Tortured Nations

Chapter 1 - Emotional Torture

Drip. Drip. Drip. The sound of water slowly dripping from a broken pipe above me was all that I could hear, it was driving me insane. How long have I been here? A day? A week? A month? A year? There was no clock, just 4 blank walls that surrounded me. I felt as if I was suffocating but I couldn't scream, I lost my voice so long ago.

"Are you ready to talk yet?" The voice asked. He had been coming in and out of the room that I was going to call my permanent home and resting place. I kept my head down, trying to ignore him and go back into my mind where I was safe.

He pushed my head up to face him. A smirk was painted on his face, he clearly enjoyed hurting me this way. Those beatings, the music, the water, everything that was meant to make me talk. Nothing worked. It made him angry and that smirk didn't mean anything good.

"Feliciano, I don't want to hurt you. All you need to do is tell me what I want to know. Do you need some water? All that screaming must have hurt your throat." He asked me, his voice was so calming and I hated it. He had the nerve to call me by my human name as if we were anything but enemies. However, I nodded my head.

"Please..." I groaned out, my voice sounding horrible. He laughed at me before walking off, letting me look back down to the ground. I remember what I had been told; don't tell them anything and you'll be saved.

I didn't feel like I would be saved anytime soon, but I needed to believe in my allies as much as I can. They wouldn't just leave me to be tortured by our enemies, would they? I was a part of the team and I help... Sometimes... I help... I'm useful...

"Here you go, drink up." Alfred returned, a cup of water in his hand. I hesitantly took the cup and drank the water, the soothing liquid helping my throat feel a lot better than it previously had.

"Grazie..." I mumbled, still not feeling too good about speaking to him at ALL. He took the empty cup and set it on the floor. He sat next to me, a friendly smile on his face. Was he going to let me go? He was being nice to me...

"Tell me, why are you protecting them? They abandoned you. They aren't coming to save you. They told one of our men that they prefer you gone when he was a captive. He escaped and told us everything. They hate you." Alfred informed me "just tell me everything and I'll let you go. We'll give you more land, we won't hurt your people and you won't be in any sort of debt. We promise. I talked the others into the deal. Just say yes."

I couldn't. I stayed silent, keeping my eyes on the ground. He was lying, he was lying, he was lying, he was lying, he was... Not lying... He wouldn't lie to me... I remember what they all said. How useless and cowardly I was. How I couldn't do anything right. How I deserved to die.

"Tell me what they said about me. Everything they said about me."

"You're useless, cowardly, incompetent, a crybaby, pathetic, everything that they despise. They were thinking of killing you in your sleep because they were hungry and in need of food and you bothered them so much. Guess who brought up that idea. Your own best friend, little old Ludwig. He hates you. He thinks you're just a good for nothing, whiny crybaby. He's the one who caused us to do this to you, you know. Kiku as well, he was a little less out loud about the hatred, of course." Alfred answered. nonchalantly. I felt my insides churn at the thought of him saying all that about me. We were friends... He promised me...

I sat there, not sure about what I could do. I let out a shaky breath before nodding my head and letting out those fateful words: "I'll tell you what I know."