~Never Be The Last To Hide~
Even if you find no place inside
~Never Be The First To Stay~
Others will follow, Keep Away
~Never Be The Last To Rise~
It could cost you a gory demise
~Never Be The First To Say~
That all you can do now is run far away
No way in hell, no way in hell or the Yukon that was Prussia. I panted, stumbling behind Romano. America lay in the middle of the blue brick road ahead of us, Italy standing over him. He rolled my twin over so he was face up. Romano slowed, letting go of my arm. I ran over to America, slinging an arm around him and standing him up. His gloved hands balled into fists, the red seemingly brighter. He opened one eye, looking at me. "Tired…" he whispered. Italy helped me hold up America from the other side.
"I agree…" Italy admitted. "Maybe we should-a find somewhere to rest, si?" Romano nodded in agreement. We wandered a bit further down the brick road before heading through a gap in the now thick trees. America took his arms off Italy and myself, now with enough strength to walk himself I guess. The grey sky above us became darker, the trees gradually blocking out the sky completely. It got totally dark ahead of us, nothing visible. "How-a are we gonna see wh-what's in front-a of us?" Italy asked, looking around, but it had gotten too dark behind us; I could barely see Romano, who was right next to me.
Vzzzzt. Vzzzzt. Vzzzzt.
The top of my head… vibrated? I reached up and felt it was the goggles that I had taken from North. I pulled my glasses off and stuck them in my jacket pocket, pulling the goggles down over my eyes. I blinked a couple of times, adjusting to them. The looked like night vision goggles, everything now clearly visible, but a slight purple colour. "Whoa." I felt a hand on the top of my head, then it finding its way down to my face.
"You can see with those on?" Romano growled beside me. I turned to him, looking him over through the goggles.
"Perfectly, a-actually" I looked forward, through the dark trees. A ways away, I saw a house with a figure, like a statue, standing outside of it. "A ways u-up from here, there's a h-house. Sh-Should we go?"
"Does it look safe, bro?" Al asked.
"Uhh… there looks like a-a statue is in front of it, th-that's about the only weird part to it." I responded. "How dark is it, g-guys?"
"I can't-a even see my hand a centimetre from my face." Romano snarled. "You're gonna have to lead us."
"Uh… a-alright." I murmured.
I felt a hand grab my shoulder, then slide down to my hand and grab it loosely. I turned my head to see it was Romano. Italy had his hand in Romano's and the other in America's. "Lead the way, bastard." and even though it was dark, I swear I could see a slight blush on his face. Turning back to the direction of the house, I headed towards it, the other three following me. We walked for several minutes in silence. As we neared the house, something rang out loudly, like a shot from a gun. Italy screamed, Romano jumped, grabbing my arm with both of his, Italy and America falling to a heap behind us. Romano whined slightly. "What in all of f-fucking hell was th-that?" he stammered. Italy curled up on America, the four of us now silent. Something screeched, scaring Italy and Romano again, Romano grabbing my arm tighter and Italy burying his face into America's chest. Romano breathed heavily next to me. I looked around; trying to spot whatever had just made that noise. Romano yelled out when a strangled scream rang through the forest. Cringing, I grabbed him around the waist, picking him up, and reached down to pull Italy and America up. Italy grabbed the back of my jacket and I ran towards the house, Romano holding onto me tightly.
As I reached the door, another scream broke through the forest, louder than before. Italy pulled himself right up behind me and Romano breathing heavily, afraid-sounding. Fumbling with the knob, I flung it open and shoved Italy and my brother in there. Looking around one last time, I walked through the door with Romano and slammed it shut. Romano breathed heavily into my shoulder, and I set him down. I looked around, finding a candle with a match next to it, lighting it. It cast a very dim light around the room. I pushed the goggles up, putting my glasses back on and taking a good look at everyone. America stood up, stumbling over to the lone couch in the room, Italy following him. Romano stood leaning against the door, his head back and eyes shut, breathing heavily and erratically. Looking like he was struggling for air. He looked at me, his amber-green eyes dim.
Knock. Knock.
He jumped forward, falling to the floor. Romano cautiously stood up again, looking over the door. I pointed to a small window in the door. Stepping towards it, he slowly reached up, grabbing the knob on it and quickly pulling it open. Something reached through, clawing at his face. He yelled out in pain, shutting the window and covering his face. He stumbled, falling to the floor. I jumped over to him, kneeling down. The four of us sat there in silence again. I helped Romano sit back against the wall, removing his hand from his face. From the top right of his head, across his nose, down to his left cheek, there were three gashes, bleeding. They weren't very deep but painful to look at. He shook his head. "We're all fucking screwed, aren't we?" he said with a fake smile.
0-POV-0
I sat, staring out the window, fiddling with my ponytail. I sighed, rolling a fifteen-sided die in my hand. I spun it in the air, facing the side with Kaoru to me. Kaoru was one of my … servants. A Flying Monkey to be precise. A knock at the door strayed me from my thoughts. The large door opened to reveal Roderich and Steve, my servants. I turned to them.
"What is in now, aru?"
"Kaoru has returned." Roderich stated.
"Back empty-handed at that, mate." Steve added.
"Just bring him in!" I yelled. They nodded quickly, running out. In stepped Kaoru, his snub nose darker than usual and his black wings glossy. He stood straight, like soldier. "So, Roderich and Steve tell me you come back empty handed, aru."
"I have not." he answered, holding up his right hand, his first three fingers covered in dark red. "I have scratched one of them, which, I do not know."
I smiled. Faster than he could think, I grabbed his arm and snapped his elbow, and then moving quickly to break his wrist. Kaoru yelled out, and his back wings expanded and contracted rapidly. I dragged him behind me to the back room, where I kept my potion ingredients, spell books, and equipment. Slamming and locking the door shut, I dragged my Flying Monkey over to the large cauldron in the middle of the small room. Smoke rolled out over the edge of the concoction inside it. Without a word, I plunged his hand in, laughing loudly when he howled out in pain. Moments later, I pulled his hand back out and scraped the remaining dried blood off. I tossed him aside into the corner, snickering as he cradled his arm. I grabbed a large golden rod off the wall, stirring the mixture. Kaoru wrapped his black wings around himself, watching silently. I continued to mix it "Kaoru, go get Sadiq." he nodded, running out of the room faster than he could fly. I went back to the cauldron, smiling.
"You called me?" I removed the rod, tapping it on the side of the cauldron and placing it back on the wall. I turned to the Monkey, face hidden behind the white mask I've never seen off his face. He wore all grey, just like Kaoru had. I gestured for him to come closer and look in the cauldron.
"See them?" I said, pointing to the picture now forming in the cauldron.
"The group of four? What about them?"
"I need you, Heracles, and Gupta to follow them for me, aru." taking some potion in my hand, I pulled down his mask a bit, splashing some of the mixture in his eyes. He blinked, then fixed his mask back into place.
"You're making me go with Jerkulese?!"
"And Gupta, aru." I snarled, "He'll keep you two in your place."
The Monkey gave a loud, annoyed sigh, wings fluttering under his grey cape I hadn't noticed. "Fine, West."
I gave a wicked smile. "Good, now go! And tell Kaoru I'm no longer in need of him anymore, aru" He nodded, turning to leave the room. I turned back to the potion, stirring it a bit. The image ripped, focusing on one in particular. The brunette with moon collar. He sat leaning back against a blonde with the goggles. I smirked, laughing, gradually getting louder to the point where the entire castle must have though I was insane. I quieted my laughing. I undid the tie in my hair, dropping the ribbon in the potion. "Yao, you are truly wicked, aru. Hehheh." the image reddened, burning. Another human moved in the picture, sitting up, and even through the picture, I heard the scream, the panic in his voice. He had noticed the fire I made and he moved quickly to wake everyone up, and when one wouldn't, the goggled one picked him up and carried him. His collar glowed.
"Now, the issue is, for you four, will you all live, aru? And surely I must call you something…" I murmured to no one in particular. "I'll call you… Cub," I stirred over the brunette with the platinum boots. "You… Bear," I touched the spot with the blonde who had the red gloves, "you can be… Raven…" I splashed the potion over the goggled blonde, "And you…" I stopped my hand over the second brunette, with the purple moon collar. "Dead. I kid, aru" I gave a loud cackle, "I think you're the weakest out of them all, so… I'll call you Minx. Not that you know, aru… but it's a nice thought, aru." I gave another loud laugh.
I watched them all run, Raven running as fast as he could it looked. I dunked my hand into the potion, grabbing the ribbon and stirring it around faster. I pulled my arm out, my sleeve completely soaked. I watched the foursome stop and stand back-to-back, wide-eyed. Then Cub started to cry, loudly. Bear turned to him, saying something, looked like Italy, shush! I can't think! Oh, so his name was Italy? Odd name. Well, anyway, 'Italy' cried even louder, and then suddenly stopped, looking down at his boots. "Hell no, not possible." but even though the reflection was fuzzy, I could clearly see that the boots were shaking, as in vibrating. He gave them a curious look, tapping them together and taking a step forward towards the fire I had conjured.
It parted away from him. He jumped, yelling at the people behind him. They turned, and then followed closely behind him. I clenched my jaw tightly, angrily watching the four of them make their way out of the burning forest, fire splitting away from Italy. When they had made it to the Blue Brick road, I grew quite angry. I gripped the edge of the cauldron and tipped it over, spilling the contents across the floor of the small room. I strode out, slamming the door angrily behind me. Not the way it works, damn it! Roderich and Steve stood in the doorway, and I snarled angrily at them. "What the hell are you looking at, aru?! GET OUT!" they ran, looking quite frightened. "Sadiq, Heracles, and Gupta better take care of them, I don't want to send in my back-up, aru."
I gave an exasperated sigh, banging my head on the wall. I got an idea, rushing back into the other room and grabbing a spell book. I flipped through the pages furiously. "What if, aru… I weaken one of you." in the puddle of potion on the floor, I saw the brunette I had called Minx slung over Raven's shoulder. He looked as if he was passes out. "I'm going to curse you. How is the question, aru." a passed a page, then flipped back to it, a large grin pulling across my face. It wasn't the best spell ever, but it would work. "Paralacius, abouridios, half way down." I slammed the book shut. "Have fun walking, Minx, aru."
(Kaoru- Hong Kong)
(Steve- Australia)
~ViraLayton
