Whispers In The Dark

[Feliciano Vargas]

The silence was so deafening. How long had it been since he'd 'run away' from the rest of his group? Minutes? Hours? He wasn't exaclty sure, it'd felt like forever but, time was something they had plenty of, even when this place made him think otherwise. He felt like he could actually die in this place, and for once he wouldn't really care. He couldn't place what this place did to him - made him feel. Why? Gunshots, wherever they were, echoed off the walls in the distance, causing the poor male to jump in fear. He hated this place!

Veh, I hope we can leave soon, all go back to the World Meeting. Maybe even have this be a dream...I just want to eat pasta again..' he whimpered a bit, pushing open one of the nearby doors before stepping inside; hazel orbs scanning the room. Only to be met with darkness. Shivers ran down the Italian's spine the fear of having to go in there, in the dark, alone terrified him to no end. If there was a monster he was doomed and for all he knew this place could be haunted by ghosts!

'Maybe leaving the others wasn't a good idea..I don't think fratello is here...'

.........................

Immediatly he shook his head and made his way inside the room, a yelp escaping the younger's lips, immediatly sliding on something. Blood. The stench of it and rotting flesh finally reached his senses - crashing into a table a few seconds later with a whimper of pain escaping him. Shakily he stood and inched his way towards the wall, bumping into it with another whine. Keeping one hand on the wall, the Italian made his way down the room towards, he hoped, the light switch. Immediatly he realized something, he'd dropped his weapon when he slipped in the blood earlier. Now he was completly unprotected if something actually was in here. Finally his hand found the switch, flicking it upwards before eyes were assaulted by light..

It took him awhile before he realized it was he, himself, who was screaming - the sight of workers strewn aside like rags, blood and guts spalttering the walls like paint and streamers. He even swore there was a heart on one of the nearby tables...half-eaten by something. He felt like he was going to be sick. What was left of this analysis room was nothing more than broken bottles, cabinets and other specimen tubes - empty specimen tubes. As quickly as he could without slidding on the blood he retrieved his earlier 'spear'.

"B-Be strong...you can do this too! There's nothing to be afraid of in here!"

A laugh sounding close to hysteria escaped the Italian's throat, making his way through the bodies, glass and destruction; humming a small tune to try and calm him down. Even if the Darkness swallowed him up he'd find a way to get through this alone - he'- was that another key? Picking up the metal object he discovered it was in fact a key, to what he didn't know but, the recentdescoveries made him realize something.

This place...

it almost made him feel.....

Human.

[NPC]

The whole reasoning behind it all was because selfish adults wanted to look young forever. Or have long lives… It was the same to 8 year old Gianna Evans. Day after day after she was taken in as an orphan, she was put into tests as the adults tried to figure out what made this child look so young. Gianna wasn’t sure why the adults wanted it… Sure old women looked wrinkly and Gianna didn’t want to look that way… But the way Cordelia often poked her cheek and commented it on being ‘soft’ only confused the child. Weren’t all cheeks soft?

So when she overheard that the adults had new test subjects in the building, she was happy to take a break from the needles herself. She closed the book that she was made to read as being ‘homeschooled’ in the building and pulled out a needle from her dress’ pocket. Twirling and examining it with her fingers, Gianna sighed softly and shifted her gaze to the door to her miniature room. She was given a needle to inject one of the test subjects if she came across them… And from what she understood, the more she was able to do it with, the better praises she was going to earn. Like maybe having her favorite chicken pot pie for dinner in celebration! The imagination of having that happen made Gianna grin widely. Jumping off her chair, she walked to the door and exited her room. Obviously, no one was going to make it to her room. If she wanted to help out in finding ‘countries’ and injecting them, she had to go off on her own.

Looking at the monitors that lined up on the wall, she looked for a victim of her mission, blinking when she saw someone enter the Second Analysis Room. That was where they used to analyze test subjects… Or at least, that’s what Cordelia told her before. The only memory the child had of that room recently was the fact that a monster came in and attacked the scientists. Sighing, knowing she was going to have to see a lot of blood if she chose that- Was it a man? She was sure it was a man- as her subject, Gianna headed down the main hallway and out the door.

The spiders usually hung out in the cafeteria area. The dogs were often times in one of the test rooms, and the scariest ones, Gianna remembered, was underground. So as long as she avoided those places, she was going to be fine for now (The zombie rabbits and guinea pigs were not really scary to the 8 year old anymore). Thinking of something sad, the child set on the setting of having her stuffed rabbit taken and ripped apart (which she held tightly in her arm this entire time) and managed to start sniffling and hiccupping. After making sure that was fine, she opened the door to the second analysis room and whimpered loudly.

“Mommy~…? Mommy, is that you?”

Of course she knew better than to ask for her ‘mommy’ in such place… But she had to get the attention of the man quick to make this work… And knowing she often times surprised the adults with her acting skills, she had no doubt she could make this work.

[Feliciano Vargas]

Okay, this place was officially creeping him out at this point. Straying off was a mistake. He had nothing whatsoever that would protect him for long. He was utterly alone. And if the above wasn’t bad enough he had no pasta! Not even anything to make pasta with!

…….

Was he really worrying about pasta at a time like this? Maybe his priorities really weren’t in the right places like people said. He still had a point with no weapon to protect himself for long – the makeshift spear could only be so useful. Now, if he could find some pocket knives or a gun he could use what he learned during his short time in the Mafia to stay as safe as possible in this little hell they’d been trapped in. Slowly he turned towards the remains of people and sent up a silent prayer to God to forgive him for what he was about to do. Making his way over towards them he stuck his hands inside any pockets he found; after the fifth person had been a fail as well he finally stumbled across a revolver and a few bullet cases. It’d have to do but, until then the spear would be his main weapon. No one would, after all, expect him to have another weapon while proudly displaying another.

The whimpers and sniffles was the first sign to notify him he was no longer alone in the room, his first thought heading straight to one of America’s many ghost stories.

“Mommy~…? Mommy, is that you?”

Hazel orbs softened at the sight of the crying girl, maybe she was one of the worker’s daughters. He only hoped if any of the workers here were still alive her mother was among them. He’d definitely pray for that later. “Mi dispiace, I’m not your mother but, we can stick together until we find her si? It’s not safe for you to wander around all alone and all.” He started and carefully made his way towards her, if anything; he didn’t want to frighten her. She looked young, really young, maybe around nine or eight years old. He couldn’t believe such a small child was in such a place all alone and separated from her mother.

It was a heartbreaking thought.

“You can trust me, I promise I won’t let any harm come to you.”

‘I’ll pick you up and run as fast as I can if it comes to anything dangerous,’ he thought to himself while holding out his hand towards the small child.

[NPC]

When she saw the male’s eyes soften, the little girl had one word come into her mind: Success. Finally, she could feel like she was helping out the company, though it was obvious that she was doing all this mainly only for herself. Sniffling once, Gianna brought up a hand and wiped her blurred vision, wondering for once what the man was saying every now and then. Not knowing Italian herself, she just went along with it, not entirely sure what else to do. For now, all that mattered was making sure this man would fall victim of her job.

“Can mister really fight the monsters?” Gianna whimpered, as if she was literally scared of even talking. With one hand she gripped tightly onto the pink bunny doll, and the other was brought down to her side at first, not sure if she wanted to actually take the Italian’s hand. Her eyes wandered up to the man’s face again once more, then to the weird signature curl that stuck out from the side of his head. Keeping her brows furrowed, Gianna thought of it as weird, but decided to not comment on it for now. Instead she shifted her gaze back to the floor. She knew she was standing in blood… Well… Normally, a girl wouldn’t like that… Or she at least supposed as so.

Without waiting for an answer from him, Gianna took the Italian’s hand and stepped out of the blood, making a small whiny noise to act as if she didn’t like it. She then put both her hands up in a childish manner. “It’s yucky…” She whimpered, blurring her vision once more and trembling her lower lip. The small hands were stayed held up by the chubby arms of the child, as she desperately tried to get Feliciano to pick her up, whining impatiently when the other didn’t move as fast as she wanted him to.

“M-My shoes…” She muttered, “My pretty shoes… It’s getting dirty…! Mommy’s going to get mad~!” Wailing her last word or two, she began to cry again, keeping her arms up to be lifted.

[Feliciano Vargas]

That was an excellent question, one he had to constantly ask himself every so often as to make sure there’d be no backing out of this. There was absolutly no going back with the choices he’d made so far and he had to stick with them. Could he fight off the monsters? Alone? Surely not then, there was a great chance he’d lose if he fought them all on his own. With help…there was no help though. Feliciano had abandoned his group, his safety, his help in order to go find his brother. Where it felt safe in a much different sense – with Romano he felt and peace, almost like he was home. Of course he never admitted such a thing to his older brother in fear of getting smacked or yelled at for saying such idiotic “nonsense.”

“Si!~ of course I can fight them off, I’d never let someone so young get hurt..”

He trailed off for a moment, knowing fully both those statements were shallow lies. He already etablished he’d never be ableto fend them off alone; the latter though…it was a memory that always haunted him. During the second World War, right before Italy had surrendered to the Allies a fight was going on; as usual he’d been dragged into it. A shot was fired at him, Germany to far away doing his own battle to help, one of his people –his citizen had jumped in front of the bullet for him. A nation who wouldn’t have died from the hit was saved by a human who time ment everything for. The boy was no more than 17 or 18 years old. The pain he felt from that one citizen dying was much greater than any bullet could have inflicted.

Fake.

FAKE.

FAKE!

Jumping out out of his thoughts he stared down towards the girl in confusion at first, not knowing what it was she wanted him to do; quickly getting an idea though. Slowly he picked her up off the ground and held her in his arms, “I’m sure she’d understand, she’s probably worried sick about you too. So do you know where your mother works?” He asked and tilted his head to the side, carefully making his way over towards the door not wanting to slip on the blood again; he was already covered in it from the first time around. Romano would have to wait for awhile, reuniting this girl with her mother, if said mother was alive, was his first priority.

[NPC]

As soon as she asked the question, she saw the man’s face change. The child blinked slowly, not being able to catch on that the man was unsure. From what she saw so far, all the men on the cameras seemed brave and… They were also very curious, as much as it would only bring danger to each individual by being so. With an almost inaudible sigh, she kept holding her arms up, almost not caring for the answer the Italian gave her in return to her question. She just waited quietly to be lifted, even when the male fell deep into his personal thoughts and seemed to sway away from the situation he was currently in; making the child wait to be simply lifted from the ground.

When the man finally picked her up, Gianna smiled brightly and wrapped her first arm around the back of his neck to support herself and using her free hand to keep holding onto her stuffed rabbit. She listened as Italy tried to reason with her about her so called ‘mother’ scolding her about getting her shoes soaked with several monsters and human blood and just shook her head slowly as she was asked if she knew where her mother was.

“No…” She mumbled, pushing her chin into the head of her favorite stuffed toy, “I don’t know where she works. She just got lost in the building and… I don’t know where she is… And there was a big black… Or maybe blue? Well, there was a big black-blue spider, and so I ran and… I can’t find her anymore!”

In other words… She tried to play it off as if saying she was completely lost in this building. The building in which she knew where the secret doors were and such, of course. Frowning, trying to look pitiful, Gianna leaned her head against the Italian’s shoulder and let out a soft whimper. “I miss mommy… Mister, can I give you a hug? Mommy gives me hugs when I feel sad and scared… It’ll make me feel better and…” She stopped mid-sentence, tilting her head slightly in question. “Mister? What’s your name?”

[Feliciano Vargas]

He really needed to stop losing himself in his thoughts with all the creepy crawlies that could be lurking around this place – they’d easily land a hit regardless it’d just be easier if he was distracting himself. No, stop that. He chastised himself, glancing around instinctively. He sighed in relief. No one was around, but he was still wary, and his amber eyes flicked around. 'Be on alert, Italy, 'he heard the voice in his head say, 'never let your guard down.' His old friend had constantly chastised him for his lack of caution, glaring at him with frosty blue eyes. How ironic, now. This time his ‘running away’ could get him killed. And the blame was his…

Yes, he had accepted it, he knew it in the depths of his heart. The only reason he was here was because of his own stupid, horrible mistake, and that made his heart ache with sadness. He didn't want to be here-not under the current circumstances, anyway. This place was terrifying!

‘Stop getting lost in your mind!’

“Veh? My name, oh, it’s I-“ he paused for a moment not exactly being able to just say he was Italy. Doing that before got him accused of being a witch of some kind and they chased him with torches and guns for miles. So.. “Feleciano…my name is Feliciano Vargas!~ It’s nice to meet you..uhm…veh what’s your name then?”

It wasn’t the best of ideas to leave the room but, with the small child he had to go find an adult of some kind…if any were still alive. Even if they were, what kind of condition would they be in? What would be in there with them? Would it be a trap-…was this a trap? If people were still in here it horrified him that they’d use a child to do their own dirty work but, he had no proof and it was sheer paranoia that was speaking. Despite the fears he left the room and entered the hallway, glancing around before heading forward still, going back would only lead him back to Germany and the others. A place he couldn’t go back to.

This girl..

Fratello..

He didn’t just want to leave them behind.

[NPC]

“F-Fe… Feli…?” The child muttered, not being able to say the long word of a name she has been told by the other. Her head tilted slightly to the side as she tried to register the strange sounding name into her mind. Feli-something Vargas…The man that was so spacey, from how he often seemed to stare into distance out of nowhere and not come back to her attention unless she talks. When she was asked her name, the child snapped her eyes back up to the male, a small smile coming to her lips. She however remained silent, not answering his question. She had other things she had to do before she could tell this ‘experiment subject’ who she was, and give out any hints that Ms. Cordelia might have wanted to hide.

The image of the woman she technically worked under made Gianna remember what she originally planned to do to the male who was carrying her at the moment again. She scowled; he seemed like a nice man… But if she didn’t do it, she could risk taking the needles for herself again. And that was not fun. It was never fun.

Reaching up, the little girl wrapped one arm around Feliciano’s neck to give him a hug and hopefully have him lower his guard… If he actually had any. He seemed pretty trusting and caring for Gianna already, but she just rather stayed on the safe side. With her other arm, she pushed her hand into her pocket and slipped the needle under her sleeve. With that, she wrapped the other arm around the Italian’s neck to give him a full hug, and expose the back of his neck to her reach easily. She had to finish it quickly before she felt bad for doing so…

It’s ok… She told herself, sighing softly as she continued to ‘hug’ Feliciano. Her dark hues wandered off to stare at the door to the room they originally were in to begin with, wondering where Feliciano was planning to take her. However, after figuring the other probably had no idea where to go to begin with, she decided she had to just finish her job and run off.

Gianna flicked her wrist and allowed the needle to slide into her hand, skillfully catching it with her small fingers. From what she knew, the drug could be injected from anywhere as long as there was blood flow. At least, that was her understanding of it. So now that she had seen the exposed skin of the back of the male’s neck, there was no doubt where she was planning to put the needle in. Without warning, she pushed the needle through the skin, wincing as she imagined how it must’ve felt to have such sharp thing injected from there, and began to pump the drug into the man’s system without warning. She could only give her thanks to the scientists who made the drug for adding in drowsiness that could take the first and immediate effect, or else she could be thrown across the hall by now, or at least that was her imagination.

[Feliciano Vargas]

From the stutter he guessed it was a hard name to pronounce, the other nations just called him ‘Feli’ anyways so, it wasn’t as though he didn’t answer to that. The only one who actually called him Feliciano was his brother…and he usually only called him when he was mad at someone – most of the time it was Vene he was mad at. He never understood why. Always he tried his hardest to make his brother at least acknowledge him as a family member or at least try to have a brotherly moment with the older Italian; every single time he was shot down, stepped on, or ignored completely. Worse case scenario, his brother would just get mad and yell at him, he was never hit though. No, Romano was never physically violent with him. He’d physically try and get away but never violent. And he just took it, he took the words, the abuse and the rejections like the dog he was. And just like a dog he always came back.

He was too faithful and trusting that was one of his major weaknesses as a nation. Well…he didn’t trust Russia, then again did anyone even trust the guy? China did…North Korea might stillt rust him too but, since Vene avoided all three nations he didn’t really know. Nor did he want to.

“Veh?”

The Italian turned his attention back towards the little girl with a soft smile forming on his lips; he had always liked children. They were innocent and not yet corrupted by the weight of the world, whenever he went into one of his many towns he always got caught up in one of their games; enjoying it to the fullest as he never was able to do such things when he was a kid. Lightly hugging her back he continued forward, not knowing where he was headed, he just knew he had to fufill his promise.

Even if it injured him in the process.

Even if it killed him to do so.

It was a promise that he-

That he had to fufill at any cost. That’s just who he was as a person.

A sharp, prickling painflooded into his neck and down his back, at first he thought a bug had bitten him; however, he’d received plenty of injections during the Italian Wars and the second World War to know when he was being given a shot. This was…a worse kind of pain? For a moment he didn’t feel different, in fact, nothing seemed to be happening-

-and then he felt weak in the legs, crashing to the ground while his eyes started losing focus. He felt..tired. First initial thought being to check if the girl had been injured in the fall, second being to pull out the needle in his neck; and each thought was useless. Sleep fell on him like a crushing boulder and the darkness that followed seemed to swallow him up whole, finally allowing him to faint.

“….fratello…”

[NPC]

Gianna had to hold tightly onto the country as the legs under them collapsed, making her fall lower towards the ground along with the man. She managed to hold in a surprised squeak as it happened and smiled softly. She waited until she was certain that the man had fallen asleep before she pulled the needle out from the back of his neck carefully, not wanting to risk any chances of actually waking him by doing so. The green liquid was no longer in the syringe and Gianna had to admit, she was quite proud of herself for being able to successfully inject a test subject. Wiggling out of his hold, the child wiped the small bit of blood she saw on the needle with her dress and hummed a small tune of victory.

“That was a bit too easy…” She muttered to herself, scowling, figuring that there were more challenging subjects just walking around as well. Ah well; this man had to be injected sooner or later… She just had to remember what he looked like so she could mark him off on the subjects list. Pushing the used syringe into her pocket now after covering the needle once again with the safety cap, Gianna peeked into Feliciano’s face so she could register his look in her head. It wasn’t too hard; he obviously wasn’t American. He had some feminine features for being a man, such as seemingly skinny arms and a girly face overall, and a weird strand of hair seemed to grow from the side of his head, curling at the tip. That seemed to be his main trait. Drawing the image of the man in her mind with imaginary crayons and paper, Gianna managed to somewhat remember the subject that fell under her hands and knelt down in front of the sleeping figure.

“I hope I see you again,” She commented, resting her chin between the palms of her hands. “You seemed really nice. I hope every one of your friends that are walking around are just as nice as you…” With that, the girl smiled once more and skipped away, back towards the room she was usually kept in.

[Feliciano Vargas]

The incessant buzzing sound reverberating throughout his mind was one of many things that drew the Italian from unconciousness. When had he- the girl! Immediately he tried to move away from the ground, at least to get on his knees, before the pounding in his head grew from a dull pain to an un-ignorable one. Actually, once more of his senses returned, he realized from the neck up it was impossible to move without something hurting. Hazel orbs fluttered open, staring at fuzzy objects before his sight finally returned to him. He was still in the same room, same spot he’d fainted in too – the only thing missing was the little girl. Where had she wandered off to? Certainly not for help. Not all alone out there with nothing for protection. A worse thought entered his head, a thought that made the Italian’s heart sink with guilt. What if she’d been taken by one of those spiders, or a monster he’d yet encountered. Perhaps it’d mistaken him fror being dead and went after her. What would he tell that girls mom if he ever ran into her, if she was even alive in this place. If she truly had been taken then her blood was on his hands. That was something he’d never be able to wash away or forgive himself for. He had promised to protect her and now she was missing.

For now it was best he try to move very carefully, he felt weak enough as it was for whatever reason, and fainting for a second time wasn’t something he could afford to do. Trying to sit up once more, a yelp of pain escaped his mouth, the searing pain running down to his back now. Still he ignored it finally getting to his hands and knees, the pain in his head only increasing, not to mention he now felt nauseous and dizzy. Sitting there for a few moments he felt the pains along his back and neck recede for the time being, taking a deep breath Feli tried to get up to his feet this time. It took way too much effort, even though he finally managed to in the end, leaning up against the wall with a hand to his head. As though it could will the pain he was feeling away.

“Veh, I don’t have the time to just stand here. Devo continuare a muoversi.” He mummbled to himself, moving away from the wall to exit the room before pausing as a memory flashed into his mind. Yes, he had fainted and the girl was in his hands then too! The cause…the cause…he couldn’t remember why he had fainted, at least now he knew he had and wasn’t attacked – or fainted because he was scared. Still he had failed her in the end and that was something he wouldn’t be able to forget, he at least wanted to know what happened to her. Until then, he’d make his way to find his brother and Spain while looking for her along the way.

Moving once more he left the room leaving behind a forgotten white flag and terrible memories that would plauge him for centuries to come. He didn’t look back.