Budapest, February 2010

Over the next few months, Hungary began getting presents. Around the New Year, Hungary got a fancy video camera in the mail. It had been sent anonymously…from Tokyo, and the note read "For getting started."

On Valentine's Day, she received another almost-anonymous gift. The postman handed it to her in person, and told her it was from "a man with glasses and one hair sticking up." There was only one person it could be, and she found it incredibly sweet. Austria was thinking of her, and though he had always had trouble expressing emotion, she knew that his Valentine's Day gift meant he wanted her back. About time, too; they had spent twenty years making only social visits. That evening, she called him and left him a message: "I love you too."

He responded by inviting her over for dinner, and hinting rather awkwardly that he wanted her to spend the night. In the morning, he thanked her for coming back, and she was happy she had.

A couple of days later, she got a call from Italy, who asked her for help with a personal problem. They met at a café in Venice, where Italy told her about his Valentine's Day and the strange way Germany had acted. "And I haven't seen him since then, ve...do you think something's wrong with him?"

Hungary shrugged. "Probably not. It sounds like he's confused about his feelings for you, and he's worried about whether you feel the same way." She paused. "Do you, Italy?" Italy considered for about half a second, then nodded.

"I don't want Germany to worry," he said. "But Miss Hungary...ve..." he trailed off.

"Yes?" Hungary prompted.

"What about Holy Rome?" he said morosely. "I promised I'd wait for him. Prussia says he's dead, but..."

"Prussia says that, does he?" Hungary interrupted. "Italy, my dear, I think Prussia knows more than he's telling. I think he knows what happened to the Holy Roman Empire...and I'm going to make him tell me."

Italy had cheered up noticeably by the time she left. On returning to Budapest, she told Dana what she intended to do, and Dana was more than happy to help.

Outside Germany's House, three days later

Prussia was being his usual awesome self, but even better. Now his awesomeness was available online. His blog had hundreds of followers (who says former Nations have to fade away?). After updating, he decided to go outside and get some awesome fresh air. His little yellow bird, the one that his fans had discovered, settled on top of his head as he left the house. He'd decided to call it Gilbird, like they'd suggested. A truly awesome name.

Gilbird noticed something strange on the path behind Germany's house, and fluttered down to investigate. Bending over, Prussia saw that the bird was pecking at a piece of bread or something that someone had dropped on the ground. Then it lost interest briefly, before spotting another one and hopping off to pick it up. Prussia picked up the first one. It was a crouton.

There was a trail of croutons on the path, and Gilbird hopped from one to the next. Prussia followed. After about five croutons, he started to suspect that something wasn't quite right.
His suspicions were confirmed when he turned a corner and found his psycho human ex waiting for him, with a frying pan and a coil of rope.

Prussia was actually quite ready to tell Hungary what he knew about Holy Rome's fate: he'd found the boy, defeated and delirious, and decided to take care of him and make him a sidekick. He'd even given him an awesome new name, to go with the land he now represented. But the boy had ended up as a boring foot soldier, following rules and orders and eventually taking Prussia's own land away from him. Despite all this, Prussia still considered him a brother.

He said all this before Hungary had a chance to hit him on the head with her frying pan. She then hit him a couple of times for not having told her sooner.

The next day, she met Italy for lunch again and gave him the good news. He was excited at first. "Does Germany know?"

There is no such thing as a stupid question, even coming from Italy. "Not yet," Hungary said, "and that's why he's been so confused lately. But I have a plan to remind him."

Italy listened attentively as she explained. It sounded like a lot of fun to him, especially if Hungary's plan meant he'd get Holy Rome back. He had only one problem with it. "Ve~do you have to take pictures?"

"Of course I do! Won't you want them for a scrapbook someday?"

Italy considered. "Ve...all right. But don't let Germany see you."

"I won't," Hungary promised.

Berlin, late February 2010

Germany had had a rough day. First there was the meeting with France about the euro zone's financial problems. They'd never gotten along anyway, and since France wanted to bail Greece out while Germany insisted that he should fix his own mistakes, they'd gotten nowhere. Then there was the meeting with his states about taxes. Nobody wanted taxes raised; Germany finally had to threaten global financial collapse to get them to listen. The ulcer he'd gotten in the war was coming back.

Then there was Prussia. A pain in the neck most days, and today he wouldn't stop whining about Hungary. God only knew what kind of trouble he'd been getting into. And on top of that...these memories. Ever since everything went wrong on Valentine's Day, he'd been having flashbacks. He didn't really remember his childhood, but he knew there was a girl...she was a maid in the old house, and...

As Germany climbed his front steps, lost in unwanted thoughts, Italy opened the door. This wasn't strange; Italy had often shown up at Germany's house uninvited before Valentine's Day.
What Germany found strange was that Italy was wearing a dress. Even stranger, he recognized the dress. The girl in the old house had worn it—but she couldn't have—this was Italy—but—she—could she—had he—was he—she—

"Italy, is that you?" he whispered, in a language no one had spoken in centuries. Then he fainted.

When he came to, he was lying on his front porch with Italy kneeling next to him, still wearing that familiar dress and kerchief..."Italy?" he gasped.

Italy's face lit up. "Holy Rome?" Germany thought about it.

"I was, once," he said slowly. "And you were the girl in Vienna." It all made sense now.

Italy nodded. "Yes, I was, but then you left and my voice changed and I surprised Mr. Austria by being a boy and then I became independent and found my big brother again, and then we had the Great War and then I met you, Germany!" His eyes were wide open and shining with tears. "Ve~and Germany, I'm so glad you're Holy Rome!"

Germany's attempt to sit up was cut short by Italy's leaning forward to kiss him on the lips. Germany kissed back, surprising himself. Italy heard a camera click somewhere in the house behind him, and then the back door slammed, but he didn't think about it too hard.

Amanda came to live with Hungary and Dana early in March, and together the three of them worked out the basics of what promised to be a worldwide yaoi-collecting enterprise. It would appear to be a secret agency within the Hungarian government, run by Hungary herself out of her House. Dana (and perhaps Japan) would work from inside the House; Hungary, Amanda, and whatever Escorts they could recruit would be field agents, installing and manning cameras all over the world and sending the videos back to Budapest.

Amanda went home in June, and returned in August, with Japan and a van full of hardware that they began installing in Hungary's basement.

Over the summer, Hungary became aware that England had found himself a new Escort. His last one had broken up with him abruptly when she learned about the Nations, particularly England's Special Relationship with America. He'd found this new girl so soon afterwards that it caught Hungary's attention.

Hungary found her online: Sarah Armstrong, master's degree in linguistics from Pittsburgh, administrative position in Lord Arthur Kirkland's staff, et cetera et cetera. She was multilingual, clever, had high self-esteem...normally. Amanda reported that she was depressed and angry as a result of learning about the Special Relationship. Here was a great recruitment opportunity. Hungary set Dana to convincing Sarah, and then began her own research on another prize: a girl she could turn into a proper Escort for France.

Continued in "Sarah's Story"