Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 60

DarktaliaInvades... I'm sorry. Please, don't kill me...

Ludwig stood at the head of the table, hands gripping into the wood tightly. The conference room was quiet today, although no one really noticed. All eyes were fixed on the table, which in the past, had had drinks spilled over it, crumbs dropped on it, people standing and kicking it and blood dripped over it at some point, although now, it was simply the place everyone turned to instead of looking around the room at the equally distraught expressions everyone perfectly mirrored. 

"Okay" Ludwig breathed, standing up straight and glancing briefly at everyone, no one really acknowledging his presence. "So, that could have probably gone better?"

"You've never really been one to look on the bright side of things, are you Ludwig?" Arthur asked, being the first one to make eye contact with anyone else since they'd all arrived. "It doesn't really suit you. Why don't we all just face facts? We screwed up. Elizaveta tried to warn us about what could happen, we ignored her, and now, we're eighteen down."

"Some of them could still be alive" Leon said, raising his head a little. "Just because they're not here right now, doesn't mean..."

"I don't think anyone could have survived that bomb you set off" Ludwig said bluntly. There was a brief moment's silence before he continued. "But, I mean, let's look at it this way. It could have gone better. It could have gone a lot better, but it could've also gone a lot worse. Yes, we're all hurt, yes we're all injured, yes... lots of us are dead, but here we are, all nine of us, and we survived. We lots eighteen ourselves, but if we lost eighteen, they must have lost a hell of a lot more, judging by what everyone's said so far."

"Who exactly did we loose though?" Vash asked. "It doesn't matter how many we lost, just who we lost. We could have lost three, but those three be the three people that matter most to us, and those three would hurt just as much as eighteen."

Arthur stood up slowly, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "As Leon said before, we can't really assume that everyone who isn't here is dead, but we can say that they're missing. What's missing can still be found." He carefully unfolded the paper and glanced down it, his eyebrows furrowing as he went. "Uh... apparently, Francis and Sadik, who we went to rescue, were there, but are dead. Matthias, Toris and Raivis, who we assumed weren't, were also in the building, but they too are dead. As is Alfred, Milen, Matthew, Heracles, Elizaveta, Feliciano, Batukhan, Roderich, Lida, Wendy, Kyung Soo, Yong Soo, Feliks and Peter." He sat down hurriedly, not looking at anyone.

"But Kyung Soo and Yong Soo aren't dead" Leon cried, jumping up. "I mean, they survived, I know they did, they've just not... come back to us yet. They'll come back, and they'll have some of the others with them. You said you'd seen Wendy alive, so maybe she was with them, and they'll come back with her, and others, and..." he hesitated and glanced around the table at all of the disbelieving faces. "They're not dead" he shouted.

"Sit down" Kiku muttered, pulling him back into his seat by his sleeve. Leon's shoulder's sank and he slowly dropped himself into his chair. 

Vladimir lay his head on the desk. "Can I just wake up and this'll all be a bad dream?"

"If it was a bad dream" Kiku said, his voice muffled from underneath clasped hands. "Everyone would still be alive, including them, and although some of us died, some of them died too. If it was a dream, we'd have to go through it all again at some point. They wouldn't just call truce."

Vladimir glanced at him briefly and then sighed, breath misting up the top of the polished table. "I wanna go home."

Arthur swallowed and glanced at Ludwig, who shook his head at him. Gilbert watched them, frowning, then leapt from his chair.