue so far? Or are her reactions fairly realistic?

In your imagination, does HetaOni have a happy ending (and what is its ending)? How about with Trista added?

Was this an abnormally long chapter? Was it TOO long? How long did it take you to read?

How would you have acted if you were in Trista's position (in all honesty. I seriously doubt that you would just immediately go like "Oh hey, Hetalia ((and HetaOni)) is real? OMG great! Now I can go murder Steve and miraculously survive with everyone else and somehow magically escape! Then *enter fave country's name* will love me for helping him escape and we can be married and BECOME ONE, DA~!" Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah… no. How would you REALLY react?)

What is your favorite HetaGame, and why?

Should I make this into a series (of HetaGames)?

Alright! Now…

REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND FOLLOW, AND WHATEVER ELSE ALL Y'ALL AWESOME PEEPS WANNA DO! Farewell, and see you next chapter! 'Till then…

PAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!