He couldn't sleep well after he began questioning his own mental condition. He laid there in the bed, tossing and turning endlessly before finally falling asleep. He dreamed of his good times a long way back. How great he was and how awesome he used to be.
The constant thump of horse hooves and neighing; the low rumbling of voices in other tents, surrounded his temporary quarters that his men had set up. It was big enough to comfortably fit almost twenty people. He was leaning his hands on the battle map his advisors and generals were generous enough to share, Gilbird perched on his shoulder. Should we go from here? No, it would take too long and we'd be at a disadvantage. His military officials chattered and debating the plan of action they could properly take. He skimmed and glanced at all of them as they were preoccupied. He turned his attention to the opening of the massive tent as a soldier came to a halt, panting heavily and obviously disheveled. Prussia stood straight quickly as the man stated his business.
"Lord Prussia, sir, the men have found an infant in the woods." Prussia recognized the man, he was just one of many but he remembered every single one of their names. Hans Lehmann.
Prussia furrowed his brows in disbelief, what sort of scheisse am I being told? "What nonsense are you blabbering of, Soldier!? If there actually is some random infant and that I'm not being lied to, then you best lead me to it!" He grabbed his sword and coat, leaving the officials on their own.
"Yes, sir, I shall gladly lead you to it," Lehmann saluted.
"At ease," Prussia said before they entered the brush of trees and bushes galore. His characteristically mischievous smile creeping over as he turned back to see if they were in the clear. "Now tell me, what's it look like, is it male or female, what's it look like, tell me!" He pleaded once he was sure it was safe to drop the formalities. He liked to be friendly with his men, drink with them and the likes, he thought it would make them accept him even though he was different. When he first met them they distrusted him and treated him like a monster because of the fact he was albino. His companion put up his hands, with his palms facing Prussia as if to block him, to his chest.
"You'll see when you get there, it's not that far off now. I didn't find it, one of the others found it when they were out hunting and called for us to come over." He said as the he pointed in the general direction to where the child was and Prussia started to jog before the soldier could say anything else.
"Let's go, get a move on! Use your legs and run, did I train you to walk or to run, Hans?" He waved a hand behind him and held onto his gun with the other to make sure it didn't jostle around too much. Gilbird was now flying over his head at the same speed as his jogging. He felt the rough terrain under his feet through his shoes. the soft breeze in the air causing the trees to sway ever so slightly. The smell of dirt and nature wafted around him, he took a deep breath of it all. Ah, this is what I wanted. Long, tedious strategy planning meetings are so boring. This is exhilarating, I'm so content with this. He heard a ruckus to his left, into a little meadow filled with a few ragged soldiers, no lieutenants or officers with them. "Hey, the best Lord in the world is here, make way." He boasted after he crossed from the underbrush into the meadow. They turned and nodded their heads in respect as they cleared a path to the child. Prussia murmured danke to as many as he could as he made his way to the infant.
When he finally laid eyes upon the child, he took a silent breath. It wore a simple cloth pajama-dress and had the same hair and eyes as Germania. He slowly approached it, kneeling down in front of it. He hadn't taken his eyes off of it since he saw it. It had short blond hair, it was playing around with some grass and a few flowers that surrounded him. The toddler made gurgling sounds as it played with them. Gilbert reached his arm out slowly to get the child's attention but stopped and retracted it with a mournful sigh. What if it starts crying because of me? I don't want to deal with that, it sounds tiresome. He spent some time thinking about it and didn't notice the child had turned its focus onto him. I should tell one of them to care for it until we head back for home after this war. Maybe one of them could take it home and care for it instead of dumping it in an orphanage.
"Bof, ah ha," it squealed in sudden fascination. Gil snapped out of his thoughts and watched in subdued apprehension as the child flailed its arms around a bit before reaching for a flower and holding it out for Prussia to take. "Abupu." It incoherently said, incoherent because it was obviously baby talk nonsense. He uneasily reached for the flower and took it into his hand, it was a small white daisy, it's circumference of its petals barely half of his thumb. The child began whining and Gilbert didn't know what to do. He had never had a child so he was inexperienced with them. Gilbird was fluttering above the crowd. He robotically picked him up under his armpits and held him at arms length, afraid that something might happen. Gilbird flew to nest on Prussias head. Prussia stared the child straight in the face, it stopped smiling for only a moment before reaching its hands out to Gilbird with an elated grin. The soldiers let out a low roar of chatter at his handling of the fragile little thing. What if... what if this is Germania in baby form to kick my awesomeness in the ass!? What if this child, this little fragile thing is my brother? He cringed at the thought that it might be Germania.
"L-Lehmann," he stuttered, his palms suddenly becoming sweaty. What if I drop it? Oh mein gott...
"Yes." Lehmann said as he emerged from the crowd.
"G-Good, now you go an-and take this, eh, thing, toddler, baby, whatever, back to my tent," he ordered as he stiffly swiveled to pass the infant off to Lehmann, "immediately." He let out a sigh of uneasy relief as soon as the child left his hands. "Oh and feed it and change it's diaper or something!" He yelled at the back of Lehmann. I thought I was going to kill it by accident. Oh that would have been beyond scarring for everyone, mostly myself, but everyone if it had died because of me. He dragged his hands down his face with a groan of disbelief. After a minute or so after Lehmann and the child left, Prussia started heading back as well, "back to camp." The men were restless and whispered amongst themselves, what is something that would appease them? "A round of beer for everyone courtesy of your awesome Lord Prussia!" He rallied, raising a fist into the air. A chorus of Yeah's and Beer's and raised fists were their response. He smiled at them, content with how it turned out. "Now, onward, men!"
"Jeez, I didn't think there were that many of them," Prussia chuckled to himself after they had all received their drinks. They had all formed their own little groups of people to drink with. Gil let out a sigh of light-hearted disbelief that they could order themselves like that so quickly. He himself wasn't in the mood for beer but he still got one in case he changed his mind. As he glanced around, Lehmann was no where to be found. Is he still fawning over that miniature Germania? He thought as he walked down the path from the designated kitchen area to his tent. The candle in his tent was still lit, so he is still with the child, figures he would. Such an obedient soldier, he should be an example for the others, he might even be my favorite soldier. He let out a quick breath out of his nose, it wasn't worth laughing over but it was also worthy of more than nothing. He put a hand in his coat pocket and leaned his head upward a little to talk to his bird.
"What do you think of the mini-Germania kid?" It just chirped in response. Prussia leaned his head back to usual position and ducked as he opened the flap to his tent. Lehmann and the child were both asleep in a chair by Prussias bed, Lehmann held the little guy in his arms. Gil made a point of making his way over to them silently, careful not to wake the baby. He lightly placed his mug on a stack of paperwork so it wouldn't make a sound on the table. He gently tugged at Lehmanns jacket at the shoulder.
"Hans, Hans Lehmann, wake up, soldier." He opened his eyes but squinted and took a deep breath to speak.
"...Hmm? Oh! Yes, I apologize, Lord Prussia. I was trying to lull him to sleep and ended up falling asleep as well." He whispered. So it's a boy. That answers the gender question quite clearly. Prussia patted his shoulder and flashed him an understanding smile and held his hands out to take the kid. I won't hurt him, nope. Not at all... hopefully. Lehmann gently transferred the sleeping infant into Prussias arms. Gilbert stood there in wonder of the resting little things sleeping face. "Sir, I hope you won't reprimand me but I set up a makeshift baby crib out of two other chairs that had handguards and a backing. I covered it with my coat for the lining and... the cover could be one of your coats? I didn't use one of yours because I knew you wouldn't like that." Lehmann rose from the chair and dipped forward a little respectfully.
"Thank you, you may go. And take my beer with you, I didn't drink it and you might as well have it, don't let it go to waste now. I hate to waste a good beer." Lehmann nodded and took the drink with him and left the tent. Prussia watched the entryway until the door-flap stopped moving. He swiveled his head around to see where exactly he had constructed the baby crib he said he made. It was right at the foot of his cot. As he placed the sleeping infant into the crib, he thought that, perhaps, it wouldn't be too bad to keep the kid. So peaceful, but nameless. What shall I name you... Lansing? No, that's not right. Ah, how about Roman or something along the lines of it, that'd be a sure fire way of pissing off Germania. Seems fitting for his spitting image to be named after his enemy. Hah!
Gilbert changed into his sleeping gown and laid down into the cot, wrapping himself with the covers before turning to put out the candle. Good night, mein bruder, Roman.
