lost ~completed~

chapter 14

The TV hanging in the corner of the room was the only thing breaking the silence. The Frenchman laid on the white hospital sheets, his pale skin nearly matching the white color of the blankets. His chest rose and fell with each of his breathes that seemed to rattle in his chest. He still hasn't woken up.

Beside the blond haired man sat a golden haired man. He was tightly clutching the other mans hand. It was tight but not uncomfortable. The man stared down at the Frenchman's facial features while listening to the TV and glancing up every so often.

The TV screen depicted of the horrors that had been struck at Paris, France. An Italian bomb had hit the capital at the time when Francis' collapsed.

Thousands were dead and thousands were injured. The beautiful city of Paris lay in ruins, now a ghost of its former glory. The Eiffel tower had been damaged. It hadn't collapsed but each pillar was twisted and bent making it look like a heap of metal. A thick, choking smoke suffocated the clear blue sky, hiding it behind its black veil.

Arthur had stopped watching TV after the first few hours; he found the images too disturbing. He had forgotten how long he had been in the same position but it didn't matter; he just wanted to be near Francis.

He continued to hold Francis' hand. Besides an occasional squeeze or stoke of the clammy skin beneath his own, neither moved.

The minutes stretched to hours. Arthur's eyelids grew heavy. He knew others had visited Francis earlier but he had been too deep in thought to notice. He knew Gilbert had visited after he returned from the convenient store. He vaguely remembered seeing Roderick but he couldn't be sure. He was only sure of Gilbert from his loud mannerisms and the hard smack on the back he received when he didn't answer the albino's question.

A nurse came in to check on Francis and to insert some liquids into his IV bag. She was kind enough to turn off the TV for Arthur.

Arthur didn't respond to any of this. It all passed by like it did at the hotel, before France was bombed.

Arthur felt sick to the stomach thinking of the Italian bomb that had destroyed Paris. Before, Feliciano had only attacked the personifications of the countries, albeit the small bomb in the cafe in Italy. Now he was attacking innocent people. He was completely out of his mind now. He honestly couldn't expect to be allowed to bomb a countries capital with no warning or even declaration of war.

As much as Arthur detested the idea, he knew he had to convince the other countries to form an alliance with him and take down Italy by any means necessary. Regardless, they would have to be careful that Romano wouldn't be hurt but it could work.

A fresh anger flared in the pits of Arthur's heart.

Feliciano started this mess.

Feliciano captured Ludwig and Kiku.

Feliciano abused them and mistreated them.

Feliciano killed his little Alfred.

Feliciano bombed Francis' capital.

Now he must pay.

Arthur's days as an empire might be over (at least for now) but that didn't mean he wasn't strong. He had the motivation. All he needed to do was put forth some effort and he could achieve anything.

Arthur pressed his lips to a line and blinked his eyes into focus. No more feeling bad for himself and no more hiding from reality. He had to accept that Alfred was dead. Thinking those words caused his eyes to sting with tears but he knew he couldn't just expect to forget about Alfred. He didn't want to. He wanted to hold onto him for as long as he could but he knew there was a time when he had to let Alfred go. He could love him and honor his memory but he had to let go.