Ludwig was almost to the point of tearing out his hair. Months had gone by, months, without a word from his friend, and then the man pops up out of nowhere again, hardened and dirty and bleeding, only to practically run off back to Italy. He was nearly as unreachable as when he had skipped off. It was going to drive him up the wall, not knowing what was going on with his friend.

He initially took the first few days of silence as Feliciano healing, especially after practically throwing a fit to get the hospital to release him ahead of schedule. After that, he had asked Ludwig to buy him a plane ticket, borrowing his cell phone to call whoever housed him when he wasn't training with the German. But once he waved him off, watching the bulkier man drop his not-as-bright smile to something cold, he hadn't heard a word. The phone calls to Feliciano's house and office didn't go farther than a secretary, a polite and aging man telling him that Feli was busy and didn't want distractions.

His confusion only deepened over the first week. He had gone back to call on his brother, to share the news of Feliciano's return- as the man had yet to pick up a phone- to find him refusing to answer. Either pretending to not be at home, or was actually not at home, no matter which, it made him grow suspicious. The two people he was tasked with watching were behaving oddly. If he didn't find an answer soon, other countries would wonder if he was doing something himself.

Whatever he did, he would have to do for both himself and his friend. Feliciano's absence must have been a grueling experience with the look the man could give. He had to help him return to normal, or at least heal from whatever trauma he had faced.

Because when he last saw him, that look was as dead and empty as Gilbert's when he was dissolved.

"Great work, Feli. You've flown through all the prerequisites before I even got here."

Feli nodded, and shuffled through a stack of papers to find a report. Flipping through it, he pulled out a sheet to hand to his friend. "The army is being bolstered with new recruits, however the campaigning isn't as effective as it would be in other places. My people don't seem to have much want for what we plan to do." Putting the stack down, he shifted to go through another. "But if people don't care about their country's strength, we could always implement a draft."

"Do you plan on faking a war?"

"Do I need to?" he replied easily. "All I have to do is say we're in a crisis and replace anyone who doesn't go along with it."

Gilbert's eyes narrowed, judging the man in front of him. At this point it was difficult for him to tell what had been so clear to him before: would he trick the Italian into attacking the rest of the world, or would he tell him his plan for revenge? He didn't have the luxury of messing up at such a crucial point, everything was moving smoothly and quickly, the man in front of him willing to work in whatever way he told him to.

At least, willing to work to become stronger. It was hard for Gilbert to remember that this had all started with that false promise to make Ludwig like him more. He was sure that West was plotting some way to talk to his friend. Gilbert had no intention in letting that happen.

"How about you actually make a crisis?"

Feli stopped reading over the paper he typed up for mistakes, looking instead at Gilbert. "Do you mean I should declare war with someone?"

"Yeah. If you defeat someone, their resources are yours. Their people, their land, everything they hold in reserve…"

"I'd be stronger if I took over another nation."

"Exactly."

It was at Gilbert's insistence that Feli watched the initial attack. He stood in the bridge of his navy's flagship, listening as the Admiral did the captaining of the vessel. Monitors played the feed of the first wave over their heads, minus the audio. Gilbert didn't think the crew would be able to handle it as well as Feliciano could.

Feli couldn't help but think all the extra studying he did on previous beach assaults was a waste of time. This was a time of relative peace, at least with this country, so why would there be a standing army on the shore? He wasn't even sure there was an army waiting further inland. Maybe he took too large of a force to this assault. Maybe he could use the extras to push further into the neighboring country. He'd take the tip of the peninsula then.

The conquest was finished by midnight; his troops ordered to press on until every major city was under their control and military outposts were wiped from the earth. He'd give his own army until the dawn to rest before he continued the invasion.

His brother was the first of the people to call on him. The man oozed his rage from every pore, screaming every profanity he could think of at Feliciano with hardly a pause for breath. He ranted seemingly without end, until he abrupt pulled himself to a stop and grabbed Feli by the lapel.

"Why haven't you said a word? Can't you say anything? How many people have you killed?"

Feliciano grabbed the southern Italian's hand, twisting it off of his jacket with a bit of difficulty.

"I lost count a long time ago, brother." He looked up and smiled. "But look how much better we are for it."

"You can't use our army-"

"My army. It's all been mine. Always has. I just haven't been taking very good care of it until late."

"You fucking bastard-"

Feliciano returned the grab, using his fingers to dig into the throat of his brother until the man choked and spat in his attempts for air.

"I'm not going to let you stop me from getting better. I'll be stronger than them. You can watch it happen on your ass for all I care. You don't matter here."

He released Romano, letting the man collapse to the floor in a heap of gasping and spluttering. He called to a man outside the door- his appointed secretary, courtesy of Gilbert- to take his brother under watch. Gilbert had persuaded Feli with an idea to postpone suspicions that would be placed on him, but if his brother left to tell Antonio or Ludwig, that idea would never come off the ground.

Gilbert was beyond pleased with how Feliciano was playing the game he set up. Ludwig came, uninvited and unannounced, not long after he caught wind of Romano going missing. He resisted bursting into laughter with the glee that spread through him at the sight of West's speechlessness.

Tearing through the base of operations, as a man on a mission was wont to do, coming upon Feli sitting at his desk with his simple smile and wondering look put him to a stop. Gilbert and Feli had spent hours attaining an imitation of what had once been Feliciano's behavior and mannerisms, making it as close to the easy, natural personality as was possible.

Ludwig and Feli spoke, and Feli played dumb on everything that was happening outside his office.

"Romano's missing? I didn't think wandering was in his nature."

"He disappeared after going to speak to you."

"Oh, but I haven't seen him… since well before I went left."

"What happened then?"

Feli smiled, forcing the lazy pleasantness to sit the right way on his face. "Ve… I don't really know. It's a big blur. From going to the market to the pain of a knife… Was I really gone for months?"

Ludwig exhaled a carefully held breath, and Feliciano hid how keenly he watched the other's movements.

"I was so worried about you. You aren't very well known for your care or strength, I feared something terrible had happened."

Feli forced the smile to stay on his face, keeping himself from gritting and tensing. Still a burden. Always a burden. I won't be a nuisance anymore. "I'm fine though, ve? And I'm sure Romano'll be just as well when he pops again."

"You were bleeding profusely when I found you."

"But I'm all better!"

"You've been waging a war."

"Ve?" Feli stopped a brief moment, dropping his charade for a second before donning a look of confusion. "I don't know what you mean. The politicians haven't called for any formal meeting for a thing like that. The military isn't even sturdy enough to defend against itself. All those months missing, apparently they didn't know what to do… They never seemed to know what to do, if you think about it."

"The majority of the Mediterranean Peninsula countries are under Italian occupation."

"I… I had no idea this was happening!" Feli changed his look to shock and horror. "I'll see what I can do. If I can get them to stop. I don't know why such a thing would happen."

"Neither do I."

Feli stood, nodding. "I'll get to the bottom of it, just leave it to me. You should go tell the others that I'll handle it."

"Are you sure you're capable of handling anything if it's a tyrannical politician leading this war?"

"Yes, Ludwig. I'm quite sure."

Ludwig didn't miss the tightening of Feliciano's jaw as he said it. He didn't remember his words having such an impact before. He certainly couldn't remember Feli ever having such stiff expressions.

"Well. I suppose I should leave the affairs of your country to you."

"Ah, thank you, friend!"