White Flags

Phase 4: Will

"Hey, bruder." Prussia looked at his younger brother with a proud smile on his face. He enjoyed being called that all too much…

"What do you want now, West?"

"I've been wondering…"

"Oh, it's this question already?" he asked ecstatically, standing up, "I can answer it!" Germany looked at him surprised.

"You already know?"

"Well sure I do," said Prussia, "See, down there is your 'wrapped present'-unless you already decided to unwrap it-of course not as awesome as mine-that will be great for your future"-

"What are you talking about? That's not it!" Prussia pressed his mouth into a fine line, embarrassed, and sunk back down into his seat.

"Then what is it?"

"Have you ever felt like you were someone else in another lifetime?"

"Someone else?" asked Prussia, "West, we're countries-although if I could choose, I'd be next to Old Fritz…"

"What I mean is another country. I feel like I used to be another country. It would make sense too since I don't even remember anything past when you saved me," Germany replied. Prussia rubbed his chin and sank down further into his chair.

"Uh… Yeah… you were." Germany seemed completely absorbed into that statement, but Prussia quickly added, "But it's not important. Your economy and people and boss right now are what you should worry about."

And Germany followed the advice once again.

…

"Alright, Italy; it's time for your next lesson." In the last two weeks, Italy's training had gone further than any other nation could imagine-including a concerned Germany that was still secretly watching from the sidelines.

"Veee~ What are we doing today?"

"In the past couple of weeks, you've gone through a remarkable change, but can your soldiers do the same?" Italy tapped his chin and quickly ran away, only to come back with a very large army of men behind him.

"Wow, that was fast," Prussia commented, "How'd you get them all here so quickly?"

"With pasta, of course~."

…

Germany had decided on his own to prepare his army while at the same time taking care of his shape. It seemed like the first battle wasn't too far away as the army seemed to take care of itself.

'At least that's something I know Italy can't do,' Germany thought, 'He can't stay on auto-pilot mode.' After taking the time to circle his soldiers, Germany thanked them for their work and proceeded to his office.

Why did it have to feel so awkward? Germany opened a drawer, only to find a sealed letter. From Italy. He immediately closed it shut.

"I guess I'll never understand his motives," he sighed to himself.

…

Germany decided a week later that it was time. The skies looked awfully gray, but Germany didn't seem to mind. He was sure there wouldn't be much of a fight if it rained…

Unless Prussia taught him to tolerate it…

No matter. Germany sent the signal for his troops to circle Italy's home. Then, a gunshot and a cry in the air. It was so sudden that even Germany jumped in surprise. More cries began to echo in the skies of people and iron. Nervous beads of sweat began to trickle down the side of Germany's face.

'N-No way… he was prepared for the attack?' Germany got a closer look. His assumption was right. Left and right, men and bloodshed were running about the field. Screams of pain rang in Germany's ears that he hadn't heard for a long time. He had almost forgotten what war looked like.

One soldier fell, another two with it and so on like a stack of dominoes. Germany sped through the battle field with a grenade in his hand, throwing it to the other side quickly as he rushed a group of his healthy soldiers to the nearest tanks.

"What are you waiting for? GET GOING!" They obeyed right away, all the while avoiding the firing shots. Everyone else stayed flat on their backs injured or on their stomachs, crawling and firing. Germany accidentally stepped on a clothed body and pulled his foot away.

"Sorry," he apologized automatically, not even knowing that the body had already died. He took a peek at the Italian soldiers. They had taken a great blow as well.

Yet , every one of their faces seemed determined as well to fight-pride Germany had never seen before in the other nation.

Rain began to pour down. All it did was wash away the blood. What appeared to be a rock flew just past Germany's head. Germany looked next to him. Was something ticking? Or was that a burning sound?

'Oh God.'

Germany sprinted the other way-but it was too late. The explosion sent him flying (and from behind he was burning) into the darkness.

"Vee~" he heard a man mumble, "Germany, is something wrong? You've been sleeping for an awfully long time." Germany opened his eyes.

'Where am I?' The light was clear and white like a…

Germany sat up and quickly looked around, only to fall back against his pillow and groan loudly. His head hurt. There was a machine next to him beeping quickly and loudly.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!" A familiar auburned hair Italian stared at him with concern.

"I-Italy…" Germany wheezed, "You're alright and I'm impressed! There's not one scratch on you! I had to admit it, but you did something right. Whatever it was, you won."

"Won? What did I win?" asked Italy, then his eyes brightening, "Is it pasta-or perhaps a pizza or a gelato?" The beeping got a little bit faster.

"Y-You don't remember anything? The battle?"

"Battle? What battle?" asked Italy. Germany rubbed the side of his head. He didn't recall it? Italy smiled at his confused expression. "Silly, Germany! You must've had a bad nightmare~."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Germany sighed. Then there came a thought. If it was a dream, that meant he and Italy never fought in the first place. Germany grinned. "Yeah! It was a bad dream!" Italy let out a small cry.

"Germany's smiling? He really fell hard on his head!" The grin descending into a frown.

"I fell down?" Italy laughed nervously and then broke into a sob.

"I promise I'll be more careful next time during training! I'll look where I'm going and not fake anymore stomach aches to miss practice!"

"You were faking the pain- Never mind, that's not important as of now," Germany said, "I'm just glad everything's okay now…"

"Me too~," Italy mused, embracing Germany into a tight hug. Usually, Germany would order Italy to get off, but this time let him hug him as long as he wanted.

"How long was I out, Italy?"

"A few weeks. I didn't leave your side once-well, except to go to the vending machines… I was really hungry and thirsty-but yeah, I stayed here almost the whole time!"

"But why?" Germany questioned, "Why would you do that for me?"

"Because you're Germany and Germany is my friend." Germany balled the sheets on the bed in his hands.

"Italy, I believe I'm the one that owes you an apology… I haven't been a good friend to you, and I'm sorry for that." Italy opened his mouth to say something, but Germany quickly silenced him, "Prussia's right. I don't say my feelings… and I didn't want to because there was something I did and I'm ashamed of doing that to you. Italy, the truth is, I'm the-What's that?"

"What's what?" the Italian asked innocently. Germany pointed to Italy's cheek.

"Your face…it's got a gash mark…"

"Oh that! Don't worry about it!" Italy chirped, rubbing the side of his face. Germany tilted his head to the side. He knew that gash wasn't there before. Wasn't he just scratch less? And it seemed like it was opening wider and wider until another few marks made their appearance his face and hands.

"Wha-what's happening to you?" Germany yelled.

"I don't know! I'm sorry!" Italy sobbed. Blood poured from the open pours and Italy screamed. "It hurts! It hurts! Help me, Germany!"

The beeping raced faster than before as Germany began to panic, scanning the room.

"Where are the doctors? Nurse? Paramedics?"

"Yes?" Germany turned his head to see a white haired figure standing at the door way dressed in medical uniform.

"Bruder, what are you doing here? This is serious!"

"Of course it is. Do you even know what's wrong with him?" asked Prussia.

"H-He's bleeding and crying and"-

"But do you know why?" Germany shook his head.

"I always knew you were hard headed," Prussia smirked, "Not even realizing what you did to the poor nation here."

"I did this?" Germany gasped. His body started to shiver uncontrollably. "Then that means that the reason why he looks like this is because…"

"It's what he felt on the inside," Prussia finished for him, "Good work. Now you realize the situation. I know the remedy, but you're the only one that has it."

"And how can I fix him? How do I make things better?"

"Tell Italy the truth. Tell Italy how you really feel…" The machine stopped on one, long beat…

And then Germany saw another bright light flash above him. His entire body hurt.

"Whoa, boss!" he heard someone exclaim, "You're alright!" That didn't sound like Italy… Germany raised his head. Oh. It was his General.

"What happened?" he asked weakly.

"You were hit by a grenade and the impact really injured you," the General reported, "But don't worry, sir! We still won the battle!"

"We won? What about Italy? What's going on?"

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you," said the General, "The Italians put up quite a fight-really what I didn't expect from them. In fact, they're currently training right now and are plotting their attacks. Italy is quickly getting back to good health."

Germany nodded, but felt his insides tense. What he saw before only had been a nightmare in a nightmare.

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to update! A month ago, I had my computer taken away for a few weeks and then I still had to update on another fic of mine! And this one took a little while longer because I had a tiny, menacing block, but I really like this chapter. So sorry about the wait once again, I'll try to be quicker!