A/N: This fic is loosely based on common RPG plots. The characters will act a little differently, but they'll still retain most of their usual qualities. Mostly adventure and action, but with subtle hints of romance. (C'mon, it wouldn't be Hetalia without that. XD)
PROLOGUE: "You and me are buddies now, kid."
Is the "reality" we go through everyday even real? Do we even really exist? If so, what do we "exist" for? No one can tell; no one will tell; and no one should tell. We might just be figments of our own imaginations, and our lives just an illusion of our desires. We might even just be one entity's dream of an ideal world. Whatever we may be, I know what I want to be. I want to be... different. Or so I thought.
You might call me a blank slate, free to do with as you wish. I don't remember anything—my name, my family, where I grew up—things that normal people would normally remember. For all I care, I might have been waiting till it was the right time to wake up. And I did wake up. I opened my eyes from what seemed like forever and found myself in the middle of a glade. The sky was beautiful, but it was also empty. No clouds, no birds, no planes; nothing. It was almost like it was waiting for someone to come by and give it a purpose for being there, so high up and so lonely.
A man's voice suddenly broke my train of thought. "You plan on daydreaming like that forever, kid?" he had said.
He inched closer to me, and I tilted my head upwards to meet his gaze. His emerald eyes were so deep, so sad, that it was almost painful to look at them. His lips curled into a smile when he saw how I looked away, how I made obvious the anxiety whirling up inside me. He slumped down into a sitting position beside me, and I forced myself to sit up as well, getting a good view of him. His brown hair, windswept and unkempt but strangely neat in appearance, faintly covered a scar on his left temple. His tanned skin held the proof of many battles—scars and scratches of a great variety. He was built tough, muscles adorning his entire framework. What he wore justified what he looked like. He was garbed in light armor with a one-sided cape draped on his left shoulder plate and a coat of arms on his chest. A large halberd lying harmlessly on the ground separated the two of us.
"Got a name?" he said in a chummy tone.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't know it." I shifted to a fetal position, resting my chin on my knees. I might have sighed back then, or maybe not.
"Amnesia, huh?" asked the man nonchalantly.
"I guess so."
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"You'll still ask even if I say no, so go ahead," I dryly remarked.
It was either the tone that I said it with or the reaction that accompanied it that elicited an amused chuckle from him. "Kids nowadays... So, you got a plan or something?"
"A plan?"
"Where you want to go, what you want to do, things you want to know—stuff like that. If I get up right now and leave, what are you gonna do next?"
"Don't know. Maybe go back to sleep and hope this was all a dream."
"What if it turns out it wasn't a dream?"
"I'll know when I get there."
"Fair enough." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and slowly stood up. "Hey kid, want to tag along with me?"
There was something about the subtle blend of outwardly strength and inner compassion he possessed that gave me a sense of security. I might have known the dangers of travelling with someone who appeared to have no problem hacking a person's head off, but that was overshadowed by a hankering to find an answer to the multitude of questions that a single encounter opened up. So without even pausing to think, without taking a moment to weigh the current situation, I had given him a clear approval. I signed myself in for an adventure I might not live long enough to regret.
"Then that's that. You and me are buddies now, kid. Our first and foremost goal as buddies? To find our worth in this world."
"Sounds good."
He took the halberd and pointed it at the horizon. "We go where fate leads us, Romano."
"Romano?"
"That's right. Ro-ma-no. I'm giving you a name, an identity. Until the day you find out for yourself who you really are, allow me to fill in that void."
It was my turn to chuckle. "Thanks. By the way, didn't catch your name."
"Spain. Spain, the Conqueror."