Chapter 53: Nests of Fear

The memory opened to show Arthur speaking to Feliciano in a stern no-nonsense tone. "You cannot use your magic recklessly! It could have a terrible backlash, at the very lest, if not outright kill you! Did we not just agree that we are—to a certain extent—mortal here?! I think you would be quite foolish to test the limits of our newfound weakness." The blond crossed his arms and leveled Feliciano with a parental glare.

"Geez, man! Go easy on the poor guy! He's been through a lot!" America looked at the scene with a wince. He'd been on the other end of that glare more times than he could count, and did not envy my past self in the slightest.

"I think we could use some context here, mon cher." France spoke up.

"This appears to be Loop 4,587. I was unable to convince England to let me use my magic as I wished, so I was very limited in my movements and in who I could and could not heal." I winced as I spoke.

The scene suddenly blurred and showed Antonio limping back up to the Safe Room. He held his left wrist gingerly, and Yao decared it sprained. Feli approached and offered to heal it, but Arthur glared and pulled him back by the ear.

"V-ve?! But it should be healed!" Feli protested. There was a slight desperation in his voice that the others in the memory missed.

"No, it's just a sprained wrist. And beyond that, it isn't even his dominant hand. He'll be fine. There's no need for you to go around healing every scrape and bruise." Arthur argued as Yao treated the injury.

"But..." if I don't... he can't weild his axe with nearly the amount of power he needs to...

"No buts! I'll take none of this nonsense! He's fine."

The scene shifted again, showing a fight. Three Things were attacking Feliciano, Lovino, Antonio, Matthew and Arthur. Lovi and Toni were taking on one together, while Matthew and Arthur were engaged with the other Thing. Feli faced his alone.

"Romano!" Antonio cried out suddenly, moving to block the Thing's claws. He barely blocked it in time, and had to use both hands. He winced as his sprained wrist struggled to hold out. Then, the unthinkable happened—Antonio's left wrist gave out, and his grip and strength slipped. It was only for an instant, but I knew far too well that sometimes, an instant is all it takes.

Blood flew through the air as the Thing's claws tore through Lovino. Feliciano's cry was almost inhuman, and he nearly lost his own life to the Thing before him. A wave of strength borne of grief allowed Feliciano to kill both Things in seconds, and Matthew got in a lucky hit on his Thing.

Feliciano cradled his brother's body, his spirit long gone from its vessel. Arthur just stood there, shocked, as Antonio grasped his left wrist in pain and frustration.

"I-Italy..." Arthur started, but Feliciano stiffened.

"Don't." He stated harshly. He stood up and turned towards the Englishman, covered in the blood of his brother and wearing the glare of a madman. "Don't you dare apologize. This is your fault! If you'd just let me heal Spain's fucking wrist, this wouldn't have ended this way!" He yelled, fists clenched in anger. "Do you have any idea how much it fucking hurts to lose half of your Timedamned SOUL?!" He screamed as tears ran down his cheeks, and Arthur flinched back as if struck.

"Yeah, that's right. Romano isn't just my twin, he's the other half of my fucking soul. And now he's perma-dead because of you, asshat." He took a deep calming breath, before he relaxed. His anger left him, and an odd air of acceptance settled around his shoulders. "Mou..." He muttered in Japanese.

"I-Italy?" Matthew bravely ventured.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Feliciano sighed, wiping the tears from his suddenly dead eyes. "Nothing I do seems to matter anymore." He shook his head. "I suppose its just my stubbornness keeping me going at this point."

"I'd usually be the one to say that, but I think it's honestly your stupidity at this point." Memory Yang chipped in.

"I amend my earlier statement. It's your love and loyalty, your bravery." Yang nodded fiercely to his own words.

"You're such a sappy pincushion."

"P-Pincushin?!" Yang blinked at Flavio in shock.

"Si~ Because you're prickly on the outside, but soft and squishy inside!" Flavio grinned.

"Nobody understands your stupid clothing designer references, idiota." Luciano facepalmed.

"W-what?" Arthur stared, lost and confused. Antonio and Matthew seemed equally taken aback by Feliciano's abrupt 180.

"I said it doesn't matter." Feliciano repeated. "Someone has died. That ends this Loop." He sighed. "Why is it, that no matter how hard I try... it never matters in the end?"

"Italy..." Matthew spoke up. "I may not understand the situation, but... I know that when all things seem hopeless... there's going to be a smile at the end of all the madness. You've just gotta stay strong."

Arthur and Antonio turned to the Canadian with a confused stare. "What is that supposed to mean?" Antonio asked.

Matthew shrugged. "Not entirely sure, but it feels important. So I said it."

"Grazie." Feliciano smiled. "It may not really mean much to me anymore, but... thank you."

The memory faded out to show Feliciano walking towards the Annex.

"We can keep going." I spoke up, cutting off my brother before he could speak up.

As if responding to my voice—entirely possible—the next memory faded in. It showed Feliciano exploring the Annex. "Hm... Oh! This could be 4,876." I blinked as I remembered why that Loop could be shown.

"Dear God the numbers keep climbing." Spain shuddered.

Feliciano came across a small tear in the Annex Library, and curiously tore at it until a large cavernous tunnel was revealed. "That's not suspicious at all." Feli thought to himself.

"Let's explore!" Memory Yang encouraged excitedly.

"I swear, you're also a personification of my stupidity." Romano snorted at Feliciano's mental comeback.

"Say that again, you punk!"

"Oh, were my words too big? You. Are. Stupid." Feli smirked as he cautiously entered the tunnel.

He walked nearly silently in the dark space, not daring to light the way for fear of being attacked. It turned out to be a good call, as he came out on a ledge overlooking a massive cavern below.

Below him, were hundreds of Things. There were Ice Things, Lightning Things, Earth Things, and even a few Poison Things. The nations leaned closer to inspect the new creatures.

The Earth Things were short and stubby. They were sturdily built, and had short tails that ended in a very large and thick earthy mace-like ball of spikes. Their heads were small compared to their bodies, and their snouts were squished, like a pug's. Their eyes were small and beady, and they were a dark brown in coloration. Their clawed hands were more human in appearance—minus the bone-like material that protruded from the tops of their wrists that resembled a shovel.

The Poison Things were equally unique. They had long whip-like tails that appeared oddly bladeless, and their claws were short—yet still dangerously sharp. Their snouts were long and fox-like, and small whiskers grew from their muzzles. They, unlike the other Things, did not have scales, but fur instead. Their fur was short and coarse, but a dark purple in coloration, with little black stripes like a tiger. They had pointed ears atop their head—like the Lightning Things, but pointed—and had spinal spikes running down their back. They were tall and thin, and their mouths were lined with rows of nightmarishly sharp fangs. Their tails ended in a rather neat puff of fur that thinned out the closer it got to its body.

"They don't look it..." I cut in, startling several Nations. "But the Poison Things' fur on their tails can be harded into lethal spikes. Those spines can break off in your body, and continually poison you. The spikes on the tail carry a neurotoxin that will numb your body and prevent you from moving so they can eat you at their leisure."

"You say that too casually!!" Flavio bristled.

"Wait... what're those?" Louis spoke up, pointing to what looked like neat piles of bones.

"Oh, Dio..." Feliciano breathed as he also caught sight of them. "those are... Nests!" He realized when he saw what looked like a rough rock nestled in the bones crack. A tiny black claw broke free of its prison, followed by the rest of it. It was a newly born Lightning Thing, and it both terrified the Nations and fascinated them.

"They can breed?!" England cried out.

"Well, I suppose they are animals of a sort." Oliver speculated.

"I don't care! It's creepy, aru!" China shuddered.

Feliciano seemed to share China's mindset, as he shivered violently at the sight of the eggs. "The nests... they're made of bones... Past loops, maybe? I think I see a shred of France's cloak over there... this is one of the most morbid and terrifying things I've ever seen, though the babies do have a little bit of their own adorableness."

"You're fucking crazy." Romano shuddered. "You find those monsters cute?!"

"Only a little." I shrugged as Luciano gave me a concerned glance.

"I'm worried for what's left of your sanity."

"Shut up, Luci, or I'll feed you to my dog." I shot back.

"You don't have a dog?" Flavio tilted his head.

"Sure I do." I jabbed my thumb at Yang with a smirk. "Good puppy."

"I'M GOING TO BITE YOUR DICK!"

"Kinky~" France chuckled.

"You're hopeless." Louis sighed.

The banter was interrupted by a scene change, as Feliciano was exploring the Basement Tunnel with Lovino, Ludwig, and Gilbert. Feli seemed to be distracted as he thought back to the Nest he'd found earlier that same loop. So when Lovino asked him about the odd crack in the wall, Feli didn't respond. With a shrug, Lovino did the singularly most idiodic thing he could've possibly done.

He stuck his head in the crack.

His sudden scream was abruptly cut off, as his body went limp. But his yell had drawn everyone's attention, especially when his body fell backwards, head gone.

Ludwig screamed, and Gilbert trembled as several dark eyes peered out from the shadows of the crack.

"Oh, Dio..." Feliciano breathed, too in shock to fully process the snapping of the link. A long, black claw extended from the crack and pushed the brittle stone outward, expanding the entrance. A Fire Thing stepped forth, and in a shaft of light borne of the Fire Thing's flames—which it had set itself on fire upon widening the crack—Feliciano (and the watching Nations) caught sight of several nests of hot coals.

"T-the Fire Things..." Feliciano gasped in realization. "They don't nest in the Annex like the rest of them... They nest in the Tunnels!"

"V-vas? Italy, what are you talking about?" Gilbert questioned his friend. Feliciano just shook his head.

"No time to explain. For now, let's just concentrate on not dying. I'll fix this later."

"F-Fix?! Italien, your bruder... he's..." Ludwig looked down at Lovino's body in horror.

"I'm thinking that you're in denial." Germany sighed.

"Si. And I had to actually drag you along with me to reset the clock, because you weren't letting me out of your sight." I laughed.

"How can you laugh?!" Prussia muttered under his breath.

Another scene flashed to show Feliciano, Kiku, Gilbert, Ludwig and Alfred heading down into the Tunnels.

"I don't understand..." Feliciano thought to himself. "Fratello should've come in by now... I don't know why he's not—" His mental train of thought was abruptly cut off as he discovered the reason for his brother's tardiness.

Several Fire Things were crouched above the bodies of Lovino and Antonio, and upon noticing the intruders, they looked up. Entrails hung from their blood-smeared muzzles, as menacing growls bubbled forth.

"Oh, Gott! They're! Th-they're being eaten!" Prussia shuddered hard.

"As if killing us for sport wasn't enough." Jason scoffed.

The memory faded out, and I sighed. This was becoming monotonous, and I found myself struggling against the memories and flashbacks that tugged at the edges of my consciousness. We were only at Loop 4,893. Barely to 5,000. At the rate this was going, we'd never finish these memories—or it'd take us eons to do so.

I hope we can skip a lot of the other memories... I wish... I wish we could all just go home.

Hey, Ying... Don't think that way. Look on the bright side! This is a way around that stupid Contract of Adelchi's! They'll know. And there's nothing stopping them from telling the others about this stuff! You won't be trapped anymore!

Yeah, I suppose that's a good thing, but... It's so exhausting. I sighed, leaning against my white-haired brother. His cooler aura helped calm me down as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Don't worry, Ying." He smiled softly at me, even as Luciano wrapped another arm around me from my other side.

"We've both got you." Luciano, blushing in embarrassment, leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. "Famiglia Before All."

Words: 2,224 (SO CLOSE!)

Pages: 5

Posted: 06/14/2019

A/N: Hey guys! It's been awhile! Yes, I'm alive. Yes, I'm still writing! No, nothing's abandoned. No, I haven't forgotten you all. I'm working two jobs right now, six days a week, and have had very little time for anything but sleep and work. I literally finished this story on my lunch break (posted after work, though, as there wasn't enough time for that on my lunch). So forgive any rush-mistakes.

Also, I must apologize for not reading the comments on Wattpad! T~T There are over 1,300 comments as I type this and I just don't have the patience to read that many (cause I didn't check 'em for like 2 weeks. My bad... BUT I WILL READ THE NEW ONES! I PROMISE!!

At any rate, hope everyone has been doing well, and look forward to new (if infrequent) updates!! ^^ Also, the GC is still a thing, and if you want to join, you're welcome to!