Okay everyone! Round 2 of the chapters. I looked over this for the last couple of days and found ways to make Fern-Lui a bit more like her age, but still have that slight mental maturity structure, added a few brief look into her past when she thinks about it, got rid of some lines and added some. I also asked someone about Germany and things in relation to WWII and learned that, because of that horrid part of their history, they accepted it but now have a sort of guilt complex where they don't put up their flags unless they're important buildings. So I took that in mind as well, and in a way I knew Germany would still have a self guilt thing going on, but I didn't know about the depth of it until one of my reviewers mentioned it and that led me to asking another person who is German.

So, with a lesson learned and the chapters looked over once again, I hope this would be, at least 2%, better than the first time around.

So, withough further ado, enjoy.

Chapter 2: What to Do?

It was a quarter to midnight when a low, soft voice of a man woke up both a woman and a child.

The girl murmured something as the woman got up, still clothed as if they were going on an outing. She looked as both man and woman were talking quietly, but couldn't make out the words as she was about to fall asleep but was picked up by strong hands. She tried to wake up a bit more as she was then moved to the soft embrace of the woman. She was in and out of sleep as she heard the sound of slight panic and concern from the woman and the gruff, commanding one from the man before she was handed back into the strong, warm embrace of the man as they went out into the cold and into the back of the car, where the woman was driving.

She looked up at the man and her lips moved, only to feel a strong hand on her head, petting her softly as she felt the small vibration of the car revving to life. She heard the man's voice, but she couldn't make out the words as the speed increased to the max.

She started to feel sleepy again when a loud bang, followed by the sound of glass shattering was heard. She felt fear and panic as she saw the man take out a gun and started shooting as the woman started to talk rapidly. She looked out of the other window to see a car driving up beside theirs and the gun was aimed towards them.

She screamed as she saw that she wasn't in the car, but in a bed in a white room that smelled faintly of bleach. She breathed deeply to calm herself down as she curled up as a nurse came in and was asking her how she was, but she stayed silent and scooted away from the woman. She glared at the woman, who took the hint and walked out of the room, allowing her to curl up once more as she felt around her head, only to look horrified as she couldn't feel what should be on her head. She looked around only to see a window overlooking the outside, snowing. She got out of bed and pulled up a chair to have a better look outside and saw that the whole place seemed to be covered in a white blanket. She got down on to the floor and headed out of the door when a car just pulled up to the parking lot.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Germany drove up to the hospital with Italy, who has a bouquet of daisies and centaureas to give to the girl, as well as the hat that the girl came with.

"Ve! It's nice of England to let us stay at his place for a bit."

"It has been a week since that girl arrived." Germany said, a bit worried about the girl.

"I know! I hope she's okay, ve." Italy said as they walked up to the hospital doors. "Ve, which doctor did England told us to talk to?" He whispered, knowing that only a very chosen few mortals know that they exist.

Germany went up to the desk and asked the clerk there for the doctor and waited for the said doctor to come to them.

"Afternoon gentlemen." Said the doctor as he mentioned them to follow. "She's still asleep at the moment, but she should be getting up pretty soon."

"Anything we should know?"

"We checked, but thankfully she's fully healthy. We're not sure about her health mentally, but we will know as soon as she wakes up."

"Anything else?" Germany asked.

"Well… I did give out a blood sample to see if we could find any record of her, since… what 'he' told me what happened a week ago." The doctor said, referring to England.

"And?"

The doctor shook his head. "Nothing… No record of her at all. It's like she ever existed until a week ago."

"Ve?" Italy said as Germany shared the same surprised look.

"So…"

"I don't know what else to say." The doctor said. "If 'he' didn't explain what happened, I would've expect that she was born but the parents didn't bother registering her into the system." When he finished his explanation, they headed down the hall when the nurse came up.

"Doctor, she's finally awake."

"Really?"

"Yes, but it looks like she doesn't trust anyone. And another thing…"

"And that is?"

"It seems she decided to get out of the room and now all of us are looking for her."

"That isn't good, especially to that child. Who knows what she could've been through…"

"Ve? Can we help?" Italy asked, clearly having a small panic about not visiting the girl.

The doctor looked contemplative.

"When she did arrive, sir, she went up to my friend, mistaking him for someone else." Germany noted.

The doctor sighed before he nodded to accept their help. "I don't know if this is the best thing, but we do need all the help we can get at this point." He said as he and the nurse went one way, leaving the two to decide what to do.

"Ve~ Germany? Where should we go?"

"Give me a second…" He said as he thought back on the hospital layout he saw on their way in. Switching to his commander mode in a search and rescue attempt he looked at Italy. "Her room is on the second floor, north-west wing… she couldn't have gotten far. But if she's quick on her feet, she would no doubt use that to find a hiding place. First of all we have to figure out any places that a small girl would get into…"

Italy was thinking, actually focusing on something other than pasta. "If I was in a hospital and scared of where I was… I would try to find a place where no one can find me. Somewhere dark but not too dark."

"Sounds plausible. Now our next question is where are some places that she can go to?"

"Ve… Germany? Should we split up?"

"We can cover more ground that way…" He said, still in commander mode. "And if you find her, you may attend her trust more than the rest of us."

"Ve, but Germany is a nice guy. She would like you too!"

"Just take that hall and look in the second floor, while I go up the third floor. Let's meet up in her room at about an hour. And her room is 208."

"Yes sir!" He said as he took a few of the flowers and the hat, and gave them to the other man. "Here, in case you find her."

He took the flowers and hat as the other headed down the hall before he headed down the other hall.

0o0o0o0

In the meantime, the girl found a great place to hide as she figured out what to do. Granted the janitor's closet wasn't the genius hiding place, but she found a place to hide in among the unused trash bags. She was a little scared if not lost, as she curled up and wondered if it was safe to head out. She ran her small hand through her hair, which without the clips made her look like Italy.

She played with a wooden horse with wheels when the man and woman went up to her and gained her attention. She looked up as the man bent down and extened his closed hand to her before opening to reveal the Iron Crosses to her. She looked confused as the woman bent down as she placed the crosses in her hair. She felt around before looking in the mirror the woman brought with her and smiled at her reflection with the crosses on her head.

She bit her lower lip to keep herself quiet as she was on the verge of tears.

Then she heard someone singing just out of the door, but it wasn't just anyone singing. The person was singing an Italian song. Then she saw the door open, she would've sworn she saw the woman in her thoughts and she got up a bit too quick, knocking a few things.

"Ve!" Italy said as he went up and held the girl. "Lei è giusto? Lei si è doluto?" (1) He asked, not realizing he went to Italian, as he looked at the girl, who seemed surprised and placed a hand on his face. "Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" Still speaking in his native tongue.

She blinked before shaking her head and looked down at the bouquet of flowers.

Italy remembered the flowers and handed them to her. "Here, my friend and I were visiting you to see if you're okay. I hope you like daisies. I wanted to bring roses, but my friend said it was too much."

She took the flowers and smelled them. "Grazie…" She said softly, making the Italian seem happy.

"Ve! You can speak Italian?

She nodded as she hugged Italy, which the Italian was more than happy to return.

"Ve, let's head back to the room, I think my friend is waiting for us there."

She nodded as Italy carried her out of the closet and headed back to the room, where Germany was heading to see if the other was waiting.

"Ah there you are!" Italy called out in English, making the girl look back and she had the same shocked expression.

To her, she's seeing a man similar to the one walking up to them, only the clothes were old, worn, and covered in dirt and grease. She blinked to see the clean long sleeved shirt and iron pressed dark grey slacks.

"So you found her, huh?"

"Sì, and she speaks perfect Italian!"

He looked at her, who was looking at him and remembered that he has some flowers in his hand and offered them to her. "Qui..." (2) He said, trying the simplest Italian he knows as he took off the hat and placed it back on her head. "Questo appartiene a lei." (3)

She smiled as she gently took the offered daisies and felt around the hat before she gave him a smile. "Danke."

He blinked while Italy made an audible sound of confusion. "Sie sprechen Deutsch?" (4) He asked.

She nodded as she softly added. "I also speak English just fine."

"Ve! That's amazing!"

She nuzzled Italy and smiled. "Grazie… Mr.… Oh! I don't know your name…"

"Ve…" Italy started to say as the girl seemed to realize something.

"Oh… I have to introduce myself before knowing someone else's name." She said as she bonked her head as she smiled. "My name is Fernanda-Luigia Vargas Beilschmidt, but you can call me Fern-Lui, for short…"

"Fern-Lui?" Germany said as Italy smiled his usual clueless smile.

"Ve~! That's such an interesting name!"

She nodded. "Mein vati is Deutsch and mi mamma is Italiana. So my name is both from those…"

"So you're half of both?" Germany asked.

She nodded as she smiled. "You know what my name is, now it's your turn."

The two nations feared this question above all else when the doctor came.

"There you are!" Said the doctor. "Dear me, you like to make everyone worry about you?"

The girl held onto Italy as if asking the Italian to protect her from the doctor as she stared at the doctor unsurely.

The doctor laughed at this. "The important thing is that you're okay."

She broke eye contact with the man and buried her face on the crook of the Italian's neck.

"I see she's warmed up to the two of you."

"Ja…" Germany said, unsure what to do with the situation.

"I have to take you to a room for just a few minutes, then you can be with these two fine gentlemen. Does that sound good?"

The girl shook her head while whimpering, which was muffled by Italy's coat.

Italy looked helplessly at Germany, who was still at a lost to what to do, before he went up and lifted the familiar German military hat to see the scared face of the girl.

"We'll still be here when they're done. They just want to make sure you're okay. You've been asleep for a week."

"Ve? Really?" She said softly as she lifted her head up a bit from the Italian's neck.

' Ve?' The German thought, but he thought he was hearing things and nodded. "Ja. And the doctor here wants to make sure you're okay to leave this place."

She looked at the two men. "Will you still be here?" She asked, and at that moment she looked like a sad puppy being taken away from the owner by a vet as she held the rim of the hat, as if the world will fall apart if she let go.

"Of course." Germany said with a reassuring smile, a rare sight to anyone who knows him. "We did come to see you."

She smiled as she was set down on the ground, gave the German's leg a hug before following the doctor down the hall to a room.

"Ve! She's so cute!"

"She is…" Germany admitted as he headed into the girl's, Fern-Lui's, room and took a seat.

"Germany…" He said while looking nervous to ask.

"Hm? What's wrong Italy?"

"Ve… I've been meaning to ask you, but I wasn't sure how to go about it."

"What is it?"

"I was thinking, since she has no family or anything whatsoever… I thought it would be okay to bring her in. You know… take her with us, even though she's mortal…"

The German knew what the other was proposing, and honestly he didn't know if it was a good idea. "I don't know, Italy… It's true that there are times in our life as nations that we co-operate with a certain individual other than our bosses. But this is a child, Italy, when was the last time you heard of a nation taking care and or raising a mortal child?"

"I know that Germany, but…" He looked down casted. "In a way she's like how we started out… Some of us appeared out of nowhere, much like America, Japan, and… that one guy that looks like America, what's his name?"

Germany blinked. "Who?"

Italy waved it off. "Anyway, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of just abandoning her to the orphanage. Especially since she seemed so happy to see us!"

Germany admitted that he had thought about it since that day, and what the doctor said made it clear that they can't just dump her like some mortal parents do to unwanted or unable to care for children. It hurts to see that and he didn't want to see this girl meet the same fate. "I don't like the idea either, Italy."

"So what are we gonna do?"

He sighed. "What else?" He looked at the Italian with a smile. "Our houses are too big for just one or two nations to stay in after all."

Italy smiled and jumped to hug the German, who was flustered, but gave in knowing better.

0o0o0o0

Later the doctor told them that she's well to be checked out that evening, but was concerned about where she would go. When the two men said that they were going to care for her, the doctor hazard to ask if they know how to care children, which Germany said he had more than enough experience as far as Italy was concerned.

After gathering her stuff to the car, Germany placed in a call to England and made the long trek to his home.

"You didn't answer my question…" Fern-Lui said, moving the hat up so that she could see them, as well as the two Iron Cross clips on the hat's rim. "Your names…"

"It's a bit complicated…" Germany said.

"How can telling me your names be complicated?"

"That's the thing, we don't have human names." Italy said.

"Was?"

"It's hard to believe now, but we're personifications of a nation."

"Per-soni-ficat-ion?" She sounded out the word.

"Sì, sì! I'm Italy, but I actually represent the northern part and I have an older brother who represents the south. You'll meet him later."

"And I'm Germany."

"Italia… and Deutschland…" She said as she looked like she was going to say something.

"Don't ask how it was possible, it was like this for as far as we can remember." Germany said, beating her to it.

"So… you guys know everything about what's going on in your countries?"

"More or less. Most of the time we have to physically be there though." Italy said.

She blinked before holding her head. "Now I know how Dorothy feels when she found herself in Oz…"

"Ve! You know that story too!"

She nodded then blinked. "Is there one of America as well?"

"There's one for every nation, even the smallest nations."

She sighed. "Yep… I'm definitely not home anymore." She then looked a bit nervous. "Umm… wouldn't my knowing about you be a bad thing?"

"We talked about that." Germany said. "But neither Italy or I want to dump you in an orphanage. We have witnessed orphaned kids far enough, and you don't have anywhere else to go. And America did say that you were sent to us, whether intended or not for that to happen, you're stuck with us nations."

She blinked as she smiled. "Thank you..." She said as she yawned.

"It's going to be a while until we reach to my house." Germany said, glancing at the girl in the rear view mirror. "So just rest and you'll be in my home by the time you wake up."

She nodded before closing her eyes. 'This is different, but at least I'm not alone, and they're really nice. Just like mein vati und mi mamma.' She thought with a smile before falling asleep.

"Ve, she's really cute!" Italy said. "I'm really happy you decided not to hand her to the orphanage authorities."

"Not like she has anything here to earn that fate." He said, hearing the Italian hum happily. "Was?"

"Germany is really the nicest in the world, both person and nation."

"Except in that war." He said, which the other looked a bit sad.

"Germany… it wasn't your fault. You had no choice…"

"It doesn't mean it can wipe the stain away… that moment in history will always be remembered… Will always be hated for…"

"No one hates you Germany. I never did."

Germany blushed. "You're just too kind hearted…"

Italy smiled as he reached over to place a chaste kiss on the German's cheek, making him blush more than ever. "Germany really is nice."

"I-Italien…" He said, but he smiled as he continued to watch the road as Italy fell asleep.

Translations:

(1) Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? - Italian

(2) Here… - Italian

(3) This belongs to you. - Italian

(4) You speak German? - German