This is something I started writing for the Hetalia Kink Meme ages ago, but never finished, so I'll do that now. The prompt was for nations telling ghost stories from their homeland, and I may have expanded the meaning of ghost story to include mythos and urban legends and the like. Same principal really.

Enjoy.

It was becoming something of a tradition, getting stuck on That Fucking Island. No matter what, a handful of nations would always have some sort of transportation malfunction on their way to the meeting and end up crashed or marooned or otherwise stranded on that fucking island, forced to spend the night there until help could reach them the following morning.

Needless to say, it was also tradition to have a ghost story marathon to pass the time.

It was Japan's idea, a tradition from his home of telling scary stories in a dark room lit with candles, extinguishing one every time a story was completed until the participants were in a completely dark room. America, however, insisted on having the traditional campfire from his house lit in addition to the candles. The result ended up being an eerie glow over the surrounding area by the end of the night and several nations too frightened to leave the safety of the firelight.

It had developed into a competition. The nations present would go back and forth around the campfire, telling the scariest story they could think of from their home, and the one who told what the consensus deemed the scariest would win. A nation could "chicken out" and leave the campfire if they got too scared, forfeiting the competition, although America and Germany were the only ones to consistently take this option.

This year, America, Japan, England, Canada, Germany, Australia, Italy, and Russia were stuck on That Fucking Island for the night. Preparations for the candles and campfire were undertaken immediately and by nightfall everyone was ready for the ghost stories.

"Alright mates," Australia grinned as he lit his candle and held it out to pass the flame, "Anyone want to start us off?"

"I believe America-san should go first," Japan put his candle wick in Australia's flame, lighting it before passing it along, "He usually chickens-out early, so it is best to get his story out of the way."

"What? No way!" America took Japan's candle, lit his own, and held his out, "I'm definitely not chickening out this year. I'm so confident about it that I'll even go last."

"You say that every year," England sighed, lighting his candle on America's before he passed it back to its owner, "And yet every year you're out by the second or third story."

"Let him go last if he wants to," Germany lit his candle on England's, "The sooner we get this over with the better…"

"Oh! That's right!" Russia smiled as he lit his candle on Germany's and passed it along, "Germany's afraid of ghosts too isn't he?"

"It's alright Germany!" Italy lit his candle on Russia's and held out his own for the next person to light, "I'll make my story extra-scary so you and America can leave sooner!"

Canada sighed and lit his candle on Itay's, completing the circle of burning candles.

Italy pulled it away, scattering the melting wax as he bobbed around in his seat in excitement, "Can I go first? Please? I've got a really good one!"

"How about we let Australia go first?" America suggested with a shaky laugh, "Since, you know, he brought it up and everything, and his stories aren't usually that scary anyway!"

"Eh? My stories aren't scary you say?" Australia grinned and raised an eyebrow, "Well then do I have one for you. This is a story from back when I was still a kid, but it's a classic…"