Disclaimer: Axis Powers Hetalia is a creation of Hidekaz Himaruya. This fanfic is for entertainment purposes only.
A/N: If the Prussia we all know and love was really only a Teutonic Knight as a kid (as opposed to being Old Prussia), that actually makes him younger than Holy Roman Empire. I know, that would be confusing since Austria and Hungary were the same age he was... blame Himaruya. Also, I'm not sure whether to call this a "sequel" to my previous work "The Fallen Empire", it's basically more of a companion-fic, since this is just centering around Prussia. BTW, I don't think I'm very good at keeping Prussia in character, but I tried.
Italics are for thoughts, plain text is normal.
(June 1815)
Prussia gazed out at the battlefield, his view filled with nothing but ruins. This was the only thing left of his older brother, Holy Roman Empire. He sighed to himself as he wondered how it came to all this. He could remember the young empire spouting claims that he would be "the greatest empire in the world" before he would (back then he was just a Teutonic Knight) and watching him passionately set out to claim new territories, but that was over now. Holy Roman had been dissolved, becoming nothing more than a memory of times gone by.
Even though Prussia was younger than him, he managed to outgrow him early in life (much to Holy Roman Empire's embarrassment). Not that he could help it; no one could stand in the way of his awesomeness as claimed one territory after another. He grew stronger, growing out of his position as a Teutonic Knight and becoming the Kingdom of Prussia. Holy Roman didn't fight much in the beginning, leaving him small (and really cute, now that he thought about it). Prussia chuckled at the thought of his "big brother" having a height complex, which managed to keep his mind off of his grieving, even if it was just for a short while.
His red-violet eyes scanned the scenery, until he came upon what seemed to be a blond head of hair. Who would be here in a place like this? He walked over and saw that it was a child dressed in some sort of white cloak. The boy was asleep, his skinny body revealing possible malnutrition.
"Oi, kid, you shouldn't be sleeping here." Prussia tried to gently shake the boy awake, to no avail. His breathing was ragged and shallow, the only sign that he was still alive. The boy's shaggy, short hair was in a simple, yet familiar haircut. Could it be…? No, of course it wasn't him. Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved. Also, he grew to become a young man before his demise, and the boy couldn't have been more than ten years old. Could it possibly be that the boy was a newborn nation? All nations seemed to be born wearing white for some unknown reason. There was no telling how long the boy had been out here, but since he was in his territory, he felt that he should take care of him. He scooped the boy up into his arms and made his way back to his house.
Prussia had to admit, the resemblance to his brother was almost startling. The way his golden bangs went straight across his brow, the bright, blue eyes Prussia managed to get a glimpse of occasionally, even down to his small sideburns. It was almost like Holy Roman had become reborn… but that was nonsense. The church would never support such foolish ideas like life after death, but still, he had to wonder. Perhaps he just wanted to see his brother in this child; maybe this was all in his head. No, Prussia was much too awesome to be hallucinating like this.
Regardless of who the boy was, Prussia couldn't help but become attached to him. The more he thought about it, the more he realized something: countries never truly "die" in the traditional sense. As long as the land was still there and a country wasn't just going by a different name, someone would usually be there to take their place. Whether an already existing country occupies the territory or a new nation is born into the position, history marches forward. It was like the time he took over that older Prussia's territory when he was in the Baltics. When the old man passed on, the area was fully under the Kingdom of Prussia's control. (He had to admit, "Prussia" just sounded like an awesome name for the kingdom, so that's why he used it.) Perhaps the boy was Holy Roman Empire's replacement. He would have to think about this later after he can find a doctor for him.
After the boy was treated, Prussia heard the news: this boy was indeed the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, and was to be known as the German Confederation. In a way, he was still Holy Roman in spirit, but Prussia accepted that he was a new nation now. Perhaps he too would grow and become a grand empire one day. They could expand the German empire together, until the sun could never set on it. He then decided that the German Confederation would become his younger brother, although he'd call him "West", since his territory was west of his. The boy was still asleep, but Prussia was given some medicine to help treat him back to health. He finally arrived home with his new sibling, placing the boy gently on the bed in his guestroom. He decided to prepare some wurst in case West woke up in time for dinner.
When Prussia returned to the room some time later, he found the boy sitting up in the bed, fully awake. He was pleased that West regained some of his strength since he found him in the ruins.
"Oi, so you finally woke up." The boy looked at him curiously.
"Who are you?" Prussia, not knowing what came over him, blurted out his response.
"Hey, what's the matter with you? It's me, the totally awesome Prussia!" It became obvious that West was troubled by his answer.
"I'm sorry; I can't remember anything right now." Prussia became frustrated with himself. "Damn it Prussia, he isn't Holy Roman Empire, get a hold of yourself! This isn't the time for showing off, save that for later." Prussia regained his composure and tried to calm the anxious child.
"You don't remember anything huh?"
"Only that I'm a country. Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, I do. As of right now you are known as the German Confederation." He could see the boy's eyebrows scrunch as he went into deep thought.
"Is that really my name?" Prussia sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this…"
"Technically, that is your name."
"What do you mean by that?" Prussia resisted the urge to do a facepalm. "If this kid keeps asking questions like this, this is going to get really annoying."
"Look, you used to have a different name, but that's not who you are anymore. Just forget about it okay?" Prussia almost prayed the boy would just drop the issue.
"Fine." Prussia sighed in relief. He ruffled West's hair playfully.
"Hey, I bet you're hungry. I'll get you something to eat and later we'll get you some new clothes. You got to look presentable if you're going to be a nation." He led West out of the room, promising himself that he would make sure his little brother became strong so that he could never be destroyed, no matter how hard things got. "We'll spread the German empire across the world some day. Bruder, I'll make that dream come true for the both of us, or die trying."
My HRE =?= Germany theory: Germany is more like a reincarnation of Holy Roman Empire. Depending on what you believe about reincarnation, Germany can still be a seperate character but still have some of HRE's memories. I don't know if countries work that way, so go do your own research about it if you want. Please don't turn this into an argument about what really happened to HRE, I'll let you believe what you believe. It's all up to Himaruya anyway. Reviews?