I just want to say thank you to all my reviewers, old and new! Props to my old reviewers:
Ayumi Kudou
Pimp with a chainsaw, aka my "Daddy"
Liechtenstein's Lover
Flying mint bunny girl
Eve of Moonstone
Sparklingpandas
WOW
Eos the Dawn
And my new ones:
96bittersweetblackcat
Scotty1609
And the Guest... I don't know who this is.
To answer some questions...
Liechtenstein's Lover: I did get your summaries, and your Pirate!England and Liech one sounds really good. I may take that idea to write the Pirate!England fic, but it will have to wait until after this story, unless I suddenly feel the urge to write Pirate!England.
Flying mint bunny girl: SpaBel sounds interesting... I'll see if it fits into the storyline.
WOW: The alternate universe is just a universe where things turn out differently. It's not the 2P universe, don't worry.
So, in this chapter, we enter our Romano's mind. Author's note at the end! Enjoy this chapter!
II. Enter Romano- The accident
He first awoke after his accident to see two men sitting at the foot of his bed. He found that he couldn't recognize where he was, who he was, and who were there next to him. The strange thing was, he hadn't forgotten how to speak or anything, and he remembered perfectly well everything he had been taught about the world. He just couldn't seem to remember anything concerning him personally. There seemed to be a brick wall in his head.
"Where the hell am I?" He demanded, sitting up quickly to glare at the others.
The brown haired one turned to glance at him, but then he quickly turned away. The one with a brown ponytail and a white medical coat didn't even look at him. From what he could hear, they were involved in deep conversation and were simply ignoring him.
"Hey! Hey, you bastards! Answer me!" He hopped down from the bed and angrily stalked toward them.
"Romano! Go back to your bed!" The brunette cast him a worried look, but he simply charged forward. So my name is Romano... If the bastard's telling the truth.
"Why should I? I bet you're talking about me, aren't you?" He put his hands on his hips stubbornly, glaring down at the two seated men. "I deserve to hear this, too."
The brunette sighed and turned back to the white-coated man. "I apologize, China. Romano's very stubborn."
"It's fine, Spain." China waved his hand dismissively. "I've seen worse, aru. What he has is a case of temporary amnesia. He'll be quite agressive and hotheaded for a while, when he finds that he can't recall his memories. But try to remain with him as much as possible until he gets back his memory, aru."
Lovino stared, but nobody seemed to notice him.
"You say this is temporary, si?" Antonio asked, his eyebrows drawn in worry. "So how long will it take until he gets back his memory?" How did I even lose my memory in the first place?
"I can't say for sure, but normally, it takes somewhere around a month or so."
"So, until October, then?"
China shook his head. "Like I said, I'm not sure, aru. This might even turn out to be permanent amnesia, in which case you'll need to help him learn the important parts of himself so he can lead a normal life. So I think you should try to fill him in about himself, just in case this isn't just temporary."
"Si." A long sigh came from Antonio. Lovino glared at the both of them, wondering why they were talking about him like he wasn't even in the room. Hey, he might have lost his memory for some strange reason, but he wasn't deaf or stupid.
"Damn it, bastards! I'm still here, you know." He said pointedly, aiming a finger at the one called 'China'. "If there's anything to be said about me, just say it to my face, will ya?" Add to being annoyed by the way Spain and China were talking, he was also irritated about the fact that everytime he tried to recall something about himself, he came up blank. Did he even know that Spain guy, or had he just found him on the street or something?
"Romano!" Antonio's dark green eyes grew wide. "Apologize for your language!"
"No! Why should I?" He folded his arms across his chest indignantly. "I can say whatever I want! You're not my boss or anything. If I wanted a boss, I would have found myself a s-"
Spain chose that moment to jump up and slap his hand over Romano's mouth, and China muttered something about being immature.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Spain quickly apologized, pushing a struggling Romano back to the bed.
"No, it's ok, aru. I'm used to dealing with this kind of attitude. But anyway, I've got to go now, the Allies want a meeting. So, I'll see you again soon to check on Romano's progress?" China gathered his papers and stuck them inside his briefcase, while Romano fumed, but could do nothing against the stronger Spain.
"Oh, si! I'll escort you to the door, then." He got up and led the doctor out of the room, making sure that Romano was still sitting on the bed and made no move to follow, and then closed the door behind him.
As soon as the door closed, Romano jumped up.
He couldn't stay inside this house. It was apparent now that he had lost his memory, and so he couldn't even be sure that the Spain guy was even a nice man. What if he was trying to do something bad to him? His wild, overreactive thoughts urged him to work faster. He couldn't go out the door, because then he'd be spotted. But it'd be easy to jump out the window.
Romano walked over to his window and opened it widely, peering down below. Ok, so maybe it wasn't so easy. He wasn't as low down as he had thought. Slumping into a pile of deflated schemes, he rethought his plans. Romano observed the room carefully, wondering if there was anything that could help him jump down safely. But the only furniture were the bed, a wardrobe against the wall, a mirror stuck on the side of the wardrobe, a bookshelf, a round table and three chairs around it. Oh, and the bowl of tomatoes in the middle of the table.
"Let's see. If I can find some big enough clothes to work as a parachute..." He headed over to the wardrobe and put out a hand to open it, but a figure stopped him. His hand dropped down by his side as he studied his reflection in the mirror.
A person with an olive complexion and forest green eyes stared back. A curl protruded from his dark brown hair, and his eyebrows furied in a deep scowl as Romano frowned at himself and then tore his gaze from the mirror to open the wardrobe.
So that's what he looked like, he thought to himself, as his hands moved quickly through the pile of clothes inside the wardrobe. Coming to the conclusion that there was nothing good enough to break his fall, Romano shut the wardrobe and returned to his spot by the open window. So his name was Romano, and he looked Italian, or at least Southern European-ish. Romano tried to review all the facts that he knew about himself, but his facts were limited to only two. He still didn't know how he came to lose his memory, what kind of person he was before, his history, the people aquaintained with him, and all those stuff. Whenever he tried to grasp at the fuzzy memories, they just faded away until he was left with nothing.
Angry, he leaned out the window once more. He didn't want to have to live while facing that kind of throbbing pain in his head from not knowing who he was. And if jumping down through the window caused him to break his neck, then so be it. Determined look on his face, Romano pushed a chair under the window and proceeded to climbing on it.
"Lovino! What are you doing? Trying to kill yourself?" The door behind him was flung open and Spain rushed over to him. Luckily, Romano hadn't yet decided to jump. He had just discovered his fear of heights.
"Maybe I am." He muttered, but allowed Spain to pull him away, put back the chair, and sit down next to him on the bed.
"Don't try to do that! You scared me to death!" Spain exclaimed, checking him from head to toe like a mother hen crooning over her little chicks. "You heard what the doctor said. You must try to be brave until your memory comes back."
Romano fumed. "How did I even lose my memory anyway?" He retorted, to which Antonio replied with a paling face.
"Bastard! You were the one that caused all this to happen, right? God damn it, don't even try to deny anything! I can see from the look on your face that you caused this! And who the hell is Lovino? I thought my name was Roma-" In his excitement, Romano had leapt up and got his foot tangled with the chair's legs. A loud bang followed as he tripped and hit his head against the bed corner.
"Ah, shit!" He mumbled to himself, oblivious to Spain's frantic words as he jumped down beside him, and fell into deep unconsciousness.
And now, Romano was waking up once again, but this time he was more aware of his surroundings and he didn't feel so bricked-walled anymore. And he was also alone. Sitting up in bed, he recalled what had happened to him. His memory still hadn't returned, as if he could have just fallen asleep and have it miraculously back to normal again. No, but at least he still knew a little about himself. And, considering the fact that he had nowhere else to go, he decided to listen to Spain and stay for a while. Just until he was level-headed enough to head out and find out more about himself.
The door flung over and Spain rushed in, a delighted look on his face. "Lovino! You're awake!" He held a large tray in his hands.
"Lovino? Isn't my name supposed to be Romano or something?" He instantly gave a scowl.
"I- well, si. But I'll explain everything later." A guilty look came over Antonio, and he put the tray on his table to avoid looking at his eyes. "Right now, eat up! You haven't eaten in days!"
Romano got out of bed and sat down on a chair with a single huff, and stared at the meal suspiciously. Tomato sandwich, tortillas, paella, and a giant pizza.
He surprised himself by remembering the names to all those foods, and for a moment he sat quietly, gawking at the tray. Spain hovered above him.
"Do you not like it? You always liked pizza, and tomato sandwiches, and-" He was cut off as Romano snapped out of his slight reverie and attacked the pizza. And avoided the other samples of food on the tray, and only focused on his pizza. It was completely devoured in less than 5 minutes.
"Wow, Romano! I didn't think you were so hungry! I mean-" Once again, Spain didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Romano bit a huge bite out of the tomato sandwich. It wasn't as good as pizza, but he was so hungry that it would have to do. Once finished, he cleaned the rest of the tray and then leaned back with a content sigh.
"Hey, that paella was for me!" Spain protested, but when Romano shot him a look, he chuckled. "No, you can have it." He regarded Romano with a thoughtful look that made him instantly uncomfortable.
"You know, you do have a cute side to you. Like when you eat." Spain finally declared cheerfully, but his sentence soon ended in a "oomph" as Romano butted his head into his stomach.
"You're the same old Romano." He chuckled.
"Speaking of that... is my name Romano or Lovino, and are you going to tell me what happened to cause this dickish problem?" He demanded, quickly going back to the subject. He needed to know what had happened to him, and find out more about himself to break the wall inside his mind.
"Well, erm." Spain looked uncomfortable. "It wasn't my fault, really, but we were picking tomatoes from the garden, and one rolled out onto the street, so you chased after it, and, erm." Spain paused hesitantly.
"Continue." Romano said curtly, his expression growing sour.
"So, I, er, chased after you because there was a truck coming and you didn't seem to notice. But then I realized that you did notice and was already getting out of the way. But I was running too fast to stop, and, well..."
"Keep going." He urged.
"And I fell ontop of you. Which resulted in your head hitting against the pavement. And then you were unconscious, and I had to call China, who said he was good at medical stuff, and he said you had amnesia, and then you-"
"That's enough." Romano glared at Spain. "So it was really you?"
"Si." He said quietly, his green eyes growing regretful. "I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me..."
Romano didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he sat still, trying to absorb all the new information.
"Well?" He asked Spain expectantly.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to tell me about myself? History, personality, relationship with others, stuff like that, you know. Or are you too much of an idiot to-"
"Oh, si!" At this, Spain instantly brightened up. "First, about the name business... You're the personification of South Italy, and..." Romano listened as Spain droned on and on, and finally grasped the fact that he represented Romano, the southern part of Italy, had a brother who represented Veneziano, the northern part, and Spain was in fact the country of Spain.
"Where is my brother?" Romano asked, trying to pry more information out of the Spainiard.
"He's staying with Germany." Spain explained. "Your brother is part of the Axis Powers. He broke away from Austria when Holy Roman Empire..."
"Wait, so I haven't broken away from you to live by myself? What's up with that, tomato bastard?" He glared at Spain once more.
"Oh, no. It's not that." Spain laughed. "Austria gave me permission to take you when you were smaller, and you did try to unite with your brother, but because of Turkey and France, you're just staying here with me for now." And then Antonio launched into a detailed explanation about Turkey and France trying to take him over.
"Hey, tomato bastard. What makes you think that I'm going to believe you? You don't just expect me to instantly believe every word you say, do you? Even if I did know you before, what if you're not telling me the truth to try and make me turn bad or something?" He pointed out stubbornly.
Spain looked startled. "I wouldn't try to do that to you." He said sincerely, his green eyes locking on Romano's.
Romano had to turn his head to the side to avoid the uncomfortable gaze. He knew that Spain meant good by trying to take care of him, but a small part of him wanted to escape. He didn't hate the Spainiard; he just didn't fancy staying at his house and waiting for his memory to return. He wanted to go find out more about himself and eventually break free of Spain to live his own life, in case his memory never came back.
Suddenly, a bell rang from somewhere downstairs, thankfully breaking the silence. Spain jumped up, hurriedly fixing his uniform, and turned to Romano. "Austria and England are here. They said they wanted to recommend me something, so... wanna come?" He picked up the plate. "Put on that uniform and then come downstairs."
Romano made a face, but obliged. He pulled on the tan khaki uniform, oogled at himself in the mirror, and then followed Spain through his mansion to greet his guests.
Austria leaned back against the comfy sofa in Spain's house. Of course, he still thought that England's fool-proof plan was kinda stupid, but he'd agreed to it already. And if the Brit was right, then bringing the three of them together would save them all from the costs and destruction of war. So now he had followed England to Spain's house so they could discuss Romano and convince him to hire Liechtenstein as a maid.
"Ah, hola!" Spain greeted enthusiastically, and Austria glimpsed a smaller figure behind him. He recognized the scowling face as Romano. He didn't seem much different than normal, but Austria detected the lost and confused look in his eyes when he scanned them warily like he had never seen them before.
"Ciao, bastardo." Came Romano's greeting.
Spain chuckled nervously, tugging Romano down on the couch across from Austria and England. Austria frowned disapprovingly, although he was used to Romano's speech. He just wondered what Spain had been teaching him, and what he was thinking when he had given away Romano in the first place. Oh yes, because he wasn't as hardworking as his brother and rather enjoyed making messes everywhere.
"Hello." England grinned, and Austria felt the ghost of a smile creep on his face. He was just going to let England talk to Spain and get this over with.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Spain inquired, cocking his head to the side curiously.
"Ah, well, we heard about Romano's little accident." England started, and Spain blushed guiltily. Austria didn't miss the glare Romano gave to Spain, and he assumed that somehow, the Italian blamed Antonio for his memory loss. It was probably true, though.
"Um, si." Spain replied. "I've sent for a doctor and he mentioned that this is probably only temporary. I told Romano all the information he needed to know about himself, but he doesn't seem to believe me."
Romano threw another cold glare at Spain.
Austria cleared his throat and watched England continue on. "Well, I think that because you'll be busy for a while helping Romano with this amnesia business, wouldn't you need someone to take care of the mansion?"
Spain tilted his head, deeply in thought for a while, and then his eyes lit up. "Sounds like a good idea! That way, I can spend more time helping Romano and when I have to leave for meetings and whatnot, he wouldn't be alone." Austria detected a slight trace of worry for Romano in Spain's voice. He wondered if Spain didn't trust Romano to be alone. But truthfully, if he was in that position, he wouldn't either. Romano had likely developed a scheme in his mind to get away or to turn the place upside down trying to find more about himself. And also, Spain needed to teach him to restrain some of that language.
"I don't need any maid looking after me!" Romano protested angrily.
"Oh, no. The maid will just be looking after the mansion. After all, it is a very big place, and I do need some help cleaning everyday, too. Not to mention the cooking. And I'll have to call up a few doctors in the next few weeks to check on you and all that stuff. But she can take care of you too, when I'm not there. You'll have company! And Veneziano will visit soon with Germany, so having a maid around to help will be great! Besides, she'll probably become like a friend to us both!" Spain beamed at Romano.
"I don't want company." He glared at Antonio, and turned his green gaze on England. "And who are you to recommend something so completely ridiculous?"
Austria saw England take a sharp intake of breath, and he remined the Brit quietly that Romano really had lost his memory and didn't recall ever meeting him before.
"Ahem." England made a point to ignore Romano. "As I was saying, Spain, would you like me to help you find a decent maid? I have one in mind." At this, he turned to smirk at Austria. Austria, in turn, stared back at England. Was he really going to suggest Liechtenstein outright like that?
"Si! Sure thing!" Spain cheerfully chirped.
"Of course we'll need a hardworking nation, someone who's also friendly and willing to work. And-" England broke off, a faux gleam in his eyes. "Hey! I know who's best suited for the job!"
"Who is it?" Spain leaned forward, and Austria caught Romano looking the slightest bit interested.
"Austria, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" England gave him a look and tried to draw him into the conversation. "Come on, we rehearsed this this morning, remember?" He whispered.
"Yes, I think you should hire..." Austria paused for dramatic effect, just like England had told him to, although he did sound a bit forceful. "You should hire Liechtenstein."
"Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking!" England chuckled, thanking him with his eyes, and turned back to Spain. "Do you think Lilli will be good for the job?"
Spain looked thoughtful, and then a smile broke out. "Si! She's very hardworking and committed, and she's also friendly. Maybe a bit on the shy side, but she's also obidient and not to mention young and pretty."
"Didn't I tell you that I do not need a maid looking after me, you bastard?" Romano snapped. "I'm perfectly fine with taking of myself, thank you very much."
Spain ignored him. "I'm going to visit Liechtenstein's place tomorrow then. I'm going to coax Switzerland in letting me have Liechtenstein for a couple months." He grinned at England and Austria.
Romano screamed.
That night, after a long and heated argument with Spain about how he could manage by himself, Romano went to bed sulking. He didn't need another nation looking after him. He was perfectly fine by himself. He had amnesia, for God's sake, not a disability or anything. But Spain kept insisting that he needed to open up and that a maid would be good around the house and how he hadn't thought about that idea before. The annoying thing was that Spain would keep praising Liechtenstein.
But to tell the truth, Romano also didn't want a maid because he didn't want somebody to order around. He and Spain were perfectly capable of handling things by themselves (although he kept forgetting the way around Spain's giant mansion). Even though he absolutely dispised getting a maid, he knew there was no changing Spain's mind now.
Angry at the Spainiard, who had promised to take care of him until he got back his memory but didn't seem to even listen to him, Romano slammed the door behind him and stalked toward his bed. He stripped out of the uniform and pulled the covers over his head. If only he got his memory back, he would know exactly how to get Spain to listen to him and who the hell Liechtenstein was. But for now, he had to deal.
"It's only for a few months, right?" He told himself, and then slowly fell asleep, clutching onto that faint hope.
Romano opened his eyes to see a meadow, completely shadowed by the night, except for the little flickers of candlelight from the corners. Beautiful, magnificent flowers sprang from the ground, and fresh, green leaves blocked his path. They also disguised him quite well, and from his point of view, he could see a pretty little blonde girl with her hair tied in braids, roughly his age, bending down to fix a few of the candles.
"Ve!" A voice called, and a boy bounded toward her from a hidden path. From behind, Romano noticed that the boy looked slightly similar to him, but he couldn't be sure.
The girl stood up and twirled around, her sapphire blue dress twirling along. "Do you like my dress? Mr. Austria got it for me!" She giggled, and Romano instantly froze. The girl's sweet, tinkling laugh was the most heavenly sound he had ever heard. And although he couldn't see her face, he knew she must have been very pretty.
"Ve! You look beautiful, mia bella!" The boy exclaimed, handing the blonde girl a present. "Buon compleanno!" He smiled. "Happy birthday!" His protruding curl bounced. Just like mine does... Romano thought.
The girl took the wrapped gift carefully and set it on a wooden bench near the side. When she turned back, Romano could see her face clearly. Her green eyes shone in delight, and a natural, rosy blush gave color to her pale face. "Danke." She beamed at him, holding out her hands. "Dance with me? This might be my last birthday here, and... I want to have a good time. Mr. Austria doesn't treat us badly, but I just need my freedom. You understand, right?"
"I understand, ve." The boy said, taking her hands in his. "And I'm coming with you. So is Romano."
Romano? Me? But I don't even know them!
"Speaking of which," The girl said, turning toward the path. "Where is Romano?"
Just as she finished her sentence, a boy who looked completely like him stalked out from the path. "Here. That bastardo Austria and his annoying wife just took away my stash of tomatoes." He scowled at the ground, and then looked up at the blonde girl and the other boy, hands intertwined, and his eyes immediately dropped down to the ground again. Romano gaped at the boy who looked so much like him, and sounded exactly like him, and scowled exactly like him. He watched as the girl tugged her hand from the other boy's, flustered, and walked toward him –the other him-.
"Romano? We're leaving soon, so you won't have to worry about that." She said, smiling gently. "And when we're independent, we could become united, your country and mine, and we can create a pact. That way, we'll always have each other's back. We'll be independent, but we'll always remain best friends. And Mr. Austria and Miss Hungary won't be part of our lives anymore."
Romano –the other one- looked up, and sighed. "I guess so. Here, it's my present to you." He shoved a little box at the pretty girl while avoiding her eyes. Surprisingly, she accepted it with a smile and put a hand under his chin, lifting his face up to look at her.
"Hey, it'll be alright. Just know that whatever we do, we'll always be together. All three of us. Now let's have fun, okay?" She set this present beside the other, and began setting out a neat little picnic on the grass.
Romano, hiding behind the overgrown green leaves, watched as they ate, chatting happily about their future and independence and other stuff. And he wondered about the other "him". And who were these people?
He didn't have long to wonder, though, as a piercing noise interrupted his peaceful dream and his eyes fluttered open.
Ah, my author's note. I'm going on vacation, and I'll be back on Friday. So the next chapter will probably be up next Saturday or Sunday. Sorry for the long wait!
SPOILER ALERT: What did you think of Romano's little dream? It was like a little glimpse into 'what should have been', but of course he doesn't know that. Eventually, Liechtenstein and Italy will begin to have these dreams/visions too.
(Also, this is completely irrelevant, but like I said once, does anyone watch the Euro soccer matches? xD Italy beat Germany and is now facing Spain in the finals! I'm praying for my favorite country to win! Of course, this doesn't have anything to do with Hetalia or this story, but I just feel like ranting a bit... Forza Azzurri!)