Wh-what are you guys doing?!
Italy, please, you have to understand!
It hurts! It hurts! Stop!
It's for the best!
I'm scared! Please! Please, stop!
Germany winced, his legs kicking out instinctually from being jerked out of his nightmare. He shivered lightly from the morning air, a horrid acidic taste of flesh festering in his mouth from the night before.
"Germany-san... Germany-san, wake up."
"Eurrgh.." Germany grunted, coiling into himself in wanting to just block out his ally. At the moment, he wanted nothing to do with him. He wanted to just be alone. After what they did… he didn't deserve to be talked to, to have any attention, to—
"Germany-san! Please, wake up!"
Reluctantly, he pried his eyes open, flinching at the bright light of the tropical sun before looking up to his distressed ally. "What is it…?" he asked in a groggy voice, still trying to wake up.
Japan bit his lip, seeming at a loss of words now that he had his attention. He looked back over his shoulder for a moment before back at Germany, his mouth hanging ajar in wanting to speak.
"Spit it out!"
"H-He… Italy, he's.." Japan tried saying, looking even more panicked as he tried to put the words together in his head. Germany stared at him for a moment before he looked down, his brows furrowing. That's right, Japan was practically an old man, he must have a hard time maintaining his memories.
"…Yes, yes I know, Italy is dead. If you can remember, you and I killed him last night. We… drowned and.. ate him like animals." He admitted, clenching his hands into tight fists at even having to think back on that awful, awful night. "But.. it will be all right. As long as we give him enough space and access to air and water, he'll regenerate back to normal in a day or so."
"But that is the thing! Italy-kun is gone!"
Germany's head shot straight up, pausing for a moment as the information processed before looking to the even more distressed man with wide eyes. "…what do you mean he's gone?"
"He was right here last night! Now his body is gone!" The raven haired man pushed himself to his feet and went over to a small indent in the damp sand, specks of red barely visible on it.
"But that's impossible!" Germany scrambled to his feet and ran over to the spot in question, inspecting it in pure confusion and horror that their friend's corpse was missing. "I was there when he passed, there was no way he could come back to life so soon!" The two searched the spot vigorously, looking for any footsteps or any sign of movement from the body at all. But nothing turned up.
"This is impossible." Japan reiterated for the German, rubbing his lightly red tinted arms in confusion. "If there were any footsteps, it was probably washed out by the tide-"
At the same time, both men looked to each other at the sudden realization.
Since they put him near the water, the oceans tide had washed the corpse out to sea.
"No... noo... NOOOO!" Germany screamed, turning around almost fast enough to trip over his own feet before running into the ocean's waves. Japan was quick on his heels, reaching out and grabbing him as he ended up waist deep in the tide.
"Germany-san! Calm down!"
"ITALIEN! ITALIEN!" Germany screamed, trying to yank himself out of Japan's grip to get into the ocean, determined to search though its entirety to find the corpse of his best friend. When he tried to yank enough times however, he suddenly found his head shoved under the surface of the water. A few air bubbles escaped out of surprise before he was brought back up by a fistful of hair. Once he regained his eyesight, he realized he was staring into the dark abyss of Japan's eyes, the light of tears in them shining like sky against the vast amount of darkness.
"Germany-san.. we are in no position to save him. We would only be making it worse by endangering our own lives."
"B-but…" The blonde stammered, finding it harder to speak with all of this stress and panic whirling around in his head. "He won't come back to life… he'll be dead for who knows how long! We can't let him just let his body rot in there!"
"You must calm down. He won't rot away; he will stay the same down there." Japan said, trying to keep his voice stable enough to be smooth and calm so he could set the example between them. "When we are home, we will send out a search party to find his body. But for now, we must focus on our survival. Right now, we only have enough strength to stave off the Allies only barely if they were to attack us. We—"
"Let them attack us!" Germany suddenly barked, seemingly unaware of his chin trembling so harshly. "We… I killed my best friend! My ally! I don't deserve to keep being out here! Let them capture me! Let them torture me! Let them kill me! I should have been eaten! I… I-I…" he trailed off from there, finally giving up and letting out a sob, slowly crumbling into the water below them.
Japan jumped lightly as the other sobbed, almost catching him off guard. Even when they were doing the procedure, not once had he acted out like this. He may have shed one or two tears but that was it. It must have been extremely hard for him.
"Ssh, ssh." He hushed lightly, taking the larger man by his side and leading him back onto land. He let them both sit down by the fire pit, waiting for Germany to let whatever grief or mourning cries he had left get out of his system. However, no more came out. "It will be all right, Germany-san. We have to prevail, for him."
At that point, Germany couldn't even make a dignified response, just being left there to shake from the unbelievable amount of stress and guilt weighted on his shoulders. Along with him also trying to keep back any sobbing he wanted to do.
It was all his fault… it was all his fault… it was—
"AH HA HA HA HA~"