Chapter 28: Grief and Confessions

England called up the room once more. Though I took a step away from Prussia, I still stayed by his side.

Germany, who'd been in some kind of pain throughout the entire scene, sat down in one of the chairs. He had a look of shock on his face, though the pain that had been apparent earlier was fading. Before I could ask him what was wrong, Prussia marched right up to France and punched him so hard he fell to the floor. The resounding CRACK told us that his nose was broken.

The room went silent. Nobody dared to move for fear of invoking the albino's wrath. Germany stared at the scene in a mixture of shock and relief.

"I had no idea—" France said, but Prussia cut him off.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?! Why?! WHY DID YOU KILL MEIN BABY BROTHER?!" He screamed, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. Spain looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"I... I don't—"

"Wait." Romano suddenly cut in. "Let me ask him."

"What do you mean?" Prussia's eyes narrowed as he looked at my twin.

"Veneziano and I have a unique ability. His is that his gut instinct is never wrong. As you've seen twice, now." He paused, gauging the room's reactions. "Mine is that I can always tell when someone is lying." He leveled a steady gaze on France. "Say it one more time."

"I... I didn't know... I really couldn't remember anything until we saw the memory." France stuttered, looking Romano in the eyes.

"..." Romano stared for a moment, and the room shifted in discomfort. "He's telling the truth. He really had no idea."

The anger in the room seemed to dissipate, not completely, but enough. Prussia sank down to the floor, anger spent.

I sighed; my shoulders sagged in defeat. "I can't hold this anger against you anymore, France. I may not forget... I may not ever trust you again... but I... I forgive you." I walked over to him, using a mild healing spell to fix his broken nose. It was hard to say it. Even harder to mean it. But after all that shit I went through in Hell... How could I not, on some level, forgive this man for what he did?

Yang and Luciano looked on impassively. I could tell by Luciano's clenched fists that he wasn't as forgiving as me. After all... 1P France was also the reason Veryl was dead.

"I think... I think he'd subconsciously blocked the memory." China guessed, looking at France as he quietly cried.

"I'm sorry!" He sobbed. "I'm so sorry! I was only trying to protect you!"

"Wait... What do you mean?" Germany spoke up, kneeling down in front of the nation. France opened his mouth several times, only to close it again, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Bitte... Why did you kill mein twin brother?" Germany's eyes shone with hurt and a guarded gentleness I hadn't seen since before Acel's death. His voice held no anger. Only pity and sorrow. He just wanted to understand why his brother's death occurred.

"I... I'd been heading over to Prussia's house to visit him... I figured that even if we were at war, we were still friends and I could still visit him as Francis..." He started, gratefully taking a cup of tea that England offered everyone in the room.

"I remember overhearing a conversation he'd had with his boss at the time..."

Prussia's eyes widened as something clicked into place. "Oh, no..."

"Apparently his boss thought that having two personifications was... unnecessary... He ordered Prussia to kill Holy Rome or he would kill Germany. And as you know, a Nation's Boss has the power to kill that personification permanently, so long as they're at war..." France took a shuddering breath, allowing the room to digest this new information. "I knew how important those two were to him, so I made a plan. Prussia wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd killed his brother, so I would do it for him. Then, he could hate me for the rest of his days, and he'd still be able to look himself in the mirror at night."

"You..." Prussia stared in horror at his old friend. "I... I can't believe you heard that..." His bangs overshadowed his eyes. Prussia had a bitter smile on his face. He laughed to himself, humorlessly.

A single tear fell to the floor, followed by another. And another. "I... I need some time..." He quickly stood and left the room. I shared a look with Luciano and I followed Prussia. Germany looked like he wanted to join us, but Luciano stopped him.

"Prussia? What is it?" I stopped him in the hallway. He was shaking.

"Verdamnt!" He punched the wall with such ferocity that I nearly flinched. Instead, I put my hand on his shoulder. "What do you want, Ita?"

"What has you so angry?" I questioned. "This is more than the revelation."

"If I told you, do you promise to never tell France? I fear it would break him." Prussia looked up at me with dead eyes. I nodded.

"The order... Two days before that battle, his Boss saw reason. He revoked the order to kill Holy Rome. Originally, he'd ordered it because Acel was borderline insubordinate, and Ludwig was so militaristically inclined... he listened like a good soldier, so he figured that in killing Acel, he'd be ridding himself of a liability. But when he realized that Acel would obey Ludwig and me... He revoked the order. Nobody... nobody had to die." He clenched his fist.

My own heart tightened, and I knew I could never let Luciano know this. He would become unstoppable in his grief. As it was, he learned that France had killed Acel during WWII, and I'd needed to take some time to calm him down. During that time, he'd been mentally unstable due to a mixture of war and disease ravaging his nation, and with the newly reopened grief of the loss of his loved one, he'd gotten it through his head that if he killed me, and then himself, we could permanently die—which was true—and join our respective loved ones in the afterlife... wherever that may be.

Luckily, I made him see reason, but that doesn't mean that Vino hadn't been terrified out of his wits when he came home to the two of us bleeding out on the floor. I still think that he has yet to forgive Luciano for that stunt, but to be fair, he never really understood why he'd done it in the first place.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and reigned in my Magick, which had flared with my anger at the revelation. Prussia looked at me with wide eyes. "Please... No questions?"

"Fair enough." He sighed, defeated.

"I know it's hard... Believe me... But... I'm here, bruder." I smiled softly at him, and ruffled his white hair, which was surprisingly soft. Maybe he uses women's shampoo and conditioner?

"Danke... er... frata.... Frate... what's the Italian word again?" He tilted his head. I couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Fratello." I corrected him.

"Ja... Danke, fratello. Even if you never made it 'official', you're still mein bruder in law, ja? Und I'm sorry I've been ghosting you for so many years..." He looked down, ashamed.

"It's all right. You've been dealing with your grief in your own way."

"Still... I had no right to abandon family... You were grieving, too."

"I forgive you... Besides, you were there for me for a while..."

"Ja..."

"Why did you leave?" I asked him. The question had bugged me for centuries. "After his death..."

"I suddenly just left, and dropped you back off at Austria and Hungary's... I wanted to hide Ludwig... I was overly protective, and I felt the less people who knew, the better. I had no idea who you were close to, or how you were with keeping secrets. Und after mein best friend seemingly betrayed me for no reason..." He brought his gaze up. "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. I'm sorry, too... Maybe... If I'd just been a little bit faster... then..." I looked down, before shaking my head. "At any rate, we should get back before our brothers send in search parties for us." I chuckled dryly.

"Yeah..." He gave me a small smile. "Thank you. For coming after me."

"That's what big brothers are for." I shoved him playfully.

We went back out into the living room to find most everyone still in the same positions as before. They'd been waiting for us to return.

"I... I'm not angry with you anymore." Prussia finally spoke up, looking at France. "You did what you thought was right. You were trying to protect me, and how could I be angry with you for that?" He hesitated before approaching France, who looked down, expecting some kind of retaliation. Instead, Prussia pulled his friend into a hug, shocking the blonde. "I forgive you, friend." France started sobbing into his shoulders, and Spain looked incredibly relieved.

I looked at Germany. "Luddy?" I asked, uncertain if he'd remembered anything at all.

"Ja..." He smiled softly at the old nickname.

"Do you..." I hesitated a moment. "Do you remember anything, now?"

He stared at the wall for a moment, observing a painting that hung upon it. "You've gotten better." He said suddenly.

"What?"

"At cleaning up after you make a mess in the kitchen. Remember how long it took us to clean up Austria's kitchen after the three of us made sweets together?" He smirked, eyes sparkling with mirth at the memory.

I laughed. "Yeah! He was so angry!"

"Of course I was!" Austria huffed. "You'd gotten batter on the ceiling! I'm still not sure how you managed that!"

"So you do remember?" Prussia looked at Germany in surprise.

"Ja... I don't remember everything, but I remember parts of it. I remember enough." He smiled as he looked at his brother. "Gilly."

"Ugh! Please don't call me that!" Prussia cried in horror. "I thought I'd finally lost that stupid nickname!"

"Nein!" Germany stuck out his tongue, surprising the nations.

"Whoa! Wait! This is still Germany, right? Mr. 'go by the rulebook' Germany?!" America looked around himself as if expecting the walls to turn purple.

"Oh, yes. But he used to take after Prussia's prankster streak." I chuckled.

"Germany-san has evolved." Japan muttered under his breath with a chuckle, causing South Korea to snort in amusement.

"I still think work is important. But I remember, now... that work can make you lose yourself." He thought back to the long nights he and his brother wished that Prussia had no work. The long weeks that they'd had to spend all alone because he had work to do, and how the two promised each other to never become so absorbed in the 'boring stuff' that they'd forget their friends and important people.

I discreetly tapped my 2P on the arm and the two of us headed upstairs for some quiet breathing room. We decided to go into my bedroom.

"I haven't been in a situation that tense in a long time." Luciano sighed, letting some of his façade fall as he sank down onto the edge of the bed.

"I know what you mean. I don't think I've ever seen Prussia so angry." His glare was stuck in my head, and I shivered. "I don't think he truly believed France killed him until he saw it with his own eyes."

"Technically he saw it with your eyes."

"That's creepy, stop it." I deadpanned.

Yang stretched as he re-specterallized himself. He looked exactly like me, but his hair was snow-white, and his eyes were icy-blue. He also had a light spray of freckles on his face. Since he wasn't controlling my body, the golden flecks were absent from his eyes. "Your head is cramped!" He complained.

"Not my fault. I didn't exactly ask for a tenant." I rolled my eyes.

"Yang." Luciano shot him a mild glare, but didn't say anything beyond that.

"What, that's all I get? Come on, bro!" Yang complained.

"You're not my brother." Luciano shot back, but we all knew that it was a lie.

"You can't choose family~" Yang sang teasingly.

"No, but I can kill them." Luciano shot Yang a warning glare, causing him to stick out his tongue in retaliation.

"Bite me." He taunted.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've gone cannibal."

"Gingerbread men don't count." I interjected.

"Fine. Be that way." Yang muttered. "Tsundere... cinnamon roll..."

"The fuck is he talking about?" Luciano gave me a bewildered look. I just shrugged.

"He's been weird lately. I think he's been watching anime or something." I sighed and concentrated a bit on Yang. "There. Now you can hang around us, outside my body, without anybody but Luciano and I seeing or hearing you. And you don't have to spend all your energy to do so." I said, and Yang let out a whoop.

"Finally!" He grinned; his white locks of hair fell into his eyes. He brushed them away with some mild annoyance as I unlocked the door, and the three of us headed back downstairs.

It seemed that everyone was simply taking it easy, chatting or playing card games (where did they even get those?). The earlier tense atmosphere was entirely gone, and France was quietly talking to Spain and Prussia. He looked much better, and Prussia didn't look ready to decapitate his friend.

I turned to Luciano. "I challenge you." I smirked, as he met my gaze with an equally challenging stare.

"Oh? Think you can beat me, this time?" He quirked an eyebrow, amused.

"Oh boy." Yang chuckled, "This is gonna be good."

A moment later, the world went dark. "Aw, fuck." I blinked several times, but it didn't do anything. I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or closed, aside from the feeling of cool air on my eyeballs.

"Blinked out again?" Luciano asked, raising an eyebrow. "I won't let you use that as an excuse to back out."

"No way. I can beat you with my eyes closed." I smirked, closing my eyes to accentuate my point—not that it mattered anyways.

We sat across from one another at the wooden table, grinning madly. Nobody paid us much mind, so we didn't really think about how terrifying our expressions must've been. We each pulled out identical knives, spreading one hand out on the table, palm down. "You start." I smirked.

"Fine." Luciano did a couple warm-up stabs at the table, before he started singing, stabbing the knife in the spaces between his fingers.

"There is an old tradition, a game we all can play. You start by getting liquored up and sharpening your blade."

I smirked and replicated his actions, brandishing my own knife between my fingers as I sang the next verse, though he kept pace with me.

"You take a shot of whiskey, you grab your knife and pray

And spread apart your fingers, and that is what you say:"

We both sang together, drawing the attention of the room as they watched our insane game.

"Oh~ I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop! Chop! Chop! If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off!"

We shared a look of challenge as we picked up our speed a bit, neither of us actually hitting our fingers, though we came very close.

"And if I hit my fingers, blood will soon come out. But all the same I play this game, cause that's what it's all about!"

We continued, our knives thumping against the table in near-synchronization as we continued to sing together, neither of us looked down at our hands. (Not that I could anyways).

"No, you can't use a pencil! You cannot use a pen! The only way is with a knife, when danger is your friend."

Yang watched with intense interest, though he made sure to enjoy the looks of abject horror and anxious winces of the room as they watched our dangerous game unfold.

"And some may call it stupid," Luciano sang.

"Yeah, me." Romano muttered under his breath. "I hate it when they get like this." He sighed.

"Some may call it dumb." I smirked as we went back to singing the next line together.

"I'll say." Austria shuddered at the thought of his precious fingers being that close to a knife. He never wanted to lose his ability to play the piano, thank you.

"But all the same we play this game, because it's so damn fun!"

"How is this fun?!" China whispered.

"Oh~ I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop! Chop! Chop! If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off!" We picked up the pace again, each of us trying to get the other to slip up and cut himself.

"And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out. But all the same I play this game, cause that's what it's all about."

The others dared not disrupt us, for fear of us actually cutting off our fingers.

"Oh~!" We drastically picked up our speed in the last verse, making a few nations pale.

"Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! We're picking up the speed. And if I hit my fingers, then my hand will start to bleed!" We both stabbed our knives in the table at nearly the same time, though with our improved senses, we could still tell who won.

"Damnit!" I cursed, as Luciano stuck out his tongue.

"I told you~ You can't beat me at a knife game." He gloated, idly twirling his knife between his fingers like one would a quarter, while the others stared.

"The bloody hell was that?!" England looked absolutely horrified.

"You'll get used to it after a while, so long as these two are in the same vicinity..." Romano sighed.

"It's called the Knife Game." America spoke up. "It's also called pinfinger, nerve, bishop—don't ask why—stabscotch, stabberscotch, five finger fillet, or simply the 'stab between the fingers game'." He noticed the others looking at him. "What? A lot of my people are fearless idiots who don't care about their fingers, okay?"

"I think I remember you playing that once or twice." Canada leveled his brother with a stare.

"Well, yeah... I may have tried it a few times, but I'm not nearly as fast as Italy and Luciano." He defended.

"Why on Earth would you want to play a game like that?!" England looked between the three in disbelief. "I do believe I did not raise an idiot." He shot America a look, which he proceeded to ignore.

"We were bored." Luciano and I spoke in sync, and Romano facepalmed.

"Of course you were." He muttered, heading towards the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Spain asked.

"To get a drink. If the two of them are like this, I'll need it."

"Hmm... didn't expect him to go off for alcohol." I muttered through the link to Luciano.

"Eh, don't worry too much about it. I really don't blame him, considering..."

"Yeah, true. That was... erm... let's just not get drunk again any time soon." I grimaced. "How long did it take his curl to grow back?"

"About a month." Luciano winced. "And he burned ours off in retaliation."

"Yeah." I shuddered. "Let's not repeat that."

"You guys realize they're staring at you, right?" Yang spoke up, invisible and silent to all ears but ours.

"Hm? Oh, what's up? Did you need something?" I asked pleasantly, as if Luciano and I hadn't just participated in a very dangerous game with no regard for our own safety.

"You're hopeless." South Korea muttered.

"I am liking this game~" Russia grinned.

"Of course you would." China huffed, crossing his arms.

"Itary-kun... are you blinked out right now?" Japan suddenly asked.

"Oh, did I forget to open my eyes again?" I asked, looking directly at where I knew Japan was standing.

"That's still rather unnerving." Japan muttered. "Hai. Though you're very good at pretending to see."

Romano looked in Yang's direction for a moment, as if sensing something there, but I knew he couldn't see or hear the white-haired split. As it was, Yang sat at the chair I'd vacated. He looked very bored, resting his head in the palm of his right hand, staring off towards the kitchen.

"Isn't there anything fun to do here?" He complained, and I mentally rolled my eyes at him.

"No, Yang. There isn't. That's why we're stuck here. You know?"

"Ita..." Prussia said, coming over to me. I heard the other nations going about their business once more. "Do you think we should finish this tonight? I mean... we've still got the funeral."

"I... probably. And to be honest, I'd rather be blinked out for that part, anyways." I admitted. Prussia hummed in agreement.

"Then what're we waiting for?" Luciano's voice sounded from behind me, startling me. And by startling me, I mean I whirled around on instinct, falling into a defensive battle stance. My knife was at his neck in about a tenth of a second.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I growled, and he laughed. I knew he'd done it on purpose. He was the only person who could sneak up on me, these days.

"You're getting sloppy, who said I even tried to sneak up on you?"

"You hid your aura. If that's not 'on purpose' then what is?"

"He's got you there, Ling." Yang said, making Luciano choke.

"The fuck kind of nickname is that?!"

"Well, I'm Yang, he's Ying," Yang gestured to me. "So You're Luciano-Ying, or Ling for short."

"You realize that's a character in Fullmetal Alchemist, right?" I chuckled.

"So? You think I care? I'm calling him Ling whether he likes it or not." Yang crossed his arms, making the two of us sigh.

"There's really no compromising with him when he's like this, is there?" Luciano asked.

"Nope. Not a chance."

"If you two are done talking to yourselves?" Prussia glanced between myself and Luciano, unaware that there was a third party involved.

I listened, still blinked out, as the rest of the nations gathered around to continue the memories.

As the world around us swirled, we came to the scene of Prussia and Feliciano digging a grave.

The storm still raged on, rain pelting the two as Thunder stood solemnly off to the side, guarding what appeared to be a sleeping Holy Rome. The two dug in what appeared to be a forest clearing. The nations belatedly realized that it was the Meadow. The two were digging beneath a very large tree, and the branches managed to help keep some of the hail and rain off the two.

Feliciano sneezed, at some point, and Gilbert looked over at him worriedly. "I'm fine." He muttered as he continued to dig. Their hands became raw and a bit of blood dripped to the ground.

Finally, they deemed the hole deep enough.

"Bruder? Where am I?" Germany asked, looking around. He couldn't remember coming to the grave.

"You... you'd fallen into a coma due to the trauma of Acel's death." Prussia explained. "It only lasted a few weeks, but it was enough to terrify me."

"Both of us. I'd heard you'd woken up, but Prussia wouldn't let anyone see you. He was very protective of you." I said, listening to the rain as it fell upon the parched surface of the earth. Though we couldn't feel the cold, we could sense it.

Feliciano and Gilbert went over to Acel. Feli stood back, tears in his eyes as Prussia hugged him, allowing himself to cry as he said his goodbyes.

"I'll miss you, baby bruder... watch over your idiot twin, ja? Und bitte... say hello to Vati for me... I know he's proud of you."

Feliciano then stepped forward. "I'm sorry... I won't be able to keep part of my promise to you. But... I'll watch over him... just like you asked me to. Both of them, so please... rest easy. My Love..." Feliciano kissed Acel on the lips, slipping off the ring Acel wore on his left hand. Feli placed the ring in his pocket. "I'll take good care of your hat." He smiled sadly, a sob forcing its way out before he could compose himself.

"It'll be hard. The world feels so dark without you here. I'm cold, and I feel so alone. But... you made me promise... promise to keep moving forward. So that's what I'll do. I'll find another reason to live. And I'll keep our dreams alive. I'll do my best to be strong."

Feliciano gazed over to his left, and Luci stood there, transparent and solemn. "Here... beneath Our Tree... I will never forget you... Acel Beilschmidt-Vargas. My husband."

Gilbert's head whipped up a bit at that, before his eyes softened. "I'll watch over Feli for you, ja?" Gilbert muttered, and while I hadn't caught his words completely the first go-around, I most certainly did this time.

The nations watched as the two carefully, lovingly, lowered the young boy into the ground. They sobbed as Gilbert threw the first fistful of dirt over him, and Feli followed suit with the second.

Their cries of grief and sorrow were lost to the storm as the scene faded out, leaving Hungary and Austria in tears once more.

"So that's why they never found his body." Hungary whispered in sorrow.

The following scene showed Feliciano and Gilbert sitting in a fairly nice living room, a roaring fire was in the fireplace, and Feliciano was bundled in several blankets. His face was flushed, and it was obvious that he was running a fever.

"You didn't tell me you could get sick." Gilbert accused.

"You didn't ask." Feli replied dully. "I can die, you know..."

"Wh-what?!" Gilbert panicked. "You mean perma-die?! This is the kind of shit you need to tell people!!" He cried out as he rushed around gathering more medical supplies.

"You knew?" Germany raised an eyebrow.

"It was so long ago... I suppose I'd forgotten, as it never came up again." Prussia shrugged.

"That, and I made you promise not to tell anyone." I shrugged.

The scene fuzzed a bit, showing Feli's fever getting worse before finally breaking a few days later, much to Gilbert's relief.

"Ve... Gil?" Feli looked up from his nest of blankets one morning.

"Hnn?" Gilbert cracked open an eyelid, aroused from his nap. "How're you feelin', Ita?"

"I'm all right... I feel much better, now. My fever's gone."

"That's good." He worked out a kink in his neck.

"How's Luddy?"

"..." Gilbert looked away, refusing to answer the question.

"Same, then." Feliciano sighed.

"Get some rest, Ita... I'm going to go feed Thunder..." Gilbert got up and stretched before leaving the cabin. Ignoring his brother-in-law's instructions completely, Feliciano went, instead, towards the kitchen.

I was only going to grab a snack, but... He eyed the flour. Maybe... I could...?

The scene blurred before showing Gilbert entering the kitchen with a look of surprise on his face. "Ve~ I thought you'd like some sweets to make you feel better!" Feli grinned. He was half-covered in flour and batter stuck to parts of his hair, but he had a small real smile on his face. The sight proved to be too much for the albino, who burst out into laughter.

"Oh, Gott, Ita! You're a mess! Kesesese!" He doubled over, clutching his gut in mirth.

The watching nations relaxed upon seeing Gilbert laugh and Feliciano smile. The two of them had been so sober, and it was honestly depressing to see two normally cheerful nations so subdued.

The memory faded again to show the two sitting by the fireplace.

"You'll be missed, you know." Gilbert stated.

"I know... I'll head back... Grazie, for letting me stay." Feli smiled, shoving Gilbert playfully.

"You're my brother, okay? Even if it was never... official... you'll always be family, and you'll always be welcome." Gilbert smiled, though both had flinched at the topic of Acel.

"You sure you'll be okay without me?" Feli questioned again.

"I will... Und I'll send word as soon as Luddy wakes up." He smiled.

"You'd better." Feli sent him a mild glare. "And don't forget to come visit once in a while." He scolded softly.

"Ja, ja." Gilbert ruffled Feli's hair gently.

The next scene faded in to show Feliciano sitting alone at the base of the Tree, a white cross was now placed in the ground, marking Acel's grave. Flowers of various kinds were placed on the fresh mound, and a wreath of flowers hung around the cross. Feli stared blankly ahead.

"So you're blinked out, then?" Luci said, transparent in the memory, though not as much as normal.

"Si... Though not completely. I've been like this for several weeks, now. Everything's blurry, and things keep fading in and out. I can't do my work like this, so I'm using the excuse that I'm worried... Miss Hungary and Mr. Austria still don't know that..." He glanced over at the grave, his eyes tearing up a bit.

"It's all right." Luci comforted him, though his eyes were a bit misty, himself.

"So yours is gone, too?" Feli asked.

"Si... A 2P cannot exist without his 1P... I'm not entirely sure why, though. Once Acel died, Veryl... he..." Luci choked back a sob, letting a few tears fall.

The nations watched in surprise as the feared 2P, Luciano Vargas, cried. Feliciano, without thinking, wrapped his 2P in a hug.

"It's okay to cry, Luci... It's only natural to cry when you've lost someone dear to you. Nobody's here. I won't judge you." Feliciano soothed, running his hands through Luci's hair.

"You can... touch me?" Luci blinked, realizing that they weren't specters to one another anymore, but physical.

"It's okay." Feliciano pulled him closer, letting Luci listen to his heartbeat. In that moment, all of the fuchsia-eyed boy's masks crumbled, and he clung to Feli like a lifeline. His voice filled the air as he sobbed and screamed.

"It's not fair!" Luci cried; a horrible, guttural scream of grief tore through his throat. "I loved him! We were going to live together! WE HAD A FUTURE!"

Luciano stood awkwardly to my side; his cheeks flushed red as he tried to avoid the pitied gazes of the other nations. "Say. Nothing." He growled menacingly, and they looked away quickly.

"Tsundere~" I teased, knowing he'd want me to treat him normally.

"Sh-shut up, you dick." I could hear the relief in his mental voice.

As Luci finally started to calm down, Asher trotted up to the two, sniffing Luci warily. He then sniffed the grave, and froze in realization. He looked quickly to Feliciano for confirmation, who nodded.

Though the watching nations could not understand Asher's words, I could. And the look of realization and grief was obvious. He threw back his head, and howled.

Luciano, Romano, and I all flinched, recognizing the howl as one reserved for the loss of a pack member. It was answered by several other far off wolf songs. The other wolves, though they did not know this lost pack, used their voices in a sense of unity to send the deceased pack member home to the heavens, guided by the call of their ancestors.

It was wolf's tradition. Whenever a wolf hears the song of mourning, all other wolves should answer with the song of guidance, which is believed to summon the spirits of the wolves who have passed on before, so they may find the deceased pack member and guide them home, wherever that may be.

And as the other wolves howled, Romano was unable to quell the instincts instilled in him from his bonding with Asher. He, too, threw back his head, shocking the nations with a distinctly wolf howl that sent shivers down a few nations spines.

I shared a look with Luciano. At the time, I hadn't had a bonded... but now...

Luciano and I raised our howls to meet our brothers', both furred and nation. The nations around us stared in surprise. They knew Romano was bonded to a wolf. But they'd had no clue that Luciano and I were, too. And while Romano had sent out the howl of guidance, as he hadn't been overly close with Acel or Veryl, Luciano and I sent out the howl of mourning. This howl struck a deep, lonely, sorrow into the souls of those who heard it, and several nations gasped in surprise upon feeling this grief.

When the song of mourning and the song of guidance had faded into the distance, leaving a distinctly empty space behind, the nations turned towards myself, Luciano, and Romano.

"Wait... Veneziano, since when can you...?" Romano gave me a puzzled look.

"It'll come up later, fratello." I looked away, unable to explain. My Contract sort of prevented me from doing so.

The next few scenes flashed like a movie, showing Luci and Feli spending much of their free time together, and even ghosting one another during their daily chores. At one point, they even figured out how to share senses.

"Okay, so I can do it with you, let's see if you can see through my eyes." Luci stated. The two had grown quite a bit, and now appeared to be adults, or nearly.

The world shimmered for a moment before they were staring at the Meadow again, but this time, instead of a see-through Luci, he was solid. The Meadow was unchanged, but there was a nearly tangible difference in the air.

"Oh, wow! So this is your world?" Feliciano asked mentally, as Luci glanced around to show off a shimmering barrier overhead.

"Si." His fuchsia eyes were speckled with gold, telling the nations that Feliciano was actually shadowing Luci in the memory, though Luci seemed to still control the body.

"What's that?"

"Oh, that's the Dome. It's something new that's been put up. Nations are starting to be called Networks, because of it. See, there're these tunnels being built below all the nations, now, connecting one town or city to another. The air's getting too acidic for a non-nation to breathe, so these barriers were erected." Luci explained, getting up and stretching.

He left the Meadow, walking over to the edge of the Dome, allowing Feli and the watching nations to catch a glimpse of an odd, panther-like creature lurking outside. Its eyes glowed a menacing purple color and it had two spiked tails. The fangs on the beast reminded them of a saber-toothed cat, and it was around the size of a tiger.

"The bloody hell is that?!" England shuddered. He knew the 2P world had a lot of monsters, but he didn't think they'd look so... unnatural.

"That's a saber-toothed cat. There're different breeds, but..." Luci explained.

"Wait, there's dinosaurs here?!" Feli gawked.

"Not a lot. But we have raptors and stuff. They've gone extinct in the 1P world, but not here. Humans aren't the top of the food-chain in this world. It's why so many of us envy you 1Ps... the only thing you need to worry about is mother nature and war. You don't have man-eating monsters like this looking for an easy meal like a human. You've got protection. We don't."

The scene faded again, but the image of the prowling super-predator wouldn't leave the nations' minds for many weeks to come.

"Feli." Luci's voice greeted the group as the next memory faded in.

"What is Luci?" Feli asked. The two were leaning against Holy Rome's tree, staring up at the sky.

"I want to promise you something." Feli flinched. "I know, I know. You hate promises."

"Of course I do! Promises mean nothing when you're dead." Feliciano hissed, making the nations flinch.

Oh, how ironic. I had no idea just how true those words were. I thought back to all the times I'd cursed the promises the others had made. And with my vision blinked out, there was little to stop me from almost being pulled into a flashback.

"OI!" I felt Yang mentally slap me. I startled a bit, my vision blinking back in suddenly.

"Ow..." I winced, tightly shutting my eyes against the sudden overload of bright.

"You okay?" Luciano and Romano asked me at the same time, sending one another a mild glare of annoyance.

"Yeah... I've just blinked back in." I cautiously opened one eye, squinting against the bright sunlight.

"Oh, here." Romano said, pulling out a pair of sunglasses.

"Grazie, fratello." I smiled softly at him as I slipped the shades on over my eyes, sighing in relief.

"Thank you, Yang." I said mentally, glancing to my left to see the rather annoyed white-haired man tinge red.

"Don't thank me. I wanted to slap you, that's all." He bristled, unable to take a compliment or a thanks. I chuckled before turning back to the memory.

"But you know I won't die until you die. When we go, it'll be together." Luci said, and Feli reluctantly nodded his head.

"So what's your promise, then?"

"That I will always be there for you. No matter what. You can always count on me. I may be busy, or hurt, or whatever, but I'll always come when you call. I swear it... Even if I can't do anything, I'll at least be there. You are never alone." He swore, cutting open the palm of his left hand, holding it out to Feliciano.

Feli blinked in shock before a wry smile formed on his face. "I see... I also promise to be there for you. No matter what. Through thick and thin, no matter how much of a dick you're being. And if you ever lose your head, I'll be there to set it right again." Feliciano took the proffered knife and cut the palm of his left hand, wincing at the pain.

"Che. Baby." Luciano muttered, and I elbowed him lightly.

The two clasped hands, sharing their blood. "Brothers, forever; Never alone." The two said in sync, as the memory finally faded out.

A/N: Wow, here's a nice long chapter to end the Holy Rome Arc. I hope some of you cried, that was my goal. (In my mind, being able to make people laugh or cry, or exude other emotions due to my writing is a sign that I'm doing something right).

Next Flavio should be joining us, so look forward to it.

I've also discovered the Knife Song, and couldn't help but add it in there, as I can absolutely see Luciano playing that game. I also wanted to end such a sad Arc with something happy(ish) so I had some Feli-Luci bonding. Next will be the Reunification Arc, which will have some Feli/Lovi fluff to apologize for the feels of this past Arc.

Also big shout out to NeyaVeneziano for drawing some amazing fanart of Yang~! :D YOU ROCK!! So this chapter's dedicated to you for being so awesome!

Words: 4,630/6,391

Pages: 10/13

Posted: 01/04/2019

Edited: 03/11/2019