When We Left

Romania softly petted Latvia's hair as he slept. It was no surprise to her that he slept like he hadn't for weeks; the night before had been tiring. She sighed quietly, gently running her fingers through his hair one last time. She stood up, left the room he slept in, and shut the door. She wandered outside, into the snow covered landscape. The snow resembled a blank sheet of paper; unmarred by any marks or footsteps. It had snowed again, then.

"Thank Dumnezeu," she said in a wondering voice. Her voice was swallowed by the snow, and, as silence returned, she sat down gratefully in the snow. She stayed out in the snow for quite a while, the cold not getting to her in the slightest.

A while later, Latvia wandered out, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Morning, unul mic. Slept well?"

"Y-yeah… I'm still tired, Rumānija…" he yawned, sitting by her. "Aren't you?"

"Tired? Nu, not really."

"How come?"

"I'm just not. That's sort of just how things work sometimes."

Latvia nodded and leaned against Romania. He sighed quietly, still sleepy. She smiled, a soft smile. He fell asleep shortly after, then he began to shiver. Romania picked up the small boy; he was almost weightless.

"Oh? Roumanie?" France seemed to be out on a walk.

"H-huh? Oh! S-salut, Franta. Um…if you'd like to talk, you can come in…" Romania smiled and carried Latvia in. She placed him down on the couch and covered him with a thick blanket. He mumbled something, turned in his sleep, and curled up unconsciously.

"Oh no, it's ok," France said, rubbing his arms slightly.

"You must be freezing, Franta. It's cold outside."

"Not really… Brr…"

"Liar. Come on. Just for a bit," she laughed quietly as he rubbed his arms further and finally admitted defeat and came in. Romania poured him a cup of hot chocolate and slid it over to him.

"M-merci," France said, shivering slightly. He sipped it, smiling as it warmed him slightly.

"Sorry… It's so cold here. But you really should be wearing some kind of jacket." She looked away from France though, as if desperate to hide her eyes.

"Roumanie? Is something wrong, belle?"

"H-huh? N-nu… Just…" she smiled. "Tired, is all." She still didn't meet his eyes.

"Alright, belle. This is lovely, by the way," he indicated the cup of hot chocolate.

"It's super easy to make," she sipped her own, keeping her eyes firmly on the cup.

"Roumanie," France placed the cup down, missing the warmth on his hand. He gently tipped the other's face up to his, worried. "You're sure nothing's wrong?"

"D-Da… I just…haven't been sleeping… That's all." Romania averted her eyes. France still caught the difference.

Her eyes, instead of their normal purple were silver tinted with red.

"Alright, belle… If you say so…" he knew not to pry. Last time he'd pried, he's gotten hit rather hard.

She smiled, a tired smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Da… So what brings you out this far? The only other person this far out is Hungary… Or Moldova. And if you keep going you could see Russia… I can't imagine why you're this far out..?" she was interested, sipping her hot chocolate contemplatively.

"Err… I was just wandering…"

"Wandering… Well… Are you lost?" Romania laughed quietly, knowing that for him to have wandered this far, he was either very bored or slightly drunk.

"Um….oui…"

"Well… If you don't have anything to do, we can play chess…"

"Oh~? But I will beat you, mon ami."

"Yeah… You can dream, Francis," Romania smiled. "Come on. The board's out on the porch."

She led him out, to a combination art studio, arboretum , and living room. A glass chessboard with carved mahogany and oak figures stood between two couches.

"Light or dark?" Romania asked, gesturing to the board.

"I'll take light, mon ami," France responded, sitting on the oak's side of the board.

"Well… Begin then~," she smiled, sitting down across from him.

He moved a pawn forward two spaces and Romania slid one of her pawns forward to match his. They went on like that for the whole set of eight pawns, until France made the first jump. Romania took that pawn with a knight. She smiled and leaned back, waiting for his move. He took her knight with a bishop, she took the bishop with her queen.

"Ah… Not smart, mon ami," he said, placing a rook forward. "Check."

Romania smiled cryptically, moving a bishop in front of her king. France took the bishop as expected, leaving the path to his king wide open. She took the opportunity, sliding her queen up in front of his king. "Checkmate," she said, flicking his king over with one finger.

"What? Ah so it is… How'd you win that fast…?"

"Ivan and I used to play against each other… It took me nearly a year to beat him."

"Hm. Well," France stood his king back up. "I say… The king is not dead yet."

She grinned wolfishly. "Your move."

They played for at least three hours. When they stopped, France had won once out of seven games. The sun had set and darkness had taken over, small stars twinkling high overhead along with the full moon.

"Nice night for ice skating…" Romania said quietly, to herself almost. "Do you skate?"

"Huh? Oh, non, non."

"Oh… You don't? That's no fun…"

"Non, but if you want to… Maybe… Would you be fine if I watched you?"

"Oh sure… That would be fun~!" Romania stood up, walked over to the frosted glass door, picked up a pair of skates, and pushed the door open. A freezing gust of wind blew in and she shut the door again. "I need my scarf…" she picked up a long, grey blue scarf, wrapping it around her throat. "You can use one too… This is the only one I like…"

"Merci, mon ami~," France picked up a light blue one and followed Romania out to a small lake with a thin bridge over it. She sat down by the bank and tugged her skates on, skating onto the lake easily. She quietly hummed as she skated; it was a way to clear her head. A harsh laugh startled her, nearly making her fall onto the ice.

"Zdravím ~ Rumunska~," Czech giggled, sipping from a half-empty bottle of slivovitz.

"Salut… Czech…" Romania skidded to a stop, showering the other girl with sparkling ice.

"Oh lovely… Now I sparkle…" a Cheshire grin played across Czech's face. "Maybe I won't tell you what happened~." Her grin widened as she stood, giggled maniacally, and ran off.

"Oh no… What did she do…?" Romania worriedly began to skate again, stopping she saw tinges of red in the snow. She followed the tinges, stopping briefly to take her skates off, ending up right near the underneath of the bridge.

"Oh Dumnezeu… Czech… What did you do…?" she wondered aloud, before seeing a familiar blond man. "Huh…? Slovakia…?"

Aforementioned man stirred slightly and opened his eyes. Through the haze of blood seeping from a wound in his forehead and covering his eyes, he could only see a faint outline of a woman. "Ah! I-I'm sorry…" he stammered out, covering his stomach and face in fear.

"S-Slovakia… It's me… Romania…?"

"O-Oh… I thought you were…were…"

"You thought I was Czech. It's ok," Romania gently tugged her friend up off the ground, more supporting him than anything else. "C'mon, Slovakia."

"N-no… I'm fine… R-Really… Don't…don't bother yourself wi-with me…"

"Milos, you're my friend. I'm going to bother myself with you. Deal with it."

(A/N) Hi hi hi! I'm sorry I've been incognito for soooo long! School picked up, but winter break is coming soon so I'll update more! Sorry! R&R please~