Giripan

Most people were already gathered at Mathias' house—of course, excluding Mathias himself and Lukas, who were watching the kids at Toni and Berwald's house. Kiku could swear that Hercules would've crashed in the snow if the kitten hadn't been hissing in Heracles' ear all the time.

Kiku could also swear that Hercules was starting to get rather attached to the cat.

After all, there had been no cat that had rejected him so hard before—For Heracles, this was totally new. So maybe there was something to thank Leon for…

And then there was the whole issue that seemed to be rather awful. There was a lot of conflict that was happening in Mathias' house, what with Roderich still breathing rapidly, and Gilbert hiding himself and burying his head in shame. People questioned if Arthur, Vlad, and Viktor really should've brought the Austrian back alive. Perhaps it was for the worse?

Maybe.

Arthur had been working on the new potion, which had to do with bringing the dead back alive…or at least concealing it but keeping alive. Kiku still wasn't quite sure about details.

All he knew was that it had made the country come back to life, yet had not preserved his memories, but had left him enough feelings to get multiplied with when the situation was confusing enough for the victim (Roderich) to get hurt because his emotions were strongly revolting, but he couldn't understand why.

Kiku would've been hurt too, but perhaps not has dramatic.

Japanese people aren't supposed to have such dramatic emotions. He can control himself…perhaps.

"Hmm…Kiku, please get Hiro off me…"

Just as Kiku leaned over and grabbed the cat, Toni and Berwald had walked out of the house with Ludwig and Feliciano. Kiku bit his lip, unsure of what was going to happen.

"They need time to talk," was all Ludwig said.

A brief silence passed through the people, and all of a sudden people started talking.

Kiku felt Hiro struggle, and so he let the cat go. The tiny creature scampered through the crowds and dashed into the house. Kiku tried to chase after it, but with Heracles leaning on his shoulder, there wasn't much he could do without dropping Heracles to the ground.

Then from the interior of the house, everyone heard Gilbert scream, "Roderich!" way too loudly for it to just be an expression.

Then, sailing out of the window of the house, was Hiro. The cat was dissolving as it fell into a burst of green mist, much like one that Kiku had seen before…in Arthur's basement. Kiku snapped his head to the British man, who had a knowing smile on his face. Alfred was staring at the falling kitten when Arthur, too, disappeared.

"Arthur!" Kiku screamed, his voice carrying over the crowds.

Everyone turned to see the last of Arthur Kirkland disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Arthur?" Alfred asked, turning around to see an empty pile of clothes on the ground next to him. His eyes widened. "Dude, this isn't funny," he said.

There was no reply.

At this moment, Roderich and Gilbert both came out of the house, Roderich holding tightly onto Gilbert's hand. There was a look of pain on it.

"What happened?" Ludwig asked them.

Roderich sighed.

"I…the cat. Kiku and Heracles' cat…it came into the room. It started scratching me, and so Gilbert started screaming. Then the cat…bit me, and immediately I felt like I understood what Gilbert was going through, and at the same time, I felt Arthur start to fade away. I don't know how I knew…I just knew. After that, it leapt out of the window…"

Alfred rushed up front.

"He didn't give me a living potion. You can't make a resurrection potion!" Roderich yelled, "he used a life-swap potion! He changed his life for mine, and me losing my memories was just a flaw in the spell. I…I…"

"Roderich!" Alfred screamed. He lunged forward and punched the Austrian.

"Alfred! It isn't his fault!' Gilbert shouted back, pulling the American off of Roderich. The entire time, Kiku couldn't think. He wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't believe that this had had to happen…it couldn't have been done any other way?

Why?

Why did someone have to die?

He couldn't understand.

Why was Arthur, who was so self-conceited, so sassy, so…arrogant…why was he willing to give up his life for Roderich Edelstein? They weren't too close, but why?

Would he have done it?

"Arthur!" Alfred's broken sobs tore through the air, and everyone turned their eyes down to the ground.

"I'm…"

"Please…kill me…" Alfred whispered. Tears streamed down his face. "If you can't kill me, I'll do it myself. I can't…I can't live without him…"

"I'm so sorry…"

"Please…"

Gilbert Beilschmidt pulled out a silver dagger from his belt, and he asked, "Really?"

"Yes."

Alfred leaned forward, grabbing the hilt of the dagger, and drove it through his chest. Everyone screamed, gasped, panicked…everything was going wrong.

This isn't what it's meant to be, Kiku thought. It's not supposed to turn out like this.

He, too, broke down. Alfred and Arthur were two of his best friends…

"Thank You…"

And with those two words, all the countries in the world knew what was to happen next.

In the years that are to follow this story, yet never to be told, a new era had started…without Alfred and Arthur in flesh, but always in the soul. Things still happened, World Meetings still occurred, yet they were much quieter. There was no, "Bloody Hell!" and "I am the Hero!" There was nothing there to miss, yet everything was also there to remember. Wars were fought, sides were made, world changing events happened.

But none of the nations, everyone knew, would ever forget Alfred Jones and Arthur Kirkland.

End.

I know. I'm crap. I'm so sorry, I just don't want to drag this on forever. I'm sorry the ending was so crappy and abrupt, really, but it was what I really wanted it to end like. If there was anything you didn't get, feel free to comment. You guys totally deserve to punch me in the face. I'm sorry.

I swear, it's not going to happen again. Your forgiveness is much appreciated. I love you guys too.

Thank you.

PuppetPainter.