Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia ;)

Lmao, I missed this story but also cringed at my shitty writing so here we are. This'll basically be a re-write of the original Discovered with quality craftsmanship (lol), better word choice, new scenes, and fewer plot holes. Let's proceed, shall we?

Finland heard the boy before he actually saw him. The sound of rusting startled him from his map, Tino looking up with a darting gaze to find the source of the noise. It fell on the bushed, a child encased in the surrounding brush, staring back at him with bright blue eyes. A gasp slipping from his lips, he automatically offered a hand towards the boy who looked at him in fear.

"No, no." He kept his voice calm, a hushed whisper like one he'd use to approach a wounded animal, "Do not be afraid, child. I will not hurt you."

The child merely frightened, turning and fleeing like a scared colt. He left behind nothing but rustling leaves and the potent aura of a personification. The child was one of them, he could tell. Nations and colonies, any personification really, had the same distinct feeling as all the others. It was a tug to his gut, a primal sense he couldn't explain, but ultimately he knew. The boy was likely the land he currently stood on, this New World waiting to be discovered, and deep in himself, he felt responsible. He was likely the first adult the child had seen, as very few nations ended up having parents in the form of a fallen empire that came before them. England and his brothers were a rare exception, with Britannia sticking around long enough to ruin her supposed children emotionally.

His own predecessor, Scandinavia, had passed the moment he, Sweden, and Denmark had come into existence. They weren't related, not like the Italians or the British, but they had been sticking together since they were small so they managed to call themselves a family. France, Belgium, and Luxembourg had never met the former owner of their lands, a foreboding woman called Gaul, either, and only Prussia could remember the stern Germania. Neither Rome nor Greece had lived long enough to leave a lasting impression on their successors, and it probably would have been for the best if Kievan Rus had left this world before digging her claws into Russia and his sisters. Egypt was the only nation he could think of that had fond memories of their parental figure, which explained why he staunchly kept to her traditions.

China…pausing, Tino blinked when he realized that China really had no antecedent.

This boy likely had no one to call mother or father, no place to call home. He was reduced to wondering the forest, probably finding only scraps to eat. Tino remembered his own childhood vaguely, the time spent wandering through the snow and ice, shivering and alone, until he knocked into Berwald and Mathias, and eventually Emil and Lukas. A fierce fire lit itself under his feet, and he promised himself he'd raise an actually stable nation with no horrific childhood trauma. A rare thing, what with the bloody and violent empires being all the Old World had to model itself after.

The next encounter he had with the boy, Berwald stood next to him in a clearing much like the one where he'd first met the personification. The boy came barreling out of the surrounding trees, distracted, but startling like a frightened deer when he came face to face with the two elder nations. Now that Tino could see him clearly, he saw the boy's hair was the same shade as Mathias's, and his eyes were Berwald's blue. His skin was much darker than any of the Nordics, but Tino supposed it was bound to happen. When the skin was exposed to the sun it often darkened, and all the boy did was run around outside.

"It's him." Tino muttered, looking at Berwald with urgency, "You see what I mean? He's one of us."

Berwald merely nodded and took a cautious step towards the child who stood frozen before them. He held his gloved hands up, almost in a position of surrender, and gave a clumsy smile Berwald rarely graced anyone with to the boy. Watery blue eyes surveyed him for a moment before tears began to slip down his cheeks and his mouth began to wobble.

"N', don't cry," Berwald spoke quietly, approaching the boy with deft steps and offering a hand as an olive branch of sorts. The boy halted his sniffling to observe it for a moment, a spark of fear still present in his eyes, before he hesitantly placed his much smaller hand in Berwald's much larger one.

Tino let out a strangled noise, stepping forward slowly to reach and touch the boy on the shoulder. Kneeling down, he smiled at the boy and tapped his chest where his heart would be, "Family."

The boy merely blinked at him and withdrew his hand from Berwald's, offering them both to Tino with a pleading look in his gaze. Melting, the Finnish man gripped the boy in a tight hug, looking at Berwald over his shoulder, "We're responsible for him."

"Yes." Was the only response he got, but he could see some protectiveness in the Swede's gaze as well.

"His name? He'll need one when we introduce him to the others." Tino felt the boy relax against him further, and when a small snore escaped the child he knew he was asleep. Heart bursting, he allowed himself to regard the small blond head nestled in his shoulder with a smile before returning his gaze to Berwald.

"Noak?" Was the name offered, but Tino just continued to consider the child.

"Leif would suit, as would Erik. Perhaps Ari or Eelis."

Berwald gently touched the boy's hair, light and ruffled like the feathers of a befuddled bird, and smiled, "Ari. Suits 'im."

The child leaned into Tino further, burrowing into his self-proclaimed guardian, and the Finn just smiled, "Then it shall be. Come, we need to introduce him to the others."

A/N: So, there we are. I changed Alfred's name because Alfred is more of an English name whereas Ari is apparently an Ancient Scandinavian name meaning 'eagle' in Old Norse. I thought it was fitting, seeing as he's being raised by the Nordic countries and I also really like the foreshadowing with that name to be perfectly honest.

Expanded some, and offered some backstory as to why literally every nation at that time was pretty fucked up war wise. Hope you guys enjoyed this, I'm more than happy to be back on this theme as I loved it to death!