GDS: Hello everyone! I'm gdesertsand (the same name for my own account), or you can call me Sand for short. CodeVassie and I decided to make a collaboration work just for fun and to challenge each other~ So here is our first work and hopefully it's awesome enough to know your thoughts for our first story!

CV: Hi! I'm CodeVassie (same here) or Code if you please. This collab work has been so much fun to write so far with Sand! Hope you all like it!

Title: Downsides of Better Late than Never

Summary: 2P Prussia died after his dissolution and everyone was being destroyed with guilt. 2P Austria though found out that the other world they called '1P' has still their own Prussia alive and kicking but no one appreciates him. So why not take him if he was not appreciated? The 2Ps will take good care of 1P!Prussia. (Nationverse, 2Pverse)

Characters: (I just searched in Google so we don't own any of them)

2P!Italy= Luciano Vargas

2P!Romano= Flavio Vargas

2P!Germany= Lutz Beilschmidt

2P!Prussia= Klaus Beilschmidt

2P!Japan= Kuro Honda

2P!England= Oliver Kirkland

2P!America= Allen Jones

2P!Canada= James Williams

2P!France= Francois Bonnefoy

2P!Russia= Viktor Braginski

2P!China= Xiao Wang

2P!Austria= Roland Edelstein

2P!Hungary= Erzsébet Héderváry

2P!Switzerland= Voss Zwingli

2P!Norway= Loki Bondevik

2P!Romania= Vasska Popescu

Chapter 1: A Treasure to Steal

"We hereby declare that the Free State of Prussia…is officially dissolved…"

Those were the last words that kept ringing inside Oliver's mind. The World War II caused a lot of problems among countries, especially the members of Axis and Allies. At the start of the war the Axis powers had no problem in being as ruthless as possible. Even Luciano was having the time of his life during the war. But as it progress everyone soon noticed that this was not a war that the winners could receive glory. It was not a war in the first place. It was brutal annihilation of enemies. Once when Oliver was ordered to be a spy he met Germany's older brother, Prussia or he commonly called as 'Klaus' because that was his human name and the silent man preferred to be called as such also. They chatted for a while and Klaus told Oliver that his brother was very upset at what was happening in the war. Both German brothers did not like where it was going. At the end, once the allies won, a decision was made. A decision that every personification did not agree but still declared because it was the wish of their people, no one managed to changed it.

"We hereby declare…"

Even Allen delivered the speech with shaky tone, as if he would cry once he finished the sentence.

"…that the Free State of Prussia…"

Klaus just stared at them. He made eye contact to everyone who was allowed inside the room. His eye lingered a bit longer to Germany then he gave a serene smile. As if telling to all of them that everything will be okay.

Luciano and Kuro were watching with indifference. Only Flavio noticed the blood flowing from his little brother's closed fist. How twisted the world they had. In order to have peace they must always give a sacrificial lamb.

"…is officially dissolved…"

And dissolved into nothingness he did. Oliver cried, Lutz cried, Francois sighed in defeat, Allen destroyed the table with his bat, James just stared up on the ceiling, Viktor adjusted his scarf to hide his face, Luciano left the room with Flavio following after him, Xiao silently fumed at first but then left the room also and Kuro followed after.

The peace was not for long while though. The tension finally reached its maximum level between Allen and Viktor sparking what they called the Cold War. Lutz could not care less though if his land was divided into two. East Germany would never had its own personification. At first Lutz was hopeful that there might be a single chance that his brother would be reborn again. But after five years he gave up. He didn't even dare to hope again once the wall finally came down.

Good thing he did also because no one was waiting for him on the other side.

Roland never visited the other countries also. Normally the personification of Austria would bother Germany just to visit Prussia. Lutz had no problem with this because Roland was one of the people that could make his brother happy. Roland was obsessed also with Klaus that he would harm anyone that dared to touch the albino the wrong way.

After the dissolution of Prussia no one could get Roland out of his house. Even Erzsébet who had so much patience and practiced dealing with the Austrian could not do it.

Oliver knew that Roland was dabbing on the dark arts again. He made sure his fairies to keep on tab about the happenings inside Austria's house. But even Oliver knew that magic has their own limits. The dead could never be revived again. Even for creatures like them.

So consider his surprise, along with everyone else, when Roland attended the world meeting again for the first time since forever. Usually it was Erzsébet or Voss who represents Austria's reports.

At first what Roland wanted to happen was just plain ridiculous to others while for some it was like staining the memory of the dead.

"Just listen to me until I finished before you guys jumped in to contradict me!"

"And what do you want to prove Roland? For what I see you just wanted to get a replacement." Lutz gave a menacing glare that was similar during the wars.

"Maybe you're right, maybe you're not." Roland appeared as relaxed as possible with a room full of people waiting to punch him on the right moment, "But hear me first."

"I say we listened for what he wanted to say." Luciano spoke for the rest which sparked another level of arguments.

"Ah~ but think of it first. Roland is well versed to the dark arts like Oliver, Loki, and Vasska. Surely he has some kind of good explanation." Flavio suggested but his eyes spoke that if someone dared to contradict him then he would not hesitate to show his Mafia side.

"Hmph! I am only agreeing because this is much more interesting than the usual world meetings."

"Sure~ Keep telling that to yourself Kuro~"

"Why you—?!"

"Now, now, Luci~ Don't start another argument~ You don't want your Big Brother Flavio to punished you later, do you?" with the threat hanging in the air Luciano immediately shut his mouth. Flavio never give empty threats after all.

If Luciano was a known sadist then Flavio was two times worse. The Southern Italy though never showed interest to whatever happened to their country but if anyone dared to hurt his little brother or anyone closed to him then there would be a great chance of another war to occur. The reason he didn't took a major participation in the world wars was because Luciano agreed to it. Flavio don't need to baby his brother that much. He still had some sense to let Luciano learned from his own mistakes.

With everyone settled down Roland started his explanation.

"All of us are aware of parallel worlds, right? And our world is commonly known as '2P', the other side of the coin of the '1P' world"

"Yeah, the only ones who are not aware of parallels is the first world itself. Ugh, I can't really take it whenever my counterpart starts shouting about his hero bullshit."

"Right, well, despite our differences with our counterparts we still have something that makes us the same with them."

"Oh!" Oliver finally caught up to what Roland was trying to say, "Do you mean the 'soul theory'?"

"Yes! As a fellow magician I knew I can count on you Oliver!"

"Oh, dear, stop flattering me, love~"

"Mum, seriously, stop your giggling."

"Allen, dear! How many times I told you not to call me 'Mum'? I'm a man also."

"Mum, let's just hear what Roland has to say."

"Even you James?"

"I don't care to how they call you, just let him finish so we can stop dealing with this shit."

"Ahem, thank you Luciano…I guess." Roland then put a spherical mirror on the center of the table, "So, basically the 'Soul Theory' is that no matter how many parallel worlds there might be all of us still share the same soul. The only thing that changes each version of us in this worlds are the courses of our actions. For example, my 1P decided to continue his aristocratic attitude and tried to harbor a certain dislike to their Prussia. If in another time he decided to swallow his pride then the end result will be someone like me!"

What Roland said was easy to digest for everyone but the question of why he wanted his plan to proceed was still a mystery. Someone voiced this question which Roland answered with a devious smile.

"I checked every possible parallel world that aligned to us and guess what?" Roland pricked his index finger on the right hand with a small bite and started drawing a pentagram on the mirror. Once the symbol was finished it became huge enough to cover the whole table for everyone to see their reflections. With a trick of the light though their reflection was replaced by another scenery, it was a conference room just like theirs and it was clear that the people surrounding the table were their counterparts, "The only world with a still living Prussia is that one, the place we like to call as '1P'."

To prove his point a certain albino suddenly barged inside the meeting room, as shown by the mirror, and started proclaiming on how awesome he was.

"I still don't get what you want to prove, Roland"

"Oh~ little Lutz, didn't I always tell you to watch and learn?"

Lutz was irritated, in fact the longer he watched the other version of Klaus the more he thinks that Roland had the same annoying attitude.

In mere seconds though everyone became angry to their counterparts because despite their psychotic tendencies all of them values two things inside their hearts and that was family and friendship.

"What are you doing here, Bruder? You are not allowed inside the world meeting!"

"You're so annoying, Prussia. You're not even a country anymore."

"Mister Austria is right, no one needs you here, Prussia."

"I still wonder why you didn't disappear along with your dissolution."

There was a visible hurt inside Prussia's eyes but surprise, surprise, none of their counterparts realized this because they were busy listing the reasons why the albino should not mess with the real countries. Only the ones watching through the mirror saw how each word harmed the former nation's heart.

They saw Prussia merely laughed it off and said something along the lines of 'too awesome presence' and went outside. The albino walked away silently until he managed to find a room where he could be alone. Locking the door, he started to cry.

The mirror returned to its normal size after that scene.

Everyone was now silently fuming in every sort of negative emotion.

"I don't agree with the idea of kidnapping my Bruder's counterpart to replace him…"

"I told you they are the same!"

"But!" Lutz tried to emphasize his point before Roland decided to turn him into a dandelion, "I think…we should take that Prussia under our wing."

Only a blind man would not see how happy Roland was after Lutz said his verdict.

"You said they have the same soul thus being the same person right?" Flavio received a vigorous nod, "Then I think I know what our Prussia and that Prussia's main difference~'

"Fratello, even an idiot can answer that."

"No, no, no, my sweet Luci~ I'm not talking about that difference! Klaus' main weakness was that he always wore his heart on his sleeve, right?"

"You're right, when Klaus was still Teutonic Knight and we both fell in the frozen lake, he cried nonstop after I saved him. Klaus only stopped when I said that I am not angry to him. I'm just pissed off by the idiocy of his knights."

"So, the other Prussia was a total opposite~"

"You mean he always bottled up his feelings! That's disastrous!" Oliver knew it first hand, having a title of a nation as a serial killer. That's why a famous serial killer story started to spread out in London.

"Just when I think my counterpart could not get even more ridiculous about being a hero he just went up and proved me wrong." Allen massaged his head to prevent somehow the incoming headache.

"We will only join this plan if the reason will be is that we are going to rescue that Prussia from those insensitive bastards." Loki spoke for their group.

"If you want to look at it that way then, yes." Roland agreed to the small condition.

"Then we're going to jump on this plan of yours."

"Of course you can trust me to lend a hand, love~"

"Heh! As part of the magic trio I will help also setting the necessary materials for the ritual." Vasska finally joined in…with unneeded enthusiasm.

"Hm! It looks like everyone finally made up their minds!"

"It looks like it, Luci~ for the first time all of us are working together to fulfill one goal~"

"Wait a minute." With just few words the cheery aura vanished into thin air. The source of the voice was the Personification of Canada, "I just have one more condition."

"And what would it be, love?"

"I want our counterparts to feel some sense of demise once we get Prussia."

Silence returned again as the nations tried to weigh their options. That was until Roland displayed a sinister smile on his face.

"Fine by me~ As long as you guys can erased the evidences~"

They were called the dark side for a reason after all.

Prussia couldn't even remember where he had gone after he had ducked out of the world meeting room. He had just been following his urge to get away - his need to hide from the hurtful comments that had greeted him upon his entry into the room all the nations had convened. Prussia remembered when he had been welcomed in the room… that was back when he was a country… when he had actually had people of his own and a culture and a home.

Now all that was left of Prussia was a memory and a personification. Gilbert often wondered why he had remained after his dissolution. He should have faded when his country had been no more… or at least after the Berlin wall had been torn down. Yet, somehow the human embodiment of the former nation still stood, platinum hair, crimson eyes, and all.

Once Gilbert had realized he was crying he immediately attempted to stop. Why was he crying? The awesome him didn't cry! Prussia barely ever cried; he hadn't even cried the day after that horrible war when all the countries had convened for their post-war meeting… the day his country had been no more. Yet, here he was, a sobbing mess in some random room at the World Summit building. The ex-nation tried to chuckle a bit, releasing the tension that had unmistakably built up in him, but the laughter came out more as a strangled sob added to the many more that had already been building in his chest.

"You are too awesome to cry…" He reminded himself. He stayed on the floor of the empty room for a while longer, rushing to pull himself together yet unable to quickly enough.

It wasn't their fault he was crying… They had just been saying the same things they normally would when Prussia interrupted a meeting. It happened often enough - Prussia always got bored when he was alone and unable to bother his brother or hang out with his friends. He rarely talked to humans nowadays when it was just awkward enough as it was that most couldn't even recall who Prussia was.

"Prussia? That was a country? I don't remember learning about that in school…"

Sometimes Prussia felt like Canada when people couldn't remember him. Sometimes he envied Canada though. He'd rather still have his country and be invisible than be caught in the weird state between not being human or country. What was he if he was neither? He sure as hell wasn't a micronation. He had been a country previously. The only former countries he knew of were long gone… disappeared when their country had fallen… dead.

Prussia didn't know what he was… who he was. He never thought about it too much though. It only rained on his awesome parade. But now… after all those hurtful things the others had said… it wasn't uncommon but there was something about this time. He just couldn't take it this time. It wasn't their fault he was crying when they always said things like this.

Gilbert dried his tears on his sleeve, shutting his eyes hard for a moment before they sprung back open to show that his shaky and fragile-looking red eyes had changed back to their normal arrogant and somewhat roughly strong appearance. It was all a front, but as long as Prussia believed it to be true, others would as well. Gilbert laughed loudly to banish any former thoughts or feelings. "It's not my fault the lot of them took asshole pills this morning! What a bunch of arschlocks!" This followed with another laugh, this one sounding more like his hissing signature laugh.

Prussia stood from where he knelt and looked around. He was in some random room. It was dim, illuminated only by the bright sun behind thick curtains draped over the windows. A bed was pushed against the wall with a nightstand at its side and a closet in the corner. It seemed to be one of the many guest rooms that he had slipped into. This one looked to be uninhabited which did not surprise the former nation in the least. Most of the rooms around there probably hadn't been touched in years. Now he just had to figure out a way back. Not to the meeting room. He was done with the other nations for the day. No, he just wanted to find the exit and go home.

As Prussia turned toward the door, though, something caught his eye. There was a mirror in the corner. It was a plain, floor-length mirror that stood on its stand in the corner between the dresser and the wall with the window. Its surface reflected the bed and the opposite corner where the closest lay shut tight. That was funny… Gilbert could have sworn he had seen something…

He walked up to the mirror, seeing as his reflection walked into the image. He gave a winner smile and pointed his pointer fingers at his reflected person. "Pssh. The mirror is doing nothing more than its awesome job by showing my awesome reflection!"

Then Prussia turned away and strode from the room, wearing an air of confidence as he strode down the halls. He was unaware of the fact that the mirror had changed once again, as it had when he thought he had imagined it. As if stuck in the mirror itself, a man watched after him as he went, violet eyes gleaming as they followed him out the door.

"Bruder, you know you are not supposed to attend the world meetings anymore. You are no longer a nation and it is no longer your responsibility."

"Ah, West! You know you missed me! That meeting looked boring anyway; I'm sure I was the highlight of the whole thing!" Gilbert had been lying with his face towards the ceiling on the sofa in their sitting room. The television was on but Prussia didn't even know what channel he had flipped it to before he had zoned out, watching the lines in the plaster of the ceiling and letting thoughts flow through his head. He wasn't normally one for putting up with these boring past times - usually only needing a sneeze to change his mind and be done with it - but for some odd reason he had found himself not himself lately.

His brother's words as he had arrived home stuck with him when Germany left the room and he found himself immersed in thought once more. No longer his responsibility? What responsibility did he even have left? Despite always giving off an air of idleness, he was a very hardworker. Having nothing to do, no responsibility of his own anymore, it was driving him nuts. He cleaned the house because it was something he could do. He denied that he had actually done it when it came down to it; no way the awesome him had done something like clean when he had other important things to do. The fact of the matter, though, was he really didn't have anything better to do.

Another fact of Gilbert's lack of responsibility since his nation had dissolved was his excruciating boredom. He had friends to hang out with, errands he could do, a brother he could bother, and many other nations to poke around at, but in the end the boredom always caught up to him.

Prussia was bored. Prussia was tired of not having anything to do for the world. His former people had grown to be Germany's people so he often thought he could help his brother with work at times. Germany didn't trust him to keep up with work though. Damn all those years he had kept his country afloat and even prosperous! Prussia couldn't keep up with the duties of a country apparently even though he had way more years of experience than his little bruder!

The red-eyed personification sighed as he looked down at his feet which were kicked at the end of the couch. Was he no longer needed there? All this laying around made him feel so useless! "Am I no longer important?" He asked his shoelaces. He imagined them jumping up like tiny snakes, their little aglets bobbing up and down in agreement, confirming his self doubt.

Thank God they didn't. He would have had more to worry about than his own importance if they had. Then again… if they had, these thoughts wouldn't be in his head anymore. They would have been banished when his panic had bubbled over his own state of mind. Would that have been more preferable? Thinking he was going insane instead of dwelling on the fact that he wasn't needed any longer?

Gilbert wasn't sure anymore. This thinking, it always hurt his head. Damn thinking.

"I might drink until I see double tonight. Triple if I'm lucky." He said as he hoisted himself off of the sofa. "That always makes my slightly less awesome days better."

Prussia wasn't lying and he was no lightweight either. He drank more beers than his muddled mind could count that night; even a sober person would have had trouble keeping up. Everything was kind of blurry that night at the bar. Gilbert could have sworn there was a guy sitting next to him just a second ago and where had the music gone? The barkeep was wiping the counters and untying his weird half apron thing that those waiter people guys wore. What were those things called again? Did they have names? Eh. Gilbert didn't care; he just wanted another beer.

"We're closed." The guy across the counter said in a slightly irritated tone. Hell, shouldn't this guy be used to weirdos stepping in his bar; why was he looking at Gilbert like that of all people?

Prussia looked around for a moment, bewildered as he took in the desolate booths and stools. There was morning light leaking through the blinds on the windows which he knew would give him a splitting headache the moment he walked out those doors. But leave he did. He wasn't in the mood to start anything and he was sure his brother wasn't in the mood to pick him up from the police station. The sun hurt as it pierced his eyes, sending the same pain signals to his throbbing head. It sucked not being a nation anymore; he used to be able to handle a night of drinking like a pro.

Suddenly his thoughts turned once again to his former nationhood and the world summit he had interrupted the day before. He turned down a dark alley to shield himself from the blazing sunlight and leaned against the wall to get his bearings.

"They don't need me anymore. Not my people… not West…" Gilbert's mind was a bit foggy from the alcohol but hell if he was going to let the liquor take him that easily! But what if that was the only way to get away from his thoughts that seemed to be following him so insistently? He could just lay down and take a nice nap here… no one would even notice he was gone… no one would worry… Prussia unconsciously slid down the wall, staring at the element stained pavement below. Weeds sprouted in the cracks where the sidewalk met the brick wall of the bar. "I'm not important anymore…"

"That's not true, Prussia. You're important to us."

That was funny. That voice sounded familiar but… there was something different about it. If only he could figure out why it sounded familiar then perhaps he could figure out why it was different as well. When the ex-nation looked up to see who had spoken to him, though, his vision began to blur. Then Gilbert's mind completely fogged over and his eyes slid shut. His body fell sideways almost losing itself to the impact against the pavement, but, before that could happen, a pair of arms caught him. He was already unconscious, though when the figures above him spoke.

Roland held the other Prussia's limp body in his arms. It wasn't his Prussia, but he had seen enough to know that this one was enough of the same. It had been a long time since he'd had Prussia so close - since he had gotten to protect the one he held most dear. He straightened up, bringing the man with to carry him. "We must get back. They will not be able to hold the portal for long."

"Wait." A gruff voice stopped him as Roland had been about to head back toward the dead ended part of the alley. "What of my condition?"

Roland turned back to look James in the eye. Their Canada was a serious but brutal character and not one easily forgotten. Roland didn't bat an eye when facing him, though. "This world does not understand how Prussia survived his dissolution, do they? None of the worlds do." James' silence was cue for Roland to continue. "So, I say we give them what's coming to them. When their Prussia disappears let them experience, even for just a moment, the loss of what good thing they had. Let them think that their dear friend Prussia, always taken for granted, is dead. Finally disappeared like any fallen nation."

James just watched him, unimpressed.

"And then, after they have faced their grief and selfishness, we can come in." Roland smirked, "I mean, you didn't really think I'd let them get off with just that? Where's the fun?"

"So, we'll be back?"

"Oh, we'll definitely be back." They began to walk down the alley, towards a door at the far end - a door that had never been there before…

"You know," James spoke as they walked, "Fainting like that. This guy might be even more of a princess than Klaus."

"He fainted after 43 beers. If you didn't have a country anymore, would you be able to do that?"

James didn't answer. He didn't have to because by that time they had reached the end of the narrow passage and swung open the door.

"Oh, lovely, you've got him!" Oliver's voice resounded from the doorway as well as the agreements of the few others present.

"Yes, and, once his absence is noticed, then the true fun can begin."

GDS: So that's it for our first chapter! Tell us what you think~ Also just to be safe: We don't own any anime, manga or songs.

CV: Hope you guys enjoyed and thank you so much for reading!