Date: The day after the last entry

I didn't sleep well last night. Roderich didn't sleep well either.

But, as I said…I'll give you the details of what happened. It's not pretty though.

It started about a year ago. I'd snuck into a World Meeting. I got caught, but was allowed to stay as long as I didn't destroy anything. That was easy enough I guess, if it hadn't been for that LOOK Ivan was giving me. The fucker.

Anyway, this meeting changed it all. Alfred was talking about being a hero like always when his phone went off. A few seconds later, so did Yao's, Kiku's, Arthur's and West's. All with the same message. Something had gone wrong. They all paled and the meeting was called off. I was just as confused as everyone else. What went wrong? West wouldn't answer as we left and headed back to Berlin. He didn't stay long before he left for some lab place I'd never even heard of.

It's funny, my first thought was World War II, and I was scared West was at it again.

Then a week later, West came back, looking exhausted. All he did was greet me and then went to his room. Awesome me was worried, and this was when I felt my "awesome" turning into something else.

Fear.

Yes, I was scared. West never looked like that except during the Second World War.

I didn't see West for a few days after that. And when he came out, he turned on the news of all things. He was looking for something to pop up, but nothing did.

For the next month, things seemed to get back to normal. West got sleep again, tolerated Ita-chan when he was being spacey. And he gave him that look of love when he was being sweet, or sleeping. I was happy. Things were normal, but part of me was still worried. Like, the calm before the storm ya know? Then, it shattered in no time. West turned on the news, and what was headlining? Something about a mysterious disease infecting thousands of people in America and Canada… and there was nothing to stop it.

West paled and stood up quickly, waking up Ita-chan. I could tell then things were going to get very bad. And, as always, awesome me was right.

It took a month. One month to have most of North and South America sick, and it had spread to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, almost all of Africa. Everyday more and more people were getting sick and the death toll was rising quickly. The experts said they were trying to find a cure. No one in governments said that the sickness came from a lab.

Why the fuck where they making that anyway! West has said it was because the leading scientists had said something like that could break out. Guess no one figured it would leave the lab.

Anyway, people were panicking. All you had to do was sneeze and suddenly no one went near you.

I guess I should say what happened to people when they got sick. How it progressed and all that shit.

First, it started out like the flu, so most people never went to the doctor. Then it developed into some cough that was very similar to one you'd have with Bronchitis. Except, it was phlegm filled. After that, it acted like radiation. People couldn't keep food down, lost hair…sometimes even their nails. Then came the blood. It was thick when coughed up. And it couldn't be stopped. Cough it up, or vomit it up, but it didn't stop. By then, you were as good as dead. At first, it was slow to progress. It took three weeks.

Three weeks.

After two months, it took one week. One week of misery, knowing you may not wake up the next morning.

Bodies were buried at first. But then morticians were getting sick just from getting the body ready. Even with gloves and masks on.
That's when the burning started. They couldn't be buried, so they were burned.

Oh, the smell is horrible. Think of the worst thing you've ever smelled, multiply it by infinity and even then it doesn't give you a true image of how bad it smells. And trust me, after all my years, you don't get used to the smell.

Hundreds turned into thousands turned into millions, which eventually turned into a few billion. In less than a year, the world's population was cut in half.

Our countries died slowly with their people. It was long and involved. Messy too.

Let me tell you, it was horrible to watch a country wither away to nothing. Like Denmark. His was slow. First it was his skin paling to rival mine. Except mine's healthy, his wasn't. Then his eyes lost their spark. He had no energy. Over half his people had died, and he felt every one of them. But humans being humans, they reacted in fear and toppled the government. Blaming them for doing nothing. In a few short days, there were few people left in Denmark. His government was dismantled, anarchy ruled, and he died. All in just a few days.

Hell, I'm tearing up as I write this.

He didn't deserve this. Not even Russia would deserve this.

West and the others are all still recovering. I got lucky. Not being a real country, I didn't get as sick as the others. I'm helping run Germany now while West gets completely better.

There were times I thought he would die. I thought Hungary would die…Thought the same about Italy. And Roderich too.

I'd never been so scared to lose people so much.

After looking this over, I know it's everywhere…but it's still hard to wrap my brain around it.

So much death and sadness. Smiles are forced by everyone these days. Even with vaccines for everyone in case it comes back. It's time to rebuild though. We lost many engineers and teachers, politicians, many people who made those technologies. The doctors and surgeons. All will have to be retrained. It's going to take a lot of work.

Now that I have all that over with, I should say how the day went.

I already said Roderich and I didn't sleep well. I guess we both still can't push the darkness from our dreams…though we've both gotten better since one of us has stayed with the other every night. Normally we're in my room though.

Anyway, West walked from his room to the kitchen to the living room and back to his room today. He didn't throw up anything he ate today. That's an entire week, so he should quickly become more healthy. Ita-chan is here to help. So things are going okay.
Roderich played the piano for the first time since he got sick three months ago. He's quickly on the mend though as his people are doing well now. It was nice to hear music, even if it was somber.
We didn't go to any burnings today. Well, there are some funerals now, like with the Nation Avatars, as they aren't contagious.

Tomorrow there will be a meeting here with European countries in attendance. Kiku, Yao, Alfred and Mattie with be talking via webcam. They don't wish to travel, and getting across the ocean will be a little harder until more people can be trained.

Hell, this is going to be a long recovery.

Russia will be here tomorrow with the others. He's too weak right now to do anything, so I'm not too worried. Something tells me though, something else is going to happen soon. Something bad. I'm going to ignore it though. I think it's just from being tired.

I don't know if I'll write every day or not, but I'll try.

I'm going to tell Roderich that I'm going to bed and he can join me later if he wants to.

Yeah, don't forget to look for the videos. I think I'll put them in with the journals as they get completed.

Awesomely, Gilbert

A/N: So, chapter two. Just explaining things really. Sadly, I've gotten no reviews ;~; I like them, those tell me what people think.

Thanks to those who have put this on alert. I hope when this is over and done with, you'll have enjoyed reading it as much as I have already started enjoying writing it.

Next chapter will be a "video" so, expect third person and whatno