Thanks to Lithuanian Longtail for reviewing.

Warning: this chapter might be a bit upsetting/disturbing. Check the end author's note for explanations.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

CzechAus: Always Together

Gilbert was driving on the highway in the late afternoon, feeling bored out of his mind. He noticed that the car in front of him looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't find it in himself to care. He just wanted to get home.

He glanced towards the side, where he could see a slight dip. At least it wasn't a sheer drop.

He turned his attention back to the road, only to immediately start to brake. The car in front of him collided with a tanker coming from the front, but the two vehicles separated, and the car continued to the side, down the dip, until it collided with a tree. Gilbert pulled up the side of the road, his instincts telling him to check on the occupants of the other car. He needed to clamber over the rocks and shrubs down the side, and it took him a while to reach the vehicle.

"Are you alright?" he demanded as soon as he arrived near the front window, the glass having been broken out by the collision.

His breath hitched when he recognised the occupants. It was his friend, Roderich, and his wife Clara. Roderich was holding onto Clara, and Gilbert could immediately tell that Clara was dead.

Gilbert could hear the sound of sirens, and he realised that one of the other drivers must have reported the accident. He turned around to see that there were many curious onlookers that were gathering, but he needed to focus on his friend.

"Hey, Specs," Gilbert said. "I… I think you need to get medical attention now."

Roderich shook his head, sobbing loudly.

"Can't you see that Clara's dead?" Roderich demanded. "Leave me alone. I need to be with her."

Gilbert sighed, before he turned his attention to the tanker. His eyes widened when he realised that it had caught fire.

"Shit," he said. "We need to get out of here."

"I'm not abandoning her!" Roderich shouted.

Gilbert had never seen Roderich act like that before, and figured that it was due to grief. He decided to give him some space, and went towards the ambulance, intent on telling them about Roderich being injured and Clara being dead.

Just as he arrived, he heard someone scream.

"What's he doing?!"

He whipped around, and he paled when he saw Roderich running towards the burning tanker.

"What the hell?!" he demanded as he started to run closer to his friend.

Roderich was already in the flames, lying down. Gilbert came to a stop as he realised that there was nothing that he could do.

"No," he whispered.

He had to report what he saw to the police, but he couldn't get what happened to Roderich out of his mind. And he knew that he would have to tell his brother about this.

This is, unfortunately, based on a true story that happened two weeks ago in Grabouw, South Africa. A car carrying two people collided with a (thankfully empty) petrol tanker, went through the crash barrier and hit a tree. The wife died on impact, and after the tanker caught fire, the husband ran into the flames. My father told me that someone who knew the couple went to investigate, and after seeing the husband clinging to the wife's body, with the husband demanding 'Can't you see my wife is dead?', the person left him to mourn, only for this to happen soon afterwards. The reason why I wrote this is because it touched me, especially where the husband decided to follow the wife into death. I tried my hardest not to be insensitive to this horrible tragedy, but if I was, I hope you forgive me.