Disclaimer: Not mine.

"Open your eyes!" Italy screamed. "Please! Open your eyes!"

Japan's corpse remained silent, his blood pooling on the floor and coating the piano. Italy looked up at Holy Rome.

"This isn't supposed to happen!" he screamed. "It's supposed to go however I want it to!"

Holy Rome didn't reply.

"We were supposed to stay together when the monster appeared! We were supposed to find the key and escape! All of us together! You said that everything in this place would do whatever I wanted it to!"

"There are some things you can't change," Holy Rome told him. "No matter how hard you try. Not this time."

"But why?" Italy asked. "Why?"

"I can't give you the answers," Holy Rome told him, guiding him out of the room. "I can only tell you that you don't have forever to find them. Please. Figure it out."

"Figure what out?" Italy asked with a smile.

He had the strangest feeling he should be sad. But why? Everything was going perfectly. They had been separated by the monster, but he would just find them again and everything would be okay.

"Let's go find France, China, and Russia," he said. "They'll be the first to get hurt."

Holy Rome looked disappointed.

"What about Japan?" he asked quietly.

Italy cocked his head to the side quizzically.

"Who's that?"

Prussia slammed open the door to the annex.

"Canada? Russia?"

"What's the emergency?" Russia asked calmly.

He and Canada were making their way up the stairs to the main floor. Prussia's eyes locked on the near-invisible nation. Canada looked scared. Really scared. He clung to his injured polar bear as if his life depended on it. Russia smiled cryptically.

"I heard you two were in danger," France remarked. "It looks like I was misinformed."

He seemed oblivious, but Prussia could tell he was secretly worried about Canada. Something was very wrong here.

"Are you two okay?" China asked.

"We're fine," Russia assured him.

"Canada, I'm sorry I left you behind," Prussia said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Russia saved me and Kumading," Canada whispered. "I'm okay."

Prussia didn't believe him, and France clearly didn't either. But what could they do?

"Oh! I forgot to tell you guys!" Prussia suddenly realized. "Italy's alive!"

"You just remembered this vital piece of information?" China snapped.

"Well, I was a bit busy earlier," Prussia retorted. "Saving your neck, I might add."

"This is good, right?" Russia observed. "If Italy's alive, we still have a chance to get out."

"We should probably go tell England and America," France pointed out. "They've both been really depressed."

"We should stick together anyways," Canada pointed out quietly. "Bad things happen whenever we split up."

"Where are they?" Russia asked.

"The piano room," Prussia told him.

Russia frowned.

"That room is dangerous," he remarked.

"You sound like you know something," China observed.

Russia didn't reply.

Prussia had a terrible feeling that there was something going on here that he didn't understand. He hated that feeling.

"Let's go."

Somehow, quiet Canada took the lead, the others following him to the second floor. They found the piano room empty, but before they could get worried, America's loud voice rang out from the hall.

"Why on earth would you expect me to keep an eye on him?"

"You were the one who could actually see!" England's voice retorted. "I thought I could at least trust you to notice if the bloody frog had disappeared!"

"You didn't notice he was missing either!" America was quick to point out.

"I was a bit distracted!"

"Angleterre! Amerique!" France called. "There you are!"

The two dashed into the piano room.

"You might have told us before you ran off, you bloody frog!" England accused.

"I'm deeply sorry for depriving you of my beauty without asking permission," France teased, taking advantage of England's blindness to sneak towards America.

"Can it, froggy!" England retorted. "And keep your hands away from America!"

"Aren't you blind?" Prussia asked.

England turned to look at him.

"I got better," he deadpanned.

"What he means is that the hero totally saved him and got a bunch of his magic back!" America declared.

England rolled his eyes.

"Oh, by the way, Italy's alive."

Prussia deliberately dropped that bombshell as calmly and quietly as possible.

It took both England and America several seconds to process the information.

"Wait. So, he's not dead?" America asked.

"That is generally the definition of alive," Canada pointed out.

"We should go up and see him," Russia suggested.

Somehow, the way he said it made everyone uneasy.

"So, what do we do now?" Romano asked. "Come on! You're the boss! Right, bastard? Can't you figure out something to do?"

"I don't have any more ideas than you do, Lovi," Spain told him. "I guess we just wait for the portal to reopen."

"And what if it doesn't?" Romano wondered. "What then, idiot?"

Spain shrugged.

"No idea," he admitted.

"You're useless," Romano muttered.

"I know."

"You were supposed to argue with me," Romano told him.

"But it's true," Spain insisted.

"Didn't we just go over this?" Romano asked. "You're not useless! We need everyone's help to escape!"

"What would be different if I hadn't come?" Spain asked.

"Don't ask me!" Romano shouted. "But things would be different! I know it! We have to have everyone!"

"Romano? Spain?"

Startled, the two turned to see China standing in the door, leaning heavily against the doorframe. Blood soaked his clothes and dripped onto the floor.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked.

"We came looking for you guys," Spain lied. "Romano was worried about his brother, so we came here to find you and got trapped inside. You wouldn't happen to have a key, would you?"

China laughed mirthlessly.

"A key? I wish."

"What happened to you?" Romano asked.

"There are some weird monsters running around," China told them. "Run if you see them. I made the mistake of trying to fight one on my own."

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Spain asked.

"Too late for that," China said. "Just leave me alone so I can die in peace."

"You can't die, idiot!" Romano insisted.

"Don't waste your time on me," China ordered. "Just get out of here. Find the others. They have to know about Russia." China laughed again. "That bastard."

"What did he do?" Spain asked.

China coughed weakly and sank down to the floor.

"Russia has a plan…"

"Yes? What's the plan?"

But it was clear that it was already too late.

"You can't die on me!" Romano screamed, shaking the body as if that would help. "Tell me what Russia's plan is!"

"Relax, Lovi," Spain said. "It's probably something unique to this time loop. It doesn't really matter."

"And what if it's not unique to this loop?" Romano countered. "What if Russia's secretly plotting to kill us all? What if everything has been a set-up since the beginning?"

"You're blowing things out of proportion," Spain insisted. "All we know is that China says Russia has some sort of plan."

"Spain, I'm scared," Romano admitted quietly. "I don't like this."

"Don't be scared," Spain said, stepping forwards to put a hand on Romano's shoulder. "The boss is here to protect you!"

Romano cracked a slight smile.

"Thanks."

All of a sudden, the world vanished around them in a flash of brilliant light. Seconds later, they found themselves back in the safe room. England stood in front of them, holding his spellbook. Most of the other nations were standing nearby, with the exception of Germany and Veneziano.

"What the hell happened?" Romano asked. "Why'd that portal of yours disappear? You said it was safe!"

England winced.

"Leave him alone!" America snapped. "He nearly killed himself trying to save my life! Don't you dare complain about a minor inconvenience!"

"I don't care!" Romano yelled. "Where's my brother and the potato bastard!"

"Italy's unconscious," Prussia told him calmly. "West hasn't left his side. They're right over there."

Romano stormed out of the circle in the direction Prussia was pointing. Veneziano was laid out on one of the beds. Germany sat on the edge of the bed and held Veneziano's hand tightly in his own.

Romano stopped a few feet away and stood there awkwardly.

"Why?" he asked. "Why is he the one laying there unconscious and not you? I trusted you to protect him. Did you know that, potato bastard? So why didn't you save him?"

"I wasn't there," Germany said quietly. "He ran off too quickly. I couldn't keep up. By the time I got there, he was already…already…I thought he was dead."

"I think he was dead," Romano admitted. "For a few moments, anyway. But someone helped him. Somehow, I think it was you. I don't know how, but I think you saved his life. So, potato bastard, I'm going to keep trusting you to keep him safe. You'd better not disappoint me again."

"I won't," Germany promised.

"And tell Veneziano to come back. I don't know why, but I think he'll hear it if you say it."

Author's Note: Several wonderful people(littlecloudflower, oceanlover4ever, and moonlightninja55) reminded me of the rather obvious fact that now that England had his magic he could bring Spain and Romano back. Thanks guys, for reminding me not to overthink things! :D

Also, now can you figure out who the voice in England's head was? I thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe that's just me...

Oh! And littlecloudflower on Deviantart wrote an awesome poem inspired by the last chapter! There's a link in my profile. Go check it out!