I Am Not Lonely, Swear To God, I'm Just Alone
Genre: gen/angst
Rating: PG
Characters: Prussia
Warnings: nothing really
Disclaimer: yeah, don't own Sound Of or Hetalia
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The house was empty. All that was left was dust and memories. He was a little surprised that it hadn't already been torn down. The spare key was still where he'd always left it, in the little clay pot tucked under the bushes, out of sight, and it fit into the lock as well as always, although it was a little stiff when he tried to turn it.
The door creaked open, and Prussia stepped cautiously inside, half-expecting ghosts of the past to drift out from the gaping doors and dark hallways within.
He probably shouldn't have come back, but it was hard not to haunt the old place when he felt like a ghost himself.
There was nothing left. It was just an empty house in a German city in German territory, as though he'd never existed. He thought maybe he should resent his brother for that, but he didn't. It probably wasn't really his fault.
Prussia sat on the floor, crossing his legs, and drew in the dust, absent whorls and shapes at first. Then the eagle took shape, his eagle, wings spread wide and proud, and each sweep of finger over worn dusty wood brought back old memories slowly growing out of the dirt and the absence. Ghosts in the grime. That should be sad, somehow, but he wasn't sad. Just because something's empty and abandoned doesn't mean it's irretrievably lost.
Every detail, every feather, perfectly delineated and clear. He looked at it for a long moment after he finished, wiping his finger on his pants. It didn't matter. He should scuff it out before someone else moved in and saw it lying there, a pathetic cry to the ages: Prussia was here. And fell.
He left it. Locked the door behind him, and tucked the key into his pocket, then shoved his hands in after and strode off, whistling cheerily.
"Who's awesome?" he said aloud to nobody. Answered, grinning, though something inside still felt like dust and bare floorboards. "I'm awesome. So I can't let people forget me. It. Ha, I wonder if Austria's home so I can go pester him?"
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