My first try in this fanfiction thing in a while, I hope it's a good try.
I apologise for grammatical errors since my first language is not English.
Criticism is welcome in all shapes and forms!

Through the lonely streets of now long abandoned Mestre walked a man. His eyes ventured from hollow and destroyed buildings to dusty and un-attended roads. This city must've been beautiful in the past, he thought. Wishing he could see it in the full bloom, he kicked a small rock on his way. Following the rock with his eyes, he found it stopping near a piece of paper. Newspaper to be precise. Crouching next to it, his eyes strained to focus on washed out letters. Words were in Italian, naturally, and he swore he should've learnt it by now. Making a mental note to ask someone from group to give him advanced Italian lessons, he stood up.

Sighing, he scanned the area. Nothing but broken down buildings. No surprise there.

"Scheiße." He rubbed his eyes. Only good thing that came from him having to look for suspicious activities in this part of Mestre was that he was out of underground tunnels for once. Stale air of the Italian underground for two years was more than enough for everyone to get some repertory disease. Well, at least most of people did. By some miracle, he didn't and by his understanding, he spent lengthy amount of time in the coma there too. Only ones that got out of underground were the scavengers under direct control of Alfonso, their group leader, and even they were outside for an hour tops.

Casting a quick glance on his watch, he realized he had about an hour before he had to go back. With a heavy sight, he moved closer to the buildings on his right and continued his stroll. One thing he noticed was that there was a lot of greenery incorporated in the city's planning. Rarely he would encounter a row of buildings that once didn't have at least one tree sprouting or some major road that lacked trees on the side. Of course, now, like with the most of the world, crumbled buildings were overtaken by vegetation that once possessed a small percentage of city.

In a split second, his body reacting to stray sound of scream before he even realized what it was, he found himself glued to a wall. His hand found a place next to where gun would be holstered but of course there was none. Freezing, he dully noted he knew that voice, that scream. In the blink of eye, he was running in direction he thought he heard it from. Sound emitted once more and he took left turn, in a small space between two still- standing buildings, barely enough for a grown man to walk through. End was within his hand's reach when defeating sound of a gunshot echoed. A moment too late. He was a moment too late. Now only thing he could do was stare at circular clearing between the buildings and a gruesome sight of a body sprawled on the ground. His eyes slowly moved from body to a man standing over it. Just a single man and his two bodyguards.

Rage wailing up, he let out something akin to a scream and charged. Before he could make it to bodyguards, he found himself on ground. His fingers clenched as his vision darkened around the edges. Boot pressed on his hand and he was ordered something in Italian.
Something in lines of: "Don't move" but he barely could hear anything over buzzing in his ears. There were orders floating over his ears, all in Italian that he didn't know so well. As all darkened he choose to strain his eyes forward, looking for a leader. And the very last thing his eyes found were brown eyes of an approaching figure before all faded to Black.

He woke up with a groan. Wincing, he wanted to bring his right hand to his forehead but something obscured his movement. However, that was not case for his left hand that responded and was already resting on his forehead. Opening his eyes, he found his right hand handcuffed to side of metal frame of the bed he lay on.
Jolting himself awake, all memories of past few hours flooded his brain. The scream, the gunshot, the man… it all rushed back to him. Anger flooded him again but died down almost immediately. Now his priority was to escape and find his group and if he tried to do anything in state of anger, he would get nowhere. Collecting his toughs, he sat up, quickly finding out that for whatever reason his left hand was completely free. Thinking of it as a slip up, he scanned the room for anything that would help him break or preferably unlock the handcuff.
To his luck, room was completely barren. Nothing. There was absolutely no furniture beside metal frame of bed and the mattress he was laying on. Hell, there wasn't even the window. Only light was one that shone from the ceiling and even that seemed on its dying breath. So, to recap, there were four walls, dying lightbulb, metal frame of a bed, mattress, handcuff and nothing else. Brilliant.

"Scheiße." He muttered under his breath again, second time today. Now that he looked closer, the doors that led closer to his freedom were completely metal… steel perhaps? There was only one small hole that you could look through in eye level of an average man but he guessed that was too, covered up at some point in time. Sitting on edge of bed, he covered his face with his free hand. Now that he had no escape in sight, emotions vailed back in him. What will happen to his group? What will happen to him? Why did they kill Alfonso? Who were they even? Why was he left alive? Why…?

Swirl of questions was stopped by a loud knock on his door.

"Are you awake!?" rough voice called with obvious Italian accent.

"Ja!" He answered in his native language but was met with silence. Deciding that they either didn't know the language or he was too quiet, he decided to answer in English. "Yes!"

"Stay where you are!" door opened with a small clicking sound. Two, no three guards approached him, all armed with what a pistol. "We will take you now to our bosses. I ask for your cooperation." He nodded in response, raising his left hand. Two people rounded him, one unlocking handcuff and other moving his left arm behind his back. Third, the one that barked orders to others was obviously looking for any of his sharp movements that gave him excuse to shoot him. As soon as his handcuffs are properly on, he was pulled upwards and led outside. By outside, it was a long corridor filled with similar dungeons as his was, few closed but most of them open. He was lead up the stairs to first floor and it blew him away.

In front of his eyes was big clearing with a lot of soldiers talking to each other rather happily. The room was lit by a chandelier in the middle of celling. Two set of stairs on each side of room led further in construction. There were few more doors on first floor but writing was in Italian and frankly, too far for him to read. Some people turned to him, whispered something, unpleasant faces turning in his direction.
There was small jab at his ribs and he was taken left, through one more steel door. The door was locked behind them and there was, once again, long set of stairs. When they finished climbing, they arrived in hallway that looked somewhat important with one more entrance on his left. For one, he noticed carpet on it, pictures on walls and rooms were closed by normal, decent looking wooden doors. That meant it had to be more important than barren floor before, right? Finally, they stopped in front of ebony doors, last room before one more steel doors. Lead guard knocked and waited for response.

"Sì?" came the response from somewhat annoyed sounding voice. Lead guard answered something in Italian which he didn't quite catch before came voice again, this time somewhat less bored annoyed. "Bring him in." the door opened and he was just pushed inside before door closed behind him.

He came face to face with what he desired. Now he knew what guard meant by "bosses". In front of him were two figures. One sat behind big, huge even, working table in antique looking chair, other sat in sofa on his left, right before rows of bookshelves that covered whole wall. Blinking, he accounted the differences between two. Brothers, obviously, in matching suits and ties no less. One had darker hair, skin and green eyes while other had lighter hair, lighter skin and…brown eyes? He was one that shot then. It had to be.

"Are you sure it is him?" the green eyed one questioned the other. Brown eyes scanned him and he does his best to glare at brown eyed man albeit to small effect.

"Sì, fratello." Green eyes pierce him like daggers, cold as ice. The figure stands up and is surprisingly short, in relation to him of course. However, he does still seem threatening.

"So, what was your relationship to bastard Alfonso, Germany?"

"Germany?" he repeated.

"Did I stutter!?" he raised his voice again. Green eyes glared at him. "G-E-R-M-A-N-Y. Is that better you bastard!?" gaze he held indicated he was serious about the whole "Germany" thing. However, he would be damned if he knew what the man in front of him was talking about.

"My name is Ludwig. Whatever the hell you are speaking about has nothing to do with me!" his voice gradually raised through sentence. Green eyed man flinched, moving a step backwards. Was really the leader of this organization afraid of handcuffed prisoner as soon as he raised his voice? Seeing it as a chance, Ludwig continued. "I should be one asking questions anyway! Why did you kill Alfonso!? Do you have any idea what will happen to our group now!? Who in the hell are you anyway!?" he would continue if a new voice didn't speak up.

"Is everything alright?" great, the voice of the lead guard. He would be taken back to the cell now, probably killed off for voicing something against leader of this organization and-

"Everything is alright." Voices brown eyed man and there was quick "Yes, Sir" from the door behind. His gaze snapped to him. He looked rather… calm, relaxed even. Green eyed one, on the other hand, seemed about ready to scream his lungs out. "Do you not remember it, Germany?" brown eyed man stood up, stepping next to his presumed brother. Ludwig's eyebrows raised.

"Remember what?" his voice still has traces of rage inside it, however, brown eyed one's gaze is surprisingly calming. "Germany is country north of here. That's it. And if you are trying to change the theme it is poor attempt because there is no way I will forget what you did." Two brothers exchange looks and green eyed one backs away.

"I don't have patience for this. Feliciano, you take care of him." he withdraws, leaving only brown eyed- no, Feliciano in front of him.

"Germany? No, Ludwig. Ludwig, you are the representation of Germany. You are the Nation of Germany." Nation? Representation? What?

"If you are still trying to change the theme- "

"No, I am not. Please listen to me." Ludwig stays silent but only because he has no idea what to say. However, Feliciano seems to take his silence as agreement. "Nation is representation of people living inside a country. "Nations" tend to act like people they present. For example, I, tend to like pasta as do my people. You could say we are stereotypical representations of countries." He adds small, somewhat nervous, laugh at the end of sentence.

"Wait, you two are this, so-called "Nations" too?" Ludwig exchanges a look between Feliciano and his brother.

"Sì. Both me and my brother. We cannot die through normal means, we cannot get sick like people, if we do get injured we heal relatively fast and so on." Feliciano continues and Ludwig feels more and more confused.

"If you don't except the fact you are a Nation and entirely like us, we cannot talk further. In fact, I can guarantee you will end with same fate as bastard Alfonso." Voices the brother and Ludwig's eyes snap on him. "Don't look at me like that you bastardo. You are here in first place because my idiot brother recognized you. If it was me, you would be long gone." So, he was here, on Feliciano's request? His eyes moved back to brown ones. Making a "Tch" sound, those eyes were familiar somehow, he faced green eyes.

"Can you prove it somehow?" he raises his eyebrows. "This "Nation" thing is absurd. Can you prove it we are these so-called Nations?"

"If you lived underground you must know about the respiratory problems. I didn't notice any with you. Also, the fact is, you don't age, don't you bastard?" he had to admit that was true. After all, he didn't change for two years after his coma. But how can something absurd as a Nation exist? His train of tough stopped with voice. "Besides, if you were in coma and have no memories prior to waking up, well, you are pretty much on same shitty boat like we are." Coma? So, they were in coma as well? Ludwig carefully eyes two brothers.

"So, choice is acceptance of being a Nation and a part of your organization or bullet to the head?" second part of sentence comes out rather harsh, maybe even too harsh. Feliciano winces and looks at his brother.

"Exactly." Ludwig sighs. Thoughts of being a Nation still refused to come together in his head but acceptance was better than death, right? He could maybe learn their trust and escape, reunite with group and continue surviving.

"Alright, I am the Nation of Deutschland." He voices, however, the way name of his native country rolls of his tongue gives him weird sense of déjà vu. Feliciano perks up on his words but brother is still looking at him with suspicion. He can tell, green eyes see right through him.

"See fratello? I told you he would understand!" Feliciano sounds cheery and his voice cuts the tension between Ludwig and his brother. Green eyed brother lets out a huff of air and speaks.

"You are too naïve, Feliciano. I'll take over from here." And he is once again met face to face with the other. Feliciano seems slightly confused by this but steps away. "Listen here you macho. If you plan to use information against us or gain our trust and then simply cross us, it won't cut it. Understood, bastard?" Ludwig flinches back.
"Now listen here. I will tell you one pretty fan-fucking-tastic story. You wake up from coma and you have no memory. A man approaches you and tells you all about how fucked up world is. You have a choice to fight against it or just sink in dirty rocks of this city. Does it sound familiar?" Ludwig gives a nod. It is same for him. Waking up as a blank slate, Alfonso tells him of the world and he decides to follow him. "Now, here our story cuts short, doesn't it? Because our paths different entirely, didn't they? I presume you followed that bastard. That was your relation to him, wasn't it?" Through all confusion, Ludwig faces him off him again.

"Why do you keep calling Alfonso bastard?" Feliciano's brother lets out a chuckle.

"He was selling us out. He used you because you lack brain you macho bastardo." Ludwig blinks. Alfonso…using him? No way. He refused to believe him. Silence follows as Ludwig cannot find words.

"Fratello that's enough." Feliciano's voice cuts tense silence. "Ludwig… we know for a fact that Alfonso sent you out so you would find our location. He also moved on edges of our territory to find our base. All of this was confirmed by him himself before we had to… well, you saw it."

"That's right! We couldn't let that spying piece of shit destroy our efforts." Ludwig shakes his head. Once. Twice. Too many information.

And he knew, he knew for a fact, their group moved in one line alongside…something. How only most trusted people went out. In fact, it all made sense in far corners of his mind. But that making sense…equalled him believing in Nations. Could he? Can he believe that? Without thinking, his logical side announces its return.

"Selling you out… to who? What is your goal?" he moves his gaze from brother to brother, searching for any kind of answer. There is only slightly concerned expression of Feliciano and unreadable expression of his brother.

He gains answer from Feliciano. "The Third Player, Fourth World Power… however you want to call them ". The World Power that concurred the world almost half of century ago? Why would they want the brothers? And as if Feliciano hears him, his answer comes immediately.
"We are leaders Italian Rebellion. Our goal is to reclaim Italy."

"Reclaim… Italy?" he repeats after him and Feliciano nods in return. "That's insane. Army this size would be nothing… You would get crushed immediately…"

"It's better than tremble in fear, bastard." Feliciano's brother uses a calmer tone.
"One more fact is that Alfonso never led your group to safety. In my capital, Roma, there is shelter for civilians. This is military base. Bastard never meant to lead you to safety, just sell you out when he was done using you. Of course, all changed when my idiot brother recognized you on the street of Mestre and brought you back. Does this make sense to your brain, macho?"

And no matter how he denied it… "Ja. I…understand." He shook his head again. It all made sense. Denying it would not erase doubts that lurked in his mind before he met those two. That just couldn't happen. However, one thing did not. Final piece. "You are brothers. If, "Nations" are real and function as you say how can there be two of you? You are both Italian, right? And… coma? How is coma possible if we take in account what Feliciano told me before about "Nations"?" Feliciano's brother wears a satisfied smirk on his face.

"We are North and South because Italy was segregated that way through history. I am North Italy, Feliciano Vargas and my brother is South Italy, Lovino Vargas. As for coma, we believe, as our caretaker did, that once country sustained enough damage and had brain injury, they would fall in coma. Think of it as concussion in humans, one of aftereffect was memory loss which we tied to change in people's environment and history." Feliciano says, looking at Ludwig. "Do you have any more questions?" Ludwig shakes his head. Feliciano sits in sofa again and Lovino finally backs away from Ludwig.

"Nein." His answer is short and quiet as he tries to recollect all thoughts in his head.

"Ve, that's a relief."

"Now that you understand our situation, will you join us or fall in coma once again?" serious question cuts the air. Ludwig faces Lovino once again, this time his face is as strict as much it could be.

"I will. Under one condition." Feliciano shifts his eyes to Lovino who under his gaze, seems to bite back some words. "Help the group I travelled with. They had nothing with Alfonso besides few close people which I can give you names of." Lovino shifts his gaze to side, in thought, before looking back at Ludwig.

"I'll see what I can do." Is answer he gets, however, that coming from Lovino seems like truthful thing. "Now about your position… As a Nation, I cannot just put you on cleaning duty."

"He could be my bodyguard fratello!" Feliciano yells and Lovino flinches away.

"This German bastard cannot be your bodyguard! We don't know how much we can even trust him yet! Feliciano, for fuck sake, listen to reason once!" he yelled.

"Well, you could send him on few trial missions of your choosing and then you can decide if he is fit for the bodyguard role."

Unsure Lovino sighs. "Alright, fine." Those words must've hurt to get out, judging by tone Lovino choose. "I will escort you to your quarters. Feliciano, do the paperwork while I am gone."

"But I wanted to take siestaa." There is a whine in his voice that Ludwig cannot help but get annoyed at. There is something like a mocking smile on Lovino's face before he is somewhat pushed out by Lovino. Thankfully, he did open the door beforehand. Needless to say, lead guard looked confused.

"Sir?"

"Uncuff him, this German bastard is part of us now." Guard does as he is told but he it is clear he does not like it. Ludwig stretches his arms, just now hit with thought that they hurt from the position they were in.

"If you don't mind, Sir, why the sudden decision?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, Feliciano was right and he is in fact Nation of Germany." Lovino announces as he leads Ludwig to another door, the one that he saw next to door he came in. "Spread the word."

"Yes, Sir!" and they are gone. That was a surprising discipline from Italian soldiers, Ludwig had to admit. And that was strange thing to admit since he never worked with Italian soldiers in these two years. So, when…? Doors open and Lovino gestures for Ludwig to follow. After short walk in silence, Ludwig found himself in familiar surroundings. He was in area that the two sets of stairs led to. If Ludwig could describe it as something, it was most certainly balcony. Ludwig leaned on fence that was put up on edge of it and he could see whole area of the 1st floor.

"This is 2nd floor. On your left is armoury where you will be able to obtain a gun tomorrow, when paperwork is done. On your right are doors to barracks, females and males separated. I'll show you to your room later. What you are standing in, is rest area." Barks voice behind Ludwig. Well, now that he looked around there were a lot of tables and chairs, some occupied, some empty. Few couches were there as well, people sleeping in them. However, not to be fooled, everyone had a gun and everyone probably knew how to use it all too well. Lovino comes by his side and leans on fence too.
"There is cafeteria and dining area. Toilets are next to it. On opposite side is passageway that is used to get directly to higher quarters and holding cells in case you are going down stairs. In the middle, while people do chat during day, there is rollcall at 10 am. That is only for more respective soldiers so don't miss it. That is all for 1st floor. Come here, you bastard." Ludwig turned after Lovino, towards barracks.

"I'd appreciate if you stopped calling me bastard."

"And I would appreciate if you would shut your mouth and followed me." Ludwig sighted. One brother was cheery, helpful and in some moments annoying while other had temper problems and foul mouth. Great. Going in barracks, he was greeted by small rest are and again, two doors.
"The one to right is for lower ranking soldiers and hosts rooms with room for at least six people. If you continue forward, it is higher ranking soldiers and those are solitary rooms. They entered the before mentioned passage and continued down the hall. There were doors on each side and when they arrived to sixth, Lovino stopped.
"This is yours. I'll send someone to put up your name. Enjoy your stay. Today there is nothing to do so you can stay there of go to cafeteria for food. I suggest first since it is 10 pm. Goodbye now, macho bastard." With that Lovino walked off, leaving Ludwig alone.

Opening the door to room he was assigned to was quite surprising. On opposite side was a bed and a nightstand on which rested keys, to his room, he presumed and a small alarm clock. On his right were open doors which led to small bathroom which contained a shower and a toilet.
On his left, however, was to him most interesting part. A working desk near the entrance with a lamp while the rest of wall was full of bookshelves. Hell, they stretched all the way to his bed. However, what interested him the most were books on them.
Closing the door behind him, he looked at the books. Most of them were in Italian. Quickly scanning the books, he found few English ones, some were manuals on different things like guns or… cleaning? Well, at least he won't get bored. There were also one few books in German. Some of them were:"Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft", "Die Verwandlung", "Das Schloss" and some others. Those books were… familiar but he never read them.
Brows furrowing, he eyed the books. Where were they familiar from? Did Alfonso tell him about them? Shaking his head, he averted his eyes from books.

He sat on the mattress, putting his head in his hands. Situation finally dawned on him with full force. In a course of few hours, someone close to him was killed only to be told that he was a sneak for Fourth World Power who was trying to shut off Nations which he was apparently part of.
And that Nation concept was such a stupid and impossible idea but he could not deny the facts.
These two brothers, Feliciano and Lovino, shared the same exact experience he did.
They were comatose and they woke up without memories.
Truth to the matter was that he did not age, never got sick and he did, in fact, heal faster than any other human around him and he immediately knew German and English as soon as he woke up.
It all added up in some twisted and impossible way.
And on top of that, he was now part of rebellion against Fourth World Power, against someone who waged war against most powerful countries.
As much as he agreed with Lovino's statement, he could not see a way to win. Not with this handful of soldiers. Absolutely not.

"Verdammt." he said, rubbing his eyes. Ludwig looked at the alarm clock, 10:30 pm. It has already passed half an hour? Rollcall was at 10 am and then he would get a gun? Would he be given a tour of that too by Lovino too? If so, he had to build patience for well, him. In other case if he was paired up with Feliciano, he had a chance to learn more about Nations and everything else that as
hidden from his sight. Maybe even some information about the group he was travelling with him would be provided to him. At least he hoped so.

It was around 11 pm when he locked his door and fell in troubled sleep.

"Scheiße"- "Shit
"Ja"- "Yes"
"Sì"- "Yes"
"Fratello"- "Brother"
"Nein"- "No"
"Siesta"- "Nap"
"Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft"- "Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future", F. Nietzche
"Die Verwandlung"- "The Metamorphosis", F. Kafka
"Das Schloss" – "The Castle", F. Kafka
"Verdammt." – "Damn it"

There won't be any pairings, maybe some very light GerIta but I don't really want to focus on any kind of romance in this.
As for the rating, I won't include any sexual stuff but there will be crude language and regular violence. There will be minor political references but nothing too bad. I don't plan to offend any culture or nation, just bring some feels in fandom.
The characters will be more serious but I'll try my best to keep characters resonably close to cannon.
There will be more characters but mainly Lovino, Feliciano and Ludwig are considered main characters alongside few that will be introduced later.
The story starts a bit slowly but I think it will kick off quite a bit later.