Hetalia: Germania and Roman Empire – Friend or Foe in Ancient Egypt
Long ago in this land, there lived a man who conquered the Mediterranean Sea and gained all the world's wealth. His name was Roman Empire. He had it all; the worlds wealth, fame, and vast land. The man who gained everything…One day he just disappeared…
The phone's ring penetrated the long silence that was Germany's office. He leaned forward in his chair and reluctantly answered the line to silence it's ring.
"Germany, help me" came a high-pitched, panicky voice that sounded like it was close to tears. "I'm in Egypt and I can't tie my shoelaces! Also, there's this quiet guy here who is just staring at me and hitting me with a stick! I have no pasta and I want to come home! Help me, Germanyyyyyyyy!"
Germany sighed. It was only Italy…again. It appeared that he actually tried to take over territory in Egypt but failed miserably and now he needed rescue. Germany was always rushing in to save him, but this time he decided to take his time, after all, Italy had to learn his lesson for once.
Upon arriving, Germany saw that Egypt had not yet grown tired of smacking poor Italy on the head yet. Reluctantly, Germany was able to make an agreement with the man and Italy was freed from Herr Schtick.
Before the two departed , Germany wanted to look around a little – he was a tourist at heart and loved learning about new cultures, though he would never admit it.
Italy was in no rush to go home, either, knowing that Germany would only scold and lecture him once they returned home. Italy was climbing up the pyramid while Germany was taking pictures 'for Japan,' who also enjoyed sightseeing but couldn't be there with them for other business. Besides, this started out as a rescue. Italy also wanted a picture of him and his new girlfriend, but it turned out that she was just an archeologist on site whom he convinced to pose with him. Italy's nonsense made Germany shake his head.
Germany found out that the archeologist was a friend of England and was investigating the reason behind the pyramids there. "I suspect that the ancient Egyptians built them to bury their dead, specifically the royalty." This was only a recent find and it was apparent that she was quite pleased with it. It also was apparent that she had the authority to show them around.
Germany found the idea intriguing. "Interesting," he nodded.
"You mean there are dead people in there?!" Italy shouted. "I was just standing on someone's grave?!"
"Hush!" Germany had to put him in another arm death lock to keep him quiet. The archeologist found it amusing and offered to give them a tour of one of the pyramids still under investigation. Who knew that choking Italy would give me more benefits than just the pleasure of his silence?
Abby, the archeologist, led them down some crumbling stairs into the pyramid. The sun's light was fading and so she put on her helmet light and gave one to Italy and Germany. Italy voiced his fear of the dark and stayed close to Germany, so close that Germany wouldn't be able to back up without tripping over his smaller friend. Abby seamed right at home, though, and continued to show them around. They were in an open spaced-room that had a few columns and relics, but what was more interesting were the markings on the wall. Germany shun his light over some of the pictures and asked, "What do these primitive drawings mean?"
Abby smiled a little deviously and said, "those are called hieroglyphics, they usually tell about the past, a strong god, or put a curse on you."
"Curse? like the one where death follows?!" Italy clung to Germany's arm, but Germany brushed him away. He was finding all of this interesting. Along with being a natural tourist, Germans were also vastly interested in history.
"Have any of you deciphered the meaning behind these yet?" Germany asked, his curiosity growing by the minute.
Abby gave a side frown and tried to explain, "We can't exactly tell what it all says yet, but we have a suspicion of who is buried here…a great queen of the Nile. It tell of her story, we think."
"You weren't kidding about the royal graves, huh?" Italy tried to smile. He leaned close to one of the drawing and it seemed to resemble someone familiar. Unlike the other figures in it, this one had brown hair and a bright red cloak. Next to that figure there was some big guy with long bright hair and an ax. Italy was getting more nervous, "but I've seen enough. Germany, let's go back home where I know it's safe."
"Relax," Germany said. "Stop being such a scared cat," he got that phrase wrong. "Everything is dead here, so it won't hurt you."
"The dead part is the reason I want to leave," Italy mumbled. "Why would anyone want to hang out around a place where people died?"
Abby chuckled at Italy's behavior, "to learn its history, of course. Germany is right, though, nothing here can hurt you, Italy. So just stay calm."
Italy agreed to stay a bit longer, but still hung tight to Germany, who no longer noticed because he was enthralled by the hieroglyphics. He wanted badly to touch them, by Abby tapped his hand when he tried. "Be careful not to touch anything," she warned, "we haven't done a full inspection yet." She glanced around. "We can stay a few more minutes, then it's back up."
"Right," Germany said and turned to Italy, "don't touch any—"
It was too late for warnings, Italy was already holding some sort of scepter in hand and was flaunting around like a noble. "Look at me, I'm a dead queen!" He laughed to himself.
"Italy!" Germany tried to swipe it away from him, but missed. "Where did you get that?"
"It's mine!" Italy stepped back. "Finders keepers."
"Please," Abby sounded nervous and stepped closer, hands out, "put it back down, Italy."
Italy was sad; he was only trying to be funny. "Oh, alright," he lost his foot hold on some rubble and stumbled backwards, hitting the wall behind him with the scepter. The images on the wall started to glow and the room suddenly felt as if it were spinning. He reached out to take hold of Germanys hand but missed. He heard Germany's indistinct words shout something like, "Italy, what have you done?!" – But then everything went black.
His eyes fluttered open, but all Italy could see was brightness until his eyes adjusted to the sun. He sat up and found that he was no longer in that grave-pyramid thing and was relieved. His relief was short lived as He looked around and saw that Germany was nowhere to be seen and neither was that Abby lady. Panic took hold as he stood up and started calling for his friends, but to no avail. He was in the middle of the desert and he was alone. He felt his throat was getting parched but there was no water around. He then noticed that he was wearing some weird clothes. A tunic, armor, and red over cape were his apparel. He wasn't sure how he got into the open desert or why he was dressed so weirdly, but he knew that he had to find Germany soon. He couldn't survive in the desert alone. Germany always rationed things like food and water out for him…he realized that he didn't even have anything to ration out so behaving like Germany was useless anyway. "Oh, man, this stinks." Italy had nothing else to do but start walking and hoped that he was going in the right direction.
After about a mile or so, Italy collapsed from exhaustion. The sun was so hot and he was so thirsty that he couldn't go any further. He couldn't sob or pee because he wanted to keep all of his water stored up. "I hope someone finds me soon," said the Italian who never had to rely on himself for survival before. He almost never walked a whole mile at one time under normal circumstances unless Germany was there to drill him. He closed his eyes and laid flat out on his back wishing he wasn't alone.
Not long after he had collapsed, he felt something wet on his face. His eyes opened to reveal a camel drooling on him. "AHHHHHH!" Italy scooted away and wiped the saliva from his face. He heard laughing as he did so and looked up to see who was making fun of him. There were two tan-colored men on top two camels, one of which had slobbered on him previously. But Italy didn't really care who they were or why they laughed, he just wanted food and water and a place to nap…oh, yeah, and Germany. "Have you come to save me?!" He was on his knees, gleaming.
"Huh?" the men looked a little surprised. One of them asked, "What? The Great Roman Empire needs saving? Ha!"
"Great Rome Empire?" Italy asked, great they know someone I know, "You mean Grandpa Rome, right?" He smiled and he looked a little hazed.
"Grandpa?" The same man asked. He laughed, "You always liked to joke, huh? Ok, climb on the back of my camel and I will take you to the princess where you can sleep and feast."
"Ok," Italy wouldn't deny any help, let alone free food, even if it came from strangers who liked to tease him. The man helped Italy up and whipped his camel to start walking. Italy then received some water. Wait, did he say Princess? "Say, who are you guys anyway?" Italy was curious about his new friends. He wiped his mouth after a large gulp of water.
The man he was riding with had a puzzled look on his face, "You really were out in the desert for a while – your small brains must have dried out in the sun! It's amazing you are alive, even though you only left us yesterday." He laughed loudly and then introduced himself, "I am Gupta, and the rudely silent one over there is my brother, Mohammad." He referred to the second man who was riding next to them on the other camel. "We work for the queen, obviously. She got worried about you and sent us out to search. You know her. But this time she was right and we found you collapsed without supplies and not even your sword. You Romans eat way too much."
"You talk way too much," Mohammad finally spoke in his hollow, deep voice. Upon further investigation, Italy noticed that he was much taller than Gupta, so he was probably older. Mohammad rode ahead of them and started towards something.
Italy looked straight forward and noticed that they were arriving at a city of some sort. He breathed a sigh of relief; maybe Germany found his way here. After all, last he remembered was being in the same room with him, so he probably managed to find this place first or maybe his new friends helped him out. He decided to ask, "Hey, Gupta, have you seen my friend Germany anywhere?"
"Huh, Germany?" Gupta thought for a minute. "You mean your bodyguard? Ha, some guard he is, you were in the desert dying all by yourself. I haven't seen him."
Italy was disappointed. Germany wouldn't have left him intentionally, besides what did Gupta mean by 'bodyguard?'
The three riders were in the heart of the city now. Italy saw different peddlers trying to sell their goods and also mean looking soldiers pushing them along. Looking around more, he saw there was a lot of hard laborers working and also being pushed around roughly. But he didn't have much time to detail the situation because the camels were already on the way to the palace.