don't you cry.
dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part
"Big Brother France! Big Brother France!" A tiny voice yelled out accompanied by the sound of small feet hitting the floor.
France looked up from the tiny nation he had been watching over, "Oui? I'm here mon cher." he called out, looking towards the doorway.
He watched as the excited chibination ran into the room, his brown curl bouncing with every step, his violet eyes shining as bright as the sun.
"Big brother!" He called out, running over to hug the older blonde nation, "I have something to show you!" he exclaimed but stopped short upon seeing the crib, "Is that the new nation? Can I meet him?" he asked, bouncing on the tips of his toes.
"Oui, but later. He is sleeping now. See?" he said, picking up the brunette and holding him over the crib where a blonde, bushy browed nation slept peacefully.
"Wow. He's so cute!" Austria exclaimed, looking up at his big brother, "What is his name?"
"Angleterre." France said adoringly, staring down at the youngest nation now living with their family.
"My little brother England." he said in awe, watching as the younger nation tossed in his sleep.
"Oui, you're a big brother now Austria." France said, smiling at the look on the musical nation's face.
Austria, still in awe at the thought of being a big brother to England like Spain and France were to him, just stared at the one in the crib. The very idea of having his own little brother to care for filled him with so much joy that he almost forgot what he came running in for.
"Oh!" Suddenly it came back to him, the reason why he was looking for his big brother France, "France! I learned a new song on the piano. I want to show you." he grinned.
France smiled; his little Austria was a hyper little ball of energy. His smile was one that could brighten even the darkest of nights. Every day he was learning new songs on the piano and was always eager to show off to his siblings, "Oh really? Well you must show me then."
Austria grinned and grabbed his big brother's hand, pulling him out of the room. France allowed the little one to lead him towards the music room. While the music room was for all of them, Austria had mostly taken it over seeing as he was almost always in here practicing the many instruments in the room.
He sat down on one of the chairs scattered around the room and watched as the small nation hurried over to the piano bench and sat on it, fixing his clothes before he placed his fingers over the keys. France relaxed into the soft plushness of the chair as he watched his little brother's thin fingers skillfully moved over the white piano keys. Ever so slowly his eyes closed as he allowed the smoothing sound wash over him. He could stay in this room for hours just listening to the little musical nation.
Once the song was over France heard someone clapping. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Rome and Spain standing in the doorway. Austria turned around quickly on the bench, he was so lost in his music that he had not noticed the two of them standing there and neither did France it seemed.
"Bravo! Bravo! Wonderful!" Rome praised causing the violet eyed nation to blush a deep red.
"t-thank you." he stuttered, smiling shyly.
Spain walked over to Austria and hugged him tightly, "that was wonderful mi hermano!" he exclaimed, squeezing the little Austrian nation a bit too tightly.
France, upon seeing Austria was having trouble breathing, went over and put his hand on Spain's shoulder, "was there a reason you guys came in? Besides to listen Austria's amazing song?"
Spain, as clueless and innocent as ever, took a second to collect his thoughts before his face lit up, most likely remembering something, "oh! That's right! We came in to tell you that dinner is done."
Austria gasped and grinned, "really? Yay! I'm hungry!" he exclaimed, earning chuckles from the older nations around him.
"Well then we must feed you, wouldn't want you to die from hunger." Rome said, bending over to scoop up Austria and carrying him towards the dining room, the other two nations followed. The other nations living in their home were already seated; it seemed that France and Austria were the last ones to make it to dinner. Rome places Austria in his chair between France and Spain before he sat down at the head of the table.
They all said grace before digging into the wonderful food made for them. Soon the room was filled with the noise of many nations, some older and some younger, talking and laughing together. Austria was one of the few not talking as he was too busy shoving spoonfuls of pasta into his mouth.
"Mon Cheri, breathe in between bites. No one is going to take your food from you." France told him, patting Austria's back when he began choking on his food.
Austria flushed, swallowed the food in his mouth, and took a sip of his wine, before he turned to his big brother with a bright smile, "it is not my fault! I love Rome's pasta!" he said loudly, gaining a chorus of agreements from his fellow nations.
Spain and France shared a look and laughed before raising their wine glasses, "To good pasta." France said.
"No," Spain interrupted, "to the Roman Empire."
"No, to family." Rome said finally.
"TO FAMILY!" they all exclaimed at once, clinking their cups together.
They all soon fell back into their conversations and Austria was able to look at his family without anyone noticing. God how he loved them, how he adored them. They were his family after all, the only family he ever knew. And it seemed that his family continued to grow every day. He smiled, one day his family would stretch from one end of the land to the other. Nothing could stop their family, the Roman Empire, from expanding.
"How the mighty have fallen." Germania commented, looking down on his fallen friend, the mighty Roman Empire.
Rome glared up at his friend, ignoring the blood that dripped down his face from a cut on his forehead, "shut up." he growled between clench teeth as he struggled to sit up.
"Papa!" a voice called out causing the two empires to look behind them to see three younger nations racing towards them.
France, Spain, and young Austria reached their 'papa' and kneeled next to him, "oh papa you're hurt." France muttered under his breathe, wiping the blood from Rome's face.
They paid no attention to the Germanic empire behind them as they helped their papa up. Of course if they did, they would have noticed the gleam in Germania's eyes as they landed on the small brown haired nation of Austria.
Austria, who had been on holding onto Papa Rome's hand to keep him steady, yelped as he was pulled back by the hood of his cloak.
"What are you doing?" Spain yelled, pulling out his sword against the bigger nation. How dare he lay his hand on their Austria, their precious little brother?
"I will be taking this one." Germania spoke, addressing Rome rather than the Spanish nation that was pointing a sharp blade at him.
"What!" the three younger nations yelled while Rome just nodded slowly.
Germania smirked before turning and leaving the battle field, pulling Austria behind him by his cloak.
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO! BIG BROTHER! PAPA HELP! PLEASE!" he yelled his eyes stinging with unshed tears as he was pulled away from his family.
"Austria!" France yelled, making his way to his younger brother only to be pulled back by Rome. He looked up in shock at the empire, the angry retort on his lips dieing as he saw the pained look in Rome's eyes.
Spain, not seeing the look on Rome's face, turned quickly to face the empire, "are you just going to let him take Austria!" He yelled, frustrated and wondering why Rome did not make any movement to take back their little brother.
Rome, not looking at the other, responded in a flat voice, void of any emotion, "I cannot. I lost and now Austria has to pay the price. He is not part of our family anymore; he is now part of the Germanic empire."
Spain and France looked at him for a moment longer before turning to the direction in which their little brother was taken. They could see still him; his little hands reaching out towards them. His yells grew louder and more desperate, calling their names, pleading for them to save him. They saw the tears falling from his eyes. It was a heart breaking sight that they could not bear to watch. They turned and hid their faces in Rome's torn and bloody toga. Though they could not see him anymore, they could still hear him. They all stayed like that, each of them silently asking the young nation to forgive them, until they could not hear his screams anymore. Only then did they look up to see that Germania had left the battle field.
"Come little ones, it is time to go home." Rome said in a hoarse voice from trying to hold back the tears. France and Spain were not as strong as their papa Rome and tears freely fell from their eyes. Rome wrapped an arm around each of his nations and together they slowly made their way back home. To a home without music.
Austria cried into his pillow on his bed in his new room in his new home. As soon as they got back, Germania introduced him to his new siblings; Poland, Prussia, Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, and many others. This family was big, not nearly as big as Papa Rome's, but big all the same. Though there was a big difference, he quickly noticed, between this house and the home he grew up in. This house was cold. Not cold temperature wise, but cold as if all the happiness had been sucked out. There were no crooked smiles and breath-taking hugs greeting him when he walked through the front door. There were no loud hellos or kisses on the cheek. There was just a sea of empty, stoic faces directed at him, each one more alien then the last. They were all cold and unwelcoming as if they could no care if he was here or not. They were unlike his family in every way.
His family…oh how he missed them. Just the thought of them caused more tears to soak his pillow.
"Big brother." he whimpered, calling from his older brothers.
Austria was pulled from his misery by the sound of voices near his door. Ever so quietly he crept over to his room and opened it slowly, sticking his out into the hallway.
"Did you see his eyes? They were red like he was crying." a voice said softly, but not soft enough that Austria could not hear it.
"Ja I did. Seems that we got a cry baby for a little brother." another, raspy, voice answered, "not awesome."
"He looks so tiny. How is he going to be any use in battle?"
"Battle? Ha! Did you see his arms? They are like twigs. There is no way he can even pick up a sword, let alone swing it at an enemy."
"Just great, the last thing we need is a useless little brat who will not be able to pull his own weight."
"Why did Vati pick him? Of all the nations under Rome's control, why did he pick the wimp?"
The thick accented voices were cold as ice and their words cutting him like broken glass. Just as quietly as he opened it, Austria closed his door and leaned against it. His head hit the hard wood as he slid down the door and sat on the cold ground. His hand moved to the silver cross hanging from the chain around his neck. The cross that Papa Rome had given to him when he joined the family. He was lucky that Germania did not see it or he might have taken it.
The words of the other nations began playing over in his mind. It was not his fault he was so small, he was just a chibi nation! He wasn't as strong as his brothers because Rome never let him fight his wars on his own. He wasn't used to having fighting and having to protect himself, he had his big brothers and sisters to do that for him.
He had a feeling that he was not going to like it here, already he seemed to be hated by his so called "siblings." plus they spoke of war as if it was something that happened often in this empire. Austria was suddenly afraid, he did not want to fight nor did he want to go to war with anyone! He was not a fighter, he was a musician! His fingers were made to press on piano keys or pull on the bow of a violin not to grip a sword or shoot an arrow.
Austria quickly wiped away the fresh tears that threatened to fall. No he can't do this anymore, he can't cry anymore. They already thought he was a cry baby, but he'll show them. He'll show them how strong he is then one day he'll make it home to his family. In that moment he swore to himself that he would never cry or show any emotion in front of these people, they would not get the satisfaction in seeing how much their words hurt. Austria made his way to his cold bed and pulled the covers over him.
He would show them all, he could be as emotionless as they were. With that last thought, he allowed sleep to pull him into her loving embrace.
Don't you mind what they say.
Let those eyes sparkle and shine,
Never a tear,