I thought of this in my Latin Class on Friday when we watched a short film on Mt. Vesuvius. It was quite interesting.
Eruption
Romano shifted uncomfortably where he sat on the couch in the living room. His stomach had been hurting a little for a few days now, but today it was a lot more painfully, hence the awkward moving.
Rome walked past, holding an armful of important scrolls. He noticed his tiny grandson's shifting so he set the documents down on an end table, went over to him, and knelt down to his eye level.
"What's wrong, bambino?" he asked, gently petting Romano's hair.
"M-My tummy hurts..." Romano answered, his stomach in to much pain to snap at Rome for treating him like a baby.
Romano's twin, Veneziano was currently out playing with Holy Rome in Prussia's territory so he wasn't worried about him walking in on him being weak.
Rome frowned, worried about Romano's lack of anger. He picked the child up and carried him into the twin's shared room and set him on his bed.
They were currently staying at their home in Naples in the Southern half of the peninsula. They had just returned from a region in the North and Rome had been hoping Romano would be happy to be back on his own land.
From his window, Romano had a perfect view of Mount Vesuvius just to East. Watching the mountain, the pain in his abdomen began to grow and he cried softly in pain.
Rome rubbed his back and whispered softly in Latin.
"Shh... Roma tell me what's wrong..." he said kindly.
"T-The mountain..." Romano stuttered, his eyes squeezed shut.
"What about the mountain, bambino?" Rome coaxed.
The sun was just reaching it's highest point in the sky and it shone merrily upon everything it touched.
Suddenly, Romano's eyes snapped open. "The mountain! I-It going to-!" Before he could finish, the top of Vesuvius was blown open and ash and smoke erupted into the air, traveling miles into the sky and billowing outward.
Romano screamed, falling forward, bent over his stomach as he cried loudly.
"Roma!" Rome said frantically. He gathered the tiny nation into his arms and watched as the molten rock rolled down the mountain towards the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum . He winced as he felt the first few citizens meet their fate from the lava. Soon though, the ash began to fall and it lay over the two towns, encasing them completely.
Rome bit his lip hard to keep from crying out. The ash was burning hot and it stuck to his people, burning and covering them, trapping them into whatever position them had held. He felt them fall, one after the other.
Romano was still screaming, his voice almost lost in the rawer of the mountain.
The pain had spread to every part of his body and he felt as though fire licked at his skin. He sobbed and screamed and begged for Rome to make it stop. To help him.
Rome began to cry silently, hugging his eldest grandson closer and brushing his hair, whispering that everything would be alright and it would be over soon.
The eruption lasted for about 19 hours. 19 long hours. Those hours where filled with Romano's screams and pleads to it to stop and Rome trying to comfort him.
At around 7 the next morning, it was over. The eruption had stopped. Romano had passed out from the agony at around one in the morning and only now did Rome dare to see how bad the damage was. He laid Romano on his bed and began to check him over.
It didn't look good. Almost every inch of the child was covered in awful burns and a long gash in his side from when the mountain had first exploded.
Rome took deep breaths to calm himself. He could still feel the life slipping from his people but there was nothing he could do for them. He had to focus on Romano.
He got bandages, clean water and a new rag. Carefully he cleaned the gash first. Tiny pieces of stone were caught in the wound and he had to be gentle as he removed them. He then wrapped it as best he could with the burns in the way. He next began to apply aloe to the burns to make them more manageable.
Romano whimpered every so often in his fevered sleep and Rome put a cold cloth on his forehead, re-soaking it when it became to hot.
Rome massaged his temples. This was a horrible thing to have happen. Especially now, when Romano's body was so small. He almost hadn't made it.
Rome had to put a hand over his mouth the stifle the sob that came out at the thought of losing one of his precious grandchildren.
It was a few weeks before Romano woke up. Rome had arranged for Veneziano to stay with Prussia until then, not wanting him to see his twins condition ever though he was aware that Veneziano already knew what had happened due to the special link that connected the twin nations.
Romano's eyes opened slowly, only to snap closed again as the sun invaded them harshly. He let out a small moan of pain and Rome was instantly by his side.
"Romano?" he asked softly, his voice full of worry.
"Nonno...? Is it over...?" Romano asked weakly.
"Si, bambino. Si. It's over now," Rome answered, his voice trembling in joy that Romano was wake.
"I-It hurt, Nonno. So much... It s-still does..." Romano whispered, not wanting to move from his position on the bed as he felt his pain creeping back. They weren't as strong as before, but strong enough still.
"I know, Roma. I know. I'm so sorry you had to experience that. It was painful and awful. I'm so sorry," the Empire said softly, gently brushing the child's hair from his forehead.
His fever was finally receding and his burns where starting to heal as well.
"Thank Jupiter..." Rome whispered softly. Romano yawned exhasutedly.
"Sleep, bambino," Rome said gently. "You'll feel better once you're well rested. You will heal better that way."
Romano gave a small nod and fell back asleep. Rome cared for the baby country until all the marks from the eruption had disappeared. Well, almost all. The scar on Romano's side never disappeared, but it healed fully and Romano showed it to his twin, proud of having survived his first volcano.
The gagged line of skin would forever be a few shades lighter than his olive toned skin, but he didn't care. It was also a reminder of a special time when it had been just him and Nonno Rome, even if it had been spent with him in a delusion of pain for most of it, it was still the time when all of Rome's attention had been for him and him only.
I had no idea how to end this so... here it is. I have found that I type much faster to fast tempo music then in silence or any other kind... Interesting...