/ I was tempted to push this update back an update day just to spite you guys. :P /

X

Arthur

Unknown place. Unknown date, Unknown time

"Welcome back, Arthur," the lady in white greeted him almost immediately after he opened his eyes. He was back in the same vast expanse of darkness he had woken up in after the accident.

He frowned. Why was he still being held there when he was already truly dead?

"What's the matter?" the lady in white asked. Arthur could see a hint of a smile on her face, but it wasn't the sad one that she had shown him before.

"Why am I here again? The 24 hours you have given me are up and I didn't find any proof that someone else would like me to live..."

"Is that really true?"

Arthur looked at her, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"Think back on the things you've seen or heard," she said. "Nothing there strikes you as proof?"

"There was a vase of yellow paper roses on the stand," Arthur recalled. "I'm glad that someone thought of bringing it there but... I don't really see..."

"Anything else?"

"Well..." Arthur thought some more. "I thought I heard my brother yell."

"Did he say anything... Noteworthy?"

"If you find 'Don't you dare, you bastard!' noteworthy, perhaps," he said dryly and the lady chuckled. "But..."

"But?" the lady coaxed him.

"I thought he sounded angry."

The lady's smile grew wider. "What do you think it means?"

"I guess... He's angry that I died?"

"And?"

"If he's angry that I died... That meant..."

She clapped her hands. "So you did find your proof."

Arthur stared at her with wide eyes. Was that really what it meant? He wasn't overthinking it, was he?

"Ah, but..." he said as he remembered one particular detail. "He said it when I was already dead. He..." He hung his head. Ah, he knew it was too good to be true. "He was too late."

The lady's smile didn't disappear, however. Instead, she held his hands and squeezed them. "No. He was right on time."

"But how? My heart had already stopped..."

"But your brain was still alive for about eight more seconds after. That's why you heard him yell, you know."

The tears involuntarily fell from Arthur's eyes at what he had just heard. So his brother at least wanted him alive. And he found his proof right on time.

He was going to live and see everybody again.

"You were right when you said that I gave you this test exactly because I knew your situation," the lady said, bringing him into her embrace. "And I knew they'd make it."

"How would you know that?" Her embrace felt strangely nostalgic, as if it wasn't the first time she had hugged him...

"I have been watching you for a long time... You and your brothers..."

Ah, so that was it. Of course she looked familiar. Of course she felt nostalgic.

"Mother..." Arthur muttered and buried his face into the crook of her neck. "I... We all miss you."

"I know, honey," she said, stroking his hair. "That's why this had to be done. They were so caught up in their grief when they lost me and they completely neglected you. And they didn't know how to change when they have gotten over my death. They would have kept biding their time if I didn't force them to see how much they've been taking you for granted.

"And then there's you. You may have grown, but you're still a child. You don't know how to not believe in everything that you see and hear. That's why you believed that you were alone, that the others didn't need you. But they do. This was also for you to see it for yourself.

"Nations may live for a long time, but we are not immortal. We die too, even though it may take another hundred or thousand years. And so, it's still important for us to live our lives without regrets and to cherish every moment that we have with the people important to us. This is the lesson that I planned to impart with you and the other nations from the start."

The lady smiled. "Are you ready to go back?"

Arthur gave his mother one last hug and stepped back. He had learned his lesson and he was ready to go back to his family and friends. He was ready to see the present for himself.

"Yes."

~.;*;.~

Los Angeles, USA. March 28, 2:07 pm

Instead of the blinding white light that he had already associated to waking up in a hospital room, the first thing Arthur saw when he opened his eyes was the concerned but relieved expression on his oldest brother's face. It made him remember the talk that he had had with his - their - mother in the darkness and he immediately started crying, causing Alistair to panic.

"Arthur? What's going on? Are you hurting anywhere? Should I-"

"I'm fine," Arthur replied, frantically wiping at his eyes. "I just... I'm alive and..."

Alistair took his youngest brother's hands away from his face and kissed the blond's forehead. "Aye, you're alive. We didn't doubt for a second that you'd survive this, you know."

"But, Gott, don't do that next time, alright?" Arthur heard Gilbert's voice before the albino appeared in his vision. "It scared the shit out of all of us, let me tell you."

"Gilbert?" the Brit asked, thoroughly bewildered. "Why are you-"

"We're here too!" Alfred chirped from the background.

Arthur tried to sit up but ended up jarring his broken ribs instead. But he had to see the people who went to visit him, the people who deemed him important...

"Hang on, there's a button for that somewhere..." the redhead beside him muttered and after a few moments, half of the bed started to incline, putting Arthur in a sitting position. He had the perfect view of the entire room.

It was filled with nations. His entire family was there, even Patrick who always claimed to hate his entire being, the entire G8, Gilbert, and Peter... These people who were important to him also found him important. He felt warmth rising up in his chest and he didn't quite know what this feeling was called, but it was pleasant.

He supposed... He was happy.

"You're all here..." he murmured and he felt the tears falling down his cheeks again. He didn't bother wiping them away this time.

The other nations smiled at him warmly. How could he have thought that they didn't care for him? Their eyes expressed their love well enough, how couldn't he have seen that?

Granted, they weren't really making it easy to understand.

But Arthur could see them now and... There really was no mistaking it.

"Welcome back, Arthur," they all said in unison.

The Brit put his arms around the nearest nations - Alistair and Gilbert - and squeezed tight. He wasn't really a hugger, but he'd make this time an exception. He had just cheated death after all, and he simply craved for physical contact.

The two nations in his embrace hugged him back and he sighed contentedly.

"I'm back."

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