Denial
The door handle rattled and swung open slowly. China, who had been left behind to keep an eye on the 'safe room', whirled around in surprise to face whoever- or whatever- was entering the door. A small, dark figure entered slowly, carrying a much brighter, but limp and lifeless body in her arms.
"Shizuka! Japan!" China exclaimed, hurrying over to check on the two as they entered. "R… Rìběn…?" He saw the blood on Japan's white uniform and brought a hand to his mouth in surprise. "Is… is he…?"
Her cheeks were still wet, but she smiled happily at the Chinese man. "He's just asleep, Nii-san. Nihon fell asleep right by the white piano."
In his heart, China knew that Japan was dead, but hoping against all evidence, he reached over to check his pulse. "... No, sweetheart... He's dead… I'm so sorry..." He, himself, was having difficulty keeping his emotions in check. He couldn't let himself cry in front of her due to her own mental state.
Slowly and shakily, China placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"No, I fixed him. See? He's even smiling, China-nii." Her smile didn't falter in the slightest as she stared at him with her blue orbs.
And indeed, he was smiling as he lay in her arms. The only flaws with the scene were the bandages, the blood splatters on his face and clothes, and his absense of breath.
"... Indeed you did… aru..." he finally replied in a croak, averting his eyes. "Shizuka… why don't you sit down and relax while I help Japan clean up…? You must be tired, aru..."
But Shizuka took a quick step backwards, causing the hand on her shoulder to fall. She shook her head insistently, her eyes welling up with tears again. "I-iie… I don't want to leave him..."
China looked at her expression with sad, tired eyes. He stepped forward again and carefully moved some bangs from her face. "Darling… Japan isn't here, anymore. He'd dead."
"No! He's just asleep… He's just resting… He can't be dead! That just doesn't happen..." Shizuka had never, ever risen her voice to him, let alone anyone. This was not good.
"Aiyah..." China sighed, rubbing his temples in thought. "Dear, you're having an emotional breakdown. Calm down, aru."
She sobbed slightly, holding the body of Japan closer and softly nuzzling his greying, cold face. "But you'll take him away from me… I have to protect him..."
China lowered his head in defeat. "… I won't take him away from you. He looks so happy with you, so I can't… I just… I just can't…"
In response, Shizuka nodded happily with that familiar bright smile from before and walked past him, to the corner of the safe room, where she sat with Japan across her lap.
"Shizuka, aru… I'm going to tell Germany that you and Japan are… alright."
"Hai, China-nii!" came her almost childish, giddy reply.
And with that, China did as he said he would do, and walked out to Germany, who was guarding the hallway with his brother.
The completely defeated expression on China's face made the air around the Germans tense and thick.
"China? What's wrong?" Germany asked, an eyebrow lifting to emphasize his confusion.
But China said nothing as he lowered his solemn gaze to the floor, shuffling his feet nervously.
Prussia lifted his own eyebrow suspiciously, but also said nothing as he waited for the nation to answer.
After a few intakes of breath, China finally replied, "... Shizuka and Japan arrived, but..." He couldn't finish, and covered his face with his hands, softly crying into them.
"What? What happened to them?" Prussia's concerned voice rang through the entire hall, alerting the others who were scattered all along the second floor. This time, his impatience got the better of him, and he didn't wait for an answer. He stormed off back to where Shizuka and Japan were, and rushed inside. Only, once he entered the room, the scene inside was worse than he could have ever imagined.
Shizuka sat criss-cross on the floor in the corner of the room, cradling the body of Japan and singing to his mangled corpse. His whole white uniform was bloodied and torn, and makeshift bandages were wrapped around where he would have been bleeding the most. The soft smile on his face brought the only light to the pitiful and dismal picture. Japan had died happy. But the intense look in Prussia's eyes remained as he saw how truly far away his friends were. Japan was dead, and Shizuka had lost her sanity.
"Kasa shita sono te ni… tsutawaru shinku wa... osanai… kokoro wo… tsunagi tometeta," she gently sang, the song echoing throughout the room. The words pierced the Prussian's mind and soul. He winced noticeably as he thought over the lyrics. He didn't know enough Japanese to be fluent in it like she was, but because of Shizuka's previous lessons, he knew what the song meant.
"Shizuka? Can you hear me?" he asked, cautiously approaching the rocking, hunched-over figure.
Shizuka had changed her song to what would have been a more airy tune, but even in her madness, she could make it sound as such.
"Marukaite chikyuu. Marukaite chikyuu. Marukaite chikyuu. Watashi wa Shizuka. Aa, hitofude de mieru subarashii sekai. Nagagutsu de kanpai da. Hetalia..." Finally, her head lifted slowly, and she stared straight at the albino nation. She grinned at him kindly, but her eyes were clouded over. Then, with one hand now freed, she lifted it and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh… Nihon is sleeping."
I'm uploading another Hetaoni drabble before I head off to bed. This is the scene following when Japan dies in the first loop.
I do not own Hetalia, Hetaoni, or any of the characters associated with the two. Shizuka is my overused OC.
~ Draw Me An Eclipse
Thank you for reading!
