Ciao!~ It's nice to meet you all! I want to say that this is my first Hetalia fanfic and I'm very excited to start one here! I'm hoping I don't screw this up, so please go easy on me. This story isn't correlating to the Hetalia anime and mangas, though, some parts will have little reference. I don't own Hetalia at all, so vale (bye) everyone!~

Prologue: What a Repetitive 'Dream'

Navy, glowing starlight.

In the very late hours of nightfall, high above the terrain full of tall pines and extensive fields was a wonderful, vastness of black. With little additions of blue, orange, and white, this painted art swept the long sky that rests upon the quiet, darkened scenery. It held a longitude and latitude of beauty, the cloud-like appurtenance surrounding and being over lapped by little shiny dots almost copying the ridges of mountains off to the South.

The air had become windy hours ago due to the turning point of a short rainstorm, covering the area below it in specks of water. The clouds dispersed too, ripped in tufts of fluffy and wispy shapes. With the dark clouds sweeping across away from its targeted space, the wind began to pick up again. It made the tufts cover nearly fifty percent of the sparkling, bright and dim stars. The trees and anything caught in the currents swayed along with it, ruffling the green foliage gently. Finally, the last of the magnificent art platform was the silver moon, basking its glowing beams also on anything in its far reaches.

That included the figure.

The said figure was cloaked under the glaze of gray moonlight from where he was lying under beneath its magnificent beauty. They laid motionless, only their chest rising and falling slowly and the barely audible sound of wispy breathing being heard. The scene looked as if they have progressively been asleep due to the passing hours of star gazing, the tiredness getting to them.

A place where their minds take over them until the sun comes up and they awaken, breaking from the dream's tight grasp.

That's where he ended up again.

Back to the supposed 'memory dream', as he recalled it, that told him that the fantasies were coming back again tonight to relinquish a past memory he tried to down-size into his subconscious.

Only this time, he found himself not in the same place. He was lying on his stomach and both of his arms were curled beside his head, as if a bomb had detonated from far away and the after-blast had captured him in its massive gray ring, leaving him lying on the ground half unconscious. He was positioned somewhere soft this time, like he was back in the comfortable bed with his very best friend resting up for the morning's training with them.

Oh, how he hated to do training, but no matter what, the person's gotta do it, even if he tried begging for the eighth time in a row.

With his eyes twitching as he was starting to be aroused by himself, he tapped his fingers to sense any ground beneath him and began sliding his arms under his chest, pushing himself upwards slowly. He got into a half laying position, his eyes naturally closed, but fully bleary - a side effect to coming here - under the cloaking darkness. He then shook his head lightly to get rid of the awful fuzziness and slight spinning in his mind, his auburn hair and unnatural curl bouncing off of his head.

When he fluttered his caramel eyes open after the blurriness subsided, what he saw in the area he laid in was full of small flowers and tall, thin blades of grass. There were many different colors ranging from purple to yellow to white scattering the dirt floor. Some small patches of lean green grass that was seen from the flowerbed began to be swayed by an invisible breeze. He didn't feel the wind blowing gently or see any of his clothing cling to him from the force nor feel his hair flutter along with it, though the man witnessed the tall grass bobbing up and down lightly only, but not the flowers.

Odd, but anything impossible can happened during a dream. The person planted his hands to the soft bed of dirt and pushed himself to a sitting position. The whole space was eerie quiet, save for his slow, shallow breaths, and the pounding silence was taking a toll on his ears, deafening them. He looked out ahead and saw the shady forest nearby the flowerbed. Several pines mixed in with some maple, mahogany, and oak trees lined the outer edges of the colorful circle of flowers and rolling hill slopes. And to top off the scenery, the shining moon loomed over him and the beautiful landscape, its silver coat covering all in its glowing grasp.

Although the beauty was magical during nightfall, it made him wonder if he should spend a couple of minutes admiring the almost dark scenery since he usually comes into the dreamscape during the afternoon when he has a siesta and nighttime. He would not want to stay longer in this dream-like world that the other made for them than needed. 'Not like last time. I can give him a few more minutes, but nothing added more. If that were to happen again, I would miss something important - or possibly important - in reality.'

In the third memory dream from three weeks ago, the person was flat on his back with his left arm draped over his eyes. A dull, numbing feeling had overcome his whole body, and didn't know at the time that he couldn't see like a blind person. At least what he thought considering he has his eyes closed for the majority of his time.

When he woke up, however, he jumped in shock. Getting up off the floor quickly, his skin had gone pale in fear of what's in stored for him in the unbeknownst setting. He swished his head all over the place, running quickly around to find anything to help him out in the situation. Hell, he even tried calling both of his nation friends for help. He understood that he was hopeless as to getting out of this turmoil... wherever the hell he was.

After he was done freaking out about where he was at, the person placed his hands on the ground for curiosity's sake, feeling that it was smooth glass. He stomped his foot, finding that it sunk in along with it. The floor transformed into non-sticky putty under his feet. Either too afraid of finding out or thinking that it will remain glass once he got off of it, he quickly bounced off to test how study the surface was. Surprisingly, he sprang up into the air, exaggeratedly about 7 feet high, and landed in a cushion without harm. How the cushion was placed under him, he wouldn't know. But he giggled nonetheless... Unless he heard the same sound behind him from the first two memory dreams.

The figure froze from where he sat, his breath hitched in his throat and lips clamped shut tightly as to not make a responsive noise. He knew he heard that, and it made him anxious to get away from it. He inched his feet to the floor, slowly steadying himself to stand, but not turn around. A little shaky on the hands, the man waited for about three minutes to turn when he heard that sweet, bell-like giggle behind him again, this time, closer, clearer and child-like. If this was that same personification, he was ready to run as far away as possibly from it.

The giggle came again, coming more closely and louder than the previous. He stopped all movement, waiting within the deafening nonexistent space for another until confirmation.

Instead of a giggle this time, it gasped, then said, "You finally came!" The child-like voice squealed in delight, "Hello again, adult me!"

His eyes widen in realization. 'Oh... That wasn't him. Thank goodness...'

Relaxing from the pent up anxiety, he turned around immediately, finding the giggling source that was sneaking its way into his ears. A relief smile made its way to his face once his light brown eyes laid themselves on the small figure, and the other returning the same welcoming feeling.

"Ciao, bambino me!" He waved to the figure.

The little child chuckled and from where he stood at was the edge of the field next to a thick pine tree, his right hand on the base of the trunk. About three or four feet between them, the older figure could make out the little one from where he was standing. The child could barely be seen due to the shrouding darkness of the black forest, but the bright colors of his clothing and with the light of the moon in perfect position made him stand out.

Beginning to slightly run up to the older figure, maybe skipped or two on the second foot, the child swung his thin arms out wide, ready to hug him. He wrapped them onto the brown haired man's left leg, all the while smiling joyfully. The child looked up with his eyes opened, both caramel colored orbs meeting once again, both bloomed with delight and friendly greetings.

The older bent to one knee, head tilted a little downwards, and moved his arms around the little figure's waist. Getting off the ground, the child lets go and was lifted off the imaginary flowery floor, then slightly grasped the blue sleeve.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time, older me." The child said, slipping his arms around the arm, squeezing it a bit for safety and fear that the other would go away again without notice, "I was starting to get worried if you wouldn't come back, thinking if you were to forget me or this place all together." He turned his eyes from the other, the smile not present, but a frown replaced it instead.

The older man's eyes widen some, and he blinked a few times when the notification hits him. He held an apologizing gaze to the smaller version and repositioned the child in his arms so that he can use his right hand to lift his face in his direction. He stared into the frightened, innocent, brown eyes as he spoke, "I am so sorry to not come visit you last month. I got held up on some business stuff with my fratello and things kept getting in the way. I even had to miss a couple of nights because of a two-day thunderstorm had came in my country. Such a scary time."

The small version nodded in acceptance. He understood that a thunderstorm can keep him up during the night too and he sometimes hides under the bed with a sheet covering himself to get away from all the bangs and rumbles from the plasma bolts. It's quite scary indeed. Though, the child also agreed that his older self has a job as half of a country in his future; he can be somewhat busy with his brother, however, it was partially a lie because he doesn't do much. He'll let this one slide and not cave in. It's an important hour for the both of them and they can't miss another minute just to have a small argument about how the northern half of Italy doesn't do much work like his fratello.

The older one perked up and again readjusted the little version of him so that he can put the child down without dropping him. Both of them settled themselves on the hill top where the multicolored flowers were still glowing, sitting face-to-face to each other with their legs crossed under the vibrant, silver moon. They now wore semi-serious expressions, as if the happy reunion turned to an unscheduled business trip by a flick of a switch, but their smiles never left.

"Alright, let's start the meeting before morning comes, shall we?"

"Okay." He nodded.

"Has there been any activity since the last time I've been here?" The older one asked.

"Si, there has. It was stalking me more frequently wherever I went while you have been gone, keeping 'his' distance while I was doing chores or just taking a walk around the area. 'He's been like that for the whole month and I couldn't make out what it was doing around me now considering the black figure wasn't a show-y kind. I'm sorry that there isn't much to say at the moment."

"It is okay. That's very bene for it to keep its distance." He smiled, and then questioned, "Has it tried to injure you while it was following you? And please, explain it specifically in detail, if you can?"

"Once, but it was a misunderstanding," He assuaged, "And of course, I can explain what happened that caused it. The memory is actually still vivid in my head." The child chuckled and at the same time, he air knocked the left side of his head, avoiding the curl, of course. He placed it down beside him and when he opened his mouth, a sudden gust of wind blew at the both of them away abruptly.

Both versions were knocked to their sides roughly, the smaller version murmuring an 'ow' when his head hit the ground after flying off their spots from the flower patch. The older version quickly sat up and glanced at him before turning his eyes to the direction of the unexpected burst of air. He did not see what was to come.

A zipping, slender, black triangle shot itself at them, the older one's eyes widening simultaneously. Coming around from shock, he scrambled to his hands and feet and shot towards the child. His hands went under the child's body roughly, hearing a small gasp as a result. He bolted once many more black triangles came at them like bullets, some nearly getting his feet. Swift, light footsteps stomped the grass and flowers, trampling them and ruining their beauty.

Who was shooting at them? What was that person shooting with? Who was the person that tried to kill them and ruined the meeting? He had no time to come up with theories or answers as they left the silver coated area and into the darkened forest to hide away from whoever was attacking them. Swatting branches when they entering the woods, he looked back at the line of fire hurling towards him, sticking into the trees that he sped pass him.

The undergrowth of tree roots slipped through the ground as the older one kept running further into the forest, further from the spot and he hoped they find their way out of there before the sun starts to rise. The air was mildly cold, not enough to make him see puffs, but shiver slightly, and the layers of leaves and branches mostly turned the atmosphere eerie and sinister. He doesn't need distractions from this sinister area; the further away from the black figure, the better chance of both versions not getting hurt, if that was possible in this reality.

The dark cover of night shielded them from the foe's sight, but also gave him the similar disadvantage. Without sight though, he had to rely on hearing, but that can also be a difficulty because he had not heard any footsteps in the vegetation.

Not tripping on the forest floor, the older person looked down at the child and slowed to a stop. His lungs were burning from running and he tried to calm his quaking and jittered body with heavy, calm breaths. He coughed a couple of times as he swiveled his head around the direction he ran from before speaking in a hushed voice. "Hey, bambino me, are you okay?"

The child version opened his eyes warily, lifting them to meet the older version's brown orbs. His widen to normal size, but they were covered by shock and bewilderment. "S-Si, but a-are you okay, t-too?"

"Ve, yes." He whispered, small pants filtering out of his mouth, "We managed to get away from 'him.' Though, I don't know how long until 'he' finds us in here." He looked around again. Nothing yet.

"Then, maybe you should go back, older me." The little one whispered.

The older version turned his head quickly around and looked at the child uncertainty. "What?" He voiced out, "Ve?! But, I cannot leave you to deal with 'him' by yourself!"

"I do not want you to get hurt, either." The other shook his head, fear and desperation present in his eyes, "You are the keeper of this reality and for your sake of safety, you must go back to your reality. Please?"

Before the older version had the chance to protest, a spiraling, black spear darts behind his head and it struck into a tree just a foot away from where he stood, a thud being heard. He withheld a whimper as the spear was nearly close to piercing his head. Shifting his foot a bit out of instinct, his widen eyes looked at the direction of the incoming spear and swiftly appearing in the spot was the shadow figure.

Head tilted forward, it floated about a yard away from the two, its lower half that made it look like it wore a black cloak rippled in nonexistent air. It stared at him with empty malice, sapphire eyes, and the sharp crease where its eyes were pronouncedly furrowed in pure concentration.

The leaves above their heads fluttered when a strong breeze began to pick up, the bouncing of branches of a telltale sign that it was more forceful than the one at the flower patch. It howled and blew at them, nearly knocking down both versions again and leaves flew through the thick currents in haste retreat.

He bent an arm so that there would be less air blown into his eyes. "If you want to protect me, then please, let me protect you, as well."

Somehow, time was sped up. The older version tightened his hold on the child one as a few spikes shot out from the darkness of the cloak, again nearly getting him like the spear. Dark purple spikes materialized behind the figure next, sharp as knives, and it let loose some in bullet-like speed. As quickly as he could to get a small break from the fire, the older one hid behind a tree that had a conveniently hollow bottom. A few more thuds were heard and leaves fell out their branches. He crouched and placed the smaller version within it.

A firm, authorized look in his eyes was taken in to the child's worry glance, but a gentle, caring smile graced his lips as he spoke. "I would protect you too if I were in your spot. Don't leave this spot until I come back, va bene?"

The child nodded and quickly said, "Just be careful when you go back out there. If you have to, get out of this reality unhurt and let me handle him."

Despite being still uncertain about his younger self's safety, he reluctantly obliged. It was kind of fair, though, now that he thought about it. "Okay."

Standing up and hoping for the best that the both of them would get unscathed, he faced the shadow with slight, hidden fear and uncharacteristic determination. He was sure that when he distracted the shadow long enough for his younger version to come out to blast it, they would get rid of it for good. Otherwise, it could stalk their lives for an eternity.

The figure squinted at the challenger and an amused look in its eyes gave away a mocking gesture. The wind blew steady behind it as multiple black shurikens materialized out of thin air. One by one, each four-star weapon glided at the opponent, a few luckily getting a scratch on the older version. Sure it stung him, but it wasn't enough to paralyze him.

However, the other was fast on his feet, not letting the sharp objects puncture him too much. To the left, then right, up a couple of times, then, another swift left. It was like dancing to the shooter's music and by following the movements of the attacks, quick dodges tagged along to guide him in the rhythm. Some got him without notice and he was still out of breath from swiftly dodging and running in circles. The effect of tiredness was getting to him and he felt his vision go hazy a couple times as he staggered to keep standing.

He locked eyes at the shadow for a quick second before sprinting at it. Surprised by the action, it got ready to send a frontal attack. Next thing the shadow figure saw was the lad switching speedily to its left and swiveled its head, only to notice he wasn't there. It spun its head around, not catching any sings of the older version. Huffing silently as to not finding him, unbeknownst from behind, the older country crouched behind the bushes and waits for the right moment to let its guard down.

He saw the confusion and growing agitation in the shadow's eyes and he smirked to being correct. Lightly crawling on his hands and hindquarters, he kept an eye on the shadow's movements, the scratching of dirt being heard only to him. Finding a hole through the bushes, it was miraculously placed behind the figure, out of plain sight. Lifting his hands off the ground, he patiently waited until the shadow looked the other away, getting some adrenaline in his system for an added boost of lunging and speed.

As the black figure stopped its search, the weapons around it disappeared, giving an advantage to the other and a chance to attack. 'Bingo.' The challenger thought and quietly backed up, stiffening his upper body for his counterattack. Balling his fists, he began running with his head down, pointing towards the shadow's back and with agility, he jumped. Head connecting between the shoulders, he rammed the shadow hard in the spine before landing on his feet. The other was knocked down from behind and slid across the dirt before finally hitting the tree with the hollow inside.

The small version shook out of fear as he heard the silence of the two individuals and the forest area, the whispering of wind quiet and drawn in long currents. He dared not the move as if he would surprise any of the two and think that it came from the enemy. Gently getting his hands and knees, he started to crawl out of the hollow trunk and peeked his eyes around to see that the shadow was the only one on the field. It seemed to not have noticed him as it was looking all over the space for the older version. Holding some breath as to not make noise, he quickly darted to the bushes when the shadow wasn't glancing his way.

The camouflage was perfect and he flickers his brown orbs to see if he can spot his older self. It took seconds to find him, his face hidden within the foliage, but his eyes seem to glow a little from the small amounts of streaking moonlight through the leaves. He heard rustling of dirt to his right and slightly jumped out of fear as the shadow was giving away movement.

Eyes shut from the pain, it weakly opened them and in its blurring vision, the older version had his fists up readily anticipating another brawl from the said shadow. Shaking its head to get rid of the blur in its eyes, the figure pushed off the ground and levitated to a reasonable height, its head hanging down. It then snapped it, its eyes holding hostility and revenge, and the second it glared at the older version, gray, glowing needles appeared. All at once, the needles shot at the other, the older one not having enough time to dodge.

The younger felt imaginary time slowed for all three again, the event taken in his eyes playfully teasing his vision with laced, upcoming hurting. Every needle was close to penetrating his older self and he thought he wouldn't make it out alive if punctured by all of them. Luckily for the little one, he found out about a powerful technique in one of the books he found in a library. It was filled with a strange language, but he understood it like it was written in Italian. He had trained secretly to use it for specific purposes while he stayed at Austria's house and now he can use one to stop the attack.

Directly his eyes on the older one, he whispered quickly a spell that wasn't native in his tongue. "Praesidio Agro!" With one wave of his hand, time came back to normal and the needles hit their destination, creating a gray cloud out of it.

When the cloud of smoke cleared off the area by the wind, there stood the older version with his arms crossed in front of his bent head, his eyes scrunched closed, waiting to feel the dreadful pain from multiple thin spikes. None came. Not feeling anything to cause panic or near death injury, he opened them. Letting his arms fall by his sides, a surprised expression appeared as he saw a light green field in front of him floating in the air. His mouth made an 'o' when he witnesses this change. Who could have created that in such a fast time span?

The light green field suddenly enveloped him in seconds, creating a vibrant glow within it. A feeling of panic began to rise in his chest and he started to bang on the field, wanting to break free from the cage. He thought once he was trapped, the shadow was going to capture his small version. Swishing his head, he did not have time to see a bright light green orb shooting out of the bush and slamming the shadow out of the air, knocking it into the grounded once more. Not a moment after, the bushes began to glow in the same color as the shot, lighting up the area in soft brightness. The glow turns into many orbs and all of them shot at the shadow, covering it in a large smoke that filled the area in a gray cloud.

He calmly walked out from his hiding spot, his left hand faintly radiating with a lime green color and smoke, the first evidence that indicated his attack. Standing nonchalantly to the older version's right side, he met eye contact, his brown orbs also barely faintly holding a glow in them. It felt eerie to the older one just by looking, but he could not shake off the gratitude that his younger version saved him.

"Grazie for saving me." He smiled.

The little one nodded with a similar face, a look that told him 'You are welcome' in them before turning towards the older one in the field, his hands outstretched to him. Palms facing down, his hands automatically began to glow again, along with the same luminous eyes that danced gracefully in the darkness.

"I'm grateful that we were to stop 'him' from hurting us, but seeing as the problem is getting more planned," He looked at the direction of the shadow, who popped its head out of the bushes, an annoyed expressed in its eyes as it was recollecting itself, "I need to return you to your reality quickly before 'he' gets to hurt you again."

The older nodded without complaint, seeing as how his small version was determined to cast away the black figure soon. Rotating behind him when he saw something poking out of the leaves, his eyes widen to dinner plates, a small gasp escaping from his lips. His small body quivered slightly in fear, not leaving his sight from his sudden discovery.

The older one wondered why he was acting like that until he swiveled around to face it. Shock ranged in him, the light from the sky slowly creating a brighter dark blue, hints of pink and purple hazily blend together from the horizon. 'Oh, no, the sun's coming!'

Beginning to glow brighter, the field sprouted small white sparkles, and the sequence started with the same language whispered. "Carmina subiectum, revertentur de hac re ad suam originem!"

The older version felt his eyes droop from a sudden sleepiness. He closed his eyes when darkness laced itself onto his being and mind, latching his arms, legs, and midsection tightly for the ride back to his world. His feet levitated off the spot, a flowing current blowing around him. With his vision cleared of color in one sweep, he swore he heard his other version's voice filled with a sorrowful farewell. He voiced out his departure, a pang filling in his chest, but was cut off in seconds by a shrill, echoing scream, followed by blank noise.

Nothing prepared him for the worst until his next visit.

Italian Translations:

Ciao - Hello/Hi

Bambino - Child

Bene - Good

Va bene - Okay

Latin Translations:

Praesidio Agro - Protection Field

Carmina subiectum, revertentur de hac re ad suam originem - Spell to subject, return them from this reality to their origin!