[fanfic] Neverwas [3/?]

[gallifreybebe.livejournal.com]

Aaaand I'm back with a new chapter! Apologies for the wait, I've been busy with work and school things.

Rating: T, but may be M later on, more due to violence than anything else.
Author: gallifreybebe 
Previous Chapters: 1.2.
Characters:
  APH: England, America, Canada, primarily, but also Japan, China, France, Russia, etc.
  Dr. Who: The Doctor, the Master, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, with surprise guests now and then

This chapter: Germany, Austria, Hungary, mentions of the Italies

Summary:
   A whole year doesn't just disappear. Most of the world is lucky to forget it, even when it creeps back in nightmares. There will still be those, human, Nation, and alien, who will never forget what happened aboard the Valiant.

Chapter Summary:


Warnings: spoilers for ALL of Series 3 of Doctor Who. Also, this fic does not take place in chronologic order--it skips about. It'll all make sense in the end. You'll figure out where everything fits, generally, at the end of a chapter, but all of it won't fit together until the end.

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I travelled across the world. From the ruins of New York, to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went I saw people just like you, living as slaves! But if Martha Jones became a legend then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there, the man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is The Doctor.

~~~
She comes and goes rather quickly through Germany, using it as a gateway to the east. It is the reverse of the path that so many conquerors have taken across the continent. Martha Jones stays long enough to inform Ludwig of the Doctor, and to move on.

She never stays anywhere long, not any more. The best he can give her is food and shelter and some supplies for the road. A few years later, when all of this is gone, he will face something far worse than the Tocolofane, but he will not remember this then.

It marvels Ludwig, then, for all the futuristic technology that hurtles this god-like man through the sky, raining death and decimating the earth below, that he can't manage to capture one small girl.

But Ludwig isn't much for thinking, lately. Gilbert, normally so loud and gleeful, is silent in respect.

Because Feliciano is gone. Has been gone for what seems like ages and ages. The Toclofane had whirled their way through his grandfather's cities and destroyed much of them. The total collapse of the media meant they'd never know how many people died.

Feliciano Vargas had died when a single warhead had tumbled from the Valiant, leaving nothing in Northern Italy. Romano had brought his brother to the Germans, begging Ludwig to heal him somehow. Romano himself was injured quite severely, but he had somehow gathered the strength to carry his brother to safety.

"I still hate you" he muttered between pained breaths--Ludwig could see broken ribs through the fire-tattered t-shirt--"but maybe you can save him."

They hadn't. The younger Italy had smiled, seemingly oblivious to the damage that wracked his body. He had spoken almost nothing but Italian, conversing with his fratello until he could no more. Romano had been silent as Ludwig had kissed Feliciano's forehead, and it was Romano who had taken Feliciano away to be buried.

It was his right, as his brother. As family. Romano buried his brother in the ruins of Rome, near the resting place of their grandfather. He had then stayed firmly put, despite Antonio's repeated pleas to stay with him.

It was several months after this, that he came. The Valiant descended from the sky like a God given creation.

"Christ," Gilbert remarks, "a fucking floating aircraft carrier? Are we in a comic book or something?"

"Hush, brother."

Ludwig doesn't talk much, anymore. At least, not to Gilbert. The 'resistance' is growing, already, against this man who is destroying a tenth of the world's population.

Gilbert doesn't try to think about how many  people will be gone when this is over. It's enough to leave him retching on all fours.

Gilbert also doesn't tell his brother that he's heard far more than he should have (the Prussian has been rather good on keeping up with technology), and he's hacked his way onto private broadcasts.

This is why the Master comes here, instead of where he plans to send nukes quite shortly--Austria. A message concerning a traveler has been broadcast on an 'easily decrypted' signal.

They are swept on board the Valiant at gunpoint, rather uncermoniously. The Master descends the steps with a look of utter satisfaction on his face. There is something in the Valiant that renders everything English, which steals the languages from the mouths of their speakers. Ludwig observes that the Master is the Aryan ideal, really.

The shiver that runs up his spine is almost unnoticable. Almost.

"Well, gutertag, gentlemen. So glad you could join us today."

Out of the corner of his eye, Gilbert can see the Doctor. He is not as he was--withered and broken, unable to move from the chair the Master has strapped him into.

The Prussian does not tell his brother that the Doctor may have helped him find that small, dying boy on the battlefield. The one who slept for decades and woke up and became the German Empire. It wasn't this Doctor, not the one behind the aged face in front of him now, but he knew it had been the Doctor.

"You see,  I find myself with a great big problem. Do you know what that problem may be, mister Germany?"

"Call me Ludwig," he says, more of habit than politeness. The Master smiles, his hands on Ludwig's shoulders, too too close. This is the man who killed Feliciano. It would be so easy reach out and---

"Ludwig, then. Do you know what my problem is?"

"You're a psychopath?" Gilbert mutters, just loud enough to be heard. He can glance at the Doctor for only a moment, but it's all he needs. He smirks and steels himself for the blast that tears through his side shortly after. The Prussian falls to his knees, laughing. 

A swift kick to his side breaks a rib or two, but Ludwig knows it is unwise to move. He merely looks at his brother, and then the Master, visibly upset.

"It seems, Mister Ludwig, that you have had some interesting visitors recently," the Master is almost snarling. Gilbert struggles to his feet, and the Master grabs him by his collar and tosses him against the wall.

"I wouldn't know, sir," formality is best, "there's been so much panic, I have little knowledge of what passes my borders anymore."

"You won't intimidate him," Prussia groans from the floor. He pushes himself off the ground with the aid of the wall. Armed guards eye him warily, but he makes no move to go anywhere forward.

"You won't intimidate any of us. What will you have, if you kill the Nations? You have to kill our people to do that. And what then? If the people are gone, it's an empty fucking rock. Big deal, you beat the Doctor. What's after that?"

The silence that settles over them is almost deafening. If he could think past the rushing of blood in his ears, Ludwig would notice the steady trickle of blood dripping from his brother's fingers.

"You talk so big, don't you? Part of that Prussian pride. For God, For Jerusalem!" and he laughs. The Master laughs. A persistent beeping begins to sound.

"But what are you now? A dusty old relic of a state, alive in name only. You start wars, but who ends them for you? That child," he points to Ludwig, "cleans up your messes. But you lie to him."

Gilbert tries to laugh, tries to act like this doesn't affect him. But his chest is hurting and he is getting dizzy. He thinks, for a moment, he can see Germania there before him. The long-since-passed Nation just stands, looking out of place amongst all this machinery. The laugh comes out much softer than he means it.

"Is he even your brother?"

"Of course," Prussia breathes. Damn, he thinks, maybe I am too old for this. He can't feel that odd healing that used to bring him back from the brink. Germania's still standing there. He's not saying anything, but he's looking, definitely looking, right at Prussia.

"But you're not sure, are you? How can you tell? There were so many small states there--surely one small dying faction was the same as the next?"

Ludwig's not even looking at the Master now, just at Prussia.

Oh, no. He's starting to believe what he's hearing.

"I suppose it doesn't matter, since you build your life on lies. Your allies are your enemies, and you pretend like you will have her."

No.

"When have you ever allied with her without him by her side? And you're still trying to protect her. Love is foolish."

Gilbert's heart sinks. The Prussian knows the Master knows it was him. Of course he does. That's what brought him here. But any time he can buy for the others is time they need.

It takes a minute, but when Gilbert finally speaks again, it is something that can't be translated. Every half a word is a different language, spoken so quickly that it comes out properly. The Master blinks once, twice, and the Doctor's eyes are wide.

There's no bargaining to let Ludwig go. There's just Prussia lunging at the Master and the echo of gunshots as Ludwig makes his run for the door. There's a lot of screaming, and shouting, and so when someone yells "We've got her!" it's a little hard to hear.

But Martha Jones is more important than a worthless old nation, and so they leave Ludwig behind.

By all rights, he should sit there, unmoving. His lover is dead, his brother is gone. Worse, his brother was never really his brother (or was he?). Instead, he runs. He is not far from Austria's house and reaches it within the hour. As he runs, he picks apart in his head Prussia's message to him.


"Dummy signal, will distract for hour at most. Get others out now. Target is Austria."

The blonde shows up at the front door, almost unable to breathe. All he can manage is "must evacuate, bomb coming, the Master".

When they have given the orders and people begin streaming out of the country, it is just Roderich and Elizaveta and Ludwig in a small town car, speeding away from the cities. They are silent for a long while.

"Where is Gilbert?" Roderich asks. His tone is soft, hesitant. Ludwig's isn't.

"Dead. Died buying us time."

"How did he..." Eliza's question comes unbidden, a force of habit.

"How did he know something would be coming? It could have been a rouse, a trick?"

Ludwig cannot look up from the floorboards.

"I don't know."

Silence would be better, but Ludwig has too many questions.

"Did you know he loved you?"

Blue eyes on green, and Eliza's startled. She smooths the shoulder of Ludwig's jacket and smiles sadly.

"Yes."

"You should have told him."

Roderich prays that they will find some semblance of safety in the countryside.

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ahhhhh yeah. Somebody's gonna hate me for this chapter. A lot. I will, eventually, explain the bit with Germania and stuff. It'll have it's own chapter, really!

So who do you want to see here next? A pre-Tocolafane intro set story, where America's kind of wary of England's new PM? Or maybe one where Arthur's not comfortable with this new guy and Alfred's like, "BUT HE'S AWESOME AND FUN!". China's experience with the Master? Russia's? Let me know!