I was originally going to include a long, extended fight scene, but then this idea came into my head and it kind of took over? But I think this might be better than a fight scene emotion-wise. Because wow is it intense. Probably the most intense thing I've physically written. Hopefully, the one I've been hyping up will be even more intense than this one and you'll be just like AAAAAH *dead*
That's my hope, anyway.
Get ready for a poorly rendered French accent; if you need me to translate what it says, feel free to ask. Oh, and remember that "step" for two characters I mentioned last time? Be prepared… for feelings. And also that plot point from the game. I hope you enjoy this; I literally worked all day on it. See you at the bottom of the page.
Chapter 9: Being Manipulated
Well, frick.
This was the thought going through The Vet's head as Mochi America's "body" continued to morph. Surprisingly, it didn't grow as large as she expected; instead, it was maybe a little under six feet tall, forming a sturdy torso with arms and legs. Its face became more defined, with a strong jaw line and narrow eyes. A shape formed on the top of its head, almost like some strange hat. Once its body was formed, it changed colors, turning the legs black and brown, then the arms turned black and the hands were a peachy color. Its torso was also black, aside from a white shape near its throat. Its face was the same peach color as its hands, and the "hat" turned black with a gold trim. Its narrow eyes were now a striking blue—wait.
It wouldn't.
The body began to change again, going from a static character model to something with depth. Its legs formed slightly puffy black pants tucked into knee high brown boots. Its arms and torso wrinkled slightly, like a long-sleeved black shirt, with a white ascot billowing from the original triangle shaped white spot. A black cape spilled from its shoulders, covering its upper arms and flowing to its boot tops. Slick blonde hair was now visible under its hat. Yep. It was really gonna try and pull this stunt, huh?
The Holy Roman Empire stood before Ivan and The Vet. Its terrible smile slowly shifted into a more polite one, if still very cold. It tipped its hat to them, and The Vet noticed how it lifted the back of its hat, which kept its forehead covered, rather than lifting the whole hat like most people would.
"Hello there," it said. Its voice was no longer a squeaky, annoying impression of Alfred, but a deeper voice with a strange accent The Vet couldn't identify but still recognized. Before she or Ivan could say anything, it turned towards the larger group still far from where the three of them stood. It made a step in that direction—
Without putting much thought into it, The Vet aimed and shot her pistol. She didn't expect the bullet to hit it; it was supposed to be something of a warning shot, maybe to call for assistance. However, it went straight for the impersonator.
Almost too fast to be seen, it turned its body towards her and grabbed the bullet out of the air. Its hand morphed around, as if it were made of the same stuff as the Autons coming from the Nestene Consciousness from Doctor Who. Just as quickly, it threw the bullet back at the Vet with the same speed it had been fired with, straight at her head. She barely had time to gasp before Ivan stepped in front of her and swung his pipe, connecting with the bullet with a loud CLANG! The bullet whistled into the sky and was gone.
Wow… The Vet thought, looking at Ivan's perfectly undamaged metal pipe. I guess that's the power of the nations, huh? Her thoughts were cut short when she heard people, lots of people, running in their direction. This would be awkward unless she could convince the others of what this thing was. It couldn't be hard, right? The Holy Roman Empire just appearing like this was too convenient; everyone would see through it… right?
"What was that noise?!" Brittany shouted at the head of the group, followed quickly by Casey and the countries. "Vet, why did you shoot your pistol? Is there something—what in the…?"
"Non può essere…!" Feliciano's voice was quiet, but everyone heard it. He stepped slowly towards what he thought was an old friend. "Holy Rome…?" He whispered.
"Holy Rome" smiled more softly at Feliciano, though Vet could see a strange glint in its eyes. "Hello, Italy."
"How is this possible?" Casey asked Brittany without looking away.
"I… don't know," Brittany replied, also not looking away. "He did appear in the game… could it be something from them?"
"Maybe it's a sign of somethin' happenin'? I can't seem to… feel anythin' about it…"
"IT'S NONE OF THOSE THINGS!" The Vet yelled, re-aiming her gun at "Holy Rome".
Everyone's eyes immediately landed on her, along with a chorus of "What are you doing?!"'s and "Put your gun down!"'s. Once again, Feliciano's voice cut through the crowd: "Vet," he asked softly but sternly, a strange combination that almost made The Vet lower her gun in shame. She didn't, though. "Why are you trying to hurt him? Don't you know who he is?"
Vet swallowed down the last feelings of undeserved guilt looked at Feliciano out of the corner of her eye, never turning her gun away from "Holy Rome". "More importantly, I know what it is! Can't you see this is too convenient? It's the-?!" She dropped her gun and fell to her knees, her throat closing in on itself as if a thousand bullet ants had crawled into her mouth and bitten her trachea to the point of swelling it shut, though not as painful as that scenario probably would have been. Still hurt like heck, though. She clawed at her throat, gasping and coughing desperately to breathe any amount of air she could get.
"Are you alright?" "Holy Rome's" voice asked her. She tried to glare at him, but couldn't meet his face with how hard she was gagging. She could feel someone touching her shoulders, trying to support her from falling flat on her face. The hands (she assumed they were hands) were large, firm, and strong; perhaps too strong under normal circumstances. Ivan.
"Cripes, Vet, what's wrong?" She could hear Brittany ask, getting closer as she seemed to be hurrying towards her.
"We need a medic!" Casey's voice followed.
The Vet could feel just the slightest amount of air enter her lungs. She had to try again. "It's-!" She doubled over despite Ivan's attempted assistance, coughing all the worse. If her face had been red before, it was probably turning purple now. Her ears were ringing. Her tongue felt like it would fall out of her mouth any second. Her vision was darkening. The voices around her started to sound tinny.
"Ar… healing ma… STAT!" someone was shouting. Someone put their hand on her head, and she could feel something trying to pulse into her, fighting a hard fight against whatever was keeping her from breathing. The pulsing feeling seemed to be doing at least a little for her. Her vision and hearing were clearing, and her face was probably changing back to a deep red from its previous shade of death purple.
She could also feel a little more oxygen coming in. "…!...!..." She couldn't force her words out, she just needed to breathe.
"Vet, don't talk," she heard Brittany say near her ear. "Deep breaths now, come on—IVAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Vet managed to raise her head high enough to see Ivan bringing down his pipe on "Holy Rome", only to be stopped by Feliciano. He was holding Ivan's pipe in place with his bare hands, which seemed to surprise the countries as much as anyone else. Ivan was shoved away.
"Ivan." Everyone stepped back a pace. This was probably the most genuinely angry anyone had ever heard or seen Feliciano. His brown eyes were narrowed, almost sparking with rage. His fists were down by his sides and shaking. His breathing was heavy. In a not-funny-at-all manner, steam was coming out of his ears like in a dramady anime episode. "Why are you attacking him? Don't you know who he is? Don't you know who he is to me?" Feliciano blushed ever so faintly at this last question. All the cult members knew why. Some of the countries did, too.
"Because it—"
"HE." Feliciano snapped. "HE is the Holy Roman Empire."
"…Fine. 'He' is not who he says he is. The Vet and I saw him change into this shape."
"Change from what into this shape?" Yao asked.
Ivan opened his mouth to speak, then glanced at The Vet. She was slowly but surely winning the fight within her now, but her breathing was still janky with a few chokes mixed in. "I am having the feeling that if I try to say, I will end up like her." He nodded towards her.
"…Do you know why he 'changed shape'?" Casey asked.
"Because it was listening in on me and The Vet talking…"
"About what?" Kiku prompted.
"I…" Everyone was staring at Ivan now. He glanced again at The Vet, seeming to silently ask her for advice.
"…Trial by fire, Ivan," The Vet managed before coughing again, though less intensely this time.
Ivan took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, turning to meet Feliciano's eyes. "The Vet and I were talking about a phone call I received during the last time loop in the mansion. Matthew, do you remember?"
Matthew furrowed his brow… then blinked in remembrance. "I do remember! In the bathroom in the safehouse, eh?"
"Da."
"It, um… sounded pretty suspicious."
Ivan nodded solemnly. "It sounded that way because it was that way. I was talking with someone who had called me before. I was being offered a deal."
"…What was the deal?" Lovino asked suspiciously.
"I would have the power to rule the world with my sisters; no other countries, no leaders, no opposition, but only if I… created a situation that would end with Feliciano… being killed by the Oni he made a deal with." Everyone gasped in horror. Ivan continued to keep eye contact with Feliciano, but his neutral expression wavered. "I can prove this deal was real. I know whose voice was speaking with me all this time. When you hear its voice, you will know who 'he' is." He pulled out his smartphone again and turned the volume up as high as it could go. He then pressed an icon on the screen and held it out for everyone to hear. The Vet tried to keep her shaky breaths quiet so everyone could hear.
"What took you so long?" Ivan's voice began. "What have you been REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
Everyone jumped and covered their ears at the horribly loud screaming sound. Ivan began to tap the screen in frustration. "Nyet, nyet, nyet!" He hissed. "Ne seychas, glupaya veshch'—" The screen shattered with a small explosion of smoke, forcing Ivan to drop the sparking remains of his phone on the ground. The sound finally stopped. Everyone stared at the phone for a few seconds before slowly returning their gaze to Ivan. "I-it was there!" He cried desperately. "Why would I be telling you this if it weren't the truth?!"
"He has a point, guys," Matthew said slowly. "Why would he make something like this up? It'd only ruin his reputation with us. Besides, I was there when he had the conversation on the phone. I didn't hear the other voice, but it sounded pretty serious on Ivan's part. Also, if he and The Vet were listening to the message before, why would it suddenly break, especially now of all times?"
"Bro, are you… defending him?" Alfred asked in disbelief.
"I-I just want to be logical here—"
Everyone could feel the emotions going higher and higher. If something didn't happen, it would escalate to a full-on war, right there in front of the cult. And the members might have had to pick a side—
"Excuse me," an unusually calm voice said. Everyone stopped and turned to the voice. It was "Holy Rome". "I understand that you are all upset—especially you, Italy—but I don't know what this has to do with me." He gave Feliciano a small smile. "You understand, right, Italy?"
Feliciano blushed a little more as he slowly nodded. "Of course, Holy Rome," he said quietly. "Holy Rome" pressed his hat a little further onto his head. His forehead in particular, Vet realized. If the front of its hat had been pulled any further over its forehead, it would have looked ridiculous. But why its forehead? There was something about its head it wanted to hide, and everyone was too emotional and distracted to notice. Except her, somehow. She tried to think of why. It had done when it first materialized, she recalled. Something about its eyes was off, too. They looked exactly like the real Holy Rome's eyes, but there was an almost mischievous gleam in it, kind of like Mochi America's—
Wait. Was that it…? Despite being a near identical copy of the fallen empire, something about it was distinctly… American. The gleam in its eye, the way it had its legs apart in an almost cocky way… all that was missing was… It clicked. This had to be the answer. Lord, please let it be the answer.
"HAT!" She shouted with as much force as she could. "CHECK UNDER ITS-!" She began to choke again, even worse this time. Since she had been expelling air by shouting, she had even less breath to spare. She couldn't even cough at this point; she simply made dying sounds and jerked weakly every so often. People began shouting again: some in panic, some in anger, some in a mix of the two.
BANG!
Everyone yelped in surprise at the sound of the gun going off. The only reason The Vet didn't was because her lungs could finally inflate properly. She rolled onto her back, gasping in as much air as she could, in case it was taken away from her again. Her eyes were wide open, though she wasn't really looking at anything in particular. Then she heard Feliciano shout. "Artist?! WHY WOULD YOU-?!"
"Look," The Artist said quietly. The Vet managed to turn her head to see her sister's friend holding her assault rifle in one hand and pointing ahead of her with the other. The Vet rolled onto her side to see what everyone was staring at. It was clear as day: a single blond hair curl at the right middle of Holy Rome's—or rather, Mochi America's—hairline.
"Holy Rome…?" Feliciano asked shakily. It sounded as if he were about to cry.
Mochi America didn't respond at first. Then, it breathed a laugh. "I suppose that's what I get for being in one form for so many time loops."
"Then… back then… that was you?"
"Mm. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for you and your meddling cult—"
"DO NOT MAKE A JOKE OUT OF THIS!" Feliciano roared. He yelled a battle cry and ran at the impersonator… without a weapon.
"Feli, NO!" Ludwig shouted. "Not with your fists, you—"
The Vet watched as Feliciano tried to throw a punch. Mochi America caught it, and, as if he was indeed made of some alien plastic, stretched his arm like a danger noodle and lifted Feliciano up by his fist, and then slamming him hard into the ground. Feliciano tried to get up, but was unable to lift himself, holding one side of his lower rib cage with one hand. Mochi America was in front of him in one single step. It lifted one of its knees above his head, and his lower leg morphed into a sharp stake.
In the split second before it dealt what would definitely be a deadly blow, The Vet grabbed her pistol, still somehow right beside her despite her fit, and shot at the impersonator. It was poorly aimed, given that she was lying down and her whole body was shaking with exhaustion, but the bullet did what she needed it to do. Mochi America was caught by surprise as the bullet hit its side, forcing it to stumble away from Feliciano. Ludwig and Lovino quickly and carefully lifted Feliciano to his feet and pulled him to a safer distance.
The impersonator returned its leg to its original shape before setting it back onto the ground slowly. It turned its gaze around the group, settling on The Vet. It shook its head slightly. "You're all so DETERMINED to keep him alive, aren't you? Why? A deal is a deal, you know. He must pay."
"'Is 'deal' was that 'e'd keep goin' through the time loops until either 'e escaped with everyone or 'e got killed. 'E won, there is nothin' for 'im to pay for!" Casey yelled, standing up defiantly.
"Don't be rash, Casey," Brittany said through barely restrained anger towards the creature. "…Oh, what am I saying. Let's kill that wanker." Everyone who could raised their weapons towards it. It positioned itself into a battle stance of its own, and everyone prepared for a long, hard battle.
It seemed it was about to pounce when it paused, tilting one side of its head up, as if listening for something. After a second, it lowered its head, muttering something that, for some reason, Vet thought sounded like "dangit, mom," though it was probably less family friendly than that.
It sighed and straightened again, adjusting its ascot and giving everyone a casual smile. "It seems this score between us will have to wait," it said. "I've been summoned. It seems her project is nearly complete, though a piece is missing. She already has a plan to get what she needs; I just have to initiate it. And thus…" He scanned the crowd, seeming to land on Casey.
Before Brittany could step in front of her, Mochi America jumped into the air and flew at Casey, grabbed her by the collar of her dress and dragged her towards the citadel. Halfway to the closest entrance, he dropped her unceremoniously into the moat. Her cry of surprise was cut short as she disappeared under the black water. Mochi America laughed darkly as he flew through the entrance and was out of sight.
Brittany was the first to shake off her shock. "CASEY!" She yelled, sprinting to the edge of the moat, followed by everyone else. The Artist slung her gun on her back and helped The Vet stand up, pulling her as quickly as Vet could handle to the rest of the group. Brittany was kneeling by the edge of the moat, calling for Casey desperately. "Please, oh please answer me…" she was saying.
Suddenly, Casey popped up to the surface, coughing on whatever was in that murky water. "Brittany?!" She managed after a second.
"Casey!" Brittany cried. "I'm up here! Are you alright?!"
Casey wiped some of the water out of her eyes and looked up the steep wall on Brittany's side of the moat. "I'm fine," she called. "It's just cold and disgusting in here. Lend a 'and?"
Brittany reached into her pocket, but instead of pulling out her book, she drew out a large coil of rope. How did that fit in there? Is what most people probably would have thought had the situation not been extremely high stakes. She unfurled it until the end flopped into the water at the base of the wall, then stood and took hold of her end of the rope, bracing herself. "Swim to the rope and climb up!"
"On it!" Without dipping her head beneath the water, Casey breast-stroked to the rope.
She was maybe a few feet from the rope when Brittany began instructing her again. "Okay, you're strong, so climbing this shouldn't be a problem. Just remember to use both your arms and your legs and-CRIPES-CASEY-THERE'S-SOMETHING-IN-THERE-WITH-YOU!"
"What?!" Casey looked behind her just as she grabbed the end of the rope. Something large and gray was swimming towards her, just under the water, and raising its almost whale shaped head above the surface and slightly opening its mouth, which was presumably full of teeth. "AAAAAAAAH!"
Brittany immediately shoved her end of the rope into nearest person's hands, who happened to be Alfred. "Don't let go," she said, taking two steps back.
"Dude, what are you-?"
"HAAAAAH!" Brittany yelled as she jumped over the edge of the moat.
"WH-?!" Alfred quickly widened his stance to brace himself for the hopeful weight of two girls climbing. He then leaned forward slightly and yelled, "YOU KNOW, FOR A HOITY-TOITY ENGLISH GIRL, YOU'RE PRETTY FREAKING STUPID!"
"HYAH!" Brittany landed feet first on top of the monster's head, slamming the heels of her boots right in the middle of its skull. It roared and swam away a bit, making Brittany topple backwards on top of Casey.
They came to the surface almost as soon as they went under. Casey grabbed the rope with one hand and wrapped the other arm around Brittany's waist. "PULL UP!" She yelled. Alfred quickly began to hoist the two of them up, soon joined by other countries and cult members. They were back up on solid ground in a matter of a minute or two. Vet was close enough to peek over the edge. The monster was facing where the girls had just been, emitting a low growling sound before sinking beneath the surface and out of sight.
Brittany groaned and pushed herself up. "Ugh, that was far too disgusting. What the bloody heck is that water? Can it even be called water?" She flicked a hand and two a handkerchief appeared in her and Casey's hands. Brittany wiped her face clean, Casey silently doing the same. "So, are you alrigh-ghk!"
Casey had turned towards her and grabbed Brittany by the collar of her jacket, yanking her to her feet so they were both standing. "ARE YOU OUT A YOUR FLIPPIN' MIND?!" Casey yelled in her face.
"W-what?!"
"YOU COULDA GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED, YOU IDJIT!"
"YOU COULD HAVE, TOO! WHAT, DID YOU EXPECT ME TO LEAVE YOU RIGHT THERE?!"
"A COURSE NOT, BUT I EXPECTED SOMETHIN' SMARTER FROM YA!"
"LIKE WHAT, PRAY TELL?!"
"I DUNNO, SOMETHIN'! DO YA 'AVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID THAT WAS?!"
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S 'STUPID'? SOME BLOODY CREEP DROPPING YOU IN A MONSTER FILLED 'MOAT' JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT!
"I AGREE, THAT'S BLOODY STUPID!"
"YEAH!"
"YEAH!"
"Oh. Mon. DIEU!" Someone yelled.
Brittany and Casey turned to the source, Alexandre. "WHAT?!" They yelled.
To most people's surprise, he began to speak in English with an extremely heavy French accent: "Vould you two juste smooche al-raid-y? Zhe aud-ee-aunce iz dy-eeng for zome romantique ac-tshion!"
"SHUT UP!" Brittany yelled. "Don't tell me when to kiss my girlfriend!"
"…We're girlfriends?" Casey asked quietly.
"UM." Brittany seemed to realize that Casey had her hands on Brittany's shirt collar and she was holding Casey's shoulders and the two were standing very close to each other and Brittany was suddenly very interested in looking at anything that wasn't Casey. "Well-I-mean-um-I-mean-uh-if-you-want-I-mean—"
Casey moved her hands from Brittany's shoulders to the sides of Brittany's face. Brittany froze. "Follow my lead," she said, her face almost as red as Brittany's.
"…Okay," Brittany squeaked.
Casey moved slowly, closing her eyes and bringing their faces together. She paused with an inch between their noses, as if to allow Brittany to make the actual move. Sensing Casey's intent, Brittany fluttered her eyes closed and tilted her head to the side slightly, wrapping her arms slowly around Casey to cup the back of her head. She pressed her lips to Casey's.
As soon as they connected, everyone exploded. People were whooping and cheering, fist-bumping and high-fiving each other. Alexandre gave an exaggerated bow. The others who didn't do any of these things simply applauded excitedly, The Vet included. She could stand and breathe just fine now, but she figured it was probably better not to strain herself too much. She turned and saw the countries clapping as well, the less romantically inclined clapping politely and the rest clapping with much more excitement.
Casey and Brittany were still kissing, only parting ever so slightly for a breath before going back in. Brittany was running her hand through Casey's spiky black hair while Casey was stroking Brittany's cheek with her thumb.
"Okay, bellas," Feliciano finally laughed as everyone calmed down. "I think that's enou-MMPH?!" Everyone jumped and turned to Feliciano, Brittany and Casey parting and doing the same.
Feliciano was restrained by his arms and mouth, held by… who was that? The Vet, at least, couldn't tell who was holding him. They seemed to be a literal shadow, with defined, glowing eye shapes with no identifiable color. Ludwig and Lovino, who had been right next to Feliciano, tried to grab the shadow that had him, but the shadow swung one of their legs around in a circle, knocking them back. Lovino nearly fell into the moat, but was grabbed by some nearby cult members and pulled to safety.
Feliciano kicked at the shadow with his free legs, but they moved the arm around his waist to a spot on his ribs, making him gasp and stop struggling for a bit. The shadow turned their blank gaze directly to Brittany and Casey. "Carina," they said in an extremely distorted voice. "Ciao, idioti." There was a blinding light, and the two of them were gone.
…
Brittany slowly parted from Casey, one hand on her forehead and a look of horror on her face. "Brittany…?" Casey asked cautiously.
Brittany was stepping backwards slowly, not looking at anything. "I.. i-it's not your fault, Casey, it… I…"
"Brittany, listen to me, okay?" Casey held Brittany's free hand with both of hers. "Do not blame yourself, alright? This is not our fault. This is not your fault."
"Oui," someone said. The two turned to see Alexandre, looking horribly ashamed. "C'est de ma faute. Peut-être que si je ne vous disais pas d'embrasser…"
"Alexandre, if you're tryn' to say it's your fault, it's not—"
"Maybe if I didn't shoot the gun and tried to find another way…" The Vet said quietly.
"Vet—"
"Maybe if I had played the message in front of everyone…" Ivan said.
"Maybe if I'd shot it in the head…" The Artist wondered darkly.
"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Ludwig yelled, forcing the whole group to go silent. "Look…" he took a deep breath. "This is… not anyone's fault. We were all distracted, and even if we weren't, something would have happened to make this a reality anyway. Remember what that thing said? It was told to 'initiate something, to get what 'she' needed. That means whoever 'she' is, needed Feli—Feliciano," he caught himself as Lovino shot him a look, "for some sort of 'project', ja?"
"Didn't that lady from the ball of magic say she was working on a project?" The Artist piped up. "Something to do with The Author…"
"Richtig. Und if I had to make a guess…" Ludwig pointed at the Citadel. "What we need is in there. So Brittany, pull yourself together. Casey, stay strong. Vet, thank you for trying to tell us what was going on, even if it was killing you. Alexandre, thank you for… that… kissing thing. Artist, don't shoot anyone in the head unless we know for a fact it's a monster. Ivan…" He paused here. Ivan didn't meet his eyes. "Thank you for… trying to tell the truth. Once we're all safe, we'll talk about it in further detail."
Ivan looked stunned. "Spasibo..." he said quietly.
Ludwig nodded, then pointed to the nearest entrance. "There will likely be many monsters and dangers. I would suggest resting, but time is not on our side. Arthur and the other magic users: can you form a bridge to the entrance?"
"Absolutely." Arthur nodded. A large group of magic using members nodded as well. "To form an object without a magic circle or pre-made spell, you need to form a model of what you want in your mind," Arthur explained quickly. "The larger the object, the greater the power needed. Having more people perform the same spell has pros and cons. Pros: it can take less time and less power if done in sync. Cons: if the object model isn't nearly identical between each person, it won't work; or if it does, it'll be a grand mess. You lot already know this; I'm just explaining it for everyone else. Now, here's what we're going to make: a simple brown platform, as wide as the entrance and just longer than the distance between here and there to make sure it doesn't fall into the moat while we're on it. There are no markings; it's a plain board the same color as standard brown cardboard, but much stronger. Let's make it… .3048 meters thick. Er, one foot for you Americans. That should make it strong enough to hold us all as we cross at once. Is the image clear in your mind?" The group spoken to looked at each other, then nodded. "Good." Arthur raised his right hand in the direction of the entrance. "Now hold out your dominant hand—if you're ambidextrous, use both—and focus on the image in your mind. Don't get distracted, even if it sounds like a bomb exploding. Starting now…"
The group did as they were told, most closing their eyes in the process. The air quickly began to thrum with energy, growing more and more intense. For some reason, the sounds of placing a wooden block in Minecraft sounded through the air, in rapid succession, as the pieces of the board platform popped into place. The air stopped thrumming.
The board was a bit patchy in color and a little uneven, probably because not a lot of people knew what exactly .3048 meters looked like in real life. "It's perfect," Arthur said. "We'll make real warlocks out of you yet. Brittany, can you lead the charge now?"
Everyone turned to Brittany. The look of utter panic and despair was gone, and her stance was wide and sure. She raised her and Casey's clasped hands. "We'll be leading the charge," She said. A quick round of cheers before everyone drew their respective weapons. "You know the line, Casey?" She asked as she let go of Casey and drew her katana.
Casey pulled her machine gun off her back and cocked it. "I've only heard ya recite in the mirror ten times, love."
"Ha bloody ha. On three?"
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three." They said together before lifting their weapons and shouting: "For the Earth, and Italia Veneziano! CHARGE!"
Hoo boy. Hoooooo boy. This might be one of the longest chapters I've ever written, though I won't know until I post it, I guess. How about those feelings? I can't hold all of these feelings; can you hold all of these feelings? Because I can't hold all of these feelings. Ahem, anyway.
The big plot point of the game revealed in this chapter: in the last part of the game, Feliciano gets injured and doesn't wake up. In his head, he wakes up in a field of flowers with his first kiss partner, The Holy Roman Empire, who died several centuries earlier. Holy Rome leads Feliciano into a mansion that looks just like the one he really entered, but something is different. Since we never get to see how that turns out, I imagine that in this story, Feliciano woke up as soon as the cult began attacking the mansion, jerking him away from whatever Holy Rome was planning. And it turns out… Holy Rome was an illusion created by 'her' to presumably get him killed. Mochi America, as we've been calling it, is a shapeshifting Oni that can speak English pretty well, as well as do great voice impersonations. Remember the three VFD's of disguise: Veiled Facial Disguises: changing the facial expression and ticks, hats optional. Various Finery Disguises: changing clothes, fairly simple. And Voice Fakery Disguises: changing some aspect of your speech, usually your voice pitch, sometimes an accent. Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about. Boy that book series is a ride.
Poor Brittany and Casey, getting their first kiss used as part of a manipulation on the enemy's part. Still, it was a pretty good kiss, if I may toot my own horn a bit. I had my sister read over that scene since she knows more about relationships than I do, and she said it was good and believable. If I could have a more detailed description of what that scene made you feel, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Next time: The Big One. The thing I've been preparing for literally years. My first step in the direction of what kind of novels I want to write in the future. It might actually end up taking me more than a day to do; I want it to be perfect for you.
Anyway, what did you think? Leave a review, tell me, and I'll see you as soon as I can! Until then!
