Hello my fabulous readers! Again, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who's been supporting this story! I'm so glad there are people that are enjoying it. :) about the shoutouts, my emails have been going a bit crazy in the last couple of days, with only some alerts coming through, and so to make sure that everyone gets their shoutout I'm just gonna do them all again here (so if there's a few repeats that's why!) faves/followers: 101stellastella, Allin WALKER Allen WALKER, Amal8, DragonEclipsed, Lifepaw, LucediDio, MeadowFlowers, Rayline Li, The Goliath Beetle, Yozakura Setsumi, forsain7, stareyyy, vaetta, valery-chan, Shikyoblossom20, SonoSvegliato, Treebrooke, gdesertsand, and manipulativemermaid. :) thank you all! Reviewers:
The Goliath Beetle - my first reviewer for this story, I love you! I was so happy when I saw your review! :)
Anon - I'm so you like this! Thanks!
MeadowFlowers - I love that you think I'm awesome! Like Prussia, hehe. :)
Proe - don't worry, I will certainly continue this story! I love writing it. :)
gdesertsand - hopefully you won't be disappointed! I'll try and update as often as possible!
valery-chan - I wish I'd found Hetalia earlier too, it's one of my favourite things at the moment! And I totally agree, Prussia made no appearance in my history lessons, I only knew it was once a European country before Hetalia. Such a shame, being such a large part of history. :/
Yozakura Setsumi - I'm so glad you like this fic, it seemed logical that Prussia would be like this. And I'll try my best to include some Russia and German past stuff in later chapters. :)
vaetta - I feel ya, I was almost crying while writing it. :'(
Ok, I'll let you read now. :) this chapter doesn't have as much exciting stuff in it like before, but hopefully you'll like it. Disclaimer: I own nothing. But if I did... ;)
Germany awoke with a start as his book clattered to the floor, shaking him from a peaceful sleep. Rubbing his bleary eyes, Germany stretched out his stiff back, before glancing at his watch. The nation was surprised to find that he'd been asleep for almost an hour. How unprofessional, Germany thought, scowling at himself. Napping in the middle of the day. Imagine what Gilbert would say. Gilbert! Germany's head shot up as he looked in the direction of his brother. Prussia was sleeping fitfully, tossing and turning, and muttering words Germany couldn't hear. He must be having a nightmare, Germany thought, before scrambling to his feet and rushing over to the figure on the sofa.
"Gilbert!" Germany said loudly, shaking Prussia's shoulder, but the ex-nation continued to squirm around, still caught in the web of his fever dream. Being closer to him meant Germany could now hear what his brother was saying, and it didn't reassure him in the slightest. "No, I won't go!" Prussia said weakly. "Not with that monster! West. West!" Germany started to shake him more forcefully, silently begging him to wake up; he knew exactly what Prussia was dreaming about.
"Gilbert, it's alright, I'm here!" Germany said, raising his voice to try and get through to his brother. "Wake up!" When this too failed to bring a response, the nation resorted to gently slapping the ex-nation's cheeks. Finally, Prussia's wiggling died down, he stopped muttering and his breathing evened out. Relieved, Germany fondly stroked the albino's pale hair, murmuring, "It's alright, bruder. You'll never have to go back to that place, not while I'm around." Prussia stirred under Germany's hand, and opened his eyes, but that just served to increase his brother's concern tenfold. Prussia's crimson eyes were glassy, and unfocused, and his face still felt terribly hot. Germany reached for the thermometer, and once again stuck it in Prussia's mouth, holding his head gently so that he didn't bite it. When he saw the result, Germany swore to himself; Prussia's fever had crept up to almost 40*C, a temperature that Germany knew was far too high to be safe. He had to get it down immediately.
He was about to leave when he heard Prussia start talking again, and turned back to make sure his brother wasn't lapsing back into the nightmare. Instead, Prussia's eyes were open, although they still remained unfocused. "Where you goin' Romey?" the ex-nation said, slurring a little. "Last time you left...you never came back." With that, Prussia's eyes slid shut again, and his head drooped to the side, but he seemed more peaceful this time. Thoroughly confused, Germany stood there, trying to make sense of his brother's words. Romey? Never came back? He must be delirious, Germany thought. Does he think he's talking to the Holy Roman Empire? Shaking his head, he retrieved the cloth from where it had fallen to floor, and quickly went to the bathroom to soak it again.
When he returned, Germany pressed the cloth against Prussia's flushed face, causing his brother to turn his head in the direction of the the relieving coolness. Germany studied him carefully; his breathing was fast and shallow, and he was sweating buckets. I'll have to get him to drink something, the nation thought. He mustn't get dehydrated, that's just as dangerous. And he must take some medicine to bring his temperature down. Leaving the cloth on Prussia's brow, Germany stood up and walked briskly to the kitchen, fetching a large glass of fresh water, before heading back to the bathroom to get some medicine from the cabinet. Germany was expecting to find a good selection of medication, as he always tried to keep his stocks up in case he needed them for situations such as this. However, when he opened the cabinet, he found it completely empty.
Germany scowled in frustration; Italy had come around a couple of days ago complaining of a headache, and as Germany was busy at the time, he'd told Italy to go and help himself to painkillers. Stupidly, he hadn't checked how many the dummkopf had actually taken, which Germany now realised was all of them. Closing the cabinet, Germany returned to the living room where Prussia was dozing fitfully, wondering what he was going to do. His brother needed some medicine, as wet cloths alone weren't going to be enough to get this fever under control, but Germany didn't want to leave Prussia alone to go the store, which would take ages seeing as he lived in the middle of nowhere. Finally, he had an idea.
Germany picked up his phone, his hands hovering over the buttons as he thought about which nation was the closest to him. Japan would take far too long to get here from his house, and Italy would need about a week when all the pasta stops and chatting-up girls was taken into consideration. Germany quickly ticked off all the other European countries one by one, until he came to the conclusion that... Oh no. Anyone but him. Germany very nearly slammed the phone back down, not wishing to put himself through that experience, but stopped himself. Gilbert needs medicine right now, Germany thought, gritting his teeth. And he's the closest. Somewhatreluctantly, Germany dialled the number, and held the phone to his ear, a small part of him hoping it would go unanswered.
"Yes?" came Austria's voice.
"Austria, it's me, Germany," replied said nation. "Germany?" Austria sounded surprised. "What do you want? You're not trying to arrange another world meeting, are you? Even by your standards, this is keen."
Germany's hand clenched around the phone, and he tried not to let his irritation come through in his voice. "Nein, Austria, I need to ask you a favour."
"You? Asking me for a favour? Now that's something I never thought I'd hear you say."
"Will you please just let me finish!" Germany exclaimed. The other end of the line went quiet, and Germany took this as an invite to continue, hoping Austria hadn't just put the phone down on him. "Look, Gilbert is sick, he needs some medicine, but Italy took everything I have. I wanted to ask if you'd be able to bring some of yours over here, seeing as you're the closest nation to my house."
Austria remained silent, and for a second Germany really thought the piano-loving aristocrat had actually hung up on him, until he heard Austria reply. "Are you saying," the nation asked incredulously, "that you want me to willingly place myself in the same house that contains your demon douche brother? I sincerely hope you're joking, Germany."
"No, Austria, I'm not," Germany said, gripping the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Look, I know you and Gilbert haven't exactly seen eye to eye in the past-"
"Well that's the understatement of the century!" Austria interrupted. "I still haven't forgotten all those years of humiliation and torment that I suffered at Prussia's hands!" Clearly, Germany thought. "Why don't you just go to a chemist or something?" the other nation continued, "I'm sure Prussia will be just fine by himself for a couple of hours."
Gritting his teeth, Germany said, "Please, Austria, this is serious!" He hated having to beg to anyone, especially this air-headed clown, but his brother was more important to him than his pride. "Gilbert's fever is already dangerously high, and I can't afford to leave him for that long in case it gets worse."
Another pause. Then, "Is it really that bad?" Was that just a hint of concern Germany could hear in the Austrian's voice?
"Yes, it is that bad," Germany replied shortly. "Please, Austria, I need your help. I wouldn't ask otherwise." After sighing dramatically, Austria finally agreed. "Alright, what kind of stuff do you need?"
Relief evident in his voice, Germany said, "Anything that will help to bring his temperature down; that's the most important thing. Aspirin would be best, if you have it."
"I'll see what I can find," replied Austria. "But it might be at least a couple of hours before I get to yours."
"Don't worry, that's fine," said Germany, although he'd hoped the other nation was closer than that. "And thank you, Austria. I'm very grateful for this." There was another brief silence, before the line went dead.
Well, let me know your thoughts! All reviews are much appreciated. :) Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a better title, please let me know, cause I've been racking my brain trying to think of something that sounds more interesting, but I can't think of anything. :/ see you next time!