Chapter 51: Survivor's Anger

The next scene opened up to show Feliciano, Kiku, and Ludwig asleep in the Fireplace Room, while Gilbert was nodding off at the table. Ve... Feliciano looked like he was half-awake, himself. He shifted, trying to get more comfortable, when he accidentally knocked something off the bed. The loud clatter made Gilbert, who was almost asleep, jump.

"AH!" He yelped, "I'm awake!" He defended. Once he determined that there was no threat, he relaxed. "Ah... someone just knocked something off the bed. He stood up and stretched. "Good thing nobody noticed that... I can't be caught sleeping on my Awesome Watch, after all!" He smirked, but there were dark bags under his eyes. "Though I don't understand why I'm so tired." He huffed.

"You do look fairly exhausted. I don't think I've seen you look this bad since wartime..." Austria noted idly.

"I see... Yes, it's the time travel!" England realized, as Oliver rolled his eyes.

"You're only now piecing that together, darling?" He smirked at his brother.

"Hush, you!" England glared, causing Oliver to giggle. "At any rate, the time travel exhausts everyone involved, whether they're aware of it or not... Italy was aware of his exhaustion, but the rest of us weren't. It was so subtle that we never consciously recognized it as such, but the toll of the Magick plus the sudden humanization... It's no wonder everyone's sleeping so deeply, and why Prussia was so exhausted."

"That makes sense... I remember that it was damn near impossible to keep my eyes open!" Prussia huffed.

The scene fast forwarded a bit, showing Gilbert using several techniques to keep himself awake. He looked ready to nod off again, when the door handle rattled violently.

"Aiyaa... It's a good thing you had that key." China shuddered.

"It's not what you think." I sighed.

"Huh?" Russia's eyes narrowed. "He is right. I do not think this is the Thing."

"What? But what else could it be?" Prussia argued, as his past self gripped his sword tightly.

"I won't die! Sweet victory goes to the one who makes the first move! Go to hell!" He cried out as he whipped open the door and swung.

On the other side, was Francis, not the Thing. And too exhausted from his watch, Gilbert was unable to pull back his strength on his attack.

Francis cried out in pain as his arm was severed from his body, and the nations watched in horror, Prussia, especially.

"You... my arm?" France paled, gripping his right arm.

"F-France?!" Gilbert was pale, and he looked at his friend in horror. "W-what?! Why?"

"P-Prussia?!" Francis looked to be in great pain, but he was also rather annoyed. "You attacked me!" He glared.

"No time, get inside before that Thing comes back."

"That... 'Thing'? What thing?" Francis tilted his head, confused. Gilbert shook his head and dragged the Frenchman inside, locking the door tightly once more.

"What is going on?" Francis demanded.

"Huh? What'dya mean!? You've been here longer than us, so you've surely met that monster by now, right?" Gilbert got out the first aid kit. Unfortunately, with their limited medical supplies, there was no reattaching Francis' arm.

"Forget it. I'll just have to wait until it grows back." Francis sighed. "And what do you mean?! What the hell are you doing here?!" He glared at his friend.

"What? We said we'd come after you got here...?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly. Mon cher... we only just arrived! You just replied with a text not twenty minutes ago, from the Meeting Place! Three hours away! Unless you used Japan's Nation Walking technique to arrive here, but... why sleep?"

"Wait..." Gilbert's brows furrowed. "You're saying that you sent that text to us twenty minutes ago?" He pointed at France, who nodded. "And you got our reply that we sent from the Meeting Place?" Another nod. "And you only just arrived with the others?"

"Oui...?"

"And then after sending that text, the four of us walked here, taking three hours to reach this place, and then we entered. And then... we ended up getting chased around by a monster until nightfall and slept here. We got here yesterday! So... you've been here for like twenty minutes, and we've been here a day, but you arrived before us, and... grahhhh!! What the hell is going on?!" Gilbert scrubbed his hair in frustration.

"I'm very confused." America announced.

"Time has no meaning in this Mansion. You'd do well to remember that." I reminded them.

"R-right... so despite leaving at different times... the group that should've arrived only a few hours later, ended up arriving nearly a day earlier?" France surmised. "Is that right?"

"Pretty much. Don't try to make sense of it, unless you want a migraine." Luciano advised.

"Even Ying, here, was never able to fully make sense of it, so you fuckers have no chance." Yang stated flatly.

"Your confidence in us is overwhelming." Romano deadpanned. "W-wait! If we're... human here... then does that mean that... France's arm..."

"It won't grow back..." Prussia's eyes went wide. "Mein gott... I've doomed him."

"Stop it." I cut him off. "It was my fault for waking you up. You were too tired to control the power of your swing."

"Itary-kun, I doubt accidentally knocking something off the bed would make it your fault." Japan soothed, but I shook my head.

"It wasn't an accident. I did it on purpose. I thought that maybe, if he was kept awake, he'd be a little more alert. This was before I realized that going back in time was what made everyone so tired."

"In the end..." Yang looked up at France. "This became your worst loop."

"M-mine?"

"Si."

There were flashes... Gilbert took every opportunity to battle the Thing in Francis's place that he could. The more they realized just how bad their situation was, the more guilt we saw weighing down Gilbert.

Then, Gilbert was finally struck down defending Francis. Slowly... one by one, each and every nation aside from Feli and Francis died. Arthur and Matthew were the last to die.

"N-non... Angleterre..." Francis cradled the body of one of his oldest friends, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Mathieu..." He looked over at his dead son.

"Come on." Feliciano gently rested a hand on the blond's shoulder, but he shrugged it off violently.

"How can you be so calm?! Everyone is dead!" He screamed at Feliciano, who still looked at the other man with pity. "Stop it! Stop looking at me with those eyes! Those dead eyes! Why?! Why are you so unaffected?!" He screamed at the smaller man, tears flowing with guilt, grief, and anger.

"Because I am used to it." Feliciano answered simply. "Because I expected it."

"You... YOU EXPECTED THIS?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He fisted the front of Feli's shirt, and lifted him off the ground, but Feliciano's expression never changed. Never wavered. It remained stoically blank... unbothered even by the blood on his cheek, or the angered survivor before him.

"You look..." America couldn't find the words.

"Detached... hollow..." Canada supplied.

"Yeah." America nodded.

"You've been acting strangely ever since Prussia cut off my right arm! Like you've been defeated somehow. You've lost your will. What happened?! You say you expected this, but... really... Perhaps, what you meant by that is you predicted this outcome. You caused this, didn't you?" He glared, before letting Feliciano drop to the floor.

"Si." Feliciano stared directly into Francis's eyes with that same dead expression. "I did cause this entire mess. Which is why you should hate me." Francis flinched back. He hadn't expected Feli to come out and admit to something he'd only accused in a moment of anger. "If you want to point the finger, do so at me. But whatever you choose to do, do not kill me. Because I am your only hope." With that Feliciano spun on his heel and walked away in a steady, composed manner, leaving a shocked and angry Francis to fall to his knees in despair, even as the Thing loomed ominously behind him.

The memory faded out, leaving a trembling France behind.

A/N: Sorry I've been gone for so long, guys. I've had a crazy work schedule, and I've moved on top of it all. On the bright side, now that I'm renting a room, I should have a tad bit more freedom and time to write, so look forward to that. This chapter isn't quite as detailed as I'd like, but I had a feeling that I needed to update today for some reason. So please, enjoy~! ^^

Words: 1,363

Pages: 3

Posted: 04/02/2019