And now we go deeper into Ludwig's rather messed up mind! But then again, we really can't blame him for that, huh?
/= "JUSTICE" by Umineko no Naku Koro Ni =/
"At least the Shadows aren't that hard~" Antonio chirped. "Our Personas can handle them with ease!"
"But there are so many of them, too…" Kiku said, worried. "There weren't that many in the other worlds."
"Shadows represent problems and questions in a person's mind." Arthur stated. "The more questions you have, the more Shadows you create."
"I guess you would have a lot of questions if you had memory loss." Charice sighed. "Though a lot of the Shadows here are faceless."
"Yeah, they kinda looked like really underdeveloped mannequins." Alfred laughed. "Or those nurses from Silent Hill or something!"
"God, don't remind me…"
Kiku was shaking for some reason, so the conversation was dropped and they headed deeper into the building. After a few minutes they heard a strange screeching, and they turned their heads to see a metal door slowly open before them.
"Well, that just screams of scary." Alfred blinked. "Which means that we should investigate!"
"Hell to the FUCKING NOOO!" Charice screamed. "Have you seen all the movies and videos you've created? Going to examine strange noises end up with your head being chopped off!"
"YEAH!" Lovino spat. "Don't do it!"
"Ahahaha~! It might be Ludwig, for all we know!" Antonio chirped. "Come on, Alfred, let's check it out!"
"Dammit you FUCKING FUCKTARDS! Don't freakin' do i- fuck, they're going."
"I guess we have to go after them…"
The others watched as Alfred and Antonio just went trotting on inside the room, forcing Charice and Lovino to follow suit. There was nothing in the room that was worth viewing, past four pillars and concrete walls. Yet somehow Alfred was excited about this stuff.
"This definitely is a place where a bad guy would hide something!" He exclaimed.
"You think, America?" Antonio laughed. "Well, let's go look for it!"
"My god, you two really are fucktards…"
Charice rolled her eyes and was about to mention something when the door slammed behind them. Lovino started pounding on the other side, and Charice could hear someone kicking the door. Meanwhile Alfred and Antonio were too busy trying to figure out just what the hell might be in here.
"Hey, you two! We're freakin' locked up in here!" Lovino spat.
"Don't worry about it! It probably just needs a switch or something!" Alfred looked around.
Charice shook her head (my god, they really ARE idiots) when she looked up to the concrete ceiling. There were strange pipes that were strewn all over the place, hidden around the single dimly lit light that was inside the room. She couldn't tell for sure, but there was something else in the ceiling too…
["All imperfects must be destroyed."]
"Eh?" She looked around. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Lovino sighed. "Don't tell me that you're going just as crazy as they are…"
["Blond hair…blue eyes…I must be perfect…this world must be perfect…"]
That's when she realized what was in the ceiling: it was vents to let air out of the room…or in. It was then that she heard the beginning of a long line of screams.
/= "It's Coming" by HetaOni =/
Oh shi- "Principality!"
She grabbed Lovino's hand and summoned her Persona the minute a strange misty air erupted into the room. In seconds, the entire room was covered and her lungs started to burn. Before she could start gagging, she heard Principality cast a spell, and instantly she could breathe again.
Poison gas? "Lovino! Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…good call." He stood up, his hands tightened around hers. "Wait…what about the othe-"
The screeching got louder, and they looked up to see purple demon-looking souls surround the entire room, leaving Charice to scream bloody murder and almost letting go of Lovino. Almost. He latched on as she started to swat them away with as much effectiveness as giving a German nonalcoholic beer…to say the least.
"What the hell is going on?" Lovino asked / spat.
"I-I don't know! Gah! Get away from me!" Charice looked up. "Look, over there!"
"What? I don't see anything!"
He couldn't see it, but she could: a strange orb of light that was in the middle of the screaming spirits. Before she knew it, her feet were flying forward toward the light, seeing it being pulled away by the spirits. Lovino's protests weren't even being registered anymore. All she had to do…was…touch it…!
*CRASH!*
…
…
…
/= "Prayer" by Pokemon Kanto =/
"Are you OK, Heilrich? You are comfortable…?"
"Yes. Thank you, Roderich."
He smiled quietly as the man left the room, allowing him to finally look at himself. Here he was, the remnants of what he used to be, recreated into the pathetic mess that he was now. Roderich was still clinging onto the hope that he would be rebuilt the same way. Hopeful, but naïve of him. Maybe he was just trying to be a little nicer to-
…
…
…
/= "JUSTICE" by Umineko no Naku Koro Ni =/
"Charice, snap the hell out of it!"
She blinked, realizing that the gas was dissipating and clearing out the room. From the corner of her eye, she could see Alfred was conscious, his jacket and shirt over his mouth just long enough for her to register the…whatever that was…and get the gas out. The door swung open behind them.
"Is everyone OK in here?" Matthew panicked.
"I'm OK." She turned her head. "Al?"
"I'll live. I didn't breathe that much of it." He stood up. "Just a few fresh breaths of air and I'll be fine."
"Speaking of which, where's-"
He didn't have to say much. Antonio was lying down just a few feet away from Alfred, unmoving from his position. He had been standing right where two air vents had been positioned and took the whole thing by surprise. She could feel his grip tighten on her hand.
"Antonio…?"
"This room isn't safe." Arthur called to them. "Get yourselves out of there and THEN talk!"
Lovino threw himself to Antonio's side, allowing Alfred to grab the other side and drag him out of the door. The minute the door closed, they slammed to the other side of the hallway and watched as Lovino started shaking the hell out of Antonio's lifeless body.
"Hey! HEY! Dammit, you tomato sucking BASTARD, wake the fuck up! There's no time to be sleeping around here!"
He stayed perfectly motionless, and Charice can actually start seeing the Italian tear up.
"Antonio? ANTONIO! God dammit, we can't be wasting any fucking time here! Wake up already!" He was sobbing at that point. "Fucking hell! D-dammit…"
Charice stood there in silence for a few minutes before hearing a strange wail echo from behind her. She turned her head and was instantly slammed in the face by one of those wailing spirits from before…yet there was no damage. Her head turned to see that no one had seen that, instead watching it possess Antonio. Instantly life came back into his lungs, scaring the crap out of…well, everyone at this point.
"GYAH!" Lovino jumped. "The fuck?"
"Eh?" Antonio looked up. "Oh! Hola, amigo!"
"Hola? HOLA? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? YOU WERE DEAD FOR A FEW MINUTES!" Lovino screamed. "How the hell can you…just…blow it all off like that…?"
"…I'm sorry Boss Spain made you worry." He laughed, petting Lovino. "I'm all right now."
"…fine…" He spat. "Fucking bastard."
Meanwhile, Charice wondered just what the hell happened there.
/=+=/
"So is that what happened?"
"Yeah. In that room, there were all these ghosts wailing around this one strange orb of light that no one was able to see. When I touched it, I was able to see one of Ludwig's memories." She blinked and looked at her hands. "It was warm…and it chased off the ghosts."
"Then we're indeed in his sub consciousness." Arthur looked up. "Ludwig had died once before, so I wouldn't be surprised on the state of his mind…I just didn't think it would be this bad."
"This…bad?"
"The fact that we entered a world created not by his conscious state. We are literally in the depths of his mind." He sighed. "A messed up one, at that."
"Messed up…yeah, I guess having remnants of gas chambers do that." Li Xiao walked into the conversation. "Doesn't this place remind you of the war?"
"I was never on the European continent, so don't ask me." Charice lifted up her arms. "Arthur?"
"I've only seen one of these buildings." He shook his head. "Never again."
"How bad, if I may ask?" Li Xiao tilted his head.
"You've seen the pictures, but only those who were there can truly understand." Arthur sighed, looking at the hallways. "The entire place smelled of rotting corpses. There were crematoriums that burned the dead daily. There were bodies stacked in wheelbarrows like they were holding food for horses. The people trapped there were skin and bones…many lifeless."
Charice just blinked. She heard of it a lot, and only knew of it by pictures and one name: Holocaust.
"They weren't just Jewish people. Gypsies, POWs, homosexuals, the mentally insane…if the higher ups didn't like you, you were sent there to die." Arthur rubbed his forehead. "The complete opposite of how Germany is now."
"Yeah…" Li Xiao looked up. "Speaking of the mentally insane…"
They all looked up and saw that they were inside an extremely white building, with no color in it whatsoever. Each door, upon checking them, were leading onto to the wall on the other side, so they decided that they weren't going to do anything about it and head further down the hallway. Charice clung onto Li Xiao with all her life, and he made no move to push her off.
It was then that they found themselves in a gigantic operating room. The blades were still on their racks and there was an operating table just in the middle. Of course, the Japanese man found it just a little unnerving to see this (and who wouldn't?) and backed up. The lights suddenly flickered before revealing that the table was missing.
"Well…that was unnerving." Li Xiao sighed. "What was that about?"
"Wish I knew, dude." Alfred looked around. "Uh…hey, where'd Arthur go?"
"…oh shi-"
Charice darted her head up to the ceiling and saw a rather traumatized Arthur strapped to the table on the ceiling, his hands pinned and unable to summon Persona. It was then that they started hearing wailing, and they turned their head to see that a Shadow doctor dripping blood started to slumber and crawl upon the walls.
["OOOOHHH…a new specimen…let's see how it bleeds…"]
Five seconds later, she felt warm blood on her cheeks and a rusty smell fill her nostrils. Alfred started screaming as a battle suddenly raged against the doctor. She was about to move when she realized something: she couldn't. One, her phobia was kicking in…and two, her hands were bound.
/= "Fighting of the Spirit" by Tales of Symphonia =/
"W-what?" She blinked. "How did we get into strait jackets?"
She looked up and saw that everyone was in strait jackets, trying hard to get free. None of them were able to summon their Personas or their weapons, and soon they were forced to see the doctor Shadow rip another part out of Arthur's stomach. Li Xiao stepped forward.
"All right, stay back."
Charice was about to say something when Li Xiao lifted his foot, revealing a card underneath it, and crushed it. Instantly, Lu Dongbin took control of his legs and he started to run up the walls toward the levitating doctor Shadow. With a chuckle, he jumped off it and delivered a well-aimed kick to its face. It exploded into a huge explosion of wailing ghosts, which swarmed the room. At the same time, he saw a small light hidden by the tortured faces.
"Li Xiao!" He heard Charice scream. "Crash that! It'll get rid of all of them!"
He didn't hesitate. He smashed it with his feet.
/= "Prayer" by Pokemon Kanto =/
It was at that moment when he saw her.
She was so perfect. The way she walked, the way she would act all shy around people that thought she was cute. As he hid behind one of the buildings, she was talking to her grandfather about the pretty flowers that plagued the area. It was then that he noticed it: it was the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was her grandfather…?
Does that mean that she is a nation? Just like him?
He felt his heart soar at the realization. Not only will his love be able to withstand time, but he didn't have to worry about human vitality getting in the way. If she is a nation, she had to be by his side. He has to protect her from now on. Hopefully, he will approve.
/= "JUSTICE" BY Umineko no Naku Koro Ni =/
Li Xiao landed on the ground before seeing the strait jacket vanish from his body. He looked up and saw Arthur as he crashed into Alfred's panicking arms, and saw a slow spirit come out of nowhere and possess his body, bringing life back into his lungs.
"Arthur!"
"…Al?"
"Thank god…that bastard didn't do too much to you…" Alfred rubbed foreheads with him. "Can you walk?"
"O-of course I can, you git!" Arthur jumped out of his arms. "I-I can walk…!"
"Well, that was totally unawesome! I wanted to do that!" Gilbert spat.
"Too bad. You should've called it." Li Xiao laughed. "Now then, we should get going."
After a few minutes, they walked forward through the hallway that warped back into a German office building. They were all having such a cheery conversation (surprising Charice) when she realized that Li Xiao and Kiku hadn't left her side, occasionally glaring at each other for no reason other than to be men…she guessed.
"I saw a memory back there."
"Eh?"
"Back with the doctor. When I broke that light, I saw something." Li Xiao stated. "It was a boy falling in love with a girl at first sight."
"That's a strange memory for Ludwig to have." Kiku blinked. "Did you know any of them?"
"All I know was that the Roman Empire was in there, and he was the girl's grandfather." The Chinese man answered. "I want to assume that Ludwig was probably the boy, but-"
"Wait…would that mean that Ludwig is…is…straight?"
Li Xiao stood there for a few minutes while Charice (and Kiku? Really?) started to panic and scream bloody murder at the mere thought of that. After a few minutes of giving up, he looked up and realized something rather noteworthy.
"Where did everyone go?"
They both looked up and saw that everyone was gone. The only problem was that they hadn't heard anything and the hallway goes completely straight. Instead, there was a young boy walking nervously around in a circle.
"Hey, that's the boy." Li Xiao blinked.
"Hey." She went up to him. "Are you OK?"
"…I'm scared."
"Scared? Of what?"
"That door." He pointed at the end of the hallway. "I'm…I'm looking for something, and it's over there…but I'm too scared to look."
"What if we come with you? We're heading in that direction anyway." Kiku smiled.
"T-thank you."
Charice quickly scooped him up and proceeded to lead the way. Once they saw the door, she felt him shiver in her arms and a strange smell entered her nostrils. It wasn't blood, but…it was strange, nonetheless.
"I'm scared…"
"Don't worry. We'll protect you~!" She chirped. "Right, boys?"
"Hai."
"Shi de." Li Xiao looked up. "I'll go first."
"No, let me. I was his ally during the war." Kiku walked to the door. "If there is anything resembling Ludwig on the other side, perhaps he'll be more mellow talking to me."
"All right then." Charice took a breath. "Here we go."
/=+=/
READ AND REVIEW CAUSE WE GOT CRAZY STUFF NEXT CHAPTER!
Anyway, if something in this chapter makes you uneasy, tell me. Most likely, everyone is uneasy about it and I'll be sure to change it if need be.