Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, all rights go to its creators.

Chapter 7: Aftermath

Marianne was sitting at the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea below. She brought out a cigarette and promptly lit it. She removed it from her lips and blew out a puff of smoke as the sun was disappearing beyond the horizon.

It was just her alone with the sky and stars above.

She let out a heavy sigh as she took another puff of her cigarette.

"Marianne!" Marianne did not turn around at the other person calling her name. She continued to stare out at the horizon.

"I heard what happened! I still can't believe it's true!" Feliciano said, continuing to walk towards her. He now stood behind her.

Marianne pulled her lips taunt as her eyes became wet and glossed over.

"Marianne, are you alright?" Feliciano asked, crouching down to her level, now beside her.

Marianne turned her head to look at Feliciano, "No." She whispered.

Feliciano frowned, as he saw a tear stream down her cheek.

Marianne turned her head back towards the lake, "What do you do when you have multiple deaths on your hands?" A few more tears escaped her eyes.

"Marianne, don't say that! This has nothing to do with you!" Feliciano sat down beside her, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"It is not a coincidence that all of the victims have blonde hair and blue eyes!" Marianne brought the cigarette to her lips again before snuffing it out. "How could I have been so stupid not to notice? How could I have been so blind?"

"I didn't notice either and we worked together for a year." Feliciano said, tracing a circle in the grass with his finger in front of him. His gaze was on the circle he was tracing.

"I'm sorry Feli, mon ami, but you are not the brightest." Marianne said, getting another cigarette from her purse.

"I'm very observant! I usually notice things!" Feliciano gave her a pout. Marianne glanced over at the pouting man and a small smile tugged at her lips.

Feliciano saw her smile and smiled before looking back at the horizon, "I wonder how Natalia is doing with all of this." He said.

"I forgot about poor Natalia, they were planning to get married." Marianne shook her head, lighting the new cigarette.

"Oh no! I feel so guilty about helping her with him!" Feliciano slapped his cheeks and shook his head. "Fratello always said that I was a medler."

"You want to see love flourish, nothing wrong with that." Marianne sighed, "I suppose I am being too hard on myself, none of us knew."

"Exactly, Arthur was your friend and no one wants to think of their friends like that!" Feliciano looked back at her, voice quieter, "At least it is over now."

Marianne nodded and the two were plunged into a brief silence before Feliciano changed the subject entirely to a thought he had at 3 a.m about pasta flavored chewing gum. Marianne listened as Feliciano talked, presumably keeping her mind off of the daunting situation at hand.

00000000

Natalia had not abandoned her plans to move to Missouri after Kat's funeral. The funeral came and went, she saw her mother who insisted she called more. Natalia promised to do so, and gave her a long overdue hug. Surprisingly a lot of Cliffdover's residents had come to express their condolences for Kat.

Because Natalia said her goodbyes at the funeral she had no entourage when she was loading up her taxi this time.

That was until the soft pattering of feet sounded against the pavement. "Natalia!"

Natalia turned to meet Elise's emerald green eyes.

"Elise? What are you doing here?"

Elise approached Natalia until they were only standing a few feet apart. Elise had a bag of luggage in her hands.

"I want to come with you." Elise said to her, eyes not wavering, and her cheeks dusted pink with blush.

Natalia raised an eyebrow, "But your job is here Elise. Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I want to be with you." Elise pursed her lips and her face turned a darker shade of red.

"Me?"

"Yes. I want to be there to support you."

"I-I can't right now. I need to do this alone."

Natalia said, opening the door of the taxi. Elise's lip wavered and her eyes became wet.

Natalia looked back at her, "I will visit." Then she stepped into the taxi before closing the door.

Soon the taxi pulled off and Elise let the tears flow down her cheeks.

00000000

Cliffdover was not the same town after all that happened. And coincidently, Arthur's books sold out after it was announced that he would be sentenced to life in prison. Visitors came from all over to get a copy of the newest book, some were being resold on the internet. Elise couldn't bring herself to throw away her copy although she had never finished it and wouldn't plan on doing so. Feliciano on the other hand had thrown his book straight into the trash because Lovino had expressed concerns that the book was sending out bad vibes.

When Arthur admitted to killing Mathiew along with Katayusha, and another 30 women beforehand, Ivan and Mathiew's relationship was announced publicly.

"To put it quite simply Alfred, Ivan was indeed fucking your piece of queer trash brother." Arthur announced on television to the shock of everyone watching. Mathiew's mother fainted and Alfred's father scrambled to catch her.

"You son of a bitch!" The young deputy screamed, "How dare you!"

In Missouri, Natalia smirked, as Alfred was held back by other officers in his attempt to get to the killer. But upon receiving a frantic call from Ivan, about being outed on National television her expression quickly soured again. She tried to reassure him that if Gilbert bothered him, she would come down personally to kick his ass.

In Cliffdover, Ivan gasped as he received a call from Gilbert. Not to fire him, but to express his sympathy and overall astonishment at what he'd just heard on the television. Gilbert was many things but he was not a heartless monster, and lightened up on Ivan at work just a little.

Elise's brother Vash had come to visit her. He installed a security system in her apartment, ever fearful of something happening to his little sister. Especially after she mentioned that the killer had threatened her in her apartment, along with having lived across from a serial killer in the first place. He was reluctant to leave and wanted to take Elise with him back to Switzerland, but Elise had come to call the little town of Cliffdover her home.

She also wanted to stay just in case Natalya would be back.

Ludwig stopped by Gilbert's Autoshop and they went out for drinks to celebrate Ludwig's capture of the serial killer. Stoic Chief Nguyen joined them, her conscience clear, as the weight of the 12 murders were lifted off of her back. Lovino, who held a sort of resentment for Ludwig, joined in their night out as well. He congratulated the stoic German with a pat on the back. He also complained about his utter disbelief that he didn't know Arthur was a serial killer considering all the times they went out drinking.

A certain bartender was even more shocked, and ultimately quit his job, feeling the immense pressure of holding the secrets of its patrons.

Alfred was commended for his work with Ludwig and was inspired to apply for the role of detective in Cliffdover. He was going through training at the moment. He had dropped his hatred of the Braginskies and apologized to Ivan and Natalia personally.

0000000

Three Years Later

Elise had just finished helping Tolys with updating his digital dewey decimal system. He saw a familiar brunette at what used to be Mathiew's desk. "Hola Elise. You fixed the system again? I keep telling Tolys not to touch the code." Jose said he was now going to Hetalia International University.

"No, not this time. The system needed a new update. I just installed it. How are your computer classes going?"

"They're pretty boring. I don't think I'm so good at that coding stuff."

"Well that's ok, at least now you know what you don't want to do." Elise smiled.

"Yeah, but I want to create my own website."

Elise giggled, "Maybe so. You'd have to tell me when it's up."

"Sure thing!"

Elise walked out of the book store and towards her apartment. They still hadn't sold the apartment across from her. It being the previous residence of a serial killer, was making it hard to sell. Even with the price deductions. Even so, Elise would have liked to see another face across the hall when she left for work.

Elise was surprised to see a familiar blonde haired woman standing outside of her apartment complex. She was currently blowing her breath into her hands, luggage just at the doorstep by her feet.

"Natalya?" She called to her from the bottom of the steps.

"Elise! It is nice to see you." She said with a nod.

Elise nodded as well, "Yes! It is nice to see you as well. So how long are you here for? Just the weekend?"

Natalia shook her head, "I want to move back in town."

"Oh! I think Mister Popescu has filled your position though."

Natalia waved her hand, "I'm not worried about Vladimir. He'll take me back. Though my home and Kat's are sold. I'm here to ask if I could stay with you."

"Yes of course you could stay with me until you find something else." Elise shifted her gaze away from Natalia momentarily, hands feeling sweaty.

Natalia nodded, "Thank you." Elise ascended the stairs and unlocked the door.

"Should I take one of your bags?" Elise said, reaching down to grab one and accidentally brushing her fingertips against Natalia's.

"Oh, if you want." Natalia said, having recoiled her hand away to allow her to pick up the bag. Natalia walked in first, and Elise followed before shutting the door.

They walked up the stairs and once they got into her apartment, Elise smiled. She set Natalia's luggage down. "I'm sorry I don't have an extra bedroom you could sleep in. The couch pulls out into a bed though!"

"That is fine." Natalia nodded, beginning to shrug out of her coat. Elise rushed to grab it and put it in her storage closet.

"Would you like some tea?"

"I would."

"Alright, I'll put on the kettle. Take a seat on the couch.

Elise turned on the stove and then joined Natalya on the couch. Elise smiled before she asked the woman about Missouri. She had been staying there for three years. Natalia said that it was an adjustment to have virtually no one know anything about her. It was a change that she thought was needed but soon she said she started to feel lonely.

Elise got up to fix their tea as the kettle whistled. She returned shortly with two steaming cups of Earl Grey.

Elise frowned, "You didn't make any friends?"

Natalia sighed, "I didn't realize how hard it was to make friends. I am not the most sociable person."

"Oh." Elise said, sipping from her cup.

Natalia copied her motion, and after she finished said, "I came back because of you," eyes looking straight into hers.

"M-me?"

"I thought I could escape to Missouri. I thought I was fine there but I missed seeing you. The first chance I got to come back, I took it."

Elise blinked before she felt a smile form on her face, "I stayed here to wait for you."

"Thank you for everything. I-I'm sorry I hadn't said anything before." Natalia furrowed her eyebrows, "I got so caught up-."

Elise placed a finger on her lips, "I know, but that doesn't matter, all that matters is that you are here now."

Natalia gave her a small smile after she removed her finger from her lips. Natalia cupped her face with her hands before she kissed Elise on the lips, short and sweet.

Despite their rocky history, Cliffdover had grown and so had she, and it was time to move on from the past. With Elise, Natalya could start something new.

The End.

A/N: Apologies this chapter took so long! I had something else planned for it but just decided to tie up some loose ends instead. I hope you liked the story and its ending.

Thank you for reading!