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

Chapter Thirty-Six

"Wait." The Dutch Empire said, after a few minutes of running.

"What is it?" REC asked, slowing down.

"I completely forgot, after I got out of the rubble, I saw the Austrian Empire kill the Ottoman Empire. The British Empire was helping him. I don't think we should go back there... they might do the same to us." DE said, worriedly looking back at the ruins.

"Oh... I'm sure AE had a reason though. I've met him before, he wouldn't do that on his own. Are you sure he wasn't being mind controlled?" REC told him.

"No, but it looked like OE was..." DE said, thinking back to the moment.

"Maybe he was doing it so that they wouldn't be mind controlled anymore!" REC said.

DE felt stupid. "Oh, that sounds more likely." He sighed in relief. He had thought that their allies had started killing everyone for no reason.

"So, shall we keep running?" REC asked, looking behind him.

"Yes, yes, let's keep going." DE said, wincing as a dagger struck his barrier, a confirmation that ROE was getting closer.

He hoped REC was right.

Austria-Hungary climbed over the last piece of rubble, breathing heavily. They had been ascending the ruins for the last few minutes, hoping to find an ally.

"A-H? Is that you?" AE's voice rang out. It was weird to hear his voice, but A-H was glad for it.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm no longer mind controlled. For now, at least." A-H responded, feeling hands pull him to his feet. AE's gloved hands, thankfully.

"Are you sure you won't be mind controlled anymore?" The British Empire's voice rang out.

"I'm sure. I'm too useless to be any good to ROE mind controlled."

"You may be useless to him, but you're not useless to us. I'm glad to have you back." A-H heard a smile in AE's voice.

They sat around for a while, resting their arms from fighting for so long. "Do you know who's still alive?" A-H asked after a few minutes.

"Me, the British Empire and you as I know of currently. I haven't seen REC, PE or DE in a while, but I assume they're still alive. OE, GE and PLC are all gold. We had to turn them to gold to stop the mind control for now. If I ever feel like I'm dying, I'll reverse it before that happens." AE said. A-H nodded, feeling glum. So many of them were dead in just one day.

"Hey! AE, A-H, BE!" A far away voice shouted. Austria-Hungary recognized Canada's voice.

"It's the Dutch Empire and REC!" AE cried, standing up. "ROE's following-" His voice cut off for some reason.

"He's being mind controlled!" The British Empire cried. "A-H, get away from him!" They did as they were told, backing away from their now silent father, but A-H couldn't see their surroundings, and tripped over a large piece of rubble.

They felt something touch their chest, and then Austria-Hungary couldn't move their arms anymore. Then their legs. Then their mouth. Then they couldn't move at all.

The Russian Empire strode up to the Mongol Empire, who was bending down over Austria-Hungary to deliver them to the afterlife.

"Excuse me, Mongol Empire?" RE asked.

"What is it?" ME said, her voice so quiet RE could barely make out the words.

"Is there any way we can communicate or interact with the living world? All of my friends are dying, and soon there won't be anyone left to die."

"No. You are ghosts now. You can rest."

"How can I rest knowing that my friends are dying, and I can't do anything to stop them! Please, you're the Lord of the Dead, you must be able to give us something!" RE pleaded, looking into ME's pure white eyes. The flame-headed country thought for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Fine. There is something I've wanted to try out for a while. I grant every dead country—except for ROE when his time comes—the ability to use their powers in the living world. So long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it shall be done." ME said, RE was about to thank him profusely, but the Ruler of the Dead kept on going. "And for this battle only, I will allow every ghost to be seen and interact with the living. So grab your sword, RE, for a battle between the dead and living is about to begin." ME seemed to grin, despite having no mouth.

"Thank you!!!" RE could barely speak, overwhelmed with gratitude. "But why are you doing this?"

"Every country dies eventually. So many of you are already dead, that it will be centuries before I need to worry about more of you dying. Although some of the living countries' fates are already sealed, I promise not to kill anyone else after this battle. My time has come, and I plan to go out with a bang."

The British Empire was the next to fall. REC watched from a distance, screaming in horror as the Austrian Empire turned each and every one of them to gold. He turned around, and found the Dutch Empire's eyes glazed over. It was over.

REC stabbed himself before ROE got the chance to mind control him too, not that it would make much of a difference. They were all doomed.

ROE chuckled behind him, startling REC. "You really thought you'd have any chance against me? Face it, you never stood a chance!" He cackled as the Austrian Empire turned DE to gold as well. REC was alone.

He raised his fists, ready to keep fighting. The last time he'd given up, his best friend had died. He would keep fighting. Keep going. Keep living until his final breath.

As the Austrian Empire stepped closer to him, a shape flickered in the air in front of REC. At first, he thought he was imagining it, but the Portuguese Empire appeared, brandishing a sword towards AE.

More and more dead countries dotted the landscape around them, their weapons all pointed towards ROE.

"Shit, am I dead?" REC asked.

"Quite the opposite! You're alive." PE turned around, smiling his stupid, goofy grin.

"What the-" ROE sputtered, glancing around with wide eyes. "How are you all alive?" AE's eyes flickered back to his original eyes, and he faced ROE as well. ROE glanced at all of the gold statues around him, then whirled around and stabbed AE in the gut.

The Austrian Empire coughed up blood, backing away. Ghost Prussia put himself in between ROE and AE, trying to stab ROE with his sword. AE raised his hand, and the gold statues became their original form once more. Several ghosts disappeared as they returned to their mortal bodies.

There was a few seconds where they were themselves, before ROE mind controlled every single one of them. "There, now we're even." He grinned evilly.

REC ran over to AE, standing over him to protect him from the mind controlled countries. BE was the only country that was previously gold who wasn't being mind controlled. Probably because he was injured. The Spanish Empire, Belgium and the Swedish Empire were protecting him from PLC, OE and GE.

Meanwhile, RE, Prussia, HRE, Serbia, PE and Bulgaria were all fighting ROE and the Dutch Empire. DE had ROE and him surrounded in a force field while ROE fought off the ghosts with their own powers.

The force field finally broke after the ghosts hit it a thousand times, but ROE and DE turned invisible to avoid them. "Look at the grass! You can see their footprints in them!" PE advised.

REC looked at the ground, and spotted footprints coming towards him seconds before he was thrown to the side by a gnarled branch. ROE revealed himself, standing in front of AE. A wall of fire separated him and the other ghosts from interfering.

Canada could only squint through the flames and hope that AE would be alright. 

(1321 Words)

The next chapter will be the last! I hope you've enjoyed so far :)