The Awesome Companion
Chapter One
Run
If there was one thing that Prussia hadn't expected, it was this. He had been harboring feelings of anxiety ever since this war had started, but had kept his mouth shut (for once). And now he regretted everything. World War One had been a terrible enough time, but nothing could prepare him or his younger brother, Germany, for the horrors they would be forced to endorse during World War Two. Why hadn't they listened to their guts and gotten a new boss while they still had the chance?
The silver-haired man sighed and took a deep swig from his mug of beer, letting his vibrant crimson eyes glaze over as he tried in vain to drown his pain in the alcohol. There was nothing that could make the things he had seen and done hurt less. He still felt as if the blood of those millions of people was staining his hands, even though he had never directly hurt any of them. Their cries still rang in his ears, a permanent reminder of the crimes of his government. All he could do now was wait. Wait until the Allies passed their judgment on his broken home.
If there was one thing Prussia was certain of after the end of the terrible war, it was that his time as a country was nearing its end. He had heard the grumblings of the Allied nations. They thought he was a has-been, a washed-up warrior with no more fight in his blood. He was going to become a part of Germany soon, and it made his blood boil with rage. How dare they think he was done! He was the awesome Prussia, and there wasn't a damned thing any of those lame-arse countries could do to stop him from proving it! At least, that's what he had told himself.
However, he was beginning to notice that other nations were starting to treat him differently. They often ignored him, which, being the narcissistic attention-seeker he was, the man hated. When they did pay attention to him, it was with looks of disdain and irritation on their faces. Sometimes they didn't even seem to see him at all, which pissed him off most of all.
"Kese! How dare zey ignore me! I am ze AWESOME Prussia, und demand to be treated as such!" he sneered, slamming his empty beer mug on the bar and stumbling out of the pub.
Prussia shuddered in cold as he stepped out into the chilly night air, jamming his hands into his pockets and drawing his dark blue jacket closer to him. His breath gathered in a soft cloud around his face as he sighed ans started down the street, whistling to himself and trying to walk strait. The night was fairly quiet, and there weren't many people out: in other words, it was the kind of night Prussia hated.
"Mein Gott, it's so quiet! How frustrating!" he grumbled to himself, stopping and leaning against the window of a large department store.
Prussia sighed again and turned to lean his forehead against the window and stare languidly inside. There were racks of bright Springtime clothes, and several mannequins posed in ridiculous positions. There was way too much rushing through the country's head for him to think properly right now, and the fact that his blood was 90-proof from all of the beer he had consumed over the past few nights wasn't helping. In fact, the alcohol was messing with his mind so much, Prussia could swear that the creepy mannequins inside had started moving rigidly toward the window.
"Kesese! I must have had too much if ze mannequins look like zey are valking tovard me!" he chuckled to himself.
"No, they really are walking toward you." a voice with a British accent said from behind him.
Prussia spun around to see a man wearing a dark blue suit and a long brown coat looking at him with curious brown eyes. His thick brown hair was spiky and stuck up at odd angles, and he was ridiculously thin. Prussia chuckled at him with his signature laugh.
"You must be as drunk as I am." he commented, giving the stranger an amused look.
"Nope. Look again." the man gestured toward the window, and Prussia turned to look at it again.
Prussia jumped and gave a shout of surprise as he saw that the mannequins were only a few feet from the window, and steadily approaching with jerky movements.
"Now, I suggest we run!" the strange man tugged at Prussia's sleeve and took off down the street.
Prussia cast the figures one final confused look before stumbling after him, doing his best not to fall on his face as he ran. He heard a loud crash from behind him, followed by screams from the few people who were out, and could only assume that the mannequins had broken through the glass. He was surprised to hear a bitterly familiar sound coming from the same area: gunshots.
"Vhat ze hell is going on?" he yelled at the strange man he was following.
"Long story short: those mannequins have been brought to life with alien technology and are shooting at the people who were back there!" the man called back at him, looking around for a safe place to stop.
"Okay, now I know you're as drunk as I am!" Prussia snorted back, stopping when the man stopped beside a run-down apartment building.
The man looked at Prussia curiously, tilting his head to one side.
"Who are you?" he asked, panting slightly.
"I am ze awesome Prussia! Vho are you?" Prussia replied, leaning against a wall and trying to catch his breath.
"I'm the Doctor."
"Ze Doctor? Doctor Vho?"
"Just the Doctor. Now, I know this is sudden, and you're obviously very drunk. But I need your help. I have to stop those mannequins from destroying the city, so I need to find where the signal that is controlling them is being broadcast from. Any ideas?"
"You're asking a drunk, washed-up country where to find an alien signal?"
The Doctor grinned and nodded.
"I knew your name was familiar. I had nearly forgotten that the different countries had human representations. And yes. You never know where a good idea may come from. It needs to be a place with something really tall to transmit the signal." he replied happily.
Prussia sighed and strained his foggy mind, thinking of where such a signal may come from. There were plenty of tall buildings in the city, but something told him that this signal would need something much grander than that to work. After a moment an idea struck him, and he turned to look at the Doctor with gleaming red eyes.
"The Ferris wheel!" he exclaimed, pointing to a large circular structure in the distance.
The Doctor glanced out at the large steel structure and grinned before returning his attention to the country before him.
"Come on then! Allons-y!" he yelled, running along the street toward the wheel.
"Hey, wait! Slow down! Gah! I'm too drunk for zis!" Prussia growled, following as quickly as his unsteady feet would take him.
Several minutes later, Prussia watched curiously as the Doctor looked around the base of the Ferris wheel, his eyes narrowed in concentration. After a few minutes he grinned and pulled a strange looking device from his pocket, It whirred and the end glowed a bright blue as he ran it along the side of a large metal sheet that looked like it had been haphazardly nailed into the base of the amusement park ride.
"Vhat is zat zing?" Prussia asked as the nailed popped out of the metal, allowing it to fall to the ground with a loud clang.
"It's a sonic screwdriver." the Doctor replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Vhat?"
"It's an alien screwdriver."
Prussia lifted his eyebrows at the man and took a step back.
"Are you an alien, zen?" he asked.
The Doctor sighed and gave him a stern look.
"Yeah, is that going to be a problem?" he asked quietly.
Prussia watched him carefully, then gave him a wild, excited grin and shook his head.
"Nein. Zat's awesome!" he chuckled and motioned toward the gap left where the metal panel had been.
"Let's go see zis adventure zrough to ze end!" he said confidently: this was the most exciting thing to happen to him in a long time.
The Doctor smirked and nodded, leading the somewhat-less-drunken country into a strange metal passageway under the Ferris wheel. They were both silent as they navigated their way through the passage, looking around intently for any sign of life. Prussia's heart raced in his chest: it was hard for him to believe that this wasn't just some kind of really weird drunken fantasy. Thirty minutes ago he had been moping over a mug of beer at his favorite bar. Now he was following closely behind a mysterious man who claimed to be an alien, looking for more aliens. How lucky!
The two soon found themselves in a large, dimly lit room. There were several machines in one corner, with many colorful blinking lights on them. A strange orange substance bubbled in a large pit cut into the floor, and the Doctor approached it slowly.
"So, vhere is zis alien ve are looking for?" Prussia asked, giving the orange goo a disgusted look.
"That's it down there, and I'll ask you not to scowl at it like that. You'll make it angry." the Doctor nodded toward the orange goo, and Prussia jumped away from it.
"I demand to talk to you under the guidelines set by the Shadow Proclamation." the Doctor shouted sternly, his ficus on the bubbling mass at his feet.
The creature groaned and gurgled at him, and seemed to bubble more furiously. The Doctor listened intently, then sighed.
"Why are you doing this? What have these people ever done to you?" he yelled.
The creature gurgled at him again, and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.
"You can't take this planet just because you've lost your own. I'll take you somewhere else. Just stop your attack and leave these people alone." he demanded.
With each gurgling reply the creature made, the Doctor grew angrier and angrier. Finally he growled and shook his head at it.
"This is my last warning. If you don't stop this attack now I'll be forced to stop you myself!" he yelled.
Prussia found a grin worming its way across his face at this. He was a country born to battle, and the idea of it sent a wave of apprehension through him. He loved to fight, and this was an opportunity to do something no other country had done before: fight something from another world! He looked around desperately for something he could use, not sure is awesome crop could do much against a big blob of orange jello. He smirked when he found a lighter and a can of pressurized air lying on the ground.
"How convenient!" he mused to himself, picking them up and watching the Doctor's face as the creature replied to him.
The Doctor sighed and shook his head.
"You leave me no choice, then. I'm sorry for this." he said sadly, before pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointing it toward the machines on the opposite wall.
The screwdriver whirred loudly, and sparks began to fly out of the machines. There was a series of loud popping noises, and smoke began to float up from them. The orange creature screeched and seemed to extend a long tendril from its body, which quickly wound its way around one of the Doctor's legs. The man yelled loudly and tried to pull away, but his effort was in vain as the creature began trying to pull him into the pit with it.
Seeing that his strange new friend was in trouble, Prussia glanced around for a way to get to a good angle to help. Seeing a large chain dangling from the ceiling, the country grinned widely. Brazen in his drunken state, he grabbed the chain with one hand and dug a piece of string from his pocket with the other. He quickly tied the string around the switch of the lighter, making sure it stayed lit when he let it go. With an enthusiastic shout he jumped and swung, clinging to the chain as it brought him swinging over the bubbling orange mass.
Prussia smirked and dropped the can of pressurized air into the mass, waiting until the chain brought him back over it to drop in the lighter as well. The creature screeched and released the Doctor, seeming to pull back as the two items sank into it. Prussia jumped off of the chain and grabbed the stunned Doctor's arm, tugging on it desperately.
"Now vould be a good time to run! Vhen ze lighter meets zat can of air, zat zing is going to explode!" he yelped.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" the Doctor shouted, following him up the passage as the alien screeched behind them.
The strange pair ran as fast as they could out of the passage and away from the Ferris wheel. Mere minutes after they had gotten out of the passageway, there was a loud rumble that made the ground shudder beneath their feet. Prussia stumbled, clinging to the Doctor to keep from falling as the ground rolled under his feet. They both turned to look back as the Ferris wheel shuddered and leaned over a little. Luckily, it didn't completely fall. The Doctor gave a sad sigh and looked at Prussia with a thoughtful expression.
"You killed it." he pointed out obviously.
"Ja, vell...I have to protect ze Earth, even if everyone is forgetting ze awesome me. I don't zink I am going to be a country for much longer." Prussia said slowly, his red eyes dimming at the thought.
The Doctor watched him carefully, then motioned for him to follow him. Prussia followed curiously, noticing that he was thinking much faster now. All of the adrenaline must have helped push his drunken stupor aside for now. He was sure it wouldn't spare him the awful hangover in the morning, though.
The Doctor suddenly stopped, and Prussia found himself looking at what looked like a blue Police Call Box. He lifted an eyebrow at the Doctor and gave a nervous grin.
"Not gonna turn me in for public intoxication, are you?" he asked with a nervous chuckle.
The Doctor smirked.
"No. That's my ship. It's my TARDIS. With this, I travel not only through space, but through time as well." he said with a gentle smile.
"Zat zing takes you zrough time und space? It's tiny! Kesesese!" Prussia laughed incredulously, shaking his head.
"Take a look inside, Prussia." the Doctor motioned toward the TARDIS, and Prussia shrugged and took a few uneven steps toward it.
He paused in front of the door and looked it over before pushed it in and taking a few steps inside. The Doctor stood outside with a smile, waiting. After a few moments of stunned silence, he got what he was expecting.
"NO VAY!"
He chuckled as Prussia stumbled out of the TARDIS, circling it with wide eyes.
"Zat's not possible! It's...it's..." he stammered, shivering slightly.
"It's bigger on the inside, yes. Time Lord science." the Doctor chuckled at the all-too-familiar reaction.
"Vhat is a Time Lord?"
"That's what I am. A Time Lord. The last...of the Time Lords."
Prussia turned to give his a curious look, cocking his head to the side.
"Ze last? Vhat happened?" he asked.
"There was a war. A terrible war. The last Great Time War. We lost. Everyone lost. My people, my whole planet, was lost. It burned. Gallifrey burned. Everything burned." the Doctor replied evenly.
Prussia gave him a quick, understanding nod.
"Ja. Ve just got out of a terrible var ourselves." he mused, looking the TARDIS over again.
"I know. World War Two. Awful war. Well..."
Prussia looked up as the Doctor strode up to the door of the TARDIS and leaned against the door frame. The country backed up a few feet, watching the mysterious man in awe. He was framed by golden light that spilled out of his ship, and he looked somewhat mystical.
"It's time for me to go. I've got all of time and space to see." the Doctor started slowly.
"Ja. Have fun vith zat. I've got...nothing. Just to vait until ze rest of ze vorld decides mein fate..." Prussia sighed sadly.
"Well...you could do that. Or..."
Prussia looked up into the man's deep brown eyes curiously, not aware that he had more than one option.
"Or...?"
The Doctor smirked and held out his hand invitingly.
"You could come with me?"
Prussia bit his lip, his mind racing. Sure, seeing all of space and time would be exciting. It was a very tempting offer. He could spread his awesomeness to the stars, make sure he was remembered on other planets. Who knows what kinds of things he could achieve? But...what about his brother, Germany? And his friends? Would Germany, Hungary, Spain, and France even care if he were to disappear? And there was the promise he made to his Vati, Germania, all of those years ago...
"I...I can't. I made a promise to mein Vati to vatch over mein bruder after he died. I have to keep Germany safe..." Prussia sighed regretfully.
"Remember, the TARDIS is a time machine. We can explore all of space and time, and have you back in time for breakfast." the Doctor pointed out.
At this, Prussia paused. The wheels finally clicked into place in his head, and he grinned.
"Alright, zen! Count me in! Kesesese!"
The Doctor smiled and stepped aside, allowing Prussia to jump into the TARDIS. The door swung shut behind him, and Prussia allowed his gaze to rest on the large machine in the middle of the huge room. There were several passages that seemed to lead to other parts of the ship as well. He would have to explore those later.
The Doctor smirked at the man's dumbfounded expression and walked to the machine, a somewhat arrogant swagger in his step.
"Vhere are ve going first?" Prussia asked.
The Doctor gave a wide grin and patted the machine.
"Anywhere and anywhen we want to go."
And thus begins the adventures of Prussia and the Doctor! Woo, this is going to be AWESOME! Here we go! Allons~y!~Silver