Hello People! I kind of noticed that I didn't put a Disclaimer on the first chapter, so here it is: I don't own anything apart this story and anything new that could be inside. I want to thank all of those who reviewed (you see Kimanda? I did make it longer), and all of those who put me in their Story Alert list or even went as far as to put me in their Favorite List. I really appreciate it and hope that this chapter would be to your expectations. Any questions you may have, I would be more than happy to answer. Review or PM me and I would answer (but I won't if I'm simply keeping you in suspense, because that's just stupid). But enough ramblings, here you go!

Where it all began...

The room appeared to be a regular classroom. There was a desk in the front of the class, with smaller desks facing it in straight, perfect lines. The teacher would seat on the front and speak, while the children wrote down their notes, diligently paying attention to anything their teacher would say. There were a few maps here and there, with important rules for the little kids to know hanging from the walls. No talking in class. Raise your hand before you speak. Never question your Master. Always do as your Master says. Your Master is above all others.

Unlike the regular classroom, this one had no windows that led to the outside world. Windows were a distraction, could make little kids think weird things and made them curious. And we all know what curiosity did to the cat.

In the desk in front of the classroom, a woman was speaking. She looked like she was preaching in church, for the silence that followed her words was almost religious. None of the little kids who listened rose their head, but the very few who occasionally did gazed at their teacher as if she was some sort of Messiah who had came to give out God's words. Their eyes were filled with fascination and admiration but over all, what reigned in those eyes was fear. The little children feared their teacher.

What those little kids did not know -or were not ment to know- was that they were being watched. Indeed, the wall that was on their right side was nothing more than a one way window. They could not see what was behind, but they could feel they were being watched. That's animals' instinct for you.

On the other side of the mirror, two men stood watching, simply watching and taking notes from time to time. They never turned to see each other, not even when they started to talk.

"How is this class going?"

"Very well. So far, none of the subjects have shown any desire to disobey."

"Do you think a chip will be necessary then?"

"Not at all."

The first man who had talked watched his companion from the corner of his eye. "Do you believe it's safe, bringing him here?"

The other man did not need to ask who he was talking about. He just nodded his head in one swift mouvement, which was ment to end the conversation there. He did not expect for the little voice to speak. "Daddy, what am I doing here?"

The little voice belonged to a little child, one no older than the ones within the classroom, around five or six years old. "Daddy decided to take you with me Hans, so that you would get to know on what your daddy is working on. What's more, nobody could take care of you at the moment."

The little boy nodded his head, not asking anything else for he knew that that wouldn't please his father. "Are you still sure this is safe sir? He's a little boy, he could tell somebody and..."

"There's no need for you to worry. Hans is a very intelligent boy and he knows how to keep a secret. Aren't I right Hans?" The little boy nodded his head, his corn blond hair following his mouvements. He knew what his Daddy was talking about. After all, he hadn't told anything to his Mommy about the woman that came home when she was not there. Daddy told him it was a very important secret, and he had the feeling that this one was even more important.

"If you say so sir," the other man did not look conveinced. "Should we head over to the meeting? I don't belive anything else will happen here." With another nod, both men walked away, with little Hans right behind them.

Like any little boy, Hans was curious about his surroundings. He had never been to a place quite like this one, not even when his little siblings were born and they had to go to the hospital. This place seemed colder, but didn't have that weird aura that seemed to be everywhere in the hospital. There was no feeling of death in there, but Hans couldn't really know that that was the only difference.

As he followed the adults, Hans couldn't help but feel nervous. This place reminded him of school, which was weird, because this wasn't a school. At least, he didn't think this was a school. Everything was so silent, it was scary. Nothing moved and not even the footsteps of both adults and himself seemed to make a sound. Little Hans didn't notice that he had slowed down, nor did he remark that he had lost the adults. Once he did, it was already too late and he did not know where he was, or where to go.

A shrill bell resounded down the hallways and seemed to echo throughout the building. That sound caused shivers to come up and down his spine, for it was greatly surprising after so much silence. He was lost, and when he heard a series of tiny footsteps walking towards his direction he panicked and hid himself in the first place he could find.

He opened the door closest to him, the one to the left and quickly closed the door behind him. Yet, he did not make a sound.

As the footsteps seemed to vanish, Hans took a look at his surroundings. He was inside what looked a lot like the gym he went to for some of his after-school activities, but this gym was different. There were what appeared to be people made out of straw, some things his Daddy had home but never used, like those weights and many other things he didn't know what they were for. Hans looked around him for a little bit, wondering if maybe this was a school, and asking himself why there were no windows.

The door on the other side of the room opened and he quickly searched for a place to hide. He didn't know why he was hidding but he simply did. Hidden behind some sort of cushion that was for some reason there, Hans watched.

Around thirty kids his age walked in. They had all brown shorts and shirts, no shoes and a red leather necklace that reminded him of the one his dog used. The weird thing was that the ones the little kids had had a green light that pulsed. He noticed that girls, like boys, had very short hair, but what really fascinted him was their ears and tails.

He could make out cat tails, dogs tails, bunny ears, bear ears between many others. In fact, he was sure he had never seen so many types of tails and ears in his life. He wondered why they had those tails and ears, and why he did not.

As he watched, an adult placed himself in front of the kids. He was tall and intimidating, towering over all the kids like some sort of monster. This one didn't have any weird ears and tails, Hans noted, just as the man gave out a series of orders that were too quick to understand.

The children didn't seem to have any problem on understanding him, for they quickly set out to work. Some walked over to the straw people, other towards the weights and the heavy equipment, while a few others simply started stretching randomly around the gym.

Hans blue eyes widened when he saw one of them walk over towards his hidding place. He wondered if he was caught, and what exactly would his father do if he found out. He hoped he wouldn't be punished.

The little boy that was walking over to him couldn't possibly be older than him. He had short brown hair, a tanned skin that changed greatly from his own pale one, but his eyes surprised him the most. They weren't exactly brown for they held a slight golden tinge, but those eyes were so... different. They seemed to hold something not quite human, but not evil either. Those eyes held that peculiar animalistic knowledge, that strong instinct to survive that was within every being, but that humans had slowly forgotten, only to come out at the very last moment.

When the kid had sat down beside him, Hans was sure he had been discovered. There was no way the boy hadn't seen him, while he was just a few centimeters away from him. And yet, the boy did not acknowledge him. It was almost as if he didn't see him. And since the boy apparently hadn't seen him, the blond boy continued to study his unexpected neighbor.

The ears on top of his head were brown, just like his hair, with slight touches of grey on the very tips. They reminded him greatly of the ones his own dog had. His tail, that wagged occasionally, looked the same, and Hans had the sudden argue to touch it. Holding himself back, the pale boy reminded himself that an action such as that one would be completely childish and would give himself away.

The other half-boy, half-animal kid didn't move. His eyes were watching the mouvements of the man that had come with them. When the man had turned his back to them, the weird boy hid himself in Hans's own hidding place, making the blond boy almost scream. This was stopped by the other boy's lighting-fast mouvements, placing a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhh," he murmured against the other boy's ear. "Or we will get caught."

Hans, unable to do anything else, forced himself to calm down. When the little brunet had deemed it safe, he took back his hand , smiling at the other child. "Hi!" he said as softly as possible. "I'm Adolf. And you?"

Greatly surprised, but knowing it would be rude to ignore the boy, Hans answered. "I'm Hans. Pleased to meet you," he had added, for his Mommy had told him that that was something to say when meeting someone.

The other boy, Adolf, only smiled wider. "This is the first time I meet a full human my age," he said, the smile on his face almost breaking it in half. He was obviously excited by the prospect, for his tail wouldn't stop wagging.

"Well," Hans didn't know what to say to something like that. He met plently of... full humans his age in his life. "I have never met somebody with a tail." He was blushing hard, he could feel it, but he did not know what to do. After all, Adolf was watching him so intensely, it made him slightly uncomfortable.

Sensing it, the brunet blushed as well and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry for bothering you. Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Hans quickly followed his statement with a shake of his head. "It's just... could you stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know... but please stop."

"Okay! Whatever the Master wants!"

"Master?" Hans had to blink at that. "I'm not your Master."

"You are not?" Adolf looked sincerely surprised. "But the teacher says that all the humans are our Masters until we are bought for a specific one."

"Well she's wrong," Hans nodded his head, as if his word held more value than a teacher's. "You aren't an animal, and at school we learn that we should treat everybody equally. My mommy says that we souldn't care about what people look like and not to judge them by their looks. That would be su... super... superfacial."

"Don't you mean 'superficial'?"

"Yeah! That!" the little boy nodded his head again, his long hair following his mouvements.

"But... I'm not... human," Adolf insisted.

"You look human to me. Apart from the tail and ears. Mommy says that those thing are what makes us especial."

"My ears and tail make me especial?" the little child had his brown eyes wide open, as if he didn't believe a word the blond said.

"Sure they do. Mommy says that the things that make us different from others makes us especial, and my mommy is never wrong."

"So I'm especial..." Adolf couldn't seem to trust what his new companion was saying, but the tiny hope that shone in his eyes said otherwise.

Ever since they had been created, they had been told time and time again that they were nothing. Without the humans they were useless, they wouldn't even exist and they should repay the favour by serving them. All of the little children had been scared, for if what the big humans said was true, that they were just that, nothing, they had no reason to exist. None of them wanted to be useless, so each did their very best to please their creators. They never seemed truly staisfied and for that reason, a simple word of praise ment everything for them.

It ment that maybe they weren't useless, that maybe they had a reason to live in this world.

"Is this a school?" Hans asked, not noticing anything weird in his possibly new friend's attitude. The question had been bothering him for a while so he just had to ask. Because if this was a school, it certainly was weird.

"Yep," the other boy answered, brought out of his stuppor. "In here we learn how to protect our Master's later on, and how to serve them well."

"But it's so weird," Hans insisted. "There are no windows, no playgrounds... it's weird."

"Your's has windows and playgrounds?" Adolf didn't seem to believe him.

"Yeah," and the blond boy proceeded on telling his companion everything. He told him about his school, his life, his mommy, his dog. The brunet would then constantly ask questions. He would ask about the sky, the grass, about forests and many other things. His eyes shone with curiosity and yearning.

"I wish I could see things like that."

"Why don't you?" Hans asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... we aren't allowed to leave this place until we are qualified and deemed worthy."

"Really?" the pale boy couldn't seem to believe it. "That's wrong. Mommy says that nobody should be held against their will. We are all free to do what we wish."

"Free..." young Adolf whispered. There was so much longing in his voice that Hans said the first thing that passed through his head.

"Why don't you run away?"

"Run away?"

"Yeah, like on the movies," Hans woved his hand widely, accompaning his words. "You should all join together and run away. That way you can see the sky, the grass... anything you wished for."

They both were silent for a long time, neither knowing what to say after that. They had almost forgotten where they were, but were quickly reminded by the whistle the man blew at that moment. It was time to begin the second part of the training.

"I should leave," whispered Hans, not looking into the eyes of his new friend. He was slightly embarassed. He had forgotten where he was, and know his Daddy was probably worried.

"Me too," answered Adolf. "It was great meeting you."

"I hope we meet again."

They both parted. While Hans sneaked out of the gym and started his search for his Daddy, Adolf returned to his teacher. The blond boy was quickly found, but never did he tell his father about his little meeting. Neither did Adolf, whose mind was swirling with new ideas and something he had never imagined to feel. Hope.

That's that. Did you guess who Hans and Adolf are? I bet you did. If you didn't, that's too bad. Hans and Adolf are none other than Germania and Rome. They may seem a bit OC, but I'm trying to keep in mind that neither of them are nations, Adolf is in a very special situation and Germania is simply a six year old kid. Constructive criticism is very VERY welcomed, but I'm not very good handling flames so don't be mean! I will try to update soon!

As I said, any questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

By the way, a Beta reader would be nice. Anybody interested on helping me out?