Purple and Gold (The Many Colours of Life and Death AU)

Chapter Twenty

The Austrian Empire knocked on the door to the cabin. He barely had enough energy to complete the action after the long walk there. Bulgaria had it worse though. AE worried he wouldn't wake up again.

"AE!" GE cried after opening the door. "Was the rescue successful? Is everyone... oh jeez." He spotted AE's wounds, as well as Serbia and PE carrying an unconscious Bulgaria behind him. GE ushered the group in and closed the door.

"Austria-Hungary! Bulgaria and AE are wounded, can you help them?" GE called.

"How wounded?" A-H asked, running into the room.

"Pretty badly. AE got stabbed in the stomach, and Bulgaria is unconscious from getting slashed across the chest."

"I'll grab bandages!" A-H left the room.

AE wished he could collapse into the couch and fall asleep, but he forced himself to stay awake to see how Bulgaria was doing.

We need to stay here for a while, GE. At least until we can heal ourselves and figure out how to stop the Purple Alliance from killing us. AE signed.

"Of course, stay as long as you like. We also need to figure out how to get the Roman Empire out of your head." GE agreed.

"The Roman Empire?" Serbia interjected, the other members of the Gold Alliance equally confused.

GE explained the story to them while A-H came back and started bandaging Bulgaria and AE.

"Wait, the Roman Empire is alive?" REC exclaimed when the story was done.

"That's what we think. The source of his power doesn't touch him, so the gold wouldn't have spread there. He probably possessed it before he died." GE said.

"Is it safe to be around AE then? No offence," PE waved at AE apologetically, "but ROE could just mind control him at any time! And he doesn't care about hurting anyone, unlike AE."

I know that Prussia found a way to shake off the mind control. Also, if I am in pain, it's harder for him to get a hold of me. At least, that was how it was when I fought him. He could have gotten stronger in the years that passed. The Austrian Empire explained.

"Well, that's at least good news. You're in a lot of pain right now!" PE said.

"That's not exactly a good-" REC was cut off by his eye disappearing, instead replaced with blood that flowed out from his socket. AE tried to jump back, but found he was also being controlled. It was ROE.

PE, RE, GE, Serbia and presumably A-H were also being controlled, their normal eyes replaced by their power. Of course, A-H had his eyepatches on, so AE couldn't tell if their eyes were different, but they had stopped treating Bulgaria.

"Pain doesn't stop me." All of them said in a voice that wasn't theirs. AE tried to fight the force that held him, but it was useless. What had Prussia done to get rid of this? "Nothing can!"

Then the Roman Empire let go of them, and their eyes returned to normal.

"Holy shit that was weird!" PE spoke first after a few moments of stunned silence.

"One second, I have to wash this off." REC said, gesturing to the blood still on his face. He left the room, looking very uncomfortable.

"I couldn't do anything! It was like being in a dream but you weren't in control." RE breathed.

"We need to stop him. Kill him for good this time." Serbia spat. AE didn't want to kill anyone again. He'd already 'killed' the Roman Empire once, was he really going to do it again?

"I'll do it." GE said after glancing at AE.

Really? AE said.

"Yes. Nobody other than us should know, anyways. As long as we don't tell the Purple Alliance about this, it would be as if ROE had stayed dead." The German Empire explained. AE nodded gratefully at him.

"I have a theory." A-H spoke up.

"Go ahead." Serbia said.

"I don't think ROE can control people who are unconscious. He managed to possess all of us at once, but Bulgaria didn't change at all."

"Maybe it was just because he could only possess seven countries at a time?" PE said.

"Perhaps, but I think my theory is more likely. If one of us isn't getting controlled by him, we can knock each other unconscious so that we don't hurt one another." A-H explained.

"Okay, but what if your hypothesis isn't correct? What if we just go around bonking each other in the head when it does nothing?" Serbia insisted.

"I believe A-H is correct!" GE defended his roommate.

While they all started to argue over what was more likely, AE started to drift off into sleep. He tried to fight it at first, wanting to stay awake to plan with his friends, but eventually gave in to a long, dreamless rest...

REC carefully washed the blood from his face using a napkin. He would not make the same mistake of touching his eye again with his bare hands.

Why did I get myself into this mess? He sighed to himself. If only he could go back home and play with his son, Canada. But that couldn't happen until the Austrian Empire was safe, and the Roman Empire was dead for good.

He hated the feeling of being helpless as he watched his own body do things he didn't tell it to. ROE was too powerful, and REC didn't feel safe anymore.

"You alright?" A voice asked. The Portuguese Empire was standing in the doorway.

"Yes," REC replied, "I'm fine."

"Good, cause I need your help winning an argument."

"Oh joy."

"Also, did that hurt?"

"Did what hurt?"

"When ROE was controlling you, did the blood pouring out of your eye hurt?"

"Not really."

"Good, I was worried that it did. You looked pretty uncomfortable afterwards. I wanted to make sure." PE smiled at him.

"Thanks."

"Okay, now let's go win that argument! I'll get you a coffee after!"

"I don't like coffee."

"YOU MONSTER!!!" 

(1005 Words)