The Guide to the Protector (A HetaOni, 2ptalia and Female Reader Fanfiction)

|ChApTeR FoRtY FiVe| Haunted (Part One)

(A/N: Updates, finally, hooray! Apologies if it's shorter than usual, I'll try my best to get in a longer one soon enough.

Sorry these chapters are taking longer than usual. I'm trying to at least update 1-2 chapters every month for now. Regents exams are coming up and I'm n o t r e a d y

Expect the next chapter next week, around Friday or Saturday. A few days after that, I will be posting another author's note, but it'll be a very important announcement concerning the future of this book and what I'm planning to do with it. Stick around for that, and as always I hope you enjoy!

~AJ)

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"The art of living your life has a lot to do with getting over loss. The less the past haunts you, the better."

-Richard Ford

"I'm fascinated by the way early experiences haunt and revisit you, remain present in your life for decades and decades - they can even shape who you ultimately become."

-Khaled Hosseini

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|Reader's POV|

"Well, now...er, well...Where should I start? What do you want to hear?"

Japan tentatively spoke, "Well, um...this isn't the first time we...came here, is it?"

I stiffened, scrunching up my eyebrows uncomfortably. We just had to get right to the point, huh?

"Ah, I was also wondering about that. America said that we've gone through this several times..." Russia trailed off, plastering a hesitant expression on his face.

Thankfully, Italy didn't seem too fazed. The brunette nodded and said, "Yeah. We've gone through this several times, ever since we came here from the world meeting."

"I knew it..." America's eyes widened slightly. "So, what happened the very first time?"

"How this started. Okay." Italy breathed out a lengthy exhale, swaying from side to side as he talked. "Before the world meeting, I sneaked away from Germany's training and arrived at an unknown city somewhere. When I was there, I happened to hear rumors about this place. I thought it sounded interesting, and I told America about it."

"Yeah, no difference so far."

"Yeah. Oh, but...the very first time, I came here with nine of you." He mentioned.

"Which is everyone except me and Spain." Romano piped up. "This really is the first time we both are here."

"We were just going to have fun. We were going to go home soon." Those sentences made me flinch a little. "We opened the door and came in, but...as you know, there was that monster inside." 

Instinctively my hand squeezed my left arm's wrist. For some reason, I was feeling more on edge than usual. Yeah, I was glad that Italy was finally opening up and trusting us, but his story was so...real. So horrifying. My past memories with the Oni still came as a blur, yet the emotions I felt were simply unforgettable.  

"We all ran in different directions and I got lost from everyone, and I was so scared and had no idea what had happened. I wanted to find someone as quickly as possible..."