VII: Elsewhere

Romania purposely bumped Hungary's shoulder with his own, aggravating her for a moment before taking his unconscious friend's arm and shooting Turkey and Prussia a revolted look.

"Well, Romania," the Prussian started. "I could have just left him on the ground squirming after Turkey knocked him out."

"Certainly, you could've," Romania said, tainting every word with derision. "You had that option and I swear you've done it before." He carried his friend towards an exit and gave Hungary a burning glare.

"You're welcome," she spat. Hungary did not wish to make amends with him at all, not even for the night's celebration.

With a flash of his sharpened tooth Romania leered at her. "I'm not grateful for what any of you have done," he mumbled, intending his words to bite the Nations around him.

At this, Hungary blazed with detestation, Turkey lowered his shoulders and frowned, Prussia stiffly brushed back his hair as if he did not hear anything, and Ukraine gripped Hungary's sleeve even harder, this time sobbing quietly. No one said anything as Romania carried away his drunken companion out of the room.

Hungary flinched back. What made him say that? We've allied before and things are over with, but - a sudden memory stopped her thoughts, making her ache inside.

Without warning there was a rush of frustration severely tempting her to run up to the Nation, bruise him with a tough, iron frying pan, and fist punch him for good measure until he hits the ground. She would yell at him the harshest crude language she could muster. Her friends could see it. Her body was tensed, her heart pounded and she was ready to attack. Although, her favourite frying pan was not with her that evening, she would steal one from the kitchen. She was about to trudge forward to do her worst when Belarus came into view.

The music had already been turned down and it felt like the dance party ended many hours ago. Belarus informed them that some Nations were leaving the party early. They joined her in the lobby, Ukraine fully recovered from the mess and Turkey reunited with Greece and Egypt. Meanwhile, Prussia and Hungary lagged behind.

The Hungarian was still lost in thought from the earlier events. Prussia tried cheering her up by summoning his pet Gilbird. The canary appeared, flying from a perch on the vaulted ceiling, to the Prussian's shoulder.

Prussia lit at the sight of his little friend. "Gilbird!" Petting the yellow bird, the Nation chuckled, "You had beer earlier, didn't you?" Ruffling a few feathers, the bird chirped at him happily and perched on his head, making a nest out of his hair like always.

Hungary smiled at him. Like always…

Snapping out of her reverie, her eyes brightened at a sudden reminder. She had almost forgotten someone! Taking Prussia's arm, Hungary hurriedly led him upstairs – the canary still comfortably nestled on the Prussian's head as the two Nations made haste through the corridors.

Like a hawk surveying the land on the upperfloor's loft, Switzerland watched the Nations gather at the lobby. One by one, familiar company showed up. Japan, Germany and Italy emerged and started to bid each other farewell. China and the other Asian countries came out of their hall, exhausted from the night's festivities. They hugged and gave each other goodbyes as drivers called them for their scheduled rides home. America, followed by his brother, Canada, left the ballroom to also bid farewell and good luck to the Nations leaving early.

Switzerland looked out the nearest window to watch the countries pile into bus after bus, limousine after limousine. Reluctant Japan, China and Hong Kong lingered around a little longer to say a few parting words to Russia and Germany.

The Swiss searched for France and England and he found the two of them drunk and waving their farewells from across the driveway. He spotted Belgium and his adopted sibling Liechtenstein among the crowd. He found Netherlands and Denmark hurrying down the stairs and joining a gathering of Nordics and Baltic Nations.

Out of the blue Switzerland's attention diverted to a ruckus down the hall. He saw Hungary and Prussia heading to the piano room. Prussia greeted him with a wink as they shot past and he gave them a nod in response before they disappeared around the corner.

They are up to something like always, he thought before turning his gaze back to the lobby.

The Nations were embracing each other. None of them could predict who would survive the End. None of them wanted to leave each other's company. It was miserable thought after miserable thought until it grew rather depressing all over again. It had always been difficult to part ways with good friends, especially when in the next few days life would be changing; the world would be tested. It was hard to swallow the fact that life would be changing for the worst, and everyone could imagine the mixed emotions they were all feeling.

"… we will suffer something more momentous than any of our past tribulations..."

The Words from the day's event were embedded in every one of them, and Switzerland was reminded once more. He could see long lasting smiles being exchanged and unforgettable moments being made: Lithuania joking around with Belarus; Russia shaking hands with Sweden and Finland; America laughing with Egypt; Britain and Australia pestering Sealand and Hong Kong; Seychelles hugging France; Canada being tackled by Netherlands; Portugal embracing Brazil; Italy, Mexico and Spain tickling an enraged Romano…He even saw Romania shaking hands with Poland and Turkey who wrestled with him right after.

So many countries together… Switzerland almost turned away from the scene of goodbyes. It was beginning to feel very emotional. The speech re-echoed.

"…do not trouble yourselves with grim mentalities…"

"Until another day, we will meet again!" America's voice bellowed, as the first few buses and limos pulled away with waving hands and peering faces.

Switzerland heard the American loud and clear from his perch, the words rung in him until he could no longer stand the loneliness on the loft.

He hurried downstairs and joined the few remaining Nations. They watched the line of their friends in vehicles, driving out the gate and on the long road stretched out before them…

The song he was playing was empty and hollow.

"Austria, darling?" Hungary approached him cautiously.

Prussia stood by, reluctant to disturb them. Austria was playing the piano with only his right hand, his fingers moving like a rusty robotic machine. The man's head was low, his eyes closed and his dark hair fell forward shadowing his face. He played a song so slow that it felt like his sadness was speaking through the instrument. There was a boxy object he held on his left hand, his fingers curled around the item like it was a fragile ornament, too gentle to grip tightly. Ignoring it for the time being, Hungary sat by his left and rested against his shoulder, her right arm around the man she had once married, her lips whispering comforting words to his ear.

"Geez, has this guy been in here the whole night playing the piano?" Prussia finally interrupted. "What happened to the party-organizing-mode, Speckles? I mean seriously! You can see cobwebs forming around him! Someone should dust you."

The Prussian strode over to the nearest shelf and found a duster. His yellow bird left him and perched on the piano, disinterested.

"Earth to Austria and Hungary?" asked the bored German teasingly. "Anybody in there? Yoohoo?" He started waving the duster around the couple, purposely bothering their privacy with dirt and dust.

Hungary scolded her friend and tugged the duster from Prussia. He resisted.

"Fool, give it to me and I'll dust your face off!" Hungary yelled, fighting for the duster. "Don't make me take out my frying pan!"

Prussia prepared a reply for this. "What frying pan? You're defenceless without it, stupid girl-boy!"

They lunged at each other, bumping against the Austrian in the middle. By accident Austria's glasses were knocked off his nose, stunning Hungary and Prussia. Stuck in the center of it all, the aristocrat was showered with filthy dust, eyes blinking wonderingly up at them. Prussia and Hungary remained frozen expecting him to get up and walk off or even explode with unimaginable fury. But to their surprise Austria simply fixed his glasses, waved off the dust and started laughing light heartedly. Hungary let go of Prussia, as Austria's chortling ended.

Hungary looked at him with concern. "Roderich?"

"I am completely fine, my dear," he said, clearing his throat and brushing away the dust from his hair and suit. "I just needed a bit of 'dusting off'." Austria shoved the mysterious box in his left pocket, and then turned to his puzzled companions.

"So…what now?" he asked timidly. "Has my well-organized party ended?"

Prussia tilted his head, disgruntled.

"Don't look at me like that Prussia," Austria further explained. "I had my fair share of the entertainment. See, I was downstairs during lunch and dinner earlier, greeting everyone. I danced with Hungary for a slow song but they didn't play the waltz so I just wandered up here, played some songs and I've been thinking… just thinking about my projects at hand…"

Hungary gently fixed the Austrian's collar. "Silly Austria, I missed you downstairs."

"Yeah," Prussia interjected. "You didn't see her dancing with Turkey!"

Austria's eyes widened at Hungary.

Prussia grinned, barely containing his amusement. "Should I also mention the belly dancing part? AHAHA!"

Hungary blushed then gave a mischievous wink. "He couldn't keep up with my moves."

Austria smiled at her. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, my dear," he said, while their albino friend squeezed next to him and started mocking a song on the piano.

For a while they just sat in front of the splendid instrument. Hungary escaped in the moment; the Austrian letting her lean on his shoulder and the Prussian making erratic notes on the keys –still annoying as usual. Soon after Prussia gave up playing with the instrument, Austria flexed his fingers and prepared for a proper song.

A knock on the door suddenly snapped the three of them to reality. They turned to see Switzerland standing there. "Everyone is ready to leave for the night – well – morning," Switzerland stuttered bluntly, eyes not meeting the Austrian's, "–sorry, I meant, dawn. I'll wait for you three at the front."

"Give these two a few minutes, Vash!" Prussia acknowledged. He glanced back to Hungary then Austria. "Don't make me and West wait!" With that, the Prussian strode past Switzerland and headed down the corridor, his pet bird fluttered up to his hair to nest again.

Hungary waited for Switzerland to join Prussia downstairs but the Alpine remained by the open door, just standing there a little longer until he finally lifted his face to his old friend. Austria jumped from his seat and strode up to Switzerland. They faced each other for a moment with no words to express. An awkward smile appearing in both faces, Switzerland extended a hand to him and Austria shook it firmly.

Hungary rolled her eyes then marched up to Austria and – with every etiquette principle thrown out the window – she gingerly pushed Austria to the Alpine. Startled, Switzerland was smothered in the Austrian's hug. Hungary joined in and the old friends freed themselves from thoughts of the past. They closed their eyes and Hungary could feel them tremble. Deep down she felt like shedding tears amidst the warmth of these two, but a smile formed across her face instead.

When they pulled away from each other, Switzerland stiffly nodded and headed downstairs, leaving the two Nations to themselves for a while.

Hungary stood there blankly staring at the door, until Austria took her hand and led her back to the piano. He was keeping something from her, she could sense it.

"I want to play a song, Elizaveta," he said giving her a questioning look. "But for once, I want something entirely different. Something I haven't played before…"

Writer's Ramble

It will be explained in the future why Romania's behaving like a...that. I've been making them interact like cat and dog, ya'know?

I rechecked the fifth Chapter and I forgot to say something about that key event. When Romania found the fancy badge he was reminded of Transylvania and the date 1919.

During that time there was a Romanian revolt against the Magyars over Transylvania. Then you have the 1940 to 1944 conflict with Hungarians against Romanians all over Transylvania etc...I don't want to go in depth because I would start writing an essay but that's a general overview...

Transylvania is a hot topic between them. A hot spot. AHAHA Yeah.

Final chapter next!

Thanks to: Marcy and Turtle-tamer(tumblr)