"Haha! I've made an awesome dinner! Now everyone will have to acknowledge me as a chef!" Sealand exclaimed.

"…Good luck with that" Iceland, the real chef, replied, glancing up from the fiskibollur he was preparing when he noticed a certain bow-clad avian wasn't watching him cook. "Have you seen my puffin?" He never had to worry about any complaints against having said animal in the kitchen because everyone else was either employed for other jobs, too scared of Belarus to apply for a job at the castle, or—arguably worse—too scared of Sealand's cooking.

Both jumped as the kitchen door slammed open, exposing them to a rather determined looking Belarus.

"Where do you keep the apples?" She all but demanded.

"I used them all for tonight's dinner!" Sealand answered, pointing at the oven.

"Well, then, take it out so I can get one before it's completely baked!"

"I can't, the center hasn't stopped moving yet"

"WHAT!" Iceland cried, fearing the worst for his dear pet. He bolted to the oven and removed the casserole dish overflowing with brownish goo, placing it onto the nearby counter. In his haste, he forgot to put on his oven mitts.

His puffin chose this moment to flap over from the top of a cabinet to perch on Iceland's shoulder.

"Nooo! It hasn't stopped bubbling! You should listen to your senpai," Sealand whined, ignoring the fact he was younger than the chef and that the now very annoyed Iceland wasn't paying him any attention in favor of his injured hands.

Belarus apprehensively looked at the still bubbling mass of…she didn't want to know.

"Do you have rice?" she asked the assistant, because he wasn't currently nursing his burns in the sink.

"What do you have there, aru?" China questioned as Belarus walked in carrying a tray.

"Onigiri," she answered curtly

"Um…what for, aru?"

Belarus glanced over her spell book before walking to a chest against the wall of her secret lab and opening the lid to reveal a collection of vials containing various colored liquids. Selecting a lavender substance, she murmured, "I'm going to poison Japan".

"Don't you think that's going a little far, aru? All of your attempts failed; obviously fate doesn't believe he should die yet."

"Silence!" she hissed. "I will marry big brother, and all I need to do is get rid of that prince!" Belarus poured a drop of the poison into the center of each rice onigiri before packaging them into a bento box she had commandeered years earlier from Korea as punishment for getting too close to her secret lab. Taking a moment's vacation from psychosis, she concluded that Korea most likely stole it from Japan.

"Now, since I can't rely on anyone else to do this right, I'll have to do it myself".

All China could do was say nothing for fear of getting smashed by the mentally deranged woman mumbling to herself.

"I'll have to disguise myself, but as what?" the noble ranted. "He loves cute things, but where to get a costume of something like that?" she paced, wracking her brain. "Russia has a panda costume! I'll steal it!"

With that thought in mind, she dashed off to her brother's room.

"Why couldn't I have had legs, aruuu?" whimpered the immobile magic mirror.

Arriving at her destination, Belarus reached for the doorknob. At that moment it opened, causing her to leap back in surprise.

"Sister?" Russia observed slightly fearfully.

Calming her racing heart, the woman quickly composed herself.

"Hello, Russia, how are you doing?"

"Fine," He replied cautiously. "What are you doing here?" he started inching around her.

"I was merely passing by, what about you?"

"Oh, um, I was just, uh-" his stomach growled. "I think I hear someone calling me, goodbye." Russia took off down the hallway; though, even his panic didn't stop him from noticing his sister was a bit…off.

Now that her precious brother was gone, Belarus took the opportunity to sneak into his room. Walking to the closet, she easily spied the animal costume sticking out amongst his more casual clothing. She always wondered why he had such an outfit, and even more so when he had the free time to get it as she wasn't stalk…looking out for his well-being when he did so. Grabbing the costume, she dashed back to her lab to don her newly acquired disguise and pick up the poisoned rice balls.

"…You can stop cackling, aru."

KA-THUNK!

The magic mirror again despaired over his lack of limbs while simultaneously thanking every god he could think of that the heavy magic tome the lady hurled had missed.

"You wait and see, Russia will be mine!" the noble declared through the panda head before pushing one of the stones in the wall, opening a secret passageway, complete with a canal and small boat.

China only heard more cackling until the door closed.

"What the hell, aru! How long has that been there?"

It was nightfall by the time Prince England and Prussia made it to the edge of the forest around Japan's kingdom.

"See, you were supposed to take a right after the bridge. You should listen to the awesome me more." Prussia gloated.

England simply grunted and looked to the side, but then did a double take.

"Oi, is that a giant panda?" He questioned incredulously.

"You and your imaginary friends. That's not very healthy, you know, and besides, you have me and my awesomeness with you. What else do you need? Well, come on! We have a brother to find and a prince to save!" the crimson-eyed chibi proclaimed, pumping his tiny fist into the air.

"That's my line, you git! And my friends are not imaginary!"

The chibi rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, and I have a bird on my head. Are we gonna go find them or what?"

"Wha- don't just bleeding take off like that! Oi, are you listening to me!" England called, urging Charles forward to follow the chibi that so far had only managed to infuriate him. No, Prussia did not make all of the right decisions on directions while they were traveling! He himself had been right exactly…that's not important. What was important was following said chibi so he didn't lose him in the tangle of vegetation. Because he couldn't let the little bugger get into any trouble; as annoying as he was, he reminded him too much of a certain rowdy child he had once known.

It most definitely wasn't because he was afraid of getting lost on his own. England scoffed at the thought, pushing through the underbrush.

"Japan, I'm almost there!"

fiskibollur: Icelandic fish cakes made with minced fish, eggs, and seasonings fried to golden brown patties