-story behind this-

I'm writing a fic that goes deep into German history, and in it, HRE=Germany.

So of course I had to look up fan theories.

And then I realized- Prussia. Germany. HRE.

Prussia would know.

So I wrote this, cause A. It sounded fun and B. I haven't been posting cause I'm lazy/busy.

And without further procrastination, I give you...

'An Unfamiliar Past'

"Bruder, are you busy?"

Prussia glanced up from the tiny screen of his video game, saw Germany, and looked back down.. "Nein, of course not. What do you need?"

Ludwig sat on the couch next to Gilbert. "I... have a question for you."

"Human question or country question?"

"...Human."

Prussia shot him an intrigued look before punching a few buttons on the game and shutting it off. He turned to Germany and gave him his full attention- an extremely rare occurrence. "Go on."

"I was just wondering if you could tell me about when we were younger. Back when we were children."

"...Why?"

A light pink now dusted Germany's cheeks. "Well, I... I can't seem to remember any of it. I thought it was odd, so I was wondering if you could help me remember, in a way."

Prussia blinked. He knew exactly what Germany couldn't remember, and did not want to talk about it. Not at all. So he carefully picked around the exact subject. "We had an interesting childhood. You remember Germania?"

He nodded slightly. "I do, vaguely."

"Hm. Well, we lived with Germania for a while. Then, uh, the Germanic tribes were united and became Germany and that was you, and the Teutonic Knights took over Old Prussia and that's the awesome me!"

"I think you are skipping around there, bruder. Did it not take years to unite the tribes?" Prussia began to look uncomfortable. "And weren't they something else before they became Germany? What aren't you telling me, bruder? I can remember the Germanic tribes and the German Confederation but nothing in between. It is worrying me." Prussia mumbled something. "What was that?" Prussia repeated himself, speaking slightly louder. Germany gave him an annoyed glare.

"The Holy Roman Empire, geez. Don't look at me like that." Prussia turned away, crossing his arms. "It was the Holy Roman Empire. What is this, a history test?"

Germany looked confused. "But... What do I have to do with the Holy Roman Empire?"

"You were the Holy Roman Empire. But you're not now, so it doesn't matter."

"I thought that the personification of Holy Rome died after the empire was dissolved."

"He almost did," Gilbert whispered, so softly Ludwig could barely hear him. "For eight years, I wondered if you would survive. Every night I thanked Gott for keeping you alive one more day. I never realized it was Prussia keeping you there all that time. Eight years until the Confederation was founded. That was one of the reasons Fredrick IV didn't accept the German crown. I asked him not to, because I had no idea what it would have done to you. I didn't know if I could keep you alive if there was no country called Germany, only Prussia."

"Why don't I remember this?"

Prussia gave a very slight movement of his shoulders that Germany took as a shrug. "I don't know. Possibly because of those eight years that you were nothing. You didn't have a country, so..."

"Yet I can remember things that happened before Holy Rome. I wish I had known sooner. This is very... confusing."

"I don't remember it too well either. I wasn't there for that part of your life."

"Then where were you?"

Prussia smiled. "Mostly running around in the woods with Elizaveta. For the first five hundred years, at least. After that I tried to get her to do stuff with me again, and when she wouldn't, I got some actual work done. Why do you think I became a country? If it had been my choice I would have stayed as the Teutonic Knights forever, hunting with Elizaveta and messing with Roderich."

Germany sighed. "I'm sorry, bruder."

"Aw, it's ok, West! If that had never happened, you would have died two-hundred-and-something years ago! And I would much rather have mein awesome bruder than some girl." He turned back around to face Ludwig and hugged him.

Germany smiled. "Ja, well- Danke, Preußen."

"Sie sind willkommen." Prussia had picked the video game back up and gone back to playing.

Ludwig stood up and headed out of the room. He paused at the door and glanced back. "Ah, Italy will be coming over for dinner. I will need your help preparing it, if possible."

"Mm-hm. No prob, West." After Germany had closed the door, Prussia thought of something. Wait. Ita-chan is coming over? He paused the game and stood up, pulling the door back open. "Uh, West?"

"Ja?" The door to Germany's study was hanging open, and Ludwig looked up from the paperwork he was filling out.

"Oh, never mind." Prussia closed the door, sat back down, and went back to the video game. West rarely talked about himself, anyways. There wasn't any danger in Italy coming over! It wasn't like West to be random, and bringing up his past as HRE was definitely random.

Nothing could go wrong!

I may or may not make a second part to this ^J^ Probably not, unless I have a ton of free time on my hands or feel really inspired. So until then~