There are references to the World Wars. Genderbending. And may contain some OCC.
Slight GermanyXCanada (I was quite depressed from the lack of this pairing.)
The first form was a stranger.
It was before Prussia was dissolved and his unification. The very first time it happened when Prussia took him to England. Ludwig had no business with the Briton, so he was outside searching around the capital.
Earlier he saw someone peering through the window; obviously trying to catch snippets of the conversations going on.
He was baffled when not one person had seen anyone with a carrying a white doll. Why did she carry something meant for a little girl? Who exactly was she? What was her motive snooping arou-
Something, more like someone, slammed into him and collided against his head. Both lost their footing and fell to the ground of a, surprisingly, empty street. Ludwig groaned as he hissed out native curses and vaguely made out the sputtered apologies from the other.
"I-I am so s-sorry, sir."
It was soft, feminine, French, and was blurred by splotches of red and a giant white blotch.
As she scrambled up, he managed to refocus vision in time to see her do a short (shaken) curtsy before running off mumbling to a bear that she seemed so fond of.
Bear! The doll was a white bear!
Ludwig shook off the remaining dizziness and chased after the evasive woman he tried to capture all this time.
"Wait!"
But as he turned around the corner, there was nothing but the empty street and the loud claps of shoes from an invisible owner that should have been seen several yards away.
Later on, he remembered something important as he questioned England's citizens-who never had seen nor heard such a peculiar person or description.
He recalled unusual –yet lovely –colored eyes.
A violet-blue hue.
As time passed he became the German Empire and soon the new century opened to, later as the event is recalled, the First World War. Ludwig shoved out thoughts about the stranger with the unusual – yet lovely –colored eyes. He completely dismissed it until –
The stranger flickered back into existence.
No. No! No!
It just wasn't possible for a human to simply disappear into thin air, and even more so to reappear decades later with such little – and drastic –change, wasn't it?
His mind must be playing tricks again… and he tried to ignore the stranger as he –she? –vanished in the yellow-green mist.
The second form was a monster.
Over and over again, it came back, and he felt the fear rushed down his spine and disappeared at the base or in the pit of his gut. Always at the forefront of the regiments charging over No Man's Land with eyes blazing in fury.
And whenever some- it, the monster always does one way or another –managed to reach the trenches. Ludwig watched in sick frozen fascination as it bashed skulls with the butt of its rifle. This atrocious creature destroyed everything that stood in its way; swinging, bashing, shooting, thrusting – with no attention to its own wounds; nothing could stop this animal.
Then the grotesque beast charged, snarling savagely at someone –at him!
Fear and panic surged everywhere and ignited his body as it crashed into him, thrusting the rifle's blade into his gut. Ludwig would be lying if he wasn't shocked –relieved, terrified, curious –to see the savage on the ground dead with a bullet between the eyes through its cranium, and the gun in his own shaking hand.
It had the stranger's unusual –yet lovely –eyes, but not the stranger's kind, sincere ones. No; this atrocious creature had darker, cruel eyes, unlike Russia –whose violet held sparks of childishness; but what ran shudders down his spine was nothing twisted nor morbid but was the soft smile –its most humane feature.
The monster was so grotesque, so terrible, and so horrendous that it was so beautiful; it haunted him over and over again.
After the surrender and the humiliation from the vindictive Treaty of Versailles; he tried to catch and fix whatever remained of his collapsed, hyper inflated republic. No matter what was done, the gap grew larger and larger; and people wanted a scapegoat for their resentment and plights. And one man gave them the "source" of all their troubles.
It was ironic how the Great War to end all wars –was America really that naïve? –paved way to an even greater disaster in their history. And Ludwig, as well as many other nations, had known this before historians recorded it.
He coughed harshly in his handkerchief and quickly stuffed the now ash covered rag in a pocket. He still tasted the soot heavily in his mouth and wanted to cough out all the smoke in his lungs. Ludwig held in and waited for the coming soldier to pass by.
He gaped at the stranger with unusual –yet lovely –colored eyes, who, in returned greeted him.
"Good day, Germany."
The third was a ghost.
After it turned the corner –Ludwig swore there was a cold draft –he realized that the spirit was carrying folders tucked under its arm.
He cursed and chased it; he rounds the corner to find nothing, not even the echoes of shoes; he was alone. He laughed –whether it was from fear or madness, he didn't know –it had to be his mind playing tricks again, it had to be the stress from an unreasonable leader, it had to be the festering lesions that burned him.
Later in a meeting, he found out that several, highly classified documents were missing. And nobody else noticed the ghost that passed right by the doorway.
The aftermath of World War II was devastating, and even more so for Prussia. They were split apart by the Iron Curtain; and he was occupied by Capitalism while his brother was under Communism. Ludwig often stared at the wall looming over him and wondered if Gilbert does the same thing on the other side.
He turned away when the searchlights poured over to the West side –his side; a bitter reminder of what was unfair, but completely necessary to ensure stability even at the cost of freedom.
And directly ahead, there was the ghost –it held the monster's beauty -staring right at him and, just as always, the specter turned around the corner to simply vanish. Ludwig, for once, didn't want chase after something, or someone, that simply disappeared out of sight, and continued straight for home.
He didn't give any thought to the stranger, monster, ghost, or whatever form it took until he saw it –the ghost- standing right outside his apartment door staring right at him with those unusual –yet lovely –colored eyes. She –wearing a brilliant red coat and black beret –reached into her pocket and pulled a small red envelope.
"I bring a message from the other side."
He took the envelope from the woman –who simply smiled and walked away –and entered his apartment. Ludwig stared at his damn 'message from the other side' –what side? The wall or dear, sweet, mother of God, did Gilbert really passed on –
Ludwig tore it open and scanned the contents, and at first he couldn't read because it was his brother's fucking chicken-scratch hand-writing. He re-read everything that basically consisted of a hello, how it was such a bitch to find a way to communicate, to write back, and goodbye, and "P.S. –Feed Gilbird before you send him back".
It was too short, but it was Gilbert's –his bird's name was really Gilbird?; and he could have laughed or could have cried, but did both after finally getting word from someone he had been separated for so many years, and hadn't mattered to him that Gilbird didn't deliver it.
And the ghost became the messenger.
Ludwig and Gilbert wrote short notes, and she delivered them in the little red envelope she was so fond of; the pick-up, however was different. The first time it happened he nearly missed the small bear –the stranger's doll –that told Germany to "put his note in the envelope" and "it's the red one", and when he gave back the torn envelope, the bear simply tsked at him, took it in its mouth, and shuffled off on all fours –and just like its master –disappeared down the stairwell.
Ludwig was passed the point of questioning his remaining sanity. He knew he crossed that line so long ago.
Years passed and Berlin Wall fell, unifying East and West –it was the happiest day of his life, screw the problems that came with it –then came in the new millennium and with it came the hopes to a brighter future and, unfortunately, came were troubles, paperwork, and –dear god –the new meetings.
Along with it came a new form.
"You ready to go?"
He was going to have lunch with the stranger –not monster –with unusual –yet lovely –colored eyes in a café somewhere around Manhattan. Only it was better –much better than the nations he'd constantly work with –since it –the strangermonsterghostmessenger –was now an acquaintance.
He nodded an agreement to Matthew –it gave its name, in return for his –who merely smiled back. The acquaintance was the stranger that held the monster' beauty, shared the ghost's manners, and wore the messenger's brilliant red coat and black beret.
Ludwig felt something tugging at his pants and saw the messenger's bear pawing at him, asking for a treat. Matthew, in turn, picked up the bear –now the stranger's doll –and apologized for its behavior.
It's strange –even more so than the stranger – that Germany spends his lunch hours with the very anomaly that he chased, feared, and been haunted and assisted by. It's even stranger that he enjoys –and fears –its constant, ever-changing presence in his life. It's inexplicable.
At times he wonders if it's really the stranger walking down the hallway, if it's the monster that Russia enjoys hockey with, if it's the ghost that silently sits next to America, or if it's the messenger that delivers papers to the world leaders. Ludwig wonders about its existence, whether it was a projection of his mind or something unseen to most others.
That or he must be mad.
All he does now is open the door and walks out with the acquaintance with unusual –yet lovely –colored eyes.
In order to clear up any confusion:
The first part dates around mid 1800s and before the Canadian Confederation was established in 1867 and before German Empire –just needed a place to start. (Yay~ Teenage! Germany and Canada!)
The second part- WWI- with a reference to the second Battle of Ypres; it established the reputation of the Canadians as a fighting force as they held their ground against the chlorine attacks (yellow-green mist.) As for the "monster" –the Four Canadian Corps defeated Forty-Seven German divisions… they practically annihilated the German Army and ending WW1 (Canada's 100 Days)
The third- I always enjoy Spy! Canada. And it's a head-cannon Germany was really affected by the Nazi-Regime: lesions would be the concentration camps; the burning and coughing soot and smoke would be the crematories.
Fourth- the Berlin Wall- Before the wall was regarded as fence between the East and West. East Germany wanted to cut off all access East Germans had to the West, so the wall surrounds the democratic half of the city. The citizens of Berlin were outraged when they realized what the construction of the wall's purpose. People in the East couldn't express their anger openly under communist rule and the Stasi, the East German secret police (Yikes!), some crossed over realizing it's their last chance to reach the West, and even East soldiers defected.
West Berliners were very demonstrative; they gathered in large crowds along the border, and there were demands that the U.S step in and stop the construction since it openly violated the Yalta agreements and treaties. But the U.S. and NATO didn't respond with military force due to fear of triggering a nuclear war. Soviets faced very strong words, however many political leaders were very relieved of the wall since it created stability, even at the cost of freedom, in a region that was very, very, very close to spiraling into chaos. All in all, West Germans felt angry and abandoned by their NATO allies. (go to : w w w. history. / european-history / berlin-wall . htm for any more info –remove the spaces)
The Fifth is present day and Ludwig has to deal with a co-worker that has been driving him up-and-out-the-window a little over the last century and a half. Poor guy.
I feel rather iffy 'bout it, but kind of enjoyed it. Wow, invisibility sure has it perks.
~Witch of the Souls