"Prussia's memories are back," Germany said, coming down the stairs into America's living room where a few of the countries were sitting.
Most of the nations had already gone home. Italy and Spain didn't come back after Romano's funeral- and none of the others really had any reason to.
America, England, France, Germany, and Prussia were really the only one still at America's house. France and Germany returned after the funeral to take care of England and Prussia- who were considered too unstable to travel. England of course protested this, but stayed nonetheless.
America agreed to look after the two of them since he didn't want to go more than one funeral in a single week...
"Is he coming down?" England asked, not hearing another set of footsteps.
"I can't get him to leave the room," Germany admitted.
"Is he a country again?" France asked.
"I... don't know."
America stayed quiet through all of this. He just couldn't quite pry the image of the Albino stabbing Canada through the gut.
"America... 'e wasn't 'imself. You know zhat," France said, sensing what the young blond was thinking about.
America didn't say anything. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to just "forgive and forget" or however that phrase went. He just wanted to be upset.
France gave him the "aggrivated parent" look, but eventually let it drop, returning the conversation to Prussia.
"So 'ow do we know if 'e's a country again- does he have any wounds zhat appear to be healing?"
"The cuts on his face and neck that Italy gave him seem to have healed some, but is that enough to prove that he's a country again?"
"Non, but if zhey heal completely by the end of today, I'd say zhat's proof enough."
They were silent for a while. They would just have to wait and see. England shifted uncomfortably at the silence.
"Will Prussia be stable enough to accompany us tomorrow?" England asked hopefully. America and France exchanged a glance- which was of course missed by England, but he could guess what worried expressions the two had on their faces, "You can't keep me here forever you know. And I can't not go..."
America sighed loudly. "I guess you have a point..."
England smiled. He hadn't left the house at all save for a short trip north for Canada's funeral. America and France had done a good job of coming up with reasons to keep England indoors- with only one real reason in mind... England was still blind. And according to him, he was staying that way...
"Are you sure there's no way to get your sight back?" America asked for the billionth time.
"I've told you, it's permanent after the half hour mark. After thirty minutes the curse can't be transferred to anyone else."
America sighed again. He didn't want to have the same conversation again, so he let it drop. England would be coming with them. On a plane... to Asia... And it looked like Prussia would be going too...
The trip had been rather difficult for the five nations. England had to be led by either France or America everywhere since he refused to get a white cane or accept help from the airport staff. He refused to let any of the nations tell anyone he was blind.
Prussia had originally wanted to get a separate flight than the others, but Germany would have none of it. Prussia was unusually quiet the entire trip and made America incredibly nervous as it wasn't too unlike "Gilbert's" behavior...
France took shifts either looking after England or Prussia. When they were alone, France made a special effort to play with England and his lack of sight- from waving his hands in front of his face or putting bunny ears behind his head, he made quite a show of it. And that's exactly what it was for. England may not have allowed them to tell anyone about his disability, but France made it quite obvious anyway.
America constantly switched between looking out for England and glaring daggers at Prussia- who never returned one of his glances or even seemed to recognize America's presence. This pissed off America all the more, and he glared even harder at the quiet German...
Germany stayed by Prussia's side mostly. He made a special effort to walk at Prussia's unusually slow pace, and return America's glares when Prussia was unwilling to. No one was quite sure about Prussia, his wounds had indeed healed and whatever spell Oliver had done had obviously worn off after he died, but Prussia wasn't the same as his old self...
Prussia hadn't said a word to anyone since his memories had returned- not even to Germany. The only response he had gotten from the Prussian was a shake of the head when he asked if Prussia was coming downstairs, and a nod when he asked if he was coming with them on the plane...
The five of them got strange looks from the other passengers. They weren't well mentally and they showed it. France was dismal, his eyes barely left the floor of the plane and he most certainly didn't look anyone in the eye. England fidgeted constantly, if he tried to sit still his hands would shake and his eyes would dart about the plane even though he obviously couldn't see anything. Germany stared intently out the window as if he were contemplating some deep thought.
America clenched and unclenched his fists and picked at the armrest- eventually tearing off the cushion entirely. Prussia sat in what looked like a defensive position- his arms wrapped around his body tightly and his chin tucked into his neck- he'd be curled up in a ball still if the flight attendant hadn't told him he had to take his feet off the seat, which had caused child-like tears to roll down his cheeks as he did what he was told.
It was almost an 18 hour flight, if one was driving, one could travel almost a thousand miles in that time. But they were traveling much, much further than that.
When they left the airport, Japan stood waiting in front of a green taxi with a yellow stripe down its side and bowed slightly upon seeing them.
"Thank you for coming, America-san, France-san, Doitsu-san, Igirisu-san... Prussia-kun," Japan had of course been informed of Prussia's memories returning. Everyone had. "Sharr we go?" Japan asked, motioning to the cab.
The nations nodded and clambered into the cab. The ride was slow and the jet-lagged nations were tired and it was barely noon. They hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane for one reason or another. Prussia looked as if he hadn't slept in days...
The cab pulled up slowly to the old building. It was a cool day, but the sun was still shining as the nations climbed out and stepped inside the building.
The first thing they noticed in the church was that it was half-populated with humans and nations. They saw Italy sitting with Spain on the right, the Asian nations up front, a few of the Nordics sitting in the back... Russia was standing up front, looking down at the casket...
America frowned. He didn't like this. He had, had a hard enough time at Canada's funeral, but he wasn't going to miss China's...
"Arthur..." America whispered to England, reminding him that there were humans here as well. England nodded but remained silent. The two of them went to sit next to a group of humans while Germany and France went to sit by Italy and Spain. Italy looked back towards where Prussia had been standing, but he was already seated near the back, out of view of most of the humans and nations in the room.
Of course it would be absurd if only nations had attended China's funeral. It would be just as absurd to say that China hadn't made human friends while living his daily life...
The first part of the service was fairly quick. The casket was left open as the humans in the room went up to say goodbye and tell stories about Yao...
Yang, China's 2p, was also here, in a separate casket, sitting near the corner of the room. A few people stopped by to pay respects, but there were no clusters of mourners near him...
It wasn't long before everyone was dismissed except for "family" and as the humans departed, they stared at those who were staying behind and questioned how they could possibly be related to Yao.
Soon only the nations remained and three humans who had known about the nations and had chosen to stay. Even the pastor was dismissed. The funeral was now in the nations hands.
Slowly, one by one, the nations stood up to say their final goodbyes to China. First was Japan, closely followed by each of the Asian nations. They each said something quietly and held his hand briefly or gave him a kiss on the forehead before returning to their seats with solemn looks on their faces.
Soon other nations began to stand up to say goodbye as well. England tugged lightly on America's suit.
"America," England said, his eyes fixed forward.
"Right..." America said, helping England stand and leading him to the line of nations. America shifted uncomfortably as they waited, but soon they were at the front of the room, standing before China's lifeless body.
England was led to the casket and he leaned over and reached for China's hands. He grasped the cold fingers and looked to where he guessed China's face would be.
After a moment he decided that this wasn't enough and reached for China's face as well. This much physical contact had previously been reserved for the Asian nations, but considering England's disability, they let it slide without a second thought.
America shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything. He looked briefly at China's face but found that he couldn't stare for long... He looked back at England who was sadly studying China's face with his fingers. He didn't say anything like he had at Canada's funeral, he just remained silent before straightening up and reaching for America's arm. He took it and the two of them walked back to their seats.
As they were walking, America noticed Russia standing at the back of the room. He hadn't come up yet, and didn't make any motion to. He looked as if he were debating coming up at all. America made a slight gesture, motioning Russia to come. Russia frowned, but took a few steps towards the line.
He looked for Prussia as well where he had sat down, but found that he was already halfway to the casket. Italy gave him a death glare as he passed, but Prussia didn't look his way. Apparently America wasn't the only one who hadn't forgiven Prussia...
Prussia kneeled down beside China. He didn't say anything and he didn't reach out to touch him. He just kneeled beside him and cried softly. He eventually made way for Russia who had been standing rather awkwardly behind him for some time.
Russia leaned over the casket and immediately reached for China's hands. He played with the cold, stiff fingers, bringing some small amount of warmth to them. He reached out for China's face and stroked his frigid cheeks lightly. Russia was crying, whispering quick words as tears ran down his red face. Eventually he had to let go of China's hands... He leaned in again and kissed China lightly* before returning to his seat.
The casket was closed and the Asian nations carried him out to the graveyard while China's national anthem played quietly in the background. The burial was quick and uneventful. Several of the nations cried as they tossed in a patch of dirt onto the coffin. Hong Kong lit some fireworks... solemn fireworks. There was a panda. Like I said, nothing too eventful.
Soon the nations had to return to their homes. Japan offered to escort England, France, and America (who were all going to go to England's house for a short time to help him settle back in) to the airport.
"I tord China's boss to rook out for any naturar disasters that might happen because of China and Yang..."
"Probably a good idea," England said, "We don't know what will happen now that both China and Yang are dead. At least the other countries still have their 2ps to take care of the country, or vice versa. China is the only one which lost both it's representatives..."
The other countries nodded in agreement (which of course England couldn't see) and the rest of the car ride was silent.
In an underground prison, deep beneath the frozen lands of Russia, there was a light rapping at one of the steel cell doors.
"Why! If it isn't my little Russia descending from on high to mingle with the prisoners~" Ian said as Russia walked into the cell, "Have you come to finish me off finally?"
"You should be killed for your crimes. You should be killed for the knowledge you hold," Russia said coldly.
"Ah, yes, that. But if you killed me for knowing how to kill off you silly countries, wouldn't you have to kill the others as well~?" Ian said, pleased with himself, "And I doubt your new 'friends' would let you do that- no matter how much they hate us. So that's obviously not why you're here. So why are you?"
Russia walked slowly to the back of the cell- blatantly ignoring Ian's question. Russia was obviously down here for something- and Ian doubted it was for a friendly chat.
"It would seem that now... you're the one who's locked up-"
"Oooh, are you going to torture me? It'd be better than just sitting here."
Russia ignored Ian again, "-and now I have a question to ask you," Russia turned around to face Ian once more, "Where is she?"**
*If you don't ship RoChu, we can just say he kissed him on the forehead, but if you do ship it, congrats, your ship is in this fanfiction... although China IS dead, but still.
**It is possible I'll write a sequel to this, however I haven't quite decided which plot-line I would use if I did. If you'd be interested in reading a sequel which would take place about 10-20 years after this, write a comment saying so and if I want to or if I get a lot of people asking for it, then I'll write it.
((This is the end, folks! Don't go away quite yet, though, because there are two "bonus" chapters after this, one taking place a few weeks after this chapter and another a full year. Anyway, see you then, don't forget to review and tell me if you want a sequel!))