Towards German Unity Interlude II
Title: Towards German Unity
Author: jemsquash
Beta: aoi_aka
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Genderbends, history references
Chapter Summary: The year is 1917, the world is still at war and two Nations are about to meet for the very first time. Their respective spouses are not going to be happy at the friendship that will eventually form between them.
Interlude II: When Luise Met Feliciano (Or How Sometimes Gender Changes Nothing)
The Battle of Caporetto, 19 November 1917
It was hard to tell who had been less happy when Austro-Hungary asked for the German Empire’s aid, the German Empire herself or her officials. Having to move into the Italian front was a drain on resources.
Britain was slowly gaining ground in the Western Front, the Eastern Front was a mess and the Allied blockade had started to cause Luise hunger pangs. The German Empire had not seen her husband in over half a year and hadn’t heard from him in months.
War, thought Luise glumly, lost it’s glamour after the first four years.
The battle at Caporetto had been an easy enough, compared to the ones she had been fighting in the west front. Their ambush couldn’t have been better planned and the Italians more disorganised. She had left her storm troopers to deal with the last of the retreating Italian forces. She was after a more important target.
Luise had never actually met the Republic of Venice or Northern Italy as he was calling himself these days. They had both been under Austria’s control at the same time, but she had been a very young child then and Northern Italy had been an almost grown man for centuries and a favoured state for longer. Their paths had never crossed, until now.
Luise had been conflicted about bringing her weapons with her, when she should only have to locate the fellow nation and see to his arrest and capture. Her men had captured so many of his men, surely the rules that governed their kind meant he would come quietly, without a struggle. Eventually she had decided on a few hidden weapons and, feeling a bit silly, a big stick. It was a battle site and she was not going out without a weapon in her hands. If the Nation was offended that she had brought an obvious weapon, she could pretend it as a walking stick or something.
Strangely the few Italians that she encountered fled even faster at the sight of it. Clearly there were facts that she was not aware of. This Northern Italy was a descendent of the great Roman Empire, was he not? He could be waiting to spring a trap on her over the next hill.
How the tomato box fitted into the plan, she wasn’t sure yet.
The German Empire stared at the box then cautiously pocked it with her stick. “H- hey there! I’m the spirit of this Tomato box. I want to be your friend!” Came a voice in Italian.
What on earth? Luise stared at the box for a second. “There’s a person inside it.” Could it be?
“There’s no one in here! Don’t open it!” Luise was already on her knees, feeling around the box for any wires or traps. It was probably safe, since they didn’t want her to open in, but it never hurt to be safe.
“Cut it out! You trying to see my guts or something?” The box lid was heavy, as if someone was trying to hold it down from the inside.
“Show your true self!” The lid finally opened, and out burst a trembling figure, dressed in the uniform of the Italian army and…crying.
“I’m sorry! I‘m sorry! I’m not a tomato box sprit!” The man pressed his hands together as he pleaded. “Please forgive me enough not to shoot! I’ll do anything, think of my poor wife left alone with 16 provinces to feed!” Provinces? So he was a Nation.
“I’m so sorry. I have relatives in Bayern!” Maybe she just misheard him; the dialect he was using was hard to follow. This can’t be the Nation that had given Austria and Hungary so much trouble.
“I wanted to spend my last moments eating delicious pastaaa~~.” One long curl bounced in time with his wailing.
“I have a question,” cut in Luise as he paused to take in a breath. “Are you my enemy, the descendent of Rome?”
“Oh.” The tears thankfully stopped. “You know Grandpa Rome? I’m North Italy, Grandpa’s descendent. But my wife South Italy got Rome in the pre-nup! I don’t mind, they don’t make good pasta there!”
Is this incompetent man really…Luise stared at the babbling solider.
“Hey, you’re a girl! You should have said something sooner I thought you were a scary guy or something!”
No one can be this useless, this must be a trap! First he acts like this to make me drop my guard then he goes on the offensive!
“Here let me greet you properly, I’m Feliciano Vargas and you must be,” moving quickly to take her hand proved to be his undoing, “Lady Germany, I hope we can be frie-” the stick hit him squarely at the back of his head, knocking him out cold.
Anyone asks, decided Luise as she got ready to carry him back to camp, he resisted capture.
Husband,
I have captured Northern Italy, but all he seems to do is sleep, eat and sing. With him here I am unable to return to the Western Front and help with Belgium and England.
He doesn’t seem to be planning to escape, or trying to spy or sabotage us. He’s also wasting resources with his ridiculous demands for Italian food.
I miss you
Luise
The German Empire looked up from her letter to the slumbering prisoner. There wasn’t even a cell available for the Nation with so many of his people captured. They had to make do with one small barrack at the back of the German Camp. And they only got that to themselves by virtue of their Nation status.
So far Luise had been patient with her prisoner. She gave him extra rations out of her own meals (her hunger at this point had just become a continual ache that was easier to ignore than feed) and removed any spiders that looked at him threateningly. She had even instituted a work out routine for him to make sure he got enough air and exercise. And if that routine included long runs out that let him out of her sight and with a clear view of a path to freedom…he hadn’t noticed it.
Clearly she would have to be less subtle. “So.” She smiled at Feliciano. “How’s the escape plan working out?”
Feliciano smiled back at her then went back to polishing his wedding ring. “Why would I escape? Here I get fed, have a safe shelter and don’t have to fight.”
“Well,” Luise felt her smile crack just a bit. “It is the duty of every man and Nation to try and escape, no matter what their circumstances and nationality. Won’t your people be devastated without you?”
“No, my wife will keep them motivated.” He slipped his ring back on and admired it shining in the sun. Unwillingly Luise glanced at her own ring less finger. She and Gilbert had never gotten rings made. It niggled at her for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Sighing Luise got to her feet, time for really unsubtle attempts. “I’m going out. For a very long time. And leaving this back door, which leads right to the end of the camp and start of the dense forest, open. Good bye, Northern Italy.”
“Good bye Mrs. Germany, have a nice walk.”
Luise hid behind a wall and watched as Feliciano walked slowly out the barracks towards the boundary line. It looked like he was headed straight for the forest when he stopped at the communication centre, picked up the outside telephone and dialled a number.
Every military instinct she had told Luise to prevent her prisoner from contacting the outside and giving dangerous Intel to her enemies, especially when she could not hear the conversation. But every other instinct that was primed for the preservation of her sanity made her wait and see what happened.
Judging from the look of bliss on Feliciano’s face as he started speaking, he had been put through to the right person. What followed was half hour of him talking at length, occasionally stopping and listening while playing with the cord.
How long does it take to arrange a rescue? Wondered Luise, still hidden. Finally Feliciano cheerfully put the phone down and slowly walked…back to the hut. Luise waited three more hours before accepting that that was it and no escape plan had been put into motion.
It was the singing that got her in the end.
The German Empire backed out of the hut slowly, afraid that the lyrics would follow her. “You! Solider!” she pointed at a random private that happened to be walking past.
“Ma’am?”
“Go find me a crate.” Maybe a tomato one for extra irony. “And stamps… lots of stamps.” The solider backed away from his evilly smiling Nation.
Some time later, Rome
Letizia looked up from her stack of paper work. It was a war, damn it, why so much red tape? “What is it? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
Her soldiers were used to her temper. “Ma’am, this parcel was addressed to you. But it seems very suspicious.” The box rocked slightly as a voice drifted from it. “Letizia, my love, I’m so happy to hear your voice again!”
Letizia sighed and covered her face, hiding her relieved smile. “Leave it to me, captain.”
Left to herself she pulled out a flick knife and started to cut out her erstwhile husband. “So how was the POW camp?”
“Vee~ terrible!” North Italy popped out of the parcel unhurt by his cramped mode of transport. “The food was edible but everyone is so grouchy, even the women!” Feliciano followed up that potentially dangerous remark with a hug. “I missed you, so.”
Letizia allowed the embrace for a moment, letting her forehead rest against her husband’s, noticing how they had both lost weight under their uniforms. She closed her eyes and pretended she didn’t smell blood and mud, hear her people cry and pray and die. It would be so easy to surrender now, give up in the face of such over whelming forces. It had been fun, giving Austria just a piece of the suffering she had had to endure for centuries, but now it was over.
She opened her green specked eyes. Feliciano’s gold gaze met her squarely, open for once. She tried to read those eyes, often hidden from the world. As always, all she could see was her own feelings mirrored back at her. Perhaps a little less anger and bitterness, maybe a bit more optimism and faith. But the same tiredness and hurt and willingness to go on, come what may.
South Italy let her husband kiss her, just for a moment.
Their curls met together and formed a heart, just for a moment.
Then it was back to the war, back to surviving. “We need to go back to the North. General Diaz has got something big planned.” Letizia briskly got to her feet, pulling Feliciano up as well.
“How big?”
“War ending big.”
“Vee~, can we bring pasta?”
“If you can find some, yes.”
August 1918, Berlin
“So how was Italy?” asked Prussia at they walked from one emergency meeting to another. It was hard to tell who was in worse shape, Prussia and his injuries or Germany and her now stinging hunger pangs and dizziness.
“The land was very pretty.” Said Luise, not mentioning how her forces had left it looking.
“And the Nation?”
“Very… different from what I expected.”
“Yeah,” Gilbert pulled out a cigarette from one of his many pockets. “Feliciano’s defence mechanisms have always been a bit weird.” Putting the cigarette in his mouth, he struggled with a faulty lighter and one working arm.
Hesitantly, aware of his volatile pride, Luise took the lighter and managed to get a flickering flame. As Gilbert leaned forward to catch it, Luise risked a dangerous question. “Are we going to be alright?”
Gilbert leaned back inhaling the first breath of smoke. He seemed to be considering the question, weighing her with his one good eye. She resisted the urge to avoid his gaze, to back down from her question. She had pulled her weight in this war, had done more than anyone expected of her, she had a right to ask.
“Don’t know what you mean by alright.” Said Gilbert finally. “If you mean are we going to win, then no. If you mean are we at least going to lose with dignity, then no.”
Although she had already known the situation they were in, had seen it on reports and her people’s faces, had felt it every night in her aching stomach and pulsing heart, actually hearing it out loud from her husband hurt. Luise closed her eyes and fought down the tears that had been building up for days.
An arm wrapped around her waist and the smell of smoke grew stronger. The two Nations stood side by side, staring at the darkening sky as night drew in. The meeting they had been going to didn’t matter any more, they already knew every fact, every step their enemies were taking towards them.
“But,” said Gilbert, dropping the butt of his cigarette and grinding it with his boot. “If you mean are we going to recover from this and come back even stronger than we were. Then yes,” He gave her a familiar smirk. “We’re going to be alright.”
Luise let herself believe him, just for a while.
Notes:
Towards German Unity Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Interlude I
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
(You know, it takes a chapter like this to show you how far my head cannon has wondered from the actual cannon... I regret nothing!)
Author: jemsquash
Beta: aoi_aka
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Genderbends, history references
Chapter Summary: The year is 1917, the world is still at war and two Nations are about to meet for the very first time. Their respective spouses are not going to be happy at the friendship that will eventually form between them.
Interlude II: When Luise Met Feliciano (Or How Sometimes Gender Changes Nothing)
The Battle of Caporetto, 19 November 1917
It was hard to tell who had been less happy when Austro-Hungary asked for the German Empire’s aid, the German Empire herself or her officials. Having to move into the Italian front was a drain on resources.
Britain was slowly gaining ground in the Western Front, the Eastern Front was a mess and the Allied blockade had started to cause Luise hunger pangs. The German Empire had not seen her husband in over half a year and hadn’t heard from him in months.
War, thought Luise glumly, lost it’s glamour after the first four years.
The battle at Caporetto had been an easy enough, compared to the ones she had been fighting in the west front. Their ambush couldn’t have been better planned and the Italians more disorganised. She had left her storm troopers to deal with the last of the retreating Italian forces. She was after a more important target.
Luise had never actually met the Republic of Venice or Northern Italy as he was calling himself these days. They had both been under Austria’s control at the same time, but she had been a very young child then and Northern Italy had been an almost grown man for centuries and a favoured state for longer. Their paths had never crossed, until now.
Luise had been conflicted about bringing her weapons with her, when she should only have to locate the fellow nation and see to his arrest and capture. Her men had captured so many of his men, surely the rules that governed their kind meant he would come quietly, without a struggle. Eventually she had decided on a few hidden weapons and, feeling a bit silly, a big stick. It was a battle site and she was not going out without a weapon in her hands. If the Nation was offended that she had brought an obvious weapon, she could pretend it as a walking stick or something.
Strangely the few Italians that she encountered fled even faster at the sight of it. Clearly there were facts that she was not aware of. This Northern Italy was a descendent of the great Roman Empire, was he not? He could be waiting to spring a trap on her over the next hill.
How the tomato box fitted into the plan, she wasn’t sure yet.
The German Empire stared at the box then cautiously pocked it with her stick. “H- hey there! I’m the spirit of this Tomato box. I want to be your friend!” Came a voice in Italian.
What on earth? Luise stared at the box for a second. “There’s a person inside it.” Could it be?
“There’s no one in here! Don’t open it!” Luise was already on her knees, feeling around the box for any wires or traps. It was probably safe, since they didn’t want her to open in, but it never hurt to be safe.
“Cut it out! You trying to see my guts or something?” The box lid was heavy, as if someone was trying to hold it down from the inside.
“Show your true self!” The lid finally opened, and out burst a trembling figure, dressed in the uniform of the Italian army and…crying.
“I’m sorry! I‘m sorry! I’m not a tomato box sprit!” The man pressed his hands together as he pleaded. “Please forgive me enough not to shoot! I’ll do anything, think of my poor wife left alone with 16 provinces to feed!” Provinces? So he was a Nation.
“I’m so sorry. I have relatives in Bayern!” Maybe she just misheard him; the dialect he was using was hard to follow. This can’t be the Nation that had given Austria and Hungary so much trouble.
“I wanted to spend my last moments eating delicious pastaaa~~.” One long curl bounced in time with his wailing.
“I have a question,” cut in Luise as he paused to take in a breath. “Are you my enemy, the descendent of Rome?”
“Oh.” The tears thankfully stopped. “You know Grandpa Rome? I’m North Italy, Grandpa’s descendent. But my wife South Italy got Rome in the pre-nup! I don’t mind, they don’t make good pasta there!”
Is this incompetent man really…Luise stared at the babbling solider.
“Hey, you’re a girl! You should have said something sooner I thought you were a scary guy or something!”
No one can be this useless, this must be a trap! First he acts like this to make me drop my guard then he goes on the offensive!
“Here let me greet you properly, I’m Feliciano Vargas and you must be,” moving quickly to take her hand proved to be his undoing, “Lady Germany, I hope we can be frie-” the stick hit him squarely at the back of his head, knocking him out cold.
Anyone asks, decided Luise as she got ready to carry him back to camp, he resisted capture.
Husband,
I have captured Northern Italy, but all he seems to do is sleep, eat and sing. With him here I am unable to return to the Western Front and help with Belgium and England.
He doesn’t seem to be planning to escape, or trying to spy or sabotage us. He’s also wasting resources with his ridiculous demands for Italian food.
I miss you
Luise
The German Empire looked up from her letter to the slumbering prisoner. There wasn’t even a cell available for the Nation with so many of his people captured. They had to make do with one small barrack at the back of the German Camp. And they only got that to themselves by virtue of their Nation status.
So far Luise had been patient with her prisoner. She gave him extra rations out of her own meals (her hunger at this point had just become a continual ache that was easier to ignore than feed) and removed any spiders that looked at him threateningly. She had even instituted a work out routine for him to make sure he got enough air and exercise. And if that routine included long runs out that let him out of her sight and with a clear view of a path to freedom…he hadn’t noticed it.
Clearly she would have to be less subtle. “So.” She smiled at Feliciano. “How’s the escape plan working out?”
Feliciano smiled back at her then went back to polishing his wedding ring. “Why would I escape? Here I get fed, have a safe shelter and don’t have to fight.”
“Well,” Luise felt her smile crack just a bit. “It is the duty of every man and Nation to try and escape, no matter what their circumstances and nationality. Won’t your people be devastated without you?”
“No, my wife will keep them motivated.” He slipped his ring back on and admired it shining in the sun. Unwillingly Luise glanced at her own ring less finger. She and Gilbert had never gotten rings made. It niggled at her for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Sighing Luise got to her feet, time for really unsubtle attempts. “I’m going out. For a very long time. And leaving this back door, which leads right to the end of the camp and start of the dense forest, open. Good bye, Northern Italy.”
“Good bye Mrs. Germany, have a nice walk.”
Luise hid behind a wall and watched as Feliciano walked slowly out the barracks towards the boundary line. It looked like he was headed straight for the forest when he stopped at the communication centre, picked up the outside telephone and dialled a number.
Every military instinct she had told Luise to prevent her prisoner from contacting the outside and giving dangerous Intel to her enemies, especially when she could not hear the conversation. But every other instinct that was primed for the preservation of her sanity made her wait and see what happened.
Judging from the look of bliss on Feliciano’s face as he started speaking, he had been put through to the right person. What followed was half hour of him talking at length, occasionally stopping and listening while playing with the cord.
How long does it take to arrange a rescue? Wondered Luise, still hidden. Finally Feliciano cheerfully put the phone down and slowly walked…back to the hut. Luise waited three more hours before accepting that that was it and no escape plan had been put into motion.
It was the singing that got her in the end.
The German Empire backed out of the hut slowly, afraid that the lyrics would follow her. “You! Solider!” she pointed at a random private that happened to be walking past.
“Ma’am?”
“Go find me a crate.” Maybe a tomato one for extra irony. “And stamps… lots of stamps.” The solider backed away from his evilly smiling Nation.
Some time later, Rome
Letizia looked up from her stack of paper work. It was a war, damn it, why so much red tape? “What is it? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
Her soldiers were used to her temper. “Ma’am, this parcel was addressed to you. But it seems very suspicious.” The box rocked slightly as a voice drifted from it. “Letizia, my love, I’m so happy to hear your voice again!”
Letizia sighed and covered her face, hiding her relieved smile. “Leave it to me, captain.”
Left to herself she pulled out a flick knife and started to cut out her erstwhile husband. “So how was the POW camp?”
“Vee~ terrible!” North Italy popped out of the parcel unhurt by his cramped mode of transport. “The food was edible but everyone is so grouchy, even the women!” Feliciano followed up that potentially dangerous remark with a hug. “I missed you, so.”
Letizia allowed the embrace for a moment, letting her forehead rest against her husband’s, noticing how they had both lost weight under their uniforms. She closed her eyes and pretended she didn’t smell blood and mud, hear her people cry and pray and die. It would be so easy to surrender now, give up in the face of such over whelming forces. It had been fun, giving Austria just a piece of the suffering she had had to endure for centuries, but now it was over.
She opened her green specked eyes. Feliciano’s gold gaze met her squarely, open for once. She tried to read those eyes, often hidden from the world. As always, all she could see was her own feelings mirrored back at her. Perhaps a little less anger and bitterness, maybe a bit more optimism and faith. But the same tiredness and hurt and willingness to go on, come what may.
South Italy let her husband kiss her, just for a moment.
Their curls met together and formed a heart, just for a moment.
Then it was back to the war, back to surviving. “We need to go back to the North. General Diaz has got something big planned.” Letizia briskly got to her feet, pulling Feliciano up as well.
“How big?”
“War ending big.”
“Vee~, can we bring pasta?”
“If you can find some, yes.”
August 1918, Berlin
“So how was Italy?” asked Prussia at they walked from one emergency meeting to another. It was hard to tell who was in worse shape, Prussia and his injuries or Germany and her now stinging hunger pangs and dizziness.
“The land was very pretty.” Said Luise, not mentioning how her forces had left it looking.
“And the Nation?”
“Very… different from what I expected.”
“Yeah,” Gilbert pulled out a cigarette from one of his many pockets. “Feliciano’s defence mechanisms have always been a bit weird.” Putting the cigarette in his mouth, he struggled with a faulty lighter and one working arm.
Hesitantly, aware of his volatile pride, Luise took the lighter and managed to get a flickering flame. As Gilbert leaned forward to catch it, Luise risked a dangerous question. “Are we going to be alright?”
Gilbert leaned back inhaling the first breath of smoke. He seemed to be considering the question, weighing her with his one good eye. She resisted the urge to avoid his gaze, to back down from her question. She had pulled her weight in this war, had done more than anyone expected of her, she had a right to ask.
“Don’t know what you mean by alright.” Said Gilbert finally. “If you mean are we going to win, then no. If you mean are we at least going to lose with dignity, then no.”
Although she had already known the situation they were in, had seen it on reports and her people’s faces, had felt it every night in her aching stomach and pulsing heart, actually hearing it out loud from her husband hurt. Luise closed her eyes and fought down the tears that had been building up for days.
An arm wrapped around her waist and the smell of smoke grew stronger. The two Nations stood side by side, staring at the darkening sky as night drew in. The meeting they had been going to didn’t matter any more, they already knew every fact, every step their enemies were taking towards them.
“But,” said Gilbert, dropping the butt of his cigarette and grinding it with his boot. “If you mean are we going to recover from this and come back even stronger than we were. Then yes,” He gave her a familiar smirk. “We’re going to be alright.”
Luise let herself believe him, just for a while.
Notes:
- The Battle of Caporetto was a complete mess for the Italians with Germany getting there fast and their general getting really sick just before the battle and other problems. Italian captures were really high.
- The next year the Battle of Vittorio Veneto happened (The thing Letizia was talking about) where Italy kicked a major amount of ass and is considered instrumental in ending the war two weeks later. Also seen by some Italians as the final culmination of the Risorgimento nationalist movement, in which Italy was unified.
Towards German Unity Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Interlude I
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
(You know, it takes a chapter like this to show you how far my head cannon has wondered from the actual cannon... I regret nothing!)