Chapter Seven: The First Death
Warnings: Character Death, Blood, Violence
-000-
Italy's POV
The door snapped open with an intense force. The swing of the door was so strong that it rammed into the wall and left a small dent. I flinched at the sudden noise. A single tear slipped out of my eye from the intense fear that struck my entire being. With wide eyes I stared at the masked face of my captor and froze. Surely this is the end for me. There's no way that the cruel man in front of me would spare my life.
"Today is the day that I end your life forever, Feliciano. How does that make you feel?" the man sneered in a tone that conveyed superiority over me. At the thought of my final death, I began to tremble. No nation deserves to suffer an eternal death. I wish someone could save me, but I know for sure that no one will. Germany is behind the glass to my right, and my brother probably doesn't know where I am.
Tears began to spill down my cheeks. I'm all alone besides that man and Germany, and no one outside knows where I am. The depressing thought of death causes my breaths to shorten and I start to hyperventilate. Death and loneliness are the scariest things to me, and I must face them both right now.
"Stop crying you worthless waste of space! Are you really going to go down like a complete wimp?!" the man scolded. His screams resonated in my head, amplifying after every repeat. How does someone not cry when they're about to die? Sure Germany wouldn't be crying, but he's not very emotional. Maybe he's right though. I'm such a coward!
"Don't make fun of him!" Germany yelled. "You're a filthy murderer! You'd probably be just as scared, if not more!"
"Shut up!" the man snapped at Germany.
"Now can I set up the last parts of your execution without you blubbering all over yourself?" he asked. I couldn't respond to him. My throat was sealed shut from fright and I might just go numb from fear. He sighed and pulled out a rope. With skillful hands he fashioned a rope into a noose and secured it to the ceiling. Oh no, this is really happening. I'm going to die. I want to wake up, but I know that this is reality. Why is this happening?
I wanted to break away and run from my fate, yet I know that I'm trapped. Like a canary in a coal mine, my voice will cease as the world crumbles. Then again, canaries can warn the coal miners. I can't do anything but cry out to deaf ears.
A wooden chair is placed under the noose. The mere thought of having my neck in that noose makes me tremble harder. My heart is pounding like the harsh beating of a heart. I almost wish that the adrenaline and fear would kill me before I can be murdered by him. In a way, he'd never get the satisfaction of being the one to pull me under. Unfortunately, I'll never get that pleasure. I'm a bird with his wings bound. There's no way to fly away, so I have to face my killer. If I struggle and squirm, it does nothing but give me sore wrists.
I bowed my head and began to send out a small prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, if you're listening, I ask that you protect the people in captivity with me. I know that there is no hope for me at this point, so please keep everyone else safe as you see fit. I also wish for you to allow this evil man to be apprehended before anyone else becomes a victim to him. Please allow for Romano to care for my people once I have deceased.
Suddenly, the man slapped my cheek. "Don't ignore me!" he yelled angrily. I looked up and saw that he had finished setting up the execution. The time of my demise arrived too quickly. Hastily, he untied me from the post. I remembered this one time Germany was training Japan and I. If I recall correctly, he was teaching us ways to escape if we had to.
"Remember, Italy, if you tense up your muscles as someone ties your wrists together, then you might be able to free yourself. Once you relax your muscles, the rope will be loosened and you'll be able to escape."
I tensed up my muscles as he bound my wrists again. Harshly he barked, "Get on the chair!" Using my small chance, I relaxed my muscles and allowed the rope to loosen. Quickly, I slipped my wrists out and grabbed the door. At that moment, I made a run for it. He ran after me, but I was faster. Bolting, I ran throughout the abandoned hospital in an attempt for freedom. I kept on running since I knew my life and possibly everyone else's lives depended on it. After racing through the corridors, I found the entrance. With all my strength, I tried to open the door but failed. It's locked!
Noticing the man gaining on me, I ran and tried to find another exit. I noticed a broken sign labeled 'EXIT' and sprinted towards it. I pushed my hands out in front of me and opened the door. To my relief, the door gave in and I was able to escape. Once I had reached the outside world, I wanted to embrace the nice feeling, but I had to run far from him! Unfortunately, I was getting exhausted from the constant exertion. Keep running, keep running. To my dismay I heard the shouts of an evil curse being cast, and my legs melted into jelly.
"Did you really think I wouldn't catch you?!" the man screamed. I tried to keep going, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. I fell to the dried grass quickly, and the man laughed at me. "You're lucky I didn't have my taser with me. Otherwise, you'd be a twitching mess."
I said, "You won't get away with this! You'll get what you deserve soon!" He picked me up and carried me back into the Hellish hospital. I screamed and cried in hopes of someone out there hearing, but I only got silence. I struck his back with my fists, tried to wiggle out of his grasp, yet it wasn't helping. That small moment outside is probably the last I'll ever see. My touch of freedom has been stolen with me, leaving my efforts in vain.
Watching the door seal shut, watching my freedom slip from my hand, I couldn't take it. I screamed like a child and bawled. I knew it wasn't very mature, yet I couldn't stop. I couldn't save my own life. I'll surely die in this wretched place.
Suddenly, I began to see an illusion. An unidentifiable wispy figure was singing.
"The songbird was strangled, the very first to go. He had a breath of freedom before it faded with his hope. There will be no more sweet dreams for little canary, a forever nightmare awaits. Goodnight to the prince of sleep." Once the song was finished, the figure faded with the wind.
The illusion left me unsure of what happened, but I'm too depressed to care. I sank into the man's shoulder in defeat and stopped struggling. He chuckled a bit, and I ignored it completely.
"It's about time you stopped struggling! It was getting annoying. Anyways, here we are again," the man said as we entered my execution room. My face was melted into a nonchalant expression as he forced my head into the noose. The rope scratched at my boney neck, but I didn't mind. After all, it'll all be over for me momentarily.
"No, Italy!" he cried. Turning to the man he yelled, "Just let him go! Let me take his place! Anything!"
The man talked into a walkie-talkie, and the camera in the corner of the room flashed an angry red light. That sick man must be recording my death. I bet he takes pleasure in my demise.
The man bellowed, "Italy Veneziano, I declare you guilty of unimaginable crimes against humanity. For what you've done, I sentence you to a permanent death." I didn't want to listen to the toxic man. Each one of his words spouts venom in my ear. I was tempted to ask what he thought I did, but I refrained in favor of staying silent.
"Italy is innocent! He hasn't done anything wrong!" Germany exclaimed. Yet again, the man ignored him.
"Not talking, eh? Fine then! I'm sure you'll be talking when I light a flame at your feet!" he yelled. From my peripheral vision, I noticed him pull out a lighter. The sound of a fire started from the bottom of the chair. "Your chair will crumble under the flame causing you to be choked by the noose. Pretty impressive, right?" At this point I couldn't care less about what he said. Regardless of the words that spilled out of his mouth, I'd still die. Why should I bother to listen to him? He grunted in annoyance and stood back from me.
"Are you feeling hot yet?" he asked. I remained silent, annoying him more. "Stop ignoring me! I don't understand you! One minute ago, you were trembling under me. Now, you act like you don't care! Do you want a reason to care!" he kept screaming. The screaming hurt my ears, yet I still couldn't bother to give him the satisfaction of receiving an answer. He doesn't deserve the pleasure.
The flame had spread a little, and I was able to feel the warmth of the flame. If I stay still, the flame will burn me. I could kick the chair from under my feet to speed this up. He shouldn't get the pleasure of killing me! If I kick the chair, I'll die because of my own acts.
I smirked at the man below me and said, "I won't let your flame kill me," and kicked the chair. The noose strangled me, but I welcomed it. I looked into the camera and smiled. He'll probably be watching this later, so I mouthed, "You couldn't strangle the songbird."
Germany began to bang on the glass with his fists, screaming. I'd rather pretend that it's not happening.
As my oxygen supply began to run low, I felt myself becoming overwhelmingly exhausted. My lungs burned like the flame that couldn't touch me, and I embraced the feeling of my soon coming death. Suddenly, memories of my time in the hospital flooded my mind. They're so familiar and gruesome, so how did I forget? Well, at least I won't have to suffer in this madman's hospital anymore. My days as a lab rat are over.
Dark spots began to nip at my vision, and I wanted air desperately. A tear slipped from my eyes. Instinctively, my body tried to stop my death, forcing my arms to pull on the rope and scratch at my neck. Of course, it didn't work. I'm so tired that I could sleep for days. My head felt like lead; it's so heavy.
I heard a familiar voice scream. My thoughts are starting to get foggy, so I can't quite recognize the desperate cries of 'No' and "Italy'. What is Italy? Who am I? At this point, I already can't recall my memories. Instead, my brain is melting into soup.
Finally, I felt a relieving wave of calmness hit me. The world was going dark, and I loved the feeling.
Let go. It whispered, and I relaxed my body. I felt myself becoming a part of the air. Just before I completely released, I felt a painful slice going through my neck.
-000-
Romano's POV
As everyone was settling down to start the meeting, something strange happened. When the room got quiet, a noise starting coming from the speakers in the meeting room. Various clicks and beeps were going off without a reason. I was about to ask someone to check it out, but something horrible appeared on the big screen TV.
It was my little brother who flashed onto that screen for the whole world to see. He was clearly starved and had fresh tears on his face. It was hard to look at him, yet I couldn't turn away. Nations around me gasped, some murmured nervously, and others froze like me. It felt completely unreal when the boney form that resembled my brother began to speak.
"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." This can't be happening! It must be fake!
"I d-don't know why you didn't listen, but I'm s-sure you had a good reason."Frozen in shock, I felt a tear slip from my eye. This is all my fault. Even though he's about to die because of me, he still finds himself able to forgive me. I want to think that what I'm seeing is fake, though I know it's real.
"Even though I'm going to die, it'll b-be okay. Grandpa Rome will be there waiting for me."It's repulsive to see my cheery little brother in this emotional state. I know for a fact that the only reason he's not blubbering is because he doesn't want me to feel bad. I appreciate the effort, but I can't see how the alternative would have been any less tragic. Similarly, I feel like I could burst into tears, but I need to hold it back since I'm in public.
"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."
In slightly stuttered Italian, he said, "Please trace the signal if you can so that the others can be saved."I felt my heart drop before I finally said something.
"He said to trace the signal! Don't just fucking stand there, do something!" I yelled. The only person here with enough computer knowledge to do that was Estonia. Quickly, he scrambled to pull out his laptop.
Before the screen went black, Veneziano said, "Goodbye, Romano. I love you."
I wanted to pass out so incredibly bad. If I were unconscious, I wouldn't have to deal with this shit. Estonia was struggling to even turn the slow ass computer on, and no one tried to help improve the situation.
Suddenly, the screen turned on again. This time, it was in a different room. Feliciano was standing on a chair with a noose around his neck. I felt utter dread form in my chest. He's going to die. Unlike before, he was now completely calm, though his expression resembled something along the lines of despair. His hands were tied behind his back as if he were a guilty man sentenced to death.
The cloaked man spoke, "Italy Veneziano, I declare you guilty of unimaginable crimes against humanity. For what you've done, I sentence you to a permanent death."
The man seemed pissed that Italy wasn't saying anything. "Not talking, eh? Fine then! I'm sure you'll be talking when I light a flame at your feet!"
At that, he lit the chair legs with the small yellow flame. Gently, the fire crawled up the leg bit by bit. The sound of wood crackling could be heard if you listened closely.
Feliciano didn't even look at the fire below him. Completely still, he allowed the flame to eat away the chair. Then, he smirked at the man and kicked the chair. It was at that moment the reality of this all hit me. This isn't a nightmare that I can wake up from, nor is it fake. I can only watch helplessly as my brother begins to choke.
"Estonia, where the fuck is the signal coming from!" I screamed desperately. It's infuriating to watch my brother die while the other nations do jack shit about it.
Estonia looked at me with an anxious expression and said, "I can't find it! I'm trying my hardest, but I just can't find it!" I was ready to punch him, or anything. Before I could pounce on him, Spain came up behind me and held me back.
"Romano, stop! Hurting Estonia won't make it any better!" Spain yelled. I squirmed and fought to get out of his hold, yet nothing seemed to work. "It'll be okay!"
"My brother is fucking dying and you have the nerve to say that it's going to be okay?!" I screamed. As I struggled, I saw how Feliciano was turning blue from a lack of oxygen. I wanted to fight it, but it's hopeless.
I stopped struggling so that I could focus on the screen. I could see how he was struggling to keep his eyelids open. He's about to die.
He smiled a little and went completely limp like a ragdoll.
"Feliciano!" I yelled at the screen. "No, Feliciano!" I kept screaming, but nothing changed. My world feels like it's crumbling and there's nothing that can be done about it. Then, when I thought that things couldn't get any worse, the man grabbed the knife.
"Here's your special gift, Romano," the man said as the decapitated my brother. "Expect this face to reach you."
"You bastard! You fucking bastard!" I screamed and fought to get out of Spain's hold. He held me tighter the more I fought. "I'll kill you!" I expected Spain to say something to comfort me, but there wasn't anything said. I heard other nations crying, but I didn't care. "I'll fucking kill you, you spawn of Satan!" My shoulder began to have small droplets of water falling onto it. I turned to see why and saw Spain silently crying.
After the initial shock, I managed to calm down and squirmed out of Spain's grasp. He didn't try to hold onto me, so I left the building. I'd rather not look at the other crying faces in that room. I'll just have to handle this on my own.
-000-
A/N: One down, many more to go. It's about time I killed a character. After all, I've been planning his death for like a year. (I'm not exaggerating. I've had this story in my head for a while.) On an unrelated note, you guys are pretty good at predicting future events. Someone's review already pointed out that the man wouldn't get Italy's land and I'm sitting here thinking about how I wasn't planning to reveal that until later but now I'm gonna put it in the next chapter. Anyways, I'll see ya next chapter!