Ich liebe dich Vater

"Hey West! Check out the old uniform!" Prussia said holding up a faded green jacket into the light that came from the small light bulb that hung down from the vaulted ceiling. Germany looked up from the box of old books he was going through and frowned.

"Ja, just put it with the rest of them, we'll have to make a run to the museum and drop them off there…" He said turning back to the books.

"Come on West, why don't you want to keep them? They are yours after all." Prussia said moving the pile of clothing to the pull down ladder where a steady growing pile of old things was growing.

"Because they bring out bad memories…I don't like remembering that time in the past East, it's painful." He said looking over his shoulder. He doesn't know why he asked his brother to help him clean up his attic he could get it done faster by himself.

Germany sighed and started on another box of old books and things, he could hear his brother shuffle through boxes and bags of old things. He heard his brother gasp quietly and he heard nothing. He thought that Gilbert had found something and was going to try and scare him again so he turned around with a bored look and was about to tell him how he doesn't scare easily when he saw him silently kneeling in front of something.

"What is it?" Germany stood up and walked over to his brother who was kneeling next to what appeared to be an old cedar chest.

"It's Vaters chest…" Prussia said quietly, resting his hand on the ancient wood. Germany stopped and knelt next to him staring at the chest. It was in excellent condition for being hundreds of years old, the wood wasn't rotted or damaged, the leather hinges were a little worn looking but otherwise looked fine. It was covered with dust and smelled of cedar.

Germany looked at his brother who was just staring at it, a faraway look in his eyes.

"Bruder, should we open it?" Prussia turned to look at him. "At least see what's inside?" He tried again. Prussia looked like he was about to say no, but he looked at the chest and nodded. Germany undid the leather and bone clasp on the front of the chest and he carefully opened the top of the chest as to not break the ancient leather hinges.

When the chest was open they looked inside and saw it was full of old clothes, tools, blankets, and other things. The two brothers sat there looking at the contents for a second before Germany started to pull out a few things. Prussia snapped out of his trance and started digging through the chest too.

"Hey, look…" Prussia pulled out two carvings of a wolf and an Eagle. Germany took the wolf from his brother's hand and looked at the old toy.

"Vati! What're you making?" A young Prussia asked as he held his younger brother as they watched their father carve a figure from a piece of wood.

"It's a Wolf meine Kinder." He said not looking up from his work. A few minutes later he handed the now completed wolf to his youngest son and picked up another piece.

"Vati, now what are you making?" He asked again.

"I'm making an Alder, an Eagle son." He said in concentration. Soon that one was finished and he handed it to his eldest son.

"Danke Vatter!" They said smiling at their father who smiled back and ruffled their hair.

Germany blinked and looked at the old carving in his hand, he set it down on the ground and continued to look through the trunk. He pulled out a small tunic, about the size for a small child. It was made of soft wool and he noticed it was stitched up in the back.

"Vati! Watch me! Vati!" Germania looked up from the dead animal he was skinning and saw his youngest son standing at the base of a tree, and when he saw that he had his dad's attention he started to climb the tree.

He was proud of himself for climbing up the tree, he was working hard climbing smaller trees so he could show his dad how he was able to climb. He looked down to see if he was still watching and noticed how high he was. He suddenly froze and hugged the tree trunk afraid to fall.

"Kleine? What's wrong?" Germania asked setting down the knife and standing up walking to the tree.

"V-Vati…I'm stuck…" He heard his son say quietly. He sighed.

"Okay just climb down Sohn, you'll be alright." Germania said looking up at his youngest son in the tree.

He nodded slowly and started to inch his way down the tree, he was almost down when he slipped and started to fall, he screamed in fright. He heard his tunic get caught on a branch and rip as he fell into his father's arms. He clung to his dad crying from fright, Germania just held his son rubbing his back soothingly to calm him down.

"Shhh, it's alright you're safe now." He carried him to the small house and brought him inside where he wiped his son's tears away and stitched up the ripped tunic.

Ludwig smiled and folded up the tunic and set it down on top of some other things Gilbert had dug out of the chest. They found lots of old things from when they were growing up. They found old tunics and more old toys their father had made. They even found some of their father's things.

Gilbert pulled out their father's favorite hunting cloak, it was dark Green and was lined with warm fur for hunting in the winter.

"Alright meine Kinder, I'm going out hunting stay in the house and don't open the door for anyone, zu verstehen?" Germania said looking at his sons. Both boys nodded, Germania smiled "I'll be back soon." He turned and walked out the door, both boys ran to the window and watched as their father disappeared into the snowy white woods to hunt.

Gilbert carefully folded the cloak up and set it to start a new pile of their father's things. Soon they started to unearth more of their father's belongings, clothing, tools, even a pair of his boots they remembered trying on when they were little.

"Gilbert why are you wearing my boots?" Germania asked while holding his brother in his lap showing him how to tie knots.

"Because I want to be big and strong like you Vati!" Gilbert said looking up at his father grinning widely. Germania tried his hardest not to laugh at his son wearing boots that were clearly too big for him.

Gilbert put them next to the pile of their father's belongings.

"Wow West, look at all of this old stuff." Prussia said quietly looking at the small piles of stuff scattered about them. All of it tied to a memory from their childhood about their father.

"Ja." Germany looked at some of their old toys and things. He looked back in the nearly empty chest and saw something inside that nearly made his heart stop. He reached in and pulled out two things a sword and a small drawing of three figures. Prussia looked at the sword and nearly stopped breathing.

"Vaters sword…I thought that was….with him…" He said taking it from his brother's hands and unsheathing it. The sword was relatively clean except for a brownish red stain on the blade that was never cleaned.

"This is the sword that he used to…" Prussia trailed off, eyes glued to the stain on the tip. Germany nodded and ran his hand gently along the length of the blade, it was still sharp, just like their father liked to keep it.

Both boys were fast asleep when they heard the door open and slam shut. They slowly sat up in bed and rubbed their eyes. They looked at their father smiling but their smiled dropped when they saw their father covered in blood. He tried to stumble over to the other bed in the small house but he fell to the ground before he could make it there.

Both boys climbed down from the bed and ran over to their father.

"Vater! Vater what happened?" Prussia asked shaking his shoulder gently.

After they didn't get a response both boys tried to lift their father into his bed but couldn't because they weren't big enough, so they gently drug him to the fireplace and from the light of the small fire they saw their father's face twisted up in pain and the front of his shirt was covered in blood.

They were able to find a small bowl and cloth and were able to clean off some of the blood on his face and arms. They found out that none of the blood was his until they removed his shirt and saw a pair of large gashes on his chest and stomach.

Prussia said he was going to get Nivi, a medicine woman that lived a fair distance across the stream and bring her back to help their father. He was told to stay there and make sure nothing happened to their father. About ten minutes later Gilbert returned with Nivi and she got to work stitching up their father and comforting the two frightened boys.

As she was finishing up their father awoke and was startled to see Nivi there he was trying to get up but she held him down. "No you need to stay down and relax, I'm almost done then I'll help move you to your bed but you must relax." Germania stayed down and let the woman finish her work.

After he was moved to his bed and was told by Nivi to stay there and rest, did she leave saying that she would come back tomorrow to check on him. After she left both boys moved to their father's side and bombarded him with questions.

"Vati, what happened? Why were you covered in blood?" They asked.

"You two ask so many questions. It's nothing important, you should rest for tomorrow so you can help Nivi. Ja?" He said smiling at them, both boys protested they didn't want to go to sleep. They wanted to stay with their father. Germania let them sleep in his bed with him that night.

A week later their father passed away from a blood infection, one of the cuts he had didn't heal right. Nivi and her family checked up on the boys as time went on. After they had buried Germania's body they had gotten word that Rome had died from severe wounds caused by Germania's hand.

Prussia sheathed the sword and placed in on top of their father's things, both men looked at the pile of stuff that belonged to their father, they didn't say anything for a few minutes. Then Germany looked at the little drawing and handed it to Prussia.

"Here, look what I found." He said. Prussia stared at the picture and touched the tallest figure.

"Vater! Look what we drew!" Germania looked up and drew back a little as an animal skin was shoved into his face by his two grinning sons.

"What is it?" He asked, taking it and staring at it. It was a drawing with charcoal sticks from the fire, it had two little figures one slightly taller than the other with both holding the hands of the tallest figure. The taller one looked like it had a braid and long hair.

"It's us Vati!" Prussia pointed to each of the figures. "That large one in the middle is you, that one is me and…"

"And that one's me!" Germania looked up to see his youngest son smiling pointing to the smallest one.

"I was going to say that!" Gilbert said looking at his younger brother pouting. Germania laughed inside and set the drawing down on the table. He lifted both of his sons into his arms and hugged them.

"It's beautiful, I love it meine Kinder." He said smiling at them.

"Ich liebe dich Vater!" They both echoed smiling up at their father.

Prussia set the picture down on the floor gently and together they started to pack up all of the contents of the chest again. They were silent as they did so, trying to keep their emotions at bay as they placed his sword back in the chest.

Finally they closed the chest re-doing the bone clasp and walked away from the cedar chest. They cleaned up the rest of the attic putting everything back even the things that Germany wanted to put in a museum. When they were both out of the attic, Germany closed the access hatch to the attic and they both walked away.

A few days later…

"Hey Germany let's have lunch." Italy said standing up from the chair he was sitting on. Germany looked up from his book.

"Fine, what do you want to eat?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"Pasta~" Italy cheered running into the kitchen to cook. Germany shook his head and continued to read the book. Italy started to hum a song about pasta and cats when he realized that he probably should go to the bathroom before he started cooking.

He walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom. When he was finished he walked back looking at the various pictures on the wall. Although one picture made him stop, it wasn't like the other ones. It was a small piece of what appeared to be animal skin with three figures drawn onto it each of the figures were holding hands.

"Hey Germany? What's this?" He asked Germany from the hall. Germany walked up behind him and looked at it.

"Mein Vater."