Here it is, Chapter 6! This one flowed a little easier than the last, so I'm hoping it pleases you all as much as the previous fail did. (If not more.) What's really odd about this chapter is that I spent all day doing Placement Testing for college, and still this flowed well. Hm. Strange.

Disclaimer: My lawyer told me that I do not (and most likely never will) own Hetalia. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pay a visit to my cozy little Emo Corner.

Veneziano didn't like Sadiq. The older boy was almost always teasing him and pulling on his curl. Young Italy usually did his best to stay away from the teenaged nation.

Today, however, Veneziano found himself between the proverbial rock and hard place. Veneziano was hungry and wanted to go to the kitchens to see if one of the cooks would make him one of those yummy noodle dishes he had taken a strong liking to. However, there was just one small problem with that: there was only one passage from the children's quarters to the kitchen, and Sadiq was sitting in it. Persia's son was sitting against the wall, half-hidden by the pillars. He had his knees pulled up against his chest and his face was buried in the space between. His shoulders shook a little, like he was crying. As much as he didn't like the darker boy, the young nation felt a sudden sense of concern towards him.

"Ve…what's wrong? What happened, Sadiq?"

"Go away, brat of Rome. Leave me be," Sadiq snapped, the harshness muffled by his refusal to lift his head.

"But I want to help! I can't help if I don't know what's wrong!"

"There is nothing you can do! Now leave me alone!" Sadiq shouted, snapping out of his huddled state and violently shoving the other country to the ground. The son of Persia was gone in a flurry of dark crimson.

Slowly sitting up and rubbing the growing bump on his head, Veneziano sniffed. "What's bothering him?"

Eight years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days.

That was how long Romanus had been cooped up in the fort, forbidden from leaving the ornate rooms Rome had deposited him in after finally releasing him from that cold, dark hell. It was infuriating to the young boy to have been locked away for so long. And the worst part of it all? He looked exactly the same as he did before he was dragged away. His body, which should have aged into that of a boy entering puberty, was still the body of a five-year-old.

"How's my little Roma today?"

Romanus suppressed a shudder as Rome entered the room, all smiles and laughs and flowing red capes. Nearly nine years later, and Romanus was still fighting back instincts learned during his initial captivity.

"I'm okay." Bored as all hell, though…

"That's good. Here, I brought some more food! Oh, your brother's taken quite a liking to this. He's started calling it pasta. So cute!"

…And so it began. Rome's visits were becoming less and less about seeing how Romanus was doing and more and more about how cute and wonderful Felicianus was. Hell, Rome even talked about Gratianus more than he did about Romanus. What made things even worse was that now Rome was using all of these weird names. He had started calling Felicianus Veneziano, and Gratianus had become Graziano. It had taken months for Romanus to figure out who was who, because Rome had bothered to explain the sudden name changes to him.

"Romano? Are you listening to me?"

Realizing Rome was talking to him (he still wasn't sure if he liked his name being changed to Romano…), Romanus's head shot up, eyes wide. "Um, s-sorry. I must have dozed off…"

Rome smiled. "It's nothing to worry about! Now, as I was saying, I think you've been here long enough."

The young boy blinked and looked up at his grandfather, startled at the man's words. Was it finally going to happen? Was Romanus finally going to be reunited with his brothers? He almost didn't dare get his hopes up, but Rome looked completely serious about it…

"I have?"

"Of course! I've been planning to take your brothers with me on a tour around the empire. One day I'm not going to be around, and you boys will have to take my place, after all. So why wait to start training you?"

Romanus again repressed the urge to shudder. "Training" had been how the empire had originally described Romanus's initial incarceration. It had been the empire's insane idea to "retrain" him in the pagan beliefs—all while destroying Romanus's Christian beliefs. Hail Mother Mary, it didn't work. The young boy considered it a sign of God's loving mercy that Rome had suddenly decided to release him from the torture. Maybe his mother and father had had a hand in it…wasn't that a lovely thought?

"Spacing out again, are we?"

Jumping, Romanus scrambled to find a reply. Rome let out a roaring laugh at his eldest grandson's obvious discomfort.

"For the last time, Roma: don't worry. I'm not angry with you. You're probably just overflowing with excitement at seeing your brothers again. It's been so long, hasn't it?" Something about Rome's expression was off. Instead of the annoying, seemingly ever-present cheer, a sad, weathered look took control. Rome suddenly seemed so much older, recalling sorrowful and bittersweet memories.

"You look so much like your father, do you know that? You have your mother's eyes though…"

This was what Romanus had been waiting to hear. Every time he had brought up his parents, Rome had waved his questions away, telling him to save them for a later date. Now, Rome had brought the topic up. To Romanus, that meant it was fair game.

"Could you tell me a little about them? My parents?"

"There's not really much to tell, Roma. Your father was my son, but I'm sad to admit that I wasn't much of a father to him. His mother raised him; I probably only saw a few times in his life, and spoke to him even less."

"Were they human? Or were they…like us?"

"Your mother was human. A powerful, competent warrior who hardly spent a year in my house before running off with your father. But your father…no one quite knows what he was. A human and a nation had never created a child together before. Some of the servants called him something like a demigod, but somehow I don't feel that's quite right." Rome sighed and looked away, caught up in memories he had never even thought to cherish until recently.

"I know why you're asking me questions, Romano. You want to know why you haven't gotten any older, even though by now you should have the body of a boy entering the change into adulthood."

"I'm fourteen years old, Grandfather. I shouldn't look like I'm five."

"I suppose it's time to tell you the entire story, then. You might want to make yourself comfortable; it's a very long story."

She was dying.

Zosime could feel it in her bones. Taking a look at her fellow mothers, she knew they felt it too. Their time to leave the world was fast approaching, meaning they had one final task to complete.

Amardad had taken her children and locked them in her chambers in order to give them whatever bits of knowledge she could before her body finally wore out. Auait kept Gupta by her side at all times, teaching him her Magicks as well as how one became a great country. The Greek woman, however, had already taught her son everything he needed to know. She had taught him which herbs cured which aliments, which materials made the sturdiest weapons, which words avoided wars and which words created them. She had taught him all she knew about the gods, every myth and tale she could remember from the birth of the Titans to little moral tales such as the story of King Midas. Everything she had to offer her son, just short of his own land, Zosime had already given him.

It did not escape her notice, however, that two certain young boys were without mentors. They had no mother or father to teach them about healing or ancient tales or train them in the arts of war. They lacked parents who could teach them who to become good and wise nations. Rome had been avoided the issue like some sort of hideous disease, convinced that he would never die. So, it seemed to be up to Zosime to teach the boys what they would need to know.

"Feliciano, Graziano. May I have a word with you?"

The two heirs of Rome looked up from their game and then scrambled over to her. "What is it, Mama Greece?"

"Come with me. Time is slowly slipping away from me, and it seems that I have much to teach you both."

So, the next few chapters are going to be dedicated to explaining more about the Italy brothers' origins. I'm having a blast writing them, and I hope you'll enjoy reading them just as much. And, sadly, the ancients are going to be going away once this arc is done. Then it's on to modern history and more angst! :D /shot

As for why it's Ancient Greece teaching Feli and Grazi...well, Roman and Greek culture did intertwine extremely heavily. C'mon, the Roman Empire practically stole all of Greece's gods and goddesses. So it make sense! ...Right? /shot

I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by the end of the month, since I'm hitting a lull this upcoming week. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review!