Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.
Warning: Theres some blood and a little swearing.
This chapter is set during the time period of the beginning of the first chapter.
Want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, they make me smile when I see them, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations!
The tension inside the conference room was thick; all the countries present the only ones willing to help in the search for the elder Italian sibling. Italy was sat next to Germany, the normal happy grin missing and in its place a very pained expression as he looked down at his clenched fists in his lap. He looked smaller than he usually did, his shoulders sagging and his head facing downwards. Germany was beside him looking as stern as usual, but when looked at closely there were signs of his stress in the form of bags under his eyes and a deeper set frown.
Spain was looking more than worse for wear, with deep prominent bags underneath his eyes, signs of him not sleeping for days, endlessly worrying for Romano and his well being. His skin was almost nearly drained of its colour, his usually tanned complexion looking pale and waxy. He was sat opposite Italy and Germany, his elbows resting on the table as he gently massaged his temple.
The other countries willing to help in the search were America, England, France, Prussia, Japan, Hungary, Austria, China and surprisingly Russia. The tense atmosphere continued for a few more minutes, nobody knowing what to say. These meetings had been held every week since Romano had disappeared a month and a half before, with no signs of where he could be or what could have happened to him.
The silence was suddenly broken at the screech of a chair being pushed back; everyone glanced up at Germany who had stood up, obviously deciding that the silence was unbearable and that he should take control of this meeting.
"I think we all agree that sitting here in silence will not bring us any closer to finding South Italy. Doesn't anybody at all have any sort of information to his whereabouts? Anything at all?"
His questioning was only met with silence, some members of the meeting looking as though they had given up all hope in finding the Italian.
"Well why don't we recap on what we know so far?" England suggested from the other side of the meeting table, "Even small pieces of information can do great things."
"The last place Romano was seen was in Sicily, this was after he went to see Italy at about midday on the 12th of May. Italy informed me that Romano was suppose to be heading straight to the airport after visiting to head over to Spain, but instead went to Sicily. The reason for this change of plans is still currently unknown." Germany explained.
"And then after that there were no signs of him at all? If we are to base his disappearance on the most popular theory of kidnap then surely somebody must have witnessed the crime taking place?" questioned Austria.
Spain sighed from across the table as he looked up at Austria with tired eyes. "It's obvious that this was a planned kidnap. Romano would never run away for this long, not mi amor."
"Dude, does this mean that somebody out there knew he was a country? Because I totally can't see somebody making up this kinda scheme for one little Italian kid, y'know?" America asked suddenly, slamming his palms onto the table as he stood up suddenly.
"For once America is right, how long will it be before another of us is taken?" England added in from behind his cup of tea.
Germany frown deepened as his agitation grew "I think at this moment in time we have bigger things to worry about than-"
"Mon dieu! Mon chere your eye is bleeding!" France suddenly exclaimed, getting out of his seat to approach Italy who was still sat in the same position as earlier beside Germany. His left eye was bleeding profusely, dripping down his cheek and onto the table before him, but the expression on his face didn't change into pain, it just stayed the same sad melancholic expression as before with the blood running down like red tears.
Germany suddenly pushed his chair out of the way and kneeled beside the small Italian man, grabbing his cheeks and turning him to face him. Italy's expression still stayed the same, and his eyes were unfocused as though he didn't realise what was happening. Austria handed Germany a handkerchief which he used to quickly wipe away the blood, before gently patting him on the cheek to try and get him focused again.
Italy suddenly wrenched his face out of the Germans gentle hold and stared up at the ceiling before letting out the most heart wrenching scream. His hands reaching up to grip at his hair as he continued to assault his voice box with the screech.
The other nations looked startled at these sudden turn of events, nobody really understanding what was happening with the other nation.
The scream suddenly died down, Italy eyes regain their focus and he starts looking around the room at the other nations, looking confused but responsive, he continued this action until his eyes landed on Germany.
He suddenly grabs Germany's arms and pulls him closer to look him in the eye, tears running down his face and mixing with the already present blood.
"R-Romano, he's hurting. Germany, Romano is hurting. They're hurting him Germany! Stop them, STOP THEM. THEY'RE HURTING MY FRATELLO." He screams hysterically, blood starting to run down from his left eye again.
"STOP HURTING HIIIIM." Italy screams before slamming his face down onto the table in front of him. Blood began to pool around his head, the other nations unsure if it was from his bleeding eye or a new injury caused by his sudden face plant.
Germany slowly reached towards Italy's shoulders, attempting to check if he was ok from his sudden self inflicted injury, but was stopped when Italy suddenly raised his head.
"STOP"
His face met the table again before lifting up.
"HURTING"
He repeated his previous action again.
"MY"
And again.
"FRATELLOOOOO."
And as he went to do it again he was promptly stopped by multiple nations holding him back as he was screaming and flailing, repeating 'Fratello' like a mad man.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with him?" England shouted suddenly, gripping onto Italy's legs trying to hold them down, surprised at the strength the smaller man suddenly had.
"The hell if we know! Just hold the kid down!" America shouted back as he was holding Italy from around the waist, trying to keep him firmly in his seat. Russia was standing besides America and had his hands planted on the Italians shoulders to help hold him down. Germany was sat in front of him, trying to get the smaller man to calm down with light slaps to the face.
Italy suddenly went limp, all his thrashing, screaming and insane screaming dying down as his head limply fell down to his chest. Everybody sighed in relief as the episode seemed to have finished. They all relinquished their hold on the petite man and slowly took a step back, looking cautious in case he suddenly started up again.
At the sound of Italy groaning awake again everybody prepared themselves for the worst. He looked up at everyone, blinking in confusion as his eyes darted around the room again before this time coming to a stop on Spain.
"Spain."
"Spaaaain."
"Spain, it hurts. Spaaaain."
Everybody stared at the Italian with looks of disbelief on their faces.
That voice wasn't Italy's voice.
It wasn't Veneziano's voice.
That voice belonged to Romano.
"R-Romano?" Spain suddenly exclaimed, quickly approaching the younger Italy and kneeling before him, looking up into dazed eyes.
"Spain, why won't you help me? I'm scared. I'm really scared Spain. Why aren't you helping me? Spain. Spain. Spain." Romano's voice spoke through Italy's body, then falling into a mantra of his name, tears falling down his face.
"SPAAAAAAAAAAAIN"
The sudden screech startled everyone again, and Germany quickly ran forward and swiftly hit the boy at the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious. The Italian then fell forward into Spain, blood still dripping from his eye.
Silence once again fell on the room, nobody knowing what to say, nobody really understanding what just happened. Spain lay Italy down on the ground, picking up the handkerchief from before and wiping away at the remaining blood.
"Holy shit dude. That was like something out of a horror movie. What was he doing, channelling the spirit of Romano or what?" America said in awe, but was swiftly tackled by an enraged Spain.
"Romano isn't DEAD." Spain snarled into his face, eyes wild like a raging bull.
"How the hell do you know if he isn't! He's been missing for over a MONTH. Dude, we have no clues to where he is even after all this time, where's the hope in us finding the kid!" America shouted back, looking back into Spain's eyes with similar rage.
"He isn't dead. Italy and Romano have a connection. Because they are one nation what one feels so does the other. I'm guessing that Romano's strong emotions came through in Italy. And if what he said is correct then we can assume that South Italy is currently being held captive and is being tortured." Germany explained.
Spain looked down at his clenched fist in America's shirt, before loosening his grip and getting off of the other nation. He took in a deep breath, the other nations could see that he was close to tears at this new revelation. He took a few more breaths to collect himself before turning to look at the others.
"I'm going to find him. I'm going to find him and bring him home, no matter what."
In case you are all confused about Italy, as explained by Germany they are connected, so as Romano is slowly loosing his mind in captivity Italy is now prone to feeling these strong moments of insanity and will reflect them. It's like if Romano is hurt, Italy feels the pain as well kind of thing. But Italy isn't going to be turning insane himself, he'll just have little episodes of insanity courtesy of Romano. Just thought that may need a bit of an explanation.