Title: 100 Lifetimes
Chapter Title: Life 1; It Begins
Summary: When Romano finally agrees with one of Spain's corny ideas, they have no idea the journey's that that one decision will take them on, courtesy of a sneaky god.
Chapter Summary: Spain and Romano are tired of never being able to see each other because of their duties as nations. When a 'helpful' mysterious god comes around and offers them a deal they can't—and don't want to—refuse, where will their new lives take them?
Rating: T for language; it's Romano, what do you think?
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia in any of its many shapes and forms. I don't even own all of the one-shot ideas for this fic, since some were ideas suggested by my sister. Others are mini ideas that I had for other fics, usually just a scene or idea. These I do own. But Hetalia, no.
Warning: …Language, mysterious gods, my bad writing skills, etc.
Characters: Spain, Romano, Erstrick (my OC), mentions of Prussia, France, Grandpa Rome/Roman Empire, and .
Pairings: Spain/Romano, mentions of Prussia/some other country (beware the vagueness of it all), France/World
Word Count: 3,347
Notes: So, here's the first chapter of a new multi-fic idea I had. It came from a headcannon of mine about fanfictions in general and me wanting to write down some of my ideas that I won't get around to. I hope you like it! Also, yes. They trademarked the meetings XD Plus, Erstrick won't be around a lot. For the entire fic, he'll probably have...seven appearances.

Spain sat back on the grass, enjoying the cool night breeze. After weeks of sweltering heat, it was nice to finally be able to get some free time to spend with Romano in the cool air of the night. They had been dating for a while now and because of their busy schedules and duties with their own states they hadn't been able to spend time together. This week was their annual World Conference™ so the rules were more relaxed now. Spain hummed thoughtfully, running his fingers through his lover's hair as he lay on the ground. Spain wondered if Prussia was meeting up with his lover right now; France would have been meeting up with whoever struck his fancy, like that one red-headed waitress from lunch. Probably, he acknowledged. Even though Prussia, as a non-nation now, was technically the most free out of everyone and could thus move around easier, his lover wasn't. They were still a nation, and nations had responsibilities.

It was within the last few years that the bosses from around the world started getting stricter and stricter about their nations meeting up with each other. Now the only times that everyone could see each other was at the World Conference™ or, if they were tech-savvy enough, through Skype. That just wasn't enough for the man who was the Country of Passion, especially when his lover was also a Country of Love. Not wanting to waste even a second, Spain had grabbed Romano's hand as soon as the meeting was over for the day and had taken him far, far away from everyone else. Romano was Spain's, and Spain was Romano's. There just weren't enough words in the four languages they knew (Nation, Spanish, Italian, and, ugh, English) that could convey the depths of Spain's love for Romano. But he knew he had to try.

"Hey, Romano?" Spain asked, breaking the calm and silence of the night. Romano twitched. Frowning, he opened one of his eyes and glanced irritably at Spain. Seeing that he had the younger's attention, Spain continued on. "Do you love me?"

Romano's cheeks turned a delicious tomato red. Sputtering, he looked away from Spain for a few moments and huffed out "Of course I do, dammit." Spain couldn't help the goofy smile that made its way easily across his face. He absolutely loved it when Romano told him that he loved him. It made Spain feel happy inside, more so than anything else in the world; turtles, churros, bullfighting and tomatoes included. Spain stroked Romano's beautiful red cheeks, gently turning his face so that Romano had no choice but to face Spain again. That little pout on his face almost did Spain in, but he was able to resist it; just barely, though. Romano is the cutest thing that Spain had ever seen, after all. Even Romano's cute little brother wasn't quite as adorable as Spain's Romano.

Spain sighed contentedly. "You know, I love you Romano. I love you so much. I hate being away from you all the time."

Romano frowned again and sat up, facing Spain fully. "I hate it too, dammit. But what are we going to do? It's not like there's anything we can really do about it, bastard. Things are the way they are, and there's no changing it as much as we may want to. It sucks, but that's just how it's got to be."

Spain frowned, very uncharacteristically for himself. He pulled Romano in to a deep, tight, wonderful hug that made him feel better almost immediately. But only almost, because Spain still knew that they would have to leave each other again at the end of the week. That was four days away, and since the last time that Spain had really seen Romano was a month ago that was just way too short for him.

He was still hugging Romano, thinking about how much he loved the man in his arms. He hoped this moment would never end, even though he knew that it couldn't last forever. "You know, I wish we could spend eternity together. That would be just perfect, don't you think Romano?" Romano pulled away enough so Spain could see the smirk on his face.

"Eternity? Really, bastard?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, why not?" Spain questioned back defensively. He thought it was a romantic idea. "That way we'd always be together! Wouldn't that be great, Roma?"

Romano snorted, pulling further out of Spain's arms. "Hardly, dammit. If I had to be with you for eternity, or with anyone for that matter, I would fucking crack. Who wants to spend eternity with someone anyway?"

Spain really didn't like that Romano was dismissing their love just like that. It wasn't just some fleeting thing that would disappear with time. He would have to show him otherwise. Putting his hand behind Romano's head, he pulled the other to him slowly and brought them into a deep, passionate kiss. When he pulled away, Spain smirked right back at Romano's cherry-tomato-red cheeks.

"Well, if we were together for eternity then I could do that any time I want without having to wait a whole freaking month just to be able to see you again."

Romano blinked through the haze that was brought into his mind by the kiss. Frowning he pushed Spain's face away from his. "Idiot; things would get boring then. N-nothing would be…special anymore, dammit." Romano shuffled, looking away from Spain's glittering eyes.

Buhyo~! C-cute~!

So, so, so very cute!

Spain chuckled, wrapping Romano in his arms and setting the smaller man in his lap, his back to Spain's chest. "Okay then, Roma~" he said cheerfully in Romano's ear. Spain felt delighted when he could feel the tell-tale shiver run through Romano's back at that. "Eternity's too long… and you know how I've never had that great of an attention span." Romano harrumphed, no doubt thinking about how Spain never failed to shower him with love, adoration and praise. If Spain ever had any sort of attention span, it all went straight to Romano and tomatoes.

"If not eternity, then how long bastard?" Romano asked, curious despite himself. What? He loved getting praised like this, even if he never let it show. He could feel Spain smile into his hair.

"How about… for a hundred lifetimes?"

Romano turned his head around to give Spain an 'are you kidding me?' look. "One hundred lifetimes? Are you serious?"

"Very," Spain said, looking Romano straight in the eyes. "You said eternity was too long, well, one hundred lifetimes isn't so bad when compared to that, now is it?"

"It's just as bad!" Romano protested. "It's still stupidly long enough, dammit! A-and besides…" he mumbled, getting quieter as he spoke. "If it really was one hundred lifetimes… that doesn't necessarily mean that we'll even fucking find each other, you know."

Spain smiled gently at Romano, turning his head back to face him and giving him another kiss. "Yes it does, mi amor. We'll always be able to find each other. So, what do you say? Do you want to live a hundred lifetimes with me?"

Later, in the long, long time that Romano has to think back on this moment, he realizes that it was all that stupid tomato bastard's fault this even happened. Caught up in the moment because damn if that fucker couldn't be romantic and passionate, the sly bastard, Lovino shyly looked into Antonio's eyes and nodded slowly.

"That…does sound nice…bastard," he said quietly. "Too bad it'll never work."

"Who says it can't?"

Hearing the new voice, the two lovers quickly turned around to see if they could find who had said that. It certainly wasn't either of them, and it didn't sound like anyone they had ever heard before; and, being nations, they had heard many voices in their millennia of living.

"Ah…Over hear. Up in the tree."

Turning, the two saw that there was indeed someone lounging on one of the branches of the tree a few feet away from them. This was a very interesting-looking person with wild, unkempt hair, patchy clothing that they couldn't place to any specific area or time period of the world, a huge, wide, toothy grin shining at them from the darkness and a slightly maniacal glint in his eyes. It almost looked like he was taunting them.

"Who are you?" Spain asked curiously. He was kind of annoyed that someone was interrupting is Love-Love Time with Roma~, but this stranger seemed like an interesting guy. Romano, on the other hand, had some deep, primeval apprehension about this guy; almost like he had heard stories about this guy and his kind and knew to stay as far away from him as possible.

The man in the tree chuckled when he saw Romano's apprehension. "Why, I'm the answer to your problems, Spain! You too, Romano." The two nations froze when the strange man called them by their nation names. Who was this man?

"I see you don't believe me just yet," the man said. Shrugging, he sat up fully in the tree branch. "That's fine. Nobody really believes me when they've just met me; that would be too easy," he said with a smirk and a wink. Spain and Romano exchanged looks, not sure what to make of the strange man.

"That's…nice and all," Spain eventually said. "But that still doesn't answer who you are exactly."

The man sighed, looking annoyed at the questioning. "If you knew who I was, you probably wouldn't talk to me. I'm so misunderstood that way. But for now, you can call me Erstrick."

"Erstrick," Romano said flatly, raising an eyebrow. That didn't sound like any kind of name that he had heard before.

"What can I say, I didn't name myself," Erstrick said, shrugging. "Personally, I don't even like the name. It's what I was saddled with, though. But back to what we were saying before; you want to be able to spend one hundred lifetimes with each other, right? Well, I can help you with that!"

"How so, bastard?" Romano asked shrewdly. Spain was wondering the same thing. If he had the chance to be able to spend not just one, but one hundred lives with Romano then it would be worth it to listen to the crazy man. But, just what could he have to offer Spain and Romano that would let them live together like that? This seemed too good to be true.

"Well, I can just do things like that," Erstrick said, smiling slyly. "You could even say that I'm a 'god'. But before I grant your wish I want to ask you something."

"Why do you have to ask us something first, dammit?" Romano protested, standing up to glare at Erstrick. Spain followed suit and stood with Romano, putting an arm around the smaller nation's waist. "And what do you mean, you're a 'god'?"

"I meant what I said. You're both Catholics, right? You could say that I'm one of the furthest beings from your God. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not a 'god'," Erstrick explained, leaning back in the tree again. "We could talk all night about existential philosophical ideas, or I could help you out. The point is that I can help grant your wish. You want to spend one hundred lifetimes with each other, right?"

"Is that your question?" Spain asked. "The one you were going to ask earlier?"

Erstrick paused, thinking. "I guess you could say that. What I really want to know is if the two of you are committed enough to go through with this."

Romano scowled. "Stupid. It's just one hundred lives, I've already lived longer than that in human terms by now, and Spain definitely has." Spain protested about being called 'old'. "I think we're fine with living another hundred or so, dammit."

"That's not what I asked," Erstrick said sternly, looking sharply at the two in front of him. Romano flinched at the harsh gaze. Spain subtly moved himself in front of Romano, separating him from the temperamental god in front of them. "What I want to know is if the two of you are going to be committed enough to go through one hundred lifetimes together, even if you don't know what will happen? Are you willing to go through anything that life will throw at you?"

Romano remained quiet. Was he really willing to go through all of that, just for the tomato bastard? Jumping slightly at a touch to his hand, Romano looked up into Spain's smiling face. His eyes were bright with excitement over the possibility of spending so many lifetimes with Romano. But his eyes were also gentle, telling the younger nation that the decision was his. Spain wasn't going to force Romano into doing something he didn't feel comfortable with. He never did. That was one of the many things that made Romano fall in love with him in the first place. But they could never get any time to be together anymore. It was always your country first and everything else could come after. It hurt to only be able to see Spain once a month at conferences, and then only for a week. So if…if they went through this…they could have all the time in the world together. They could even have their own…l-love story, too, couldn't they?

How could Romano (truthfully) say no to that?

"Let's do it, bastard," Romano said, still looking into Spain's eyes. He felt the sides of his mouth start to tip upwards into what could very possibly be called something resembling a smile when Spain beamed at him, smile splitting his face (metaphorically) in half.

Spain had never felt so happy before. Now…now, he would be able to live with Romano! And have fun with him! And be able to maybe even grow old with him! Oh, there were a lifetime of possibilities now, and all of them involved Romano! But wait…

"What about our lives as Nations?" Spain questioned, finally breaking eye contact with Romano. "We live for so long, it's not impossible to say that we'll be alive in another thousand or so years. How long are we going to have to wait for this?" Romano looked up, startled. He hadn't thought about that. What would happen to their people if they gave up their role as nations? Despite wanting to get away for a (long) while, Romano and Spain still loved their people; it would be selfish to give up their well-being just so Spain and Romano would have time together.

Erstrick only laughed their concerns away. "I'm not that mean a guy; just think of this as a little holiday gift, from me to you. When you're done living for one hundred lives, you'll come back, just the way you are now. Sounds good, no?"

Romano still wasn't quite convinced. "What's in it for you, dammit?" he asked doubtfully. "Why would you go to the trouble of doing this just for us?"

Erstrick smiled. "I'm really not as bad of a guy as you think I am," he said cheerfully. "Plus, I get bored every once in a while. I happened to be passing by when I overheard what you two were saying. I figured that this would entertain me for a while, and you would also get to have your wish. Everybody's happy, right?"

As good as this sounded, Romano still had his doubts. He didn't know what exactly it was that made him feel this way about the god, but Romano couldn't help but feel anxious and uncertain around him. There was also a nagging feeling in the back of Romano's head that he knew this guy; no, that wasn't right. He had heard of him… almost like some kind of tale that Grandpa Rome had told him as a bedtime story. Then again, Grandpa Rome would tell him and Veneziano the weirdest bedtime stories, so who knew if his feeling was real or not.

All Romano knew at this time is that he couldn't trust Erstrick fully; he had some ulterior motive here, and Romano wasn't sure he wanted to know what that was.

Before Romano could consider this anymore, Erstrick jumped down from the tree branch he was in and stood in front of the two lovers. Placing a hand on their shoulders, the god started mumbling to himself. Steadily, a roaring sensation started filling their ears. The roaring grew so loud that Romano wasn't sure if he was screaming or not anymore. His head started spinning and it felt like his body was being stretched and torn apart at the molecular level. He tried to hold onto Spain's hands but he had already lost his grip.

As Romano and Spain started plunging into sudden darkness, they could hear a faint chuckling that floated through the white noise in their head.

"I hope you'll still feel this devoted to each other after spending one hundred lifetimes together. Just remember; you won't always like what happens in these other lives…"

End of Chapter One. Next up, it's the Sorcerer's Apprentice…Hetalia style!