In My Time of Life ~*~ Prologue

The man ran as fast as he could in the dead of night. The lights of the beautiful city of Venice lightly glowed, giving a soft eerie feeling. The roads were clear and a bit damp, though the footsteps of the man echoed, piercing into the dead silence of the city. As he ran down the streets, he constantly checked the two young children in each of his arms, both dressed in dark cloaks, fast asleep. He increased his speed, quickly making a turn into an ally that would lead him to a beautiful, almost hidden, park. Scattered about were a few benches and a gazebo, surrounded by flowers of different colors and species. The trees softly moved, a quiet whistle of the wind gently flowing through them. The man entered, frantically twisting his head around, searching for a specific spot. A minute later he found his target and started to run in the direction of an old, large olive tree.

Not much to the man's surprise, two other men were waiting, hidden somewhat by the leaves of the tree. Both of them instantly turned around, hearing the man approaching them, and rushed over to meet him halfway. The one on the left had curly brown locks of hair with light green eyes. His tanned skin shined out underneath the dimly lit area from his dark-colored clothing. Next to him was a man also dressed darkly, making his pale complexion shine out. That man had violet eyes hidden by glasses with dark auburn-colored hair.

The man holding the children was huffing and puffing as he reached the two men before him, trying to regain control of his breathing.

"Huff… Huff… Thank…Thank goodness!" he said as he fell to his knees, both children still slumbering in his arms. The man with the curly hair slowly helped him back up. "Thank… Thank you, Antonio. Glad you two made it to the meeting place in time. But…" he gave a deep sigh and looked at the two before him, his eyes watery.

"I couldn't save them… My son and his wife, they are dead." he said as the men flinched at the news. "These two… my nipote… they aren't safe here in Italy right now. Not with those guys about trying to kill them and myself."

"So… what you are asking us to do is…?" questioned the one with glasses. The older man looked down, gave an endearing smile to the children in his arms, quietly taking off their hoods to reveal two beautiful little girls. He gave them each a quick kiss to the forehead before turning his attention back to the men with a serious face, his honey brown eyes focused and determined.

"I want you, Roderich and Antonio, to take care of them. I can only trust you, my friends. I can't take care of them, since they'll probably try to find and kill me first and I have no other family left to leave them with. Please, I beg of you… take them into your respective houses. I have money that I've saved up for you to use; it's in the girl's pockets. They need to separate and they need to be out of Italy. I don't know if, or when, it'll be safe for them to return. It'll be harder for them to find the girls if they are out of the country and living with no relatives, which I pray to God they don't, and come after me instead."

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and Roderich Edelstein gave each other a quick nod. Smiling, Antonio said "We agreed to this since a long time ago in case an emergency happened, and we're not going to back out on our agreement, Romulus. We promise to take good care of your grandchildren. We'll also make sure they meet up and stay in contact, probably during the holidays or sometime. You have nothing to worry about."

Roderich said, "I promise as well, though I will not take bad mannerisms into my home."

The grandfather laughed quietly. "Of course, of course. They are both fine children, as you know. Then, it would be better for you to take Feliciana." He indicated to the girl in his right arm. Roderich reached out and tenderly picked her up. She had light olive toned skin, short auburn hair, and soft dimples on her cheeks.

Romulus smiled for a second and then turned to Antonio, giving him his other grandchild. This child had a slightly darker skin tone than her sister and was bigger in size. She had brown hair that covered most of her face, but she had a soft look as she continued to sleep peacefully. Antonio smiled gently down on the child.

"Lovina on the other hand… she's much wilder compared to Feli. And she knows quite a few colorful words! Still not sure where she learned them from… but I'm positive that your charm would help melt her down a bit. You're going to be a great influence on her, even if she denies it. I just know, ha ha!"

Antonio laughed lightly along with him. "I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!"

Giving both his girls one more kiss on the cheek and a nod to each of the men, Romulus stood straight up. "Take care of them." He turned and ran out of the park, his figure fading into the distance. Roderich and Antonio turned towards one another.

"We must act quickly. While it is unsafe for him to be about, it is also unsafe for us and the children." Roderich said. "We'll talk on the phone later, once we are each home." Antonio nodded. They both said a heartfelt farewell as friends should, and went in opposite directions from the park, both concerned for the grandfather and the children in their arms.

Meanwhile in an unknown location in Southern Italy…

"Boss, I've come to report that the target has been annihilated." Said a man in a dark maroon-colored shirt and a pair of black slacks, his long brown hair tied back in a low ponytail. He was in a dim, dusky room, the only source of light coming from the closed blinds in front of the windows. An old oak desk was in front of it, and seated at the desk facing the windows was another man.

"Good. Have all targets have been annihilated, Pablo?" the man asked. Pablo fidgeted.

"Uh… unfortunately… no, boss. Our main target, Veneciano and Rosabela Vargas, has. The other family members… survived… and we don't know where they are at…" Pablo waited for his boss to make a move, shivering as he stood still.

His boss was silent. After a few minutes, the man turned around in his chair, his eyes a dark, sinister plum color.

"I wanted them all dead, Pablo! How could such a mission fail? It was only arson, something so simple a child could do it! I want them dead! Starting with old mafia head, Romulus. We can always get his grandchildren later, da?"

Pablo nodded and scurried out of the room as fast as he could before his boss decided to kill him for the news. The man stayed in his chair, unhappy with this revelation. Not happy at all. His minions were supposed to clean away the entire state, living and non-living! That man had to die! "Pablo shall be punished later." The man thought, a smile that was far from a child's smile plastered upon his face as a new plan of attack formed in his mind. Well, he always did like a challenge.

*A/N: So how is it so far? This is my first full multi-chapter fanfiction! I'm trying to better my writing by writing this, so talk to me about things that I could better or improve, or anything really! And I don't have a buddy who speaks any of the added languages in this, so if I mess up on something translation-wise, please please please let me know!

On another note, the rating is because of Lovi's bad mouth (as usual XD) and future violence, but that's way ahead~

Next chapter is going to start on little Feli and her life at Roderich's house.

Translations: (If I am wrong in any of these, please correct me!)

Italian: "nipote" - "grandchildren/grandchild"

Russian: "da" - "right"

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or any of the characters.