Chapter 20: Introductions

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WE'RE LOST?!" Lovino's voice greeted the nations as the next memory faded in.

"Uh, well... You see, I don't normally come to this area of my country, I only came to find you two, and—"

"How the hell does a nation get lost in their own damn country?!" Lovino continued to rant. "You're hopeless!"

"He got lost?" Germany gawked. How could one of the greatest empires ever to have lived, have gotten lost in his own country?

"Yeah... sounds like him, all right." China deadpanned. "He'll be hungry soon, too."

The four were wondering around some desolate area that didn't have any towns. By the looks of it, they'd been wandering around for a few days. Their clothing was dirty, and they looked rather hungry.

"Ah~ I miss his food." Rome said with a dreamy look in his eye. "And his tea."

"Aiyaa! That's what you miss?! You stupid, hardheaded, idiotic..." China trailed off into semi-profane mutters. But internally, he cried.

"You knew him?!" America asked, surprised. "I mean, I knew you were old, but—"

"You don't want to finish that sentence, aru." China glared at the American.

"Yes. I knew him rather well. We were... friends."

Romano twitched a bit, sensing that there was more to it than that, but he let it be. After all, it wasn't our business what they were. It was China's to tell, not ours.

"Miss who, you creepy bastard? Anyways, you got us lost out here, you damn idiot!" Lovino twitched, glaring at Rome. "Are you really even a nation? You seem too incompetent."

Rome stumbled and fell at that. "Come on, that's not fair! Everyone makes mistakes! I just got a little lost, that's all. You'll do it one day, too!" He huffed and crossed his arms.

"Are you sure you aren't the child?" Feliciano asked, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of his head. Even Asher gave Rome a sidelong glance.

"E-even the dog?" Rome fell into a mild despair.

The nations couldn't help but laugh at the scene. It was too funny! Watching these two chibi-nations speaking to the Great Roman Empire like he was the kid was just too much for them to take.

Honestly, Romano and I couldn't help but chuckle, too. We were such little asses back then.

The scene blurred to nightfall, where the four reluctantly made camp. Tired out by their long trek and their suddenly shorter legs and smaller lungs, the twins fell asleep rather quickly and deeply, with Asher keeping watch over them.

Rome looked at Asher, who huffed. "So... are you their pet?"

"I'm nobody's fucking pet!" Asher growled, and while Rome was unable to understand his words, his meaning remained clear.

"O-okay... their... erm... protector?" He tried again.

"Huh... so you aren't entirely stupid." Asher snorted and rested his head on his paws, ears still perked up to catch any little sound.

The memory became dim and muffled, showing that at least one twin was somewhat awake.

"Ah... they're so cute. It makes me happy to have such adorable grandsons." Rome's voice sounded far away, but they could still hear him. "Romano and Veneziano, huh? 'Mano seems like the physically stronger of the two. He's probably older. If he wants to, I'll teach him war. Vene, on the other hand, seems more gentle. I'd hate to see such a trusting child turn cold... maybe I can train him in politics and art? Yes... And together... they can learn to rule. Perhaps one day..." His voice faded away as Feliciano finally fell asleep.

The next memory came in a blur. It was still dark out, but it seemed that Feliciano and Lovino had been awoken by something, but they couldn't see anything but darkness and Rome's red cape.

"Hmm? What's going on? I thought I heard something..." Feliciano mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Ah, it was nothing. Go back to sleep. Everything's fine." Rome reassured them, and Asher hesitated for a moment before chuffing softly at the boys, letting them know it was safe, and in their sleep-deprived state, they quickly fell back asleep.

"Phew..." They heard Rome say faintly. "Don't worry, my precious grandsons. Grandpa Rome's here to protect you." Asher's faint growl faded away with the memory.

The next morning, the group came upon scuffed ground and some bloodstains in the dirt, but nothing else, though Asher seemed to have had a nice meal. Lovino turned to glare at Rome, who looked away with a whistle.

"What happened last night?"

"N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Rome smiled.

"You're a terrible liar." Lovino deadpanned. "Even Fe... Veneziano isn't fooled." He pointed coolly to his brother, who had his arms crossed.

"Why did you correct yourself?" Canada asked. "That's the second time you've used nation names instead of human ones."

"They were... personal, I suppose. We still didn't really know Grandpa Rome, yet, and it was more our way of staying on a more... 'professional' level with him, I guess. Though it became an endearing term after a while." I smiled softly.

"Please tell us?" Feliciano looked up at Rome with the most adorable puppy dog eyes the nations had ever seen. Rome's expression melted instantly.

"Well, there was a small attack from some bandits, but don't worry~! Your Grandpa protected you both while you slept!" He explained, before blinking in shock. "I wasn't going to tell you that."

"I knew it!" Lovino exclaimed. Asher yipped indignantly.

"And your pup, here, helped, too!" Rome amended. "That look is dangerous." Rome muttered to himself, taking a small step away from Feliciano.

The nations chuckled, finding amusement in the light-hearted atmosphere. It was a nice change from the harsh reality that had greeted them since Emma's Death.

The scene blurred to show the four walking again, the hot sun burned overhead. "So what does a nation do anyways?" Lovino asked, crossing his arms.

"You don't know?" Rome tilted his head.

"We were a little premature, so I don't think we have all the knowledge we should." Feliciano explained warily.

"Oh! That's something I've never heard of before!" Rome looked at the two with a large grin. "All the more reason to take you two under my wing, then. Listen; no matter what anyone tells you, always remember this. A nation is to protect their people. We are the advocates of the voices of our people. And it's up to us to protect them! But never forget that you are also one of your own people. So protect yourself, too~!" He grinned.

"We are... humans?" Lovino tilted his head in confusion.

"You don't necessarily have to be human to be a citizen." Rome corrected. "And we're human enough." He gazed off into the east for a moment, and China looked sadly at his lost love.

"You idiot. Don't repeat words that you don't understand." China sighed. "We are human enough."

The scene faded away before the next appeared. It seemed that the three had finally found their way to civilization once more, and were now approaching a rather large castle.

"Woah... I've never seen such a huge place before!" Lovino exclaimed, wide-eyed. Feliciano was also left equally speechless.

"I've seen bigger." England huffed; apparently he took some kind of offense to the awed reactions of the tiny memory-children.

"Dude, a castle is a fucking castle, man!" America grinned. "Size doesn't matter, it's still cool!"

"Al, please don't. Not here." Canada quietly begged his brother. I was fairly sure that America had been ready to crack some kind of dirty joke, and Canada had saved us all by stopping his brother. Not that America's jokes were always bad, but his dirty ones tended to make some of others uncomfortable. What was okay in his country wasn't always okay in another's.

"Welcome home." Rome smiled as they walked up to the castle.

"H-home?!" Lovino choked, sharing a stupefied look with his twin.

"Wait, surely you don't mean this castle?!" Feliciano gawked as Rome nodded.

"Yes. This is where I live. So this is where you'll be living, too."

"Talk about beggars to kings..." Lovino said mentally to his twin.

"No joke! Do you really think this'll be okay?" Feliciano asked.

"You were the one to insist on trusting this weirdo!"

"I still do! But we're not royalty! Won't we..."

"We shouldn't get in trouble so long as this big dumbass actually does live here." Lovino answered.

"It's so weird hearing this conversation when neither of you are moving your mouths." France commented, shaking his head.

"Ja... I just hope we won't hear anything too private." Prussia winced, thinking of all the stuff that could be secretly said through such a link.

"Welcome home, Rome." A man with long blonde hair and blue-green eyes said. He spoke with a Germanic accent.

Prussia gasped sharply, drawing the attention of the others. "G-grandpa? Grandpa Germania!" He grinned, excited to see him again, even if it was only a memory. "Vati~" He started bouncing on the balls of his feet like an excited kid on Christmas.

"So that's him?" Germany asked, tilting his head. They looked a lot alike, and he could easily see the resemblance between himself and his grandfather.

"Ja... I didn't know he used to live with Rome, though." Prussia looked puzzled. "I thought they hated each other..."

"They used to be very good friends." I said, watching sadly as Rome and Germania hugged. "In fact, Germania was Grandpa Rome's personal guard for a long while. They eventually had a falling out that caused a lot of hatred between the two for some reason, though. I never found out what it was." I sighed, and Romano put his hand on my shoulder.

"No kidding?" Prussia watched the two interact. All he'd ever heard of Rome from his grandfather was negative things. He'd never mentioned that the two were once friends.

"Oh? And who are these two?" He asked, bending down to greet Feli and Lovi.

"I'm Italy~! Italy Veneziano." Feli smiled, and Germania's stern gaze softened at the adorable sight.

"I'm Italy Romano." Lovino followed, introducing himself reluctantly.

"They're my beautiful new grandsons~!" Rome exclaimed, placing a caring hand atop each of their heads.

"Your grandsons?!" Germania gaped. "Since when do you have grandsons?!"

"Since three days ago, when I found them. I can feel it. They're young, but they're like us." Rome grinned as a light of realization sparked in Germania's eyes.

"Oh... In that case, allow me to introduce myself. I am Germania. I am also a Nation, like your grandfather. I'm his personal guard." He smiled proudly.

"Only because you don't trust anyone else to do it~! He's also my best friend." Rome stuck his tongue out at the blonde.

"Of course I don't trust anyone else to keep you safe!" Germania huffed, placing his hands on his hips. "You find trouble so often, it's insane! If I left the job to anyone else... if would your crazy situations didn't drive them up the wall, then you and your stupid 'escape attempts' surely would." He crossed his arms and gave Rome a stern glare. "Speaking of which, would you mind telling me why you snuck out your bedroom window in the middle of the night and vanished for twelve days?"

"Oooh... busted..." Prussia whispered to Hungary, who chuckled and nodded.

"O-oh, well, you see... I decided to go for a midnight stroll, and—"

"Through the window?" Germania raised an incredulous eyebrow, but Rome powered on through his explanation without stopping. His words sped by so quickly that it reminded several nations strongly of our infamous Italian Rants.

"—suddenly felt a pull. I had to follow it, you see, as it felt so important~! So I jumped over the wall and headed towards the pull, and before I knew it, I found myself in a town, so I decided to explore, and of course I found some very pretty women and some stunningly handsome men—though still not as handsome as myself, of course—and just had to spend some time with them! And after that, I found these two, who were the source of that pull I mentioned! Don't they look just like their grandpa?" Rome grinned, finishing his rather fast-paced explanation.

"Now I see where Italy gets it from." Germany sighed, his expression mirrored Germania's.

"You know... Now that I think about it, doesn't Rome and Germania's relationship seem a lot like Ita's and Germany's?" Hungary tilted her head as she spoke.

"You know, you're right." China blinked. "How did I not see it sooner?"

"Because you are getting old." Japan replied without hesitation.

"WHAT, ARU?!"

"I said you are getting old. My, my, are you losing your hearing, too?" He smirked as America busted out laughing. Even Canada quietly chuckled.

"I am not losing my hearing, aru." China huffed, crossing his arms.

"Hai, hai. Whatever you say."

"Stop sneaking out, or I'll chain you to your Gott-damned bed!" Germania glared. "Or worse... I'll feed you potatoes."

Rome paled. "N-no, don't take my food away, please! I'll do anything, I mean anything within reason!"

"Are you really supposed to be a powerful empire?" Lovino stared at his grandfather in disbelief. "You're lame."

"Don't be so rude, fratello! I'm sure he's just... erm... He's probably a good person and a good fighter!" Feliciano defended, much to Rome's happiness.

"Come, now. You two must be tired. We've had such a long journey, after all." Rome said, dusting off his armor. "Follow me to your room. I hope you don't mind sharing?"

"We prefer it that way. We are twins, after all." Lovino answered.

"You are?! Really? How odd." Germania's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Is it that unusual?" Feliciano asked.

"Well, I've never met nation-twins before, but of course my beautiful grandsons would be the first~!" Rome grinned.

"There have been nation twins before." Germania corrected, "It's just very rare."

"Here we are~!" Rome smiled as he opened the door to a lavish bedroom with two beds. There were all kinds of colors of fabrics, making the twins gape.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Lovino breathed.

"Watch your tongue." Rome mildly chastised.

"It is a bit overwhelming. I mean, is this really for us?!" Feli cautiously walked into the room and felt the bed. "It's so soft! It... it's not stuffed with hay!"

"Of course not!" Rome said, looking somewhat appalled. "No grandson of mine will sleep on hay beds! You'll have only the best!" He puffed out his chest proudly. "I'll leave you two to sleep, though. If you need anything, I'm the door at the end of the hall on the left, okay?" He smiled, kissed both of their foreheads, and left the room.

Though the door was thick, the twins could still hear the muffled voices of the two nations.

"You realize you can't buy their love, right?" Germania muttered to his friend.

"I know. I'm not trying to. But... 'Mania... they were homeless out there. I'm not sure if they've ever slept in a proper bed. I... I should've found them sooner. I wish I had. They've had to rely on themselves for so long, and I feel responsible for their hardships." Rome admitted, guilt lacing his voice. "All I want is to bring them joy, and make them happy."

"Rome..." Germania sighed. "You selfless idiot. Try just spending time with them and getting to know them. I'm sure they'll eventually open up to an honest kitten like you."

"If I'm a kitten, then you're my guard-puppy." Rome suddenly proclaimed, and they could hear Germania splutter.

"E-excuse me?! I'm not a puppy!"

"Sure you aren't! A little pup with a terrible bite when someone threatens his adorable kitten!" Rome teased, and Prussia was sure his grandfather was red.

Prussia couldn't help but laugh. To hear such softness in his grandfather's voice... It reminded him of when he was young... really young. He didn't remember a lot of his early childhood. But the memories he did have of his grandfather in those days were kind and warm.

"You should probably get some sleep, Ro." Germania finally said. "And you'd better not be hurt."

"Who do you think I am? I am the Great Roman Empire, Greatest Nation that will ever be! Of course I'm not hurt." There was a pause. "Except I skinned my knee earlier, and it really does hurt, so could you please take a look at it?" His tone reminded Germany strongly of all the times I'd asked him to do the same thing.

"Fine, come with me, and I'll take care of your knee." Germania sighed.

"They really do act like you two." Japan said, looking at myself and Germany.

"Well, I do take after Grandpa Rome quite a bit." I admitted.

"Ja... And Germany does take after his grandfather quite a bit, too. More so than H..." Prussia stopped himself, a pained look coming over his features suddenly.

"Bruder?" Germany asked, concerned and confused.

"Nothing. Never mind. But you do take after him." He looked back at the fading figures of our grandfathers. I almost didn't hear what he muttered next. "You both did."

Words: 2,505/2,872

Pages: 6

Posted: 12/24/2018

Edited: 03/07/2019

A/N: Merry Christmas (Eve)~! This is my Christmas present to all of you! A Fluff chapter! (Holy crap, last time we had one of those was... The snowball fight, I think, right?) And Kwanzaa is almost here (for those of you who celebrate that), so I'll wish you a Happy Kwanzaa as well.

I'll likely not update tomorrow (as it is Christmas, so I'll be spending it with my family). Thank you everyone for all your support. Keep those comments coming (including those conversations on Telegram, because I love talking to you all. I promise, I'm not a robot! LOL)

Your comments keep me motivated to write more (gigantic thank you to my Wattpad minion—er... readers... Yes, Wattpad readers for all your comments, you guys really gave me about 70-90% of my motivation, so keep 'em commin! Even on the stupidest things. I check for new comments multiple times a day, and I can't tell you how many times you've made me laugh. Thank you for a fantastic year, and all your patience!

I should update this story again before New Years, so keep tuned, everybody! Love you all! Sending my love from Sunny (and unfortunately not snowy) Southern California.

~SilvermistAnimeLover

MERRY CHRISTMAS!