With the powers of his father running through his veins, Germany easily indicated where Feliciano is. All they have to do now is find him in the realms of northern Italy. They're going to have to enlist the help of the group sent there in order to find him…

/=+=/

Kiku had been to northern Italy before, so it was easy for him to teleport the four of them there. They found themselves in front of the Colosseum (fortunately they were hidden from sight, so no one was startled by the sudden arrival of four random looking people), the sun high in the sky.

"Who was sent here, do you know?" Seyel asked, removing her hand from Japan's.

"I'm only aware of Lovino and Antonio." Kiku answered. "Italy is a big country, so I think they have five people instead of four…"

So much for finalizing that…

"Well…we could just walk around until we see one of them." Canada offered. "It's not like they don't know who we are."

"That's what I'm worried about…" Seyel held his arm. "Everyone has a tendency to forget about you…"

"Oh…right…"

On those words, her grip grew tighter on the Canadian. For some reason, Ludwig found strange parallels between the two of them and his relationship with Feliciano…they were somewhat the same, despite the fact that their relationship was less touchy-feely than they were. Of course, those two were dating…

"Eh? Germany? What are you doing here, aru?"

They all turned their heads around and saw Wang Yao headed toward them, a surprised look on his face. Odd enough, he had abandoned his usual military uniform and instead opted to wear a green one that looked similar to the ones that Arthur would wear.

"Oh, China!" Seyel gasped. "We think that Italy might be here."

"Feliciano might be here?" He looked surprised. "That's weird, aru. We didn't hear anything about him being around here, aru."

"Nothing?" Kiku asked.

"Nothing. I'm really sorry, aru." China turned toward Ludwig. "We're trying our best, aru."

"I know you are. Don't apologize." Ludwig stated. "But I think we have to search harder than how we're usually looking for him."

"What do you mean, aru?"

"Oh…I think I know what you mean."

Seyel looked as Matthew (hesitantly, I should add) pulled his arm out of her grip and walked casually like a normal tourist. Everyone looked at each other before following suit, pretending that they were a big group. Before long, they saw Canada approaching a group of Italian teenagers. Because I am too lazy to translate all of the conversation, it's pre-subbed into English for everyone's benefit.

[["Um, excuse me…"]] He said to the group of girls. [["I'm new around here, so…"]]

[["Aww…you look so cute! Is that a French accent?"]]

[["U-um…yeah…I'm Canadian, actually."]]

*insert fangirl swooning*

[["Well, you see…I'm interested in any local stories that Italy has to offer, so I wonder if there are any that I might want to know."]]

[["Oh, actually! Are you interested in ghost stories?"]]

[["Ghost stories? Actually, I am."]]

[["OK, you see that building over there. That's St. Peter's Basilica, really popular around here, I think. There's a rumor going around saying that the place is recently haunted."]]

[["R-recently? I thought ghost stories would be hundreds of years old."]]

[["That's what we thought too. But I heard that this started not too long ago…yesterday, the day before? Anyway, stories say that when you go there around nighttime, you see this really creepy guy in a completely white outfit walk in the middle of the building and paints the most beautiful artwork ever."]]

[["The ghost of a painter?"]]

[["Yeah, it's really weird, since painting is getting a bit abstract these days. But every night, he just goes there and paints!"]]

[["What does he look like? Do you know?"]]

[["Um…a young man, I think?"]]

[["Wow…I might look into this later…"]]

[["You're seriously going to look into a ghost story?"]]

[["Who knows? Someone has to confirm if the story is real or fake."]]

After a few minutes, the conversation stopped and Matthew walked away from the girls, swooning at his appearance. Once he rejoined the group, he took Seychelles's hand, an indication that he was still faithful. Seriously, it looked pretty cute…if everyone wasn't on a search.

"What did they say, aru?"

"They mentioned something about a ghost story…in St. Peter's Basilica…" He answered. "A painter that goes there every single night and just paints…"

"How old is the story?" Seyel asked.

"Two days old."

Matthew was right. Just asking around for this one person wasn't going to get them any clues, especially with Holy Roman Empire involved. They quickly concluded that they really had to check in on this 'ghost story', and see if it had any backbone to their search. Ludwig could only hope.

/=+=/

Wang Yao led them into a fancy hotel, where they were planning to spend the night before they search another city. When they entered the lobby, they were surprised that Gilbert was already there, waiting for everyone else. Once he and Germany caught eye contact, he darted up to his feet.

"Hey, West!" He remarked. "What're you doing here? We got this place covered!"

"I know you do, but we found out that Feliciano is here." Ludwig responded. "In Italy. And we have an idea where he might be."

"Really? That's great, West!" Gilbert grinned. "OK then, we'll just have to wait for the others!"

"How long do we have?" Seyel asked.

"A good…seven hours!"

Oh. What. Joy.

Needless to say, seven hours with Prussia was about a good idea as leaving France alone with anyone, so Ludwig decided to explore the Italian city. All the locals seemed as human as always, talking about their own lives and some gossiping about their love lives…stuff people usually talk about. Part of him wished that he could have a normal conversation like that.

"Huh? Ludwig? W-what are you doing here?"

He looked up from his stroll and saw that Arthur was standing right in front of him, a confused look on his face. The minute they made eye contact, though, Arthur's face immediately turned into that of sudden shock, like a child that was caught doing something bad.

"I had a feeling that Feliciano would be in the city." He answered. "So my group decided to come here."

"When did you figure that out? It must take hours to travel from Germany, not to mention that we stared our trip in America of all places!" England pointed out.

"…Kiku made our travel time a lot shorter."

"Kiku…?" Arthur's eyes widened. "H-he's OK, right?"

"He says he is." Ludwig sighed. "But he hasn't had much sleep, and he's pushing himself too much…"

Arthur looked down on the ground, almost as if he was expecting something. After a few minutes, Germany shook his head and flicked Arthur's forehead (he didn't think it was necessary to punch him at the moment).

"Go back to the hotel. You look tired."

"…OK."

/=+=/

The minute Germany returned to the hotel, he was greeted with an Italian smacking right into him, swearing all kinds of Italian that was catching a lot of attention. Antonio had to drag him off yet again (this time with bare hands…there were normal people here). Once he was off, he saw Alfred wave and run toward him.

"Hey! I heard from Matt that you got a lead on Feliciano!" He stated. "Is it true?"

"I do…we're planning on checking in on it tonight." He answered. "We're going to St. Peter's Basilica."

"Why there?" Alfred blinked.

"There're rumors of a ghost haunting there in the middle of the night." Kiku answered. "They said that the stories started two nights ago."

It was then (and only then, apparently) that people remembered that Alfred and ghosts go together as well as fire and dynamite: something is going to happen, and it won't be good. If that didn't make any sense, Alfred clinging onto his brother would've been a better indication.

"G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghost?" He panicked.

"M-maple…"

"Sigh…we think that the ghost might be Feliciano." Seyel sighed. "Now can you let go of your brother before he dies from the lack of oxygen to his brain?"

Apparently, Alfred had neglected the fact that he was squeezing someone's ribcage. And please remember that he has super strength. So when he let go of his brother, Seychelles had to catch him, and even then he had to be escorted to the couch.

"Are you OK?"

"…m-maple…"

"He's fine."

Um…OK. "We should leave at around midnight…" Arthur looked up to the clock. "We have four hours."

"Four hours?" Lovino stormed forward. "Why can't we go now?"

"Because he won't be there, my sweet tomato!"

"Grr…DON'T CALL ME A TOMATO, YOU JACKASS!"

/=HETALIA!=/

Once 12:00 rang about, everyone rose from their beds and headed off toward St. Peter's Basilica. The streets were still hustling and bustling with business ("almost like NYC", the American always claims), but when they got to the place, they found it eerily quiet.

"This is a popular tourist attraction, right?" Gilbert looked around. "So…where're the tourists?"

"They're probably scared because of the ghost rumors." Antonio answered.

"W-w-well…d-duh…i-i-it's ghost's we're talking about…"

"M-maybe you should wait back at the hotel, brother…"

"N-no no no!" Alfred straightened his jacket. "We have Feliciano to save! We can't just back up now!"

"And yet your legs are shaking."

"D-don't rub it in, Lovino!"

Through their argument, Ludwig was searching desperately in the building for any signs of a white-robed young man walking inside the building. After a few seconds of trying to look inside, he heard Alfred whimper again. He turned his head and saw Matthew had flipped his hood on. He walked toward the building, Seyel slowly following suit.

"Um…Matthew?" Antonio didn't know about Matthew's other self. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly, he lifted his fist and punched the wall. Everyone thought that the building would collapse at this point (especially Lovino, who was now scared of him), but they saw white rings erupting from where the fist met the target. Canada pulled his hand away and saw that his knuckles were red by the action.

"Freakin' bastard knows we're here." He turned toward the group and lifted his injured hand. "Anyone got a better idea?"

"What? We can't get in?" Ludwig asked.

"Nah, we can get in. I just like punching walls to see if they'll collapse on themselves and then asking stupid questions after." Matthew shook his hand to let the pain elevate.

"…is that your brother?" Antonio asked.

"It's…a long…and complicated…story…" Alfred shivered.

"So what can we do?" Kiku asked. "Holy Roman Empire is obviously protecting Feliciano so that we can't get to him…"

"Our only hope now is to call the others into Italy." Ludwig admitted. "My best bet is that either Roderich or Ivan will know what to do."

So after Seyel calmed Matthew enough for him to remove his hood, everyone turned back to the building before heading back to the hotel. Before they left, Alfred couldn't help but notice that Arthur was zoning out. He had to drag him out himself.

/=+=/

So…yeah, read and review. Arthur's got some angst on him, right?