DISCONTINUED

Chapter 20

"Hellooo? Anyone home??" America asked as they walked into the room. No answer. The room in question seemed to be a throne room, as, well, there was a throne opposite of the door. On either side, there were two tables, cluttered with papers or plates of food.

"It looks deserted." Germany pointed out. 

"Way to point out the obvious." England muttered. Germany, who had heard that, glared at him

"Watch it." He growled.

"Let's look around, it might not be a dead end." Russia quickly suggested, halting any fights that would've broken out between the two. America smirked, already heading over to the table filled with food.

"Free foooood!!" He exclaimed, but was once again stopped by England.

"How many times have I told you that is a very very bad idea?!" He asked, fed up.

"Well, there might be a button under all this food!! Only one way to get to it!" America replied.

"Don't be a moron." Germany said, getting fed up with America as well. "There's nothing under here."

"For once, we agree on something." England said. Germany gave him a 'Don't count on it happening often' glare.

"I hope these won't come alive on us like all those other ones." France said from over by one of the candelabras next to the throne.

"If they do, we will just blow them to bits, da?" Russia asked, holding up his pipe. No one made any further comment, instead simply moving along to the throne. It was grand, and made out of ice, just like the castle it ruled over.

"What a lovely throne!" Russia exclaimed. "Fit for a king!"

"And if you look closely, while it looks like metal, it's actually ice!" France pointed out, studying the throne closer.

"Nothing seems too abnormal about it, though." England said, examining it closer as well. "Let's keep looking." Germany stopped quickly to examine the other candelabra, letting the others go slightly ahead of him.

"Hm, nothing unusual about these ones. Just ordinary candelabras." He muttered to himself. "...Well, as ordinary as any ice candelabra with crystal flames inside an ice palace under a frozen lake in a dreamworld would be." He then caught up with the others, noticing the clock hanging on the wall. He walked as close as he could to it without climbing over the table that stood in the way.

"Ah, a clock. Unlike the others, this one looks normal." He commented, referring to the other enchanted clocks they had to fight as they were climbing up the palace.

"Hm, it appears to be frozen on midnight." Japan added in, walking over and taking a look as well. "Or noon, it is hard to tell exactly."

"Well, better it off be frozen. I dislike the sound of ticking clocks anyway." Germany said.

"Oh? How come?" The asian nation asked in slight surprise.

"When you've had to spend years building clocks to pay off debt, you get sick of hearing it." Germany explained, glaring at France.

"They still work wonderfully, by the way." France said with a wink.

"Ergh..." Germany glanced away from France, clenching his fists. Japan, sensing the tension beginning to rise, quickly walked over to a pile of letters and papers.

"A lot of books and letters, and for some reason a sword." He said, more to himself.

"Well, you know what they say. The pen is mightier than the sword." England said. There was a silence between the two as Japan processed what England had just said.