Chapter 19: Grandpa Rome

"Here we are again." England sighed, looking around the room. Everyone was gathered together, prepared for the next memory.

"Hold on a second." I said, drawing the room's attention. "We've pretty much finished our first childhood, now."

"Oh, thank Gott!" Prussia exclaimed, throwing his hands up in relief. "That took forever!!"

"How the fuck do you think we feel?!" Romano twitched. "And I can hear you whispering over there, France." He turned to face a flushing blonde.

"Well, it's true! You were adorable!" He paused for a moment. "Ah~ You can hear again!" He grinned.

"Yeah, I've blinked back in, so what? It's not like it's the first time I've blinked out around you guys. It's just the first time you were aware of it."

"Wait, so you've gone deaf around us before?!" China asked, shocked.

"Si, we have. We're just really good at hiding it." I smirked. "After all, you wouldn't notice when I blink out because my eyes don't go all milky anymore. I just tend to space out a little more often because I'm listening to my surroundings. It's also usually at those times when I'll make more noise, not that I usually like the quiet anyways."

"So... all those times you were humming while cooking or something...?" Germany shuffled a little.

"No, I wasn't blind every time. But sometimes, yes, I was."

"Why didn't you tell anybody? Either of you?" Spain asked, hurt.

"Why should we?" Romano crossed his arms. "So someone could make fun of us, or use it against us, or God forbid, baby us?! Hell no! We're capable of taking care of our own damned selves, thank you very much."

"And be honest." I continued. "You would've babied us, wouldn't you? I know you wouldn't have let me cook while blind, Germany." I shot him a knowing look, and he flushed lightly.

"You could've gotten hurt..."

"And in all honesty..." I trailed off, letting Romano continue.

"We would've gotten sick and tired of your worrying and pity." He glared. "We're strong, capable nations, regardless of what you think. If you knew we had 'disabilities'" he used air quotes, "you would've looked down on us even further! You already look at us like weak little annoying shitheads who can't do anything of value. Have you ever thought that maybe we just don't use our strength? That perhaps, we are strong, but just don't want to become like our Grandfather?"

"W-what?" England stuttered, confused.

"He grew too big to manage." I said, looking down at the ground in sadness. "He tore himself to pieces inside. He really just wanted everyone to be happy and safe and no more war, but... He didn't go about it the right way. We don't want that. War... it only brings pain and loss and suffering. I don't want any more war... That's why... I'd rather surrender than fight."

The room became unbearably silent, and the lack of ambient noise made me feel anxious. I subconsciously shuffled my feet in an attempt to ease the painfully empty sound space around us.

"Well..." Hungary finally broke the silence. "You said we were about finished with your first childhood?"

"Yeah." Romano answered. I relaxed a bit as their voices filled the silence. "We'll probably be connecting with our nations here, shortly. Which means that Nonno will be showing up anytime, now."

"Nonno means grandpa, for those of you who don't know." I chipped in, just in case.

For the benefit of the watchers or the readers? Yang suddenly asked me mentally.

Umm... the... readers? I had no idea what he meant by that.

Eh, never mind. Forget I said anything. I'm interested to meet your grandfather, though. From the history I know, he sounds rather bloodthirsty.

Oh, no! He's so nice, and he really cares about everyone. Yang huffed in disappointment.

So he's boring, then?

By your standards? Yes.

"Well, no use in dilly-dallying any further." England sighed as he went to the door again. "Let's continue this."

The room dissolved around us and gave way to a scene of Feliciano and Lovino fighting. Again.

"You guys got into a lot of trouble when you were young, didn't you?" China spoke up.

"Yeah. We had a talent for finding it even when we weren't looking." I chuckled.

Feliciano was about to send a second guy flying when he froze, a sudden look of pain crossing his face. Lovino was in the same position. The men that they were fighting took their chance and ran off while they could, leaving their downed comrades to their fate.

"F-fratello? I feel off." Feliciano said before gasping in pain. Asher came over and whimpered as he nuzzled Feli's hand.

"You mean other than the sudden fucking migraine?!" Lovino winced, holding his pounding head. Asher turned his attention to his bonded for a moment before whimpering in pain, himself. The nearly fully-grown wolf stood tall with his ears easily reaching Lovino's chest. It surprised the Nations to see such a large wolf and realize that he wasn't finished growing. His chestnut fur glistened in the sun, even as he sank to the ground in pain.

"Do you hear... voices?" Lovino asked suddenly, a somewhat horrified look overcoming his features.

"Y-yeah... and more than normal..." Feliciano barely had the chance to nod before the two collapsed to the ground in agony. It took everything they had not to scream out in pain as they writhed in the bloodstained dirt.

The sound of bones breaking and tendons snapping had the nations gasping in awed horror. Asher was in the same state, and he growled in pain. Slowly... agonizingly slowly, Asher, Feliciano and Lovino started to shrink, de-aging to their chibi selves. As they did so, their bodies contorted unnaturally as their adult bones were broken by their smaller bodies, mended, and broken again before they shrunk to the appropriate size.

Romano and I winced and looked away. To be honest, while it was excruciating, we'd blocked out most of the pain. It was too much for us to handle mentally at the time, so after the fact, we'd simply... forgotten.

At some point, Feliciano and Lovino had started screaming, and Asher let out a terrible howl of pain. Now, all three were so weak and exhausted, that they could no longer manage even that much.

"Mein Gott..." Germany breathed in shock. He couldn't take his eyes off the scene before him. He, like the other nations, were transfixed in horror.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the three stilled. The only sign that they were even still alive was the steady rise and fall of their chests. Asher, now a puppy again, let loose pitiful whine.

Feliciano was the first to move, his small form covered in blood, staining the traditional white clothing that all nations were found in. His own blood.

"F-fratello?" His voice was high and reflected the child he now was. He stopped, confused at his own voice, before he blinked in shock. "Ah! Fratello! I CAN SEE!" He grinned and jumped to his feet, but miscalculated his step, and fell flat on his face.

"Oi, shut up, Felice, I'm trying to sleep." Lovino mumbled, before he groaned in pain. "Ow, why am I fucking sore everywhere?" he asked, before he shot up, wide awake. "I can hear!" He blinked in shock, staring at his twin. "And you can see!" He gasped. "And you're fucking tiny!" He pointed a finger comically at his brother.

"Ah! Me?! You're tiny!" Feliciano cried out, pointing back at his brother.

"You're both tiny, and I'm a fucking puppy again!" Asher complained, pouting adorably.

"Well, fuck." Lovino huffed, crossing his arms. "What're we supposed to do now?! I'm still hearing voices, you know."

"Me, too. Do you think it has anything to do with what we are?" Feliciano asked, curious. "I mean, it sounds like the dull roar of a crowd or something."

"Wait... you couldn't hear your people before this?" Spain blurted out.

"No. We were technically mortal, you know. If we'd gotten stabbed in the heart or something, that would've been it." Romano rolled his eyes. "I thought we'd covered this already?"

"Well, we might've survived a stab wound to the heart... if our healing abilities kicked in fast enough, that is..." I thought back to how our healing abilities were back then. "On second thought, maybe not."

"And you were out there pulling dangerous stunts like that?!" Hungary gasped, going pale. Many of the nations also looked incredibly disturbed at the notion that we'd been fighting blind and deaf as mortals.

"Yeah, so? We didn't know any different!" Romano crossed his arms with a huff. "Don't lecture us on the irresponsibilities of our younger selves, when we had nobody to teach us what we were. We figured all this shit out on our own, thank you very much."

"That's actually really impressive." China muttered.

The scene blurred, showing the two, now in different, non-bloodstained clothing, stumbling down the street. "I can't get used to these stupid short legs!" Lovino hissed after he tripped for the fifth time. Even Asher seemed to stumble over his too-large paws. He growled at his feet.

"I can't believe I went from a ferocious Dire Wolf... An apex predator, to an adorable tiny puppy." His ears lowered in defeat. "I'm officially humiliated."

"How do you think I feel?!" Lovino barked back—almost literally.

"Is Asher complaining again? I can't get used to it either, fratello." Feliciano admitted, stumbling a bit when he overestimated the reach of his leg again.

"This is so cute." America chuckled. Hell, even Japan was softly laughing.

"I'm not cute, damnit!" Romano snapped.

"Sure you weren't." England reassured him, causing Romano to twitch in irritation.

"I thought I felt something over here..." A familiar voice said, drawing my attention. My eyes widened and I poked my brother. He followed my gaze to a familiar man. He was tall, and had a messy brown mop of curls and honey-gold eyes alight with warmth and laughter. He had golden armor on, and wore a bright red cape.

"Oh? Who are you two, new nations?" He asked, stepping over to Feli and Lovi. China also gasped when he saw him.

"Rome..." He whispered under his breath.

"So this is the Great Roman Empire." Germany muttered to himself, appraising the man that stood before him. "Wait... I think I saw him in a dream, once..." He muttered to himself. I gave him an odd look, but ignored it for the most part.

"That's right... Germany wouldn't remember..." I whispered softly.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Lovino demanded, holding up his chubby fists in what would've been a threatening manner, had he still been his teenaged self. But because of his current predicament, he ended up looking incredibly adorable.

"Oh~ You're so cute!" Rome cooed. "I'm the Great Roman Empire." He grinned proudly. "But you two can just call me Grandpa Rome." He smiled softly, patting their heads.

Feliciano looked up adorably confused, tilting his head like a lost puppy, while Lovino shoved his hand away violently. "Why the fuck would we call you that?! We don't even know you, you weirdo! And you have the same name as this country?! The hell?!"

"Oh? You two don't know? You are nations, aren't you? Can't you hear your people?" Rome asked.

"Y-yeah... we can... I'm Fe... er... I'm Italy. Veneziano Italy."

"So... you're one too...?" Lovino gave Rome a suspicious stare, like he didn't believe him.

"Si. I am. You two must be very young, so I'll take you under my wing and teach you everything I know." He smiled.

"... Italy." He finally looked down in defeat. "Romano Italy."

"Oh? You're both Italy?" Rome asked in surprise. "That's unusual. Well, I'll split what I know between the two of you, then." He smiled.

"So, Romano, Veneziano, will you two come home with me? I've got plenty of food and a nice warm bed for you two."

The two stood there for a long moment, staring at one another in deliberation. "What do you think, fratello?"

The nations jumped, hearing Feliciano's older voice speaking, even while his lips didn't move.

"Are we hearing your thoughts?!" England startled.

"Sort of. We have a twin-link. We can speak mentally to one another. That's what you're hearing." Romano explained. "Though we could only do that after our connection to our nation. And at first, it only worked within a certain distance of one another. Like here, for instance... it only worked with eye-contact."

"I don't know... He seems suspicious, but... there's something about him that seems familiar... Like we can trust him, but I've never met the guy!"

"I know, Vino, but... Surely we can give him a chance? I've never met another Nation before! Maybe he can teach us how to be... well, Nations." Feliciano pointed out.

"Fine. We'll come with you, Rome." Lovino relented. "But the puppy comes, too!"

"Yay~!" Feliciano and Rome cheered in sync. They stopped and stared at each other for a moment before laughing.

"Oh, great. Now there's two of them." Lovino sighed. Asher shook his head in exasperation.

The scene gently faded out, leaving the scene of the smiling new family of four fresh in the minds of the nations watching.

A/N: Wow. And the trend continues~! So, enter Rome! :D Not too much interaction here, but I hope I was still able to do him justice. I'm trying to stay away from stating the year, because it's honestly just giving me a headache at this point. :P So I'll likely stay away from such things until we enter the HRE Arc, which will be the Arc after this one. THIS CHAPTER MARKS THE OFFICIAL START OF ARC III, the Re-Childhood Arc.

We've made it this far, guys! Stay with me! ^^

Things should pick up the closer we get to modern-day. (And HetaOni, what I know a lot of you are waiting for. Quite honestly, so am I).

Again, I have a Telegram account, now (SilvermistAnimeLover). For those of you who don't know, it's a free app that lets you text someone (even if they're in another country) for free. ^_~ So please send me messages. I'm on Pacific Standard Time over here in Sunny Southern California, so if I don't get back to you for a bit, I'm either asleep or at work. :P I have weird hours at work.

Happy Holidays to everyone~! Christmas is literally three days away, and I'm excited for a day off. ^^ (You know you're an adult when your Christmas wishlist consists of socks, blankets, and beef jerky.)

Words: 1,903/2,224

Pages: 4/5

Posted: 12/22/2018

Edited: 03/06/2019