A/N: I am so sorry how long I've been gone, I have been going through very serious issues and it had stalled me and my writing, hopefully you enjoy this chapter.

Sanctuary

Chapter 11

"God." Whispered Yao, staring profoundly at the German, who stayed silenced in a slight haze before it dissipated and he was left with the others slow response, "I have been reborn into Sanctuary, contained in this church to atone for the sins in my...past life I should say?" The Chinese man near whispered as he stood below the giant mural of a faceless God, "What brings you here, Ludwig?"

Seeing as the other man was not going to give him an answer not pertaining to God he stated, "...I was lost. I don't understand how I got here, or why I am here, but the town-" He pointed towards the door, "-there's something wrong with it. There are these...creatures. I made it here in hopes it would be safe, free of anything out to get me." He watched Yao nod in understanding, "How is this place not infested?" He asked.

There was complete silence for a moment, the church becoming slightly darker with the clouded sky outside, "It is a safe haven for us." He muttered barely above his breath, "A safe place from the demons...they are those who have fallen from the path of the righteous...led a life of sin, those who did not heed God's warning. Those who did not believe, cannot enter. This house of prayer is meant only for those who seek refuge, and those of us who were given a chance to repent. The church has fourteen floors on which you pray to God."

All was silent once more, the only sound being a skillful harp playing in the distance a very eerie tune.

"...Lovino is signaling a bad omen, we must hide."

"I thought you said nothing can enter this place!" Hissed Ludwig, a frantic look on his features.

Yao stared at him, "Not from them, from him." Before scurrying, motioning a hand to follow him.

Germany ran after the man, who seemed to disappear from view down the stairs very quickly, "Wait! Who's 'him' supposed to be?!" He came to a slow halt upon receiving no answer in the depths of the spiral staircase. He wasn't quite sure where to go, but he quickly stood quiet again, trying to listen for footsteps, but the only thing in the distance was the majestic tune of the harp. Why not give that a try? He rushed quickly to the source, trying to run down the stairs- why are there 14 floors dug into the earth anyway? The harp grew closer and louder as he ran down in spirals leading him deeper into sanctuary. Eventually he halted before a large set of double doors between the thirteenth and fourteenth floors; it held a small peep hole through where the man could look into the room. He looked around him quickly to make sure no one would see him snooping and lowered his vision upon the glass, but refrained once he heard-

"Don't look."

The blond turned so quickly his eyes had to take a moment to adjust to the man before him, "Oh- Yao...d-don't scare me like that." He breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand over his chest, "...I- I just lost you and couldn't see you so I followed the harp."

"Whenever you hear instruments or singing- don't go towards it. Lovino plays music and Feliciano sings it." He whispered, pulling the German from the sleeve away from the door, "And if you ever hear a harmony of voices- run away from it." He hissed even lower beneath his breath, "...It's Kiku." Yao moved closer to Ludwig's ear and barely managed a whisper of, "He knows where you are."

They had slowly made their way to the bottom floor, Yao allowing small talk along the corridors and stairs of the infrastructure, "Floor 14, it is for those overindulging or even committing an act of lust or sexual intercourse. Allowing yourself to be swayed by the demons is a great sin, and those who make the crime must be severely punished; for sexual intercourse is something made not for pleasure, but for life. It is unacceptable to use it and label it 'love'."

Germany nodded along to the others words, "But how do you know who has had..." He coughed, "Um, sex?"

"God sees everything. Kiku has all the knowledge God could possibly offer. Feliciano fetches those who God deems evil or who have committed some form of sacrilege." With that Yao ended his sentence and left, walking up to the next floor, but not without sparing a long glance to the giant double-doors of the harp player which Germany assumed resided Southern Italy.

"Floor 13, those who experience and refuse to let go of sadness, depression, or the inability to feel joy." He traced a finger over the door and promptly continued walking, "In order to move on from loss, we must feel happiness and bask in the joy's God has given us. We mustn't take life for granted, one never knows when things can suddenly...change."

"Floor 12, gluttons in life who care to only devour...and by 'devour' I do not mean they are fat, or like to eat, sir Ludwig." He stated, "I mean they like to take over, greedily feast upon something that is not theirs or they are not worthy of. This includes such things as conquering of either land, body, or mind." Yao stared at the man, "Let's move on."

Another stair case up and they stepped upon the next level, "Floor 11, those with extreme anger, rage, and hatred are kept here. These people are a danger to society and basic everyday life. People must understand that wrath is not a normal emotion and is far from a good mood. God strives for people who have good thoughts, not corrupt minded people."

This time both skipped two levels, Yao turned, "The last two levels were envy and greed, the envious were greedy and the greedy were envious, most are surrounded by what they want, if they choose the right path they move onto Floor 8." Yao led Germany away from the door and made him follow the next staircase up to the higher floor, where Yao pointed at the door, "This is pride. God does not mean that it is a bad thing to have...but simply that if you were to have pride, it would be a false happiness. Therefore it is bad, especially in large quantities- people seem to get cocky once they get it into their egotistical minds that they are better than others."

The door was left behind and they walked to the next zone, yet skipped all of the doors, "Rooms 7-1 are in order of abstinence or purity from any sin, they go up in order of greatness- but very few people ever make it here; so they are currently empty."

The German man's eyes widened, "There's no one? At all?"

Yao paused for a moment in his haste to get upstairs, "...There's one person on the fourth floor, his name is Ivan Braginski- currently undergoing a virtue of patience. He will soon be on his way to meet God and be granted a true life." He smiled, "I hope all is well for that man." He continued to lead the blue eyed man up the staircase, "Hurry, you don't want to be left behind do you?"

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

Arthur took nearly two hours to simply go through the large forest and into the town's entrance, where he found only a dirt road trailing through an abandoned area on the outskirts of the town, "..." There was only silence, it made him deeply uncomfortable to be stranded in such a desolate place but...he had no choice, now did he? Pulling out his map, the man glanced through it to see where exactly he was located, humming in approval, "Sanctuary's ranch, hm?" His sights were set on the small farmhouse and winery in the distance, "I ran into my stroke of luck, hopefully there's something of use in there. It seems safer than the city."

Trekking along the road his ears picked up a sound coming from behind him, unsure of what it was he turned and nearly had a heart attack. Emerald green eyes were set on the small, fragile form of a starving boy who looked identical to America, "A-Alfred...?" He whispered with a raw throat; ingesting all of that fluttering ash was not a good thing.

The boy quickly looked up, scared blue eyes beginning to retreat into the abyss of the forest, "...Arthur?"

"Alfred!" Screamed the Brit, beginning to backtrack and run at he helpless boy, who quickly ran into the woods like a frightened bird, "Wait, Alfred come back!" He screamed, reaching out to the other, but swiftly retracting his hand as if it had been burned once he saw the creature dwelling within the darkness of the trees.

It stared at him with gouged out eyes and a smile stitched together from hell. Long, bony arms made a 'follow me' gesture, hunched back arching in such an inhuman and broken way it made the blond want to vomit. It had a rat's tail and legs that bent like an animal's, but broken and mangled, flashing the bones and ligaments to viewers. The creature stepped forward, mimicking the footsteps Arthur could have sworn were his, and inching closer to the edge of the woods where Arthur was.

Without a second thought the blond bolted out of there, scared to find out if that thing could chase him or not, all he could feel was the cold rush of the adrenaline through his veins like crawling spiders itching to come out of his throat. He was running so fast, he wasn't sure if he was breathing. Quickly coming to a halt before the small, run-down house, he looked back to see the creature at the edge where it stood before. Just staring.

"Dear Lord..." He didn't even want to look at that thing.

He turned back to the house and walked in through the slightly ajar door. Taking in his surroundings, he wondered why the room was a complete wreck; furniture was thrown in every which direction, glass shattered on the floor, the only thing left standing was a large grandfather clock, balefully ticking away, each tick louder and deeper than the last. Ignoring this, the man walked onto the stairs which creaked at every step he took-

CRASH.

"Oomph!"

Then everything went still, "...Bloody hell!" Shouted the now irate man who had fallen through a step and into the bottom of the hollow staircase, "Stupid, damned thing!" He cursed, clutching his throbbing head- he had hit his head when falling and now sported a thunderous headache. Damn this town, it only served to make him angry at such an inappropriate time. Without a further word he shakily stood on his possibly now bruised legs and looked up to see if he could somehow escape the stairs 'belly'.

He then realized he had fallen a lot farther than he thought, for the hole in the stairs was now but the size of his hand and higher than the ground floor. He must be underneath the first floor then. "That's dangerous...who would've built this place so stupidly?" He cringed, continuing to hold the bump on his cranium whilst walking in the direction of a faint light he hadn't seen before. The closer he got, he realized this was not even a real light, it was simply the glimmer of freshly spilled...blood.

"What..." He hesitated to move forward, fearing the worst, but did so anyway, following the puddle of blood for as long as it went, only to find it ended at the tip of a bloodied machete, "...I'm not sure if this is good luck or bad luck." He murmured, grasping the handle of the blade, blood was nothing new to his hands, and it wasn't very bothersome. Now he just had to find a way to get out.

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

After walking away from that cell with nothing but a restored sense of sanity, Alfred felt changed, much better, but changed. Like he wasn't the exact same person as before. Now he had to continue on his quest, try to find Kiku, and if lucky, others who were here like him. He honestly didn't know where to go, or what was going on most of the time, but eventually he'll find something out, right?

Going out into the large expanse of the building, he eventually ran into a much needed elevator, "Oh!" He exclaimed happily through the semi-darkened corridor as he rummaged around through his baggage to see If the key was there, but remembered he had placed it in his pocket and pulled it out, "Here we go, let's see if this thing actually works or not." He smiled, pressing the key in and watching the elevator's buttons begin to glow, "Yes!...Okay, this is good so far." He quickly pressed the button and waited for the elevator to reach his floor.

When it gave a wretched sounding 'ding', Alfred perked up, already wanting to see if he could go into any other floor or room but this one. He stepped in, picking the basement and almost as soon as the doors shut, immediately regretted it once he looked above him. There were thousands and thousands of bugs manifesting the ceiling, eating a body, enshrouded in what looked like a web.

Now he couldn't wait to get out of the elevator.

Waiting patiently, he tried to control his breathing as the person's decayed body began to leave behind a horrid stench, almost making him wretch. When the elevator finally stopped at the basement, he ran out just in time to see the body fall from the web's clutches and stain the elevator floor with uneaten organs and a putrid scent of death.

He quickly ran down the steps, hesitating slightly when he saw the walls were simply fences holding back strange, almost orb-like shadows and storage. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He hissed, slamming the door behind him and patiently waiting for his stomach to settle. At least in this room he didn't need a flashlight, the bulb was working just fine. With a sigh, Alfred pushed himself off the door and towards the shelves lining a wall.

Inside the shelves were few things of use, such as batteries and an ampoule, even a small case of handgun shells. There was one other thing though; it was a small amulet of the cross and several intricate designs around it. For some odd reason, he couldn't help but feel as if it were drawing him in, and he of course, picked it up. A sudden rush of relief and wholeness suddenly went through him and he gave a relieved smile. He murmured something inaudible, then glanced at the trap door in the floor, "...Wonder where that leads to."

Long legs scuffled towards the door and opened it slightly, hoping to see something of importance, only to see an empty room with...was that a red envelope?

There was a small gulp of displease before the American climbed down, never taking his eyes off the scarlet letter. Slowly, his feet made their way across the room to the thing and picked it up, fearing it's nature. "...Here goes nothing." He said, before ripping open the letter and peering inside to see a small, folded note; he pulled it out and unfolded it, it's completely blank. He gave a long, drawn out exhale before feeling a sharp pain in his hands. Looking down he saw them wrapped with the paper, which was secreting a dark, inky substance that wrapped around his entire arms like veins, burning and scarring into them, "Oh God Oh my-" He screeched, trying to rid himself of the paper, only to find himself paralyzed from the arms and bleeding profusely at the scorched scars on his arms.

"Fucking shit!" He hissed as the feeling wrapped itself around his shoulders, squeezing down on them like two boulders, "Get off! Get off, get off, get off!" He cried out, feeling the tears stinging at his eyes from the pain. Then it all went to a completely different level when it started to leave behind a tearing sensation on his shoulders- it felt like, "Gah-!" He gasped, trying to watch as his tremor-filled body began to be torn apart from his arms, the skin that connected the joints on his arms was slowly tearing apart, revealing the nerves and bloodied bones beneath. By now he was sharply sucking in his breath, almost willing his body to forge into shock.

Everything else dimmed in importance, the pain slowly subsiding as the crippled body began to go limp in the tendrils' grasp. Alfred continued to heave shallow intakes of oxygen, eyes trying to stay open, blinking rapidly at the approaching darkness. He felt so close to death. If he were religious he would surely ask to be spared right about now. But the feeling continued until a deep chill forced his body into a series of convulsions; he could feel the breathtakingly horrifying perception of his heart giving in to the overwhelming amount of torture.

Although he would have preferred to live, his senses forced themselves to succumb to the unrelenting grip of unconsciousness.

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

Alfred awoke with a jolt, mind crystal clear of the events as he rose from the dingy ground and hastily began to move toward the staircase up, "I have to get out." He murmured quickly, "Get out." He grasped onto the ladder and immediately pulled back when a tremendous shock coursed through the nerves of his hands. Alfred cursed silently and reached again, and when feeling no shock, began to climb up and onto the sturdy platform of the room above, where everything lay exactly as he had left it, cold and empty with nothing to truly give.

He stood and brushed off the dirt covering his pants before heading to the door once more only to realize it had changed in color and texture. It was no longer wooden and plain white, but a metallic black and covered in an awful smelling brown substance, which he could only suspect of it being feces of some sort of creature that he was unaware of encountering.

With an auditory gulp he pulled at the white collar of his shirt and aired out the sweat beginning to stick to his skin from the sheer anxiety that the door changed. He removed the comfortable brown jacket he wore and used it to push open the dirtied door as it had no handle. The door released a groan of protest at the actions upon it before ceasing once it was fully open, only to reveal the exact same staircase he had entered through.

The only real difference was that everything was clean and there were no orbs to be found, only the unsettling mood of complete silence.

The trip to the staircase was driven with need and an overwhelming sense of fear for which he had no reason, as he remained alone in the area...from what he could see. He didn't dare make a sound or even blink until he reached the top of the concrete staircase, yet he was still not alleviated of the fear, and once he blinked and heard a loud bang from inside the room he was in he immediately slammed open the door and closed it shut behind him.

This place will never cease to make him fearful.

He nearly sighed in relief until he heard the sound of footsteps fast approaching at him from his right, and he bolted away from his spot, running past doors and doors of a new and endless hallway surrounded by bulletin boards with vaccine posters pasted onto their cardboard surfaces. As he ran he couldn't help but notice how the steps that ran at him continued to increase in pace, inching on to him like a predator playing with its food.

Alfred took a chance to look back and try to catch a glimpse of whatever was following him.

"Alfred, keep running." Whispered a voice in his head.

That he did, and he couldn't help but be relieved that he did not turn his head completely to look at the creature. Whatever it was continued to approach, until he managed to swerve a sharp right into an open door of a seemingly empty hospital room. He closed the door and listened intently as the creature ran along the straight path of the hallway to wherever the hell it was chasing him to.

He turned to look at the empty room and noticed how it was absolutely pristine, except for the small hospital bed, which lay doused in blood as the IV machines leaked the strangely fresh blood onto the darkened sheets. Even stranger was the fact that the heart monitor was pumping with life, a steady stream of beeps consumed the room even though the machines were not plugged into any sort of electrical source, or connected to anything else.

Even the air running through the vents wasn't putrid or smelling of corpses and rot.

Alfred nearly gasped when he realized he could possibly climb out of the hospital through the vents, but would it be safe? "This is the dumbest shit I'll ever try." He muttered, before deciding that it didn't necessarily matter as he still had that drink from before. A pale hand reached for the bottle and grabbed it from his jackets pocket, deciding to take a small sip of it before placing it within his pants pocket, alongside two ampoules.

The vents seemed innocent enough, running cool air through the cleanest facility in the entire hospital. With cautious steps Alfred leaned toward the vent, fingers scanning the bolts and edges of the metal covering, trying to pry it off somehow. Four tugs later and the cover came off with little noise.

Did he still have his flashlight?

Patting down his pockets he could find no trace of it, in a last attempt to reassure he had a source of light he checked his jacket. It was snuggled comfortably into his right hand pocket, which he proceeded to take out and point into the vent; it could only make out the first few meters and nothing more as it turned a corner.

Climbing in was a challenge, as it was located high on the wall- his hands could reach it, however the rest of his body had a harder time trying to scale the wall to reach the vent. Eventually he managed to fit his torso in, just in time as the machine began to change it's heart rhythm.

After fitting his entire body into the vent, he began to crawl with much difficulty due to the small amount of space.

Back in the room the machine began to flatline as he turned the corner. Alfred tried to arch his head back to see why it would do such a strange thing, however his body was already too far in for him to look back. Groaning in defeat, he turned back only to come face to face with something that nearly made him piss in fright.

It was monstrous to say the least, the jaw was hanging inhumanly open, rows upon rows of long sharpened teeth only a few inches from Alfred's face.

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. '

Pale, bony hands came up to motion the sign of the cross, slowly but surely, shaking lightly with the movements. Feliciano's fingers came up to his lips where he kissed them before uttering a simple, "Amen." He smiled, lips cracked and dehydrated. It's been a few weeks since he's left the room, he hasn't even looked at any form of nourishment since he found the golden bible, the answer to all his problems. It's almost like he wasn't a physical being anymore, he could feel himself becoming more like his true self...just...beyond that mirror.

Beyond that mirror was perfection.

And he was close to being perfect; he just needed two more sacrifices.

He began to pace about the room, legs moving forth in long, uncertain strides, simply walking in circles around the pristine bathroom. His eyes were unseeing, simply staring out into nothing as he came to a sudden halt, head turning sharply to the mirror his other self was usually at; he ran towards it, hands gripping the edges of the slightly uneven sink, staring endlessly into his reflection.

"I need two more sacrifices...I haven't heard from you in at least two weeks..." He began, voice slightly higher than usual, "Please...Please tell me something!" He yelled, hands shooting up to press against the mirror, "Have I done something wrong?! Talk to me! I'll do anything, please just..." His throat constricted with a gulp, "Just tell me if I've made a mistake. Does God still love me? Is he upset with me?" There was still no answer and Feliciano was almost at his wit's end, there has been nothing but constant prayer for his missing guide and god yet neither would show; they would not utter even a word.

The silence was maddening.

Perhaps this was a punishment from God.

Yet he could not make sense of this, he's followed everything so perfectly, so why would he be punished? Perhaps he was wrong, perhaps not. He scanned the room, noticing something quite strange; the entire room seemed different, almost as if it were covered by a translucent, slightly dirtied paper that would fade in and out of existence. The image would show a different room, even though he could clearly see the room around him as being clean. God help him, was he going insane? What in the world is happening? He needed to leave this room, every second he lingered he could feel something clawing at the inside of his head, and it was incredibly disturbing. There was a second of hesitation as he glanced at the mirror before bolting from the room, slamming the door open so loudly it resonated through the halls with a loud slam against the wall as he fled the area.

However, the second he stepped foot outside the room, he was once more within the mirror clad bathroom. He turned back to look into the previous room, only to find it pitch black, as if there was no image to be seen, "Dio mio, aiutami"

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

The space he resided within was drenched in complete darkness, so absolute he couldn't see his own hands in front of his face. He had no idea where he was or why. The events beforehand were foggy and inaccurate at best. His hands reached out to try and decipher where in the hell he was, since he was basically being deprived of sensory, unable to see or hear his surroundings he could only smell the unintelligible scent of something akin to meat. His fingers draped as far as they could over the ground, feeling only concrete and possibly dirt; he was probably locked in a closet or small unfinished room.

Who did this to him? Why was he here?

The last thing he remembered was...fucking hell he can't even think, everything is strange, like his memory has been changed in some way. There's something he's missing, something important and he can't remember.

What is he forgetting? Why can't he remember?!

He tried standing, pushing himself up by his hands, legs shaking at their sudden use, almost collapsing beneath him as he forced himself to stand. He leaned against the wall, stroking it, revealing it to be made of the same strange concrete-like material from the floor. Lanky legs moved forward, bending awkwardly as if they hadn't been used for a while, "I need to get out." He whispered silently as he searched along the walls for anything even resembling a door, hopefully he would be out of here soon; this situation didn't feel right to him and it would probably be best to leave as quickly as he could, before whoever put him here came back.

Lithe fingers skimmed over something that felt unnatural, certainly not concrete...more like...wood?

It's a door.

He quickly searched along its frame for any sort of handle, only gaining splinters underneath his nails and a slowly diminishing hope for getting out. He could only feel where the handle would have been were it not removed; this door could only be opened from the outside. Hasn't anyone realized he's missing? Sure, not many people like him but there should be at least one person who would surely notice.

The longer he stayed inside the more uneasy he felt, almost as if something was going to snatch him, or as if something was with him in the room. Yet he couldn't hear a single sound within the room, and surely the noise he was making would have stirred it, wouldn't it have?

Why the hell couldn't he remember?! What the hell is even happening?!

It's not like he had amnesia, he could remember his brother, his friends, his name. Yet the blank spot in his memory was only bothering him the longer he thought about it, it's nearly impossible for a nation to forget an event, especially one that could've landed him in this possibly dangerous situation. He was missing something, he was sure of it.

"I am a nation, I have a brother, I am twenty-three, and my name is Lovino Vargas." He whispered under his breath.

'-..::~::..(Sanctuary)..::~::..- '

The room he had fallen through was unkempt, dust speckled everywhere, almost like snow yet darker, sullying everything it touched. Arthur walked forth with his machete, ready to swing at anything that came at him. Luckily there seemed to be a door, large and red, possibly an exit of some sort, he hoped. With that thought in mind he stepped closer to the door, inspecting it just to be safe. One hand gripped the handle while the other held the machete high.

He carefully opened the door, slowly at first before pulling it open the rest of the way.

There were stairs leading to another door, a simple, white door. Arthur was relieved to say the least, no bullshit to go around and just a solid exit to continue on his way. He clambered up the stairs quickly, reaching up and opening the exit door without a moments hesitation. The outside greeted him with the smell of ashes and smoke, buildings torn down to hell and nature reclaiming what once was hers. The streets were barren, not a single life to be seen, it was almost unsettling yet mostly a relief; he had no doubts that any life here would not be friendly.

Closing the door behind him, he began to walk, spotting on his way several shops and houses, leading him to believe this was a shopping district that branched into small neighborhood sections. How did he get here so quickly from the outskirts of town? Looking back toward the door he just exited, he was surprised to find no door, nor any indication he even took a step through the thick ashes littering the ground.

The blond sighed in mild discomfort, there was definitely something strange, something above his power here. He got the feeling he was being...watched.

Perhaps it would be better if he retreated into one of the nearby shops.

Stocky legs lightly jogged over to the sidewalk, peering through the glass into the stores. One was a quaint barber shop, another a restaurant, while the third he passed by was a convenience store, however they all seemed to be locked and he wasn't one to break in and enter. Instead he chose to continue walking toward a set of automatic doors, he glanced up at the header above the doors and raised his brows in surprise: it was a shopping center.