Inspired: Dancing with Tears in my Eyes by Ultravox. What do you mean chapter thirty?!
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
Prussia climbed down the ladder, hand over hand, and came to a rest on the slick brickwork of the sewer. The stones and pipes were coated in slime and worse but it was still the safest place on the planet. The underground was the last refuge of the survivors.
A rat scurried past him.
His skin seemed to glow in the darkness. He was even paler now than he had been before the end of the world. He ran his fingers over the bricks to the left of the ladder, searching, and found the carved directions to the nearest settlement. It was written in an ever changing and complicated code but it kept out unwanted visitors.
He set off down the tunnel once he had memorized a path through the maze. His steps echoed in the eerie silence. It was just him and the rats now.
He had left the robots behind, but just barely. It had been a close call. Again.
Prussia turned left and scrambled up the sewer using a series of footholds. He clambered into a hole that was less than two feet wide and came out in a service tunnel. He continued walking.
His rucksack was weighted down with supplies from the surface and it bounced with each step. He often went on 'errands' for the settlement because he was simply faster and stronger than most of the humans. His chances were just better.
He jumped across the channel and avoided the sluggish river of sewage. There was a mild electrical current running through it, not enough to seriously harm a human but enough to fry a homing droid.
He turned left again.
It was strange that the end of the world had come and gone and he was still alive. So much for fading from the popular consciousness...
He turned right.
Hell, the fact that anyone had survived was odd.
He ducked under a pipe and crawled through another hole in the brickwork and emerged at the entrance of a large hollowed out chamber. It looked like a bazaar with its colourful fabrics and hanging lanterns and it smelt of spices. Open air plots were marked out for couples and families using blankets and wooden posts.
The survivors were emaciated but cheerful, talking and laughing. Men and women were working and struggling and teaching and living and thriving. Prussia beamed. He adored humans and their neverending spirit, their perseverance.
He was slammed forward as someone slapped him on the back, hard.
"Unf!"
"Hey man," America grinned. "Way to not die."
Prussia brushed himself off. America was still the strongest nation he knew, dwindling population or not.
"Your confidence in me is heartwarming," he drawled.
"Confidence my ass," he took the rucksack from Prussia with a nod of appreciation and handed it to another sentinel. "My brother would be upset if you died, though, so try and keep it together."
"Yes, yes…" Prussia scanned the cavern. "Speaking of which, have you seen that wonderful brother of yours?"
"Please, everyone knows that I'm the wonderful one," America snorted but his eyes were twinkling with mirth. "Last I saw, he was serving rice at the cooking pot with Feliciano and Lovino."
Prussia offered him a salute and started picking his way through the pillows and blankets that marked the plots. He passed a couple of other nations and raised his hand in greeting but kept walking towards the common area.
The cooking pot was best described as a cauldron but even bigger. It was set over a fire and required several men to lift it. It was in need of constant care and attention and was responsible for feeding most of the camp.
Canada was standing over the cooking pot with a ladle and a smile as he served rice to an old woman and her grandson. His blonde curls were longer than usual and loose, touching his shoulders. There was a smudge of dirt across his cheekbone. He was thin, but so was everyone else, and his clothes were covered in worn patches.
His eyes were still brilliant and clear.
He was beautiful.
Northern and Southern Italy flitted around the pot, tending to the fire and stirring the rice. The two of them were normally in charge of cooking; Canada usually ran 'errands' with him. His forte was stealth but this latest mission had required brawn, not brains, and so Prussia had left alone.
Canada looked up from the next person in line and whooped when he saw him. He handed the ladle to Northern Italy and ran towards him. Prussia opened his arms and caught him when he leapt those last three steps.
Canada peppered his face with small, chaste kisses before Prussia was able to coax him into a deeper one.
"You're back!"
"Mmhmm."
"And in one piece!"
"Was there ever any doubt?"
"Well…"
"Hey!"
Canada laughed and kissed him again. The end of the world had brought them even closer together. You really started to appreciate the people in your life when they could be taken away at any moment. You really started to treasure every moment with them.
"You'll have to tell me all about it."
"Later. Let's go back to our 'tent'."
He laughed again.
"What 'tent'?"
They wandered over to an indigo blanket spread over the ground on the far side of the cavern. It was not much but it was home. Prussia pushed Canada into the pillows and loomed over him. Canada fluttered his eyelashes in some pretence of modesty but Prussia did not buy it for a second.
Their 'neighbours' were gone but that would not have stopped them anyway. Privacy was a thing of the past.
"I missed you up there," Prussia said, leaning down to bite his neck. "There were a couple of close calls."
"Aren't there, ah, always?" Canada gasped underneath him.
"Yeah, but I still, mmm, missed you."
"I, ah, missed you too. To be honest, I felt sort of useless down here. There was not a lot for me to do. I'm better at running 'errands'."
"You? Useless? Never."
The two of them traded kisses as they caught up. Prussia had been gone for two days and that was a long time for any couple, especially under such dangerous circumstance. They had a lot of fussing and fretting to do.
He could hear a violin humming a favourite tune in the distance and the sound of children laughing and sprinting past them. He could hear the sounds of life and love and survival.
Canada sighed against his lips.
The world could end all over again and he knew that he would still be lying there with Canada, lost in his eyes and his sighs. He doubted that he would even notice; he had barely noticed the first time. It seemed that some things were more important than the world and Canada was one of them.
"I love you," Canada whispered, "so much."
"I love you too."
"Until the end of the world."
"No," he laughed and tweaked his nose, "much, much longer."
Author's Notes:
This was fun to write! Like, a lot of fun. This song and concept was actually requested by my mother. She's just cool like that, I guess. She was on long before I was and she picked out my username in a second after I joined. Sigh… At least she doesn't actually read what I post. (She does sometimes read the reviews though. She was impressed by how supportive this community is. Or maybe it is just you guys…?)
One more day of my self imposed seven day 'Inspired' challenge and then I'll work on something more substantial. I was looking at 'Tired of Waiting' yesterday (I know, right?) as well as 'One Step at a Time'. Dum dee dum… Let's see what happens then.
P.S. 'Privacy' is a fairly new concept and did not exist for most of history. After the end of the world, I think it would go back to that. Think the Court of Miracles from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.
P.S.S. It's important to love people while they are still there. Trust me.