Chapter twelve:
A/N: Wow, I just realized how different my typed version of this story is from my written version of this story is. I think that's probably why I'm having trouble with it. Anyways, I am going to continue this story because I am deeply attached to this story and Italia. Plus, I'm excited to post up her other adventures as a teen ^^ Anyways, hope you all enjoy!
Discliamer:No, I still don't own anything.
Nobody said or did anything for a few minutes. In fact, for a moment it seemed like nobody was even breathing. Britain had his eyes trained on the child, looking her up, and down as if he were inspecting something dangerous. America and china on the other hand, stared at her with expressions of curiously, and surprise. Italia hardly breathed as she felt an unfamiliar fear go through her. She didn't think any of this was good, especially after the talk she heard. Italia didn't do anything, and instead, buried her head into Germany's chest, looking for some sort of comfort. As if by instinct, or maybe he took the gesture as a cue, Germany began to gently rub the child's back. Italia Glanced a bit scared at Britain as he still stared at her as if she were trying to figure her out. Prussia entered the room again with a scowl, and sat on the other side of his little brother. Italy was nervous, but he kept his mouth shut as he leaned foreword to look at Italia's half-hidden face. She looked at him, and smiled slightly as if she were telling him she was ok. She reached one of her hands, and Italy took it, and gently squeezed it. The child smiled just a bit wider, and some of her fear went away. She was ok, at least that was what she was thinking.
"Dude, where did you find her? How long have you had her?" America stepped closer to the child, trying to get a better look at her. Germany moved slightly to hide her more.
"It's a long story of where I found her, but to put it simply. She was left alone, and I wasn't going to let her be alone. She coulda died, and I sure as hell wasn't going to have that on my conscious." America nodded slightly, and then looked at Brittan, who was still busy looking at the child the best he could from his current angel.
"Ai ya, you didn't answer the other question. How long have you had her?"
"Long enough that she's family." Prussia answered, crossing his arms, as he looked at Italia. he knew she was frightened, which is why he wanted nothing more than for these guys to leave. Like they should have done in the first place...
Nobody said anything for abit after that answer, and instead, Ludwig, Venezaino, and Gilbert let the other three nations get use to Italia, who had eventually warmed up to the strangers, and was smiling a little at them, and talking a bit to them. She didn't go into her usual chatter, like she would with any of her familiar family, but she tried to be cordial.
"Well, she's a cute one. You sure she was alone. No family?" Britain asked with a bit of worry. Italia looked up at Germany, who was now gently rubbing her hands to keep her calm.
"Ja, she was alone. She had no family when I found her." Britain nodded slightly, and looked back at the child.
"Well, you never have to worry about anything. You'll be very well protected." Which is why Britain hadn't given them the third degree about the child. What happened to keeping one's amnesty as a country a secret from humans? But he didn't say anything out loud.
"Ja, I no." She answered softly, leaning back into Germany a bit. The general adjusted his arms so that he held her more securely. Brittan again looked at the child, studying her. Her hair was a very familiar color, and her eyes... Did they change colors?
"So...How is she? She speaks very well." China noted with a smile. Italia giggled. Germany looked at her, and then up at the other three nations.
"We're not sure. She develops really fast. Faster than any of us expected her to develop." China nodded slightly, and then looked at Britain.
"Well, she's around you all the time Germany. I'm not surprised she's developing fast at all." Britain said as he leaned back on the couch, looking from Germany to Italia, who currently had her eyes closed as if she were sleeping. Her chest rose, and fell in simple, even rhythm.
"Well, she's not just with me, she's also with these two as well." Ludwig said matter-of-factly as he switched her weight to his other arm. Italia opened her eyes at the movement, and looked sleepy-eyed at her surroundings as if confused as to where she was. After another second, she closed her eyes, snuggled into her caretakers chest more, and fell back asleep. Britain smiled slightly, and then shook his head.
"Well, we'll be on our way now. Try not to miss anymore meetings." With that said, the three nations filed back out.
Once the three were out, Germany let out a breath of relief, and then stood, gently cradling the child in his arms.
"Now that they're gone, I'll go and lay Italia down." With that having been said, said nation walked out of the room, and into said child's room. Where he laid her gently in the crib, and raised the sides. He then sat on the rocking chair by the crib, and took his own little nap.
Italia was dreaming something she hadn't dreamt before. It felt like she was awake, only she wasn't awake. She knew she was asleep. She remembered that her Germany, Italy, and Prussia were talking to some people, but then she got tired suddenly, and she fell asleep. So, She had to be asleep. Only this was a strange dream. It was dark. She couldn't see anything. Not only that, but her feet felt cold as well. Was she standing in water? The water around her was very warm. Like the beaches at Italy's place. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the sensations around her, but she had an odd sense of dizziness. She opened her eyes, and the next thing she saw was a bright light, and she was staring into the face of a stranger, and yet someone very familiar.
"Well, hey you! I've been waiting some time to see you." The woman had an accent that the child didn't recognize, but it was very comforting. The woman looked tired, and sweaty. What had she been doing? Another person dressed as a nurse came in, and smiled at the woman.
"What's her name?" She questioned. The woman looked back at the Italia with a smile. Italia couldn't help, but feel comforted by the familiar face, and green eyes.
"I think I'll name her something her father would name her. Something from his country...What's a popular name in his country?" The woman thought aloud, and then she smiled as something came to her ."I know! Her name will be Vera Annebell."
"What a pretty name Miss." The nurse said as she lead the baby away from the mother.
Suddenly the scene changed, and she saw the woman again. Her blonde hair was held back by a pink ribbon similar to the one Italy puts in her hair to hold the curls back. She wore a simple white gown. She held a little baby in her arms. The baby squirmed, or at least that's what it looked like to Italia. It was hard to tell when the child was wrapped in a white blanket.
"I'll be back." The woman promised as she laid the child down in a clear looking crib. Italia felt a sudden fear as she heard an alarm, a pitched whine go off throughout the hospital. Italia looked around, trying to find the child, but she couldn't find it. She felt scared, and looked around with wide eyes as her breath sped up. Another flash of light, and the next thing she heard was crying. She looked around the smoke filled building to find herself in the worst possible situation. She was alone in the room. Italia walked around the building to find hardly any sign of life. In the dream, she tripped over something hard.
"Owie."She whined, rubbing her ankle as she looked at what she had tripped over, and stared into the face, or what was a face, of some person she didn't recognize.
"Ahhh!" She screamed loudly in fear as she was awoken rudely from her dream. She was sweating heavily, and looked around. The room was dark, and she began whimpering as she held the covers to her body as is the blanket would shield her from all the scary stuff.
"What's wrong? Bad dream?" Italia felt some relief when Ludwig entered the room, turning on the light, and walked over to her.
"I dot wanna be weft awone." She whined, still fearing what she had seen in her dream. Germany sighed, and picked her up. She laid her head against his chest, playing with the badge around his neck, slightly comforted.
"It's ok. It was just a dream. You're ok now." Germany attempted to calm the child by gently talking to her, and rubbing her back.
"I no." She said with a smile as she clenched onto Germany's uniform. Ludwig sighed, and sat on the rocking chair. Italia played with his jacket to keep herself busy so she wouldn't fall back asleep. She didn't want to have that same scary dream again...
However, in the end, she did end up falling back asleep, but it was a peaceful sleep. What made it better is that when she awoke, She was still in Germany's arms.
"Gerwany."She said happily, snuggling into him. He smiled down at her.
"You didn't have any nightmares?"
"No." She said simply, rubbing her face gently into his chest. The serious nation smiled gently, and held a bit closer to him.
"Well, that is good. Now, let's get you ready. Italy wants to take you back to his place for a surprise." Italia looked up to his face in time to see him roll his eyes slightly.
"What is it?" She questioned, tilting her head slightly. Germany shrugged.
"You'll see when you get there. Now, c'mon. Let's get you ready before he takes you ja?"Italia nodded as Ludwig sat her back in the crib.
Italia stared at the child before her. She tilted her head slightly, and then gently poked at the child's chubby face. The child shook it's head, and scowled at her. Italia giggled, and did the same thing.
"Italia, play nice." Italy chastised softly, picking the baby up.
"Who she?" She questioned titling her head. Italy smiled at her.
"It's a boy." Italia blinked, and shook her head as she looked at the baby in Italy's arms.
"It wooks wike a griw."She said with another shake of her head." Who he?" She questioned again with a smile.
"His name is Nicolai Vargas."Venezaino said with a smile." He's Fratello ad Big Brother Spain's son." Italia looked at the baby boy in the feeble nation's arms, and smiled. He had dark brown hair, like Romano, and even had a curl like he has on the side of his head. In fact, he looked alot like Romano, just with Spain's green eyes.
"I wanna pway wif him." She said, holding her arms out. Italy shook his head slightly.
"Not right now. Right now, he's going to take a nap." Italia frowned, and then sighed.
"Otay."She said with a pout as she leaned back on the couch with a pouty face. Italy smiled slightly, and ruffled her heair as he walked by.
"You can play with him all you want after he takes his nap." Italia nodded slightly., and sighed as Italy walked away, cooing softly to the baby. It came to her then, when she was alone, that she never asked where Romano and Spain had gone off to. They were always here when she came over. So where they this time?
About an hour or so later, Italy finally re-appeared. Italia smiled at him, but couldn't help but notice he wasn't his usual cheery-self.
"Itawy what wrong?" She asked softly, as he picked her up. He smiled at her, and shook his head slightly.
"I'm just a bit tired. How bout we take a siesta?" Italia giggled, and nodded slightly. Though as soon as she was laying down next to him, she found it hard to sleep. She couldn't help but feel like something was off. She sat up, and looked over at Venezaino. She smiled softly, hearing his soft snoring, and then closed her eyes as she snuggled into his warm body.
Once again, Italia was dreaming, but it was a different dream this time. It was more of a happy feeling to it, and once again she saw the woman. She was smiling, like she was the last two times Italia saw her in her other dream, and she was hold the same baby again. The baby squealed in happiness when the woman tickled her child's stomach. The woman had a waviness to her blonde hair, Italia noted now that she was able to get a better look at her, and she wore a white dress with a blue, mini jacket over the top. Italia couldn't help but feel a bit safe. She felt like everything was ok. So, she sat in the green grass around her, and enjoyed the warm sunlight that was warming up her oddly cold body.
"Mama!" The baby cooed, reaching it's pudgy arms out towards the woman. She giggled slightly, and picked up the child, nuzzling the bundle slightly.
"Oh, you're growing up so fast! I bet you're gonna be one chatty nation when you grow up." The woman cooed to her child, and then the woman sighed, and looked around." I think we ought to head back to the house, what do you think Vera?" The baby cooed something that sounded like a "ya," and the two left.
The scene again changed, and when Italia was able to see again she felt like she was watching something old. There was some white light around the edges of the scene, but everything else she could see sorda clearly. The whole thing was different. She was inside a home, a beautifully decorated home at that. The same woman was there again, but she looked different. Maybe it was because Italia didn't see the baby anywhere in sight. The woman looked a bit sad as she sat on a chair looking at someone Italia couldn't completely see. The child squinted her eyes to get a better look at the mysterious man, but could hardly make anything out of him. He had a long coat on, that covered most of his body. Was it some sort of trench or rain coat? He had a hat on, and he was kneeling in front of the woman. He took her hand, and gently kissed it. Italia then saw some blonde hair fall from the hat.
"I'll be back as soon as I can. Hopefully it won't be too long." The voice was familiar to the child, but she had a hard time placing it. She felt that she should have recognized it.
"Ok, I'll be here waiting." The woman seemed to be making a promise as she gently placed her hands on either side of the mans face, and kissed him. After a moment, the two pulled back. The man gently caressed her cheeck, and then stood up.
"Take care. I'll be back soon." With that said, the man walked out of the house, and into, what Italia could now recognized as rain, and then...
Italia awoke with an odd sense of happiness. She looked around the room she was in, and took a deep breath. She looked over to her side to see Venezaino was still asleep. She yawned, and stretched. She then stood up, and walked back out of the room. Like hell she was going to stay in the room when she felt. So much energy!
So, she walked out of the room, and into another. She walked, without thinking about it, into Italy's study. She looked around, and then looked through the papers he had strewn around. Finally, with bordrum, she walked back out of the room, and into another room she hadn't been in before that moment. She coughed slightly at the dust that arose when she shoved open the door. She waved her hand about to rid the dust from her face, and then looked around with a smile. It was a strange room. was it his storage room or something? She sat in the middle of the room, and looked at the stuff around her. She didn't want to disturb anything, but she felt herself wanting to look around. In other words, she wanted to snoop.
"Ooooo!"She smiled when she noticed some canvases hanging out. She walked over to them, almost tripping over a box or two on the way, and then quickly got them out, careful not to disturb anything else. Though, she cringed slightly when they clanked on the floor. She took a look around again, making sure nobody heard anything, and then carefully munvered into the light, to look at the pictures better."Itawy?" She questioned, looking at the little child in the picture. In fact, now that she thought about it, she had never seen a picture or anything of Venezaino as a child. Though, now that she did see, she could understand why. He looked like a girl! And it didn't exactly help that he was wearing a dress either.
"Italia? Italia where are you?"The child froze in place when she heard Italy's voice call out to her. She listened just a bit to gauge where he was."Italia?"She let out a breath of relif when she heard his voice go to another room, further from her. She quickly sat the picture back, not even bothering to look at the other picture, and quickly ran out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. She ran far enough away from the room that she hoped Italy would't suspect anything before she slowed down.
"Itawy?"She called out sleepily as if she had just woken up."Itawy were you?"She looked around, and smiled when Venezaino appeared with a smile.
"Where have you been?"He asked, picking her up. Italia shrugged slightly.
"I woke up, and was hunwery, and I fell asweep ober there."She pointed to a corner of the hallway. Italy shook his head, and then looked at the clock.
"Well, Fratello should be home anytime now. Let's go see how little Nicolai is doing, ya."Italia frowned, but didn't say anything as she leaned against him.
Italia sat in the middle of the livingroom floor, playing with Nicolai, while she waited for Italy to get done cooking dinner. Romano sat on the couch, his eyes fixed on the two children. It was as if he expected Italia to do something bad to his son. Spain, on the other hand, was very relaxed. Hell, he was was too relaxed. He sat beside Romano, half-asleep. Italia looked back at the couple, from Spain to Romano and back again several times, before she smiled widely at Romano, and tunred her attention back to the baby before her.
"Dinner's ready~!"Italy announced as he came into the room, and picked up Italia.
"Bout time."Romano mumbled, picking up his own child, and shaking Antiono awake before heading into the dining room.
Dinner that day was queit. Nobody really spoke much, execpt for Spain asking the regualr questions about everyone's day, and even talking to Italia a little bit about regualr things. Italia answered them the best she could, but she hardly touched her food. The akward atmosphere of the room was getting to her. And getting to her bad. Soon enough, she grabbed her stomach gently, groaned, and leaned back on the chair, her head hung.
"Vee~? You ok Italia? You've hardly touched your food, which is weird for you."Italy asked tilting her head.
"Are you sick Little One?"Spain asked softly, moving the child's bangs from her forehead, and gently laying a hand against it.
"You better not be dammit." The other Italy twin said with a bit of venom, though, he did lean slightly foreward, his eyes held a mixture of worry and anger. He wouldn't admit it, but he was worried about her. She was a bottomless pit, and ate and ate, and she never got full. It was strange for her not to eat anything. Espically when it came it his brother's cooking. Italia groaned again, and moved Spain's hand away.
"I o-otay." She mumbled, and picke dup her fork to take a bit. Everyone looked at her a moment longer before settling back into the akward silence. Well, almost everyone went back to eating. Romano still looked at her with a bit of worry in his eyes. Italia was hardly eating. She was just playing with her food.
"Why don't you jsut go to bed? You're sick."ROmano said grumpily, crossing his arms. Italia looked up, and glared at him.
"Why dot you shuf up?"She said with a bit of attitude, going back to mushing her food. Romano glared at the child. Meanwhile, the other nations looked between the other two before Italy finally got up, and walked over to Italia.
"C'mon. Let's go lay you down. You don't look so well."Italy scooted the chiar back, and gently laid a hand on her back. Italia looked up at the rather weak nation, and nodded slightly.
"Otay."She held up her arms as Italy picked her up, and thenshe round her fingers around his kneck, intertwining her fingers, and leaned her head against his chest.
Once in her room, Italy gently laid her down in her crib, and sat beside her, stroking her hair softly, and humming trying to calm her down. Italia played with his sleeves without saying anything for once. Italy occasionally smiled down at her. Italia would catch his eye, and smile at him.
"Itawy, you quit today. what wfrog?" She asked softly, playing with his hand a little more. Italy looked at her, silent a moment, nad then shook his head gently with a smile.
"It's nothing...Hey wnat me to tell you a story?" Italia nodded with a huge smile. She loved it when Italy would tell her a bedtime story.
So, Italy sat by her, now rubbing her aching stomach, while he told her an Italian version of Cinderella, which was very diffrent from the ones she had heard before, but she enjoyed it none the less. However, as tired as she felt by then, she still found it hard to sleep. She felt so full of engery, and yet so tired at the same time. Italy stayed with her, sining to her, and telling her stories(sometimes the same story multipul times) until he finally ran out of tradional things, and finally mad eup his own stroies and songs to soothe her to sleep. It took a few hours, but she finally fell asleep. Italy half smiled, kissed her forehead, and left the room, making sure to leave the door open just a crack so that some light leaked into the room.
Italia slept soubdly throughout the night. No dreams of any kind visted her, and she awoke to the early morning light a bit confused, and scared when she found her herself alone, but then remebered she was at Italy's place. Italy never stayed with her through the night the way her Germany would back home. She felt a bit of sadness at that thought, but quickly shoved it away as she got out of her crib herself, and went into the livingroom where, to her slight surprise, she saw Romano feeding Nicolai a bottle of milk. Italia raised an eyebrow, and then walked over to him.
"What you doin?"SHe asked with a smile, sitting at the edge of the couch. Romano looked at her, and rolled his eyes.
"I'm feeding my son. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" Italia shruged, and tired to get on the couch. She grunted a few times, unsucessful at getting on the couch. Romano sighed, rolled his eyes, and helped her up. Italia smiled at him.
"Danke(1)!" The elder twin rolled his eyes.
"Don't mention it." The two sat in silence a bit as Romano finsihed feeding his son, and burping it. Italia looked at Romano with curiousty, tilting her head slightly. Romano looked at her, eyebrow raised."Why the hell are you looking at me like that for?"Italia shrugged, and then looked back at Nicolai.
"Rowano, are you a girw?"She asked with a bit of a smile. Romano blushed deeply, and scolwed at her.
"Why the holy hell would you ask me that dummy? Do I look like a girl?"Italia giggled, and shook her head."Then why ask me such a dumb question?"
"Cuz you habe a baby. Onwy girws habe baby."She said simply, looking at Romano again with a playfuly tint in her eyes."So, where baby come frow bhen?"Romano sighed, and shook his head.
"It's diffrent for...Well, people like me and Venezinoa nad the Potaote Bastard."South Italy replied with a shrug.
"How?"She asked. tilting her head again. Romano sighed, and shook his head.
"It's difficult to explain."He said simply.
"Why?"She asked. Romano felt some irration, but tired not to let it show. At least, not while his son slept."Why?"She asked again, poking him in the shoulder. Romano again felt some irration.
"Because, it's too diffiuclt to explain right now."He answered simply. Italia shook her head, but didn't go any further with her whying. She knew her boundries with this Italian. Lovino looked at her with an eyebrow raised."You know, any normal kid your age would be asleep right now. Why are you always up so early?"Italia shrugged.
"Me no wike to sweep wate."She answered simply, but yawned. Romano rolled his eyes slightly.
"Well, wait here I guess. My idoit brother will probally wake up later, and take you home."Italia looked at Romano, and noticed he too almost had the smae look that Italy had the night before. A mixture of sadness, and yet, somehow, anger at the same time...
"What happening?"She asked softly, leaning against the other side of the sofa. Romano looked at her with an eyebrow raised."You and Itawy and spawin actwing werid."She said simply, twidling her thumbs. Romano sighed, and shook his head.
"It's nothing for you to worry about."He answered simply. Italia sighed, and looked out the window.
"Otay."She answered simply.
Some time later, Italy appeared, and got her ready for the day. Turns out, she wasn't going back to Germany yet. No, as her last day here, she was going to the beach with Venezaino, Antino, Lovino, and, of course, Nicolai. Italia enjoyed the beach quit a bit. She built sandcastles with Italy, and even got a chance to take Nicolai out into the shallow water while Italy tried to teach her to swim. Luckily that didn't last long considering she almost drowned about three times. So, Italy kept an eyes on her while she floated on her back in the shallow waters. Then, she got of waters when they had a picinic on the beach, and made a sandcastle again while she waited the standard hour before heading back into the waters for another floating self-lesson. Then, she went home with all the others. The dinner was a bit more lively this time, but not by much, and this time it didn't take her much time to get back to sleep at all.
The next day, she awoke with a feeling of sadness as Italy got her dressed for her trip back to Germany. She learned that Venezaino would not be returning with her.
"When will you cowe back?"She asked softly as Italy buttoned up her long, blue coat. Italy shook his head, and sighed.
"No se(2), hopefully soon."He smiled softly, and kissed her forehead softly."Hopefully soon."Italia nodded slightly, and wlaked out of the room with Italy as they waited for Germany to come, and pick the child up.
He came all too soon, and Italia said her good-byes to everyone at the home.
"I'll see you again soon."Italy, her last good-bye, promised as he hugged her gently, and then sent her outside. Italia waved, and handed her stuff to Germany.
"Did you have fun?"Germany questioned once they were on the road. Italia smiled widely, and nodded.
"Yupp! I can't wait to see Itawy again!"She yelled out happily, clapping her hands together. Germany chuckled softly, and shook his head at Italia's childness. Though, there was some sadness in Italia's heart. She couldn't help but feel that something was off from the way the two normally happy, talktive nations were acting the night before, and on top of that...Romano was actually nice to her for once. He was never nice to her. If only Italia could figure out what was going on, then it would make things so much easier for the child...
translations:
(1)-Danke-it's german for thank you
(2)-no se- this is spainsh for I don't know
A/N:So, I finally looked back at how I orignally had this story, and realized that I could work in what I had planned a couple chapters back into the story plot now. I hadn't really seen it done much, and it did happen, so I thought it would be an intresting twist to this story. Hopefully, you guys caught on that something is going to happen, and it will change the story, which it will. So what is this big change? Well, I'm not gonna say, but I thought that I should work it into the story. So, you guessed it~! The next chapter will have the plot twist, and how it affects Italia's family life. So, enjoy what I have so far~! And tune in for the next chapter~! So, until next time, remember stay away from Frenchies, and make pasta not war! Hatsa La Pasta~!
