Silence. In this place, it wasn't a good sign. Roderich roamed the halls of the large building in Vienna, waiting to hear the bickering of nations. It was a constant he was used to, from Antonio picking on Lovino, Gilbert getting into trouble with Mathias and Alfred, to the disagreements of politics; it was inevitable. Yet at the same time, things have slowed, changed slightly, which he wasn't sure if he was ok with or not.

He was quite fine with how things had been, his usual days drifting within each other, yet when the knowledge of the capitals came about, it set off a frenzy of questions and more in his head. It was hard to believe that the sweet American brunette they helped almost two years ago was now Paris and taming the flamboyant man. The same was for Lily, Amber, and Juliet. Four capitals and four little cities, well five after Francis announced the news. It was good, heartwarming to see them all have the lives most dreamed, yet he wasn't sure what he wanted anymore.

Laughter caught his ears as bickering followed behind. Curiosity got to the best of him as he rounded the corner, seeing the large room the women claimed as they spoke to one another.

"I'm telling you, you're absolutely crazy Brie." Juliet scolded the woman.

"Come now, I'm quite sane and it's not bad. Francis and I want a big family." Brie replied.

"A bit too soon my dear. Jacque is barely a year old and you're having another." Juliet let out as she pointed her finger at Lily and Amber, "Be like them and behave."

Laughter filled the room as Lily and Amber looked at one another just for Lily to sigh, "Behaving isn't really in our vocabulary."

"More like naked twister in the sheets." Amber joked having the room going harder.

Roderich sighed and shook his head at the women, letting them be as the world around them seemed to be with easy. Suddenly his legs faltered as something ran into him. Looking behind him he found the little blonde head of Liberty looking up at him.

"Libby, watch what you are doing." Amber chided her, "Say you're sorry to Mr. Roderich."

"I sorry." She said to him as her blue eyes have a sign of upset.

"It's alright little one." he replied petting her hair, "It was an accident. But pay attention, it might happen again if you don't."

"Ok, Mr. Roderich." the little girl flew past him and into her mother's arms.

"Roderich, you don't happen to see Alexei out there, do you?" Lily asked him.

Looking around, he saw the little boy hiding behind a pillar as Natalia pretended to look for him just to hear him squeal in delight as she grabbed him, "He's playing with Natalia."

"Oh good."

"Either she calmed down after you and Ivan married or she just sees a mini Ivan in Alexei." Brie laughed.

"It's a bit of both." was Lily's reply.

Roderich shook his head at the women as he made his way back to his office, the need to relieve his stress upon the piano growing deeper.

"Wait Roderich!" he heard one of them yell.

Turning around, he saw Brie making her way over to him, folding her arms as she stood before him, "Hey I want to talk to you quick."

"Sure, you know you don't have to ask. Oh, and congratulations by the way." he gave her a small smile.

"Oh merci. The bigger the better non?" she chuckled, "Anyway I was wondering, when did you see Eliza last?"

That was odd from her, "About a week or so ago. Genesis has us busy."

"I'm aware, Francis is barely out of his office anymore due to them." she nodded over the factor of the group, "I'm asking for, I don't know, she seems...different."

"Different?"

"Oui, not like the Eliza I remember when I came to France and had you two around. She seems to have distanced herself from everyone. I thought the war and such was the reason but the more I look at her, it seems that there is something else there."

Roderich was puzzled, he had spoken with Eliza when the Hungarian and Austrian military were trying to figure out a plan to guard the borders together and then she seemed fine. A little tired but fine.

"I thought it was me at first, but according to Vlad and a few others, she had grown apart from the normal things she does." Brie continued, "I don't know what it is but it's starting to worry me. If anyone could get to her better than me, it would be you. I'd ask the Beilschmidt's but both are in their own world of worry and Vash is as neutral as ever. Lili may be able to get somewhere but no one can do it like you. She trusts you Roderich."

He stood there in wonder of the woman, pondering on the facts that were laid before him. With a simple nod, he agreed, "I'll speak with Eliza in a moment. I'm heading to my office anyway."

"Danke Roddy."

"You know I only let you get away with that right? And De rein." He gave her a small grin.

"Très bien, and just like Alfred lets me call him Alfie." she said walking back to the girls.

"Brie?"

"Oui?"

He glanced down at her barely visible bump, "What are you hoping for?"

She glanced down, a motherly smile caressing her face, "We want a surprise this time, but something tells me it's a girl this time."

"Trying to outweigh the men in your home?"

"More like keep Francis worried when they are older." she smiled walking back to the room.

Once she was out of sight, he made his way to his office, wondering what was going on around him that he had somehow been blind to. Eliza had been acting strange? He hadn't noticed anything but it would've been hard to since Genesis decided to fully show themselves and make a war with them all, he was stuck in his office more and more and barely had a moment for himself. It worried him, Eliza wasn't one not to voice her opinion nor get herself involved with war issues. She was always vocal and ready to jump onto it, had been that way for as long as he could remember before she lived with him and Feliciano when he was small. But for her to be silent and reserved, was just uncalled for.

The familiar dark oak door came to view only for him to pause. He knew he closed it when he left it, so why was it open now? Pushing it open, he found it bare and untouched. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he looked over to the windows, there he saw the reason why. She was sitting there, staring blankly out at the world as the files of today's meeting sat at her feet.

"Eliza?"

Her green eyes met his as he finally saw what Brie was speaking of. She seemed hollow, distant, so far out of touch from everyone that if someone touched her just lightly she would crumble into nothing.

"Oh, sorry Roderich, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Eliza." he walked over to her, worry filling his mind, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing darling."

Darling? She rarely called him darling unless something was bothering her. By her side, he took her hand, brushing his thumb over her knuckles trying his best to have her look at him.

"Elizaveta, I have been with you for years that most cannot fathom. You are a dear friend, lover, and more. I know when you are hiding something and this is one of them. Bitte, tell me what's wrong."

A small smile creased her cheeks, "You know me well."

"That I do. And not just me are seeing you like this, so please Eliza."

A small sigh left her, "There's a lot on my mind Roderich."

He waited, his hand still with hers and it was there he noticed something off. The normal grip she would give him was no longer there, she just rested her hand in his, as if she was doing so to please him.

"If you think it's the war, that's far from truth. I'm thinking much farther than the war." she said to him, "There's just so many questions there that seems to have no answer for them no matter how I look at it."

"Then why not speak about-"

"And be looked down on? No." she interrupted, "I think it is something we both should be looking at."

Him too? About what?

"Have you...have...well, I just might as well say it, have you thought of your capital?"

That shocked him. She turned to look at him as he sat there dumbfounded, unsure of what to think or say at that moment. He really hadn't thought of a capital, someone dreaming or living the lives of the people of his nation.

"Your silence was always an answer Roderich." she gave a weak smile, her gaze turning back to the life outside, "I have. I have a feeling it is coming sooner than planned. That it's going to hit every nation alive."

"That is preposterous Eliza." he said shaking his head at her, "There isn't enough to prove that-"

"Ottawa has been believed to be found and Lien said she has found Hanoi and is waiting for his change to come. She has pulled herself away from any meetings coming until then. Even Monique seems to have found someone close to hers as well." Eliza explained, "You may think it's preposterous, but I believe it is coming faster than we planned."

Roderich wasn't sure what to say as her hand pulled free from his own, his mind tried to grasp on what was being said. Moving to the desk, he tried to focus on his thoughts, wondering what was hidden in her words.

"What are you saying Eliza?"

"What do you mean?"

He turned back to her, "You say that I am wrong. That capitals for us are coming faster than believed. Why are you saying that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, removing herself from the windowsill, "What happened with Brie was amazing, yes I would be the first to agree. It was strange and amazing that it happened. But when Lily and Amber and Juliet came to the picture things started to unwind from the normal life we had. Now more men and women are coming to surface, dreaming of historical people of nations and yet you seem not to see the picture at hand."

"We cannot be certain-"

"Of course we're certain!" she shouted at him, "Look around you. There are capitals coming in and cities being born. We cannot stop the inevitable no matter how we want to. Why do you seem to not get that? One day you and I will have-"

"There is no capital for me." he bluntly stated.

"You cannot be certain Roderich."

"I do not believe that there is one. The thought itself never crossed my mind."

"Now you are full of shit."

"That's not very lady-like."

"Fuck lady-like, you've seen me naked, there's nothing more lady there." the anger seeped out of her, "Vienna and Budapest will be here one day, so what then?"

His legs moved before he realized it and found himself barely and inch away from Elizaveta, "I will believe in a capital for either of us when I see it."

"Then you are living in denial Roderich." Eliza pressed by him as she made her way to the door, "I believe you should start thinking about it. Keeping your head up your ass will not change the facts."

Before he could say anymore, she left the office, her perfume lingering in the air as he stood there wondering what more would come at him from her and the others around them. Sighing in defeat, he went to the apartment grand piano to relieve the stress he felt. His fingers glided over the melodic keys as they began to play. He moved from piece to piece, Mozart to Beethoven and more as he let the rich tones and deep vibrations fill him as his mind came free with the music. His mind wandered on Eliza and her words to him, the knowledge of the capitals and the ones to be coming, the growing war that was developing outside the boarders and his own frustration with everything. He felt it flow out of him, wanting to just let it all leave him alone as a small knock came to his door.

"Eintreten." he said over the keys being played.

The door came open as the older woman came lightly in, taking in the piano's music he made. He never minded Hildegard, she was one of the sweeter women in the place that took her time to understand everything given to her and was decent company.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"I have a file for you Roderich." she replied.

"Leave the war stuff on my desk, I'll look at it in a moment." he said, never pausing.

"It's not the war it's about. It's the teacher from Hungary, and now your secretary thanks the president."

Roderich spun around so fast that his vision blurred momentarily. He did what? He left the piano as he took the file from the woman, glancing over it as the signature of the president stood brightly on the papers and the teacher in question.

"Delilah Szarka. What does she have?"

"From what I have pulled she is fluent in many languages, able to teach multiple courses and has one of the highest rankings in education. She graduated high school at sixteen and college not long after. She's smarter than most by the seems."

He read down the line of what the woman had as Eliza's words echoed in his head, "Well, I believe she will do."

"Well you don't have to be so cold to the girl, you haven't met her yet."

"I was not expecting a secretary to be honest. The teaching half I knew, not that. I like having things in an order and do not like when things are thrown out of proportion and out of my control. Of all people, Hildegard, you would know that best."

The old woman smiled, "Ja, and I am the last of my kind dear Austria."

He felt a tinge of pain hit his heart when she said that. He was one of the few nations that let a human know of what he was and have the bloodline follow them. He had met her great relative over two hundred years ago and since then, the first born in the family was introduced to him and took on the spot of being pretty much by his side through it all. He loved the company of the family yet Hildegard was all that was left, her sons passing in the wars and her only daughter succumbing to illness before her twentieth.

"You think too much Roderich." she said laying a hand upon his shoulder, "Give the girl a try, see how she is."

Looking back at her, he quickly saw the younger wildfire that she was as the blonde faded to white and bright blues lightly dull and once fair skin now marked and wrinkled. Taking her hand in his, he smiled at her, watching the once familiar pride and joy fill her face once more.

"All right, I'll give her a chance."