Germany carefully brushed an even coat of glue to the thin, oblong slip of paper. He lifted it by its corners and applied it to the wall, smoothing it out and making sure it was even with the other worthless banknotes. Outside he could hear the children laughing as they made a fort out of bricks of wrapped money and pretended to shoot at imaginary French soldiers.

"Jesus it's colder than Hungary's tit in here!" Prussia grumbled as he stomped into the room. He went over to the little stove in the corner, grabbed an armload of money and tossed it in. He stood with his hands stretched out towards the flames, watching the children outside run out of their money fort and pelt a boy they declared to be France with stones. Prussia grinned as the poor boy started screaming at his playmates to stop; a stone hit his glasses and broke the lens. He turned to warm his backside and stopped grinning when he realized what Germany was doing. "West, I thought you said you were going to wallpaper the room?"

Germany carefully smoothed another bill into place "I am wallpapering the room."

"Uh, ok, but where's the wallpaper?"

"Couldn't afford wallpaper." Germany replied, brushing glue onto another 1,000,000 marks note.

"How did you manage to buy glue?" Prussia watched Germany's methodical movements as he brushed, glued and adjusted each piece of worthless money to the wall. Germany answered Prussia by turning around and giving him one of his steely cold glares that meant 'you don't want to know' then went back to work.

Prussia responded by rolling his eyes and dragging a chair closer to the stove. "Fuck it, what's for supper?"

"There's some bread left in the cupboard."

"Bread? That's all?"

"That's all the shops had left this morning and I could afford."

"How much money did you take?"

Germany's scowl deepened. His older brother never lifted a finger but was always the first to complain. Where was the Prussian discipline he always lectured him about? "I filled up the hand cart, and carried a couple of satchels."

"And all you got was … bread. What about beer? You did manage at least a bottle of beer?"

"Sorry, no beer." Germany answered, stepping off the step stool to fetch another crate of banknotes. He returned to the room with a fresh box and broke it open. He looked up at Prussia when he realized his older brother hadn't moved since he left. "What?" He barked at him irritably.

"No beer? We have no beer?"

"Which would you rather have? Bread, or beer?"

"Is that even A QUESTION?!" Prussia shouted, "Fuck this, I wonder what France is having for supper tonight." He retorted reaching for his coat just as the door flew open and hit the wall with a thunderous crash.

"Ah, tonight at Chez Française you'll be dining on HELL!!" France screamed as he stormed into the room and grabbed Germany by his shirt collar. He threw him up against the wall and snarled, "Where is my money Kraut?" Germany answered him by slamming his knee into France's gut, who quickly sank to the floor coughing and holding his stomach. Germany straightened his shirt and picked up his glue brush. Prussia looked on and leered, watching France stagger back to his feet.

"Speaking of kraut, it's a shame we don't have any West."

"It certainly is, and some plump bratwurst simmering with it."

"Argh, all this talk of food!" Prussia whimpered, clutching at his stomach, "At this rate we'll have to eat the dogs." That earned him another steely glare from his brother. France made a noise that sounded like someone strangled a seagull and then managed to growl out, "You owe me twenty three billion marks in reparations, I've come to collect!"

"Oh, is that all?" Prussia said, and looked around the room, "I think we have that much right here don't we West?" He started grabbing banknotes out of the crate.

"Not those, I'm using the 1,000,000 marks for wallpaper, remember?" Germany grumbled.

"But I'm using the 5,000,000 marks for the stove." Prussia said, as he threw another armload into the fire. "I know, what about the 100,000 and 500,000 marks?"

"Gave those to the neighborhood kids." Germany answered, pointing at the children's fort outdoors. "Had to make room in the shed for today's pay. "They gave me the new 10,000,000 marks though; you can have those if you like. Tomorrow I get paid with the 20,000,000 marks banknotes."

France stared at both countries, mouth hanging open. "You're both mad." He stammered. "And I don't want your worthless paper money!"

"In case you haven't noticed yet." Prussia smirked, "We're experiencing a bit of an economic crisis."

"We printed all this money in an effort to boost our economy so we could pay you." Germany added, "And, well, you see where we are now." He had the faintest hint of a smile on his usually austere face.

France looked back and forth between the two. He was used to Prussia's maniacal grins but Germany …"You did this on purpose you Teutonic twats! You've ruined your own economy to get out of paying reparations!"

The brothers looked at each other, and then Prussia burst out laughing. France saw Germany's shoulders moving and realized he was laughing too, which suddenly gave him chills. "We're brilliant West! We figured out how to get out of paying these unfair reparations, and all it took was destroying our economy and starving to death!"

"Laugh it up." France hissed back. "I had a feeling this would be your reaction. Belgium at this very moment is marching our combined armies into the Ruhr Valley."

Germany stopped laughing and glared at France. France moved in close again and grabbed Germany by his collar; his eyes were wild as he stared into the other country's eyes, growing dark with anger. "That's right, Blondie, do you want to keep laughing? Is it still funny now?"

Germany's knee came up again and connected with France's groin. He watched with a genuine smile on his face as the other country hit the floor for the second time, curled up and whimpering like a baby.

Prussia's chest swelled with pride when Germany calmly replied, "March all the way to Berlin if you like you croaking frog. It won't change anything. The money's still worthless and with your presence in the Ruhr it will only get worse."

France's red face blanched. This was not the reaction he expected. "Worse?" His voice came out in a squeak.

Germany returned to gluing money to the wall. "Ja, much worse I imagine."

Behind him he heard France swear under his breath and his older brother say, "It's obvious I'm not going to get any decent food at West's house tonight, if I leave now I might make it to Austria's in time." He reached down and grabbed France by the back of his coat, and hauled him to his feet. "Always a pleasure Monsieur, I'll walk you out."

Germany listened to the front door slam shut, then looked out the window in time to see Prussia lead France to the children's money fort. Very loudly he said "Hey look who came to visit today kids, France!" The children jumped over the paper marks walls as a solid mob and descended on top of the startled country with sticks and rocks. The boy with the broken glasses threw a rock that hit France right on his nose just as Prussia returned inside. Once again Germany allowed the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

"Syphilitic wine swilling prick." Prussia grinned back at his brother. "What is it with him always getting girls to fight his battles for him?"

"Belgium is no one to toy with." Germany reminded his older brother, reaching into the crate for another stack of worthless banknotes.

Prussia ran his hand through his hair, "No she isn't, but what can be done? It's not as if we have an army to mobilize right now."

Germany stopped mid brush stroke and stared at his older brother. "What do you mean, 'right now?'"

"I'll be back tomorrow; I want you to come with me to a meeting and hear the new leader of the Brown Shirts speak."

"The Brown Shirts, those radicals?"

"Yes West, those radicals. Desperate times call for radical measures, or something like that. I want you to hear this man speak. He's not the best with words, but he has a way of saying them that mesmerizes even the most crowded lecture hall." Prussia grabbed his coat again and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Germany yelled, scowling again.

Prussia stuck his head back through the door, "Austria, I'm hungry! Enjoy your bread and I'll see you tomorrow!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's note: Money was the driving problem of the 1920's and the bad policies and business practices of the time led to the Great Depression. When America's economy crashed, the outstanding war debts Europe owed caused their economies to collapse as well. It was one of the main reasons the entire world ended up in hard times and people like Hitler and Mussolini regarded as saviors.