Chapter Six: Let the Show Commence
Warnings: Blood, Death, Cannibalism Mentions, Intentional Suicide
-000-
America's POV
I felt a pit in my heart when I saw England finally succumb to death. He sacrificed himself for us, and all I could do is sit pitifully as he dies. I knew he was in pain, yet I kept filling my greedy stomach with his flesh.
"America, are you alright?" France asked.
"Yeah, just peachy," I murmured sarcastically. My eyes began to get watery, but I refuse to cry in front of someone else. Heroes don't cry. Can I even call myself a hero at this point? Heroes don't cannibalize their loved ones. Heroes wouldn't let this happen.
"Don't hold it against yourself that we ate. Even if we didn't eat, Angleterre would have died anyways. You wouldn't want him to die in vain, would you?" France stated.
"I ate my brother! How could you accept that so easily?!" I yelled. France tensed up.
"He didn't want us to go hungry, America. He died to help us!" France refuted.
"We're dirty cannibals! We gave in so easily. Don't you think that's messed up? We could have stopped and let him heal, but instead we became filthy savages without hesitation!"
"No matter what we had done he'd still be dead. Would you rather go hungry? This is what he wanted," France said.
"This is also what that deranged kidnapper wanted! We gave him exactly what he wanted. At what point are we not just his puppets?" I replied.
"We have to survive somehow, America! He's not going to feed us anymore, so we must act accordingly."
"How can you really say that this is okay at all? What the hell is wrong with you?!" I yelled.
"You ate him, too, so don't try to paint yourself as a saint! The best we can do is pretend that this didn't happen. Otherwise we'll go mad with guilt."
"It's hard to ignore his death when he's lying right there! We ate him even though we knew it was hurting him!" Did France not see the pain in England's eyes? Every single time he pulled out an organ I heard him stifling his agonized cries. He held back his pain, his tears, and his urge to scream out all for us.
"America, stop tearing yourself apart for this! Wouldn't you rather forget it and move on?"
"He's dead, France! He's dead because of us!" I screamed. His corpse is right in front of me, staring at the sky with lifeless eyes. "You killed me." I could hear him whisper. "You let me die, little brother. How could you? What kind of hero kills his brother?"
"Did you put the knife to his neck? No, you didn't. This isn't our faults!" France responded.
"I'm dead, America! It's your fault, America! Your belly is full of the flesh of your brother! Does it feel good to be full because of my death?" England's corpse kept screaming. "You're a worthless little pig! You couldn't be hungry for a little while, could you? You're fat enough as is! It would have done you well to starve off all that fat anyways!"
"America, snap out of it!" France yelled.
"You're not a hero at all, idiot! You're such a fat fuck that I don't know why you haven't starved yourself ages ago! I bet you wish you could have eaten more. No one as useless as you is worthy to be my little brother!"
"Stop it!" I cried. Tears threatened to spill over my eyes as his corpse mocked me. I tried to cover my ears, but it didn't drown out the noise at all.
"What a waste of space! Why are you even alive?!"
"Whatever you're hearing, it isn't real!" France exclaimed.
"You should kill yourself! Maybe France can eat you just so that you can see how it feels!" That doesn't sound like a bad idea. "Just pick up the knife and cut open that greedy little belly of yours!"
"Yes, England," I replied.
"You're hallucinating, America! Don't listen to it!"
I got up and walked towards the knife that England dropped. "Yes, be a good boy for me! All the hurting will go away, I promise!"
"Is that so?" I asked. England nodded.
"Don't pick up that knife!" France exclaimed.
"France doesn't know what he's talking about. He said that it's okay to eat me, didn't he? Wouldn't you rather listen to your dear brother?"
"Yes, England." Obediently, I picked up the knife and aimed it towards myself. "Aren't I a good boy?"
Deeply, I plunged the knife into my stomach. The pain was like a white flame, but I can't disobey England. He wants this. Repeatedly, I stabbed myself as hot tears spilled from my eyes. As the knife was embedding itself into me, I could only smile. England will be so happy!
France was screaming at me, but I don't care. He doesn't know anything. "I'm proud of you, America," he whispered. My body started to feel weak so I let it collapse into the floor. More screaming flooded my ears, but that doesn't matter. I've made England happy to make up for my mistake. This is my rightful punishment.
Red spilled all over the plain floor of the room, decorating it in a lovely red paint. I began to feel even weaker, but I'm happy. Right beside me is England's body, so I can see him right before I die. I cracked a smile as the darkness filled my vision. The last thing I heard before I relaxed was France crying.
-000-
Italy's POV
I awoke from death in a dazed state. I've never woken up from death very well. Luckily, my best friend, Germany, is right here to comfort me. I scooted over and put my hands around him. He's so warm, unlike the chilly floor.
Germany's muscle twitched a bit, but he relaxed afterwards like a sleepy dog. Germany loves dogs so much that he acts like one. It's nice seeing him relaxed for once even though it's just him sleeping. He's always either stressed or angry, and it's probably worse since he's been captured.
I wonder what you're dreaming about, Germany. I hope you're having a good dream. Last night, I had a scary dream that I cut myself open.
Germany's eyes opened, and I smiled. "Good morning, Germany!" I said cheerfully. Suddenly, he pounced on me and held me in a tight embrace.
"I've been so worried for you," he said. If he were a more expressive person, he'd be crying. "It's torturous to watch you being hurt."
"It's okay, Germany! I'm not dead, am I? As long as I'm not permanently dead, it's okay!" I tried to assure him, but he didn't seem to be satisfied by it.
"You don't deserve what you've had to bear on your own. I wish I could protect you from him."
"I'm not a little kid, Germany. You don't have to worry over me, but I appreciate your concern," I reminded him. He still wasn't pleased.
"You hurt yourself earlier, Italy; it's his fault that you did that."
I asked, "What are you talking about, Germany?" He sighed and shook his head.
"Never mind, Italy."
"No, tell me!" I exclaimed. "You can't tell me something like that and expect me not to get curious."
"It'd be better if you didn't know." This is getting annoying.
"Okay, then don't tell me, meanie!" Germany showed a hurt expression on his face. Did he not know that I don't mean it when I say 'meanie'? "Don't be sad, Germany! I didn't mean it when I used that mean word. I'm sorry!"
He responded, "It's not that, Italy. Just don't worry about it."
"Well, what should we do now?" I asked. There isn't much to do in this boring, empty room.
"There's not much we can do. I've been trying to think of escape plans, but none of them are feasible."
"That's so like you, Germany. I'm glad this place hasn't changed you," I said. "I can't wait for us to escape together. I miss Romano, and good food, and the sun, and the birds chirping, and my bed, and everything else."
"I miss my dogs. I hope Prussia has been taking care of them, but you know how my brother is. I also miss my beer. Now would be a good time to get drunk."
"That wouldn't be good though. You'll get a bad hangover. Also, I know you wouldn't like having puke everywhere," I said. He nodded.
"Yeah that is true. It's been a pain enough having nowhere to use the bathroom. The least he could do is give us a pail," he said.
"I agree. You would think that he'd get upset at how bad the rooms smell."
Suddenly, the TV turned on.
"Hello, captives! Today I have an experiment planned." I felt a pang of dread when the words hit my ears. I'm not sure why though. He hasn't hurt me from what I remember.
I started to tremble and struggle to breathe. Why is my body acting this way? The man hasn't hurt me, has he? I felt arms wrap around me, but that didn't matter. My breaths kept coming fast and shallow. Cold drops of sweat dripped from my forehead. After a while, my lungs hurt, but I can't stop hyperventilating. It's painful to breathe in and out.
"Breathe, Italy. In and out," Germany said in a calm voice. It feels like I'm on another planet. With my eyes closed, it feels like I'm floating away. "Italy, stop! You'll pass out if you don't breathe!"
I knew tears were spilling out of my eyes, yet I can't feel it. I wish I could stop, but everything around me feels so wrong. As I'm hyperventilating my limbs are going cold, and my face tingles like little pinpricks all over my skin. My head starts to blend into the air. Somewhere, I feel someone shaking me, so I try to snap out of my hypnotic trance, but I can't.
Eventually, I fell asleep from the lack of oxygen.
-000-
Germany's POV
Shit, he passed out. Despite my efforts to get Italy to stop, he passed out from lack of oxygen. At least the man can't experiment on someone who's passed out. Gently, I set Italy down on his side. I turned to the television and listened to what the man had to say.
He said, "This experiment is also an endurance test. This time, however, it's actually focusing on endurance. I found a workout room and figured that it could be put to good use. Now, let's spin the wheel to see who gets to try it out!" The man pulled out the dreaded, colorful wheel with our names on it.
The wheel began to spin rapidly, blurring the colors and names. If I were religious I'd be praying, but I've never been the kind of person who'd worship a god. Italy, on the other hand, would be on his knees begging to his god for mercy. Regardless, it's not very important. I just hope that the wheel doesn't land on Italy.
The wheel began to slow down until it was ticking very slowly. Eventually, it landed on Italy's name.
The man spoke, "Congratulations, Italy! You're my lab rat today. Isn't that exciting? I'll be coming to pick you up momentarily." If I wait by the door, I'll be able to escape. I need to take Italy with me though, which will slow me down. Of course, escape is important, but I can't leave him to the mercy of this man. I could use Italy to deflect the electric shock of the taser. Sure it's not the best thing to do to an unconscious friend, but I don't have many options. Besides, he'll be able to heal once we're free.
I slung Italy over my shoulder and waited at the door. Once I hear it unlock, I'll run.
I heard his footsteps getting closer and closer. I prepared myself to sprint. Finally, I heard the click of a door being unlocked and pushed the door open. I began to sprint away from the enclosure. We're finally free, Italy. Suddenly, before I could run down the hallway, the man had tased me.
"Did you really thing you could escape that easily?" his scrambled robotic voice teased. "You're pathetic!"
My muscles painfully convulsed in response to the electric shock. He laughed at my misery.
"As punishment for escaping, I think I should change the experiment. What do you think of an experiment testing a nation's reaction to watching his best friend die?" he taunted. My heart dropped.
"You can't kill him! I won't let you!" I yelled.
"Oh, that's a much better idea. I was going to let you die, but I think letting Italy die would be much more painful for you. You'll have to bear the guilt of knowing it's all your fault."
"You wouldn't dare!" I exclaimed.
"It's about time that I kill him anyways. He's already lost his mind, and Romano hasn't paid the ransom I demanded. I'll dump you in your room while I set up." He aimed his palm at the two of us and lifted us in the air nonchalantly.
"What the-"
"It's magic, idiot. I've told you this before," he responded before I finished. He roughly slung us into the room and slammed the door. Everything is hopeless. Italy is going to die because of me, and he doesn't even know it. All I can do now is wait for the man to murder my best friend, and there's nothing I can do about it.
-000-
Unknown POV
After I finished the setup of the execution, I went into the computer room. "It looks like I'm actually going to end a life today," I said to my assistant, Travis. He's been without pay for a few weeks, yet he still stays in hopes of something. The brown-haired man turned to me.
"It's a shame that we didn't get any money. You can't even feed half of your captives, and I haven't been paid since I started working for you. I'm beginning to have doubts that it's worth it to stick around," Travis said.
"It'll be fine, Travis. People will take me more seriously once I actually kill someone. Honestly, I didn't want to kill anyone so early, but it looks like I have no choice. Someone needs to die anyways," I muttered.
"I thought you said that nations were immortal. How is it that you can kill one of them?" Travis asked. He's a mere human so I don't think he quite understands half of what I talk about.
I explained, "Under certain circumstances, a nation can die. Hopefully, once I kill Italy I'll get his land."
"You could pretend-kill him again if you don't want him to die, right? It feels wrong to actually let someone die, especially if you don't want him dead."
"No, Travis, I can't do that. There's a difference between temporary death and permanent death. Romano would assume I'm bluffing if I didn't give him proof that Italy is dead. I'll just have to give him proof. Also, I need that land mass."
"Well, how exactly are you going to do that?" he asked.
"If you bring Romano the dismembered head of Italy, there will be no doubt about it that Italy died," I stated. Travis grimaced.
"How am I supposed to carry around a disembodied head without getting arrested? I have a family, sir! I can't go to jail while I have a daughter to care for!"
I sighed at his petty worries and spoke, "Just use the mailman disguise again. No one will bat an eye at a mailman delivering a package. We'll have to steal a mail truck again, though."
"I hate having to do these things. You better have a paycheck for me soon, or I'll quit. There's no point in doing this crap when it doesn't pay for baby formula and diapers," Travis complained. I rolled my eyes.
"I don't give a shit about your daughter, so stop rambling. I get it, babies are expensive, but you don't need to keep complaining! I'll pay you once I can. Now, go back to trying to hack the meeting place's network. I wanna go live with this shit. Did you make sure the signal was untraceable?"
"Yes, sir. I altered our signal so that if they tried to trace it, they'd think it was coming from my ex's house. She lives in Australia now, so it's far from here. Also, I've nearly gotten through their encryption."
I smiled. "Excellent work. It'd be amazing if you could get it live in time for the next world meeting. According to the security footage we got, it'll be this afternoon, so I'd appreciate it if you got it done by then. For now, I'll get them ready," I stated. As I was getting up, my glove went straight through my hand. Within seconds, my hand went from a normal looking hand, to a ghostly one. I tried to touch my hand, but my other hand went straight through just like the glove.
Travis' eyes went wide. "W-What in the world is going on?!"
"It's fine, Travis. This happens sometimes," I said calmly. Once the hand became solid, I slipped the glove back on. "I guess it's for the best that I have to kill Italy. Maybe if I get his land, I won't have to deal with this kind of thing." I walked out of the room before he could say anything else. It's just not fair. Those other nations are so cruel to me. I wonder if they realize that they're the reason I'm dying.
000
I walked up the stairs to the second floor and walked down the hall until I reached Germany and Italy's room. I gripped the taser in my hands and entered the room. Instantly, I fired the taser on Germany again.
Italy awoke and murmured, "Huh, what's going o-?" His words were interrupted by the taser and he began to painfully convulse.
I used my magic to pull all of them out. I proceeded to tie them all up and decided that I should make a detour before heading to the execution room.
"Hey! What are you doing?! Let go of me!" he cried, realizing that he's been tied up. I ignored him and dragged him into the studio where I usually recorded my broadcasts for the others.
"I'm afraid that your brother didn't give me the ransom money I demanded so I can't keep you around. Also, Germany tried to escape with you, so I must give him a punishment to prevent this from happening again, and what's more traumatizing than watching your friend permanently die because of you. It's nothing personal against you, I just can't let you live," I explained. Gently, tears fell down his cheeks and he started to sob. His breaths came in short hiccups as he cried.
"I d-don't want to d-die," he struggled to say. I felt pity for the crying man in front of me, but I have to kill him; I can't afford to let him live. Besides, if I don't get more recognition as a nation, I'll die. I'll be recognized if I kill another nation. I'll be considered strong and powerful! It's only fair that I kill all these people that are collectively responsible for my soon-to-be death so that they redeem themselves.
I handed him a box of tissues for him to wipe his eyes and nose with. Once he was cleaned up a bit, I spoke, "Now, I'm giving you the chance to send your last words to whoever you want. I'll turn on the camera once you're ready." Luckily, Germany was waiting silently, so he wasn't a problem for me.
"You can turn it on now," Italy said. I pressed the button and the light began to blink.
Italy vocalized, "Well, I just heard from the man that he's going to kill me because you didn't do what he told you to, Romano. I d-don't know why you didn't listen, but I'm s-sure you had a good reason." He started to cry again, but he didn't stop talking. "Even though I'm going to die, it'll b-be okay. Grandpa Rome will be there waiting for me." He paused to try to calm down, then continued. "I'm going to miss you when I'm in h-heaven. I hope you don't miss me too much though. I don't want you to be sad because of me. I wish I could see your face one last time, but all I see is a camera." He said something in Italian and then continued, "Goodbye, Romano. I love you." He gave the camera a small smile and looked at me to show that he was done, so I turned the camera off.
"Is that all?" I asked, picking up the camera and putting it in the pocket of my cloak.
He nodded his head and said, "Yes."
Afterwards, I forcefully grabbed his wrists and tied them together again. Then, I led both him and Germany down the hallway to the place I had set up. I threw Germany through one door, and Italy into the other one. Once I threw them in, I locked the door from the outside and went to Travis's office.
"Hey, have you hacked into it yet?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yes, sir. People are starting to come into the meeting room and I've managed to gain access to the big screen in there."
"Good job, Travis. Before we can start, I want you to show this on the screen," I said while handing him the camera. "I can't wait to start. Let me know when the meeting begins," I said.
"Yes, sir."
"Also, make sure that the footage from Italy's death plays on the TVs in the captives' rooms. Along with that, I'd like the meeting's footage, and the footage of Germany's reaction to be recorded as this plays," I ordered. Travis nodded. It'll be fun to watch the footage later.
I left the computer room and entered the large enclosure I had set up for Italy. Through my walkie-talkie, I heard Travis say, "The meeting just began. I'm going to roll the footage. We'll be live in a couple of moments."
"Let the show begin."
-000-
Author's Note: On one note, do I really need the warnings every chapter? I'm thinking about scrapping that. Also, I'm sorry for not updating in a long while. I haven't updated in a little over 3 months, yet there are authors on the site that can somehow update weekly. I feel like you readers are going to be crying over this chapter because this was sad enough to get ME emotional and I rarely ever feel any emotions as strong as the ones I felt while writing. The biggest reason that I haven't updated is because all my recent attempts to write this have ended up getting scrapped since it sometimes doesn't feel good enough. As an apology, I'm going to update this story with this chapter (which is at about 4 thousand words!) and hopefully chapter 7 since it's mostly written. All I have to do is edit it since I originally just had Italy dying alone in the first draft. Also, the first draft had Germany somehow manage to escape for a while until the man found them. Anyways, remember to review because those things are my only motivation these days. I'll see ya next chapter!