Sanctuary

Chapter 1

Darkness. It surrounded his being in its shrouds, wrapped so precisely, it choked even his thoughts. He struggled against the hold, ripping the cloak off his ocean blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, "What's going on?" His eyes roamed around the room, wondering where he was, the room was doused with blood and grime, covering everything, the chairs and other furniture were strewn about, looking like they were put through hell and back. He stood up slowly, checking the way this room was decorated, covered in crosses, with heinous drawings of death, and cruel sayings carved into the walls, "...Where the hell am I?" He looked up towards the large hole in the wall, providing the only dim light source.

There were small flakes of snow pouring down from the ceiling, he reached out to grab the little specks, and crunched them in his hand...ash? Why was there ash coming from the outside? He looked up again to see the dark, clouded skies, looking as if dead. He went towards a boarded window, trying to look outside, only to see an abandoned street and a few cars covered in the same dark substance, abandoned just like the town.

Turning around he spotted an unturned desk and quickly walked over to the untouched desk, finding a white note, looking as clean as diamonds. Picking it up, he scanned over a name written in cursive on the nicely decorated letter. It was in a foreign language he couldn't read.

"Alfred...remember this place?"

He turned around, "Who's there?" No response.

He sighed a bit nervously, running a hand through his hair, "I'm fucking hallucinating now." He turned back to the note, focusing his attention on opening it; he ripped off the top, shaking out the contents on his hand. A clink and thud caught his attention, "Oh shit, I dropped something."

Kneeling down to catch what fell out of the note, he looked closely, examining what it was...it looked familiar...he reached out his right hand to grab it and stumbled back, horrified at the sight. They were fingers, more precisely -he looked at his hand, and screamed at the sight- his fingers.

He clutched his hand, looking at the bloodied stubs where his left pinky, ring, and middle finger used to be. His breaths were getting more rapid, and his eyes were dilated to an abnormally small size, "M-my-my-" His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he landed with a crunching thud on the floor, unconscious.

"Hey-hey, Alfred. Get up, come on sleepy-head!" A light hand was shaking his shoulder, trying to awaken him from his dream.

"Wha? Whozzat?" The American tried blocking the light coming into his eyes and waved the figure away, "J-just a few minutes, Kiku...Imkindslppy..." His sentence was stopped by light snores, before a figure hit him on the head.

"Alfred you have to wake up! Really...you should stop playing so many video games late at night. It messes with your sleep." The chocolate-eyed man held a stern look on his face while scolding the other, "Nothing good comes out of it! This is the last time, Alfred F. Jones. I'm setting a time limit on your game."

That got the American up, "What? No! Aww, come on Keeks, why? I'll sleep earlier!"

"Four in the morning is NOT a valid time!" He responded harshly.

"...Damn it..." Alfred sulked, watching the Japanese man turn on the PlayStation 2, heading towards options and setting the parental control, "That makes me feel like a little kid..."

Said Japanese man glared, "Then stop acting like one." The American put on his puppy eyes, looking straight at Japan as if he had kicked him, making the other feel bad, "...America...ugh...fine, but only for today! If you sleep so late again I will put the time setting on."

America had jumped up and hugged the shorter nation, "Aww, thanks Keeks! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I love you so much!" The other rolled his eyes, but blushed anyways and hugged the other nation close.

'I love you too, America.'

-=::..::*(Sanctuary)*::..::=-

He opened his eyes and screamed, his voice was breaking but he continued chocking on the scream like he needed it. He stared at his hands, with all fingers in sight, he cringed and yelled, "What the fuck is going on?" Which echoed around the room like it was searching for an exit. Standing up from where he sat, he walked over towards the rotting, cherry wood door. Studying the intricate designs on it, until his eyes fell on a carving, he leaned over to read the letters more closely, "Don't...leave...the...room...what?"

He shrugged it off and gripped the handle, opening the door. He wasn't too shocked that the outside looked just as horrible as the inside, blood splattered on the floor and walls, the paint peeling off, and various random objects strewn about. It gave the long, narrow hallway a rather creepy vibe, almost as if telling him to go back. As soon as he stepped out of the room, strange noises could be heard from the end of the hallway, almost like...groaning? He slowly walked over to the end; the stretch seemed as if he wasn't getting an inch closer.

Every time he took a small step, the noise echoed, which made it seem like someone was trailing behind him. Beginning to near the edge, he suddenly heard a startling voice,

'America, go back into the room!'

He made the mistake of turning and yelling out, "Who's there?" Because no later than he said that a figure came walking into the hallway, it's skin was a pale color, the veins showing past the rotting skin, it was stumbling around, not able to see from looking straight down, it was dragging it's long, deformed arms behind it.

Groaning, it stopped stumbling with its non-existent feet, finally looking up when it was a few yards away from Alfred, who was frozen in fear. As soon as the thing raised its head, Alfred stopped, not able to look away from its white, bloody eyes and its smile spreading from ear to ear...quite literally, there was a large gash running across its face, stitched together horribly, making the monster look more terrifying than it was, "O-oh god." He whimpered.

It was trudging towards the American, very slowly it dragged itself to walk towards the frozen man, gasping and groaning along the way. Until it suddenly stopped below and open surface of the wall, all its movements were slow, even as it reached up at the large, gaping hole in the wall.

'Alfred, please go back in the room!'

"Who the hell are you?" He turned towards the room where the voice came from, but saw nothing and quickly turned back towards monster, "Fuck, It's planning something..." Looking around the abandoned hallway, he found a sharp, metal pipe gutting out of the wall and quickly tried pulling it out when he heard a loud crack. He turned around to face the monster again, who was hanging by the wall- looking him over with an expressionless face besides that forced smile, it started to swing...back and forth, back and forth, until it's pace sped up, it jumped and clung to the next leverage, swinging itself closer to Alfred.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

'Fuck it was fast!' Using more of the strength he had he yanked the pipe out and swung it at the rapidly approaching creature, only to miss it by a few inches. He turned back, swinging it again and hitting its target on the head, effectively marking a hole in her scalp, "...I-Is it dead?" That answer was quickly answered when it sprang up from its daze, opening its mouth to an inhuman size, showing off its massive, razor sharp teeth lined in rows all the way to the back, letting out a sharp, high scream before attempting to engulf the meal, missing by a fraction and only grazing the meat, "Shit!" The American clutched his arm, and lunged at the thing with his pipe, stabbing it in the chest, when it didn't even seem to notice something was impaled in it.

Alfred pulled back the blade and plunged it forward, again, and again, and again, and again, until he saw the creature fall, it's chest still heaving harshly from being stabbed many times. Her eyes quickly looked at the American, the blood red veins highly exaggerating its rage towards the man.

Alfred thought he was done with the thing when it suddenly stood, and swung it's large claw-like appendage at him, impaling him in the stomach. He looked down, then back up at the creature with an unreadable expression on his face, "B-but...I'm supposed to be the hero..." The female monster looked at him- showing a bit of sadness, but it was quickly done when it truly smiled, and dragged the claw out, then back, impaling him twice, "H-hero's aren't...supposed to...d-die." The thing seemed to take satisfaction in this, laughing at him. America closed his eyes, facing the darkness again, but this time forever.

'You idiot! Why don't you ever listen?'

-=::..::*(Sanctuary)*::..::=-

America quickly backed away from the hug, fearing for his life, "Get away from me!" He shoved whatever was in front of him away in a blind panic.

"A-Alfred, it's just me! Are you alright?" Kiku took a few steps closer to the scared American.

"I said back off!" He grabbed the nearest thing he could and swung. Hearing the crash of glass and blood spilling to the floor, he walked over towards the person he just hit. Kiku moved a bit, and groaned, earning him a stomp from the delusional American, "Why won't you die?" He quickly grabbed his pocket knife and plunged it into the suffering Asian, "I won't die now!"

-=::..::*(Skip)*::..::=-

The men downstairs had heard the screams and loud noises from upstairs, England stood, worrying about the commotion, "Excuse me, I think there's something happening up there. I'll come back in a moment." As England walked away, the others stood; trailing after him. Arthur rushed up the windless stairs, to the American's room where Kiku was sent to awaken him for the next meeting, 'What the bloody hell could have happened?' As he reached the handle and swung the door open, something was slammed against the door, "America, open this bloody door!"

"I won't die now!"

England was taken aback, startled, 'What had Kiku done?' He forced the door open and heard a row of gasps as the others finally caught up. England looked down at the mess, and back up at the victoriously smiling American.

"I did it, Iggy! I killed it! Now I won't die!"

-=::..::*(Skip)*::..::=-

"A-America..." The Asian looked up at his lovers eyes, whose we're clouded with fear, "S-stop-" Another plunge of the knife and he was left seeing red, the American quickly picked him up and threw him towards the door with a monstrous strength. Right as he had done that England walked in, with a row of people covering their eyes at the sight of the dead nation, whom the American was convinced was the monster he had seen.

"I did it, Iggy! I killed it! Now I won't die!" He shouted with a blood covered smile.

England took a step back, horrified at the sight, "A-America...what the bloody hell did you do?" He ran towards the fallen Nation, barely alive and quickly losing a lot of blood, "Somebody call an ambulance!" He was pushed away by the hallucinating American, who grabbed the small male's body and threw it to another side like a rag doll, "Be careful with those Iggy! They can kill you!" He walked towards Arthur; trying to embrace him with his blood covered self, but before he could fully reach the Nation, an iron punch was thrown at him, knocking him out.

"Mon-cher, what happened?" The French looked over at the scared Englishman, who was shaking from what had just happened.

"I...don't know France...I...don't know." He had sat back against the wall, covering his tears behind his arms.

China ran towards his brother after he had punched the superpower of the world, "Japan! Japan, speak to me! Japan!" He shouted, shaking the other lightly, "Oh no, p-please don't die..." He whimpered, cradling the other in his arms, letting the blood run down his own arms, soaking the shirt.

China quickly took it off and wrapped it tightly around the previous wounds of the atomic bombings, "M-my, Kiku...-he sniffled, the tears running down his face- Wǒ dí gēgē...Please don't leave me..." He clutched the nation close while laying him on the ground, "My brother..." When he felt the others breath stop he cried out loud, "Why? Please don't leave me! Please..." He knew it was futile- but he didn't want to believe it. Not him…not Kiku.

Everyone but Italy, who went to call the ambulance, looked at the sight in sorrow. England and France had gone downstairs, while everyone was left to stare at the American nation on the ground. Germany walked over to the obviously insane nation as he stirred, glaring down at him before grabbing him by the collar, "Why did you do it?" He barked loudly.

Alfred looked at the German confused, "Do what?"

At this the German fiercely punched him, "How the fuck could you do this to your lover?" another punch, "He fucking loved you and you just kill him all of a sudden!" Another punch which had the other bleeding, "You just killed him without giving a shit!" another punch landed on the abused American before the German was pulled away by the large Russian who was quite shocked at what the American had done. It just didn't seem like him at all.

Now it was the unnoticed Canadian's turn to lift up his brother and carry him to a bed, leaving the Chinese man to cry over his loss. He wanted to turn and say he was sorry for what his brother had done, but he had heard the distinct sounds of the siren approaching and turned away lugging his brother next door onto his bed. Not to mention, just a simple sorry wouldn't have sufficed.

-=::..::*(Sanctuary)*::..::=-

He looked back at the room, where it led to the hall, "I'm glad I got away from that thing." He looked around once more, to see the room had changed; it was no longer doused in blood, more like...dust and ash.

'Listen to me when I tell you something! I had to do some unspeakable things to save you! Listen to me, America!'

He tensed up again at hearing the voice, bad things always happened when he heard that voice, "...Am I going crazy? Oh god, I hope not." He always heard the voice but could never see who said it...maybe it was in his head?

'No, you're not crazy...mostly. I am just your...help.'

"Then why do you treat me like that? What the hell do you want?"

'Do you not remember anything?' He asked, 'That hurts...I'm...a special person of yours.'

"Well, I don't remember your voice. I would have remembered you if I really knew you!"

'It's alright; I don't blame you, Alfred. But please listen to me when I say there's danger.'

America tilted his head to the side, "I actually want to know that, how do you know when they're close?"

'Oh, you'll find out eventually, Alfred. I've been waiting here for you ever since you left.'

America groaned, "Where is this place in the first place? I've never been here in my life!"

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it's called Sanctuary. Like I said, you just can't remember, but you have- this place was just...different.'

"...What sick fuck calls this place Sanctuary? This place is hell!"

'Once again, you'll find out eventually. But for now, why don't I tell you a bit about what's going on?'

Alfred groaned, "Okay, I don't mind that but…can you show yourself in person or something? Because talking to a voice in my head while strange noises are coming from all directions isn't cool. I'm freaking the hell out."

'If that's what you want, but- please don't scream.'

A sharp light had engulfed his senses and drowned him in a bright, sea of luminosity. He brought his hands up to shield his eyes from certain blindness before it subsided and he looked up at the figure standing before him, right in front of him was a short, petite, young man. His eyes were a nice, chocolate color with hair as dark as night, and skin as pale as the moon.

"Sorry, Alfred. But I don't think I'll be able to show you what happened to me. I don't trust you." He stated boldly.

"What do you mean? Did something happen? Wait! Let me guess, I rescued you, right? Because I'm the Hero…wait, why don't you trust-?"

The previous voice the American was hearing looked a bit depressed before continuing, "If that is what you want to call it, Alfred. But first let's get started on this." He spoke, completely ignoring the last question, "This place. Is what you want it to be. It is both a heaven, and a hell. There can't be a place of perfection in the world, you know, Alfred? With all that war and violence. This is called 'Sanctuary'. It is a place where your sins are punished, and if you confess, you will be able to leave, only as long as you have seen the light."

He continued to speak after the short pause, "Remember that monster? That's one of the punishments, and whatever is out there also represents your fears and darkness. That one, was the fear your sins would come back at you, the legs were cut off from your fear of being left behind, the long, dagger like arms were your fear of staining your hands with blood, which is what that creature uses to kill. The blindness is you wanting to be able to see your future, the forced smile is from your depression where most of the happiness you had was faked.

Alfred scoffed, "How would this place find out?"

"...Oh, you shall see. But whenever I can, I'll help you. It does come at a price though."

"What's the price?"

"...Eventually you'll see. You won't be out for a while, so be patient."

"Why does everything come later? Is it some sort of rule you can't tell me?"

"Yes...In a way."

He sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair again, "Alright, I got the monsters, and place, lets continue."

"Alright, here's a little info on the more things that you will see in time."

"There are more?"

"Yes, you have many fears, and in this place all your fears will come true." He watched the American glance around nervously, "But there are certain safe spots and times don't worry. The safe places will be marked with a note written by me, where you are supposed to write what has happened so far. Now, as for the time, when you head outside there will be a siren, an air raid siren- it warns you when the other side is coming."

"Other side?"

"The...more gruesome monsters and the darkness in you. Please stop interrupting, anyways, this happens at random times, mostly when you're struggling, this place wants it to be so you die here. So please, be careful once you're outside...and in the deeper parts of buildings. You have to go into many dangerous places, solving strange, unsolvable riddles that seem to not make sense, but in the end those are what get you out of Sanctuary. You must remember the wrongs you've done and compensate for them, or else you'll never be able to leave, you have to face the things you deny to yourself and admit it." He stated gravely.

The American nodded, understanding a bit, but not quite sure why he's here. He hasn't done anything wrong has he? He also didn't want to face anymore of those things, "Hey, is that thing dead? I don't remember much."

"Actually, it killed you. I told you not to go out there yet, not to mention you're actually supposed to get out through the hole, you're not supposed to enter there unless you absolutely have to. Since that's the underground, the creatures that must absolutely not see daylight are in here, many different more as well. So do what I say, understand? Good."

"Wait...SO I HAVE TO GO OUTSIDE?" He screeched.

"Well, at least it's a bit light out...to find the flash light you're going to have to go into pitch black buildings. That's not so fun."

"...So I'm dead?"

"No, but someone is. I'm telling you that the actions of you dying here and me saving you come at a price. A life for a life, no?"

Alfred stared wide-eyed at the Japanese man in front of him, "W-who's dead?"

"...You'll find out eventually. But, for every meaningful monster you kill, that wasn't supposed to be killed. Their equal will also die. By your hands that is."

"...Oh god no, who is it? I have to know now!" He clutched the nation's shoulders in a harsh grip, scaring the other, "TELL ME IT'S NOT ANOTHER NATION!"

Kiku flinched and tensed up, "L-let go of me!" But his struggles were to no avail.

"Not until you tell me! I can't live with the thought of killing-" His vision was suddenly blocked by a sudden blurry movement and he found himself outside, facing a handful of deformed, armless, faceless monsters, "What just happened?" He hissed, quickly running past them before they could do much, but spray a dark, burning material at him, "Shit!"

He quickly ran around stores, past less of the same being, quickly heading down the road where he thought he could escape, "I must be getting closer to the exit." Soon he was only surrounded by fog and not able to see a hand in front of him, leaving him to sigh frustrated, "Crap, I can't run like this!" He was slowly walking forward, arms reaching out ahead of him, trying to feel for anything he could run into.

Scriiiiiitch.

Scriiiiiitch.

Scriiiiiitch.

"What's that?" He turned around and all he could see was that he had not moved an inch from the town, "What the hell is going on?"

'I told you, you cannot leave this town until you resolve your sins. Also, I suggest you run to your left, down MapleRidge Street."

"That reminds me of my brother. But I'm definitely going!" There he ran, having learned from his previous mistakes of disobeying the voice in his head. He stopped and thought for a moment. Well, that made him feel much better. As he ran the screeching sound of whatever it was dulled, "Why didn't you tell me you basically can't leave?"

"...I expected you wanted to be a hero."

"...Being a hero sucks now." He stopped running, slowing to a walking pace until he suddenly heard the loud; long groan of the siren, "Holy shit, you were right!" But after that he didn't receive a response. "...Hello?" He was only met with the horrifying moan of the siren, and the whole world was turning dark, "What the hell?" When the sky darkened to nearly nighttime in three seconds America was thoroughly creeped out at this town, "What country is this in? Can I nuke that country?"

He still received no answer, but jumped when the ground suddenly started to change, so did the rest of his surroundings. Everything was changed from an old abandoned place to a more horrifying hell. The streets turned to bloodied concrete with bodies strewn about, the walls revealed the same thing but with more grime and unknown substances dripping along them. He cringed at how disgusting the city looked, it seemed like it came from some sort of messed up nightmare.

A sudden bang came from a door of an apartment, he looked over, not wanting what was the inevitable to be there, but this place really did hate him, because a monster crawled out, it was slightly transparent, dragging it's entrails on the floor, having long blade fingers to help it cling to surfaces in order to move. This one had hair as well, more human like features, but the strange way this creature moved and cracked every time it did so made the other think otherwise...now that he thought about it, it looked sort of like a..."g-ghost."

He meeped, and looked around quickly before the creature noticed him, he made his way to one of the dead bodies that looked strangely like him and grabbed a pipe it held, "Why am I only finding pipe's?" When he felt something long slithering around his legs he looked down to find the creatures tongue wrapped around his ankles, "Gah!" He bashed the pipe against the figures head, to no avail, "GET OFF!" He tried to get away, but fell instead. Luckily this gave him a clear view of something he didn't see before. There was a caged heart thumping in the creature's chest, looking very visible, very real. As soon as he saw this opening he slammed the metal pipe right into the black, beating heart. But that was when he noticed something strange about the figure.

"...B-brother?"

The figure just lay there, dead at the feet of Alfred, "Oh god...oh god, nononononono...oh please don't let it be Canada. Fuck! Oh god..." He lifted the figure's head, looking at the indescribable features, but the hair, it was exactly the same. "How could I notice this just now?" Sure, the thing had a face marred beyond recognition, but the hair was the same!

'Because fear can make you do things you might not mean to do.'

...That was definitely not the last voice, this one sounded more sinister and mocking, "Okay who are you?"

It chuckled, "I'm the same guy...just different personality."

"Are you purposely trying to fuck with my head? Show yourself dammit!" No sooner than he said that a figure appeared out of the dead body in front of him, he looked exactly like the other one, but with blood red eyes and an evil aura around him.

He looked down at the body and smiled, "Hey...loon...guess who's dead now?"

America looked down where the other was looking, Canada...he just killed his own brother...his brother. In real time, he had surely killed him; but he also killed the nation. The people.

With a psychotic laugh the red-eyed figure left, leaving behind a broken soul. That was the American's realization, "When you kill people here, the equal of this thing's body dies too...wait a moment." When the American came to another more shocking realization he clutched his head in his hands, curling into a ball on the floor, shaking in utter disbelief.

"Their equal will also die. By your hands that is."

"Oh god no...C-Canada...Mattie..." His tears were running down in a messy form, blurring his vision, "Mattie...Mattie I'm so sorry." He stood up quickly once he heard a noise come from the polar opposite of the brother he just killed. But when he saw it coming it was too late, the large claws of it were impaled in his flesh, rooted deep within his right shoulder. The creature seemed to be laughing at him, 'Was Matthew still alive?' But when he saw the other hand go up, he stopped thinking.

Splatter.

Blood.

His mouth was wide open, he stood frozen in the spot, the pipe was sticking right through the other side of the things face, but he was unlucky. The blood had spurted out towards his face, into his mouth where he could taste the almost black substance of blood. He gagged and chocked, hacking on the disgusting, black material, slithering inside his mouth and moving down his throat. Reaching towards his throat to stop the disgusting liquid, he nearly threw up; it was just so disgusting. He loudly and cried out one last time, before he fainted and met the concrete floor.

-=::..::*(Sanctuary)*::..::=-

"Get some restraints, mon-Matthieu. We can't have that happening again. We have to figure out what happened. I know America wouldn't do this." This time he was speaking to England, who was solemnly outside in the hall, not wanting to see Alfred's face yet.

"...I thought I knew him well..."

"I got the restraints, papa!" Matthew walked over towards his brother, placing them first on his feet. Not noticing the American move his arm, until when suddenly he felt an immense amount of pain jolt through his throat and stop his breath, "P-papa...help." He cried, reaching out for his father, who finally turned in shock.

"GET OFF!" The American's free hand drew the weapon across Matthew's throat, quickly slitting it, watching him fall, "That one was easy." He whispered breathlessly, a psychotic smile on his face as his body shook from having witnessed more of the monsters around him.

"MATTHIEU!" France ran over to his fallen son, who quickly died. Not even having a last breath before his own brother slit his throat, "MATTHIEU. Mon Dieu, Matthieu, open your eyes!" France ripped a piece of cloth off his sleeve in an attempt to stop the blood, "No, M-Matthieu...oh, Matthieu..." He watched his beloved son's shock filled, amethyst eyes, quickly hazing over, not having the chance to see another day, "..." Francis stayed silent, watching his son leave this world- you should never experience that pain, it tears you apart from the inside- thinking you had failed your son. He turned towards the psychotic nation, hate swirling around in those light blue, crystal clear eyes, "Alfred..."

"..." The American just sat watching in front of him, as if a movie was unfolding before him.

"Alfred." Francis spoke again.

The other stayed still, seeming like he didn't hear a word.

This time the Frenchman walked over to his son, far enough away from the blade, "Alfred I'm speaking to you!" He demanded with more authority.

Whiz.

Squelch.

The knife had flown right into his mouth mid-sentence. He choked on it, and tried pulling it out to no avail, he coughed and sputtered, the blood draining down his throat, suffocating him. Clutching his throat he fell to the ground, the blood pooling around him in a large crimson color as he struggled to breathe and live.

England stood watching from the doorway, his hands covering his nauseated mouth. When he heard the medics come upstairs he screamed at them to call the cops before being met with a harsh slap into reality, as he let out a breath and fell back, unconsciousness taking over.