Singing: Another update!
Fortune: Beta work by me!
Singing: And we do not own Hetalia or HetaOni of course. I'm just a writer and she's my beta-reader~
Enjoy!
~.~.~.~.~
The 905310th time fix
"What is wrong with everybody?" Japan heard Canada whisper as they all continued to argue.
He didn't understand why everyone (including himself) suddenly had all the facts mixed up. America did tell them about this mansion, so it would be illogical if he didn't come. But Italy and Germany were insisting that Prussia came with them, yet Japan recalled that he came with America and…
It has such a desolated feel…Not bad…Not bad at all.
Prussia's voice rang out in the back of Japan's mind, but it sounded so far away. Those words sounded so familiar to him that he felt like he heard it yesterday…But yesterday he came with America and after they entered the mansion, Japan was with Italy, Germany, and Prussia…and America was…
Japan blinked and rewinded those last memories. He came with America to the mansion, but then suddenly he was with Italy and the others. He shook his head. That doesn't make sense at all! I'm sure I came here with America-san, but how did I end up with Italy-kun and the others? Maybe America-san disappeared after that and I ran into them? He once again tried to recall what exactly happened yesterday; did America really disappear once they entered the mansion? Japan recalled that he let America enter the mansion first, and then he was talking to Italy and the others inside…
What happened to America-san? Japan was becoming frustrated with this. He wasn't that old to forget his noisy friend, so why couldn't he remember where he went off to?
There was no use in continuing these questions which would lead one question to another non-stop. No one paid attention to Japan as he walked away from them and subconsciously went towards one of the drawers.
Japan remembered England and Canada saying they didn't get the chance to search the room completely before the others arrived. Japan opened the top drawer and found a clock running at an abnormal speed.
Oh, here it is. Japan took out his katana and aimed the point of his weapon at the center of the clock. I should break this already. He stabbed the weapon into it, letting the sound echo around the room as the clock's glass face broke and the hands came to an instant halt. The sound got everyone's attention and stopped their arguing.
"There," Japan let out a breath of satisfaction. "Another one down and-" the pale orange blur suddenly filled his vision instantly, surprising Japan. He was able to ignore them before, but this time, the blur was more intense than the others and was not gone as quickly.
Japan was starting to feel nauseated from it and he clamped his eyes shut. Is this the enemies' trick? He wondered, not daring to open his eyes.
"Here! It's here! Just like the rumours said!" a familiar voice shouted.
Japan instinctively opened his eyes and his jaws slacked at what he saw in front of him. The white Piano Room was replaced with a sepia-coloured scenery, with the haunted mansion looming above him and three other nations. Japan squinted at them, rubbing his eyes before double checking if his mind was playing tricks on him or not.
For some reason, a sepia coloured America, England, and another Japan were standing in front of the mansion, all looking up at the building. The real Japan gasped loudly when he realized that he was actually seeing this. None of the nations at the front heard nor saw him though.
"Hey, America, how about trying to keep it down?" England suggested. The Japan between them looked at them and sighed.
"I'm not doing anything wrong!" America defended. "Right, Japan?"
"No comment," was the only reply he got.
Something clicked in Japan's mind (the one behind the nations). Yes, yes that's right! It was America-san and England-san who came here with me! …Wait…England-san was there? I thought it was only America-san…
The nations in front of him suddenly faded away, surprising Japan again, before they were replaced by a sepia-coloured Prussia and Japan.
"Is this it?" the Prussian nation asked. "Are West and Ita really in this place?"
The Japan beside him sighed. "Indeed."
Prussia turned to him, a cocky grin on his face. "You're thinking, 'This sucks,' aren't ya?"
While the Japanese nation stuttered in denial, the real Japan looked confused. No, that's not it. The one who came here with me was... Prussia-san! We decided to come and pick Italy-kun and Germany-san up, so-
It has such a desolated feel…Not bad…Not bad at all.
He stopped himself when Prussia's voice echoed in his mind again. He looked up at the Prussia still teasing the other Japan, before frowning. No…this isn't the right memory either.
Those two nations faded away after Japan made that conclusion. Are these traps set by the Things? He wondered. Are they trying to confuse me?
From there on, Japan saw himself coming to the mansion with different groups. America, England, and China. Then only with Italy. One time with Prussia, Russia and Canada. Next all the Allies were with him, and so on. There was a limitless series of who he came with and how many there were in the group. And each and every one of them, he believed that it actually happened but later denied it when the scene changed.
This was giving Japan a huge headache and by the time he saw himself with Italy, Germany and Prussia, his head was crammed full of these memories and he was not sure which one were really the real one now.
"Vee! It's really here," Italy shouted as he jumped up and down.
"I thought it was just a rumour. I never thought we would actually find it..." the Japan in the memory was surveying the building.
"It has such a desolated feel…Not bad…Not bad at all," Prussia smirked. Japan (the real one) stared at him in surprise.
"I don't think it's that interesting, bruder," Germany rolled his eyes.
The Japan viewing this agreed and spoke at the same time with the Japan with them. "Me neither. Can't we just look at it from outside and then go back?"
Japan eyes went wide and he quickly clamped his mouth shut. He gaped at them for a while. The other memories in his head were slowly pushed aside in favor of this one. This…This memory is…
"Japan?" Italy appeared beside him and it made the Japanese jump. He then noticed everything went back to normal and was back with everyone in the Piano Room.
"Oh? Italy-kun?"
"You were standing here for a while after you broke the clock. Are you alright?" Italy asked.
"Umm…" Japan saw everyone was staring at him with worried looks on their faces. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Yes, I'm alright."
Italy smiled brightly at him. "Viva! I'm glad!" He tugged Japan's sleeve and they joined the rest of the nations.
"Anyway, as I was saying before Japan broke the clock," Germany began and turned to everyone, the piece of paper with the four coloured rectangles in his hand. "How about we just focus on figuring out this puzzle instead of arguing with each other? We're never going to get this done if we never reach a conclusion."
"Fine," England grouched.
"There are four colours that match the ones on the keyboard," Canada murmured and turned to the piano. "We still have to wait for one more phone call in order to solve the puzzle."
And as if on cue, Germany's phone suddenly rang.
"There it is," Italy whispered.
"Pick it up aru!" China urged him.
The German nodded, he pulled out his cell phone and put it on loud speaker. They waited silently, and as expected, a piano note was heard, followed by the voice saying "Si" before it hung up.
"That's four notes then." Everyone quickly gathered around the piano and stared down at the keyboard. They were studying it intently, like the answer was going to pop out any second since they got all the clues.
But…
"I still don't get it aru," China admitted.
Everyone else nodded as they agreed. There were too many colours that distracted them, and they weren't even sure which note was which! Where was Austria when they needed him? But Canada was the only one who wouldn't give up. He stared at the keyboard silently, trying to piece all those hints together unlike how everyone just expected the answer to jump out. A moment passed before he exclaimed, "I got it!" He turned to Germany and asked for the piece of paper. The German nation handed it to him and Canada quickly turned to everyone, holding it up for them all to see. "I know how to solve this!"
"Ve? Really?" Italy bounced up and down happily.
Canada gave him a nod. "Yeah, but Italy, I need your help."
"Ve? Why?"
"I heard from France that you used to live with Austria when you were young, eh?"
"Yep," Italy nodded.
"By any chance do you know anything about piano notes?"
At first, Italy had to think really hard to remember. "Vee…I know a little."
"Then can you point out the four notes we heard?"
Italy nodded and walked up to the keyboard. Everyone watched him as he slowly placed his fingers, one by one, onto the keys while muttering which was which. Once he was done, his fingers were on a blue four, a red two, a yellow five, and a green nine.
"You see, it's a simple code," Canada explained to everyone. "The notes that were played were these."
"So the answer is 4259?" England asked.
"Ah, there's more to that though. Look at their colours on the keyboard and on the paper. They are the same, eh? If we match the numbers with their respective colours," the Canadian nation took out a pen from his pocket and wrote the numbers down. Once he finished, he held the paper up.
5894
"Amazing aru!" China exclaimed.
"That was a great deduction, Canada!" England commented and patted on the young nation's back.
Canada couldn't help it but blush from the attention he was receiving from everyone. He always wished for this but right now he felt really embarrassed by it.
"Well then, let's head to that safe now," Germany suggested.
"I agree," Japan nodded and one by one, everyone filed out the door. They were all busy complimenting Canada. Too busy to even notice that they actually left someone in the room.
He stared at them as they all went out and closed the door behind them. A sigh escaped his lips; he knew the time in this room was not completely fixed yet, so they wouldn't notice him gone for a few minutes.
Silently, he ran his fingers over the keyboard, eyes lingering on the numbers for the safe. He let out another sigh as he opened his brown eyes. If anyone was there, they would have noticed how out of character it looked on Italy's face.
"They solved it after all," he muttered to himself as he placed the piano's fall over the keyboard. "How funny. I thought I had done everything right, but it was no use after all…I guess I really shouldn't have given them a hint." He leaned back against the piano, staring at the drawer that contained the broken clock. "But…No, never mind. I'm sure this is the right thing to do. I'm not making a mistake, right? Right.
"Yep. I'm not making a mistake. I'm not making a mistake at all! But I wonder if Japan will get mad at me…Ahaha," he suddenly laughed; it didn't sound carefree and cheerful, but bitter. There was something glistening in his eyes, but he shook his head to will it away. "Germany definitely will…He wouldn't want to be my friend anymore!"
Time was nearly up and everyone would soon realize he was missing. Italy straightened himself up before going towards the door.
"We're almost there…"
~.~.~.~.~
It was official. Poland had won the 'Extend the word 'right' in one breathe' competition between Korea. Romano's blood veins were getting more visible with each second that ticked by.
Lithuania finally got the guts to poke his friend in the ribs to shut him up, which just annoyed the Polish nation on his lap.
"Oww! Liet! Like, that was totally rude!"
"What you were doing was not nice as either, Poland!"
"But can you, like, even believe what he just said?" he pointed at the pissed off South Italy before he turned to everyone else with him. "I mean, honestly, who totally believed him?"
There was no response to the Polish nation's question. Romano really wanted to facepalm now but he had to restrain himself. He saw this coming. He knew it would happen.
He didn't see this happening though as Belarus suddenly appeared behind him and whispered coldly into his ear. "Are you saying my брат is going to die?"
Romano wanted to nod since his stupid mouth failed him, but that was pretty hard since Belarus' hands were around his neck pretty tightly (not because he was scared, dammit!).
"Belarus, as if you could believe that," Switzerland snapped at her. He wondered why he was dragged into this with his sister. "Nations cannot die. Not even Russia."
"But-But, what if it's true?" Ukraine asked as tears rolled down her cheek.
"Ita might be in danger…" Hungary whimpered, her grip on her frying pan tightened.
"Hungary, not you too," Austria rolled his eyes and sighed.
"How about not you too Austria!" Spain whined at his friend. "Do you really think that Roma would lie to us?"
"It's too unrealistic," Turkey snorted. "Nations can't die."
"I heard that from Switzerland already," South Italy growled at him.
"Roma would never lie! He's very honest!"
"Yeah, like honest about how you always-" Poland was cut off when Romano shot him a deadly glare and held his rifle in a threatening way. Poland froze, before he twirled his golden locks of hair in his fingers nervously. "Weeeeeeeeeell, it's true that Romano can't be that bored to lie to all of us."
"Still don't believe him," Korea muttered.
"Is Japan really in danger?" Greece wondered.
"If you're so worried about him, why don't you go check on him?" Turkey suggested.
"I would if I knew where that mansion was, you stupid old geezer!" Greece muttered angrily. No one noticed how Romano was getting angrier as each nation went off talking amongst themselves.
"A haunted mansion that can kill nations? Scary."
"Denmark, not you too."
"N't real."
"Sweden, are you sure?"
"I want to kick some monster ass!"
"Shut up, Puffin."
"Belarus, le-let Romano's neck go, please..."
"Where is my брат?"
"I think we should help them, bruder."
"But Liechtenstein..."
"I'm going to save Ita!"
"Calm yourself, Hungary!"
"Haunted mansions originated from Korea!"*
"EVERYBODY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Romano and Spain shouted together. Everyone, even Romano, stopped what they were doing and stared at Spain. He was completely mad, something the nations never saw before. "I said Roma wouldn't lie, and you still won't believe him? Sorry Hungary, I don't mean you too," Spain added quickly before he went on. "Guys think about it, Roma would never lie to us, and even if he would, he would never lie something as ridiculous as this." Romano frowned. "And just think what if he was really right about this? Aren't you worried about any of them?"
"I'm worried about брат."
"I don't want Ita to die..."
Spain nodded at the lady nations and continued. "C'mon, can't we just think, for a moment at least, that we are not nations, but humans who had fought before with their friends and family. Are we really willing to let them die?"
"But we're not-"
"Just think."
Everyone stayed silent. Romano stared up at Spain, completely amazed by how he got everything together...unlike himself. There was another thing to admire about Spain now.
Amongst the Nordic nations, Denmark finally jumped up, ignoring his friends' protests and shouted, "Where is this mansion?"
Austria sighed at last. "Fine, just because Italy is in this."
"That mansion sounded gross, so I am like totally going to paint it pink!" Poland declared and hopped off Lithuania's laps.
Romano suddenly felt relief wash over him, which he hadn't had since the beginning. He was about to tell them where it was, but then Finland asked, "Will we need weapons?"
Romano glared at the person who interrupted, even though Sweden was glaring back. Soon everyone was in their own little group again and in the end, it turned out no one had any weapons with them (save for Switzerland, and maybe Hungary and Belarus), so they all returned to their home to get them and prepare for the trip.
Frustrated, South Italy slammed his head onto the table and groaned, "Goddammit, I forgot about their fucking weapons!"
"Don't worry, Roma! At least they believed us in the end, right?" Spain tried to comfort him.
"Yeah, but it would have been better if they got their weapons first!" Romano mumbled into the table.
"They would have just questioned why before they flew back here. But at least we have our weapons ready, right?" Spain looked at his large axe leaning against the wall. He had planned to help France court some girls after the World Meeting, but now at least it would be used for something else. "All we have to do now is prepare ourselves for the trip."
Romano snorted but didn't say anything else. Spain sighed and ruffled his henchman's hair before he got up and he decided to get room service to bring their lunch up. As he walked away to get the phone, Romano perked his head up and looked up at the clock.
He sighed to himself. Well, at least we convinced them much faster than I expected.
~.~.~.~.~
The safe clicked opened once the code was entered. A key was sitting inside it and Japan took it in his hand. The label read "I – Study Key". There were only two doors on the first floor that were still locked, so finding the room didn't take too long.
The key was for the door in the smaller tatami room. When they entered, they didn't waste any time gawking at the overly large study and just started searching for the room's clock and maybe a clue or two to find everyone else.
Japan and England skimmed through the books on the bookshelf while Germany and Italy searched the desk. China, Russia and Canada just stood back as others ransacked the two only suspicious looking things in the entire room.
Italy found a switch under the desk and switched it on, surprising everyone when the bookshelf suddenly shifted to the right to reveal a hidden door.
"Good work, Italy!" China praised him and Italy just smiled happily.
They went through the door and found themselves in a small, dimly lit cell room. There wasn't much room between the door and the cell, so everyone went into the cell and after Italy entered, he closed the metal door behind him.
"There's nothing in here," Germany stated when he surveyed the empty space.
Japan squinted in the dark, trying to see if they had missed anything. He walked around and his feet kicked something. Looking down, he noticed there was a key on the floor.
"I found a key!" he shouted and grabbed the object on the floor.
"What's it for?" Canada asked.
"It's-"
The room suddenly went black and a chill ran down everyone's spine. They heard the door behind the bookshelf being slammed opened and followed by quick heavy footsteps. The lights flickered back on for a second and they screamed when they saw the Thing standing outside the cell.
Everyone screamed and ran around in the dark while hearing the bars being rattled on roughly. Some of them bumped into each other, others tripped and got stepped on. They didn't notice that the Thing was not coming in until Russia shouted, "Wait, look!"
The lights flickered on and off in a frantic fashion, showing that the Thing was standing outside and glared at them through the bars, claws wrapped around them tightly. The nations gathered around at the back and huddled together.
"Wh-Wh-Why isn't it coming in?" Canada stuttered.
England, who was on the floor since his legs gave out when the Thing kept on staring at them, saw something at the corner of his eyes and shouted, "That's why!"
Everyone turned to the cell door, and to their surprise, they saw a padlock keeping the cell door shut tight and, most importantly, keeping the Thing out. It was glaring at them, maybe hopping that they would all just drop dead.
The nations gathered closer, Canada trying to haul England back up while Russia hid his fears. Japan was in front of China, determined to protect everyone even if his right arm was not completely healed.
He quickly looked at his friend, Italy and Germany were to his right, the German was holding onto one of Italy's outstretched arms, while the Italian glared at the Thing. Wait, glare? Japan did a double take to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. But no, Italy was really glaring at the Thing intensely while he outstretched his arms in a protective manner.
He was back into his serious mood again…but for some reason, Japan suddenly grew afraid of this Italy.
The serious Italy they all saw before still had a tinge of his usual laziness in it. But this Italy that was standing with them - no, standing in front of them, glaring at the Thing with eyes full of hate. There was no trance of the Italy that everybody knew in those cold brown eyes.**
Japan saw Italy's mouthed something under his breath, it was too soft and too quick to be heard. The Thing growled at Italy, to Japan's surprise. Everyone else thought it was growling at them though.
With a huff, the Thing stomped out of the room and closed the door behind it. A moment of silence passed through them before they all let out a huge sigh of relief.
"We're alive..." Germany breathed.
"I thought we were going to die just then aru," China shook his head.
"You're not the only one," England told him.
"That was so scary, ve!" Italy cried and clung onto Germany's neck, demanding comfort from the blond. "I thought that it was going to turn us into mush and eat us up!"
Germany sighed and ran his hand through Italy's hair, trying to calm the brunette down.
No one noticed how Japan was just staring at Italy, a completely blank look on his face. Italy was back to his usual self, but it looked completely fake after what Japan had just seen. He didn't look scared when he glared at the Thing. He then remembered how his friend looked when he used his bible to fight the Thing yesterday. Now that he thought about it, the Italy that fought with the Thing yesterday and the Italy that was glaring at the Thing just then seem to act completely different from the normal Italy. A lot.
A person, even a nation, shouldn't be able to change so quickly in just two days. Japan was sure Italy was still acting like his old self during the meeting. But for some reason, he was suddenly acting more and more differently at an alarming rate, and it was really disturbing Japan.
"Now who put this here?"
Everyone turned to where England was as he stared at the padlock on the cell door. They gathered around him and that mysteriously appeared lock.
"I don't remember there being a padlock here," Russia commented.
"Me neither," Canada added.
Everyone else agreed. "So...where's the key?"
Italy quickly whipped his head around and pointed to the back of the cell. "There it is!" he ran to the back before anyone could turn around. They saw him bending down to pick up something and held a key in his hand.
Japan frowned. He was sure he didn't see a key there after the Thing came in. Because that was where they were standing a few seconds ago. And wasn't Italy-kun the one who closed the cell door?
Once the lock was unlocked, the cell door swang open. Everyone got out and returned to the study. China stepped out first, but then stopped and shouted, "Look!" Everyone looked at where China was pointing at and found a clock on the floor. Everyone gathered around it in a circle and Germany picked it up.
"So we found a clock…and a key," Japan was holding the key they found tightly and he slowly unfurled his fingers around it. The key was for a basement it seemed.
"So we have to go to the basement next," Russia summarised, before adding, "But first, we have to break the clock."
"But before that, can we sort out our memories first?" England asked. Everyone turned to him, a questioning look on their faces. "I mean…I'm not sure if any of you noticed but…have you guys noticed anything weird after we break the clocks?"
"Wait, you too?" Japan asked. Everyone began to turn to one another when it turned out that everyone but Germany had the same thing happened to them.
"Yeah, after a clock breaks, I saw this really weird blur of orange and then I get all these weird memories aru," China said to them.
"Really? I was sent to a place where I saw myself with some of you guys," Canada told them next.
"Same!" Russia gasped. "And do you feel like they actually happened to you before?"
"Yeah!" they all exclaimed together.
"They're not real."
Everyone turned to Italy, who was staring at them with a serious face. "I think the Things are trying to trick us, by getting us confused with all these messed up fake memories."
"Fake memories?" Canada asked.
Italy nodded. "These clocks make this entire place go weird, the time goes all messed up, so I think they want to make us confused by showing us these 'memories'. So whenever we break one, we are forced to see them." He suddenly smiled at them and sweetly said, "But I think we should just ignore them, don't you agree?"
Everyone stayed quiet for a moment; Germany broke it by clearing his throat. "You're right. The enemy might be just trying to trick us. Even though I didn't get any of these 'memories', I advise that you all ignore it."
"Agreed," Russia nodded, which was soon followed by everyone.
"So," Canada began, "does anyone remember how this started?"
"Let's see," China tapped his chin as he tried to recollect what really happened. "We were in the Wold Meeting cafeteria, including America, France, and Prussia."
"America-san heard rumours about this haunted mansion," Japan continued next, "and the ten of us split into our World War Two groups. America-san's group went first…and they were…"
"It was America, England, France, Russia, China, and myself," Canada answered.
"Right, and then later I came with my group because Italy-kun wanted to go; so he, Germany-san, Prussia-san and I headed to this mansion."
"That's right," Italy nodded his head.
"This is when things get weird," England started up now. "I remember coming with you two and America," he pointed to China and Japan, "but then China got separated from us, not France."
"It's not real, right? Canada already said that you and the others came here with them," Germany asked.
"Because we got so many weird memories, we got them mixed up with the truth. And thus, we're drawing a lot of wrong conclusions," Russia explained. "And once you suspect something, everything else becomes suspicious."
"That's why we should ignore these 'memories'," Italy repeated. "From now on we should just ignore them whenever we break a clock. Don't believe them, okay?" his eyes were pleading as he said this.
Japan stared at Italy through the conversation. His behaviour was starting to become strange again. "Alright," he finally breathed out, which made Italy quickly revert back to being cheerful and smile a "Viva!"
"This is going to be hard aru," China grumbled.
"Okay, I'm going to break the clock now," Germany told them. "Ready?" Everyone nodded, before Germany gripped the clock with both of his hands, and snapped it in half.
Japan's surrounding quickly changed into a sepia coloured bedroom with a sepia coloured version of himself just entering the room and staring at a strange lump under the bed sheets. The real Japan blinked. Didn't this happen yesterday? …I mean for real?
The past...or fake Japan suddenly clashed swords with Prussia when he revealed himself.
"Whoa! Calm down, Prussia-san! It's only me!" the Japan in the fake past shouted. The real Japan gasped when he realized what this memory was. Yes! This was when I reunited with Prussia-san!
Fake Prussia blinked and saw that fake Japan took out his katana and was blocking his attack. "Ah. Japan?" he quickly retracted his sword. "Sorry about that."
There was a frown on the real Japan's face as he watched the scene play before him. Why do I feel like something is out of place? He watched as Prussia snapped and shouted about the encounter with the Thing. Nothing wrong here…
"What?" fake Prussia yelled and it made both Japans jump. "Ita is still missing? Don't tell me that the Thing had…"
No…this happened…
"Well, I have some food," fake Prussia said as he pulled out some mushrooms. "I found these while I was running, will these do?"
No…it's not that…it was more like…
"Prussia-" fake Japan began but the fake Prussian nation shushed him and hastily added, "Listen."
Japan blinked and slowly, he started to realize what was happening. Something didn't happen I think…was it…
Thump…Thump…Thump…
He knew those footsteps.
The door suddenly burst open and the Thing came in. Everyone in the room turned to the door and gasped. That's right! I didn't lock the door!
The Thing charged at the two nations instantly after it took one step into the room. The Japan in the vision was frozen in shock as it hurtled towards him.
"Watch out!"
Fake Japan was thrown face first down onto the floor and felt something warm and wet splatter onto his body. He winced when he heard a scream full of pain, and he slowly lifted up his head. He saw his hand dyed in both grey and red blood. Unwilling, he slowly turned around to face Prussia, and let out a shocked gasp.
The Thing's forehead was stabbed by Prussia's sword, whose chest was punctured by the Thing's claw.
"Pr...Prussia-san!" both Japans screamed when the Thing faded away and the albino fell onto the floor with a thud.
Prussia hissed in pain. "Shit…this is bad," he rasped in low breaths as his blood spilled onto the floor.
Japan frantically grabbed the bed sheet and lifted up Prussia's body into his arms. "Pl-Please hang on!" he shouted desperately and quickly tried to tie the overly large sheet around Prussia's torso. "I-I-I'll stop the bleeding with these sheets so…oh shit," he swore when he got their hands tangled by the sheet.
Prussia laughed, even though it hurt. "Oh calm down…I'm a nation…I won't die…ah…" he sighed as his eyes slowly dropped down. "But…my land…isn't there anymore…so I'm…not a nation…"
"Don't say that!" Japan angrily wrenched his hands out of the knot and tried to tie the sheet again. "You're not dying! You hear me? Please don't joke around at a time like this! You'll be alright, so just-"
"Hey…" Prussia looked up at Japan; his red eyes which always shone awesomeness in them were starting to fade away. His voice sounded breathless as he tried to speak. "Are…West…and Ita…okay?"
Japan stared at Prussia's face and felt uneasy. This was the first time he had ever saw Prussia looking so weak…and pleading. He dropped his now bloody hands from the completely blood soaked bed sheet. "Yes…both of them have already left the mansion. They're waiting for us, Prussia-san…so…please…hang in there…"
Prussia didn't answer him; he just stared aimlessly at the ceiling. When Japan realized this, he let out a gasp before chocking from the sudden emotion. He raised his hand, wiped the blood off with another bed sheet, and closed Prussia's eyes, sending him into eternal slumber.
Japan watched everything. He felt hopeless to just watch this happen before him and see one of his friends die. "Because I didn't lock the door…this happened…" he murmured to himself, he was shaking all over uncontrollably. But when a memory resurfaced in his mind, he shook his head. "But I did…I did lock the door…Prussia-san is just missing right now, that's all." He looked at the two nations in front of him. "This is a fake memory."
Once he declared this, the scene changed again. Japan was ready to deny another memory but when he saw himself with Italy, Germany and Prussia, who all looked dishevelled and huddled together at the center of a small square room, Japan jumped. Wh-What is this room?
"Scheiße! Even though the four of us got together, our situation hasn't got any better!" Germany swore angrily. Japan and Prussia looked at him in worry as he went on. "Now we're locked up in here and that Thing is after our blood!"
This didn't happen before…or did it? No! I don't remember coming into any room like this!
"West, don't be so pessimistic," Prussia tried to calm down his brother. He was trying to remain positive for everyone, even when everything looked grim. "What matters is that we're alive. Besides, with so many nations gone, maybe someone will come to rescue us."
But Germany didn't seem to be listening. He ran his hands through his untidy hair. "We…We're going to be eaten…one by one..." he mumbled, his voice was growing louder and louder as he continued. "We're probably going to get eaten one after the other! That's what I would do if I were that Thing!"
A sudden punch to Germany's face sent him landing onto the floor. Prussia stride up to his brother and lifted him up by the collar, slamming him against the wall. "That's enough, West!" Prussia shouted in his face, fiery red eyes focused on the terrified blues. Japan was shocked and tried to pull them apart. "There are still many other ways to get out of here! So don't give up that easily!"
Germany stared at his brother, completely awestruck. He let out a tired sigh. "You're right…sorry." Prussia let go and Germany slid down onto the floor. Japan kneeled down beside him to make sure his friend was alright. "I know I can't...think like that, but...I feel as though I'm back on a battlefield. But even if it were one, I should be able to keep myself together and protect you...But now…" he shook his head and screwed his eyes shut. "I want to change this…"
"You can't help it," Japan gently patted his friend's back. "You hate this kind of thing." Germany looked grim and nodded his head.
"Germany?" Italy's soft voice caught everyone's attention. They all turned to him, and the real Japan noticed that Italy had not once moved from his spot, his back faced a door as he continued with a small smile, "It's okay…you'll all be okay. You'll be able to get out this time." Everyone turned to one another, confused. This time? "And if you get out," he went on, his body started to tremble but he still forced himself to be cheerful. "Run straight ahead. Don't look back no matter what, and get time-"
The room suddenly went black and the sound of the door being slammed opened was heard. There was the sound of blades being drawn out from their scabbard before the lights came back. What everyone saw shocked them all. The Thing was holding Italy's small body in its claws.
"Italy-kun!"
"Ita!"
"Promise me…Germany…" Italy still managed to smile, but it looked sad, even as the Thing opened its big mouth and lifted Italy up towards it. "Viva!"
Italy-kun is going to get… Japan panicked as Germany tried to reach for Italy...but it was too late as they heard a sickening crunch and the splatter of blood…
"ITALY!"
"Japan! Japan, are you alright?"
Somehow, Japan's eyes were suddenly shut tight. He forced them to open, finding himself on the floor with a distressed Italy on top of him.
"Italy-kun!" Japan shouted. Still thinking he was viewing the fake memories, Japan shot up from the floor and held Italy tightly in his arms.
"V-Ve?" Italy looked over at his friend, surprised at the sudden hug, from Japan no less. "Wh-What's the matter?"
"Japan! Remember what we said about the clocks?" Canada knelt beside them.
Japan blinked at them in confusion, and then slowly he realized what was going on. Japan let go of Italy and looked around his surroundings. He was back with everyone in the study, and they looked at Japan in both worry and confusion. "Oh…" he finally said, and suddenly felt weary. "I-I'm sorry. I remember…"
"Are you alright?" Germany asked. "After I broke the clock, you suddenly fainted."
"Re-Really?"
"Yeah, and when we all finished seeing those fake memories, you were still on the flooring," China explained. "You looked like you were having a nightmare, maybe the memories you see are a lot more intense memories than the rest of ours aru."
"What did you see? Do you need to rest a little?" England asked gently.
Japan gulped at the image of Prussia's bloody body and Italy being eaten. He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, I was just confused, that's all…But…why do you all seem to be fine?"
"Nothing happened to me," Germany shrugged. "I didn't get any confusing memories again. I don't know why, but maybe I'm just an exception?"
Canada laughed softly at this. "I'm jealous of you, Germany! In my case, it was so-so. I saw myself running away from that Thing with Italy, and coming here with America."
"Same!" China exclaimed, smiling in amusement. "But once I calmed down, I realised that was nonsense aru! They're not real!"
"But we'll have to go through a few more times," England groaned. "It's like we keep on seeing a really vivid dream. And every time we wake up, we have trouble separating the dream from reality; but once we calm down, our good judgement comes back. So Japan, next time you see those 'memories', just calm down and you'll forget it."
"I agree," Italy said. "I was so worried about you!"
But Japan didn't want to forget. Sure, he knew that Prussia was just missing, and could not be dead since he was strong. But he could not deny nor forget the danger that Italy was…or will be in.
"Umm…" he began, getting up with Italy's help. "Did any of you…see any rooms other than the ones we've been in so far?"
"Nope," Russia shook his head. "I've got a lot of memories, but they've all been of rooms we've been in so far."
"Yeah, same here."
"I didn't see any different rooms."
Japan sighed at everyone's answer. Looks like he was the only one who had seen something completely different. "I see…"
Italy leaned forward to look at Japan straight in his face. "Did…Did something happen?"
Japan and Italy stared at each other. The image of Italy being eaten flashed before Japan's eyes again, he wanted to tell them...tell Italy that he was in danger...but... "No."
He didn't seem convinced, but Italy let the matter drop. "Okay," he smiled softly before he joined up with Germany. Japan was still staring at him though. When we break clocks, we get fake memories that make us confused and less capable of discernment…There's no question about it, it's only because I'm confused that I'm unable to think straight.
"Well then, are all our watches alright? Let's get to the basement."
It's like seeing many animes and being shown so many things that you end up not knowing what is real…But if by any chance that room does exist…that means Italy-kun will…
They began to leave the room and head for the last locked door on the first floor which they suspected would lead them to the basement. Japan was lagging behind with Italy in front of him, who would sometimes turn back to see if his friend was still following.
"Japan?" Italy finally spoke, turning back and walking backwards to face his friend. "Are you really okay?"
He didn't say anything. Even though Italy didn't keep on persisting him, Japan just couldn't find the ability to tell him. He could be in danger, but Italy would just insist they should forget it, even though it showed a place they had never been to before. But...the serious Italy acted so foreign to them...he...
"Italy-kun," Japan said softly as he stopped walking.
Italy's ears perked up and paid close attention. "Yeah? What's wrong?" he leaned towards his friend.
He stayed silent for a while, thinking whether or not he should really ask...but in the end, he asked calmly, "Are you hurt somewhere?"
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Italy's lazy eyes suddenly shot open, revealing shock and fear within the brown eyes before he quickly stared at the wooden floorboards below them. He didn't say anything for a moment, but then quickly answered, "No, I'm not in pain at all," before turning back and walked away from Japan to join up with Germany at the front.
Japan stared at him as he walked away. "I see," he murmured. "I'm sorry for asking such a strange question."
While everyone was complaining about how tired they felt from going through all these dangers, Japan zoned out and went into deep thought. Everything we have seen after we break the clocks was decided to be fake memories. But for some reason, I saw a small square room which I never entered before. There was no need to show such a memory if I never went in there before...yet why?
I saw something like a vision of Italy-kun getting killed in a small square room. He once again acted in a hauntingly mature way. He is really getting stranger every minute we stay in this mansion.
...Maybe...
He went past everyone to the last door and unlocked it with the key they found. He let it swing open and they all ventured in.
Maybe they could be…messages from someone?
~.~.~.~.~
Survivors: 7
Missing: 3
~.~.~.~.~
Singing: *Just to let everybody know, I am NOT 100% sure if Greece, Turkey and the Nordic nations are going to appear in the original HetaOni. I only assume they will since they were mentioned in the preview in the Extra video. Thank you to gemini_artemis (aka SoteAG) for the script about the Extra.
**And I drew a picture of that scene! XD It's in my DA account if anyone is interested, link to my account is in my profile. I know this didn't happen in the original HetaOni but I just had to put this in when I saw the cell in HetaOni and became disappointed when it didn't happen like in Aooni. I mean, that scene was kinda freaky (close up on Blueberry is no fun).
Fortune: I really like that drawing~
Singing: Thank you, Fortune Maiden! But really, they kept that scene in the other versions of Aooni, so why not put that scene in HetaOni? -3-"
Japan: You can't wish for everything to go your way.
Singing: Yeah yeah. But dear God, the mental images as I wrote this...I cried and screamed as I wrote this! I was like "Damn, why are my fingers trembling now?" and then "…Must…continue…writing…Prussia's…death…OH SCREW IT! *cries*", and after that "I'm done…it…but now with Italy" and went on spazzing like the fangirl I am ever since.
And can you believe how long this chapter has been? It's longer than Chapter 12 of RomaHeta XD
Fortune: No, last chapter was longer.
Singing: Oh really? *checks* …yep, you're right…no wait…FF said RomaHeta Chapter 12 was longer by at least 1000 words 0_0…oh well.
China: I think you're going to increase your own chapters' lengths in the future.
Singing: Really, you think? =D
Fortune: But that will make me lazier with betaing your chapters lD
Singing: -_-"
Italy: Umm...I'm glaring? 0.0
Singing: Yep! Because a glaring Italy is attractive~
Germany: *silently approves* Oh, and 'Scheiße' is a swear word. But I'm not going to tell you how to pronounce it or what it means!
Fortune: But I will~ 'Shy-sse' means 'Shit' )=3
Germany: FORTUNE MAIDEEEN!
*Fortune Maiden runs off into the distance*
Russia: So, when do we fight the Thing again, Singing Maiden?
Singing: Thankfully, not until chapter...*counts* chapter 12?
Canada: Good, I don't want to fight it again anytime soon.
England: Same.
Singing: Chapter 12 is when the Axis fights it.
Axis: WHAT? WE FIGHT IT FIRST?
Singing: And I just spoiled some readers who didn't watch the videos *pretty surprised by how much readers there are who didn't watch the videos*
Anyway, review if you want this to continue!