"Everyone, be careful," the blond-haired, big-eye browed persona of England said. "We'll meet back up here in a half hour."
"Right!" the rest of us cried. We split up into our groups and headed to our respective floors to look at anything we might have missed. I told China and Russia to pay close attention to the piano on the third floor, in case there was something there.
Germany, Japan, and I got to the first floor and looked around. The blond that was Germany said, "We should split up. Japan, take the hallway with the library and living area. I'll take the bathrooms. Italy, handle the back rooms and annexe."
"Right, Germany! Be careful," I chimed. I watched both of them head in their respective directions before looking at the front door. So many memories of this haunted mansion, so many times I've gone through this place. And no matter how many times I went back in time to fix everything, someone ended up dead thanks to The Thing. This time, Brother Romano and Spain got involved; even though I told them not to and to just go back to the world meeting.
I turned around and walked away from the door. I pulled out my white flag in case I needed it and headed down the hallway. I started searching each of the Japanese-styled rooms for anything we might have missed, before finally turning to the annexe. If there was any place that was horrible to enter alone, it was this place. It was cleverly hidden, the entrance being the wall between two of the rooms, hidden to all of us only until Austria said that from the outside of the mansion, there was a gap where the annexe fit. The Thing was stronger in here than anywhere else, but Germany trusted me to look through this place. I may even find some more of the dust for England to help him regain his magic.
I started to walk down the narrow staircase. At one point, I thought I heard something, but I couldn't tell if I imagined it or not. I got this feeling of dread though.
A feeling that was just confirmed when I found The Thing standing at the bottom of the staircase, like it was waiting for me.
The Thing looks like an alien, but there's more than one Thing. This one looked like the first one we saw, a baby body with an alien head and voidless black eyes that appeared to stare straight into your soul.
He he he, got you now, I heard it whisper in my mind.
"No, you haven't," I replied. "So far, I'm the one winning here. Everyone has survived and we will escape. You may have gotten rid of the ladder that was in the cave and the key to the front entrance, but we will find a way out."
Are you sure about that? It asked.
It held up its hand and out dropped a tomato. I gasped as the tomato dropped to the ground and rolled over to my heel. "This…" I muttered, picking it up. This was Romano's!
We've just taken one of your precious family, and his little friend will soon follow, The Thing told me.
"No, not Romano," I whispered. I could feel myself trembling, and somewhere in my mind, I realized that Germany and Japan were calling out for me. I couldn't bring myself to answer though, and felt tears trailing down my cheeks.
"Romano…please, doesn't let it be true," I muttered.
The Thing laughed, making me wince. It happened alright! And now even if you escape through our grasp this time, we'll just get another chance. Don't you see its hopeless now to try and free all of them? Why not be the coward you are and let yourself walk free while we use everyone else here to sate our hunger? Just run away from this place after you escape.
"No!" I shouted. I could hear Germany and Japan coming down the stairs now, but I couldn't let them face The Thing. Both of them were already weakened from fighting so much, and The Thing kept getting stronger. It would kill them in no time.
I realized that my only chance was to use the Memory Stone the me from another universe gave me so I could remember this, and use it to help me in the next time loop. I held my hands up and cupped the white stone hanging from the necklace around my neck, saying, "I, Feliciano Vargas, shall hereby carry the memory of this occasion!"
There was a blinding flash of light from the Memory Stone as it activated. Now, everything was being recorded. The sound, the scenery, there wouldn't be any way to forget this like I've forgotten so many other things.
I jumped out of the way as The Thing attacked me. "Ve," I muttered as I landed, backed up against the wall. "No."
"Italy!" Germany shouted from the doorway. The Thing turned on them, laughing again.
"Germany! Japan! Get out of here!" I cried, but I knew it was too late. I was going to watch them die again. And there wasn't anything I could do about it.
You've gained more than just the Memory Stone, I heard Holy Rome whisper to me. You've gained the power of the 2D world when you had to fight the Error. Use that power now so you don't have to watch them die as well.
I gasped, realizing what Holy Rome was talking about. I could only remember it faintly, but there was a moment while we were trapped inside a game due to a Japan-looking error that I saw Holy Rome knock me unconscious. He explained that the alter inside the game Germany and our friends were attacking activated my brother's and my own change into something else, something stronger than we were before, but I hadn't been able to access the form since.
The Thing launched itself at Germany and Japan. "No!" I screamed, wanting more than anything to help them. I felt that will spread throughout my body, and found that somehow, some way, my transformation had been activated, and it distracted The Thing from attacking Germany and Japan.
The white flag I was carrying in my hand disappeared as it melted into a cross. I could feel a white barrette settle on my head and my clothes change into white robes. The familiar red cloth with crosses on it settled around my shoulders and draping down to my legs, and I could feel the cross necklace join the Memory Stone around my neck.
I didn't know what I did, but I had changed into my pope form.
The Thing didn't look happy at this change. You had an ace all this time?
"You should've known better than to attack my friends," I stated.
"Italy!" Germany shouted again. I saw both of them trying to approach me, but I held up my hand.
"Italy-kun please let us help you!" Japan called.
I shook my head. "I can't. Not if you guys are going to survive," I told them as I sent a blast of magic from my hand that pushed them back into the hallway and sealed the opening. I turned to The Thing and held my hand up to him. "You would be wise to let us free at this point, so I can go back and save Romano," I told it.
The Thing grinned wickedly. Oh, don't think the next time you come this will come as a surprise to us. We will be prepared when you come to try and save the one you lost.
"I'll just have to try harder to make sure he doesn't get caught up in this mess like he did this time," I yelled. "I'll find some way to get everyone out of here, and allow all of us to walk free, away from this place!"
You'd do better walking away from the mansion right now than to try it again! The Thing challenged. I know as well as you do that every time you go through this, you keep getting more desperate and become increasingly rash. Did you honestly expect to be able to save all eleven of them from inside this mansion, and everyone outside fighting us right now?
"We've both learned things from this time loop," I told The Thing. "Like now I know the annexe is here. We'll just be able to get out of here that much faster."
I fired another shot of magic from my hand as it consumed The Thing. I charged it, swinging my cross down on its head.
The Thing disappeared, laughing as it escaped like it did so many times before. I nearly collapsed when I hit the ground, and only had enough time to open up the entrance to the annexe and whisper, "I, Feliciano Vargas, hereby stop this memory here." The Memory Stone stopped recording before I lost my balance.
I felt myself crash to the ground as Germany and Japan ran up to me. I saw was Romano's tomato, lying on the ground a few feet away.
I promise I'll save you, I thought, another tear rolling down my cheek. Then I blacked out.
"I, Feliciano Vargas, hereby release this memory…"
/AN
Hope you enjoyed reading! This was originally for a project but because I had to change the theme, I couldn't use it. Still, no use in letting a fanfiction go to waste. That kinda explains the whole RomaHeta/HetaOni/HetaQuest thing.
For those of you that don't know, RomaHeta is when the characters are trapped inside a game due to an error. It was never completed, but one of the biggest hits with it was the fact that the Italy Brothers had pope forms.
In HetaOni, which is the main setting of the story, the characters are trapped inside a mansion with an alien-like being, but not all is what it seems when the characters realize that Italy's actually gone through the mansion many times, either dying himself or watching his comrades fall.
HetaQuest is where Italy and America find themselves in another world due to a book. In this world, Italy runs across someone that looks, acts, and basically is him by the name of Feliciano Vargas. The only problem is that Feliciano died, but he's got vital information that could explain what's been happening in this world. All the characters, instead of being themselves, are human personas with their human names. (So Japan is Kiku, Germany's Ludwig, etc.) One thing Italy gains in this world is an item called the Memory Stone, which can be used by those who can control it to record events that happen. (The quotes he uses for starting, stopping, and showing the memory comes from the actual game.)
I think I got all the information I needed to point out. Oh, yea:
THIS IS NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY! I still feel like I'm going to get a lot of people flaming me over this...
R&R Please!
AN/