Chapter 49: Odds and Evens

The next memory faded in to show Feli and the other 9 nations from the Original Group approaching the Mansion. I studied the scene, looking at Feliciano with a watchful gaze. He seemed fed up, and tired. Hmm... now which loop is this one?

Yao reached for the door handle, only for Feliciano to speak up. "Stop!" He cried, causing the others to look at him in surprise.

"Look, if you're scared, you can go home." Ludwig said gently.

"No! This is wrong! You shouldn't go inside! Please..." Feliciano shook his head violently, and with speed that was born of the Mansion's ordeals, he ran to stand between the nations and the Front Door. "Just go home!" He yelled, face set into an angry glare.

"I-Ita?" Gilbert took an involuntary step back in shock. "Wh-what's going on?"

"This is more than just being afraid..." Matthew muttered, but nobody heard him.

"What has gotten into you?!" Ludwig looked taken aback by his friend's actions.

"Please! Just forget all about this place, and go home!" Feliciano pressed.

"But... we're already here, surely we can just take a look around and then come back?" Francis suggested.

"As much as I hate to agree with the frog..." Arthur sounded conflicted. "Though this place does have an odd energy about it... Perhaps we should go home."

"What? After all the trouble we had to get here?" Gilbert complained.

"STOP IT!" Feli cut him off. "This place is cursed! You're human here! I know telling you now is hopeless... and there's no way you'd believe me... but I feel like I need to do something! I'm sick and tired of being a bystander in this mess! Especially when it's all my fault!" Tears ran down his face, as he shook his head. "You can't go inside... They'll kill you again."

"What on earth are you talking about?!" Kiku looked so confused and concerned. "Itary-kun... what's the matter?"

"What isn't the matter anymore?" He scoffed before shaking his head.

"Oh..." I blinked in realization. "This is Loop 884."

Romano choked on his spit... again. "You're going to give me a hernia..." He wheezed when he caught his breath. "Or an aneurism."

"Please don't kill my 1P..." Flavio looked at me. "I think it's fairly safe to assume that this Mansion thing won't be over for a while?"

Luciano and I shared twin snorts of amusement, while Yang laughed quietly to himself. Japan just looked at the questioning nations with pity. "You have no idea." He muttered.

"Wait! You mean Japan knows?!" Romano shrieked, causing the three of us—myself, Luciano and Yang—to cover our sensitive ears and send him a glare.

"Dick." Yang scowled.

"It's not his fault, you know." I defended him.

"Try to keep it down, would you?" Luciano twitched. "That goes for all of you. Our hearing is very sensitive. So if you yell from this point forward, we won't warn you before decking you." He glared.

"You mean if we get too loud, you're just gonna punch us?" Markus raised an eyebrow.

"Yep~" I chirped happily. "So please... Try to keep such things in mind, okay?"

"Oh, Ita..." Hungary sighed, and I startled. Oh yeah... she's here, too.

The nations in the memory just stared at Feliciano in disbelief. "What is going on...?" Yao shook his head.

"I'll give you whatever you want! I'll do anything! Just please.... Please stop all this madness! Stop it... I'm so sick and fucking tired of all this Timedamned bloodshed! Please! Just please!! STOP DYING!" Feliciano broke down into sobs and tears, as he continued to beg and plead. "Do you have any idea what I've gone through!? How hard this is to pretend?! How broken I'm becoming?! Please... I'll give you whatever you want! Money! Art! You can even have my Nation!! Please! Just no more dying!"

The nations in the memory froze. The nations watching the memory watched sadly.

"You even offered them our nation?" Romano blinked in shock.

"What would you expect, fratello. Over 800 loops... do you have any idea how long I'd been there at that point? In the best case-scenario, assuming that each loop was a week—" I started.

"Which is bullshit." Yang butted in.

"Well, the numbers are depressing enough assuming each loop was a week long. I don't think I want to count out the actual amount of time I was in there, especially considering that several hundred loops lasted longer than a year, and more than twice that lasted half a year—minimum." I shot back.

"Fair enough. I don't either." Luciano admitted. "Our loop average was longer than yours, but that's because we were mostly cautious from the start. Our Mansion was outside the Domes, so we sort of expected monsters to be there. We never expected these Things, though."

"That would make sense." Markus admitted. "If it was outside the Domes, then we also would've brought along weapons... looks like the 1Ps were carrying theirs for old times' sake, rather than because they expected a battle."

"If each loop was about a week..." I continued. "Then it'd be just over 11 years, by this point." I finished.

"E-eleven years?!" Flavio gasped.

"You're going to have a literal heart attack if I tell you the actual loop number now, so I'll continue my entertainment." I mused.

"Only you." Yang sighed.

"Don't act like you don't get the same amount of enjoyment from this as us." Luciano flicked him playfully.

"I do! But I'm also allowed to tease my brother. Which includes you, Luci~" Yang laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Snowfluff." Luciano smirked.

"N-No! Not Snowfluff!!!" Yang despaired.

"Careful, he may just bite you." I warned Luciano with a smirk. "Kittens have very sharp teeth."

"I AM NOT A KITTEN!" Yang shrieked.

"No, you're a goat." South Korea chuckled, and China snorted.

"What the fuck am I watching?" Jason blinked several times.

"This is what insanity looks like, I'm afraid." Oliver patted his son on the shoulder. "Luckily for you, it's not infectious... it's hereditary~" He grinned.

"That... doesn't make us feel any better." Jason and Markus deadpanned together, looking at Oliver.

"Stop teasing them, you twat." England gently swatted Oliver upside the head.

"Aw~ But Artie~!"

"Continue, and I'll give you scones instead of cupcakes." He warned.

"F-fine... You're a meanie!" Oliver pouted.

"You... you have to leave..." Feliciano's quiet voice brought everyone's attention back to the memory. He was still standing between the now worried group and the Front Door. "I'll go in... and then you go home." He stated. Even though tears still streamed from his right eye, his face was now set in a determined expression. It betrayed no emotion.

"Wh-what happened to you?" Arthur blinked, shocked.

"Death. Pain. Loss. Grief. Betrayal." He answered hollowly. "Those Things will kill you if you dally. Leave." He drew his sword. "Leave this place or I will cut you down myself."

"You actually threatened us?" America gasped.

"Well, I wasn't really planning on hurting anyone. Just scaring you enough to leave... Though it was all a little pointless." I sighed.

"Well..." Gilbert stated, stepping forward. "Then you'll have to cut me down. Because I'm not abandoning you, Ita." His determination made Feli falter, which was enough for the other nations to realize that it was a scare tactic. They also stepped forward with words of encouragement and determination. Of love... of friendship.

Feliciano scoffed, his expression became more and more closed off the longer they spoke. It doesn't matter now... He heard a very faint chime from within the Mansion. "It's too late. Time's up." He spoke hollowly, looking behind himself at the door.

"I beg your pardon?" Arthur questioned.

"It's too late." Feli repeated. "They're coming. We didn't enter in time... so they're coming out to us."

The Things poured out of the Mansion from both the Tunnel and the Front Door behind Feli. He tried his best to stem the flow of monsters, but it was useless. It was over in minutes.

The only survivors were Feliciano, Yao, and Matthew. The nations stared. "So quickly..." France shuddered.

"Yeah. Because it always shocks you all so much when you see it for the first time... That's why I always try to be there when you first encounter it... Then I can encourage you all to run, or fight." I explained.

"So... if you aren't there..." China's eyes widen in realization.

"Someone's probably going to die." I nodded my head.

The two survivors followed their Ryuuzu down to the Annex. He quietly, yet cautiously entered the room to the left, just before the Library. The Annex Lever Room was, like the rest of the Annex, shrouded in shadows and darkness. Feliciano approached the Lever, cautiously turned it 45 degrees counter-clockwise, and pushed it in. There was a click as a hidden door slid open, and allowed the three access to a room so dark, that nothing could be seen. Feliciano felt along the wall until there was a click.

A dim light illuminated the room before us. There was a clock drawn in blood on the floor. Unlike the Blood Clock Room shown earlier, this clock was drawn with Roman Numerals, and there were hands drawn to depict midnight. The border of this giant clock of blood was at least half a foot thick, and there were etchings in the Ryuuzu Tongue all along the perimeter. In the center, was a very pretty round slab of red marble. Inlayed at each hour of the clock, were several gemstones of varying colors. Ruby, sapphire, amethyst, emerald... A different color for each number. The twelve had the most blood on it, while the others were just scarcely splattered with the dried substance.

"What is this place?" Yao gasped in surprise.

"Stay. Quiet." Feli warned him, a dangerous edge to his voice. The Asian nation gulped and obeyed.

Feliciano then stepped onto the red marble, which was just big enough for him to stand in comfortably. He then started to chant in the Ryuuzu Tongue. Each word he spoke, made the corresponding runes light up around the border of the clock. They glowed gold, even as Feliciano himself glowed the color of fresh blood.

He finally finished, snapping open his eyes, which glowed briefly crimson before fading back to normal. Two doors appeared in the room. One to the right, and one straight ahead, where the clock hands pointed.

The door to the right was a simple modern door. The one ahead, however, was intricately carved with runes and clocks. There were hourglasses, and several words etched into the door in various languages, from hundreds of different eras.

Feli approached the intricate door, and twisted the handle, opening it. Inside was a relatively large room, though the only object was the Grandfather Clock.

But there were names... thousands... hundreds of thousands of names were written in blood all over the room. Some were written neatly, others sloppily. Some angrily, others peacefully. Some were fresh, while others were dried and flaking.

"That's Chinese!" China pointed to one.

"And that's Russian..." Russia pointed out.

"This is... Ancient Greek?!" Prussia pointed out another.

"What is this place?" Japan asked, looking at me.

"This is the Contract Room." I stated, pointing to my own name... my signature, drawn in my own blood above the Clock. "The name of every Ryuuzu no Ko is written upon these walls. The longer they've looped, the fresher the blood, with the exception of the current Ryuuzu, or me."

"But... there's so many!" Flavio gasped.

"That's because there've been a lot of Ryuuzu." Luciano explained. "Though you'll notice that most of the names are written in dried blood. Most didn't last long enough to truly leave their mark. It's always signed in the Ryuuzu's own blood."

"They're from all different eras..." France noted.

"Of course... this place... it's been around for a long, long time." I spoke quietly. "There's Hiroki..." I pointed to his name. It was a dull red color, but beyond that, there was nothing special about it.

"Hiroki... isn't that the kid you heard the rumors from?" America questioned.

"Yeah... I'll eventually find him again in these memories and talk to him. We sat and had a very nice conversation."

"Wait... why are some names crossed out, and others circled?" Romano pointed to seven names that were crossed out with black paint. Several other names were circled in red.

I shared a look with Luciano. "Should we tell them?"

"Hmm... My turn, then." He smirked. "Those seven names... are the only people at this point who've gotten out with their entire group alive. They are the only people who've defeated the Mansion." Luciano's words made the nations gasp.

"Wh-what?!" Prussia shrieked.

"Wait! You mean outta all these names... only seven people succeeded?! That can't be right!" Jason shook his head.

"Oh dear..." Oliver looked somewhat pale. "Our odds were truly stacked against us, weren't they?"

"Indeed." I agreed. "Hundreds of thousands of Ryuuzu... and only seven succeeded. Many cut their losses and escaped with whoever they could; you'll notice some names are smeared... that's them. The names that are mirrored are those who escaped only with their own lives, either because they were unable or unwilling to save the rest of their group." I explained, feeling proud that my name was now one of the ones crossed out. Luciano also smirked proudly.

"Congratulations, then. You two bring that number up to nine." Oliver grinned, throwing an arm around our shoulders, causing Luciano to twitch in irritation.

"Get off of me." Luciano hissed.

"Ve~ Hugs~!" I smirked as I pulled Oliver and a struggling Luciano into a forced hug.

"Ack! Felice! NO!" Luciano protested, but I just laughed.

"Yay~" Oliver happily cheered.

"Are we really related to him?" Jason asked his brother.

"I'm not." Markus snorted. "He's my adoptive mother. Louis is still my papa." He grinned.

"Fuck you, mapleass."

"Mapleass?" Markus laughed. "Is that the best you can come up with?"

"Sh-shut up, you dick!"

"Yeah, it's pretty big, thanks for noticing." Markus smirked.

"You're so irritating!" Jason growled.

"You're the incorrigible one, Jacie." I laughed.

"No. No more fighting." Luciano shot back, stopping our argument before it could start.

"Spoil sport." I pouted.

The familiar chime of the Grandfather Clock was heard, drawing our attention to Feliciano, who had just spun the clock hands to midnight once more. The memory faded out into white, just like normal, as we all fell backwards through time again.

"I'm getting used to that odd sensation..." Louis remarked as he lit another cancer stick.

France looked ready to lecture him about smoking again, before he blinked. "On second thought..." He reached over and snatched the lighter, and the box of cigarettes.

"Hey!" Louis glared, but France only pulled out one himself, and lit it. He took a long drag before his shoulders relaxed. He then tossed the items back to their owner.

"I haven't seen you smoke in years..." England remarked.

"I stopped after a while... I didn't like smelling like an ashtray all the time, but... I need the nicotine right now." He admitted.

The next memory faded in, and for once, it started at the tail end of a loop. Feliciano was standing amidst his dead friends, and he was past the point of crying. No, he was angry.

Several nations shuddered. "You are absolutely terrifying, when you're cross." Austria spoke up, and Asher nodded in agreement.

Feliciano's head suddenly whipped up, and he glared hard at a pair of sapphire blue eyes.

I stopped. My brain froze. All that mattered, in that moment... were the blue eyes staring out of the darkness.

"Silver..."

A/N: I'm back! I've finally gone through and finished HetaOni: Italy's Story (Whooo~ My first ever completed story! Ever...)

Also, on Wattpad, I've gone back and edited ALL 48 CHAPTERS of Memories of Old. I've yet to switch out the chapters on AO3, Fanfiction.net, or Quotev, because I'm lazy and have limited wifi at this time.

But I'm now back to writing new chapters~! ^^ So Wattpad readers, go back and reread all the old chapters. Not only have I made things smoother, but I've added more Yang and Asher II! I've also added in more scenes... in all... I've added... *runs off to calculate* A grand total of 21,136 more words to all 48 chapters! More Holy Rome! More Grandpa Rome! More HetaOni! More everything!! So please, do go back and reread it. ^^ It's worth it.

This chapter now brings up Memories of Old to a whopping 179,057 words!! Holy crap! So please review and enjoy~! ^^ And don't forget to vote (Wattpad)!

Words: 2,623

Pages: 6

Posted: 03/20/2019