Tʜᴇ Pᴀᴛʜ Tᴏ Hɪɢʜɢᴀᴛᴇs

Tᴇʟʟᴛᴀʟᴇ Sɪɢɴs Oꜰ A Lɪᴀʀ

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9

Reich moved his eyes toward the archway, causing his head to follow mechanically in tow. With prying eyes he watched you leave the room with your head held high and pride plastered to your soles. German Empire followed after you with lethargically slow steps that seemed much faster due to how long his strides were. Reich fiddled with his fingers as he watched his father's rectangular head disappear behind the archway, just looking at the shape of him made Reich uncomfortable. It had always seemed to him like it was a heavy load just to carry around, all day and all night hiding the concealment of a war that had taken half his heart. He sometimes wondered how his father managed it, if he had even managed to find a coping mechanism at all.

Salem brushed her head against his thigh and looked up at the young German with eyes so wide Reich almost immediately forgot what he had been thinking about. Gently he ran his fingers through her stomach as she trapped his hand and battered her back legs against him. Reich's throat loosened in a reflexive giggle, its tender vibrations were heard by you as you followed German Empire down the corridor. You smile, feeling rather proud that you were able to bring even the tiniest of joys to Reich's despondent life.

Your eyes meet the German's feet walking in front of you, he wore boots similar to Reichs but not nearly as tall, clearly, he had authority he wore in his physical façade rather than a forged outward appearance like Reich. You grip the strap of your bag as you look up. Again the walls of the corridor German Empire was leading you down loomed over you like a gothic cathedral, its concrete eyes bore into your minuscule figure and made you harrowingly conscious of your small stature.

"Vu're not small, zee valls are just large." A German-accented voice spoke from beside you.

You turn to your left and lock eyes with German Empire who was now walking beside you, his shrivelled black eyes focused solely on you. You take a moment to ignore how weird of a comment that was and instead focus on the fact this stranger was trying to reassure you. Even if it was just your height he was trying to comfort you about, which became weirder the more you thought about it. "Uh, thanks?" German Empire shook his head, almost as if he was laughing, though he had no mouth to let a sound out of. "Zis houze vas built zo ozer leaders und I vould be able to valk around vizout izue." He glanced at you as he walked a little faster and overtook you before he stopped in front of a door you recognised to be his office. "I hope vu don't mind it-" With a simple swing of his long red fingers, the Empire opened the door and gestured for you to enter. "Schatz."

With a polite nod, you enter the room, smoke still clung to the air like clouds to the sky and dug into your eyes, making them water as if upset thunder clouds rumbled between your pupils. You had no idea how it was even possible for German Empire to breathe normally on a day-to-day basis after inhaling so much smoke. It was rather like those seedy downtown bars you read about from the 1930's. Where jazz was swinging and cigarettes were more common than complimentary peanut jars, you never imagined you'd see a place even remotely similar to a place like that, but as you stared down at the empty liquor bottles strewed over the table you could almost visualise the atmosphere between your thoughts.

"I apologize for zee mess Schatz. Vu caught me at zee vorst time." German Empire stated as he closed the door and walked past you toward the other end of the round table. Across the room to the left of the round table was a desk with various papers placed haphazardly across its mahogany surface. On the wall behind the desk was the German Empire flag and what looked to be a crudely drawn nazi flag coloured in with crayons on a white sheet of paper hung up with a single pin.

"Please. Take ein zeat." The German says as he sat himself down then took to waiting for you to follow suit.

You pad up to the chair you sat on before, and grabbed its body, with the little leverage you had you pulled yourself up in a spectacle that could have been ripped straight from Alice In Wonderland. It was an embarrassingly hard struggle to get atop the chair, and it was even more embarrassing when you were painfully conscious of the Empire staring you silently down the whole time. With a little bounce to assure you were comfortable on the disproportionate seat, you proceed to look at the German who was leaning his head against the back of his hands which were intertwined and held up by his elbows. "Zorry for dragging vu in here, I just vanted ein moment vith vu in private." The country stated as he fixed his posture to rest his hands on his knees. You pretended to know what he said, as his accent was so strong at times you couldn't understand him, now being one of them, so you reflexively smiled and nodded awkwardly. The awkwardness seemed to translate into an uncomfortable itch in your skin that caused you to fix your sitting position by intertwining your fingers around your bag strap again and leaning your palms against your lap. You couldn't reach the floor due to how high up the seat was so you just left your legs awkwardly dangling down like a toddler in a booster seat.