House of Memories 《Hetalia》

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Alfred sat on the couch that was provided for the group, they had only seen three of his memories so far, and yet he felt exhausted. All the energy that he had when they started seemed to dwindle. His breath was short and sweat beads threatened at his hairline. The cold silver around his neck provided some relief against his chest, but it wasn't for long. "Is it hot in here? I'm burning up."

"You okay, Al?" Matthew sat next to his brother and placed the back of his hand on his damp forehead. "You're a little hot, but not much. Arthur can you magic him up medicine?"

"Of course, how do you think I took care of you both when you were tots?" Arthur waved his hand and a bottle of fever medicine and a water bottle appeared out of nowhere. Normally he would be amazed at the sudden appearance of medicine, but as he sat on the couch, head slumped on Matthew's shoulder for support, he didn't care. He just lifted his head enough to have the horrible grape flavored syrup to fill his mouth with water not to far behind. "You'll feel better in a bit."

The rest of the group decided to mingle amongst themselves while Alfred was tended to. Some walked around the perimeter of the circular room, commenting and conversing about the portraits and of the relics that decorated the walls between corridors. Two-thirds of the Awesome trio were trying to enter the locked halls. An invisible barrier stood at the edge of the entrance, preventing the blond dane and albino prussian from entering but instead they were flung to the wall behind them. Groans of pain and laughter erupted from the bystanders.

Gilbert lifted himself off the floor, his hand rubbing the lump on his temple. "Worth a shot."

"What were you trying to do, aru?" Yao chuckled.

"We were trying to see if we could look through other memories to try and speed things up," Matthias rubbed his lower back, he landed on his ass when he was flung back, Gilbert on the other hand crashed into the wall and fell forward. Which was amusing, but the blond knew how much it hurt. "It was good in theory, not so much in practice."

"Thanks for trying though," Alfred said from the couch. He wished he could have seen his two best friends get launch across the room, but moving his body hurt. Even lifting his head from Matthew's shoulder made a terrible ache erupt from all over his head, at least he could talk.

"What if you guys go on through the memories without us?" The Canadian suggested. "We've already been though it, and I don't think Alfred has the strength to stand and go through his memories."

"You sure?" Arthur asks. "It feels weird experiencing them when you're there, without you both, or even just one, it makes it feel like we're intruding."

"You're already intruding being here," Alfred grumbled, the noise of the other countries making his throbbing head hurt more. "Just go on without us."

"Ve'll try to be quick," Ludwig says and opens the next unlocked door, 1-8. The group walks in hesitantly as if they're trending on broken glass. "Get well soon."

On the other side of the door, they stood in the dark underside of the forest. The moon was peaking little beams of light through the canopy and illuminated the ground below in soft white light. If it wasn't for the situation of how they got there, the world was very serene. It was calm and quiet, the air cool to the touch, and the ground damp with dew. Fireflies danced in the dark replicated the twinkling lights above the trees to the countries hidden below the branches.

"It's beautiful," Feliciano spoke for the group who had a loss of words. "I hope to paint this when we return, do you think Alfred would like it?"

"He would love it," the soft voice from the beginning of their journey startled the men who stood in the foliage of her land.  She stood behind them, dressed like before, but her hair pulled back into a loose plait. Her dark brown eyes reflected the fireflies as she looked to the northern italian. "This was his favorite spot when he was a child. On days like this, the cold autumn air ruffling the leaves and the twinkling lights, with the moon bright and high above his head."