No one had ever seen a nation disappear before. Granted no one's ever wanted another nation to disappear and the times they died… no, ceased to exist, were hardly times that warranted audiences. In battle. Always. Always in battle and in the midst of all those humans you could never tell when it was a country that had fallen. What was the difference between the personification and one of its people? They blended in so well after all.

"F-Fratello? D-Do you think Holy Roman Empire would g-get mad if instead of waiting… I-I came to him?"

And maybe that was a good thing.

"Veniciano… w-what did you…?"

Even if they were simply embodied personifications of their countries, they could still feel… oh how they could feel. A plethora of emotions were doing a great number on the Southern half of Italy. Surprise. Confusion. Shock. More surprise. More confusion. More shock. Incredulity. Disbelief. Weren't those two the same thing? He couldn't tell anymore. Everything was just building up and combining, choking him, blanking his mind. Red. Red. Red.

"I heard what boss said v-ve." He choked on his verbal tic. That has never, ever happened before. Veniciano smiled at him, that stupid idiotic smile and for once his eyes were actually open. Deep chocolate brown stared up at him with what they always did; adoration. "I knew what you w-would do."

"I-Idiot." Romano couldn't move. His mind refused to wrap itself around what he was refusing to believe he was seeing. There was so much blood. "Y-You are such… such an idiot!"

"Ti amo fratello. Take c-care of Italy."

"Bastard." Romano was the first to not only witness a nation's death, but he was the first to find out that they didn't really disappear. "That's what I tried to do."

Veniciano lay in his arms, pale, cold and unmoving. It was wrong. So very wrong. He was supposed to be the happy, annoyingly bubbly one. He was supposed to force feed people pasta and convince them of world peace. He was supposed to be the one to smile all the God damn time. He was the half of Italy that saw light in the darkest shittiest parts of their country.

Untainted. Unstained of the horrors his brother had witnessed. The harsh realities that Romano had tried to keep him from his darling baby brother.

"I swear that's what I tried to do."

Veniciano was supposed to be the one that stayed.

"T-Ti Amo… Ti Amo… I love you so much stupid… i-idiota! Idiota! Cazzo!"

Romano had failed.

Time passed differently for a nation. Days could go by without them realizing. Years could pass without them noticing. Romano wondered for how long he had sat there, Veniciano in his arms. He refused… he couldn't believe that his brother was gone. Until his body was there, Veniciano was not gone. He couldn't be… because he was right there.

In his arms. He wasn't moving but… for a moment… Romano could… Sleeping.

Yes, Veniciano was sleeping. Just sleeping.

Until Spain came over and begged to differ.

"Romanito? Roma? Come out come out wherever … Ro-Roma…?"

He hoped Veniciano was having nice dreams.

"Romano? Romano what happened? Are you okay?"

Or maybe a nightmare would be all right too.

"Romano? Romano answer me!"

Then maybe… maybe Veniciano would wake up.

"Romano?!"

Wake up. Please.

Spain stumbled as he entered the room, much like how Romano did when… when was it? How long… Doesn't matter. Nothing mattered.

"Roma? Look at me." Warmth. He hadn't felt that in a while. It was… cold in the room, and neither he nor Veniciano had blankets so it only made sense that they were cold too. Rough palms cupped his cheeks, forcing him to stare into concerned pools of shining emerald.

"Spain." Of course it would be him. Who else would come to Romano's home? No one. Maybe Belgium. But she was busy. Maybe Prussia. Nah, he was busy- and the bastard didn't even have a country anymore. Ha!

"You with me mi tomate?" Spain breathed out in relief. "Are you all right? I… there's so much blood! No one's seen you for days!"

Oh… days? It's… it's only been days? Really?

Romano shook his head and tried to get away from Spain. If it had only been a few days then Veniciano could definitely wake up at any time. He had to make sure that he would be what his idiotic fratello would see first! His mind ran through everything he wanted to tell Veniciano, making sure not to miss anything.

"I love you." He would whisper.

"How could you do that?" He would ask.

"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiotidiotidiot." Idiot.

"It wasn't supposed to be fucking you. It was supposed to be me." Stupidstupidstupid.

"I have nothing to lose dammit! You on the other hand have a lot!"

"I'm s-sorry. I-! I-! I'm you're b-big brother! I'm supposed to do the protecting, not you!"

And he wondered if he would cry. Would it be too much for Veniciano when he just woke up and all?

"Romano…"

The Southern half of Italy sniffed and just then realized that there were tears falling down his face. Okay… he would cry now so when Veniciano wakes up he'd be all out of tears. Good plan. Good plan.

"Romano can I have a look at Veniciano?"

Spain tried to move his little brother from his arms.

"R-Roma-!"

Bad move.

AN: I had an insane urge to read Dark!Hetalia the other day but wound up not seeing much. After talking a bit with a friend I decided to write a fic with Dark!Romano. So far, it isn't that dark yet but I'm expecting gore to be big on this, at least I want it to be.

Do you guys have any suggestions on fics I could read though? I really want to read Dark!Hetalia XD

And thoughts on this. Prologue is short but it'll get longer.

Nique