Chapter 29

Japan sharply rose to stop the Canadian before leaving, but it was too late. He already stormed off into Finland's room where there was much commotion already taking place. Japan exhaled and just let him be as he sat back down in his chair and started to drink his coffee once again. But as soon as he sat down Japan rose quickly back up and ran to the window.

Was that Italy running towards him? He set his cup of coffee down and wiped his eyes as though he just saw a ghost and looked again. It was ITALY! And Germany, Prussia, and even Russia too! Japan was so excited; he ran to the door and rushed out.

"ITALY!" the Japanese man shouted. The Italian screamed back, tears fluttering in his eyes as he finally ran into Japan and embraced him in a hug. Japan let him though not caring for a moment about his personal space. Normally Japan would freak out and push someone away that got too close, but right now at this moment Kiku let the Italian hug him. Japan wouldn't admit it but he really needed someone right now to lean on, and Italy came at the perfect timing. Before this, Japan felt like breaking down, and just shut himself away from the world for a while.

"JAPAN! I'm so happy to see you!~ How have you been? Where are the others? Is my brother back yet?" the Italian rumbled off tears of joy raining down his face as the others slowly approached behind him.

"Come, let us go inside and I can show you. Let's talk inside though, I have many things to tell you, and it's very chilly out here." Japan responded in his kind, usual way as he held the door open ushering for all of them to come in, and with that the group piled inside.

"Here, I'll get you something to warm you up" Kiku said as he walked into the kitchen and started pouring cups of coffee for everyone and came back with four cups of nice warm coffee.

All of them sipped at the warm drink and sighed, but a few seconds after that they noticed there was arguing and mumbling coming from a room down the hall.

"What's going on in there?" Gilbert asked looking down the hall towards Finland's room. Japan sighed and began his story,

"Well…a lot of things are happening in that room. First, you got all the Nordics in there, and Finland's paralyzed. Then you got England and Canada-" Russia looked up optimistically and blurted out, cutting off the Japanese man.

"Canada's here? He's safe?" Russia asked hopefully with eagerness in his eyes.

"Yes, Canada is here and safe. He was hit by the avalanche, but Sweden found him and carried him home, then went back out and looked for Finland." Japan informed the rest and he could see how happy Ivan got at the sound of those words.

"There, see Ivan, Matthew was alright this whole time." Germany took a step towards the big Russian man and patted his shoulder.

"Da... remind me to thank Sweden later. I'm just glad Matvey's ok. You see I found his stupid bear and his camera but not him and I began to worry greatly. But now that I know he's safe I think I shall go return these things to him" Russia said.

"No…not yet, I wouldn't go in that room if I were you, Russia." Japan abruptly said and Russia turned around and looked at him curiously.

"Why Japan? Is there something wrong with that room?" Italy asked, also looking up curiously.

"W-well…..There have been some deaths and-and I don't think it's a good thing to talk to Canada right now since his brother just died…" Japan sadly stated. And just like that everyone said in unison "WHAT?!" and now all were being nosy.

"Wait Kiku…are you saying that America is dead?" Germany inserted, and Japan just looked at the floor and slowly nodded.

"Hai, he is dead." And when the Japanese man spoke those words everyone in the room fell silent.

"America…..dead? B-but how? What happened?!" Italy bawled lightly shaking his Japanese friend. But Japan stood silent.

"Let us sit and I'll tell you." Japan said and with that everyone sat down on the couch as Japan began talking.

"Well, apparently from what I heard, Sweden, America, and Finland were all together when they woke up from the avalanche. America woke everyone up and they went looking for other missing people. Alfred refused to come back to the cabin without finding his brother Matthew so he and Finland went searching one way and Berwald the other." Japan stopped to take a quick sip of his coffee that he picked up earlier and paused to look at all the interested faces around him then continued again.

"Apparently there was some sort of argument between Finland and America after finding Canada's glasses. Finland said to come back and get help because it was getting dark and America refused to leave until he knew Mattie was safe. Berwald ended up finding Canada buried; his arm was the only thing left, and he pulled him out. To his surprise, he was still breathing so he lifted him on his back and ran back to the others. They saw each other for a split second before it happened."

Japan took yet another pause as Italy kept asking 'what, what, what happened?!' and Japan started up again. "They all heard something… It was an awful noise and before any of them could do anything, the ledge that Tino and Alfred were on snapped, and they fell off the side of the cliff. America landed harshly, but Finland landed on a ledge, fractured part of his lower spine, and rolled off towards the ground. When Finland awoke later he couldn't walk and America was dead…Tino came very close to dying and even his dog too, but Sweden came back with reinforcements: Denmark and Norway and they ended up finding them. But it was too late….. America was already dead, so they brought him back for a final burial. Finland was out cold but he just woke up not long ago, and that's all I know. I talked with Tino and Berwald earlier asking them what happened." Japan concluded and everyone's mouths were agape. Did they just hear that right?

"So what about my brother?" Italy asked a few minutes later.

"Oh…that. Well your brother, or Spain for that matter, aren't in any position to talk right now. Your brother is very sick and he should be resting. I'm no doctor but I think he has hypothermia. He was out in the cold way too long and has frostbite everywhere. You should have seen him though; he was a true hero." Japan complimented as Ludwig, Gilbert, and Feliciano were just staring at him.

"A hero, what's going on Japan?" Feli asked confused.

"Yeah, your brother saved Spain's life, Italy. Without Romano, Antonio would be dead. He's probably in the most pain out of everyone here, physically." Kiku emphasized as took another drink of his coffee and so did everyone else.

"Why? What happened to Toni?" Gilbert spoke out.

"Well apparently Turkey caught him and tortured him…that's about as much as I know about that and also the fact that Romano gave me this." Japan said as everyone just looked at him as he held out the piece of cloth.

"What is it?" Russia asked curious, "It looks kind of familiar."

"It's a piece of China's cloth…he's dead. China got attacked by either wolves or a bear…at least that's what Romano told me and he found his shredded body spread across the cave floor that they were staying in.

"What?! China's dead also? Oh no…" Italy cried as he thought about how much Japan truly cared for him. "I'm so sorry Japan…so Romano and Spain were attacked by Turkey and China got attacked by wolves or bears? That's awful…"

"That must be it!" Germany said as he pulled out Vash's cell phone. "Turkey called Switzerland when I was at his house and I forgot my memories. I was just starting to get it back when Turkey called complaining about Romano and Spain. I didn't know who they were at the time, but I finally figured it out! Turkey and Switzerland were working together to try and kill us all. They hate us for some reason. I finally get it now, but after Switzerland shot Lili and France then cracked the ice. And ended up killing France and later on I had him tied up, but he escaped and then killed himself. The only person left is Sadiq to talk to!" Germany boasted with a strong voice. Japan sat staring at him mouth ajar. "But Vash's phone died shortly after and I couldn't find a plug…I thought maybe you guys have one here so I brought it along."

What? They were at Switzerland's house? He killed Lili and then killed himself? They were working together? They were on ice? France is dead?! What the hell had he missed!?

"Whoa, wait what? France is dead? And Lili and Switzerland? Care to explain what all went down?" Japan insisted shocked at all the information he just heard.

"Here, I'll tell the story." Prussia said gloomy as everyone looked at him.

"No, Prussia, let me tell it. You've had a hard time." Italy opposed but Gilbert just shook his head.

"Japan deserves to know the full story, and you weren't there during part of it." Prussia said as he cleared his throat and began his story of death and anguish.

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Spain fluttered his eyelashes open to the sight of his cabin room. He cringed; his back ached and no matter what he did he just felt sore all over. He tried to move to see Romano better, but he was in too much pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, owww…" Spain huffed as he tried to reach back and fix the aching problem though, to no prevail. All the commotion and sudden movement woke Romano up as he tiredly wiped his eyes and coughed a little, wiping some of the mucus on his sleeve.

"What's with all the commotion, Antonio… I was having a nice dream for once." Lovino yawned as he slowly looked up at his partner. Toni sat looking over at his love with a bit of pain.

"Ah, I'm sorry love, it's just that my back is really hurting, and I have this stinging sensation over here by my thigh…" Antonio said as he tried his best to point to the spot on his thigh. "It's like no matter where I move my whole body hurts. And not just like hurt-hurts, but like stings-and-burns hurts… I'm actually surprised I got this far." The Spaniard expressed towards the Italian at his side. Romano looked up at him and frowned.

"What do you mean 'got this far' hmm?" Lovino asked irritated.

"Well, it's just that I'm falling apart here…I can't even feel half my body, and I am injured all over… d-don't get me wrong, I'm happy you saved me, but I just wish the pain would go away…" Spain whispered back still squirming and wincing at the painful little shocks he'd get.

"You'll get through it; you're a tough guy Antonio." Lovi reassured as calmly as he could feeling a little dizzy.

"But you see th-that's where you're wrong! I'm not strong…you're much stronger than I...I" Spain sniffled, "I-I just feel so useless, and I want to help…I mean I'm boss Spain right? So you should be able to count on me! But lately you can't….and I feel helpless."

"Spain I know that I can always count on you ok. It's just that lately we've both been off and not ourselves. Trust me, when you get better you'll be helpful again. And listen, I hurt too ok? It's not just you." Lovino said as best he could, looking up at Spain.

"Ok, ok I'll try my hardest to get better soon so I can take care of you and be there for you again when you need me. I just wish that this lash on my thigh wasn't so aggregated and burning right now!" Spain vexed out in irritation.

Well no duh you're hurting, have you seen your body lately? Look at you…did you think that whips were soft?" Romano added sarcastically leaning up a bit to look over at the spot on Antonio's thigh that he pointed to earlier. But as Lovino went to sit up he had this awful feeling conjure up in his stomach that eventually made him go into a coughing fit once again. This time though, more blood and mucus came out going all over the side of Spain's bed. The Spaniard on the bed was frightened as he tried to help his sickly lover, but Romano shook visibly and kept heaving and coughing up things that made him start to choke. He looked awfully pale and sick, as Toni looked closer trying to help.

"H-hey, Lovi? Lovi, are you ok? Do you need anything!?" Spain yelled out, fully aware that if he did need assistance he couldn't help him out. Romano just sat there clutching at his stomach and wheezing coughs out, barely able to breathe. Spain was looking more and more petrified by the second, trying his hardest to at least sit up and pat his back or hold him and comfort him and be there for him but he couldn't.

"L-Lovi, hold on! I'll call for someone!" Toni frantically choked out as he began to call out for help.

"HELP! IS ANYONE THERE-?!" Antonio called out but his voice was suffering enough lately, and he couldn't yell loudly. Antonio, scared that his love might not make it, tried again straining his voice with all hhis might, crying out. Thankfully this time people did hear him or something because just then Italy slammed open the door and ran in the room. Spain was temporarily shocked at the sight of Italy; he must have just gotten back, and what good timing. Italy took a couple seconds to see what was going on and was going to ask Spain, but he was crying too hard and looked way to scared, quickly Italy found out why as he saw his brother.

"Romano!" Italy shouted as he embraced his brother and tried to help stop the coughing and choking. After making his brother throw up the mucus he was choking on, Feliciano held onto Romano and turned him so they were facing each other. The vomit went all along the side of the bed as Lovino heaved and gasped, fear clearly visible in his eyes.

"Romano you're bleeding, and you have a fever…Why are you in here and not in bed? We have to get you back into your room!" Italy yelled as he looked at how awful Romano looked. "Japan" Italy harshly turned around and looked at him, "can you go get me a glass of water, please? Romano needs to clear his throat." And with that said, Japan hurriedly left the room and Italy took off his jacket and started wiping his brother's mouth off with his sleeve. Italy looked up at Spain and saw that he truly was petrified. All Toni could do was stare… as Romano coughed up a bit and caved in to his brother sobbing frightfully.

"F-Feli? Feli your back!?" he murmured looking up "...I-I'm not dreaming right? It's been so long, is that really you? Y-you saved me!…" Romano choked out through staggered breaths and coughing.

"Si, I'm back and I'm right here ok? Come on, we need to get you back to your room, and get you on the bed so you can get some good, proper sleep." The younger Italian brother expressed as he rubbed his brothers back trying to calm him.

"I…I can't. I can't leave Antonio, don't you get it? We been through a lot together and he's not safe. Look at him! I need to be here!" Romano tried to argue but Italy only shook his head.

"No, Romano. How is staying here going to make Spain better? Do you really think Spain wants to see you sick? No, he doesn't. You need to take some medicine and take a nice long siesta and by the time your awake you two should be fine." Feliciano told his fratello in a calming matter. But before Romano could say anything, Japan came back into the room with a glass of water, making Romano drink the liquid. Before long most of his bad coughing stopped and now it was just lightheadedness.

Spain took a deep breath and tried to lay back again knowing that Romano would be ok since his brothers taking care of him, but his body was in too much pain to do anything. He couldn't even wipe his tears away completely.

"Owww." Spain moaned and Italy looked up to completely see the Spaniard. His leg looked terrible and his body as well, but right now he had to get Romano to bed. He'd talk later with him to get the full story."

"H-hey Italy…" Spain finally voiced out as Italy turned to face him. "I'm glad you're back safely." Spain panted out as he just leaned up against the bedframe. "I-I'm sorry I couldn't take care of him for you…I-I feel so useless." Spain took another deep breath and cowered. "Just please, don't be hard on him, ok. He's been through a lot." The Spaniard whispered and Italy nodded.

"No, no, please don't think of yourself that way…you did more than enough, but now we have to take Romano to his room to lay down. We'll be right back to help you, ok?" Italy smiled as he propped up one arm of Romano's and grabbed under his arm pit as Japan grabbed the other side and walked him out of the room and into the hallway where they were met with Germany and Prussia.

"H-hey? Is he ok? Do you need any help?" Prussia asked seeing the look of worry on both Japan and Italy's face.

"No, we got Romano, but if you two could possibly help Spain. He's in pain right now that would be great. And also can you change his sheets? Romano threw up on them." Italy asked and that was enough said before Ludwig and Gilbert went into the room that Italy and the others just came out of.

Germany and Prussia entered the room to see the tattered Spaniard on the bed all sad and depressed looking; when suddenly Gilbert walked in. Spain immediately brightened up again looking over towards his best friend.

"Gil!" Spain tried to yell out, voice harsh and scratchy sounding, and Gilbert walked on over and took the vacant chair that Romano was in and sat down.

"Hey, buddy…what happened here?" Gilbert asked as Ludwig walked into the bathroom in the corner of the room and some clean sheets.

"Heh, d-don't worry about me. What happened to you?!" Spain said as he looked at Prussia's arm.

"Oh, this?" Prussia asked pointing to his arm as Spain nodded, "I got this when the avalanche pushed me away and I slammed my shoulder blade into a tree. It hurt, damn it!" Gilbert told his friend as he began to laugh.

"Oh, I see. Well at least you weren't whipped to death by a crazed Turkish man! Now talk about hurt that right there is the definition, ahaha" Spain said as both laughed like good old times.

"Oh man, I missed you guys! I was almost a goner you know. Romano had to carry me all the way back because I couldn't walk. Hey, where's Francis we gotta tell him our stories! He'll look at us and think were crazy huh?" Toni laughed but as soon as he said this he knew something was wrong by the look the flashed across Gilbert's face.

"N-no….don't tell me…" Antonio began as Gilbert tried to hide his tears, "h-he's not…dead is he?" Spain sullenly asked terrified for the answer that would come with this question. But Gilbert just sat there, not wanting to tell his best friend that their other best friend was dead. The three of them used to be inseparable you know…so how would he be able to tell him.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm really sorry to have to tell you this Antonio…" Prussia began choking on the words, "but Francis is dead. He died in my arms. I-" He sobbed, "-there was n-n-nothing I could do…the ice was slippery and the water, oh my damn arm, everything I-I I just….." Gilbert couldn't finish as he saw the look of hurt upon Toni's face. Prussia started bawling as he put his good hand up to wipe his tears away. Spain just sat, unbelieving for a while until it finally hit him and he started crashing down.

"F-Francis is….dead? Our-" he gulped, "our best friend is dead?..." Spain wanted to pretend that all of this right now was just a horrible dream he'd had from eating all that Spanish food a couple days ago, but it wasn't. Just then tears streamed down Antonio's face freely now as he cried along with Prussia.

"Y-you mean we'll n-never be the bad touch trio anymore?" Toni sobbed and all Gilbert could think about was France's death replaying in his mind over and over again. The last words of his best friend.

"N-no we won't" was all Prussia could mutter back, and the two of them both went into denial as the thought of never hanging out again with all three of them.

"How did he die?" Spain whispered a few minutes later trying to wipe his eyes with his sleeve. But before Prussia could answer, Ludwig came back with some new clean sheets.

"Prussia, could you help me out here?" Germany asked as he walked over to one side of the bed and started grabbing the sheet together, Prussia on the other end. Within minutes the bed sheets were changed and they continued talking. Germany, after a while of talking, got up and went to go check on Italy.

"I'm going to check on Italy, Gil. Spain must rest soon, and you look a little tired too so maybe it might be a good idea for you to leave Spain be and let him sleep. You should come get some sleep too." The German said as he got up and pushed his chair back against the wall.

"Yeah…I do feel tired. I think I'll do just that! The awesome me needs his beauty sleep. Bye, Toni, I'll come check on you later, ok?" Gilbert said and Spain just nodded and tried to doze off, as the two left.

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"You can't be serious? Do you really think it'll work?" Denmark whispered to Norway in the corner of Finland's room.

"I don't know for certain but it's always worth a try." Lukas responded back as the two of them gulped.

"So you really think it's possible to un-paralyze Tino? How though? Do you think it's possible to bring back the dead?" Denmark asked as they both looked over towards the now crying Canada, England and the dead American. Russia had also just entered the room and stood standing in the corner holding Canada's bear.

"Well you see, I've tried once to bring back my dead cat a couple of years ago and nothing worked…I really don't think it's possible to bring back the dead. Also if we mess up the transmutation terrible things could happen. We could accidently bring back the 'wrong thing' and chimeras could appear. And we don't want that! If I tried to bring back America then I would have to go into the spirit realm and try to find his lost soul and that could take years!" Norway exclaimed as the both of them looked back over towards Finland and Sweden. Finalnd was sitting up petting his sickly dog and talking to Sweden about something. "I did try and heal a broken arm one time and that worked so that's why I brought up Finland. He's alive you see, and because he has a broken bone we might be able to save him."

"How though? How do you plan to save him?" Mathias asked with curiosity.

"Well, I would need England to help me but with our combined magical powers we could do a spell and heal him." Lukas finished, and sighed.

"You really think Arthur's going to leave Alfred's side? He hasn't budged in the past hour man… getting him to get up and help out will be a difficult task" Denmark announced as both of them scanned over the room. Canada was now pleading with America to wake up, even though he knew he was dead. And Russia came over to the Canadian and pulled him into a hug trying to calm the usually quiet and outspoken man down. England sat on the floor still staring in disbelief, Iceland was over by the bed talking to Tino and Berwald as Norway and Denmark stood standing in the corner observing. It was a very interesting sight to see as the two Scandinavian countries observed all of this play out.

"Well, we'll wait a few more minutes, but eventually I'll have to talk to England." Norway advised talking to his Danish friend. Denmark though, sighed.

"Yeah…that'll be a fun talk…" Denmark exhaled as he readied himself for the events to come.

yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.