I groaned, feeling groggy. I felt around for my glasses. The surface I was on seemed somewhat scratchy, almost like a carpet would. There also seemed to be a lot of chatter going on around me. But that didn't make any sense. I was napping at home, out of school due to a bug that was going around. But, aside from the grogginess and slight discomfort from where I was laying, I felt great. Maybe I was dreaming or something. But… there was that distinct feeling of discomfort I felt. I never felt any physical discomfort while dreaming so that made that idea seem less likely.

Finally, I found my glasses and put them on, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes along the way. I looked down and saw that I was, indeed, in the clothes I'd put on before going to sleep. An old pair of white socks, pink fleece pajama bottoms with white polka dots, and a black T-shirt with the bat signal on. I yawned and scratched my head before looking up and noticing that I was in the middle of a large ovular table that had the center cut out of it so it looked like a large O. And all around the outside was a bunch of different people, looking at me as if I was the strangest thing they'd ever seen.

"Hmmm…" I murmured sleepily as I looked at them, yawning again from the grogginess. "Definitely a dream…" I looked around at all the people with a friendly yet sleepy smile while waving shyly. "Hi, um… seeing as this seems to a lucid dream… can I ask you who you all are?"

They all blinked at me, a few of them seem seeming to snap out of their stupor and starting to shout. "Wow! That was kickass! You just appeared out of nowhere!" one yelled, looking like someone talking about how awesome a football game had gone for their team.

"Such powerful magic! How did you preform it! Are you a mage of some sort?" another yelled, his expression holding wonder and excitement.

"Such a jolie fille!(1)" yet another yelled, a slightly a perverted expression on his face.

"Pasta!" someone else yelled, looking perfectly content.

"SHUT UP!" someone yelled over all the yelling and shouting. I looked at the man and felt myself shrink slightly. This guy was really big and scary looking. And somewhat familiar looking. When I really thought about it, all of the people actually looked kind of familiar. And what they were all saying, especially the one that had shouted, "pasta," sounded like something I'd heard before.

Everyone became quiet as the frightening man spoke. I was unsure why I felt fear if I knew it was dream… this confusion didn't lessen the feeling though. "Now, who are you?" he asked,

I blinked, figuring it was best to answer the question due to the off chance I wasn't dreaming. "I'm Marissa, though you can call me Rissa," I said with a smile, attempting to be friendly. "Who're you?"

In the back of my mind I could've sworn I heard someone respond with, "I'm Canada." It took a lot of willpower to not laugh. Wouldn't that be hilarious. If this Hetalia and I was at a world conference. Fat chance. "I'm Italy~" the man who yelled pasta exclaimed happily. "And that's Germany!"

I blinked, staying quiet for a few moments before a giggle slipped out. "What's so funny?" 'Germany' asked, his German accent now very apparent.

"Pffff…" I soon found myself in hysterics. They had to be joking. If this wasn't a dream it was pretty good joke. "Th-this is great!" I exclaimed, falling back into a laying position as I laughed.

"Hmmm… I don't see what's so funny, aru…" someone with a Chinese accent asked.

The aru at the end of the sentence sent me into further hysterics. After a few minutes I managed to regain my composure and sit back up, wiping some tears out of my eyes. "Great joke guys… don't think I've ever laughed that hard before!"

"I'm not sure what you're speaking of, but I can assure you this is no joke," a man, whom I assumed was Austria, said.

I sighed as I stood up, smile still on my face. "Mhmm, and I'm the queen of England," I said.

"But you're most definitely not…" 'England' said.

"Exactly," I said, with a nod. "So who are you all really?"

"I'm Italy~" 'Italy' said again. "That's Germany, Japan, England, Austria, China, America, France, Romano, Spain…"

I sighed as 'Italy' went through the long list, pointing at every 'country' and introducing them to me. Once he was finished I nodded, thoroughly impressed by how accurate and dedicated these actors were to the joke. "Impressive…" I said. "Now what do I have to do to get you guys to tell me how you pulled this off without me finding out?"

Germany sighed an aggravated sigh. "Look," he said, practically growling. "We aren't pulling some sort of joke on you! Now tell us how you got here and exactly who you are. We know your name but we need to know if you're some sort of new country."

I felt a slight tinge of annoyance but it was easily overridden by a strange sense of panic. Was it really possible that I wasn't dreaming? NO. That idea… it was absurd! For me to be talking to personified countries from an anime, the would be impossible! It wasn't like I was in some… some fan fiction! This was a dream no doubt about it.
I took deep breath, closed my eyes, held out my arm, and pinched it as hard as I could. A yelp of pain left my mouth. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the ceiling of my room. But I still saw Germany staring at me, now with a hint of confusion to his expression. I wasn't dreaming… the pinch had caused me real pain and I was still there. "Wha-what the hell is going on…" I whispered, my eyes becoming wide.

1: pretty girl
Oh yea~ This is proving really fun to write so far! Just sort of an introduction for the story, I hope to make the other chapters longer than this, so... sorry if this chapter seems really short.