Don't Go

This is War

Holy Rome ordered the men forth, watching as spears were thrown, bodies were falling, blood was spilling and soldiers were shouting. France was riding a horse as he ordered for it to stop right in front of Holy Rome. Yielding a long spear, Holy Rome pointed it directly at France in a menacing manner but France scoffed, not feeling intimidated in the slightest.

"Your people are dying faster than mine are," France snarled. "Your empire is too big for you to keep up with it, and you can't save them all. It's going to consume you. I think it's time for you to give up. Let Italy be mine. I want Italy! He will become one with me whether you allow it or not, Holy Roman Empire, and you can't defeat the great France! Your empire will fall, and I will build my own French Empire, and I will take Italy!"

France jumped off from his horse, brandishing a rapier from his sheath. "You know how this will go down. Look around you. There will be no one left to protect you and you'll be forced to surrender either way. You can either surrender now and save some lives or you can wait until they all die."

He narrowed his eyes, glaring at France. "We were friends once. We're the strongest out there. We're not going down so I won't back down."

France laughed coldly. "You may have been the strongest for centuries, you may not have lost any battles before, but you're becoming weaker, Holy Roman Empire. I'll be the one to end your suffering and dissolve your empire."

It was everything he had worked for so he was not going to back down so easily. "I'll fight until I die! I won't wave the white flag!"

"And how will you be able to see Italy again? You'll die, and he's waiting for you... I wonder, how long will he wait? Soon enough, he'll join the French Empire. Is this an example you're trying to set to Italy? To never surrender? I'll teach him how it's like to be in a real empire. You're pathetic, Holy Roman Empire. You're neither holy, nor roman, nor an empire."

Holy Rome growled, thrusting his spear forwards as he heard the cries of his army around him and France simple smirked, dodging past his attack as he slashed forwards with his rapier. Holy Rome struck him again but France defended it with a shield, using that defence as a distraction to push his rapier past him, stabbing him at the side of his body. Holy Rome's eyes widened in shock as he looked down, seeing the wound as France pulled the weapon out and blood poured from it. Stumbling backwards, France reached out to attack him again with his weapon, but Holy Rome dodged it, blood spraying out from his side.

Falling back onto the rough ground, he watched as his blood began to pool around, staining the ground. He applied pressure on the wound as France stabbed down, just as he rolled over, missing the hit and France's rapier dug into the ground. He tried to pull it out, but struggled for too long, as Holy Rome used his spear to stab France from behind. He cursed as he kicked Holy Rome, jumping back as he pulled the spear out, examining his blood on it.

France scowled at that, holding the spear in his hands as Holy Rome stared up at him, now weaponless. His hand reached for a sword by a dead body of his fellow soldier, but France kicked it further away from him. "And this," he jeered, gesturing to him bleeding on the ground, "is how you fall." His smirk widened. "Any last words for me to tell Italy?"

Holy Rome tilted his head to the side, watching as his people were falling and yet the French men were standing strong, above them. This was it - he really was going to lose. After so many years and this was his first and final defeat. He was not going to lose again - he could not anymore.

France smirked again. "Nothing? I guess your feelings for Italy was nothing deep, but a childish and immature fondness for each other. You know nothing about love, but I, La France, understand everything that love connotes!"

Holy Rome said nothing - he was sure that it was love, that he truly loved Italy, and that was how he felt.

"Didn't Rome tell you what happens when you get too big?" France asked. "You know what happens. When you expand so much and your success bitterly turns into your downfall. Because your empire is too big to be able to keep up to all those enclosed within it, that you are so open to attacks. You fought well and survived for so long, Holy Roman Empire, but this is your end." The spear in France's hand swung down in a swift arc through the smoky air, burying itself in Holy Rome's chest, his armour splintering and letting the weapon through, digging into his body, his flesh tearing as blood oozed out.

Holy Rome stared into France's merciless blue eyes, feeling his own shrink back into the grey, sparing a grimace of pain. The metal of the spear stung his wound, its dirty edge mixing in his blood, before France pulled it out, letting it clatter onto the floor, the blood seeping out thicker and faster from his body now like a pump.

He was falling and falling - the darkness prepared to engulf him, colours draining out of the world, replaced by different shades of grey.

Grey.

That was all he could comprehend.

Sinking into the ground, he did not try to struggle, letting himself fall back as he had no strength to save himself. His lips were cold and apart, his limbs becoming stiff and his body slump and unwilling to move. A sudden spike of coldness surged through him, the only warmth coming from his burning blood. Holy Rome could not even look down, to see the damage done to his body, his head forced in the same fixed angle.

He was losing grip on everything around him now, the grey image of the world blurring in his eyes. Everything was grey and coming out of focus, the light flickering above as he saw a monochrome France towering over him, before the light faded, leaving his eyes which closed, like curtains drawn at night.

Darkness was all that he knew, but France was victorious, standing over his still body, the light dancing triumphantly in his eyes.

France's foot hovered over Holy Rome's head for a while, before he applied force down, crushing his skull, hearing a satisfied crack to signal that it was over and the battle had been won for the French.

Holy Roman Empire was far too powerful, and there was no way that France could spare him, as he was a huge threat to the world. Italy, however, was different, and France wanted Italy to join the empire he was creating, and it was going to be far more successful than Holy Rome's, as he knew not to follow the same mistakes that costed Holy Rome's life.