Salutations. We welcome you to our new, improved character torture method!- I mean story! Prepare your tissues, it's going to be a long, painful ride, and it only gets worse as it goes on. Never think you've seen the worst. Ever.

This is a collaborative effort between me (Arlewena) and my amazing sister Araesson's Storm, whose other works are amazing and I highly recommend you go check them out! Our other collaboration piece, A Gentleman's Contract is also on her page (full on Hetalia for that one, and even better, Pirates!)

Before we let you begin, we have a few musical suggestions to improve your reading experience. As we've written this, we've given each character and some events their own theme song as it were. Below is a list of songs we found relevant to this chapter, and at the end we will list all songs that are possibly related to the chapter.

Disclaimer: Nothing is ours, except the tears we cried during Nanowrimo.

Edit 7/21/19: We decided to change how we were doing the songs since it got a bit unwieldy. As well as changing the format for how we were handling names and languages.

Songs:

A Nostalgic Dream - Peter Gundry (The Holy Roman Empire)

Autumn's Child - Peter Gundry (Belladonna and Bungo)

September 22, TA 2890

Italy Veneziano (The Shire):

The sun shone down upon the meadow, warming Veneziano's face. A gentle puff of breeze brought with it the scent of warm grass and flowers, ruffling his dress. He held the fabric between his fingers, smiling as he recalled that this used to be one of his favorite outfits.

He looked up at the sound of a voice calling his name, letting out a gasp as his memory told him who the voice belonged to. But it couldn't be-

"Italia!" Sacro Romano Imperio was running through the meadow towards Italia, his black cape billowing behind him. It was undeniably the same person. He had the same hair, and eyes, and the same smile. Veneziano stared, eyes wide with disbelief. His right foot moved forward, and then his left, and then he was running to meet his first love. Veneziano threw his arms around Sacro Romano, tears streaming down his face as he clutched the familiar fabric in his fingers. Sacro Romano laughed- the most amazing sound Italia had ever heard.

Veneziano finally pulled away, drinking in the familiar face that looked the same as it had when Veneziano had last seen him. He realized that he was the same height, suggesting he was young again, too, but that realization wasn't important.

"You're here." Veneziano whispered, reaching forward to touch Sacro Romano's face to ensure it was real. Feeling warm skin under his fingers, he smiled. "It's you."

"I've missed you, Italia." Sacro Romano said, gently taking one of Italia's hands.

Veneziano wrapped his arms around Sacro Romano again, muffling his tears against his chest, "I've missed you too. I've missed you so much."

"I'm sorry I broke my promise." Sacro Romano said after a moment of silence, "I'm sorry I didn't come back."

Italia shook his head, "But you're here now."

"Yes, but… we don't have much time. I hate to ask this of you… There's something I need you to do. I'm so sorry, but I need you to be strong, Italia… I know you can do it." Sacro Romano replied, pulling away from Veneziano's embrace. There was a sadness in his voice and expression, a real sense of remorse.

Veneziano was confused, "You're leaving again? What do you need me to do?... You're not making any sense." Sacro Romano didn't answer, gently pushing a few strands of hair back from Italia's face, and wiping the last tears away with his thumbs.

"I know. Italia…" Sacro Romano trailed off as Veneziano's vision began to blur, the meadow around them becoming fuzzy. "Italia, I believe in you."

The edges of Sacro Romano's face were fading, "Wait-" and Italia's vision went dark.

When his vision returned, he was in a meadow similar to the one he'd just been in, and Sacro Romano was gone. Italia felt tears at the corners of his eyes, as he said, "Sacro Romano…?" in a voice higher than his normal one. There was no response but the rustling of a nearby tree.

Had it been a dream? But he was still in his old dress, and he was still younger. Where had Sacro Romano gone? Had he left him again? Would he come back?

Veneziano didn't realize that he'd been crying again until the woman's voice broke through his thoughts. "Are you alright, child?" He looked up to see a very short, stout woman. He would have thought she was a child by her height if not for the very clearly womanly figure.
"Bella…" Veneziano mumbled, entranced. She was beautiful, like a fairy almost, or what he'd imagine one to look like (except without the wings).

The woman appeared confused as she approached, "I'm Belladonna, yes. Belladonna Too- sorry, Baggins. Belladonna Baggins, how did you know?"

"Oh, that's a beautiful name! I didn't know, I was just remarking on how lovely you are! You're so pretty, you know. I see lots of pretty girls, but you are much prettier!" Veneziano exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about Sacro Romano in the face of this distraction.

The woman knelt down to be at eye level with him, asking, "What is your name, child?"

"I-" Veneziano stopped himself. No matter how gorgeous she might be, she wasn't a fellow nation. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I! Ciao, I'm Feliciano Vargas, from Italia! I love pasta and pretty girls! And Ludwig. Also I love my big brothers Francis, Antonio, and Lovino! My friend Kiku is pretty cool, too!" He took a moment to wipe his cheeks of moisture, his smile wide and convincing enough to make anyone forget his earlier distress with the absence of the tears.

"Is this Italia your home? Where is it?" Belladonna asked.

Veneziano blinked a few times, "You've never heard of Italia? I thought everyone knew Italia, because of the Impero Romano and all. Do you know where il Mar Mediterraneo is?" Belladonna shook her head, "Europa?" Another shake of the head. "Not even Europa? Well that's strange! Do you come from another planet or something? My friend knows an alien."

Belladonna appeared to be a bit bemused by his rapid-fire comments, "Do you have any family I can take you to?"

"Well, I have my brothers, but if you don't know where Europa is I don't think we can find them. They'll probably find me, if Ger- Ludwig doesn't come for me first." Veneziano said, looking around at the scenery to see if Germania had found him yet. Belladonna, meanwhile, pursed her lips, appearing to be thinking over something. Veneziano wasn't too troubled by it. She would tell him, probably. And if not, it wasn't important.

"Do you have anywhere to stay? It's going to get dark soon, and it's best you aren't out after sunset, even if this area is peaceful." Signora Belladonna advised, glancing up at the sky and the sun that was hovering over the edge of the horizon. Veneziano shook his head. He had no idea where he was, and if any nations were nearby. Even if they were, not every nation would welcome the personification of Nord Italia turning up on their doorstep with no warning. Besides, Signora Bella was pretty and kind, and it sounded as if she was about to invite him to stay with her. Feliciano would never turn down an invitation from a beautiful woman- his brothers and grandfather had taught him much better than that!

Belladonna smiled, standing up and dusting off her green dress, "Well, you can stay with Bungo and I until your family comes for you."

"Thank you, Signora Belladonna! I would love to stay with you! Do you by any chance know how to make pasta?" Veneziano asked, bouncing on his feet.

"No, I'm afraid not. However, perhaps you can describe it to me and we can figure something out," she looked down at him and winked, extending a hand in his direction, "Come on, then. Bungo is going to wonder where I've run off to." she replied, beginning to walk with Veneziano toddling along after her, hands firmly grasped.

After a while of walking, longer than Veneziano would normally prefer, they finally came in sight of what Signora Bella called 'The Hill'. It seemed very much like all the other hills they had passed to the personification of Nord Italia, maybe a little larger. He wasn't sure what was supposed to be so special about it, but he was willing to give it a chance for now. Especially if it meant food was in his near future. He was hungry, and even if they didn't have pasta, Signora Bella had said that Bungo- what a funny name- would probably have food ready when they got there.

He was led to a circular door in the side of the hill, a small circular window beside it. He'd never seen such architecture before, and found it quite fascinating. Feliciano noticed that Belladonna was smiling as they entered.

Inside, a man the same height as Belladonna looked up from a book. His eyes widened a touch when he saw Veneziano holding Belladonna's hand. The man- Bungo, likely- looked from Veneziano to Belladonna and back, before sighing.

Bungo's tone was resigned, even though he was smiling a touch as he asked, "... Should I set the table for three, then, dear?"

Are you as confused as Veneziano? Thank you for your time.

Further Songs:

The Poet and the Pendulum: White Lands of Empathica - Nightwish (Prelude)

Bad Apple - Ashe and Rockleetist (Italy Veneziano)

Seelie Court - Derek and Brandon Fiechter (The Tooks)

Treefolk - Derek and Brandon Fiechter (The Bagginses)