After witnessing countries turning into children and being trapped in a building by their fully grown clones, America had figured nothing would surprise him ever again. This thought was proven wrong by the sight of a floating door, one that stood suspended in the darkness, large and made from some sort of wood. Despite the events of the past few days, America could definitely still consider this strange.

He heard China and Italy draw to a stop behind him, and he didn't have to look back to know they were staring up at the door with the same astonished expression as him. The dark Canada had been leading the way forward, and he turned to them suddenly.

"If you retrieve the wand," the dark Canada started, "we might be able to join the split halves together and stop this space from spreading. The door will lead you to the outside world. Even now the darkness is swallowing more and more of the building your friends still occupy; you have to hurry."

"Ah." America wasn't sure what else to say. Though he was always up for saving the world, the fact that everything would be completely destroyed it they failed added a little more pressure than he would have liked. A quick glance behind him showed that the other two nations were having similar thoughts, China's expression grim and Italy clinging onto England a little more tightly than before.

The door was drifting towards them now, lowering until it almost touched the ground. It looked like an ordinary set of double doors, if a little bigger than usual and with engravings in an unfamiliar language, but America couldn't help but stare at it with an almost cautious gaze.

"Even if we get the wand back," he heard China say, "how do you plan to fix it? I get the impression gluing it back together won't work."

For the first time since they met him, the dark Canada's expression briefly turned unsure.

"Try giving it to England," he said after a slight but noticeable pause. "Though his memories are still lost, there's a chance he will know what to do."

A chance? America blinked. A part of him wanted to ask for a more definite answer, but he decided there was no time for them to just stand around and talk. They needed to get the wand—they could figure out the technical stuff later.

"Well, let's go!" America turned to China and Italy with a grin, then back to the dark Canada. "How do we open the door? Do you just pull the handles like a normal door, or is there a secret word you have to use or—?"

The dark Canada simply waved his hand, and with a rather ominous groan the door began to open. The movement was slow, almost painfully so, and between the gap left by the separating oak nothing could be seen. Only darkness.

"—Or that," America finished, suddenly feeling a lot less excited. It was hard to believe that such a creepy doorway would lead them back to the outside world, especially since he couldn't really see anything inside. He had expected there to be a beam of light or an image of flowers underneath a big blue sky, or at least something that indicated the door would actually take them somewhere a little less gloomy than their current scenery.

"D-do we really have to go through there?" Italy asked, obviously worried.

"It's the only way out of this world." America could have been imagining it, but the dark Canada sounded almost irritated. "You can just stay here if you really want to; only one person is needed to get the wand back."

The three nations exchanged glances, and there seemed to be a silent but shared agreement of, "I don't want to go through that door by myself but I also don't want to be left alone in a creepy place like this." Though still obviously uneasy, they all nodded.

"Nah, it's fine, we'll all go," America said, and with a slightly more determined expression he stepped forward. Thinking, Well, let's get this over with, he started running, charging into the darkness behind the door without a shred of hesitation. China followed soon after, going at a slightly slower pace, and Italy went last, barely trying to hide his reluctance and still clinging to England.

And, behind the nations, the door slammed shut.

China and Italy were gone when America looked back, and he felt a stab of panic. He had heard them go through the door, they were right behind him, so where had they gone? There was nothing around him, absolutely nothing, so it wasn't that they were hidden from view. He thought about calling to them, thinking that maybe he just couldn't see them because of how dark it was, but the real truth was much more disorientating. America could still see his own hands and legs perfectly fine. It wasn't that there was no light; the blackness around him was simply because there was nothing to see. He was in a space where nothing existed. As far as America could tell he didn't even seem to be standing on anything, though he could definitely feel something solid beneath his feet. What was stopping him from falling into what would surely be an endless abyss?

It took everything he had not to panic. Had this been the dark Canada's plan all along? To separate them and keep them all trapped forever? America spun around, desperately looking for something in a big void of nothing.

For a second America thought he saw a flash of colour against the black, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared and America was wondering if he had simply imagined it when there was another, and another, each appearing for longer and longer.

There was no chance to question the meaning behind these colours, however. Something behind him had moved.

America turned, hoping to see Italy and China, but there was only the same expanse of nothingness he had seen before. The only difference was that the colours were growing in frequency and intensity, and it was honestly starting to hurt his eyes. Even so, he definitely caught the movement of something—the only question was, what was it? It was moving, darkness against darkness, but America couldn't see its exact shape.

Whatever it was seemed to move towards him, and America stepped back. Something had made its home in a world where literally nothing else existed; it probably wasn't a fan of unexpected guests.

Though running was probably the best option in this situation, his attention was briefly caught by the colours again. They were much bigger now, and America thought he could see shapes and silhouettes, as if he were looking through a foggy window. However, he quickly remembered the creature after what seemed like a rather aggressive movement from it, and he tried to think what he could do to fight it off if it lunged at him—

Then, light. One of the colours had grown to the point it engulfed his vision, and now the nothingness was gone. He was somewhere else, somewhere where people were talking and laughing. It was the outside world, the normal world, there was no doubt about that. America was so relieved to have left that place of nothingness that he didn't even realise where, exactly, he was until someone prodded his shoulder and a familiar voice said, "There you are!"

He turned, and there were China and Italy.

"Oh, hey!" America almost laughed, though happiness was quickly replaced with a slight irritation at being left behind in what could have been a dangerous situation. "Hey, where were you? Some backup would've been nice back there."

"We should be asking you that!" China sounded annoyed. "We went through the door and ended up here, and just as we were thinking it was kind of convenient we realised you had vanished. Where did you go?"

"Huh…?" America frowned and gave his surroundings a proper look. He hadn't noticed before, the sheer relief of having escaped stopping him from realising, but it was very clear now that they were at the hotel. They were stood in the entranceway, as if they had stepped through one door and come out the other. China was right about it being convenient; America had put the wand in his hotel room after it broke, and this saved time since now they didn't have to run all the way from the meeting building and back.

"Hey, didn't you guys see that weird place when you went through the door?" America asked, noting how neither of them seemed as panicked as he had about the experience.

"Weird place?" Italy's attention had been on England, who seemed just a little less pale, but he looked up then and frowned. "What do you mean? We just went through the door, and suddenly we were here."

"So, that only happened to me?" America shook his head. He was still feeling a little dizzy after what had happened; it was impossible that he had just imagined it. "Seriously?"

"You can get confused over weird things later," China said. "We need to get the wand. You know where it is, right?"

"Yeah... yeah!" The familiar cheer returned to America's expression. "I left it in my hotel room. Come on, let's go—we've got a world to save!"

—Chapter end.

Hi, everyone ^^' This is mainly a chapter to say that yes, I am still alive and I do indeed plan on finishing this fic one day. I'm fairly sure this story only needs a few more chapters to finish, so hopefully it won't take me almost a year to update next time ^^'

I tried planning this chapter by writing a rough draft, but when I started writing this chapter properly it ended up very different from what I had written on paper o_O Strange.

I had absolutely no idea how to end this chapter, but in the end I hope it was at least okay. So, please review and tell me what you think ^_^