A/N: Previously titled TURN BACK THE CLOCK. Had to start over w/ it because I lost interest after losing the DAMN FILES FOR IT. Ugh. Oh well though!
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It was kinda funny-Just a little ironic. Most people would tell you that your life flashes before your eyes, on the edge of death. But life flashing before him, a long sordid history of war and pain, but also joyously accompanied by happiness, and love, was how his new life began anew.
His newly reformed lungs gasped for air, and he heard an awfully familiar voice above him.
"Get up, Gilbert, we don't have much time…."
His eyes snapped opened, and he shouted as he sat up in a flurry, in an absolute panic.
The feeling of reconnecting with your body was not a pleasant one, which was easily enough said. England looked down at him, tired and aged. "Man." Gilbert snorted. "You didn't age well."
"Well, you didn't either." Arthur snapped at him. "Or perhaps you'd like the image your corpse made before I brought you back to life?"
A white eyebrow arched up on Gilbert's unimpressed face. "Bro, that was low." He muttered. "That was…really low. Wow. I came out of my grave to have a good time and I'm honestly so offended right now."
"Get up, you meme loving fuck." England said, choking out a laugh.
He did so, grabbing Arthur's extended hand, and then they started walking. Gilbert was still confused. "So, why is it that this place you found my buried body in is...like this? I thought I was to be buried in Germany."
"You were." England said, grim. "We are in what was once, Germany."
Gilbert's face paled. "W-What?" He asked, his mouth going dry, and he licked his lips to wet them again. "What are you saying…are you saying…that Germany…?"
"Your brother died." England nodded. "Just a few years back now. He held on, though that's what you Germans tend to do." He sounded guilty.
"He's…he's gone." He said, hollow. "Then…why'd you bring me back?" He asked, clearly grieving, and England turned to face him suddenly.
"To stop it." Arthur looked firm. "To stop all this madness. To stop everyone from dying, and the world coming to an end, you have to go back, and end it."
"End it...?" Gilbert was now really confused. "England, we can't change history…."
"WE cannot." England agreed. "You can." He pushed something into his hands, coughing. "My gift to you is the chance to start once again. Well, not completely over."
"W-what?" He blinked. "You mean, you're sending me, the guy who fucks up everything, to try and stop…what?" Prussia tilted his head, his eyes narrowing in confusion, licking his lips once again.
"The first world war." England murmured. "That was where the end started, and so we must end it before it happens. You will be going back to 1871- to the day Germany was formed." He nodded. "I have the time set up, and the place you were." He stopped. "This is where we leave each other. Find me in the next life, will you? Smack some sense into me, I was truly dreadful."
Prussia snorted. "You were an ass, you're right." He agreed, and nodded. "I will. I'll do it."
Arthur nodded, looking tired. "There will be no future to come back to once you've changed things. It only goes in reverse, not forward. Click the button on top."
"Goodbye, Arthur. I'll meet you in the next life."
Arthur nodded firmly, smiling. "Goodbye, asshole."
Gilbert clicked the button on the watch, and that was that.
Arthur turned to where Germany had been hiding in the shadows, now teared up. "God save us all." Germany murmured, and England nodded, before the world faded into light around them as Gilbert reached the past.
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England disappeared in front of him, and the place around him faded into glowing light, pulsing around him as he saw the landscape around him changing, growing backwards, and suddenly it hit him, the time, 1871, and he heard a shout of sudden shock, before his limbs were growing and yet shrinking, his body too small, too big all at once, crying out as cuts that had yet to happen suddenly formed and healed on his body. Tattoos that he had never gotten now laced his skin, before the bastard combination of his past and future selves melded into one present tense.
He collapsed, and the nations he had gathered around him watched him in shock. "Uh, yo." He said, getting up, and stretching. "Anyone got any clothes?"
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After he was in proper dress again, the nations once again gathered around him, and all of a sudden, they used their collective powers as nations, many of them giving up their own power, to give birth to one.
One.
And this one, upon seeing his blue eyes and blonde hair, made Prussia tear up a little bit.
"Germany." He whispered, and the boy looked to him, his eyes blue and kind and young and free from the horrors of what the world was to become.
"Is…is that my name?" He asked, tentative, and Prussia nodded, gaining confidence as he strode toward him.
Prussia scooped up the boy into a ferocious hug, cradling the child in his arms, and holding him there. "I will protect you, Germany. For I am your brother, your elder brother, now and forever." Germany's small hands gripped onto Prussia's makeshift shirt, and Prussia held him close, rubbing his back and reminding himself that he had to stop it- for Germany.
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Prussia needed to take him to Bismarck. Once inside, he set the boy on his boss's desk. "One baby nation, just like you asked." He said, and Bismarck looked up to him in surprise, his brow furrowing in disapproval.
"Why are you dressed like some commoner?" He asked, getting his feathers rumpled.
"I had a growth spurt. The clothes literally ripped off me." Prussia laughed. "I had to grab something, it's not appropriate to make new nations without clothes on!"
"You are bigger." He admitted, looking him over, before shrugging.
Prussia's laughter died quickly, remembering his task. "Look, you and I have to talk about something, but I have a few things to do before that."
Bismarck nodded. "I have some plans for you to approve as well. Good day to you, I will dine with you tonight, and the boy, Germany, as well."
Admitting you're from the future was not polite dinner discussion, Gilbert decided, though he had no choice. "Thank you," He nodded, before he took his leave.
Prussia walked quickly, the boy trailing behind him on unsteady feet, and brought him to his storage room. "This is where I keep all my stuff, little guy!" He announced, walking by all his old things. It was a dusty place, but he'd clean it later. For now, he got out the clothes he had prepared for the arrival of a new nation. He took the dress off him, replacing it with more appropriate clothes for a small boy in this day and age. "There we are." He said, and put the tot on his shoulders. "Good. You're going to do great things one day, Germany."
"Really?" The boy asked him, "You think so?"
"I know so." Prussia murmured, kissing the boy's forehead. "I know so, Germany."
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The conversation with Bismarck went as well as he thought it would, but the man seemed incentivized to keep the world still and stiff, not going through the wars Gilbert said it would. Ludwig had gone to bed when Prussia told him all this.
And so, he had permission to go to Britain, because they'd need an ally in a high place, but once Prussia was out of the country, he'd also be going to America.
What he didn't know was that his boss was calling to make an alliance with another nation as well, one that Prussia hadn't expected.
