"Germany, Germany, I need you to come save me, Russia just carried me back to his place and..."
"Okay, Italy, I'll be right there, I just need to-"
A blood-curdling scream. Silence.
"Italy? Italy? Are you still there?"
A soft, childish laugh. Panting. Faint sobbing in the background.
"Hello Germany, Italy is becoming one with me, this is okay, da?"
Frozen. Heavy breathing evolving into rhythmic grunts. Someone sobbing into the phone.
"G-Ger- Germany... Help me."
The phone went dead.
And Germany woke up.
Scheisse! As soon as Germany was awake, he jumped out of bed, still caught in the nightmare. It took him a few seconds to calm down and reassure himself that it was just a dream. Italy was fine. In fact he was probably in Germany's bed right now, naked and asleep... Germany turned, completely sure that Italy would be there... and found that his bed was empty. No brunette idiot dreaming of pasta or singing or making odd noises or waving his little white flag...
Well, it wasn't unheard of for Italy to not sneak into Germany's bed. Sometimes he would go and stay with Japan, or Romano... Still, Germany couldn't help but feel that something was off... Nein. It is just the nightmare making you think that. And even if he is in some kind of 'trouble', he needs to learn to deal with it himself... No matter how much it scares you that he won't be able to deal with it, that he could get badly hurt, or even... That's what caused the nightmare, nothing more.
And so, Germany shrugged and proceeded to carry on the day as normal (Or as normally as he could without having to stop France molesting Italy, or tie Italy's shoelaces, or clean up after Italy...), despite the niggling sensation at the back of his mind telling him that something wasn't right.
Two days later, Italy still hadn't appeared at Germany's place. Or, in fact, at Japan's. And Prussia hadn't seen him either, he said, when Germany finally caught him sober.
"Well, I guess the awesome me had better get on the case then!" He had cried, striking a dramatic pose. (Perhaps not as sober as Germany had thought then) However, being Prussia's brother, Germany noticed the worried undertone to his voice. Prussia clearly cared about Italy, something which was rare for the usually self-absorbed, egotistical ex-nation. And so, with Prussia's little birds sent to talk to the animals of the other nations, both Germany and Prussia sat down with their mobiles and began to call every nation they could think of.
"Okay, danke Taiwan, I'll call you if we find him." Germany sighed and put down the phone. It was 2am and he was still working through the list of nations inside his head. Prussia came back from the kitchen and offered Germany a beer, which he took and placed on the table without drinking any of it.
"Still no luck?"
"Nothing. I assume the last one to see him was his brother, but he just called me a 'potato-bastard' and put down the phone before I could even ask... Is there anyone we haven't called yet, apart from the ones that didn't pick up?"
"I don't think so..."
"Someone must know where he is, but who else could have..." And then a gut-wrenching thought occurred to Germany. "Prussia."
Prussia looked up from his slumped position on the coffee table. "Yeah?"
"You did call Russia, right?"
"No, I thought you were going to, you know I can't talk to him without... Hey, are you okay?"
Germany couldn't hear what Prussia was saying any more. He automatically reached for the phone, and punched in Russia's number.
One ring. A click.
"Zdravstvuj?"
"Russia, where's Italy?"
"Italy? Hmm, I don't know. Maybe you should keep better eye on him Germany, da?"
A faint voice in the background. No.
"Germany? Is that Germany?"
No 'veh', no mention of pasta, but that faint little voice was unmistakable. The phone fell to the floor, and Prussia looked up again.
"West, what-" Germany was already standing. And then he was moving towards the door, leaving Prussia sitting there with a shocked expression.
"Stay here, look after the house, don't break anything." I don't want you getting hurt too.
Germany ran, settling into a rhythm that was acceptably fast, but not so fast that it would wear him out before he got to his destination. Luckily, being a nation, he had a lot of stamina and could run faster and further than any human was capable of. His determination only increased this speed and stamina. He wouldn't, couldn't stop for anything. He knew, almost by instinct, where Russia and Italy would be. There was a warehouse where Russia tended to keep people he had captured. Germany had been there the last time, when Russia had managed to get Prussia... Suppressing a shudder, Germany mentally mapped out his route to the warehouse, and carried on running.
Prussia wanted to move. He wanted to go rescue Italy, wanted to see that the little nation was alright. And it was definitely because he was awesome and should therefore always be the one who saved the day. It definitely wasn't because the awesome him had a crush on Italy. Definitely not. Who the fuck am I kidding? Me saving him wouldn't make any difference anyway, he would still be in love with West... He glared at the Christmas tree standing innocently in the corner, bearing the heart-shaped baubles that Italy had insisted on decorating it with. Of course no nation would ever want me, I'm not even a proper nation. I'm practically a normal human... Prussia sighed and put an arm over his eyes. Clearly the beer was affecting him.
His brooding was interrupted by a tinny version of the German national anthem. Picking up his brother's phone, he checked the caller I.D. America? Maybe he found Italy...
"Germany?"
"Nein, It's Prussia, I think West went to rescue Italy..."
"Oh, well, that's good! I think. Anyway, have you seen England?"
"Nein... He's not missing too, is he?"
"I don't know, man... Me and France haven't seen him for a few days, though... Oh, I can see Germany! Talk to ya later, buddy!"
Well, now Prussia had two people to worry about. Not that he was hugely worried about England. He just didn't want to know what France and America would get like if something happened to the Brit...
"Hey, Germany!"
Germany wouldn't have stopped if America hadn't stood directly in front of him. He scowled, but America didn't seem to notice.
"You haven't seen England, have you? Me and France are looking for him..."
America gestured towards France, who was stood a few meters away looking tired and worried. Now that he looked closely, America looked much the same way, but he was better at masking it under his cheer and determination.
"Nein, I haven't seen him... Actually, I was just on my way to get Italy, so..."
"Oh yeah, Prussia said! You know where he is then?"
"Ja, ja, I know where he is..."
Germany tried to step past America, but the idiot wouldn't let him. A vein twitched in his temple. Anything could be happening to Italy right now, and the way France was pacing around disconcerted him slightly. He looked much the same way Germany felt, as did America, which worried him considering the way he knew both nations felt about England... Nein, he just felt that way because he was like a guardian to Italy, any other nation would feel the same way, especially with where he knew Italy was...
"Dude, you feeling okay?"
America's voice snapped Germany back into reality, along with the hand that was being waved in front of his face. France was standing next to America now, allowing Germany to clearly see the pain in his face. Obviously he didn't have as much faith in their ability to find and possibly save England as America did.
"I could ask you two the same question." Germany chuckled weakly. His tiredness and fear were making him less uptight than usual. "Anyway, I better get going..."
"Let us go with you." Germany looked at France, a little surprised. France ran a hand through his hair. "You might need our help... and going with you might bring us closer to finding..." France trailed off, clearly unable to say the name. America was nodding, clearly in agreement. Germany sighed.
"Let's go, I'll explain everything while we move..."
There was a tapping on the window. Prussia glanced up, realised that the curtains were still closed, and stood unsteadily, stumbling towards them. Drawing them aside, he saw a yellow mass covering the window.
"What the fu- oh, right." Prussia had spotted the bird in the centre of the mass, wearing a little hat similar to one of his own. It was pecking at the window, clearly wanting him to open it.
Once Prussia had retrieved the key from the kitchen, he unlocked the window and pushed it open. This pushed the fluffy mass away for a moment, before it flew in through the window, all at once, smothering Prussia and knocking him over.
After a few minutes doing some totally awesome flailing, Prussia managed to get all the birds off of him and onto the sofa, staring at him with their cute little beady eyes. Brushing feathers off of himself, he realised that Gilbird wasn't on the sofa.
"Where the fuck is he?" Prussia spun around looking for the easily recognisable hat. Then he looked behind the sofa, on the ceiling, in the fridge, under the coffee table, in every cupboard, and eventually out the window, almost falling out in his frenzy. He paused, half out the window, to catch his breath.
"Konnichiwa, Prussia-san"
Prussia jumped, hitting the back of his head on the window frame, and swore loudly. Japan was standing on the doorstep, and had probably just seen him being totally unawesome.
"Oh, uh, hey Japan."
Japan nodded, showing no emotion as usual. "I am just here to check on Germany-san."
Prussia rubbed the back of his head, where a lump was already forming. "He's not- ow- here, he went to go get Italy."
"Aah, I see, in that case I will come back later." Japan made to leave, and it occurred to Prussia that the asian nation lived far away, it was Winter, and that letting Japan into the house would probably earn him some awesome-points. Not that he needed any more.
"Wait, Japan!"
Japan turned, looking slightly surprised.
"Uhh... you can come in and wait if you want."
"Shit, seriously, Russia got him?"
"Ja." Germany grimaced. France and America slowed him down slightly, but he had to admit he was grateful for the company. It distracted him from thoughts of Italy, and somewhat allowed him to focus on the task at hand. However, he still hadn't thought of a plan, and this worried him.
After around ten minutes of running through snow, not feeling the cold because of the body heat created by the effort of running, they came to a stop in front of the warehouse. It was pretty nondescript, as far as warehouses went. Smaller than the average warehouse, perhaps. Some of the windows were broken, giving the impression of abandonment, but Germany knew that it was far from abandoned.
They crept towards one of the windows, the one closest to the main entrance, keeping as low as possible without crawling in the snow. Germany could have sworn there were three sets of footprints leading to the door, but they were so faint that it was impossible to be sure which way they were facing.
"Can anyone else smell cake?" France whispered. Germany could, but decided that it wasn't important. He still needed to think of a plan.
"Dude, do we really need a plan? We should just break in and bust Italy out, like superheroes! It'll be totally heroic and awesome!"
Both Germany and France stared at America, and he grinned at them. Germany had to admit, it was better than anything he could come up with. He pulled himself up slightly, looking through the window above them, and froze.
"Waz zur..."
Japan found himself on Germany's sofa, clutching a glass of water and some Christmas cookies that Prussia had insisted on giving him, surrounded by fluffy yellow birds. While the birds were cute, he was refraining from touching them. Their sharp little beaks were making him somewhat uncomfortable. Prussia returned from the kitchen with yet another beer, giving Japan a forced smile. The Prussian was clearly worried about his brother and Italy. He had been pacing around since Japan had arrived, with another of those little birds perched on his head. This one, unlike the others, was wearing a hat. Japan had decided not to point it out, since it was usually there whenever he saw Prussia, and it looked cute nestled amongst Prussia's pure white hair.
"You sure you don't want a beer?"
"Hai, I am quite sure."
Prussia finally decided to sit down. Clearly he thought it wasn't worth trying to move the birds, though, because he sat on the floor, his shoulder and arm touching Japan's leg. Japan shifted a little uncomfortably, but didn't say anything. They sat there like that for a while, the silence only punctuated occasionally by Prussia slurping on his beer. Japan nibbled on one of the cookies, and shared another with the little birds. They cheeped appreciatively, crowding on Japan's lap. Prussia turned to see what the noise was about, and chuckled. His eyes looked a little unfocused, and Japan wondered just how much beer he had drunk.
"You have pretty eyes."
Japan stared at Prussia, hoping that he had misheard him. Prussia just smiled at him, staring into his eyes. He began to move closer, and Japan panicked, looking around for a distraction.
"Uhh... The Christmas tree looks nice."
Prussia turned, looking confused.
"Oh, that fucking thing. Ita- Italy brought the- the baubles..." Prussia's shoulders began to shake, and it took a few seconds for Japan to realise that he was sobbing.
"Prussia-san, what's-"
"He fu- fucking loves West. Why can't he- Why can't he love me? I'm way fucking awesomer, right?"
Prussia turned to look at Japan expectantly, his red eyes clouded with tears. Japan just nodded, and Prussia patted his leg clumsily, then rested his head on it, causing Gilbird to tweet indignantly and move onto the sofa. Japan barely resisted the urge to get up and leave.
"Kesese, at least someone agrees with me."
Prussia began to fidget, removing his head from Japan's leg, and pulling himself up onto the sofa. The birds all moved out of the way, clearly used to this kind of thing. Japan found himself with even more birds on him, and Prussia's arms around him, head rested on his shoulder. Japan decided that there was no point in struggling, and that Prussia needed someone there. He awkwardly patted Prussia's head, thankful that he wasn't quite as uptight about this kind of thing as he used to be. A gentle snore told him that the albino had fallen asleep, and Japan wondered how long he would be stuck there.
Germany couldn't quite comprehend what he was seeing. The first thing he noticed was Russia, standing by the door, wearing a... metallic pink party hat? He looked even more childish than usual, but somehow still creepy. It was quite unnerving to see something so innocent on the tall, intimidating nation. The next thing he noticed was Italy, and his heart leapt in his chest. Germany could see that he was at least standing, his back to the window, with no visible wounds, but Germany didn't want to get his hopes up just yet. Italy was wearing one of the hats too, a blue one, and he seemed to be working on something.
"Woah, what the hell is that on Russia's head?"
Germany jumped slightly, and almost smacked America over the head. Both America and France were looking in on the scene now, on either side of Germany, eyebrows raised.
"Angleterre?" France whispered, and Germany tore his eyes away from Italy to see what France could see. England was in the corner, looking somewhat irritated, clutching a paper plate and wearing a green party hat. France gave a small, relieved chuckle.
"This is totally weird, what the hell are they doing?"
Italy had turned around now, and Germany could see that he was holding a plate with a slice of cake on it. He was smiling, even if the expression looked awkward. He looks cute with that hat on, Germany thought. I mean, he always looks cute, but with that hat- wait, what the hell am I thinking!
"Hey, is that a banner?" America said, tapping Germany's shoulder and pointing.
"What?"
"Look, over there, on the wall... Happy Birthday?"
"...America, what's the date today?"
"Uhh..."
"It's the 30th of December." France interrupted, since America clearly had no idea.
"...wait, isn't that-"
"Veh~ Germany! And big brother France! And America!"
They had been too busy looking at the banner to notice that Italy had seen them, and was now right near the window, grinning at Germany through the broken glass. Russia advanced on them, placing a hand on Italy's shoulder. Germany had a sudden urge to break his fingers.
"Oh, you remembered my birthday, da?"
"So, let me get this straight." They were all inside now, all wearing party hats and holding plates of cake that had been forced onto them. "Russia wanted you to help him organize his birthday party?"
Italy nodded, his mouth full of cake. Russia still hadn't removed the hand from his shoulder.
"I mostly wanted him to make the food. He is good at it, da?" Germany had to agree, the cake was pretty good.
"So wait, Angleterre, why are you here?"
"They bloody caught me when I was on my way home from visiting Japan." Germany couldn't help but suspect that England had been drunk when they found him, but decided not to comment. England looked irritated enough as it was, wedged between France and America.
Germany guessed the whole thing made sense, but there was still something bugging him, apart from the way Russia was holding onto Italy.
"Italy."
"Yes, Germany?" Italy smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. He tried to ignore it.
"Why didn't you tell me where you were?"
Italy's smile disappeared. "Veh~ You said you didn't want to see me ever again... You know, after I got pasta sauce all over Herr Stick..." Germany stared at the Italian, then put his head in his hands in despair. Had he really said that? He couldn't believe how much of an idiot he was, and he also couldn't believe that Italy had taken him seriously.
"Italy, come here." Germany said darkly, his head still in his hands.
"Veh~ Please don't hurt me Germany, I said I was sorry," Italy was moving towards him hesitantly, and Germany wondered if Russia had removed his hand yet. "please, please don't hurt me, I'll do anything! I have relatives in-"
Germany cut Italy off with a hug, stunning him into silence.
"I was worried about you, you dummkopf."
"R-really? You're not going to hurt me?"
"Of course not, Italy." Ich liebe dich. Germany couldn't bring himself to say those words out loud, especially not with so many people around, but they felt so right that Germany wondered how he hadn't realised it before.
"Jeez, will you two get a room?" Germany glared up at America, who chuckled and put an arm around England, earning yet more glares, this time from both England and France. Germany released Italy, who stumbled back a little, looking dazed. He gave Germany a relieved smile, and Germany couldn't help but smile back. Russia cleared his throat.
"Now, for my Birthday present, you will all become one with me, da?" Everyone exchanged awkward glances.
"Well!" England said, standing up hurriedly. "I best be leaving, I need to feed Flying Mint Bunny..." France and America's smug expressions, and the positions of their hands, made it clear that they had been making England very uncomfortable. They both stood, exchanging mischievous glances.
"We will walk you home, Angleterre..."
England mumbled something about curses and a chair before walking out, followed by the two chuckling nations.
"Well, I guess we should be leaving too... Come on, Italy."
Germany dragged Italy out by the hand before Russia could object.
Germany arrived home an hour later, Italy bundled against his chest. At first they had walked at a slow pace through the snow, neither of them letting go of the other's hand. Then Italy had started to shiver, and Germany realised that neither of them were wearing jackets. He had ended up holding Italy in his arms and running to both warm up and get them back to his place as quickly as possible.
Italy had fallen asleep at some point during the journey, leaving Germany alone with his thoughts. This meant that, when they eventually reached the house, Germany had made a decision. He would have to wait to implement it, though.
Germany frowned when he saw that the lights were still on, and the window was open. It was late, at least midnight, and his brother should have been asleep by now. After a lot of gently shifting Italy around, he managed to unlock the front door and open it, stepping in and closing it behind him with his foot. He looked into the living room to see if Prussia was still awake, and almost chuckled at the scene that greeted him. The sofa was covered in a fluffy yellow mass that he recognised as Prussia's birds. Nestled amongst the birds were Prussia and Japan, of all people, their arms around each-other, both of them snoring softly. If he had a camera on hand, he would have taken a picture and uploaded it to Prussia's blog.
Rather than risking waking Italy while trying to find the camera, he decided to just turn the light off and creep up the stairs as quietly as possible, carefully avoiding the creaky floorboard on the landing and entering his room. He tucked Italy carefully into the bed, fully clothed, and began to get changed. He stripped down to his boxers and began to look for a t-shirt to wear, rummaging as quietly as possible through the drawers.
"Veh~ Germany?"
Germany cursed under his breath at Italy's timing, and turned to see that Italy was sitting up, looking confused.
"What happened to the Spaghetti Monster?"
"I- What?"
"The Spaghetti Monster, it was flying..."
"Italy, are you sure you weren't dreaming?"
Italy looked disappointed at the realisation that there was no flying monster made of his favourite food, and lay back down with a small sigh. Germany sighed too, and finally located a t-shirt, pulling it on before climbing into the bed next to Italy. The Italian smiled at him, and Germany was once again struck by how cute he was. Verdammt, I really do love him... I'll tell him one day, when he's not so tired...
Italy started to snore softly. Germany hesitated for a moment, before wrapping his arms around the Italian and kissing the top of his head. Italy mumbled something before returning the hug, settling against Germany's chest. After a while, Germany drifted off to sleep wondering if it was possible for him to be any happier.
Italy shifted in his sleep, still mumbling.
"Ti amo, Germany."
A/N~ Was the ending too rushed? Idk...
Sorry about the lack of gore etc if you were expecting it, I couldn't bring myself to get Italy hurt, he's too cute D:
I might continue this later, if I feel like writing GerIta lemony goodness :3