-cries- Writing this chapter broke my heart. xD
-.- I don't know why I always make PruHunAus chapters so freaking long... I doubt anyone reads them anyways, lool.
The recurring wet dream Elizaveta had been having for the past few nights was finally realized. Small butterfly kisses crept down her cheek, neck, and shoulders. Eventually, a sharp tongue, both in texture and speech, tickled the ugly scar that ran along her back.
It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and Gilbert and Elizaveta were sitting on the lawn in the outskirts of Holy Rome's property. Their clothes laid aside in a pile, with a bulwark of tulips granting them modesty. Elizaveta took a deep breath, and rested her back against Gilbert's chest.
Kudos to their attempt at reviving the paradise they had abandoned and burnt, so long ago. But, this was just a cruel mockery of it. Gilbert grasped a round red apple that fell from a tree and coincidentally rolled beside them. He held it to the other's lips, urging her to take a bite, which she did, reluctantly.
"How does it taste?"
"Like an apple."
Elizaveta regretted how she had let Gilbert to walk around in the mansion in broad daylight and accidentally scaring little Italy. Not to mention, they were now laying nude under the sun, basking in the afterglow of the sex they just had.
Not much progress had been made so far. But, she knew what must be done today, if only should could muster up the mental strength to do it.
Elizaveta had spent many tear-filled days and sleepless nights, trying to gather the right words to say to Gilbert the next time they met. For weeks, she had been rehearsing in front of her mirror, putting words together and taking them apart, so that when the time did come, she could say it clearly without slipping, or breaking into tears.
Hungary was rather quiet today, and it was starting to worry Prussia. She didn't stop him, and instead closed her eyes in acceptance as he did what must be done. But, she didn't seem to enjoy it as much as he had expected her to. Prussia frowned; he wondered what had gotten into her today. Her lips stayed shut until he physically pried them open with his tongue. Her body laid still like a corpse when he rammed into her, and almost made Prussia feel like a rapist.
Prussia chuckled into her ear, "What's gotten into you today, Liz?"
He turned her shoulders to make her face him. But, her answer to his question was still silence.
Prussia bent down and captured her lips into a kiss, and another, and another. But soon, he gave up because it felt as if he was kissing thin air. He sighed, and pressed their foreheads together. In conviction, he took her hands, which were as cold as ice.
Hungary closed her eyes— How she wished this moment would last forever... She leaned her lips closer to his. Prussia stared wide-eyed, surprised that she was finally responding. But, she broke apart just as quickly.
"We can't be together anymore, Gilbert." Those words slipped out on their own, so naturally, smoothly, casually.
I'm sorry, Gil. So, so, so sorry...
Her heart was breaking, but she never let it show. She had already played pretend for this long, and just a little more wouldn't hurt that much.
I will never love another person, Gil. I promise.
Prussia stumbled back, his bottom slammed onto the grass. "W-what the fuck did you say, Liz?" He stuttered, his eyes mirroring utter shock.
"I don't love you anymore," she barely whispered again.
Prussia, for a few seconds, stood frozen like a statue, as the words, those poisonous words etched into his consciousness. It took even longer for his mind to truly fathom them, and to muster a response.
"You are lying." Prussia stated dully.
Hungary flinched Yes. Yes I am... How she hated that he could read her like a book!
Pursing her lips, she stayed silent.
A few agonizing seconds had passed until she heard Prussia's voice again.
"You can't not love me!" He cried, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them. Hungary squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shield herself as his gaze, like molten daggers, stabbed into her. "After all I have done for you, after all we have been through! You can't not love me, Liz!"
Hungary bit her lip, as Prussia screamed at her, throwing bloody curse after bloody curse. She knew that he didn't mean what he said. But, she knew that she deserved every name he called.
"Liz..." Suddenly, Prussia's voice had become achingly soft. "Liz, I didn't care that you moved in with Roddy, nor that you couldn't bring yourself to rely on me for help." For the first time, Hungary saw that Prussia was crying. Hot tears, one by one, dripped down his chin and onto the back of her palm. "I was fine with seeing you only every once in awhile, as long as I knew that you loved me... And yet—"
He buried his face into his hands and jerked his away from her. Prussia would die before letting Hungary see him like this. All Hungary could hear were racking, choking sobs.
"What have I done wrong to deserve this, Liz? I loved you... Loved you!"
Voices in her head were screaming for her to scoop him into her arms, and desperately mutter all of the apologies that she had forced to be left unsaid. But, as the heartless woman that Elizaveta was, she stayed silent. Though, she could not for the life of her, keep the single tear from running down her otherwise blank face.
When the voices became too much, she decided to give in. She was just about to lean over to Prussia's crouching nude figure, when a new voice cut in—
"Seize him."
Hungary turned and saw Austria standing behind them, his face looked calm and collected as ever. He stood as still as a tree, and his eyes held an unreadable, eerily blank gaze. Hungary shrieked and arbitrarily grabbed an article of clothing from the pile, which just so happened to be Prussia's jacket. She was preoccupied with keeping her breasts covered that she almost did not notice that two guards had launched themselves at Prussia.
Of course the two men captured him effortlessly; Prussia was naked, unarmed, and distraught.
"Get off me!" Prussia growled, his limbs thrashing against forces that were obviously beyond his physical capacity.
One of the men stomped kicked him in the back, making his face hit the ground. The other twisted his arms back, as Prussia howled in pain.. Austria smirked, and strolled in front of him.
"Thank you for your trouble," Austria said serenely to the guards, "Now please lead dear Gilbert back inside, and show him our utmost hospitality."
His gaze descended upon Prussia. "We shall have tea later?" Austria asked politely, giving him a deep bow.
"You bastard!" Prussia managed to hiss, before being taken away.
Austria watched as the guards wrestled with the man on their way back to the mansion, and waited until the door had been slammed shut before turning to Hungary.
Under Austria's gaze, she had never felt more naked in her life. She whimpered and wrapped Prussia's coat around her body even tighter. Bite marks littered every inch of her body, and she knew she reeked of his essence.
She gathered enough courage to barely stutter, "R-Roderich, I-I can explain..."
"There's no need, Elizaveta." Austria replied curtly. "Come, let's get you inside. You must be freezing."
He held out his hand which she took, and they walked back into the mansion in silence.
Roderich slid steaming cup of tea across the coffee table. Instead of taking her drink, Elizaveta stared at the floorboards, like she had been for the past half hour. For Roderich, it had been too long. Taking the initiative, he shuffled to her side.
Putting his hands on her lap, and in a soft, comforting hush, he asked, "How are you feeling, Elizaveta?"
She looked at him. "I'm fine, Roddy. Thank you." She mouthed.
He gave her a smile. "I'm glad."
He counted the seconds when she would surely collapse onto his shoulder and cry, but it never came.
Instead, he proceeded to say, but not before slowly cupping her slightly wet cheek, "Elizaveta..." He paused briefly, mimicking a hurt voice, "Liz... I have done nothing but love you with all my heart. Why did you do this to me?"
"R-Roddy I-"
"Liz," Roderich repeated, allowing his voice to crack a little. He took the opportunity to wrap his arms around her, "I have done nothing but help and take care of you. I would do anything for you... And..."
He continued to look down, waiting patiently for Elizaveta to tip his chin up and give him a kiss. Despite his disgust in having Gilbert's essence slathered into his mouth, Roderich kissed back.
He broke them apart after a while. Swallowing unpleasantly, Roderich proceeded to ask Elizaveta, but not before taking her hands into his, "Liz, what do I mean to you? Do I mean anything at all?"
"You mean everything to me."
Despite her hollow tone, Roderich was satisfied with the answer.
He bent down on one knee in front of her, and took out a small box which he flipped it open, revealing the diamond ring he had gotten weeks ago.
He cleared his throat. "In that case, Elizaveta Hévédary," he said "will you marry me?"
It took shorter than he expected for her to break down in tears and fall into his arms, knocking the little box right out of his hand. "Yes, I will marry you, Roderich." She sobbed, burying her face into his chest. Austria wasn't sure, but he would like to believe that the tears she was crying were of joy.
Elizaveta was peacefully asleep, curled up on the couch. Roderich thought she looked like a kitten or a doll, so peaceful, so fragile.
He slid off his own coat and carefully draped it over her shoulders. Wasting no time, he kissed his fiance's forehead, and left her alone in the living room.
Cracking open the door to her bedroom, Roderich took a peek before walking in. He had already told Feliciano to clean Miss Hungary's room later in the evening, and to do some gardening instead. But, he had to make sure.
Content with the room's unoccupancy, he opened the door fully, strode inside, and clicked it shut.
He looked around, and facepalmed. Her dresses were scattered across the bed, her jewelry box had been fumbled open, and there were trinkets cluttered all over her vanity table. Roderich wondered what kept Elizaveta from keeping her own room clean, when she spent so much effort providing sanitary services to the rest of the mansion. Roderich shook his head disapprovingly. No matter, he was only here to borrow one item, and knew exactly where it was.
He walked over to her closet and opened it, exposing himself to an onslaught of dust. Lightly coughing into his sleeve, and brushing a moth away from his shoulder, Roderich ventured onwards. He pulled aside the dresses hanging from the bar, all of which were his gifts to her, and reached for the leather chest in the corner. He opened it, took the object he was looking for, and grinned to himself. He headed for the exit, shut the door behind him, and made his way downstairs to the cellar. He was planning to set Prussia free, but not before a little heart-to-heart talk between two men.
Austria usually avoided coming here. Moss lined the rim of the cavern, and the water dripped from stalactites and onto ground with the noise akin to a broken metronome.
He walked to Prussia's cell and unlocked the gates. Prussia's head lifted up immediately upon hearing the jingling of keys, and scowled when he saw Austria stepping into the dingy, stale-scented room.
He gave the chains around his wrists one last hopeless tug, hoping to free himself from the wall so he could face his enemy, standing.
"What do you want now?" He growled.
"To pay you a visit, of course." Roderich replied pleasantly, "And, to make sure that our accommodations are to the guests' liking."
"You're so full of shit, Roddy." Prussia scoffed, spitting on the floor.
"Also, to give you this." Austria gently took something from his coat pocket and tossed it in front of him.
It was a standard-sized envelope, inside of which contained an invitation that Austria had handwritten days ago. Two signatories were engraved in gold, and it was sealed with a violet bow tie.
Prussia's eyes narrowed in shock, or perhaps fear. Austria stood still and waited patiently for him to muster up a response. Finally he said, in a quiet, shaking hush, "Y-You fiend..."
Austria raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders. "I can give her everything she wants, and you, nothing."
Prussia shook his head. "No," he replied, finally looking up at him, "You use her, Roddy. You use Liz to be your cleaning wench because you don't want to get your own hands dirty. You use her as some pretty thing you can take to your parties to show off. Hell, if she wasn't there to stand up for you, your whole country would have been mine now!"
Dismissing the slight sting from Prussia's words, Austria gathered his composure, and was about to utter his reply, but was interrupted—
"Prove it!" Prussia snarled, "Prove to me that you did not use some form of black magic to seduce her into your dirty lap!"
"Very well." Austria replied, smirking politely. Moving onto his second task, he took out the object that he had fished from Hungary's room, a sword, and threw it down to the ground. It landed on top of the wedding invitation. "Elizaveta handed this to me after the war. Surely, you wouldn't need me to explain to you what this signifies, Gilbert?"
Prussia dropped to his knees and stared, mouth agape, eyes opened wide, at what had been presented in front of him. It was Hungary's sword, one of the two they had on one of their treasure hunts as children, and had been with her ever since. Prussia wielded the matching twin, for a knight and dame.
He couldn't help but begin giggling humourlessly.
"What could possibly be funny?" Austria challenged, fear beginning to write on his face.
"Very well, Roddy. You win." He muttered, shaking his head.
"Why yes, I am glad we have settled that. But, pray do answer my previous question."
Choking back another onslaught of laughter, Prussia continued, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "After the dozens of times I had fucked her right on your property, I still couldn't taste the greed between her legs. Don't you find that funny, Roddy?"
Give Prussia an Internet hug? D: