After running for five minutes straight, the Holy Roman Empire and Ludwig had reached the edge of the fruit orchard. Ludwig looked down at the small empire next to him, and was about to ask him if he needed to take a break when something caught his eye. His eyes widened in horror as he looked down at his torso.
"MEIN GOTT! I'M NOT DRESSED!"[1] he yelled as he leapt backwards towards the cover of the trees behind him.
Holy Rome looked at him in confusion.
"What are you talking about? You're wearing clothes, and besides, you're invisible to anyone here. Besides me, of course."
Ludwig blushed slightly and sweat dropped, "O-oh... Yeah, I forgot about that."
"Are you done flipping out now?" he paused for a moment waiting for Ludwig to answer, he never did, "Good, now let's go." He started to walk briskly into a garden, towards a large mansion just beyond it. Ludwig sighed, and abandoned his hiding spot behind one of the trees to follow the empire. He was looking at the pristine condition of the walk way and the just blooming flowers, when he nearly walked into a shrubbery.
"We may be invisible and ghosts to the people here, but you can still get hurt, so watch where you are going. Besides, she- ahh. Never mind what I just said."
Holy Rome started to blush violently, and walked away from the older country. Ludwig scruntched up his eyebrows and looked at the back of the retreating boy in confusion. Shrugging, he started after the boy.
After they navigated themselves out of the small garden, they found themselves at an opened side door of the mansion. The Holy Roman Empire stepped off to the side of the door and shuffled on a mat that was left outside. Ludwig looked down at his bare feet, and shrugged. He was about to walk past the empire and into the house when the small empire jumped him.
"What do you think you are doing?" Holy Rome asked as he wrapped his tiny arms around the much larger German's neck. Ludwig gasped, feeling his airways being crushed by the smaller empire. This startled him because of the strength the small empire was able to put into strangling him.
"I-I'm... going in... side!"
Ludwig reached up to try and loosen the boy's grasp but the small empire just tightened his grip, "Without wiping your feet first? Even after she spent so much time cleaning the floors?"
"W-who? Please l-let me go! I can't BREATHE!"
Holy Rome leaned forward, "Will you wipe your feet off?"
"J-JA! JA! JUST LET ME GO!"[2] Ludwig yelled as he tried to squirm his way out of Holy Rome's grasp.
The small empire chuckled darkly as he released the German and hopped down off of his back. Ludwig doubled over and grasped his throat, gasping for air. The small empire stood and waited for him to catch his breathe again. After twenty seconds or so, Ludwig finally was able to speak. He glanced over at the small empire while massaging his neck.
"Now who were you talking about? It sounds like you obviously know her."
Holy Rome stiffened and his face turned red, "I-I saw a-a g-girl who was... uh- cleaning in there!" he pointed into the open door to his left.
Ludwig raised his eyebrow at the young empire, stood up and walked over to peer into the doorway. Holy Rome was right, a young girl about Holy Rome's age was sweeping the floor of a large ballroom. She was wearing a light green blouse with a dark green skirt and what Ludwig could guess was white apron. Her auburn hair was held back by a white handkerchief. Ludwig gaped at the girl as he saw so many similarities to the sleeping girl he left in bed earlier that night, er- day. He shook his head.
"She sure looks a lot like Feli." he whispered to himself.
"But of course," the small empire next to him said, "Who else could it be?"
Ludwig jumped a bit when Holy Rome replied.
"W-what do you mean?"
"Exactly that."
Ludwig returned to watching the younger Feli as she continued to clean the floor of the large mansion. He zoned out somewhat as scanned through his knowledge of the history of Italy, when he finally came up with the answer he was looking for.
"We're at Austria's house right now!" he exclaimed.
"Bravo. It took you how long to figure this out?" Holy Rome added sarcastically.
Ludwig ignored Holy Rome's comment as he inspected the interior of the mansion. It held many paintings of various landscapes and people on its walls. The entire floor was made of marble tile, which was spotless except for where younger Feli was cleaning now. A few closed doors were scattered about the room leading to the rest of the mansion. He could remember attending a few evening parties here, but Austria had had the room refurbished and decorated differently by then.
Just then, the door nearest to Feli was cracked open, and a voice called out from somewhere beyond it.
"I'm home! I've obtained more land for the Holy Roman Empire!"
Ludwig jumped at the voice and looked at the empire next too him. He raised his eyebrow while looking at Holy Rome questioningly.
"Did you say something?" he asked.
Holy Rome blanched a bit and laughed nervously.
"Well, technically... Yes, I did."
A high pitched yelp brought both of the two males attention back to the room, just in time to see a small hand attached to a charcoal colored sleeve retreat from Feli's backside. Feli whipped around and then froze in terror.
"M-Mr. Holy Roman Empire, sir! I'm sorry, b-but please don't h-hurt me! I'm trying my best to clean-!"
She ceased her babbling and started to whimper while clutching her push broom closer to her person. It looked like flames were beginning to appear at the edge of the door when the flames vanished along with the sound of hard soled boots running away from the now cracked door. Ludwig stared in confusion as he tried to comprehend the scene that had just played out. The swish of cloth and a flash of black in his peripheral vision alerted Ludwig that Holy Rome had exited the doorway. He turned to see where the former empire was heading.
Holy Rome was walking back towards the garden that they had come through. Ludwig quickly looked back at Feli, she had finally stopped whimpering and was returning to cleaning the floor. He frowned slightly, before abandoning his spot in the doorway to follow the retreating empire. After a few steps, the sound of soft singing reached his ears, and Ludwig chuckled.
Niedlich...[3]
Picking up his pace, he followed the former empire through the garden. As they both exited the garden, Ludwig closed the short distance between them and placed his hand on the empire's small shoulder. He opened his mouth to question him but he wasn't able to speak. His whole body began to hurt like hell and his head felt like it was going to explode. The worse thing was that it was a throbbing pain that worsened with each passing second. Images flashed before his eyes but he saw nothing, and incoherent voices were speaking in his ears, some were whispering and some were yelling.
Ludwig felt his knees shake slightly before they gave out, and he toppled forward towards the ground below. His hand slipped from the empire's shoulder, and the pain gave one last unbearable throb before it ceased as his face planted into the ground. The voices seemed to linger, swirling around him as his squeezed his eyes shut. He could vaguely hear Holy Rome' voice yelling before it broke through the rest of the voices, scattering them.
"H-hey! Get up! This isn't any time for a nap!"
Ludwig groaned in pain and relief, turning his head to the right so he could peer at the former nation. A worried expression was etched into the young boy's face.
"What happened?" Holy Rome reached out to touch Ludwig's forehead.
Ludwig flinched away from his hand, and tried to roll away from it. Holy Rome glared at him, and pounced on the older German's chest.
"Man up already!"[4] Holy Rome said as he placed his hand on Ludwig's forehead.
Ludwig flinched as his hand came in contact with his forehead, expecting the pain to come back. He relaxed after a moment when the pain didn't return.
"Hmmm..."
Ludwig looked up at the former empire on his chest. He seemed to be thinking very deeply about something.
"Um, Holy Rome, do you think you could get off me?"
Holy Rome's eyes shot open as he climbed off of him.
"Oh, of course! I'm sorry."
Ludwig sighed, and continued to lay on the ground even after the former empire had gotten off of him. Looking up at the clear blue sky, he watched as a lone puffy white cloud drifted across the sky. A few minutes passed before Ludwig finally broke the silence.
"What the hell just happened?"
Sorry it took so long to get chapter two out! It's funny, because I write much faster when I'm acually in school!
And many thanks to slave of boredom, and xcv2013 for your reviews~
Translations:
[1] My god
[2] Yes
[3] Cute
[4] not a translation but I was soooo tempted to be like "Or I'll beat you with Swissy's peace prize!"
Review please~ It might help me write faster~ ;P
Review~
DO EET!
