A/N: Yo.
Um. Yeah. I'm not even sure what this story is. It started off making sense, but then it just descended into something else. Helpful description is helpful. Anyway, I don't know how much y'all know about European economics, but basically the Euro is doing really badly, most of the EU countries are in huge debt, and Germany is basically the only EU country with any money so it's Germany bailing them all out. Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are known as the PIGS because they all got huge bail-outs. Yes, Germany gets to hate on Ireland. *tears up* I've never been so proud of my country.
Anyway, long author's note is long. Please read and leave a review, and if you find any sort of error, whether it be factual or grammatical or spelling, please tell me so I can fix it ASAP.
Disclaimer: Nup. Oh, and if I offended anyone by this, then I'm sorry.

"Seriously, West, you can't keep on like this! It's suicide!"
Prussia sat down as loudly as possible in front of Germany. Germany kept his face perfectly straight, his features remaining calm and composed. He took a deep breath, and thought happy thoughts of wurst and Christmas markets.
"It is not suicide. It is my duty."
At this, Prussia gave a loud, humourless laugh. "'Duty?' Have you finally lost it? Your duty is to yourself, and to yourpeople and your economy; not the European fucking Union!"
Another deep breath. He wasn't here, he was looking out of his window onto Wittenberg Cathedral with a large mug of delicious golden beer. "Remember when I had a boss who thought like that, Prussia? That didn't end well."
"Oh for fuck's sake, West, having a sense of pride in Germany doesn't make you a fucking Nazi again."
Germany couldn't stop himself from scoffing. "Tell that to the rest of the world."
Prussia ignored him. "I still can't believe you're letting yourself being pushed around like this! Just tell them that you want out!"
Wurst, beer, Oktoberfest... "But I don't 'want out.'"
"Why wouldn't you want out? For fuck's sake, Germany, you're just being used! They don't give a fuck about you, they just want easy money to hoist themselves out of the trough. You've had your lovely happy-clappy period of European peace and harmony; but the time has come for you to get the hell over the shit that has already happened and start looking out for yourself again. Why do you even care about the rest of them? What the fuck have they ever done to help you?"
Germany's blue eyes met red ones. "It's called the European Union, Prussia. A Union. People working together to help each other, not looking for all they can steal for themselves. They were all there for me when I needed them; now that I am strong again and they are weak I must help them. You may not like it, but that's what's fair and it is my duty and I have no problem carrying that out."
Prussia got up. "I don't know what happened to you, West. You used to be so proud, and yet here you are still grovelling to the rest of Europe. I can't imagine the old Germany doing that."
With a last look of the utmost disappointment, Prussia walked out.

Germany poured himself a mug of beer and mulled Prussia's words over in his mind. Prussia was being ridiculous and selfish as usual, of course. How typical of him to not care about anyone other than himself.
But then, there was that little voice in the back of his mind that told him Prussia was right. That voice had been flattened out in the past few years; he had seen what happened when that voice, one of which was in the mind of every country, gained too much power, and he had sworn never to let it influence him again. But it was coming back now, quietly, but it was still there.
You don't need them... They're only using you... They judge you and control for all these years and now they come crawling back when they need something from you... Germany is better than this...

Germany is better than this.

Was he? Everyone knew that Germany was now almost single-handedly funding the E.U. But he didn't begrudge them that; after all, they had forgiven him all those years ago. They took him in just when he was at his weakest, and they had helped him until he could stand on his own two feet again. He had made mistakes and they had helped him; now it was his turn to help them.

But you paid for your mistakes...
That was true. He had paid for what his boss did, and he had paid dearly. He only finished paying France reparations from 1918 last year. They had all benefitted from his mistakes, and now here he was, also paying for theirs.

Make them pay... Make them pay like you had to...

Of course he wouldn't. He was their friend. Germany had become well respected (respected or noted for his generous bail-outs?)and he wasn't going to ruin that carefully re-built reputation by abandoning Europe when they needed him most.

Was he?

He had heard some whispers, of course. Everyone had. Prussia wasn't the only one angry about Germany's situation. His people's patience was wearing thin. Everyone in the Eurozone had started to resent the PIGS, yet, for once, France had been reasonable and they had both made an agreement that they would not abandon any of them or try to pressure them out of the Euro.
But then there was Italy.
Italy.
How had he let himself get into so much trouble? He had warned him, of course. He had told him to be careful. Yet he hadn't listened, and now he was trillions of euro in debt, and this time Germany just couldn't afford to bail him out.
He wanted to. God, how he wanted to. He had negotiated with his boss, using all kinds of persuasive techniques, bargaining as much as he could. Not that he had begged. Germany would never sink so low as to beg.
Though even after said 'negotiations,' it was to no avail. His boss just muttered things about, "feeble economic growth," "119% GDP," or, "rising unemployment," but Germany didn't care. He knew that Italy was worth so much more than €1.5 trillion.

But really, there was only so much he could do. It wasn't him that had the power, it was his boss. And his loyalty would always have to be to his boss.
Germany sighed, and went to pour himself another beer.

A/N: Hi again. Well, you got to the end of this, so fair play. Most people say, "OMG this is my first fanfic plz be kind plz!11!1" but I'm not going to say that. Be brutal, and absolutely rip this to shreds. I want constructive criticism, and I want it now. I was really nervous about putting this up, to say the least (by friend even had to steal one of my favourite books and refuse to give it back until I upload this), so since I swallowed my fears I think I deserve reviews, da? No? Well, review anyway.

AND I KNOW PRUSSIA COMES ACROSS AS REALLY OOC. IN MY MIND HE WASN'T AND EVERYTHING MADE SENSE, BUT THEN GERMANY STOLE THE SPOTLIGHT AND EVERYTHING I HAD PLANNED FOR PRUSSIA JUST GOT CUT OUT APART FROM THE BAD BITS. DAMN YOU GERMANY, PRUSSIA WAS JUST BEING CONCERNED ABOUT YOU AND YET HE STILL LOOKS BAD. ASDFGHHJJK.

Any and all hatemail concerning this terrible story should be sent to Nikki at IamOneWithMotherRussia, because it is her fault that this has been uploaded. And while you're there, check out her stories. Now Nikki, give me Regeneration back.