Chapter One

Lilli woke up to find the world outside colder and raining. She sat up and yawned, stretching absentmindedly before arising and getting dressed. She made sure to wear one of her best dresses; Switzerland was going to host a world conference starting later that day and she wanted to make him a big breakfast to prepare him for the stress that was sure to come. Nations at first glance were strong and serious, but Liechtenstein knew that most of them wouldn't act like that at all. She giggled to herself remembering the last meeting she attended, in which England and America got into a brawl (again) as France groped a passed-out Greece. She wondered vaguely what surprises would be in store when everyone would arrive later.

By the time her brother stumbled into the kitchen Liechtenstein had prepared a large breakfast, including toast, eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. He smiled his thanks at her before diving in, eating as if he had grown two extra stomachs. Lilli took a few pieces of toast for herself and left Switzerland dining in the kitchen, munching contently while she made sure each guest room was properly made up for the later visitors and making sure room assignments would be planned smoothly.

After tidying the bedrooms and the conference room the first nations began to arrive. She smiled quietly until Switzerland came out to greet them, then slipped into the kitchen to busy herself making snacks that would appeal to every nation.

Let's see.... I should make some scones for England, hamburger sliders for America, maybe different kinds of egg rolls for the Asian nations—

"I found you! Yay!"

Liechtenstein turned in surprise to find a grinning Feliciano at the doorway. "Mister Italy," she greeted him before bowing. "Welcome to Switzerland's home."

"Thank you!" His eyes roamed the kitchen before returning back to her hopefully. "Do you have any pasta you could make? I'm sooo hungry, and Germany wouldn't make me anything until we were done cleaning out storage only I never did and we left without eating and I'm starving!"

Lilli smiled a little despite herself. "Of course Mister Italy," she replied. "Some pasta can be made in about fifteen minutes. Is that okay with you?"

Feliciano smiled back blissfully. "Ve.... Thank you! I have to find Germany now! I'll be back when the pasta's done!" he called as he skipped out of the kitchen.

The smile faded slowly from her face as she turned back to the stove with a sigh. Though there was no way she could get any pasta done before the meeting began, she could at least try.....

"Miss Liechtenstein? Are you here?"

She turned around in surprise and looked up at a tall, grim-looking man who had just entered the kitchen. "Mister Germany?" Lilli blinked and bowed again. "Welcome! Are you looking for Italy? He was just here—"

"I know." He tugged at his collar and cleared his throat. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

Lilli looked at him in confusion. What business would Germany want with her? "Are you sure it's not Switzerland you want to talk to?" she asked in puzzlement. "He's the one that takes care of the affairs of my country."

"No; I want to talk to you." He looked down at her with an indecisive expression on his face, baffling Liechtenstein even more. "Did... did Italy mention anything about cleaning storage?" he asked her, looking at her as if it was supposed to mean something.

"Um.... yes.... I think so...." She was struggling to understand why that mattered to her, but soon gave up. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

He sighed. "I'm not one to beat around the bush, and the conference will begin in a little bit, so I'll make this as short as I can." Germany cleared his throat and looked directly at her. "I was doing some spring cleaning of old historical records of Italy's that looked like they haven't been touched in years," he began. Her face paled, but he didn't notice as he kept on speaking. "These records go back to when Italy was a small child. There were even some records about his grandfather, Rome. I was reading them to see if they had any value to keep, and.... well, to make a long story short, I know about your time spent living with Italy's Grandfather Rome."

Liechtenstein slammed into the wall behind her, as if this information physically pushed her off-balance. She stared at the stoic blond nation wide-eyed, almost rebuking his knowledge of her time as a Roman province. "I—I only worked as a maid," she spoke quietly. "I was never an important person to Mister Rome. I was never able to contribute to what had happened when I lived there."

Ludwig coughed into a gloved hand, noticeably uncomfortable talking to a small and terrified girl. "I know that," he said detachedly. "Nevertheless, you were part of a great empire, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and because of that you are a.... nation of interest, and could potentially be a threat to nations today."

"N—no I couldn't!" she protested. "I hate fighting, and I don't even have the means to do so! I see no way—"

She cut herself off when Germany surveyed her impassively, chilling her to the bone when she realized that nothing she'd say would alter his opinion.

"Even so," he answered grimly. "I don't think anything your country does will be seen without possible ulterior motives anymore. I have to think about the good for my people, and a nation who was involved with a grand empire would have quite a bit of knowledge as to spotting others' weak points and exploiting them." He crossed his arms and sighed, almost as if talking has aged him. "I have to go, the meeting will start soon." He strode to the door and paused to glance back at her frozen form. "And by the way, I'm not trying to threaten you. I'm just informing you that I have information about your early life. Auf Wiedersehen," he called as he departed.

Lilli stood leaning on the wall for support, eyes still wide until she was finally able to push herself off the wall and calm herself as best she could. She looked towards the door, where the faint strains of the meeting's start could be heard. "Quite a few empires, actually," she murmured to the empty kitchen before walking away.

Lilli made her way back to her room before sitting precariously on her rocker, strewn with pillows for comfort as she plopped down and tried to recollect herself. The food she was going to prepare was forgotten as she lay back in the soft chair, closing her eyes and remembering her time living at Mister Rome's house:

Her earliest memory was one of working at Grandpa Rome's house as a chibi-maid. Because of her shy tendencies and difficulties in building relationships, she kept to herself all of the time and only looked at people timidly from the shadows, only remembering different ladies coming and going, later children and grandchildren coming to play with their caretaker, and keeping out of everyone's way at the imposing house. Her time spent living there WAS unimportant and of use to anyone; she didn't amount to much in that place......

Liechtenstein sighed and looked miserably out the window, whose desolate weather seemed to match hers uncannily. She pressed her forehead to the cool glass, staring blindly at the dark blue and green hues outdoors, not wanting to think about anything except the haze that gently covered the outside world.

Speaking of the outside world.... Lilli got up and poked her head in the hallway, turning an ear in the direction of the world conference. There was a muffled crash and a little shouting; good, that meant a flustered Switzerland would call for a break soon. She slipped out into the hallway and put a hand against the wall, waiting until the nations would shuffle out so she could talk to Switzerland and figure out what to do.

Mister Germany knows about her time as part of the Roman Empire, and she doesn't want him or anyone else to find out about everything else she's been a part of.

A/N: I did my research. Liechtenstein used to be a province of Rome back in the day. It was just a territory back then, and didn't become a nation until.... well, you can get THAT story later in this fanfic! I hope I gave you something to look forward to! *peeks out of hidey-hole in case this it too much a cliff hanger* I'll get the next chapter out next week; thanks for reading!!

Auf Wiedersehen= "Goodbye" formally in Germany. Liechtenstein's official language is also German, so I thought it'd be a nice little tidbit to include ^^