Dreamtalia (Chapter 4)

As Italy slipped away from the world of the conscious, a new world began to form once again. A bright beach came into existence, the waves lapping at the shore calmly. Starfish, sand dollars, and crabs dotted the beach along with a pebble every now and then. Seagulls cawed and called to one another in the skies above, a few landing on the beach to peck at the sand.

Not too far from the water was Germany, sitting on a small blanket with his swim trunks on. He was looking out at the water with forlorn eyes, looking as if he were waiting for someone. The blanket beneath him rustled as a wind swept playfully at his slicked hair. The German paid no attention to it or the animals that walked around him curiously, more preoccupied in searching for a certain someone to show up.

He had seen him on the couch …. He wondered if he would come to him at all. Maybe he was distracted elsewhere … Maybe he found another friend to be with ….

The thought scared Germany quite a bit, making him look around him with a more desperate air, a firm frown settled upon his cheeks. The clouds above began to darken, the skies reflecting Germany’s fear as he searched for the Italian.

“Ooh, this is a perfect day for a swim!” Italy noted as he found himself walking around the edge of the water, the warm water washing over his ankles every now then. He set a hand on top of his eyes to see clearly without the blare of sun limiting it. His ears perked as he found a certain someone not that far away, “Ah! Germany!” he called out, giving a wave with his other arm before running in his direction. As he reached the other country, he gave a wide grin, his curl bouncing for a moment before stilling as he had stopped running, “seems you beat me here, huh?”

Germany turned towards the sound of Italy’s voice, all fear he had previously felt disappearing immediately. He smiled happily, the clouds dissipating and allowing the sun to shine with all its glory. The German stood from the blanket, going right up to Italy and hugging him tightly.

“Ah! I’m so glad you’re here!” He said, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Italy’s neck a little bit. He leaned away in order to give the Italian a kiss on each cheek, giving him a loving smile. “I was afraid you weren’t going to come ….”

Italy’s cheeks grew just a little red as he was hugged, greatly welcoming it, and when his cheeks were kissed, he took the opportunity to kiss his in return simultaneously.

“Why wouldn’t I come? You’re here,” he put his arms around the other, leaning his head beneath the taller mans chin comfortably as he nuzzled it, “that’s all the reason I need to come over anything else.”

Germany blinked before he smiled broadly, heart warming dramatically. He could feel the happiness radiating right off the Italian’s skin, only helping in making him feel more and more joyous and loved. The German was quick to hug Italy back, rubbing his nose against a few of Italy’s brunet strands.

“I’m very happy to hear that ….” He murmured, almost shaking with excitement and adoration. He leaned away after a few long seconds, grinning down at the Italian. “Would you like to go swimming now? We weren’t able to last time since you went under the water and didn’t come back ….” A flicker of sadness sparked in Germany’s eyes at the memory, almost looking worried that it would happen again.

Italy nodded, looking out to the ocean with a goofy grin, “uh-huh!! The water looks really nice today~ and I all ready felt it, it’s just perfect!” He pulled away from the blonde to quickly get into some of the water, spinning around at a point and splashing it some of his way, “ah-ha! I’mma get you wet, Germany!” he giggled, trying his hardest to have the water get on the other playfully.

Germany blinked before grinning at the Italian again, quickly going along with his shenanigans. He ran into the water after the smaller country, bending down and mimicking what Italy had just done, splashing water up towards the young man. He laughed as he did so, holding up an arm in order to shield himself from the water Italy sent up at him.

Germany reached down low beneath the water’s surface, looking up with a slightly mischievous grin as he straightened and threw something at the Italian. A starfish landed on the young man’s head, attaching itself to his hair immediately and beginning to make happy, squealing sounds. Germany giggled as he watched, eyes shimmering with mirth beneath the sun’s strong rays.

“Whoa!!” Italy exclaimed as he felt something stick to his head suddenly, he finicked for a little bit before he slowed, feeling what was on his head. He traced the shape before beginning to pet it, feeling the strange texture, “hello Mr. Starfish!” he welcomed gladly before looking back to Germany, “oooh, you’re so crafty, Germany!” he giggled as well, making a few more splashings before pausing, pointing into a direction far left of the other country for a diversion, “Whoa, Germany! Look at that!!”

The starfish wriggled happily on Italy’s head, almost sounding as if it were humming in a squeaky voice as it rested against his brunet head.

Germany blinked, giving a curious frown as he immediately turned around, looking behind him inquisitively. “Hmm? What is it?” He asked, not spotting anything that appeared out of the ordinary.

Italy gave the starfish on his head a small pet before trying to sneak as quietly as he could through the water while Germany was distracted. Once he was close enough, he bent his knees a bit and suddenly sprung onto Germany, “VE!!” he yelled in an exclaim of motion before he hugged Germany tightly, the force of the glomp sending them both toppling into the water.

The water itself was deep enough for them having dunked in without hitting the ground, yet strangely enough, the two seemed to just float in place inside the water, Italy hugging the other tightly on top. He nuzzled into the others chest as he looked up in his direction, “I love you~” he said in a perfectly sound voice, the water not having any effect on them.

Italy didn’t think of the impossibility of this, it was a dream, anything could happen. Anything at all. Even Germany being happy.

Germany laughed as they were forced underwater, getting over his surprise quite quickly. Germany turned beneath Italy, looking up at him with a loving smile. “I love you, too.” He replied, giving Italy a kiss on his right cheek.

The German smiled again, the ground below disappearing as they both floated downwards. The sun’s powerful rays pushed through the surface of the water, sending white ripples across Germany’s cheeks and the back of Italy’s head. The water carried them in an unknown direction for a long time, Germany happy to be in Italy’s presence even though they were drenched in silence.

“Konnichiwa!” Germany looked behind him, seeing Japan waving at them with a small smile. Instead of having legs, however, a long fin had been joined to him at the hips, it being a dark blue-green color. The island country waved happily, Germany waving back. Japan beckoned for them to follow him, turning and heading deeper into the water.

Germany blinked, looking over at Italy with a smile. “Would you like to follow him?” He asked, making sure they were doing something Italy would enjoy.

Italy perked as he saw the mermaid version of Japan, excitement filling up at the view of possible adventure, “Sure! Maybe he’ll have something to show us!” he noted, he lightly slid away from Germany so to take his hand, “Let’s go!” Italy pulled his hand for a moment before swimming after Japan, trying to catch up with the more aquatic country. “aah~ Wait up for us, Japan!”

Germany followed behind him, smiling as he got shoulder to shoulder with the smaller country. If they looked behind them at that moment, they would have noticed that they no longer had legs but had gained fish tails, much like Japan’s. Neither paid attention, though, focusing more on the Japanese country that was so much farther in front of them.

Germany’s grin broadened, holding Italy’s hand tightly as he gained speed, bringing them much closer to Japan just as they reached the floor of the body of water. Japan swam along the bottom for awhile before they came upon a gentle rise in the sand. Going to the top and peering over, they could clearly see a sunken ship not too far ahead of them. The boards of them ship were broken and ragged, the wood beginning to peel and deteriorate thanks to the power of the water’s constant shifting. Sea urchins had made the bottom of the ship their home, making it obvious it had been there for quite a long time.

Japan looked over at the two with a calm smile. “I heard that there’s treasure hidden inside that ship somewhere … I wanted to know if you’d like to try and find it.”

Germany looked over at Italy, giving him a grin. “Would you like to do that?”

Italy nodded excitedly, his curl floating upwards and staying in that direction as he stopped, “Yes!! Treasure is wonderful and shiny!” He tugged on Germany once a bit before beginning to swim out, the flat lining of the fins swimming smoothly with the currents so to gain speed. It didn’t take long for them to get to the large sunken boat, Italy staring up at it with wonder etched in his eyes, “... hope nothing bad’s all ready in there.” He murmured mostly to himself before cautious entering inside with Germany.

The room the entered containing floating tid-bits of items that was left behind when it had sunk, seeming weightless in the water. Small schools of fish passed by nonchalantly, as if they were used to guests coming and going in their area. Italy glanced around, wondering which way to look first for the secret treasure, “which way should we go first?”

“How about we work upwards, starting on the bottom level and going towards the top.” Japan suggested, picking up a floorboard and looking under it before looking over at the other two.

Germany looked at Italy, searching for his input, as usual. “Does that sound good to you?”

Italy nodded before smiling at Japan, “you’re always so smart!” he complemented before he swam out to search the room itself like what Japan was doing, “I can’t find anything special so far, maybe we should head up?”

Germany nodded, willing to follow Italy wherever he happened to go. “If you want to.” He said, looking at the Italian with a smile. He kept close to the floor, looking beneath various items and over weakening furniture. Japan found a set of stairs leading to the next floor up, looking over at the other two.

“If you can’t find anything, we can go up –“

“Look!” Japan blinked, going to Germany when he exclaimed that single word loudly. The German smiled brightly, shuffling through a chest and bringing out a paintbrush. Red paint had saturated the tip, seeping into the water surrounding it. “There’s paint in here!”

“Paint!” Italy swam over to the other speedily, looking at the seeming fresh dipped paint brush. Lightly, he slipped it out of Germany’s fingers to examine it before he had an idea. He started to paint upwards, the trail of red paint staying in place within the watery currents as he painted a star. Italy reached up to the star and smudged in two eyes and a smiley face on it, “Can you guess who it is, Germany?” he asked, smiling.

“Ah …. A starfish?” The German guessed, looking at Italy with a confused smile. He jumped slightly when the starfish suddenly jumped to life, wriggling its stiff limbs and smiling broadly.

“Eeeeeee!” It squealed happily, falling through the water until it landed on Italy’s head, nuzzling him joyously as it squeaked and squirmed.

“Mr. Starfish!!” Italy exclaimed in joy as he reached up and petted its back, not having noticed how the starfish felt cold as ice when against his head. “I missed you~ Least we got something out of this room,” He looked back to Germany before he smiled, “Let’s go search for more fun things, Germany!” He swam back a bit and beckoned to him excitedly as he swam to Japan to get up on the next floor.

Germany smiled and quickly followed the Italian, Japan leading the way to the next level. On the second level there was much more furniture and fewer boxes, making it obvious that the bottom level was more of a storage space than a living space. Germany ducked over and under various pieces of furniture, searching for something interesting.

Japan peeked into a closet, looking through the clothes that floated in the water. He took out a small maid’s outfit, pressing it to his body before he slipped it over his head with a small smile. Germany looked behind him and chuckled quietly, noticing that Japan was wearing the old maid’s outfit that Italy used to where when he was a child. Germany went over to the closet beside him, taking out another outfit and slipping it over his head. He grabbed a hat and put it on his head, being adorned in black, old-fashioned attire with a large, black hat.

Japan looked in the closet again, taking out a white bonnet and setting it on his hat, giving a small smile once more. Germany chuckled, the starfish squealing at their antics as he looked over Italy’s brown strands at them.

Italy looked between them, seeing them getting dress in clothes that were strikingly familiar to him, but he didn’t truly mind. Though Germanys did catch his attention, “ooh! You… you look like one of my friends from like a long long time ago! I wanna dress up too!!” He swam over to the closet Germany was looking through, noticing one outfit left. He slid out the long white gown, ruffles surrounding the hem of its sleeves along with small decoration on the collar. He giggled to himself as he pulled it over his head, the long fabric cover down to half way of his tail. Italy looked through the closet for anything else, pulling out a matching hat, promptly setting it so to let Mr. Starfish alone.

“Germany! Germany look at me!” He swam to Germany as he looked between them, noticing how they resembled him and his love from the past, “eheh, we look good like this.. together” he said with a small blush crossing his water downed cheeks.

Germany looked at Italy’s outfit and chuckled, nodding back at him. “Yeah, I like these outfits!”

“You want to go up to the last level?” Japan asked, already by the stairs for the third and final level of the ship. Germany looked over at him with a smile, not questioning how he got over there so fast without them noticing.

“If there’s nothing down here – Is there?” He asked, looking back over at Italy with quirked eyebrows.

“We’ll have to come back later just in case, but,” Italy reached forward and took hold of Germanys hand again, “lets discover the new before we come back to this!” he offered before swimming over to Japan to head up the stairs to the final deck.

Germany blushed ever so slightly when Italy took his hand, but his blush quickly grew into a broad grin, the man not hesitating to follow Italy to the last level. His fingers tightened around Italy’s, a feeling of extreme warmth reaching his heart as he felt truly loved and accepted.

Japan lead them to the last level, it being the deck for the ship. There were a few ropes and sails dotting the deck, becoming overcome by aquatic life. Moss grew along the edges and fish skipped over the floorboards, picking up bits and pieces of krill and plant life.

Germany looked behind him, watching his fin unsettle the dust on top of the floor, making it swirl around the appendage like butterflies around flowers. He smiled at the thought, looking up in time to see a single slower on the railing of the boat, a yellow butterfly fluttering innocently around it. The German’s grin broadened as he went over to the butterfly, holding his hand out and allowing the insect’s wings to brush against his fingers.

While the German remained distracted, Japan looked about the deck, unable to find any sign of treasure. The bonnet on his head waved gently with the water’s current and his movements, Japan ducking down in order to look around a few abandoned ropes.

“Hmm … I don’t see anything.” Japan murmured, looking around curiously.

Germany looked over his shoulder at Italy, the butterfly kicking his fingers with its long, curled tongue. “What about over near the steering wheel?” He asked, blinking once.

Italy perked at the thought, swimming up to the steering wheel to look around it curiously. He paused as he saw a small chest just at the base, “A-ah! Guys! There’s another chest here!” He lowered himself to be able to mess with it, having difficulty with the lid. “Agh.. I can’t.. mmph.. ah!” he exclaimed as it suddenly came open. He peered inside, a small golden and different colored glow radiating from the sun very hid above. Inside the chest were dozens of polished golden coins along with different shaped jewels such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Their beauty had been preserved in the air tight chest, their weight having kept the chest still so not to have it accidentally fall and open.

“It’s got treasure!! We found it!!” Italy exclaimed excitingly. His ears perked as he saw one specific jewel, a ruby in a shape of a certain object. He reached out, grabbed it, and hid it quickly so that Germany didn’t know he had it yet.

Germany and Japan came up beside Italy, gazing down at the opened chest. Both of them smiled in awe, Germany reaching forwards to take out a jewel first. Japan leaned against the edge with his hands, simply peering in.

Germany examined the diamond in his hand, its ruby color glistening in his bright blue eyes. He looked over at Italy with a loving smile, showing the Italian the ruby. “It’s pretty like you.” He murmured, grin widening ever so slightly as his words were uttered. The butterfly from before fluttered over to the two, its wings now red as it landed on the lid of the treasure chest for no apparent reason, flexing its wings once it had landed.

Italy blushed slightly at the complement, “and I.. also found this in there.” He pulled out the ruby he had hid early, its form cut and chiseled to form in a shape of a heart. “And this is beautiful, like you.” He offered the stone with a wide grin of his, his cheeks growing warmer and redder at the gift he offered.

Germany blinked at the offered diamond, taking it carefully from Italy’s outstretched hand. He smiled, noting the shape immediately. His own cheeks grew warm and slightly red, the German looking down at Italy with a large grin.

“Thank you … Italien.” He murmured, leaning forwards and wrapping him in a strong hug, eyes shut tight as he grinned broadly. He couldn’t recall feeling close to anyone else … Ever …..

Italy hugged back, giggling at the name as he recalled Germany had called him that one time before and knowing it was what his name was in the others native tongue. “Love you…” he murmured softly, rubbed his head into the others neck. He was so warm…He was so happy… He was so…

Perfect.

Unbeknownst to the three however, a fisherman’s hook descended down to the depths to the ocean, weighing down to behind the brunette. It swayed for a while, as if trying to hook onto the Italian until finally…

Shink.

Italy winced as he felt a sharp pain in his arm, “o-ow.. what was..?” he trailed off as he leaned back to look, seeing the hook. It didn’t hurt currently, but as it gave a tug, he felt a sharp pain, each time dragging him further away, “a-ah!! Germany! Germany help me!”

Germany blinked, a little confused at first before he finally reacted. He grabbed Italy around the shoulders, trying to pull him back. “I won’t let you go this time … I promise!” He said; worry shimmering brightly in his eyes.

The German wrapped his arms around Italy’s waist as the hook pulled harder, beating his fin hard against the water. He grunted with effort, breathing slightly into Italy’s ear. “I won’t let you leave again … I won’t –“ Germany grunted as Italy was finally yanked out of his grasp by a strong tug, eyes going wide as he tried to swim after him. “Italy! Wait!”

The German pounded his fin harshly against the water, breathing hard as he tried to keep up with the smaller nation. Italy was slowly disappearing, growing closer and closer to the surface. Strangely, it got darker and darker the closer they got to the top.

“GERMANY!!” Italy cried out, reaching his hand out as much as he could to get to him, but it was no use… everything was getting darker… colder… sadder.