Title: Recovered Files (Chapter 2/?)

Author/Artist: blackwingsblueeyes

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Prussia (Gilbert)/Hungary (Elizaveta).

Rating: T

Warnings: None~ :D

Summary: The day the papers had been signed, the divorce finalized, Hungary left Austria's house. It only took her a few seconds to realize exactly which direction she found herself running in. PrussiaxHungary.

AN: Chapter Two is dedicated to everyone who reviewed and commented. Thank you so much, you guys.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two: Letters and Invitations

Prussia really hated his back door.

His front door? Oh, yeah, that was perfectly likable. Nice, friendly people came knocking at his front door. Traveling salesmen had their hopes crushed there. It was unpredictable who would come by, there was always someone different.

There was only one person who ever had the gall to invade far enough into his territory to surprise him at his back door. And she usually didn't come bearing happy news.

Well, if he was being completely honest, she usually didn't come by at all. His back door hadn't been bothered in over half a century, and frankly, he liked it that way.

No really, he did.

She hadn't even tried to contact him, he was used to it by now.

Life was moving on around him.

Prussia made sure to keep the days as interesting and awesome as they always had been. He had West to annoy and Feliciano to entertain him and make him laugh. It was always fun to watch West's reactions to the Italian, too. Poor guy... he was in pretty deep, as far as Prussia could tell. The Italian practically had him wrapped around his little finger, and they both didn't seem to even notice.

So yeah, life was totally good. He had things to distract him, people to bother and embarrass. Life was fucking awesome.

... Except when he went home at the end of the day, and the distractions left, the people said goodbye. There was nothing for him in his house except himself and the memories that haunted the place.

He always went in through the front door now.

As he walked up the porch stairs, a small brown box left off on the top stair caught his eye, out of site of the street. Someone had wrapped string around it a couple times to keep the lid on tight, but the box didn't look like anything official or important. Just a box.

Interest mildly piqued, Prussia scooped it up, juggling his keys to the other hand. It was pretty heavy for such a tiny box. Where the hell had it come from anyway? It didn't have any names or addresses on it. Again, it was just a box.

Prussia let himself into his house, leaving the key on the table in the entryway and setting the box down on the kitchen counter. He was pretty hungry, having politely (sort of) declined after Italy had offered to make him pasta for dinner. He had nothing against noodles, he just really didn't feel like eating them for every damn meal of every fucking day. Seriously, West ate the stuff most of the time, and if that didn't prove the whole finger-wrapped thing then Prussia didn't know what did.

Opting for something simple, Prussia stuck a potato in the oven, checking the clock. His eyes flicked to the box sitting on the counter, then back to the oven. He had a couple minutes before his food would be ready.

The string was a little tough to get off, whoever had tied it had done a damn good job. He fished his pocket knife out of his pocket, popping the blade out and cutting the bindings with little difficulty. A bit aggravated, Prussia opened the lid to find it filled with papers. Packed to the brim with envelopes, to be more specific. It wasn't anything cool, this wasn't a present. There wasn't any secret treasure hidden inside this mysterious box. Nah, someone had dumped their office work on him.

Prussia pulled one out, eyeing the letter distastefully. The handwriting on the back didn't match the one of the front, he found as he turned it around. In tidy, elegant script, it was dated, October 1867. The year that...

He flipped it around again, eyes narrowing as he studied the front. It was definitely a letter addressed to him, but the return address didn't have a name. The ink was smudged in several places too, making it difficult to read some of the words. The paper was yellowing just a little, the only clue to prove the age.

There must have been a hundred letters in total in the box. At least! He checked the back of a few others, but as far as he could tell, October 1867 was the oldest one. Sliding the edges along his fingers, Prussia twirled it around for a moment. Well, it was addressed to him, he may as well open it.

Gilbert,

Hello. How have you been? I think I've started getting used to things in the new environment and I'm doing well. I met a new nation the other day, or new to me at least. She was very sweet and polite, Liechtenstein is her name. I'm sure you would love her if you met her, she's one of those people that are hard not to like.

Maybe I can come visit soon? Would that be okay? I want to see Ludwig too, I haven't seen him in a while, I miss him and his dogs.

I miss you, too, Gilbert. Alot, actually. So hopefully I'll see you again soon. Remember to take care of yourself, and to eat right, that's important too. And not just potatoes, eat something green for once.

~Elizaveta

P.S. It's kind of weird without you around to constantly bug me.

...Was this a joke? This letter was over fifty years old and it was just now reaching him. What kind of bastard of a post man would do that?! (1)

...Had she really written this?

Did she mean it? He hadn't had any contact from her in years, he had thought that she didn't want to talk to him anymore. Or that her husband had ordered her not to.

Ignoring his grumbling stomach and forgetting about the potato in the oven, Prussia dumped the box over on the kitchen table. There was so many letters, he was almost afraid they'd spill over.

If the dates on the back were accurate, he had a lot of sorting to do. This was going to take forever.

~.~

Prussia was mad. No, scratch that, mad was too soft a term. Prussia was fucking pissed. The stupid letters were all there on the table, not a single one left unopened. And they were laughing at him, each and every one telling him about all the things he hadn't been apart of. All the things he'd missed, been left out of. She had the nerve to always mention in each one how much she missed him, how she wished he'd write back to her or visit or do something to get in touch with her.

Why hadn't she just come to see him? Why had she waited for some kind of response, an invitation?

His vision narrowed as his eyes practically turned to slits. He didn't need this. His life was fucking awesome without her. He hadn't had to feel bad in years, that damned pain in his chest was only a distant memory. He had a routine now, things to expect, no more surprises. No excitement, no feelings that he couldn't bottle up and put labels on.

With one swift move of his hand, the letters went crashing to the floor, a few fluttering off the table lazily. The damn things were fucking mocking him. He couldn't even look at them without feeling sick and pissed and just... bad.

He needed to leave the house, get some fresh air, take a walk. Maybe the letters would be gone by the time he got home again. Now there's a thought.

Grabbing his coat from where he'd thrown it on the couch, Prussia grabbed his keys off the table. He headed back into the kitchen for a moment, eyes widening a little as they noticed the oven. Shit...

As he turned the knob off and opened the door, Prussia coughed when the first thing that hit him was the smell. The blackened blob of what used to be a potato was smoking, but not actually on fire, so he figured it was okay to leave it for now. He left the oven door so it could air out.

With that disaster averted, Prussia strode to the nearest door leading outside, less urgency in his steps than a moment ago. With his hand on the doorknob, it struck him that he hadn't used this door in almost half a century. His back door, the one she always used to use. Fingers flexing a little, the door stuck a little as he forced it open.

After locking the top, Prussia was startled--he practically jumped out of his skin when he almost ran into a person sitting on the top porch step. He could only see the back of their head, but the long, wavy brown hair made his teeth clench. The person turned, emerald eyes searching his out.

She was the first to speak. "I didn't know if I should knock or not."

They stared at each other for one limitless, thick moment. Prussia tried to ignore the way his eyes automatically traveled over her body, taking her in, noting that despite everything, she hadn't changed a bit. She still managed to steal the breath from his lips.

Prussia grunted in response, teeth grinding as he took the steps two at a time, avoiding her eyes. Honestly, the nerve of this woman... His feet stomped with a bit more force than necessary, the grass crunching under his boots. He didn't need to look back to know that she wasn't following him.

His mind couldn't help but remember that she had been waiting for some sort of response from him, some invitation for her to come and see him (and West). Whatever her reasons, whether this was her husband's prohibition or not, she had waited for him to reply.

The road to town looked so tempting, it looked so much more peaceful to leave this whole ordeal behind, to leave her behind on his back porch steps. He could feel his fingernails digging into his palms, his foot tapping on the ground, as he looked back over his shoulder. Her head was tilted pointedly towards the ground, hair tumbling over her shoulders with her bangs covering her eyes. Her shoulders sagged.

Burgundy eyes closed, brows furrowing in frustration as he bit the inside of his cheek. He was too damn proud for this. In a voice that was especially harsh, he called back across the lawn to her, "You gonna come with me or not?"

~.~

(1) I'm terrible, I blame everything on the post man. But really, post men and women are awesome.

~.~

It is my new mission to reply to every review. So um... for the anonymous reviews that don't have emails, I'm just going to reply to that here C:

callista_rhian: I'm trying not to spoil anything, but I am a firm believer in happy endings C: Because really, if we can't even have happy endings in fiction, where's the hope for reality? And I love this pairing so much, I'm happy you do too. I do have a thing for unrequited love though -guilty smile- It makes for some amazingly heartbreaking writing. I will refrain for your sake though, and try not give in to the temptation of putting some in :D Thanks for the review XD I hope you like the update, I tried to get it out fast C:

Um, I won't be able to update for a little while. My aunt is going to take me away for a week, and I don't think I'll really have access to a computer D: But I will update as soon as I get back :D