"Hey aniki," Prussia paused and looked up from the weathered yellow pages laid before him. The young boy, whose brilliantly blue eyes shone with unease, stood stiffly in front of the heavy oak desk. "I have a question."

The albino chortled, and sat up. They were in the old library in one corner of Prussia' home. It was a magnificent library and Prussia was proud of it. Shelves upon shelves of weathered, leather bound books lined the walls, vintage lamps hung from the ceiling and numerous, dark-stained oak desks sat in neat lines. The library was rarely used – since Prussia was never the one for book .

But every once in a while he'd come to read about Old Fritz.

"What is it, West? You don't have to be so stiff you know, have a seat. You make me feel like an asshole or something."

Germany looked like he had something to say (probably along the lines of "You are"), but decided to keep his mouth shut. He pulled a chair back, with some difficulty, as he was still so small and the chair was still so big. He sat down. "I was wondering, what happened to the personification of a nation after the nation is no longer one?"

Prussia blinked, surprise shone in his crimson eyes. "Why the deep question, bruder?" He laughed with some unease in his tone, "It's not like you at all."

The blond hesitated a little, "I was cleaning…"

To which Prussia interrupted with a snort as he leaned back in his chair, "Typical."

The interruption was ignored though, "…Up in the attic this morning and I saw an awfully dusty painting. I cleaned it and saw this boy that looked lot like me."

Holy Roman Empire, Prussia thought somberly. The little great-nation-to-be had simply disappeared off the face of the planet; nobody was sure what happened to him. Prussia was pretty sure he was the only one who still remembered him though vaguely. They did used to play way, way, way back. "I saw his name written on a plague underneath the painting – Holy Roman Empire. He's the one who simply disappeared, right?"

Prussia raised a brow, "Have you been studying?"

A faint blush came onto Germany's face, "W-Well, I was only curious. I don't remember seeing a country like his on the globe."

The albino sighed, "To answer your question, I don't know what happens to a country after they disappear. Nobody knows." He frowned a little and looked up at the ceiling, contemplating how he would tell the younger boy. In the end, he shrugged. "They're just forgotten, I suppose."

"Oh." Germany's blue eyes clouded with sorrow. "That's very depressing."

Prussia, not liking the heavy atmosphere at all, laughed heartily. He jumped up, rounded the table and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Oh you! It won't happen. Back than, things were unstable. It's much better now." He hooked his arms under Germany's armpits and lifted him up and off the chair easily. "Now, come on. Let's go find Austria to bother." Gilbird tweeted exasperated and landed on Prussia's head.

"Oh, no. Don't drag me into this again, aniki."

"It'll be fun! I figured out how to get pass his fancy gates and stuff." Despite his cheerful grin, Prussia couldn't help but find that his mind still lingered on Germany's question.

What really happened to a personification of a country…after the country no longer existed?

He shook his off as he closed the doors to the library.

It wouldn't happen.

It was a blizzard outside. Germany, now fully grown, was seated on the plush couch, facing the large windows. He looked up from his book; it was titled 'Before and After'. Ever since he was young, the country had been curious to know the life cycle of the personification of a country. He knew that the Britannia Angel had something to do with the birth of one, and that there was a million theories as to what happened after the death of another, but nobody could say it for sure.

Heavy snowflakes fell to the ground as if it was rain; the sky was an ominous black and the wind howled. A sort of chill ran up his spine and Germany shook it off. Everything about this night was wrong. It was spring now, for God's sakes, there wasn't supposed to be a blizzard, but Germany knew it wasn't just the odd weather that was bothering him.

Nearly a week ago, his older brother had received an urgent letter in the mail. Prussia had sulked in his room for the bulk of the week. It was only just yesterday that he had stomped out, cursing up a storm. Without a word, he had kicked the door down (literally, mind you) and disappeared into the late morning's light.

He hadn't came back since.

As the ever-so-faithful younger sibling, Germany was worried.

Germany sighed and put down his book, it was just midnight – the grandfather clock upstairs was chiming. He had better go to bed, and hope that Italy wouldn't be there…again. He blushed and shook his head. Turning around, he was climbing up the stairs when the front doors swung open and a blast of cold air hit him. Too shocked to shiver, he whipped around and headed back down. Who was it? A burglar? Grabbing his coat on the way, he shrugged it on and dug into the depths of its pockets. There. His revolver.

"Who's there?" He called out tentatively as he rounded the corner to the main door. The lights were dim, so he couldn't quite see who was there. Germany, could however, make out a tall silhouette standing stiffly, by the door. Reaching up to the light switch with one hand, he pulled back the safety trigger with the other and pointed the gun at the suspicious person. He flipped on the lights and got ready to shoot.

And thank god he hadn't shot.

"Prussia! You bastard, I nearly shot you!" Germany fumed and lowered the gun to glower at his brother. "Where the hell did you go?"

Prussia scowled, "A meeting." He answered curtly, his fists clenched. He slammed the doors shut and stalked off.

Germany followed, his previous anger quickly dissipated."Oh, how'd it go?" He frowned; it was weird to see Prussia this…this serious about something.

The older nation walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge, he stooped down and grabbed a bottle of strong beer. He popped the lid off with his dagger, letting the metal lid and the dagger clatter onto the granite counter. Tipping his head back, he brought the bottle to his lips and chugged.

At about the halfway mark, he slammed the bottle down onto the counter, stretched out both arms onto the counter edge and leaned his weight on them. He hung his head, gritting his teeth. "How did it go? It went fucking great! It goddamn fun, West, wish you were fucking there! Oh, we had fucking cake and threw a party – what do you think!" He gripped the edge of the counter and sighed angrily.

"Preußen…" Germany started, "Please do not take out your anger on the kitchen again."

"No, damnit…" Prussia gritted out under his breath, "You don't get it! I'm not a fucking country anymore. They called me out to sign an fucking piece of paper, declaring the official dissolving of the country of Prussia!"

Germany blinked, he knew his brother wasn't kidding – he wouldn't be so colourful about it otherwise. He didn't know what to say, what could he say? His mind was reverting back to all the theories of the after, he shoved it away. Instead, Germany hung his head, pocketing his gun. "I'm sorry, bruder."

His aplogy was not heard by the now ex-country. Prussia snarled, "I can't believe this, I thought that kind of thing stopped centuries ago!" He curled his right hand into a fist and pounded the counter, "Damn it, damn it, damn it…" His voice slowly grew quieter and quieter, his head hung down, heavy with shame. "Damn it…" His usually proud and loud voice was deduced to a mere whimper.

It hurt Germany to see his older brother, the once proud and mighty Prussia, crumple into a whimpering heap right in front of his eyes. "Preußen…" He said, helplessly.

"Don't call me that anymore," the albino's angry hiss was loud in the dark and empty house. "From now on, I'm only known as Gilbert."

Gilbird, the yellow chick, peeped sadly.

Hungary hummed cheerfully as she reached up and clipped up the damp bed sheets onto the drying line. She settled back down on the heels of her feet and tucked a loose strand of chestnut brown hair behind her ear. She picked up the empty basket and hurried back into the house.

The day was warm and the air smelled sweet with the blooming of flowers everywhere. Hungary returned the basket to the laundry room and went to the kitchen to follow up with the rest of her chores.

She was washing the dishes when she heard a pair of footsteps stop by the door. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, a small smile came onto her face. "Austria," Hungary greeted the taller man. A confused look soon replaced the smile as she put down the dishes and turned around to meet him fully. Hungary dried her hands on her white apron, Austria looked worried.

Well, to other people he could come off as stoic and neutral, but Hungary knew the man well enough to tell when he was worried. (Mariazell would be curled, just slightly. His violet eyes would be darker, just slightly. His brow would be troubled, just slightly.) "Is something the matter?" She asked, her gaze settled on a white envelope in his hands.

"I'm afraid," Austria started as Hungary walked up to him. "That I have bad news to bring. This came in the mail today, from Germany."

"Germany? Why, he hasn't written to us in a long time." Hungary commented, worry etched on her face.

"I know." Austria gave the female country the letter.

Hungary saw that the letter was already opened, but it was addressed to both Austria and her, so she wasn't too annoyed that he was reading her letters. She took out the paper and unfolded it.

Dear Austria and Hungary,

I'm terribly sorry to bother you with the news I shall be presenting in this letter. I hope you are doing well.

As for my brother and I…Well, I'm doing fine but I'm afraid that Prussia – uh – Gilbert isn't.

I am quite sure that you both understand that Gilbert is no longer a country. He was signed off by the others nearly sixty years ago.

Initially, Gilbert was healthy - miserable, but healthy non-the-less. I have been studying about what happens after, according to numerous books, the personification of a country does not die right after their country is dissolved. Nothing really happens until the original inhabitants of the country all slowly die out.

Hungary inhaled sharply and clutched the piece of paper tighter. She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

You understand that a country's people are also their blood. Without their people, there is no blood. I assume you can guess that Prussia' original population has grown old, weak and are dying of numerous reasons. Unfortunately this has directly affected Gilbert's health.

There was than a sharp line leading off the right side of the page, followed by a familiar, messy handwriting.

Damn it. I'm sorry for taking your vital regions, Austria (I have no regrets), and I'm sorry for bullying you, Hungary (I have no regrets too). I can't take anymore of Germany's endless beating around the bush. I'm just going to be blunt about it.

I'm dying.

No, I don't like it. I'm a wreck. Don't ask why I sound so fucking cheerful .To be frank, I don't know why myself. Don't need to come visit me, I honestly do not need the sappiness that's sure to come. Though, I'm not going to lie, having more than just Germany by my side while I die would be nice.

That is all. Really. Germany wrote a long-ass letter just to tell you I'm dying.

I guess that's it. Bye.

Prussia & Germany

A heavy silence hung in the air between Austria and Hungary. "W-Well," She started, voice cracking ever so slightly. "I guess I better go. Will you come?"

Austria was silent for a while, "I'll stay...and contact his best friends...France and Spain, was it?"

Hungary nodded, "Come soon, I don't know how long...he'll be around for." She started for the door.

"Be careful!" Austria called, watching her sprint across the lawn. "Be careful..."