Chapter 16—Revenge

"I'm very relieved to know he's alive." Japan sighed in relief.

"I know! At least some kind of good came out of that terrible nightmare." China said, observing the next memory.

The twins were once again standing in an alleyway with their black cloaks on. "We finally tracked the bastards down." Lovino smirked.

"It's about damn time." Feliciano huffed, gripping an ice blade in his left hand.

"Wait, you're left-handed?" America asked, surprised.

"I'm actually ambidextrous. I got bored, so I learned to use my non-dominant hand, my right, just as well as my left." I chirped happily. I'd enjoy watching us get our revenge again.

"Dude... there's such a thing as having too much time on your hands."

Oh, America. You have no idea.

Hey... are we doing anything interesting yet? I heard Yang ask with a tired yawn.

Nah, not really, just about to watch my past self get some gory revenge. Go back to sleep, lazy-ass.

So... nothing new, then. And I'm not lazy.

I mentally chuckled.

I can always rely on you to make me pull my head out of my ass and laugh, regardless of how macabre your jokes may be.

You're welcome.

The cloaked twins made their way silently into a rather extravagant house, silently taking out the guards as they went. They moved like the shadows they appeared to be. Some of the nations even lost sight of them a couple of times.

Finally, they came to a room with a rather simple door, which Lovino promptly kicked in.

"Wh-who are you?!" An older man, with grey receding hair and more than a few wrinkles stood abruptly from his chair behind the desk. He wore expensive clothing, leading the nations to believe that he was the one they were after.

"Marceus, I presume?" Feliciano's smooth voice betrayed no emotion.

"Again. Who are you? Where are my guards?" The man demanded, reigning in his fear as best he could.

"Oh, they're... otherwise indisposed." Lovino smirked. "They won't be coming to join the party, I'm afraid."

"As for who we are... We are the Shadows of Death." Feliciano's voice was menacing, and the man shivered in fear.

"Why would you come after me?!"

"You told us to come and find you, did you not?" Lovino lowered his hood, mirrored by his brother.

"Si, he did. You wrote it on the fence thirty-three years ago in the blood of an innocent little girl." Feliciano's golden eyes flashed icy-blue for a moment before he regained control, though ice still spread beneath his feet.

"N-no! It can't be! You haven't aged a day!" The man cried in disbelief.

"Of course. We are demons, after all. Wasn't that why you wanted us dead?" Lovino replied easily, twirling his knife idly.

"Don't bother trying to escape. You wanted us to find you? Here we are. Now it's our turn to avenge all those children you murdered." Feliciano calmly strode towards the man, who backed up against the wall behind him.

"Y-you don't understand! I-I-I was ordered to do that! Really! I was only following orders!"

"Oh, please. We've done our research. You are the head of the Crimson Warrior Cult. You did what you did because you were under the impression that we were housing the souls of some sort of devil, and that by taking out what we held precious, we would be 'freed' and 'eternally grateful' to you. That we would do your bidding." Lovino sneered at the man sniveling before him. "You were wrong. But you did unlock our inner devils. But we're anything but grateful. Now it's our turn."

The nations looked away as Lovino drove the dagger into the man's eye, carefully carving it out with a sickening squelch. Feliciano joined in, slowly freezing the man's blood. They made it slow. Lovino using physical torture, while Feliciano used his winter powers.

It took the man almost an hour to die, and neither twin left the man until they were sure he was well and truly dead. Luckily for the nations, the scene had sped up, so it was only about three minutes instead of fifty.

"Man, remind me never to piss you off." Prussia looked a little green.

Nobody really knew what to say. Any nation was capable of torturing another being, but very few actually did it. It was not usually something that they needed to do, nor was it something one typically enjoyed.

The scene faded and the two, without the cloaks this time, sat on a bench, waiting for someone. Asher, much to the nations quiet relief, was laying at Lovino's feet, still a puppy, though he was a bit bigger, now. His ears were straight, and no longer floppy. A tall figure with long black hair and eyes approached the two, sitting beside them. His hair was peppered with gray, and lines aged his face.

"Hey, Kou." Feliciano greeted easily. Kouki reached down and scratched Asher behind the ears, who licked the older man just as eagerly as he had with the other children. Kou smiled.

"I heard you took care of him."

"Si. We did. It's over. They can rest easy, now." Lovino leaned back, watching the sunlight filter through the trees.

"What are you going to do from here?" Kouki asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not sure. We don't really need to worry much about money, what with our side business and all." Feliciano closed his eyes in thought. "I suppose we'll just try to help as many people as we can."

"I've been wondering this for awhile, now... Why don't you age?" Kou asked hesitantly.

"We're Nations. Immortal beings that represent our land and people, or something like that. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but we were born too early. So the only immortal thing about us is that we don't age. And we're really, really hard to permanently kill." Lovino answered.

"Rather, I think we can die if someone kills us, but we can't really die from accidents like a broken neck. We heal really fast, so stuff like that fixes itself before we die, die." Feli explained.

"Huh. So are there others like you?" He asked, staring off at the horizon.

"I... don't know." Lovino looked at the ground. "We've never met or heard of anyone like us... For all we know, we're the only monsters of our kind."

Feliciano shot him a sharp look, but didn't correct his brother. "It'd be nice to meet some other people who don't age, though." He smiled as he looked up at the clouds. "I wonder if maybe they could answer some of our questions?"

"For all we know, there are no others like us." Lovino butted in, wanting to stop any 'false hope' his brother could have. "There's no use in getting your hopes up about it if they may not even be there."

"I see... I wonder if Nippon has someone..." Kou looked off in the distance.

"Nippon?" America asked, confused.

"That's what my name used to be. It changed to Nihon after the Wars." Japan explained, watching Kou with a touch of sadness.

"Ah, I see." America nodded his head.

The three sat there for a good while, watching as the sun eventually fell below the horizon. "I hear there is great fortune to be found in the west. The great City of Rome has much to offer." Kou spoke suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence.

"Rome, huh? I've heard that, too." Lovino hummed. "Maybe we will go check it out. Not like we don't have the time."

"I'm in." Feli grinned. "I love seeing new places~!"

"Guess that settles it, then." Lovi smirked. "I somehow doubt we'll see you again, Kou. But I hope you and your family live long, happy lives."

"Thank you." He smiled, looking off at a very pretty brown-haired woman with hazel eyes. "My wife is here, so I suppose I should get going. Did I tell you I've just had my fourth child? My second son!" He grinned proudly.

"No, you didn't!" Lovi lit up. "What's his name?"

"Lovino."

"Huh?"

"His name is Lovino Feliciano. After you two." Kou laughed at their stunned faces. "I wanted you two to live on, somehow, even after you continued your journey. Now your namesake can continue to look after my family for generations to come."

"That was so sweet!" Hungary smiled, resisting the urge to coo at the young infant held in the woman's arms.

"We should go." Feli reminded his brother. "It's nearing sundown."

"You're right. Even we don't want to be caught out after dark. Farewell, Kouki. I hope to meet your descendants someday."

With their final goodbyes, the scene faded out with the last rays of the setting sun, leaving the nations once more in the Break Room, courtesy of England.

A/N: Holy shit, guys! Not only do I update three stories in one day (yesterday), and upload a oneshot today, but I've updated TWO FUCKING DAYS IN A ROW! WHAAA?! What is this magic?!

I thought you'd appreciate it, though. We're just about to wrap up this Arc, and soon, they'll meet Grandpa Rome~! (Though he, unfortunately, won't get much screen time.)

Words: 1,432/1,475

Pages: 3

Posted: 12/18/2018

Edited: 03/06/2019