Hungary stalked her prey through the forest. Holding her bow tight as she skilfully manoeuvred her way past a thicket of brambles, she listened out for the slightest of sounds which would give away her enemy's position. The crickets were still chirping, the birds were still singing and the trees were still silent. Her foe was crafty this day. But she'd come out ahead, she always did. Something on the ground caught her attention. A footprint. She traced her fingers over the shape in the mud and knew she'd found her target. There was a snapped twig in the direction the footprint was headed in. Not so crafty. Actually as reckless as always. She followed her target's path, it wasn't hard. The area was beaten and the grass down trodden. Keeping an eye out for traps ahead, she glanced up at the tree tops. No sign of any activity up there, not even the birds. Something or someone had scared them away and she had a good idea who. He was somewhere around here. Then she saw it. For the briefest of moments there was something white amongst the greens and browns of the forest. It disappeared behind a bush but she knew just where to aim. A mischievous smile graced her face as she withdrew an arrow from the quiver on her back. Feeling the string strain against the wooden bow, she released and sent the projectile hurdling towards him.

"Ha! Gotcha!" She yelled triumphantly just as he squealed in pain.

"No-no fair!" Prussia grunted as he staggered out of bush. "How'd you find me?"

"Because you're stupid," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm so not! I'm too awesome to lose to a loser like you!" He whined as he dislodged the blunted arrow from his armour.

"Just admit it; I passed all your tests," Hungary deposited her bow on her back strap.

"There's just no way that a girly man like you could pass my tests," Prussia snorted.

"Do you want to play again?" She asked reaching back for her bow.

Prussia took a few steps back. "I-I fine!"

"Yes!" She pumped her fist. "You really mean it?"

"I guess I don't have a choice," Prussia snarled, "Come on then."

Prussia sprinted off into the shrubbery behind him. He was fast even if he couldn't hide very well. "W-wait up!" She called as she too disappeared into the undergrowth.

She followed his bizarre 'kesesese' laughter until they reached a clearing. It was unusually bright compared to the rest of the forest and it meant that the tops practically glowed green. In the centre was one particularly large tree in sharp contrast to the flimsy looking trees scattered about the clearing. Prussia was standing underneath this tree, clumsily carving into the bark with his sword.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she walked up beside him.

"Shh," he motioned her down with his hand.

"You know that will damage your sword, right?"

Prussia just snarled and continued chipping away at the tree trunk until he had managed to carve in a cross loosely matching that on his armour. "Behold the most awesomest symbol in the world, that of the Teutonic Knights," he gestured at his carving.

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me what I have to do next."

Prussia looked slightly put down but then a mischievous gleam twinkled in his crimson eye. He held out his sword to her and said, "You need to cut the palm of your hand."

"What?! I'm supposed to cut myself?" She drew back in disgust.

"Ha, I knew you were a wimp!" He smiled triumphantly.

"Am not!"

"You are too! Hungary is a little girl! He's scared of a little blood!"

"I am not a girl and I am not scared of blood!" She huffed and snatched the sword from him.

"Wait, are you actually going to do it?" Prussia's eyebrows rose.

She didn't reply other than slicing her palm slightly, deep enough to draw blood but not so deep that it did anything more than sting a little.

"You-you did it?"

"Surprised?" She smiled.

"Ha! I can make you do anything I want!" Prussia did some strange hopping dance until Hungary kicked him in the shin. "Fine, put your hand on the cross," he mumbled, rubbing his knee as he did so.

She did so and saw that she'd left a slight blotch of blood in the middle of the cross.

"Congratulations!" She felt Prussia's hand around her side. "You are now an honorary member of the Teutonic Knights!"

"All right! I knew I was good enough, I'm way better than you at everything anyway," she cheered.

"Hey! I am way more awesome than you could ever hope to be!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!" She dared him.

"Fine! I'll race you back to the nearest village," Prussia smiled, he was faster and they both knew it.

"You're on!"

"Ha! Victory is mine!" Prussia turned and ran but Hungary got out her bow and took aim. A quick arrow to the leg left the German stumbling to the ground; he had enough armour to ensure it was nothing serious. "Cheat!" He yelled after her as she dashed past.

Hungary was torn from her pleasant memories by shouting outside. She yawned and rolled over to the other side of the bed. "I-I'll get rid of them, Mr Austria." She reluctantly pulled herself out of the duvet to gaze out the window.

A vast crowd of men and women were marching past her house outside. They were holding signs that she was too tired to read. She groggily rubbed her eyes and then shut the window on the protesters. Exactly what they wanted she wasn't sure, be it jobs, food, security, revenge or just how they dealt with general unhappiness. Whatever it was there was nothing she could do. Tension was running high and there was no one either willing or able to help her now. Mr Austria was forbidden to even speak to her now and Germany had the same crisis going on at his place. So it was a surprise when someone knocked on the door.

"Prussia?" She blinked in surprise at the man at her door, very aware she was scantly dressed in her night clothes.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He bounced, with an attitude clashing horribly with the angry crowds in the nearby streets. "I-oh," he had started to talk before he noticed her clothes. "Shall I, erm, come back later?"

"No you can talk but stop looking at me like that," he blushed and gazed upwards. "What are you doing here?" She glanced at the clock behind her, "it's early."

"I figured that now the loser is off your back you'd want to hang out again," he gave an excited grin.

"Don't call him that and no I don't have time to 'hang out'."

"Don't have time? What are you doing?"

"Look around you," she gestured at the streets of marchers, "I have to deal with this."

"How?" He asked.

"I-I don't know but I have to do something…"

Prussia shook his head, "You're getting yourself worked up, West is the same back at our place, after what's just happened people are going to be angry it happens. It'll fizzle out soon and things will work out."

"You sure about that?" She asked sceptically.

"Of course, we're two awesome people and we've been through some bad times but we always pull back. When we do, we'll kill France and live happily ever after."

"Hm, that sounds nice," she smiled.

"So what do you say?" He asked hopefully.

"I can't," she told him, "I really, really can't."

"Pleeease?" He looked reminiscent of a puppy dog.

She sighed, "Fine," she relented and Prussia pumped his fist into the air, "just not too long."

"Awesome, I know just the place!"

After donning the appropriate clothing, she'd followed Prussia to one of the forests they used to play together in. They'd struck up a conversation on the way which was initially pleasant but had inevitably turned to their darker situations.

"-and Romania is pissing me off," she growled at the thought of her troublesome neighbour.

"The vampire? What's he doing now?" Prussia quizzed.

"He's not a vampire, he's just a freak and he's sitting his army in my land, says they're 'peacekeeping' and 'in accordance with the will of the Allies'," she snorted. "Asshole is just waiting for an opportunity and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Prussia shook his head, "the Hungary I know wouldn't stand for that, she'd kick his oversized teeth in."

"Believe me, I want to," she muttered darkly.

"What about the payments?" Prussia was asking, obviously keen to move on. Once she started on Romania it was usually difficult to change subject. "You made any of them?"

"No," she replied. "France was angry but I just can't afford them, I need that money to just feed the people but I have to give a load to that lot. It's impossible. Have you?"

"Sort of," his face twisted up.

"Sort of?" She repeated.

"Well Britain has been kinda paying them for us for a bit. France was still pissed about that too," he chuckled slightly.

"Really? I thought you were paying to Britain as well."

"I am but he's covering them for some reason. I guess he's not that bad," Prussia shrugged, "he was just on the wrong side that's all."

"It's weird but I thought he hated France and Russia."

"He does," Prussia nodded.

"And he always seemed quite pleasant to me whenever we worked together."

Prussia snorted, "I was allied with him before I passed the torch onto West."

"So why was he on their side not ours?" Hungary pondered.

"Kese, it's simple," Prussia looked from side to side.

"Oh?"

"He's totally got a crush on Belgium."

Hungary giggled, "Really!? Since when?"

"I don't know when it started but the moment she's in trouble he comes running in on his high horse with dreams of heroically saving the girl, come on!" Prussia grinned.

"I can see it!" She beamed. "Does she know?"

"I don't think so; she's really grateful and said he was a 'true friend'."

"Ouch," she grimaced.

"Tell me about it," Prussia replied.

"Do you think we should try and get them together?" She asked.

"What?! Play match maker to our enemies?" Prussia gaped.

"The war is over; they could do with a break."

"What about me? I could do with a break!" Prussia huffed.

"Oh? Who should I set you up with then?" She teased.

"I-I no one!" Did he just flush a little?

"As I thought, the 'awesome Prussia' loves no one more than himself," she rolled her eyes.

"And don't you forget it!" He shook his fist at her.

"Hang on," she stopped to look around, "is this…"

She'd been following Prussia through the forest the whole time. She'd thought he was wandering aimlessly and they were merely having a chat as they walked but he'd been leading her here.

"Yup," Prussia grinned. He ran over to the large tree in the middle of the clearing. The cross was still there.

"Wow," she whistled. "It's still standing," she said as she approached the tree. It had grown even larger over time but it wasn't over grown. Someone had been taking care of the tree and making sure that cross stayed in shape. Someone. She looked over at Prussia who was now leaning cross armed against the tree.

"What do you reckon?" He asked.

"Amazing, this was like a thousand years ago. I think I had a dream about this last night."

"Really?" Prussia blinked.

"I think so," she paused as she cast her mind back. "That induction ceremony…"

Prussia coughed, "What about it?"

"It wasn't real, was it?"

Prussia held back a laugh, "You believed it all this time!"

She shook her head, "Just as well, I would have shown you up all the time."

That had shut him up. Prussia raised a finger but looked stuck about what words to use for his response so he instead made a series of angry noises.

"So why show me this now?" She asked

"When Austria was around you never wanted to come out with me," Prussia shrugged.

"I suppose not," she sighed thinking about how much she'd brushed him off. "I'm sorry about that, I would have liked to go but Mr Austria always had something for me to do, something I wanted to help him with."

"I get it," he nodded, "I guess you really liked him, huh?"

"I really do," she admitted. "This is so strange, it's like nothing has changed," she said as she placed her palm in the centre of the Teutonic cross.

"Nothing has changed," Prussia said.

"Everything has changed," she turned to him. "We're not children any more. War isn't fun now. I don't know if war has just gotten worse or I've grown up but that last one…" she shook her head, "That was not fun."

"Only because we lost," Prussia replied.

Just before she could open her mouth to respond, the bushes nearby rustled and footsteps sounded from its location. "There's someone here," she told him.

Upon hearing her speak, a male voice from the bushes called out then came stumbling into the clearing.

It was a man dressed in military clothing. He was panting and sweating while looking relived to see her. He gathered himself enough to offer her a quick salute which she returned.

"Something I can do for you, soldier?" She asked.

"I have been looking everywhere, the new Government urgently requests your presence," the man gasped.

"Wait, what new Government?" She squinted in confusion.

"The Hungarian Soviet Republic," the man replied.

"S-Soviet?! Like Russia? Communists?" She looked from the man to Prussia, her jaw gaping. "H-how did this happen? How did I miss it?"

"It was quick, bloodless. They're in charge now," the man confirmed.

Hungary stood in silence for a moment, taking it all in.

"Hungary?" Prussia called her, bringing her back to attention.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone with you. I knew something bad would happen!" She snarled and dashed away, leaving Prussia to stand there awkwardly by himself. Russia was in Civil War, the poor man was tearing himself apart and it was because the Soviets took power, just like they'd now done here. She rushed back to the capital hoping desperately she could prevent her own lands from following Russia's fate.

(A/N): Oh Prussia, you amuse me so. I was conflicted to describe child!Hungary as 'he' instead of 'she' but it may have been too confusing. The timeline with these events following WWI in Hungary is all over the place and would be difficult to make a cohesive story out of so I will be simplifying things and details missed, if you're that interested you can find it out on your own. Not many people seem to know about Hungary's brief stint in Communism in this era, it's easily overshadowed by events in Russia but still relevant as the first Communist Government outside of Russia.

So enjoy and review, children! :D