I can't believe how addicting this fandom is. Once again, another one shot for Hetalia. Please enjoy!
"Here," England said to Prussia holding out a stick.
He took the stick. He was startled to find England of all people in his cell. He wasn't sure what terrible fate the Allies had in store for him, but he was pretty sure that England should be there and a part of it. England walked past him, and pulled his small bed from the wall. The metal screeched against the concrete floor.
"Put that in your mouth, in between your teeth," he ordered, pointing to the stick he had handed him, "then lie down."
Prussia was very confused by the commands, but did as he asked. He was the loser in this war. What the winner says goes. When he was down on his back, England placed his hands on his head, presumably to hold his head still. He felt his heartbeat pick up a bit. He did not know England well, he hardly ever got this close to anyone. The empire was battle worn, but far from weak.
"Relax, I'm here to help," England told him, looking directly into his eyes, "They're going to dissolve you. They're going to sign the paper any minute now, and I'll try to keep you from hurting yourself."
Prussia's eyes widened in shock. He had expected something terrible, but nothing like this. Dissolution meant death. It didn't make sense then that England was here. Why would you help someone if they were only going to end up dead anyways?
He didn't have time to question anymore. He felt the pain, then. It was searing directly over his heart. It spread, deepened, heated, stretched, burned, and it was excruciating. He thrashed as if his movement would shake the pain away. England kept his head still, and somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware that England had climbed on top of him to pin him down. Prussia screamed, and bit down hard enough to compress the wood beneath his teeth. He had no idea how long it lasted, but at some point he had to have passed out because all was black after that.
He felt ache-y. He was totally drained, his entire body exhausted. He could be sleeping on top of sharp stones and he would still feel comfortable. He didn't even think he had the strength to wake up if he was asleep, or open his eyes if dead.
He felt something touch his shoulder. He cracked open his eyes. The light blinded him, and he immediately shut his eyelids. He rolled onto his back, and moaned. He had never felt this sore before. "Prussia," someone said quietly, "You're not going to die anytime soon, but you still might want a bite of breakfast."
It sounded somewhat familiar, but it was not his brother. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust to the light, and figure out who the hell was talking. He was greeted with blond, green, and a stiff upper lip. "England?" he asked, not entirely remembering why the other nation was here.
"Yes," the nation answered, "Can you sit up?"
"No," Prussia moaned. Shaking his head even seemed to be too much.
England rolled his eyes, and helped the other man sit up. Prussia looked around to see his same old same old prison cell, but this time it came with breakfast of tea and porridge. He had no doubt that England had made it, but he didn't really care. He was starving.
England seemed to notice. He picked up the bowl, and fed the man, despite the Prussian's embarrassment. He set down the bowl, and poured himself a cup of tea. A chair had joined the other furniture in the room. England sat himself in it gracefully, and perfectly poised.
"How did you know?" Prussia asked after several moments of England just sipping his tea, "that this would happen?"
"Are you aware that I was once a colony?" England asked him.
"You were a colony?" Prussia asked, actually turning his head to give the older man a look of disbelief.
"Yes," England said with a sigh, "Does no one remember anything before the twelve hundreds?"
"Not really,"
"Prussia, how old do you think I am?" he asked.
Prussia had no idea what he was going on about, but England always knew how to get a point across. "About a hundred years or so older than me," he guessed.
England let out a small chuckle, "Wouldn't that be nice? No, I'm actually only a few hundred years younger than China. I'm not quite sure how old. Time wasn't kept track of nearly as well as it is today, but I'm definitely over two thousand."
"How are you only twenty two then?" Prussia asked.
"I've actually spent most of my life under the age of ten," England admitted, "Scotland thinks that was why Peter Pan was created. The reason I was so young for so long was because I was one of Rome's colonies for about four hundred years. I went by Britannia then."
"Did he think you were a girl?" Prussia asked. He honestly didn't mind hearing about England's history. He just wasn't very good at keeping quiet for extended periods of time.
"Possibly, or I might have actually have been a girl then," England mused.
"What do you mean 'been a girl'? Nations can change genders? How?" Prussia asked. He had never heard about anything like this before. Of course, older nations were inclined to keep secrets such as these.
"The Celts, my original people, treated women, and people in general, differently than people do today," England shrugged, "I don't remember much from that time. Gender doesn't matter as much as a child, I just know I wore my hair long."
"I guess that could work," Prussia said.
"When Rome took control of my land, he taught me his culture. Unlike his other colonies, however, when he left, I didn't keep his culture. My people no longer considered themselves as romans. They rejected that culture, and Britannia was forgotten. I died. The pain you just experienced I felt then, but I was on my own. My brothers would not help me, and I was even being invaded at that time. It was not quick. Dissolution is a much easier process."
"I thought all of Rome's colonies died," Prussia said.
"Yes, Gaul and so on, all died, but the culture remained. When the Germanic peoples gave them a new name, new nations were also created," England confirmed.
"Then why didn't you die?" Prussia asked.
"The rest of Europe all kept their culture, their people remained united. In the same way you took the place of Germania, they took the place of Rome. There was a tie connecting them, creating a new generation, you could call it, of nations. I did not keep that culture. The evolving culture wasn't there to take my place, I think. The continuity wasn't there, so no one could take my place. It was as if my people were trying to return to something they had only heard of, but couldn't because of the invaders. I was the personification, and hence, the reason I am Anglo-Saxon. Instead of dying, I merely transformed," England explained.
"When did the pain stop for you?" Prussia inquired.
"About two centuries later," England answered bluntly.
"Two centuries?" Prussia raised his voice, "You withstood that for two centuries?"
"Yes, I had to. My people had split my land into bits and pieces. It wasn't until Alfred the Great reunited my land that I was whole, again. I was given my new name Angla-land, which turned to England."
"Wait, how am I not dead?" Prussia asked, suddenly remembering what dissolution was supposed to mean.
"Prussia, it is possible to live without a name," England told him.
"What do you mean?" Prussia was once again confused.
"I lived for a long time without a name. You don't grow much, but you exist. I had no boundaries but the sea, and my people weren't even entirely unified, but I existed. I wasn't named until Rome," England explained.
"But I already have a name," Prussia said slowly.
"Oh, I meant on the map," England corrected himself, "Your people remember you, they still call themselves Prussian, and they remember where your land is."
"Is that why I still exist?" Prussia asked.
"Yes, you're a cheat. With information like it is today, your people will remember you for ages to come. So long as one person remembers Prussia, so shall you exist," England explained breezily.
"That's convenient," he remarked.
"Indeed it is,"
There were a few more moments of silence. Prussia mulled over all he had learned, and England took the chance to actually drink his tea. "Have you done this before?" Prussia asked.
"What? Helped nations like this?" England nodded, "France a long time ago, and Russia more recently."
"How?" Prussia was certain both countries had existed in a continuous stream since they had begun.
"Their revolutions, they were so radical that it changed them. I had no idea that it would happen like that actually. When I became a republic, I didn't experience any pain, but I did go crazy. Not Russia crazy, but put-me-in-a-straight-jacket clinically insane. I think it was because they hadn't killed the royal lineage. France had called me over because he feared he would end up the same way. Instead he experienced dissolution, and recreation I guess you could call it. The same thing happened in Russia's Revolution. Of course, I only helped him in case there was going to be the war we just had," England clarified.
"Why did you only go insane?"
"Oh, it was because there was still a prince, and because I didn't actually become a republic. Cromwell became a dictator, so it wasn't all that much different," England bit his lower lip, "I don't really remember much about it, in all honesty."
The silence returned. Prussia was once again the one to break it. "Thank you," he told England.
"Oh, I've done next to nothing. I couldn't even stop them from dissolving you. It won't be easy for you from now on. They are dividing Germany, you will most likely be put with Russia, unfortunately. Your people will take a new name, but they won't forget who you are. If you and Germany are ever reunited then you are likely to loose any autonomy, but you'll get to bother us for just about the end of time," England ended with a little smile.
"That does not sound awesome at all," Prussia frowned.
"You're a nation, well more of ethnicity or culture now, life is a lot longer for us, so it has to be at least twice as shitty. Otherwise India's karma would explode," England said with a chuckle before leaving to return to what he was actually supposed to be doing.
Prussia closed his eyes and rested. If what England predicted was true, he would have a lot of hell to go through. He could take the time to rest, now, and perhaps someday, return a favor.
Please note that this may be inaccurate and is mostly my personal head cannon. I hope everything was explained adequately. I've just read a lot of stories about how Prussia survived being dissolved, and this is how I think it happened. My head cannon also happens to include England being the only modern country that actually lived through being a colony of the Roman Empire. All the British countries in my head cannon are significantly older than the rest of the European nations for that reason. Which also makes them more than slightly quirky in comparison to the rest of them. And yes, the karma mention was totally necessary. Anyways, please review!
Also, I'm considering writing what happened during France and Russia's Revolutions, or maybe even England's Civil War as other chapters or maybe sequels. Please review or pm me if you would like to see this happen!
