Chapter One

A/N:

Hi guys! Anyone coming here from my other stories… uh… well… inspiration went a bit kaput for those. I swear I will come back one day! PM me if you have any questions or want to buug me about it lol.

For those who are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, hi! A newly converted Hetalia/Hetaoni fan is here to write. Thank Eternal Fauna for that. And for betaing. Please feel free to correct me if you notice any consistency errors as well- it has been a little while since I watched the game and I'm a bit foggy on the details. And enjoy! I'll leave another A/N at the bottom, and this leaves off around where the game did, kay? This will be mostly in Italy POV, in others when needed.

xXx

The safe room, for the moment, seemed almost frozen in time.

An air of anticipation hung over the group of nations gathered by the beds as Japan paused from his task of cleaning Italy's face.

"I- Italy?" he exclaimed in surprise, his sad expression turning to one of shock.

"What's wrong?" Prussia questioned, red eyes squinting slightly in confusion from his position opposite his brother.

Japan ignored him, instead exclaiming again as he gripped Italy's shoulders.

"Italy!" he cried. "Italy!"

Germany shook out of the silent supor he'd been in, blinking at Japan's out of character attitude; after all, the nation was usually the calmest and most thoughtful of them all, not one to act impulsively, so to see him shaking the dead body of their friend...

"J- Japan?" he stammered. "What is it?"

At Germany's voice, Japan seemed to recover his wits.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I apologize." he said after he was done. "I was simply…" he looked back over at Italy's bedside and gave a rare smile. "Italy is alive."

"... w- what…?" Germany couldn't seem to grasp what Japan had just said.

The others, however, had a bit less trouble.

America blinked, momentarily caught off guard, and then grinned.

"Finally!" he exclaimed. "Some good news after all our bad luck!"

However, America's smile faded a bit as he said the last part. He looked sadly over to England, who was sitting at the 'meeting' table, staring sightlessly down at the wood with his foggy green eyes.

America pulled his gaze away and grinned again, although with a little less heart in it this time.

"That's great news!" he repeated.

Prussia smirked in delight. "So little Italy's alright? That's almost as awesome as I am! And not much is as awesome as that."

"N- no way." Germany stammered, finally speaking up from his daze. "His heart had stopped. I felt it!" Germany's voice was rising. The stress of thinking his very best friend was dead, and now finding out he wasn't, was getting to him. "H- he was dead..." his voice faded back to a whisper and he placed his head in his hands. The usually emotionless, stoic, military nation was suddenly filled with emotion.

"Woah, calm down, West." Prussia chuckled, red eyes bright.. "Aren't you happy to find out he's alive?"

"Of course..." Germany choked. He walked closer to the redhead's bedside, Japan stepping respectfully to the side to allow the Germanic nation access, and checked his pulse himself.

He shook his head in wonder. "You're right..." he murmured. "I... I would've sworn he was dead..."

"Perhaps he was," Japan said calmly, "we already know this place is not quite right, as Italy himself could attest."

Germany winced at that. It was hard to think of everything his cheerful friend had gone through trying to protect them…

Drawn by the commotion, the other nations still in the safe room- Canada, France, and England- began to filter over.

As England stumbled, America quickly rushed over to help him.

The blind nation tried to swat him off but almost fell over in the process- not the best way to convince him he could do it himself.

America stubbornly remained, and England sighed and let himself be helped.

Canada and France walked over side by side.

"What is it?" France asked.

"Yeah." England grumbled. "I'd bloody like to know what was so important I had to let this wanker help me over." he cast America a look, but his gaze was wildly off the mark and America winced a bit, sadness showing from his gaze.

Canada didn't say anything and only looked expectantly at the group.

Japan opened his mouth, a calm and composed expression on his face, but Prussia interrupted and beat him to the punch.

"Italy's alive!" he cried with no preamble.

"Yes…" Germany murmured, looking down tenderly at the Italian laying on the bed. "He's alive…" he said in a voice so quiet it seemed almost as if he was talking to himself.

France blinked, then smiled graciously. "Well, that's good to hear!" he exclaimed.

"Good. We have a way to reset time, then." England stated, seemingly all business, but his relief shone out of his features.

Canada smiled happily, then his expression turned pensive.

"Won't Russia and China want to hear this, too?" he asked. "Someone should go and tell them. I think we all needed some good news."

"Oh, right!" America exclaimed, a goofy grin back in place on his face. "I totally forgot about those guys!"

Japan rose gracefully, and, ignoring America's comment, spoke directly to Canada, who looked pleased with the attention.

France shot him a knowing look, and Canada looked bashfully back.

"You are right." Japan remarked. "I will go. I am sure China will appreciate the good news."

Prussia looked up, an excited glint in his eyes. "You might need some protection, old man!" he suggested enthusiastically. "I'll come too!"

Japan eyed him. "I thought your sword had broken?"

"Oh, yeah." Prussia deflated. "Aww."

Germany pulled his gaze from Italy to give Prussia an exasperated look, but Prussia just shrugged.

"There's a lot of stuff happening! You can't expect me to remember every little detail." he complained.

Germany just rolled his eyes.

"I will help you find them." France cut in, brushing his wavy locks beatifically from his forehead, he winked at the Japanese man.

England looked like he wanted to go too, but he simply sighed in resignation.

"We'll be back soon!" France called as he strode toward the iron door.

Japan paused a moment before following.

"I suggest the rest of you stay with Italy- kun. We won't be long."

And they left.

The remaining group of Prussia, Canada, America, and England stood awkwardly gathered around the beds.

Prussia and Canada exchanged a look and seemed to silently agree on something. They looked over at America, too, but being who he was he remained completely oblivious.

"My awesomeness suggests I take a shower," Prussia interceded, striding over to the washroom area.

"I- I think I'll go see if the kitchen has any maple syrup…" Canada whispered awkwardly.

As they strode off, America looked around as if just noticing Prussia's and Canada's absence.

"Where'd they go?" he asked, blinking.

England hissed at him under his breath do Germany wouldn't hear. "They wanted to leave him alone with Italy, you ignorant wanker."

"Huh?" America said, way too loudly. "Who? Why?"

England closed his eyes in exasperation, though of course it didn't make much of a difference for him. It wasn't like he could see, anyway.

Then a devious look came over his face.

"I think I'll go try my hand at some cooking in the kitchen." he announced. "You can go ahead and stay here, America."

A look of abject horror shone out of America's clear blue eyes. England's cooking had been bad enough when he could see, but blind…?

As England began to walk clumsily away, America chased after him, shouting for him to have mercy.

And Germany was left alone with Italy.

He sighed and knelt down on his knees, taking a shaky breath, face in his hands.

"Get ahold of yourself." he muttered. "He's alive. Calm down."

But his emotions didn't listen.

He placed his hands back at his sides and stared at Italy.

He was still dressed in his blue uniform, hands placed over his chest, calm and still, as he lay on the bed sheets.

Germany took in the rising and falling of his chest, comforting himself with it.

But it still wasn't right. Italy shouldn't be so still.

He should be laughing… or singing… or whining about it being siesta time. He should be clinging to Germany with his face puckered up in fright over something small, or pleading with his big honey eyes for Germany to leave his work and come have a pasta picnic with him. He should be waving his little white flag, or hugging an awkward Japan, or… or…

Anything but that wretched stillness.

Germany realized, though, that even before this it had been a good while since he'd seen Italy smile for real.

He'd still been acting like the same excited, silly Italy he'd always known…

But it had been an act. Germany closed his eyes as he remembered when he'd found out Italy had forgotten who the Axis were. And when he'd learned he'd learnt to tie his own shoelaces…

He'd been so alone, for so long.

How had Germany not noticed sooner? How? What kind of friend was he when he couldn't even see his friend was suffering?

"I'm so sorry, Italy." he murmured. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Please wake up."

xXx

A/N

So! There's the first chapter. Whew. That was longer than I expected! Anyway, please let me know if anyone was OOC or if it was too mushy. Or if I missed something. This is my first time writing HetaOni.

Anywho. A review would be greatly appreciated! I'd like to know if anyone thinks this is promising. Rosycat signing off!