The night was dark, chilled, and brought an almost suffocating quiet along with it. The wind did not rustle through the trees; from the animals and birds, there was only silence. It was a night that promised misgivings to anyone who dared journey through it, and one would expect everyone unfortunate to find themselves in a night such as this to go straight to bed and hope for it to end quickly.

However, a certain group of nations who were currently attending a school known as 'W Academy' seemed intent on taking advantage of this.

"And so," China said, smiling his best sinister smile, "it is said her ghost still haunts this school..." A single candle was the only source of light in the small classroom, and the way it flickered and illuminated the shorter nation's face would have made the most cynical man question whether monsters or ghosts or who knew what else really existed. "She looks for bad students, bad students who stay in school after dark... Just like us..."

From across the room, many terrified whimpers could be heard.

"Why did we come here to tell ghost stories?" America moaned "This is way too scary..."

"Wasn't this your idea, Amérique?" France asked.

"Quiet! Anyway, once she finds you, she will eat your soul and steal your body," China continued. "This ordinary student was filled with such anger after her murder. It is said her spirit now takes the form of a shadow... The shadow of her next victim." China's smile only seemed to stretch.

Then, suddenly and plunging the room into darkness and confusion, the flame from the single candle flickered and died. Everyone screamed.

With a shriek, America grabbed onto the nearest thing he could find.

"America, let go of me!" England pulled himself away, scowling.

"Huh? Oh, s-sorry... B-but wait, aren't you scared?"

Italy clung and sobbed into Germany's shirt for dear life. Germany frowned and turned to the general direction where he knew China was stood.

"All right, that's enough!" Germany called. "China, stop this and light the candle. Your turn has gone on long enough anyway."

"I-I didn't touch it! It went out on its own!" China's voice shook slightly.

"But..." France began slowly. "Maybe you just accidentally...?"

There was a bang from the other side of the room. A slow, continuous knocking at the door, and a silhouette was dimly visible at its window. Everyone stared fearfully.

…Everyone except Russia, who was sitting down at one of the desks and smiling quietly. "America," he said coolly, "you should answer the door."

America had been fighting the urge to tackle yet another country, but at the Russian's words he spun around in shock. "What?"

"Everyone else is much too scared. Besides, aren't you the hero?" Russia smiled and America wondered if he was imagining the almost mocking tone it held.

"F-fine!" America huffed. He attempted to look strong and walked towards the door determinedly, though the fact he was trembling slightly as he went lessened this effect.

It's nothing, he told himself. It's not like it's the ghost or anything...

The knocking seemed to continue louder than ever, and America had to suppress a squeak. He grit his teeth together in sudden annoyance and forced himself to grab the door handle.

The door swung open.

"I found you…"

America let out a noise not unlike a dying lamb and jumped back, immediately collapsing to the floor.

"Kesesese~ I can't believe you fell for that!" Now that the moment had ended and the 'ghost' was no longer putting on an act, everyone realised they actually recognised the voice. The lights were flicked on and Prussia and Japan could be seen in the doorway.

China was the first to react. "Your timing was perfect!" he said, obviously pleased.

"This was all a trick?" France sounded shocked.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Japan said, looking more than a little sheepish. "We could hear China-san's story in the hallway, and Prussia-kun said it would be an 'awesome' idea..."

"Ve~ That was scary~," Italy whined, still hugging Germany. He smiled. "But America seemed a lot more scared than me..." A few other countries smirked down at the still sprawled out on the floor American nation.

Even Germany, of all people, was trying to hide a smile. "That scream was pretty loud..."

"What did you expect?" Russia asked.

"Sadists," America spat. "All of you are sadists."

"I'm sorry America-san," Japan apologised again. "Oh, that reminds me—there was someone who was looking for you..." He glanced towards the door.

Canada peered from around the corner, smiling nervously. "Hello, everyone..." he said quietly.

"Oh, hey, bro." America climbed to his feet, surprised, forgetting that he had just come close to a heart attack.

China gasped, and he wasn't the only one who looked surprised. "Wait. America has a brother?"

"...I'm in the same class as all of you."

"So, why are you all here?" America asked.

Prussia grinned. "West told me what you were all doing and I figured there was no way a ghost story party could go on without me!"

"I heard you were coming here to clear the classroom after school had finished and I wanted to help..." Japan frowned. "I didn't realise you were lying just so you could do this..."

"What about you, Canada?" France asked, not looking Japan in the eye.

"I... I've been really into occult things lately..." Canada blushed slightly. "I thought it would be fun..."

Russia looked at the Canadian interestedly "An interest in the occult? Could that be because you are so much like a ghost yourself?"

Ignoring this comment, Canada started to rummage around inside his bag and carefully pulled something out.

No one could guess what it was just by looking. It looked thin and circular, like some kind of tile. With the way it was chipped and cracked, its faded colour and the intricate symbols and designs across it, it seemed to be more ancient than China. In fact, crumbling dirt was caked over it in such a way that it was as if this object had only recently been excavated. Five lines had been carved into it, creating ten separate pieces. ("It's like a pizza!" Italy commented happily).

"Um…" America put his head to one side. Everyone who had managed to see the strange tile wore a similar expression of confusion. "What's that supposed to be?"

Canada looked embarrassed. "More than anything, I've been really interested in charms and stuff lately. I found this when I was researching them. It's a friendship charm."

"How did you get this?" France asked, frowning. "It's like some kind of relic… It must have cost a fortune."

"Oh, no." Canada shook his head. "That's just the design. It's supposed to look like this. You can find these all over the place. Anyway, according to the website I found, if you use this with your closest friends then you'll be together forever."

"Together forever?" England sent France a pointed look. "In regards to certain people, I don't really like the sound of that."

"The feeling is mutual, mon ami."

"It just means we'll always be friends." Canada looked away, a little awkwardly. "Um, I... I've wanted to try this charm for a while… It's really easy to use and it won't take much time, so… I was thinking…"

"A friendship charm sounds like it'll be fun!" Italy smiled. "Right, Germany?"

"I suppose I have no problem with it," Germany said.

"So, if we use this charm everyone will be one with Russia forever?" Russia mused. "I'll do it, too"

One by one, the other nations agreed to try the charm. Canada held the tile out and everyone stood around it, forming a circle.

"Okay," he said, stood between America and Prussia, "everyone needs to grab a part of this. Luckily, there are enough sections in this charm for all of us. Once we all have a firm hold, we have to pull it apart." Canada smiled. Everyone had complied and tightly gripped their own piece of the tile. "You can keep the piece as a sort of memento when we're finished. All right, on three. One… Two…!"

As ordered, everyone pulled. The tile split apart cleanly and without much event, and soon they were all holding their own triangle shaped segment. They glanced from the piece in their hand and to whichever country was next to them, almost expectantly.

"So," Prussia was the first to speak, "that's it?"

"Well, yes. It's just a charm." Canada turned to him. "What did you expect?"

Only a few of the other nations seemed unable to care about this apparent disappointment in the least, some holding their own segment pensively and others sliding it in whatever pocket they might have had.

"Um," Japan raised his hand, looking almost worried, "does the air feel almost… heavy to anyone else?"

America blinked at him. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Something's changed," England muttered, mostly to himself.

"Hey!" America said, glaring suddenly. "I thought we'd given up on the whole scary story stuff! I'm not falling for that kind of thing again, okay? So quit trying to scare me." His gaze went to the segment in his hand, and he frowned. "But man… With the way that pizza thing looked I was kind of expecting something cool to happen when we pulled it apart. Like, an explosion or a sudden creepy laugh or all the lights to go out or an earthquake or—"

That was when the classroom started shaking violently.

"A-an earthquake?!" France gasped.

"Oh, come on!" America cried. "I didn't mean it literally!"

Japan was the first to react. He hurried to the front of the room and called, "Everyone! We need to hide under the desks—" One of the ceiling lamps fell and smashed to the floor. "Hurry!"

"G-Germany...!" Italy panicked, trying to decide whether to hide under one of the desks, like Japan had said, or run to his friend.

Germany tried to show the Italian a smile as he held his balance. "Just hide, Italy. Everything will be fine..." He stopped. A loud groan had filled the room, silencing any of the nations' confused cries.

There was a crash, a splintering crunch, and the next thing everyone knew the floor at the front of the room had vanished. Only darkness could be seen in its place.

"Wh-what...?" America looked down to his feet, wide eyed, when the cry of stressed floorboards filled the room once again. He only managed to catch a glimpse of the suddenly frail floor—then it was gone.

America yelped as gravity suddenly took control and he fell, but he wasn't the only one. The floor had also vanished beneath Canada's feet, and he flailed desperately in the air and grabbed the nearest person's ankle. This turned out to be Prussia, who had already earned an unsteady balance thanks to the continuing earthquake. The sudden weight underneath him only made standing on the weak floorboards impossible; he also fell, shrieking curses as he slipped down into darkness.

"America!" England yelled, but his voice was lost, one final deafening groan filling the room. The rest of the floor bent and collapsed together—then there was nothing.

There was no way to save themselves. The remaining countries could only scream as they, too, plummeted into the shadows.

—Chapter end (edited)