Mortality, My Worst Enemy

Epilogue: Closure

A little epilogue chapter! I hope you enjoy!

*Supplies readers with tissues and ice cream*

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Alfred was late to the World Meeting. This was the first one since Caleb's death, so no nations were upset when an extremely tired and disheveled America walked through the doors. Everybody kept their eyes to the floor, not daring to break this bitter atmosphere. The meeting was quiet for five minutes until Germany softly coughed and stood up. He looked to his normally happy ally and knew Alfred could not speak without crying. So, wishing to bring some sort of relief to his friend, he took charge of the meeting.

"Ve are all avare of ze recent passing of Caleb, ze vorld has lost a sveet spirit. Vhich is vhy zis meeting vill focus on terminal illness und acts ve can do to prevent zem. Uny objections?" Germany asked. Nobody said a word. Two hours passed of this painful meeting, and America still hadn't even looked up. England and Canada were to his sides and saw why he hadn't looked up. America was hiding his tears and was doing a good job of doing so. Finally, a lunch break was called and everybody left. Everybody except America. He laid his head on his arms, and dozed off.

...

America was floating around in an empty void, looking around for something. He floated up the void, down the void, left and right, even twirled. There was nothing but black. Then laughter could be heard, a child's laughter. America cocked an eyebrow and turned his head, seeing Caleb laughing at him.

"Play with me, Alfie! Come on!" Caleb floated over to America and hugged him, "please play with me, Alfie!" Caleb took America's hand and showed him to a playground. It was the hospital playground, where they had first met. Caleb disappeared, and a memory started to form.

Caleb was sitting with his mom, his mask and IV irritated him. He was bouncing with excitement, and his mother seemed nervous.

"Are you Claire?" America asked, walking up to them. She instantly stood up and nodded, shaking America's hand. America then knelt down to be face to face with Caleb, "you must be Caleb then! I'm Alfred! I'm your marrow match so you can get strong and healthy!" America was wearing a Captain America tee and jeans, so he showed a lot of his muscles. Caleb was gawking at him like he was, in fact, Captain America.

"Wow! You're so handsome! Like a superhero! Do you save lives?!" Caleb asked excitedly. America laughed.

"Kinda. I work with people from around the world to solve problems. So you could say that!" America then began to wheel Caleb around, his mother by America's side.

"Mommy! I have a superhero for my marrow match! He's a real superhero! I want to be just like him when I grow up!" Caleb exclaimed excitedly. Both Claire and Alfred chuckled as they kept moving.

Alfred smiled at the memory. A smile that hadn't graced his face since Caleb's death. He then turned his head to see another memory.

He and Caleb in the children's lobby, a chair, and a guitar at the front. Suddenly, Julia went to the chair with a solemn look on her face.

"I'm sorry kids, but it would seem Mr. Herb won't be coming to the hospital again, his wife has gotten pregnant and he is focusing on her for the time being. I don't think anybody will come to play for a while," there was a chorus of "aw's" from the crowd of children and parents. Alfred pouted and stood up, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"I can play something if they really want to hear someone sing?" the children cheered the loudest they could and Alfred smiled. Julia handed him the guitar and Alfred tuned it to his liking, "hm, let me think," Alfred smiled and began to strum.