Chapter Text
Everyone has a parent, even if you don't know them personally.
Usually, that would consist of at least two people, but I used to believe that I never had a second parent.
"Papi! How was your battle?"
"It went well, mein Sohn."
I smiled at my father, Holy Roman Empire, and wrapped my arms around his waist.
HRE, my father, was a role model that I always looked up to. To me, he was a heroic man, fighting off all the enemies.
When I grow up, I once thought, I want to be just like him!
I believed that I would grow a huge empire and become a powerful nation.
"Your Mutter is coming today."
I tensed, let go of him and looked up, his golden eyes glancing back at me.
"Who? My 'Mutter'?"
HRE glanced back down at me and replied, "Ja, you have heard correctly."
As mentioned before, I never thought that I had a mother. I might as well have been given birth to by a sugar cane that wasn't genetically related to me. But even so, my thoughts back then had no logic to them.
I frowned, and said, "So, then, who is my 'Mutter'?"
My father exhaled, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"The State of the Teutonic Order is her name. I am not sure, but you should be alright with her. She is a good woman."
Oh my, was he so wrong.
When I came face to face with her later that day, I drew the conclusion that my mother was someone I would take ages to warm up to, let alone never.
But, the soulless, dark grey eyes, the cold stare she gave, all belonged to me and my toddler self. I remembered looking at the water of the pond near our house, and thinking, Look at my reflection, an angry boy stares back at me. I am a ferocious lad, eh?
I wished that I could say that she wasn't a strong woman, but she was far beyond that. It was clear that if you dare lay a hand on her, she will lash out at you and mercilessly rip your eye out of the socket.
Something told me that I had met her before, though. I swear, there once was a lady in armour and a strange that came up to me and my father. When I was only a few months old, HRE was already a very proud man so much that he would show me to all his allies, beaming like the sun and asking, "He is such a beautiful, smart boy, am I right?"
But maybe I was mistaken?
Maybe this is not meine Mutter? Maybe I heard wrong?
I saw another lady, taller than the first, with a flag of a red and white background, and on the red side, a knight riding a horse.
"Teutonic Ordensstaat, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this is Prussia!"
I glanced at both of them and despite wanting to glare at the two, I forced myself to keep my well-mannered demeanour and said, "Hallöchen,"
But my voice was the slightest bit too soft, and my gaze was fearful.
"Aw, what a humble, gentle boy! You two are so lucky to have him as your son."
My breathing hitched when I saw the shorter woman, whose flag was white with a black cross, almost like a Nordic's one, glare at me down her nose. The other who spoke clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Am I right, Teutonic Order?"
"I suppose, Lithuania. However, for I’ve not met him properly, so I would not be so sure..."
Crossing my arms, I let out a small huff and said, "Papi, I am going to the forest. I will come back soon."
This forest was not only the place where I went hunting, but it was also the place that my best friends lived nearby, too. We had known each for ages, and although our friendship was at times only just hanging on, we always eventually came back together.
"Russisches Reich! Kaisertum Österreich! Hallo?"
For a few moments, I was met with silence, before a quiet rustling was heard, and a boy with a black and yellow bicoloured flag peered through the vegetation.
"Prussia! I told you before, do not call me Kaisertum Österreich! Empire of Austria? That is just-"
My friend stopped talking when he realised the smirk on my face, and he stuck his tongue out at me.
"But anyways, where is Russland?"
Austrian Empire was just about to reply when someone leaped out of the trees and tackled him down.
"OW!"
"I am not sorry for that."
The third boy, with a black, yellow, and white flag smiled slightly, before it disappeared, and helped Austrian Empire up.
"Aw, Russland, why do you never smile often?" I whined.
He eyed me with precaution, before saying, "I refuse to reply."
"But you are our Freund!" Austrian Empire joined the complaining competition to irritate our friend.
"So? Not like you are reliable."
"Oh, shush! I'm more reliable than that Austrian!"
"Nein?! Even though you are the oldest, you are also the naughtiest and most immature!"
As you know, I am a country, which is obviously quite strange to you, since in your world, a country is a landmass. So, you could conclude that I am a personification of that.
Our opinions are influenced by our government, stereotypes, and people, but we are free to have our own. Ah, if only it was like that in my times, though…
(I'm so sorry I sounded like my tutor. She didn't even know I was a Country-human. Back then, we could swap between different appearances so we could hide our identities, since we coexisted with normal humans, like you I assume.)
As stated by my loving friend, I am the oldest of us three. Austrian Empire is the youngest and Russian Empire is the 'middle child'. However, according to most others, Russian Empire acts like the oldest, Austrian Empire is like the middle child, and I'm all the way at the bottom. But I'm the bravest! My Austrian friend can be a bit cowardly and nervous.
"Anyway, my Vater has got a couple of people over today-"
"Husband and wife?" Russian Empire asked, scoffing when I shook my head.
"Ahem, nein," I forced myself not to let out my weird cackle and said, "Two women. And apparently one of them is meine Mutter"
Suddenly, Austrian Empire lunged forwards, grasped my shoulders, and yelled, "See?! I told you that you have a mother!"
I shoved him off awkwardly, uncomfortable with the abrupt contact, and said, “But I don’t want one, so…”
“But having a mother is WONDERFUL!” his yells could be heard from the other side of the world. “Mine is the Archduchy of Austria, and I am so grateful for her!
“However,” he lowered his voice, “She is a bit old, so…”
I huffed, a sarcastic smile on my face, and said, “At least she is not someone you hate! My mother never came to visit me, until now!”
All Russian Empire did was dart his eyes between me and Austrian Empire, tutting as we both yelled.
“You definitely need to learn how to not raise your voices all the time,” he sighed, pinching his nose bridge. “It makes you sound like roosters trying to find a mate.”
I clutched my stomach and let out my witch-cackle, my eyes squeezing shut and my head bowing down.
“What is humorous about that!? Now you are actually becoming a rooster!” Russian Empire raised his hands up, as if in defeat, and smacked them on his thighs. “A witch-like one. You know, maybe you are a witch.”
The image of a rooster dressed as a witch, who were usually portrayed as women, made me giggle. I started to imitate the sounds of a chicken, with Austrian Empire joining me, and Russian Empire only making an effort to not roll his eyes.
We were the best of friends, however, I’m sorry to say, it didn’t last for long.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Austrian Empire! We don’t have to fight, I-”
“There is no solution! This will be the Austro-Prussian War, not the war of nothing!” Tears welling up in his eyes, Austrian Empire continued, “I-I’m sorry, Prussia. I’ve no want to do this, either.”
We all know this would become gruesome, so I’m not mentioning any more of it. No details, this is not written to give you nightmares.
But I will tell you that out of anger, I yelled all about it to Russian Empire, while he stared at me blankly. I gained land from Austrian Empire, won the war, and in the end reducing my friend’s influence over the German part of Europe. Although, the rivalry was more between our leaders than between the personifications of the countries, the Austrian treated it like it was compulsory for him to be the exact same as them.
According to estimates later on, I lost 11,765 men, while the other lost 24,431, and that was only in battle. Sure, to you it may not be much, since it isn’t even in the hundreds of thousands, but it was quite costly to us back then, especially in just seven weeks.
Personally, I believed that the fact most countries follow their leader’s opinions was stupid, but in the end, I was manipulated by my own leader and followed his orders. How stupid of me! After, I could no longer sustain a proper friendship with my childhood friends!
Austrian Empire befriended that France all because of Napoleon! Even when I cried my heart out, only Russian Empire made an effort to comfort me! And he doesn’t know how to show his empathy!
Our friend, Russian Empire, as I felt happened frequently, remained neutral in our fight.
“Aus-”
“Prussia, when will you learn to shut your mouth!?”
I inhaled sharply, eyes wide as the moon and shoulders tensed.
“Austrian Empire, how have I-”
For the second time, he cut me off.
“I have lost land! Italian Empire betrayed me! You are more powerful than ever! Are you not happy now, greedy pig?” it was on the rare occasion that I heard his shrill cries of anger, his face turning red, as if he was drunk.
“Know that most of Europe was staring at wide-eyed horror and doing nothing!” I was almost fed up with this, my breathing quickening and hands balled into fists.
“France decided to not help me–am I not your friend?”
“I am more of a friend than that French rat!”
“Oh, yeah?” Austrian Empire hiccupped silently, his face wet. “Then prove it to me because I need love. Prussian imbecile.”
That night, I lay on my bed, finding it impossible to fall asleep. The curtains were open, and even though the sky was overcast, the moon still shone, bright as ever.
My father was dead if you didn’t predict that already. I never knew where my mother ended up going, since she was back travelling to who-knows-where again. Maybe she was dead too, or maybe she was living as a state of another country. I just knew that she would never boost my mood, let alone leave me in the same one after saying three words to me.
One foolish mistake I made was letting my pride take over. Due to that, I lost friends, but at the same time, gained adornment.
But even my heart and mind told me that I missed true love, through friendship and kinship (mind you, I had never thought of romance. Well, not then).
Unexpectedly, I heard a soft knock on my bedroom door. I disregarded it, shutting the curtains and snuggling under the covers. However, when it sounded a second time, I groaned and slipped out of bed, shoved a coat on, put a pair of boots on, and yanked the door open.
“…Why, Prussia, you look like you are about to go out into the night,” I was glad to only see two empires, the British and the Russian, standing awkwardly at my door.
“I should wear appropriate clothing to fight in, mind you. Just in case someone was here to kill me.”
“And besides,” I continued before either of them could reply, “why are you awake at this hour?”
British Empire scoffed, averting his gaze, and said, “I could ask the same about you.”
I smiled, completely hiding my displeasure of their presence, and said, “Oh, do not worry. I was just having a hard time sleeping.
The other two looked at me disbelievingly, as if they knew that there was more than that; a reason to why I was struggling with sleep, and not just because of insomnia, although I never had to suffer with that.
“Well, how is the thing with Schleswig and Holstein?”
If I had to admit, I had a huge urge to shove British Empire out the door, because I knew from that question that the whole conversation was going to be about the situations between me and Austrian Empire. But of course, I avoided doing that and said, “You do realise that is part of the reason the war existed, right?”
“Well, you haven’t answered my question-”
“Haha, that excuse again? I am sorry, but I am not comfortable with answering the question!”
“Prussia, you are to give me a response or-”
“I know that the average Briton likes arguing, but it would be pleasurable if you stop this,” Russian Empire interrupted, wincing a little at the British man’s glare. He paused, before saying, “You probably would like to hear this–or not–but Austrian Empire blames his defeat on his army.”
I pursed my lips, my hands fidgeting behind my back, and replied, “I told him before that there was no need for us to engage in the war; we could have never been this bad in terms of relations.”
The Russian nodded slowly, while British Empire’s brows were furrowed.
“That is true, but it is preferable for a country to be loyal to their leader, for we are a personification of the land in the ‘human’ world, and it does not make the most sense if you do not have the same opinions. After all, it is out of our control. We cannot force Austrian Empire. He is his own person.”
I hummed in agreement, hiding my struggle to understand the man’s difficult way of speaking. Russian Empire’s reserved expression almost made him look timid, especially when he was avoiding eye contact with us.
“Is there a reason why you engaged in this war, though? I mean, your leader’s opinion, if you prefer,” British Empire asked, still appearing stoic.
“My leader does want to unify all the German states,” I said. “Under Prussian rule, of course.”
“What about German Confederation?” Russian Empire said. “Surely, she has a say in this too. I mean, it wouldn’t seem fair…”
“She and the states do want a unified Germany! And they have been influenced by Austrian Empire! What a shame…” I mumbled the last sentence, but I was aware that they may have heard anyway.
“Oh, and I also saw a child today.”
Both Russian Empire and I gawked at British Empire, his abrupt statement surprising us.
“Well, yes. It was a child…”
“No, Prussia. Not only that, but he was also looking for you. Specifically, he said, ‘I am looking for my father, Prussia. Goddess Pangaea has sent me to him’.”
I almost suffocated on the air. Just hearing that made me flustered because firstly: when did I even agree to having a child? Secondly: I know that having a partner increases the chance of having a child, but it is uncommon for a child to pop up out of nowhere. And thirdly: How am I even supposed to take care of him?
“Tell Goddess Pangaea to take him back-”
“Prussia, you cannot just have a child be born and then throw it back to… Where does Goddess live?” British Empire ran a hand through his hair, everywhere on him saying that he was confused.
“How is he even genetically related to me!?” I yelled, making the other two jump out of their pants. “For all I know, he could be a murderer!”
“I DO NOT KNOW AND I HAVE NO CARE!” Russian Empire yelled back, blocking his ears.
“Bunch of shrieking pelicans,” British Empire hissed, facepalming.
After calming down, I said, “Anyway, where is this child now?”
“In my house.”
I blinked twice at him, for some reason not expecting that, and said, “Alright then, I will meet him tomorrow.”
What I said was ‘tomorrow’ was very strange.
The next day, I was met with a kid that had the same large, soulless, dark grey eyes that I had as a kid (and still today), yet there was a slight happiness in his expression, but nobody else seemed to notice. His flag was black, white, and red going up to down, as well as an iron cross in the middle of his flag, and he was tall for ‘his age’.
“Do you know German Confederation?”
Before I could respond, he continued, “Pangaea said that she is sort of my mother, and that you are my father.”
I coughed loudly, frightened at his words.
“My grandfather is Holy Roman Empire, I heard.”
“Child, you know too much-”
“My name is North German Confederation.”
“North-” I paused, blinking slowly. My dumfounded brain thought, is he sure he is MY child? WITH a half sibling of mine? What am I, the royal family who marries their relatives? But I ignored that thought and kept silent.
“So, Vater,” hearing someone already call me father almost made me scream. “Pangaea said that German Confederation does not have a specific flag, but why does she have a black, red and gold flag with a little square that is also gold and has a double-headed black eagle that resembles Holy-”
“NGC, I can’t comprehend all of that.”
“NGC?”
I sighed, holding back the urge to smack him, and said, “Do you not realise that your name is a mouthful? What else am I supposed to call you?”
The boy huffed, arms crossed, before saying, “I want to be the unified Germany.”
“You what?”
How does he already know about that? Who told him?
“I want to be a powerful country! I MUST be the powerful country! I want to win a war!”
Wincing at the volume of his voice, I avoided blocking my ears, only to have German Confederation and Austrian Empire open the door.
“How is you meeting with North German Confederation so far?” the woman asked.
Beside her, Austrian Empire half hid behind her, making the most of his efforts to glare at me.
Playing cool, I said, “Well, Austrian Empire. How was your day?”
“All I did today was hope that you were dead.”
“Woah, avoid your bitter tongue! I am sorry, remember that.”
Austrian Empire recoiled in disgust, at both my words and NGC.
“What is that pest you have there?”
“I am aware that you also have your own pest.”
The man let out a sound somewhere between a gasp of horror and a cry of pain and said, “That poor thing is your Kind!? I thought I hated him, but he does not deserve such a parent like you!”
“Österreichisches Kaiserreich, Prussia has made his apologies. Forgive him.”
Although, he did mutter the tiniest apology, I could tell that Austrian Empire still felt bitterness for me.
“Mutter-”
“I AM NOT MARRIED TO GERMAN CONFEDERATION! MY LORD, I PRAY, DO NOT MAKE ME MARRY MY HALF SIBLING! IT’S APPALLING!” With that, I sprinted out of the room, having no toleration to the humiliation I was feeling.
“Prussia! There was no need to engage in a marriage with me in the first place!” German Confederation’s voice was completely subdued by my heart pounding in my ears.
Even though my father denied it, my strange fear for falling in love and romance has always been seen as a weakness by me. I once researched about it, ages after my death (you’ll get an explanation after, don’t worry) and it turned out that I had philophobia. Not only did I also fear that I wouldn’t be able to carry the relationship, but I also knew that love could fail you. It makes you weak, vulnerable, and susceptible to pain.
Oh, how much I hated pain and weakness.
I soon stumbled upon a stream a few hundred metres walk from British Empire’s house, and all I did was settle down there, sitting cross-legged by the bank, and watched the water flow from one end to the other.
The tranquillity made itself comfortable for a few minutes before someone crept from behind me and sat himself to my left.
“Prussia, that kid only sees German Confederation as a mother figure, not as his biological one.”
I internally groaned when I found that it was Austrian Empire who was stalking me.
“And about him…”
I turned my head slightly. The other’s stare was making my skin crawl.
“Is raising a child difficult?”
My ‘former’ friend frowned, and it was hard to tell if he was deep in thought or offended.
“For me, no, but that could be because there are two people to take care of him.”
I exhaled heavily, resting my cheek on one hand. Hugging my knees to my chest, I asked, “On that note, how’s your ‘wife’?”
For the first time in ages, I heard Austrian Empire laugh, and even though it was hollow, I still felt somewhat content.
“I would not say Kingdom of Hungary is my wife, rather she is to one day unify with me…”
“And when is that one day?”
“I’ve no idea!” Austrian Empire shivered and avoided eye contact with me. “The purpose of children is for them to take your place. If you have a child, it means your death is approaching in some years. But I am not worried about that! I just cannot imagine my poor Austria-Hungary being on his own…”
Without thinking, I wrapped an arm around Austrian Empire to comfort him, and he leaned a little on me. It was almost like as if all the conflict never happened in the first place, that we were just the two little boys we used to be.