A/N: Hey guys! I decided that this story probably wasn't getting enough views because the word count was too small, so I relented and uploaded the first Chapter. Please enjoy, and TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Do you want me to continue this story? Is it interesting? Do you like the idea? Please give me some feedback to work with. Onigai~!

DISCLAIMER: *Sigh* If I owned either of these, then I'm sure HetaOni would be a movie, and this would be the sequel... Fortunately for the feelz of the Hetalians, I own neither. Darn.

Chapter 1: Segreti

The first thing Italy became aware of upon awakening was the unique auras of the other nations. It took him only a split second to recognize France, Germany, Prussia, Japan, China, America, Canada, Russia, Romano, Spain, and England, and register the fact that they were all unharmed. The next thing he became aware of was a pounding headache. Ve! My head hasn't hurt this bad since I was thrown through that wall! Finally, he registered that they were most certainly not in the Meeting Room anymore. Hell, they weren't even in the same building anymore!

One after another, as the seconds passed, the others started waking up, much to his relief. Groaning, he eased himself into a sitting position, stretching his muscles, and checking himself over for damage. And thanks to his Internal Kei, his headache was already easing away.

"Where the hell are we?" Romano asked as he, along with everyone else, stood up, rubbing their heads.

Italy looked around the room. It was white, with no furniture, and no windows or doors. In fact, it wasn't even a room, as much as it was an endless expanse of white. He realized that the entire area was saturated in kei energy. Now that he was aware of it, it seemed to hit him all at once, and he swayed slightly. He caught himself before anyone noticed, but it gave him one hell of a migraine, even with his Internal Kei helping. But what really scared him was that it held the same kei signature as the aurora.

A kei signature is as unique as a retina or fingerprint; everybody has their own kei signature, regardless of whether or not they can use/utilize/activate their kei, and regardless of whether or not they have a kei organ. Without kei, any living thing will die. It just wasn't until—

"Mon dieu! Where are we?!" France cried out, cutting off Italy's mental wanderings.

"How strange... It's as if that aurora transported us somewhere..." England trailed off, but it made Italy gasp audibly, catching the other nation's attention.

"Don't tell me!" He gasped quietly.

"What? Do you know something, Veneziano?" Romano asked, suspicious.

"I... I think we're inside the Aurora..." He trailed off, unable to fully comprehend it. The Aurora was, after all, an extremely powerful and mysterious thing, even to him. And he'd studied it extensively for centuries!

"That isn't possible, aru! An aurora is simply the visualization of the Earth's magnetic field, aru!"

"Then explain how it appeared in our Meeting Room? And how it was glowing?" Canada spoke up for the first time, startling the others.

Italy's hand migrated towards his pocket again, as he sensed something approaching, but with the large and chaotic kei surrounding them, he couldn't figure out what it was. Ve... But if we really are inside the Aurora... I hope I don't have to use that spell... I don't want to go through that again... and using that power could kill me... Permanently.

Italy's eyes narrowed as it came closer... closer...... closer......... Finally, he could see something. Ve! It's... "Saya...?" Italy breathed out in shock. He'd expected a monster, a fairy, a person, but the last thing he'd expected, was Saya.

"Italien, what is a 'saya?'" Germany asked, having heard Italy, but unable to see Saya yet, as she was too far away for the other nations to see.

Italy remained stubbornly silent, though mostly from shock of seeing Saya again, he didn't take his eyes off of her. Ve... How? Did I mess up? Was it all a dream?

By the time Saya finally reached them, they all fell silent. Before them, stood a girl, with long black hair, and dark eyes. Her face was expressionless, but Italy could tell she was both happy and displeased.

"Saya." Italy stated, surprising the others.

"You know her?" Spain asked.

"Feliciano... Feli. Celestial Blade Wielder. My dear friend."

"Saya, what are you doing here? Where is here? When is here?"

"Feli... You once trusted me with the Heaven's Blades... With your friendship, and with your protection... You gave me the opportunity to be human again, and feel. I wish to repay my debt to you... But I cannot. I wish to help you instead. You carry a large burden... You hurt inside, and can share it with none." Italy's eyes widened as he realized what she was planning.

"Saya, don't tell them! Please!" He cried out desperately, but she shook her head, as the other nations looked on in concern, curiosity, and suspicion. What was it that Italy was so desperate to hide? And why?

"I will not tell them." Italy only tensed. "I will show them... your memories... the past... their future..." Saya whispered to him.

"What?! No! I can't! I'd rather tell them! I don't want them to see!"

"You must... I'm so sorry, Feli... But... I cannot allow you to carry this burden alone anymore. You must understand; if it is truly to be prevented, they must understand as well." Italy and Saya locked eyes, and in that instant, Italy saw flashes of a ruined world... Of what would happen if they failed to understand.

"It won't be overnight, like before, but it will happen if they don't understand... If they don't see." She continued. Italy closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. A single tear ran down his cheek, as the nations looked on, confused as fuck, and worried as hell.

"Okay..." he finally relented. Saya gave a small smile, the first expression they'd seen the strange ethereal girl make.

"Thank you, Feli. I cannot control which memories will be viewed... Only the Aurora can decide what is important enough..."

"So we are inside of it?"

"Yes."

"Is there any chance of encountering a Contaminoid?" Italy asked seriously, his eyes golden slits, as if ready to fight at a moment's notice; though luckily for him, the other nations were at just the right angle to miss his expression, though they heard the seriousness in his voice.

"Perhaps... I've put my protection up around you and your friends, but I must return to Glendan... my protection here will be weaker than usual, so please be prepared... just in case."

"Right." He said, with a sharp nod, before he looked up in surprise. "Ve? Glendan?! But it doesn't exist anymore!" Italy cried out in surprise. "Unless...?"

"Yes. They're separate. They both exist. The Aurora is the in-between, able to transcend time and space... It is the only way I can communicate with you now... It's how it happened the first time..."

"I see..." Italy's eyes closed again in thought.

"I must go..." Saya reminded him gently.

"Ve... Okay. Ciao, Saya. I'll miss you... And grazie, for keeping me from making another mistake." Italy whispered. Saya simply nodded her head, a simple, tiny smile on her face, but only Italy could see it. She then vanished in a spray of multicolored aurora light.

All was silent for about twenty seconds, before Romano finally exploded. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THAT, VENEZIANO?! WHAT THE CRAP IS GOING ON?! HUH?! WHO WAS THAT GIRL, HOW DO YOU KNOW HER, AND WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING CRAP WERE YOU TWO JUST TALKING ABOUT?! HUH?!" Romano ranted, frustrated, scared, and beyond confused.

"Hai, Itary-kun... I would greatly appreciate an explanation." Japan added quietly, yet firmly.

Italy sighed and looked everyone in the eye, his own eyes actually open for once. "I don't need to explain," He held up his hand to stop their outbursts, "because I'm going to show you."

"Show us...?" Canada asked quietly. Italy nodded his head.

"Si. I'll show you... My past... your future..." Before anyone could ask him what he meant, the 12 of them were surrounded by an icy-blue-white glow that was tinged with spring greens and sunny yellows, though the wintry blue was prominent. It grew brighter and brighter, until everyone had to shield their eyes from the light.

When they were finally able to see again, they found themselves in an alleyway. Italy's eyes widened as he realized what memory this was.

"Fuck... I don't want to see this again..." He muttered under his breath, but Romano heard, and thwacked his head. "Oi! I'm the only one allowed to use that sort of fucking language, damnit!"

"Ve! We'll you're going to hear a lot more than that, fratello! Trust me..." He trailed off somewhat sadly, as they watched another Italy enter the alley.

"Woah! Dude! Is that you?!" America asked.

"Si. That's the me from the past. This was about a year ago to you..."

"To... us...?" Japan asked, confused.

"Just... just watch." Italy stated firmly, masking his inner turmoil.

"Ve~ It's been awhile since I've been down this entrance~ I think the last time was when I was showing Leo around~ Ve... that was fun..." Past Italy stated, a melancholy smile on his face.

"Leo...?" Germany asked, confused.

"Leonardo da Vinci. He was my good friend, and I told him that I was a nation. We'd spend lots of time together~ I remember when I first proposed the idea of the helicopter! He was so sure it wouldn't work~ Then I showed him my blueprints~ Hehe~ The look on his face was hilarious~!" Italy giggled a bit, mostly trying to relieve the anxiety he felt at what they were about to witness...

"WAIT! You invented the helicopter?!" Germany blurted out.

"Wait, wait, wait! You were best friends with Leonardo da Vinci?!" Prussia tacked on. The other nations were all rather shocked at this information. For one, it completely disproved their idea that Italy was an idiot. For another, it proved that he really was much more observant than they thought. Whoops on their part.

Feliciano (we'll just call Past Nations by their human names, from now on) ran his finger down a hairline crack in the brick wall of the alley's dead end. The nations watched in awe as the wall started separating, revealing a hidden tunnel.

"DUDE! THAT'S SO COOL! I WANT ONE!" America shouted.

"Ve... By the way, if anyone but Romano and myself try that, you'll just end up triggering one of the numerous traps." They looked between a smirking Romano and a smirking Italy, but wisely said nothing.

They watched as Feliciano walked through the tunnels, the torches along the walls lighting his way. "The torches work off of the natural energy of my nation, so when it senses the energy of a nation nearby, particularly one of Italian decent, as with me and Lovi, they'll light themselves. No fuel needed. These are Grandpa Rome's tunnels, by the way. They stretch across any land that my Grandfather used to control." Italy finished, leaving the other nations in a not-sure-if-I-should-be-impressed-or-scared-shitless type of state.

Feliciano made his way through the complex maze-like tunnels—taking so many twists and turns that none of the others could even begin to remember the path—until finally, they came upon a door, which wasn't all that unusual from what they'd seen. The only thing that made this door different from the countless other doors that they'd already seen, was that Feliciano actually went through this one.

"Umm..." Nobody quite knew what to do. Feliciano had gone through the door, but he'd closed it before they could go through. "Great, now what?!" Romano shouted.

"Ve~ Romano, calm down, this is a memory, remember? We can't touch anything here. Watch." Italy stated, walking through the wooden door. The other nations simply stood there, not quite sure how to accomplish what they'd just seen; their self-preservation instincts telling them that, yes, a door was, in fact, a solid object, and that, no, they could not, actually, walk through it. After a few seconds, Italy's head popped through the door, startling the others—and freaking a few out.

"Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation? Come on." Then he disappeared through the door again. Japan was the first one to make a move, walking calmly through the door, and disappearing the same way as Italy. The others followed soon after.

The room was about the size of a small living room, but it seemed much smaller due to the 2 desks that were overflowing with books and papers. Open books and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages of notes of everything ranging from checklists and poems and doodles to complex scientific formulas and mechanical blueprints were scattered all around the room. It was a mess. The only 'clean' area was the right side of the room, where it seemed to be divided into two sections; one with a long table and two curious devices, and the other with a few smaller tables and a desk with some microscopes and biology and botany books and notes.

"What is this?" England breathed out in awe, as he looked at some of the notes. He couldn't understand any of them.

"This is my private research lab. I work on all my personal projects here." Italy answered.

"W-what?!" Germany shouted out in shock.

"Itary-kun...? What is this?" Japan asked, examining the curious devices on the long table. The two devices looked just like each other. The base seemed to be a round white disk of some sort, about the size of a dinner plate, with a black ring around the outer edge, and another black ring around the inner edge. There were three silver rings somehow floating above each disk, each one hovering about 6 inches above the one below it. There was a strange hum of energy coming from them...

"Oh? Those are a little pet-project of mine~ They're teleportation devices~!"

"Nani?! Teleportation?! Sugoi! How far are you?" Japan had been working on his own teleportation technology for a while, but he hadn't gotten far enough for a working prototype yet.

"Ve~ Those two are prototypes, as you've probably already guessed. They worked, too, but only with inanimate objects, and only over a short distance. I hadn't gotten them to work any farther than 3.256 feet away from one another. Any farther apart, and the object that it was teleporting would start to either deform during the journey, or lose parts of itself. I was still working on fixing that at this point in time, but it wouldn't teleport anything alive yet. Poor moth... and mouse..." Italy stated, remembering how hard he'd been working on them before he'd gotten distracted with the other project.

"Wow! You've done all that yourself, aru?! That's amazing!" China cried out, speaking for the whole room. Romano remained quiet; knowing full well how much time Italy could spend down there, working for days on end on these projects of his, hardly taking the time to use the restroom, let alone eat.

"Grazie~ But I'd gotten distracted with another project..." Italy trailed off, knowing that his past self would explain.

"Ve~ Romano~ What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that this was my area?" Feliciano stated, grabbing the attention of the other nations. They only then noticed that Past Romano (or Lovino as we'll call him) was sitting at one of the desks, reading through some of the research papers.

"I see you've gotten much farther on the teleportation prototypes. Good job. Let me know if you need any other mice or rats." Lovino stated calmly, not looking up from the papers.

"Romano... Why are you here? You don't see me letting myself into your private lab." Feliciano raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, you have a lab, too Lovi?" Spain asked.

"Chigi! Of course I do! I may not be as scientifically inclined as Veneziano, but I invent stuff too! I just deal with geology and biology more than technology and astronomy, like Veneziano. I'm also pretty damn good with engineering, if I do say so myself."

"Si~ Fratello's the best when it comes to geology and biology~ Botany, too~! And he's a genius at mechanics~!" The others stared between the two Italians. Why hadn't they noticed this before? Just how smart were the Italy Twins?

"Wait!" Romano suddenly shouted, turning to Italy. "I don't remember this! The fuck?! This is your memory, right? So why the crap can't I remember this?!"

The others look between Romano and Italy with raised eyebrows.

"Ve... You may not believe me, but... I'm actually..." He became very interested in poking his pointer fingers together. "From the future..." Silence.

"What...?" Romano breathed, his ability to detect lies told him that Veneziano was telling the truth, even while his logic was saying something along the lines of, 'there's no fucking way he could've time traveled! That sort of technology isn't even close yet!'

"I said... I'm from the future. I traveled back in time to prevent..." He stopped, a look of grief overcoming his features.

"Prevent what...?" Prussia asked tentatively, not sure if he wanted to know. Italy looked down, his bangs shadowing his eyes.

"The apocalypse." He answered, his voice void of all emotion.

"Wha-what?! You mean zombies, explosions, the world freezing over?! That stuff?!" America shouted. The other nations would usually laugh it off like some sort of joke, but with how odd Italy had been acting this past year or so... plus seeing the past—future?—like this...

"Heh... No zombies, but there were plenty of explosions..." Italy stated darkly. "You'll see it firsthand here... So just wait, okay?" He turned his attention back to his old lab—his old self.

Lovino sighed, causing the group to turn their attention back to the memory, as they continued to digest the new information. "Veneziano. You've been locking yourself away in your lab for the past 4 months! And don't think I didn't notice you taking some botany books from our library and my private laboratory! What's this new project about? You've been working on the teleportation prototype nonstop for years, now, and I know you're not the kind of person to leave a project unfinished to work on something else unless it was either more interesting or more important. So spill."

"Ve~ Look at this, Vino." Feliciano said, holding up a strange flower. It was very pretty; it looked like a cross between a stargazer lily, a hibiscus, and a rose, and it was purple, green, blue, red, yellow, and fuchsia, but the colors were all swirled together in some sort of complex, precise tie-dye pattern. It almost resembled a galaxy.

"What the...?" Lovino and Romano breathed at the same time, both of them wondering what the hell was up with the strange flower. "What did you do to it?"

"It's natural." Feliciano stated. Lovino started drooling over the flower, as he took a few steps closer to get a better look.

"How? Those aren't natural markings, unless it's some sort of..." Lovino trailed off as he looked up suspiciously at Feliciano, Romano doing the same with Italy. "Veneziano, where did you find this?"

"It's a mutation. Of what, I'm not quite sure. It's an entirely new type of flower in a genus all its own. It may have been something else once, but it appears to have been mutated at an anatomical level, and thus created an entirely new species of flower. I don't have a name for it yet, but it has some very interesting pollen..."

"Where did you find it? Don't try to change the subject on me, Veneziano." Lovino warned.

"Ve... I sort of found it near a nuclear power plant in America..."

"You what?! Veneziano, you know how I feel about nuclear power plants! They're dangerous! That's why we both agreed to remove them from our nation entirely!"

"I know, Vino! I know! But it's so interesting! The flower's mutation is caused by the nuclear upset near the plant! Look!" Feliciano practically shoved Lovino towards the microscope. He glanced into it for a moment before turning back to Feliciano, fully intending to give him a lecture, when he stopped quite suddenly and whirled around for a double take, staring into the microscope with newfound interest.

"What the fuck?! This is–! What the hell am I looking at?" Lovino exclaimed, as Romano looked intrigued. He could usually identify any plant or pollen on-sight through a microscope. If his past-self was this confused... He'd ask Veneziano to show him the specimen later, though his hands were twitching at the thought of examining the flower in-depth... He was a botany-nut, and proud of it!

"It's the pollen from the flower. I've run quite an extensive amount of experimentation on it. It's not harmful to humans or nations, but it does travel unbelievably fast by air. If my calculations are correct, then it can travel from one side of America to the other—coast-to-coast—in ten minutes or less, regardless of wind levels."

"What?!" Lovino and Romano looked at Italy and Feliciano in shock.

"But how?! That shouldn't be possible!" Romano shouted, echoing his past self.

"I'm not entirely sure yet... But get this! It grows all over the world, but only near nuclear power plants! At least, from what I've seen..."

"Woah... Do... Do you think I could have a few samples?" Lovino asked, practically drooling at the flower that Feliciano was holding. Spain let out a whisper of "So adorable~! Kya~!" But even their Romano was too caught-up in the idea of examining the flower to hear Spain; much to the endless amusement of the other nations.

"Sure~ I've got quite a few, and every flower's design is unique! Here." He set five carefully preserved and bottled flowers on the table for Lovino to choose from. Lovino grabbed one, muttering a quick "Grazie" before grabbing Feliciano by the wrist, and proceeding to drag him out into the tunnel.

Italy suddenly tensed, knowing what was about to happen.

"Fratello? Where are we going?" Feliciano asked, calm yet slightly miffed, as if this kind of thing happened often.

"Idiota! You haven't eaten in two days! You only rest from your research once every 2-4 days, and that's just to sleep in an actual bed instead of on your desk and notes. I'm making you some pasta." Lovino stated, as Feliciano fell into step beside him.

"You don't eat, aru?! That's not good!" China shouted, annoyed. Of all people, Italy was the last person they would expect to get too caught up in something to even eat.

"Yeah... The idiota once went 2 ½ weeks without eating anything before I finally dragged him home and force-fed him pasta." Romano grumbled.

"You had to force-feed Italy Pasta!?" Germany repeated; his mind unable to comprehend that Italy wouldn't want pasta in any situation.

"Yeah... he only gets like that when he's really into his research, or really into a painting... I remember one time he actually ate the paint by mistake when he was working on one of his portraits. He'd been working on it for 6 days straight, no sleep, and no food, and somehow mistook the paint for food."

"That was one time, fratello! And I keep a mini-fridge and pantry in there, now, so I do eat when I paint!"

"Hmm... Maybe we should put one in the lab, then? Nah, then you'd never come out."

"Oh, like you're any better when you're on a roll? I remember one time when you locked yourself in your lab for almost a month with nothing but a handful of granola bars and a pack of water! I had to actually pick the lock to drag you out, and found you passed out on the floor from hunger!" Italy shot back, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, at least I don't drool all over my research notes!"

"Yeah?! Well at least I bothered to put a bathroom in my lab!"

"You said you'd never mention that again!" Romano screeched, blushing like mad. It wasn't his fault that he was so into his research that he didn't have time to use the restroom! He'd kept those adult diapers down there for a reason... He just hadn't expected Veneziano to find them...

"Mention what?" Italy replied innocently.

"You are infuriating." Romano growled.

The other nations just stared dumbfounded. They'd never seen the Italy twins act this way before. Sure, they'd seen them fight, but never banter with each other in such a teasing and brotherly manner before. They'd always assumed that the brotherly relationship was simply one-sided. That Romano could care less what his younger brother did, as long as he didn't get hurt.

It seemed that there was a lot more to their relationship with one another than anyone else thought possible. The only exception was Spain, who raised Romano, and knew how close the brothers truly were. He'd been there, along with Austria and Hungary, when the two brothers were reunited after hundreds of years apart, with nothing but letters as a means of communication between the two. It had been such a breathtaking, touching brotherly moment that he couldn't help but let Romano go... no matter how much it hurt... At least he came back.

"Ve~ Grazie Romano~ I suppose I'll work better after I get something to eat other than a granola bar." Feliciano stated, catching the attention of the future nations again, but Italy tensed.

"Veneziano...?" Romano asked quietly, concerned by his brother's edginess. Italy only gripped his brother's arm, needing the comfort of his touch. This only served to worry Romano more; Veneziano, while he typically acted like a coward, was always emotionally strong around others, even if he didn't seem it. He was the kind of person that hid his emotional pain and turmoil until it ate him from the inside out enough to cause a breakdown, or until Romano dragged it out of him. Veneziano never sought emotional comfort like this unless he was truly terrified.

Romano discreetly brought his twin into a comforting one-armed embrace.

"Yeah... But we'll eat fast, okay?" Lovino stated, holding up the encased flower. "I can't wait to—" But whatever Lovino was going to say was cut off by the sound of an explosion, and the tunnel shaking. It shook so much, that Feliciano and Lovino had to lean against the walls to keep from falling over.

The nations all looked around, startled. "The fuck?!" Romano shouted, frightened, tightening his hold on his brother. Italy, on the other hand, closed his eyes tightly and covered his ear with his free hand, his other hand cutting off the blood flow to Romano's arm (Italy had to keep aware of his grip, though, so as to not break his brother's arm). This experience... had caused a phobia for Italy. Any type of explosion or shaking while in a confined space made him panic, as he was doing now.

Romano brought his brother into his chest, doing his best to comfort his terrified twin. Italy was shaking so hard that it honestly looked like he was being shaken by the quake in the tunnel.

Japan was the first to notice. "Itary-kun?! Daijobu?!" Japan's worried cry caught the attention of the other nations.

"Veneziano, calm down. Take a deep breath, and calm down. I'm here. I've got you. You're safe. It's not really happening." Romano spoke softly and comfortingly, while rubbing his brother's back, as the shaking of the tunnel got worse. Rocks started falling down from the ceiling.

Italy let out a whimper and crouched down in a fetal position, taking Romano to the ground with him, as he tried to block the whole thing out. He gripped his brother in a death-hug, clinging desperately to him to ground himself to reality.

Giant carnivorous insects that primarily feast on human flesh? No problem. Explosions while in an underground tunnel? He'd rather eat his boot—no, scratch that—he'd rather eat England's cooking for a month.

Romano continued to hold Italy in a gentle, yet firm embrace, as the golden-eyed Italian clung to his fratello like a lifeline. Romano continued to mutter soothingly to his fratellino, while trying to keep himself from panicking due to the overwhelming fear traveling through their mental link. He sent as many soothing thoughts and emotions and memories through their link as he could to try to calm Veneziano down.

It was then that the tunnel collapsed around them; Italy flinched badly when it did. The others cried out, trying to dodge the falling rocks, only to have said rocks pass through them harmlessly. They shivered, still not used to the whole intangible thing...

It was completely silent as the dust floated around them... Italy had finally calmed down, muttering an apology for his behavior, and a near-silent thank you to his fratello, whom he still clung to.

"It's alright, Itary-kun. It must've been a traumatic experience for you..." Japan stated, trying to comfort his friend.

"S-si... Ever since then, I've had this fear of being trapped in a small space... not like claustrophobia, but more like being in a confined area while it's shaking... I can't even handle elevators sometimes..." He trailed off, finally pulling away from his brother a bit and standing up, though he kept a firm grip on Romano's arm, not that Romano minded—he himself kept an arm around his younger twin.

Veneziano's reaction had terrified him—they'd all been through war before. They'd all seen and lived through explosions and bombings and whatnot as well. Hell, they'd lived through two World Wars, and while they all had some sort of PTSD for awhile, Nations were mentally stronger than humans, and they were able to recover after awhile. But never before had any Nation had such a bad reaction like this... to even be afraid of elevators? There had to be more to Veneziano's fear than a cave-in. Though, to be fair, reliving the experience that caused that fear probably had something to do with why the reaction was so strong... but still... to induce an actual phobia or permanent fear in a Nation? That was almost unheard of! Especially in a Nation as old and experienced as Veneziano...

"Mein Gott..." Germany trailed off as the dust finally settled enough for them to see the damage. The whole tunnel hadn't collapsed, but the middle of the tunnel, where Feliciano and Lovino had been walking, was nothing more than a pile of rocks and rubble. It didn't seem like they were at street-level, though... they were still definitely underground in the tunnel network.

Movement caught their attention as Lovino, bloodied and bruised, dragged himself from the rubble, into the part of the tunnel that had survived. "Fuck! What the hell was that?! Not an earthquake... But... damn!" He started coughing up blood, and he kept his weight off his left ankle. His right wrist also looked either sprained or broken, but beyond that, they couldn't tell what his other injuries were.

"Veneziano?! Where are you!?" Lovino shouted, not bothering to hide the splash of panic in his voice. "Don't you dare fucking die on me, fratellino..." He muttered under his breath.

"Wait a minute, mon ami! I thought that this was your memory? So why can we see this even when you're not 'ere?" France spoke up.

"Ve... I'm guessing that Saya did something that allows us to see beyond what I experienced. That, or it's just another mystery of the Aurora that I'll never know..." Italy sighed, still quivering slightly, but visibly calmer.

Before they could comment on anything, Feliciano's voice caught their attention. "Vino! I need help! My leg's stuck!" The whole group ran with Lovino towards the cry, and found Feliciano, bloody and banged up and dusty just like his brother, trying to pull himself out of the rubble. His left arm was bent at an odd angle and looked to be causing him great pain, and he also seemed to be having trouble breathing.

Japan, Germany, and America all went to help Lovino pull Feliciano out of the rubble, but realized that they just passed right through him. Romano just tightened his grip on Veneziano, as if to remind himself that he was still there.

"Memory, remember?" Italy reminded them. China looked frustrated that he couldn't treat, or even properly check their injuries, as the others looked frustrated that they could do nothing to help.

"What was that?" Feliciano asked after Lovino had finally managed to help him out of the rubble.

"The hell should I know?!" Lovino then sighed, and carefully helped Feliciano to his feet. "Here, let's try to get back up to ground level." Feliciano nodded his head, wincing as he did so, as they supported each other back through the tunnels and towards the surface.

Several times, they had to go around collapsed tunnels and dig through cave-ins, but after what felt like hours, they finally came to a wall. The other nations thought that maybe they'd hit their heads a bit hard, and were lost, or perhaps the detours had turned them around, but Lovino proved them wrong when he slid his finger down an almost non-existent crack in the wall. It slid open like the entrance did.

The other nations expected sunlight, fresh air, ash, smoke, perhaps evidence of bombings, but nothing could've prepared them for what they saw.

"Mon Dieu..." France breathed, as the other nations all let out similar expressions of horror in their native tongues.

"Ro-Romano...? What happened?" Feliciano gasped out, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Lovino and Romano were in similar states of shock.

The entire city before them, lay covered in a thick layer of ash, dust, and who-knows-what-else. Buildings lay in rubble, and people were crying in shock, anguish, pain, and grief, trying to make sense of what was going on around them... of what had just happened. Car alarms and sirens filled the air, as emergency personal did their best to help whoever they could. Buildings lay in rubble while others remained half-collapsed.

Romano finally understood why Veneziano had developed such a strong fear as he had... The collapsing of the tunnel was terrifying enough, but to see something like this immediately afterwards...? Subconsciously, Veneziano had associated the two with one another—and justly so—and it only served to intensify the fear... Then if you add in the pain...

"Fratello...?" Feliciano started weakly. Lovino gave a noncommittal grunt, still in shock himself. "I think..." He had to pause to cough up some blood, as the memory around them darkened considerably, startling the others. "How many people did we lose...?" He asked in a tired, almost broken voice. Lovino looked around them, the disaster seeming unreal... "I... don't know... I can't tell our physical injuries from our nation ones... But... I'd guess probably a few thousand... perhaps more..."

"I'd say about 100,000 or more..." Feliciano whispered as he coughed up some more blood, Lovino doing the same. They slid down the alley's wall, side by side, as the memory continued to darken. "Our nation connection... it seems muted... I don't think we've received the full brunt yet..." Feliciano muttered again, as Lovino hummed quietly in agreement.

"What...?" One of the other nations whispered, but nobody paid them any attention, too horrified at the scene before them.

"Fratello...?" Feliciano asked again, barely conscious; his voice sounded far away to the observing nations. "What are we going to do?"

There was a pause, and for a moment, they thought that maybe Lovino had fallen asleep. "Rest... We'll rest for now, and figure out what happened tomorrow..." He trailed off as the memory finally faded to black.

Edited: 04/18/2019