You peer around the edge of a building, fear and curiosity mingling as the strange men began to explore your shore. The large ships that had docked onto the sand were unlike any you had seen before, and the passengers were strange and different compared to your own citizens; the only people you have ever known. What the arrival of these newcomers meant, you weren't sure.
With your attention completely focused on the coastline, you were unaware that there was someone behind you until a hand fell on your shoulder. With a startled gasp, you turned around to see a severe looking man with blonde hair and foreign blue eyes standing behind a leaner one with startlingly white hair and red eyes.
"Vhat's this?" smirked the red eyed man with an unfamiliar accent. He leaned down to get a better look at you, and the black cross around his neck caught the sunlight, if only for a moment. You take a step back, suddenly wary of these strangers.
"Who are you?" you demanded, surprisingly free of stutter. With an obnoxious 'ksesese' the one who had spoken before straightened up and looked towards his partner.
"Go ahead and take her. Ve need all the territory ve can get if ve want to compete with England and France."
You didn't know who France or England were or what they meant by territory, but you definitely didn't want to find out. You tried to run, but didn't get far before the blond man (definitely the stronger of the two) caught up and threw you over his shoulder. Your struggling was to no avail and you were soon carried away.
You wake up with a start, genuinely surprised at having a dream from so far into the past. That had been the day your little nation was occupied by Prussia and Germany, who were still young to the age of imperialism at the time. Despite it being whole centuries later, you had never moved out and they had never asked you to leave. You were still their territory, and you preferred it that way.
Crawling out from beneath the sheets, you found the floor with your feet and stood slowly, so as to not disturb the two men who still slept soundly in the bed you shared with them. Your room was right next to the boys', but you had grown so used to sleeping with them from when you were a child that you couldn't sleep in your own anymore.
A small 'chirp' sounded as you reached the door, and you pressed your fingers to your lips at the little, yellow offender, who was perched on the windowsill.
'Shh, Gilbird. I'll be back,' you mouth before slipping out of the room and into the hall.
It was still early morning, around 3am or so, and the house lay in therapeutic calm; something that didn't happen very often when everyone was up and awake. There wasn't much you could do at this hour, but you doubted you'd be able to sleep again after such a nostalgic dream. You grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured some tap water into it, not even bothering to look in the refrigerator for anything else; it was full of beer, you already knew. The carefully kept calendar hanging from the wall reminded you of a world meeting, and you considered asking Ludwig to take you. Territories weren't usually supposed to attend, but he always gave you special allowances. Besides, Prussia wasn't even a real country anymore and he crashed events all the time.
"Ahem."
The sound of someone clearing their throat startled you into almost dropping your cup. Looking behind you, you realized (with quite a bit of relief) that it was just Ludwig.
"You're up early," he commented, reaching into the fridge. You had long ago given up the hopeless venture of trying to convince him not to drink in the morning.
"You too. It's still a couple of hours from the crack of dawn." Ludwig was an early riser, but even so; this was a bit ridiculous. He couldn't have been having strange dreams like you... right?
He gave a little scoff. "That means it's still several hours until noon. I'm surprised you even know how to function at this hour."
Ouch. Nope, that was not the feeling of tender hearted nostalgia.
"Can I come to the meeting today?" you ask, swallowing the note of disappointment that arose with his banter. You had long ago recognized your feelings for the nation, but you couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous at being upset over his teasing you. Just because your dreams were filled with him didn't mean he could say the same about you.
"Hm? It's not going to be any different than last time, and you might get bored."
"I won't," you urged, already sensing his consent on the tip of his tongue.
"You'll stay away from Russia?"
You nodded, leaning towards him in expectation. He backed away, almost as if on instinct. The sting of rejection lightly prodded at your insides.
Don't be silly, he didn't mean anything by it.
"Fine. You can go. But you have to stay out of trouble."
You squealed, and hugged his neck, which required you stand on your tiptoes to reach.
"Ja, ja. Now go back to sleep."
Giving another appreciative squeal, you released him and started back towards the room.
"Hey, and _? If you have a nightmare or any weird dreams, you can wake up either me or Gilbert. Don't lose sleep over them or anything."
His blush was apparent even in his voice, and you knew that if you looked back at him, he would avoid your eyes. You smiled.
"Oh, I know that. I'll depend on you two, okay?"
Without waiting for a reply, you returned to the room and got back in bed; feeling Prussia curling into you on reflex. Sighing contentedly, you drifted back off.
A/N: I'm at a total writer's block on my novel, so give me a country, OTP, or prompt, and I'll write you something. If you like this fanfic enough, I'll continue it. Review, my loves! It encourages me more than you could know!