A/N this chapter... well just read it

The key made a grinding, scraping noise as it turned in the lock. With a loud clank it fell to the table. Their eyes were glued to the chest as Prussia and Austria each grabbed a side of the chest and began to ease the lid upwards.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Startled they dropped the lid with a crash. Hungary grabbed Prussia's arm.

"Hurry hide the chest!" She hissed. Prussia grabbed the chest and hurried it into the next room, hiding behind the coach. Austria walked to the door. He opened it. Italy was standing there on the step.

"Italy? What are you doing here?" Austria asked curiously, it was odd for Italy to use force, but that pounding had been rather effective…

"Vee~ Austria, what are you doing here? I thought this was Germany's house?" Italy sidestepped the question. Austria thought for a second, coming up with a suitably believable excuse.

"Hungary is mad at Prussia again, so I am doing damage control." Italy seemed accept this response.

"Vee~ is Germany here?" Italy asked, somehow managing to get inside. They headed towards the kitchen, or rather Italy headed towards the kitchen (he was going to make PASTAAAAAA!) and Austria followed him.

They entered the kitchen. In the short amount of time of having hid the chest and having Austria open the door, Prussia had managed to tick off Hungary. The evidence? A large bump he was nursing on his head and a triumphant Hungary holding a frying pan threateningly. Everyone looked surprise when Italy entered the kitchen and began to pull things out in a manner like it was his own kitchen. They realized that they shouldn't, not really considering the amount of time the Italian spent over there. Prussia remembered the one time he came across all the pasta Italy had made/bought for Germany every time Italy had, had a bad dream about all the pasta in the world had disappeared and he could no longer make pasta. It was a staggering amount, enough to last several years, if you ate pasta everyday, three meals a day.

"So…"

Italy started casually, too casually, but this was ITALY! There's no way he would be planning anything, because it's ITALY for crying out loud.

"Why did Germany freeze when I touched his wrist?" The others in the room froze. Italy started to sniffle a little,

"Is it because he doesn't like me anymore?" cue waterworks.

"Ahhh! Nooo!" Hungary said in full mothering mode, trying to get Italy to calm down. Apparently it worked, as Italy stopped crying and speaking incoherently. Prussia looked resigned, running a hand through his silvery hair he said "Look Italy…" he sighed "you should probably sit down, this is going to take a while to explain"

Italy turned off the stove, and then sat, the other nations present also sat around the table. Prussia sighed again, and looked towards Austria and Hungry for help. They motioned him to continue, but at his continued silent pleading Hungary decided to help him out.

"Italy you know how you have a condition when it comes to your curl?" she started.

Italy blushed slightly and nodded, "Yes but I don't see how that has to do with Germany…"

Hungary held up a hand stopping him then motioned for Prussia to continue the explanation.

"West has a worse problem" he sighed again "he would rather have your condition then have what he's got"

Italy looked slightly impatient by this point 'are they stalling on purpose?' Strangely enough the topic went in entirely different direction.

"So you know how, when a nation goes through wars, or other traumatic parts of history they collect scars?"

Italy nodded; confused that he would be bring this up.

"Well West collects those scars a lot more easily than most nations; in fact I would say he's got the most scars than any other nation, its rather odd really, the 'toughest, most disciplined' nation is the one that bruises the easiest"

Here Italy interrupted him "Vee? But I don't see that many scars?"

Prussia laughed a dry bitter laugh "majority of them have faded away, erased by time. Another bunch are only thin white lines now so they blend in with his incredibly fair skin, but he tries to keep them covered as much as possible"

Italy still looked confused, so Hungry decided to help him out, "ever notice how he always wears long sleeves now? Or the fact he always has gloves on? He tries to keep every inch of skin covered that he can to help prevent accidents" This made sense to Italy and he nodded empathetically

Prussia gave a rough bark of laughter "He keeps them covered up with good reason. You see, whenever a scar is touched, he is forced to relive every instance of how it happened" not noticing Italy's dawning expression of horror he forged ahead. "As in he feels the pain of it, he sees exactly what happens, he literally relives it. And depending how long the person or nation has contact to his scar will affect how long he relieves it, or how many memories he relives from that time." Italy now looked thoroughly horrified, but Prussia found that he could not stop, the dam had been broken and the water rushed out. "How traumatic the experience also effects how long he's stuck in the cycle"

Italy seemed to find his voice again "so I caused him to relive a bad memory?" he looked like he was about to burst into tears again "which one was it?" he continued more cautiously

Prussia looked frustrated at this "that's the problem, we don't know. We should know but as far as I am aware there shouldn't be anything on his left wrist." This seemed to remind him of something "Austria, what did you see on his arm when you looked for the scar that had been touched?"

Everyone turned to look at him. He appeared thoughtful "It appeared to be a line of numbers, though I suppose that's just because of the sheer amount of people that were effected, he couldn't have been in the camps right?"

Everyone looked horrified "Numbers?" whispered Prussia almost silently.

"Yes" Austria responded, "they are from the sheer number of people effected right?"

Prussia looked more frustrated "Yes, No, I DON'T KNOW! #$%^&* it! West didn't tell me anything about what happened in between from when I left to fight against Russia and when I came back. Oh #$%^&* what kind of older bruder am I if he doesn't even tell me these things?"

"To be fair," said Austria, "he didn't tell anybody."

"Yeah, yeah, I sure your theory's right anyways, they are probably just from the sheer amount of people effected, that it caused its own scar"

Everyone nodded in agreement, but it felt like they were just trying to reassure themselves for the time being.

A/N Dun Dun Duuunnnnnn! And the truth comes out, sort of. Still needing a Beta! OH and you guys are almost all the way caught up to what I have written.

IMPORTANT - Nations can get scars that are either A. inflicted on them or B. from the mass effect of say a war on the country over all, hopefully that makes things a little less confusing.

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