He blinked once.

Then once more.

He knew he saw that speeding car… but what happened afterwards?

The darkness began to fade out as a bright city came into its place. Large buildings popped up like daisy flowers in the spring season, giving off a feeling of happiness and joy. But the architect… it looked rather strange...

Germany sat up on the cobblestone ground he was just lying on and rubbed his blue eyes. After adjusting to the light from the previous darkness, he checked himself over. Same green uniform as always, ever perfect. His boots were on securely and he had his hat on, covering his blond hair, as well. And though Germany had known he had gotten into the car accident, he didn't give it a second thought as he stood up, surveying his surroundings. Fountains, beautiful walkways, and a lovely sunset was starting to set with the distant sounds of laughter far from where he stood.

This was Italy.

After giving a sigh, Germany began to walk the path ahead of him. "Better than standing around doing nothing." He thought.

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the seemingly empty town. Which brought forth a question to Germany: Where was everyone? He looked down towards a small patch of grass to his left that led to a large open field. On that tiny patch held a small rose bush with a single rose, and for some reason Germany needed that flower.

Being careful of the thorns he plucked it from its spot and looked at it.

Simple. Small. Pink.

Why on Earth did Germany need this?

The German grunted angrily. "I have no need for a thing like this! I need to find out where I am, not picking flowers!" Yet Germany did not put down the flower and instead continued on, holding the plant in his hand. A variety of shops he pasted seemed very old fashioned, such as a shoemaker's shoppe and a small bakery with decorations that did not seem modern at all. In fact, the more Germany looked, the more it felt like he was walking through a town far back in time.

"I wonder where Italy is…"

His feet never tired, but his mind had. This was just too much for the German to take in. He eyed a stone well off to the side and carefully sat on it, bending over with his elbows on his knees and his hand massaging his temple with the rose neatly placed in his lap.

"What in the world am I doing? Where… exactly am I? It's not possible for a place such as this to be empty of people. Especially in Italy. There's no mistake in that." Germany closed his eyes and gave a sigh. "I know that place well and it certainly does feel like Italy, but at the same time it's different. Just what exactly… am I doing?"

"E-Excuse me…!"

Germany jumped at the sound of the petite child and almost fell back into the well had he not grabbed the sides. The child itself also jumped and was several feet away in seconds compared to where they were just a moment ago. After straightening back up and securing his place, Germany looked to the child. The child was cowering from a white fence not too far away, shivering. He could see that they were wearing a green dress with brown shoes.

Germany cleared his throat. "U-Um, you can come out. It's alright, I won't hurt you."

He brought his hand up as if saying he was unarmed to the little girl, who already had tears in her eyes. "Is she really okay?" The child sniffed and began to carefully walk towards Germany. He noted that she also had a white apron on and a bandana wrapped around her head above her short auburn hair and a perticular curl. The curl... it looked exactly like Italy's...

"Italians." Germany thought as she came closer and picked up a bucket that was knocked over earlier and held it close to her. She stood right in front of Germany, clearly afraid of the man.

"I-I-I-I need t-t-t-to get to th-the well p-please."

"O-Oh!"

He jumped up as she attached the pail to a rope as the bucket descended to the bottom. "So," Germany began, almost scaring the child into dropping the rope. "What are you doing?"

She gave a light surprise and smiled softly, still a little bit scared, continuing her work. "I'm filling the bucket, ve! I need it to finish my chores! Or else I'll get punished." A moment after saying that, Germany's mind froze."A maid... working in an old fashioned house... got punished for clumsy things..."

Shaking the silly thoughts, he watched her bring it back up and untied the rope. She gave a quick nod in his direction and began to hurriedly walk away when Germany absentmindedly called out to her.

"Miss!"

What the heck was he doing?

Germany's mind was in a state of panic as he walked over to the girl, holding out the rose he had just picked. For some strange reason he felt the need to give it to her. She stood, surprised as he stopped a few feet away with the flower outstretched from his hand.

"Here."

The girl gave a puzzled look, but accepted the flower anyway and held it closely to her chest before looking into his sky blue eyes. And then Germany felt it. That spark… as if he knew the girl.

"Ve, thank you! You look really scary, but you're really nice! Just like Holy Roma! Oh! I should be going now or I might get yelled at! It was nice to meet you! Goodbye!" And with a enthusiastic wave and bright smile, the girl ran away with the bucket and flower in hand down the road and out of sight once over the hill. Giving a sigh, Germany sat back down on the well and took off his hat, placing it neatly next to him. He began to think.

"Holy Roma? Why does that sound so familiar…?"

"It's because you are Holy Roma, Germany."

And for a second time, Germany jumped and turned around. Sitting behind him with his back towards Germany was another small child who was not there just a minute ago, with a rather large hat covering his…

His blond hair.

"You just forgot. Your mind I mean." The child said as Germany could only stare at him in surprise. "You may forget the memories of the heart, but the body… the body knows. You recognized that this place was Italy, correct? It's not just because you've been there a lot in your day. This is especially true because this is a different time. You recognized Italy from a time when you supposedly did not exist."

"W-Wait a minute!" Germany placed an arm across his chest and over his heart, clutching his jacket as though he was having trouble breathing. "Then how could I recognize this place if it is a different time? Why does everything seem different? Who was that girl? And who are you?"

The boy chuckled and stayed where he was, swinging his legs. The sunset had just hit over the horizon as darker clouds rolled in. "Well, let's answer this in a way where you will be able to remember. You recognized this Italy from a different time, yes? So that must mean that you had been here during this time era. How is that possible, you ask? Even before you were Germany, your lands were united together."

Germany thought logically for a moment. That did explain why he knew this Italy, if he had been here before... but he just couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried. And his lands had been split up before his country was created, so how could there have been just one country ruling the lands? And if that was him, how come he could not remember?

"To answer your second question… well, I'm sure you can remember at least that. The last thing you remember?"

It took a few minutes, but the answer soon came to him.

A car...

Germany remembered being in a car with Italy… on the way to Italy's house... the car next to them ended up forcing them to slam into the outside rails...

... and they flew over the bridge onto another road beneath them.

"Then… I am dead?" The boy laughed hard and clutched his stomach. Germany gave an exasperated look and felt the anger rising up inside him. "Tell me, am I dead?"

Giving one more good laugh, the boy straightened up and chuckled, replying back "Dead? You're a country. You can't be killed that easily. And think a bit more. What exactly did you do after you started to fall off the road?"

"I was… I got in front of Italy. To protect him from the crash."

"Exactly!" The child threw his hands up in the air excitedly. "That's exactly it! Which connects to your third question from earlier-"

"Wait! Is Italy okay?"

The boy cocked his head to the side. "That I do not know. You have to find that out for yourself. But please, do not worry, I believe he is fine. Again, you are both countries, you would not die from something like that." Though the statement didn't calm Germany, he accepted it anyway and waited for the boy to continue.

"Your third question. Well, what did she look like?"

"Her skin color, her attitude, her facial expressions were all just like Italy's..."

"Then that's your answer."

Wait, what?

Germany took a step back and looked to where the maid had disappeared into the distance. "T-That couldn't of been Italy, that child looked like a girl!"

The boy snickered. "Ah, but it fits, doesn't it? The girl ran a few good feet away in just a second, she had that same odd curl as Italy. Not to mention that same verbal tic, "ve."

Then Germany began to see it; those memories. A small girl getting punished for eating all the food… the same person he saw chasing after… and kissed…

"Italy is at my house!"

"Holy roman empire is so scary…"

"Become part of the Roman Empire again!"

"Holy Roman Empire, look at me, look at me!"

"Why the hell… am I so clumsy?"

"Italy, won't you join me and become the Roman Empire? Let's create the strongest country on Earth."

"But Grandpa Rome perished because he grew so big. His body was covered in wounds and he was in great pain. I don't want to see that happen to mustn't become Rome. I like you how you are now. So please…"

"Why do you follow me when I run away, even though you run away when I follow?"

"Wait, wait, what do I do… Holy Roman Empire!"

"Then in return, at your house, what do you do with people you like?"

"You kiss them, I guess."

"I've always loved you since the 900's."

"When the war's over, I'll come see you for sure."

"I'll wait. I'll be waiting. I'll wait with plenty of sweets. And don't get hurt or sick. Let's be sure to meet again. For sure… for sure!"

"No matter how many years pass, I'll love you the most of anyone in this world…" Germany whispered, his eyes closed and his hand clutching his heart. How could he have forgotten his whole childhood with Italy?

"Napoleon Bonaparte. " The boy answered, standing up, knowing exactly what Germany would be asking next. "France's boss of the time. Took the Holy Roman Empire down; badly injured you to the point of where you were so close to death, which is why you can't remember. And sometimes due to events like that, a slightly physical difference can happen, such as a lighter eye color or lighter hair color, nothing too drastic. You became a French satellite, because France refused to kill you and instead had you under Napoleon's rule for 7 years. Prussia helped you regain health during that time."

The child looked up at the sky. Surprisingly, the color had not changed since the two began to talk, though now the sky was darkening with the stars coming out as the warm colors faded.

"Austria then tried to make you your own country again and held a conference in Vienna in 1815 and you became the German Confederation. At the end of the that in 1866, Prussia make you the North German Confederation, which became the predecessor-state of what you are now today."

The darkness started to envelop Germany, the area around him already devoured by it as he tried to reach towards the boy, but the darkness began to swallow him from the feet up. The sky was pitch black and the buildings were nowhere in sight anymore. Germany reached his hand out to the boy; he struggled with all his might but could not escape.

"Y-You... you're…!"

The small child walked over to Germany just as the darkness covered his face, the last remaining part of Germany in this place. Germany looked back into a familiar face with blue eyes and blond hair that spoke a lasting word that was last heard before nothing.

"You."

Germany awoke with a cough as he tried to sit up. His throat was burning and he felt like he had just woken up from a slumber party sleeping next to the one person that hated him most, Italy's brother Romano. He could barely register the hands that were placed on his chest, forcing him to lie down back on the bed at the moment. He was… in a hospital? His sight was blurry and he squinted a bit to be able to check his surroundings. There was no mistake, with the bland walls and the equipment he heard beeping next to him. Someone in a white outfit began to fix him up, but he didn't pay much mind to them as he felt something grasp his hand.

He looked to his left.

There was Italy, tears spilling from his eyes, crying his name over and over. Germany could barely recognize what was happening as the darkness swallowed him up once again, but not before he could see a spiky white haired man along with another man and woman entering the room, saying something as well. Germany tried to reach out to the one closest, but soon everything was gone.

"Ita...ly..."

The next time the German woke up, he noticed it was dark outside, as he was placed in a room near the window, and that he was much more conscious of his surroundings. He slowly turned to his left, expecting to see a certain Italian, only to see his brother smirking at him with his pet chick perched on top of his head.

"Man, West, you had us worried there for a while. Though I knew you'd be okay, being the awesome me's brother! Kesese!"

"B-Brother?"

Prussia's smirk fell as he scooted his chair closer to Germany, placing a hand on top of his shoulder. "Seriously, don't do it again. You really had us all worried."

Germany blinked and looked up into Prussia's red eyes. "What exactly… what exactly happened? I remember driving with Italy… protecting him…"

"Some stupid drunk teenagers ended up having an argument and ended up tipping you and Italy over the edge of a highway bridge. Actually it turned out they were trying to run from the police or something in the first place, but it's all done and over with now." Germany gave a nod and silence fell onto them. After a few minutes, the older man brushed some of Germany's hair away from his eyes, his facial expression softening. "Ya know," he said. "You really saved Italy back there. Came out of it with just a few broken ribs and some bruises. It could've been worse for him. But you were reckless, taking most of the damage! That wasn't awesome, yourself in danger!"

Prussia huffed, but said quietly afterwards "But… it was awesome of you to save Italy. I'm proud of you West."

Germany gave a small smile. "Thanks, brother. So… what's wrong with me?"

Prussia began to count on his hand. "Besides for being out for a week, you have several broken ribs, a badly sprained wrist, a broken leg, possible head damage, and a lot of blood come out of ya. Needed to give you more blood. And it was… not you when I saw you lying here the first day all bloodied. Italy too."

"Where is Italy?"

Prussia nodded towards the door. "He's down in the hospital lunch room trying to find some decent food. Probably pasta, even if it tastes horrible. He's been here everyday watching over you. When he comes back up in a bit, you should thank him. And… ug, Roddy and that crazy frying pan lady as well. They watched over you too."

Prussia sat up, stretching his arms as the chick chirped from up top. He turned around and began to walk towards the door. "I've gotta get home to feed the dogs. I'll see ya tomorrow West. And don't worry about the paper work, it's all taken care of."

And with a wave, Prussia left the room.

…

Wait. Prussia being responsible? Was Germany really awake?

But he knew that in his own way Prussia was just trying to help, and he could see that the man had not had a good night's sleep in a long while with the bags under his eyes. Really…

Not even a minute later after Prussia left had Italy opened the door, trying to quietly enter the room. He sat down in the same chair that Prussia had just occupied and sighed, oblivious to the awakened German.

"There's never good pasta at a hospital..."

"That's because a hospital is focused more on their sick patients rather than pasta."

The man's eyes widened as he stared at Germany in disbelief. Too late to say anything, Germany saw the tears already rushing out of the Italian man's eyes as he began to hiccup a little. Germany smiled gently and reached his good arm out in an attempt to comfort the man. Italy quickly accepted and got into the bed with Germany, hugging him as he lightly wailed and cried. The German could only look on and try to reassure him, though it was never one of his strong points, soothing others in pain.

"... I thought Germany was g-gone! V-Ve! After you pu-put yourself in f-front of me I c-couldn't see a-a-anything else! And when I-I-I woke up I h-heard about G-Germany…!" Italy tried to speak more but the hot tears streaming down his eyes prevented him to talk much longer. Instead, he took it upon himself to bury the tears into Germany's chest. "Italy was so worried about me."

Even as time passed by it seemed Italy had an endless supply of tears that were now soaked into his hospital clothes. Trying to stop Italy from crying, Germany used his thumb to brush off the ends of the man's tears. Italy looked up in surprised. "It's okay. I'm awake now and that's all that matters."

Nodding his head, Italy smiled and gave him another hug. "Ve, I really thought you were gone. I don't know what I would've done if I lost someone else again."

Holy Roman Empire.

Germany froze for a moment. Should he tell the Italian the truth? Was it the right thing to do?

But whether he was ready for it or not, Italy noticed that Germany tensed.

"G-Germany? What's wrong?"

A light blush filled the blond's face as he tried to look away. "While I… while I was asleep, I seemed to have recovered some memories from my childhood…"

"Ve? Your childhood?"

"Yes. And I realized something too." Germany said, using his hand to cup Italy's face and brought it closer to his own. Italy's face of confusion quickly softened as he looked at Germany. Their eyes confronted one another; Aquamarine blues met topaz browns. Germany's lips were less than an inch away from Italy's, feeling the man's hot breath against his lips.

"I've always loved you since the 900's."

*A/N: And I'll leave the rest to your imagination! In the planning this had a different ending, but I like this way much better.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or the characters, they belong to the lovely Himaruya Hidekaz. Historical information I looked up on Wikipedia.