My Eternal Sunflower
Axis Powers Hetalia : Russia x Germany (Ivan/Ludwig)
Rated M for mpreg and (possible) smut
Contains angst, hurt/comfort, romance, character's death, flashbacks/dreams
Summary: Death took away Ivan's sweet smile forever and everyone felt the loss...especially Ludwig. He then had to live on with just the memories the Russian had left behind for him.
Chapter 2: I Love Him
It was bright...too bright for the German to open his eyes beyond a squint. Slowly though, the visual became clearer and right before him was a vast meadow filled with the yellow petals of sunflowers carpeting until the foothills that surrounded them. The cloudless blue sky in the background reflected how beautiful the day was. Ludwig smiled at the scenery as he approached the first row of the tall flowers, running his fingers gently at the leaves and up the stalk to the petals.
"They're beautiful, aren't they? Sunflowers remind me of you, Ludwig."
A soft wave of the breeze brought the long pink scarf into the corner of the German's view. He turned to see the person he called Ivan, walking towards him with a sweet smile that could lighten up a thousand souls. Ludwig returned the smile and went closer to hold Ivan's hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. "Really, Ivan? Is it because my hair is almost the same colour as a sunflower...?"
"Da.And your eyes are as blue as the skies that accompany it...you're my sunflower, Ludwig. Eternally..."
Ludwig flushed slightly and gave a small chuckle, only to have his smile slowly weakened into a twisted perplexity when dark clouds came whooshing into the scene, making the blueness fade into an ugly mixture of black and grey. He looked around and the meadows were nothing but dried grass, bending their way to where the chilly wind blew. Everything seemed so morbid, so cold...
"Ih-Ivan...?"
The German glanced to where his lover was, but his sight was greeted by emptiness. Ivan wasn't there anymore. When he looked down to his hand, he noticed he was holding a sunflower instead of Ivan's hand. Just like the clouds, the bright colours of the sunflower began to fade into a hideous sepia hue, as it gradually withered away.
"Nein...nein...nein, Ivan, d-don't..."
The sunflower dried up completely, slowly turning into dust and trailing itself in a ride with the wind. Ludwig watched and looked as his hand in horror and pure confusion when the whole world dimmed to black. All that was playing in the dark veil was Ivan closing his eyes for the last time...for the very last time...
"Don't leave me alone!"
A loud gasp managed its way out of the German's mouth as he quickly sat up on his bed. He was sweating buckets and dreadfully in need of air. He sat there for a minute or so, staring at his gloomy, untidy room and searching for the profound reality to come back to his senses. He kept noting to himself that he was in his room, he was safe and there's no storm to take Ivan away-
"Nein...he's gone...he'll never come back..." he mumbled alone, rubbing his face in his hands as if there were still tears staining his cheeks. He wondered if he should get out of bed today, and, at least, do something like cleaning up his room. It's been three days since he had the pile of unread books scattered on the floor, five days since his clean laundry bundled up on the edge of the bed, unfolded and crumpled, and it had been a week since he had the black suit he wore for Ivan's funeral hanging at the door to his bedroom.
It had been a week. And since that day, the German never stopped weeping himself to sleep at night.
Now staring at the suit, Ludwig felt like crying again. So many memories he had shared with Ivan went down the drain in just mere days. Ivan never told him anything about his illness, and Ludwig only knew about it when the Russian's older sister told him the bad news two days before his death. Irina told him Ivan didn't want him to worry and that he was afraid of Ludwig leaving him if the well-kept secret was revealed.
