"Wow, fratello! Can you believe that we're going to be living here where our grandpa was?" Two Italian brothers, Feliciano and Lovino Vargas, have just arrived the city of Rome to stay in the same villa where their grandfather, Romulus Vargas has once lived. The villa still held on its beautiful marble structure even though it has been covered in vines for nearly centuries.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's just get inside. I'm fucking tired of holding this box and I just want a fucking siesta," Lovino grumbled quietly.
"Ve~ Remember, we have to explore the house and unpack those boxes, you know," Feliciano smiled. "Do you need hug therapy again, fratello?"
"CHE COSA?! Hell no. I don't need your shitty therapy, Veneziano!"
"If you don't want my therapy, we must unpack those boxes, sí? Come on, I'll help you out."
The Italians began to move into the house, carrying and unpacking the boxes in their designated rooms. Occasionally, they will get distracted from finding a certain artifact from the past before focusing on their work again. Hours after hours, Lovino managed to do his part of the cleaning and unpacking the boxes, becoming his lazy self once again. He called out to Feliciano who was carrying a box on his way into the hallway, "Oi, Veneziano. I'm finished with my work. I'm taking a siesta and don't you even dare try to fucking wake me up."
"OK, fratello. I'll make some pasta for us to eat once I'm done carrying this box down to the basement," Feliciano smiled, hearing his older brother snore due to being weary of moving boxes in and out of the villa. Heading to the basement door, he holds the heavy box in one hand and opened the door with his other hand while humming a little tune. As he goes down the stairs and breathes into the air, he coughs because of how dusty it has been.
"Light. Where's the light?!" In a frantic search, he touches along the walls for the light switch or any source of light. Sadly, all he could touch on the walls were cobwebs and more dust. Feliciano puts down the box on the floor before running up the stairs to grab a lantern and some matches in some of the boxes they carried. He looked in the cardboard boxes in the kitchen, bedrooms, dining room, study, library but couldn't find any lantern or matches. He enters the living room, making sure to not wake up his brother in any possible way; Lovino did threaten him, after all. He looked through 20 boxes filled with miscellaneous items before finding the lantern and the matches near Lovino; a dangerous person to be around if he's taking a siesta.
Slowly, Feliciano takes out the small lantern and box of matches into his hand before getting up from the floor. Once he moved, some of the dust had made its way to Lovino who then sneezed, alarming Feliciano and waking himself up abruptly. The younger brother ran straight to the basement door, picking up the sound of his brother yelling colorful words of the rainbow towards him with the lantern and matches in his hands. He turns the knob of the basement door, opening and then closing the door behind him before stepping down to the abyss in a hurry. He waited at the bottom of the stairs, shaking in fear. He hoped Lovino had calmed himself down and go back to sleep. Hours later, Feliciano didn't hear any screaming from his older brother, finally giving him a chance to light the lantern. Once lit, the light revealed chests filled with oil, scriptures and items that his grandpa had stored centuries ago around him. The basement was smaller than he thought it was,
He searched through each chest, examining the items with delicate hands after setting the lantern down on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye was a much smaller chest that he must have missed while he was at bottom of the stairs. Above the chest was a hook that was used to set torches but he decided to hang the lantern there. Feliciano kneels in front of the chest, lifting the lid and seeing only a broken mirror. With eyebrows raised in confusion, he held the mirror in his two hands, slightly amazed at the design of its golden frame. Guessing it might be useful to share this discovery with his brother, he takes it up to the stairs with him, not noticing a piece of paper that was next to the mirror.
Feliciano pushes the door open, smelling the scent of pasta sauce in the air and the sound of water boiling in the kitchen. At that moment, he snapped in realization: His older brother is cooking pasta for them hours after he made Lovino wake up from his siesta. The Italian felt scared of his brother's wrath; maybe he could unleash his hug therapy to his brother. He takes a small step forward every few minutes until he was in the kitchen, seeing his brother wearing an apron while stirring the pasta sauce.
He remembered the mirror in his hands and hid it behind his back before asking with caution, "…. Fratello?"
Lovino whipped his head over to Feliciano who was trembling in fear of his anger that had happened hours earlier. He took a moment to think: Should he let it slide or should he take out his anger onto his shaking little brother? The older brother sighed and mumbled, "Just set up the table. We're eating pasta and pizza tonight. N-Not because I want to."
"Really?! Well, looks like I got scared for no reason!"
"Don't think you'll get away with it either, bastard."
"Ve~"
Feliciano grabs the plates from the cupboard after putting the mirror in one of the drawers. He didn't remember putting the plates there or even clean up unless… He'll thank his brother for doing the rest of the work since it's rare for him to clean up. He sets the plates, bowls, silverware and napkins on their new table inside their new home; it brought comfort and peace, just how he liked it. Lovino began to serve two bowls of pasta and some original pepperoni pizza on the table with a bit of oregano on top. The brothers sat down across each other and ate their pasta and pizza quietly. After taking a bite of a slice of cheesy, breath-taking, delicious pizza, Feliciano commented, "I didn't know you cleaned up the rest of the house, Romano. Antonio would've been pleased if he was here, sí?"
"S-Shut up. I did it because you were in the basement for hours, n-not because of other fucking reasons."
"Hehe. You also cooked, too~ Does that mean you actually cared about me because that's what I think!"
"H-Hey, don't jump to any conclusions! I didn't care about you when you went into the basement. I stopped caring about others ever since you came into my life." He mumbles to himself, "Well, I guess you could say that I did care…" A slight blush appeared on his face as he looks away from his brother's eyes.
"Ve~ Maybe if we spent more time together as children, maybe you could also get praised for your work. Without you, Alfred wouldn't have eaten your creation in the first place and the pizza companies wouldn't have existed, spreading the Italian cuisine!"
Lovino sighed and nodded, "Sí, sí. I guess that's true. Anyways, what were you doing down in the basement? I can't believe you were down there for, what, 4 hours? It looks like hell to me with all the darkness you see."
Feliciano grinned, getting up from his seat to the drawer where he put the mirror inside. Pulling the drawer open, he picks up the mirror with delicate hands and sets it right in front of his brother. He said as he sat down, "I found this mirror in the basement. It must be Grandpa's but the glass shattered."
Lovino raised an eyebrow, "The glass stayed on the mirror, though. There's even a red seal right on the bottom right corner."
"A seal," Feliciano asks. Lovino points to the seal that is right under his brother's nose and rolled his eyes, knowing how absent-minded Feliciano is. Feliciano looks at the seal, curious about the design on the seal and why the seal was there in the first place. He noticed the seal was big enough to put his thumb on it; maybe the seal revealed a secret treasure or unlock a secret room that his grandpa had before them.
"Fratello, if I put my thumb on the seal and something bad happens, will you call Ludwig for me?"
"Ha?! You want me to call the potato bastard while I'm fucking right here?"
Feliciano responded, "It's only for a Plan B. What do you think will happen, Romano?"
"Damn it, Veneziano! Does it look like I care right now? Just put the damn thumb ON THE FUCKING SEAL!"
The younger Italian puts his thumb on the seal, shutting his eyes tight. The seal melted under his thumb, but nothing appeared nor did a magical creature came out of the mirror to attack him. He opens his eyes, taking notice of his surroundings to see nothing at all. The villa was still intact, his brother is still alive, he was still alive and there was no creature lurking inside the house. Feliciano sighed with happiness, relieved that the situation was better than the scenario he thought of before putting his thumb on the large red seal.
He smiled, a thought had come up in his mind. "Ve~ What if we bring the mirror to the meeting tomorrow? It is an artifact that was given to us and the other countries can help us uncover the mystery of this mirror- no, big brother Francis can help us."
Lovino scratches his head as he yawns, "Whatever you say, Veneziano. I'm going to bed and sleep until then. Our meeting is at fucking 6 in the afternoon and it's already 4 in the morning." Lovino left Feliciano alone in the kitchen and went upstairs to his separate bedroom, slamming the door once he entered inside the room. Feliciano looks back at the table, seeing that his own brother didn't bother to clean up after himself, making the younger brother pout a little. He grabs the dirty silverware and porcelain items into the sink and washed them all by himself. After an hour, he wiped his hands with a clean rag and went up the stairs in a zombie-like motion. He felt that he could pass out on the stairs like a drunken man on a Saturday night but that was not what he was aiming for. Once Feliciano made his way inside the bedroom, he plopped onto his soft bed and went out like a lantern, not even bothering to take off his clothes.
The clock strikes midnight and nothing but the wind made noise. Feliciano forgot the mirror left on the kitchen table and from that mirror emerged a man. Stepping out of the mirror and setting his feet delicately on the floor, the stranger takes in his surroundings. He smiled, thankful that there was no one around in this dark villa because he just wanted to see a certain Italian. He takes a step forward, the floor creaking under the weight of his feet but that didn't bother him at all. The unknown man surveys the area once again, trying to find the staircase which was easy to find. Going up the stairs, he goes inside the bedroom on the right, greeted with Feliciano whose back was turned towards him.
He approaches the sleeping country quietly, stopping when Feliciano turns his face towards him. That innocent face of his, the man thought to himself. Oh, how I want that face to writhe in pain and terror. He goes towards the bed and kneels in front of it, setting his arms on the bed. He stared at Feliciano's face and chuckled, "So he's my grandpa's enemy's grandson, huh? He doesn't seem like the person who would fight, he's the one who would die first in battle~" The stranger stands up from his position and leaves Feliciano to be, a plan forming inside his head.
He heads back into the kitchen and drops inside the mirror, entering inside his home where he meets his 2 companions. "Well, what did you see in him," a Japanese man asked him.
"Innocence is all I see, it disgusts me," the stranger replied.
"You have a plan, don't you?" A German asks, noticing the look on his friend's face.
"Sí," The stranger's Italian accent rolling off his tongue. "However, we aren't going to start with him first. We start with his friends."
"His…friends?" The Japanese man crosses his arms, showing a tattoo that appears to be a dragon on his wrist.
"But how," asked the German. "There's no way you can handle them all by yourself."
"That's where everyone is going to pitch in," replied the Italian.
"Ha?" The Japanese man was surprised at the fact that the Italian is asking for help this time.
"Are you serious? Do you mean everyone? If that's so, leave my brother out of this. You know how he is," pleaded the German.
"Everyone has to do it. It's the only way for us to rule their world and ours."
"So, when do we start the plan? I'm getting bored of sitting here while I could be at home watching – "
"We start as soon as their meeting is over," The stranger cuts his friend off. "We attack one of the Axis and one of you must make sure that you do not get caught. We want him to suffer. That is all."
The two companions looked at each other and shrugged, not really caring who wants to go first in this whole plan. They have decided to share this little plan with the other nations, hoping that it will stir up some excitement and interest. That usually never happens but it will give everyone a chance to meet their counterpart in the other dimension. The Italian man sighs, setting his hat down on his desk and taking a seat in his comfortable, spinning chair. Now that the plan has been set in motion, he thought to himself. We must make our way up to the grand finale.
