Italy – Feliciano, 2p Italy – Luciano
Germany – Ludwig
Romano – Lovino
Turkey – Sadiq
Seborga – Sebastian
Japan – Kiku
Russia – Ivan
America – Alfred

Feliciano stood on the edge of the Canal Grande in Venice and sighed. So far, no luck. He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it to a stick, then untied it again. He was nervous, and had repeated this process non-stop for the past half an hour. And still, his counterpart refused to show face.

Maybe, he was scared too. Maybe, he was too scared to come out and wouldn't show up so he wouldn't have to fight. Maybe, he would surrender first. That'd be good, then he wouldn't get shouted at by Ludwig for being weak. That wouldn't be good at all. That'd be horrible. He hated disappointing anyone, least of all Lovino and Ludwig, although Lovino was easily disappointed. Would he be okay? Of course he would, he was Lovino and he'd already kicked Francis' butt. But he wasn't fighting Francis, he was fighting himself. Was there a difference?

Slowly, Feliciano started walking along the canal, back towards St Mark's Square. Why was he worrying about his brother? He'd be fine. So would Germany. The person he should be worrying about was himself. He'd already seen Luciano in action, attacking the meeting and Mr Alfred's brother. He was... ruthless had to be the one word to describe him. He injured both Kiku and Ludwig as well as Mr Ivan. And he was supposed to fight him? But there was still the possibility that he wouldn't show up right?

But that didn't matter. He was Feliciano Vargas; he had defeated the Ottoman Empire before. He had beaten Sadiq. That meant he was strong. That meant that he could beat Luciano. It would be easy.

Feliciano laughed uneasily, trying to convince himself. "I'm going to die. I'm never going to see Ludwig again; I'm never going to see Lovino again" he muttered. "But will they care? I mean, I'm just weak; a load that they have to carry with them everywhere."

"But if you're just a load, then why did Ludwig save you all of those times? If he didn't like you, he'd have left you" another part of him said and he grinned, earning the worried looks from a passing couple of tourists. He untied the white flag that he'd re-tied and put his hand at his belt where two knives hung. It wasn't going to be enough, he was sure of that, but still, it'd be okay. How many knives was Luciano really going to have? He'd thought him a weakling before so surely he wouldn't bring that many right?

He reached St Mark's Square and froze. Sitting at one of the tables drinking lemonade was Luciano, batting the feather from his hat like a cat would. He glanced to the side, grinned and went back to his lemonade. Now Feliciano looked closer, the lemonade was slightly pink. Not naturally pink, but a kind of weak red pink.

"Guess I had to come to you then" Luciano appeared at his shoulder and he screeched. Luciano clapped a hand to his mouth and dragged him backwards into one of the dark alleys to the sides. "We can't have to arising suspicion or anything like that now can we?"

Feliciano struggled and bit his hand, feeling triumphant when he tasted blood and Luciano let go.

"Idiota, that's my best hand" he snapped, and then Feliciano noticed the knives. It wasn't just one or two as he'd hoped, but seven, all strapped to a belt that ran from his shoulder, across his chest and disappeared behind his back, where another handle could be seen. Luciano noticed him looking, spread his arms wide and spun on the spot. "Like it?"

Feliciano did nothing, just stared, horrified.

"Didn't think you would" he reached for two of them and pointed them at him.

"What're you doing?" A voice spoke in Feliciano's head. "You're here to kill this bastardo. You're here to save the world... to save your country, and Romano. If you loose and Romano wins, this bastardo will kill Romano and take over all of Italy, not to mention Sebastian too." He pulled one knife from its holder and held it shakily in his hand on purpose. The weaker he seemed, the easier Luciano would go on him right?

Luciano rolled his eyes and lowered his knives. "You're pathetic you know that? How you think you're going to beat me I don't know but..." Feliciano, unbalanced, lunged forwards and caught him across the arm, wobbled and jumped away.

Luciano laughed, dipped his finger in the stream of blood running from the wound and licked it. "Not as feeble as you seem are you?"

Feliciano shuddered as he licked more blood and then grinned. 'I defeated the Ottoman Empire. I defeated Sadiq' he reminded himself. But no one had to tell him this would be hard, and there wasn't any Ludwig to save him. He was on his own. He stabbed forwards again and missed, Luciano stepping casually to the side and then hitting him hard with the end of the knife. Feliciano nearly winced and stayed standing.

"Damn it, I always get the wrong end of this thing" Luciano cursed and then looked at him. "Hey, how are you still standing? Normal people fall."

Feliciano didn't say anything. He was determind to not say anything at all in the course of this. What had Ludwig said to him? If you can talk, you still have energy? He mustn't talk, instead preserve talking energy for normal energy. 'I defeated the Ottoman Empire. I defeated Sadiq.'

"Silence" Luciano mocked and then fell forwards into a lunge which Feliciano freaked out at and brought his knife up to cover his face. Luciano's knife hit it and then went forwards to stab his leg, which was blocked in a freak out as well. "You know, you're nowhere near as bad as they say you are. This is going to be tough."

That filled Feliciano with pride. 'Wait until I tell Ludwig... because I will tell Ludwig. I will defeat this bastardo to save my country and my brothers and Ludwig will do the same. Tomorrow, we will meet again.'

He blocked anther couple of attacks, threw another few in, all of which either missed or were blocked themselves, and all the time, he was watching Luciano's eye. He remembered how something had changed in it before, when he'd hurt Ludwig and Kiku and Ivan. He had to be prepared for that. 'I defeated the Ottoman Empire. I defeated Sadiq.'

Luciano threw in yet another attack and at the same time, got out another knife. A knife that Feliciano didn't see. He blocked the first one and then felt a sharp pain attack his leg, burning. He cried out and Luciano clamped his hand over his mouth again, taking his knife and throwing it to the side. He pressed him up against a wall, restricting movement.

"Not this time" Luciano laughed, squeezing him and moving the knife around a little as Feliciano went to bite him again. "My other hand still hurts and I can't let you partially destroy both of my hands, otherwise, how am I going to kill you?"

Feliciano went to cry out again as he shifted the knife, blood spilling out and a squelching noise of some sort sounding, tears brimming his eyes.

"Shh, shh" Luciano smiled. "I promise I'll make it quick."

Slowly, Feliciano brought one of his hands behind his back and got out his other knife. He had seconds maybe before... Luciano let go of his face, ripped the knife from his leg and stabbed his stomach. Feliciano chocked and slid down the wall, leaving a smear of blood down the light grey brickwork.

"Oops, I guess I missed the spot" Luciano's grin spread, becoming wider and something changed behind his eye. "I guess you'll just have to die slowly then."

Feliciano laughed, getting a stare. "Well doesn't that work out perfectly" he said painfully. He leapt up and in a single movement, drove his second knife through Luciano's chest, about where the heart was. "Because I'm not prepared to die before you."

Luciano stared at him, blood dribbling out of his half open mouth, bubbling slightly at the side and crumpled as he removed the knife. Feliciano grinned and dropped it, staggering backwards a little and clutching his stomach.

"I did it Ludwig, Lovino" he smiled, looking up. "I did it. I'm not weak, I did it."