I Know What You Fear Most

Romano growled insults at his British captor as he was no doubt being lead to share a dingy cell with his stupid brother.

"Let me go, bastard-face, I've got family in Bedford!" he threatened. Of course, England knew he was bluffing, and he knew England knew he was bluffing, but he still wanted to tell off the Brit bastard as much as he could before having to deal with his blubbering bro.

"One more word out of you," Arthur sighed, "and you'll become my latest test subject in experimental magic."

You're mental in the head and you can't fucking cook, Lovino thought. He held his tongue, resorting to nasty faces and crude gestures to get his point across. Iggy unlocked a metal door with a simple barred window eye level. The room inside was small, roughly a ten by ten square, with a toilet in one corner and a plain grey bed, pillow, and blanket. On the opposite wall, the last few minutes of sunlight shone through a barred window.

"What the fuck is this crapola?" Romano complained as he stepped inside, "Where's Veneziano?"

"You're being kept in separate wings," England explained, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Makes it harder for the two of you to escape. Listen, I'm sure you'd like to yell at more about all this, but I've got a headache, so if it's all the same to you, I'm just going to leave you to scream at the wall." He locked the cell door and turned to leave.

"It's not the same to me, bastard!" Lovi shouted, "You can't just leave me here! Hey, idioto! I wanna use my fucking phone call!" The Brit stopped dead in his tracks and breathed out a "bloody hell". He trudged the other way down the hall. A few minutes later, he came back with a dial phone. He handed Romano the receiver through the bars, who snatched it away. Arthur didn't need to ask who he was calling; he dialed in Spain's number and waited for the screaming to start.

"Hola?" Antonio answered, his usually cheery voice tinged with exhaustion.

"Alright, tomato bastard, listen up!" Romano raged, "The Allies have fucking captured me again and I need you to get your ass down here and bail me out of this shit hole!"

"Oh, Roma, you know I would," Tonio began apologetically, "But I'm still in major debt from my Civil War. I don't have the time or money to get there."

"Dammit, Espana, this is serious!" Lovino brought his voice down to a whisper in hopes that Arthur wouldn't overhear him, "I'm all alone here. As much as I hate listening to Feli cry or babble on about how amazing that fucking potato is, it's the only thing that makes this bearable. Why don't you come over here and rescue me like a good friend would?"

The question caught Antonio off guard. That was the same way he asked for help when he was little and Ottoman Empire had kidnapped him. He'd never admit it, but Spain knew Lovi was scared of being in small spaces all alone after that. He recalled fondly how nearly every night after that, Romano would throw himself onto Spain's bed.

"I'm not scared, you bastard," the tiny Italy yelled, "My stupid bed just isn't as comfortable as yours."

After a while, Romano stopped coming to him and Antonio just figured he'd grown out of it. Perhaps in his own house he was too embarrassed to admit to still having the same fears he did as a child, but now that he was thousands of miles away with no friends around…

"A-alright," Spain sighed, "I'll try my best, Roma, but please understand that it will be next to impossible for me to do anything."

"Whatever," Lovino huffed, "Just hurry up already, it's getting dark. Don't make me wait, bull-brain!"

"Si, si, I'll get on it immediately. Goodbye, Roma. Ti amo." Tonio hung up.

"Hey, you can't just say something like that and then hang up on me!" Romano yelled at the phone as if Spain could still hear him.

"I take it from that your call's over," Arthur stated, pulling the receiver away from Lovi. He put the phone back where he moved it from and started to leave once more. "Breakfast comes at 7 and is picked up at 9 so don't sleep in."

"Fuck your bland, pathetic English excuse for food!" Lovi lashed out. And then he was all alone.

oOoOoOo

Antonio hung up the phone and finished of the paper rose he'd been working on during their call. His joints ached from so much paper folding; each hand covered in paper cuts. And still, there were thousands upon thousands left to make before he could work off his debts.

"That should be enough for today," he breathed to no one in particular. Beside him, his boss chuckled.

"You know she won't accept that mentality. She'll want you making roses until dawn the next day."

Spain grimaced, "Ali's family has been giving me grief for centuries, specifically with money and Romano. I really wish you'd fire her. Out of a cannon."

"Tonio," his boss laughed, "That's not like you to dislike a pretty girl."

"I suppose you could say I've grown callous to her and any other woman from her family. I pray she does not marry." His boss stood and patted him on the back.

"She's engaged, amigo."

"Ay ay ay, what'd I do to deserve this?" Antonio stood and stretched, "I suppose it's time to face the dragon." He walked to the door. The moment his hand touched the handle, his boss spoke up.

"Who was on the phone?" Spain sighed and dropped his hand. He'd almost made it out.

"It…was Romano," he answered reluctantly, "He needs my help."

"Spain, we've talked about this," his boss said sternly, "We don't have the wealth to keep him anymore. All he does is lounge around, eat our food, and ask for money when he's in trouble. Besides, if you break him out of prison, you know he'll be back there in a week."

"Maybe that's true about Romano," Antonio said quietly, "But the person, Lovino, he's my closest and dearest friend. I need him and he needs me."

"That's very noble of you to want to save your friend," his boss chose his words carefully, knowing that when Tonio got quiet, he was close to erupting, "But you have to think of your people first. You're not even close to recovered from this war. Romano will be fine on his own."

"Roma is never fine on his own," Spain countered, "When he's not with me, he's with his brother. He may act like he can't stand us but, deep down, he does love us and he's so thankful that we stick by him no matter what. To be all alone now, he probably feels abandoned and unloved. I have to do something." Before his boss could continue their argument, he stormed out the door. He made it halfway down the hall before he heard a shrill, nagging voice call him.

"Antonio Fernandez Carriedo!" Spain turned with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hola, Alejandra. I heard you were engaged, that's pretty great-,"

"Shut up," she interrupted angrily, "You don't care, you're just trying to butter me up. So, what crazy stunt are you trying to pull?"

"Ali, please," he pleaded, "I need to go help Roma. He's all alone an-,"

"Absolutely not," she declared, "You know we're far too in debt to take care of that foul mouthed freak. You know, my great bisabuela told you that boy would only be trouble in the long run and it looks like she was right. When will you learn, Espana? That boy is no good for you. Now, how many roses did you make today?"

"Two hundred thirty. That's really good though, considering how long it takes to fold them and how much time there is in the day." Antonio watched her hopefully. Maybe she'd be impressed by his work and let him go after all.

"I suppose that will have to do," she said, dissatisfied, "You still have paperwork to go through before tomorrow, so get on that."

"But what about Roma?"

Alejandra rubbed her temples and sighed, "Espana, I want you to listen to me. He. Is. Worthless. On top of that, he's not even yours anymore! He just likes to use you because he knows you'll always come to help him. That little puta needs to grow up and learn to fend for himself."

"But-,"

"ENOUGH!" she snapped. She marched over to her nation and grabbed him by the ear. "You're not going off to free that ungrateful brat and that's final! You have far too much work to do before you pull yourself out of the gutter, let alone any other godforsaken nation!" She continued to scold him, ignoring his cries of protest, until they reached his office. She dragged him to his desk and sat him down.

"You are going to stay in here until you finish all of today's necessary work," she ordered, staring him right in the eye, "Then you are going to sleep so you can be ready to do this all over again tomorrow! Under no circumstances will you leave the country until your government is stable! I have you on track to be debt free in just a few years and I will not let you jeopardize this nation for the sake of something as frivolous as love! Do I make myself clear?" Antonio wanted nothing more than to defy her, to proclaim that nothing could stop him from coming to the rescue of his precious Lovi. But he was so tired. The civil war had drained him, leaving him hollow inside. Plus all this mind numbing work was really wearing on him mentally. As much as it made his heart ache, he had to admit that they were right. He was in no shape to go after Lovi.

"Si, senora," he sighed. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought he saw a flicker of worry flash across Alejandra's face.

"Good," she said, walking to the door, "I'll be back to get you in a few hours." Tonio barely registered the sound of the door shutting as he stared vacantly at the various piles of paperwork on his desk.

"Please forgive me, Roma," he whispered, "I'm powerless to save you."

oOoOoOo

*~Epilogue~*

Romano stuffed his hands in his in his pockets as he walked into Spain's house. That damn bastard never did show up at England's, leaving him to wait until Potato Head came to rescue his brother. He was just glad his little brother would never leave him somewhere as scary as anywhere that only served English food.

"Antonio!" Lovino called through the halls, "Where are you? I've got a lot of yelling at you to do!" He continued his wandering until he ran into none other than the she demon Alejandra. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Romano? I thought you were in prison."

"Sorry to disappoint you," he sneered, "Where are you hiding Spain?"

"He's busy right now," she stated, "You'll have to come back at anoth-,"

"Fine, I'll find him without your help," Roma growled, brushing past her. Unlike Antonio, he wasn't afraid of upsetting Ali and had decided long ago to make her family's lives hell for pushing Spain around all the time.

"Cumplidores manipuladora," Ali hissed under her breath.

"Cagna opprimente," he shot back. No nation should have to take shit from their government like that. He rounded the corner and opened the door to Spain's office.

"Anto-," Lovino cut himself off when he saw Antonio asleep on his desk, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of paper roses.

Damn, he thought, taking a seat across from the sleeping nation, He's gonna work himself to death. With a sigh, Lovi picked up a sheet of red paper and began to fold and cut as quietly as possible. Holy shit, making paper roses was tedious. How the hell did Tonio do this every day? He made maybe three in an hour before he accidentally glued his hand to a piece of paper. He tore it off, wincing as the ripping noise tore through the silence of the room.

"…need to…" Spain muttered in his sleep, causing Romano to jump, "…he needs…me…" Lovino stared at him, stunned. Antonio had been here working himself to the bone, to the point where he was falling asleep in his office, and the thing at the forefront of his mind was rescuing Lovi.

"Hey, tomato brain," he said quietly, shoving one of his roses in his face, "Wake the fuck up." Spain groaned as he opened his eyes.

"Man, I must be losing it," he mumbled, "I could've sworn this rose just spoke to me."

"Can't lose what you never had, Antonio," Lovi replied, moving the flower, "You look like shit, by the way." The shock of seeing Lovino was enough to wake him up. He immediately leapt over the desk, tackling the younger nation in a hug.

"Oh, Roma!" he cried, "I'm so glad you're alright and I'm so sorry I couldn't be the one to save you! I wanted to, I really did, but it was impossible. I hope you'll forgive me."

"Sure, whatever, just get off of me, bastard!" Antonio sat up, bearing his brightest smile in days. As Lovino sat up, something caught his eye that made him burst out in laughter.

"What the hell are you laughing at, jerk tomato?!" Romano snapped. Unable to stop laughing, Antonio grabbed Roma's wrist and turned the palm up to reveal torn pieces of red paper still stuck to his hand.

"It's just really cute," he chuckled, "You helping me and making a mess, just like when you were little."

"I am not cute!" Lovino protested, "Fuck off, jerk face, I hate your stupid guts!" Antonio leaned forward to embrace Lovi once more. With his old smile back and tears in his eyes, he nestled into his shoulder.

"I love you too, Roma."