[A/N: As anyone who's been following me for a while knows, I don't generally venture out of Naruto fanfic. However, I am a massive history buff, especially where WWII is concerned. Therefore, when I found Hetalia I watched all of it in about five days. Some of that Hetalia overload burst out and turned into this. I hope I don't do the characters any injustice.]

Die tote Stadt

I.

~Late July, 1944, somewhere in England~

"Good morning to you, Italies!" England announced all-too-cheerfully as he entered the prison's secret level, stopping in front of the cell holding the despondent Italy and his much more indignant older brother. They had been held in England ever since their surrender to the Allies in September of 1943, and to avoid their true identities from being revealed in a POW camp England himself had been put in charge of them.

Unfortunately, that also meant he was in charge of feeding them, and in their months of captivity the brothers had come to dread his arrival more and more. Or at least, Romano did, being much more fatalistic than his brother who still seemed to believe that England would wake up one day and magically know how to put together a decent meal.

"And what sort of slop have you brought us today?" Romano demanded.

England huffed indignantly. "It's perfectly good turnip soup," he replied.

"No pasta?" Italy interjected woefully.

"No pasta," England answered with a tired sigh. "I told you, it's rationed." He sounded somewhat apologetic; the Italies were not regarded by the Allies with as much distate as the rest of the Axis nations, and many considered them to be a merely a couple of unfortunates Germany had dragged into his war. The fact that Italy had been invaded by the Wehrmacht shortly after surrendering to the Allies served to support this way of thinking.

"Ve, I want pasta!" Italy wailed, and burst into tears.

So far, that morning had gone according to routine. "Hush up, crying won't help," Romano said, expecting that, as according to routine, Italy would soon tire of crying and give in to the inevitable turnip soup.

This was when the routine broke, as Italy would not be consoled. His words were almost incomprehensible, but Romano could hear him say 'Germany' a few times.

"Oh, forget him!" Romano snapped. This Did Not Help, and in fact only made Italy cry harder. "Can't you do something?" he asked England. He would never have asked the other nation for help under ordinary circumstances, but being stuck with his loudly crying brother in a small space was not a pleasant prospect.

"Well…" England paced in front of their cell door for a few seconds. "I really haven't any pasta, but…oh, now I have it! Listen, Italy, if you stop that I'll find you a German newspaper so you can see what your, uh, friend is up to lately. I'm sure SIS have a few squirreled away somewhere."

Italy slowly stopped crying and Romano and England both sighed in relief before sheepishly breaking off eye contact and pretending they hadn't been working towards the same goal for the last two minutes.

"Here, you might as well have the soup now," England said, pushing the tray he had been carrying through the food slot in the door before making a hasty exit.

Luckily for both Italies but mostly for Romano, England did indeed return in short order with a barely week-old edition of the Volkischer Beobachter. Italy fairly snatched it from England's grip when it was slipped through the bars, then curled up on his cot to read it.

"So, is he still losing the war?" Romano asked after Italy had been reading for a few minutes.

"That's not what this says…" Italy replied doubtfully. Obviously what he had been reading conflicted somewhat with the occasional reports England had given them of Allied progress since the landings on Normandy. England would have much rather been on the front lines with his troops like America, France and Canada, instead of being stuck playing guard.

"It's a propaganda sheet, of course that's what it would say," Romano pointed out, but Italy was no longer listening to him. Looking over at where his brother was sitting, he saw that he had suddenly turned white and the edges of the newspaper were crumpling in his grip.

"What's wrong?" Romano asked.

Italy dropped the newspaper with a shudder, and Romano stepped over to grab it before the pages could scatter all over the floor. Sitting down against the wall, he looked at the page he thought Italy had been reading before he freaked out.

Treasonous Plot to Assassinate the Fuhrer Stopped, the headline blared in heavy black lettering. Further down, after several paragraphs spouting joyful nonsense about Hitler's survival, was a list of 'Traitors Against the State' who had been arrested in the aftermath of the coup.

Romano soon realized what had caused Italy's panic. Only a little ways into the list, above Robert Bernardis, was a much more familiar name.

Ludwig Beilschmidt.

[A/N: The July 20th Plot was never mentioned in Hetalia, so I wanted to cover it. Also, as far as I could tell pasta and bread products weren't actually rationed, but what's a little inaccuracy where Hetalia is concerned?]