This Color... :HetaOni(Canada):

It...

It is no longer my favorite color.

Relentlessly it's footsteps pound after me, surprisingly being hushed even at the velocity it has.

I suppose it's not too much different from me.

We're both too quiet.

Maybe...it's just doing all this for a reason none of us can think of, other than being blood-thirsty, or savage, or this just being our fates for all eternity. Maybe it's just trying to be noticed. How could I not relate to that a little?

What I don't understand...is why it must go about it like this.

Harshly I slam the door behind me. As usual I speak quieter than I really should. It's a bit of a habit I can never seem to get rid of. But they should've heard me come in, anyway. "Everyone, it's-" but abruptly my voice falls short.

I feel like I'm forgetting something.

And no one is here.

But...there's always at least a few of us stationed here! This is the only safe place in the entire mansion, the only place it hasn't touched! At least, not yet in this time loop...

A sinking feeling consumes my stomach when I hear the door creak open. So that's what I forgot. How could I forget to lock it?

Abruptly I take off into a sprint. There's always the bathroom. I'll lock it behind me and come up with a plan. I can always figure something out. And then maybe they'll return from wherever they went and help. Or maybe they all just went into the bathroom.

It's not like they sent Kiku and I off onto some suicidal mission and ditched us, right? There has to be an explanation.

I wish he was still here with me, fighting to survive and working together, instead of soaking in that accursed color at my feet. Some of it even splashed onto my face, there was so much.

He stared at me dully with his brown eyes, telling me with one last breath that he was thankful I stayed until his end, and to save myself. His eyes closed, and his face fell limply to the side, cheek landing in the pool of his own fluid.

I was too worried about the others to not obey.

I don't look behind even for a second as I reach the only door left to go to. A sharp gasp escapes my lungs as I slam it, only to turn the lock a split second later with a clang. I won't let that thing get in here. I can keep one place unsoiled, at least.

A slightly wailish voice reaches my ears, and my hope skyrockets to the sky. "Hello?" I call softly, heading down the small hallway and towards the toilet room on the top left side.

"Matthew, that you dude?!" I see my brother call, looking traumatized, what with his mouth looking agape and eyes wild with emotion. A body dressed in folds of forest green lies at his knees against the wall, and with a pang I realize who it is.

Sadly I pace forwards towards them, looking at the face of the messy, blonde-haired man. "Is he...?"

"Oh, hello Matthew," suddenly his bright green eyes flash open in an instant, a weak smile forming at his lips that are cracked with dried blood. "Thank heavens you're safe..We were all worried...about you and Kiku. Half of the others...went searching for you..." he hacks a bit.

I don't return the smile. How can I when that color is all over him? "Wh-What happened?"

The younger one with glasses looks at me desperately. "An outbreak of those alien-thingers happened! Somehow they got in here...everyone ran in separate directions and got separated. We both ran in here, but one of them followed us and got Arthur bad, so I carried him over here and barely fended it off...You gotta help me get him better man!"

I blink slowly, turning towards the ever-leaking Englishman. We share a gaze, and I know. I can tell he knows too.

He's not going to make it, no matter what we do.

His expression is just as desperate, but for a different reason besides pain. He doesn't want me to tell my brother...but...

It bangs against the door, forcing me onto my toes. I need to think fast. At this rate it'll break in. If all three of us were in top form we might have had a chance. But with Arthur like this, and the other being in this emotional state...

How can I tell him there's no way Arthur will survive?

"Huh? Are one of them outside? Did it follow ya?"

I gulp, making up my mind about what I want to do. "...Yeah. And I need to stop it."

"The hero's not letting you go out there by yourself! I'll be right back, you better hang in there-"

"No!" I snap on accident, causing him to look at me with his wide, intense blue irises. "No Alfred...you...you need to stay with him."

"But-"

"Kiku and...and Gilbert," I force a smile, trying to seem sincere. "Are outside right now, waiting for me. They only sent me in here to check for survivors. They need my help. Together we'll probably be able to stop it. So, please...stay, alright?"

Actually, on the way over here I saw Gilbert's fluid splattered all over one of the white walls. His brother in the West most definitely will be going through some pain, if he's still alive to the the elder Eastman anyway.

"They are...?" he calms down, looking at me with a hard face, obviously a bit conflicted. "N-No, I still wanna help-"

A black gloved hand suddenly grabs at his leg. "Shut up, you blooming berk...and listen to him...he knows what he's doing...right?" he glances at me promptly with a sour face, implying the pain is starting to get to him.

The American's face twists into an annoyed grimace at his insult.

"Yes," I finally answer. I know exactly what I'm doing.

Sighing he calms down a bit, his arms dangling limply in defeat. Another bang. "...Okay. But if you guys need any at all, I'm ready!" he bends back down. "I'm going to stay here and try to stop the bleeding. We'll join ya soon."

Arthur bites his tongue, knowing it's best to say nothing. No use to argue on his death bed. Or death floor.

I nod, turning away. "...Alright."

"Be careful, okay bro?"

"I will. Thanks for everything, you guys..."

"Huh?"

"Bye," abruptly I turn, charging for the door. I can't let him question that comment. He'd never let me do it.

But I suppose that's a good thing.

Thank you...

My resolve is stronger than ever before.

I'll never, ever let that thing in here!





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Slam.

Lock.

"I...I did...it..." I choke out with a triumphant smile.

Falling backwards onto the ground the moment I let go of the knob.

Heh...is this how the others felt when they were struck down like this, only having moments left? The pain is so excruciating...it's swelling within my chest.

It's been probably leaking for a while, but the color flows into my sight it seems only a second later. The liquid trickles out onto the wood floor, forming a pool.

How ironic. I'm going to fade away...

Surrounded in the very red I've come to despise.

Still...I did it. I fended it off...away from this room we once called our sanctuary, where we've slept for days on end. And now it'll take a lot of work to reach those two.

Normally I would have loved to have fought by the side of my brother...or someone else I care about...even if it still ended like this for me.

But how could I let that oblivious idiot leave him to die?

A smirk forms on my face as my sight starts to blur. Alfred's probably going to be mad at me for lieing to him.

I'm glad Arthur won't die alone. He's got someone he loves right by his side to the end.

And Alf...no, America will still be alive. I was able to save him at least, for now.

Yeah...he sure is an asshole. The loudest of them all. But he's definitely the best one, too.

The agony is starting to go away, at least. It's starting to just turn into a slightly...numb...feeling. All that's left for me to feel is the blood draining steadily and rapidly out of my stomach and chest.

Actually...I've always known...I would go like this all along.

That I would have a death as quiet as snow. Like me. Just like how I've always lived my life...never really existing. Just...there.

Is that how Arthur's "magical friends" feel?

Somehow I knew...I would die this way.

A...little happy...

A...little...sad, and...

Completely...

...

Alone.