They had to say humans could be quite amazing sometimes. Crazy might be a condition for them to study everything they didn't comprehend and evolve with their findings.
Countries were supposed to be mysterious, ancient and lost legends, but here they were, facing clones of themselves, reading theories about them that weren't that far fetched.
"That Bertelloni fellow might have unraveled some questions we can't even answer 'Tonio…" whispered France.
"Si...that's pretty impressive. But I'm more concerned about all these experiments and clones they are making of us and that dies degenerating… There's something unsettling about it."
"Maybe the records we've listened to are Travasco's. To think he has been working on it for more than decades..Bloody hell, this is serious.."
"...There was a Number 04 and a Number 07...We were supposed to have a brother…no, so many brothers…." trembled 'I', looking at the list of all experiments of project DOPPLEGANGER with eyes wide open.
"I suppose Kästner is your father?" asked Spain, and the brunette nodded, before putting his hand near his heart, biting his lip to conjure the headache that was at bay, starting to pound in his head and heart like a hammer.
He was so close to the truth and at the same time he wished he could still ignore it.
"I want to find Father! Where is Daddy…Do you think he left?" whined 'P' soliciting his brother's attention.
Suddenly, a loud metallic noise made all of them jump up to the ceiling and greet their teeth. They all turned their heads in the same direction, where was standing the tall giant nation after he had opened the door by his means.
"If you're all finished babbling, there's this room to explore, da?" growled Russia with emphasis. He didn't like being ignored, and made it clear for the others by throwing daggers with his eyes and cracking his knuckles around his metal pipe.
Hurriedly, the older nations reached the door in question with sweat dropping.
However, they noticed once they approached that this room had something different.
"You see? It's cold there. It might be a cold storage room. I don't have to tell you what can be found in there…" added Russia with a savage smile. He didn't waste much time and opened it wide, litting up the light.
It wasn't a meat storage room as per say, but sample storage at first glance.
However, if most of the samples were little size tubes for cells or embryos, they found rectangular mild doors and they guessed easily what it could contain seeing the dimensions.
Of course, the 5 year-old had to ask what it was.
"It's a freezer...for bodies I assume." revealed France as the boy was giving insistent looks.
"Let's see what is inside, da?"
"Wait Russia.." England tried to interject, but the tall grayish-blond man had already the handle of one of the doors and pulled, revealing a pale green filled tube.
Inside the tube was indeed a body, naked one of a really young child, around 2 years old, floating inside some green liquid that might have been serum. His semi-dark brown hair was starting to form soft curls. He looked asleep, if not for the stained trace of blood at the level of his chest.
Spain paled when he approached, and put himself in front of the glass to be sure he wasn't having a nightmare.
"..I think...he looks like me…" he gulped, before his eyes went to the collar the child was wearing. S-TXY95DPL001 was written on it in perfectly visible black printed letters, with a barcode on the side.
"Spain's clone...it was the number 1 clone to live. The one we saw on the videos..they have preserved him." whispered England. It was something else to see the clone in real, floating in his tube. Maybe the tube he had been living all his life in.
"I find this of really, really bad taste. To think they would keep him like that just to preserve our cells or for whatever rubbish reason." spatted an outraged France. "Reminds me of these baby's in formol at Dupuytren's museum...At least it wasn't baby's that had lived…"
Russia pushed back the tube inside, and took another handle.
"Do you really want to go through all these tubes Russia? I think we got the idea."
But Russia didn't listen. In fact, he seemed to be searching for something when he opened the next tube, almost concerned, which wasn't like him.
The second tube was empty, only filled with the same pale green liquid, which gave Spain a sudden idea.
"Wait, don't close it Russia! Isn't that serum? There's a good amount of it! Maybe we can take it from one. Let's open it!" propose Spain, hoping it would lighten the mood and make him forget it was there to potentially put the body of one of the two remaining clones.
"Why not, let's try!"
It took them a few minutes to figure out how to open it, but when they did, they were met with a strong pickle-like odor that made them change their mind.
"And I guess it's mixed with formol. It's logic for conserving bodies actually…But it's better not to use it for you.." informed France while smiling awkwardly at 'I' whose hope had been crushed all over again.
Russia didn't stop there and went to a third one and this time, he froze, his mouth opening slowly and words stuck inside his throat.
This one had another body, a taller one wearing white clothes stained in blood, the one of a young teenager, eyes closed with bruises all over his body and a massive stain at the place of his abdomen.
'I' and 'P' gapped at the sight and Italy's clone immediately ran to the tube, making his way past Spain and England in frantics movements before putting his hand on the cold glass.
"It's 'R'! It's... 'R'..."
He was met with silence, along with an unsettling and gruesome view of the corpse of his former friend which made him regret approaching as it was sickening.
He retreated and almost puked against the opposite wall, burying his face inside his hands and breathing heavily. France restrained 'P' and hid his eyes before he could go watch the morbid spectacle from too close.
Russia on the contrary intensely looked at the body with a mixture of feelings he couldn't quite describe, between disgust, sorrow and anger. He had found what he was searching for and there it was, his clone, a child version of himself, sacrificed to some scientist scheme the boy probably never quite comprehended himself. They had used his cells to create him and were stocking this part of him like another of their sample, if not garbage. Disposable material. He didn't even meet the experiment but it still wounded him somehow.
"..I've found it…'R'...I've found the conduit you've told me….I did it…I'm sorry, it was supposed to be yours…" cried 'I' behind him, trying to wipe his tears out as they were flowing.
Not standing it anymore and seeing as Russia was staring with a really scary expression on his face, Spain put his hand on the handle and gently pushed it back to its place, making Number 02 disappear from all sight.
"Ok...let's not pursue this." stated warily the british nation, as he tried convincing Russia to move and not start causing havoc in here.
"If 'R' is here…'C' is here too! I wanna see him!" yelled 'P' with stubborness, struggling against Francis' grip.
"It's...not a good idea 'P'. It's only their bodies here, it's not a view for children."
"But I wanna bury him! I wanna bury him so he can go to the better place, like with Doggy! You said he needed to be in the ground for that! Please please! I don't want 'C' to stay here! Let him outside with us!" begged the albinos with teary eyes that almost broke France's heart.
The blond nation sat before the boy and gently spoke to him.
"We will, I promise you. But we need to regroup with everyone and make sure to find any information about the bad guys right? We need to find a good place for him before..disturbing him, don't you think? Let him..sleep for a bit here. Nothing will happen to him in the meantime."
Somehow, he convinced the kid, and they all decided they wanted to leave this place asap.
" 'I', come on lad, don't stay there!" called England seeing the clone was lagging behind.
"...Yes...sorry sir, I'm coming…" the boy answered while waking up.
When the nations and his brother weren't looking, he wiped out the blood coming from his nose, and rubbed his temples.
The hammer was still battling in his head mercilessly since they had entered the room.
And it wouldn't stop anytime soon.
xxxxxxx
There was another door at the far left of the room, and that one was already opened wide.
But group 1 didn't get the chance to explore it right away as they heard noises and voices coming from the corridor.
"Shh! Someone's here!" warned Spain, a finger on his mouse directed to the children.
The others were taking position, guns grabbed and hiding behind the shelves.
Russia decided to advance a little to the door and get to have a sight of the corridor.
He was in the mood to hit something, but the older nations saw him sigh and put down his pipe.
"Russia, what..?"
"It's okay comrade, though I'm a little deceived it isn't an enemy..." the slave grunted, as the steps became louder, until a young blond man with glasses shot his head toward the door, pointing his gun in the air before him.
"Hey you! FBI! You're under arrest...Oh, it's just you guys!"
America smiled, putting down his gun as Germany, China, Japan, the Italy's and Canada met up with them.
"Bloody Hell Alfred, you almost made me have a heart attack!"
"How loud do you think you are? If I were your enemies, I would know for sure you are coming. Not very wise, comrade…"
"Don't start being mean Ivan, it's not like we can hide a group of seven people...At least they would be scared of us aru."
"But why are you here? Shouldn't have all of us met at the meeting point?" asked France while lifting an eyebrow.
"Well Papa...you were taking really long and we thought you might be into trouble." answered softly Canada, relieved they have found his dads safe and sound.
"So, what is this place? Have you found something interesting?" asked Germany, his sharp eyes going around the room and its archives.
They all exchanged briefly about what they had found (America giving back his helicopter to 'P' whose mood lightened subsequently when he took the toy in his arms), putting pieces together.
For the rest of course, they would need more time to debrief, but it still was incredible.
"..Damn, this floor was the best floor! I knew it!" whined aloud America, scratching his head in deception.
"To be fair, I'm not sure I would want to see dead body's floating in formol…" whispered Japan, thinking otherwise.
"This floor is huge, and it seems more ancient than the others, seeing as there's less doors working with electric devices. I think the facility was built little by little as the project expanded. Travasco might have the biggest part of his team working here." commented Canada on his side.
"Who?"
"I'm Canad...no, I was talking about Travasco Kumabagu, the scientist behind this, not me."
"It's a shame there's no much serum left...at least we still have found some Aru." said China half-defeated, showing to everyone the small tubes and a syringe they had collected from the 4th floor.
"It's better than nothing thanks..." replied half-heartedly 'I', trying to hide his growing sentiment of hopelessness.
" Guys! There's another blood trail right there..."
Romano pointed to the door left unexplored , and using their flashlights, they indeed noticed the trail blood was...much more apparent here.
"France, you were next to it the whole time, how did you fail to see this?" blurted England at his frenemy, annoyed.
"Huff! Should I remind you it is dark here even with lights? Besides, I didn't leave too far from your side because you were calling to watch the videos!" defended France, huffing.
"Ve...Do you need glasses Big brother?"
"Okay guys! Let's go there! I'm sure the final boss Travasco bastard is inside!"
America threw himself to the opened door, and everyone had no choice but to follow him in what looked like another corridor.
They were walking on the blood, which was partially dry.
Germany could say it had been less than a day, but more than 6 hours in his estimation.
It's approximately at this moment the emergency generator died, leaving the countries and the children in darkness all dependants of their flashlights, which wasn't really reassuring.
"Oh bugger...It had to be now of all time…" muttered an annoyed England.
"...At least If we can't see much, our enemies can't either..let's stay concentrated." said Japan, trying to be optimistic for once.
"There's at least 2 different footsteps Aru…" noticed China, seeing the details of the shoes on the trails while lighting the floor.
"And there's bullet holes on the wall Ve…" added Italy, shivering at the idea of a battle awaiting in the darkest part of the facility. He was very much regretting being here at the moment.
At the end of the corridor, another door was half-opened, blood on the side, and everyone stopped talking and moving.
Slowly, America progressed toward it, and took a look inside. The room's lights weren't on of course but he spotted a lit flashlight on the floor of the room, enough for him to distinguish some important details. Details explaining no noise was heard from the other side.
"Hey...I think we're too late for the final boss after all.."
The others didn't understand what he meant right away, but he casually entered the room and they followed.
The room looked like another staff room, much smaller and half emptied from a longer time than the others according to the cloud of dust each of their steps was forming. Probably an abandoned one when they changed the disposition of rooms, one could guess. There couldn't have been too many people in here.
There still remained a big Velleda board on the side behind a small lectern, facing rows of chairs.
For the chairs, some of the few ones still here had been pushed on the side, and just near the entrance against the left wall was leaning the body of a small, old wrinkly man with disheveled gray/white hair and a mustache. Blood had flowed beneath him from one bullet he had received in the chest. If one was looking closely, they would see the gun he had dropped when finding death.
"Men, I present to you Professor Travasco! A shame to find him dead though, I really wanted to talk to the man."
"Pssst, look. There's another body right here and I guess it's the one who killed him."
Flashlight all went near the lectern. Facing the direction Travasco was, the body was leaning against the wood and had dropped his weapon as well.
He was also wearing a blouse and they could see he had been hit by several more bullets : one on the shoulder, one on the right flank and the final blow on the abdomen as well.
The man was much younger that his opponent, and had characteristic spiked brown hair the children of the group immediately recognized.
"Father!" screamed 'I' and 'P' in unison, before the two ran toward him, the smaller dropping away his toy on the floor to empty his hands. The taller experiment shook the man's shoulders trying to wake him up.
"Father! Father! Do you hear me?"
But he wasn't of course, remaining limp and listless, his eyes semi-opened. His glasses slipped from his face at the movement given to his soulless body. 'I' shook him until he didn't have the strength to. He then stopped, face down, tears falling on the floor, and his head nuzzling against the chest of the man who had created him.
"Father...why did you do this...I don't understand...I've never understood you...it's like we've never really known you..." he panted, struggling with emotions he thought he couldn't feel anymore toward the man after this.
"Big brother...did he degenerate too? Vati went like a vegetable too?" asked a frantic 'P', as he put his hand to the man's face and sensed the coldness of his skin.
The nations breathed heavily, not knowing what to do anymore. Italy was praying on the side for the deceased they have met all the way around.
But they didn't approach too close, letting the boys mourn over their deceased father, while trying to understand what had happened.
" The blood in the archive room...have to be their father's, 'cause I don't see Travasco walking the corridor with a bullet in the chest like that…"
"You think Travasco wounded him and chased after him? But why?"
"Didn't we stated he had betrayed him, let the experiments escape AND killed employees to do so...that's a good reason to be mad and want to end the man's life."
They whispered to themselves when the crying noises became heavy coughs.
China and Germany were the first to rush to the boys and saw 'I' pulling a hand onto his chest,coughing blood.
"Big brother 'I'! Not you! Not you!" panicked 'P' as he hugged his brother in an attempt to stop the attack his brother was having.
'I' gulped, trying to contain the cough, then wiped the blood out of his mouth, looking limp and tired. Tired from his condition, but also mentally exhausted. However, something in his eyes told that despite this, he had been thinking and now, had reached a conclusion.
With a frightening calm, he sat down next to Dr Kästner's body, and took his brother in his arms gently, caressing his white short hair.
" 'P'...I'm sorry, I can't do it after all...Seeing 'R'...and Father dead, it's just too much for me..."
Tears of salt water mixed with blood flowed on his cheeks as he was talking.
"But we are almost there Big brother! Why do you give up! I don't want to be alone..…" cried out 'P', feeling angry and powerless at the situation which was getting out of hands. They had made it all this way and he had thought things were getting better, so what could he think of his brother saying such things so seriously! He couldn't process it, he didn't want to. However, he had to listen.
" I've been really really happy to have you near me this...whole time...cough...brother...I love you very very much, I..I couldn't have done all this if it's not for you...I really wished we could be together out of this…" stammered 'I' before turning toward the personifications, searching his words in his bloodied but dry throat.
"I want to thank you...I got to see the outside and a lot of things... I got to show it to 'P' and you took care of us...thanks you."
America tried to interject, not liking the way it was going.
"Wait buddy! Your brother's right, don't give up! We still have some tubes of serum! We could try it! "
"That's right! Just wait a minute I will put them in the syringe! " shouted China while opening the tubes and preparing the injection.
'I' sniffed, touched to see their effort to save him, but he couldn't help rejecting it.
" I'm...I'm sorry, you've been doing all this for me but ….'C'...he was having multiple injections per day and it..didn't help in the end... And even if we have this one...cough..It will just get worse over time...and it will just hurt..I don't want it to hurt…Please...cough cough..." the boy pleaded, torned apart by his will of life and the desperate situation he was in.
From this, they all knew in the back of their mind it was too late, and it wasn't only because of the ridiculous amount of serum they had gathered so far but because 'I' seemed to have abandoned the fight. This didn't help them to feel less emotional about it, and even Canada could be seen wiping a few tears from the corner of his eyes.
Germany tried to stay as stiff as possible, but it was hitting to close from home for him to succeed. This time, Italy grabbed his hand in support, grimacing at the scene with sorrow, pleading internally China to go faster.
'I's body was giving up more and more, bruises forming like previously from all spots, a bloodstain socking his clothes once again, feeling warm against 'P's skin.
He grimaced at the pain and panted, just enough time to let him go over with what he wanted to say.
"'P', brother…cough.. I know...I'm mean to you for doing this..….but I want you to go with them. Live for me... in the outside...And misters...please take care of him...he has nowhere to go…"
His eyes closed but he was using his last strength to hug his brother tightly in a protective loving way, even when he started to talk incoherently in a mix of italian and english, his brain suffering from lack of oxygen and degeneration.
"...Fratello..I will go with..….Father… where is...Father?... Where…I have to go...I want to sleep Father...can you...Read me... the book..for... for tonight.…just once…."
At this point, Germany, Italy and China who were the nearest grabbed gently the boy and separated the two kids, only letting 'P' grab his brother's hand.
They rested him on the back, putting him in a secure position just in case and Italy began singing a lullaby again, the same he had sang that other night to ease the boy, caressing his hair, his lips trembling as the melodious voice was coming out.
It was the only thing he could do to alleviate the pain, even for a little.
China finally performed the injection of about 20ml of serum and there was still one hope the attack stopped on its own and the kid recovered.
But it didn't happen.
In a last gasp of air and cough, 'I' stopped moving, breath becoming shorter and shorter until there was none.
China checked on his pulse from his carotid and closed his eyes before announcing.
"It's over, the kid is gone Aru…"
The most religious nations prayed for him, the others just stayed silent, paying a minute for respect.
Italy was feeling like he had lost a son and lost composure, crying. He had gotten so attached to his clone for the past few days, he couldn't believe he was dead, so suddenly like this. Romano wasn't in a good shape either, and he leaned against Spain in a silent ask of comfort, which the taller nation granted to him, hugging his side with impenetrable emotions.
Germany turned around to see France crouch to 'P' and tell him that they would take good care of him and that he wouldn't have to worry.
The albinos had stopped crying, his eyes much more red than usual with closed expression. He was caressing his brother's hand absentmindedly and the german could hear him sniff at a steady rate and asking 'I' to wake up.
While America was gently taking 'I' on his two arms and Russia doing the same with Father, Germany faced the small tiny experiment, crouching as well, his blue eyes trying to catch the averting red ones.
It was going to be five times worse than when he had tried to talk about Doggy, but he felt he had to do this, for the kid's sake.
" 'P'. All my condolences for your brother...and your father… You know we nations, we've seen a lot of us...or humans die, sometimes closed friends….but, it doesn't mean it isn't painful for us even for now. I told you how I had lost my brother too so I can understand that you're lost right now, how it feels like your world is.. crumbling and there's no sense to it anymore, but I want you to know, I..I'm here for you. We all are. You don't have to hide how much you're pained from us, we will help you go through this! You are not alone and...I wanted to ask..if I may…"
The nation then waited for his words to reach him.
The kid had made all these efforts to keep these unbearable emotions at bay, blocking them in a preservative instinct, but the shaky walls in his mind were already starting to crumble at the adult words. The tiny pale boy was shivering and wincing, his look finally rising to meet Germany's eyes.
When he got all his attention, Germany took a deep breath and asked his important question.
"'P'. I've decided to adopt you. I will take care of you as much as my brother took care of me...And as much as your brother did to you. Do you want to...become my brother? Well I know uh...it may be sounding improper in the circonstances but…"
But 'P' launched himself around his neck, nuzzling his head on his shoulder and started to cry loudly before he could continue his sentence.
Not knowing if he had said something wrong, Germany worriedly looked at France searching for answers about the matter, paralyzed, until he felt the boy's head nod against his shoulder.
"..You...does that mean you're...accepting…"
The boy was still crying, but the blond man could hear a little muffled " ..yes..", which somehow made him extremely happy and sad at the same time. The oddest of feeling he had felt for a while.
He grabbed the 5 year-old on his lap with care, patting his back and signaling to the others they could proceed, back to the exit.
They had seen a lot, and they all needed to rest for now.
Before leaving, Japan grabbed and carried the unmanned helicopter from the dirty floor, not knowing if 'P' would even want it back after this. But he carried it anyway for the kid not to lose everything that day.
xxxxxx
'I's and Father's bodies weren't taken back to the bungalow right away, because there was a risk they would rot too fast before being repatriated. They couldn't just bury them in the middle of nowhere like for Doggy so they put them in the cold room, that would still work a few days before it warmed up. They dived 'I' inside one of the 'caskets' tubes, even if they felt repulsion doing so. They had no other choice though, if they wanted the boy to remain as long as possible.
When laying Father's body on the floor before covering him with whatever tissu they had found, England and Japan discovered a USB key hidden in an internal pocket of his gown, and took it for them to see later.
Afterward, they all went outside, leaving the abandoned place and returned to the bungalow.
Quickly, America called with his talkie walkie his government and explained the conclusion of his investigation, then asked for reinforcement to clean up the place and collect everything. He didn't talk about details, definitively not about 'P's rescue, as humans even his own people couldn't be trusted about the matter.
It would need years for the kid to recover (if he ever recovered) and the worst he could do was to put him into a whole process of never ending tests and interrogations like the hell he had been saved from.
Too soon, the nations had felt their vacation come to an end, not as refreshing as they had believed it would be. Quite exhausting in reality.
But life was going on and they had learnt a lot about themselves. Moreover, they had saved one of them, and that was all that was on their mind when they parted to go home.
xxxxxxx
Few days later, a whole team was sent by America's government to the place and they did their investigation of the incident, collecting every element that had been abandoned, then chasing after the responsibles, starting to arrest people on the illegal searches.
They never found Nina Arkonlavesc, who used her relationships to make herself disappear, along with all the parts of the project her men had saved from the facility. Fortunately for her, as she was accused of treason for making military's research (and weapons) on US's soil and could easily be put in jail for her remaining life.
Pr Eiling didn't got this chance and was sent to prison a few years while losing his PhD for breaking the Hippocrate's serment, while Pr Bertelloni, who wasn't directly involved with the clone experiments and was a precious practitioner in his country, only received a penalty and got away with it. He still was monitored, because of his knowledge of countries.
The few animals still alive had been taken care of and samples of serums levied for testing and production, as they were instructed by America to do, fearing 'P's health would require serum in the future.
The mysterious door of the 4th floor had also been explored and it revealed to be leading to a 5th floor, which was literally a bunker. It was really old, and they wondered if it wasn't there before even the laboratory and the cottage were constructed. There were supplies as any bunker would have : lyophilised food able to last for decades in case of nuclear attempt and from the hint they had collected, they concluded it had been there in prevision of Cold War consequences of exchanges of nukes...Paranoïd people when they're serious at it!
The report was classified, all people involved knowing the existence of the personification were silenced or bought over, everything out of public awareness.
The cottage was closed and the association about Nature protection of the White mountains forest was dismantled, leading to manifestation from people who knew nothing about what was behind the facade. Eventually, time operated and everyone forgot about them, a new association of Nature protectors taking over the place, this one without hidden motives.
That is how Travasco's 'Project DOPPLEGANGER' had come to an end, after decades of dedication.
Author's note :
And here it is, the final part. There's only left special notes I will post right away, and the Epilogue.
Thanks for the responces again, it means a lot to me!I didn't respond individually yet (I can't do so with guest), but I might do so once the whole parts are posted and put a general message at the whole end, about how the theories I made about Hetalia came here for example, about the science behind it. You can ask me question if you have too!
