Melancholy: A gloomy state of mind. Watching one, who you consider a child of your own, die in right before your very eyes, was much, much harder than watching men die for you. It hurt; so much more. He had to leave him there, with his own brother, watching him slowly pass away from shock between his arms. He hadn't seen Matthew cry so much in so long. He barely heard Francis over his own yelling.
Grabbed by the waist, he watched Matthew and Alfred's last moments together. He tried reaching his hands, his arms, his entire being, but alas he was not strong, nor were his limbs long enough to reach. In a speck of dust, they were gone. Never to be seen again.
He felt a hand on his head as his hand still outstretched towards the door. He heard the sound of yells and cracking. Running and guns firing: so many sounds forming a cacophony, if not, an ironic symphony.
A hand on his head and another around his waist, he leaned his body on the other and cried. He had lost so much, in so little. He hadn't even been able to say sorry, to say I love you. All he had said was venomous lines of a past he couldn't forget. What one's last words are to another can be one's you regret the most. The hand on his head moved down to his waist as there was a calm shushing ringing in his ears. Francis' voice rang deep with him to calm down his frazzled nerves.
"Calm down…. You did your best, and they know you tried, but there is nothing you can do now, than protect yourself". Arthur took a deep breath and looked up into Francis. Yes, he needed to be calm…. He needed to be able to think clearly. Looking around, he noticed they were in the library.
A thought arose; maybe there was a pen around here. There had been something he had wanted to get signed for a while now. No time like an impending doom to do so!
He grabbed his side slightly as he looked around, it had been paining him for a bit, but he brushed it off, his small pain was nothing compared to that of what the others had been going through, when they were still around. Italy V. still missing, others dead or MIA as well, he couldn't help, but want to do this. Give him his moment of happiness in what could be his final resting place.
Francis looked at him oddly as he walked around with a determined look on his face, and slowly followed behind him to see exactly what he was looking for. He noticed Arthur's hand on his side and the pool of blood getting larger and larger with every second. He inhaled a dry gasp when Arthur stopped.
"A-" he began, but stopped when he turned around with his eyes not facing Francis', a paper in hand with his name crudely scribbled in. The certificate from long ago. He kept it? He really kept it?
"This is probably impromptu to say the least, but in our last moments, why don't we live as humans, and forget the burden we carry?" Francis was flabbergasted, he couldn't think nor speak. He even forgot what he was going to say to Arthur. A smile started to tug. He nodded his head vigorously and took the Brit into his arms. Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes yes! A millions times yes!
"Of course, but why? Why did you keep it after you turned it down?" He had a feeling as to why and gently caressed Arthur's sweaty, burned and dirt ridden face, " no, don't answer…. I think I know why." He smiled to the Brit who winced as Francis moved forward into the hug; he moved back and looked England over. Looking around, he moved him over to the wall, sat him down and tried to find something to cover the wound that was getting worse by the second.
Arthur looked to Francis with a sad smile on his face, telling him not to bother and worry about himself only. Patting the empty space next to him, he gestured for him to sit down and relax in these final moments they had together. He wouldn't die. It was only a scar of course! It would heal over time.
Francis gave a worried glance, but Arthur only laughed it off.
"I'm alright!" he exclaimed to his significant other, who only nodded his head, unbelieving.
"Now, what should we do?" he wondered to himself, lying against the wall.
Francis sat there in thought, looking to Arthur; he scooted a bit closer and grabbed his hand, their fingers intertwining. Arthur turned his head with an eyebrow raised and the other rose when he felt a peck on his lips. As Francis pulled away, he said, "I do".
He sat without a response for a moment. Before replying with an "I do" of his own, laced with the whirlpool of emotions that were pinning him down. With this he tried to get his mind off the lose fir now. With this he could be happy. He coughed as he looked up into the ceiling. Francis lifted his hand up worried, but Arthur only shot it down.
"I'm happy that I'm here with you, as much as I might seem of a jerk, I honestly did like you… and look at us now. Both of us here, hiding out in a library for who knows how long, with nothing more than to give us hope I signed something I had longed for, for so long. I really am a fool aren't I?" he laughed to himself.
"But you're my fool now" Francis said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around Arthur as best as he could. Arthur nodded his head. " Yes, I am your fool till death do us part." He replied happily. He took a deep breath, and looked to Francis, a glimmer in his eyes.
"Once we get out of here, if we do, we should maybe celebrate this. And celebrate those we have lost as well, what do you say?" Francis shook his head and looked England deep in the eyes.
"Not if we do, when we do. It is a promise." Arthur chuckled, and nodded his head, "A promise!" He laid his back against the wall, and slowly started to slump over, quickly failing onto Francis' lap, a smile on his face, breathless.
"Arthur?" Francis smiled as he poked him lightly, with no response, panic settled in within his mind. He poked him a bit harder and called out his name with a bit more force. Still no response.
He started shaking him, calling out his name until his voice would go horse or maybe, until he himself passed. He cried.
"Arthur please, wake up! Arthur wake up! ARTHUR PLEASE WAKE UP! YOU PROMISED ME WE WOULD MAKE IT OUT! YOU WILL MAKE IT OUT OF HERE ALIVE. PLEASE ARTHUR! ARTHUR!" He stopped calling out to him and only sobbed into his out of breath chest. He wrapped his arms around the body and clung tightly, crying into it.
"… Till death do us part…" he silently sobbed out to himself.
The sound of the door slowly grinding open didn't catch his attention, or the heavy footsteps followed. It wasn't until a giant hand was raised over his head to smack him down that he was brought back to the gravity of the situation. He smiled and gave Arthur a hug.
"…Hello again, dearly beloved." He closed his eyes tightly, to never see the light of day.