"I'm sorry you got caught up in this as well..." Tino said, turning to me as we stood in front of an old mansion.
I tore my gaze away from the façade of the building to look at the Finn. "Ah, I don't mind" I said, smiling a little. "Are you sure?" He asked a little unsure. "Yep… and it looks interesting." I said, turning my attention back to the mansion.
It was an old manor, its former glory long since decayed. The few shutters that still covered the windows lacked any remains of paint and hung askew.
The walls weren't off much better, the paint was flaking off the wall on most of the places I could see from here. On some corners the whole plaster was coming off, revealing the bricks it was meant to cover.
All around us I saw the remains of a once beautiful, now neglected garden.
My gaze went beck to the entrance of the mansion, where Mathias was arguing with Norway about something.
Out of curiosity, I walked over to the door, hoping to catch what they were saying.
"C'mon, Norgie. Let us in already." Mathias urged his friend, eager to see the inside of the big mansion.
"Calm down, idiot. The lock is rusty, so it's hard to open." Lukas told the Dane in turn, not turning his attention away from the old lock.
Mathias pouted and turned his attention to me, "Did you check out this place, it must be huge on the inside." He cheered. "It must have belonged to some pretty rich people." I suggested, scanning the entrance.
"A lot of different rich families actually." Norway commented. Iceland looked like he wanted to ask his brother something, but at that moment Lukas managed to open the door and he, Denmark and me walked through the door.
The inside of the mansion was dusty and falling apart, but it looked like the walls could still support the roofs weight, even after all these years.
We stepped into was a big, once majestic hall. In the middle was a flight of stairs, going up, which split up halfway and went both left and right along the wall opposite from the door.
I heard Denmark let out a low whistle and I couldn't disagree, this place did look amazing, even though it was a little old and dusty.
"Let's look around" Mathias suggested excitedly, grabbing the hand of the person nearest to him, which was me, and dragging me along. He walked over to the first door on the left and opened it. The door opened smoothly and we stepped into an even more expensive looking room.
"This must have been where they'd welcome their guests" Emil said calmly as he and his brother entered the room, followed by Berwald and Tino.
Lukas nodded at his brother and tried to open the door that connected this room to the next. He pushed down the handle, but the door didn't budge.
"I'll try the other door!" Mathias yelled, running out of the room again. I followed him, curious as to why that room was locked. But I had no luck; the door connecting the mysterious room to the hall didn't open either. But the Dane was still trying to force the door open. "Den, stop it. It won't open that way." Norway scolded. Mathias blinked at his friend a few times before turning away from the door. "Next floor" he cheered as he ran up the stairs.
"Den, Let's go." Lukas said after a few locked doors on the first floor, "It's getting late." I looked out of one of the big, dusty windows and saw the sun already sinking below the horizon.
"Ah c'mon, so what if it gets dark. I wanna explore this place a little more." Mathias whined, turning to his friend. "I'm leaving" Lukas stated as he started making his way back towards the stairs, "If you want to stay go ahead, but I'm going home." Emil was the first one to follow his brother, probably happy this was over. Sweden and Finland exchanged some glances before following the Norwegian and his brother back home. I didn't really like the idea of staying in this old house after dark, so I followed suit. I was kinda happy when I heard Mathias footsteps behind me, indicating that he was coming along as well.
"N'r?" Berwald asked, turning his attention away from the door. "Hm?" the other replied, raising an eyebrow. "D'd y'u l'ck th' do'r?" the Swede asked.
"No, I didn…" Lukas trailed off. I walked up to the door, suddenly shivering, even though it wasn't cold. Norway stepped closer to the door, trying the door himself. Lukas hissed and quickly pulled his hand back, rubbing his fingers.
"What happened?" Mathias asked, rushing over to his friend. Lukas looked at his hand. His fingers had gotten a little burned and were red, bleeding slightly, even though he hadn't touched the door at all.
"There's some magic locking the door, I can't even touch it" Norway said quietly, his fingers still felt like they were burning.
"Can't we break it?" Denmark said, glaring at the door. Lukas shook his head, "No… the same magic is protecting it." "Looks like something wants us to stay here…" Emil murmured. At this Tino shuddered, moving closer to Sweden.
"Let's see if there is some other way out." Mathias said, voice serious; this place had suddenly become dangerous.
"And something to treat your hand with." Emil told his brother as we all went back to where we had quit our search before.
Beta'd by xJoby-chan