At the end of the hall there was a large wide room that resembled an old fashioned ballroom. Germany aimed the flashlight beam upwards at the chandelier that sparkled as the light hit it. Its beauty was grand and he thought it would be a shame to take it down and sell it. Perhaps he could restore the castle instead. Or turn it into a tourist attraction. There would be some profit in that as well and that could possibly help his economy.
"Even though it's day outside and there are tall windows here," China whispered, "it's still dark in here. Don't you find that odd, aru?"
It was true. The ballroom had windows that spanned across the entire west side and though there was some sunlight coming in, the windows were so old that the surface was tinted with something unknown to them that made the light dimmer.
"Doesn't matter," Germany sighed. "It is bright enough to see."
While Germany and Japan examined and talked about the chandelier and the possibility of restoring it, Italy, China, and Russia were looking around the room for anything of interest or clues that would lead to the discovery of Germany's investigation team.
Russia grunted as he pulled heavy wooden tables and chairs apart from each other. They were all recklessly piled onto each other at the corner of the room, creating a mountain of wood and nails. Some nails were poking out from the wood and Russia took care that he did not accidentally prick his fingers on them.
Eventually, when he cleared the corner and created a massive sea of wood around him, he was disappointed to find nothing in particular in the corner. He was sure that there was a better reason to stack the chairs and tables in that corner than just to move them out of the way.
A small gleam caught his eyes on the floor and he crouched down to examine it. Stuck in between the cracks of the wall was a small silver key layered with rust. Still, it was a key and keys opened new passages.
It was no easy feat, picking the key up. It was stuck in the cracks and Russia had to pick up a long rusty nail to get it out.
The key was freed within a matter of minutes.
"Hey guys, check this out," Russia called.
He heard the others approach and he turned to show them his discovery.
"Ooh, a key!" Italy exclaimed. "Is it a key to a treasure chest?"
"Perhaps it is a key to one of the doors in the hall," Japan said.
"Let's try it out then, aru," China said.
Russia led them back to the hall and when they came across the first door to their left, a startling roar caused the castle to rumble dangerously. Debris fell from the ceiling in small chunks but when the roar faded and the rumbling stopped, the ceiling looked as if it was still able to hold itself together.
"What was that?" Italy cried, hands covering his ears.
Germany coughed from the dust the debris caused. Fanning away the excess fog of dirt and who knows what else in the air, he said, "I don't know, but it's dangerous in this castle," He frowned and the idea of making the castle a tourist attraction was starting to look like a bad idea.
"We shouldn't stay here for too long," Japan said.
"No, we shouldn't, aru," China sighed.
Germany gritted his teeth in irritation. Reaching behind him, he tugged at Italy's collar and scolded him for getting them into this mess.
"Ve, I'm sorry, Germany!" Italy cried. Germany heard this all the time and was used to it but Italy never learned, not really. He could only sigh and release Italy's collar. He'd have to make him run extra laps later.
"Open the door," China said to Russia. "Can you open it?"
Russia tried to fit the key into the keyhole but it would not turn. "It's not-" he started.
Italy let out a cry and pointed towards the ballroom. Their alarmed gazes followed his finger.
There, just a mere few steps from them, was a grotesque figure which highly resembled a gruesomely deformed human being. Its clothes was faded and ripped, stained with dark, dry blood. Dirt was smeared all over what little flesh it had left and the stump where the right hand should have been at was still dripping with blood.
Its face, if one could call it that, barely had flesh left and they could see the innards and the muscles, if they could even call them muscles as well. The skin still attached, barely, just barely, to the body was horribly singed and it reeked of burned...something. Something burned and something dead...a foul mixture of smells that would normally provoke regurgitation but they were frozen in fear.
Where its eyes should be, there was nothing.
It did not seem to see them, however, for how could it? But even so, its appearance itself was enough to strike a panicky sensation to the countries. Countries were countries, but they were still 'human' and thus human nature still applied. Their fear of that...thing caused them their heartbeat to race and they were left breathing heavily.
In the silence, they could hear that thing limping in the ballroom. In the privacy of their own heads they heard their blood being pounded through their entire body that seemed slightly paralyzed. It wasn't until Russia broke out of the trance that the others started to regain their sanity.
"What on earth..." Germany said hoarsely.
His voice was louder than they wanted and soon enough they heard the limping footsteps return slowly.
"We need to get out of here," Japan whispered urgently.
"Back to the foyer, everyone!" China hissed, making a grab for Japan's arm.
The five quickly ran down the hall and Germany was in conflict on whether or not he should turn his flashlight off or leave it on. The thing didn't seem to have eyes, so they should be alright with the lights, right?
"Damn!" Germany cursed as they reached the end of the hall. The rumbling from before didn't cave in their end of the hall but the exit to the foyer had caved in completely, leaving them only boulders and fallen wooden beams.
"We need to find a door that the key opens before it gets to us," Russia said firmly, gripping the key even tighter.
But the idea of finding one before the thing could get them seemed like a horrible idea; having a single glance at it would only ignite nightmares but having to see it once more would only add more gas to the fire.
But Russia was already trying to fit the key into the first door without success and bounded to the next one. Germany caught up with him and aided him by giving Russia the light necessary to work with.
On the fourth door, the footsteps were within their range of hearing and their anxiety piqued. Another thought occurred to them when the fourth door did not open. What if the key did not open any of the doors?
There was a low growl somewhere and a frightening thing happened. The moment something growled was the moment their visions blurred. It was only for a brief second but their vision had never done that, not in their several hundred years or thousand or four thousand (perhaps five?) to China.
Italy's hands shook violently and China held his forehead tightly, face slightly contracted. "Aiya...my head is pounding,"
Germany's breathing was irregular, to his surprise and annoyance. Why was he so scared? It was probably a hallucination. Was it possible to hallucinate sounds? Yes, he was sure everything was a mere illusion.
But as his eyes fell upon the other four, trying to find a way to recover, he knew that they all were seeing the same thing, hearing the same thing...what was going on?
"The door," Japan gasped. "Please, try to find a door that will open!"
The sixth door they came across opened as the key turned. The relief that flooded through them was unspeakably uplifting and the five rushed inside, closing the door quietly and quickly.
The room was a regular bedroom with a window at the back and underneath the window was a desk. However, there were books scattered over the floor and on the large bed, done but left untouched for several years. The drawers were all pulled out and messily arranged in a fashion that the clothes in them were draped all over the place. Parts of the floorboards were ripped open and there was a wardrobe in the far corner of the room that was closed.
Japan grabbed the chair from the desk and propped it against the door, heaving a sigh.
"Ve..." Italy sat down on the bed and stared down at the floor.
China went over to the desk and peered out the window, his face falling. "It's so dark, aru..."
"This is a dangerous place, alright," Germany said to himself. "The castle can cave in, there are...things out there, and my investigation team have been here for a week. How could they have stand this?"
A grisly hand broke through the wood of the door, evoking yelps and quickly drawn breaths from the five. The thing was out there and its bony hand was groping the air beside Japan's head.
The door was surely going to be torn apart soon if they did not do something.
Germany searched the room quickly. The chair was not going to hold against the thing so he quickly snatch it up by its back and ran to the window. They were going to get out of there somehow, and outside was the best way to escape.
He slammed the chair into the glass but the chair itself fell apart into dust and scattered in the wind.
But he felt no draft.
"What? What?" Germany yelled, bewildered.
By now the door was ripped from the frame and he didn't dare turn around to look at it. Italy whimpered and scrambled beneath the bed. Hiding...yes, they must hide. If the thing couldn't see, there was no use, but that didn't mean they couldn't see and odd things happened when they came across disturbing sights or sounds.
Japan and China joined Italy underneath the bed and Russia motioned for Germany to the wardrobe. "Hide here. I'll deal with it, da?"
Germany shook his head. "I'll deal with it with you."
Russia nodded and slipped his hand into his coat, pulling out his iconic pipe. For once, Germany was glad Russia was by his side with the bloodied pipe. Perhaps having him joined by Japan earlier today wasn't so bad after all as long as they could ward the things off.
The problem was the thing's image. And smell, now that they had to get really close to it. Its' stench was still revolting to the point they did not dare breathe.
A strong sense of anger mixed with fear overwhelmed Germany that he could not think at all. He only did what his body told him to do and that was to pick up the closest weapon available and use it to his advantage.
Russia kept the thing busy for a while but Germany noticed that he wasn't hitting as hard as he could. Why wasn't he tearing the thing to pieces like he would normally?
Germany's eyes were fixed on the thing, even though by now his eyes betrayed him by changing all the colors into a strange red hue. It made things hard to distinguish and he wasn't sure if he was walking right, now that he thought about it.
He stumbled to the left, and then the right, images spinning in a dizzying vertigo. It became difficult to move his body and he moved cumbersomely. His head, clouded with confusion, pounded and he heard whispers again, only they were harsher.
Germany fell to his knees and toppled sideways, eyes bloodshot. He was gasping for air now, his hands wrapped around his neck as he struggled to breathe.
Russia, too, stumbled for a bit but there was something dark on his clothes. Germany's vision was still strange and red and he could not make out what the darkness on Russia's clothes was.
He was immobilized for a few seconds longer before his vision returned to normal and he was able to take one large gulp of air. All sentient thoughts returned to him and he was able to pick himself off the ground quickly.
Russia stumbled back towards the desk, clutching his arm while laughing nervously. "You...you...what are you? Haha...hahaha..." His pipe had fallen from his grasp and his head was cocked to the left, staring aimlessly at the thing with his bottom lip quivering.
Germany lunged for Russia's pipe and brought full strength into his arms to whack the thing away. However, he felt much of his strength sapped. He felt...more human.
When the thing started to target him, Germany gripped the pipe with both hands and clenched his teeth. With the energy he had left, he aimed for the deformed head-if he could call it that- and hit it off the thing's shoulders.
The 'head' flew to the wall with a gruesome splat and fell dully to the floor, leaving a trail of red behind. The body tumbled to the side and it moved no more.
"See, what did I tell you? The front door is open," England said with an air of pride.
"Wow, it's enormous..." America whistled, stepping into the foyer.
France tilted his head a little, frowning. "It's filthy here," he pouted. "I shouldn't have worn my best adventuring outfit..."
"Adventuring requires for you to get dirty, you frog," England scolded.
France laughed erotically again. "Oh England, you're lecturing moi on getting dirty?"
England snapped, "Of course not! Honestly, you make conversations incredibly awkward. Canada, how did you keep your innocence after you were raised by him?" England asked Canada with a sigh.
Canada, surprised England noticed him, laughed quietly. "You came along and took me from him before he could take my innocence away,"
England blinked. "Oh, yes, I remember now. My mistake."
Poking around for a few minutes, America found nothing interesting and declared they should venture on. "Up the stairs we go," he said in a sing-song voice.
The second floor was blocked off on the right, where the stairs had split, so they were forced to backtrack and take the left side. The hall of the left half of the stairs was dark and they couldn't make out ten feet in front of them. America had stopped at the sight of the darkness but England only continued on, feeling along the walls.
"Dude, what if you trip and fall?" America asked nervously. "Come back into the light! It's too dangerous."
"I'll be careful, America," England said casually. Already America could not make his figure out.
"It is what he says," France said thoughtfully, although he gave the wall a small look of uncertainty. "But I don't want to touch anything."
All of a sudden, England sharply inhaled and cursed under his breath. America, France, and Canada stared down the hall in the direction of his slight profanity. "Are you alright?" Canada asked.
"Ah, headache. It's horrible...my head is pounding and...is my vision going bad?" England's voice said slowly. Pause. Then he said in a whisper, "Everything is moving..."
"What?" America's jaw dropped. Was England seeing things too? Was it because he strayed too far from the group?
"I may be seeing things. No need to worry. It's just that...it's as if everything I see is a reflection in the water and then a pebble falls into it, making ripples. I am seeing images moving as if there is a ripple in the water," England said shortly.
"Where are you?" France asked.
"I've only taken at least a dozen steps. I'm not too far, but damn is it pitch black in here..."
France glanced at America as if to say, 'Well? What are you waiting for? Go in there and rescue him like the hero you claim to be!'
America gave France the, 'Are you kidding me? I'll die in there!' look, to which France raised an eyebrow.
Before America could throw back a silent facial expression to clarify his meaning, the demonic roar echoed around again, causing a rough tremor to shake the castle. A sickening crack brought his attention towards the darkness and a curt curse flew in the air before the crack became a crash and a large cloud of dust blasted at them, followed by small chunks of wood.
The tremor stopped as soon as the roar died away again.
"England!" Canada cried as America coughed, shielding his eyes from the dust.
"What, did you fall through the floor?" France called, raising his arm to protect his eyes.
Silence.
"England," France called again, "where are you?"
When the dust settled down, the hall was slightly lighter due to the little light the bottom floor gave off. They heard England cough from downstairs and they knew what had happened.
"England..." France said quietly. "And I thought America was the one who had to go on a diet..."
America, snapping out of his alarm, gave France a bewildered look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh shut it you bloody-" England croaked coughs interrupted his sentence. Taking a few seconds to clear his throat, he called up, "I only stepped on a fragile floorboard. It snapped when I stepped on it and it made the rest of the floor cave in."
"All of the floor?" America asked.
"No, you wanker," England said impatiently, "only part of the floor. You thought that the entire floor fell through?"
American coughed nervously. "Can't you get back up?"
There was a small pause before England said shortly, "I'll see what I can do. Stay there."
"But of course," France said with a grin. He leaned on the wall with his arms crossed and tossed his head back in order to move strands of his hair out of his way.
England rubbed the back of his neck tentatively. He winced as his fingers brushed by a gash, oozing with red, crimson blood. Withdrawing his fingers, England scoured his pockets for bandaids and a clean cloth. Once he was satisfied that he patched up his small wound, he left the pile of rubble and searched the room he fell into.
Nothing caught his interest, save for a few antique chairs that he had not seen in a couple of hundred years. He had given them a thorough examination out of curiosity and left them alone, not wanting to keep everyone waiting.
The door was locked when he tried it and he groaned in frustration. He'd have to kick the door down or something.
However, he didn't do that, not just yet. He circled around the room again and noticed how week the northern wall looked. He applied a little pressure to the bricks and jumped when they fell out of place and into the other side.
"This castle is ready to give way," England murmured to himself as he carefully and strategically removed the bricks until he made a hole wide enough for him to fit through.
The room he stepped into was large, like a ballroom. The first thing he noticed was the darkness from the outside. It gave him an ominous chill. Then a stack of chairs and tables thrown around in a corner. He made a small face, wondering how much damage the chairs and tables could have and how it was such a waste of fine craftsmanship.
"Oh well," he whispered to himself, for if he spoke his voice would echo and make him feel lonely.
England passed by the entrance as he walked around the perimeters, though the moment he took a peek down the hall, he heard several scuffling noises. He stopped in his tracks, staring at the darkness of the corridor. Something seemed to be breathing in that direction. Could it be America and the others? Were they playing around again?
"Oh, so they think the can scare me, is that it?" England scowled to himself and at that moment, he heard footsteps rushing away from him.
"I told them to stay put," he scowled, making his way through the dark corridor. "Damn, it's dark in here..."
England ran into several walls and tripped over many boulders and bricks that were lying around, possibly due to the earthquake/roar thing that had happened a few minutes ago. Tired of wandering aimlessly around in the dark, he groaned and leaned on what he thought was the wall.
He yelped as his hand, that was resting on the 'wall', fell through the feeble wooden door. Stuck, England moved his hand around in hopes of loosening it. The splintery wood made it no easy feat and small beads of blood started to roll down his skin. He was not able to see it, but he could feel it.
There were more noises on the other side of the room and he yelled, "Oi! Open the door America! It's not funny! I could get an infection! Oi, America! France! Canada, at least you'd have the sense to help me!"
When nothing happened, he kicked the door out of impatience and was surprised at how easy the door came off the hinges. His hand was now free, but it did not worry him anymore.
He stared ahead of him at two disfigured things, or monsters they seemed more like. For some odd reason, his vision acted as if it had a pulse for a split second, elongating his surroundings before reverting back to normal. Whatever the things were, their mere image sent a wild alarm to set off in his body and his first instinct would be to run or attack. His body would not respond, since this thoughts had flown elsewhere and refused to return to him.
It wasn't until the big one lunged at him that he started to realize he was in danger and started to fend off its unusually long arm. It was only the right arm that was longer; the left was normal- if he could call it normal.
England grimaced with each blow but somehow, for some reason, he seemed to be able to fend them off just fine. If only he could do something about the smell and their appearance. He still had a panicky feeling on the inside, and his breathing became irregular the longer he looked at them.
It was like he was losing his sanity the longer he was there with them.
"No...no, no, no," England croaked hoarsely. "What are you? What do you want? Stay away!"
With a final kick, he made the big one stumble back and fall. The things didn't seem to be too bright since it just sat there, growling and staring its single, large eye at him.
England panted, staring hard at the floorboards. Out of the corner of his eye, the right arm of the thing he just fought was twitching on the ground beside him.
He momentarily forgot that there was another, and the other one was quick. It swept down to grab the right arm and England, who was too fazed to know what was going on, received a heavy blunt blow to the head and he stumbled to the wall, losing consciousness.
"No..." he muttered to himself as his eyesight darkened. "I can't...no..."
His eyes closed as his slumped down the wall in a heap.
Prussia yawned and cast a casual glance around the living room. Still no sign of Germany. Didn't he say that he'd call Prussia if they found something interesting in that one castle? If they didn't find anything of value, then they'd be back by now. And if they did, then he'd receive a call by now.
Unless they forgot.
"Who can ever forget the awesome Prussia?" Prussia smirked to himself. Then his smirk faded when he remembered the world didn't see him as a country anymore. Just a memory from the past.
"The memory from the past is still here, though," Prussia muttered. He glanced at the coffee table and frowned. He bent over to neatly arrange the remote controls to the television and stereos so that they were all facing the same direction and were lined up by length.
"That's better," he murmured.
The doorbell rang once, and then again, and then once more accompanied by several furious knocks.
"Hey! Open up you potato-eating bastard!" a voice called from the outside.
Prussia groaned. Annoyed, he jogged to the front door, yanked it open to reveal Romano, and said in his calmest tone, "For the last time, I. Am. Awesome. I'm not a bastard, though I might have been before, but I. Am. Awesome."
Romano, taken aback, cleared his throat nervously and averted his eyes. "Well er, I wasn't talking about you..."
Prussia crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame. "Alright then. What is it? What do you want?"
"Where's my brother? He never told me where he put the new stock of pasta and I'm hungry, dammit."
"I'd like to know where my brother is also," Prussia admitted. Then his red eyes flashed and he smirked. "Well, why don't we go look for them?"
Romano blinked.
"I'll take that as a yes. Okay, let's go,"
"Wait, wha-"
But Prussia had grabbed his coat from the coat hanger and grabbed the house key before passing an astounded Romano, descending the steps. To his surprise and amusement, Spain was waiting at the end of the driveway.
"Kesesese," Prussia laughed. "You're here too, Spain?"
"Romano wouldn't stop bothering me about Italy so I brought him here to see if you knew, haha," Spain said pleasantly, scratching the back of his head. "I knew that Germany was off on a trip but I was wondering if you can call him,"
"Well we're gonna go see them right now. Come along with us," Prussia said. "The more the better,"
Korea bit his lips. China wasn't home and Japan wasn't home either. Taiwan was also bothered by that fact that Japan was not home. She didn't really mind too much about what would happen to China but Japan's disappearance was upsetting.
Hong Kong mentioned that China had driven off somewhere with two other people, but Hong Kong couldn't make out who the other two were when they passed by his place. Macao didn't answer them until they were served some food and drinks but even after their snack, Macao didn't see China all day.
And so Korea and Taiwan dragged the two to visit Vietnam and they inquired her if they knew where China and Japan were. She had pondered this for a while as she finished her tea but had no recollection of seeing China driving by earlier that day, and so, to her discomfort, Korea and Taiwan dragged her along to Thailand's house.
"Ahaha, I haven't seen him drive by today, ana," Thailand said. "Sorry,"
"Hmm, Aniki has to be here somewhere," Korea said slowly.
"Are you sure he's gone?" Macao asked.
"Yeah, he didn't leave a note on his door, da-ze,"
"Did Japan leave a note?" Hong Kong asked.
Korea stared at him. Taiwan narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you forget to check?" she asked incredulously. "Japan may be home all along and you've worried me for nothing!"
And of course, on Japan's front door there was a note explaining how he had gone to Germany for a little while.
"To Germany, da-ze!" Korea declared.
"What? Why? Why must we all go with you?" Vietnam asked.
Korea grinned at her. "It's not like we all gather up together too often nowadays, Vietnam. Let's go out on a family vacation!"
"But, it's been like, two weeks since we last went out together," Hong Kong pointed out irritably. "Can't I go back home and, like, watch movies instead? Today is supposed to be my break day."
"And we are having a break. In Germany, da-ze," Korea explained. "Come on, I'll treat to whatever Japan and Aniki are having over there."
"And how do you know China's with him, ana?" Thailand asked.
Korea laughed at his siblings. "I don't, da-ze!"