---Chapter XV: Annexe (Part 1)---




///Third Person PoV///



"It was him..." Italy said, looking down.



America slams his fist on the wall repeatedly. "You're fucking kidding me!! What good is stopping it you're dead?!" he cried out.



"A-America! Please...stop punching the wall! You're bleeding!" (Name) pleaded, worry written all over her face.



Italy nodded, agreeing with the girl. "America..."



Taking in a shaky breath, he walked over to the others. "...Sorry...I'm back." he told them, still a bit unsteady.


"Yes, it's good to see you. I'm glad you came back safely. Where on earth have you been?" Japan asked.



Italy turned to him and replied, "We wound up in the past. And then I, er, died- I mean, found the journal and, wait, no, um..."



"What's wrong? Are you confused? Why don't you have some rest, then?" Prussia told him.



Germany raised an eyebrow.  "And what's this door? What happened?"



"It's the 'alleged' entrance to the annexe. If you want details, ask the guys upstairs.
We're going in now." Romano explained.



Widening his eyes, Italy looked at the newfound door.  "Annexe- What? What are you talking about? And you can't just go the three of you alone! We're coming with-"



"No, leave this to us. We'll be fine. We're only going to take a quick look around and then come back. And it should definitely have a dead end. Besides, we won't go back in time anymore, anyway. Our first priority now is to investigate." Japan reassured them.



Hesitantly, Italy nodded.  "All right. Then, in the meantime, I'll be sorting out my head. Let's go, America? You want to see England, don't you?" he asked. America simply gave a weak nod in reply.


"He's on the fourth floor. West, walk them there and then come back. Italy, (Name), you two stay with America." Prussia instructed.



Germany began to walk through the hall. "Understood. Let's go."



"Okay. Come on, let's go, America?" Italy said, walking by America's right side, while (Name) was on the left.


Looking at America's spaced out expression, (Name) couldn't help but feel down. She knew the whole time that it would happen, but she didn't tell America because she also knew that he'd probably do something rash about it. And that could have defiantly change the future. Even so, she still felt guilty. Sighing, she whispered, "Sorry, hero. We'll get through this...somehow."


Italy, Germany, (Name), and America slowly made their way through the halls and up the stairs.


=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=



"The past, huh? If he's like that--does that mean England got killed?" Prussia asked.


Romano walked towards the annex entrance and inspected it.


Japan nodded. "That must be it. But Italy will give him some advice. And we'll go ahead. Carefully, though."



"This door, er, it looks like it's a hidden staircase. And it goes down, but it's really 
narrow..." Romano pointed out, squinting a bit from the darkness.



Walking over to the annexe entrance, Japan cupped his chin. "So narrow that only one person can go at a time. I'll go first, then. Do you have a light?"



"Will the lighter I found earlier do? Be careful when you go." Prussia told them, handing over the lighter.


Japan descended to the annexe, only having his footsteps to be heard. Once he reached the floor, he called out to the other two. "It's all right. I got all the way down."


"All right, we're coming, too." Romano said, walking down the narrow staircase, followed by Prussia.


It was quite foggy down the annexe. As they investigated the area, they found something sparkly in the bottom left corner. They picked it up.



///Reader PoV///

~Obtained: Mysterious Lump~

A pop-up menu suddenly appeared in front of me. 


I was finally back in the safe room with the other countries. They were quite busy with their own things like making food, resting, preparing weapons, and even explaining magic. England's the one doing the last part. He said he found some lumps of magic while he was looking around, so he's been showing off some stuff he can do. I watched him for a while, but since I've been through a lot earlier, I felt like I should take a small rest. So, I lied on one of them comfortable West-made beds. Not really sleeping, just lying down, collecting my thoughts and stuff.... that is, until the menu popped up.


Not getting up, I just waved my hand in front of me to dismiss the pop-up. Japan, Prussia, and Romano were in the annexe, so I know that they were going to find those magic lumps there. Since I didn't have anything else to do, I decided to monitor the three.

=-=-=-=-=

They walked around the annexe and found some more "Mysterious Lumps" as they searched around. In one of the rooms, they saw a lever. 

"Let's not touch it for now." Japan said as they inspected the lever. After that, they left the room and went through another door and found a study. There, they found another mysterious lump.


By the wall on the right side of the room was a door. The three decided to enter it and discovered a smaller study. Once more, there was another sparkly lump on the top right corner. At that, they gathered the lumps together and had a small discussion.



"This is a dead end. So, what the hell are these sparkling things we've been finding on the floor?" Prussia asked.



Japan lifted one of the lumps in his hand. "They don't look very harmful. See, we can even touch them."



"Wait, is that really safe? I mean, haven't you picked up too many of those now?" Romano asked anxiously.



Toying with the lump a little, he couldn't help but stare at the object. "They feel very warm. What could they be? They aso feel so sad. Should we keep them?" he asked.


Before anyone else could talk again, Prussia hushed them. "--Be quiet!"


"I knew it would come after us..." Japan said, putting down the magic lump and clutching the sheathe of his katana.



At that, a giant alien-like creature entered the small room.




Romano raised his gun. "...It's here."



"You guys stand back!! I can take care of this giant thing on my own!" Prussia exclaimed, charging after the monster and striking it with his sword.



With a loud breaking sound, the sword broke.





Prussia couldn't believe his eyes. "Huh?!"


"Oh..." Japan gulped.


Prussia froze and looked like he can't even breathe. "Wait-I -it broke!! My awesome sword broke!!"



"A-all right! Then I'll--" Romano pointed his gun at the monster and pulled the trigger, but no bullets came out. "What? The bullets won't come out, dammit!"



Japan creased his forehead. "Look out! In front of you-Oh, good grief! Just stand back, you two! I will--" before Japan could even attack, the creature lunged at him. Luckily, Romano was able to push Japan away from it.


"W-watch out!! What the hell, it got absurdly fast! And it tore my clothes a little, the fucking bastard!"  Romano said, clicking his tongue.



Prussia just stared at his broken sword.  "M-My--my awesome sword! MY SWOOORRD!"


"Excuse me! You're in the way! You're going to get hit! Aaargh!" Japan told the albino, but then almost got attacked by the monster instead.


Romano also started to panic. "Japan!"

=-=-=-=-=



"O-Oh my god! They're in trouble! I almost forgot about this!" I exclaimed. 


I quickly got up from the bed and dashed over to England. "E-England! You know how to teleport people, right?!" I asked frantically.



The blonde Brit raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, I believe I could, love, yes. But, uhm, what for?


"Japan and the others are in danger right now! They need to be transported here, now! As in--right. now." I told him in a panicked tone.


Sensing my distress, he raised his sleeves a little. "A-Alright, alright! I get it. Stand back..."


"Okay..." I said, taking a few steps back. England then raised his hands and recited some incantation that made the ground in front of us to glow. 


And in just a few moments, Japan, Romano, and Prussia began to materialise in front of us. Thank goodness. They were transported in time.



Japan was awestruck at the sudden change of surroundings. "What?!"



"Would you look at that! I actually did it!" England exclaimed, feeling a sense of achievement.


France walked over and stood beside me. "Ooh, amazing. Even I'm impressed!"



Romano gave a confused look. "W-We're saved?! Why all of a sudden-"



"Well, you see, when I was searching the fourth floor, I found some lumps of magic. I can only assume my past self left them. I don't know the details, but thanks to that, I got back a little more of my magic. 

(Name) here told me that you guys were in trouble, so she asked me to teleport you guys back. 

I actually planned on doing it sooner or later, since Italy was worried that you wouldn't come back, and America is sulking about something."


"I'm not sulking..." America pouted.


Russia chuckled. "He started explaining to us that he could do a lot of great things now that he had some of his magic back. Just in time, (Name) panicked about you guys and got him to teleport you guys just like that. It was amazing~"


"I understand that this was for a good cause, but this should be the last time you do something like that!" America shouted.


Canada went to calm his brother down. "America, what's wrong with you? You haven't been yourself for a while now."



Italy also walked over to America and spoke, "America, why don't you have some rest? Oh, look! You've got blood on your clothes! Why don't you take a bath-"


"This is from when England came to use his magic to..." America trailed off, looking away.



Italy nodded in understanding. "Oh...Um, I-I see. When you grabbed him, he was bleeding a lot..." he said, frowning.


"What?" England turned to them, thinking he heard his name.



Germany placed a hand on Italy's shoulder."...Italy, go take a bath. It'll give you a nice change of mood."



"Y-yeah, good idea. America, come with me. I'll use the shower on the other side. Let's calm down a little!" Italy suggested.


America was silent for a few moments, but gave in. "...Fine."


I watched as Italy and America both stood up and headed towards the bathroom. Sighing, I sat down on one of the beds. There's just so much one could take. The whole second time loop experience is messing them up. 




Second time loop.




Come to think of it, I have no idea what happened to the 2Ps after I left. Did they get mad? Probably. Will the Second Players of this time loop remember what we've been through back in the second time loop? I'm quite unsure whether I want them to or not. It might make them understand me more, or be mad at me more. Either way, there might be a change that could greatly affect their actions.



And not only that...what about our actions from this point on? I know I've already played this game...but I think... I'm forgetting something very important here.




What is it...?


Ugh...I can't remember....



Thinking about such things...it can give a serious migraine.



"ARRGHH. This is going to drive me insane!" I accidentally said out loud. This got the attention of the others, now showing concern.


China rubbed my back and spoke, "Aiyah. Please calm yourself, (Name). Maybe you should take a rest? A bath or a nap or something..."


".....I'll...I'll nap..." I answered quietly, making my way to the bed. When I reached the soft bed, I just collapsed there and before I knew it, I felt my eyes weigh down and signal me to sleep.



///Third Person PoV///




Germany sighed. "Sorry, they've gone through a lot. You'll have to excuse them-"


"That's what it looks like. Didn't you say you wound up in the past?" Spain asked.


Germany nodded.  "Yes. Both Italy and England lost their lives. Frankly, it was a great blow to me and America. As for (Name), though she hasn't said anything about it yet, it seems like something happened to her back there, as well."


"Huh. That feels so weird. Anyway, you look pretty worn-out, too. There are four bathrooms, so why don't you take a bath, too?" England told him.


Thinking about for a moment, Germany nodded. "You're right. Excuse me, then. I'm a little...tired." he replied, walking over to the bathroom.



"Anyway, you did well in teleporting us! We were in great danger!! It was by a hair's breath! Also, we found a lot of these things on the floor..." Japan said, showing them several sparkly lumps.



As soon as England saw the glowing objects, he ran over to them. "Aaaaah!! What have you got there?!"


"Whoa! Y-you mean these? We found them lying on the floor in the annexe. Do you know what they are?" Japan asked.


Spain tilted his head. "Oh? Those are the 'lumps of magic' that England was talking about. I wonder why there were some in the annexe, too?"



"Huh. Good thing we picked them up, then. It was just like I said." Prussia said as a matter-of-factly.


England took the lumps in his hands. "Oh! And there was this much?! Now I'll get back a considerable amount of my power."


A bright light illuminated the room. 


"Yes! This is a good omen. I think I'll give it a shot, this room is a little dirty; I'll clean it up! Here we go!! Hoata~!" England exclaimed, raising his hands. At that, light flashes around the room, resulting into having the room cleaned.



Japan looked amazed.  "Oh. You definitely put it in order. For that power, it's normal- I mean-"


"You saved us the cleaning work. So, what are we going to go now? We have so much to do that I'm in a jumble!" China said, rubbing his temples.


France turned to the others. "America seems to be having a hard time, so I guess we should go this time?" he asked, then turned to his albino friend. "So, what happened to your sword?"


"Yeah, it broke. It must have been from using it all the time in battle. What am I going to do now? I can't fight barehanded." Prussia sighed, slumping on a chair.



Romano snapped his fingers. "Oh! That reminds me, my bullets weren't coming out, either! Potato-oh, he's in the bath..." he realised.



"Ah-hah, so that was really West's? Let me see it. I'll fix it for you." Prussia offered, which Romano accepted.


Japan took a deep breath. "This is very troublesome. However, we have also gone through a continuous series of battles. Why don't we take a break until those three come out of the bathroom?" he suggested.


France looked down. "...Oui...that sound's good...but..." 


"...But what?" Prussia asked while he was fixing the gun.





Shrugging, France looked at them. "Aren't we forgetting about our other agenda?"




"Ah, you're right...We tried looking for wherever they may be hiding...but to no avail." Japan said, understanding what France was referring to.



Catching on, China cupped his chin. "Hmm. Why don't we just wait for them to face us, again, aru?"



"But won't they be planning on attacking us first?" Spain told them.



Sitting down, Japan spoke, "...Well, that's a given, but what if we just think ahead of
them? Make a strategy or something, that way, even if they are prepared...we're still the ones with the upper hand."



"That could work..." Romano commented.


France's eyes landed upon the (h/c) haired girl's sleeping form. "Huh. I just remembered this...didn't they make the jeune fille work for them before? Does that mean she knows where their base is? Or have a contact at least?"



"She might...but do you think she'd agree to...to this?" England asked.



Canada frowned.  "...I don't think--"



"Of course she would. Isn't she mad at them for lying to her and for making her work for them?" China told them.


Japan nodded. "Even if she doesn't agree with this...it's for the good of everyone. If those 'Second Players' are the ones responsible for keeping us locked up in this mansion, we need to fight back."


Canada clicked his tongue in irritation, gaining the attention of the others. "...Are you sure that's your only reason?" he asked, still in soft voice.


France tilted his head and answered bluntly.  "Oh. Well, we loathe them to death of course."



Spain gave a smile that was eerily different from his usual cheerful expressions.






"Si. To death."