A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Bonus: Chpt 41 - Passing

Present Day, England

As a country, years could pass either very quickly, or very slowly. There was no in-between.

At least, that was how Francis had always felt.

The first 200 years after (Y/N)'s death felt sluggish; they crawled by, inching there way past him, slower than a snail. He hated these years the most. The ones that dragged on forever and ever, trapping him in his head as every small thing brought on a bombardment of memories. It didn't even matter if the memories were primarily good - such as when they had their first picnic, went to the market, went stargazing, danced - they all ended the same way.

They all left him with the night (Y/N) died.

They all left him feeling empty.

A large, black, empty hole had embedded itself in his heart, in his very soul, and nothing he ever did could shake it.

Even in those 71 years that passed relatively quickly.

These were the years that occurred after he'd had a thorough lecture given to him by Arthur, Alfred, Antonio and Gilbert about learning to let go, or at least learning to remember the good times.

They had all been worried about him. About the fact that he never seemed to be himself any more, not completely. He could still remember the reply he had given them: "How can I be myself when my other half is no longer here? When half of me no longer exists?"

The lecture also had to be given to Josie, Lauren and Edward, who had been almost as depressed as Francis.

The three of them had stuck around, surprisingly. They'd borrowed rings for the past 271 years in order stay with the countries, and became integral players in the World Meetings - Ed was organised, Josie could get the attention of everyone in about 5 seconds, and Lauren was scared of no one, not even Ivan (Russia) and Natalya (Belarus), both of which were a first for anyone, and definitely came in handy.

They were, of course, not always around, and had, currently, spent the last 50 years travelling around the globe, mostly keeping in contact with the countries they had borrowed rings from. Josie had taken Arthur's (who had objected to the idea at first, since it 'wasn't what the rings were made for'), Lauren had taken Alfred's, and Ed had taken Antonio's.

None of them were soulmates - Lauren was a lesbian and Josie and Ed were still dating. Therefore, the three had vowed to return the rings and borrow someone else's should these three happen to stumble across their soulmates at any point.

Francis had never offered his ring, and he was certain that no one expected him to. He still wore his, as he had promised. He had never taken it off. And he still wore (Y/N)'s ring around his neck, on a thin silver chain. So he could keep it close to his heart.

Looking back on the past 50 years or so, Francis was, in retrospect, very thankful for the lecture, he thought to himself. Now, sitting in a cafe in England (since that was where the next World Meeting was), staring into his coffee, he realised (not for the first time) that it had much to do with his return to his regular self.

Flirty, charismatic, charming.

He flirted with most people, continued to tease Arthur about anything and everything under the sun, and pulled childish pranks with Gilbert and Antonio.

That didn't mean that he didn't think about (Y/N) though. He did. Sometimes, he'd still dream of him. But now, it was mostly happy memories. Happy dreams. They were more of a comfort, and less of a horror.

The only time he really thought about (Y/N)'s death was when new advancements were made. The technological advances had always amazed him, even if the creators of the new machines (and even new ideologies) were from his country.