This is our last Chapter with January! Up next is Febby ~
haha
The 31st. January's last day with Deireadh.
The last days were always the most difficult, characterized by a whirl of goodbyes. She hated them. She couldn't think of a month that didn't.
In spite of herself, January chuckled; February was the only one who hated his first day as well because he had to ask the year its name. Though February didn't generally spend as much time on Earth as the rest of his siblings, spending time with his apparent 'best friend' France always made him feel somewhat happier with the situation, social misunderstandings aside.
But now was not the time to be thinking of February's nuances. January shook her head to clear her thoughts, replacing them with a contemplation of; at least I get to see how Lavendel has grown up soon.
Her change of heart was soon replaced with a sigh. She had no idea what she was going to tell Deireadh. He looked about 10 now and out of all the years she had ever mentored, he clung to her the most. She couldn't remember a year that had been so clingy, always asking her to hold her hand or watch a movie, and every time she attempted to bring up the subject of her leaving at the end of the thirty-one days, she couldn't bring herself to do so.
Perhaps foolishly, she kept waiting and putting it off, but now was her last day on Earth for the year and it couldn't be helped. She looked down at Deireadh's sleeping form, his body curled at her side, before she tore her eyes away to glance up at the clock on the west wall.
Only 30 minutes left before the whole world is in the month February.
January sighed again, more audibly this time, before deciding perhaps now would be a good time to break her news. The only time she would have. Tentatively reaching over, she shook Deireadh lightly and said, voice soft, "Hey sweetheart, why don't you get up and go to bed?"
After a few moments of wakening, Deireadh yawned and rubbed his eyes. "But Jan; I wasn't sleeping! I swear! And I don't know what room to go in anyway; Prussia and Germany didn't tell me where to go."
"Do you want me to get Germany?"
Deireadh nodded and yawned again. "Yes please."
January smiled and ruffled his hair, the thought that In Germany it's already February striking her as he offered her a coy smile. That thought registered in more than just a mental way - she felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her. Turning to grab her watch from the coffee table, she left Deireadh sitting on the couch, watching the glowing TV through sleepy eyes, to find Germany, who was probably asleep at the moment himself.
His room wasn't difficult to find; the door was cleaner than Prussia's, well-kept, even moreso than the door to the manor's guest bedrooms. Without allowing herself any time for heistation, January walked to Germany's door and slowly prised it open.
"Hey, Germany, where should we put Deireadh tonight?"
When her query was met with silence, she took in her surroundings and frowned when she saw nobody in the room at all. January looked to her watch habitually; only 20 minutes left…
"Aha!"
The cry hang in the air as a figure emerged from the shadows, hands clamping onto January's shoulders without warning - it naturally scared the crap out of January. She angrily turned around to face whoever it was that had dared leap out at her, and to her further annoyance she noticed it was Prussia. "Did you really have to do that?"
Prussia smirked, "Of course I did. I'm too awesome not to take advantage of such a great opportunity!"
January rolled her eyes, shutting the door to Germany's room behind her. "Whatever, Prussia. Do you know where your brother is?"
"Nope; not at all." There was a moment of silence, and then Prussia glanced at the room containing 2012, dropping his voice down to a whisper. "Did you tell him yet?"
January quickly looked at her watch again, for confirmation. 15 minutes.
"N-No, I don't know how to. I mean, how can I possibly tell Deireadh that today was my last with him? I just can't seem to bring myself to crush his spirits. It's nothing like the other times…"
Prussia sighed. "You'll have to do it soon. It isn't all that nice of you to lead him to think that you'll stay forever."
January glanced at her watch again. 13 minutes. "Since when are you helpful?"
"I'm always helpful." Prussia scoffed. "And stop looking at that watch every two seconds. It's starting to get really annoying. Look, no matter what time it is, you're still going to leave."
Silence took hold once more; January didn't respond to Prussia and Prussia didn't say anything further. They just stood there staring at each other, until Deireadh came walking up to them with his dragon flying behind him.
"Uh, January?" he said, speech emphasized with a yawn. "I'm getting really tired."
January quickly went over to him, passing Prussia to kneel before the young year in her custody. "Tired, hm? Well, I am too." January looked down at her watch again. Only 5 minutes? When did that happen? "Look Deireadh, before you go to sleep there is something very-"
"January!" Germany said, finally appearing from around the corner. "I thought you would've been gone by now."
Deireadh gave January a panicked look. "We're leaving? I thought you said that you were feeling sick, how can we leave if you're sick?"
Irritated by the interruption, January glared at Germany for his mistake. He exchanged a look of confusion with Prussia, met by a grin.
"I, uh…" She took a moment to gather herself and continued, "Listen, Deireadh, I'm leaving very soon." She again looked at her watch. "In fact, I've only got two minutes left before I go back home."
Deireadh's dragon, picking up on his owner's distressed mood, started hissing. Deireadh himself started to tear up. "With me right? I've never done anything bad to you that would make you want to leave me, right?"
Reaching out gingerly, January pulled the boy into what she hoped was an embrace of comfort. "No, no, you've been a good boy. It's me, not you; I have no choice in the matter, I have to leave. February is nice; he'll take good care of you. Well, until March comes."
Deireadh shook his head and started to cry. "But you were supposed to stay forever! Just you and me. Meeting this world's countries and watching movies together. It was how I thought it worked."
January wiped a tear from Deireadh's cheek. "Hey, you'll see me again in a year, okay? I'm not going away forever. You will see me again, that's my promise to you."
"But I don't want to wait January! I don't want you to go."
Another check of the watched confirmed a rising fear. Only 30 seconds…
"Deireadh, I'm going to leave and when I do someone called February will come to take care of you next. Count your blessings, Deireadh, for you have an extra day on this world." January stood up. "I'm going to go now. I only have around 15 or so seconds left this time 'round. Please be good for February, he's kinda clueless with kids sometimes."
And with that, January started to fade away, her expression one of remorse, or melancholy - Deireadh grabbed for her, but only received thin air for his troubles. His dragon wrapped his tail around Deireadh's neck in an attempt to comfort him.
Both Prussia and Germany knelt down by the small boy, who was now crying harder than before - neither of them really knew how to address the issue, but they didn't think it right to leave him. They stayed by his side, somewhat uncomfortably, until a youthful blond-haired man appeared in the hallway, materializing as quickly as January had disappeared.
"Are you 2012?"
Deireadh nodded slowly.
"Good! Well, my name's February, and I'm going to be taking care of you for 29 days."
