Italy was lying in bed, frowning at the events of what happened yesterday.

Oh, yeah, you can totally stalk me while I sleep!

That's pretty much what he said. He could be really stupid sometimes, but never this dumb. He rolled over and stared out the window. He hadn't even gone over to his brother and slept alone because Nightmare might've pulled something.

Italy groaned and closed his eyes, telling himself that he needed sleep. He was at war with other countries. He needed rest.

"Good night!" Italy's head shot up and he glanced around. He wasn't in his bedroom anymore. He was in this weird purplish space, standing on a giant circular platform. He looked down and saw that, for some reason, he was in his military uniform.

"Okay, Nightmare," Italy called. "Come out."

Nightmare appeared in front of him in a whirl of unnecessary but cool-looking black wisps of smoke.

"I said 'good night,'" he sighed. "Answer me wen I speak to you. Actually, approximately five and a half seconds ago, it became morning. So good morning."

"Yeah," Itay replied flatly. "Where'd you take me, Nightmare?"

Nightmare shrugged. "Everyone has a different dream world. This is just your space. It doesn't have much of a particular meaning, though. Just some place for me to explore. Yours is pretty empty though."

Italy crossed his arms and avoided meeting Nightmare's eyes. "I don't like to dwell on things too much. I just don't care about a lot of things."

The sky faded to red.

"Don't get angry," Nightmare muttered. "Just an observation."

Just then, the last person Italy wanted to see came out of nowhere and glared at Nightmare and the nation.

"Well," Astrid scolded. "I thought I told you not to go back to Espa, and you not to mess with Ita-chan. You'd better not be giving him nightmares again."

"I'm not!" Nightmare protested. "I just wanted to talk to him."

"Uh-huh," Astrid grunted, not really believing him. "If you wanted to talk then why not do it in the Lake?"

"I wanted to see what his Dream World looked like." Nightmare rocked back and forth on his boots in midair innocently.

"You saw it," Astrid snapped. "Quite a few times."

Italy glanced back at Nightmare nervously as the sky turned orange.

"Oh, Astrid." Nightmare changed the subject. "I've been meaning to tell you, about that friend of yours…"

"You've found him?!" she gasped in delight. She jumped up and down excitedly. "Where is he?!"

"I didn't find him," Nightmare spat. "He told me to give you this."

A big sign appeared in his hands and he handed it to Astrid. On it was English writing in black permanent marker.

"Oh, okay," she sighed. "It says, 'To my stupid and non-pretty partner-" Astrid stopped reading for a second and took a breath. "'I'm stuck on an important job in Japan. I can't come see you and your new Master yet, so be good until I get there. And don't come to me, this is an important job and I don't need you messing things up." Astrid looked as if she wanted to tear the sign in half but kept her composure. "I'll meet you soon."

Scrawled sloppily at the bottom was a single Japanese character. Below was messy Japanese writing.

"Idiota!" Astrid growled in Italian. "He knows I can't read Japanese!"

"I'm getting the feeling that he doesn't know how to put it in English," Nightmare suggested. "He is native Japanese anyway."

"True," Astrid sighed. She turned to Italy. "Tomorrow morning at the Axis Meeting, can I go to Japan and ask if he can translate this for me? He knows a little English, right? 'Cause English is cool and stuff at his place?"

Italy nodded. "Yeah, you can ask."

"Okay, then." Nightmare sighed. "I'll let you get some real sleep. I suppose I'll visit some other time."

Italy wanted to respond, but everything went black before he could.

Axis Meeting

"Japan! Japan!" Astrid shouted. She ran into the meeting with the sign in her hand. The three Axis Powers stared at her as she shoved it into Japan's hans. "Translate that at the bottom!"

"Uh…" He looked to his allies for help, but they shrugged. He looked back down at the sign. "It says that he's doing a dangerous job with one of him, so he wanted you to wait to hear this so you would be rash and go try to help him. But he says he's safe and by the time you read this, the job will be done."

"Who's he fighting?!" Astrid interrupted. "Is it a Crosser like me or a Shape-Shifter or a Shiro Inu like him?!"

"It just says he's fighting one of him," Japan said.

"A Shiro Inu," Astrid groaned. "They're the worst!" She blinked a few times. "I know. I'm friends with one."

"What is a Shiro Inu, exactly?" Germany asked, not understanding the conversation.

"It translates to 'White Dog,'" Japan explained.

"Yeah, you can tell mine apart from others because he Shape-Shifts," Astrid added. "His eyes are golden no matter what form he's in. Not many Shiro Inus can change form. It's rare."

"Um, Astrid," Italy interrupted, taking the sign from Japan and reading it over. "Didn't this say he wanted to meet your new Master?"

"Yup, Hachi wants to meet you," Astrid answered. "And-"

"'Master?'" Italy repeated. "I know you came here to 'serve,' but really?"

"Don't worry, you don't have to have that title if you want," Astrid shrugged. "You're just responsible for me like I am for you. That's all."

"But I didn't agree-"

"You didn't have to agree," Astrid cut him off, crossing her arms. "Just go with it. I came here for a reason and I picked you for a reason. I'll explain it all later. Right now, we have to find Hachi."

"Hachi?" Germany repeated after listening patiently.

"Yes, my partner," Astrid replied. "We're bound to each other. And I'm protecting him at any cost. Just...when you find him, don't look into his eyes."

"Why?" Italy asked.

"You wanna be hypnotized?"

"No, but-"

"Then don't."

Meanwhile

"Spain!" Romano snapped.

Spain shook his head for the billionth time and refused to open his eyes or speak. Romano was really getting sick and tired of this. He continued to tend Spain's bleeding arm, which Spain wouldn't explain.

"Say something, would you…?" Romano didn't want to admit it, but he was getting worried at this point. Spain usually wouldn't shut up. Now he wouldn't say a word. He looked down and focused on the floor, lost in thought.

Spain tapped on his shoulder and pointed to white sign he's gotten from God-knows-where. It read, "You're Romano, right?"

Romano did a face-palm. "What, you forgot the sound of my voice?"

Spain threw that sign away, revealing another one behind it. "Don't be rude about it, jeez." He threw that one away, another one behind it too. "...My eyes itch."

"Then open them!" Romano barked. "What is with you?!"

Another sign. "...If I open my eyes, you have to promise you'll look away."

Romano rolled his eyes, not really listenin - err...reading. "Si, whatever. Just open your eyes."

Spain sagged his shoulders and threw that sign away, no more in his hands. You'd better clean this up, Romano thought bitterly, eyeing the pile of signs on the floor. Spain hesitantly opened his eyes and looked up. Romano hadn't kept his promise to look away.

Spain shivered and waved his hand in front of Romano's face. No response. He slapped himself gently across the face and poked Romano on the arm. The Italian cocked his head and Spain gave a sigh of relief. But it quickly turned into a gasp of shock when Romano giggled and gave a little shout of, "Pasta~!"

Should I be scared or laugh my head off? "Spain" thought. Hurry up, Astrid, I need you. I don't know how to fix this!

*WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?

Romano: *laughs* Pasta~!

Oh, crud… Hachi, what did you do?! I mean, he's adorable and cute and… *hugs Romano carefully*

Romano: *tilts head and hugs back*

o.O HECK. YES. Anyway, Chris Herren (if I spelled that right) came to our school to talk about his drug addiction. (He was in the NBA.) When he got to the end, he talked about a girl in the audience who cut herself and was moved by his speech in another school. When I heard about cutting, I put my head down because I do it for no reason other than to get attention. So I just want to say if you do that or anything even close, get help! I waited too long and the longer you go without help, the harder it is to stop. Don't say it can't happen to you and don't say you don't need help. Seriously, it's not fun. Well, that's all I've got to say.

k bye.*