Pairings brought up/mentioned: Roger (Rome x Germania), Rome x Ancient Greece

Warnings: IMPLIED SMUT THAT USED TO BE JUST SMUT BUT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO BE IMPLIED B/C I REMOVED THE SMUT SCENE. Also, someone gets punched in the face. As per usual.

-Intermission: Crazy, Dead, Old Guys-

"Ugh," I awoke with a groan, rubbing my throbbing skull.

What the fuck even happened?

I sleepily sat up, blinking my eyes open, only to pause in unnerved confusion.

Whoa, that's a lot of blank.

And, true to my thoughts, it was, a terrifyingly empty expanse of white infinitely expanding before me. It sort of resembled an unused piece of papyrus. Glancing to my left, I suddenly noticed something that wasn't there before. Right on my forearm was an elegant marking of sweeping lines and curves, each stroke weaving together to depict an artist's rendition of a wolf, obediently pointing in the direction of my head.

Wait a second…

I once more began to visually wander, this time more frantically as I searched for my stoic companion. I spotted him a few mere feet away, my equal in grogginess. He looked good for someone who just got stabbed in the gut, tumbling, blonde locks much neater than they'd been in those final hours, eyes less puffy. By far most notably, his wound was literally non-existent. Instead of blood, the area I'd sheathed my sword in was covered with part of a simple, green tunic. When he finally looked my way, his eyes went wide in shock. I blinked once, then gazed down at myself.

Holy shit, I'm young again.

In death, I'd returned to the amazing and gorgeous state of my prime. This was awesome. In fact, this was so awesome that a devious grin made its way upon my face, and I tackled Aldrich to the ground. Without warning, I crushed my lips to his. He froze for but a moment, then pressed back at full force, our tongues and lips mashing together with no rhyme or reason, unknowing of whose appendage was touching what. My hands snaked up to his face and hair, gripping, caressing. I felt the warm trails of similar parts moving to hold my spine and the back of my head, keeping me against him. With another peck, I moved away with a soft smile.

"Te amo," My amber orbs gazed lovingly into those of grass green. Aldrich didn't say a single word, but from the look in his eyes as he guided my head back to his, it wasn't very hard to figure his feelings on the matter.

As ironic as it may have been, I felt alive. It was as if, after all these years, I was finally where I was meant to be, my body moving with his in perfection synchronization. As I sucked on his bottom lip, I noticed his breath hitch and allowed myself a small smirk of self-satisfaction. While he was distracted, I carefully slipped my hands down, into his trousers, and onto his ass. He tensed and pushed me away.

"Romulus, what are you-"

"Aww, come on, Aldrich!" I interrupted, affectionately nuzzling his neck, "We're dead; why not have a little fun?"

His face became endearingly warm beneath me, "W- Well, ja, I- I guess, but-" His voice died down to an unexpected, yet adorable nonetheless, squeak.

And suddenly, it hit me.

"Wait, are you a virgin?"

He released a low, drawn-out, embarrassed sigh, "Yes, yes I am."

Well, that explains a lot, I thought back to all of the times we'd been mere centimeters from kissing, only for Aldrich to freak out and run off. Take, for example, whenever I was in the same room as a bottle of alcohol.

"But… we're still going to fuck, right?" I looked up at him with big, purposely-inconspicuous eyes, batting them as if I wasn't touching the butt.

He stared at me for one silent, intense moment, before averting his gaze elsewhere and relenting a short nod. Encouraged, I began gently nibbling his neck…

I wrapped my arms around his neck, lazily dragging him closer to me, "Shit, that was great."

He returned the embrace with a small kiss to the lips, "I am glad you think so."

"So, we're going with the whips next time, right?"

"What?!"

"I'm assuming that's a no. How about collars? Handcuffs, rope, knives?" As I continued down the list, Aldrich grew paler and paler.

"You humans seriously do that to your mates?" He breathed out with a terrified expression.

No longer able to keep it in, I released a bout of hysterical laughter, the noise coming out even harder at the confused look on his face, "No, n- not really," I took in a few deep breaths to calm myself as he quickly morphed to cold irritation. "Most people at least."

"Wait, most? So some of you really do that?! What is wrong with your species?!"

"Nothing!" I grinned at him, "I mean, if someone as perfect as me can exist while being human, then obviously my species is just as great as I am!"

I gently kissed the base of his neck, then glanced to where I'd left a large welt previously, only to find- "Hey, where'd the hickey go?!"

He blinked, "The what?"

I moved closer to the now flawless stretch of skin where I'd marked him, "The hickey! I gave you a hickey earlier and now it's gone! What the hell?!"

"You had given me a hickey in the first place?!"

"Yeah! Right dab in the middle of your neck!" I groaned and flopped back onto him, "Damn, as soon as I'm able to give you hickeys, I can't because of stupid afterlife stuff. And I was really looking forward to seeing you try to hide it!"

He sighed, "You know what? I give up."

"On what?"

"On you, humanity, other spirits, the planet, basically everything. From here on out, I'm going to enjoy my eternal rest in peace and serenity."

I snickered, "Of course you are."

"Yes, I am… or I at least hope I am," He hummed tiredly, "By the way, what about Athena?"

I froze for a moment, blush darkened, an awkward laugh spilling from my lips, "Hahahaha, I really hope she's not too mad I only saw her as a sister. Near the end of her life, I was completely convinced 'Thena loved me in, well, that way. I was bent up about it for a really long time after, feeling guilty for not returning her obvious feelings. I mean, yeah, I loved her, but not in the way a husband ought to. Honestly, I've kind of been in love with you since shortly after we magically bound ourselves together."

Aldrich held me tighter at this and I noticed a nice blotch of color making its presence across his cheeks, "I- I-" The rest of his sentence was incomprehensible, fading away to senseless noises.

I giggled lightly, "Aldrich, you need to enunciate your words. I couldn't understand a thing you said!"

He made an aggravated sound then repeated, "I- I love you too."

I gave him a peck on the cheek, "Love you!"

And, in the wonderful bliss of post-sex and a reciprocated love confession, we laid there for as long as possible, basking in our shared contentment.

"Romulus!" I inwardly cringed. Well, it's now or never!

"Hey, Athena!" I plastered a false grin upon my face and turned to receive her hug.

"It's truly been too long; you had me worried I'd never find you!" She smiled into my shoulder, then looked up. "Oh, Aldrich! I didn't expect to see you up here."

He gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, "Queen Athena."

She released me from her hold, "Oh, please, enough with the formalities. In the afterlife, I'm not royalty anymore; we're equals. But I didn't think spirits could die?" At this, she pointedly looked to me, "Really, Roma, what did you do this time?"

I mussed the hair on the back of my head, "Uh, nothing? I mean, nothing we weren't both okay with, right Aldrich?"

He simply nodded once more.

She blinked, "Oh, okay. But what happened? I'm afraid I still don't understand what you two did to kill an ethereal being."

My eyes met his, and a silent conversation took place through our facial expressions.

Are you going to tell her or do I have to?

I am not doing it. You have dug your own grave on this one.

You suck.

I suck what? Your human expressions make no sense to me.

You- GAH, you just suck!

I heaved a mighty sigh, turning back to Athena, "Aldrich and I are in love."

"YOU'RE WHAT?!" Her eyes went wide in outrage, then narrowed to slits, "How long has this been going on?"

"U-um, well, I'm not really sure how long it's been for him, but I- I've kind of liked him since before we-," I gestured between her and myself, "-became a thing."

"So it's been over forty years." Her hands firmly planted themselves upon her hips, flames rising in sky blue eyes. "It's been over forty years of you two hopelessly pining after each other behind my back."

I hesitantly nodded my affirmative, "Y- yeah."

"And all this time, you could have easily hooked up already!" She whacked me upside the head, "Honestly, what the hell is wrong with you two?! Do you not understand how flat-out stupid it is to love from a distance?! I mean, it's about time!"

"Wait, what?!" I gave her a strange look.

"I knew it! I knew it all along, and you morons were just too blinded by your own self-pity and denial to realize it for yourselves! I mean, do you know how long I've been waiting for this thing to set sail already?! And yet, you didn't get together until you were dead! Just- I- GAH! You are such idiots! Now I owe Bastet twenty gold!" She threw her hands to the air in exasperation.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute. You were making bets on when Aldrich and I would confess our undying love?!"

She began walking away, subtle sway of the hip and all, but stopped to toss over her shoulder, "Roma, dearest, I only see you as a brother," And like that she disappeared into the fog of the afterlife.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you humans?" Aldrich asked with a straight face.

I could only think to respond with one word, "Everything."

Bastet, as it turned out, was the spirit of a lovely noblewoman from a Roman territory to the south. I was quite puzzled when I first heard this; after all, she was referred to with quite an uncommon name.

In response, she gave a shrug of the shoulders with a nonchalant remark of, "Apparently Gods don't exist, so I might as well." And I guess I had to agree with her on that. 'Nefertari' was decidedly longer than 'Bastet,' and while she was certainly gorgeous enough to call herself a name meaning 'most beautiful,' there'd probably been more than a fair amount of royals named as such in the past.

"In life, no one dared give their child the exact name of a God, meaning we ended up with a lot of 'Ramses,' 'Nefertari,' and 'Cleopatra,'" Golden eyes rolled in exasperation, only to turn sly but a moment later, "And yet, now that we're dead, who cares if I name to myself after the Goddess of cats? What reason has anyone to stop me?"

Athena laughed wistfully, her eyes holding a distant look, "Don't you think it's funny that after all these years of wondering, all the theories created by humanity to describe the afterlife, the whole place is just an endless stretch of fragmented memories?"

Contrasting with her friend's meaningful tone, Bastet released a devious cackle, "Right! The living won't know what hit them!"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about!" She glared. "I mean, it's kind of ironic, for you to call yourself after a Goddess, because in a few centuries, we will be. Future generations will look back on our accomplishments, our faults, our love, and they'll take inspiration from it. They'll see what we did wrong, and be sure not to make our mistakes. That's why the deities we created didn't actually exist; in due time, we'll be their Gods!"

I placed a good-natured hand on her shoulder, "'Thena, you're being crazy again. You know no one understands a thing you're saying when you get like this."

She frowned angrily, but remained silent.

"Anyways!" I grinned, holding a hand out for the southern woman to shake, "I'm Romulus Vargas, Athena's ex!"

Taking my offer, she raised a painted brow. "That reminds me, is it true you finally acted on all that sexual tension between you and Mister Germanic Hunk?"

As Aldrich's face reddened, my lips spread even further. "Yup! I'm sure you'll learn all about it. Right, honey?" My smile turned to glimmer at the stony wolf.

Bastet perked up curiously, realizing his existence. "Oh, you must be him. It's Aldrich, right?"

I giggled, "You okay in there?"

"… Do we really have to talk about our sex life right now?"

"Yeah, by the way, I'm still mad about you two literally having to die to get together," Athena snapped, giving only me a nasty look. "Really, Romulus, I expected better from you!"

Bastet laughed, "Romulus, Aldrich, do what you want. I think it was perfectly fine for you to take things slowly."

"Because you got my money!"

"Yes, that's kind of the point of making a bet, Athena: someone gets the other's money."

As the two began bickering, I slipped away to stand beside the wolf spirit of the group.

Leaning in, I almost muttered, "You want to sneak off?"

"It depends. What would we do?"

My lips spread in a wolfish smile, "Guess."

He stared for a moment, then released a long-suffering sigh. "Alright, fine."

"I mean, geez Bastet, you don't have to be so cruel! Right, Romulus- Hey, wait a second!" Athena exclaimed as we ran off, me laughing loudly and Aldrich looking behind at the ladies worriedly.

"Romulus, I swear, when I find you-!"

"Later, 'Thena!"

"ROMULUS!"

"So, what do you think this thing is, anyways?" I blinked up at my ex-wife, arm extended to reveal the wolf marking.

She momentarily paused in stroking my hair. "You said you woke up with it, right?"

I nodded vigorously, "Yeah, everything went dark, then I ended up in the afterlife, then I looked down and saw this on my arm. Any idea?"

"I think I might," Athena hummed thoughtfully, bright eyes closed in recollection, "Did you know it's a tradition now for humans to bind themselves to spirits? I guess it's a kind of memorial, something to preserve your and Aldrich's memory."

"Huh, I didn't know that!"

She flicked my forehead. "Don't interrupt. As I was saying, a lot of the newer deceased have ended up with similar images on some part of their body, only the picture is whatever animal they were bound to. In case you haven't noticed, neither Bastet nor myself have any weird drawings, and we weren't magically bound to anything. I believe it has something to do with the connection between a human and a spirit."

My face scrunched at the center, "Alright, but what does it do? Is it just supposed to sit there and look sexy, or what?"

The Greek merely shrugged. "Eh, hell if I know; it could spit rainbows as far as we're concerned!"

"Rainbows?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Rainbows." She said earnestly, an intense look decorating her face. Both of us burst out laughing a moment later.

The rest of our time together was spent joking around between snide, only half-serious remarks.

Time went by. After acquainting ourselves with Athena and Bastet, our group only grew. It now included two more people: an ancient Carthaginian, Annôn, and an Iberian fox spirit, Vendela. Ever since the moment they laid eyes on each other, Romulus hated Annôn with a burning passion. This could have been because of the Punic wars, their clashing personalities, the fact that Athena was quite fond of the Carthaginian, or any number of other things. Due to the bitter feelings between them, if they ever came within six meters of each other, a fight would break out, normally over something rather stupid. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less for him. That statement could be interpreted as referring to either Romulus or Annôn; I'll just leave it to your imagination.

Meanwhile, Vendela was nice enough, always trying to diffuse various conflicts. As the only spirit animals and quote-unquote 'barbarians' in our usual group of friends, we ended up spending far more time together than I originally thought. She was very bright and cheery, practically lighting up the room with her smile, yet, at the same time, there was a motherly atmosphere about her. I suppose that was why I was so willing to go to her if I needed advice, much like how Romulus would talk to Athena.

As for the marking on Romulus's arm, we asked around, and it turned all humans bound to spirits had one. And apparently they got crazy superpowers as well. Yeah, there was a reason I didn't allow Romulus to attempt blowing things up with his mind. In fact, I was in the process of convincing him out of this when two more people showed up.

"Aww, come on, Aldrich!" He whined, "I want to set it on fire!"

I gave him a stern glare. "No, I refuse to sit back and let you completely destroy the afterlife. Do not even think of it. Literally."

"But Aldri-"

"Bror?"

My eyes gradually widened at two figures standing a ways behind him. They appeared to have been walking, but ceased as soon as the smaller stopped moving, lavender eyes locked with mine of green. In confusion, Romulus had started saying something, then turned to follow my gaze, carefully stepping aside.

"Bruder?" It came out as but a breath, nearly a whisper.

"Bror?" He said again, louder, boot-clad feet beginning to move.

"Bruder!" I exclaimed, both of us rushing towards each other.

"Bror!" My little brother yelled, a grin present.

"Bruder!"

"Bror!" His expression darkened, morphing into one of anger.

"Bruder?" I slowed.

"Bror!" With a mighty cry, he picked up pace, arm raised, hand clenched in a fist.

I watched, mouth agape as some kid ran up to Aldrich and punched him in the face.

"Ow, what the fuck?!"

"Bror, you stupid idiot!"

The snowy-haired ghost continued repeatedly smacking the wolf, hitting Aldrich's arms with small, balled-up hands. The second newcomer approached them, attempting to pry the shorter away. Then, I noticed their uncanny similarities.

All three had the fair skin and hair common amongst northern people, each with cool-colored eyes.

"Hey, wait a moment, are you Aldrich's little brothers?"

Simultaneously, they all turned to me, frozen in place.

The one who'd been trying to keep the smallest from causing Aldrich an untimely second death leaned towards my spirit animal and whispered, "Who's that?"

"His hair looks weird."

"What's with that accent?"

"Why's his skin that shade?"

"You do realize he is still standing there and can hear you perfectly fine, correct?"

They both formed 'o's with their mouths and backed away, giving the only one who knew what was going on some space. Aldrich cleared his throat, and the longest game of twenty questions in the history of the universe began.

"Whoa, you really served a king?" I allowed a small smile to stretch my lips as my youngest brother bounced up and down excitedly from his place on the floor.

Romulus took the chance to exclaim, "Yeah, he was the best! All the other nobles were super jealous that I had such a great body guard while they were stuck with mere humans!"

"Yes, I did. Worst years of my life." I threw a playful smirk at the now-fuming former monarch.

"Wait, you were the king?!" He gasped.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I was the greatest king ever." The Roman grinned flashily, "Right, Aldrich?"

I shrugged, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Wha- hey! Why do you have to be so mean?!"

"Simple: now that we are dead, I can say things like that without the threat of execution looming over my head."

"Fine, then you're sleeping on the couch!"

"Really? Are we really re-enacting the trope of the husband in an old married couple being forced to sleep on the couch? Is that what we are doing?"

To my amusement, he then went on to produce a series of frustrated noises, my brothers exchanging confused and uncertain looks.

The middle spoke up, "Hey, brother, why's it that this guy keeps calling you 'Aldrich?'"

"Hm," I thought for a moment. "I suppose this has not made it up north yet. Since Romulus and I's death, many humans began binding themselves to spirits like we did. A side-effect of this is that spirit animals have started using the human construct known as 'names.' These are essentially things humans use to identify one another, since they live in such large groups. The name Romulus chose for me is 'Aldrich.'"

The youngest's eyes practically sparkled, "Bror, I want a name too! Give me a name!"

I sighed, "Alright, alright, be patient; you cannot just ask that of me and expect an immediate answer."

"Oo, can I help?"

"No," I glared.

"But Aldrich, I picked out your name! Why can't I help pick out theirs?"

"Because I said so. They are my brothers, not yours."

"Aldrich, I don't have any brothers!"

"Exactly."

"Um, hey, bror?" My attention shifted. "You know, I really don't mind if Romulus picks out my name."

I looked back and forth between the two. "Fine, but nothing inappropriate."

"Beo and Garen." Romulus pointed to the youngest first, then the middle.

"Wha- you spent next to nothing on that, yet you took at least ten minutes on mine?!"

He grinned. "I thought about it while we were arguing."

My hand met my face in a strange semblance of holy matrimony, "Of course you did."

"... Beo?" The youngest breathed.

I looked at him, "Do you not like it? We can choose another-" Then froze at his expression. He was nearly glowing.

Slowly, a bright smile spread across his face, "I love it! Beo! What do you think, Garen? Isn't this great?!"

"Eh, I don't actually care to be honest." He shrugged.

"Oh man, this is just the best! You two are the best!" Beo sprung from his spot on the floor and lunged at us, pulling Romulus and I into a nearly crushing hug.

"This is the best thing ever!"

"Aldrich, Aldrich, look at my grandchildren!"

I grinned, pulling the wolf over. "Aren't they just the cutest? Aww, look! Feli has my eyes! And Lovi looks just like me otherwise! That's so adorable!"

As we'd quickly found out, the spirits of the dead could omnipotently watch their loved ones run amuck from the afterlife. Of course, upon gleaning this from one of his ancestors, a rather eccentric man by the name of Julius, Romulus began to spend a good seven to eight hours a day proclaiming the greatness of his descendants. In kind, I kept a close eye on both my grand nieces and nephews and my lover's grandchildren alike, quietly allowing a small smile at their achievements, a frown at their failures. However, with all of Romulus's commentary on their lives, and all of my precise surveillance, neither of us could have predicted this.

The former king blinked once, twice, then a third. "They're… bound? Like us?"

I stood still at the scene laid out before us, Ludwig carefully lifting Feliciano into his arms and making to leave the woods. I couldn't believe this. They were just like us. It was sort of uncanny, the parallels. Before I had any longer to dwell on this-

"IT'S LIKE FATE!" Romulus launched himself at me, arms around my neck in a nearly suffocating embrace. "GAHH, I KNEW WE WERE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER, AND THIS JUST AFFIRMS IT. IT'S NO WONDER THEY'RE SO AMAZING; THEY'RE LIKE YOUNGER VERSIONS OF US! I MEAN, FELICIANO HAS MY CHARM, WIT, GOOD LOOKS, KILLER SMILE-"

"Romulus, I can't breath!"

"Oh, sorry!" He loosened his vice-like hold, but didn't let go. "It- it's just- it's so perfect!" He smushed his cheek against my face and neck, his tone reverent, "We truly are the epitome of romance!"

I gave him a flat look. "Romulus, no. I thought you were above that."

"It's like it's-"

"No."

"It's- it's almost like-"

"Romulus, no."

"It's like-"

"I swear, if you finish that sentence-"

"-Serendipity." He breathed. As I'd been tackled to the floor in his excitement, burning, amber eyes gazed into mine lovingly, a soft upward tilt to his mouth.

Was it just me, or were those beautiful, shining suns and that gracious smile coming closer? Oh, what did it matter? My eyes fluttered shut as he drew near and pressed himself against me, our bodies meeting in a moment of utter bliss. I gently parted my lips, tongue seeking out his, mingling and caressing, simply enjoying the sensation of being together, the love of my life and beyond in my arms, no one interrupting with their stupid shenanigans-

"What is this, makeout rock?" A crass voice broke through the sounds of shared breath, completely killing the moment.

I growled at the ghost, eyes narrowed, Romulus tense on top of me.

"What do you want, Annôn?" He groaned out. "I was going to get laid, you know!"

He sneered, "Yeah, well, there are way more important things to do than some Germanic wolf spirit, you know."

"For your information-"

"I do not bottom."

"Aldrich! You weren't supposed to tell him that!" Romulus flushed violently.

"Well it's true," I replied frankly, "Listen, Annôn, this is getting ridiculous. I understand that you and Romulus hate each other, but your feud is not sufficient enough reason to be so hostile on a daily basis. Save it for later."

The Carthaginian looked at me for a time, dark brown eyes dark and angry. "Fine." He spat, turning on his heel, "But this isn't over."

And we watched as he stalked off to bother someone else.

Romulus was troubled. This much was obvious from the wrinkled spot between his brows, the squint of his eyes, and the way his whole face seemed crunched and thoughtful. It wasn't normal for the former king to think this hard.

"Are you alright?" He jolted as I placed a hand on his shoulder, head whipping towards me with a shout.

He half-heartedly punched my arm. "Geez, don't sneak up on me like that! I swear, it's like you're trying to off me a second time or something."

I snorted, "Really? Oh, what is it humans say these days? 'Been there, done that?'"

He stared for a moment, then gave a bark of laughter, "Oh God, don't use slang, okay?"

"Whatever," My eyes rolled gently, a content smile secretly on my lips, "So what is wrong?"

He blinked. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

I elbowed him, "Do not lie to me; I know you better than that."

He sighed, watching as Feliciano gleefully cheered that he slept with Ludwig, on live television no less, Lovino nearly fainting backstage. "I've just been thinking about- you know- this."

I merely raised an eyebrow, prompting continuation.

"Okay, so you know how Ludwig and Feliciano met in almost the same way we did? Shadow wolves and everything?" Romulus explaining something was a novel event, his hands moving this way and that expressively, a quirk his beloved grandchildren had inherited.

I nodded, "Yes, and?"

"Well, does anything about that seem kind of… off to you?"

"Eh, not really." My shoulders slid up and down in a shrug, "With our family, it only makes sense something as clichéd as this would occur."

"No, no, it's not the fate thing I'm worried about; it's the black magic thing. What do you think caused the shadow wolves to all of a sudden return?"

My eyebrows scrunched together. "That actually is troubling. I have no idea."

And so, the rest of our evening was spent scrolling through scenes from the mortal plane. This didn't look good.

"I'm telling you, this is not going to end well!" I stood before the others, hands gesturing madly in the air as I detailed Aldrich and I's discovery, "We have to; they're family, for crying out loud!"

"Your family," Annôn muttered. Aldrich shot him a glare and a growl, silencing his interruptions for the moment.

Athena sighed, "Roma, listen, I know you're very passionate when it comes to helping your living relatives, but this is where I draw the line. You are not going to go down there to give them advice and assistance, and that's that. We had a vote on it and everything!"

"She's right, Romulus." The younger of the wolves cut in, "As much as it pains me that any descendants of mine might just have to deal with ol' witch hazel, I'm afraid to say getting turned into a toad isn't covered by my insurance agency."

I glowered, "Garen, you don't have insurance; you're dead!"

"Still not covered," and then he stalked off, a devious laugh trailing behind.

"Yeah, sorry, but I'm going to have to take a pass on this one." Bastet left next.

After that, everyone gradually filed out of the area, giving a variety of 'no's. In the end, everyone was gone, everyone but Aldrich.

I turned to him with a pout. "You'll come with, right?"

He froze. "Um…"

"Aldrich."

And so, twenty minutes later, I found myself at Romulus's side, looking down at the world below through a person-sized hole, wind whipping wildly about, loud enough you had to yell to hear what the other was saying. I couldn't believe he convinced me to do this.

"Romulus…"

"Oh, come on, Aldrich! Don't tell me you've never wanted to meet your descendants, face-to-face instead of watching them via magic mirror-thing!" He grinned.

I gripped his hand, "I do not like this."

He laughed, "Aww, what, you scared of a million-meter fall? Chicken!"

"I am a wolf," I couldn't resist the growl tumbling out.

"Yeah, a wolf with his tail between his legs."

Eyes narrowed, hair on edge, I aggressively pulled the other towards me, and with my beloved in my arms, I jumped.

A/N:

APPARENTLY, BY 'SHORT HIATUS' I MEANT 'TWO DAYS.' OH MY FUCKING GOD. ALKDFJEPOAJIFDKFL;DSKJADL;FAJDSK-

Sorry about that; I just find it kind of ridiculous that it only took me about two days tops to finish the intermission. Wow. I honestly thought it'd take me, like, four or something. Anyways, there was a lot of good stuff in this. First of all, here's the master list of ancients:

Rome: Romulus, named for the according-to-legend founder of Rome, a deceased king, died in old age

Germania: Aldrich, a deceased gray wolf spirit, died from a stab wound

Ancient Greece: Athena, named for the Ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, a deceased queen, died from sickness

Ancient Egypt: Bastet, named for the Ancient Egyptian goddess of cats and regality, originally named Nefertari in this AU, a deceased noblewoman, died from an assassination plot

Carthage: Annôn, a deceased soldier from Hannibal's army, died in battle

Iberia: Vendela, named for a kind of white rose, a deceased red fox spirit, died in a turf war with some other spirits

Gaul: Garen, a deceased gray wolf spirit, died from being attacked by a very brutal, very territorial community of bears

Scandinavia: Beo, named in reference to Beowulf, 'beo' meaning 'bee,' a deceased arctic wolf spirit, died from trying and failing to avenge Garen

Britannia: Hazel, named for a kind of tree and the greenish-brown color, a still living witch who's been in a coma for the past thousand years or so

And those are all of the all of the ancients! Now for the brief-ish summary of what the hell even happened here.

Romulus and Aldrich woke up in the afterlife, then fucked and confessed their undying love for each other. Later, they ran into Athena, Romulus's ex, and informed her that she'd been replaced by a studly wolfman, only to find she'd been making bets in the afterlife about whether they would die or fuck first. Eventually, Athena introduced them to her BFF in death, Bastet, only for the girls to start arguing over something stupid. In light of this event, Romulus and Aldrich ran off to fuck again. Over time, the gang added Annôn and Vendela to their group, then Garen and Beo. During all of this, they asked around and found out that all humans bound to spirit animals end up with cool, magical tattoos in the afterlife, of which cause them to have superpowers that Romulus is never allowed to experiment with. Ever. Then, Romulus gushed about his amazing grandchildren and how Feli and Lud are just like him and Aldrich when they were younger. Then, after a brief standoff with Annôn, they probably fucked again. At some point, there was also a ton of living-watching and the italics dialogue that happened in the previous chapters, causing Romulus to push for a field trip to the mortal realm. At the very end of the intermission, Romulus and Aldrich go to the land of the living by themselves, because no one wanted to but Romulus. Knowing Romulus, there was probably a lot more sex while he and Aldrich hung out in the afterlife than I pointed out here.

Part 3 I literally just started today, so it's definitely going to take a while. What I'm going to do is I'm going to finish about half of the third part's plot, then post that to give you guys some content. So yeah, I guess I'll see you whenever I do that!

Oh, wait, totally forgot something! I've been working on possibly starting a new fanfic that's a Spamano mafia AU in which Romano's the heir to some big mob and Spain's a humble employee at a superstore. Basically, the two meet at the superstore, then Romano keeps showing up to buy random shit he doesn't need, purely as an excuse to spend time with Spain. Does that sound like a good idea? I'm not really sure if I want to do that or not, even though I have nearly the entire plot figured out already. Let me know in the review section if you think I should write and post it!

Responses to review(s):

Seele Esser Deutsch: Hahaha, yeah. Eh, you didn't fail too badly. I guess I wasn't very clear that there were four people speaking, so it's more my fault than yours! Thank you! I tried to show a more soft, emotional, caring sort of side of Arthur, but I can't help feeling it was a little abrupt and out of character for him. England tends to be very reserved and guarded about his emotions, so I was kind of worried I'd mess it up, you know?

Anyways, see you later!