'He would survive. He would survive.' I kept repeating those words the doctor told me for hours outside the medical tent. 'He is a nation he won't die as easily as normal people. He is stable. They fixed everthing and he is just unconous now.'
I had my face in my hands and could taste my tears. I had been seconds too late to save Ludwig. He had gone to fight with his army when he was going to face the french. I had gone with him to help but I had to step away for two second and had arrived back just in time to see one of my best friends stabb my baby brother in the stomach, an injury that was certain to kill any human. France came to me afterwards to explain that he had been following orders and that he really hadn't wanted to hurt him. I blamed myself though, I could have saved him.
While I had waited for the doctors to tell me what the verdict of what would happen to Ludwig, I had prayed and prayed. I may not show it much but I was a very strict christian. I prayed that god would save my brother's life for me, dispite all the wrong things I had done in my life.
"Prussia." I heard a fimilar disaproving voice. I didn't look up to show my grandfather, who had raised me and my two younger brothers and sister after our parents refused to take care of us since we were nations and then left us shortly after Ludwig was born, that I was crying.
"What do you want?" I tryied my best to sound fine just tired, but my voice cracked.
"I came to collect you brother Holy Roman Empire when he wakes up." My head shot up. Germania looked as if he was only going to take him on a day trip and not like his grandson had almost died and he was taking him away.
"No! You can't do that! He won't go with you! You left him!" I yelled. I refused to let him steal my favorite person in the world from me. "You could ask him when he wakes up."
"I will." With that he went to find the doctor to get a better understanding of how long there was till Luddy could travel.
I aviod him and he avioded me for the next week. Once the doctors had told me I could go in to Luddy's tent, I spent all my time with him. I talked to him mostly, about all the stupid stuff I had done with and without him.
It was exactly seven days later. I had been forced by one of the soldiers that I had been friends with to go eat something other then bread and water. I had been half way throught gorging my self on half desent food when my gut told me to get back to Holy Rome's tent. Though I had a mouth full of who knows what, I listened to my gut and ran back as fast as I could.
"Luddy!" I burst in to the tent. I expected my brother to give me his normal smile and reach out to hug me. Instead he sat propped up aginst pillows, a serious look on his face, his normally messy hair slicked back out of his face. But that wasn't the worsed of it. My grandfather was with him.
"You're Prussia." It soulded like a statement that was really a question.
I was too stunned that he had to ask to not reply. "Luddy, you know that already. But I preffer you calling me by my name."
I stared and my brother next to my grandfather. It had never struck me how much Ludwig looked like the old man. I guess that had to do with the fact that I had never seen him with his hair slicked back before, and with that serious look on his face. They had the same eyes and hair and face structure. I am sure that when germania was his age he had the same body size and type. The only real difference besides age was that the old man's hair was longer and had a braid.
"Prussia, there are somethings we need to discus before Holy Roman Empire and I leave." That made me angery.
"I told you he won't go with you. Tell him Luddy!" Ludwig didn't answer. A pained and confused expression crossed his face. "Ludwig?" I felt my face fall. Ludwig's face did the same, and right when it looked like he was about to say something Germania spoke.
"He doesn't remember anything, Prussia. That's one of the thing we have to discus." I felt my heart break. My baby brother didn't remember me.
I rushed over to the side of his bed and kneeled down so I was at his eye level.
"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt, the nation of Prussia, you big brother. You are Ludwig Beilschmidt, the Holy Roman Empire, my baby brother. You plan on become the biggest Empire ever so you can marry Felicionio Vargas, the nation of Italy, the love of your life." I didn't see any recignition in his eyes at any of this. I though despritly for anything to help him remember. Then it hit me.
"I'll be right back!" I raced out of the tent to the tent that he and I had shared before the battle. He had left the broom Feli had given him, that he had refused to part with until then, in the corner for safe keeping before the battle. I grabbed it, careful not to hit it on anything, and raced back to where he was now.
When I came in it was not Ludwig that spoke, but Germania. "What good will that do you to bring back his memory?" He pointed at the broom in confusion and discust.
"Its the broom Feli gave him when he left. Maybe it will help him remember." I put the broom in the boys hands. There was only one person Ludwig loved more then me and that was his darling, Italia.
He looked at the broom and back at me. "Sorry." His vocie sounded different. Older and sad.
Germania grabbed the broom from his hands. Ludwig whimpered and reached for it, some how knowing it was important.
"He doesnt need a silly broom. He won't be seeing Italy again any way." He grabbed the broom with both hand and broke it across his knee. He then did the same thing again with the two pieces. My brother's eyes widened and he made a terrified sqeak.
"You can't do that! That was a gift to him and you had no right break it! And of course he will see italy again!" I curled my hands into fists as I yelled. Ludwig was looking as the pieces of his broom obviously distrat.
"I have every right to as his new gurdian. And it is best not to give him false hope about seeing that boy again if he is no longer a nation." He said it as if is was nothing, as if he was just saying he would go back to a school that he hadn't wanted to go to.
"What do you mean he isn't a nation?" I felt the blood drain from my face.
"He lived but he isn't a nation. He will still age and live like a nation, since he was born that way." I couldn't believe he could talk about this like it was a waste of his time. I would have dragged him out of the tent and yelled at he to at least pretend he cared with Ludwig right there, except he, have already gotten over the broken broom, was watched us like we were talking about a stranger.
"Is there anyway to make him a nation again?" Germania nodded.
"Yes but he would some how need get a land and set up a goverment for it and then tell him that he is the nation and hold the nation cerimony. It is harder then it seems." I had taken mental notes to every thing he had just said, only I didn't really knew how to do any of it.
"Fine." I wanted to move in and get him to leave. "What else do we have to talk about?"
"You. I noticed that you have no sence of class unlike you brother, Rodrick. I have found you some willing to teach you. You will move in with him as soon as you better back to your country." He must have seen my shooked face and added, "to humans you are still a teenager. It wouldn't be too strange for a young man to stay with a mentor."
That crossed a line. He could become suddenly nutrering and want to take care of Ludwig. I could let that slide after he proved himself or something. But trying to dictate my life, after leaving me with a kid, is out of the question.
"I don't have to do anything!" I knew that I would, I needed to learn more about making Luddy a nation again some how, I was just being rebelious.
"To bad becuase you will." He closed the subject. "The doctors said The boy will be well enough to travel by this time tomorrow. I expect you to be ready to leave yoirself be then, and if you wish to say good bye have finished by then." I wanted to point out that 'the boy' was right there and had a name but didn't want him to change his mind and not let me see my brother.
With that he left. Ludwig was sitting there watching me. Now that I wasn't arguing I could notice that his face was almost perfectly blank. It would have been all that strange with the whole memory lost tihng except before he only looked like that when he was hiding something.
I started to feel a smirk coming on. I sat down next to him on the bed. "What are you hiding?"
His cheeks went a faint pink and nerviously glanced at where I assumed his hands were under the blanket.
I pulled back the blanket and revealed his hands cluching a stick of some sort.
"Where did you get..." Then I remembered how he had gotten over the broken broom so quickly after being so upset. "Why you little rascal." He had grabbed on of its pieces.
I smiled and wraped one of my arms around him and pulled to my chest while my other hand ruffled his hair. I felt him stiffen and was pretty sure he was blushing even harder. Reluclently I let him go.
"Will you tell me more about italy?" I looked at him. With his hair messed up he looked more like his oldself. He didn't look me in the eye, but I didn't let that get to me.
"Of course Luddy. I'll tell you anything you want." I slide down so I was lying down on the bed. Slowly my brother followed suit and let me put my arm around his shoulders.
I talked for hours. I first told him all I could about Feliciono. Eventually that lead to Romano,which lead to spain and the Bad Touch Trio. I they told him about Austria and Hungry. I told him about my visits and the trips we went on. I told him about before Germania left us. I ended with telling him about my promise so that he knew I was still holding meself to it.
The next morning we packed our things together in the tent. I even helped him sneek in that stick of his into his bag. That afternoon we said good bye. I promised that I would wrie him as often as I could.
As he left he had the same face on that he had when I left after all my visits.