It was a cold, gray, Sunday in February. Arthur Kirkland was in New York on business. It pained him to go, because he knew his once true love would be there. He didn't want to be reminded of the grief, the heartbreak, and the horror of that late summer day. Still, when his boss asked him to go on a business trip to America, he did it anyways. He took it as an opportunity to visit him; his long lost love. Arthur visited him like his love would've wanted; with a soft smile on his face and flowers in his hand.
"Hello love," he mumbled, "It's sure been awhile."
The latter never replied. Arthur never expected him to say anything to him, but something deep in the pit of his heart aches for him to jump up, hug him and whisper 'I love you' just one more time in his ear.
"I brought you these; roses, I know how much you love them," he choked out, setting them on the soft grass. He ran his hand along the cold stone marker; the only proof of his lover's location before sitting cross-legged on the dead, brown grass where his lover lay.
"Peter's doing well," he said, "He's starting Gakuen academy so he can become a nation as well; I'm so proud of him, even though the old bloke can get on my nerves. I supposed he got that from you."
He chuckled, picturing his lover sitting beside him, laughing along.
"Berwald and Tino have been a huge help after you….left," the older nation managed to choke out, "I guess you can say they've adopted him as their own. I wouldn't have been able to care from him alone, so I'm grateful for their help. I hope you're having fun in heaven; I'm sure they needed a hero like you to brighten the clouds a little, and that's why they took you away from me, right? Right?"
Though he had tried so hard to hold himself together, the reminders of their past broke him down. That drunken night that had led to the conception of their beautiful son; their surprise love confession and engagement en route to a meeting together; the birth of Peter; those incredible moments where the older nation wondered how he managed to snag this incredible man's heart, they were no more that one fateful day. The day Arthur came home to find his love cold and lifeless, in a pool of crimson liquid. The paramedics and doctors did all they could to revive the broken man, but there was no hope; his love was gone forever.
"Why?" he sobbed, "Dammit! Why? Why did you have to go and not me?"
The young British gentleman was reduced into a fit of tears on top of his lover; six feet of soil separating the two of them. He cried until he could cry no more; hoping that the cold earth beneath him would become the warm, loving embrace of the man he fell in love with all those years ago. But, the earth remained cold, hard and unfriendly.
"I love you, please come back to me," he sniffled in a desperate plea. His emotions hadn't changed since they lowered his lover's body into the cold, dark grave below. He could remember that late summer day; Peter just a toddler in the British man's arms, all of their friends had gathered to say goodbye. There wasn't a dry eye in the cemetery. Even Ivan, a strong Russian man who had never been seen crying until that late summer morning, needed a tissue. Now, ten years later, everyone had moved on but Arthur. He couldn't love anyone else. Kiku, Francis, and even his love's little brother Matthew had all tried to love him, with no success. Even Peter at times thought that his 'mother' didn't love him, which was wrong; Arthur loved Peter because he was the last living part of their relationship, but it was so hard to try and raise a son on your own. Especially when said child reminds you so much of what had been and what could've been. Luckily Berwald and Tino were close by to offer a helping hand.
After Arthur lay there, shivering in the icy wind with nothing but a flimsy sweater on; tears streaming down his face at the memories, he could feel a strange warmth surrounding him in an embrace. Then, he could smell it; that familiar smell of aftershave and hamburgers. That was when the British man knew that his lover was there, and was comforting him. He smiled, and when he finally stood a while later, the smell and the warmth never left him. He bent down, kissed the headstone, and murmured four little words before leaving the cemetery, not knowing when he would be back, but taking comfort in the fact that his love would always be with him.
"I love you, Alfred."