I'm baack~! There aren't any more reviews yet… So let's get right on with the chappie~!
"No… I don't think it was here after all…" Italy muttered to himself when he walked up to the burnt ladder. "But… then where was it again? Was… Was it maybe on the third floor? Maybe not… Ugh, I'm really anxious right now… B-but if I calm down, I'm sure I'll remember. There was… another one I hid with America. And then, um…" He paused his talking to think in silence, trying his hardest to remember. But he didn't have very long to think before his mind froze.
"I found you, Veneziano!" He jumped and looked up at the sound, caught completely off guard. He froze when he saw Romano standing up there, hands on his knees, almost looking… happy? "Wh… what…?" he breathed. "Ro… Romano…? Wh-why!?"
"Good thing the front door wouldn't open, so we were just wandering back here until we found this! And now I've finally found you! What the heck have you been doing, anyway?" Romano yelled down, sounding annoyed on the last line.
"Ah, thank God, Ita! What are doing here all alone!? Where are the others?" Italy then noticed Spain was beside Romano, and that he was basically the only thing keeping Romano from jumping down there at that exact moment.
"Wha… What are you doing here!?" Italy shouted frantically. "You… You aren't supposed to be here, w-we never asked you to come here!" Romano ignored the question. "What have you done with the clocks, eh? Have you broken them all yet?" Italy's eyes widened and he took a step back in shock. "Wh… H-how did you know…? Y-you weren't supposed to know about that!" he shrieked, fear beginning to spread through his body. "Just answer me, chigi! Did you break the last clock yet!" Romano shouted. Italy looked back to the wall and slowly shook his head. "You… You weren't supposed to know!" he repeated, head swimming. "How… Wh-what are you even doing here!?"
Spain bit his lip. "Romano… I know you're glad to see him, but… Y-you should really calm down," he said carefully. Romano huffed. Spain was right, and he knew it, but he ignored him. "Veneziano! I'm coming down there right now, so don't move!" he shouted.
"N-NO! No, don't… Don't come down here, n-no matter what! Just-Just go home! Why, why are you even here?! You were-you were never supposed to know!" he shouted, grabbing the sides of his pounding head. After a pause, Romano glared at him. "Try saying my name!" he ordered. Italy blinked. "U-um… Romano…?" he said in confusion. Romano scoffed. "My full name!" he shouted.
Ital frowned at him, but he started saying it anyway: "Italy Ro… mano…" he finished it very quietly as he realized what that meant. "Yeah, that's right; I'm Italy, too, dammit!" Romano shouted. "I don't know everything you remember, but… I plan on at least carrying some of that burden on my shoulders! You… You haven't been alone all this time!" He paused to take a breath, trying to keep his voice relatively calm. "You've… broken quite a few clocks at least, haven't you?" he asked hopefully.
"I… Y-yes, but…" Veneziano's voice trailed off, unable to finish his question.
"So, the flow of time is fixed," Spain commented. "That must be why were able to find him."
"I fiiiinally found you, Veneziano! I've been trying to find you for so long…couldn't find you…the phone wouldn't work, and sometimes I… I would feel these shocks, like half of me had disappeared, every single time…"Romano looked at the ground angrily. He wanted to glare at his brother and yell, but that wouldn't do any good; it would only scare and confuse him even worse.
But it hurt. Every memory he had seemed so fresh, so real… And while they were real, he hadn't actually been there. But it wasn't just those memories; he had also seen a few of Veneziano's good memories. The first time he'd met Germany, the day they made The Pact of Steel, and… that promise... "Veneziano…You…You IDIOT!" he shouted. Veneziano looked at the ground, trying to think through what he was being told.
It must be… because I wasn't able to bear it all… When it became too much, several of my memories flowed to Romano… And because of that, he came looking for me. He clenched his hands into fists. Why? Why did they have to come here now!? Even if something were to happen to me, as long as fratello were alright-! No… This won't do, I'm getting confused. I… I need to hurry up and… do something. But I've forgotten what…
"Veneziano?" Romano called. He sounded as if he knew he wasn't listening.
"I-I'm sorry, Romano! I… I have to go now. I'm sorry, but… but just go home, please!" Veneziano pleaded. He turned around and ran as fast as he could, tears in his eyes.
"H-hey! Wait, you bastard!" Romano shouted. He forgot where he was and tried to run after him, but Spain grabbed him just before he could step off the edge. "No, Romano!" he said, pulling him back from the edge. Romano glared at him, but Spain knelt down to look over the edge, trying to see the end of the rope ladder Romano must have been referring to when he'd said was going to go down there.
"Let me try going down the ropes first, okay? Just wait here," he said. Romano frowned skeptically and glanced back over the edge. "I… don't know. Could you really use it? I can't see the bottom very well…" Spain shrugged. "It should be fine, so long as the rope's in good condition. Though I can't see it well either…" He shook his head and repositioned he axe on his back. "Just wait a moment for the boss to go down, got it?" Without waiting for an answer, he began climbing the ladder.
Romano watched anxiously as Spain went slowly down the first few braces, but Spain felt perfectly safe; the ladder was almost like new, not giving to his weight anymore than he expected. "It's just fine. The ropes aren't rotten or anything," he said loudly. Romano seemed to relax slightly as well.
And then Spain couldn't find the next brace. As soon as it registered he was falling, he jerked around for his axe's strap, wanting to toss it as a precaution. He undid the strap and threw it just before he hit the rocky ground. "Ow!" he managed to scream, wheezing for breath and holding his head.
"H-hey, Spain! A-are you alright!?" Spain smirked slightly, but he winced as he felt his legs begin to throb along with his head and arms. "Ugh… Ow…" He looked up to the ladder and saw that it looked burnt. "Oh no, the ropes are burnt halfway down. I didn't notice…Ow…" he muttered. Even if he felt miserable, at least his head wasn't hurt too bad, and it didn't feel like he'd broken any bones…
"H-hey, Spain!" Romano called. He hadn't been able to hear Spain's muttering, so he hadn't gotten an answer. Spain smiled at the worried expression on his face. "Romano?" he called.
"Yeah?" Spain let his arms relax onto his knees as he moved them closer to his body, and he smiled larger. "I'm so glad we found Ita," he said. Romano blinked before rolling his eyes and muttered what was probably an agreement.
Spain stood up and brushed at his clothing, also looking for his axe. "I'll go look for something we can use instead of this ladder. Wait here for a little, sí?" he said. There it was, not too far from him. He walked over to pick it up as Romano replied, "Alright, fine… Don't take too long or I'm coming down there anyway, got it?" Spain chuckled, but then frowned as he noticed the strap was broken. Damn… So much use this was, he thought, detaching it.
"A-and Spain?" He turned back to Romano, who had sat down with his back almost entirely towards him. "Be... Be careful." Spain couldn't help himself. "Oh, are you worried about me? That makes me so happy~!" Romano glared at him from the corner of his eye. "Well, I'll be right back, so just wait right up there!" Just as he set off down the stretch of cave, he spotted a hole. After a hesitant moment, he peeked inside, but immediately backed out, rubbing at his face. Why the heck was it so cold in there!? And dark, too! He decided it would probably be best if he just left it alone…
000o000o000o000o000
Japan, Prussia, China, and France all lashed out with their respective swords, trying futilely to cut through the bars for the tenth time. The ringing of metal-on-metal made all of them cringe, and some of them even covered their ears. And yet, as much as they had tried desperately to break out, there wasn't so much as a dent in the bars.
"It's no use… Our sword can't cut this metal!" Japan finally said. The other three sighed. They were willing to try as long as Japan must have been, but they were also very tired. "So we can't use brute strength…" Russia said, looking at his poor dent pipe. "Too bad. I don't know what he's planning, but we need to go after him quickly."
"But…" Canada sighed from his seat on the crate. "We can't get out unless someone gets the key from over there."
England snorted. "'Someone'…? Everyone is in here! You all walked right into his bloody trap!" he snapped, still having a small pain irritating his skull. America glared at him. "You did, too, y'know!" he shouted back. England muttered something before glaring at the wall. America decided to let him off the hook right then. None of them were happy about the situation, and yelling at each other would only make things worse, especially when all of them were armed.
He ran a hand through his hair, trying to cool down. "Man, what'll we do, though? If no one shows up-" They all jumped as the door opened, trying to draw their weapons in case it was the Thing.
But they all blinked when they saw who it actually was. "Wh-whoa! What's this!?" Spain cried, looking at them all behind the bars. "Someone… showed up, aru…" China muttered in amazement. "Huh? What!? A zoo? A world zoo!? Do not touch or feed the Nations!?" Spain exclaimed, placing a look of horror on his face. France hit his head against the wall and Prussia facepalmed as everyone else glared at him. "Mon Dieu… Is he for real?" France asked tiredly. Spain laughed briefly before looking as if he'd just remembered something.
"Oh, I just remembered! Hey, do any of you have a ladder of anything? Roma-"
"SPAIN! Open this cell!" Germany shouted. The Spaniard jumped and nearly dropped his axe. "Wh-what do you m-mean!? Did-Didn't Ita come this way!?" he asked. "W-we will explain our situation later! Please, just open the cell first!" Japan cried.
And thus ends chapter 55~! I wanted to make it longer, but I'm just dreading the next scene too much! I can't do it tonight! But I'll probably be back with the next one tomorrow… Or maybe not… I'm not sure, I might have to run some errands tomorrow. Hm… Anyway, I'll be back as soon as I can with the scene in THAT ROOM. See you then~! CIAO!
