I was feeling angst, so I made this.
Disclaimer: Be thankful Hetalia isn't mine, because you would not like the dark, twisted stuff I can think up…
The nations grew more concerned as the decades went by. At first, what Feliciano did time and time again seemed pretty normal for someone mourning because it was so hard for anyone to lose a loving companion and the fond memories to death, but now it was becoming a hazardous cycle of repeated misery.
Feliciano adopted another dog.
Like the other dogs before the current one, Feliciano took great care to properly raise the dog and spoil it with a lot of love, attention, and treats. Like the other dogs before the current one, Feliciano quickly grew attached to this one, making sure to let no one else shower it with a lot of affection and take away its attention. Like the other dogs before this dog, Feliciano took it out on daily morning exercises to keep it healthy and strong and alive. Like the other dogs before him, Feliciano was sure that this dog would stay around forever, oblivious to the blatant truth that it, too, will pass on.
It was obvious that Feliciano wanted this one to live forever, too, by the great lengths he took to nurse this pup to health and keep him active and strong, which was the most effort the other nations have ever seen him use. Feliciano was trying to bring back his lifelong companion.
Whether intentionally or not, Feliciano was blinding himself to the fact that this particular puppy he found while strolling through the ruins of Berlin during the cold night of December- its small, skeletal, near-death body shaking in a bowl-like dent of the heavy snow while its blue, wide eyes continued to burn with the desire to live- is another example of the sadness of mortality, the terrifying yet real truth of life for those that haven't been granted the equally terrifying immortality, the immortality that won't let you die on your own terms when you don't want to live through pain and loneliness anymore and instead makes you suffer illness after illness with every recession or ecological destruction forever. Feliciano wasn't ready to admit that this dog was just another replacement for the one he lost just recently, the previous one being a replacement for his predecessor, and so on. And no one was willing to tell him.
How could they tell him? How could they glean enough courage and make their heart cold enough to shatter Feliciano's hopes and take away the only technique he had for dealing with his loss? As much as they wanted to break this chain of enduring suffering- especially his older brothers Francis, Antonio, and Lovino- they really couldn't, because they were able to see that those dogs were a blessing for him; those dogs were his protectors, his comfort, and his meaning to live and continue on (albeit, this method of grieving was actually latching him to the past instead of pushing him to the future). Feliciano was a delicate country thrown into the harsh, cuthroat world alone,and those dogs kept him safe and brave during those scary thunderstorms, during societal situations like civilian protests or economic downturns, and even during wars. Those dogs replaced the very first Alpha Male that Italy grew attached to, the one that wasn't afraid to use his very last breath to bark a meaningless battle cry to establish some militant dominance when his bite was no longer strong enough to win that gruesome war against his conquerors. So Feliciano was allowed to, once again, continue his heart-breaking pattern with his new puppy.
He adopted another young German Shepherd and named him Ludwig…
I just had to write it. I don't know why, but it just popped into my head like all of my other story ideas when I don't sleep during the late/early hours. And I had to get it down (sacrificing my hours of sleep) while the angst was still fresh in my head. I hope you enjoyed it~!