Coming out of the Closet

Darkness was all he could see, so for a minute Gilbert thought he was still dreaming. However, that all changed when he realized his head was hurting like HELL. Gilbert reached out blindly, feeling a wall on either side of him. It seem that wherever he was, it was small. It seemed, as he felt around more, that he was in a small room...a closet. There was no lightswitch for this closet, but there was a small gap where light did filter through at the bottom of what he assumed was the door. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, the door was locked and did not budge.

Growling in frustration, Gilbert gave the door one final kick. "If the bastards didn't want the awesome me to attend, they shouldn't have invited me. This is a horrible prank!"
Then he sat and did not pout, because awesome nations simply did not pout.

Kiku walked through the empty house. He had eaten his fill and packed some extra food and water in a backpack. Now he was searching for life. He had searched multiple houses, but not one of them were inhabited. Though he did hear some shuffling, which may have been due to mice or, he shuddered at the thought, cockroaches.

He hoped this house was different, though. He definitely thought this house was different when he heard a loud banging in the closet, as if there was someone or something in there. He unsheathed his katana and opened the door quickly. Kiku was very shocked at what he saw.

Gilbert was dazed by the sudden light. He stared blankly at the familiar silhouette before he could place it. When he did, he immediately stood and stretched.

"Kiku! I thought you would be West. Is the meeting over? I really have a bone to pick with the others!"

He pushed passed the small asian only to find himself in an old, dusty house.

"What the hell? Where is the meeting room?"

"Ah, Gilbert-san!" Japan was both surprised and relieved to see the exuberant Nation standing before him. He sheathed his katana and looked Gilbert straight in his red eyes. "Gilbert-san, there was no meeting. I received a vague invitation to the meeting. I do not remember much after that, but I awoke in a dark shed. This town seems to be abandoned. I met Vash-kun in a grocery store, but we were separated. Now that I have found you as well, I believe that the other Nations are here as well." The Japanese man bowed his head in apology for bearing this bad news.

"That is the stupidest cover up ever, Kiku. I expected better from you. Now where is everyone I need to bitch them out, awesome or not, they should not be hitting someone in the head this hard."

Gilbert leaned against the other wall heavily, having moved too fast. Something wasn't right here, this couldn't just be an elaborate ruse from the other nations, they wouldn't be this cruel. However, if Kiku was really telling the truth, then that would mean that the others were scattered across this abandoned town. If that were true, then West could be in danger. No...West could be hurt. They had to find them quickly.

Gilbert got up and started moving slowly down the hall, maybe someone else was in here too. "Come on Kiku, if you're right, then West could be in trouble and the amazing me will have to save his butt once again."

Kiku blinked, confused. "Gilbert-san, I am telling the truth. And Germany-san can take care of himself. But you are right, I would like to find the others." He then proceeded to explain the strange town to Gilbert. It was very large and all the houses were clean, the stores were stocked, there was barely any dust on anything... He concluded that the town was abandoned maybe a little over a week ago. That everyone just left... or disappeared.

"We must not get separated," he concluded. "If you and I are here, there are bound to be other Nations. However, this is a strange and frightening place, and we must find them as fast as possible. We may be able to form a group and find out whoever it was who did this."

Gilbert rubbed the back of his head and winced. To be honest, he hadn't really been able to focus on Kiku's explanation very well. All he had really heard was blah blah dust, blah blah stores, blah blah stay together...and maybe something about fighting evil, but he could have been making that part up. First things first, if he was going to get anything done, he would need to get rid of this headache.

"Oi Kiku, I could really use some aspirin right about now, my head is a mess. Do you have any on you?"

Kiku sighed, knowing that the Prussian did not listen to him.

"I do have a first aid kit," he said thoughtfully. "If anything, I can at least examine your wound. And for the sake of your brother, we must find everyone and not get separated." He hoped that mentioning Ludwig would get the man's attention. To be honest, he was slightly afraid. After watching those horror mystery anime series, he was very wary of this place.

Prussia glanced over at the other man, hearing the nervousness in his voice. He really needed to pull it together. After all, even if he wasn't the flashy 'Hero' Alfred claimed to be, he was still awesome and the way he was acting right now was completely the opposite.

He made his way to the nearest chair and sat down so the Japanese man had better access to the back of his head. "Alright, I get it. West is probably eating pasta with Feli right now anyway, lets focus on looking for the others."

Kiku nodded. "Hai, but that does not mean that we should not look for Ludwig-san as well. I was merely stating that we should look for everyone, not just one person. There are people I am worried for as well, but if we find a group quickly then we will surely find our loved ones quicker, ne?" He examined the Prussian's head and noticed a small bump on the back of his head, but determined from looking into his eyes that it was not a concussion. He found some ice in the freezer of the house and wrapped it in a towel, making sure Gilbert held it against his head until it was no longer cold.

"Gilbert-san, we should find any clothes, food, or weapons that we could use from this house and go find the others," he suggested.

"Right, so splitting up is bad, but this house seems small enough that we can just shout to each other, let's see what we can find in here and....I think I heard something outside. We can investigate that after."

Gilbert tossed the makeshift icepack on the table and got up, walking towards what could be considered a bedroom.

"Right, I'll check over here, you check that," He gestured to the other doors vaguely, "and we will meet back up in ten, fifteen minutes. Got it?"

Kiku nodded. "Hai," he said, before running off to the doors Gilbert gestured to. He found some clothing in some bedrooms, and some necessary toiletries in the bathroom. But in one of the guest rooms, he saw something that made his blood turn cold.

Cockroaches.

Kiku screamed as loud as he could, causing the giant little monsters to fly and swarm. He continued to scream and backed up, eventually falling to his knees and sobbing. He whispered the word 'no' in Japanese until he became progressively louder, screaming 'no' as loud as he could. They flew around, and when one landed on him he screamed even louder.

Gilbert didn't really find much in his search. He had found an old, decrepit knife under one of the beds, and that would do for now as a weapon, but it would be really nice if he could find some-- Kiku is screaming. He had never even heard the man raise his voice, let alone scream like that.

Gilbert bolted from the dining room and into the room that he heard the Asian man's screams from. He knew it had been a bad idea to split up, but it shouldn't have been a problem for the two of them in a house this small. There sat Kiku bawling his eyes out surrounded by ...cockroaches. After staring for a couple seconds to comprehend the situation, Gilbert sheathed his knife and walked over to him, stomping on as many of the insects as he could on the way. He sighed and brushed one off of his uniform, dragging his companion to the safety of the cockroach free hallway.

"Kiku. HEY KIKU! LISTEN TO ME! SHUT UP. The cockroaches are gone thanks to the amazing me, so you can stop acting like such a pussy. It's making my headache come back."

It took Kiku a little while to hear the other man. He was definitely not in his right mind, as he threw himself at the Prussian and hugged him desperately, sobs wracking his small body. "G-gokiburi..." he whimpered again and again, tears streaming down his cheeks. He was shaking violently. He did not notice that he was showing affection to someone he hardly knew, did not notice that he was acting so informal, so rude, so childish. He only knew that Prussia had saved him, he was safe. He knew that he needed comfort more than anything.

He just wanted to go home. He was no longer screaming, but he was tired and sore and scared. He just wanted to go home, sip tea under the sakura trees and gaze at the moon, listening to the cry of the cicadas. Instead he was here, in the middle of nowhere hugging someone who was practically a stranger, crying like a child and scared out of his wits.

Well, THAT was quite unexpected. After hearing of the man's aloof reputation from his brother, Gilbert did not ever think he would be stuck in a situation where he would end up being hugged and cried on by the normally composed nation. One this was for sure, he really didn't like the hero business, he would totally have to leave that to Alfred from now on.

Scheiße, he was probably just as awkward as West when it came to this sort of thing. He didn't exactly have the most emotional brother and no one exactly flocked to him when they were feeling down. (Not that he would of given them comfort, he wasn't anyone's mother, he was the mother fucking Kingdom of Prussia).

He would have normally shoved the smaller man off of him, but these were not exactly normal circumstances. He awkwardly gave him a pat on the back and cleared his throat.

"Uh...w-we should really get going. The others are probably waiting for us to save their asses...or something"

Japan could not hear his words, only his voice. He was glad that he had been saved. Those monsters would have killed him. They would have flown on him and eaten him and they were so dirty, so evil... Thinking like this only made the small Asian man cry harder, hold onto the Prussian tighter.

They were everywhere. They were on him. He cried out slightly at the memory, sobbing heavily. The tears ran down his cheeks, and his face was red from crying. All he could do was repeat the words "Gokiburi" and "Tasukete" and "Arigatou" over and over again. He thought he heard the evil buzz of their wings and his eyes widened in fear. He hugged the Prussian so tightly, pressed so close to him, that he knocked the both of them to the ground so he was sitting in the other's lap like a small child, adding another word: "Gomenasai". It was fitting, because he was acting just like a small child, too. All he could do was hold on and cry.

oh HELL NO. This had to stop. There was no way he could proceed with Kiku being such a wimp, it was completely unawesome. Not to mention, he could not move with the man sitting on him and squeezing so hard. Enough was enough and they really needed to keep moving. He pried the small, yet surprisingly strong, nation off of his chest and shoved him back in order to sit up.

"Kiku, you are really starting to piss me off, they're just a bunch of fucking cockroaches. Get a hold of yourself, what are you, some little girl?" Which was punctuated by a slap across the face.

"Jeez, I'm surprised you lasted during war."

Kiku finally came out of this trance. He was still shaking slightly, but he stood and bowed as low as he could. "Gomenasai," he said. "My behavior was unacceptable." He did not mention that cockroaches were his greatest fear, and he had been on edge already. That was the only time since he was a child that he had ever acted so irresponsibly.

Apparently, he had said that out loud, because he could hear the echo of his words through the spacious house. Well, he might as well... He also voiced his regret and how he wanted to redeem himself, and his hopes that this would never be spoken of. The last request was accentuated with his katana pressed to the other man's throat.

Gilbert pushed the katana away slowly and stood up, brushing off his pants. "Dude, it's cool, consider it forgotten and get off the floor, you're making me feel bad. Everyone has their moments, I guess. Well, except for the amazing me of course, I am always awesome and composed."

As Gilbert prattled on, he gave the cockroach infested guest room a quick once over, not finding anything of interest. By the time he had rejoined Kiku, the man seemed to have calmed down for the most part. "Come on, you look like a girl, go wash your face and lets get out of this dump." He gave the Asian's head a pat and strode ahead confidently.


((EDIT: I spelt 'man' wrong. what??))

Kiku frowned slightly. "Please do not insult me, Gilbert-san," he said. He could not stand rudeness, and this was the height of it. Nonetheless, he did appreciate the other man for saving him and walked over to the bathroom, washing his face slowly. As he dried it off, he noticed something strange in the mirror. A face. When he turned around, it was gone, but he was surrounded by a strange mist. He knew this may be an apparition of some sort, but did not want to believe it. He quickly ran out of the bathroom and shut the door, hoping he was just imagining things. He walked back to the kitchen and sat next to the Prussian.

He waved Kiku off and sat down in the kitchen as he waited. Pillowing his head in his arms he decided to give his eyes a rest while he waited, only to feel a gust of hot wind against his neck. His head snapped up and he looked around warily, seeing nothing but Kiku entering the room.

How strange.

The Japanese man sat down and Gilbert decided that he must have been imagining things. "Shall we get this awesome party on the road then?" He stood up and stretched, eager to get moving.

Kiku nodded, walking towards the door, when suddenly his head shot up and his eyes grew wide. He felt the hot wind this time, like the breath of a passing stranger. A passing stranger that was long gone. "Did you feel that?" he asked.

It could have been anything. This town seemed strangely abandoned, like everyone had vanished. This could be the work of some sinister onryo. What he encountered in the bathroom could be simply a harmless obake, or even nothing at all, but he did not want to take the chance.

Gilbert looked back over his shoulder to where Kiku had paused and arched an eyebrow. "Feel what? You sure you're not just being paranoid?"

Sure there was a chill going down his spine as he said this, but getting worked up over a house with terrible draft problems was not at all awesome. Shaking his head he continued towards the door, it was probably nothing. "Whatever, come on, or the amazing me will leave you behind!"

Kiku saw the way Gilbert shivered, but he knew that it may indeed be some sort of draft. Still... this strange place gave off the feeling that there was something sinister brewing in this strange town. Who knew what kind of yokai lived here?

Nonetheless, he grabbed his supplies and followed Gilbert out the door, making sure that he took a quick look around the place before he left. He saw that strange mist again, this time with an agonized-looking, translucent child standing in the middle, staring at him.