1918
Austria and Hungary
"Roderich." The woman said sternly.
"E... Elizaveta..." He said shakily, looking down into her deep green eyes. "You... you do not have to go, mein liebe..." He nodded, as if to prove his point further.
She furrowed her brows, closing her eyes and turning her head away from him. She took a step back. "No. Roderich. You don't love me. You think that you do. But you don't, Roderich. This was political. I thought we agreed to that at the beginning."
The Austrian closed his eyes tightly, wanting this nightmare that was occurring to go away. "Elizaveta... I love you... at the beginning, so long ago... I didn't imagine I would... but I can't help how I feel, Elizaveta... you can't walk away now..."
A short girl and a slightly taller boy walked past them, holding hands as they were ushered out the door by a tall man. The two were one of the many new nations that had been taken from the territory of what used to be Austria-Hungary. Roderich ignored them, his eyes on Elizaveta. She, however, looked at the girl as she left, the two briefly making eye-contact before the girl angrily turned around and clung to the boy. Slovakia and Czech...
Elizaveta had so many other things on her mind. Political things. She was her own nation again, she couldn't bother herself with her lost territories... and she had just lost a war... "Roderich, I have to go." She picked her small bag up from the red carpet in the entryway, everything else had already been taken back to her house in Budapest. She wasn't coming back to Vienna.
She nodded politely to him, too serious to hug him or anything she would normally do. She loved him. She began to walk away, but Roderich grabbed her arm almost forcefully. "Ich dachte... du liebst mich auch." He whispered, choking on his tears.
"Roderich. Good-bye." She walked out the door, following another shorter new nation. Part of the new Yugoslavia perhaps, she thought. Anything to keep her from thinking of the Austrian behind her.
A moment passed, and she was only a few feet out the door before she heard a knocking sound. She turned around, seeing the Austrian on his knees, holding his head in his hands. "One hundred and fourteen." He said quietly.
She swallowed. "...wh-what?" She asked, quite obviously not feeling herself.
"Nine hundred and forty two." He said. "Nein, more..." He didn't look up.
"...I don't understand." She said quietly. There was a moment of cold silence between the two. "Roderich?" She asked, concerned.
The musician suddenly rose to his knees. "I thought you were leaving, Miss Hedervary." He said sternly, his violet eyes full of fire. "You do not belong here." His hands balled into fists at his side. He turned around, and began to walk back into his now empty house.
"Roderich Edelstein!" She screamed, choking on the waterworks she was holding in. "You what those numbers mean, right now. Or I swear. I am going to make the rest of your life a living hell." She cried, before realizing she was grabbing his shirt collar and hand pulled him down to look her in the eyes. She slowly let go, thinking about
Instead of fixing his collar as he normally would, he just stared at her. His accented, smooth voice spoke quietly. "One hundred and fourteen years." He said again. His glasses hid the tears forming in his eyes. The tears that had been forming for days now. "It's how long you've been living here... with me." He said nothing. He stood like a statue.
She blinked, frustrated with the brunette pianist in front of her. "And nine-hundred and forty two... or whatever that was...?" She prompted, impatient.
"More." He said, closing his eyes.
"It is how long we have shared a border." He said simply. The Hungarian woman closed her eyes.
She sighed, very frustrated, and spoke quickly to get her point across. "We still share a border, Roderich. I'll see you all the time. I'll come visit if you want. I have to recover from this war, first, as do you. Now good-bye." She again turned around and walked away, her shoes clicking across the front steps and her dress swishing behind her.
"Elizaveta." He said, loudly. His voice seemed to echo through his now-empty house.
"What, Roderich!" She shouted, clenching her jaw tightly.
"It's how long I've loved you." He choked. He stared into her emerald eyes, sorrow and loneliness filling his amethyst ones. "If you leave now. I have nothing."
She turned to face him. "Roderich, I know you are used to the finer things in life. But at this point..." her voice cracked as she looked down. "...nothing..." She looked back up, very slowly. "...is what we all have."
He opened his mouth, about to say something, but she interrupted him once more. "Good-bye, Herr Edelstein." She said firmly. She was speaking to a stranger. A stranger she had once loved.
She turned around once more, and began to quickly walk to the automobile waiting for her at the end of the walkway. Roderich rushed to the door, watching her curly brown hair bounce behind her. "I love you!" He cried, tears in his eyes. She did not stop.
He stood in the doorway, leaning outside the frame. "Did you hear me, Hungary! I love you!" She continued walking. She did not dare turn around now. She couldn't come running back to him now. She couldn't ever come back.
He was screaming at the top of his lungs now, tears streaming down his face for the first time in centuries. "ELIZAVETA!" He cried. "I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU, DAMMIT! COME BACK! I LOVE YOU!" He again dropped to his knees, running his hands through his hair as his glasses fell off and cracked on the concrete. "I love... you..." He shook violently as he stared at the sidewalk.
Elizaveta, however, watched as her driver shut her door and walked around to the driver's seat. "Roderich." She said, feeling the held-in tears stream down her face. She watched his collapsed form in the doorway as the car drove away. She opened her bag and pulled out the one thing of his she had... stolen. His cravat. One of them, at least. She held it to her nose, taking in his scent. Whispering, she closed her eyes and let her tears drench the fabric. "I love you too."