Chapter 13

England POV

I'm not sure what maybe me do it, but something in my mind said it needed to be done, I knew with these conditions we would not be able to last longer, I knew it was time to leave, though without really thinking I began to mutter a binding spell. The words seemed to pop in my head as I watched America struggle with his suddenly burning hot sword, and although it was a spell I didn't use that much and rarely ever practice I seemed to recall the lines perfectly as they floated in to my memory. I whispered them under my breath, not wanting America to catch me, and for the most part he was oblivious, until I whispered the final line, then I saw as his ice blues that seemed to now glow with rage met mine and realization dawned on his face. It was already too late for him to stop me however, the damage had been done, I saw with my magic sight as the nearly invisible chains imprisoned him and made him immobile. My emerald eyes then found their way to Canada. I'm not sure what made me save him, perhaps it was how pathetic he looked, almost beaten to near death, and my fatherly instincts kicking in, after all I had raised that nation most of his life, even if memory didn't always permit me to recall it, but something in me told me I needed him, and that I couldn't just let him die, and though despite the challenge it would add to my mistake I took him into my arms, ready to save him. I saw in his eyes as they looked distant and cloudy, I was happy to see he was conscious but their faint appearance worried me, I knew he did not have much longer, I needed to get him out of here. I struggled, once again holding a, man who had more height than I, but I did my best to walk fast, I fumbled with him in my arms to reach my walkie-talkie.

"All unit retreat to headquarters immediately," I yelled into it. "This is a direct order, waste no time!" I continued to walk towards the door pleased to see as more men rushed past me, in the mix I was able to see Russia and Belarus directing the humans out of the exit. I waited with Canada for them to pass, glad to see as Canada gained more color and his lavender eyes became a bit more focused.

"L-let me down," he whispered. I could barely hear him over the soldiers marching and the countries yelling orders in various languages.

"What, but you were stabbed in the leg, there is no way in hell I am letting you walk!" I yelled at him.

"Just do it, we'll get out of here a lot faster than you carrying me," he said back his voice gaining a bit of strength. I couldn't argue with that, three legs were better than two, though I was sure I speed wouldn't improve that much. I let him down. We stood together, his arm on my shoulder and arm around his waist. I still held most of his weight on my body, but he at least tried by holding a good portion of his on his good foot. I waited as the rest of the humans exited. I was about to go when I realized, we were missing two people. Although I had been distracted by Canada, I had seen most of the countries exit with their troop except for Germany and Romano, where the hell were they.

"Germany and Romano, status update now, where the hell are you?" I yelled in to the communication device. I waited no answer. "Germany, Romano, answer me now, where are you, we have to leave?"Nothing, great, I set Canada down, wary of his wounds. "I'll be back in a tick, I just need to find them, there is no way I am leaving those two behind." Matthew gave me an unsure look; I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. We didn't have much time, it didn't take a magical genius to know that those chains could be broken, and America was sure to close to finally breaking free, but I would not let more countries fall to the hands of him, the point of this mission was for us to win, not to give him more of an advantage. "Don't worry; we will make it out of here alive. I went off to find the two of them, my heart pounding like the ticks of a clock in my chest, I knew any minute now that clock would strike twelve and I would be too late, I would doom all of us to become yet another group of victims to fall to America, but I kept on moving forward, knowing that somehow I would keep my word, and make it out of here alive.

I walked down a separate hallway, staying clear of the one I knew America was down, I grateful that this building was build like a big circle with various rooms filling the middle, I could pretty much explore most of it without ever really running in to America, but now was not the time to explore. I zoomed down the hall, careful to not trip over piece of brick and wood that lay on the floor. I tapped in to some of my magic abilities, letting my senses guide me to where they and relying on that alone seemed to save me a ton of time.

I found the quickly, not too surprised to find them fighting to get the servants to come. Romano was gazing sadly at Spain calling him many different curse words in both Italian and Spanish as he tried to get him to move, and Germany, rather than keeping a cool head simply continued to yell at all the servants when they showed no action towards his demands. I felt exhausted as I saw that they had made no move towards my orders, they had nearly been abandoned and killed all because they too busy doing this rather than listening to orders.

"What the blood hell are you wankers doing?" I yelled getting their attention. "Did you not hear my orders; we need to get the bloody hell out of here!" Germany looked up at me and then back at Romano, who was now staring sadly at Spain, I knew he was close with Spain, and I had to guess that it would be hard for him to leave him, but I did not have time to go back and get Canada and have him give him the orders. "Listen Romano, look at Spain, look at how lifeless he has become, if we do not get out of here America is going to kill us, then we will become just as lifeless and dead as he is. Do you want that to happen? Do you want to lose your soul, your emotions and all of your memories?" He gazed at me reluctantly. "Spain would want you to live," I told him. "He would want you to leave and live your life." Romano nodded and despite his love-hate relationship with Spain I knew that he knew it was true, Spain loved him, and would want him to live and find a way to help. Romano and Germany stilled looked a little unsure, but began to walk towards where I stood in the doorway, leaving the emotionless servants behind them. I motioned for them to follow me and began to sprint down the hall, moving as fast as I could.

I was about half way to Matthew when I heard the sound my ears had been praying to no hear, it was unmistakable and seemed to radiate through the entire building, it was one that made my hope drop right down to the soles of my shoes. I heard the breaking and bending of metal, followed by the ring as magic made its self known, the very sound made my magic send chills right down my body as my hearted began to pound faster and my feet moved catching even more speed. I knew it had been down. The chains had been broken.

Canada's POV

I watched as England ran away, leaving to go find the two countries that were still missing, I wanted to yell to him and tell him it was too late, but something stopped me, perhaps it was guilt, more people should not have to die at the hands of this evil empire. So I let him go, as I began to realize that I had somewhere to go as well.

I shifted my weight, causing sharp pains to flash through my body. I felt explosions of pain in both my shoulder and leg as I used my good arm to drag my body back towards the hall where England had just carried me from, my room was near here, there was just a little way's to go to get there. I had to take her with me. I had to make sure Ukraine was safe from America. I dragged my aching body, leaving a trail of smeared blood behind me. My body begged for me to stop, my head began to swim with my loss of blood, but I kept moving I need her; I would not leave her here for his control.

I was almost to my room, my head now dizzy, I could see my room ahead, I had already rounded the corner and my room sat in front of me, I could see it now, it was within reach, when suddenly my vision was blocked. At first I thought that maybe I had passed out, or death had finally gotten its cold hands around me, when I realized what I was seeing. I felt as the familiar warm presence made its way to me, and the smell of a campfire and the deep pine of the woods filled my nostrils, without having to look up I knew who was standing in front of my, not that I hadn't recognized her by the sight of her light deerskin dress. It was my mother; I shifted my weight and sat up on my good arm to see her. She smiled down at me, her face unchanged by time, her wonderful brown eyes looked sad, but there rest of her face seemed to hide it well with her welcoming smile. I seemed speechless as I tried to speak to her, my entire life I had lived without her, she had seemed nothing more of the presence of a distant dream, but now here she stood in front of me, as real as ever. I wanted to reach and touch her, feel the warmth of her soft deerskin dress, but I was afraid that her sight was nothing more than a delusion, a sight caused by my shortness of blood. I just sat there gawking at her, pretending that she was real.

"My son, can you hear me?" she asked kneeling down and lightly brushing my cheek with her hand. "You don't have much time." I sat there still gawking at her, and feeling her warm against me. I wanted so much to just get up and wrap my arms around her, to have her hold me the way mothers were suppose to have her wash away all my problem, but I sat there, frozen with shock, barely even feeling my wounds anymore.

"M-m-mother," I was able to stutter out. I saw a brilliant smile spread across her face and she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged my head to her chest.

I heard tears in her voice as she spoke. "Y-you can see me! My dear son you can see me!" I sat there enjoying the comfort I felt coming her, all of my worries seemed to just disappear as I sat there with her holding me. I had found my mother, after years of searching I had found her! She sat there happy for a few moments before she pulled away quickly, her eyes seemed glued on my wounds, I saw as her white clothes were now stained with drops of blood. She looked at me seriously. "My son, you must not leave with that Englishman, you must stay here with me and your brother," he voice broke with sadness and her eyes looked desperate.

"What?" I asked shocked. Why was she asking me to do this? Surely she knew America would kill me? I saw her she was there when she almost did, why would she want me to stay, did she not know how evil he has become?

"Please my son; if you don't, I fear bad things will happen! It will be the end of either you or your brother! Please I do not want to lose anymore of my children, a mother doesn't deserve this much heartbreak," tears fell from her eyes. Only they were not regular tears, they were a certain crystal blue, I watched as they fell to the ground, I waited for them to hit my arms or my leg, but I saw as with contact to me they just disappeared, they seemed to just blow away like nothing more than dust or sand. I gazed up at her, hating to see her cry; I wanted to comfort her, to tell her I wouldn't allow for her to feel any more sorrow, but without warning the words that I spoke seemed to choose themselves and left my mouth without any thought.

"I can't, I will not let him control me anymore, what he is doing isn't right," my words wanted to continue, to tell how I needed to rise above America before it was too late, but I caught myself, I waited in silence for her response. To my surprise a sad smile reached her lips.

"At least I raised one to be just," I heard her whisper under her breath, words she didn't want me to hear. "Are you sure about this, you should know once you make this decision you can never undo it."

"I'm sure! I will not let America's evilness," I told her, feel the rage of the fight fill me.

She nodded somberly. "Alright then, my Kanata, although I do not agree with you decision I will accept it. I just want you to know something, do not blame you brother for the evil he is doing, it was not his fault, it was mine. I am the reason he is so wrong, it is something I will never be able to live down. The loss of my children is only m fault." She reached down and laid both of her hands on my wounds. "Now you don't have a lot of here, if there is anything I can do to start to do to make up for my mistakes, is give you my strength. I felt as something began to flow in to my body in an indescribable way, my wounds began to throb but I felt as the pain began to become dull, after awhile they didn't seemed to be so serious, unless you looked at them, and my head didn't seem to spin as much. I saw as mother stood up and offered me her hand, I took it, surprised that she felt solid, and stood. She wrapped her arms around my neck once more and then disappeared, I knew that that would probably be the last time I would ever see her, and I felt a hard sadness in my chest. I wasted no time, as I now limped to the room moving faster than I had before, I walked in, happy to see that both Italy and Kat were in the same place I had left them, I saw as the both of the servants looked at me. I saw as emotion seemed to flash into their eyes even more, they looked amazed somehow though I had no idea why. I snapped them out of it as I began to give orders. Ukraine, coming with me, we are leaving. She nodded and got up from where she was sitting she walked over to me and without me telling her to, she put her arm around my waist and placed mine on her shoulders, the same way that England had done a little while ago. Ukraine and I turned ready to leave; I looked back at Italy about to give the order for him to follow us when I heard a familiar sound rush through the building. I was no wizard but the sound seemed to tell itself of magic, and right then I knew what had happened, the chains had broken. America was now free. I thought frantically of what to do, we need to buy some time. "Italy," I said feel guilt as I knew what my orders would be, I knew I would be leaving him here, to be treated as nothing more than dog, but I had to get out of here, I had to find a way to fix this mess. "I want you to go and stop America from getting to England and Germany, protect them in any way possible."

"Yes master," he said as he began to walk towards the door.

"And Italy," I said making him pause where he was. "When I am gone I want you to try your best to ignore what America says, this is a direct order, don't do everything he tells you unless you want to do it, I know you have feelings now, use them." He nodded and then ran down the hall to perform the order I had just told him to do. Ukraine and I stumbled down the hall tot eh place where England had left me, at the same time that England Germany and Romano arrived there breathing heavy from running, Italy was out of sight, probably holding off America, yet my heart could help but beat like crazy as I felt his presence close by, England ran to my other side, supporting the rest of my weight with Ukraine and went to leave when we hear familiar footsteps running down the hall. We all knew what that meant, America was coming. I knew Italy had tried his best, but America was much stronger than him, it would take someone a lot more powerful than a simple servant to keep him from the things he wanted. He hated losing and it seems that we were about to win. England gazed at all of us around him.

"We're not going to make it," he said his green eyes hopeless. "There is no way, we're all nearly out of breath and Canada is injured, there is no way we're going to get away from him." We all looked around frantically until I saw something flash in to Romano's eyes.

"We need something to buy us sometime from that cheeseburger eating bastard, right?" he asked. We all nodded. I saw as he pulled out his gun from the holder tied to his back. "Alright, I'll do it, just make sure you get everyone out of here," he said loading his gun. England stared at him blankly until realization finally hit him.

"What? No, you are not sacrificing yourself!" He shouted using his free arm to grab on to Romano's wrist. Romano glared at him.

"Why the fuck not?" Romano shouted. "I'm the only one in this group who has nothing to lose. The only people I ever really cared about were my brother and Spain, and they are pretty much dead now, if I have to sacrifice myself to ensure that you guys live and find a cure, then you know what I will, because it is a lot better than surviving and being alone, now go, I can get you 5 minutes but that is it! I'm going to show this asshole what true Italian blood is, eh, and this time, I won't run away." He began to walk towards the hallway where America was only moments ago. England called after him but Germany told him that it was no use, he was going to do what he needed to do, and then began to guide us towards the front door.

I will never forget the last image I saw of Romano as the gunshots filled the cold air, we were running out of the building, and the picture seemed to claw its way in to my mind.

I saw Romano, as he marched off to stall America, in one hand was his gun, and in his other was white rosary beads tied tightly around his fingers, and all my thoughts seemed to be filled with the words of prayer that I knew were simply the echo of his.

Hail Mary Full of Grace, our Lord is with thee,

Blessed are thou among women,

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb; Jesus

Holy Mary, mother of God Pray for us sinners,

Now…

And at the hour of our death.

I felt all the air rush out of me, and without warning, I collapsed.