1

German Empire didn't know how he found himself here. He had only been traveling to Austria for some quick amusement in the beautiful city of Vienna. And honestly he genuinely wanted to see what this palace banquet was all about. They wouldn't dare turn him down because of his country status. He was not a normal human after all. Everyone he met on the street avoided eye contact with him, or went out of their way so they didn't have to make conversation. It wasn't because they hated him, obviously, but because they were intimidated. Intimidated by the fact that the countryhumans were like gods compared to them.

German Empire has a theory that subconsciously humans are intimidated by people they wouldn't be able to kill. Even if they were a peaceful person. And everyone knew that it was impossible for a normal human to kill a countryhuman. They were immortal and it took very special circumstances for them to die. Their military had to be weak, their soldiers had to be tired, and their society had to be on the brink of collapse. Finally, the person who had to kill them could only be another country.

He guessed that even if he wasn't a country, they would still be intimidated. For he towered over people, and prided himself on being a very capable person.

So he figured that he'd be let into the party almost automatically, and he was. Except as soon as he stepped into the ballroom he was about ready to leave. This was because he immediately almost bumped into another person. Unfortunately not just any person, but the one and only France, in all her glory.

"Shit."

He hated France with a passion. And the feeling was mutual.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and cut him off when he began to speak. "Small World," she didn't wait for him to answer. "Mind telling me why you're out of your own country?"

"I could ask you the same," he replied, using the same unimpressed monotone voice that she had used on him.

She crossed her arms. "Not your Information to know."

"Then keep the same attitude." He felt satisfaction at her scoff.

"Whatever, just get away from here before a war starts or something."

As she started to walk away, he couldn't help but to take one more jab at her. "We do know how much you like starting those."

She wippend her head around to look at him. "You were not even born yet when that happened you little runt!" She shook a fist at him. She looked like she wanted to say something else but decided against it. Instead the female country just stomped on the ground, flailing her dress, and walked away.

German Empire sighed. He didn't understand France. He turned to look back at her as she took her leave, and laughed in his head slightly at her discomfort with her dress. See, France was a republic, something he didn't understand. He had been raised by a kingdom and he was a monarchy himself. She was also the most un-ladylike person he had ever met. It wasn't like countryhumans didn't have a choice in what gender they wanted to be. He never understood why she chose to be a female, but acted like a rowdy man. Of course, that was only a few reasons why they didn't see eye to eye. Another big factor was probably because the whole reason he ruled was because France lost a war against his father. And she was livid. German Empire supposed he was kinda the reason she wasn't an Empire anymore. He was pretty sure that relations with her would never be restored.

On the contrary, now he really wanted to leave this party, but like hell he would ever show weakness to France.

"Guess I'm stuck here until France leaves."

God, he hoped it would be soon.

Trying to forget the interaction he just had with a certain lady, the German Empire walked into the rest of the ballroom. He took a few moments to marvel at the beauty that lay before him. Polished stone pillars glistened, towering up to the high ceiling. Their pale complexion seemed to reflect the light that came from the many large, circular chandeliers holding up hundreds of candles, that projected their yellow light down below to the dancers. Pink and orange light streamed in from the sunset from great windows that covered almost the entire wall. The sound of music and tapping feet filled the light air, as ten pretty women danced with their partners. Smells of the banquet ran through the the room, coming from a long table filled with food, people and distant chatter.

Deciding that he would likely be unwelcome at the table, considering he had no clue what the occasion was, the Empire settled to standing by the end of a window. He formally put his hands behind his back, a pose he quite liked. It aired him with authority and purpose, even when he didn't have it. It also made him unapproachable. No one would dare talk to a person who stood like they had something better to do. Another thing he prided himself on was his impeccable posture, when he stood, his back was even straighter than that of his father's. Not that his father did it as intentionally as he did.

As time went on, German Empire continued resisting leaning on the pillar behind him. Letting boredom take over his mind, he slowly turned to look out the window. Towards the edge of his view outside he saw a pretty garden and some trees, all lush with greenery. All except for one, which stood out from the rest of the trees with its twisty dead branches. It looked like a tree where the doves would go to die.

As the music faded out, the Empire turned back away from the window to check if France was still there. To his displeasure, she was indeed, and talking to a certain British country. He decided to leave it alone as their relationship was none of his business.

A lovely waltz started playing, replacing the silence the end of the previous song had left. He took notice that many more people were now coming to dance, he also saw that there was no unoccupied lady, whom he could take to dance to pass the time. Maybe that was for the better, because they probably wouldn't want to dance with a country anyways.

Deciding to spice things up, the German Empire migrated his standing spot over a couple of pillars. He caught himself bobbing his head to the music slightly, and quickly cut it out. That wasn't professional.

Sighing, he turned to face the side, not wanting to look at the people enjoying themselves when he spotted something red and green. Not just a thing, but a person. He peered around the pillar and then he saw her.

The Austro-Hungarian dual Empire sat there on a bench, wearing a stunning white layered dress with fancy silver lace. Her deep red hair was in a tight braid and she sat with elegance. Her unique flag design was enviable, donned not one, but two crests on her face. Growing up with a simple flag of three lines of color, the young country had always been jealous of his fathers crest worn on an eyepatch. Interestingly, Austria-Hungary wore two patches on both of her eyes, which raised some questions about wether or not she could see him starring at her, or see anything at all. All of this distracted him from the very last thing he noticed about her that day. She looked quite sad. It took him a moment to notice that her head was directed at a certain pair that was dancing to the waltz.

"So she can see..." he thought.

And that's where his mind got tricky with him. After all, he was only still here because he wasn't backing down to France. He didn't plan on even talking to anyone else. But here was a lady who he could actually approach, who looked like she wanted to dance. He personally understood the rejection from interacting with normal people, every country did. He assumed this party had something to do with her, so why should she be secluded from everyone else just because she's different?

Knowing this, German Empire walked around the pillar fully. She noticed him as soon as he walked in front of her, and her head perked up. She stood, but waited for him to say something first, considering he engaged their interaction. Not knowing what else to, the male Empire got down on to one knee, and took her hand in both of his. Then he leaned in and kissed it slowly. He felt people watching them, and he would probably bet that France was one of those people.

"May I Take This Waltz?" he asked, keeping his cool. Austria-Hungary looked shocked. Her face turned slightly pink. For a moment the German wondered if he had somehow offended her, or had been too forward.

He felt relief was over his body as she smiled. Taking that as initiative, he stood up and and grasped her thin hand in his own, trying to be gentle for he know he had killer grip. In response she placed her other hand on his shoulder, and he followed by putting his on her waist. They both simultaneously backed away from the wall and started to dance to the waltz with practiced ease.

The German took the lead, dancing his partner around, her dress gliding across the shiny, tile floor. It looked like a white rose. Once in a while, she would smoothly move her right hand to slightly lift up her dress, so she wouldn't trip. They swung in circles, making sure to move in the same direction as the other dancers. As the music came to a perk, he quickly moved both his hands to her waist and lifted her into the air. She was ready for it and already placed bother her hands on his shoulder. As she came down, he continued to spin to the music. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed that she couldn't stop smiling. Then he realized that he was also smiling. The music continued, so they did as well. Her braid bounced around as they waltzed across the flooring, and her silver lace sparkled in the light.

     A brilliant blaze of orange shot across the ballroom as the sun continued to set. Their enlarged shadows projected their perfect dancing form and filled up the flooring. When German Empire turned at a certain angle he could see France still talking to Britain. Not that he was disappointed anymore now that he was having the time of his life.

     He had rarely gone out as a child, or even as an adult really. Prussia had him tutored from their home when he was young. He was appreciative at least that he learned many skills. Dancing happened to be one of them. And it was nice to have a relationship with normal humans, even if they were being paid to be with him. He knew and understood from early on that being a Countryhuman wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to be forced to sit back and watch change. Even more, you had to accept it. He hadn't been around for long by countryhuman standards. And he'd only been in power for 8 years now. But he knew that he'd have to go through the pain of living through king after king, as they are born, grow old, and die. And he knew his responsibility.

     Unfortunately, it was required for all countries currently in power to have an heir. A responsibility he had tried ignoring for 8 years now. He could end all future legacies if he let his family line die. If he didn't get one, and he did died, his land would be given to neighboring countries instead of being passed down to the next regime, and his people would suffer without a homeland.

     Technically existing as gender less beings, Countryhumans could produce on their own, so he had no excuse to his father.

     Before he realized, the sun had set under the horizon and the windows were dark, yet they kept on dancing. France was long gone. He could leave, but he wasn't going to abruptly leave Austria-Hungary.

     In the end she was the one to stop their dance. She was out of breath and he was too. As they sat down next to each other she giggled.

     "Thank you, I really needed that," she said, her voice sweet like honey.

     German Empire smiled reflexively at the sound. "I definitely enjoyed it as well."

     "You're the German Empire Right?"

     "Indeed, and you're the Austro-Hungarian Empire right."

     She nodded. "That was really kind of you to do, especially because I know our fathers never got along with each other."

     "Eh, but you're different," he pointed out. "I wish France would think things like that." He mumbled the last part, mostly to himself, but Austria-Hungary laughed anyways, clearly getting the joke. He chucked along with her.

     After she caught her breath, she informed that she was going to head to the lavatory.

"I should quickly get her some flowers or something before she comes back," he thought quickly. He then suddenly remembered that there a flower vendor close in town. Knowing that ladies take forever to piss, he sped walked straight out of the palace. The sky was darkening quickly and the vendors were probably long gone. He prayed that wasn't the case as he navigated the cobble roads. The wooden buildings around him blurred together when he broke out into a run, a barely visible shadow below him from the twilight moon. He sharply turned around a few street corners before he made it to where he saw the seller earlier.

    To his extremely good fortune, the flower seller was the last vendor on the street, though he had already walked a good distance away from where he was before, pushing his cart of flowers.

     Forgetting how informal he was being, the German yelled, "wait!" as he continued running after the man.

     The human turned around to face him, and when he noticed what he was talking to he immediately stiffened and held a shocked face. He cautiously looked as the Empire stopped to catch his breath right in front of him.

     After a few seconds of silence, German Empire spoke up, "sir can I huff... may I uhh, buy some flowers."

     Bewildered that the German Empire had chased him down for that the man took a bit to answer, and when he did he got it out with a stutter. " u-uh ah-ah... of course!... you're majesty... u-uh c-country? Empire?"

     Instead of correcting him, the German continued. "I really am in a tight time limit... just hand me anything uh, red and I'll pay for it."

     The man complied immediately handing him a bunch of roses.

     The Empire reached into his pockets before realizing. "Uh... do you take Goldmarks?"

     The man looked at him confused. "I take Korona. I do not take German currency."

     "Verdammt," German Empire mumbled.

     The human waved his hands. "B-b-but no need sir!" he said a bit too loudly. "J-just take it."

     "Really?" The country asked. But the seller was already bolting down the road. That's when the German realized that he was also short on time. He stuffed the bouquet into his back pocket and hastily made his way over to the palace.

     When he arrived back at the palace Austria-Hungary was waiting for him on the bench where they had sat before. He approached her quickly, not wanting to make her wait longer.

     "Oh! Did you go to the washroom as well?" she asked when he arrived.

     "Sure," he said awkwardly unable to think of anything else. "So anyways..." he started, his face turning a reddish color. Deciding there was no point in delaying it, he pulled out the rose bunch. The female gasped.

    "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" she smiled excitedly when she looked down at the flowers.

     "Glad you like them."

     "So that's why your out of breath?"

     He chuckled and blushed harder.

     Noticing that the music was still playing, he held her hand and kissed it once again. "I take this waltz?"

     "Take this waltz with a clamp on it's jaws."

     Then they stood up and began to dance once more.