Yay, new part of the prologue! :) I decided that this was obnoxiously long and bold last time, so I'm changing it to be short. Enjoy part two.
Adrenaline Rush
Prologue: A Rare Occurrence (very, very early 1400's)
Adrian kept up well enough, though Prussia slowed his pace to make things easy for her. Although the sky was littered with the light of a million stars, the forest was hard to navigate because of the lack of moonlight.
"You know," Prussia murmured, shattering the silence of their starlit trudge, "that was a dangerous promise you made. To her," he tilted his head slightly to indicate Allison.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the blonde replied in a curt, monotone mumble.
"You said that you'd always be there to protect her and that you'd never abandon her. You'll receive hell for that if you don't take it back."
"I know. I'll be there for her always, though. I'll fight when she needs protection, I'll care when she needs love. Nothing will make me back down." As they walked, he found his admiration for the little girl growing. She was certainly a tough one, for her small size and young age. Brave, too, though that sometimes didn't count for much.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Prussia was certain that she meant for it to sound like an indifferent command, though fear sounded in her voice that she had tried to hide. The howl of a coyote rang in Prussia's ears and another one followed, shockingly close. Adrian gasped, betraying how truly afraid she was. She grabbed on to the fabric of the albino's coat as she began to walk beside him. The pair was endearing to Prussia, really. Here Adrian was, vowing to do all that it took to protect her friend, and yet, she still had the naive fear of a child. Allison no doubt knew of her friend's fear, but she still trusted her. Their relationship was beyond comprehension.
Even after the danger seemed to have passed, Adrian didn't let go of Prussia. She clung to him with the same petulant fear, even after they left the forest behind.
The wrought-iron gate loomed in front of the trio forlornly, though the barely visible house beyond was lit. A cold north wind stirred the leaves and Prussia felt Allison shudder in her sleep. He hesitated a moment and then opted to turn around.
"Where are you going? Isn't this your house?" Adrian protested his change in direction.
"Of course it is!" he scoffed. "I'm just going around to the back gate, through the garden. That way, you will not be seen by my, ah, guests." Prussia was not concerned about all of them; it was France that worried him. He was staying with Prussia and he knew that it would not be the best idea to let the promiscuous blonde see the two new girls.
Adrian seemed to trust Prussia to that extent. She followed without further questioning. She jumped at little sounds, like an owl hooting or a twig snapping beneath their feet, and gripped Prussia's cape tighter than before.
They reached the much smaller gate after what felt like an eternity. The albino had not realised that his house was so large. He reached into his pocket for a key, unlocked the gate, and pushed it open. Its hinges shrieked like Italian soldiers in battle and made Prussia squirm. Allison fidgeted, though remained sleeping. Adrian and Prussia glided through the eerie garden, neither one completely at ease.
They naturally felt better as they stood on the back porch of the house. They slunk in unnoticed, however Prussia couldn't help but feel like prey in his own home. Through the kitchen, along the corridor, nearing the base of the staircase... They were close to their destination when they were stopped by a voice.
"Bruder?" Prussia craned his neck to see a blonde boy nearing the start of his teenage years. His hair, normally neat, was crumpled and messy and he was rubbing his eyes drowsily.
"Oh, Ludwig... Did I wake you?"
"No, I could not sleep because I didn't trust France. What have you got there? More little ones?" The boy tilted his head to acknowledge the presence of Adrian and Allison.
"Ah, yes. And it would be best if you did not inform France and Spain of their residence in this house, just like the other girl that I brought home."
"You should have left them." Ludwig's blue eyes met Prussia's intently and his gaze did not waver as he continued, "War could break out, very soon as well. There is a chance that we may lose and if we do, how do you intend to support them? With me and the other girl, you have four countries to care for. Even if we win the battles that are sure to come soon, once the other nations see what you have on your hands, even more fighting will occur. What will you do then?" Prussia had not even considered what would happen to himself, or to the girls, if he should lose. In his heart, he knew Ludwig was right. However, his pride would not permit him to say so.
"I know. That is why they must be kept a secret."
After he had turned and gone to his room, Prussia whispered to Adrian,
"Don't you mind him. I will not be losing any wars any time soon." She did not reply. They walked silently up the wooden stairs, fearing each creak would bring one of the older nations searching for the source of the noise. They were not discovered by anyone. Down the long corridor they continued, until they reached the end. Prussia turned right and slid through another equally dark, though not as long, hall. He opened the door on the right at the end. Light was unexpectedly shed upon Prussia and Adrian and a small squeak was heard.
"M-Master Gilbert! You're b-back!" A tiny brunette was sitting on a bed, covered from the waist-down in blankets. A candle was lit on her bedside table and a book was shut in her hands, though her chubby fingers served as a bookmark. There was a guilty blush on her cheeks as she fumbled for a real bookmark.
"Amanda, I told you to not stay up late reading," he rebuked her sternly.
"I'm sorry, Master Gilbert." He grunted in acceptance to her apology.
"These are Adrian," he shoved her forward softly, "and Allison," he placed her on the ground. "They will be staying with you in here until France and Spain leave in the morning. They have the same instructions as you do. Inform them of these orders and then go to sleep." He left the three young girls in the room and headed for the study, where the said nations would be making last minute decisions before their departure.
Prussia sat at a small table in the kitchen, one normally used by servants, as he sipped tea from a fine china cup. His eyes were glazed over and the morning was silent, save for the lonesome sound of a carriage being pulled away from the house at a steady trot. The previous night, the albino had gotten no sleep whatsoever. The discussions had lasted long hours until, before they knew it, an early dawn glow had conquered the darkness. The two visiting nations found themselves rushing to get their bearings together and head home.
And so, Prussia was left alone to contemplate the morning. It was not a predawn gray, he decided; the world did not lack color at this hour. Rather, everything was subdued as if in mourning of winter's swift approach. He felt a wave of depression course through his body as he wearily stood and ordered the maids to begin preparing breakfast. He sent a somewhat wistful glance toward the door that he had entered through last night to bring the two small countries home, turned, and exited the kitchen.
Things were much clearer in the morning. Gilbert stepped through the kitchen door and into the much finer hallway, the exact route he had taken that night. Delicately woven Persian rugs covered the wooden floors and paintings decorated the walls. To his left, the door to the study hung ajar, making annoyance spark within him. He closed the door and continued on his way. When he made another left, he saw the staircase leading to the younger countries' room. With a slight shake of his head, he opted to spare them and awaken Ludwig first. Yet another left, on the opposite side of the staircase, was another hallway. A little way down the corridor, to Prussia's immediate right, was a door. He swung it open, making a typically big entrance.
"Ludwig, get up and get dressed. Breakfast is being prepared." All the albino received in reply was a mumble and a slight shift of weight, placing the blonde's back toward Prussia. His previous spark of annoyance had sprouted into a flame. Ludwig had been going through a stage of defiance recently. It was certainly a nuisance to Prussia, who had no wish to be a father to him. He marched towards the teenage boy and shook him hard, without mercy.
"I said get up! I will not accept your usual tardiness in the presence of three young ladies! It is extremely ungentlemanly and unbecoming of a young man such as yourself!" After seeing that Ludwig was awake and moving, Gilbert stormed off to the stairs. He could not believe what an unruly mess everything was today. He was the master of this household! How could things be this way? He let out a more than irritated sigh. Down the first hall, he marched, around the corner to his right... Perhaps things would not be as bad as he'd thought. The girls were bound to be better behaved, after all.
He found the door he sought and entered the room. His flame turned into a roaring fire. The little brunette, Amanda, had an open book sprawled across her chest. Her covers, which she often didn't use, were kicked to the end of her bed. The young Allison was asleep on the ground beside Adrian, their only warmth presumably coming from each other and Adrian's cape that barely covered them.
"Amanda!" Gilbert snapped loudly with as much force as he could muster. In a moment, Amanda bolted up right in her bed, eyes widened in fear when she located Prussia. Adrian and Allison awoke as well. Adrian looked alert already and Allison, not knowing where she was or what had happened last night, was terrified beyond belief. Maybe yelling was not the wisest idea Gilbert had come across. Yet still, the rage burned on.
"I told you not to read! You disobeyed me, clearly!"
"B-bu-"
"I'll hear no excuses from you! No apologies, either," he shouted when she made a move to open her mouth. "You'll not be having any art lessons for a week. Instead, we'll be focusing on mathematics." Amanda was crestfallen, though she said nothing and nodded. Prussia let out a sigh once more, though he did not wish to be harsh on them any more.
"I'll send a maid to help you dress. Until you two get measurements," he murmured to Allison and Adrian, "you'll be wearing her clothes." Prussia spun around, exited the room, and closed the door softly behind him. He heard Allison squeak a question, probably something along the lines of "where are we" and slowly moved away from the door. Light began to shine through the windows that lined the wall opposite to the door and Prussia calmed himself.
He was the first at breakfast table and waited restlessly. Ludwig was on time, a first for him. He seemed to harbor a grudge against Gilbert for the manner in which he had been awoken.
"They're late," he mumbled bitterly.
"Actually, we're early," he contradicted the boy. "Besides, no matter how small, they're women. Probably fussing over their hair or something."
"So a woman has permission to be late to breakfast on account of her hair, but a man cannot be late because of lack of hunger and sleep?"
"Exactly." Ludwig rolled his eyes in an exasperated manner.
"Your logic confuses me, Bruder." The girls entered as the last snide comment was made, wearing cleanly pressed clothes that seemed to only fit Amanda precisely. Amanda took a seat beside Ludwig, who was closest to Gilbert. Gilbert sat at the end of table, where he belonged, seeing as he was the head of the household. Allison waited Adrian to take her seat. Adrian, however, looked confused and uneasy. Prussia, one eyebrow raised slightly above the other, said with a laugh,
"You can sit anywhere you'd like, though conversations would be easier to hold and less awkward if you sat closer to this end." The table, after all, was quite lengthy.
Adrian, taking it as an open invitation, stalked proudly over and sat on Prussia's other side, directly across from Ludwig. Allison scurried along and sat beside her.
The meal would have been uneventful if it weren't for the unbearable amount of tension between Adrian and Ludwig. It seemed that the two had not, and would not, take a liking to each other. Prussia hadn't the faintest idea to what may have set them off, but clearly something had.
After breakfast, Prussia pulled Ludwig aside. At first, he had planned to ask him about the unnecessary glares he had shot Adrian, but decided against it. Instead he simply informed him that all lessons for that day had been canceled.
"Why?" Ludwig asked, a challenge ringing in his voice. Prussia, a little annoyed with the sudden interrogation, merely replied,
"Because I have to focus on Adrian and Allison at the moment." Prussia thought he saw a dark look overcome the boy for a moment, but it was gone before he could be sure it was there in the first place.
Prussia sat in a cushioned chair behind a desk, finding that he could not concentrate on his work. He was not angry, though. He was merely amused at the direction in which the measurements were going. Downward.
"Ouch!" came the cry again. At the center of the room, Adrian stood on a pedestal, a servant attempting to find the circumference of her waist.
"Perhaps if you'd stop squirming, I would not poke you as much!" The maid scolded sternly. Allison and Amanda giggled at the grimace on Adrian's face as she continued to fidget and move, despite the maid's irritation. He thanked the lord that he'd had Allison's measurements done first. While hers had been finished half an hour after breakfast, at ten, Adrian's had been taking much longer. The clock struck noon, proving Prussia to be correct. With a smile on his face, he called out from his desk,
"If you stop moving, I'll take you, Amanda, and Allison out to town to pick out the new fabrics for your dresses." He'd tried to make the prospect of shopping seem exciting and he thought he'd succeeded, but he was met with a flat "no" from Adrian.
"Why not?" He asked, quite curious as to why a girl would not like to shop.
"I have no personal preference on what my dress - ow! - will look like," she snapped with a furrow in her brow.
"But, Adrian, think about it," Allison intervened in her whisper-thin voice, "We can explore the town a little while we choose our dress fabrics. If you choose your own, you can pick sensible fabric instead of frilly lace." She seemed very optimistic about the outing and it sounded in her voice. Adrian, forced to choose between her personal opinion and her will to do what Allison wished, gave in quickly.
"I guess it wouldn't be too bad..." She still sounded hesitant, but she wouldn't change her mind now that she'd decided. With her agreement, she held as still as a statue. If she had done that in the very beginning, her measurements probably would have taken less time than Allison's.
"Hurry up!" Amanda called out to the other girls as she dashed out of the house. Adrian and Allison were close behind. Prussia stood on the front porch of the house, quite amused for the second time that day. Amanda grabbed the harness of one of the two horses that were hooked to the carriage.
"This," Gilbert heard her say as he approached them, "is Knight, with a 'K'. You know, like Master Gilbert?" They nodded in understanding. Prussia decided to let Amanda introduce the other horse as well before leaving. The little brunette loved horses, so why should he interrupt?
"This is Lillian! I like her a lot, but my favorite is the small horse, Abigail. She's not out here, for some reason."
"That," Prussia intervened at last, "is because she is getting old and was too small to begin with. Now, we're wasting time. Hurry up and get in, now," he opened the door to let them in first, like the gentleman that he was. They got in slowly, marvelling at the velvet cushions and finely crafted wood, though Prussia was used to the luxuries. The door was swung shut and closed behind the albino as he climbed in. Amanda sat farthest from the door, by the window. Adrian was beside her and on her other side, next to the door, was Allison. Prussia took his seat across from them and the maid sat beside him.
The ride to town seemed to take seconds, though it must have lasted much longer to the girls. They watched the outside world fly by them in awe. When the carriage slowed as they came into town and were able to see better, they could hardly keep from crawling over each other. The trio was very enthusiastic about their trip. The clatter of hooves on cobblestone quieted as the horses came to a stop in front of a finely constructed store on the corner of the street. The footman opened the door. Prussia allowed himself to get out before the ladies, though he turned and offered his hand to each one as she exited the carriage. He strode to the fabric store confidently, for he had been there many times since Ludwig began growing so much. There was the light sound of a ringing bell when he pulled the door open. From this point, he stepped aside and allowed the maid to take over.
"Right this way, girls. These fabrics are best suited for you, I think," she stated, pulling the young nations to a rack on the left.
"Adrian, look at the lovely colors! They're all so bright!" Allison gaped at the fine shades of blue, black, red, and whatnot. Amanda stood beside her, grabbing some and feeling it.
"It's so smooth and silky," she marvelled, stroking the fabric with her fingers. Adrian snorted.
"And insensible. This would rip and soon as it got snagged on something. You certainly couldn't wear it around horses," she said with a pointed look at Amanda. Amanda shot a pleading look at Prussia for support.
"Adrian is right. These would be for nicer dresses. However, I'm sure we could find material for a riding habit. Isn't that right, Anna?" He dipped his head to the maid who accompanied them.
"Of course, Master Gilbert. For a riding habit, I recommend you look at these fabrics here," she held up some stiffer material that was equally as colorful. "If I understand correctly, though, we are here to buy some fabric for dresses and gowns, not riding clothes."
"Oh, she needs new horse riding clothes anyhow. They all do, in fact. We may as well buy some while we're here. It will save a trip later and -"
"And get me more money sooner," a lady finished the sentence for Gilbert as she walked in the main room from the back, presumably the storage room. She was quite tall, with light brown hair tied back to reveal pale blue eyes. "Master Gilbert," the middle-aged woman continued with a charming, business-like smile, "welcome back." She stopped there and skimmed her eyes over the trio of young girls. "I should have known you'd be back sooner rather than later. Look what you've landed yourself with now."
"Girls," he began an introduction, ignoring the woman's previous comment, "this is Miss Helena, the owner of this fabric store. Helena, these are Adrian, Amanda, and Allison." She scanned them once again, more thoroughly this time.
"What exotic names. Though, you three should not know me as Helena the shopkeeper. With all this visiting and buying your master here has been doing, I won't have fabric left to sell!" She sounded more pleased than irritated, for the more fabric she sold, the more money she would get out of it. "Tell me, Anna, what are you in the market for?" she turned to question the servant. Prussia had lost all interest in their conversation and listened to the girls instead.
"But Adrian," Allison whined, "this is such a pretty color and it feels so nice!"
"It'll tear in a second flat, mark my words. Buy something more sensible. This is a similar color and it's a tougher fabric." She held up some brown fabric matter-of-factly, causing Allison to grimace. The dark-haired girl was holding a brown silk that shone red, while the one Adrian held was a flat brown the color of dirt.
"They're completely different! You would not call day night, would you? Because those colors are as different as the moon and sun!" Allison persisted irritably.
"It's the difference between dirt and soil," Adrian continued, eying Allison's choice distastefully.
"You wouldn't plant lettuce in dirt. You'd bury it in fine soil," Amanda chimed in, holding her own fine fabrics. Adrian seemed at a loss for words, though she kept a witty facade about her while she thought of how to counter Amanda's argument. Amanda saw right through and plowed on.
"The dresses will not tear. We'll use the fine fabric for balls and inside and the tougher fabric for outside activities." With that, Amanda had clearly won the debate. She dragged the blonde away to find suitably colored fabrics for them all. Prussia calmed himself and waited by the door. After a good half an hour, Anna approached Prussia.
"They are done choosing their fabrics. I myself am quite excited to see them in their finished dresses." Amanda held an exquisitely colored emerald green silk, along with a darker evergreen, presumably for her riding habit. A cinnamon fabric that shone crimson was resting in Allison's arms. She had chosen a spice brown for her riding clothes. And lastly, was Adrian who stood apart from the duo, still sulking over her lost argument. Embarrassed, she attempted to cover the tough navy fabric.
Prussia took the fabrics from the girls and strode to the counter where Helena stood somewhat impatiently. She smiled graciously as she examined the fabrics to determine the final price. When she grabbed the navy fabric, a crease formed between her brows. She shook it a little and out fell the fabric that must have been intended for Adrian's ball gown.
"Oh, my, is this for your dress? It'll be quite lovely on you!" Helena enthused over the silky fabric that had been Adrian's choice. The blonde was blushing furiously. She must have wanted to keep it hidden, Prussia thought. Suddenly curious, he approached the counter. The fabric was blue in its truest form, the brightly dark color of the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon on a heated August evening. It would be a nice color on Adrian, however if he said so, the blonde would have snapped at him, so he decided against it.
"Come, now," Prussia began, "It's time we were on our way."
Enjoyable or no? This one has nearly four thousand words! I think that's cool, but I'm not sure what the average is. Word says it's seven pages long! Wow. And if you have any nickname suggestions, tell me that, please! Also, this is only PART TWO of the PROLOGUE. Thanks for reading!
Yours truly, (still has no awesome nickname yet)