Germany sighs as he notices Italy skipping out on training again. "Japan, do you know where Italy is?" The large blond man asks, turning to the smaller Japanese man.
"No, sorry Doitsu. I saw him head out into the forest but," Japan shrugs at the end and goes back to playing with the cat.
"I'll go look for him. " Germany says with a sigh and heads into the forest.
He walks around, weaving below and between large branches and trees. He steps over low hanging branches and walks a bit more then hears soft sobbing. Germany furrows his brow and walks towards the sound of the cries. "Italy?" He asks when he comes upon a very small clearing with the brunette in it. He looks around and notices this place is very close to where he and his bruder used to live before Germany went off to live on his own.
"Doitsu? " Italy sniffles then wipes the tears from his eyes and looks up at the big German. "What are you doing here?" He asks, confusion leaking into his leaking eyes.
"You skipped out on training. I came looking for you." Germany says, crossing his arms and leaning against a tree.
"Oh, sorry Doitsu. It's just...every year on the day Prussia took me here, I come back and stay here the entire day. There used to be a rock. To show that he was buried here. But it's long gone. There was also an old deck brush. " Italy says, looking at the fairly small flower patch in front of him. "I plant flowers now to show he's here, there always the flowers I remember him giving me." Italy says, smiling sorrowfully at the ground.
"Who's this person you keep mentioning?" Germany asks, feeling like he was intruding but also feeling like he needed to know.
"He- his name was Holy Rome," Italy says, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them. "He was my first love." He adds after a few moments.
"Holy Rome? Wasn't that the country that was destroyed during the French Revolution?" Germany asks, racking his brain for the history lessons Prussia had beaten into his brain.
Italy tossed a white flag at the blond German causing the man to wince at the pain of how hard the Italian had thrown it. "It was. France told me Napoleon beheaded Holy Rome." Italy mumbles quietly, returning his head to rest on his knees.
"What did Holy Rome look like?" Germany asks,figuring , it'd help to remember. It always seemed to help him remember his bruder when he was in pain or sad.
"He was -well know when I look back- he was a small blond boy, he would probably come up to your knee, maybe surpass it a bit. He always wore black robes and a black hat with a Golden rim. He had deep blue eyes that always made me think of the sea. " Italy says, smiling with tears in his eyes at the memory of the little boy shouting "Become part of the Holy Roman Empire!" As he chased younger Italy. "He-" Italy chuckles "He was always trying to get me to be part of his Empire. But I never wanted him to be an Empire. I didn't want him to be hurt like Nonno was." Italy says, sniffing.
Germany stayed silent and watched Italy for a while, "The Holy Roman Empire was more like a collection of states than it was an Empire." He states one of the facts his brother had told him a hundred times. He gets a nod in response.
"Yeah, there was only four of us who actually stayed in Holy Rome's house. Me, Hungary, Austria, and Holy Rome of course. Others would come and go but the four of us always remained. " Italy says, smiling "Hungary was kind. Austria was strict but he had his soft spots. Holy Rome...he would always watch me when I would paint, he was interested in art but whenever he stayed around me he would turn bright red and run into the house. Hungary kept saying "Ő odavan!" I had no clue what it meant until Hungary finally, after me begging and promising to wear a dress and go shopping with her and Liechstien, she told me it means "He has a crush!" And I kept thinking back and it was so obvious. Though, I'm half positive he thought I was a girl." Italy says, chuckling.
"A girl? Why would he think that?" Germany asks, knowing it probably had to do with Hungary and dresses.
"It was probably due to my fashion sense back then. Hungary dressed me up in a green maid dress. She would also put me in her old clothes, the ones that were actually meant for girls and not for beating Prussia." Italy says with a chuckle, remembering the story about how Hungary was given dresses but she refused to wear them because she thought she was a boy. Couldn't really blame her since she grew up around them. (Like one couldn't blame Russia for thinking he was possibly a girl -especialy with the advice Ukraine always gave him-) "I didn't really care, I would- actually when Holy Rome went to go see Prussia one time I refused to let Austria bathe me so I ran through the house butt naked." Italy says chuckling at the memory.
"Is there a reason you like to be naked so often now?" Germany asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Because Hungary always told me to love my body and show it to the world!" Italy says with a smile. Then giggles "I remember the one time Austria tried to bathe me and Holy Rome at the same time. Holy Rome started protesting and when Austria ignored him and put me in the tub with him. Holy Rome bolted out the door and Austria chased him, giving me the time to run away as well. Hungary caught me though." Italy says with a smile at the funny memory. "When his hair wasn't up in his hat it fell around his face and he would constantly brush it out of his face or blow it away. Hungary said she had to wash his hat every once in a while and one time she lost it so Holy Rome was walking around, pouting, with his hair down around his face. As amusing as it was, I felt bad for him so I made him these clips; one was a double headed eagle that was on his banner, and the other was a wolf. I always remember the story of how Grandfather was found by one so I thought, it would also count as a protection charm. I found him sitting on the grass after I finished the clips and snuck up behind him and pulled back his hand and clipped his back. He looked weird because some of the hair had escaped so he had this like curl in the middle of his forehead. After that, even though it took a week to find his hat, he wasn't pouting. He walked around like he normally did, with his hair pulled back in a eagle and wolf hair pins." Italy says with a smile.
Germany smiles down at the Italian, and Italy noticed something. Germany noticed the look on the Italian's face and looked at him with curiousity "Is there something wrong Italy?"
"Come sit here." Italy instructs, patting the ground next to him. Germany looked at him, still confused, but did so and say by the Italian. Italy messed up the Germans hair, causing it to fall infront of his face and around the sides of his head instead of being slicked back. Italy took two pins from his own hair, a double headed eagle one, and a wolf one. He pulled back the Germans hair and pinned it back like he did Holy Rome.
Germany had sat still, and let Italy do whatever he was doing because he had intruded on the Italian's personal time -even though it was during training time-. "Done?" Germany asks, looking over at the Italian after Italy had stopped touching his hair. Italy just stared at him with open and wide eyes which he constantly blinked as he looked at Germany.
Then Italy shook his head. Germany would've said something if he was Holy Rome. And why would France lie? "We still have France with us right?" Italy asks, wanting to ask the man a question.
"Ja, I believe so." Germany says and Italy bounces up.
"Then lets go! I have to ask him a question!" Italy says and pulls Germany up by the hand and pulls him back to the area where Japan is waiting.
"Ah, both of you are back and arright?" Japan asks and Italy nods.
"I need to go talk to France though." Italy says and dashes away.
"Uh, Doitsu? Can I ask why you are wearing hair pins? Are they not a lady's accessory here?" Japan asks, looking at Germany's head with slight confusion.
"It's a long story. Lets get on with training." Germany says, and starts barking orders which Japan obediently follows.
Italy walks past the guards and goes to a prison cell with his big brother in it. The Frenchman is shackled and looks worse than he ever has. Italy instructs the guard to let him in then leave. The guard protests at first but obeys the Nation's orders and left the two alone after letting Italy in.
"I'm not giving you any information." France says right off the bat.
"I don't want information that has to do with current times though." Italy says, causing the Frenchman to look up at him, confused. "Why did you tell me Holy Rome was dead?" Italy asks then bites his lip.
France scoffs "I thought we settled this, Napoleon cut off his head. I took the body to Prussia and I assume he buried it." France says in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Then why does Doitsu look so much like him?" Italy asks, stepping forward and a wince appears on France's face for a milisecond before the Frenchman drops his head.
"I stopped Napoleon from killing Holy Rome. But, he lost his memory in the process. I brought him to Prussia then returned to my country where I was thrown in prison until it was forgotten." France says quietly in one quick breath.
"So Doitsu is..." Italy trails off, his mind processing this information.
"I presume so. Prussia also gave Germany the deck brush after you left the grave. Not sure what happened to it afterwards." France says with a shrug.
"Grazie Fratello." Italy says quietly and leaves the prison.
"Doitsu!" Italy shouts, running towards the German who turn around in time to catch the Italian who jumped on the German and kissed Germany, completely on purpose. A camera click is heard as Germany holds onto the Italian to keep him from falling and stares wide eyed at the man, in complete shock. Italy broke the kiss and snuggled against the German.
"Training is over?" Japan asks with a smile and Germany nods absently, his mind still processing everything.
Germany swallows, and shakes his head and bids the Japanese man good bye and walked to his home. Ignoring any looks he got for carrying the Italian like a toddler.
When they enter the German's home Italy jumps off of Germany and starts digging through his cleaning closet. He grabs a small deckbrush and shows it to the German.
"Italy, why are you showing me an old deck brush? And what was with the tackle and the- the kiss?" Germany asks, finally finding his mind.
"You're brain is broken, I'm trying to fix it. "Italy says, setting the deckbrush on the counter and shutting the closet door.
"Italy, my brain is fine." Germany says, taking the deck brush off the counter and setting it against the wall of the cupboard and grabbing a cloth from the closet and cleaning the mess that appeared where the deck brush was.
"No it's not! You're memory is cracked!" Italy says sternly.
"Italy, I'm pretty sure my memory is better than yours." Germany says, putting the cloth where is was in the closet.
Italy whines and grabs Germany's wrist and pulls him towards the door.
"Where are we going?" Germany asks, digging his heels into the ground to stop them but Italy was strong when he wanted to be.
"Austria's house. " Italy states simply and pulls Germany away from the house and towards the German-Austrian border.
"Italy he would not want me there." Germany says and takes his wrist from Italy but continues walking with the Italian.
They arrive at the large mansion in a few days, Germany sent a soldier back from one of the outposts to tell Japan where they were. Italy walked up to the door and knocked.
Austria opened the door and saw the look on Italy's face then looked at Germany. And waved the pair of them in.
Italy smiles and pulls Germany into the house. "Thanks Austria~" Italy says and pulls Germany to the room he knows is here.
"Italy, the door next to that." Austria says when Italy stops a door too soon. "Oh, sorry~" Italy says and pulls Germany into the right room.
"What is this?" Germany asks as Italy turns on the light revealing a fairly large room with a bed, several shelves and a fairly large closet. Paintings were on every available area of wall. Though, there was a painting on the ceiling. "Italy? Who's room is this?" Germany asks, feeling like this place was very familiar. And comforting.
Italy is silent for a bit then says "It's yours. Before Napoleon knocked your memory from you." Italy says, walking to the book shelves and looking at books in both Latin and German.
"What?" Germany asks, confused.
"Germany, I think you need to have a talk with your brother about who you were before the French Revolution." Italy says, looking at the German for once without a smile.
"What do you mean Italy?"
"I mean France lied when he said Napoleon killed Holy Rome." Italy says and something seems to connect in Germany's mind and the German sits on the bed with his head in his hands. Italy ran over an sat down beside the German who seemed to be in pain. "Scusate." Italy mumbles and rubs the German's back.
Germany sat on the bed with his face in his hands, his eyes closed tightly, sweat on his forehead apparent. Images started flashing by, he couldn't make sense of them or see any of them clearly, until he sees one person clearly. A young boy in a green dress.