Hello !
I'm here with a new story, that happen to not be that new... It's the translation of one of my own stories, to work my translation skills and to try to improve my English, especially my style. It was awful to translate... I mean, I used some vocabulary I didn't even know I had...
Anyway, I would like to really thanks Gil, who helped me with the translation and fix my numerous stupid mistakes and the weirdest ones.
The story will be a 3-shot -Well, actually it's a one-shot in three parts...-, based on the song "Une dernière danse" (A last dance) by Kyo.
In my headcanon, Nyo!Nations are the Siblings of the regular Nations, with a lot or not bounds. For exemple, Fem!Prussia is Brandenbourg.
Budapest city, in Hungary, was created in the XIXth century by the fusion of the cities of Buda... And Pest. And Óbuda secondarily. So, Male!Hungary is still called Buda.
Laws and rules are not peculiar to humans. The Nations, those beings perfect and superior, immortal and unalterable, are also submitted to them.
Those laws are not written and approved texts, for the most of them. But implied agreements respected and taught, without having to spell things out, to the young fledgling Nations.
One of those laws was set out in the fifteenth century. After Jeanne d'Arc's death.
France's despair was such, that the most important of those agreements was decided.
It was now forbidden to love a human.
Prussia remembered the sobs, tears and whines of the Great France. The hatred his friend felt towards England. His long contemplations in front of her grave. His pain, for something that would have inevitably happened someday.
The humans die. The Nations stay.
Prussia knew all of this. It was with this same stare, melancholic and reddish, that still today he watches Germany and Italy hanging around. Full of jealousy, too.
Prussia had played his role of best friend. He used, for years, his shoulder as a sponge for France's tears. That stupid France. What need to become infatuated with a human? He knew it though. Sooner or later, she would have left. And even before. She would have grown, age. He would have stayed the same.
Prussia was morose. Why? Why did his best friend fall in love with a human? So much pain and grief for someone who would only live a few years.
It was in this frame of mind he went to the ball organized by God knows which noble of Brandenburg. His sister invited him; and, even if he could not refuse anything to her, he hated balls. He danced well –he had a few centuries to get used to it-, but recently, those Humanists and their stupid revolutionary ideas somewhat spoiled them. They were present more and more, talking with beatitude about the New World, pacifism, education, or, even worse, love. He had nightmares the first time he heard those Humanists talking about feelings with so much facility. Damn, they were nobles or high dignitaries of Prussia, not a bunch of wimps unable to fight!
It really scared him. If his humans were like that, he would end up in the same way.
"Lord Prussia! How marvelous to see you here!"
Ah. It was 'God knows which noble of Brandenburg'. He did not bother to remember the humans, except the ones for whom he had a little bit of respect, which was limited to his military men. There, it was visibly the host. He did not like his face. Why did he come, again? Ah, yes, take his mind off things. France got him fuming again, complaining all day long.
Prussia greeted the host with a slight nod, and the noble seemed delighted.
"I am really blessed to know you are in my humble residence, Lord Prussia…"
Humble residence? It was at least twice bigger than Prussia's manor, and even more richly decorated.
"I am really flattered" the Nation said. "I would prefer that you call me by my civil names here though. I would rather avoid drawing attention on me; only a few people are aware of our existence."
"Oh, yes, of course, excuse me, Lord Weilschmidt."
"Call me Jochen."
The host drafted a few words more, and left to greet other newcomers. Prussia uses it to quietly move away, looking for any women he could invite to dance.
He quickly asked several women to dance with him, accompanying his requests with a little charming smile. The ladies chuckled, and agreed with delight. He had a volta due with the countess from He-Didn't-Know-Where, a minuet with the Daughter-Of-Someone-Important, another with the Niece-Of-The-Earl-From-Far-Far-Away, and a few others he had forgotten. But the women would come remind him his dance promises in due course. Therefore, he had enough to do to keep himself occupied the first part of the night, and he will decide later for the second.
"Hey, Bruder, you managed to find enough to keep you busy the whole night?" a twang voice behind him asked.
Prussia turned over to see Brandenburg, who had for once elegantly styled her white hair, and dressed herself in a light red gown putting her red eyes forward.
"Really? And you? You're wear one of those corsets which scare you so much?"
His sister rolled her eyes, sighing.
"Buda… I mean, Ődőn is here tonight, isn't he?" Prussia inquired as he laughed.
"Tss… Jochen, go dance and leave me alone." Brandenburg grouched as she moved away, irritated.
"Bis bald, Hedwig!"
Music filled slowly the hall, and the first dance began. Prussia took the arm of his first partner, a middle-aged marquise who still had great beauty, and brought her on the
The dances succeeded one after another. Prussia loved using those balls to seduce one human or two; those nights without any feeling were all he asked for. Of course, his lovers' husbands or fathers were always far from pleased when they stumbled on what has been going on. When they did.
The music announced the first volta. If there was a dance that Prussia did not like, it was the volta. He found it even more complicated than the bourrée, and he always found himself with women who weren't coquettish for this couple's dance.
Visibly, this time, he was luckier. His partner was the young daughter of an influential count and famous officer. She was elegant, with her chestnut chignon adroitly done and her burgundy dress lavishly trimmed. She walked with a firm step, and had an audacious smile. Confidence of youth; she was probably not married yet, and trusted the loved maxim "Carpe Diem" of those damned Humanists.
Prussia greeted her with a small reverence, keeping his eyes on her. It is her who will end up in his bed tonight. He gave her a bold grin as he stood up. A grin that she returned with vehemence.
Prussia liked those glancing games.
Their step moved closer, and Prussia was finally able to hold the waist of his partner. Her corset was not very tight. Visibly, she preferred breathing rather than being beautiful.
"What is your name?" Prussia asked, with a smile that he wanted to be seductive.
"Anne Binder. And yours?"
"Try to guess."
Anne pouted for a few seconds, and announced, with a clear and convinced tone:
"Gilbert. Your name can only be Gilbert."
It was not true, the name he used in the presence of humans was Jochen. But he wouldn't start to hurt her, he attempted to seduce her.
"Well played. My name is Gilbert Weilschmidt."
"Oh! I usually have a hard time guessing names. It's the first time I won, my dear Gilbert!"
Gilbert. What an unpleasing name. He could not wait the next morning. Nobody would ever call him that again. Until then, he had to know if tonight's conquest was one of those Humanists. It was always interesting to know. It gave him a reason to be depressed.
"You dance the volta surprisingly well , Anne."
"Of course I know my dances, that's the minimum."
"You content yourself with knowing your dances?"
"No. You know, a few men don't like that, but even if I am a woman, I received a complete Humanist education. You know some of those men?"
Himself, to begin with.
"Yes, I know a few. But I don't think like them; for me, a woman deserves as much as a man. She deserves the righteous and rigorous education of the philosophers."
What he would not do to have her in his bed.
"Those men should burn in Hell, a century or two, to understand that." Anne laughed, as she moved away from Prussia, following the steps of the dance.
"Humanists don't teach kindness and courtesy?" Prussia asked, coming closer again.
"Oh, yes. I forgot, just an instant. Don't take it into consideration."
"You know, my manners are not really good either…"
Anne offered him another of her smirks. He took advantage of it to observe her a little more. She was rather pretty. Not as beautiful as the marquise with whom he had danced with before, but she had something in her attitude that made her at least as elegant.
"What are you doing, the second part of the night?"
"Oh? I have nothing planned. I think my fiancé intended to dance with me, but if I may give my opinion, I would rather slip into the stairs to avoid this chore."
The nation laughed to this idea, and asked, with an enticing smile:
"Would you rather spend the rest of the night with me? I really enjoy you company, you know…"
"Mmh… If you want to. But in that case, we wouldn't stay here. If I am with you the whole night, the socialites will have something to gossip about."
The last notes of the volta made themselves heard. Prussia kissed Anne's hand, and whispered sensually to her ear before moving away:
"Rendez-vous later on the balcony."
From behind, he could almost hear Anne blush. He will enjoy himself tonight.
God he loved seducing women.
The last two dances lasted for so much time to Prussia. Eventually, he had fulfilled all his obligations and he managed to slip away, to make for the terrace. Anne was already there, waiting for him.
The calm atmosphere of outdoors stood out agreeably with the noise and the music from inside. Those moments while you go through a world to another were sacred for the Nation., those seconds seemed pass with slowness and calm, and the entire world focused on him.
With a smile, he moved closer to the young woman, who looked at the gardens below, leaning on the guardrail.
"Look, Gilbert," she said as she felt him arrive, while turning towards him. "My fiancé left in the gardens with a baroness."
The Nation leaned on the balcony to try to see in the night what Anne was showing him.
"It really annoys me! I owe him fidelity, much more than he owes me it! If someone sees him, nobody will say anything. If I'd dare deceive him, I'd be repudiated."
Prussia shrugged his shoulders. They only needed not to be found.
Anne noticed Prussia's gesture and smiled to him.
"We only need to be discrete, no?" she asked with a mocking tone.
Prussia only approved, and brought her with pleasure for a walk in the park.
The Nation expected to have to put up with the moral lessons of an important woman without saying anything all night long to attempt to bring her at his home, but nothing like that happened.
Anne was really excellent company. Prussia surprised himself by appreciating more than he thought he would while chatting with her, about all the subjects crossing their minds. The young lady was eighteen, and was engaged to a high officer of Brandenburg's army. She played the piano and the viola; she spoke French, Czech, Greek, Chaldean and Latin as well as German. She was a poesy-lover, especially French poesy, and was scared to travel, loving her family too much to do so.
They explored the garden from top to bottom. Admired the fountains, criticized people passing by, commented about their own lives, picked a few flowers discreetly and tied them around their wrists.
From the gardens, they heard the bells ring. Prussia didn't really know which hour it was. He was only focused on Anne's eyes, that were saying goodbye, and thanking him for this night, that she would have loved for it to last longer, but she had to go, they agreed about this hour with her father.
Prussia did not really listen to her anymore. It was on her eyes that his attention focused. Her beautiful brown eyes.
"So, in this case, good bye." the Nation cut her off without noticing. "It was a wonderful night."
And he bent over to put his lips on hers.
It was not the sweetest thing, or a more breathtaking or a magical moment. It was what it was.
They stayed a few moments like that, before splitting up Anne smiled, and took the stair towards the terrace, to enter the ballroom.
Prussia stayed there, pouting and swaying in the middle of the alley as he played with the flowers around his wrist.
It is a bad night. He will end it alone.
Lately, Prussia felt like he spent more time at Brandenburg's than at his own home. His volcanic sister wasn't in a very good mood. Buda, a man that she invited especially to the ball, had come, but not alone. He took Wien. And if there was anything among everything that Prussia and Brandenburg shared, it was the combination of jealousy and hate they felt towards Austria and Wien, because of the importance Hungary and Buda granted them.
And Hungary and his brother Buda were some of those inaccessible things that Prussia and Brandenburg wanted. Like spoiled children, they only wanted what they could not have or what was refused to them, and then grew tired as soon as they had access to it.
"And you, Bruder, with whom did you spend the night?" Brandenburg spitted, when the both of them were in her manor after the ball, late in the night.
"Young countess, Anne Binder. Engaged to a high officer in your army." Prussia explained as he sat down on an armchair, exhausted.
Brandenburg did not reply immediately, busy to play with the ribbons on her dress that she creased when she sprawled on the sofa.
"I know her father… Her fiancé too, by the way," the young woman rambled, yawning. "Lovely people."
"She was too…"
"How far did you go?" Brandenburg asked with sarcasm.
"A kiss, nothing more. It's more than enough; it was a wonderful night in wonderful company. You can't be lucky every time."
His sister broke the ribbon, since she pulled it too much. She threw it in the fire, which burned peacefully in the chimney, a few steps from her.
"But you're not the kind of person who contents himself of what we give you."
Prussia came back in Brandenburg's manor, a few days later. His sister invited him, and he had to admit it suited him. He liked being with Brandenburg a lot, and it prevented him from brooding. Lately, he was in a really bad mood.
The Nation asked the servant who passed by where his sister was. "In the office.", she replied. But it was a while since she last saw her, so maybe she was elsewhere now.
He opened the heavy door of the office. Brandenburg was inside, but not alone. She talked with two men in their thirties. Commandant and Lieutenant considering their uniforms.
Seeing her brother coming in, Brandenburg got up from her chair to embrace him.
"Prussia! You're late!"
"Sorry."
"I wanted you to arrive before them," she shushed at his ear. "Well, never mind."
She let him go then, and said aloud:
"You're lucky, brother, we just finished talking about our business affairs. I introduce you to the commandant August Kaufmann and the lieutenant Conrad Heinzchen. Commandant, lieutenant, this is my brother, Prussia."
Prussia greeted the two men, who smiled warmly. Kaufmann was stocky, brown-haired and moustached. Heinzchen was taller and terser.
"You know the fiancée of the commandant," Brandenburg explained while Prussia was shaking his hand. "Anne Binder; she was at the ball last week."
Prussia's smiled became forced, and, without even noticing it, his grip more aggressive. Now, he hated Kaufmann.
Brandenburg guided them towards the drawing room, where they sat down to chat a little. To talk about the army, the war, the peace, their wives. Brandenburg leaded the conversation with mastery. She made Kaufmann talk about Anne for long minutes. The commandant was proud of his fiancée: clever, polite, truthful, smart. He was full of praise for her. He told them how faithful she was with pleasure, and the number of suitors she defeated. He explained with conformity the preparations for the marriage, two months later.
When Kaufmann and Heinzchen left, Brandenburg perfectly managed to achieve exactly what she wanted with her brother.
"So, a kiss is enough?" she asked to her brother when they both looked at the windows the officers leaving.
Oh, no. A kiss wasn't enough. He wanted more. He wanted the inaccessible fiancée of Kaufmann, wholly, and only for him.
Brandenburg grinned as she saw her brother frown. Once again, she did whatever she wanted with him. The next few days would be amusing, for sure.
The supper was silent. Prussia was focused on his meal, and Brandenburg did not like talking alone. The young man did not utter a single word during the evening, until he went in Brandenburg's room, just before she went to bed. She was brushing her hair, sitting in front of the mirror, wincing every time she passed over a tangle. His brother came behind her and took the brush. He combed the almost-white long hair of his sister during the long minutes before he put down the brush on the table.
"Her address."
Brandenburg grinned as she looked at her brother in the mirror. He looked upset, but determined. However, she has decided to laugh, tonight.
"Pardon?" she asked, still smiling.
"Her address. You should know it, don't you? You know her fiancé, you know her father, so maybe…"
"What would I have to gain by helping you?"
Prussia bit his lip. He really did not know what to answer…
"Keep Wien away from Buda at the next ball."
"I'll do it."
"You'll have the address then."
"I want it now."
Brandenburg kept staring at her brother in the mirror. This time, his expression was far more desperate.
"She lives in the southern area of the city, in one of those snobbish mansions. I don't have the exact address right now, look in my office."
Prussia's look became grateful. Brandenburg smiled.
"Good luck, Jochen."
"Thank you." Prussia simply replied as he left the room.
Prussia has always been impulsive. Conjugated with his habit to want whatever the others had, it could produce something a bit too ill-considered.
It was almost midnight, it drizzled, and he was in the courtyard of one of the beautiful manors. He had not taken a vest, tied his boots, and had absolutely no idea of where the hell Anne's bedroom was. He had scaled the fence to get in, and he had, in vain, gone three times around the edifice, but he still had no idea of where the woman was that he looked for.
Miserable, he sat on a bench in the gardens, under a tree. He did not care about being caught now. The halves of the lights were on, and the French windows let out a warm radiance. He saw, outlining in shadows puppets, a few servants bustling in the different rooms. Someone sitting down in an armchair. A woman letting down her long hair.
Prussia looked a few moments through the window at the shadow of this woman doing her hair on the first floor. The room had a balcony, and looked large. It could have been Anne's bedroom. In any case, he had nothing to lose. Without really noticing it, he stood up and moved below the windows. A huge vine snaked all along the wall. Prussia grabbed it, and began to climb. Two minutes later, he was on the balcony, even if he almost tripped because of the drizzle.
Therefore, he stood in front of the French window of the bedroom. He did'nt really know what to do. The young woman had not noticed him yet, and visibly just ended combingher hair. Prussia looked more closely. From here, he could see Anne's long chestnut curls, her unequal but suave hands, her rather large waist because of the burgundy corset barely tightened, her legs covered by the comfortable white pants she used as an undergarment.
He heard himself knock the window. Four times.
Anne jolted and turned around, her hands laid on her corset. The young woman began to search the origin of the noise, and open her brown eyes wide when she saw Prussia on the other side of the window. She blinked a few times before Prussia motioned her to open the door.
Anne hurried towards the French window, and opened it to let the Nation in. Prussia made a few steps in the bedroom, embarrassed, and dripping a little.
"Oh my God, Gilbert, what are you doing here?" Anne asked while she was looking for something in the wardrobe to dry Prussia.
"I…"
Saying "I'm here to have what I couldn't the last time. Clothes off." did not sound much like a good idea. If he wanted Anne, the loving and faithful woman that Kaufmann had described, he had to be subtle and gentle, to touch when he had the chance.
"I have not ceased thinking about you since the ball, Anne. You… you've occupied my thoughts. I have to see you again. Absolutely."
The words came out, naturally. He told her this weakly, far from her, and Anne came closer. She held his hands when he recounted the happiness he felt after their kiss, the genuine despair after she left. He recounted that he had pestered his sister to have her address. He recounted her as he scaled the fence, and looked for the place where she was for a time he judged interminable . He recounted her when he climbed the vine in the rain just to see her again. He recounted that now, he was the happiest of the men.
However, he did not recount that actually, he didn't lie that much.
Prussia came back to his sister's at dawn. It still whimpered. He hated this weather, between rain and sun, this cloudburst which wasn't really one. A sky between two states. Much like him.
He threw his soaked shoes somewhere in the hall. Someone would take care of it. Until then, he went to sit in the drawing room, next to the fire. His sister should be up soon, he hoped. For five minutes, he twisted his fingers in every which way, before he took a book on the coffee table. He didn't know what it was about, but looking at the pages and the words, one after one, did calm him down a little.
A maid came to ask him if he wanted something. He asked for a glass of strong alcohol, that he later guzzled down in one go, not caring about the fact that the sun had just rose.
"Since when are you here?"
Prussia jolted when he heard his sister behind him. She stood in the doorway, and was already dressed in her military uniform and with styled hair.
"Since dawn?"
"Oh, it's been two good hours" Brandenburg sighed. "You could have closed my office's door when you looked for the address. And put away the mess you made."
"Sorry, I'll clean it…"
"I hope so. And?" The young woman asked. "Yesterday night?"
His brother had a little period of latency.
"I had what I wanted."
Brandenburg sighed in dissatisfaction.
"What? Pfft… I hoped it would entertain me a little longer… Well, anyway you had your night in her bed, that's what matters, no?"
Prussia did not reply immediately, focused on his contemplation of the fire in the hearth.
"Yes. That's what matters."
Four times. Prussia did not know why he came back. He went for a walk, to enjoy the calm of the night, and his step leaded him to this window. The Nation noticed what he did only when he knocked the four times at the window. It was rather frightening. He just went across the city, scaled a fence and a wall without being aware of it.
Anne opened the door to him, rubbing her eyes.
"Gilbert?"
Prussia smiled, a little bit ashamed, scratching his nape. Anne returned his smile with eloquence and let him inside the bedroom. The Nation kissed her hand while she inquired, visibly annoyed:
"May I know if you intend to come every night?"
"Does it bother you?" Prussia replied as he moved the hand from his lips, attempting to take a sad look.
Anne smiled a few seconds and let her lips stretch.
"Not in the least."