A/N: I know it must sound like I'm making excuses, but I've not written any new chapters for this story in so long because I've just not had the time. I thought that once my laptop was fixed I'd be able to go back to writing a bit every few days like I used to, but I just couldn't find time and I'm still incredibly busy. I'm sorry I can't update often like I did when I first started writing, but please be patient with me because I really don't like leaving things unfinished. I'll try to write more when I can and I'm sorry for neglecting this story so much. It's possible that because I've begun writing it again, I may find myself working on it a bit more often than I expect. Thank you for putting up with me and my terrible writing for so long already.

Germany left the room first to check that there was nothing dangerous nearby. He could neither see nor hear any kind of creature or monster along the path, and so he could only assume that it would be safe for them to leave the room.

"The coast is clear," Germany said to Italy and Japan as he began exiting the room. "Let's get a move on."

Italy and Japan left the cold room and joined Germany on the path. The trio headed back the way they had just come from. It was unclear how far they had travelled down the path; they could have been really close to the end of it, and yet they were walking back the other way. Italy stood close to Germany, worrying that the monster that had chased them earlier would return.

"Germany, how did that monster come from behind us?" Italy asked. "We had just come from there, so shouldn't we have seen it?"

"Well," Germany hesitated when answering; not sure he wanted to share his thoughts just in case he further worried or scared Italy. "That monster, whatever it was, was probably hiding in the darkness. We must have walked straight past it because we couldn't see it."

"Does that mean we could be walking past more of them right now?" Italy began to panic; he wanted to be brave, but couldn't hide how scared he was.

"Calm down, Italy. If we can't see or hear them, they're probably very far away, so don't worry," Germany explained, hoping to stop Italy from panicking.

"We're taking this path again when we've found whoever just arrived, aren't we?" Japan enquired.

"Is that true, Germany?" Italy interrupted before Germany could answer Japan. "I thought we were leaving this creepy path. Why can't we find somewhere safe and wait for someone to find the way out? I don't want to explore this place any more."

"There are only three paths and we agreed to take this one, so we must reach the end of it eventually," Germany replied. "It may be us who find the way out, just stay close and you'll be safe."

Italy nodded to show that he understood, but he was not pleased at all that they were travelling the same ground repeatedly. He wanted to find a way out as soon as possible, but really hated wandering around so much, it made him feel like they would become lost. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any more ghosts around, so other than having the thought that the monsters are hiding in the darkness and the creepy atmosphere, the journey didn't appear to be too scary.

The three of them were about half way back to where they had arrived when Germany suddenly tripped over. Italy and Japan were both taken by surprise, but quickly went to help him up.

"It wasn't my fault this time," Italy decided to mention hastily, just in case Germany were to think he was being too clingy again.

"I know," Germany said as he stood up. "I must have tripped on something."

"Are you alright?" Japan asked, glancing down at where Germany's trousers had torn slightly around his knees. "This is the second time you've fallen."

"I'm fine," Germany got to his feet. "I'm not going to be easily hurt by just falling over."

"I think I found what you tripped on," Italy said as he crouched close to the ground. "It must have been this strange rock."

"A strange rock?" Japan questioned as he walked towards where Italy was crouching, interested in what Italy was talking about. "What's so strange about it?"

"It's very round and smooth and a bit shiny. Rocks are usually rough and bumpy," Italy explained as he rubbed his hands over the suspicious rock that was sticking out of the ground to remove dirt from it.

"That is rather peculiar, but this is a strange place we are in after all," Japan crouched with Italy and inspected the rock closer. "I think this is metal, not a rock. Maybe it's part of something."

"Anyway, let's just keep going," Germany couldn't believe how distracted they were by a lump of metal in the ground and started to walk again knowing that they would follow. "We should be near the end of the path soon."

Italy and Japan got up and continued to walk with Germany. It wasn't much further to walk before they reached the end of the path and were back where they had first entered the realm. Unlike they had expected; the room was empty. There was no one there, and so the trio began considering different possibilities for why they had not encountered anyone.

"We probably took too long to get here and so they already wandered off." Japan guessed.

"Possibly," Germany agreed. "They must have taken one of the other paths, and if that's so, they may run into the others."

"Or maybe the music box just played randomly and no one new came here," Italy suggested.

"I hope you're right, Italy. I'd hate to think that there are others trapped in this awful place with us," Germany said, and Japan nodded his head in agreement.

The three of them stood in an awkward silence for a short while, looking around and unsure of what to do. They had been expecting to find someone, but because they hadn't, they felt like they had wasted their time. Germany was just about to suggest that they go back down the path to continue searching for an escape, but suddenly the sound of footsteps running towards them could be heard.

"WEEEESSSSTTT!" Prussia shouted as he ran towards his younger brother with a huge smile on his face, clearly happy to be seeing his brother.

"So it was Prussia who ended up here," Italy commented, but soon noticed the state he was in. "Ahhh! Is that blood all over his clothes?"

"Why are you here?" Germany bombarded his brother with questions. "And why are you covered in blood and bandages? Are you okay? You couldn't have been here long, what happened?"

"Long story short; you weren't at home and I couldn't contact you. I had a feeling you were in trouble, so I went looking for you in case you needed my awesome help." Prussia replied. "Then when I got here I was attacked, but I'm fine now."

"So now you're trapped here too in this dangerous place," Germany sighed, he wasn't pleased that it was his brother who had ended up trapped with them, and he really wasn't pleased to find he had been injured. "And why couldn't you have just called me? You should have known I have my phone with me."

"The calls weren't going through at all," Prussia explained. "It was the same when I tried calling Italy too."

Germany and Italy both checked their phones. They saw that they had no signal. They knew that meant they would not be able to contact anyone else in the realm, so even if they did find an exit, there would be no way to tell anyone about it.

"We're doomed, even if someone finds the way out, we have no way of knowing if we can't keep in contact," Germany exaggerated, feeling very frustrated that he had not noticed sooner.

"What's wrong, West?" Prussia asked, unsure of why his brother was so worried.

"There is no signal here, so the phones don't work," Germany said.

"I found that out earlier," Canada mentioned in his quiet voice.

Japan eventually noticed that Canada had been standing behind Prussia the whole time.

"Huh? America-san, what are you doing here? I thought you left with England-san," Japan asked Canada.

"I'm not America, I'm Canada," he replied.

"Canada?" Japan questioned as he searched deep into his memory. "Oh yes, Canada-san, I'm sorry, you just look so similar to America-san. But didn't you go with America-san and England-san?"

"We got separated," Canada said with a frown. "I couldn't call them because there is no signal here."

"You can stay with us," Japan offered.

"Thanks," Canada replied; obviously not wanting to choose the option of searching for England and America alone; not like the others would likely allow him to wander off on his own in such a dangerous place anyway.

"It probably best that we all make sure to stick together now that we know we can't contact each other," Japan suggested.

"I agree," Germany said. "I would suggest we follow the path the others took so that we can find them and let them know about the lack of communication, however we have to reach the end of the path we first took."

"Why?" Italy asked, still not keen on the idea of going back down the path.

"If the exit is at the end, then we have found a way out, but if we chase after the others, we'll find ourselves running in circles. We have to keep moving forward now and search for everyone later," Germany explained.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Prussia said enthusiastically as he marched towards the path, his bird chirping from his head as he went. "Let's hurry up so we can get out of here!"

"Wait for us, brother," Germany called out as he and the others followed Prussia down the path.

As they walked down the creepy dark path, Germany steadied his walking pace with Canada's. Canada became nervous, as he was not sure why Germany would choose to walk next to him.

"You bandaged up my brother didn't you?" Germany asked him rhetorically. "Thanks for taking care of him."

"No problem," Canada quietly replied. "I'm just glad I found him; his injuries looked bad, but he seems fine now, so you probably don't have to worry about him too much."

"Yeah, West, you don't have to worry about me," Prussia said, appearing next to his brother, causing Germany to jump slightly from surprise.

"I thought you were walking in front with Japan and Italy," Germany said, justifying his slight shock.

"I was, but then I heard you talking about my awesome self, so I slowed down to get closer to you so I could hear you better," Prussia replied with a laugh and a grin on his face.

Germany let out a sigh and walked closer to Italy and Japan to check how they were doing. Prussia continued to walk behind them next to Canada.

"Hey, Prussia," Canada began to speak. "I um… I don't want to sound mean. I know it's terrible that you ended up here with us but…"

"What?"

"Well, I'm glad you came here. If you hadn't then I'd probably be searching around on my own right now since I got separated from America and England."

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind that I was able to come here since I'm only here 'cause I was searching for my brother, and if I were able to help you out by just being here, then I guess I'm kinda glad I ended up here."

"I find it hard to believe that you're glad you ended up here," Canada chuckled a little, feeling happy that Prussia didn't seem to be as bothered by the realm as everyone else.

"Well, getting beaten up was definitely not awesome at all, and I guess this place is really creepy," Prussia seemed to be lowering the volume of his voice to prevent the others from hearing what he said next. "But if someone as awesome as myself started to freak out, then Italy, who scares easily, would get all freaked out too. My brother's the same; he knows that Italy wouldn't be able to cope if everyone around him were also panicking. We have to stay strong even in difficult situations."

Canada nodded his head, showing that he understood and agreed with what Prussia was saying. He spoke confidently and optimistically, saying "We just all have to try our hardest to get through this. We'll find the exit eventually."

Before the conversation could continue, a loud grumbling sound could be heard in the distance behind them. This was then followed by multiple thumping sounds, identical to what they had heard earlier when they were being chased by what appeared to be a giant monster.

"What was that?!" Italy shrieked.

"It must be the monster from earlier," Japan said, getting straight to the point.

"We have to hurry," Germany demanded. "Everyone start running now, we'll go back to that room. It shouldn't be too far."

Everyone ran, staying close together so that no one would be left behind, but as they ran, no room appeared to come into sight. It felt as though they were going down a completely different path. Prussia took his bird into his hand to be sure it wouldn't be separated from him. Similarly, Canada held onto Kumajirou to keep him even closer.

"Who are you?" The bear asked, looking up at his owner, but was completely ignored by Canada who was appeared to be rather annoyed by the question and was deciding to put all his energy into running rather than replying to irritating questions.

"We should have gotten to the room by now," Germany commented as he looked around.

The monster was not in sight, but the thumping noises it made were clearly getting louder. They all continued to run, not wanting to risk coming into contact with the creature, but they never once passed the room they had previously taken shelter in. However, they did reach what appeared to be the end of the path. Before them was a wall, as if the path just ended there; a dead end.

A/N: I have a confession, I had written about 98% of this chapter a couple of months ago. It just needed to be put together and edited a bit before I felt comfortable sharing it. I guess I just wasn't able to do so back then, sorry.