Chapter 14

The next few days were tough, but they finally made it to the lower Baltic area. Around them, trees leaned over in silence. Every town around them was destroyed. Heat emanated from the ground, a soft heat that did not match the scorching heat of the sun in the south.

Hungary cracked her knuckles. "Well, here we are. Just have to make it up here and we'll be in FInland. I heard there are camps there for refugees, but it's only a rumor. A nation in as much danger as Finland can only take so many people."

"He also had Sweden's lands, doesn't he?" Sadik pointed out.

"That is a rumor too. Nobody knows about Sweden Finland won't say anything, whether it be to protect the Swede or as his only way to keep holding on. Either way, we'll find out soon, won't we?" Hungary looked at the two men. "Honestly, I wanted to scout out Siberia and see if I can bring my people there, but I know Russia is still alive, and I fear running into him. I will not be the cause of another war. I'll look in Finland first, and only if it is uninhabitable for my people will I go to Russia."

"I am one man. Finland should let me in," Sadik replied.

"Maybe. You forget how strong those countries are up there. They were vikings once, and if they are called to do so again, they will. FInland is not to be trifled with," Hungary warned.

Sadik laughed. "Finland wasn't a viking though!"

"But he was as strong as one."

Sadik nodded. "I can help him. If he is truly alone, he will not turn another nation away, especially one who has lost his land, right, Lovino?"

Lovino just shrugged.

Hungary said, "I'm just warning you that he might not be as nice as you make him out to be."

"And we will only learn if we go there and see for ourselves."

"I know. And that is why I am going there first." Hungary glared at Sadik and began walking. "Follow me or go your own way: it's your choice."

Sadik followed, and so did Lovino. The two trekked through the sparse woodlands along the coast. Hungary commented: "This is probably almost to Russia's original territory. So much land has been taken away that almost all of the Baltics are underwater. Those poor fellows…"

After that, the journey continued in silence. They slept by night and walked by day. During the second day up the Baltics, Lovino approached Elizabeta. "Hey. Do you know if Spain is alive?"

"Excuse me?" Hungary was taken aback by the Italian's first words the whole journey up the coast.

"I said is Spain alive?" Lovino huffed. "Idiota..."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't heard from him," Hungary lied. Lovino scowled and fell silent.

That was the last she heard from him that day, but the next day he came back.

"Do you know about Spain yet?"

"No."

It happened over and over again for a week, and each time she said "no," Lovino fell further and further back.

Finally, she spoke up. "Why do you keep asking, Lovino? My answer never changes. I never learn anything new."

"But you can stop lying."

Hungary stumbled. "...What?"

"I heard you. Antonio is dead."

"Where-"

"Stop it. You and Sadik were talking when you first got here, and I was still awake. I heard you," Lovino's voice was rising, growing more and more panicky by the second. "You said he was dead and you saw him! You watched him die!"

"Lovino..."

"Stop filling me with empty hope, lady! The only people who ever cared about me are gone, and I'm stuck with you two shits! Don't make me feel any worse!" Lovino stopped walking now. Hungary and Sadik turned to face him.

"What do you mean, little brother?" Sadik took a step toward him.

Lovino stepped back. "Don't come near me. You've only ever tried to hurt me. Get away; I don't need you."

"But it's different now..." Sadik watched him. "We aren't here to conquer land."

"Because that's all I am. Land," Lovino spat. "Then I guess I'm not much use to you anymore."

Lovino ran. He ran like there was no tomorrow, like all the armies in the world were chasing him. He ran faster than his brother ever could, but he cried like Feliciano would do if he caught wind of a British soldier.

Gone. Everyone was gone. He was alone now.

Lovino could hear the voices calling after him in the distance, but he didn't care. Those bastards could rot in hell, and he would keep on running. Running until he ran out of air. Until he found a place to go.

Lovino thought about Italy. He thought about Spain, but he couldn't shake Italy from his mind. Every night, he heard the Italian wandering the forest and shouting for Germany.

"Germany! Germany! Where are you? Germany, I need you! Where are you, Germany?" It sickened Lovino. His own brother, the only person he could truly trust, betrayed him and cared about some other man. Germany was nothing but a pile of potatoes. He was nothing. Then again, he was more than Lovino would ever be. Lovino was less than nothing. He was just a plaything that people kicked about until he was too much for them to handle. Then they would throw him away and ignore him. Just like Spain.

Antonio did that to him. He pretended to care, then he threw Lovino away and fought for the other side. Feliciano always told him he was forced to do that because of some contract and all the spies in his country that would blow him up the moment he turned, but Lovino knew Antonio was selfish and did it for himself. He knew Russia would win, not at what costs, but he knew. He knew that side would win and it would be his best chance to continue living a comfortable life with all the tomatoes he wanted. What the bastard didn't know was that if he fought for the other side, then maybe he would still be alive. Or the first to die… Maybe those bombs would have been used up before they could hit Italy, before they could destroy his capital and tear his nationhood away from him.

Lovino always remembered the bombs. He never forgot the fire raining down on the city of Rome and swiping it out in one large swoop. That was when the world could still watch. Lovino was fighting in the Mediterranean alongside Malta during her fall when it happened. They looked around and saw it all on the horizon. He heard the screams, felt them too. And he never forgot them. They came to him in the night, interrupting his sleep. He screamed at first with them, but as the months passed, he got used to it and managed to wake up in silence. But the screams still echoed. His people were always dying in his mind.

Lovino was standing alongside Malta when it happened. She held a huge grin on her face as she blasted the Turks to hell, but Romano could not enjoy it with her. Deep in the pit of his stomach, he felt like something was off. He took a step back and ducked as bullets whizzed past him. The moment he turned around and saw, he felt it. His capital.

Even Malta had to stop her firing when she saw the column of fire and smoke fill the horizon. "Romano!" she shouted. Romano fell to his knees.

"Damn, it's my capital…" He clutched his chest and forced himself to his feet. His vision grew dark as pain spiked up his spine and into his head. His nails dug into his fingers and toes, and tears streamed out of his eyes, leaving them dry within moments. Then he coughed and found himself unable to stop. Soon he couldn't even breathe. His lungs tightened as he gasped and fell over. Malta waved over his military officials.

"Do something!" She screamed. "Take him to a hospital! Get his breathing stabilized and watch him. His capital fell, and if you don't do something about it now, if you don't save your country, he will die!"

That was the last time he saw her. Romano vaguely remembered being lifted onto a cot and carried to a hospital, then flown away shortly after. He fell into a half-sleep where he could never quite wake up, but he caught most of what was going on around him. In the front of the plane, the pilot was conversing with someone on the other end of the radio.

He caught a few of the words. "Sir, there is another plane approaching Malta as we speak. She was far out of our way. We are safe, but she was large. I think it's a bomb."

The man on the other end of the radio garbled something Romano could not make out.

"Yes, sir. We will land on Sicily."

More garbled noises.

"Ah, yes-" The man was cut off by a loud blast. Romano hoisted himself up and looked out the window. Out the back, he could see another mushroom cloud fill the ocean, right where Malta was.

"Sir, Malta was just hit with another atomic bomb. We need to evacuate our troops!…But, sir... Yes, I understand. We will land on Sicily." Romano couldn't hear anymore of the conversing because he felt another tear of pain rip through him. Venice.

"Veniziano!"

Lovino almost could not run anymore. He couldn't hear Hungary and Sadik shouting after him, so he allowed himself to slow down for a moment. The trees were a little thicker here with the occasional spot of green near the tree tops. This place must not have been hit, he mused.

He kept walking through the forest until the sky grew dark and the sun set over the horizon. I'll have to find a cave or something soon, he thought as he pushed through some more bushes.

Then he saw it. The cave. Only a few meters in front of him, a cave hid among the plants, sliding down into the ground a few feet then disappearing into the rock face beyond it. Lovino nearly leapt with joy. He grabbed a few dry sticks and ran inside. If I have a fire going, then no animal will try to share the space with me!

But when he got inside, he dropped the sticks. He was not alone. Already, someone had claimed this cave. And it was not someone he wanted to see.

"Germany…" Lovino whispered, his eyes narrowing.

The tall German turned around. "Romano."

"Bastard. Where is Feliciano?" Lovino shouted. He had expected his brother to come out of nowhere and cling to Germany's arm, but instead, Germany lashed out at him.

"Shut up!" His eyes widened with something Lovino had never seen in the German before.

"Why?" Lovino countered.

Germany glanced behind his shoulder, then whispered, "Get out now."

Before Lovino could say anything else, he saw it, well, him. Russia. He cringed and scrambled back, but for every step he took, Russia took two. Within moments, the great Russian power was right in front of him.

"What brings someone like you up here?" Russia asked.

Lovino cowered, "I was l- looking for Fe- Italy… I was looking for Italy."

"And why would you look here, in my lands?"

"I thought he would be with Germany, a… and Germany is north of me… I may have gone a little too far…"

"I don't think you'll be finding any Italies here, Romano, or should I say Lovino?" Russia chuckled.

Lovino scowled. "You bastard."

"That's not very nice, Lovino. Why would you say something like that to me? I was only helping you."

God, that creepy smile.

"That isn't helping."

"You're country wasn't good anymore, and it is my job to take care of that. General Winter told me to, da?" A cold wind stirred in the cave, and Lovino shivered. He hadn't felt anything that wasn't blazing heat since before he was bombed.

"You followed the advice of some wind? God, you're stupid! It was probably telling you to fix global warming!"

"You are very smart, Lovino! That's exactly what he was telling me!"

"So you killed more than half the world's population? You killed your own men!"

"Humans were the problem."

"And we have to fix them, not kill them."

"But killing them is the only way."

"No, it isn't! It's cruel, and you are trying to play the role of God!" Lovino shrieked. "Bastard!"

"Lovino, cut it out," Germany warned from several meters away.

Russia's face darkened. "What did I tell you about talking?"

Germany flinched and didn't speak. What happened?! Shit, if Germany is scared, I really shouldn't be here. Lovino looked back at the exit. But it's still dark… It's too dangerous to make a run for it.

"Don't run, little Italian. Something might eat you up," Russia smiled and pinched Lovino's cheeks. "You can stay here tonight. Then you can run off in the morning and never come on my land again…"

Lovino nodded.

"Good, now sleep up here by the fire and I will go back to my area. Do not leave the light of the fire or you'll be where the rest of your men are. Доброй ночи!" RUssia slunk out of view, leaving Lovino and Germany alone. After several minutes passed, Germany whispered, "You can talk now. He's far enough away he can't hear."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"I haven't seen anyone in months," Germany continued like nothing had happened. "Toris died last winter, and the other Baltics didn't make it through the war. Belarus was supposed to come join us, but she never showed up. Russia is still convinced she will come. He's completely off his rocker."

"He was never on it to begin with," Lovino snapped.

Germany nodded. "But he wants her to come. He isn't scared of her anymore."

"I doubt that."

Germany hesitated. "Lovino…"

"What is it?" Lovino glared at the German, who was facing away with his back to the fire.

"Is Feliciano really dead?"

"You haven't seen him?" Lovino hissed. "He was coming to you! You were supposed to take care of him, bastard! Why didn't you take care of my little brother? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Be quiet!" Germany whirled around. "I have not been able to leave this cage. I have never seen him."

Lovino screwed his eyes shut. "You were supposed to find him. He's been gone for weeks."

"Feliciano can run. He might be okay," Germany murmured.

Lovino laughed. "The sun poisoning would have killed him. I don't know what it's like up here, but down in Italy and most of Europe, it is too hot and the sun too strong to go outside without burning or being poisoned and slowly killed. Hungary saw Antonio die from it, and Sadik told stories about Greece. Feliciano is dead."

"No, he isn't."

"Yes, he is! I can feel it."

"You're not a nation anymore. You can't feel that magic. You lost it."

"Then why can I feel his absence and the pain from when he left? I know he is dead! One of us must still have Italy left in him, because I felt it. If Feliciano was alive, I would know."

"It feels like Prussia is dead."

"He's been dead since the beginning of the war, that's why."

Germany shook his head.

"You're nuts. I'm leaving in the morning. Have fun staying here with Russia."

"I'll go with you. First light."

"I don't want you with me."

"We can find Italy."

"I told you he is dead."

"And I can finally leave this godforsaken place. Russia has kept me here too long. He is alone and insane, and if I stay any longer, I'll end up like him."

"We don't need that again," Lovino humphed.

Germany closed his eyes. "Don't sleep. If you do, you won't wake up in time. Russia is an early riser, and we must move fast. If he catches me leaving he'll kill both of us.

Lovino didn't reply for a long time. "You're different, Germany."

"It's Ludwig, and I know. The war has changed us all."