blood_winged: (America x England)
[personal profile] blood_winged
Title: At The End Of All Things
Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance/Humour(in places)
Pairing/s: (in this chapter) USxUK, slight FrancexSwitzerland.
Characters: (in this chapter) UK, US, Poland, France, Iceland, Switzerland, Canada, Belarus, (and a secret surprise character...).
Rating/Warnings: Overall NC-17. This chapter PG.
Summary: The year is 2438. A little over one hundred years ago, Russia finally cracked and nuclear warheads were sent flying to every corner of the world. No one had time to react. Some countries were wounded, some lost forever. The smaller nations suffered the most. Russia disappeared, never to be heard of again. Finally, the world is beginning to piece itself back together, and there is movement in the irradiated lands of Old Russia. Something is stirring, and only the rag-tag group of remaining nations can discover what it is. Ivan Braginski, or something far worse...

~ There is nothing good in war, except its ending. ~

****
 
'“Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.”'

***

Matthew stared at Vash’s prone body for what felt like an eternity, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, then he threw the gun away with a whimper and stumbled back, a look of horror on his face.

“I-I didn’t...!” he gasped, whimpering again. “I didn’t want t-to... I was just... H-he shot Arthur! A-Arthur, are you-”

“I’m alright,” Arthur muttered, getting to his feet with one hand still clasped over his shoulder. Natalia ripped a strip from the bottom of her dress to bind it as best she could, but they would have to wait to get it seen to properly, if they ever got out of here. Alfred didn’t seem to know what to do, his eyes darting between Arthur, his brother, and Vash, before he settled on his husband as the priority. Out of all of them, the one who seemed the most in shock was Francis. He swayed where he stood, and tentatively, Óskar put a hand on his shoulder.

“Fra-” he began, but he got no further than that as the Frenchman launched himself at Matthew, punching him square in the jaw and knocking him to the ground, pressing a gun hard against the side of his head. Matthew didn’t make a sound, simply stared up at Francis with terror in his wide eyes, his lower lip trembling.

“Francis, no!” Arthur pleaded. “No more death. Please!”

Francis pushed the gun so hard against Matthew’s head that the Canadian couldn’t help but let out a soft cry, his eyes shut tight so that he wouldn’t have to see the hatred and hurt in the other man’s eyes. The others were shouting, begging with the Frenchman to back down, that it wasn’t worth it, but Matthew would have happily accepted death in that moment. He didn’t understand why he’d done it, only that the moment he’d seen Arthur hurt he’d wanted to defend him, and then he was holding a gun, and Vash was on the ground.

“Hey! Um, Francis!” Feliks was on his knees next to the Swiss, his hands bloodied. “He’s not dead!”

“What?”

Suddenly that heavy, threatening weight on Matthew’s chest was gone and Alfred was by his side, helping him to sit up. It felt like a dream as he looked over to the other nations and heard Vash cough, then saw him sit up, his shirt open and something in his hand. He was hurt, there was no doubt about that, but it didn’t look like a bullet wound.

“Hey, what is that?” the Pole asked, pointing. Vash held up a small object the size of his palm, apparently made from several twisted bits of metal and rusted cogs. Feliks squinted at it. “Like, what the heck is it?” he repeated. Beside him, Francis laughed weakly, and glanced over at Arthur.

“I call it ‘dancing the sodding hula’,” he said. The force of the bullet had pushed the jagged edges of the metal through the back of Vash’s shirt pocket into his skin, and a dark bruise was already blossoming on his chest, but he was alive, he was breathing, he was returning Francis’ tight hug and Matthew couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He flopped back, pressing one hand to his head, hearing himself telling Alfred that he was alright but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

Finally
, it was over. Francis was kneeling beside Vash, tending to the young man’s wound while the Swiss hissed and complained. Arthur’s shoulder ached, but he could ignore it, he’d suffered worse before. He leaned against Alfred, closing his eyes. Beside them, Matthew still sat stunned, staring at his hands.

“I’ve never shot anyone before,” he whispered, his violet eyes wide. Natalia was crouched beside him, but seemed hesitant to touch him, silently chewing on the tip of her thumb.

“Natalia, would you do something about him?” Alfred said then, casting the woman a slightly exasperated look. Wincing at the American’s tone, Natalia made a nervous sound, and wrapped one arm around Matthew, drawing the man carefully against her. Matthew gasped, twitching as Natalia’s hands lightly covered his, then he shuddered, turned in the Belarusian’s arms and began to cry against her shoulder. Looking at Alfred in alarm, Natalia seemed to have no idea what to do with herself, biting her lip as Alfred simply shot her a thumbs up, and lowering her arms to embrace Matthew carefully. Nearby, Feliks lifted his head, that feeling of being watched prickling over his skin once again.

“Feliks, what-”

“Wait.” Feliks shifted, frowning. He drew his weapon and cast narrowed eyes slowly around the area, holding up one hand with a sharp ‘ssh’ when Alfred opened his mouth to speak. “Something’s watching us,” he muttered. He narrowed his eyes, half rising to his feet. Scanning the area around them, something caught his eye, and in a flash he had grabbed his gun and let off a shot towards the source of the movement.

Someone cried out in alarm. Feliks’ eyes widened, the gun dropping to his side and slipping from his lax fingers.

“Who’s there?” he called, taking a step forwards. Alfred reached for the gun and picked it up, frowning. A short distance away, something rustled in the dry undergrowth, and then a small, scared face appeared around the side of a broken wall.

Large green eyes were wide with fear, the shoulder-length brown hair scruffy and unkempt. His gaze darted from one person to the next, and slowly, he moved out from his hiding place. Everybody was staring at him – even Vash had halted his cursing at Francis. Feliks looked as if he was going to faint, his face paper-white, throat working and lips trembling.

“... Feliks?” the small boy said, his voice wavering, eyes hazy. The Pole choked back a gasp, his hands flying to his mouth. He dropped to one knee, and the boy ran to him, throwing himself into the man’s arms with a cry of ‘Feliks!’

“It’s you, it’s like, really you,” Feliks whispered, tears spilling unheeded down his cheeks as he held the boy close and stroked a hand over his hair.

The small boy couldn’t speak through his tears, clinging tightly to Feliks while the others watched, bewildered. When they finally drew apart, it was several long moments before Alfred finally tipped his head to one side, pointed, and said in a loud voice.

“You’ve shrunk!”

Arthur hit the back of his head and he squeaked, but fell silent. Slowly, the Englishman stood up and made his way over to Feliks and the boy, crouching and looking him up and down. The boy looked back at him, and shuffled his feet.

“Hello,” he mumbled.

“What... the hell... is going on,” Vash said. Even Óskar looked puzzled, a small frown creasing his brows. “Am I actually going mad..?”

“Whoa, wait.” Alfred stood up and approached, crouching beside Arthur. “That’s... Toris? It is, isn’t it?”

“It would seem so...”

The boy frowned a little, looking from Feliks, to Arthur, then to Alfred. He made several attempts to speak and failed each time, wringing his hands together. It was only when Feliks patted his shoulder encouragingly that he began to talk, stammering heavily.

“I-is that my name..? T-Toris? I-I don’t remember...”

“Have you been following us?” Arthur asked him, glancing over his shoulder as the others moved nearer, curious. Toris nodded quickly. “How? Why haven’t we seen you?”

“I-it was very strange... I can remember... not having a body. I was just... drifting... and then I felt something... and even though I didn’t remember anything else... I remembered Feliks. I didn’t know why... so I tracked where he went... and I wanted to speak to him so badly... then I was like this.” He paused, and looked down at himself. “But... I was scared. I snuck onto the back of the truck, then when you stopped, I waited until nobody was looking and jumped out, then I hid. I was just following Feliks, I-I didn’t want to make any trouble!”

“It’s alright,” the Englishman told him soothingly. “You didn’t make trouble.”

“I can’t believe that nobody saw him,” Francis murmured, though he seemed to be talking to himself more than anything, one arm wrapped loosely around Vash’s shoulders.

“Then... I saw him.” He pointed at Alfred. “He ran away, to where the bad thing was. Then you all followed him, and I came after you. I waited out here... until you saw me.”

“This is incredible...” Arthur said softly. “I would have never expected something like this.”

“Would you like to share your thoughts with the class?” Vash asked drily, still eyeing Toris with some measure of distrust. The Englishman looked at Toris closely, and the boy looked back, his wariness slowly lessening now that he was sure that none of them were going to hurt him.

“I know that we have been recovering... but it would appear that what is happening goes far deeper than we had first thought. Those nations that we found dead may not be-”

“Are you saying that the dead nations are coming back to life?” The quickly recovering Swiss was looking at him intently, and Arthur realised that his answer meant more to Vash than it might have to anybody else. He nodded, and the other man let out a quiet gasp.

“That means... Lili... She could be alive? And Roderich, too?”

“In theory...”

Arthur didn’t want to give him too much hope but ‘in theory’ seemed to work well enough for Vash. He turned to Francis and smiled brightly, though the smile faded when he saw that Francis didn’t look as happy as the Swiss thought he should. It was not the time for such things, however, and Feliks held tightly to Toris’ hand as he stood, rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand. The small Lithuanian all but clung to him, pressing tightly to his leg and looking with wide eyes at the other nations, a flicker of recognition glimmering now and then.

“What do we do now?” Matthew asked, still shaken and sending nervous looks in Vash’s direction. “We did what we came to do... we’re all still alive... and I don’t think that truck is going to get us back to Canada.”

“We could use Ivan’s plane...” Natalia said after a long, thoughtful silence. “I... I don’t know if it still works...”

“It’s worth a try, right?” Alfred said, more concerned with the still-bleeding bullet wound in his lover’s shoulder. “I mean, we’ve been pretty damn lucky, so far... It’s like someone’s watching over us or something.”

-----------------

Stay tuned for the final chapter, where all will be tied together, all your questions answered, and so on and so forth...

-----------------

<| Chapter Twenty | Chapter Twenty Two |>


(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 05:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colourbine.livejournal.com
hmm, did you compose that poem? If so, mah fee is a little poet~

Awwww, Francis was sad :( ....and then he punched Mattie =A= No one punches Mattie. Mattie is love. &hearts

Awesome Belarus x Canada moment xD

LOGMSEOGMJOSENMFWSEONG I KNEW IT. TORIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy >8D

And its awesome that Vash might get Lili back too. I hope you get the last chap out soon~ ;-; even if it means the end

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 05:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
Pffffff. No, it's from the Bible. Corinthians. =)

Last chap is already mostly in my head so should be out tomorrow >w<;

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 05:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colourbine.livejournal.com
no wonder it seemed familiar. I should have known that >.> Although your translation is more lively than mine.

goodie =D

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 05:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kasumicc.livejournal.com
;w; I'm glad everything's turning out for the best. To see little Toris was really moving...and Vash was quite a surprise.
You silly Alfred, giving priority to your hubby <3

But you're right! I have questions! So I'll be tuned for the next chapter, it's encounter time already <3

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 05:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
^^; Thanks for reading, as always~

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 11:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fenrirofdakness.livejournal.com
Oh shoot. You are awesome. <3 -Huggles all of them and you too- And... this awesome story will be finished when next chapter is posted? I'm really sad... ;A;

-Is hoping that she can add you in MSN-

At The End Of All Things [21/22]

Date: 2010-03-11 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
There will be an epilogue too o.o

And of course you can =D

Re: At The End Of All Things [21/22]

Date: 2010-03-12 04:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fenrirofdakness.livejournal.com
o3o EPILOGUE? I want to read... -Send loves to you-

=D Mine is: emerald.dragons@hotmail.com

May I know yours? =u=

Re: At The End Of All Things [21/22]

Date: 2010-03-12 04:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
It's in my info~ Which you should be able to see now because I just added you as a friend o3o

Re: At The End Of All Things [21/22]

Date: 2010-03-12 04:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fenrirofdakness.livejournal.com
=w= Thank you~ -GLOMPS YOU-

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 01:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lemiru.livejournal.com
Yaaaaaaay!

That's more or less all I have to say o=

Don't be sad Franny, I'm sure you'll find an arangement~ =3c

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 04:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chiisana00.livejournal.com
Give me a gun, I'm gonna shoot Francis for hurting Matthew! D<

Meh not looking forward to next chapter D: Doesn't want it to eeeeend >_

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 04:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
All good things have to end some time~

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 08:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venra-911.livejournal.com
RL saved me from the cliffhanger because I'm able to read two chapter at once >8D
being busy has its own advantage ._.

Yay, we know it's him! \^^/ Toris is back!

What's wrong with Francis? Felt that he won't be able to monopolize Vash anymore?
*I wish*

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-11 09:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
Something like that, yes xD

<3

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 09:35 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 03:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amael-elen.livejournal.com
It's me. I'm watching over them. That's why it got dramatic and a lot worse before it got better. 8D

Only one more left? ;~;

It's been a great run; miss you all bunches! ♥

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 03:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
Well, there'll be an epilogue too ;D

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lovingloveless.livejournal.com
Gosh. For a second I was sure someone was gonna die.

Aww. Poor Matt. All he wanted to do was protect Arthur. But do I see the possibility for PrussiaxCanadaxBelarus? O_O That ship sounds kinda sexy. XD

It was several long moments before Alfred finally tipped his head to one side, pointed, and said in a loud voice. “You’ve shrunk!”
...Well...it's nice to know that some things never change. America is bound to be America not matter what. lol

But seriously, wow. Lithuania came back. <3 I can't wait to see who else manages to show up. Does this mean that Arthur could possibly get his siblings back? *snickers* England is now big brother. XD

I'm sad it's going to end, but happy at the same time. I can't wait to see how you're going to finish this fanfic. Great job and I can't wait to read the next part.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 02:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
Interesting ship, there xD

I can see Scotland still trying to play big brother and it being rather ineffectual since he's only up to Arthur's knee.

Next chapter will be up soon =3

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 10:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lovingloveless.livejournal.com
...Bwahahah!. So the rest of the British Isles would be slightly smaller than Peter. lol That mental image makes me want to roll
around laughing.

"Stop yer nagging, git. I'm still yer older brother." says the pint sized Scotsman. "Stupid Jerk England."

XD

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 10:15 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jienyap.livejournal.com
read two chapters in one shot... and poor Matthew, i know how badly you want to protect people around you....

really enjoy reading this epic story... feel bad a little bit since it is going to end..

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 03:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
All good things have to end D=

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 11:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spooky-meon.livejournal.com
awwwwh I read the two last chapters at once (otherwise I would have a sleepless night! lol) and this was so great 8l<3 ♥
Lithuania is back! oh good lord yes! I knew it! I hoped it!
the Belarus/Canada Moments are so awkward but cute and somehow funny 8lxD even if they probably should not be

poor francis though, I can understand that he's a bit sad ;~;

and whaaa it's ending soon D:l8 well at least, now we can hope for a happy ending!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-12 11:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blood-winged.livejournal.com
Ahahaha. She's just so happy to be out of there and Matt doesn't know how to deal with her xD

Yeah.. keep hoping ;D

Profile

blood_winged: (Default)
blood_winged

September 2020

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27 282930   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags