Sometimes you just need a little fluff to make things better, y'know?

Warning: Angst, supernatural stuff, RusAme, Nichu, and Prumano.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA. I have fun manipulating their characters, though

Things More Precious

"Artie," Alfred rushed toward him and rolled him over. Arthur was as pale as a sheet, and his breath was rattling enough to cause concern. The Briton stared right up at him, blinking a few times before raising himself on his elbows and gagging.

"Artie?"

"Get away,"

Alfred moved back a foot or so, knowing Arthur's tone meant that he didn't want him to get hurt. But Agramon was gone, right? Why was he—

Arthur gagged again, and a black, lumpy substance poured out of his mouth. It looked like tar, but it did not reflect the moonlight. Arthur coughed a bit and wiped his mouth, sitting back and watching the gelatinous pile of black goo.

"W-what the hell is that shit?" Lovino asked with disgust.

"Residue left over from the demon's magic," Arthur breathed. "Had to get it out. Would have poisoned my bloodstream…" He looked up at Alfred who was watching the goo curiously. "Don't touch it. It could kill you."

"Then get away from it, dumbass," Alfred joked and Arthur crawled shakily over to him. But he couldn't hold himself up for long. So much of his energy had been used that all he could do without getting tired was blink and breathe.

Alfred pulled Arthur to him, putting the Briton's head in his lap. There were tears in his eyes. "Why did you do that? You're so stupid, Art. You didn't have to save us."

"I'm not going to be lectured by some American git," Arthur snapped with a small smile. "I did what I had to. And I'm sorry I put you through that, but… I forgot how much weaker I am now. I really wasn't thinking."

Alfred blinked. "You saw everything?" A blush was trailing across his cheeks.

Arthur nodded. "Well, heard it more like." His eyes traveled to Francis who was watching him from a few feet away. "Je te remercie de m'aimer."

Thank you for loving me. Francis's eyes filled with tears. "Toujours, cher."

Alfred watched the exchange with a frown. He looked to Mattie for some sort of translation, but the Canadian only gave a watery smile and shook his head. Don't be nosy, Al.

Fine. He looked back down at Arthur. "Are you able to stand?"

"Unable to even move I think," Arthur replied and looked at Lovino. "Lovino, come here."

Lovino was apprehensive, but he walked over and knelt down. Arthur took his hand and squeezed. "Thank you, lad. You did such a great job." He looked over at Ivan, who was standing, panting, a few feet away. "You as well."

"You did so well, Lovi." Antonio murmured in Lovino's ear. "I am so proud. I want you to be happy, don't worry about me. I love you."

I love you, too, Toni. Lovino's eyes stung with tears as he felt the Spaniard's presence leave him. He cleared his throat. "Toni helped a little with it… dammit."

Ivan made his way over, and everyone else followed suit. If the Russian deemed it safe to get closer, then they would do so as well.

"How did that demon get into you?" he asked. "There is a reason why demons follow people, and I do not think it was because one of your black magic spells went wrong."

"It's a long story," Arthur sighed. "But I'll make it short for the sake of saving time. I worked as an exorcist in the 19th century. Well, mostly for harnessing the demons' power instead of banishing them." Arthur began. "I frequented cemeteries to do this. There was this one time that I confronted this mausoleum. When I was finished and left the graveyard, I thought that I could feel a presence following me. I could never see it, but I could feel it. I did some research and found that the mausoleum held the bodies of a family of eight who were the victims of an axe murder. The father chopped his wife and seven children up into little bits and hung the bloody bags in his butcher shop. He tried to sell them as ground meat, but, well, people suspected something.

"Soon the whole town knew and arrived at his house, ripping him limb from limb with their bare hands. They tossed his body into the river. That thing—whom I now know as the demon Agramon—was feeding off the evil of the crime pervading the mausoleum and then I allowed the family members' souls inside to be freed. In doing so, I also released him, and he followed me for some time." He paused, taking time to gather his breath and swallow. "I began to draw spirit circles around myself at night, put up wards so that he never got to me. I did this every night ever since the day that I had attracted his attention. I knew what he wanted; I am a powerful warlock and he could do a great deal of damage with me if he managed to get hold of my body. The ritual of protection became routine, but I guess I forgot to keep it up once the Uprising happened.

"He has been the one who has been keeping me awake at night. First it was nightmares about killing everyone and myself… then it was my family. Then I kept seeing visions when I was awake. He'd take over sometimes and I would snap to a few minutes later, not remembering what had happened or how I had gotten where I was."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Gilbert asked.

Arthur shook his head. "If I did then Agramon surely would have used me to kill anyone I told. I knew something was going on, but I had forgotten about the demon. So, when I used my energy to light that fire in the field… I passed into the void. It's the place all magic users go when they have expended so much energy that they cannot live. It is not a natural death, so I could not go to heaven or hell. I was trapped there, and then I met Agramon. It's silly to say it, but if it weren't for him taking over I would not be alive. He pulled me out of the void and took advantage of my weak mind to possess me and use my power."

Alfred looked sternly down at him. "Don't ever do that again, you hear me? You have no right to put yourself in danger if I can't. Who's going to keep telling me not to, huh? Who's going to nag me to stand up straight and stop talking so loud and think before I do stuff and—" Tears ran down his cheeks and dropped onto Arthur's face.

Arthur laughed softly and cupped Alfred's cheek. "Stupid yank. Can't even think without me." But his eyes were wet as well. "I'll always be here, okay?"

Alfred covered the hand on his cheek with his own. Ivan cleared his throat after a moment and said, "Arthur needs rest, da? Let us finish setting up camp. I can feel some rain starting to fall."

Alfred looked up at him, and he remembered what Agramon had revealed about them and blushed. "Uh, yeah, ahem… I-I think I'll stay here with him in case something happens…"

"Go and set up, git, I'll be fine. I'm not a child to be fussed over," Arthur snapped, back to his bad-tempered self.

Alfred decided he didn't want Arthur to tire himself further by arguing with him, so he stood. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and he really didn't know what to do. He rubbed his neck.

Ivan rolled his eyes. Everyone knew now, there was no reason to hide it. He took Alfred's hand and pulled him away from the group. Alfred spluttered and tried to wrench his hand free, blushing furiously, but Ivan's grip was vicelike.

"Be still, Alfred," Ivan growled, and Alfred stopped struggling, looking up at him.

"Ivan, I don't think I—"

"Da, you can," Ivan told him. "We can. If anyone bothers you about it, I will punch them in the face, da?"

Alfred's eyes widened. "Dude, you don't have to—"

"Then what do you want me to say, Alfred?"

Alfred sighed and lowered his eyes. "I dunno…" His hand went back to his neck again.

"Let me see that," Ivan frowned as he pulled Alfred's hand away. He grabbed Alfred's chin and tilted it upward. Arthur's bite mark was still there, red and swollen—no, Agramon's. Worry went through his mind and also a twinge of anger—how dare someone hurt what was his?

"What does it look like?" Alfred asked, finally getting what he was looking at.

"Be still," Ivan told him, and Alfred stiffened. Ivan pressed his thumb to the wound and passed a volt into the bite to rid Alfred's body of whatever Agramon might have given him. Alfred jerked, yelping. Ivan held him as his legs shook. When Alfred looked up at him, his face was flushed and his eyes were hooded.

"Ivan," Alfred groaned. The action had felt strangely arousing. He didn't know what Ivan did, but whatever it was had certainly turned him on.

Ivan just stared, knowing full well what was going on. In that brief moment, their energies had touched—and they had matched each other in intensity. This was the proof Ivan needed after centuries of watching and hoping: they were meant to be together.

Ivan leaned in and kissed him. Alfred's eyes closed and he lost himself in the moment even though he knew he should rightfully be aware of those who were watching. He didn't seem to care anymore.

There were no wolf whistles or cat calls, no embarrassing commands. The rest of the group just stared, most of them wishing they had the courage to do the same. Intimate moments were too rare to spoil nowadays.

I knew it, Francis thought and he looked to Matthew. The Canadian had always been good at sensing relationships. Matthew caught his questioning gaze and smiled with knowing. That's my boy.

Arthur couldn't keep a smile off his lips. Finally, you ignorant sod. You couldn't see it before? And then he laughed inwardly. Well, I guess you got it from me. He glanced at Francis and the Frenchman beamed down at him.

Ivan and Alfred parted. "Never leave me," Ivan said. So many had left him before.

Alfred intertwined their fingers. "I won't, you sappy commie."

Ivan squeezed his hand. "I will be whatever you want me to be."

And that just made Alfred feel guilty.

Kiku was sitting at the mouth of the tent, sheltered from the rain pouring down outside. He was staring up at the sky, watching the clouds move over the moon. The wind blew and some of the rain coated his face. He shivered, pulling his coat further around himself.

So much had happened in the past few weeks than he would have ever imagined. History happened slowly and over the course of many years, decades, but this… this was unbelievably fast. Who knew what would happen next? One day they all might be here, and the next one of them would be gone or two or three or all—the appearance of the Organization members and Arthur's possession was plenty proof that anything and everything could go wrong in a matter of seconds. What did that mean for him? He was rather old… how long would it be before he slipped up, before his senses became dull enough to get him killed?

Arms wrapped around him from behind, and Kiku's back melded into a warm, bare chest. "What is wrong, my yīnghuā?"

Kiku sighed and his breath came out as mist against the cold. "How long will we be able to keep this up, Yao-chan?"

"Don't think about that," Yao told him, planting soft kisses down his neck.

Kiku pulled away from him and turned around to face him. "We can't ignore that we may not have that much time left."

Yao kissed him on the lips. "Then let's make the most of it."

Kiku let Yao lead him back into the tent. Then Kiku was beneath him, and Yao was kissing him like he would never be able to kiss him again.

Gilbert listened to Lovino's breathing as he lay beside him in his sleeping bag. It wasn't getting any shallower, and he was sure that he heard Lovino swallow a couple of times.

Gilbert sat up and looked down at him. "I know that was some freaky shit that happened today, but you can't let it keep you up. You need your sleep."

Lovino just kept staring at the top of the tent, not saying anything. Gilbert sighed and slipped into Lovino's sleeping bag. He wrapped his arms around the Italian and only then noticed that Lovino was crying quietly.

"I love him," Lovino muttered before Gilbert could ask. "I love him so much. He was so close—I could smell him, feel him…"

Gilbert frowned in confusion, feeling jealousy spark in him. "Who?"

Lovino looked at him, tears sliding down his cheeks. "Toni. He was with me during the exorcism. He helped me." He took a deep, quivering breath. "He told me that he wanted me to be happy and not to worry about him. But I love the bastard. How could I not worry about him? Why should I be happy when he's so far away?"

"Oh, Lovino," Gilbert said, taking him into his arms. "Are you sad right now? Guilty?"

A few more tears escaped Lovino's eyes. "S-si, dammit, what do you think…?"

"Then you are not what Toni wants you to be."

Lovino sniffed. "It feels so wrong."

That struck a hard blow in Gilbert, but he tried his best not to let it show. He wiped the tears from Lovino's face with his thumbs. "You love me, right?"

Lovino nodded.

"And loving me makes you happy?"

Lovino pushed his hands away and scoffed. "I know what you're trying to do."

Gilbert blinked. "What?"

Lovino smirked. "Get some ass."

Gilbert smiled, then asked rather awkwardly, "Do you want to… make love? It seems to help you feel better…" It was the truth, but he definitely sounded like a horny bastard. Which he was, but it seemed an insensitive thing to be at the moment. He hoped it didn't come across that way… and at the same time he wanted Lovino to pick up on it just a little.

Lovino shook his head. "No, I just… a lot has happened today, and I'm tired. Could you… just hold me?—dammit."

Lovino's blush was so cute. Gilbert pulled the Italian flush against his front, Lovino's back to him, Gilbert's arm wrapped snugly around him. The Prussian's breath was warm and comforting against Lovino's neck.

"You don't have to worry anymore, Lovino," Gilbert muttered. "I will take care of you now. I promise both you and Toni that."

Lovino reached down and weaved his fingers through Gilbert's. "You know I can't take you seriously when you turn all fucking sappy, right?"

Gilbert smiled. "I know, but you asked for it."

Translations:

Toujours-Always

A Word From the Writer: Romano, give Prussia a chance. He's trying to be romantic when he has a boner-shit's hard! And, all right, finally some real RusAme fluff. And Nichu is moving along nicely... Then ya got good ol' Prumano just as bitchy as ever. Yet, somehow, it works.
Guess England better get to drawing those spirit circles again, huh?

Tonight's the night for l'amour~! I had an urge to write some smut. So, onward to smut!