Chapter Text
It was a quiet morning, in the background East could hear the wind sweeping through the grassland. He sighed. He could feel it in his bones, this wasn't gonna be a quiet day by any means. If he got lucky enough it would just be his brother coming over from Berlin. If. That already was a bit much to ask, wasn't it?
Trying to shake off his feeling, East decided to go on a walk. Benz had been restless all morning, it was high time. Maybe it would distract him from his thoughts too. He sighed again. Should he tell West about the nightmares? The constant feeling of being watched by something otherworldly? No.His Brother would just be worrying unnecessarily. West had an entire country to take care of.
I should really start calling him Germany or BRD, East thought to himself. Even his name was different. No, his brother was way too busy these days to put up with him. Maybe he wouldn't get any visitors after all. With that thought East stepped out of the door.
Slowly walking down the path to the ocean, through the heaths, he could swear he was being watched. The persistent feeling of someone standing directly behind him. With a sudden twist he turned to look. Nothing. Wait. He could swear... Something like a flimmer. There was nothing behind him, but at the furthest edge of the horizon, could that be a person? Who would be in the middle of nowhere, 9am on a Wednesday nonetheless? Alas, the spot (person?) wasn't moving. He could go and investigate, he supposed.
A bark interrupted his thoughts. Benz had brought him a stick. East sighed, and threw it down the path for the border collie to fetch. Then he turned back to the horizon to look and the figure again. And blinked. It was gone. There was no trace of it anywhere. Weird. Had he imagined it after all? He was probably just going paranoid.
(But the feeling hadn't subsided, had it?).
Feeling unsettled, he turned back to the ocean. Time to enjoy his morning outside.
It was early afternoon when he came back to his house. East stopped. There was an unfamiliar car standing in the driveway. Was his brother here after all? Well, no time to waste, he thought to himself, and went inside.
Through the entrance corridor, past the living room and into the kitchen. There was no one here. He could set up the water for some tea while searching, East thought. Down another drafty corridor, past the corner, another turn and into the winter garden. With surprise he came to a sudden stop. None of the people he had expected, or even who knew where he lived, where present. Instead, in the chair opposite to the door, sat his grandfather.
Prussia had noticed him too, and smiled at him. "Hallo East. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now, but you seem to not have a working landline.", East stared as he continued. It was true, he hadn't picked up to phone in a while. People kept asking how he was doing. Bother.
"You wouldn't mind sparing a moment or two for your grandfather, will you?". Still frozen up, East replied with a stuttered affirmation. "I'm. I'm just gonna make us some tea, could you wait a bit?". With those words he hurried out the door, down the corridors again and into the kitchen. There, he leaned on the counter top with a shudder.
It was true, he had avoided talking to his relatives besides his brother for a while, it was just... Urgh. He didn't know either. What could that man even want from him? They hadn't spoken in years! He knew that West Germany his brother, had a rocky relationship with their grandfather as well, but atleast those two were still talking. What was important enough to come to him!? To be quite honest, in the dimming light, Prussia had looked a lot like their uncle. It had sent a shiver down his spine for a second.
But enough. The water had finished cooking. East put the kettle on a tray, along with two cups, some cream and sugar. Shaking slightly, he took it back down to the winter garden, and put the tray on the table. "Oh, are we doing the whole thing?". Prussia leaned slightly forward with curiosity.
"You are my guest, if unwanted, so yes", East replied as he pulled over a chair, and dropped a sugar cube in each of the cups. And it'll be a good way to avoid eye contact for another 2 minutes, he quietly thought to himself.
"Now, why are you here? And how did you even find me? West promised me not to give anyone my address!". Prussia smirked. "You know, if you don't want anyone to find you, I highly recommend removing your name from the registry. I wasn't sure if it was still updating, but you only moved here a year ago."
The fucking registry. He had almost entirely forgotten about it. Soviet had liked to keep tabs on all his underlings, including addresses, phone numbers, and so on. As he poured tea into the cups, and heard the comforting crackling of the sugar under the heat, he quietly panicked. Anyone who would think of the registry could fine him. East resolved himself to a visit to Berlin at the earliest opportunity.
"Now, what brings you here? You still haven't told me." Prussia chuckled again. "As you know, black magic runs in our family. All your relatives up to your father where pretty proficient at it.You two were a bit of a disappointment so it doesn't surprise me that you haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Im sure you would have told your brother otherwise, wouldn't you." "Y-Yes, of course." Damn, it had come out with a stammer. Should he tell him about the feeling? No. It was just paranoia. Nothing else. No one needed to know.
Prussia hummed to himself, and didn't say anything for a while. East looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Lips thinned to a line, and a searching look on his face, he continued: "As you should also know, in very rare cases, shades, you might also call them ghosts, result after a death. It has only been documented from individuals with, surrounded by or associated with holy magic. White magic. Whatever you want to call it." "Yes. You're telling me nothing new, just. Just get to the point." That had sounded selfassured, hopefully. The uncertainty was making him nervous. Calm down East, it's not gonna be anything bad.
One spoon of cream, one for the other cup too. He watched the white cloud form in the cup. Stay calm. Carefully he passed it down to the other man, who acknowledged it with a slight twitch of his hand. "Continue please."
Prussia opened his mouth, then closed it again. Took a sip of his tea. Silence. Come on, what could be this hard to tell him?? "You see, East. Four days ago, there was a sighting of a spectre, unlike anything we had seen. We first assumed it was a normal shade, if possibly malevolent." Another sip of tea. East drank some of his as well.
"Well. HRE didn't have anything else to do, so he was sent to investigate it. And well. It apparently reeked of black magic" East choked on his tea. "What. But I thought that's impossible? You just told me that too!" "Quiet, I'm not finished yet", Prussia snapped. "They forced me to go look at it as well. I'm apparently the 'resident asshole with the most knowledge on it'. The bad news is, well. It very distinctly was your uncle's magic."
Crash. Tea spilled all over the floor, Porcelain shards scattered under the table. With barely contained horror East exclaimed: "WHAT? BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"Calm down! I know! I know, but it was. And I'm still not finished, so. Sit. Down. Now." East felt his heart beat faster. How could this get even worse!?
"8 days ago, the shade moved from where he died. We managed to trace it here. Are you sure there isn't something you want to tell me?" The look that was directed at him was staring into his soul. "W-what are you insinuating? I hate that man, we both know that!"
"Yes, but there has to be a reason for why he has come to east frisia of all places." Prussia leaned back and mustered him.
"Tell me, has there been anything out of the ordinary the past few days? Anything, even a small thing?" East avoided his eyes. And sighed. "Now that you mentioned it... Yes. I've had the persisting feeling of being watched the last four days. I put it down as paranoia. But. Erm." He awkwardly coughed. "I went out this morning for a walk with Benz, and I could've sworn I saw a person on the horizon. But. But they were weirdly flickering and anyway. I turned away for a second and they were gone. Im sure it must have been my imagination. It must have been."
The tea was soaking his socks, but East was too distraught for it to bother him. "It. It can't have been him. It just can't." Prussia just sighed and with a tired look replied: "You are an idiot. You know that? It must have been him. He must've been here for you. He did raise you for a big part of your life. And there's no getting around it. you'll have to come with me to Berlin. For your own safety."
"But-"
"No buts. Your brother is insisting on it, and so am I. It's too dangerous, we don't know what he wants." East let his head fall down in defeat. "Fine. Fine! Just. Just try to solve it fast. I can't stay in that city. I, I won't. I like it here."
Prussia snorted. "You like the loneliness, East. Go pack your stuff. and hurry. Time's ticking." With that, Prussia stood up and left the room. "Oh, and clean up your floor!", was the last thing East heard.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Third stood in the heath. In the distance he could see the ocean, and if he believed enough, he could even catch a wisp of the salty air. Well. Ghosts don't really have working senses do they. At least he could still hear and see. Most of the time. He didn't know if he could be heard by other people, or even speak.
Now, for the reason he was here. In the distance he could barely see his son. East. He wouldn't like him calling him his son he supposed. Third didn't want to spook the man, so he kept his distance. Would he talk to him, if he asked? Would he understand? Forgive? Probably not.
West had screamed insults at him, cursed him. And he had thought it a dream, so. Maybe it was better this way.
He just needed to think about what to do now. Was there any way to get himself a physical body? Another chance at life? How did he even get here? Third sighed, he could feel himself fading again. Finding answers could wait for now.