A/N: Look, I've published a real try at a multichapter fanfiction! This is a prologue, so that's why it's kinda short. All other chapters (except for maybe the epilogue if it will exist) are going to be at least two thousand words. I'm not really sure about the pairing yet. Heads up, it will probably be Spamano. But I'm not sure. It will either be Spamano or nothing at all. We'll see.
You know Spain's human name? It has two alternate spellings, and I happen to like both. In this chapter, I use the Hernandez spelling. If you don't like it, it's easy to overlook. It's a tiny, tiny little letter. Anyways. I don't own Hetalia.
"Antonio? Goddammit, where are you?" Francis Bonnefoy, or the nation of France if you will, is beginning to get worried. You see, he's in Spain, looking for said country's personification. His friend has recently taken the personification of South Italy into his care and Francis wants to know how the sadly-not-French territory is doing. But he can't find his friend anywhere. At his house? Nope. At the tomato fields? If only. Having looked through the places where he usually finds Antonio, Francis ends up asking Antonio's boss. She's a bit surprised at seeing the personification of France of all people in her home, but eventually decides to tell him.
"Antonio? Oh, he was supposed to have a meeting of some sort. I'm not quite sure with whom he was going to have the meeting however."
After going through all the trouble of finding the guy that Antonio supposedly was supposed to have a meeting with... Francis once again reaches a dead end. Antonio never showed up to the meeting, Francis hears. Antonio didn't show up. But Francis is still happy when the man has "more important things to do than a guy who didn't show up", and walks away. Because Francis doesn't know why, but this man scares the crap out of him. Something's not right with him, the way he walks, the way he talks, the way he smiles... But Francis soon give up on those thoughts. He'll never meet him again, so it's not a big deal. Instead, he concentrates on finding Antonio. So now, Francis wanders the streets of Madrid aimlessly. He doesn't have the faintest idea of where Antonio could be, and he eventually decides to give up. Even when the sentence "he didn't show up to the meeting" still haunts him and he knows that there's something wrong with this. Even then, he gives up. It's not like Antonio will be gone forever, right? Right?
Oh, if only Francis knew. If he had known, he surely would have continued searching for his friend. If he had known, he would have turned every stone and every brick. He would have torn down houses to find his friend. But... He didn't know. And so, the country of Spain is going to be without a human representation for a long, long time.
None of the nations will know how or why. They will only know, that one day, Spain, Antonio Hernandez Carriedo, was gone without a trace. It will be a mystery to the nations for a long, long time. How can a nation just disappear like that, when it's not a consequence of the whole country falling? It would be one thing if the whole had collapsed. But it has not. So why is Antonio gone? Nobody knows. How? Nobody knows. Because nobody knows a thing at all. And if they do... Their mouths are shut.
In the beginning, when Antonio will have been gone for just a few months, there will be hope. After a year, some nations will stop hoping. Then, after another year, some more nations will stop hoping. It will continue that way, up until only the most stubborn nations will believe that the humanization of Spain is still out there. But with time, even that hope will surely fade. Time tends to do that. Time is merciless. Time bites down on everyone, sparing none. Time will eventually force the nations who still believe to give up. That's just how time works. With time, doubt will make its way into the hearts of the nations.
Why would you believe that he will come back? He hasn't been seen for years, why do you still believe? Antonio is gone for good, to never come back. It's pointless. You know nothing of what has happened to him. You don't even know if he's still alive. That doubt will make them give up. Sooner or later.
And so, the dice has been thrown. It will come to take a long time before Antonio shows up again. If he ever will. The question, however, isn't when he will appear again or if. The real question is and will always be; when will the nations notice it?