A/N: Hey guys! I've been in a bit of an updating mood lately, so I decided to give you the next chapter. Thanks to all those (3) of you who reviewed and those of you who favorited/followed! It means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this new (and extra long) chapter~! It should (hopefully) make you cry~! :D YAY~!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia or Chrome Shelled Regios.

Chapter 2: Verità

They found themselves in that same white expanse as before. "What... did we just see?" England asked, still trying to comprehend the destruction that they'd witnessed.

"The beginning of the end." Italy said. "That was the start of the apocalypse."

"The start? That was only the start?!" Prussia yelled out, not wanting to believe that it had actually happened.

"Si..."

"Wait... If that was something that jumpstarted the end of the world, then I am thinking that it was a bit small, Da?" Russia finally spoke up; making a few nations who'd forgotten that he was there, jump.

"The explosion that you saw didn't occur in Italy."

"WHAT?!" They all cried.

"But! How?! You mean to tell me that that explosion happened in another country?! What could possibly make an explosion that big?! That'd kill thousands of people in an entirely different country in an instant?!" America shouted out in shock.

"Ve... I'll explain from the beginning, since I doubt that it'll be explained through the memories." Italy finally relented, gesturing for the others to sit down on the ground with him, his brother still keeping his hold on him, for which Italy was secretly grateful. "The blast was centered in America." The entire room went still, as America paled drastically.

"What...? But... me?! I... caused that? Bu–! But, how...?" America shook a little, reminding the other nations just how young he really was compared to the rest of them.

"It wasn't your fault. I'll explain. It was one of your nuclear power plants. Something malfunctioned in one of your power plants in Tennessee... That flower that I was researching before? Its pollen reacted violently with the power plant's failure, and the molecular structure was changed by the direct radioactivity. It basically became the trigger for every nuclear power plant in the world. The pollen was small enough to sneak its way into the plants themselves. Once it got in, the pollen would destabilize the nuclear reactors and cause an explosive meltdown. And due to how fast the pollen travels when airborne, it... It set off every nuclear power plant you had, America... In less than 5 minutes, your entire nation was obliterated. The land itself was blown apart into small, uninhabitable island chains... and the pollen spread all over the earth, setting off every nuclear power plant around the globe." The nations all paled, very glad that they were already sitting.

"America died instantly... France was heavily injured, but managed to survive... Japan managed to be alright, somehow... but... Most of Europe was obliterated like America was. A rather large chunk of Northern Italy was blown off the map, too... Everything... everyone from France—including a large chunk of Eastern Spain—eastward to Ukraine—the UK and, as I said before, a large chunk of Northern Italy included—was completely and utterly destroyed... though a handful of the European Nations managed to survive... Somehow."

Italy took a shaky breath to steady himself again. "Billions of people died in the span of 10 minutes... Countless more would die over the next few months and years due to radiation poisoning..." He trailed off. "Did you know? Nations are immune to direct radiation poisoning. At least... we were... Constant exposure will eventually affect us just as it would a human."

"I take it you found this out the hard way?" Romano finally asked, finding his voice again.

"Sort of... It wasn't me, but... Ve..." He looked down, losing himself in the memories for a moment, before looking back up again.

The others just stared... They couldn't believe what they'd just been told... what they'd just seen. The apocalypse?! Caused by nuclear power plants, of all things... It was their fault... All their fault...

"If... if it was that bad... then shouldn't you two have been more injured, aru?" China asked quietly.

"The radioactive pollen somehow messed with our connection to our nation. It still came, but it was just... delayed. It wasn't for another three days that we finally felt the full effects." Italy stated, shuddering slightly, as his hand traveled to his left side.

Before anyone else could say anything, another memory faded into existence. They found themselves in a rather calm and—to some—familiar living room, though the only light-source was the fire in the fireplace.

"Ve... This is one of the few houses that we owned that survived the blast..." Italy whispered, knowing full well exactly what they were about to witness.

"Veneziano...?" Romano asked quietly, though it was so silent that everyone heard.

"It... This is three days after the Initial Blast... It was when the full force of our connection..." He trailed off as the others paled.

"Romano...?" Feliciano asked as he walked into the room, only for Lovino to sit up from the couch he was laying on. Lovino's left ankle was securely wrapped, along with his right wrist; they were obviously sprained. Both brothers had some bandages wrapped around their heads, and Feliciano moved gingerly—apparently he had some cracked ribs—his left arm in a sling, and his right ankle wrapped up.

"Shut up! I don't feel very good... I think the connection's finally coming through again. Damnit. Stupid fucking thing..." Lovino muttered as he lay back on the couch. "I wish the fucking electricity was working. Damnit! What I wouldn't give for a nice cold glass of water! Is that too much to ask?! I mean, not even wine, but just some cold water!" He sat up as he continued his rant. "Or some heating or something! I mean seriously, I just—!" Lovino cut himself off with a sharp intake of breath as he gripped his right side.

"Fratello...?" Feliciano asked worriedly, before he saw that Lovino's blue shirt was bleeding red. "Oh no... I'll be right back!" Feliciano shot out, before hobbling as fast as he could towards the bathrooms where they kept the first-aid and trauma kits.

Seconds later, Feliciano raced back into the room—ignoring his own injured ankle and broken arm—and handed Lovino a couple of painkillers as he worked on removing the shirt to treat the injury.

Lovino took the pills gratefully, but started to wave Feliciano's worrying hands away.

"I'm fine, idiota... Just a few cuts..." He muttered as two deep gashes were shown in his right side. Feliciano didn't say anything; he simply started sewing Lovino up with steady, experienced hands—once again, ignoring his broken arm.

"You've... done this before?" America asked, surprised. Of all nations, he'd thought that Italy would be the last to be trusted in a medical situation...

"Si. You're forgetting that Romano and I are actually older than Japan, we've been in many dangerous situations before."

"YOU'RE WHAT?!" Multiple nations shouted at once, as Italy covered his sensitive ears.

"Nani? You didn't know?" Japan asked, enjoying their shock almost as much as Italy and Romano were. Though Japan himself only found out about it within the past half-century.

The other nations continued to gape until Feliciano's voice drew their attention back to the memory. "There. All done." They looked to see an expertly sewn-up Lovino.

Italy tensed slightly, and covered his ears, motioning for Japan (who had sensitive hearing as well) and Romano to do the same. Confused, they did so just as Feliciano let out a bloodcurdling scream filled with so much pain, that every single nation in the room cringed.

Feliciano's left side started to bleed heavily, much to the room's alarm.

"VENEZIANO?!" Lovino cried out, practically ripping the shirt off of his little brother to see what was wrong. What they saw made everyone gasp.

A very large chunk of Feliciano's left side was missing, from the bottom part of his ribcage (some of it was visible through the blood) to his hipbone. It honestly looked like someone decided to take a sharp trenching shovel and dig it into his side, ripping out a large chunk.

Lovino started to panic, along with Romano and quite a few other nations in the room. "Crap! I have to calm down." Lovino took a shaky breath to steady himself, as he dug through the medical kits to start treating Feliciano's wound.

Time seemed to speed up, almost as if someone hit a fast-forward button. Before anyone could ask what was going on, it went back to normal speed again, showing a sleeping Feliciano, an exhausted Lovino, and a horrid, yet expertly treated wound.

The whole room seemed to let out a sigh of relief with Lovino that everything was going to be okay as the memory faded out and they found themselves back in the endless whiteness of the Aurora.

"How deep was it, aru?" China asked, curious. They couldn't really tell with all the gauzes and bandages wrapped around the wound. Italy gave a slightly bitter smile for a moment, before lifting the edge of his shirt.

They gasped again, seeing the scar—if it could even be called that—of the wound they'd just seen him obtain. It looked really old, too... But what had made them gasp was that it was about 5 inches tall or so, from the hipbone area up, and roughly 6 inches deep towards the bellybutton. It looked like something out of a horror movie. It was just... gone. How had they not noticed the bagginess of his shirt before? How had they not noticed anything wrong with their friend? He'd already gone through so much... So much, and yet... they'd done nothing to help... to notice...

Italy lowered his shirt. "Likely, it won't be shown, because nothing truly note-worthy happened during this time—well, nothing note-worthy happened to Romano and I—but you all should know... You see, due to the pollen also reacting with the large amount of pollution in the air, the entire world was encased in darkness... For nine months, there was no sunlight anywhere on Earth. It was called the Nine Months of Darkness." America snorted slightly.

"That's what they called it? They really couldn't come up with anything more creative?"

"Well, I didn't decide it! People just started calling it that, and it stuck!" Italy half-muttered indignantly. "Now, if I may?"

"Sorry." America replied sheepishly as England gave him a warning glare.

Italy only rolled his eyes slightly, having missed Initial Blast, caused the largest mass-extinction in the history of the world, even more disastrous than the Precambrian extinction. More than 99.9% of all plant life died, and more than 98% of all life on earth—land and sea—perished as well, humans were nearly included in that. By the time the sun finally rose again, the entire land was nothing but ice and ruin... No green, no life... just... death..." He shivered, clearly recalling what it had looked like.

The others only stared in shock. They couldn't imagine it. They just simply couldn't imagine such a world...

Turns out, they didn't have to. As the next memory flashed in, it actually started off somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 ft in the air. The nations all screamed a bit, before they realized that they weren't falling. It wasn't until they confirmed that they were safe from such a painful death, that they really looked at the ground below them.

It was like something out of one of Japan's animes, some sci-fi or post-apocalyptic thing... only it wasn't an anime... it was real. For Italy, this had happened.

Italy immediately recognized the area below them. Amidst a forest of brown, dead trees filled with dead foliage and rotting animal carcasses, causing the place to reek—not that they could smell it, but one's memory didn't forget these types of smells—he pointed towards a field of what had once been flowers.

"Look. Do you see that?" He asked, as the others looked closer.

"Is there something... moving down there?" Canada asked, making the other nations jump at his voice.

"Si... those are all insects."

"EWW! Somebody grab some Raid!" America cried out. He wasn't a squeamish guy, but that many bugs? Enough to make the ground look like a floodplain? That was waaaay too many for his tastes.

"I wish." Feli scoffed. "Raid won't do anyone any good. They're immune. They've been altered by the radioactivity. They're called Contaminoids, or will be one day. They're flesh-eating insects with a taste for humans, and they're very dangerous."

"Dangerous? Aren't they a little small to be considered dangerous? I mean sure, in a large group like that they would surely eat you alive, but couldn't you just squish them before they rally like this?" England asked, eyeing the Contaminoid larvae uncertainly. After all, they were only the size of rats.

"Those are only the larvae. They're just babies, newly born, and starving. When she's done breeding, the mother usually offers herself up as food for the larvae, but if there's another food source nearby..."

"Wait, they're only the babies?! Mon Cher! That's horrible! We must prevent this!" France cried out dramatically.

"No, really?" Italy muttered before speaking up in a louder voice. "At this point, they've only just started to evolve. They're probably about one twentieth of the way through their evolutionary chain. They still have another 300-some-odd years of evolution before they reach their final stage. That is, the Contaminoid species as a whole, not the larvae." He clarified.

"Wait, are you meaning to say that these little bitty bugs will become stronger?" Russia asked.

"They'll reach the end of their evolution in only 300 years? That's incredibly fast..." Japan muttered to himself, trying to figure out just how they could evolve so quickly. Perhaps there weren't many physical changes? Even still... The radiation alone wouldn't boost it that much, surely?

"I think the more important issue is that you just said three hundred years. Do you mean to tell me that you had to go through this for three hundred years?!" Romano whipped around towards his brother, worried for his fratellino's sanity if he'd had to survive like this for over 300 years. Because the way he'd talked about it, made it sound like he'd lived like this longer than 300 years...

But Romano couldn't help but wonder... where was his future self? Not the memory one, but his actual future self. He knew for a fact that he wouldn't let his fratellino travel back in time to prevent the apocalypse by himself! So where was he? Veneziano wouldn't leave him behind, either, unless he was badly hurt or unable to travel... and there was a small window in which to travel back... Or unless he was dead.

He shuddered. Not at the thought of his death, but at the thought of leaving Veneziano alone in this kind of world for any length of time. Especially when it seemed like they were all each other had at this point... No. He wouldn't die... Maybe something just went wrong with the spell or something? Time traveling isn't exactly something that one can practice, after all. But still... if it was something else...

He also cringed away from the thought of being too sick or—God forbid—disabled to travel back in time. Was he dying? Was he really too ill to help his fratellino? Was he lying somewhere in an alternate future, wasting away and wondering why the fuck he wasn't better yet? No... He'd follow his fratellino into the depths of hell even if he had to walk on his hands! No injury or illness or disability would stop him!

But what if he was—

"Fratello." Italy stated, snapping Romano out of his rapidly darkening train of thought. "You'll find everything out, don't worry. I'm fine."

"Idiota... Over 300 years... You're not fine."

Before Italy could reply, the scene changed again. This time, they were in a bustling city. It was dark out, and it seemed like nothing had happened.

"Where are we?" America asked, trying to place the city they were in. It looked quite a bit like one of his, but it wasn't anything he recognized either...

"We're in Eon. It's a large city in the ruins of Italy." Veneziano stated.

"Don't say "in the ruins of Italy" so nonchalantly!" Romano demanded, still scared for his brother's mental health and stability.

"Fratello..." Italy sighed. "Sorry; I just say these things... I'm so used to it now... It's actually strange to think of nations like Italy as not in ruins, or ancient civilizations... It's so strange to feel my nation again... Don't get me wrong! I love it! I'm so grateful to feel my people and my lands again! But it's just... different... I've grown so used to feeling only myself and Glendan..."

"Glendan?" Canada asked quietly.

"Oh, you'll find out about Glendan and the rest of the Regios in future memories, I'm sure. For now... Well, this is only about 50 TF." Italy stated, turning back to the memory, unaware of the confused looks being directed towards his back.

"TF?" England inquired.

"Oh, TF is what was used after the Apocalypse. It's like BC or AD; it stands for Tempore Finis."

"Tempore Finis? Latin for End Time... How fitting..." England trailed off as the rest of the nations turned back to the memory.

Feliciano and Lovino were shown walking down the street at night. There were a few crowds milling about, but it wasn't nearly as crowded as the nations were used to... It seemed to really hit home for some of them... This was a large city, right? But there could only be a few thousand people here...

"Fratello." Feliciano spoke firmly and seriously, something that the other nations weren't used to at all.

Lovino looked up and gave a single firm nod, before the two of them dashed down an alleyway at full speed, causing the nations to dash after them. They stopped at a dead end and whirled around, knives in their hands.

"What the—?!" The other nations cried out in shock, not only because of the sudden dashing, but the knives were certainly not expected. Plus, they'd never seen such a dark look on Feliciano's face before... and with that knife in his hand...? Even Russia was slightly intimidated, though he'd neither show it, nor would he ever admit it. Some of the nations had to do a double take of Feliciano's eyes to make sure it wasn't his 2P.

Before anyone could say anything more, three large men ran down the alleyway behind them. "STOP!" One of the men yelled, as Feliciano rolled his eyes.

"We're at a dead-end. Do they even need to tell us to stop?" He asked dryly, as Lovino simply rolled his eyes in response.

"We've got you now! Vargas Brothers! You've caused a lot of trouble for the Boss... We're going to make sure that stops now."

"What are they talking about?" Germany asked, confused and worried. Had Italy gotten into trouble again? Why couldn't he just keep his nose out of dangerous situations?

Italy said nothing, as Feliciano and Lovino smirked wickedly. "Oh, it's so good to know that he considers us enough of a threat to send some thugs after us, isn't it Lovi?" Feliciano asked playfully, ignoring the danger completely. He looked amusedly bored with the situation, as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

"Si... Though he should consider us more of a threat. After all, we did blow up 5 of his labs." Lovino replied in the same tone.

"You what?!" America shouted, unable to imagine Italy blowing something up... Romano? Yeah, he could see that... But Italy? Well, not on purpose anyways.

"Ve? Well, we thought that their big boss-man was inside, so we blew up the first one, but he wasn't... So we decided to just piss the bastard off by blowing up the rest~" Italy chirped cheerfully.

"You tried to kill a human, aru?!" China shouted, shocked—the rest were too shocked by his cussing to say anything. While there weren't really any 'rules' per-say for nations, it wasn't like they could just go around killing humans. The only time that it was really acceptable was during wartime... To just try to kill a human for no reason, or for a 'human' motive was almost unheard of!

"The bastard deserved it. Such a shame we never got him..." Italy muttered, before Romano wacked the back of his head.

"Language!"

"Really?!" Italy shot back, with a look that clearly said 'You're telling me to mind my language?!'

Before their argument could continue, two of the three men rushed them with knives of their own. It was almost too fast for the other nations (sans Japan and China) to see, but in an instant, the two men were lying on the ground with blood pooling around them. They were obviously dead, or would be very soon.

The nations just stared at Romano and Italy as Feliciano and Lovino stood there, looking for all the world like they hadn't just killed two men. Italy and Romano looked just as bored and disinterested as their past counterparts.

Of course, what the other nations didn't know was that they'd killed like this many times. They were the head of the Mafioso, after all. They'd worked their way up the ranks to the very top, and they both had a lot of blood on their hands.

Before anyone could say anything, though, the third guy who'd stayed back whipped out a gun, and started firing at the brothers.

"YOU BASTARDS!"

"Really? How ever did you guess?" Feliciano rolled his eyes. "Romano, what do you think? Should we send a message back to the big-guy?" He continued, sounding disinterested and almost bored as he effortlessly dodged every bullet.

"Good idea. Would you like to take care of it while I clean up the mess?" Lovino replied, dodging the bullets as effortlessly as his brother.

"Grazie, fratello~ You know how I hate clean-up~" Feliciano chirped, as he shot forward with incredible speed, seemingly teleporting in front of the man, and grabbing the gun with his hand.

The man yelled in surprise, as he whipped out his own knife, and stabbed Feliciano in the leg. Feliciano only winced slightly as the knife dug deep into his flesh. He grabbed the wrist that stabbed him, and snapped it with a sickening crack.

"You're a monster!" The man cried, as his eyes darted around, trying to find some hope of escape.

"Nu-uh-uh~ I need you to deliver a little message to your boss~" Feliciano chirped, as he broke the man's other arm with a chilling smile on his face. He lowered his voice to a demonic growl—the dangerous aura around him practically tangible—as his golden eyes narrowed into malicious slits.

"I want you to tell Ignacius that the Vargas Brothers are coming. Tell him that we're going to stop him, and that there's no place on this earth that he can hide from us. We're coming—and the Devil himself can't stop us." Feliciano let loose a feral, bloodthirsty grin, as the man fell to his ass and a suspicious wet-patch spread along his front pants.

Lovino stepped forward, with two small bags that fit snugly in the palm of his hands. He dropped the bags in the man's lap, and stated with a bone-chilling chuckle, "Take your friends back to your boss, too. Tell him we have a special bag, just for him." The man looked down in horror at the two bags on his lap, and scrambled to get them as far away from him as he could. Lovino and Feliciano shared a smirk as they casually walked away.

The nations who were more aware of their environment, such as Japan, noticed that the bodies of the two dead men were gone, as was any evidence that they'd even been there at all.

Almost as if on-cue, a black car with heavily tinted windows rolled up to the entrance of the alleyway. The two nations climbed in without a glance back, looking like nothing had happened.

The nations were too stunned to move, but the scene flashed and they appeared in the back of the car. There was a familiar girl driving, and an unfamiliar man in the passenger seat. He had unruly black hair, with a dark black trench coat and black gloves. He also had an eye patch over one eye, with a scar visible over said eye under the eye patch. He turned to look at Feliciano and Lovino with his remaining dark grey eye. He had a cigarette in his mouth, and a silver gun on his hip.

"Getting into trouble again, Feliciano? Lovino?" He asked, amused, as he handed a clean bandage strip to Feliciano before turning forward again.

"Trouble? Nah, just dealing with a few pests." Lovino replied easily, obviously familiar with the man, as he helped Feliciano treat the stab wound to his left leg.

"Thanks for the getaway, though. Perfect timing as always, Saya." Feliciano stated, flashing a smile to the girl driving, who only nodded in response.

She had long black hair, and shadowy-blue eyes that seemed void of emotion. She had a gothic-style black choker around her neck with a Celtic cross woven into the fabric, and a matching black strapless dress. A red rose with silver ribbon was pinned to the dress above her left breast. She held an ethereal, other-worldly feel about her. If they didn't know any better, the nations would believe her to be some sort of beautiful ghost or immortal vampire... Perhaps even a forbidden, deadly siren, calling with an untouchable beauty.

"So who were those guys? And what was that back there?!" America finally blurted out, being the first to pull out of his shock.

"Ve... Those men were after us because we'd been interfering with their boss's pet project. Their boss is a man named Ignacius. While I'm sure it would've happened eventually, he sped up the process of the creation of Contaminoids. At this point in time, as I'm sure you remember, they're only the size of a rat, but the ones he had been making... They were large enough to bite a human in half." The others shivered at the thought of a bug that big.

I almost hate to see what their reactions will be to the size that the Contaminoids actually grow to... Italy thought to himself.

"Ah, so that's why you blew up the labs, oui?" France asked.

"Yup~"

"But... what bothers me is how easily you killed those humans..." England spoke just above a whisper...

Italy and Romano shared a glance. "We're the Mafioso. We're used to killing humans." Romano finally stated.

The others blinked a few times as the words finally clicked. "WHAT?!" They cried out in shock. "Surely you don't mean that you're in the Mafia?!" England shouted out.

"We're not in the Mafia." Italy stated. "We are the Mafia. We have total control of it. Together, we are the Head of the strongest, most powerful Mafioso Famiglia in Italy. We control the criminal underworld of Italy." He finished, making the jaws of most the nations—even Spain—drop.

Japan only widened his eyes slightly. After all, who was he to judge? He controlled the Yakuza in the same way that the Italy twins controlled the Mafia. Huhuhu...

"Ah, the Vargas Famiglia, I presume?" Japan asked them quietly.

"Si...?" Romano raised an eyebrow in question.

"You've had some dealings with my Yakuza." He smiled innocently.

"Ah! So you're—"

"Hai." Japan cut Feli off abruptly with a secretive smile. The three of them just shared an almost predatory grin before the memory drew their attention again.

"So any new leads?" Lovino asked.

"None yet. We're looking into a new contract, so we won't see you for a while. Be careful. The inhuman beings are everywhere these days." The man said, turning to look at them with a serious gaze.

"Inhuman beings, aru?"

"Si... Basically, they're bio-mutations caused by the nuclear radiation all over the world. Anything that survived was still affected on some level by the radiation... Even the humans. They are literally non-humans. Sometimes, humans were badly affected by the radiation, deforming in both body and mind, and becoming something of a talking monster with no real free will; just instinct. Thankfully, most humans just started to develop this extra organ called the kei organ." Italy explained.

"The what, aru? Another organ? What does it do?" China asked, curious. As someone who was extremely well versed in the medical field, he was very interested in the development of an entirely new organ in the human body.

"They didn't become developed enough for anyone to notice for two or three generations or so, and they weren't fully evolved for another... gosh, I really don't know. I won't bother explaining what its function is, yet, but I will tell you something that I think you might find interesting; every single nation that exists, has ever existed, or will ever exist, has a kei organ. For the most part, it's just too small for anyone to notice, but with proper exercise of the organ, it'll grow. Mine's pretty big, even for a nation in the future, and I can utilize its abilities rather well. America's is also larger than most of yours, though still very small compared to mine. His kei organ is the reason why he's so physically strong."

"Really?! Dude! That's totally awesome! So, it's like I have this super-power?! Sweet!" America pumped his fist in the air in excitement. "You have to teach me how to use it~!"

"Sorry, but if I do teach you, I'll be teaching everyone. So don't count on it. We don't need them anymore." Italy said with a slight sigh of thankfulness. So glad we don't need them in our time...

They turned back to the memory, now understanding a bit more of the conversation than they did earlier.

"Right. You guys be careful, too. Even the best can slip." Feliciano reminded them, before smiling as he gazed out the window again. "You know, we can't live in these Domes forever... the Inhuman Beings are becoming too strong. They may be weak now, but they're growing rapidly. It's only a matter of time..."

"What do you propose? You and your brother may be fine out there, but humans can only survive for 5 days at most." Saya said, not taking her eyes off the road.

"Domes? Five days? What are you talking about?" England asked, already lost in the conversation again.

"The pollution in the air reacted negatively with the nuclear blast and the subsequent radiation. The air slowly started to become acidic. At this point, it wasn't much, but any human could only be out there for about five days before their lungs would give out. The acidic air literally eats your lungs from the inside out. Though nations can survive for about 5 weeks out there before starting to feel the effects. As such, Domes were built around cities and towns. Each Dome was fitted with a powerful air-filter, and the Dome itself was strongly reinforced to withstand any of the radiation-mutated creatures on the outside. But the Contaminoids were growing rapidly, and they were getting stronger. We knew that they'd break the Domes before long. So we came up with an alternative."

Before anyone could ask him what that alternative was, Feliciano spoke up again.

"We're not entirely sure yet, but there isn't much time." He stated firmly.

"We're actually planning on taking a break from our pursuit to devote our time to this. If our calculations are correct, then we only have a century or so before the air becomes too toxic for even our air purifiers to fully cleanse, and for those monsters to become strong enough to break through the Dome's walls." Lovino stated. The man simply nodded, as Saya pulled up to a small, inconspicuous house.

"Thanks again for the ride~" Feliciano called back as he got out of the car, Lovino right behind him.

"No problem! Be careful, and good luck!" The man called back, waving.

"You too!" Lovino said as they drove off, the memory fading back to that white abyss known as the Aurora.

Before anyone could say anything more, the next memory appeared. The nations looked around, finding themselves in an enormous warehouse, probably the size of a large city. It went on for miles.

"Wow, what is this place, aru?" China asked in wonder.

"Ah, this is the private building lab of myself and Romano. We already owned the land, and built this warehouse there, to keep the Contaminoids away, seeing as we're currently outside of the Dome."

"It's huge!" Prussia shouted out, listening to the echo, as he laughed to himself. "I AM AWESOME!" He shouted again, listening with glee as his voice faintly repeated his words back.

"That's enough, bruder..." Germany sighed, as Feliciano and Lovino walked in.

"Fratello... they didn't listen. We told them that the Domes weren't safe anymore; that the Contaminoids are growing too big and too strong... We even proposed our idea, but they didn't listen!" Feliciano shouted out in frustration.

"It'll be okay. They're just idiots. We have the materials we need, and the basic blueprints. It is our idea, after all. We just need to build it." Lovino stated.

"But Fratello... It's so big! It'll take decades with just the two of us!"

"We don't have a choice, Veneziano! We have to do this... Or we'll lose everyone..."

Feliciano seemed to harden in resolve. "You're right, fratello. You work on the mechanics, and I'll take on the aesthetics and we'll tackle any issues together."

"Right. Hey, wait! Who put you in charge?! I'm the older one, here!" Lovino suddenly shouted out, before giving his little brother a smirk, "Well, let's get to work! We have a lot to do if we're going to get this thing done in time!"

"What are you working on?" Japan asked, terribly curious.

"Ve~ We knew that the Domes that people were living in at this point weren't going to last much longer. This is about 135 TF, by the way. The Contaminoids ranged from the size of a rabbit to the size of a large dog—like a Great Dane, though those were really rare—so you could imagine how much damage they were causing." Again, the other nations shivered at the thought of bugs getting that big. "So Fratello and I came up with the idea of moving domes... They would move around, and avoid any detectable Contaminoids, and have extremely powerful air-filters that were made to work with the air friction created by the moving dome. We would eventually call them Regios."

"A moving city?!" America shouted out. "That sounds so cool!" His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas.

The memory seemed to fast-forward again. Day and night it showed Feliciano and Lovino working hard to build the Regios; only leaving the lab a handful of times, it seemed.

"We were forced to leave the lab for a few days every 5 weeks or so, because our lungs couldn't take the outside air any longer than that without roughly 3 days reprieve." Italy stated.

"What?! You shouldn't be putting yourselves in danger like that, aru!" China glared at Italy and Romano.

"Hey! I haven't done this shit yet! Besides... It's to save what little people we have left." Romano stated, looking off to the side. The other nations stopped their protests, knowing that they'd do the same in such a situation.

"Si... The people in Eon... they were among the last of the Italian race." Italy stated, as the other nations' eyes grew wide as the implications set in. They'd thought that there were more cities, but...

"You mean... that's it...?" England asked, shocked

"Yes... There had been other cities before, but they'd become overrun with Contaminoids or inhuman beings. Either way, each city fell one by one. At this point, there were only three cities left—Eon, Virsa, and Venezia. Virsa fell after we completed the Regios. They hadn't finished building theirs before the attack... And Venezia... She fell, too... We were able to rescue about 897 people and move them to our Regios, but the other 5,000-some-odd people died. In all, world population at this point was less than one million." The nations couldn't breathe for a moment. Less than a million? They couldn't comprehend the thought. Sure, those like China and Japan could remember a time when world population had been low, but for it to plummet from the billions to less than a million in only a few centuries?! It was inconceivable!

The memory slowed down again, to show a giant wall. It was probably about as wide as two or three (or ten) cities lined up side-by-side, and taller than ten Eiffel towers, it seemed. They couldn't see the top.

"Wow! It's huge! So AWESOME!" Prussia shouted, making the nations jump. He'd been so quiet, they'd actually forgotten he was there. "Kesesese! Ze Awesome Me, is so Awesome that I can be quiet if I want to. Kesesesese~!"

"This is 155 TF." Italy stated, deciding to ignore Prussia for the time being.

"Wait, it's been 20 years?!" England shouted out, surprised.

"Si. And this is the finished product!" Italy stated with pride. "The first Regios; Glendan!" As he said this, the memory seemed to zoom out, so that they could get a good view of it. The nations were speechless. It was a breathtaking achievement, and for two people to build such a thing alone, in only 20 years?! Incredible!

"Everyone in Eon moved to Glendan throughout the next few months, which is good, because not even a few weeks after they moved, Eon was destroyed and overrun with Contaminoids. The Regios blueprints were sent to all other known cities across the world, and the Regios became the only way for mankind to survive, seeing as the air grew to become much more toxic as time went on... In fact, by the time we finished, the toxicity had more than doubled! Romano and I could only stand to be out there for about 2 weeks at a time, but we wore special masks that Japan invented to allow ourselves to continue working out there for 5 weeks at a time, like usual. In only a few decades, those masks would become absolutely useless, and new ones would need to be invented for the remaining nations and the humans. But Glendan is the only Regios that uses Italian soil. It is the only Regios that encompasses the spirit of Italy... that represents us." Italy finished, pride shining in his eyes. It was glaringly obvious that he was very proud of their accomplishment.

The memory flashed again, and they found themselves in what they assumed to be Glendan. It was filled with people, milling about going about their own business. Though they were standing in a lavish office, with an obvious (to some) French flair, the view out the wall-sized window was amazing.

"So this is Glendan? Amazing~" France appraised, though the architecture, in his opinion, was a little more French than Italian...

"Yeah~ Pretty Awesome! But it doesn't look quite as big as before...?" Prussia said. He may act like an idiot most of the time, but he was a pretty powerful nation at one point. He was also rather observant. One didn't pick a fight with Russia and be oblivious to the world, after all.

"No. This isn't Glendan. We not only built it, but we also lived there for a good number of decades. I'd recognize it anywhere... This isn't a Regios I recognize. But then again, by 165, everyone lived in Regios..." Italy trailed off, puzzled.

"I've never visited this Regios, so I can only assume that this isn't one of my memories. Likely, it's something that either Saya wants us to see, or something that the Aurora decided we needed to see."

"Okay... So do you have any idea about what year it is...?" America asked, but before he could answer, the soft and quiet voice of Canada sighed out, "196 TF..."

Everyone looked at a blushing Canada, who quickly stated, "It wasn't me! Look!" And sure enough, they followed his finger to find Matthew Williams, past Canada (future Canada?), sitting behind a desk, looking out the window.

Italy's eyes widened, as he realized that he'd finally learn of Canada's fate.

Matthew looked to a stuffed bear that somewhat resembled Kumajiro. "It's already been so long. Kumajiro... I miss you so much... I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you like you did me... I would've died in that blast without you... thank you..." He stated quietly, as Canada gripped his Kumajiro tightly, horrified at the thought of losing him.

Matthew then started to move out from around the desk, but to their horror, they found that he was in a wheelchair. Both of his legs were gone. From just above the knees, both legs were just... gone.

"Mattie!" America shouted, gripping Canada tightly, horrified that his twin had lost both of his legs. "You are not allowed to lose your legs, got it?!" He cried out. Canada smiled slightly, and nodded his head, but his free hand went to his leg. He didn't want to be crippled for life like that... He didn't want to lose his ability to walk... ever...

"Mon Dieu!" France cried out, bringing his son into a hug, and somehow not knocking America out of the way. As the FACE family comforted their quietest member, Matthew spoke again, holding up a letter.

"I'm glad the Italy twins are alright. Though this rifle they sent me is interesting... It channels kei, huh? They said it should be able to damage a Contaminoid... and maybe even kill one! Sounds interesting..." He stated, as he held up a rather metallic-looking rifle, colored red and white with maple leaves all over it.

While Matthew was admiring the rifle, Italy finally decided to explain about kei. "Kei is an energy source for most every human and nation at this point in time. The kei organ won't be fully evolved until about 450-500 TF, but—"

"Wait, five hundred TF?! FIVE HUNDRED?!" Romano shrieked at the information.

"Si... I'm sure you'll all find out eventually, but the year that I headed back in time was 5,000 TF." Italy stopped to let them digest this, as he covered his ears to block out the resounding shouts of shock. Even Japan looked at him in shock.

"Aiyaa... You're older than me, aru..." China said, trying to relieve some of the tension, which worked with some but not too well. Even China was horrified. The Italy twins were already older than Japan, meaning that they were at least 2,600 years old... But add 5,000 years to that? Italy was over 7,600 years old! That was more than just old, that was ancient! And China complained about his bad back! He'd have to give Italy a thorough medical check-up later, and prescribe some pain medications for his aches and pains if he needed them... He suspected that he would. After all, he was bound to have quite a few injuries from living that long and fighting the Contaminoids, but also that acidic air... His lungs had to have accumulated some sort of damage over the millennia.

Romano seemed to take this news the hardest. "Five thousand years... Five thousand years... Five. Thousand. Fucking. Years! Where the hell am I?! Where the fucking hell is my future self?! Why didn't he come back with you?! Huh?! Why?!" Romano shouted out in fury, he wasn't mad with Veneziano, of course not. He was angry with himself. It was obvious that something happened, but he just wished he knew what!

"I..." Italy started, not knowing how to say it. "I'll... I don't want to talk about it... please...? It'll come up eventually, but until then... please don't make me say it..." Italy whispered. He looked so broken in that moment, that nobody had the heart to push the issue. Romano just wrapped him in a hug.

"Lo siento, fratellino..." Romano whispered to his brother.

"Grazie, fratello... Ve. Ti voglio bene..." Italy whispered back.

"Chigi. Ti voglio bene."

Before anyone could say anything else, everything started shaking. It reminded them of the tunnels, and several nations cried out in shock, not expecting it. Italy shivered, knowing what this particular kind of shaking meant.

"No!" Matthew shouted, wheeling himself to the window as the shaking stopped and a siren alarm started sounding. Italy and Matthew both started cussing up a storm, though Italy was cursing in an unfamiliar language that none of the nations recognized. It sounded a little bit like Japanese, but at the same time it sounded very different; Japan could only make out a few words. Romano and England hit Italy and Canada in the back of the head respectively.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Italy demanded, still in battle-ready mode.

"No cussing!" Romano shouted. He may not have understood what his brother was saying, but it was obvious what it was.

"What are you hitting me for?!" Canada demanded, "I didn't cuss! My future self did!" He whisper-shouted. Though he was surprised, his future self was still cussing, and quite loudly, at that. But he never cussed! EVER! Even during the World Wars, he didn't curse! And his future self was so loud! He was actually cussing in an honest yelling voice!

"You're Canada!" America said, "You're not supposed to curse!"

"Stop playing around!" Italy snapped, startling the other nations with his war-general tone. "You have no idea how grave the situation really is! The Regios has fallen into a Contaminoid nest! They nest underground, and the Regios can only detect the Contaminoids at ground level! Those larvae are starving, and while they're only the size of hippos right now, there'll be hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of them! There're no Dites yet! The humans have no way of defending themselves! This Regios is doomed, and so is everyone in it! Get it?! Unless some miracle happens, Canada and every person in this Regios is going to die." He spoke with a grave anger, ranting out his frustrations at how they didn't grasp the situation.

He was stunned by how easily they could just play around. They had no clue what he'd gone through! How dangerous this future truly was! He now understood why Saya insisted on them seeing these memories. Even with what they've already seen and what he's explained, they truly did not grasp the situation. In all honesty, Italy truly believed that if they were to go back to that Meeting Room right now, that this future would absolutely, without a doubt, come to pass.

The other nations seemed to stop breathing, the words choking them. 'going to die... going to die... Canada is going to die...' the words ringing throughout the mind of every nation. The FACE family seemed to gravitate even more towards their now sheet-white Canadian, as the nations finally seemed to get the severity of the situation through their thick heads.

Before anyone could say anything, Matthew wheeled himself to the window, staring out of it, to see hundreds—perhaps thousands—of very large, hard-shelled... insect things quickly taking over the city. The screams of the people as they were eaten alive were terrifying.

They were nations. They'd lived through and fought in both World Wars, and many bloody battles and revolutions in their lifetimes. They'd seen horrors that would turn any human insane. But this... This was on an entirely different level. This was...

"Bloody Hell..." England summed up, watching with horror as the Regios fell to the Contaminoids.

Matthew, on the other hand only cursed some more. "Damnit!" He cried as he opened the window, and aimed his rifle. With a well-aimed shot, he took down a Contaminoid.

"Yeah!" America shouted, hoping that his brother would make it out of this alive.

But some of the other nations seemed to grasp the full severity of the situation better. One sniper cannot take down an army alone. And that was exactly what was going on here. And Matthew seemed to know this, too.

"I'm not going down without a fight!" He screamed, as he continued firing. "I'll take down as many of you fuckers as I can!" But as he went to take down his 25th or so Contaminoid, the building started to collapse.

In a wheelchair, he wasn't able to move out of the way of the falling rubble in time. As the building collapsed and the dust cleared, it showed that while Matthew was relatively unharmed, his rifle had been thrown from his grasp, and he had fallen out of his crushed wheelchair.

He was now on ground level, and a nearby Contaminoid had spotted him.

"Shit! Not like this..." Matthew tried to drag himself to his rifle, but the Contaminoid was much faster. The nations watched in horror, praying for some miracle. He couldn't die! He was a nation! He... He was one of them! They... they couldn't die... It wasn't supposed to happen... "Papa... Arthur... I'm so sorry... I'll say hi to Alfred for you..." He whispered as the Contaminoid threw him up in the air with a yelp, and ate him with a terrifying crunch.

The nations then found themselves back in the whiteness of the Aurora. They were all too shocked and sickened to say anything. The FACE family was busy comforting their shivering Canadian, who was hugging Kumajiro for dear life. Kumajiro couldn't care less that he was being suffocated. Though they may forget each other's names most of the time, they cared for each other greatly. He'd been terrified by his owner's demise, and he'd do anything he could to make sure that it didn't come to pass.

Canada had been horrified by his own death. He was amazed that his future self could go through that without showing any fear, and that he didn't even scream as he was eaten, but... He shivered. He didn't want to go that way... He'd rather fall in battle, not as some giant bug's dinner!

America on the other hand was furious with himself. How dare his future self die and leave his brother unprotected like that?! How dare he?! He wasn't there to protect his twin! In fact, he was the cause of his brother's missing legs! He'd practically killed him himself!

England was horrified at his son's death. Sure, he forgot Canada more than he should, but he still loved him! He didn't want him to die! One thing was for certain... he wouldn't be forgetting Canada anytime soon after that...

France was almost as shaken as America. Canada was his precious son! His son! He hadn't been able to protect his son! Either of them! He and England had failed as parents! They hadn't been able to protect either of their precious sons, and they had nobody to blame but themselves!

Prussia stared blankly at Canada. Birdie had died. His Birdie had died! Where the hell was he?! Ah... he probably died in the blast alongside his Bruder... But still! That was no excuse! He was too Awesome to let his Birdie die!

The other nations around the room all had similar thoughts. They were horrified by the death of a fellow nation. It was one thing to die in battle or an explosion, but death by giant man-eating insect? It was terrifying. Nations were supposed to be immortal. They couldn't die until their nation fell. That's just how it worked. As long as their nation still existed, and their people identified with their nationality, then they were immortal in every sense of the word; they couldn't age beyond what the maturity of their culture was; they couldn't die by any means, suicide, homicide, or anything. Prussia had been burned at the stake before, and drowned, and he still came back to life because he was a nation.

The idea of losing a fellow nation to a permanent death was a foreign concept for most of them. Only Prussia and Italy truly understood... They'd lost Holy Rome, after all. Romano understood, too; he and Veneziano had lost Grandpa Rome. China and Japan understood, being as old as they were. The others couldn't really grasp it, though. Even some of those who had experienced it, like England and France, had forgotten how it felt... how to cope... And Canada was someone that nobody expected to die so soon.

It also terrified them how large those bugs were. Even Russia was greatly bothered at the ease of which Matthew had been eaten. After all, Canada was on par with Russia in strength, he just never really used it. So the ease with which he was killed and eaten scared the Russian more than he was willing to admit.

Even Italy had been frightened. It wasn't because of the Contaminoids, but rather the flashbacks that the whole thing had incurred. The many attacks he, himself had lived through... Those terrifying moments when he was so sure he was about to die before a miracle happened. He'd had many very similar brushes with death... the only difference was that he'd survived them. Something that he was greatly saddened the Canadian couldn't do. He wasn't sickened by the death of the Canadian, like the others were. He was used to it... used to this sort of death. He'd seen many friends (admittedly they were mostly humans) die in the same or similar manners.

Canada's death brought Italy a strange sense of peace and closure. It'd always bothered him that he never knew what happened to the quiet nation, and even though it was a horrifying death, he was glad to finally know.

After about a half an hour, during which thankfully no memories appeared, the nations had finally calmed down.

"Itary-kun... I was wondering what that language you were speaking in was. It sounded like Japanese, but at the same time, it was different...?" Japan asked, curious.

"Oh! It was Japanese, but the language had evolved greatly over the past 5,000 years. The Japanese that you know now would be called, 'Ancient Japanese'. Ancient Japanese is considered a dead language, and if/when someone comes across some, they have to have 'experts' translate it. It's usually translated incorrectly, so Romano and I would always volunteer to translate the dead languages like French, Italian, Ancient Japanese, Ancient Chinese, Russian, English, Latin, etc... In fact, the only languages spoken after 5,000 years were the evolved versions of Chinese and Japanese, though Japanese was much more common. After all, only Japan and parts of China were inhabitable." Italy explained. In truth, the only good comparison for Ancient Japanese translations was probably something along the lines of Egyptian hieroglyphs or something.

"In 200 TF, Romano and I moved to Japan with Glendan. The Contaminoids were much larger in numbers in the ruins of Europe. There were millions, perhaps tens of billions in Europe by that point. In contrast, there were only a few hundred thousand in Japan. Though Japan had become much larger after the Apocalypse. You see, the blast had actually moved chunks of China towards Japan, and they merged." Japan and China shivered at the thought. They were brothers! "At first it only formed a land-bridge from China, and thus Europe, to Japan, but over the next few centuries, plate tectonics took those land-chunks and merged them with Japan. I assume that you were dead by this point, China. You wouldn't have felt that pain." Italy stated, before he continued on. "The end result was that Japan had nearly tripled in size. The Contaminoids, while smaller in number, were much stronger in Japan than in Europe. However, the stronger ones tended to stay above ground unless breeding."

"What about that kei stuff you were telling us about earlier? You never finished..." Canada spoke up.

"Oh, that's right. Well, there are three main categories for kei: Internal kei, External kei, and Nen'i. Internal kei can be used for a variety of things, from increasing physical strength and stamina, to increasing ones' rate of healing. Though just having internal kei doesn't mean that you have all these; it's just some of what's available. Of course, there's much more than that depending on how innovative you are, and how much kei you have, but that's the basics.

External kei is the most common type of kei, and you can have both Internal and External kei. External kei is commonly used with an object called a Dite. Around 310 TF, Dites were invented. These were very weak, prototype Dites, and Romano and I didn't come up with the 'modern' version of a Dite until about 450 TF. This," Italy took out a rectangle the size of an iPhone with curved corners. It was icy-blue with white scrollwork throughout, looking like snow and frost. It was beautiful. "is a Dite. Now, mind that most Dites don't look quite this pretty. Most are just a generic blue, black, green, yellow, etc. That's because this is a special type of Dite that Japan, Romano, and I made called a Celestial Blade, but we'll get to that later. Anyways, a Dite is made to channel one's kei energy, and use it as a weapon that can be used to fight the Contaminoids." Italy held his Dite like one would a sword. "Restoration, 0-1." He stated, as the Dite transformed into a double-edged sword with the same color scheme that it had in the dormant form.

"This is a sword-type Dite. There are many different kinds of Dites, sniper, broadsword, katana, etc... What makes my Dite special is that it's made to work with the unheard-of amounts of kei—beyond monstrous—that most nations have. Mine also has 4 different forms, as opposed to the usual 3 for nations, but you'll see those later." With a thought, he deactivated his Dite, and it shrunk to the unassuming rectangle that it was before. "Most Dites are generic, and usable and reusable by anyone, but this particular type of Dite will bond with the Nation that uses it, and that nations' kei energy signature will determine the types of forms that it will have."

"But back to kei. External kei is used primarily with Dites, but can also be used as energy flares, bullets with firearm-Dites, and as an offensive energy source." Italy held out his hand towards Romano, as if he were reaching for something, and concentrated. With a flare of icy-blue energy tinged with white, Romano slid back a few feet and stumbled a bit. "I didn't make it very strong, so your natural kei flow protected you from any damage, but you get the general idea." Italy said with a grin, as Romano muttered some choice words under his breath. "Like Internal kei, External kei has many more properties that are only limited by the imagination and kei levels of the person using it."

"Internal kei can also be used to improve ones senses of sight, sound, and smell, and is typically used by snipers to dramatically improve their aim. I, myself, like to use it to improve my hearing."

"Now, Nen'i is different. Unlike with Internal and External kei, if one has Nen'i, then they cannot use External or Internal kei. In other words, Nen'i users can only use Nen'i. Nen'i users have a special kind of Dite. They use the petals on this Dite with their Nen'i and serve as a means of communication between team members during a battle. They can scope out the area with their Nen'i, gather information, act as a communication means for a team, and even record and re-play events and conversations. This all depends on how strong their Nen'i is. The base power of all Nen'i users is the communication aspect. The major drawback for all Nen'i users, is that the stronger their power, the harder it is for them to show their emotions. As a result, many Nen'i users are viewed as emotionless, or cold and uncaring. I'm not a Nen'i user myself... France is, though. Not only that, but it appears that Nations can be Nen'i users and use External and Internal kei. Though I have a theory that if one is a Nen'i user and has access to their Internal and External kei, that one of the three will be extremely weak to compensate for the Nen'i. France's External kei was exceedingly weak, but his Nen'i and Internal kei were strong."

"Ahonhonhon~ I knew I was special~!" France boasted. He didn't like how Italy spoke about him in past tense. He was sure that he'd died, at some point, but he really hoped that he went down fighting... like his son...

"But how does kei work, aru? How is it created? Where does it come from? What is it?" China asked rapidly.

"I suppose I should've started with that, huh? Ve~ Kei energy is something that every living thing has. Essentially, it's the life force of that being. Plants, animals, people, nations, we all have it. Think, 'chi'. Life force can regenerate with proper rest and nutrition, but kei also flows freely in the world around us. The kei organ is able to absorb the kei energy around us, and replenish the amount that has been used. Though, with proper exercise of the kei organ, it can be trained to hold and handle more kei, just like a muscle can be trained to lift more weight. If you use up too much kei, however, you will die. The body can only replenish the kei so fast, even by pulling it in from the world around us." Italy explained, making sure that everyone understood.

"So, it works like chi?" China asked, intrigued.

"Si. Chi is essentially just a dormant form of kei, to my understanding. Think of kei as the evolution of Chi, or something like that."

The next memory appeared, and they found themselves in another Regios. This one, much to their relief, was not destroyed.

"This is Glendan." Italy stated, knowing exactly where they were the moment the memory had appeared. He'd never forget Glendan. It was his heart for more than 4,000 years, and he still loved it as much as Venice. Glendan was more of a son to him, especially after Glendan's Fairy came...

Lovino was shown sitting in a park, as Feliciano walked up to him and stood behind the bench. The grass and trees and peaceful atmosphere of the place made the nations almost believe that the apocalypse never happened. The sky was a serene blue, with fluffy white clouds above them.

"The clouds and sky aren't real." Italy reminded them. "It was a little ingenious bit of technology that we came up with to replicate the sky and clouds. Even the breeze has been replicated. The constellations, too. And since Glendan was made with the Italian skyline in mind, it's one of the only Regios in Japan with a different night sky than the other Regios. I recognize this memory, and it's skipped over a few important events. I'll just recap for you really fast. This is about 400 TF. In 300 TF, the Contaminoids finally finished their basic evolution. You'll see for yourself just how big they grew in the next few memories, I'll bet, but more than that, all Regios started to create something called an Electronic Fairy."

"HA! I told you fairies were real!" England shouted out, pointing his finger at France, and laughing like crazy.

"You need to clean your ears, Mon Cher! He said electronic fairies, not imaginary ones! Ahonhonhon~"

"France is right, England. I'm not saying fairies aren't real!" Italy quickly added when England looked like he was about to argue, "But Electronic Fairies are different, and unique to the Regios. In fact, I'd say that they're quite a bit like us."

"Oh? Please explain." Russia asked.

"They're the very representations of the Regios from which they were born. Only one Regios is capable of creating Electronic Fairies, though they don't take on any specific characteristics until they've bonded to a Regios. They're more like spirits, than people. Most of them take the form of some sort of animal. Glendan, for example, is a sort of golden dog with wings for ears. It's hard to explain. Another Regios, Myath has an Electronic Fairy that looks like a red bird, while the academic city Zuelli, looks like a pale blue girl. Saya also acts as Glendan's Guardian. And she was the active 'spirit' if you will, until Glendan's Electronic Fairy was born. Before I continue, I'd like to point out that Glendan doesn't avoid Contaminoids; it seeks them out. As a result, Glendan has earned the reputation as the world's strongest city." The other nations stared at Italy. Italy's Regios was the world's strongest?! Any doubt that he was the Great Roman Empire's grandson just flew right out the window.

"Continuing on, in 310 TF, Dites were invented. At this point they're very weak and can't handle much kei. In fact, Romano and I had to modify ours because the moment we attempted to channel any amount of our kei into it, it would explode. I'm not bragging either; Nations tend to have anywhere from 5-10 times the amount of kei as a human. In 390 TF, we returned to Glendan, after traveling around a bit from Regios to Regios in search of other nations—we didn't find anyone. Now this is 400 TF, and I'm willing to bet that it'll be a rather short memory." Italy finished, as they turned back to the memory.

"Fratello, did you hear? Some Electronic Fairies have powers... Sometimes, people can obtain those powers and abilities..." Feliciano said quietly as he sat next to his fratello.

"Si... Glendan's is knowledge, but it's only our knowledge. Our knowledge of battle and war; our Grandfather's legacy. Its nothing we don't already have." Lovino stated. "Why?"

"Because I heard a rumor... There's an Electronic Fairy that allows one to travel back in time. Fratello, do you know what this means?! If we can get that power, we could prevent all of this! We could go back in time far enough to prevent that nuclear power plant from exploding! To prevent that pollen from spreading! To prevent everything!" Feliciano got more enthusiastic as he went on. "We could save everyone! Nobody would have to die! Fratello~"

"Do you really think we can do this, Veneziano? I mean, we don't even know if it's real! What if it's just a rumor?"

"I don't care! If there's the slightest chance that it's real... For Spain... Germany... Prussia... America... Japan... Everyone." Feliciano turned to stare at his fratello with determined eyes.

"Alright. We'll try. No matter how long it takes us. And don't you dare think that you'll be doing this all alone, got that?! I'm with you every step of the way!" Lovino gave him a smile, not a smirk, but an honest grin filled with joy and happiness and hope. It was a smile that few of the other nations had ever seen on him. In fact, only Spain and Italy had seen him smile like that before. It made him look centuries younger.

The memory then faded out again until they were surrounded by the familiar whiteness. "For the next 50 years, Fratello and I worked on improving the Dites. And then from 450-510 TF, we worked out how to obtain the powers of the Electronic Fairies without hurting them. Unlike us, if you hurt an Electronic Fairy, then the Regios that it represents will start to go haywire. The Electronic Fairy controls the Regios, after all. Without it in control, the Regios will start to seek out the Contaminoids. The only exception is Glendan, which, for some 'unknown' reason—really it's Saya's decision—seeks out the Contaminoids regardless." Italy explained. Well, it wasn't completely Saya, Italy knew. Glendan's Electronic Fairy was practically a personification of their Grandfather's Legacy. He was a warrior. He lived to fight and make his children strong. That was the real reason why Glendan sought out the Contaminoids.

"So our Regios actually seeks out those monsters?! What the fuck?!" Romano shouted, forcing Italy to cover his ears.

"Ve! Please keep it down, fratello! My hearing is rather sensitive..."

Romano muttered an apology as the next memory faded into existence. They were in an unfamiliar Regios. It looked distinctly French, and even had an Eiffel Tower replica in the middle.

"Ah~ France~ It must be moi~" France cried out in joy.

"Si. This is Jubil, the only Regios with pure French soil. That Replica of the Eiffel Tower? It's actually built with the remains of the original Eiffel Tower." Italy explained.

"Oh? Ahonhonhon~ No wonder it's so magnifique!"

"Ve~ Fratello, look!" Feliciano said, pointing to a familiar blonde figure sitting quietly at a café.

"Oh? It's the Wine Bastard. Well, we should go say hi." Lovino stated, looking begrudgingly happy to see another nation.

"Ve~ Big Brother Francis! Ciao, Ciao!" Feliciano cried out, as Francis' head whipped up in shock.

"Mon Cher! It's Italie! And Romano, too! Oh, what are you doing here?!" Francis cried out in surprise as he hugged Feliciano back, though Feliciano seemed to notice something, and his smile dimmed a bit.

"Ve~ We're looking for something, and came to Jubil. Imagine our surprise to see you here~!" Feliciano explained.

"Yeah, yeah. Good to see you, too, Wine Bastard." Lovino stated, pulling up a chair at the table.

"Oh, I'll take you back to my place, if you want? I have the best wine in town, there~ And I'll even make you some traditional French desserts, Oui?" Francis said, as he moved out from behind the table, revealing himself to be in a wheelchair, just like Matthew.

"So what happened?" Feliciano asked calmly, yet sadly, as the other nations looked on in shock. Sure there were many that didn't particularly like France, but no one deserved to be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives—and if Francis' injury/injuries hadn't healed within the past 500 years, then they likely wouldn't ever heal.

France looked at his future self with a sad smile. He knew that he had likely ended up crippled like this. It was a gut feeling. He also knew that he was likely to die here, as well. Jubil... It was a beautiful place... It reminded him so much of Paris, and his future self looked upon the city with the same love that he now looks upon his beloved capital.

"It happened during the explosion. I'm only slightly paralyzed, don't worry." Francis said with a bright smile, as he led them into a penthouse in a grand hotel. "I can still get around and fight, when I need to. I suppose I have you two to thank for the Dites?" He asked as Feliciano and Lovino made themselves comfortable in the living room, a glass of good, French wine in their hands, as Francis poured himself a glass.

"Si. Though we're still working on Dites that'll allow a nation to use their full kei..." Feliciano said, still looking rather upset at Francis' condition.

"I see that you two weren't entirely unscathed by the blast, either." He stated, having seen the unusual bagginess in Feliciano's shirt when he'd shifted to grab his glass of wine.

"Yeah, well, what did you expect?! The only reason we even survived was because we got rid of those fucking power plants decades beforehand!" Lovino snapped, still touchy about his brother's injury.

"Fratello..." Feliciano sighed, before turning to Francis again. "You're the first nation we've seen since the blast. Do you know if anyone else is okay...?"

"I'm not sure about anyone else, but I saw Angleterre just a couple of years ago~! He looked just fine! A little rougher than I remembered, but he was alive, at least. And he wasn't that injured by the blast, amazingly enough." Francis informed them with a bright smile. "He looked well enough, and even stayed here for a few months... He's changed a lot. We hardly even fought while he was here."

"AHH! I knew that the day you two could spend any amount of time together would mean the end of the world!" America shouted.

"Bloody idiot! We didn't cause the end of the world by not fighting!" England retorted. He wondered just how much his future self had changed. After all, to be able to not just tolerate but actually enjoy France's presence...

"Uh, Feli? Would you mind explaining why future France seems to have lost his accent?" Spain asked.

"Oh? Well, technically he's speaking a different language. Over time, many once-nations lost the accents of our homelands. It's something that's kinda hard to hang on to, you know?"

The memory seemed to fast-forward again, showing the three nations enjoying themselves, the Italy twins explaining their search for the Electronic Fairy of Time, and finally, Francis seeing the twins off.

Italy stiffened when it became clear that the memory would stay with Francis. France, as well, stiffened, sensing what was to come.

The memory suddenly changed to show Francis at that same café that he met the Italy twins at. "Ah~ I miss them already..." He looked up at the morning sky with a forlorn expression. "I just wish... That everything could go back to what it was..." Almost as soon as he said this, the Regios started to shake, exactly as Matthew's Regios did. Everyone froze, fearing the worst.

Their fears were confirmed when the alarms started blaring, and an announcement went out for everyone to head to the bunkers, and that the Contaminoids were coming.

"Merde!" Francis cried out, both in slight fear, and great anger. The other nations could see, however, that that fear was not for himself, but rather for his people. The few people that he had left.

The memory was—thankfully—fast-forwarded only to slow down to show Francis wheeling himself out of a seemingly secure area. A man was trying to stop him.

"Please, Mr. Bonnefoy! It's extremely dangerous out there! Even if you can snipe, it's too dangerous for you right now, let us handle it!" He cried, trying to stop Francis by force.

"Non. You know as well as I that if it continues on like this, everyone will die. I can take care of the larvae... I'll take care of the rock that's keeping us from moving. As soon as you are able, take Jubil as far away from here as you can. Please."

"I... We can't! In your condition, there's no way that you can–!"

"Don't you dare judge me, child." Francis cut him off firmly, staring at him with the most serious expression that any of the nations had ever seen on him. "I am many centuries older than you. I know my limits. And I must do this. For Jubil... and for my sons... I could never face them if I didn't go out fighting." He then smiled broadly—brightly, a smile full of hope. "Besides! I want to die with no regrets. And what better way than protecting my home and people?"

The man was too stunned to stop Francis as he wheeled himself out of the bunker, the explosions of the outside world filtering into the, apparently soundproof area through the now opened door. He stopped one last time and looked back, before saying, "If anyone named Arthur Kirkland, Feliciano Vargas, Lovino Vargas, or Matthew Williams comes asking for me, please tell them what happened. They're all very dear to me. And tell them... I'm sorry." And just like that, the door closed.

WHACK! England hit France hard in the back of the head.

"What was zat for?!" He cried out in pain, before Canada and America did the same thing, all three of them looked furious.

"You! YOU! YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" England cried out. "How dare you go and get yourself killed! YOU INSENSITIVE GIT!"

Before he could say anything else, Italy stepped up, glaring hard at France, making the nation gulp in fear.

"Do you have any idea..." He started in a darkly calm voice. "How Romano and I felt when we learned of your death? Do you have any clue how devastated we were? You were the first nation we'd met in 550 years. And then you just die? You never even said goodbye! You asshole! Do you even know how devastated England was when we told him?! DO YOU?!" Italy cried out, the hurt and pain, made worse by death and time, shining through the cracks of his mask.

"I- I-" France started only to stop at Italy's glare.

"I don't want you to apologize to me. I understand why you did what you did. I get it. I would've done the same thing for Glendan." He pointed stiffly to England, Canada and America. "They, on the other hand, do not. Canada might, but the other two don't. They're the ones you need to apologize to." He stated, and he was very thankful that the memory had paused for this to take place.

Ten minutes of apologies, tears, and furious cursing—on England's part—later, they were ready to return to the memory.

It picked up showing Francis wheeling around the destroyed town. Even the precious Eiffel Tower II had fallen. There were no bodies of humans, as the Contaminoids ate everything, but there were some fallen larvae around. The others stared.

"That's definitely bigger than last time." Prussia said, looking at the Contaminoid body. It was the size of a whale! The others shivered at the sheer size of these larvae.

"This is just a niño?!" Spain shouted in shock.

Francis was shown holding up a deactivated Dite. It was a royal blue color, with bright reds and whites. It was just as flashily colored as he was.

"Restoration, 0-2" He stated, as it turned into a French MAS mle. 1956 Rifle. He took aim, and fired, taking down three Contaminoid larvae with a single shot. It was obviously much more powerful than a conventional rifle.

"Bloody hell... One shot?" England stared, knowing that France wasn't as much of a sissy as everyone took him for, but wondering if everyone would see it now. After all, he'd fought with France for centuries. He knew better than anyone that France, despite popular belief, was no pushover. Girl scout troop aside.

"Not bad." Romano stated. He may not like France that much, but he knew a good shot when he saw one. He was a sniper after all, plus his mafia weapon of choice was a gun. Veneziano preferred his knives and sword, but Romano would always prefer his pistols.

Francis took out about 30 of the larvae while making his way down to the outside gates of the Regios. The nations could see the wasteland-like outer ring past the gate.

"Is that the barrier?" America asked, pointing to the support beams around the Regios.

"Si. That marks the air-filter barrier of the Regios. There's a steep drop on the other side of the filter, as you'll soon see." Francis wheeled himself through the carnage of dead Contaminoids approaching the air filter barrier. It wasn't long before they saw the absolute sheer drop that Italy had been talking about.

"Dude, that's not just a drop, that's like the edge of the world." America shivered slightly. He wasn't afraid of heights per say, but that combined with the death and decay before them... It looked like the savannah had simply dried up and decided it wanted to become a desert wasteland. But even the sand seemed to be gone. It was so desolate...

Before anyone could say anything else, a Contaminoid came up from behind Francis, causing the nations to cry out in shock, trying to warn their friend. They could see no way out of it; he was trapped. He was going to die.

Francis, however, only smirked. "I won't die so easily. Restoration, 0-3." He stated just as the Contaminoid smashed down upon him. Then, to their shock, the Contaminoid split clean in half, the corpse falling to Francis' either side leaving him unscathed.

"Wha?!" Someone cried, but through the dust, they saw Francis standing strong on his two legs.

"I knew it." Italy muttered.

"Knew what?!" England demanded. He was scared, frustrated, and confused. Even France looked surprised.

"Francis had very strong Internal Kei. He channeled that kei into his legs, to allow himself to regain mobility again. The nerves weren't severed or anything in the blast—he wasn't paralyzed. It just caused him great pain to move anything below the waist. My guess is that he can last only 15-30 minutes like this before his legs give out, and the pain overwhelms him." Italy stated, as the others stared at Francis in awe.

Francis jumped down from the Regios, causing the others to cry out in shock again, but they relaxed as they saw him jumping on the flying larvae, killing them as he went, using them as a sort of grotesque staircase to the ground.

"They can fly?!" Prussia cried out in shock.

"Si... Some larvae can fly, while others can only walk. Their main traits are pretty much evolved, now, though the ones in Japan are slightly larger..." Italy informed them as they stared at him in shock. Larger?! How the hell could they get larger?!

Francis seemed to run at great speeds, and they were dragged along behind him, the world blurring by as the sickening green blood of the Contaminoids painted the desolate sands of the world around them.

Eventually, they came upon two enormous rocks with the Regios' leg wedged between them. Francis' third Dite restoration was finally shown to the nations to be a rapier. It looked just as thin, flimsy, and fragile as a normal rapier, but the green blood dripping from the tip showed that it was somehow capable of slicing clean through those horrible monsters.

Francis was panting hard, and his skin seemed to be smoking, especially on the scratches that he'd received as he'd fought his way through the battlefield.

"Ah... So this is it..." he stated, as he raised his rapier. "For Jubil! And for France!" He shouted as he destroyed one of the rocks with a single blow, freeing the Regios.

"Now... For the mother..." He muttered as he ran again towards a fissure in the earth.

"What?! You—?! Why would you do that?! YOU IDIOT! You survived! You could've—!" England couldn't understand it. Neither could the other nations—sans Italy. He was going to go further and fight the mother?! But why!?

"Ve... Those are only the babies. If the mother calls for help, there'll be no outrunning the reinforcements. The adults are much harder to deal with, and the ideal way to kill one is while it's either molting, or while a mother is dormant, as this one likely is... But these babies look a few days old. My guess is that the mother is either just coming out of dormancy, or will come out soon." Italy explained.

Francis had finally found the mother. It was huge! It was the size a blue whale at least!

Then, the mother woke up. "Merde!" Francis cried out as he jumped back, avoiding the hit. The mother turned her eyes on him. "I'll kill you before you can cry out for help!" He shouted, as the battle began. It was honestly too fast for most of the nations to see. Japan could only see due to his ninja training, and China due to his age and experience. Italy, of course, could see every move clearly, as he was actually much faster than Francis was.

In the end, Francis was able to kill the mother Contaminoid. The nations cheered at his victory, forgetting that Francis was going to die here. France, Canada and Italy seemed to be the only ones that didn't forget what was about to occur.

Francis was breathing hard, and the acidity of the air looked to be burning him a bit more rapidly. He was badly banged-up and bruised, but miraculously, he had no broken bones or major injuries. He channeled more kei to his legs, and jumped out of the fissure he'd gone down into to find the mother.

Francis could see the Regios in the distance, moving away to safety as he sighed in relief. But there were still hundreds of larvae about, looking for an easy meal. Francis started to fight his way back through, in a vain attempt to catch up to the quickly retreating Regios.

"They just left him?!" America cried out in anger, Canada echoing his twin.

"They'll send out a rescue party once the Regios is safe. Likely, they've already fought off most of the remaining larvae in Jubil, and they'll send out the rescue party shortly." Italy said gravely, knowing that the rescue party would be too late.

They watched as Francis continued to fight the larvae, though with much more trouble than when he'd first joined the battle. It only showed the nations just how taxing it really was to fight these things.

"In case any of you were wondering, the reason why he's doing so much worse is because the acidic air is getting to him... It burns terribly, but it's intensified by open wounds. It's slowing him down. He's also starting to suffer from kei exhaustion, having to use it constantly to keep himself standing." Italy reminded them. He had a pretty good guess what was about to occur... How Francis was about to die...

Then the unthinkable happened—Francis' kei finally ran out, and his legs crumpled beneath him. The other nations cried out in shock. "Heh. Brûle en enfer!" (Burn in hell!) Francis cried as he was immediately pounced upon by the larvae, and literally torn apart and eaten alive by the Contaminoids—he never screamed. Only his Dite was left behind, as the memory faded out.

Italy remained silent as they found themselves back in the Aurora. The nations were sickened and shocked. That's two nations that they'd watched die, and nothing they could do about it.

"Veneziano?" Romano asked, worried about his little brother.

"You know, I'd always wondered exactly how you died. Fratello and I returned about a week later. We'd forgotten something, I think, but when we saw the state that Jubil was in... and that man told us about what happened..." Italy said quietly, his bangs shadowing his eyes, making his eyes unreadable.

Italy reached into his left pants pocket, and pulled out something wrapped in a dirty white cloth that looked to have yellowed over the years. Silently, he tossed it to France, who caught it on reflex. "It's yours." He stated quietly, as France unwrapped it to reveal his Dite. His eyes widened. The whole thing felt so much more real. Holding the physical proof...

"You've kept it all this time?" He asked.

"Si. It was all they found of you... all that was left. After we heard the news, Fratello and I decided to head to Oweyr, the only Regios with English soil, and the home of Arthur Kirkland... We decided to tell you the news."

France, curious, decided to try something. He'd been trying to sense his natural kei flow since Italy had explained how it worked. He tried channeling it into the Dite, and whispered the words, "Restoration, 0-1." Amazingly, it transformed into a rather light Sniper's rifle, but not the MAS one. Just a normal—for a Dite, at least—royal blue sniper's rifle. "Magnifique~" He cried out, catching the attention of the other nations.

"WOAH! Dude! That's sooo cool! You can use it!" America cried out, somewhat jealous, but mostly awed.

"Oui~" France said, as it deactivated. He swayed slightly, causing some alarm in the other nations. Italy steadied him—when did he get over there? None of the other nations had seen him move.

Italy sighed. "You're not ready to use a Dite yet. Activating it is one thing, but using it? Not yet. Your kei reserves are still pathetically low, and there's not even a snowball's chance in hell of you actually firing it yet." He explained, making France huff as he was able to steady himself again, the dizziness gone. "But good job on activating it." He added, pretending not to notice France's glow of pride.

"Perhaps we should take a short break?" England suggested.

"How? I am thinking that the Aurora does not want us to be taking break yet, Дa?" Russia said, making a few of the nations who'd forgotten that he was there, jump.

"Ve... I suppose we could take a short one..." Italy said, before turning to the sky. "Saya? Can we take a short rest? We need some time to digest what we've just seen."

"Of course, Feli..." Saya's voice sounded distant and echo-y, but it was unmistakably hers.

"Grazie." Italy replied. There was a flash, and the nations found themselves in a sitting room. There was a refrigerator and icebox in the corner, next to some cupboards.

"I assume that there's food in here?" Prussia asked, as he went to the fridge. "YES! The Awesome me has found Awesome Beer!" He cried with joy, tossing a bottle to Germany, who caught it gratefully.

A few nations quickly raided the cupboard, fridge, and freezer, finding their favorite drinks and snacks. Some still felt too ill to eat, given what they'd seen, and decided to head to one of the adjourning rooms to rest, or to have a cup of tea to help calm them. Others, such as Italy, weren't as bothered by what they'd seen—not that they didn't care, just that they'd seen similar scenes before—and chowed down for some much-needed energy.

"We'll rest here for a few hours, before continuing with the memories." Italy said, before a few nations could sneak out for a nap. "Those who wish to sleep will be woken up about half an hour before we continue the memories; that way, you'll have some time for tea or coffee or whatever you want."

"Right. I'm heading for a rest." England said. He had a feeling that he'd need it.

"Oui... Me, too." France said, still a little pale. Canada and America also decided to rest.

"Ve... I'll wake you up in a few hours." Italy said quietly to them. They nodded, and headed to the bedrooms.

"This will be a very long day." Italy sighed to himself, as he looked at the digital clock on the stove. It read noon. "A very, very long day, indeed." He knew which memory would come next. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see it or not.

Words: 15,177/15,255

Pages: 28

Edited: 04/18/2019