America and England continued to walk. They weren't talking to each other and wouldn't even look at each other. It was a quiet walk with only the gentle sound of a music box melody playing in the background. Their minds were too occupied with thinking of the argument they just had that they didn't even realise they had left Canada behind.
Eventually they came to a fork in the path, and they knew they would have to start talking again if they were to progress and discuss which path to take.
"Hey, the sound is louder coming from the left path," America spoke first as he carefully listened.
"How can you tell?" England asked in disbelief of America's claim. "It sounds the same everywhere."
"No way, it's defiantly louder on the left."
"Why is that important anyway?"
"Because it's like the lost woods; we have to follow the sound."
"What sort of logic is that? We're not in some game, America!"
"Come on, England, it wouldn't hurt to trust my judgement. Just because we don't always agree on everything doesn't mean you're choice is always the right one."
"I suppose we have to go one way, so fine, we'll go left, but if anything bad happens, it's your fault."
"Stop blaming everything on me; I can't control if something bad happens! Besides, I'm the hero, so don't worry, I can deal with anything that awaits us on this path!"
"Whatever you say, America," England let out a sigh.
"You're still mad at me?" America asked as he pouted.
"Of course," England replied, and didn't utter another word.
The two of them headed down the left path at America's request. They were not talking again. They simply walked and hoped that nothing was going to try to attack them. After walking for a while, the floor began to shake a little. They tried to not think much of it and continued to walk, but the shaking became more violent and the floor began to break. They both ran in hopes of reaching a part of the path where the ground was much more stable, but the ground broke where America had stepped.
America fell through the ground but managed to hold on to the ground around the edge of the hole. His fingers were slipping and he knew he'd not be able to hold on much longer. Just as his fingers could no longer grasp onto the edge any longer, England stretched out his hands and caught hold of America's wrist.
"England, you're not strong enough to pull me up, you'll fall too!" America shouted up to England. "Just let me go! I'll probably be fine, after all, we don't die too easily."
"Don't say something so stupid," England replied as he tried pulling America up. "I'm not going to let you fall!"
America could see in England's eyes just how serious he was. He grasped onto England's arms and tried to help pull himself up. England was able to pull America up enough that America could once again grasp at the ground at the edge of the hole. From there, America was able to use his own strength to pull himself up further with England still helping him.
Once America was out of the hole, the ground had stopped shaking. England and America both sat on the ground near the hole, but at a safe enough distance away to avoid falling in, to rest.
"Thanks for saving me," America said and laughed nervously. "I must be such an un-cool hero if I need to be saved."
"Don't worry about it, neither of us could have done anything about the floor breaking," England replied. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"But why did you bother save me?" America asked. "You could have fallen too. Besides, I thought you were mad at me."
"Just because I'm mad at you doesn't mean I don't care about you," England said, blushing slightly from embarrassment.
"Really?" America asked.
"Yes, really, and now that you know it, don't make me say it again," England stood up and reached a hand down to America. "Let's go."
America took hold of England's hand and allowed him to help him up. They released each other's hands and continued to walk along the dimly lit path. They both understood that it wasn't the right place to be continuously fighting. They both put their arguments and differences behind them and decided that cooperation would be the only way they would find a way out.
They soon came to what appeared to be a door that was lacking any handle to open it with. England pushed against the door, but it wouldn't open.
"Must be a pull door, or maybe there is a special way to open it," England guessed as he examined the door.
"Out the way, England!" America shouted.
England stepped away from the door and watched as America charged forward, ramming himself straight into it, and breaking it open. The door was not as solid as it appeared considering how easily it had broken with just America's strength.
"Well that's one way to open it," England chuckled as he stepped into the area they now had access to.
"You're welcome," America followed England into the room.
"Is that?" England questions as he peered over at the familiar figures in the distance. "Oh great, that path connects to the one that stupid frog took. I bet none of us have made any real progress here."
"Well at least we know where the path leads and we're not all split up anymore," America commented, trying to be optimistic.
"Let's just go and see what they're doing," England suggested.
The two of them walked over to where France, China, and Russia were. France was in tears, and was trying to remove a large spring from around his ankle. He had accidentally stood on it, when he had entered the area, and it had painfully tightened around his ankle. He pulled at the spring as furiously, but it wouldn't come off at all. It appeared to be tightening each time he pulled at it. The sharp metal spring had pieced through his boots and clothes and was slightly cutting his left ankle.
"What the blood hell are you doing, frog!?" England shouted, not pleased to find that the three of them had also apparently made no progress at all in their journey either.
"It's not my fault that the strangest things attack us in this place, so don't shout at me," France said as he painfully continued to pull at the spring. "It's like this thing has a mind of its own and doesn't want to let go."
"Dude, I'm stronger than you," America boasted. "Let me help, I'm the hero after all."
America tightly grasped the spring in his hands and pulled with all his might.
"Aaggghhh! STOP!" France screamed out in pain. "Are you trying to rip my let off?"
America's strong pulling only made the spring tighter, just as France's pulling did. The spring was so tightly wrapped around his ankle that it had began cutting through his skin. Blood started to stain France's shredded boots, and France continued to cry out in pain.
"America, let go, you idiot!" England shouted. "You're just making it worse."
America could also see the damage it was doing and let go of the spring. France clutched at his ankle, hoping the spring would just let go so that he could be freed of the pain.
"Sorry, France," America apologised, feeling really bad for causing France more pain. "It looks like there's no way to get it off."
"Why don't we just cut his leg off?" Russia suggested.
"Non! Don't even joke about that!" France exclaimed.
"Who said I was joking?" Russia chuckled.
"I know what the problem is, aru!" China said confidently. "I don't see why you'd deserve my help, but basically, rather than pulling, try pushing each end of the spring closer together, aru."
"How is that supposed to work?" France questioned in annoyance.
"Quit being such as wimp, aru," China scolded France. "It's like a Chinese finger trap; the harder you pull, the tighter it becomes. The only way out is to push the opposite way so that it will be enlarged and not tighten, aru."
France let go of his leg and took a deep breath. He took hold of each end of the spring and started pushing them closer together as China had instructed. As the ends became closer, the hole got bigger and the spring became loose around his ankle, so France was able to remove it from his ankle. As soon as it was off, France threw the spring away from him and promised to himself that he would pay more attention to where he steps.
"Ah, I'm free," France said in relief; however his ankle was still bleeding and really hurt. "Thanks, China."
"You're so smart China, you should become one with me, da?" Russia said with a big smile and stepped closer to China.
"Aiya! Keep away from me!" China shouted as he stepped away from Russia.
As he took another step back, his foot pressed on a switch that was on the floor. Suddenly the ground began to shake and more switches appeared from the ground. The trail of switches stretched as far as they could see. It appeared to be a 5x10 grid of switches.
"What the heck did you just do, China?" America asked.
"I didn't do anything, aru!" China protested.
"This looks interesting, ufufu," Russia smiled as he looked along the dark, switch filled corridor.
"There must be at least 50 switches on the floor, how do we know which ones we are suppose press?" England questioned.
France, who was still sitting on the floor, felt like he had been forgotten about. He wanted to see how bad the damaged to his ankle was. After removing his boot, he could clearly see that his foot was badly cut and his ankle was still slightly bleeding where the spring had cut into him. France knew he had nothing to patch himself up with, but he soon recalled that Canada was carrying bandages with him.
"Canada?" France called out when he realised that he couldn't see Canada anywhere.
He looked around, frantically turning from side to side.
"Angleterre," France called over to England. "Canada went with you, didn't he?"
"Yes, he-" England soon realised he had forgotten about Canada. "Oh shit, where is he?"
"That's what I'd like to ask you!" France shouted. "How could you leave Canada behind when we're in such as terrible situation. If something has happened to him, I'll never forgive you."
England felt terrible for forgetting about Canada. As did America when he found out that Canada was missing. As a hero, protecting those around him should have been his top priority, but he had assumed Canada was following them and ended up forgetting that he was with them.
"America, we're going back, we have to find Canada," England demanded.
America couldn't agree more. As they began to walk, France started putting his shredded boot back on.
"Wait, I'm coming too," France insisted, attempting to stand up.
"Not a chance, frog," England said. "You'll just slow us down."
France slumped back to the ground, accepting that he couldn't possibly help with his bad ankle. He knew he would have to trust that England and America would be able to find him.
"Just figure out what all the switches are for by the time we get back," England commanded before leaving with America.
France nodded as he watched England and America run back the way they came from in search of Canada.
A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating this story for a while. My laptop hasn't been working well for a while now, making it annoyingly difficult to upload or write new chapters for this story.