A/N: hello again y'all! Did you miss me? 'Cause I missed you! I've been busy preparing about three or four new hetalia stories I'm probably gonna put up in the summer. Oh yeah, and I've been studying. That too. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter; I have a vague idea of where I (maybe) want it to go...

I still haven't bought hetalia but I'm working on it. But for now, I don't own it. This is AU in case you haven't guessed already.

"Who did you see?"

Alfred was still trying his absolute best to hide behind a visibly angry Arthur when the ghost prepared to reveal the possible culprit. He didn't much fancy having a conversation with a spirit that didn't involve some kind of exorcism, but this was an important moment for their little gang. Besides, with Arthur there, he felt just a bit safer. The American couldn't put his finger on exactly why he valued 'Spooky Arthur's' company so much, he just knew that no one else made him laugh like he could. And no one else had that voice, and that knack for sarcasm. Arthur was just... Arthur. Yep, there was just no other way to describe him. Alfred took some solace in this and let out a little, nervous chuckle, temporarily forgetting the situation.

Opposite the group, Antonio, still looking a little too 'dead' for Alfred's liking, eyed up his confidents and spoke. "There was this boy... With glasses." He began, his brow knotting into an expression of extreme concentration and some regret.

"He used the computer to somehow- I don't know- control that boy." Noticing their bewildered faces, the ex-pupil made a more obvious statement; "He made him attack Sadiq."

A few seconds of contemplation and plotting amongst the boys let a soft silence fall across the room. Alfred, not being one for over-thinking situations, took this time to re-adjust his glasses. He wondered if this would be a fairly normal Thursday night in the future; if they would always be spending all their time sneaking around and deciphering clues. After picturing this new and vastly different lifestyle, he decided it wouldn't be that bad, providing he could still catch the evening episodes of the walking dead. He didn't care if it scared the bejesus out of him, it was still badass.

"Alfred, will you please stop daydreaming about violence and various American dramas? We have a job to do here" Arthur sighed, folding his arms.

The American jumped back ever so slightly and looked at his friend with wary eyes. "H- how did you know I was thinking about that!?" 'Is this some new kind of superpower he's developed?' He wondered, not sure how he felt about Arthur's otherworldly display of magic.

"It's bloody obvious. You always have that ridiculous constipated look when you think about that 'hero' rubbish."

Choosing to ignore the obvious diss, Alfred spoke up for the first time to give his opinion. "Well maybe this dude uses all forms of technology to reprogram people." Thinking about the conclusion he just reached, Alfred let himself get a little excited and felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. The very best part of this case was that it had absolutely nothing to do with the ghosts. Only good old, non-scary Sci-Fi. He could almost forget that an actual ghost was standing next to him. Putting his arm around him, even.

Waaaait a minute. The oblivious American looked to his shoulder to find a content Antonio beaming down at him like there was no tomorrow. Which Alfred was convinced there wouldn't be, the way things were going.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" He only dared speak in slow syllables, as if raising his voice would anger the spirit. But there was really no chance of that happening. Despite all the signs, this American was still convinced that harmless, adorable Antonio was out for his soul.

"Ah, you know Amigo... Life's good, for some reason you can all see me now... And we're all going to stop the bad guy as a team!" He giggled, much like a junior high school girl "it doesn't get much better than this!"

"Well, we best be off then. Time's getting on and we've got a physical description. It shouldn't be too hard from here on out." Arthur made a gesture for his team to leave the building before pointing at his watch. That was that then. Alfred shakily pried the Spaniard's not quite corporeal arm off his broad shoulders and shuffled nervously out of the classroom.

"Nooooo... Don't leave meeeee!" Sobs could be heard from the room as they made their way back, trying not to feel too morally obliged to comfort the already dead teen, who would surely be 'forever alone'.

Arthur took a sip from his morning coffee and pretended it tasted nice. He often found that a pleasing, hot beverage started the day well. Unfortunately, he hadn't consumed a pleasing, hot beverage since their town had been forced on an unwelcome 'tea hiatus'. Some kind of Icelandic ash cloud had prevented shipments to their landlocked community, most of which had been tea. Arthur shook his body a little, expelling the dark thoughts from his head. His therapist had told him to steer away from depressing memories, and there were none more depressing than that.

He had arrived at school exactly two hours early for a few good reasons. Firstly, he needed to do some digging into the nameless, but no longer faceless culprit Antonio had discovered. He was convinced this would take little more than an hour with the help of mister popular himself, Alfred. The other, and considerably more arduous task he had to complete this chilly morning, was to pick up a certain rowdy Frenchman from his sleepover party with Antonio. Last night Francis was more than reluctant to leave his old friend he had just been reunited with, and in a sea of spewing tears and smiles, they embraced and spent the night discussing the reassembling of the 'Bad Touch Trio'. Arthur could only guess what the hell that was- some kind of boy bad? The names of Porn stars? With those two, it could have been both or neither. Fortunately for him, he didn't really care.

He was, however, slightly bothered about the ghost and why they could suddenly see him. Perhaps his magic made it possible to view supernatural entities? Maybe it was his magic that let the others see Antonio? There wasn't anyway of knowing. At least, not until they'd figured this out.

From across the yard, a familiar face made its way towards him. Dressed in hipster pink as always, sassy Feliks Łukasiewicz looked as though he was a man on a mission; striding towards the Brit at an unnatural pace. Arthur noticed his rhinestone covered Blackberry in his pocket. He called out.

"Good morning Feliks. Are you... alright?"

Nothing. The Polish boy just kept walking towards the flustered Arthur Kirkland until he was close enough to pick him up by his collar. Arthur's blonde hair fell over his eyes but he could still make out his attacker's face and noticed how his eyes were not quite familiar.

"This is a warning. Consider yourself lucky I don't kill you right here on the spot." Feliks- no, not Feliks, twisted his head to the side looking coldly at the British teen.

"Who- who... Are you?" He managed to mutter, amidst the strain of being held up by his collarbone at the hands of a 5"4 skinny boy.

Whoever was talking through the usually sociable Pole sighed slightly. "Silly boy. I thought I made it obvious- NO MORE SNOOPING AROUND." His once high pitched voice had been mixed in with another, more gruff one as he pulled Arthur back, preparing for a throw.

"You want to play detective? You want to join this world? Well here's your first taste of reality!"

Before Arthur Kirkland had time to protest, he was thrown through the air at a rather alarming height before hitting the smooth, white walls of the school and losing what little consciousness had left. He could only wonder how much that was going to hurt when he woke up. If he woke up at all.