HetaOni: Italy's Story

Chapter 10: The Mirror

Italy's POV:

I'm trapped. Loop 222... The anger... the yelling... the pain... It's unbearable... How long have I been trapped here? How much longer will I have to suffer this torture? Did this even happen? Who am I? Italy? Or Ying? I just can't tell anymore. Are they both me? And what about Yang? Is he me too? How can I tell?

The pain intensifies. It burns. My head aches... My neck and chest are sore... My eyes are heavy; they don't want to respond. I hear someone breathing right next to me... They sound like they're deeply asleep. I hold my breath and count... 11 breaths... Thank God... They're all alive... And considering the fact that I'm in a bed and not tied to a chair or sleeping in a hallway... But what happened? I wrench my eyes open.

The room is dark, but through my left eye I can tell—wait! Left eye?! It's there?! I drag my heavy arm to my face, and feel. Yes. My eye is there. It's there and I can see with it. Even in the dark... I take a deep breath and steel myself, slowly sitting up.

I feel the need to be as absolutely silent as I possibly can. My body is so quiet that I can't even hear myself. Was I always this quiet? I enter the bathroom, and turn on the light, wincing as my eyes protest the sudden change. I stumble silently over to the mirror, and look at myself. I have no shirt on, and I can see a stitched-up wound... What caused that?! I wonder. It doesn't look like a claw or fang mark. Nor does it look like something caused by the spikes on the Things' tails. I realize that there's a glamour on my left eye, and push the magic into my eyes to see past the glamour, that way I don't have to remove it and risk anyone else seeing it.

The seemingly normal eye fades to an old scar going from just above my left eyebrow, down through my left eye—which is still there, I notice, though the pupil is red and stretched—and down my chin. I'm so confused. Didn't I just receive this scar? And there's hundreds of thousands of scars on my body that I have no clue how I got, including three large claw-scars going diagonally across my torso. I cancel the magic vision.

I'm missing something... Something important...

Oh! Looks like I was right!

YANG! I yell at him mentally, frightened and pissed at my once-friend.

Oh? What's this? You don't remember? HA! This is great! How hilarious! You've forgotten everything since Loop 222! HAHAHAHA~!

~Feli?! Is everything alright?!~ A new voice says in my head. It's feminine, and distinctly familiar, like I can trust her... But... I thought I could trust Yang, too, and look how that turned out...

Who are you? I ask the new voice, suspicious. Am I going crazier? Apparently.

~...Feli? Feliciano? You don't remember me...?~ She sounds hurt, almost devastated. I feel my stomach twist into a knot, not understanding why I feel so guilty.

HA! Ying's forgotten everything since Loop 222! They broke a clock in the Safe Room, and that's the loop he saw! It's hilarious! He can't remember anything!

What do you mean, we broke a clock in the Safe Room? There's never a clock in the Safe Room!

~Feli, listen to me. My name is Silver. You gave me that name. I am your bonded. I am a white Italian Wolf, and I've been with you for countless loops. Please, Feli, listen to me.~ Something in her voice, that desperation, reminds me of my own voice from Loop 222... Pleading with my supposed friends to believe me... To trust me...