Obviously, I do not own Hetalia, or anything else here. It'd be awesome if I did, but I don't.

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General Ludwig Beilschmidt walked behind the stage, listening to the murmurs of the crowd of Germans in the front. He knew that the Führer was appointing a new chancellor, one who promised to make Germany strong again in times of the depression. But the young general could sense that the Führer didn't quite trust him, somehow. Ludwig looked for the Führer and saw him standing against a wall, speaking with his agents. Ludwig stepped up to him, nodding respectfully.

"Führer Hindenburg," he greeted, snapping a swift military salute. "At ease, General Beilschmidt," the Führer said. Ludwig lowered his hand, standing at attention. "General, I am appointing Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany." Hindenburg gestured to the man quietly standing beside him; Ludwig almost hadn't noticed him.

"Grüße, Chancellor Hitler," Ludwig said, saluting again. Hitler blinked slowly, sizing up the tall German.

"Grüße, General Beilschmidt," he finally said. Ludwig could see why Führer Hindenburg didn't trust the man; his beady black eyes were observant, but gleamed with unknown motives. Hitler watched Ludwig with interest before turning to the stage steps. When he arrived, the Germans assembled before the stage clapped and made respectful yells. Hitler began a speech, mainly speaking about how Germany was great and how it had been cheated out by the Treaty of Versailles. Ludwig studied Hitler, intrigued. The man was a very persuasive speaker, although slightly ad hominem. But the Germans listened to Hitler, cheering at his pauses and hope returning to their eyes. Ludwig had to admit that his ideas were good ones; maybe Hitler wasn't as bad as the Führer thought.

"Make sure you keep an eye on him," Führer Hindenburg muttered to Ludwig.

"Yes sir," Ludwig replied, nodding. Hitler wrapped up his speech, raising his arms as a sign of hope while the citizens of Germany applauded him enthusiastically. Ludwig watched as his small black eyes glittered.

* _*_*_*

Ludwig sat at his kitchen table as Feliciano stirred a pot on the counter, which held – of course – pasta. He absentmindedly wondered why Feliciano wouldn't leave his house sometimes.

"How's the new Chancellor?" Feliciano asked, glancing up at Germany.

"Hitler is…very intriguing," Ludwig said carefully. "I believe that he has the interests of Germany at heart."

"That's good." Feliciano seemed distracted, slopping some of the water from the pot onto the countertop.

Ludwig resignedly got out a cleaning rag and mopped up the water. "Feliciano, is something the matter?" Ludwig asked, wringing out the towel into the kitchen sink.

"Oh, nothing much," Italy said. "There's just some lights outside that are kinda bugging me." Ludwig looked out the window. Feliciano was right; there was a reddish glow a few miles away. Ludwig wondered why it looked familiar.

"Sheisse!" Ludwig swore as he recognized that the glow was actually flames. The Reichstag was on fire! Ludwig leaped up, grabbed his hat, and ran out the door, leaving a slightly confused Feliciano behind.

Ludwig ran to the source of the flames, jamming his hat onto his head. By the time he reached the Reichstag, the firefighters had arrived and were struggling to put out the fire. Ludwig looked around, attempting to see through the smoke. Squinting against the haze, Ludwig spotted a tall man with spiky brown hair. Pushing through the mass of frightened civilians – why weren't the authorities keeping them back? – Ludwig raced after the man and tackled him. Ludwig immediately recognized the man as Holland. He was, for some reason, shirtless. And, for more obvious reasons, a fire-lighter was lying next to him in the blackened grass.

"Did you start this fire?" Ludwig asked angrily, hands on Holland's shoulders, pressing him into the ash-streaked ground.

"Of course I did, you freaking Nazi!" Holland yelled, struggling against Ludwig's strong hold, swearing in Dutch. Ludwig ignored Holland and dragged him up, towing him over to the authorities. One of the men took him from Ludwig and transported him to the local prison. Ludwig noticed that Hitler and Führer Hindenburg had arrived, watching the fire department futilely try to put out the enormous fire. He approached them and saluted respectfully.

"Ah, General Beilschmidt," Führer Hindenburg said. "I'm not surprised you're here."

"Do we know who started the fire?" Hitler asked Ludwig, never taking his eyes off the flaming building.

"I found Holland running from the scene," Ludwig reported. "With a fire-starter in hand. More will undoubtedly be found inside once the fire is extinguished."

"Good job, General," the Führer said. "And the authorities have Holland now, yes?"

"Yes, my Führer." "Führer Hindenburg," Hitler said. "I do believe that this would be the time to suggest a new idea I have been toying with."

"Yes, Chancellor?" the Führer asked curiously. Once again, Hitler's eyes gleamed as he began launching into his plans for Germany's future.

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Yay, first chapter! Sorry if this is sort of suckish, I know I've been ranting on about this fanfic for a while. So it's kinda bad, and probably slightly historically off. This first chapter tells of Hitler's becoming Chancellor of Germany, and how Fuhrer Hindenburg didn't quite trust Hitler at the beginning. Then the Reichstag Fire, started by Van Der Lubbe, who was from Holland.

Well, thanks for reading! Reviews?