(( The last chapter! Chapter 4! It's going to be quite interesting. I hope that you all enjoy it!

Pardon me for saying so, but I would truly appreciate it if you dropped a review my way, even if it's short. This is probably one of the stories that I put the most effort into, and I would really love to hear what you all have to say about it. If you have the spare time, thank you very much!

Well, let's get it started already! Onwards! And thank you for being great readers!

Chapter 4, commence! ))

:::

Italy lay in bed quietly the next morning, just staring at Ludwig as he slept. He was resting quite peacefully, his face not flushed with fever anymore. It must have broken during the night.

Though, yesterday's events ran through Veneciano's mind incessantly, reviewing over all the turmoil that had taken place. He knew that things would be different now. There was no avoiding the conflict that Prussia would probably stir up, and how the other nations would handle the fact that Germany was once Holy Roman Empire.

Yet at the same time, he felt warm. Not just from being so physically close to the man, but from knowing that his beloved Holy Roman Empire was alive and well. There was often a time when Veneciano would stop to think about his first love. He would wonder what happened, and if he was okay. And if he still loved his Chibitalia. He did wonder if the pushy boy was going to come back to him, or if he even wanted to. Italy was sure to shake away that insecurity, feeling bad for doubting Holy Roman Empire.

At the same time, Veneciano felt a little bit mixed over Germany and Holy Roman Empire being the same. He did love Holy Roman Empire. And Germany was secretly really special to him. He just didn't know if he should like one or the other. It made him happy that they were the same person, but it was strange how different they could be. Did Ludwig just recover his memories, or did he now have two personalities?

He thought to himself for a while, then realized something. Veneciano wiggled a bit upwards so his head was higher up on the pillow. He noted with glee that it seemed that Ludwig was shorter than him, looking down at his sleeping face. Feeling a bit more peaceful now, he lifted his head a bit to kiss Germany on the cheek. Laying in bed, the wall of 8cm was gone.

Though, he felt a bit bad for taking advantage of the situation as he saw the other's eyes slowly open. He didn't mean to wake him up…

Veneciano watched Germany with a smile as he squinted a bit from the morning light let in through the window. He looked a bit tired from just waking up, but his overall condition had seemed to improve.

"Italy…" he started to say while looking a little displeased. Ludwig then looked around the room. "I'm… not at home?"

Veneciano's expression turned into puzzlement. "Of course not, silly."

His guest sat up, holding a hand to his head. He swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up, realizing that he was in his clothes for resting. Italy watched him quietly as he left the room. In suspicion, the Italian went to follow him, being led to the bathroom. He stood in the doorway as Germany washed his face.

"Um… Holy Roman Empire… About last night," he started to say, wondering what they would do about Gilbert.

Ludwig's attention snapped back up to his host, looking a bit confused. "What was that?" he asked.

"What?"

"What you called me."

Italy suddenly felt a heavy lurch in his chest. No… It couldn't be… "Holy Roman Empire," he quietly said, with a hint of begging and fear in his tone.

Germany raised an eyebrow at him quizzically. After a pause, he asked, "Italy, are you feeling okay?"

Everything went blank for a second. Veneciano shifted his gaze to the floor with a slight tremble, feeling his heart sinking down into his stomach as his body went cold.

Seeing that something was obviously wrong, Ludwig came to stand in front of him, taking hold of Italy's shoulders for support. He realized that there was a small bump and a bandaid on his forehead. "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong? What happened?" he demanded to know.

"Last night, you came over because you were sad, and your head hurt so you laid down, and there was dinner, then you saw the picture and then started to remember, and there was the knocking on my door, and you took care of things, and you asked… you asked me…" Italy tried to explain, feeling his throat choking up.

Ludwig was unable to make any sense out of the explanation. It really worried him. He placed a hand on Veneciano's forehead to check if he was running a temperature, while suggesting, "Maybe you should go back to bed for a while."

Italy backed up quickly, breaking away from the other's grip. He ran away towards the living room. As Germany stepped out of the bathroom, he was back in an instant. He lifted up an old and tattered drawing on canvas, holding it in front of Ludwig's face.

"Do you remember this?" he frantically asked.

Germany eyed it nervously, then slowly shook his head 'no'. Trying to keep his host from getting too upset, he complimented, "It's a nice picture, though. Did you draw it?"

Veneciano felt the portrait slip out of his hands and fall to the floor, though he didn't mean to do so. He felt his vision go blurry as hot tears started to form. "H-holy Roman E-e-empire," he quietly sobbed.

"What's wrong?" Germany asked, now very worried. "Did you hit your head very hard last night? I can take you to the hospital, right now! I think we should go get you checked out."

Instead of an answer, Italy just stepped forward and fell to lean against Ludwig's chest. He cried and cried as Germany looked down at him. Then, with a blush on his face, he wrapped his arms around the Italian. Being so forward felt a bit awkward, but somehow, this felt so… right.

Veneciano eventually calmed down, sniffling. "Germany, do you remember that you were sick? You haven't been to drill for three days now."

Ludwig jumped a little bit in surprise, realizing it. "I remember now! Damn, what will Japan think?"

Italy stepped backwards to free Germany from holding him. He took a shaky breath, and then said, "We still have time for one."

"Yeah," Germany agreed. "I don't think you should be driving today. I'll borrow your car to go get a change of clothes from my house, then come to pick you up, okay?"

Veneciano nodded in return. Ludwig walked away to the coat closet, where he had left a spare pair of boots and a coat a long while ago, just in case. Italy had slowly and quietly came to watch him as he pulled on the articles of clothing. He looked like he wanted to say something, but Germany was in too much of a rush to notice.

Soon, Ludwig was heading to leave through the front door.

But before he could go, Italy stopped him with a hesitant, "U-um…"

Germany held up, and turned around to look at the man who had apparently helped him through his illness yesterday.

Veneciano was quiet for a few seconds, but then continued his thought. "Even if… Even if Holy Roman Empire doesn't remember who he is… And Germany is Germany again… I'll still always love him. I love both… A-and I'll wait for the day where he'll remember everything, and comes back to me. …I'll wait. No matter how long it takes… I promise that I'll be there, and I'll be happy to welcome him back." Veneciano felt tears cloud his vision again, but he quickly wiped them away himself so he could give Ludwig a comforting, warm smile of hope.

Germany stared at him, completely unsure of what to say. He was silent for a minute, frozen in place. "Italy……." He finally started to say. "Anyone would be happy to be welcomed by your smiling face. I… would." He went a bit red, the last things he said spoken in a mutter.

As his big blue eyes shifted sideways to look at Italy nervously as he scratched the back of his head, Veneciano thought his stare looked familiar. It was just like all of the shy gazes he was given to in the past by his first love.

He finally realized something.

Holy Roman Empire never left him. And he wasn't leaving him again. He was there all along, even though Chibitalia was something from a fading dream. And Holy Roman Empire would be there for him still, even though he might not realize it.

"Hurry up, we're going to be late," Italy ushered with his bubble-headed smile.

"Italy wanting to go to drill. Something odd must have happened last night," Ludwig quietly thought aloud to himself. He gave a curt nod as Veneciano smiled, then left through the front door.

…

…

All he could do was sulk around, with a major hangover from drinking last night. Usually drinking plenty of beer made any sort of pain vanish, even if it was just for a little while. But last night was different.

Drink after drink, Prussia realized more and more just how deeply West had cut him. It hurt so much… And everyone as the bar could tell that something had happened between them, judging by the fact that the two weren't together. And Gilbert was suddenly a weepy drunk for the very first time.

He laid back on the couch of Germany's house in the dark. Although he thought it would kill him to do so, he was going to apologize.

Though, he realized he would have to mental prep fast, as he heard the front door open. Prussia winced as the living room light was turned on, bringing an arm up to shield his tired eyes from the brightness.

"Brother?" he heard. Ludwig quickly walked to his side, noticing a few empty, leftover beer bottles on the coffee table from Gilbert's adventure. "You have a hangover?" he sighed.

"I-I'm sorry," he replied, his voice warbling a bit. "I was wrong. I was wrong, but I really wanted you to stay with me. If you remembered… then you would probably leave me behind… So, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad with me…"

Ludwig looked confused yet again. Everyone seemed to be acting funny this morning… "What are you talking about?" he asked, needing clarification.

Gilbert said nothing, but shifted his arm slightly so he could peek at West with one eye. He saw the genuine concern on Germany's face. Did he… not remember? It seemed that way.

Though, in case he remembered himself sometime in the future, Prussia sat up and wrapped his arms around his brother's waist. "Please… forgive me…"

Ludwig patted him on the back, a bit frightened by Gilbert's sudden mood change. Maybe the beer bottles were from this morning, not last night… "I could never really stay mad at you," he reassured Prussia. "You took care of me."

"Yes… I suppose I did…" he quietly said.

…

"Numbers!"

"Ichi!"

"Ni."

Germany stood in front of the two nations, hands on his hips with a stern look. "I realize that I have been absent for the past few days. My apologies. To make up for it, drill is extended today."

Japan's shoulders sunk a bit as he thought about it. His short vacation was now over…

"First, we're beginning with laps. Start running," Ludwig commanded, starting to run himself to get them going.

As usual, Italy was lagging a bit behind, out of breath, while Kiku had dropped out somewhere to most likely play with a local cat.

"Eeyah!!! It's England!" Italy yelped, running faster ahead of Germany in fear.

"Hey! Wait up, damnit!" Ludwig called out as Veneciano was getting away. He sped up his pace a bit to make sure the Italian didn't ditch or get hurt.

For some reason, he really wanted to catch Italy today. He couldn't explain why, but there was this inner urge to do so that was never there before. He pushed himself to achieve this desire, as Italy disappeared.

Ludwig had to find him.

:::

((That's it, sadly. Thanks for sticking with me, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it. As a not-so-subtle reminder, please let me know how I did.

Take care! And be sure to stop by sometime. I might come up with a new story for these two. Arigato gozaimasu! ))