Note: Nathan's solo chapter takes place at the same time as Rosa and Switzy's, after Austria's. Also note: Isaac's chapter took place on the same day.

After saying goodbye to Rosa, Nathan turned a corner and into the photography room. It wasn't a darkroom (just a classroom with fancy equipment), and he could see no one inside, so he (wrongly) assumed he was alone. Luckily, as Nathan wasn't a pothead, he did not immediately pull out a J and start smoking a joint. He simply plunked his bag and jacket down on a table, grabbed a camera and reserved a computer, and began to load Photoshop.

One could only imagine the amount of fear the normally lethargic Nathan felt when a very cold, glove-covered hand touched the back of his neck. His ear-piercing, unmanly shriek and the three-foot jump out of his seat, however, might have provided any onlookers with a small idea.

"Oh, I'm sorry," a sleek, calm male voice apologized behind him. Judging by the overpronunciation of the "Oh" and the rolling of the R's, this was definitely a foreigner. "Did I startle you?"

Nathan's sweat hadn't even begun to cool. "Fu... yes," he laughed without humor as he turned-then fell silent.

The man somewhat resembled Herr Edelstein, but at the same time, he seemed so different. Almost... softer. His clothes were also formal and hinted at older designs, but this man's style seemed much more carefree and easygoing. He wore a rather large scarlet trench coat with a million little pockets and buckles which probably served no real purpose other than to add flair-a far cry from the Austrian's prim, proper overcoat and jabot. His outfit was accented by whimsical black-and-white striped cuffs, black gloves and boots, a haphazardly-tied belt and a tiny, whimsical hat perched on the side of his head. And in place of the choir teacher's perfectly styled raven hair, this sub had shaggy locks in strawberry blond.

He looked almost like the choir teacher's calmer, messier brother. His demeanor and accent were still obviously European, but they were a much more pleasant version, and he had a very friendly tone.

"I'm very sorry," the man said again. His hair covered his eyes, but his expression seemed sincere. "I called, but you didn't hear."

Nathan pointed to his earbuds, then grinned. The guy seemed cool enough. "I'm Nate Goldberg."

"Nate..." the teacher pursed his lips as he ran a gloved finger down the clipboard. "Ah! Yes, here ve go. You're here!" He checked off Nathan's name with a grin.

"So, uh, what's your name?"

"Oh, me?" The teacher suddenly seemed very interested in his clipboard. "I'm... Vlad Țepeș. From Romania." He seemed a little amused, which confused Nathan.

"Oh, cool. Romania, huh?"

"Yes, I-"

Before Romania could complete his thought, the door opened and a tiny, loud sophomore named Ioana von Dollen walked in.

"New sub!" She declared inconsequentially, clapping her hands. "I'm Ioana; I'm here."

"Ah, yes! Ioana... zat is a pretty name. Lovely spelling."

"Why, thank you!" Ioana giggled. "It's Romanian."

"Ah, really? Is zat so?" The fellow Romanian chuckled softly. "Ce mai faci?"

"Um. Um. I... sunt bine. Foarte bine."

"Foarte bine! Very good!" The sub laughed, even though the answer wasn't precisely what the question had asked. Nathan was already getting a good feeling from him, and wondered hopefully if he'd give out food.

Just then, Ioana's slightly taller, very handsome twin, Nik, walked in. Unlike his incredibly expressive sister, Nik always kept his emotions to a bare minimum, save for his eternal hint of a smile.

"Hey, sub."

"Hey yourself. Your name, if you please, sir?"

"Nik von Dollen. I'm her brother." Nik's smile widened as he pointed teasingly at Ioana, who giggled and swatted his hand away.

"Ah, very vell. Anuzzer Romanian. I vas not avare ve vere zis numerous." He chuckled again as the bell rang.

"Settle down, now, children," he said pleasantly. It took a while, but eventually the students' buzz simmered down and they focused on the teacher, unabashedly staring.

"Good morning, children. My name is Mr. Țepeș, from Romania. Today, ve vill be learning some fun zings about Photoshop. Please, get into groups of two or sree."

The electrified Ioana dragged over a girl named Jarita and the two immediately began whispering and giggling to each other. Nik took one look at them, shook his head, and asked to be Nathan's partner.

"No. You can't be my partner. I hate you. Go away."

Nik grinned as he pulled up a chair. "C'mon, Nate... you're... you're breakin' my heart."

Nathan turned the corners of his mouth down comically. "God. Fine, prick."

The two had a strong bromance, despite the fact that Nik was a handsome, popular sophomore and Nathan was a lazy fringe junior. Both were amongst the slowest and weakest on the track team, and through failure they had bonded.

"Now, please choose ze person in your group vis... eh... a clearer face. No freckles, please," Romania commanded.

Nathan's nickname freshman year had been "Pepperoni Pizza," so he told the unblemished Nik to strike a pose.

"Please stand vis your back against ze vall, perfectly still, like zis." Using Ioana as a very lucky example, Romania pressed her straight against the wall with her head pointing slightly down, her heels together and her arms glued to her sides.

"Now, your partner vill take your picture. Make sure you get ze top half," Romania instructed.

Nathan snapped a picture. "This okay?"

"Zoom in a little bit more." Romania waited as Nathan followed his command. "Foarte bine. Perfect."

"That means very good," Nik whispered loudly to Nathan.

"Think I got that, twinkle-toes," Nathan hissed back, equally loudly.

"Be nice," the teacher chided gently. "Now, ve vill upload ze pictures, and have some fun in Photoshop. You vill be making your friends into monsters, yes?"

Nik nodded, cracking his knuckles. "Aww yeah. Hey Nate, I'm gonna be a monster."

"You already are, baby," Nathan retorted as he began bleaching Nik's olive skin using computer magic.

"Very good, Nate. Now vhat are you trying to do, exactly?"

Nathan, once again, hadn't noticed the teacher materialize at his side and let out a small yelp. "Ahhhh... um. I dunno, like..."

"Oooh, oooh. You should make me a vampire," Nik nodded, smiling widely.

"You already are one, pale-ass!" Ioana yelled at him from across the room.

Romania smiled. "Vell, here. You vill vant to emphasize ze cheekbones, like zis." The teacher darkened the area around Nik's already-prominent Slavic cheekbones, making it look like he was leering. Then he created dark bags under and around Nik's eyes, making them look old and sunken.

"Play vis zat," the teacher winked. Nathan changed Nik's green eyes to red and darkened the atmosphere around him, and pretty soon Ioana's twin looked more like a Lestat than a Nikolai.

"Very good... very good..." the teacher murmured, then burst into laughter at Jarita and Ioana's.

"Here, I vill put zis on ze screen." Nik and Nathan burst into laughter, as did the rest of the class. Ioana had stretched Jarita's mouth out and blended it with her hair, as well as making one eye comically larger than the other. To top it all off, there was a small chicken floating in the air near her left ear, unattached to anything and completely unrelated to the project at hand.

Jarita drummed her fingers on the desk, looking highly unamused. The teacher put a hand on her shoulder, leaning down (a little too closely) to comfort her.

"Ah, don't vorry. Everybody has zose days, eh? Here, I vill show you von I made of myself." A picture appeared on the projector screen-just a webcam photo of the teacher sitting at a desk, smiling. "Zis is for comparison. Now, vhat I did vis it-" Another photo appeared, heavily edited and very creepy. The Romanian's skin had turned almost translucent, and shadows appeared all around his glowing red eyes and sunken cheeks. The lighting in the room had darkened, his fingernails and ears had subtly turned pointy, and gleaming fangs protruded from his mouth. As a finishing touch, a mirror in the background was now subtly highlighted, indicating a lack of reflection.

While the girls were cooing and the boys (see: tech geeks excluding Nik) were peppering the teacher with questions as to what software he used, Nathan noticed something a trifle odd.

Nathan recognized the tools the teacher had used to edit the picture, but they weren't color-changing tools, like what Nate had used on Nik's eyes.

They were only color-enhancing tools.

As Nathan looked more closely at the first picture, he happened upon the unsettling revelation that the red eyes and fangs that the teacher sported in the second picture weren't absent in the first picture-the mellow lighting and healthy skin tone made them almost unnoticeable, but they were still there. Furthermore, the mirror from the second picture appeared in the first picture as well... but only the computer was reflected.

Nathan snuck a glance at the teacher, trying to confirm whether or not his eyes were actually scarlet, but unfortunately, he couldn't get a good look. Even more unfortunately, Romania noticed him staring.

"Eh, did you need somesing, Nate?"

"Uh..." Nathan's mind raced. "Yeah, actually. I'm having trouble with the blend tool."

"Ah, I see. Let me help." Nathan turned back to his computer. He noticed Nik walking toward him in the faint reflection from the screen.

Suddenly, the teacher's hand was on his shoulder again. Nathan whirled around. The teacher had been standing next to Nik the whole time, but he hadn't been reflected in the computer screen...

"Vhat seems to be ze problem?" The teacher smiled. And sure enough, there was at least one prominent fang showing in the gleaming grin.

Nathan blinked spastically. "Uh... this, uh, Dodge tool won't work. Or, um, at least it didn't for me!"

Romania leaned in closer to grab the mouse, brushing his shaggy hair away from his face to see better. Nathan scooted back his chair a little-the teacher's eyes were, indeed, pure crimson.

"Vell, it seems to vork fine now. You try it!"

"Oh, h-hey... whaddya know. Thanks!"

The teacher grinned again, and Nate couldn't help but notice the fang.

Throughout the rest of the class, Nathan kept a close eye on that teacher. He seemed pretty harmless, actually, but Nate was wary of the attention he was paying to Ioana.

"Did your mama ever tell you ze tale of Ileana Cosânzeana?" Romania asked Ioana. She shook her head dreamily.

"What's that?" Nik asked.

"Tch-tch-tch! And you call yourself Romanian. Ileana is only ze most beautiful princess in all ze fairy-tales of Romania. In some stories, she is kidnapped by ze zmeu and must be rescued by a handsome prince."

"What's a zmeu?" Nathan wondered.

"Oh!" Romania brightened. "Only ze manifestation of all evil in ze vorld; an ansromophic humanoid vis ze power to spit fire and perform terrible feats of magic. Sometimes he appears as a flame in ze form of a man, or as an ogre or demon. He lives in ze dark vorld below our own, covered vis people vis rat's faces, and has a desire to lock up and marry beautiful young girls." He cast a catty glance at Ioana, who still appeared to be in a trancelike state. Nik, Nate and everyone else in the class, however, were quite horrified at this point.

Romania went on: "It is nosing, however, compared to ze horrors of ze Bay-Tree Maiden. Such a tragic tale of trickery and false love..."

Thankfully, before Romania could terrify the students any further, the bell rang.

"Have a nice day!" The teacher called out happily. As Romania was distracted, Nate snapped a picture of him and Ioana speaking.

Outside the classroom, it took Nate a full five minutes to summon the courage to look at the photograph. When he finally did, his knees turned to jelly and he smacked his head on the wall in the process of falling down.

Ioana may as well have been talking to herself, as the teacher had not appeared in Nate's photograph. There was only an eerie outline of dead pixels where Romania should have been.

Just then, an exceptionally giggly Ioana rushed out of the classroom, nearly tripping over Nate's feet. Gulping, Nate tried to call after her, but his voice didn't work.

He took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, and got to his feet. When he opened them, Romania was, once again, standing directly in front of him without giving any sort of warning to signal his arrival.

Nathan gave out a yell that was more like a squeak and fell down once more. As he struggled to make his legs work, the teacher knelt down and picked up the tell-tale picture. He silently studied the haunting photo as Nathan desperately tried to blurt out an explanation.

"Hmmm. A picture of me, eh? Too bad. For some reason, pictures of me never seem to come out zat vell..." Laughing quietly, the teacher brushed his fingers lightly over the picture. "Try it now," he ordered, handing it back to Nate.

To his surprise, the teacher now appeared in the photo, clear as day. Huh, maybe it hadn't developed completely when he first looked at it. Nathan shot the teacher an apologetic glance as Romania extended a hand to help him up.

The teacher smiled and patted Nate on the shoulder. "Vell," he sighed. "I sink I vill be taking zis anyvay." He swiped the picture from Nathan's fingers and slipped it into one of the numerous pockets that dotted his coat.

The Romanian lingered a moment. "You know, I just sought you vere some dumb pothead. But zat vas qvite perceptive, Nasan. Alzough zose glances vere a bit rude."

Nathan nodded bashfully. "Sorry, sir. Uh... wait, what was percep-"

He looked up, but the teacher had vanished into thin air.

What in the...

Shivering a little, Nathan gathered up his things and hurried on to meet a glowing Rosa.

...

"Wow, yeah. No way. Weird coincidences. I'm glad you apologized, that guy probably felt really embarrassed." Rosa rolled her eyes as the two walked quickly to Design & Architecture.

"Dude, he was practically asking for someone to figure it out!" Nathan exclaimed. "Showin' those pictures and everything, givin' that assignment..."

"You shouldn't stereotype people based on appearances!" Rosa chastised him. A loud laugh came from a classroom as they passed, but they didn't have time to stop and investigate. "But I'd love to meet this guy. I can't believe he wasn't French, though. Man, and I had a Swiss!"

"A Swiss?"

"A guy from Switzerland, dipfuck." Nathan winced at the insult, but didn't have time for a comeback as they opened the door to Dez & Arch.

A serious-looking blond man was sitting at the desk, but Nathan and Rosa didn't have time to take in his appearance just yet. They needed to get their hands on the protractors and compasses that actually worked, as well as the best-charged battery-powered drill, before all the other socially awkward, glued-to-their-computers future engineers swarmed the supply closet.

By the time Nathan and Rosa had finished haggling over the supplies with a rather talkative girl named Eliza and a sour, cold young sophomore named Elena, and had laid all their articles out in their workspace, the two finally managed to get a look at their newest sub.

And what a look he gave them back! Rosa and Nathan were so taken aback by the teacher's dark glare that both had to duck their heads in shame. When Rosa (the manlier) finally raised her head again, the teacher had pulled a Romania and was standing directly in front of her and Nathan's desk.

"Yes, sir?" Rosa peeped. As the hulking mass of a teacher slowly began sizing her up, she, along with the cowering Nathan, was finally able to get a good look at him.

Behind the deadly glare lay small, cold blue eyes covered by half-moon glasses, which lay on a broad, square, hairless face. His hair was spiky and blond, his coat long and a deep navy, his tall boots shiny and brown. He stood at least six feet tall, and looked more like a professional arm-breaker than anything else-a Viking misplaced in time. In short, a guy you did NOT want to mess with.

"Names?" He asked in a voice too low and deep to distinguish an accent.

"Rosalina Hart, sir," Rosa said for the third time that day.

"Good," he said in an accent that made it sound like guut. "And you?"

"Nate," Nathan squeaked.

"Very good." The teacher frowned deeper. "Y'two're seniors... juniors... soph'mores..."

"Um, I'm a senior. He's a junior," said Rosa, fiddling with the buttons on her flannel shirt.

"Good. Ros'lina and Nad'n. Please have a seat. I'll be attendin' to d'class shortly." The teacher coughed, then turned back to the teacher's desk and sat down.

"That's not the Russian guy, is it?" Nathan whispered to Rosa.

"No... no. The Russian guy smiled," Rosa reminded him. "He's new."

Rosa raised her eyes only to discover the teacher staring at her again. She'd already had enough of it. What was this dude's problem? And where was he from? His accent was both gruff and lyrical, although it did seem vaguely Germanic...

"Did you want to see me, sir?" Rosa asked, cutting through the silence.

The teacher frowned, then opened his mouth. "Your hair. It is good. I like it."

"My... oh." Rosa ran a hand over her mohawked head. "Um, thank you," she blushed.

"You are welcome." He seemed to blush a little bit too, and ducked his head quickly. But Rosa wasn't done yet.

"Sir, may I ask you a question?" She called.

"Come ov'r here'f ya wanna ask."

"Alright," Rosa said as she got up, still angry that she couldn't figure out where the man hailed from.

She walked over to the desk and pulled up a chair. "May I ask where you're from?"

The man looked up. "Swed'n. 'M from Swed'n."

Rosa's eyes widened. "No. Way! I love Sweden!"

The teacher drew back a little. "Yah... sure?"

"No, no, really! I love Sweden! I want to move there after college! Will you tell us all about it? Please?"

Sweden frowned once more. "Maybe. Please sit down."

Hmmm... Rosa pondered as she walked back to her seat. Maybe he's an introvert. Sweden did have its fair share of those. Ah, so that's why he's teaching this class! He's among his people!

The little genius Canadian, Elena, was the next to introduce herself. "Elena Sima. I'm a sophomore," she said bluntly before returning to her seat. The teacher nodded and marked her down.

"Hi! I'm Eliza! I'm a junior!" Exclaimed Eliza.

The Swede stared at her, his mouth gaping slightly, for a full 30 seconds before responding with "Well. I am Sweden."

As a very confused Eliza returned to her seat, Rosa couldn't help but notice how red the teacher's cheeks were getting. What an odd combination of terrifying and vulnerable.

Soon, the bell rang. Everyone settled into their seats and immediately began tapping away on little laptops, the Apple-biters sending hate glares at the Microfags and vice versa.

"Please put d'c'mputers away'nd listen."

For the first and only time ever, everyone listened. Even Elena, who, for once in her life, looked a little scared.

The teacher cleared his throat. "My name's Mr. Oxenstierna, from Sweden. As we're now friends here, you may call me by m'nickname." He blinked. "Sve. Are dere any questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Come to me'f ya need help."

The problem with the students in this particular class was that all of them desperately needed help, but were far, far too proud to admit it. Thus, they would tap away on their computers, frown, look at the small pieces of wood in front of them, frown, silently sweat, tap away on their computers some more, and snap at anyone who politely suggested to them that perhaps their method wasn't the best for creating something as simple as a miniature house. And no, the author isn't bitter or anything.

Rosa, who had resigned herself to abandoning the computer work and taking a leap of faith with only the raw materials, noticed the teacher's ever-present frown deepen as he looked over the students. Then, abruptly, the tall Scandinavian stood up and walked over to Eliza and her unfortunate chair-in-the-making.

"Right here, s'wrong." Sweden lightly tapped a lopsided leg. "Y'gotta... shove it like dis." He rolled up his sleeves (his forearms were probably as thick as Eliza's waist) and gave the wood a good thump or two, striking it into place.

"Wow... um, thanks, sir!" Eliza giggled nervously.

"No problem." Sweden's bespectacled eyes narrowed as he noticed Rosa staring. "Didja need help, Rosalina?"

"Oh, no thanks, sir," Rosa replied as a reflex.

"I think ya'cd use some help with dis." The teacher clapped a bear-sized hand onto a piece of wood that Rosa simply could not whittle down to the proper length.

"Actually, yeah, I forgot about that," Rosa smoothly recovered. "You see..." She explained how it was too small for machine cutting, and cutting it by hand was laborious.

"I'cn help," he said gruffly after listening to her story. With remarkable delicacy despite his fat fingers, Sweden set to work manually cutting the bit down to Rosa's preferred length. It took all of five minutes. "Dere ya go. Good job."

"Wow, thanks," Rosa mimicked Eliza as she giddily continued working.

It was as if the smell of sawdust and the piercing shriek of saws whittled away all of the teacher's social anxiety. He was completely in his element as he set to work obliterating all the students' roadblocks, leaving a trail of grateful "Thank you, sir's" in his wake.

For once in the class's entire history, everyone finished up a section of work with time to spare for cleanup and dilly-dallying... as well as a few surprises.

"Haven't seen such hardworkin' 'Mericans since nineteen-for... eh... Anyway, I tink you d'serve a treat." With that, he took a large container out of his desk and opened it to reveal a perfectly delicious-looking (if a tad squished) strawberry shortcake. Rosa was strongly reminded of Hagrid.

Lacking forks, knives, and plates, the hungry future engineers dug in with their hands.

"Mmmm!" Rosa sighed. "Did you make this, sir?"

"No," he replied, carefully licking frosting off giant fingers. "M'wife did. I helped."

"Is she a really good cook?" Eliza asked innocently.

Sweden looked up for a second. "M'wife is not a woman."

Silence. Very, very unwanted mental images raced through every student's mind, nearly ruining the cake.

"Oh... well, he must be a really good cook then! Haha!" Eliza recovered, visibly shaken.

Should have expected as much from a Swede, Rosa thought with a laugh.

But before the students could react any further, another surprise came literally bursting through the door.

An axe-wielding, bedraggled blonde beefcake dressed in a bright red button-down and long black pants half-entered the classroom, dramatically limping, as though he'd just trekked across the entirety of Lapland. His yellow hair was even more mussed than usual, his laughing blue eyes looked crazed, and he was panting harder than France after REDACTED.

"SVERIGE." Denmark addressed the substitute, brandishing his axe. "I NEED DRILL. HAMMER. AYNYTING. RIGHT. NOW."

The Swede looked concerned. "D... Den? Why do you need-"

"BECAUSE OF DIS!" Denmark heaved his other leg into the classroom, and the cause of his limp became known-a tiny black-and-green-haired girl was clinging to him like an (adorable) tumor, a look of pure bliss evident upon her freckled visage.

"FOR LIKE AN HOUR NOW, JA?! I NEED HER OFF, SVE! I NEED HER-"

The second the crazed Dane mentioned the word "Sve," Sophie's eyes snapped open in an instant. As soon as she noticed the supremely confused Swede sitting at the teacher's desk, however, she let out a sound that couldn't be described as human or even animal. Tearing herself from the Dane, she sprinted madly towards Sweden and collapsed onto him, attaching herself to him securely with her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

"Min favorit," she sighed.

Sweden blinked a few times in rapid succession. Denmark looked stunned, but regained composure quickly.

"Oh. Weyll. Tanks den, Sophie... Denmark out." He saluted, then sidled away, casually swinging his axe and humming.

Another bout of silence, and this time, the students weren't sure what the hell to think.

Sweden coughed. "Well. Um. Class... dismissed."

As the rather dumbfounded students shuffled out of the room, Rosa accidentally bumped into a young lemon-haired man rushing in the opposite direction.

"Oh, jeez! Sorry! My fault!" The boy apologized in a high, pleading, lyrical accent. "Didn't see ya dere!" He continued on to the classroom, leaving the scent of flour and strawberries behind him.

"It's okay..." Rosa called after him. Then she stopped and glanced at Nate, who gave her a look. They both peeked back into the classroom.

"Fin, m'wife, could ya help me with dis?"

The lemon-haired boy pressed his fist to his mouth. "Hmmm, ya... that's quite de predicament, dere..." Standing next to the tall, thickly built Swede, the five-foot-something foreigner looked even skinnier and weaker than he actually was, coming up to only about Sweden's chest.

The two students leaned away from the classroom and continued walking to their next class. "Nate, you know I'm all for rights and equality and all..."

"Me too..."

"But, shit, that's one ass-tearing size difference, and now I can't think about anything else."

Nate could only nod, wince, and try not to allow those naughty mental images into his head.

Hey, how much do you guys hate me? : / It's been a long time. Anyway, SandyBardic, IT HAPPENED. And... this was fun! So um... bye! And I love you guys. SO. MUCH. And I'm sorry for abandoning you.