Written while listening to 'ViolinistBAKA' play "I Am the Doctor" on YouTube. She's a lot better than I am at playing the violin. Check her out if you feel like having your socks knocked off.

Chapter Two

The House was clean. Spotless, even. It looked like it had the day they first entered; over twenty years ago.

Gil sighed a shuddering breath, realizing just how long he'd been free from the curse of this House. He hadn't wanted to come back here. In fact, that was the last thing he ever dreamed of doing. But his little girl- Gretchen.

He stared down at the folded letter in his hand. The last words Mari ever directed to him. A perfectly credible source that told him something very important; his daughter was still alive. She and her friends. The three kids that were destined to be erased because of their heritage had somehow survived. And he- as well as the other distraught parents of these teens- were convinced that they remained alive somewhere inside the House.

"Alright . . ." Xenzik- Hazel Williams' mother- began, striding into the center of the room. "Where do we start?"

Aja- Markov Braginski's mother- scoffed at her old friend. "Set up base camp, obviously. Germany's safe room." She shrugged. "That just seems like the best starting point to me. We could split up into groups after that."

"Sure." Prussia nodded. "We'll split up by family."

Canada shook his head. "But that doesn't work. I mean, I have Xenzik, and Russia has Aja, but . . . Mari hasn't been with us in a long time. You'd be searching this House all on your own, and that's hardly safe."

"No offence, Birdie," Prussia spat "But safety isn't exactly my top priority. I want to find my daughter as fast as possible- even if that means making sacrifices."

Aja hissed her annoyance. "Shut up, idiot! You can't just go off and let yourself die just so you can save one-!"

CRASH!

All heads turned to face the kitchen.

"Was that . . .?" Prussia looked even more pale than usual.

"The plate that broke when your group first came in?" Aja quirked an eyebrow up. "Indeed, it was, Gilly-boy."

The Prussian's face fell into his hands. "Fuck, fuck, fuck . . ." He cursed again and again as if he were chanting. Suddenly his head shot up. "Nope, that's just a coincidence. Watch; I'll go check it out."

"I'll go with you." The door shut behind them as a smaller woman with short auburn hair entered the House. "Sorry, but I had to come along with you. I owe Mari a lot, and I'd do anything to help her; even come back here to find her dead daughter."

"No, Ivy." Prussia's voice was firm. "You go back home now. I don't want you getting mixed up in this, too."

Ivy laughed. "Come on. It's not like I'm doing this entirely for Mari, either. This place is a safety hazard for Salvatore."

"Uh-huh." Xenzik nodded. "That makes sense. Then our groups are even, too. Just take her with you, Gil."

The Prussian threw his hands up in anger. "Whatever! That awesome me doesn't have time to sit around arguing with you all!"

"Exactly." Aja hissed. "So, why don't you get that stick outta your ass and get it in gear? We don't have all fucking day!"

The room went silent for a moment before Prussia cleared his throat. "Sorry. Come on, Ivy. We should go see if it was that damn plate, again."

The two made their way down the ominously quiet hall. A single wrong step by Ivy made a floorboard creak loudly- causing both of the two to jump. Laughing it off nervously, Prussia took the lead, guiding Ivy with a hand hovering by her shoulder into the kitchen area.

"Looks like you were right." The small, pale woman muttered, crouching down to pick up a shattered piece of plate. "The plate broke. What now?"

Gil stared at the shards of the destroyed china circle, crossing his arms tightly and bouncing slightly. "Well, the first time it caused Japan to come down here and check it out, and then . . ." He turned back to face the hall they'd just come from. "And then that thing attacked us. We were separated for a long time after that."

Ivy shot straight up, still holding the plate shard. "We . . . We should go back to where the others are, shouldn't we?"

"Probably." Prussia replied with a curt nod. "Alright, let's go back. But be careful, alright, Ivy?"

"Of course." The two quickly made their way back down the hall; hardly noticing the creaking of the rogue floorboard this time. As they arrived back in the entryway, neither were surprised to find the others gone. "Shit."

Prussia's hand hovered gently above his sheathed sword; eyes scanning the area carefully. "We should . . . We should try to stay calm. Okay?" He turned to look at Ivy, whose thumb was clicking the safety switch on her revolver off. "Ivy, can you please just try not to worry? We've been through this before."

"Oh please!" The brunette snapped, hand flying to her hip in a classic position. "There were a lot more of us before, and both of my sisters died! You didn't lose anyone the first time you came here-!"

"Right, and I'm not losing anyone this time, either!" Prussia stood his ground, eyes narrowed in disgust at the small woman. "But we probably don't have a lot of time, so just shut the fuck up and help me find them, okay?"

Ivy just stood there; quiet and wide-eyed. "I . . . I'm sorry . . ." She shifted from foot to foot, turning the safety back on. "I'll help you to the best of my ability. I owe that much to all of you."

The albino sighed, dragging a hand through his shiny platinum hair. "You don't owe us anything. I'm just asking for help. Come on. They're probably all in Germany's safe room, anyway." He began to walk up the stairs- only looking back once to assure that Ivy was following him.

The two reached to top of the stairs in a matter of seconds; turning down the corridor and pushing the door open to the room where the iron door to Germany's safe room would be. "Ah, shit."

"What is it?" Ivy leaned to look over Prussia's shoulder as he stared at the door. "Something wrong?"

The albino shook his head. "Nah, nothing really . . ." He laughed a little, shaking his head. "I just don't remember where we hid the key."

"Key?"

"Yeah, the key to Germany's room." Prussia nodded. "There was this heavy iron key that we used to get inside, and we had this great place where we hid it, but . . ."

"But you don't remember where that is." Ivy asked, humming at Prussia's confirming nod. "You know, if your kids came here a year ago, they would have come inside here the second something went wrong."

The Prussian gave Ivy an odd look, shrugging his shoulders as he straightened up. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Ivy smiled as she gave the door a tiny push, letting it fall open. "They're kids. They always forget to lock the door."

Prussia's mouth hung open. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He pushed his way through the open door, Ivy following closely behind. He jumped up the stairs in the small hallway; skipping most of the steps. "Damn it." He muttered as he tried the knob on the door at the top of the stairs. "This one is locked."

The auburn-haired girl smirked. "Wow. You really don't know how to handle this sort of stuff, do ya'?" Without another word, Ivy kicked at the door; cracking it, but far from taking it down. She frowned deeply- amber eyes glowing with rage at the door. "God damn it. I'm good at kicking down doors!"

"Yeah, well, this was kind of designed not to be kicked in." Prussia grumbled, crossing his arms. "I can think of only one clear way in." Before Ivy could ask what that was, the albino tore his sword from it's sheath, and stabbed into the thick slab of would violently. "Hey! You guys in there! Ivy and I are kind of trying to get in!"

Muffled voices could be heard inside the door before a familiar voice squeaked through the crack the sword had made. "N-Nice try, monster! But we know all of your tricks now! There's no way you ca-!"

"Mark!" A loud thud made it's way through the door, followed by the victim's sharp cry of pain.

"Ow! What the hell, you stupid bitch!?"

"Don't talk to the monster, you damn idiot!"

Ivy raised her eyebrows. "I don't even think Roma uses this kind of language around the house anymore." She glanced over at Prussia, then began staring with a concerned look at the expression plastered to his face. 'What's wrong?"

Prussia didn't respond immediately. "Do you . . . Do you hear who's talking?"

"Come on, monster." The second voice echoed from the locked room. "Just leave us the hell alone already. You've taken enough, and I'm sick of sending you to Hell, only to have you come straight back here!"

Feeling sick and hopeful at the same time, Prussia pulled the sword from the door. He brought his foot up, and slammed it down as hard as he could in the same area the sword had sliced through. As the door splintered and gave way beneath his boots, the Prussian grinned at the two astonished faces that greeted him.

The owner of the first voice- a small boy with a pale complexion, and wild brown hair- widened his purple eyes to the point of almost popping out of his head. "P . . . Prussia . . .? You're . . . Here . . ."

"You're here!" The second person was a tall girl with long, curly gold hair, and bright blue eyes. "I told them that you guys would come to save us, and you did!"

"That's right, Hazel." Prussia nodded. "We all came. You're mom and dad are here, too." He turned to the smaller kid. "Yours, too, Markov."

Both teens beamed at him. In a desperate need to break the silence after a few still moments, Ivy cleared her throat. "Right- this is great and all, but . . . Um, where's Gretchen at?"

Hazel's smile dropped. "Well, it was Gretchen's turn to patrol, so she left about an hour ago." She turned towards Markov. "What do you think, ten minutes?"

The Russian shrugged. "Seems right, assuming she didn't get herself ripped to shreds."

"Ha, yeah, right!" Hazel laughed. "Yeah, she should be back pretty soon. She's probably found something useful. She always does."

"Yeah." Mark nodded, crossing his arms. "Whether it's a box of matches, or a weapon left by some unfortunate past victim, Gret always finds something."

Prussia smiled. "That's my girl. Resourceful, and great at scavenging!"

"Who the fuck are you?"

The two adults turned towards the direction of the harsh voice.

A tall, silver-haired, red-eyed girl was standing in the smashed doorway, holding up a pair of daggers in defense. Her eyes widened as she recognized the man and woman. "D . . . Daddy?"

The Prussian smiled softly at her, tears welling in his eyes. "Hey ya, sweet-pea. We came looking for you."

There was a loud clanking sound as the knives hit the floor- Gretchen tossing the cold metal aside in favor of hugging her father tightly. Tears streamed down her face. "Daddy, I missed you so much!" She cried. "You have no idea how horrible it's been; being trapped here for however long it's been."

"Honey, do you even know how long it's been?" Prussia asked, pulling his daughter off of him to look her in the eyes.

Gretchen shook her head. "N-No. I just know that it's been . . . A really long time since I last saw you."

Prussia sighed, hugging Gretchen tightly again, kissing the top of her head. "I'm so sorry, sweetie . . . We really did look for you."

The ex-country's daughter pulled back, rubbing tears away. "Yeah, I know, um . . . S-Sorry, it's just been awhile."

"I understand." Her father nodded curtly. "Well, we should probably get going. I want to get you guys home as soon as humanly possible, okay?"

Ivy crossed her arms. "That's a good idea, but we can't really leave without the others, can we?"

"The others?" Gretchen narrowed her eyes at Ivy in curiosity. "Who else came with you?"

Prussia huffed out an anxious sigh. "Shit. Why do we always forget about someone?" He began pacing around the room nervously; hands resting on his head as stress rang through his head like a bell. "Aja, Xenzik, Canada, and Russia, I think. Yeah, I'm sure that's all of them."

Gretchen hissed in annoyance. "Damn it." She bent down and picked up both daggers, tossing one to Hazel. "What do you think, guys?"

Mark scratched his head as he thought for only a moment before lighting up with an idea. "Well, if they came here before, they'd know all the safe spots, so it'd be a place almost as safe as this, I guess."

Hazel whacked him over the head with an open hand. "No shit, Sherlock." She scoffed at him. "What we need to know is where that would be." She turned towards the adults. "Ivy? Prussia? Where was the safe room before this was finished?"

The Prussian scratched at the back of his neck, trying to thin over twenty years ago when they'd first gotten trapped in the House. "Uh, there was a room with a . . . What was it? Something Mari completely destroyed. In fact, I think she accidentally set it on fire."

"Nah." Ivy shook her head with a slight laugh. "We would have burned to death in there, but Mari certainly did a number on the place. If she hadn't been there, you and Francy-pants would be dead, without a doubt."

Prussia huffed. "Oh, come on. I'm way awesomer than France! I'd be totally fine!" He began to walk towards the door. "Come on, let's just get going. We have four people to find, and- strictly because of who we are- this is probably going to be more difficult than it needs to be."

"Right . . ." Hazel sighed, walking next to Gretchen. "This is going to be fun."