17 August, 1786
Gilbert clutched his shirt fabric and sobbed into his arms. He pulled his legs in close and hid his face behind his knees. His clothing was soon wet with tears. He had watched the life drain from Fredrick the Great's eyes only minutes before. Unable to bear the sight of servants removing his body, Gilbert had fled to his room and shut the door before the tears could come. But now they fell in merciless waves.
He looked up after what felt like hours, eyes red and puffy. A box on his mantel seemed to glare at him. Needing to say goodbye one last time, he wiped the tears from his cheeks and brushed the hair out of his eyes. He pushed himself off the floor and stumbled to the box. His fingers shook as he removed the lid and discarded it. Inside were paintings, documents, pens, paper weights, and all the little things that had previously littered the desk of Old Fritz. A servant must have left it there once they finished cleaning the old man's study. Gilbert cursed under his breath. Someone had seen him crying then. Crying wasn't awesome. Someone seeing him cry was even less awesome. But a dead Old Fritz was the least awesome thing of all.
Gilbert fingered through all the momentums with a lump in his throat. He was going to miss Old Fritz more than he could understand. The old man had been like a father to him. He'd raised him from a little country to the big nation he was today. No matter what happened, Prussia and Fredrick were an unstoppable force. But now that Fritz was gone, the country felt weak and lonely.
He sat back down on the floor and curled up again, for the tears and shuttering breaths hadn't run their course. The box lay on his bed, contents cluttering the surface. But Prussia clutched the only thing in the box that held meaning to him. A painting of he and Fritz standing side by side in their best battle uniforms, arms around each other like best friends. It was the last remnant that he had.
After a few more minutes, and after the tears had started to diminish, Prussia heard the click of his door opening. He lifted his head to see Germany standing in the opening. The little country held Gilbird to his chest and tears were in his eyes. His lip trembled.
"Bruder?" the little boy said, "I heard about Grandpa Fritz…" he started shaking.
"Ludwig, come here." Prussia said softly and opened his arms. Germany ran quickly into his brother's embrace and wailed into his shirt. Prussia held his brother tightly and whispered soothing words until the tears stopped, which wasn't until late into the night.
"Big Bruder?"
"Hmm?" Prussia said with a blank stare.
"What are you going to do now?"