lost ~completed~

chapter 19

The suffocating darkness lightened its hold on Romano.

Thin tendrils of light pierced the veil of darkness. The pressure on his head relinquished its hold. As he began to wake up, he obtained more of his senses.

A moan escaped his split lips. He tried to crack over to find out that something cold was blocking his vision.

Something lifted the obstacles off of his eyes. He cracked his eyes open. Feliciano was standing over him, an ice pack in each hand. His chocolate eyes were soft in concern, compassion and pride.

It seemed too much like the old Feli that Romano thought it was all just a nightmare. His lips cracked a smile.

"Feli." he said weakly.

Feliciano's soft expression quickly morphed into a look of anger, though Romano could tell the anger wasn't directed at him.

"You useless pezzo di merda! Do you know how much you cost me?" Feliciano shouted angrily.

Romano's smile disappeared. He blinked his eyes painfully, confused by the sudden change.

"W-what ?" Romano stammered.

"You caused me to stop the fight early and I wasted perfectly good bandages and time because you wouldn't defend yourself!" Feliciano yelled.

Romano blinked. His tired brain struggled to wrap around what Feliciano was saying. "I'm s-sorry, fratello. I didn't mean to cause trouble!"

"Cause trouble ? That's not even half of it! Now I'm going to have to waste time to train you! Did anyone tell you how useless you are?" Feliciano shouted.

Romano winced. "Si, I hear it a lot." he whispered.

Feliciano sighed. "I'm sorry, fratello. You tried your best and I'm chastising you. I'm doing exactly what Germany did." Feliciano said.

Romano narrowed his eyes. What was with Feliciano's sudden mood changes ?

"You tried your best and you proved your loyalty to me. For that, I rewarded you with the bandages and care as well as the training. I'm grateful to have you on my side, Roma." Feliciano said quieter.

Romano hadn't heard Feliciano call him any nicknames in a long time. Too many emotions were swirling around in him, causing him to feel like a hormonal teenager.

"F -Feli!" he gasped. He couldn't stop the lone tear that trickled down his face. He hated crying in front of people yet it happened so often. Feliciano's mouth formed a straight line.

"There will be no tears; tears are for the weak." he said. As if to comfort him, Feliciano took Romano's hand gently, "You are not weak. If I have anything to do with it, this will be the last time you ever shed a tear."

Romano forced himself to calm down and stop crying. Feliciano might be calm now but that didn't mean he couldn't change personalities in a second. He recalled his act and smoothed a determined look on his face. He tightly squeezed Feliciano's hand.

"Help me be stronger!" Romano asked. "I don't want to be..." he paused, struggling to remember what he said to Antonio, "I don't want to be the angry, bratty Italian. I want to help you reign over them all and get revenge for the injustice against us!"

Feliciano grinned deviously, "Of course, fratello. I was help you grow strong and we shall grow and prosper together." he said. His grin turned into a smirk, "Our time of being cowards are over! It's time we took control! This is our time to be a great, vast empire and we shall not fall under anyone's army!"

Romano was finding himself moved by Feliciano's speech. "Yes fratello, we will both rule the world; all continents and countries far and near!" Romano said excited.