Hetalia - Axis Powers Fan Fiction ❯ Memories of Old ❯ Chapter 1: The Quake and a Spell ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
It all started at a seemingly regular meeting in Naples, Italy with
10 nations, and 12 representatives—America, Canada, France,
England, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, Prussia, Spain, Romano, and
myself. America was speaking about some bullshit that nobody was
listening to (what? I actually have opinions too, you know) when it
happened. The building started shaking, and everyone started
panicking (though those of us who live in earthquake areas, such as
America, Romano, myself, Japan, etc…, were much calmer) and
the whole room dashed under the table.
Romano was seizing, as nations do when they suffer a major
earthquake like this, and even I was feeling some of the ill
effects (severe twitching and some bruising)—we are
the same nation, after all, but Romano's more attuned to the
southern region of Italy, while I'm more attuned to the northern
region. As the shaking got worse, a loud groaning was heard just
moments before the ceiling collapsed upon us. Luckily, the table
was sturdy enough and held. I held Romano down as best I could so
he wouldn't hurt himself. I let Romano up when the shaking
subsided. As the dust settled and everyone calmed down, we found
ourselves trapped under the—thankfully rather
tall—table.
“Is everyone alright?!” America asked urgently.
“Italy, how's Romano?”
“Ve~ He's fine.” I answered, before Romano spoke up
himself.
“Don't answer for me, idiota!” He mock-glared at
me.
“Ve~” I answered, using my verbal tic as a private way
of telling Romano that I was there.
“Chigi.” He answered the same way. That's why we
developed them, our verbal tics. It's a private way of telling each
other that we'll always be there for one another, and that we care.
I couldn't help the flash of angry, murderous green eyes in my
memory, with the distinct sound of a knife cutting through the
air… I mentally shook off the memory—now wasn't the
time for a flashback.
“Dudes, I don't think we can move this. It's too dangerous. I
don't doubt that we're strong enough, but I'd rather not die by
being crushed by a building, ya know? It kinda hurts.”
America said, crawling back to our little misfit group under the
table. Taller nations, like Germany, had to duck, while shorter
nations, like myself and Japan, didn't have to bend down as much.
Russia had actually taken to lying on his belly.
Spain crawled over to us, and started babying Romano. It was so
cute~
“Everybody is alright, right?” Germany asked, before
verifying that everyone, indeed, was all right. “Right. Then
let's go over what we know. There was an earthquake.”
“Nooo, really?” America muttered under
his breath, earning himself a glare from Germany and a chuckle from
me.
“We cannot dig ourselves out, and our cell phones have no
service.” He continued, as if he were never interrupted. That
last piece of information, however, sent almost every pair of hands
to their phones, mine included. Many colorful words in many
different languages floated around me as everyone saw for
themselves that there was no signal on any of our
phones.
“Aw man! I knew I should've switched to
Verizon!” America complained. “Stupid cheap knock-off.
I don't even have 3G! How am I supposed to play Five Nights at
Freddy's?!”
“America…” Canada sighed, but nobody noticed him,
as usual. Kumajiro was staring at Romano and myself intently,
making me uneasy. He never liked me. He could probably sense
it… I was never supposed to exist… The familiar
words rang through my head. It wasn't a lie. I wasn't putting
myself down or anything. It was a simple fact; I was never supposed
to have existed. Northern Italy was never supposed to have been.
Italy was always meant to be one country, never two. But I'll
explain about that later.
That's probably why my friends almost died… If I'd never
existed, I would've never heard those rumors… Stop it!
I thought to myself, Don't you dare go back
into that depression! Wouldn't want Yang waking up, after
all… I shivered; Yang had been dormant for a number of
years now, for which I was grateful.
“Damnit! Perhaps I could…?” England whipped out
his spell book and started chanting in rapid Latin. Then France
sneezed, causing some of the dust to fly into the air and England
to start coughing, successfully butchering the spell. However,
unlike when he usually messes up a spell and it becomes a dud, this
time, a ball of soft green light flew right at me. Through the
dust, nobody could see what was happening until it was too
late.
The light hit me square in the chest, and was absorbed into me. I
didn't feel anything more than a warm tingling sensation. Everyone
was frozen, more from shock than anything else. Before anyone could
say anything, the light reappeared, only it looked different. It
was now almost pure white, with tendrils of icy-blue and gold, as
well as flecks of black and crimson. It then seemed to explode once
in the center of the group, touching everyone with its light.
“What… just—?” America started, before he
was cut off as a blinding white flash caused all of us to close our
eyes and turn away. We felt, more than saw ourselves being pulled
somewhere… If only we'd just been sent to another
location… If only…