Sequel: Can't Handle This ›
Status: Finally finished. Read this first, if you haven't already. ------------------>
Can't Catch a Shadow
Chapter 16
Two days. Forty-eight hours. 2880 minutes. Two days of pure anguish and agony. Now, Hetalia looked less like herself and more like a Holocaust survivor. Her hair was brittle and broken, her eyes were sunken, and her throat was starting to close up. She knew that she had to stay hydrated, but after the first twenty-four hours, she was in too much pain to move. But she moved anyway until her vision started to get all wonky. Her eyes were seeing everything like it was through a terribly slow internet connection. If she moved at a normal speed, she was get colored spots in her vision and faint.
After that first twenty-four, she tried to get a glass of water, only to fall to the floor and not be able to get back up. She was too weak to move.
After a while, a green light came on near the air lock. What looked like an astronaut walked through the threshold and sauntered towards her. She could hear the footsteps echo off the walls and off the inside her head. After what seemed like a milenia, the astronaut finally stooped down to her level and scooped her up. The world moved too quickly for her and her vision blurred around the edges before fading out to black.
****
Roman was prepping Hetalia for the stasis chamber in an airtight hazmat suit as quickly as he possibly could. He knew the signs of dehydration and death in general. She was showing infinite signs.
She was ready to go. An IV in her arm, sensors to her chest, thighs and arms, and an oxygen mask on her face; all that needed to be done was to push the proper button and fill the chamber.
Hetalia was still out cold, most likely sleeping now as opposed to actually being unconscious. Roman pounded on the glass to get her attention.
The teen shot awake, sweating from the effort it took to jump due to the shock.
“Hetalia,” Roman said sternly and clearly. “You can’t wake up when you go under, do you understand? You will see a world around you and things will try to kill you. No matter what happens, you do not leave that place. Do you understand?”
Hetalia nodded slowly, wanting to just go back t o sleep.
“Repeat it back to me,” Roman instructed. “Tell me exactly what I just said.”
“Stay in the same place. Things will try to kill me.”
“But they won’t kill you, Hetalia. They can’t. You’ll be fine so long as you stay put,” Roman sighed and nodded once. “You’ll do just fine.”
He backed away a few steps and pushed the button, letting the chamber fill with a light green liquid that smelled like medical alcohol, as an anesthesia flooded the mask and let Hetalia drift into a deep sleep.
****
Hetalia woke up in an all white room with no furniture or anything. The room was empty except for a large oak door.
She sat up and looked around, hoping that nothing would jump out at her.
“Hello, Hetalia,” a female british voice purred. “Doctor Adams. I’m here to kill you.”
Hetalia nodded, remembering what Roman had said. “That’s nice,” she said as she crossed her legs and examined her fingernails.
“Aren’t you afraid?” the woman asked.
“Terrified,” she admitted. “But I was told not to run. I was told not to leave. So please, sit. Join me for a while. Maybe we can talk through our differences.”
After that first twenty-four, she tried to get a glass of water, only to fall to the floor and not be able to get back up. She was too weak to move.
After a while, a green light came on near the air lock. What looked like an astronaut walked through the threshold and sauntered towards her. She could hear the footsteps echo off the walls and off the inside her head. After what seemed like a milenia, the astronaut finally stooped down to her level and scooped her up. The world moved too quickly for her and her vision blurred around the edges before fading out to black.
****
Roman was prepping Hetalia for the stasis chamber in an airtight hazmat suit as quickly as he possibly could. He knew the signs of dehydration and death in general. She was showing infinite signs.
She was ready to go. An IV in her arm, sensors to her chest, thighs and arms, and an oxygen mask on her face; all that needed to be done was to push the proper button and fill the chamber.
Hetalia was still out cold, most likely sleeping now as opposed to actually being unconscious. Roman pounded on the glass to get her attention.
The teen shot awake, sweating from the effort it took to jump due to the shock.
“Hetalia,” Roman said sternly and clearly. “You can’t wake up when you go under, do you understand? You will see a world around you and things will try to kill you. No matter what happens, you do not leave that place. Do you understand?”
Hetalia nodded slowly, wanting to just go back t o sleep.
“Repeat it back to me,” Roman instructed. “Tell me exactly what I just said.”
“Stay in the same place. Things will try to kill me.”
“But they won’t kill you, Hetalia. They can’t. You’ll be fine so long as you stay put,” Roman sighed and nodded once. “You’ll do just fine.”
He backed away a few steps and pushed the button, letting the chamber fill with a light green liquid that smelled like medical alcohol, as an anesthesia flooded the mask and let Hetalia drift into a deep sleep.
****
Hetalia woke up in an all white room with no furniture or anything. The room was empty except for a large oak door.
She sat up and looked around, hoping that nothing would jump out at her.
“Hello, Hetalia,” a female british voice purred. “Doctor Adams. I’m here to kill you.”
Hetalia nodded, remembering what Roman had said. “That’s nice,” she said as she crossed her legs and examined her fingernails.
“Aren’t you afraid?” the woman asked.
“Terrified,” she admitted. “But I was told not to run. I was told not to leave. So please, sit. Join me for a while. Maybe we can talk through our differences.”