Chapter Text
"Don't do that."
The voice that Prussia would describe as mind-blowingly irritating scolded him.
"I don't think you have any control over what I do, Austria," he spat out that name with venom, which wasn't at all surprising to the woman he just named. She, on the other hand, only looked at the man with a condescending look.
"Yes, I sure don't, and I know that, Prussia," she retorted with a snarl, before squatting to level herself with Prussia's cross-legged figure. "Also, if you'd rather be called Randolf compared to Prussia," his face darkened at her words, before she continued, "maybe you should instead just call me Austrica."
"Fine, Austrica," he pressed, before continuing his work with the bark of wood he had by his hands, attempting to carve it into something. "There's no point in using obsolete names if that thing we represent doesn't exist here."
"True, so don't call me Austria and I won't call you Prussia," she said as she decided to sit beside him, arms held out behind her as her legs were extended. "And if you're trying to carve an eagle out of that thick wood, I suggest you start with the silhouette first."
Austria's advice came to deaf ears as Prussia rolled his eyes at the slightly taller Personification, who looked offended at his behaviour. "I know that."
Austria's arms folded in front of her chest as she quipped, "If you do, then you should've done that earlier," but, before she had any chance of replying to whatever he said much further, the carving knife was pointed at her direction.
"Austrian Empire."
"Kingdom of Prussia."
Their exchange was filled with a heated glare, as Austria didn't even take one glance at the knife threatening her life stationed by her neck, instead continuing with a reply.
"Considering both of us are dead already since a long while, both of us know that we can't really die in the afterlife where we are," the woman's irises glanced down at the gleaming knife as her expression turned grim. "Best thing any one of us can do is insult how tattered everyone looks despite how we look ourselves."
Prussia blinked dumbfounded, before getting a good look on how both of them looked. Austria on the other hand, looked at him as if he was the most idiotic person she'd ever met her whole life. "Frankly, everyone looks like shit," he spoke plainly with no regard to formalities. That age has long gone by.
The woman hummed, not giving any hostile response as Prussia took that as a sign of him being let off for now. Focusing back on the chunk of wood on his hand, his knife retreated from its extended position and started to have its blade meet the hard surface of the bark instead, rather than the soft fleshy skin.
The silence between the two was rare, and neither looked eager on breaking that thread of tranquility just yet. Prussia kept on with his craftsmanship while Austria did nothing but look over attentively with a look of interest. Noticing her gaze, Prussia was the one who broke the silence first.
"I'm making Reichsadler," he said, not looking her way. "things in that little village the Ancient Generation have set up a long time ago gets boring," he elaborated and hoped that that was enough for his sister to determine why he was even carving in the first place. "It's for father."
That seemed to have caught Austria off guard quite easily. "Holy Rome?" she asked in a rhetoric manner. "Or, well, I guess he isn't just Holy Rome now, is he?" she trailed off, asking a question that needed no answer from either of them. She scoffed, before continuing, "I never found myself to fully believe that our father is also France's father."
Prussia replied while simultaneously starting to notice that he'd made a rough shape already. "He's back to the Franks. It's not that I like how France is our half-siblings as well," he paused, not sure what to say next. "I still don't know of Franks' preferred name."
The mention of their father's name piqued Austria's interest. It wasn't like it was new information that the pre-revolution Kingdom of France as well as the Holy Roman Empire were the same person, as well as the fact that they're back to being one person now rather than still being split apart. Even in The Afterlife now, Prussia wasn't too fond of his half-brother.
"Karilrih," she answered Prussia's question. That caught his attention, resulting in him abandoning his work to now look at Austria's face beside him. "or Karlrich. Whatever rolls off your tongue better—personally either works for me. I'm not sure with your picky personality, though."
"That is... nice to be informed about," Prussia replied before getting back to his boredom-killing activity. "As you know, he and I were never that close to even have time to talk of such mundane things like his past before Verdun," that nod to the treaty was something he knew Austria would get. "and my tongue seems to prefer the latter more."
Austria let out a weird noise at that, a mix of an annoyed sigh and a scoff of distaste. "Typical of you," she said, letting her fingers feel the blades of grass she sat on. "Well, it's not that you were part of imperial territory after all," she hummed, "and clearly you dealt with Poland-Lithuania more than him in the olden days."
Prussia paused, unsure which age the black-haired Representation was referencing. "You mean prior to my elevation of status from duchy to kingdom?" he could vaguely see the shape of her head nodding at his response. "Well, part of myself was still a Polish fief at that time after all..." reminiscing to those times weren't something he was fond of doing.
"Which was why your truly personal interactions with him were minimal. I only had that privilege because I was Co-Representation of the Empire," she pointed out. The former kingdom knew this already, but he really couldn't be bothered to throw a snark response her way. "He wasn't the one to raise me in the first place."
Her statement was true, Prussia had to agree, he never even met his father until he managed to gain dukehood. Even their brother Switzerland was raised by his now-own canton, Schwyz. Prussia simply listened to that and hummed in acknowledgement, bringing the wood block up to inspect it closer before he started shaving off details on it. "How long have we been dead?"
The change of topic was sudden in Austria's eyes, but she clearly didn't mind. "I've been dead since 1866 and you should know that," her answer was quick, and Prussia couldn't help but to chuckle at her words. He swore he could've seen her smile slightly when he looked up to her eyes, but it disappeared.
"I would, after all, I did kill you."
Saying those words while staring into her dead in the eyes, Austria seemed to have found this amusing. "Oh, you did, didn't you?"
Prussia didn't give her an answer to that.
Austria decided to just keep talking instead, going back to their topic before Prussia changed it all a sudden. "Your wife was closer to our father than you yourself," she remarked. Prussia's head was shifted back to Austria's visage once she mentioned him—Brandenburg—out of nowhere. "which, granted, was because he was also an elector like myself," she rubbed her chin as if thinking. "Even so, I don't think many people even remember Franks' name in the end. Karilrih, Karlrich, whatever you wish to say; he's more known as either François of France or Archenulf Herrich of Holy Rome."
"I suppose so," Prussia spoke shortly, eyes flicking to see the quick progress he made on the wood statue. "The treaty which split him was what, a thousand years before your death?" he asked the woman who shared the same blood red eyes as he does. Well, he assumes it's red. "I think I died just four years after the eleven-hundredth anniversary of Verdun."
His sister paused, as if to think when that exact year was. "When was that, 1947?" she asked, getting only a nod as a response from him. "Nineteen more years and you would've died a century after I did," she shrugged, noting his lack of response. "mind telling me why you're so less aggressive than when I was alive?"
Now that was something he didn't expect to be asked. "Why do you ask?" he asked in an odd lack of harshness, merely out of curiosity than anything else. "A lot of things happened after you died, Austrica," he spoke, eyes going slack as if he was reminding himself of those particular events.
"And I don't think you ever even spoke about it," she quipped, making Prussia laugh blandly at that. "what? Mind my intrigue, I'm just wondering why you're so sad."
Prussia looked to the ground to avert Austria's gaze, before looking back at her and saying, "Let's just say it has something to do with my grandson," Austria's brows shot up, as if wanting to ask for more details. "I... well, it's not like I died a kingdom after all."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" her eyebrow was raised, questioning him on that suspicious tone he had. Somehow, Prussia could feel that she might have an inkling on what her grandnephew had done.
He was a bit glad someone came to interrupt their moment.
"Austrica, Randolf!" the voice of a familiar Representation filled their ears, and both their heads were turned to the direction of the sound by their right. Noting the prevalent features of the man—especially those same red eyes—made it obvious that he was another elector or at least was a descendant of one; he was the latter. "God, I shouldn't have taken patrol duty today," Prussia heard him mutter under his breath.
"Albrecht," Austria was the one to speak up after his call, and Prussia couldn't really look at Albertine Duchies' face. "why did you come for us both?" she questioned, tone not condescending in the least which was quite the surprise for Prussia. He shouldn't be, honestly, Austria was always more fond of the Saxons anyway, and this boy would often take Saxony's place when he was still alive.
"Ah well," he started, looking unsure what to say. "your father might have asked for you and your brother's presence," this drew their combined interest. "and I'm not too sure what he wants in the first place. He just asked for the patrolling to find you both and to return to Neugeneva," the name of their settlement was always quite peculiar, but its origins was easily deduced because the location where it is was the exact point as the place it was named after in the realm of the living.
Prussia hasn't been dead long enough to see its inception, after all, so everything was speculation. He never bothered asking.
"So, we should return, then," Austria said as she rose to stand up. Looking down at Prussia's still sitting figure, she spoke, "don't be a pissy baby and let's get."
"... Pissy baby?"
Both Albert and Prussia himself looked quite surprised when Austria said that. The eldest among them, on the other hand, simply chuckled and said, "What?"
The three monarchies of the past finally found themselves in their own little settlement, after a not-so-long walk through the land which might've took quite some time if they weren't who they were. Both he and Austria were quick people on their feet, and somehow Albert had a horse with him, so his own speed wasn't an issue.
The buildings around them weren't the grand ones any of them were used to by the time of their death, but they had to make do with what limited resources they had. It looked primitive, and Prussia did remember hearing something about Austria throwing a temper tantrum over the work she'd have to do, but it's not like he was too different when he got here anyway, so he'll keep his mouth shut. He's used to it by now. How long has he been here anyway?
Despite that, at least the many Personifications living in this little community managed to at least have a nice supply of livestock and plantations going. His own garments wasn't anything fancy, he had ditched all the things unnecessary for survival to use for other, more important, stuff. Even if they were immortal here, they still felt pain. He never liked going hungry, or cold for that matter. Sacrifices must be made.
Prussia looked down to the wooden eagle charm he managed to carve out quickly which was tied to his belt.
Albert bid his farewell when they were closing in to the big house where Franks was. He still had duties to complete, and that did certainly remind Prussia that he had to go on night shift today. Sighing at that, he received an odd look from Austria, in turn making him look at her back with a deadpan stare.
They hadn't the time to even open the door as it did by itself. Well, not quite. Their father was the one who opened it, as when it swung backwards, his slightly taller figure looked down at his two children with an undecipherable gaze. "You're here," he said, switching his focus from one adult child to the other. "come in."
Moving out of the door's frame, he let the two enter as they sat on one of the wooden chairs available for each, the oldest taking one in front of them as they did naught but stare at him.
"Father," Austria was the one who started, eyeing him with interest. "for what purpose did you call upon us both?" Prussia suppressed his curiosity with a mask of disinterest, though it seemed as if Frankish Kingdom saw through it.
His head tilted a few degrees, humming, before he finally answered Austria's question. "To place it in the shortest way I can possibly commit myself to," it felt like he was still making it longer than it has to be for the youngest in this conversation. "Austrica and Randolf," he spoke out their names. Prussia seemed relieved that he didn't use an old name he didn't quite like going by in this world. "due to the increased activity of the... other civilisations within this continent, it has been decided that the two of you would be sent out as envoys to deal with trade. Specifically, to the Slavic countries of the east."
Prussia could not find a word big enough on how much he hated this.
He really didn't wish to meet with the Slavs at all...
Austria didn't look too far from his opinion—appalled.
"And that is final."
That was when Prussia wished for the first time in his life after death, for him to not be immortal.