This idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it, so here you are! It's meant to take place during the second or third HetaOni loop.

Disclaimer included for all you youngin's with impressionable minds: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

"Well," says Russia, "I do not think we will be keeping our promise. The meeting room isn't far, but with this leg…"

Beside him, China nods. "I hate to admit defeat, but I think you're right."

France hums in agreement, leaning briefly against the wall before sliding down to join them on the floor. "I'm only sorry we could not give the others more time. The monster retreated, but it won't be gone for long."

They'd split off from the others to cover more ground as they attempted to find a way out of the mansion. This room with the fireplace had seemed promising; there had to be a way for the smoke to go outside, after all – but then the monster found them.

"It's getting stronger," China says quietly. "It wasn't so quick the first time, and it shouldn't have come back so soon."

"Or there is more than one monster, as Italy suspected," Russia adds.

"He's hiding something," says France.

"Yes," says China. "But it doesn't matter now."

"I suppose not," France agrees.

"It does matter. I think Italy knew we would not come back this time – or at least, he guessed it."

China and France both turn to look at Russia – France wincing as he does, and China just sort of letting his head flop to the side. Russia doesn't look at either of them. Instead, he stares at an old clock on the wall across from them.

"He did not want us to leave together," he continues. "He wanted us to be in different groups, or to go another way."

"That's true," says France. "He only stayed behind because he's been refusing to leave Japan ever since we found that room with the piano."

"And he only let us leave when England and Canada agreed to go with us," China adds. "…I hope they're alright."

"They are, they must be. They went to the library, and the monster retreated the other way." France pauses, then quietly says, "Unless there really is more than one."

"We should warn them," says China. "All of them. We have to get back to the meeting room."

"We?" Russia laughs and gestures to the gashes across his leg, muscle and tissue laid bare almost down to the bone. His scarf is tied tightly around his thigh as a makeshift tourniquet, but the wound will not stop bleeding. "You are welcome to try. I, for one, will not die crawling through the dark."

"France?" China asks. China himself hasn't moved since the creature bashed him against the wall. He strongly suspects that the impact broke his spine - he can't feel much of anything below his waist.

France presses one hand against the floor and the other against the wall, takes a shallow breath, and tries to lift himself up. He makes it halfway before groaning and sliding back down to the floor, leaving a bloody streak along the wall. He shuts his eyes and presses both hands against his side. "I can't make it that far. And …I don't want to die alone."

They're quiet for a moment, contemplating their own sudden mortality and praying their friends meet kinder fates – knowing they probably won't.

Russia shuffles through his coat and pulls out a half-empty bottle of vodka. He raises it in a toast to his companions. "Well then, let's make the best of it. За здоровье – for health!"

China snorts. "Health hardly seems the appropriate toast."

"For death, then – За смерть." Russia offers him the bottle. China struggles to lift his arm for a moment, but they appear to be working better than his legs and he's eventually able to take a drink.

France reaches into his pocket for a lighter and cigarettes. There's four left. "À mort," he says. "Three for us and one for the devil."

China passes the bottle, and Russia trades his vodka for France's cigarettes, passing one on to China.

"I'm afraid I have nothing to share," says China.

Russia shrugs and lights the cigarette for him. "Your company is enough. I agree with France – I don't want to die alone."

Silence envelopes them again, but it isn't as heavy as before. They smoke and drink, letting the burn of alcohol and the caress of nicotine ease other pains.

One wrong swig makes France cough, spraying blood over the bottle. "Ah! Désolé!" he exclaims, trying to wipe at it with his sleeve.

"It's not like it's going to kill us," says China. He feels around in his pants pocket for a handkerchief anyway. It's an odd experience, since he feels like he's groping a mannequin instead of his own thigh. "Here, use…"

China pauses, his outstretched handkerchief framing the cigarette in Russia's hand and the bottle in France's. Fire. Fuel. And a wick. "Hey Russia. Do you know how to make a Molotov cocktail?"

Russia blinks in surprise. "What?"

"A Molotov cocktail – a bottle bomb?" China repeats. "Sorry, I thought it was Russian, with the name."

Russia laughs. "That name was a little joke from Finland, although not a very funny one for either of us. He used those to bomb my tanks. But yes, I know how to make them."

"So do I," says France. He takes the handkerchief and wipes the bottle, then his mouth. "And so does anyone with the internet. Why do you ask?"

"Because if I'm going to die, I don't want to lay here and wait for it to happen. I want to give Italy and the others as much help as we can – and I doubt our host is online very much," China replies.

Russia and France stare at him for a moment, and then at the ammunition in their hands. Something moves outside in the hall. Something that is too big to be one of their friends.

"Better hurry," says Russia.

Russia and China put the bottle and cloth together, and France retrieves his lighter. They wait as the heavy footsteps get closer, the bottle in Russia's hand and the fire in France's.

"See, China? You had plenty to share after all. It's a good thing your brains weren't scrambled too badly," says Russia.

"I would have been useless alone," China replies.

"So would we," says France. "No one could face this alone; we survive together, or not at all. It's a lesson I wish I'd learned sooner."

"Perhaps we will, next time," says Russia.

China raises an eyebrow. "Next time?"

The monster's massive figure fills the door, and Russia does not answer. France lights the handkerchief. The monster steps closer and hisses-

YOU WON'T ESCAPE.

"Neither will you." Russia grins. He throws the bottle, and it shatters against the clock.

Russia, France, and China do not hear the monster shriek or feel the blast of heat as flames engulf them. They don't know that the noise and the smoke make England and Canada turn back sooner than planned, or what the others learn by running from the fire.

They are outside, looking up at the desolate mansion.

"America said he, Japan, and Italy would meet us here," says France.

"They're taking too long," says Russia.

"Let's go inside, then," says China. "We can look around while we wait."

France shivers a bit as they pass under the shadow of the house. "I have to admit, I'm glad you're here. I wouldn't want to go in alone."

Russia smiles absently. "It does seem like a very lonely place…"

Russia's comment about Finland and the origins of the name "Moltov cocktail" comes from a quick google search; there's much more to the history, but in brief the Finnish named these bombs after a Russian politician during the Winter War.

For those who, like me, can't remember the details of the original HetaOni, here they are in relation to this story:
-France, China, and Russia die together during the first loop. Italy and Prussia are with them, and France tells them to leave. They're the second group to die, after Japan.
-This is also why they mention Italy staying with Japan; Italy is trying to prevent him from entering the piano room, where he died in the first loop.
-It's unknown exactly how/when Canada and England die in the first loop, only that America stays with them after they're gone. In this story, those three do not repeat anything from their first loop because of the fire bomb.