Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

The Weeping Willow

On the side is this story's theme song, which I decided to not reveal until now because it wouldn't have made any sense. Or it would have revealed too much by what you would infer after hearing it... Anyway, here's the chapter.

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Valasha and Matthew's return wasn't met with smiles and greetings. There were none to be had in light of the tragedy that had taken place.

"Mattie..." Alfred said sorrowfully, approaching his brother slowly. Both nations' eyes were bloodshot, adding one more similarity between the two of them. 

Matthew especially didn't look well. It was like misery had temporarily transformed him like one of Kadi's old transformation potions. His lips surely wouldn't smile for weeks to come, and his eyes held worlds of anguished emotion inside of them. When Alfred saw, the cat really did get his tongue; what could he possibly say to all of that?

Alice was dead. Gone, just like the old China, Hungary, Turkey, and Estonia. She wasn't going to run the maze, and she wouldn't return the way they remembered her to be. In fact, there was a fair chance that she wouldn't even return at all thanks to the Darkness in her departed soul.

'I shouldn't ask... but I need to know' America thought before opening his mouth to speak. Vale interrupted her father because she knew exactly what he was going to ask.

"We brought her to the mansion, Dad," said Vale. "For the kids' sake... And because it made the most sense."

He nodded, pushing back his accusing thoughts he wanted to direct at his daughter. Vale had said she would save Alice, but then she had failed in the end. It made Alfred want to knock down wall after wall after wall, just to get the anger out of his constricted chest so he wouldn't explode at anyone. 

Canada sucked in a rather deep breath, held it in for a second, and blew it out quietly. "She told me to tell you something, Al."

"She did?" Alfred asked, his eyes widening a fraction of a centimeter. "What was it?"

"Alice just wanted you to not let her... death get to you," Matthew reported, almost too quiet for anyone but Alfred to hear because of their proximity. "Her exact words were, 'Don't you fucking dare lose hope, you big dummy. You're still the hero.'"

Even though he felt his heart cracking a little in his chest, Alfred managed a weak little snort at that. "Dammit... I guess if she still thinks I'm the hero, then I'll be the hero."

He wasn't entirely expecting it, but then again it wasn't a surprise when Matthew stepped forward and folded his older brother into an embrace. Alfred returned it immediately but refused to cry. That wasn't for when there were other people around.

~~~

"Ten minutes, Matthew. It's not enough," Alice stated, reaching up to hug him with her one arm around his neck. He returned it all too willingly and buried his face into the crook of her neck, feeling tears building up.

"No, it's not, but it's more of a gift than I ever hoped for," he whispered to her. The corners of her lips twitched up at that.

"Mattie, I really am sorry. And you have no idea how much I want so say, so I'm just gonna say it." She drew back to look into his tear-stained face, and opened her mouth to speak.

"I love you so much. As cliché as this is going to sound, you're my soulmate. And... even though it means I'm dead, I knew that if I didn't kill the Darkness, the world would just collapse. You remember what I told you, right? About America and World War Three?"

Matthew nodded mutely, allowing her to speak. This was her soliloquy, and the last one she would ever deliver. She deserved to have the floor.

"Right. To be honest, all that I went through changed me as a person, and I'm not proud of who I became after that battle seven years ago. I would have become a problem for the rest of the world, too. Maybe it was better that I died, y'know?"