Chapter 1

A Garden in Prison

The soft clanking of forks colliding with china plates filled the quiet, rich, stuffy room. Five individuals sat stiffly around the rectangular table, prim and perfect they filled their mouths with small precise bites. At the head sat a stern German, his blonde hair slicked perfectly with a thin layer of gel. His green Wehmacht uniform stuck out with the Prussian on his left who ate the loudest in the room. Across from the Prussian was the third German speaking male, his clothes just as extravagant, though through uniform. He dabbed the corner of his mouth as the woman next to him poor more wine into his glass. She was the only non native speaking German at the table, and wore the least extravagant clothing, just a simple dress with a kerchief tied around her light brown locks. And lastly, the youngest, nestled next to the Prussian what appeared to be a girl but actually a woman of eighteen. Her delicate pink dress plumed out from her hips and she wore a stiff high collar of modesty.

"I have to go to Berlin today." Ludwig announced suddenly as he laid his fork beside his plate precisely, wiping his lips with his napkin and laying it on top of the dirty plate. Like an automatic human being, a maid entered their presence from the shadows, taking his plate and leaving the atmosphere as quickly as she came. Lily thought blandly that she may have known her once, wasn't she another country like herself?

"What for?" Gilbert asked with a mouthful, not caring about manors or protocol at all.

"New shipment of artillery has been assembled and they wish for me to oversee the testing." Ludwig continued in the same disinterested tone as before.

"New weaponry?" Prussia asked enthused, he tossed his fork on this almost empty plate causing a loud rattle. "I'm coming to!" he announced.

"I suppose that is okay." his younger brother grunted not too keen on taking his unpredictable older brother with him to the capitol.

"What about you, sissy? You going to come with?" Prussia laughed maliciously at the only male not in a military uniform.

An irritated look slipped onto his features, but quickly cooled, but before he could open those full lips, the woman to his right spoke up loudly. "Roderich and I have plans!"

"Oh really Eliza? He dragging you to go shopping again? Kesesese-"

"What is that supposed to mean?" she seethed back.

"I'm saying you got your roles backwards. Clearly this fine clothed Austrian is the woman of your relationship. Isn't that right Mr. Fancy-pants?"

"I suppose if I enjoyed blowing stuff up and running across the country side like a hooligan I would be the perfect image of a man like yourself." Roderich retaliated with a huff.

"Well it would be a good start-"

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Germany shouted causing his underlings to all hush.

Liechtenstein who hadn't spoken yet kept eating her breakfast, not paying attention to the other nations. If they weren't in the house, she could move around freely. There would be no Hungary who had orders to watch the other female carefully. Neither Prussia to bribe so she could go out into the gardens on extensive walks. No Austria who worried over her well being like an older uncle. Most importantly, no Germany to evoke the strict laws of the house. This all meant… maybe she could write a letter to her older brother or walk freely without free of being spied on in the gardens!

It had been a three years since she joined Germany. At the time Lily believed that she could protect her brother from the evil allied forces. Everything was so black and white back then. But soon, Lily realized that her logic had been very flawed. In the beginning it had been only the four of them at Germany's house. Herself and Austria had come to live at the same time. Lily remembered the night she had snuck out of her brothers house with a suit case and a heart full of dreams and begged her Uncle Austria to take her with him. Austria had refused her request, but Lily had timed it just right, and the long black car with swastika flags arrived in his driveway. Out of fear of what would happen to the young woman in occupied Austria, Roderich had no choice but to allow her to tag along.

Germany had welcomed her with open arms, well as much as the stiff German could welcome people. He had set up her room, all arranged femininely to her tastes. That night she composed a short letter entailing what she had done for her brother to read. It never left the house.

Switzerland was not an ally of Germany. Germany could not trust Switzerland. Liechtenstein could no longer trust Switzerland. That is the short reasoning the girl was given as her letter was tossed into the fire, blackening and curling on itself as the fire licked and destroyed all her thoughts and love for her older brother. Thus began her days under strict rules. She was to be accompanied by another German at all times. (At this point in time, Germany had declared that they were all Germans if they lived under his roof.) Austria seem to embrace the strict rules openly, thinking it was good to keep such a young girl safe from the outside world. Prussia quickly became her favorite companion, seeing how if he didn't leave her out of boredom she could bribe him to leave. And on those rare occasions he decided to be obnoxious and stay by her side faithfully, at least he wasn't rigid and cold like Austria and Germany.

"Would you like to come?" Ludwig asked suddenly. His blue eyes locked with her big green ones, the look of shock washed over Lily.

"Come again?" she asked meekly.

"Would you like to come to Berlin and see the weapon show with Gilbert and I?" he repeated himself.

"Oh. No thank you, I don't really like loud noises." Lily declined.

"Then you will go out with Roderich and Elizabeta." he decreed making the two couple bristle.

"Where we are going, it wouldn't be appropriate for Miss Liechtenstein to come." Roderich intervened.

Ludwig shook his head, "Lily is much too young to be left at home. There are too many… undesirables around."

"Um…I…" Lily started weakly but Elizabeta stood up furiously.

"Undesirables? We are the ones that keep your house clean and food on your tables, Ludwig!" she hissed.

"Calm down dear. He doesn't mean it like that-"

"Eliza.." Lily barely whispered.

"The hell he doesn't..." she continued. "He obviously doesn't see us as human beings! We're nothing to him!"

"It is not my decision!" Germany countered sternly. "Honestly Elizabeta I must follow the rules…"

"I…"

"Well that's fine and dandy, Ludwig-"

"I WANT TO STAY HOME!" Lily managed to shout out in her cute little voice. The crowd all turned to look at her, confused. "I am eighteen years old, I can take care of myself. Thank you for your concern, but you do not need to burden yourselves with my welfare. I will be fine."

Silence erupted into the room once again. The chirp of birds could be heard muffled from the house walls. All four pair of eyes stared at her in wonder before Germany knitted his eyebrows.

"I still do not approve."

"Oh come on brother, she's not a child. Let her be. It's not like she can leave the property." Prussia intervened with toothy smile. "Besides, an army base isn't a place for a young lady, nor should she be picking up anything lewd from those two." the Prussian jerked his head in the direction of the two spouses. "What do you say brother? Give her a chance?"

Ludwig considered. His stern eyes were looking into Liechtenstein's soul, but she stood her ground and stared right back. "All right. She may stay at home."

Liechtenstein's heart practically soared. Ludwig and Gilbert left within the hour, while Roderich and Elizabeta departed an hour after them. By the time the house was left all to Liechtenstein, the sun was almost halfway up in the sky.

It was a spring day, and a fine time to go walking amongst the flower gardens. Grabbing her shawl and shoving a small book, the tiny woman left through the back door. Her leather shoes crunched the grass as she strolled to a nearby tree that had a stone bench beneath it. As she grew closer however, she heard a deep voice singing. The words unknown to her in a language harsher than German.

Curiosity flooded her veins as she began to look amongst the flower bushes for the source of the singing. Taking a left at the end of her path she quietly stopped to see a rather tall man singing as his spade dug the holes to plant bulbs into the wet soil. His sandy brown hair was spiked straight up in the front, revealing high cheek bones and a perfect forehead. His dark eyelashes covered his eyes halfway and he focused on his task of planting and singing. The mans huge hands scooped the soil, never had Liechtenstein such big hands. The small woman realized the frayed end of his jacket and began to take in his worn attire. A tan jacket, smudged with dirt and miniature holes peppered the material. The only striking garment was a blue and white scarf, that somehow remained spotless on his dusty rack.

The man shifted reaching for a brown bag next to him and stopped singing instantly when he spotted the young girl.

Lily opened and closed her mouth quickly, ashamed of spying. "I-I'm sorry." she stuttered feeling her cheeks heating up. "That was a beautiful song you were singing." she started calmly, the mans face was emotionless, however he seemed to have a grumpy disposition. "That was Dutch, c-correct?" the man nodded taking a bulb from his sack and planting it in a tiny whole.

"I'm Lily. I mean… I'm Liechtenstein." she corrected herself as she approached closer. Standing next to him, the top of his spiky head came to her stomach even though he was hunched over. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Hn." the tall Dutch answered.

Lily frowned slightly, but recovered her smile quickly. "I heard that Germany recently took in the three Dutch states." the man's left eye twitched at her statement. "I mean I'm sorry for your lost… I…" she apologized assuming he was still anger at losing the war thus far. "You must be Netherlands, am I right?" she peeped.

His brown eyes stared at her, Netherlands' features practically screaming go away, but Lily still continued. "Well I suppose you could be Luxembourg, but I heard he was younger than me… and Belgium is a woman. I saw her the day they brought her in…" Netherlands went back to his work, despite not talking, Lily knew he was listening so she continued. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the Dutch states. Switzerland kept me quite isolated!"

"We're not the Dutch states." he replied. His German was thick and harsh to her ears, but his words were clearly understood. "We are separate identities. In fact…" his brown eyes frowned at her. "Belgium and I borderline hate each other."

"Oh I am sorry I didn't…" Liechtenstein bit her bottom lip. "..know…"

Netherlands shrugged his shoulders indifferent. "It's alright. I don't expect a little girl who grew up in the Swiss Alps to know this." He picked up his bag and began to walk away. Rudely he did not ask Lily to come with or continue any sort of conversation.

The girl stumbled after him, picking up her skirts as she followed. "Thank you for being so understanding!" she quickly stammered as she jogged to keep up with his giant steps. Netherlands was much taller than her, it was hard to believe that there were men taller than both Uncle Austria and Germany!

They arrived at a small shed which he promptly tossed the bag inside on top of more brown bags full of flower bulbs. From inside he grabbed a water can that sloshed with water. He turned to her and frowned.

"What do you want?" his words were not harsh, but they certainly weren't nice.

"I-I…" she stammered again. Netherlands put a hand on his face rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

"You stammer a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"Which is almost as annoying as how many times you say 'your sorry' in a minute. Say what you think and do what you mean." then mans deep voice gruffly spoke.

"I like flowers. I used to plant them in brother's garden." Lily said with full confidence.

Netherlands looked at her bewildered. Taking a moment, he considered what she said, before reaching inside and grabbing out yet another watering pale. "It's empty, we'll have to go to the water spout." he informed as he handed over the rusted pale.

Lily accepted generously.

They walked across the garden to the a metal picket with a fountain on the end in utter silence. Lily swung her pale lightly as she hummed as bounced around as a happy and free woman. That's what she felt, freedom in every sense of the word. Sure she was about to do gardening work with a stranger, but she felt as light a bird.

"You don't speak much do you?" Lily asked as Netherlands pumped water into her pale.

"Maybe you simply speak too much." he countered.

"No, only when I need to fill the void." she answered as she felt her pale getting heavy with weight.

The tall man shrugged carelessly. "I suppose I have been taught it is best to only speak when you have something to say."

"And don't you have much to say?"

"No not really."

"Not even about the war." Lily covered her lips in shock. Did she really let that slip. She looked in horror as Netherlands looked up at her, expecting to see furious eyes. Instead his eyes were calm, one eyebrow slightly quirked and his lips were slightly parted. "I-I mean…"

"Especially the war." he stopped her from stammering. "There's nothing to be said." he stopped pumping the water out and stood quickly.

They strolled back to the garden, Netherlands began watering the plants on one side and Lily got the others on the opposite side. Silence, the girl was tired of it.

How long had she been at Germany's house? Must have been ages now.

"How long have you been here, Netherlands?" she asked suddenly.

Then Dutch frowned. "Two years." A year less than herself.

"Really, I have never seen you before."

"That's because I tend to work in the gardens when no one is around. Which I suppose someone was."

"Oh, sorry… I could leave.."

"It's alright." he huffed. "A change of pace is never bad."

"That's good." she replied sweetly.

Her chest seem to lighten. It shocked her at first. Since when had there been something so tight and constricting there? As she watered the twentieth bush it all became clear. Liechtenstein had been lonely these past three years. When was the last time someone was honest with her? She looked over to Netherlands, who had her back to her as he stiffly watered the plants. Lily didn't know if he liked her or not, but for some odd reason she felt giddy. Almost like a school girl that found out she had a secret admirer. Though this man was far from it. Maybe it all boiled down to one simple fact. Netherlands, didn't mind her presence.

Germany treated her as an asset not as any relation of a human being. Though she owned barely anything, the fact that another German speaking country aligned itself with him had its uses. He was sure that her stubborn older brother would join Germany and his alliance any week now. He was a collector of nations, and Lily was a prize. Austria, her uncle, she knew he loved her dearly. But in this house it was so stressful, he spent many hours and resources protecting her from the knowledge of the outside world. Were they winning? Did she know anyone who has died in the war? What was the state of her territory? Lily honestly couldn't answer any of these things. But without Austria knowing if he was hurting her or not, he made sure that her days were filled worry free. The result was back to back bland days.

Then there was Hungary. She was not a Germanic, but was brought in through her Uncles grace to be thought as one of the crew. Hungary also spent most of her time shielding her from the truth, but unlike Austria, once in awhile she allowed her sadness to seep in. It was Liechtenstein's true alarm clock that let her know, not all was well. If there was one person in the whole house that would tell her the truth and not treat her as some child, it was Prussia. But everything came with a price, and the older brother was very much loyal to his younger brother's cause. However, he did allow her to attempt to send a letter to her older brother once during Christmas. However, she had to pull a viciously mean trick on her uncle. Despite her efforts, and the Prussian's, her letter was discovered by Germany's spy just before it was about to leave the gates.

So far, Netherlands didn't do any of those things. Lily didn't suspect he would. After all he wasn't a Germanic country, just an occupied nation that didn't get labeled an undesirable. That is why she felt so free, so happy. For the first time in three years she was allowed to laugh and just enjoy herself. He took her as she was, that all Lily wanted in that point and time of her life.

"Look." his gruff voice muttered.

Liechtenstein followed his finger to a small flower. A tulip was blooming early, its red petals barely visible. Quickly he plucked it handing over to Liechtenstein. No emotion still graced his features. "If you are lucky it'll continue to bloom in a vase."

Liechtenstein took the flower, giving it a small whiff of its glorious fragrance. "Thank you."

"I should really be getting work." Netherlands said taking her can from her grip. "I got a fence to mend."

"Oh…" Lily said slightly disappointed.

"I'm in the gardens in the early mornings usually." Netherlands said off hand as he walked away. "If you like, you can help me whenever you like."

A warm feeling flooded her chest once more. "I will!" she proclaimed proudly.

Alright for those who may be reading my other story Romano and Me, fear not it is not on hiatus. I have two versions of chapter 7 that i have written and I am trying to like forge them together... which is difficult. I am in my last week of college and I have taken spring break off from work so I will try and finish the next chapter by then.

Now as for this new story. I am writing this because I have fallen in love with a Dutch... Yep straight from Netherlands and for some odd reason it has bitten me to write a Netherlands fic. Now why did I pick Liechtenstein of all countries to be pared off with him? Well I read somewhere he likes... lolita... and who is lolita looking in Hetalia? Yep, Liechtenstein. Or at least I think she'd look killer in some Lolita dresses. So I will be updating this story when Romano and Me is stuck in a rut that I gotta tackle with or just want a nice change of pace in my writing. I see this being about five chapters long. And I might up this to M cuz I dont think theres enough mature stories with Liechtenstein or Netherlands (that isn't like Canada). So yeah read and enjoy friends!