So…Ludwig ages overnight! Maybe it's because Arthur's getting sober or something! Whatever, let's see what happens next~!
/=+=/
Ludwig stared at the mirror for what felt like eternity. What the heck was he supposed to do at a time like this? He couldn't just walk out of there as he was now. It'll give poor Feliciano a heart attack! He's obviously not smart enough to catch the connection between the Holy Rome now and then, but really. Even then it would be disastrous.
"Holy Rome?" Crap, it was Elizabeta at the door. "Are you awake?"
"Um…yeah, I'm awake! I'll be with you!"
He froze. God dammit! Not only did he grow a few inches and aged a few years, now his VOICE dropped! Sure, he didn't sound that close to what he sounds like as Germany…but still, that's a pretty huge jump! Like an ITALY MIGHT FIND OUT IF HE'S NOT CAREFUL kind of jump.
"H-Holy Rome? Are you OK in there…?"
"Um…I don't feel any different."
It was then that he realized that the door was not locked. That was indicated when he turned around and realized that Elizabeta had actually opened up the door to let herself in. She stared at his aged form before her eyes before laughing a little bit and sounded a little depressed.
"Aw man…and here I thought I was going to see Feliciano holding you…"
"Eh?"
"Nothing, nothing…so you've aged a bit…"
"I…did." Ludwig quickly thought up a solution. "It might be because of my former territory…?"
"What makes you say that?"
"A nation is connected to our respective country, am I right? And my former territory is now a country." He said. "How is my land doing?"
"Well…other than us, it has broken down into certain others…oh, but the strongest one is Deutschland!"
"Deutschland?" He tried to keep his innocent look. "Oh, I heard Charice talking about it. Wasn't it also called Germany?"
"Yes, of course! The Federal Republic of Germany is part of the G8 and the G20 of the world!"
"…meaning?" He couldn't help but wonder if Elizabeta knew what it meant.
"Oh, I'm sorry…it's a modern term used these days. I mean that your former territory is one of the eight strongest and most flourishing countries in the world!"
He couldn't help but beam at that statement. He hasn't been told that he was a powerful country since the beginning of World War II. This ended up throwing a huge cheesy grin on his face and a chuckle. Maybe he got his cockiness back from his teenage years…
"This…Germany that you speak of…what type of man is he?" He asked.
"He's by-the-book and very stern in his actions…" Elizabeta nodded. "He had watched over Italy for quite some time since you had left."
"And he has done his job well, since Italy is OK now." Ludwig felt weird praising himself. "I would like to give him my thanks, if you can contact him for me."
"Actually, I haven't been able to contact him recently. I've been calling him a lot yesterday, yet he hasn't called me back…" She turned to Ludwig. "He'll call back, don't worry. And then I'll introduce you to him!"
It was then that he realized that he actually said that out loud. So much for trying to keep Germany out of the picture for a few days until he can stop semi-panicking. Doesn't this world work WONDERS on these people? Of course they don't. Fortunately, she seemed to keep herself in composure and turned to leave.
"W-wait…Hungary." He blinked. "I need to tell you something."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Um…I remembered something last night…that I wanted to tell everyone." He sighed. "My human name…my human name is Heilrich."
"You remember your human name? That's great!" She smiled. "Let me tell you mine. It's Elizabeta. And by the way, Austria's human name is Roderich~!"
"Roderich…it fits him." He smiled. "I'll be sure to use his human name more often."
"It's a common trend these days, so it's good to know that you remember yours." She smiled. "Now you should hurry up, because it's almost breakfast time and you should show Feliciano your new look~!"
"Um…F-Feliciano?"
"He's Italy, silly."
"Oh, of course! Yes, he told me this already." He just didn't seem to comprehend coming to the breakfast table as a ten year old.
/=+=/
He took a lot of hesitation in his steps before he found himself going down the stairs and was face-to-face to the crowd of people that sat in the dining room. Odd enough, Kiku and Charice took the sudden change quite well. The others had looks on their faces that seemed to scream "HOLY MOTHER HECK, WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?"
Oh wait, Gilbert actually screamed that. Nevermind, then.
"Dude, wha-?" Gilbert blinked. "What happened?"
"I aged, idiot." He spat back, feeling very powerful at this point. "Not by much, but I want to say three years."
"So you're…ten now?"
"Yes, Charice…ten." He lowered his spoon. "I speculated that it had to do something with the fact that my former territory has been separated into fully functioning countries with their own political power, hence it allowed me to profit from their achievements."
Charice turned her head and noticed that Feliciano seemed to be a little sad at the mention of "countries". She needed to change the subject.
"So, Holy Rome…if you're aging at such a rapid pace right now because of your former territories being extremely rich and powerful, then why haven't you aged rapidly in the past few years?"
He paused as he looked at the confused look on her face. Sure, this was something to be expected of the small Asian nation and the fact that she questions just about everything that seems to have rhetorical meaning, but this was definitely not something that he had thought of. Could he throw out an "I-don't-know" and be done with it?
"If I would have to venture a guess, it might be connected to his memories." Kiku stated calmly, eating with chopsticks that he conveniently packed. "Since he had gone through the last few centuries without his memories, he could not age properly. Only by achieving a fair amount of them allowed him to finally age."
"I…see what he is talking about." Ludwig sighed. Leave it to Kiku to save his behind. "That means that I must have a fairly decent amount of memories that I remember."
"Speaking of which, Holy Rome…" Elizabeta smiled. "Isn't there something you wanted to tell the others about…?"
"Ah, of course!" He cleared his throat. "I wish to tell you all that my human name is Heilrich…I remember it now…"
Everyone stared at him with a vague sense of surprise. The only one who was extremely shocked was Gilbert: apparently he was the only one in the room who had no idea who Holy Roman Empire's human name was. AND HE WAS THE ONE WHO RAISED HIM POST-HRE! What is this…?
"Do you know my human name, Heilrich?"
"Yes, Roderich. Elizabeta had told me." Ludwig answered, eating one of Feliciano's eggs. "I must say that your name is quite fitting."
"Thank you." Roderich answered, eating normally. "Now we should go eat our breakfast in peace."
"Of course…" Ludwig looked up. "Where's Feliciano?"
"Probably still sleeping~!" Charice stood up. "I'll get him~!"
Ludwig couldn't help but feel like a cheat as she danced herself toward Feliciano's room. Sure he was lying about the whole Holy Rome thing…but he technically was Holy Roman Empire. So would it be called lying or something else? What was this called…? Could he handle lying to Feliciano like this anymore…?
~*Ring*~
~*Ring*~
~*Ring*~
~*Ri-
~*[Hello. This is Ludwig's cell phone at 732-***-****. I'm not available right now, so please leave your name and message after the beep. I'll make it my upmost duty to return your call when I can.]*~
~*BEEP*~
"Hello? Are you doing well, Ludwig? I hope so, since you haven't called me back. I wish you are doing well…and please call me back."
'click'
~*BEEP*~
~*BEEP*~
~*BEEP*~
/=+=/
Stay tuned~! Cause we're going through the filler episode(s?) until we get somewhere!
