Memories of Old

Chapter 37: The Rumors

Chapter 37: The Rumors

The next memory faded in, and with it, my anxiety grew. Feliciano and Ludwig were out training in an open park area near one of the World Meeting buildings in Japan.

Ve... I'm bored. Feli thought to himself. He was in the middle of running laps, when he suddenly veered off and shot down an alleyway.

"Italien! Where are you going?!" Ludwig yelled after him.

"Ve! I'm going to explore! Bye Germany~!" Feli waved as he dashed around a corner and quickly scaled the side of the building, Assassin style. He watched from the roof with amusement as Germany rounded the corner in hot pursuit. He paused a moment before running off towards the Meeting Building to look for his runaway friend.

"Germany can be such a slave driver when he wants to be." Feli sighed. "It's not even hard training, just monotonous."

From his position on the roof, he spotted a nearby town, opposite the direction of the Meeting Building. "Oh? Maybe I should explore~!" He grinned, before leaping from roof to roof. Upon reaching the town, he dropped back down onto the streets, looking around himself to gather his bearings.

My stomach dropped. I could never forget that town. "No..." I'd known it was going to be shown, but... now that the time had come, I couldn't... I couldn't! I didn't want to see it all again! My mistakes and fuckups rubbed in my face in front of all those I'd failed! I'd worked so hard, and gotten so far! Was it all truly worthless in the end? Was I doomed to never escape this nightmare?!

"Oi. Veneziano? What's wrong? You're so pale all of a sudden." Romano's question caught the attention of the other nations, who turned to me with concern.

Suddenly, Luciano's expression changed to one of realization as something clicked for him. "So we're finally here." He closed his eyes for a moment, to calm his own nerves.

"Fratello?" Flavio tilted his head, confused, as he looked between myself and Luciano.

"We can't explain. But the memories will." He reassured his twin.

"But I don't want them to know!" I cried out. "I lived it enough times for a thousand lives!"

"I know, Felice. We both have." Luciano pulled me into a gentle hug, but I pushed him away.

"Why? Why can't we just stop here?! Why do they have to see this?!" I was panicking. I wasn't processing my environment or the people around me. My breathing quickened, and I distantly realized that I must've been having a panic attack. There was a high-pitched ringing sound at the edge of my hearing.

"What's going on, Veneziano? Felice?" Romano looked scared. He could sense my mental pain through the link, and had no idea why I was shutting him out.

In my distressed state, Yang came up to me and through sheer will, made himself physical instead of spectral. He slapped me across the face, hard.

"Feliciano!" He yelled, and I stopped. His voice and the physical sensation brought me back to now.

"Who the fuck are you?" Romano stared. This man looked just like me, but with white hair, freckles, and ice blue eyes. I could hear Romano's inner thoughts through the link that he carelessly left open. Who the fuck is this guy?! And why the hell did he slap Veneziano?! Flavio didn't look to have a clue, either, but Luciano didn't seem surprised to see him at all.

"Yang." I said, focusing on him.

"There you are." He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "Take a deep breath, there you go. And out. Perfect. Look at me. There's no reason to panic. It's a memory. You've done that before, right? It's a Memory Clock Flashback, okay? Only more removed. It's normal. You've been through this before. It's familiar. You're fine. Everything's okay." His words soothed my frayed nerves, allowing me to find my masks once more. My shoulders relaxed and my breathing evened out. My mind centered and I felt calm. I knew this. I'd done this so many times; I was an expert, now.