~•~•~Chapter 2~•~•~
(Romano's P.O.V.)
When I awoke, I found myself cradled in Veneziano's arms. He was asleep, with his head resting on the wall behind us. I tried to recall what had happened last night. Flashes of blood and screaming and weapons raced through my mind, and I clenched my jaw. I couldn't show any weaknesses.
"Fratello, you're awake..." Veneziano spoke softly, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
I nodded, feeling scabs crack painfully in doing so. "Has he come back yet...?"
Veneziano frowned, avoiding eye contact. "No."
I bowed my head, understanding his actions. If it was him that had been tortured, I would have been enraged too... Though to a more drastic extent...
Turning my head so that I could see him fully, I realized that he still wore his shackles. I tried to sit up, attempting to ignore the pain coursing through my back, but it was too much, and I fell back into my brother's lap once again.
"What is it?" Veneziano asked.
"You're still chained to the wall, Veneziano. Let me try to get those shackles off... I'm free after all." I succeeded in getting to a sitting position this time, and worked on trying to crawl over to the wall. I reached for the base of the chains, where they connected to the damp stone wall.
"Be careful fratello, you have some serious injuries."
I stopped dead in my tracks. Veneziano was worried? He never... Since when did the carefree Feliciano Vargas worry about anything? I stifled a mirthless chuckle, and began working on pulling the chains from the wall. The task took my mind off of our current situation, and I was glad for the release. I tried as hard as possible, and Veneziano even helped by pulling at the same time, but no amount of pressure would cause the rings to do anything other than make a nasty metallic noise when they scraped together.
"I'm alright Romano, just worry about yourself. First we should dress your injuries." He struggled to take his blue military jacket off, and ended up tearing off the sleeves to get it free of the shackles. He took the sleeveless jacket and threw it to me, while tearing up his sleeves further, into strips.
"Come here and I'll tie these around your arms, Roma." Veneziano said, not looking up from ripping his jacket.
He wrapped the blue makeshift bandages around the worst of the cuts littering my arms, making sure that they weren't too tight.
"You don't need to do this Veneziano." I muttered, attempting to keep at least a shred of my dignity intact.
"Be quiet fratello. Of course I need to help you."
I was taken aback by my brother's harsh tone. He was never this serious. It was rare that you could even have a normal conversation with him, never mind the fact that he had just scolded me...
Veneziano pointed to what was left of his jacket. "Tear a big strip out of that, and I'll tie it around your back."
I picked up the ruined uniform, and started to rip a long, wide strip out of it. Handing it to my younger brother, I wondered out loud, "How long have you been doing things like this?"
He stayed focused on his work, still not making eye contact. "I had to do things like this when me and Germany fought in world war two together. I kept getting shot at, so I learned really quickly not to rely on having bandages all the time."
A loud bang made both of us jump. Veneziano quickened his pace, his fingers fumbling with the ends of the 'bandage' as he finished tying it around my shoulder blades.
"Put your shirt on Romano, quickly, and we can't let him know that the torture affected you so much..." Veneziano whispered hurriedly, throwing the scraps of unused fabric into the corner.
I tried to ignore the fact that I was being bossed around by my younger brother, and gingerly put on my black tee shirt and jacket, careful not to jostle the strips of fabric too much.
Veneziano's face twisted into an expression of rage as he waited for the door to open. It worried me to see my naïve little brother so worked up over this.
"Don't do anything stupid." I warned him, punching him weakly in the arm.
He nodded, not taking his eyes off the solid iron door.
It swung inwards, letting in a steady stream of light, silhouetting someone much smaller than Russia. The person closed the door behind him, then knelt down and set a dish on the floor in front of us.
Veneziano visibly brightened, his mouth agape at the prospect of food.
The man spoke, sounding rightly terrified. "I hope he hasn't done anything too terrible to you two... I'm very sorry about all this... I'm working on something to try and break you out, but I have no clue how long all of this will take. Please, stay strong, and I'll try to sneak extra food down whenever I can."
"Ve~! Thank you so much!" Veneziano smiled widely, surprising me with his drastic mood swing.
"Why are you here?" I asked, a little bit intrigued at who this person was.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, and spoke quietly, "I'm being forced to stay with Russia too, but he has to let me have the freedom of most parts of the house. I-I used to..." He faltered, clutching the hem of his shirt tightly. "He used to torture me as well... But... He got bored of me." The man lifted the back of his shirt to display a large scar running horizontally across his back. Though it was not just a simple scar; it was a brand of sorts... It displayed the name of the very person who had tortured the two of us... Maybe even more.
"Ivan Braginski..." I muttered, feeling rage bubbling inside me.
"I'm Lithuania by the way..." He added with a small smile. Lithuania stood, pulling his shirt back down, covering his ruined back. "Toris Laurinaitis."
He left, closing the door behind him, and we were left alone in the dingy cell-like room once again.
Veneziano reached for the food on the floor, but I stopped him, explaining that I thought it might be spiked.
"Fratello..." He whined, still trying to reach for the food.
I had been trained to inspect my food for various poisons and drugs while I was still a little kid, my grandfather, always paranoid that there were going to be assassination attempts on his little bambinos, made sure to teach my brother and I how to detect them; though my younger brother was much to naïve and trusting to ever use this skill.
I determined that the food was, indeed, spiked, but it was a harmless drug to numb the recipient's body. It may come in handy.
I gave the plate of food back to my brother, deciding to skip this meal. It was likely that he was going to be targeted next, so if I was unable to protect him in my current state, he would at least be able to skip the horrible experience with the help of this drug.
"Ve~! Fratello, are you going to have any?" Veneziano asked excitedly, already a half eaten bun in his hand.
"No." I said simply, "You eat it. I'm not hungry."
He went back to tearing apart the meagre meal, unaware of the effects it would have on him. As soon as he had finished the rest of it, I pinched him gently on the arm, testing my suspicions. A drunken giggle issued from his mouth, and he grabbed the area where I had pinched him. "S-stop Lovi..."
"At least-" I began, but was cut off as the door flew open, slamming against the wall, hard.
I clenched my fists, biting my tongue not to speak up as Russia walked up to us. "I have had a very hard day. Which one of you would like to be my punching bag for the night?" He hefted a pipe over his shoulder menacingly, looking down at my brother and I.
I spit at his feet, unable to keep my anger in check any longer. "Go fuck yourself you damn psycho."
He smiled coldly. "Ah, you volunteer? Wonderful. You will help poor Russia out, da?" He knelt down, still not at my eye level. "I look forward to hearing you cry like the weak, pathetic bug you are."
Russia reached out, his icy fingers inches away from me, when I felt my own hand being enveloped in warmth.
"I love you fratello... Thank you." Veneziano whispered before kicking Russia in the shins as hard as he could.
He was strangely unaffected by this, but stood up anyways, turning his frightening gaze on my brother. "I see I have another volunteer. Would you like to come too?"
"No. Take me, and only me, Russia." He said firmly.
"Veneziano, what are you doing? He'll beat the shit out of you!"
"Be quiet Lovino!" He snarled, squeezing my hand so hard it hurt. "I'm the weaker one, so I'll be more fun to torture! Take me instead!"
Russia tilted his head to the side in mock contemplation. "Hmm... I think I'll take you." He swung the pipe down, snapping the chains on the shackles in half as Veneziano cringed. He gathered up the remains of the chains still attached to my brother's wrists, and dragged him out the door.
"YOU IDIOT!" I yelled, smashing my fist on the ground angrily. I had done everything I could to try and save him the pain and suffering of being tortured by that maniac, and he just threw himself at him and practically begged him to anyways!
I hit the concrete floor once again, feeling pain shoot up my arms. How could he be so selfless?
My heart beat rapidly in my chest, and I vaguely wondered if I had pushed myself too hard as I fell forward, unconscious.
A/N: Another chapter? Yeah, I have three typed up already... X3 So how did you guys like it? Thanks to all my awesome rewiewers! :D