Arthur did the complete opposite of sleeping well. His dreams were haunted by darkness, imagining the only one who could kill his love. He felt like he was thrown into a chaotic sea of black with no hope of ever getting out, no light, forever lost on the tumultuous waves of the sea. He kept searching for Alfred, but there seemed to be no sign of him anywhere.
When he looked around and churned it felt like he wasn't swimming in water but something sticky and thick like tar, threatening to swallow him up any minute. He was dragged down by something and took his last breath till suffocation overwhelmed him and he gave up.
His eyes shot open to find out he was still resting on Alfred's chest, finding it to this time be very cold. He found that it was also damp near where he was, and there was a small spot on the bed below where it was damp. He brought his hand up and felt around his eyes and found that it was soaked some still streaming out, without him knowing.
So he was sobbing, in his sleep.
Well at least all of the sadness got out of him. He looked up and noticed moonlight streaming through the window. He had been asleep for quite a long time, and looked down at Alfred's face seeing it looked rather peaceful, like the real one was in front of him right now and not his corpse. He gave a shaky sigh and got up. He gave the other a kiss on his forehead and felt the warmth be pulled from his lips into the ice-cold chill below. He gave a small shiver and sat on the edge of the bed.
His stomach rumbled from hunger but he pushed the feeling aside, the last thing he could do right now is eat right now, he just really wanted to stay here with Alfred no matter what. Though, there was something off, he could feel some kind of presence around him but shrugged it off. This wasn't the time to be thinking about Alfred anyway.
"Why, of all people did it have to be you Alfred?" He mumbled under his breath, his voice raw and and hoarse from his sobbing. At least he got a bit of his senses back as he looked back at the other's body. He shook his head slowly. "You never did anything wrong, love. So why was it you? You never deserved anything like this, at all. Heh, I guess I bring bad luck to anyone I fall in love with, maybe I should stay away from people all together. Especially since cruel and twisted fate decided it wanted to smash my heart and throw the pieces at me to pick up. Funny how fate works huh?" He sighed and looked down at his hands.
So what was he going to do with Alfred anyway? Keep him here and wait to see if anything happens? That seemed good but he knew he shouldn't keep a body for too long of course. But he couldn't let it go any time soon any way, no matter how long he wanted to keep Alfred with him. It's hard grieving of course. The only time he did this was when one of the rulers died. It really hurt when someone you love dies, like choking on tears and sobs one is trying to keep in.
He gave a sigh as he looked back at Alfred and scooted closer to the body. "Oh Alfred, I wish I could have been there to stop it, please forgive me." He whispered as the tears on his face started to slip down again into steady streams. He buried his face into the other's jacket and started to sob again. He just didn't know why fate was such a cruel and twisted thing, taking things that he loved or adored and crushing them. Why would it be this heartless? He had no clue, but wished that this never happened to the one he loved the most. He buried his face in deeper and felt the sobs continue, giving the hint they wouldn't stop any time soon.
~Alfred~
That thrashing.
As Arthur thrashed and cried in his sleep, Alfred agonizingly watched the display of pain before him. It was unfair. He should be able to jump in and save England from these things. Well…he could at least try. "Please work" he mumbled under his breath, reaching over to touch England's shoulder- if only for a minor second- just long enough to awake him from this nightmare.
It didn't work. His hands just slipped through, as if he was grabbing at air. Oh, what a fine defeat this was. And there wasn't even much of a fight to put up, to begin with. Death was just one cheeky little bitch, wasn't he?
It didn't matter, now, he supposed. Arthur awoke soon after, eyes as wide as saucers. "Good morning, sunshine." Alfred chimed in with a tad bit of sarcasm. The Brit just looked around, as if he was lost somewhere. Well, at least he didn't have that manniquin-eqsue expression on his face. Of course the miserable one that replaced it wasn't much of an improvement, either. "Please don't cry anymore." He stated in an almost childlike manner, "I don't like it when you cry." Arthur leaned over to kiss his-well not his, exactly, but his body's forehead. "Thank you." As he sat on the edge of the bed, America attempted to rest his head on the man's lap. Oh how he craved that warmth, again. "I'm sorry." He looked up to see if England even was looking at him. No. No he wasn't. "I'm sorry, Brita-" Stopping himself, the blonde internally decided to call him by that other name that he was so crazy about. "Arthur. I'm so, so sorry." He dearly wanted to cry, but, no tears came out. Of course. Why would they? Ghosts can't cry. There were no tears to produce, no warmly red feeling in the face, no air to wail with. So, instead, he just stayed there. Pretending to be in England's lap while going through the motions of sobbing. Just- just the illusion of it was good enough for him.
This went on up until Arthur finally spoke aloud, "Why, of all people did it have to be you Alfred?"
The play-acting stopped immediately. Moving away from his body and standing straight up to face him America tried to get out the words but none seemed to come out. He- he didn't know why. He really didn't. But, that didn't matter anymore. He could care less why or how or when or who or whatever! He just wanted to be back and would have given anything for that.
"You never did anything wrong, love. So why was it you? You never deserved anything like this, at all. Heh, I guess I bring bad luck to anyone I fall in love with, maybe I should stay away from people all together. Especially since cruel and twisted fate decided it wanted to smash my heart and throw the pieces at me to pick up. Funny how fate works huh?"
No. The words. They peirced through him like…well like that sword earlier, he supposed. It was odd, really. He couldn't feel anything but those words…they made him physically ache. "Don't talk like that." Alfred blurted out, "I-it wasn't your fault and- and 'fate' is just a word people made up to blame shit on!" The more he talked, the louder his voice became, to the point that it had reached screaming levels, "If you want to be angry at anyone, be angry at me! I'm the reckless one! I thought I was going to live forever! Don't you think for one damn second that you could run around, saying that it's your fault! If it's anyone's fault, it's mine so don't cry! Alright?"
It was odd.
Usually, after yelling like this, he would have to catch his breath or calm himself down but, now, he didn't feel any different than he did a few moments ago.
"Just…just don't blame yourself. That's all I ask."
Why was he even bothering? It wasn't going to do any good. Arthur couldn't hear him even if he so dearly wanted to.
He watched as Arthur slipped over to his body and began talking to it again. And, for some reason, he felt a sense of comfort on the fact that he didn't just throw his body into a ditch in the backyard or whatever. England really did love him…And it wasn't even some kind of 'boredom crush' that appears out of nowhere. He could tell…that man had these feelings for a long time.
But, now it was too late.
It's sort of funny, in a psycotic way, how this turned out wasn't it?
Tears streamed down England's face as, through his broken voice, he whispered, "Oh Alfred, I wish I could have been there to stop it, please forgive me."
"No, stop." His voice began to tremble, "Please stop." Alfred put his hands over the sides of his head as the pain intensified, "No, don't blame yoµr§êl£! ̆'§ ñö† rïgh† þlêå§ê Ðöñ'†. ¥öµ Ðöñ'† Ðê§êrvê †hï§. ̆ hµr†§. Ì wåñ† †ö ¢r¥. ¥öµ Ðöñ'† µñÐêr§†åñÐ †hå† ï†'§ m¥ £åµl†. Ì §höµlÐ håvê ßêêñ †hê hêrö. Ì'm †hê öñê whö §höµlÐ ßê §örr¥ þlêå§ê Ðöñ'† åþölögïzê! Ì wå§ñ'† §†röñg êñöµgh. Ì ¢åñ'† §†åñÐ §êêïñg ¥öµ lïkê †hï§! ̆ £êêl§ lïkê Ì'm ßêïñg kïllêÐ åll övêr ågåïñ! Ì þrößåßl¥ Ðê§êrvêÐ †hï§ †ö ßêgïñ wï†h! §†öþ ¢r¥ïñg! Jµ§† §êêïñg ¥öµ lïkê †hï§ måkê§ mê ïll! þlêå§ê l阮êñ †ö mê!" He had to make it stop, somehow! Ugh! It felt like his brain was about to explode! In one desperate chance to get Arthur to stop, he thrashed against the mirror.
CRASH
"I-it broke." He murmured, the pain, now gone and his head, now cleared.
AN: Alright, I felt that they were each too short to have in just one chapter, so I combined them. Now, the current outlook for the next chapter is difficult since after this there's a time skip and the responses have dwindled down to a paragraph or two each, ranging from 150-200 words, so yep, I'll try to get chapter 4 up as fast as I can! Hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 3, later~