Author'sNote: This is not a sequel to 'Independence and Freedom' but the ideas are similar, so it might help if you read the author's note as I explain about what I feel about Romano here, and why I portray Romano in this way.
"…and so it is decided." England concluded. "Due to the bankruptcy that Italy recently underwent, my boss has decided that Italy would be looked after by other countries."
The room was completely silent. America was absent as this was the meeting of the European nations. However, there would probably still be silence even if he was here. After all, what England proposed was something that has become 'history'.
"Wait, England, you cannot mean what I think you mean." France began. In his surprise at what England was saying, he was even willing to admit that he himself was the one in the wrong. "Surely I must have misheard or misinterpret the words. Surely you mean help? We will help Italy the way that we helped Greece."
"No, because of what happened with Greece, my boss decided that we need to take a stronger attitude towards such incidents." England said firmly. "After all, we helped Greece only to have history repeat it self. Who is to say that this would not happen with Italy? Therefore, we would need to look after them…"
"By making us your colony?" Romano spat out as she stood up. "What time do you think this is? A whole century ago?"
"I am sure that I am not the only one who has doubt about you and your brother's ability of ruling your own country." England said rather coldly. "Germany?"
Germany was never good at lying and he could not deny that this was something that he had thought of many times. In fact, there were many times when he asked himself just how was it that Veneziano managed to survive to this age.
Yet he could not agree with England either. The time of colonies was long gone. However…he himself knew what it was like to help out a country in difficulty and he could not deny that there were times when one would only wish to take such a problem if there was some sort of reward.
"Would Germany be looking after us then?" Veneziano asked.
Contrary to what most people believe, Romano rarely hit her brother. There were times when she was so frustrated by him that she would shake him or shove him away, but she rarely hit him.
However, without saying anything, she punched him hard in the face.
"Just a minute – " Germany immediately begin.
"You idiot!" Romano shrieked out. "Do you not know what this means? We will be imprisoned again! Like the time that the bastard Austria took our lands and – "
"You and your brother barely managed to look after you own lands." Austria said coldly. He and Romano had an antagonising relationship from the start and this never got better. The best status it had was them ignoring each other. After all, Austria could still remember all the troubles and problems that Romano gave him, while Romano would never forgive Austria for making them into his servants. "Since you two managed cause your own country to bankrupt, I will say that some lessons is probably needed."
"We do not need your help!" Romano snapped. "We will be able to solve our problems ourselves."
Without saying anything, England placed a thick wad of paper in the centre of the room. It was the recent state of Italy and no one in the room could deny that they were very alarming.
"It is because of the recent problems!" Romano protested. "Once we managed to solve these problems then it would be fine!"
"And how do you propose to do that?" was the cold reply. "Surely you realise how big an impact your action has on all of us?"
"I know that and I – " Romano did not know what to say but she knew that she could not just give up. She would never submit herself to the humiliation of losing her freedom again.
"We are not autocrats." England suddenly said, "I was never going to force this decision on you. We will solve this by voting. However, this is the current situation and solution: if Italy remains an independent country then we would all need to help out and I know that we have all been affected by the recent recession. However, my boss proposes that we will look after Italy. In return, we would do so by using Italy's resources. It is not because we are seizing control of Italy's resources, but because we need to utilize it."
"And so you propose to be the one that does this, England?" Romano spat back.
"Austria and I have decided to share this responsibility." England explained. "Of course, others are welcome to nominate themselves too."
"Germany will help as well." Austria said to Veneziano, who was actually thinking that maybe this was not such a bad situation.
The truth was that he and his sister had been undergoing a very difficult situation and Germany already had given him much help. In addition, Germany was his best friend, so would this really be a bad thing?"
"I refuse!" Romano screamed out.
The problem was that England had a good point. Many countries were in financial difficulties themselves and many of their people were already resentful at how they had to help Greece, whose bankruptcy they did not feel to be their own problem.
It was not just a choice of the nations, but a choice of the people.
"I won't accept…" She began, but was forced to stop due to her coughing. Even though she desperately needed the rest, she refused to be absent in this meeting.
How could she let her fate decided by others again?
Her brother was not completely well although it was mainly her part of Italy that was in trouble. Nor was Veneziano exerting himself like her. Therefore, it was not surprising that she would suddenly find the room spinning due to the amount of yelling and screaming that she had done
She thought that she was going to fall. However, someone caught her.
"Spain?" she whispered as the other carefully placed her in the seat beside him before he spoke.
"I disagree." Spain said in his merry voice. "I know that the recession has made it rather difficult but I think if the richer countries help a bit more then we can manage to walk through the crisis."
"And do you propose to be the one to look after South Italy then, as you did before?" Austria asked with a push of his glasses. "You did not do a very good job last time, Spain, so I do question your suitability. In fact, was it not you who once begged me to swap North Italy with South Italy?"
"That was different." Spain said calmly, still cheerful. "My proposal is this: Ita-chan is not doing that bad so if we contribute a little more, then North Italy would be fine. Romano is having great difficulty, I know, but I think we can change this. I am willing to contribute a large amount to help Romano. Therefore, if the rest of us all contribute a bit more then I think we can solve this problem."
"…but how can you guarantee that this would not happen again?" England said.
"Even though I am neutral in this, England does have a point." Switzerland admitted.
"I won't allow – " Romano began again, but she began to cough violently. It seemed that she had reached her limit. At this, her brother quickly went to be beside her, placing a hand on her forehead. When there was no reaction, let along a 'what are you doing, damn it?' those who knew Romano began to get a bit worried.
"Romano, I think you need to rest." Spain said and maybe it was because he was speaking in a rather soft tone, his voice was rather gentle.
"And wake up to find England chaining me and making me his colony?" Romano spat out. "I will stay here."
"…what if you go to somewhere safe?" Spain suggested.
"Like where?" She muttered. Her own home was not safe due to her weakened condition, and Spain's home would not be safe when he was not there.
However, Spain simply smiled.
Author'sNote: I just suddenly had the idea for this story one day. Initially, I wanted to write a story that explores Netherlands and Spain's relationship (Which I still have in this fan fiction, it is just that there ended up being a lot more in addition to that). The idea is that I want to explore Spain's darker side, and show that this light façade and even being a bit of a push over (England and the pirates, Austria and the Habsburg Empire) is really just Spain letting them do this.
This ended up being the result. Like many of my other stuff, I wrote it a while ago and then was not sure whether I should publish it. however, with the thought of: why not?
The bankruptcy is a reference to what happened with Greece- apparently many nations were not very happy about what they had to do for Greece.
Initially, I was going to have countries calling England in their own language, but I then realised that this would get to complicated, so I changed my mind about that.
As for my portrayal of England…I want to point out that I am not making him evil. It is because he really felt that this was the right thing (more would be shown in the nextchapter.)
I feel that it quite hard to just have a country helping out another and especially when Italy is involved. At times, I really feel that Germany and Spain deserves sainthood for what they have done.
Due to running out of time today, I will only put up the first chapter, I will put the rest of the chapters up late today.