First of all, wow! Thank you all so much for following, favouriting and reviewing!
And a little special thanks to Crossfire, Abc and KuneggAndris for the amazing advice and ideas they've given me! I'll be sure to put some of them to good use in the future!
I can't remember writing a story that got so many reviews and such on the first chapter only, in such a short time. Thank you all so much for that!
Well, here's the second chapter then. I hope you'll enjoy it!
27 October 1211
As you can imagine, I hardly slept last night. Sheer exhaustion drove me to close my eyes, knowing that, tonight at least, the Hungarians had guard duty, not my own Order. I couldn't really go out and do that instead. They would just start asking questions.
Hungary is insane. But also, I'm afraid, right. After I cut him, he did the same to me, and I'm still looking at the cut. He's the only one to have ever given me a wound that stayed this long. It's rather scary, if I have to be honest. So if I'm really a country like him, I wonder which one I am? I hope a strong kingdom. My Order doesn't really have any land yet, so they're not my people, at least. But I do want people like them -righteous and strong, people others can look up to!Well, whatever happens, I'll have to rest today and tonight. Tomorrow we'll set out for battle against the Turkic tribe. As a reward, the Teutonic Order will get access to Burzenland -I wonder if I'm Burzenland, then? Maybe. I hope not, because Burzenland sounds really awful. I'll find out.
Gilbert sighed and put his quill down. This was frustrating. All day his mind had been reeling with the thought of being a nation, being an immortal, one day being as old as Hungary was now. Who was he, really? Who were his people, what was his land? And why, for Heaven's sake why, had his father given him to the Teutonic Order instead of raising him himself? Then, at least, he would've known more about all this. Just the evening before, Hungary had told him that he himself didn't even have a father or a mother -he was born from the Earth, as he called it. Maybe Gilbert was, too. Maybe his 'father' had merely found him somewhere and brought him to the people he knew would take care of him. Hungary had also told him it had been North Italy who had told him who he was, or at least that he was a country, and being Hungary was something he'd figured out himself. Other than Italy, he knew Lithuania and France. He knew of even more, though he'd never met them in person yet. Well, now you know me, Gilbert had thought, grinning. That's one more on your list! My name can come later, just be sure to recognise me as one of you.
Gilbert's mind had been with all those things all day. And the worst thing was, that Hungary was nowhere to be found that day, so he couldn't ask him the many questions burning in his mind. He'd wondered for a moment whether he should tell Frederick about all this, but had soon decided against it. He didn't want his only friend to deem him insane or a demon like the others did. He felt confused, lonely and miserable all day, though he also felt really excited and couldn't stop thinking about the many possibilities he had, being immortal. He could be the best knight in the Teutonic Order! No one would ever be able to defeat him. But despite those positive thoughts, he was visibly troubled and distracted most of the day. Not even the thought of heading out to battle soon could cheer him up as it usually did. Not even now that he knew for sure that he was practically invincible.
"Gilbert," one of the elders, Joachim, eventually spoke to him. "I do hope your mind won't wander as it does today when we head out." Gilbert shook his head and promised that it wouldn't: he would focus on their task and nothing else. He was determined not to let his Order down. "You haven't slept last night, have you?"
"No, sir."
"It's unlike you to be nervous for a battle. If anything, you seem to look forward to them all the time," Joachim went on, only a little bit of distrust slipping into his words and voice. Gilbert just sighed, rolled his eyes and assured the man that he wasn't nervous: not for the battle, at least. "Pains again?"
"When has pain ever kept me awake?" Gilbert mumbled with a grin, shaking his head. "No, it's... I'm worried about something. But it's pure personal matters, sir, and I would like to keep it to myself." Like you would ever help me, honestly. Like I need help!
"Then don't bother us with your distracted mind and foul mood," Joachim told him harshly, though one corner of his lips twisted into a smirk. "Just go and rest. You're one of the best warriors here: we need you at your best. You have my permission to sleep rather than work for today, so long as you promise you'll be yourself again tomorrow." Gilbert nodded, thanked him and went into his tent. He put away his sword, lay down on his straw-and-cloth bed, and closed his eyes. But no matter how tired he was, sleep wouldn't come to him. Instead, he just rolled onto his back, staring at the cloth ceiling above him. It was still too bright outside to sleep, that must be it, he thought. Nothing else. Lying there, he closed his eyes once more, sighed, and listened to the rustling outside, the voices of knights, sounds of beetles and birds. In the far distance he heard what he thought was the howl of a wolf, probably seperated from its pack and lost. Wolves didn't usually howl like that during daytime. Next he heard someone tell the camp's guards to be alert for the animal should it stray too close to them. Then more rustling. Footsteps going past the tent, stopping, then continuing, and so on. How was he ever supposed to sleep with all that damned noise? He huffed and rolled onto his side instead, shutting his eyes tightly and clenching his jaws in annoyance. Joachim had been right, he'd had a fould mood all day.
He tried to block out the rustling and footsteps outside, but the more he tried, the louder it seemed to become. Until he realised it was becoming louder. His eyes shot open when he heard a part of the tent being lifted, and a hushed voice calling out to him. "Gilbert! Gil, are you awake?" He sighed and grumbled that, yes, he was, especially now. Hungary crawled into the tent and knelt down beside him, staring down at him. Gilbert didn't even bother getting up for him now, and just lay there, glaring at him. "Sorry to bother you," Hungary apologized quickly. "But I had to hide somewhere, and I figured-"
"Hide!" Gilbert echoed, getting angry. "I've been looking all over for you today to get answers, and you weren't there! And now you want to hide here with me? Get out!" He huffed and rolled over, turning his back to the young country. It was silent for a moment, but then he heard some scuffling and felt Hungary lie down on his other side, back to back with him. "What are you doing?" he grumbled. "I said 'get out', not 'come join me'."
"Oh, well, I'm sorry," Hungary said sarcastically, and Gilbert could imagine him rolling his eyes. "I thought you wanted answers. At least this way, I'm hidden, comfortable and in a position to talk to you. And you won't even have to look at me, so your anger won't get in the way, either!"
"Because practically cuddling up to you is so much better than looking at you," Gilbert scoffed, pushing the older boy away. But Hungary wouldn't budge, and eventually the young supposed country gave in. "Okay, talk away, if you want to," he muttered, closing his eyes.
"I thought you wanted answers, not small talk. You'll first have to ask me things, you know," Hungary laughed softly, his laugh sending shivers down Gilbert's spine.
"First stop giggling like a girl," he told him, "then we'll talk. First of all, what else can you tell me about countries?" Hungary was silent immediately, huffing angrily when Gilbert accused him of giggling like a girl, then sighed and thought about his answer for a moment.
"Well, first of all," he told Gilbert, "the last of the Ancients passed away a few years ago. His name was Germania, and covered most of the land just north of mine. He was the father of, for example, the Holy Roman Empire. And other little countries as well, most of them under the Holy Roman Empire's control. The Germanic family is the biggest in the known world, and the second-biggest family is the Roman, with France, Spain, Italy... I apparently have some distant Roman blood in me as well, and Germanic, too. But it's all really distant -my cousins, at best." Gilbert took it all in silently, listening intently to what his fellow country had to tell him. He would study him, learn as much as he could. "We are not actually immortal, though we don't die of old age and rarely of illness. We can be killed by each other, but humans cannot hurt us. Well, obviously, since I just told you Germania passed away some time ago. Most countries are reborn then, Italy told me once, but the Ancients -Rome, Germania, Greece, Britannia, you name it- have never returned." Gilbert decided then that he would be careful around other contries, if they were the ones able to kill him. If he was granted eternal life like this, he didn't want to throw it all away with recklessness. Also that he would train even harder for combat techniques -he would never let himself be defeated like that. "And up in the North, some little countries sometimes die, as well. Because they get taken over by others, or just killed in battle. The Kingdom of Bavaria, a daughter of Germania, and Prussia have been killed a couple of years ago, for example. But they didn't cease to exist altogether, so they have been reborn, I suppose."
"There are girl countries?" Gilbert asked then, surprised, and Hungary rolled over to face him, nodding, staring at him as though it were obvious. "But they have to fight, right?" Gilbert insisted, thoroughly confused by that. There were no female warriors of any kind, anywhere.
"Apparently girls can fight," Hungary answered, shrugging. But Gilbert still didn't believe that. There was no way weak little girls could fight! I wouldn't even want to fight a girl, he thought. Making little girls cry isn't something a knight does. "But I suppose that could be the reason they got killed -because they were weak. Though I heard Prussia died in battle with Lithuania, and that guy's pretty ruthless from what I heard, so it figures." The older boy then sat up and stared down at Gilbert. "So? Anything else you'd like to know? Or do you maybe have an idea who you could be?" But Gilbert shrugged and sighed, answering that he didn't have a clue yet. "We'll find out some other time, then," Hungary said, stretching his back as he got up. Gilbert blinked in surprise and sat up as well, staring up at the older country. "We?" he echoed. "You mean-"
"Of course I'll help you!" Hungary answered with another bout of that girlish laughter. "I want to know who you are, so I can add you to the list of countries I've met! Well, I think it's safe for me to leave now -and I don't want the king to be too angry with me for running away- so I'll be going. Goodnight, Gilbert. I hope you can catch up on your sleep now." Gilbert nodded and said goodnight as well, lying back down and closing his eyes. Hungary was right, sleep came easier now that he had some more information, though it still bugged him greatly that he didn't know who he was yet. But he would find out one day. And then I can prove to Hungary that I don't need his stupid help, he thought. I'll find out all on my own!
12 December 1211
All battles have been fought and won, and the Order of Teutonic Knights has now gotten control over Burzenland. Aside from that, there's also been some business with marriage and all that, but that's... marriage. I don't bother with such things, so I wasn't interested, so I don't know anything about it. No, the information that was important to me, is that, led by Theoderich, we will now be defending the border of Hungary against the Cumans, and will bring in colonists to Burzenland. So I suppose there will be many battles yet.
But that doesn't matter -I'm invincible! I always knew that I was hard to kill, but now that I know I cannot be killed at all, it's... it's really amazing. I'm amazing. I still don't know who I am, but I'm beginning to think I don't really care. I just love being a country. It's even better now that Hungary isn't near me all the time anymore. He's gone back deeper into his land with his king, while I'm in Burzenland. Now I'm the only immortal here.
I know that arrogance is a sin, but certainly enjoying gifts such as these isn't? I'm only enjoying my immortal life and the power that comes with it. And to think, a country is even more powerful among his people.
Okay, forget what I wrote earlier, I do want to know who my people are. But I will find out, one day, someday. And Hungary will be the first to know, since he's helped me and all. I do suppose that, despite his insanity (I still think he's crazy) he deserves to know it as much as I do.
Please, Gott, can't you just tell me who I am? I've served you for so long, surely I may now know my own identity?
"Still writing, Gilbert?" Frederick asked, looking over the boy's shoulder. Gilbert quickly shut his journal and hid it under his mantle, glaring up at his friend. The man only grinned at him. "Don't worry, I haven't read much. Though I did see it looks more like a personal journal these days than anything else. So... not sending it to the Grand Master as a report, hm?"
"No, definitely not," the boy muttered, getting up and brushing grass from his white mantle. Most of the grass was dead already, dry and here and there hidden under a thin layer of snow. He shivered as a breeze blew by, cold and announcing more snowfall that evening. "And besides, what does it matter? It's almost full now, anyway, and I'm nearly out of ink. I'll need to get more of both before I can write again. And I only write once a few weeks these days, anyway, so there's no hurry." Frederick nodded, peering into the boy's nearly-empty inkwell. There were only a few good drops left. "Well, now that we're settling here, I'm sure you can get more soon," he told his young friend, ruffling his white hair. "But honestly, you shouldn't waste your earnings on parchment all the time. But they just about finished the chapel. Want to come with me and take a look?" Gilbert nodded. He hadn't noticed it much when he was still sitting on the ground, with his knees pulled up to his chest, but it was getting cold here as midday passed slowly, and he longed to be inside, be it in a chapel or a mere farm. If it was warmer than out here, he would be happy.
The chapel was really beginning to look good, though, Frederick had been right. It was nearly finished now, only some of the interior not quite ready yet. But the altar was done, candles already lit around it. Gilbert went and sat down close to the altar, enjoying the warmth of the candles. Winter was the season when plenty of men, even the strongest, died of cold and sickness. But not me, he reminded himself with a tiny smirk. I'm immortal. Immune to those things. It was true, he'd never been sick yet. Frederick had been, three winters ago, and Gilbert had been worried then, but the man had pulled through and was still as strong as ever. Looking at the altar now, he silently prayed that no men would be taken this winter, as they had lost enough people during the battles against the Kipchaks. One of them had been Joachim, and it was a hard blow to everyone to lose someone as respected as him.
"Gilbert?" came the voice of the young country's human friend after a little while. Gilbert looked up, seeing Frederick stare at him with a certain emotion in his brown eyes that the boy couldn't read. "I also wanted to tell you... once we're done settling colonists here, building a church and a hospice... well, once we're done with our business, you will be expected to return to Acre. The Grand Master ordered it so."
Gilbert blinked and nodded solemnly. He could've seen that coming -he was still a special case within the Order, and the Grand Master treated him as such. He wanted to keep an eye on the boy whenever he could, and since he would be done here in a few months, maybe a year... But he felt sick at the thought of returning to Acre now. If it was true what he had heard, that his birthplace was somewhere up north, then he believed that the answers to who he really was lay there, not south in the Levant. And not only that, Frederick made it sound like the knight himself would have to stay. Gilbert didn't ask: he could see it in his eyes. Gilbert would be okay without him, that was for sure, being what he was. But still he'd have prefered to stay here. He wasn't looking forward to seperating from the only real friend he had within the Order. And what about Hungary? a little voice in the back of his head then said. He was supposed to help you find out who you are! He knew where the Hungarian boy was now, and he knew he could be there in a few days' time if he wanted to. But if he left now, he might never find him again, and their entire plan of finding Gilbert's true identity together would be shattered. Well, I was going to do so alone, anway. Being alone isn't so bad, after all.
He leant back against the altar, closing his eyes with a sigh. If only I looked normal, he thought, maybe I could've had a normal life as well.
"So how did things turn out between you and that Hungarian boy?" Frederick asked later that evening, as he and Gilbert sat on the doorstep of the chapel, watching the snow lazily drift onto the ground. "You seemed friendly during our time there. Though, given, he seemed friendlier to you than the other way around," he added with a chuckle and a grin at his young friend.
Gilbert just shrugged. "Why would you ask?"
The knight sighed and ruffled the boy's white hair. "I'm asking," he began, "because I want to know that, once we're seperated, you won't become a hermit. That you're capable of having proper contact with other human beings. That... that you won't be too lonely." Worry shone in his brown eyes as he looked down at Gilbert, and the young country looked away. He didn't want to see his friend worrying about him like that. So he faked a smile, and grinned up at Frederick, who brightened a little at seeing Gilbert smile, though he knew it was fake.
"Don't worry about me," the boy said, grinning wide. "I'll be the most amazing knight in Acre, and the next time you come home, I promise I'll be your new Grand Master. And you'll get to be my successor. And the next time we'll see each other again after I leave, I'll reach up to your shoulders, all right?" Frederick laughed softly as he heard all this, though he said nothing. "And I'll have the most amazing people skills, too! No one will declare me a demon ever again -they might even declare me a saint! So you don't have to worry about me, all right?"
"Oh, I'm not so worried about what you will do," Frederick then said, getting to his feet and looking down at Gilbert as he spoke. "What I'm most worried about, is how others will be around you. We cannot change what's on a person's mind, but you can always do your best to make them think the best of you." Then he smirked, and said with a soft huff, "And we'll see about you becoming Grand Master!" Gilbert got up too and followed the man inside, looking over his shoulder for a brief moment, gazing at the snow. He'd seen one winter arrive here. His next would probably be in the Levant again.
Winter passed more slowly than it did back home in the South. Two of the knights got sick, but they both pulled through. A farmer in that area died, however, leaving his wife and young toddler behind, who were then taken in by the knights for protection and care. Gilbert, being the youngest of the men by appearance at least, was sometimes tasked with entertaining that young child, and he did so as he did any task: dilligently and with utter devotion. It was refreshing to have someone around that wasn't scared of him for his eyes, someone too young to even realize that red eyes were unusual. The mother, however, was like anyone else was, and first needed some convincing from Theoderich before even letting Gilbert anywhere near her or her daughter. And then he realized that it didn't matter if he stayed here or returned to Acre, if he was a knight or a farmer or a king. People are afraid of me wherever I go, anyway. But not the little girl, and not Hungary. Would that be his life, then? Surrounded by people who couldn't be afraid of him, by nations, young children and perhaps some blind people? Why can't I just stay with my brother? Knowing that they would be seperated soon, he'd come to see Frederick even more as a brother than before, enjoying every day they had left in each other's company.
Then spring came, and he watched flowers bloom in the meadows, rabbits hop through them (which he hunted for dinner nearly every day), birds in the sky and the fields grow full of wheat and vegetables. He set aside his worries and his reluctance to ever leave again, and enjoyed himself there while he still could, helping people, building things, fighting the occassional battle and always returning unscathed.
Then summer, which didn't go very differently from the spring. He saw Hungary again once, on a week's visit from the boy and some soldiers. They talked, but didn't have the time to keep their promise to each other and find out who Gilbert was. But aside from all that, they did get competitive during that week: who was the best hunter, who could get his work done faster, who did the people like more? The last one was won by Hungary, of course, but Gilbert was a hard worker. The hunting was a draw so far. They became rivals more than anything else, and they enjoyed that. And then they parted ways once again.
And as he had predicted, halfway through fall, he departed with some other knights, to arrive in Acre by the start of winter.
Now this may be the first confusing thing. Yup: Prussia is a reincarnation. The original Prussia died and was reborn into him, all for a single (rather complicated *sigh*) purpose which you'll find out later. First he needs to find out himself that he's Prussia...
Well, that's it for the second chapter. I hope you liked it!