412 deaths in that room
When the rest of the nations heard the news of a way out, they cheered around the cell room. Japan and Italy didn't look as cheerful as them but everyone just thought they were tired from the whole event.
But the real reason why Japan remained so reserved was because deep down, ever since he saw the inevitable fate of his friends, he decided to give into anything that was to come his way before the time comes. He assumed Italy had decided on that earlier when he saw those visions as well, he just didn't want to let others believe it.
America, now having completely lost his enthusiasm with everyone, suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute!" Everybody stopped and turned to him, with an annoyed 'what now?' look on their faces. "My goal here was to explore this mansion and play the test of courage with everyone! But all of you had your fun exploring most parts of this place, while I didn't!" Oh, shit. "Before we leave, I say let me explore this place a bit more until I am satisfied!"
"What?" Almost everyone shouted then. Canada however, just sighed exasperatedly.
"Please, just for a while?" Canada asked timidly. "You all know well that he won't stop when he becomes like this, eh?"
Japan felt a bit relieved at the offer. Okay, so he still had time to spend his last moments with everyone before going into that cave. That was mentioned in one of the visions he saw.
"Well, America's group can look around," Germany said. "We have to make sure that the rope ladder isn't rotten. My group will go ahead and see if there is any problem."
As everyone agreed, Japan wanted to scream at them; but his inner restraints of being polite held it in. He didn't want to face his friends' death so soon! And if that happened, that meant he couldn't help at all to fight off that Thing as his dominant arm was still injured! He cradled his head within his hand, images and sounds of their death played in his head along with the ones he just made up. Everyone else chatted on, and he didn't notice that some of America's group were planning to split up for a bit and-
"JA. PAN!"
He finally snapped out of it as Prussia stood eye level to him, fully annoyed at being ignored for so long. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, Prussia cut in, "Stay back, will ya? I want to have a word with ya."
"Umm...alright," Japan answered hesitantly, as Prussia turned to the other members of the Axis.
"West and Ita can wait outside," he smirked at them mischievously.
Everyone else didn't object to it. They left the room one at a time and it gradually became quite empty. Japan wait behind Prussia, who had his arms crossed and ruby red eyes fixed on the others as he waited for all of them to leave. Once the door clicked closed, he turned to Japan with a serious expression. "Alright, what's eating ya?"
Japan blinked at the question. "What do you mean?"
"I haven't been through it yet, but..." Prussia played with the words around his head for a bit. "Ya see things, don'tcha? When the clocks break." When he saw Japan stiffened, Prussia knew then he was on the right track. "C'mon, spit it out."
Japan didn't expect that Prussia would pry the subject out of him. It must have really shown all over his face. "I'm sorry," he finally uttered lowly, his left arm starting to hold himself together. "I was trying not to show it."
Prussia nodded understandingly. "Ya can tell me the details later. Just tell me the most important parts."
Japan bit his lips and held himself tighter, his head bowing down as he felt weak. This wasn't like him, but he felt so...tired. He wanted some sort of comfort, even if it was a little bit. But since talking about it wouldn't change anything around him, why should he share? Asking Prussia for help led him to his suicidal death in one of the visions he saw. "I'm...not sure what it means, but..." Japan began slowly. He swallowed down his uneasiness before he forced himself to go on. "From now on... if I make a choice, I'll lose someone," Prussia blinked at this but didn't say anything. "And if I follow a different path to save them, I'll lose someone else...I've tried several options, but it was no use... The more I tried, the stronger theThing became. I can't do this alone any more..."
