When she was little, she was sweet, sensitive and passionate. She saw the beauty in the world. She smiled almost all the time and always let her true feelings show to the world. She was Italy and was showered with affection from Grandpa Rome and taught so many interesting things.
When she got a little brother, she was happier than most people would expect. While she loved Nonno's affections towards her, she needed to recharge and have some alone time every now and then. She loved her little brother. He was adorable, innocent and pure. Sure, he was occasionally an idiot, but he that was because he was extremely naive. And she would do anything to keep him that way. She would make sure he never saw the cruelty of war and vowed he would never be in one. (That failed.)
She wanted to keep him pure and untainted. She worked behind the scenes to make sure he was safe. She was the shadow to his light. Nothing would destroy her little brother's pure heart. He was like a delicate little flower. And she would make sure that he would never be crushed. (She did teach him sword fighting later on after Nonno died just in case she couldn't protect him though.)
When Grandpa Rome took him away, it was ok. He had taught her how to fight and about military strategy and about nature and it was her little brother's time to learn something from him. But other nations didn't see it that way. Though she was the heart and soul of Italy, with the arrival of her fratello, almost everyone seemed to forget that.
They jeered her about amazing her little brother was compared to her. How she was a mistake and the only thing she was good for was her inheritance. She wasn't Italy and didn't have any good points. That she was worthless. Each day it became harder and harder to block out the hurtful words. She knew she was clumsy, awkward, brash, hotheaded, tomboyish, disorganized, tough, foul mouthed, harsh, (she was sweet towards Nonno and her fratello though), lazy if she wasn't interested and wasn't really artistic in the traditional sense, but she had her good points. (Though a small part of her did feel jealous, even to this day, because it did and does sometimes feel like everything she could do her brother could do better)
She knew that Grandpa Rome loved her little brother, who wouldn't? He taught her military strategies, fighting, flora and fauna, how to survive (though she's not good with modern military). She was older, and at the time, his only heir. That's why he taught her that, to make sure she would be safe when he wasn't there to protect her anymore and could take care of herself. Her little brother was too delicate and weak, he would learn how to sculpt and paint and create. Nonno knew she would protect him so he didn't need to learn what he taught her.
She would destroy and stay alive, he would create and be protected by her. He would be the face and inspiration of Italy, and would be thought of as the true personification of Italy, even if it wasn't true. (No offense to her Fratello, but they both know she was the heart and soul, not him.) Even though she knew it was for the best, it still stung, that she would mostly be known as the Italy's big sister, Romana, the name Grandpa gave her, not as Italy and her little brother Veneziano, the name Grandpa gave him or at least as Romana and Veneziano, the Italy siblings or as North and South Italy. But she would be content with working behind the scenes. It was her role in life. She wasn't too fond of the spotlight anyway.
When her brother returned she tried to keep a smile on her face for him. It was hard, but she couldn't let him see her sad. She needed to be strong and hide away pain. If she didn't, they would both break.
With Grandpa Rome dead, many countries wanted their land and would bully them and beat them up. And she wouldn't fight back. She could, but she wouldn't. If they knew she was the strong one, or strong in general, they would target her brother because he was easier to get and then claim her because they knew she would go willingly if they had him. They would also fear her if they knew she could fight as the great Roman Empire's grandchild. They would fear her becoming powerful and do everything they could to keep her from becoming like her grandpa at any means possible, including hurting her precious little brother.
But she would stand in front of her brother and would not let them lay a finger on him though. She would be cut and bruised, but he was safe and that's what mattered to her. And she wouldn't let her brother see anything that happened to her. He already had nightmares because of Grandpa Rome's scars, she would never let him see her hurt or weak. Let him see her scars and pain.
When Austria took them over, she hated him. Seriously, one of the many grandkids of the guy that killed their Grandfather took them over!? It was proof that the universe loved to make people suffer. He was also really snobby and rude and was always looking down at her and insulting her and was cruel to her.
Plus the Austrian was an idiot. Sure she did have really short hair and was pretty rough and brash, and her brother had a very high voice and was quite delicate, but for him to think that she was a boy and her brother was a girl was proof that he was lacking in intellectual properties. Ms. Hungary knew their genders just by looking at them! But she went along with what the Austrian bastard thought because she explained to her that because she was more powerful, it was better for her to pretend to be a boy so countries wouldn't go after her inheritance, thinking she was weak, as much and for her brother to look like a girl so they would leave him alone and not hurt him as much. But she was happy that she was with her precious, adorable little brother. (And she could make sure that Holy Roman Empire would stay away from him.)
Then they were separated.
Despite being athletic and a good fighter (along with being great with nature, a pretty good cook, knowing how to survive and being pretty agricultural, not that she was bragging), she was terribly clumsy. When she tried to clean all she did was make a bigger mess and she tripped all the time. Because she wasn't in her element (the great outdoors), or doing what she was raised to do, most people thought she was more trouble then what she was worth and all that she was worth was her inheritance. God knows how much the Austrian bastard punished her for it.
The Austrian bastard pretty much destroyed her confidence. He was always going on how much better her brother was, how worthless and stupid she was, how there was no reason for her to exist. The confidence and self-esteem that Nonno and her fratello had built up by calling her wonderful, sweet, passionate and warm. How cool and smart she was to them, was smashed into oblivion. She became even more bitter and would sometimes even snap at her brother. A part of her, a small part, but a part of her nothingless, was resentful towards her brother. Perfect little Vene, all sweet,cheerful and talented compared to his useless older sister. She knew it wasn't her brother's fall but she couldn't help but feel bitter and jealous. Every night, when everyone else was asleep, she would cry, cry for hours releasing all her pent up emotions, let the tears flow. After that nobody would she her warm side. She would be kind and polite to certain people, but she wasn't going to let anyone see how she used to be.
After the Austrian finally got fed up with her, the first chance he got, he pawned her off. Seeing her little brother's tears, she remembered all the times she'd been hurt and how each time, it was a boy that was the cause of her and her brother's pain.
Boys (except her brother and Prussia, long story involving play dates when they were younger when their caretakers would hangout and he often came to visit Ms. Hungary and despite him always proclaiming his "awesomeness", he wasn't too bad and she had some respect for him, though she didn't trust him too much, he was part of the Germanic family) couldn't be trusted. They hurt and destroyed and were power hungry savages. As she thought more and more on it in the months before she left, bitterness and hatred started covering her heart. Boys were cruel and ruthless creatures who only wanted blood and treasure. They thought lowly of girls and saw them as objects, play things, and blamed them for all the problems and saw them as weak and helpless sinners that's role in life was to serve them and bear children. That was when she vowed that the only boy that she would trust would be her brother (and occasionally Prussia). And she vowed that she would always hate boys.
The Spainsh Bastard was an idiot.
She had come to that conclusion after being with him for about 30 seconds. He was like the secretly evil, thousand times more cheerful, annoying version of her wonderful little brother. He went on and on about he was her boss now and she was his henchman, blah blah, blah, dumb, useless stuff. He was a boy. All he wanted was her inheritance from Grnadpa Rome and didn't care about her at all. Plus he thought she was a boy and was way too immodest towards her. And every night, when she was completely alone, she would still cry for hours. Missing her brother, missing her Nonno, missing the way things used to be, releasing her pent up emotions.
The only good thing about living with him was Ms. Belgium. Ms. Belgium knew she was a girl and was kind and sweet and would always compliment her and say that she was such a good worker, even though she pretty much destroyed everything she touched. Ms. Belgium would also make her yummy treats and even gave her a pretty pink ribbon to wear when nobody who thought she was a boy was around. Ms. Belgium was like a big sister to her.
When she saw the tomato bastard (her new nickname for him) with a pony tail, she got an idea. She could grow her hair long and people would still think she was a boy. (It was definitely not because the tomato bastard the was starting to grow on her and she thought the pony tail looked totally cool and wanted have something similar to him.)
When the tomato bastard went to the New World, she definitely did not miss him at all. Nope. No way. Not a chance. But she did think she might be getting sick because her chest was starting to hurt and was throbbing. But she wouldn't tell anyone and ignored it. She would not show weakness. She also didn't let anyone see how much it hurt when she found out, in the beginning, the tomato bastard basically begged to trade her for her brother, or sister because apparently everyone here was an idiot when it came to identifying someone's biological sex.
When the tomato bastard returned he commented that she had was grown up so much and was developing nice muscles on her chest from all the work she'd been doing in the garden, she slammed into him. She does not care what anyone says. He had it coming. Her totally being head-butted tomato bastard finally figured out she was girl later. But it was a very awkward and embarrassing way.
He had walked in on her crying. It was only natural for her to cry, she thought she was dying. She was sure of it. When he asked what was wrong and she said that she was dying and the look of fear in his eyes made her think that he almost cared about her. Of course he freaked out and asked how and she told him that she was bleeding 'down there' and gestured to her pants and the blood stain on the front, his eyes widened and he turned bright red and called Ms. Belgium. Ms. Belguim ran up to her, picked her up and congratuled her on becoming a women and, well, told her what was going on.
The tomato bastard acted weirder around her and treated her differently, like she was more fragile than she was before. He gave her lots of dresses and pretty things and never made her do any work. All she really did now was garden and read. He would only let her leave the house or cook or do anything she really used to do with supervision. It was annoying. And while the dresses were nice, she greatly missed her pants.
You really couldn't blame her when she snuck onto his pirate ship (with the help of Ms. Belgium, of course). She needed some adventure and a good fight. While she loved peace and could pretend to be weak and cowardly easily, she was raised to fight. And she also needed some freedom.
The tomato bastard freaked out and practically had a nervous breakdown. It actually pretty amusing to watch as the crew stood there frozen in shock as their 'vicious, ruthless and cruel' Captain freaked out over a "weak and helpless" little girl. But then she head-butted him and told him to shut up. Then he became his usual overly cheerful and doting self and she was pretty sure the crew lost their souls at the sight. She almost wet herself from trying not laugh at them.
She did get some pretty good adventure and lots of good fights. Though she's pretty sure that the tomato bastard and his crew might of lost their souls mutiple times seeing her fight. She actually made a friend on one of the adventures, when the tomato bastard was fighting the eyebrow bastard, she met a boy physically her age who was also a colony. His name was America, and he was pretty nice and reminded her of her brother because he was always smiling, cheerful and kind. And she never got into trouble when she got back to the tomato bastard's house because the tomato bastard didn't have the heart to punish her. Plus Ms. Belguim threatened him not to do anything to her.
After many, many, many years later. She was finally reunited with her little brother. She had visited him many times, but it was only for a few hours and then she would have to leave again.
She'll never admit it, but she was actually kinda of sad when she got her independence. The tomato bastard had grown on her and she would never tell anyone, but she did care about him. Plus it was nice to sit and not have a care in the world every now and then. But she knew she had to leave. It was her job as a country to reunite with her brother and unify Italy. (She had even got a new little brother due to some idiots mistake!)
Her brother was adorable as ever. Still a happy, cheerful smile on that sweet, innocent face, his eyes shut in a general, blissful way. They could now prosper their country and hopefully avoid war. Like, Switzerland, neutral.
When the Industrial Revolution came along, she really coudn't keep up. She was old-fashioned, more rural and was a farmer. She couldn't help but feel incompetent to her fratellino, who was thriving splendidly. Plus her brother's boss kept taxing her on everything, from a single tomato to the tiniest fish. Many of her people were incredibly poor, including herself and all the taxes did not improve the situation. She was always distrustful of outsiders, but this made her even more distrustful. Plus being apart so long made it more difficult for her and her brother to cooperate and live together. And her brother's government insulting her and telling everyone how much better her brother was didn't help.
When she heard about all the opportunities in America, she decided to go and became an immigrant at America's house (she already knew him personally from when they were younger) and lived with him for a while, mostly cooking for him, gardening and doing odd jobs for him, hoping she become more modern. The mafia had followed her there unfortunately and it was also kinda of tough to adjust to the completely different culture and values. After the Great War, she got a new boss and moved back in with her brother and they were happy. Though she was still distrustful of the government.
Then Germany came along.
She couldn't help but hate him. And she showed it. He looked just like the boy who smashed her cute little brother's heart. Her brother had cried for days after Holy Rome had disappeared. She never wanted to see him like that again. He was also related to the one who killed their Nonno, and the Austrian bastard. (He was also related to Prussia though, whom she actually respected and had a decent relationship with, so despite hating him, she allowed her brother to have contact with him. That was a terrible mistake. )
When her brother joined WW2, she went along with it. Her brother seemed very determined and she couldn't say no to him. Plus, this could make them powerful and make Grandpa Rome proud. She was in charge of the military at the time and made sure that invasions went well at first. But it was difficult because she was extremely old-fashioned in her military techniques compared to everyone else, so it was a strange combination of easy yet difficult.
She later realized that WW2 was going to be a disaster. And she had to do the toughest thing possible: Betray her brother to protect him. She made sure that the army was useless most of the time, hoping that they could just surrender.
She later went to the Allies and joined them while her brother was still under Germany's control and remained part of the Axis. (She had connections with America because of when she basically lived with him). In exchange, her brother would not be punished as harshly as Germany and Japan. He would still be punished, but not as harsh or brutal. She felt no mercy for Germany, except for the fact that Prussia, who was now East Germany, had fallen under Soviet control, but she did feel bad for Japan, because she honestly kinda liked him. And they promised not to tell anyone how strong she really was, when she wanted to be.
But she still felt guilty and couldn't face her brother. She had turned against him, betrayed him. Family was supposed to stick together and help each other out, even if the cause is bleak and hopeless. And she hadn't honored that.
So she went to the only place she knew she would be welcomed and she could vent. Spain's house. But for some reason the second he opened the door she start sobbing. He said nothing and just hugged her.
After she finally calmed down and her eyes were no longer red, she explained what happened. All he did was listen and comfort her. When she fell asleep on his shoulder, he didn't. He just spent the whole night holding her like he did when she was little and had a nightmare.
They grew closer and eventually he asked her out and she said yes. She couldn't help but feel happy. She was with someone who cared about her and she cared about him. And her brother loved Spain and completely approved of the relationship. She was happy again, even if she did come off as cold, hostile and unfriendly to most. She made some new friends, and even though they seemed like an odd group, she related too and got along with. (She also maintained a decent friendship with Prussia, America, and other nations.)
So we have Fem! Romano's point of view on this! I definitely added some more to this chapter and got some extra information from an Italian immigrant show I was watching. I do have to admit I do prefer South Italy to North (maybe because I'm biased and my family's from South Italy) but I can relate to him better and he seems more deep to me. I still love Veneziano though, don't get me wrong.