Part Three

"I think Prussia did it!"

"What?"

"He hates Russia!"

"But why kill Seychelles?"

"To throw us off the scent!"

"Oh come on! That's my older brother you're talking about!"

"You argued with Russia earlier too Germany, so how we know you didn't do it?"

"Why would I kill him if it would be so obvious it was me?"

"Cuz you're stupid like that!"

"My brother's afraid of Russia, so how could he kill him?"

"West!"

"It's true! I'm sticking up for you, dummkopf!"

"We weren't even upstairs, so how could we have pushed Seychelles? Now everyone knows I'm scared of Russia!"

"Russia's known he scared you for years! I don't think it's going to change anything now that everyone else knows!"

"Fine! Just since we're accusing people, I say it was Belarus!"

"WHAT? WHY WOULD I KILL BROTHER, YOU HORRIBLE ALBINO?"

"Because you're a psychopath! He probably told you to get lost and you knifed him!"

"SHUT UP! The lot of you! Two people are dead, we don't know who killed them, who knows, maybe it was Murder on the Orient Express,or Strangers on a Train, or even And Then There were None! We have absolutely no way of knowing who killed them, why, or who's next! "

"So what do we do now?"

"We stay in this room until the phones are back up. Then we call the police. No one leaves this room unless absolutely necessary, and then only with at least four other people with them. We can't take any chances."

Some people were still tempted to ask who had died and made England the boss, but after his blow up at America, no one wanted to push it. So they sat, for no one knew how long, until the clock struck ten. Then, the lights went out.

Everyone started shouting and crashing into each other in the dark and they could hear England shouting, "Nobody move! Just stay where you are until the lights come back on!" Italy was crying and calling for Germany, who was looking for Prussia. Spain kept shouting for Romano even though Romano had told him to stay where he was.

Then, America felt something hard hit the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

When he came to the lights had come back on. America looked around him in horror. He was still in his living room, everyone was still there, but now they were all covered in blood, their clothes sliced to ribbons. America backed into a corner, shuddering. How long had he been out? It must have been the killer who hit him, but if they didn't want any witnesses why leave him and kill everyone else? Were they coming back for him? This was worse than any horror movie America had ever watched. As he heard someone approaching in the hall America tensed, afraid to even breathe. England stood in the doorway.

"Dear God in Heaven! What have you done, Alfred? What have you done?"

"Me?"

"Look at your hands, Al! Look!"

America stared at his hands as England commanded. They were covered in blood and beside where he had been sitting lay a kitchen knife, its blade shining red in the light. Then he felt the dull pain at the back of his head and passed out again. When he came to again England lay sprawled face-down in front of him, blood pooling beneath his chest. The knife was in America's hand.

America shook his head, not wanting to believe it. He couldn't have killed all those people. His friends, Kiku, his brother, Matthew, everyone. And now England. Sure, England irritated him sometimes, always acting like he was smarter than America, making fun of his movies, but he never hated him enough to kill him. For a few minutes America just sat there in shock. It just wasn't sinking in. Any second now everyone would get up and laugh it off. They had to. But still nobody moved. America bent to scoop England up in his arms, cradling him like a baby.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered into England's shoulder, "I didn't mean to. I don't remember. I didn't want to…"

"Good job you didn't then. Buck up love, it was only a prank," England whispered back.

"WHAT?" America almost dropped England.

"Oi, no need to shout in my ear," England sat up. "It was all a trick, Al. Sorry 'bout that but I mean, come on, like you wouldn't have pulled something like that on me for Halloween?"

"But it's my birthday!" America fumed.

"My point exactly. When I was ranting at you earlier I wasn't acting. That really is how I feel about your birthday. I was actually going to save this one for Halloween, but the weather was going to be perfect so I just had to step up my birthday prank."

"I- I- I cannot believe you did this! On my birthday! And everyone was in on it?"

"Yep."

Everyone was beginning to sit up around them, stretching and looking forlornly at their ripped and stained clothes.

"Sorry America," Germany said, "But you can just be so annoying. Besides, if given the chance, you would prank any one of us, half of us you already have, so we figured fair play and got some payback."

"Okay, but who knocked me out? And how did they get me in that corner?"

"There are curtains here, da?" Russia stuck his head out from around them. "Oh and Prussia? I have known I scare you for quite some time, Зайчик мой."

"I don't know what you just called me, but nein! Get lost, creep!"

America shook his head. He was still having trouble adjusting to this.

"So, it was all a prank? All of it?"

"One hundred percent. I must say, we did a good job acting the part didn't we?" England grinned.

America glared at him. "I would hate you for this, but you're right, I would pull this on someone. Just be glad you thought of it first."

"Alfred, I don't think that would have been a problem. I actually read murder mysteries while you don't even watch them on telly. Besides, now that we're all on the same page, why don't we get on with the actual party? There's cake and ice cream."

"ICE CREAM? GIMME IT NOW~!"

"Same old Alfred. See? I told you guys he'd be fine once we told him about the ice cream," England laughed.

America had already torn out of the room towards the kitchen. Nothing motivated him quite like the promise of ice cream. England smiled as he shook his head.

"Oh Alfred, what am I going to do with you?"

Translations:

Зайчик мой: My bunny