Chapter 11: Rimpiazzare

"Italy..." Tempus' voice sounded. Suddenly the next scene faded in. It was a whirl of colors and sounds. It was overwhelming.

"M-My head! I can't think!!" Feliciano grasped his head in pain, curling in on himself. "Where am I? What's going on?"

"You are traveling through time. I've given you a mark as proof that you are doing so with approval. It will burn for a bit, but it won't hinder you. Now, for the replacement—"

"The what?!" Feliciano's eyes snapped open, and he looked at the man before him. Tempus smiled, seemingly unaffected by the sounds and colors whirling past them.

"You are going to essentially consume and replace your past self. That way, we can avoid a paradox. Hold on; this will not be pleasant. After you've landed in the past, I will no longer be able to contact you. You will be on your own."

"So this is goodbye." Feliciano looked him in the eye. "Thank you. I will never be able to repay you for this opportunity."

"It is I who is in your debt, should you succeed." Tempus smiled and bowed to a startled Feliciano. "Farewell, Feliciano Vargas... Veneziano Italy."

Tempus then vanished, and the colors became more vibrant, more violent. What had been greys turned red, like blood, before brightening into vibrant colors. The muttering in the background became deafening, like billions of people talking all at once—some yelling or screaming—layered with every sound of the Old World, before the Initial Blast. Car horns and bombs and alarm systems accosted the nations' ears, causing them all to cover their ears and shut their eyes.

Feliciano's screams were lost to the chaos around him, as he became just another voice in the crowd.

"W-What is this!?" France cried out.

"Time travel." Italy answered as the chaos abruptly ceased. The sound dulled significantly, until all that was left was a ringing in everyone's ears and the distant sound of cars on the road. A distant chatter was hardly registered in the wake of the deafening experience. Colors dulled to a dark room, and the nations checked their ears for blood.

"Time travel? Is that what it's like?" Romano shuddered.

"Perhaps it was best I did not come." England shivered.

"That was us jumping over the timestream to a specific point in the past. We just watched over 5,000 years pass us by." Italy rubbed his own ears. "Though I'd rather have not experienced that twice."

For a moment, Feliciano laid on the floor of the room, before he found the strength to stand up. He looked around himself, recognizing dazedly his old bedroom.

"Is this... Home?" He blinked. Before he could do anything else, he heard a rustling in the bed directly in front of him. He stood up, and looked down upon his past self.

I look so... peaceful... He thought to himself. So... young. He smiled softly, looking at himself in the mirror that hung on the wall. His hair went to his mid-back, and had streaks of silver throughout. He had a bit of stubble and his wrinkles gave him a ruggish look. He was several inches taller than he used to be, and several scars were visible on his person. If I were to face my old friends like this, they'd have a panic attack for sure... He smiled softly, before looking down at his old self.

This feels wrong. Like I'm killing someone... but I suppose the only person I'm killing... is myself. My childhood, in a sense. My innocence. But that's been dead... He reached towards his sleeping self. For a very long time.

The moment he rested his hand on his past-self's forehead, that same past self started to fade away, like a ghost. Never once did he wake up.

Feliciano stood there after his old self had completely vanished, leaving an empty bed. He stared, confused at his own reflection. Nothing's changed? His brows furrowed. No, that's not right... Tempus said it would hurt... so where's the... His eyes widened as the pain abruptly registered. He bit his hand to keep himself from crying out in pain. Blood dripped to the floor as he crumpled to the ground, spasming in agony, as if having a seizure.

Slowly, he started to shrink. His hair lost its grey lines and his wrinkles smoothed out. His scars, however, remained.

After what felt like hours, he fell still and silent. If he hadn't been panting, the nations would fear he'd died.

"Well..." His voice sounded younger again. "That isn't something I'd like to experience ever again." He shook his head and shakily sat up, propping himself up against his bed. He thought for a moment, and concentrated, spreading some ice along the ground. "Okay, so powers stayed, check."

"Master Vargas?!" JARVIS' voice sounded from Feliciano's pocket, making him jump. He quickly pulled out the smart phone, and stared in shock.

"J-JARVIS!? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be? Siri?"

"Dear Kami, why did we make you so sarcastic?" Feliciano shook his head. "I blame Fratello for your crappy sense of humor." He chuckled before wincing, the brief image of Lovino's death flashed in the memory before it returned to the bedroom.

"No... No, he's alive now." He shook his head. "They're all alive now."

"Master Vargas?" JARVIS questioned. "Where are we? I sense more people outside than I have in any Regios before!"

"We aren't in a Regios, JARVIS."

"We aren't?"

"The question isn't where, but when." He smiled, as he stood on shaky legs and looked out his window. Below, people milled about the streets of Italy, minding their own business. The sky was bright and blue, and trees grew everywhere. Birds flew in the sky, and cars drove along the streets without a care in the world. People walked dogs, and stray cats prowled the alleyways.

Feliciano didn't realize when he'd started crying. "I can't hear them..." He smiled bitterly. "But I'm home. Italia... I shall save you, if it takes my last breath to do so." A determined gleam entered his eye. "But first, to America."

The memory faded out.

"Time travel is a migrane and a half, aru!" China crossed his arms.

"You're telling me!" Italy huffed, "I'm the one who had to go through that!"

"Thank you, Italy." America smiled. "For saving us all."

"Oui. I shudder to think what the world would be like without your sacrifice." France added.

"Think? We know what it'd be like. And I, for one, don't want any part of that." Canada shuddered.

"I am thinking that we are all owing Italiya for what he has done." Russia smiled.

The next memory faded in, showing Feliciano on an airplane, presumably flying to America. He had a pair of earphones in, and smiled contentedly as he lightly bobbed his head to the music.

The nations could hear some kind of rock music playing in the background.

"Whatcha listenin to?" America asked.

"Linkin Park." Italy answered with a near-feral grin.

"I have heard their songs. Not quite my cup of tea." England shrugged.

"Just don't let Hungary hear you playing those songs. She'd really have a panic attack." Romano chuckled.

"I do have this one song on my phone... It's a Limp Bizkit." Italy smirked.

"Oh! Oh! Is it Break Stuff?!" America grinned.

"Yep~" Italy chirped, as America busted up laughing.

"What is Limp Biscuit?" Germany asked, confused, even as his brother cackled.

"It's Limp Bizkit, und you don't want to know." Prussia grinned. "It's not quite your kind of song." He explained through his chuckles.

Feliciano startled when the plane hit the runway, landing in Los Angeles, USA. He smiled and pulled out his headphones. As he exited the plane and went through customs and the like, he didn't lose the small smile of excitement.

When he stepped outside, and saw the American Flags flying proudly in the wind, he let out a laugh. "I really did it..."

"It hadn't set in until then." Italy explained. "Not really. I mean, I knew I'd gone back in time, but the fact that I could prevent this... It hadn't set in until then."

"I don't remember you telling me about a trip to America..." Romano furrowed his brows.

"I didn't tell you. I left a note saying I had business to tend to, and I wouldn't be home for several weeks."

"You jerk! Do you know how worried I was?!" Romano glared.

"Sorry, but... I didn't trust myself to face you at the time. I wasn't exactly allowed to explain time travel and stuff, you know? You'd been dead for thousands of years... I didn't know how to face you. Not after all this time... when you didn't remember, and I still had to prevent this entire mess."

"Entirely understandable." England shrugged. "Tempus was very clear that we weren't to tell anyone unless under very specific circumstances."

"I... I guess I can understand... still, that doesn't make me feel any less annoyed." Romano huffed.

"I think that's a 'you' problem." Italy muttered under his breath, causing England to snort in amusement.

The memory had shifted while nobody had been paying attention.

Feliciano had just hung up the phone and sat at a café. He enjoyed a Starbucks coffee while waiting for someone to arrive.

"Starbucks? Really?" Romano gave his brother a look.

"Can you blame me? Coffee was something I hadn't had in nearly five thousand years!"

"You mean there wasn't coffee in the future?!" America cried out, aghast.

"Just because you run off the stuff." England rolled his eyes. "But no, the coffee bean plant did not survive the apocalypse. Neither did Marijuana or peppermint. Most herbs and plants used in cooking died out. Fortunately, I kept a very large back stock of tealeaves, so my tea lasted about eight centuries. Oh! But I found another few plants that I could make tea out of, so I still got my afternoon tea thereafter." He smirked.

"Even dandelions died out, so no coffee there, either." Romano sighed.

"I found something I could make green tea out of, though it wasn't quite the same." Japan sighed.

"Italy?" Feliciano's head whipped up as a familiar blonde-haired man sat down across from him. The nations blinked in surprise.

"C-Canada..." Feliciano stuttered and wiped away a stray tear. "Thank you for meeting me here. I have a favor to ask of you, but before that..."

"It all makes sense, now." Canada blinked. "I was so confused by this conversation."

"You were the only one I could think of that wouldn't ask too many questions." Italy smiled.

"O...kay?" Matthew looked at the very serious Italian before him in concern and confusion.

"I need you... please don't ask too many questions. I'm afraid I cannot answer them right now. But your brother—America—is in grave danger. I need access to an uncharted bunker to do research in. Please? It's more important than I could ever convey. I'll give you whatever you want in exchange; money, land, goods..."

Matthew stared for a moment, startled by the request, before his eyes hardened. "If my brother is in danger... then I'll help in whatever way I can. No payment necessary. But I do want to help."

Feliciano looked at his plate in contemplation. He looked ready to say no, when Matthew spoke up again.

"Please!" Feliciano looked up at him. "Please... Let me protect my little brother for once. He always tries to protect everyone else... I won't ask questions... Please... Just let me be useful this one time." Matthew's violet eyes locked with Feliciano's dark golden ones.

They stared for several long minutes until Feliciano finally sighed. "Fine. You can help. But know that there are some things I just am not allowed to answer or explain."

"Thank you." Matthew smiled.

"Wait, I don't remember that..." Canada puzzled for a moment. "Come to think of it, I don't really remember much after I sat down with you..."

"Er... well, I think that'll be explained." Italy sighed. "You... sort of have some mild amnesia."

"I... what?"

"You took a pretty nasty hit to the head, and when you woke up, you didn't really remember any of the stuff we did to save the world."

"Wait... So I helped you save the world?" Canada raised an eyebrow.

"Of course you did! What, you think that a single man can do that alone?"

"Well... when you put it that way..." America sweatdropped. "I suppose I can understand. Even heroes need help." He smiled.

"Did America just call someone else a hero?" England muttered to France who nodded in shock.

"I think our little boy is growing up."

"I think he grew up a long time ago." England stared. "But we just never realized." He sighed.

"So you can't explain anything, but what's putting America in so much danger? What are we fighting against?" Matthew asked, tilting his head.

"There's a secret underground organization that's dabbled in powers that they have no business touching." Feliciano glared. "Originally, I was going to have a partner helping me out, but..."

"I would have helped you if you'd only have given me my Grimoire." England scoffed.

"Sorry," Italy defended. "Forgive me for being a little sentimental. Plus, as you'll see, there really wasn't much of an opportunity."

The memory hazed for a moment before showing Matthew and Feliciano in some kind of lab. It was a great deal smaller than Feliciano and Lovino's lab on Upwhur, but Feli had a somewhat similar setup—minus the holographic Regios-building tech.

"So let me get this straight." Matthew started, waiting for Feli to nod to show he was listening. "You're from some kind of alternate reality and was sent here to prevent a great disaster from occurring that will kill off most of the world, you've created JARVIS, and you can't tell anyone the details without getting in some really big trouble. Did I get that right?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Alternate reality is as close as I can get to explaining it without breaking the rules. Oh! You forgot that this group of people may be from that same reality as me."

"That's not confusing at all." Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache. "So why do you need my help?"

"Because anyone else would press me for answers I can't give, for one. Especially when they see what we're up against. Besides..." Feliciano turned to look at Matthew with dark, war-torn eyes. "You're observant. You're loyal. And above all... You're immortal."

Matthew's eyes widened. "You... aren't?"

"Do you have that flower I sent you to get?" Feliciano abruptly changed the subject, throwing Matthew off for a moment.

"Oh, uh, yeah." He pulled out a beautiful flower from his bag. It looked oddly familiar to the nations.

"Oh! That's from the first set of memories in the tunnels!!" China realized.

"You're right! Wow, that feels like forever ago..." France blinked.

"Only about five thousand years, give or take." England shrugged.

"Don't remind me. I feel old enough as it is." Italy glared.

"Oh hush, you. How do you think I feel? I may have a younger body, now, but I'm mentally roughly the same age as you." The Englishman crossed his arms irritably.

"Haha! Dude, you're old." America poked him playfully. "Should I get you a life-alert?"

"I'M STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT, ARU!" China shouted, recalling the time America and Prussia got him a Life Alert for his birthday.

"Grazie." Feliciano smiled as he took the flower carefully from Matthew. "This is what was used, if I remember correctly. I've been studying a few things over the last few millennia, but..." He trailed off into mutters as he put himself to work, reminding the Nations abruptly of how he focused in the future.

"Uh... I'll just stand here and, er... make you coffee or something." Matthew shifted awkwardly before he went over to the coffee machine.

"I'm curious, Ita-nii... why did you not call myself or Prussia-san to help you out?" Japan looked over at his brunette friend.

"In all honesty... the same reason I didn't ask fratello for help... Your deaths were very traumatic for me, and in all honesty, I didn't know if I wanted to see you two so soon... It was..." Italy sighed. "It was just too hard."

"I understand, Ita." Prussia grinned. "I'm just too Awesome."

Italy couldn't hold back his chuckles, and the Prussian called it a victory, having made the somber Italian smile. "Si, si."

"Oh! Sorry, Canada... I sorta forget when other people are around me..." Feliciano chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You seem... used to being alone..." Matthew noted.

"I am, really. When you've only got an AI that you yourself created as your only real company... Hehe... You kinda forget how to socialize." He shrugged nonchalantly, completely missing the Canadian's slightly horrified expression.

"At any rate, there is something you can do to help me." Feli grinned and pulled out a small familiar notebook. He flipped it open to show the array of the Time Curse. "I want you to find anyone with this tattooed on their bodies."

"Th-that's a tall order... Do you have any specific area to start searching in?" Matthew sweatdropped.

"I was given this..." He pulled out a clunky device that had some kind of sonar ring on the screen. "It'll ping when you're near anyone with that tattoo." His gaze hardened. "Don't engage. Get a picture, if you can, and try to monitor them. I will take care of them. You're allowed to help, but not interfere like I am."

"Not... allowed?" He shook his head. "Okay, then." Matthew took a picture of the array with his phone.

"Please contact me immediately if you can. Search the Eastern US first... Try areas near the Nuclear Power Plants."

"The Power Plants?! Italy, I know I said I wouldn't ask, but just how big of a danger is this thing?"

"We're preventing the end of the world, Matthew." Feliciano stated sternly. "If we fail, everything is over. Including our countries and world as we know it."

Matthew paled. "The end... of everything? Sounds like one of Al's movies..." He shuddered. "I'll be going, then."

"Be safe." Feliciano waved him off.

A few days later, Feliciano finally decided to take a break. "Dio, this is such a mess." He cracked his neck, working out the kinks as he picked up the journal and idly flipped through it. "What's this?" His eyes narrowed... "That can't be right..."

"Master Vargas?" JARVIS asked.

"According to this..." His eyes widened. "Oh no..." He stood up abruptly. "I have to go after Canada!"

"M-Master Vargas?! What's the matter?!"

"I may have just sent him to stir a hornet's nest. I just hope I can reach him before he's killed." He grabbed his jacket and sped out of the lab, leaving a very confused AI as the memory finally faded away.

A/N: So... Feli's discovered something interesting about this mysterious Organization. *Evil chuckles* They're more dangerous than they let on... Will poor uninformed Matthew be okay? We'll find out next chapter~

This story is nearly complete!! I'm so excited!! All that's left is to kill the Cursed Ones who went back in time, and then wrap everything up!

Also! If anyone has a Jamba Juice near them, try asking for a couple of these awesome Secret Menu items (Some are so secret that they may not know them by name, so I'll add the recipe with it!!).

White Gummi (now on the menu, so you don't need the recipe for this one!!)

Endless Lime (Tell them Orange Dream Machine, No OJ, sub Lemonade; No Orange Sherbet, sub Lime Sherbet.)

Tropical Sunburst [one of the best!!]: {Just be nice and don't order this one late at night after they've already cleaned their Orange Juice Machine!!}

SMALL: 6 oz pineapple Juice; 3 oz Fresh OJ; 2 scoops Pineapple Hardpack; 2 med scoops Pineapple (IQF)

MEDIUM: 6 oz pineapple Juice; 4 oz Fresh OJ; 2 scoops Pineapple Hardpack; 2 scoops Pineapple (IQF)

LARGE: 8 oz pineapple Juice; 6 oz Fresh OJ; 2 scoops Pineapple Hardpack; 2 scoops Pineapple (IQF)

There's also one called a Penya Kolwada.

Fun fact... an old old smoothie is called "Thank You Jesus". XD At my store, it appears next to another smoothie called the "Screamin' O". I always laugh.

Words: 3,172

Pages: 7

Posted: 06/23/2019