He felt useless. More so than he ever did when he was living.

Italy sat on the steps of the grand building, his knees curled in tightly and arms around it in a self contained hug. No matter what he tried to say, do or touch, he kept just making everything worse. Was it even possible for someone as more useless than him to even exist? He quietly sniffed to himself, rubbing under his eye lightly as he tucked in his head between the top of his knees once again.

No wonder they killed him. They were great and brave and meant something, if they were ghosts they would have been able to find their bodies all ready.

Not him. Not useless Italy.

Even in death he still never was able to be useful.

He had kept in this self-loathing position for quite some time after Romano left, in all honestly he didn't really notice how fast time flied. As it seemed like minutes, hours flew by as the Italian ghost wept over his failure of trying to be able to comfort or even just be able to interact with anyone without making them a broken wreck.

He sniffed one more time, wiping off his cheeks before pushing himself to stand up. He may have failed Japan and Romano, but he could still try to make amends with Germany. He had been haunting him for weeks and never once screwed up. And hey, with being able to actually move a person, maybe he could figure out some way to be noticed.

With a deep breath in and out, he finally turned around to head up the stairs to head into the building. He needed to do this. He had to do this. He must do this. For Germany. For—

Before he was even able to step a foot through the door to get inside, the door suddenly busted open. A tall blonde man suddenly sprinted out of there, narrowly missing the ghost as he just leaped over the steps and continued on down the street.

"Germany!?"

Italy stared with wide eyes as the figure bounded past him. Quickly he looked back where the doors were slowly closing on, seeing Prussia desperately reaching out as if just having tried to call Germany back, with a dazed Japan in his arm.

Without another thought, Italy jumped into the air, suddenly staying above the air before moving himself forward to quickly tail Germany. It took a while but soon he was able to match the others speed, staring at him from the side as he tried to keep a good enough distance between them, not even glancing away as his form went through street lights and mail boxes.

"Germany, what's wrong?! Why are you crying? Germany! Germany!"

But of course, just as the multiple times before, he wasn't able to grab the others attention in the slightest. Stupid, stupid! He should have gone back in there immediately after Romano left instead of feeling sorry for himself! He had to stop him; he had to figure out what was wrong!

His ears perked in a sudden idea, looking forward to see more open street with a few alley ways nearby. Maybe if he could stop him, he could usher him into an alley and be able to try to communicate in private. He was able to grab and pull Japan before, so this must work! It has to!

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself to go faster than Germany's running, position himself right ahead about a block, right smack dab in the way of Germany's path. There was no way he could avoid this!

Concentrate! Concentrate!

Italy shut his eyes tight and focused on his body behind a physical being, to imagine Germanys body ramming into his and probably toppling the both of them over. He just had to keep focusing! With a deep breath, he opened his eyes, seeing Germany coming closer and closer at full speed. He could do this! He was in a physical form, this was going to work!

"Germany, wait!"

Just as he had called that out, whatever slightly confident smile he had on his face to stop Germany vanished, and even though not living, his skin paled a few shades lighter, eyes widening in almost horror.

Germany passed right through him. Right in the middle of him.

Hesitantly, he looked over his shoulder, biting his lip to see that Germany slowed to a stop. Just as Romano did. He turned around and carefully walked over to Germany, trying to be wary of any sudden movements so he didn't accidently pass through him a second time.

"G… Germany?"

Germany stared at the ground in silence, eyes wide as he looked as though he saw something important. Something disturbing. Shakily, he raised an arm and wiped off the damp trail of saliva on his face before clenching his fists tightly together. He looked up to the sky as if looking for some sort of answer, having a mental monologue with possibly what he believed to be Italy's spirit up above. Meanwhile his actual spirit just continued to watch him fearfully.

"… He was the one who killed you, not me. It was his idea. It was his plan. It was his hands that drowned you. His blade that cut you. His body that removed all of yours. Why am I to blame? Why is there no fingers pointed to him?"

He didn't mean… Japan, did he?

Germany continued looking to the sky for a while longer before slowly looking back down to his gloved hands, and the red marks underneath the lining. He grit his teeth together, a low growl barely audible from his throat before he finally marched forward again, Italy worriedly trailing nearby him.

"We will pay. We will pay. He killed you. I killed you. I will finish this once and for all."

"Germany? W-What are you talking about?! Germany! Please!"

He didn't know how long they waited in that alleyway. Italy wasn't exactly sure why they were waiting there anyway, it was near his home yes but why wait? Was he expecting someone? Germany had been looking over the corner of the alleyway down the street for a long while, mostly likely waiting for someone. Italy wringed the bottom of his shirt as he just stared up the backside of his captain.

"Germany.. I know you can't hear me but please… please.. just go home. Don't think about me; just go be happy with Prussia!"

And for the umpteenth time, he was ignored. Would he try to physically stop him again? Probably not, considering last time he tried, things just got worse. What could he possibly do other than just be in the background and observe? Then again, when he was alive that's all he did anyway.

He jumped however as he suddenly heard Germany growl lowly once again, leaning up from the wall and withdrawing slightly so he couldn't be seen. Italy tilted his head, looking to the street to see if there was something Germany was hiding from. His eyes widened however, seeing Japan calmly walking by the opening of the alleyway and down the street, not having noticed either of them.

"Japan!" Italy called out, but he wasn't sure why. He couldn't even try to warn him if he was screaming his lungs out.

Germany finally stepped forward after Japan got a bit of distance between them, moving out from his position for the first time in a long time. And once more, Italy trailed behind fearfully of what was possibly to come.

"Japan."

Italy bit his lip as he saw Japan turn around, wishing he could just tell him to run away, to tell him to escape using his ninja arts.

"Germany-san."

There was an empty silence between the three of them, Germany and Japan staring each other down while the ghostly Italian just looked back and forth between them. After a while, he nervously chuckled.

"Ahaha… look at us.. all back together again.. isn't this nice?"

He tried to smile more, but his smile turned into a frightened frown as suddenly Germany reeled back and threw a punch at Japan, hitting him square in the face and forcing him on the ground.

"Germany!?"

"This is your fault as much as it is mine.

"Germany, what are you saying?! This isn't like you!"

Italy stared between the two of them, reaching his arms in wanting to help Japan get away but once more pulled them back, wrapping himself in a self contained hug. He felt so restrained; he couldn't do a damn thing! His eyes began to get blurry as he heard Japan exclaims of pain, able to see him shake and try to protect himself.

What was happening to them…. They were never like this before….

"You get off scot free while I am tormented by the others, blamed for what happened to him while you-"

"Germany…. S-stop…."

"were the one who made the stupid plan and YOU-"

"You're hurting him… pleeasee….."

"were the one who helped drown him, but mainly who dissected him and harvested him! You did just as much as I did, hell, you did even more than I did!"

Italy had to force himself to look away, physically trembling at hearing Japans gasps for breath and hacking, probably coughing up blood at that rate. His ears perked lightly, hearing that the hitting had stop. He slowly looked back down to crumpled mess that was Japan down before them, trembling from the pain and almost looking like he wanted to crawl away to safety.

"J… Japan…."

Japan slowly looked up to Germany, blood dotting his chin as he just seemed so lost and confused. Italy withdrew a bit more at the sight, wishing to high heavens he wasn't here to see this. However, he paused, seeing Japan's eyes subtly glance over to him. His eyes widened even more as he saw Japan hold up a hand, reaching forward… in his direction. Did… Japan know he was there?

"D… D-Doitsu... s-sa—"

"SCHWEIGN!"

Italy glanced over to Germany, seeing him pull his leg back. He opened his mouth to scream for him to stop, but instead, a sound of sickening crack of a neck snapping was heard. He shakily looked down to the beaten Asian nation, seeing his neck was abnormally crooked and eyes staring over to him with any light that was in there before snuffed out.

He fell to his knees at this, unable to do nothing but shake like a tiny useless dog as Germany stepped over his body and continued forward.

"Why…. W-why…. W-we're all friends… aren't we? Why…."

The night breeze blew softly against the corpse in front of him, making him quiver all the more in horror and almost disgust. It was... his fault, wasn't it? He was the one who put the idea in Germany's head to kill Japan… it was all his fault…

Tentatively, Italy scooched forward and reached a trembling hand out to Japan's snapped neck, wanting to see for himself if he really was dead. He closed his eyes to concentrate for a bit before setting two fingers down on his neck, able to feel the lukewarm flesh under him. Well that was a start.

He waited… and waited… but he felt nothing.

He sighed very lightly, knowing that this meant he really was killed. Even though how it was positioned was obvious. He was about to pull back his hand from his neck when he suddenly froze.

A pulse. It was weak but it was there. But wait a second he was undoubtedly dead a moment ago. Usually when nations get a snapped neck, it takes a day to get a pulse back. And he just got it back in a matter of minutes?! Was... there something in Japan to heal him up faster? Was there even such a thing?

He bit his lip, pulling his hand away before standing up. Well Japan was alive, there's no doubt about that now. Earlier Germany said they both needed to pay… where did he go!?

As he did before, Italy jumped up into the air so he could take flight once more as there was no way he could catch the other on foot. He glanced down to Japan's body and frowned, feeling bad for having to leave him behind but there was just no other choice!

He flew off towards where he saw Germany walk last, scanning the ground to try to find that familiar head of golden slicked hair, but to no avail. After a while he paused in the air, thinking to himself of where he might've gone.

He looked to the building beside him, blinking as he recognized it as one of Germany's many work buildings. He hummed lightly to himself as he looked over the building, looking all up its high stor—

Was that a man up there!?

Italy floated a little higher up to try to get a better look, almost recoiling to see that indeed Germany was standing on the ledge of the building. He wasn't planning on jumping was he!?

"Germany!"

He flew closer to where he was, but gasped loudly as the other suddenly stepped off the ledge to fall head first down. This wasn't happening! This wasn't happening!

"Germany!"

He screamed as he propelled himself further towards the man, He had to save him! He had to!

Save him! Save him!

"GERMANYYY!"

CRASH!

Italy shook his head as things suddenly took a weird turn and he was going from pushing forward in the air to lying on the floor in a building. He heard a groan nearby however and he perked, looking over to see Germany lying there, cut up and obviously hurt from the impact. He crawled over to his side, looking him up and down in worry. This was bad! This was really bad!

"Are you okay?! Germany! Germany, talk to me! Open your eyes!"

He didn't care if Germany couldn't see or hurt him; he just wanted to make sure he was okay, even if it was just to assure himself that he was. He leaned back very lightly as the other looked up at him. He smiled, figuring he was just looking up at the ceiling.

"Ah, good… for a second there I thought I was too late. A-are you okay? Of course not you just went through a window after falling ten stories… But but! You're alive, that's the important part!"

"…I…. Italy?"

Italy perked at hearing the other say his name, grinning from ear to ear as he gave a chuckle, eyes undoubtedly watering up instantaneously as usual. "Y-you can see me!"

"Am… am I…." Germany couldn't finish his sentence, still being in physical shock of all the pain coursing through his body and just seeing his dead best friend right next to him.

Italy paused at this, his relieved smile fading into a calmer one, quickly wiping his eyes a bit before shaking his head. "You're not dead." He said, and carefully reached over to grasp Germany's hand. He looked down at the leather glove covering it and gently pulled it off, then taking his pinky within his own. "Good thing too, you promised to be around when I woke up, remember?"

He couldn't believe it. After all this time of waiting, of screaming and crying, Germany could at least see him. This was a sign that things were looking up! They all had problems sure, but he was back now, and he was going to do what he was trying to do in the first place! Be there for them! And-

He tensed up suddenly, seeing Germany's eyes roll to the back of his head before he feel limp next to him.

"G-Germany?! Oh no- hang in there!"