Chapter 2

The ceremony soon ended and all the citizens went home. Feliciano gave little Alfred back to Arthur and gave Ludwig one more hug before he left,

"He will be a great leader, Ve~?" he said.

Ludwig smiled, "I know he vill."

Feli left after lightly touching Alfred on his nose, causing the baby to giggle.

Ludwig turned to Francis, "Vas everyone present today?" he asked the Frenchman.

Francis picked up a clipboard and quickly scanned it, "Oui," he paused, "except one."

Ludwig frowned, "Who vas it?" he asked, and he had a pretty good feeling who.

Francis looked up, "Gilbert," he answered. Ludwig gritted his teeth; his older brother had not shown up for many occasions, but this time he had crossed the line.

"Go find him, and tell him I vant to have a vord with him." He ordered. Francis nodded and walked off.

Francis eventually arrived at the room where Gilbert Jones, the leader of Prussia, was staying in at the mansion. He found the door already open so there was no need to knock. He found the Leader sitting on his couch holding a small and somewhat terrified yellow bird by the leg.

"Life's not fair is it Gilbird?" he asked the bird, "For example, I, awesome Prussia, will never be a powerful leader like Ludvig; und you," he said dangerously, swinging the bird gently as it flapped helplessly, "vill probably never valk again."

Francis snorted with disgust, "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with filthy animals?" he asked with his thick French accent.

Gilbert held the bird in his hands and rolled his eyes, "Vhat do you vant?" he sighed.

"I'm here to tell you that Ludwig is on his way 'ere," Francis said and frowned at the Prussian, "so you'd better 'ave a good excuse for missing ze ceremony zis morning."

While Gilbert was distracted by the Frenchman, the bird squirmed out of his grip and flew away deeper into the room.

"Now look what you've done Francis, you made lose my awesome playmate." Gilbert said pouting.

Francis smirked, "You'll lose much more zan zat when Ludwig is through wiz you, he's as mad as a poodle wiz a bad haircut."

Gilbert stood up, "Oh, I shiver vith fear." He said smiling evilly at Francis and stepping towards him.

The blonde man flinched and backed away; he knew that look all too well, "Gilbert, don't look at me zat way!" he cried, but before he knew it, Gilbert had slammed him against the wall by his shirt collar with his pistol trained under his chin.

"Brudder!" A harsh German voice called from behind him.

Gilbert turned his head around casually to see Ludwig standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Put down ze gun," he said frowning.

"Merci, Ludwig." Francis said breathing a sigh of relief as Gilbert let go of his shirt.

Francis smoothed out his cloak as Gilbert walked towards Ludwig, smiling as best he could, "Vell, if it isn't my little brudder, coming down from his throne to converse vith ze lower class." He said.

Ludwig frowned, "Ze ozer Leaders and I didn't see you at ze presentation of Alfred." He said firmly.

Gilbert's eyes widened, "Zat vas today?" he asked with exaggeration, and put his hand on his head, "How horrible zat I missed it," He said and he flopped back down on the couch and tapped his forehead, "Must've slipped my mind."

Francis stepped toward him so he was hovering over him, "Well, as slippery as you may be, as Ludwig's brother and ze boy's new uncle, you should 'ave been first in line!" he spat.

Gilbert simply smiled smugly, took out a pistol and loaded it. Francis flinched and ran behind Ludwig.

"I vas first in line, until ze little bratvas born." Gilbert growled at Francis, but Ludwig intercepted him,

"Zat brat is my son and America's future Leader!" Ludwig said, close to yelling.

"Oh I'll practice my curtsy." Gilbert said as he walked past Ludwig to the door.

"Don't zink you can just valk avay from me Gilbert!" Ludwig said turning to him.

Gilbert looked back, "Oh no Ludvig, don't zink zat you can valk avay from me." Gilbert corrected.

Ludwig ran in front of him and grabbed his collar, "Is zat a challenge?" he demanded.

"Temper, temper," Gilbert chided as he removed Ludwig's hands, "I vouldn't dream of challenging you of all Leaders."

Francis frowned, "And why is zat?" he asked, knowing full well how easily Germany could pound Prussia into the ground.

Gilbert turned to Francis, "Vell vhen it comes to awesome intelligence, I've got ze best," he turned to Ludwig, "but vhen it comes to sheer power, I'm afraid I got ze short end of ze stick for that."

Gilbert walked past his brother and disappeared down the hallway.

Francis sighed loudly when Gilbert vanished from sight, "Zere's one in every family Ludwig," he said thinking of a certain Brit, "and zey always manage to ruin occasions like zis." he said.

Ludwig sighed, "Vhat am I going to do vith him?" he wondered.

Meanwhile, in Northern Italy, the sky was dark with rain clouds. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, and rain fell onto the city as the Italians rushed to get inside their homes. Feliciano sat in his bedroom with a giant pad of paper in his hands.

He carefully sketched the baby Alfred with a black marker until he was done. The Italian carefully tore the paper off the pad and went into his closet where he had sketches of all nations' Leaders. He smiled at all his friends before pinning the new picture of Alfred near the middle.

Feli stepped back and admired his now complete collection, "Ve~! All done!" he said happily as the sketch of baby Alfred smiled back at him.

AN: Okay, I lied, this chapter is even shorter. But I didn't want to speed this up too much. Next we get to meet little Alfred, and you all know how ADORABLE he is when he's chibi and young! I hope you like my character choices so far!