It had been a few years since Prussia had passed on, and while he missed his big brother every day, Italy had been there for him and his daily visits to his brother's grave in the valley helped Germany relax at night. It had become a comforting ritual that Germany had easily slipped into his schedule, and the Italian that had taken up a semi-permanent residence there found the increasingly relaxed German to be a blessing. He started smiling more towards him than he ever did, and spoke in lighter, kinder tones. He yelled much less often and, because of that, Italy found himself much less clumsy around him.
Sometimes the Italian would accompany Germany, and sometimes others – specifically France and Spain, or Austria and Hungary – would come with them as well. Canada visited reasonably often as well, every time there was a world meeting or when he had some time off. And with each consecutive visit he always brought a red rose with him. Even in death, he remained faithful.
After a few years had passed and the entire hype of a nation dying had more or less trailed off, Germany kept his regular visits. It was on one of these visits that he heard a sound; the leaves ruffled in such a way that no wild animal could make them, and Germany would sense the presence of a human if there was one nearby.
He stood up from his perch next to his brother's grave and faced the rustling bushes, frowning. It was a Saturday evening, so the sun was low to the horizon and cast bleak shadows in the German's direction. He hesitated for a moment before taking one tentative step forward, then another, until he was in front of the bush and eyed it quizzically. Kneeling down, he slowly split the leaves until he came across something small and yellow squirming in the bushes, one small leg tangled around a thin branch. It blinked up at Germany with innocent, beady black eyes and chirped. It was a very pale light yellow and the feathers looked practically brand new. It appeared very small and helpless and Germany was struck by the sudden thought of Gilbird. How this small creature practically mirrored him.
He reached in and gently untangled the bird's leg, holding his hand out patiently for it to hop into, thanking the deities above for him being a nation; animals weren't scared of him as they would be normal humans.
The bird hopped into his hand without hesitation and chirped a thanks, ruffling its feathers before nestling into his hand. Biting his lip slightly, Germany reached out and stroked its back hesitantly with one finger. The baby bird was very, very soft.
Biting back a smile, he spoke softly to the bird.
"It's getting dark, so we'll find your mother in the morning." The bird blinked up at him curiously and chirped happily, hopping up on Germany's hand again and began dancing around and flapped its wings excitedly. The German watched it in curiosity as it hopped down off of his hand and took off in a random direction at a surprisingly quick speed, Germany jogging quietly after the bird.
It wasn't long before he started to think that maybe the bird was leading him on a wild goose chase; they were in the woods now, and as it was getting darker it was harder to navigate around the trees. More than once he stumbled on a root sticking out of the ground and almost ran the poor bird over.
When they finally stopped moving the bird peeped jovially, dashing through a bush and into a much smaller clearing from before. It hopped straight into the arms of a little boy, who giggled happily and hugged it tightly, legs kicking in glee.
Germany froze in place, half in and half out of the forest. The child wore a long, muddy white dress shirt that went all the way down to his ankles, and extremely pale skin that contrasted with the brilliant hue. His hair, which matched the shirt, was tangled and had small sticks poking out of it in places and looked eerily familiar. There was a large dab of mud on one cheek that he noted of when the child blinked up at him curiously.
His eyes were blood red, the same ruby that his brother had been. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not, maybe he fell asleep. The dream felt incredibly real, then, though. And now that he thought about it, he'd been feeling a very weak tug on his heart that indicated the presence of another nation. The time spent living with Prussia had led him to ignore the feeling for a very long time.
However, this child was a mirror image of his elder brother. And the bird seemed like a much younger, practically newborn Gilbird.
The blonde nation took a step forward tentatively, waiting to see what the child would do. When all he did was coo quietly and tilt his head to the side while watching him, the German took that chance to step fully out of the clearing. His hair, too, was now hanging in his face and he was sure that there were a few leaves probably stuck in there. Well, he'd gone exploring, hadn't he?
The child giggled and put the bird down, allowing it to nestle into his hair. Another oh so familiar action that the odd duo of man and bird used to do. He stood up on wobbling knees and stepped towards Germany, biting his tongue as he concentrated. After two steps forward, he fell backward and whined in frustration, trying again. He held onto the ground with his hands and shoved his butt in the air before standing up completely, wobbling slightly and then stepped forward again.
Fighting a smile, Germany closed the distance between him and the child and took his hands, helping him walk. The child whined at him and stomped his foot but accepted the help in the end, giggling as he and Germany reached the other end of the clearing and plopped back down the moment the bulky German let go of his hands, reaching up to him and smiling innocently.
Germany happily complied and lifted the child into his arms, letting him rest his head on his shoulder. The child was much quieter than Prussia had been, but they shared the same basic characteristics. Their physical appearances were identical, and if that earlier show proved anything it was that this child was just as stubborn as his older brother, though maybe a little more trusting.
And this child was definitely a nation – the instant their hands touched the pull had increased tenfold, a sign that there was definitely something not human about him.
He wasn't sure what the child could represent, but he knew one thing – he would not be left here and Germany was going to take care of him. It was his turn to be a big brother. And if this so happened to actually be a dream, he was going to milk it for every bit of happiness he could muster up.
By the time he got back home the small child had fallen asleep on his shoulder, breathing slow and even. More than once, Germany had to check his breathing from a fear that the small one could disappear at any given moment. Thankfully, the steady hum of his heartbeat and his deep, even breathing comforted him.
Italy was at the doorway, looking worried, but his face lit up as he spotted Germany in the distance and ran up to him to give him a hug. The German ended up pulling an awkward hold-the-baby-with-one-arm-while-hugging-the-clingy-Italian-with-the-other. Italy ended up being trapped with his face in Germany's armpit as he fretted and squirmed. Eventually he was let go after he let out a dramatic whine and a cry of 'you're smelly!'.
The instant Italy took notice of the sleeping child his excited babbling slowed and he stared at him quietly. He reached a hand out to brush his hair away, glancing up at Germany curiously.
"Is it...?" Germany shrugged and readjusted the child.
"I'm not sure. He's a nation, but he doesn't act the exact same." Italy hummed his understanding and peered back up at the infant who mumbled nonsensically in his sleep and turned his head around to bury his nose in Germany's neck. Italy had to repress the urge to coo and fetch a camera.
They entered the house and sat on the sofa, the toddler held securely in one of Germany's arms, still sleeping soundly and wrapped in a blanket. The two elder nations watched him with soft eyes as he slumbered on.
"So... what should we do, Germany?" The German pursed his lips.
"I'm... not sure. I want to take care of him, but I don't want the others to find out about him, either." Italy smiled and nodded.
"I know that if fratello died and I found him as a bambino, I'd want to keep him to myself too." Germany nodded mutely and cuddled the white-haired boy close.
"I think I'd like to try raising him. I'm not sure what he represents, but I refuse to leave him for other nations to find. He's my brother." Italy smiled and nodded, scooting slightly closer to Germany and rested his head on his shoulder. The German either didn't notice or didn't care, too absorbed in watching the sleeping child.
"I'll help, si? I'll cook lots of good food, play with him, and buy him clothes! I'll be like a nanny~" Germany laughed quietly and nodded.
"And when he's older we can introduce him to a few more nations, those that were close to my brother." Italy smiled and agreed quickly. They continued to make plans for the future for the next couple of hours, until Italy was half-asleep and needed the support of Germany's arm to remain upright.
He brought both of them up to his bed (he gave up and let Italy sleep with him a long time ago) and set the child down first before sitting Italy down and helped him discard his shirt and gave him a clean nightshirt. He decided to forsake his pants, a light pink hue tinting his cheeks when the thought crossed his mind. Italy quickly clambered under the covers and curled up, almost immediately falling asleep. Germany quickly shed his suit jacket, tie, undershirt and pants, swapping them out for a pair of jogging pants and a wife beater, climbing in next to Italy and carefully unravelled the child from his cocoon of blankets, laying him down between him and Italy and held him close, drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face.
The next morning was chaos. Germany and Italy were forcefully awoken by the screaming of the toddler, who sat upright in bed, openly bawling. He was immediately hugged tightly by Italy, who held onto him tightly. The sudden move made him wail and thrash, accidentally hitting the Italian in the stomach and made him gasp for air, but the desired effect was made and he was released almost immediately.
Germany took his hands by the wrists and held onto them tightly, pulling the small albino away from Italy and held him tightly on his lap, grimacing as small heels attacked his shins. The child was far stronger than he seemed. He grumbled quietly and held onto him for what felt like hours until the child finally settled, staring down at his lap and sniffling.
The German slowly let go of his wrists and picked the child up, sitting him down so that he was in front of him and facing him. The child blinked up at him with teary red eyes and Germany could feel his heart melt. Prussia's kicked puppy look had that same effect on him, even though his pity had lessened over time.
The child hiccupped and stood up, knees wobbling and he stumbled forward to wrap his arms around Germany's neck, openly sobbing again. Italy cooed in delight on the side, rubbing the toddler's back with a smile as he tore poor Germany's heart apart.
"You must be a hungry boy~"
The child blinked over at Italy, sniffling, and nodded before promptly hiding his face in Germany's shoulder. Smiling, Italy stood up, quickly followed by Germany (who had no choice but to carry the toddler) and the trio made their way downstairs.