A/N: A Few Things To Mention…

This is the result of re-watching the Hetalia episodes featuring Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein and reading too many articles on zombies. Mainly ones on how a zombie apocalypse is really ridiculous and probably will not last very long at all.

I'm sorry for the jumble of human names/country names, but yes, they are nations in this. It's not an AU, except for the whole zombie thing.

The title is "Apple Strudel" in German, or rather, Austrian, as it is quite the prominent Austrian dessert. Personally, I love it. And the title's connection to the story will make sense at the end.

I just kind of realized that Liechtenstein and Iceland would probably make an adorable couple. Does anyone else see this? Or is it just me? And how awesome would Hungary be fighting zombies with her frying pan? Unfortunately, she's not in this one, but maybe I could make another companion piece to this?

And don't worry guys. This is such a sappy story it's ridiculous.

Apfelstrudel

Roderich stepped out of the shower and was immediately met with cold. He picked up the towel Vash had no doubt set out (it had clearly been thrown into the hotel's bathroom angrily, something that Lili was most likely not behind).

He dried off as best he could and got dressed in the nicest pants he had hastily packed, wiping away some of the steam off his glasses before putting them on.

It had been a month since this stupid zombie thing had started. They had been running from one place to another, all through Europe.

It was not as bad as it could be, the scientists had assured them. They had found a vaccine and administered it to as many people as they could before the disease could spread, and it had indeed helped. Besides, the zombies were slow and stupid and could easily be taken down by modern weapons. The world went on, and the turmoil and panic that had been so abundant at the start had calmed down. They still had hot water after all.

But every so often, a straggler would wander into an isolated town or village and start infecting those who had not yet been able to get the vaccine.

No country had yet been infected entirely, but none of the other nations wanted to see what would occur if that were to happen.

It had been Vash's idea to get out for a while, to try and stop some of these stragglers. Hell, many of the other countries had had similar ideas. As far as they knew, the Nordics had all forgiven their differences and formed some sort of team, as had the Asian countries. Japan and America were no doubt leading the scientific community to find more easily-accessible cures. The other industrialized nations were sending military aid to those countries that had trouble battling the more amassed zombie hordes.

They were all playing their part, and of course Switzerland had felt left out. He wanted to be in the action, but of course he couldn't leave his darling Liechtenstein alone when a zombie could come waltzing up to the door and she would probably treat it to tea and apple strudel. So he had knocked on his favorite neighbor's door and demanded that he come along, presumably as "Official Babysitter", though both Austria and Liechtenstein opposed the term.

A sharp rap on the bathroom door interrupted the musician's thoughts. Not that he had even had any time to play recently—he had only barely managed to sneak his violin out without Switzerland glaring at him too much.

"Are you done in there? You'd better not have used all the hot water, Lili still needs to take her shower!"

And they had taken to using their human names, now that they were amongst their citizens rather than cooped up in their houses or with other nations.

He opened the door and found himself face to face with Vash. The neutral nation took one look at his face and sighed.

"You felt another one, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

"No," Roderich lied. It was pointless. There was this sharp, empty ache in the muscles of his right leg where a small town was under siege.

"Damn it, you're so weak," Vash said, pulling him out of the bathroom roughly and ushering Lili in with nothing but kind gestures. "Nothing has changed, has it?" He continued once they were both in the room alone.

"I never pretended to be anything I wasn't. I always told you I was bad at fighting."

"Thankfully Hungary was there," Vash slipped, and immediately turned away to avoid seeing Roderich's reaction. Oh, wasn't that a low blow, Roderich thought. His dear sweet Hungary, who had left him for that… that… Prussia.

"Anyways," Vash continued when Roderich said nothing. "What I mean to say is I need you to stay here while I go off to the town. Denmark and Norway will be up there already I'm sure—Iceland sent a message this morning."

Roderich hummed in the back of his throat. This had really been the first they'd communicated extensively with other nations; the last time had been when a crisis meeting was held to decide what to do. After that, everyone kind of went their own way.

"What about Sweden and Finland?"

"I heard that Finland went up north to see how Estonia and Latvia. Of course Sweden went with him. But that also means Denmark and Norway will need a little help for this one. And since it's on your land—"

"It's fine," Roderich said, settling down on the bed. Anything to stop the ache.

"I wasn't asking for your permission. I just don't think you should go."

They had seen the damage the disease did to people; had seen those who hadn't found the cure in time. Those first weeks when the only way to deal with the problem was with a gun.

A nation killing their own people was just wrong, and they both felt horrible about it, but the alternative was still so much worse.

"It doesn't matter, I'm coming with you. I'll watch Lili while you go with those three but there is no way I'm staying this far away."

Vash breathed out through his nose sharply but did not retaliate.

"Fine, we leave in the morning."

"Fine."

They traveled by train, because usually the major roads were backed up with people heading towards the cities where the cure could easily be obtained.

They had enough money to get by easily, and the hotels they stayed in were nice except for the occasional stench of rot. It was a horrible thing, but the world was slowly getting used to it; it did not necessarily mean that there were any zombies nearby, but it was a constant reminder that they existed.

The modern world remained greatly unchanged by the whole near-apocalypse thing, except for one aspect—for some reasons, neither the cell phone nor the internet worked. While the majority of the world's population mourned this loss, many of the countries enjoyed it, recalling old times when things were simpler.

Of course, they had always recognized the usefulness of such devices, and America especially had been upset over losing them. It certainly made it harder to get in contact with the others, yet another reason why they hadn't seen anyone in a while.

They got a van from a rental place outside the train station and began to drive in the direction of the small town. There was no traffic going this way, of course, because… well.

When they arrived at a small hotel—but never a motel, because of course Roderich would not stay in one of those—Vash unloaded the weapons he had packed into the van while Lili and Roderich grabbed their luggage (which was significantly smaller than the number of guns and explosives).

The lobby was empty, save for three figures that they recognized easily. Denmark's presence practically filled the room, and they could all feel the annoyed aura Norway gave off.

Iceland was there, too. He nodded to each of them solemnly, though his cheeks were slightly pink when his gaze fell on Lili. She waved shyly back at him. Vash watched the whole thing with unmasked distaste.

"Aw, leave the kids alone, Switzerland," Denmark said. "It's good to see you. I'm sure you've had the same luck reaching others as we have."

"You're the first ones we've seen for a while," Vash confirmed. "Do you have any news on the others?"

"Sweden and Finland are attempting to reach Estonia and Latvia, and maybe Lithuania, though I'm sure he's with Poland by now," Norway informed them in a bored voice.

"Well then, what's the situation here?" Roderich spoke up for the first time.

Denmark slammed a hand down loudly on the check-in desk behind him. "Folks cleared out a while ago, it seems. Got the place to ourselves. We sent out a flare this morning when we got here, to attract the zombies. They should be here shortly. Iceland was on look-out this morning and said he heard them."

The boy nodded, and Lili looked at him with amazement. "You went out by yourself?"

"Yep," he said, blushing. "It was safe, though, and Norway asked me to."

Lili made a small noise of wonder. Norway shared a look with Denmark before rolling his eyes.

"Why don't you take Lili upstairs, Ice? You can show her where she'll be staying while we're fighting."

"Sure!" The boy said, perhaps a little too eagerly in Vash's opinion. Nevertheless, he let them go, placated by the fact that they could now talk about battle plans without him feeling awkward around Lili. He had taught the girl to hold a weapon since she was old enough to walk, sure, but that didn't mean he wanted her getting any ideas in her head.

As the four of them moved to the couches in the lobby to get more comfortable, Vash glanced over at Roderich. Did he even want the Austrian here? Roderich had always been horrible at fighting, and things got pretty messy when zombies were thrown into the mix. He had proven to be helpful in some ways, though, and if Vash continued forcing him to do things he didn't want to… would he leave again?

Damn it. This was why he hated being around Roderich; he always felt so guilty. So guilty that he hadn't been able to make Roderich strong enough. The country had been created for war, for heaven's sake. And still Roderich looked unnerved any time he was around a weapon.

Even now, he was looking warily at the cases of explosives Vash had dropped off near the front door.

Vash scoffed. This was what had become of such a great empire? All that music had probably gotten to his head.

"Listen," he said to Roderich once they were seated. "Maybe you should go check on Lili…"

"Oh, she's perfectly fine with Iceland," Norway said, looking offended.

"I don't doubt it," Vash said, still sounding skeptical. For the moment, though, he turned his attention away from the two countries and focused on Roderich. "You don't have to fight."

"But I am," Roderich said. "Now, what's the plan?"

He had dropped Vash's suggestion just like that. Vash just hoped he wasn't going to regret not pushing harder.

It was barely an hour later when they really began to hear the zombies. Vash boarded Lili up in one of the rooms on the top floor, giving her a kiss on the forehead before he left. She made him promise to come back safe, which of course he agreed to.

"Tell Mr. Austria to be safe too," she said, catching Vash off guard.

"Yeah, sure," he said. Of course he was going to make sure that idiot was safe.

When he made it back downstairs, the first of the zombie horde had already meandered up the road leading to the hotel, only to be shot down easily by Denmark.

"You sure Iceland doesn't want to stay upstairs?" Vash asked once more. Iceland answered for himself this time.

"Don't worry, I've done this a lot," he said.

"You shouldn't have to," Roderich said, and for once Vash agreed completely with him.

They spent the first ten minutes just picking off any zombies that came too close to the hotel, but eventually the swarm grew too large and they moved to bigger guns. They had agreed to save the explosives as a last resort.

When the zombies finally got a little too close for comfort, the nations decided to go all out—they charged into the fray, guns a-blazing. Vash lost track of Roderich sometime in between bashing one zombie in the head with the butt of his rifle and turning to shoot another right between the eyes.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pushed to the ground. Something slid across his stomach, and for all he had tried to be brave this past month, he just couldn't help it anymore—he screamed.

A shot rang out above him, and the dead weight above him crashed to the ground. Vash scrambled to his knees on shaky arms, searching the ground around him for his rifle. He didn't see it.

A hand suddenly grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him roughly to his feet, and he turned, half-expecting to see Denmark. Instead, he came face to face with Austria, who was holding out his rifle.

"See?" Roderich said. "I told you I wasn't completely useless."

Vash didn't know what to say, so he just acted instead. He embraced his old friend swiftly, letting go before anyone could accuse him of ever latching on. When he pulled back, something compelled him to look down, and he saw blood staining the greater part of Roderich's white shirt.

"Idiot, you got hurt," he said, pulling the Austrian away from the fight. When he saw the panic stricken look on Roderich's face, however, he slowed.

"It's alright, I'll take care of you," Vash said, speaking slowly like he had when they were children and Roderich had gotten hurt.

"No," Roderich said, his voice shaky. "It's… it's not my blood."

"What? Well then whose is it?"

He followed Roderich's gaze down, but even before he saw the blood on his own shirt he felt it, soaking through the heavy fabric of his jacket.

"Oh…" He said, suddenly registering the pain. Then, everything went mercifully dark.

He'll be okay, he'll be okay, Roderich thought to himself, scooping Vash up. He prayed that Lili would know what to do, for he was lost at this point. Vash had always cleaned him up after a fight when they were younger, and then Hungary…

A silent ache filled his heart. He wished dearly that his Elizabeta were here—no, no, wishing wouldn't help in this situation.

He sped towards the elevator and jammed the 'up' button with his elbow, careful not to jostle Vash too much. It was a good thing the man was smaller than him, though he was still muscular and that added to the heaviness.

Lili met him when the elevator doors slid open. Her face went pale and she let out a gasp, but Vash had obviously trained her well to deal with situations like this, and she motioned for Roderich to follow her into one of the hotel rooms.

"I was just coming to find you," she said, her voice shaky. "I was listening and I heard someone scream."

Once Roderich had placed Vash down on the bed, she peeled away his jacket and lifted the shirt to inspect the wound on his stomach.

"Thank god," she breathed after a moment.

"What?" Roderich said quickly. "What is it?"

"Just a shallow wound, and it's not infected. It was probably just a stray bullet or something that scraped him."

Roderich sighed in relief as well, reaching over to ruffle her hair. As he pulled his hand away, his fingers brushed against the ribbons that were her most prized possessions—the ones that Vash had bought her.

Outside, the guns had stopped firing. The fight was over—for now. The Nordics would no doubt be coming up soon to see where Roderich and Vash had disappeared to.

"When will he wake up?" Roderich asked.

"Hopefully not soon," Lili said. "He'll need his rest to recover quickly, and I think we both know that it will be hard to keep him still once he's awake."

To Roderich's surprise, he laughed at that comment, and not the polite laugh he usually gave her. It was the completely un-aristocratic snort that Gilbert made fun of him for and that made Elizabeta laugh as well.

Lili's face twisted into a smile, and Roderich felt his heart swell with affection. He had always loved Lili, sure, but sometimes it seemed she was just too young and more—well, he always thought of her as Switzerland's, and he often forgot that he shared borders with her as well.

"You're a sweet girl, Liechtenstein," he said. He suddenly felt arms wrap around his waist, a warm body against his.

"I like you too, Mr. Austria," she said, pulling back just as quickly as Switzerland had.

Roderich smiled fondly. Really, though they seemed different, those two were alike in so many ways.

It was two months later. The vaccine had made its way to almost every corner of the world by now, and everyone was rejoicing. None of the countries had been severely hurt by the mini-apocalypse, though everyone had sustained losses that were painful to think about.

Austria had gone back to his house, back to his piano, back to patching Germany's underwear.

Hungary came back to him, which was nice, though she was slightly changed from the time they had spent apart. She was still very much in love with Prussia, too.

Three months after that battle at the hotel was when Austria heard the knock on his door. He called Hungary to answer it before remembering that she was out shopping. Germany was visiting Italy, so he couldn't get the door either.

Austria sighed and closed the piano, brushing off his jacket. Before he opened the door, he peered out the peephole.

It was Switzerland. And—if Austria turned his head the right way—yes, that was Liechtenstein. Austria put on a smile and opened the door to greet them.

"Hello," he said. "What brings you here?"

Switzerland was making a face like he really didn't want to be here that Austria knew meant he really didn't mind it that much. Liechtenstein was smiling just as brightly as ever.

"I made a little too much strudel," she explained. "Switzerland suggested that we bring some over to you."

"I did not!" The blonde nation protested. "I was simply a little sick of eating strudel, that was it. Not that I don't love your strudel!" He amended quickly.

"What kind of filling?" Austria interrupted before Switzerland could damn himself any more.

"Apple!"

Austria smiled and ushered them in. "My favorite! Why don't you go set it up in the kitchen, and I'll get us some tea."

"That sounds great!" Liechtenstein said. She wandered off in the direction of the kitchen, clearly remembering the way from the last time she had been there. Austria made to follow her, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"I have something to tell you," Switzerland said.

"Yes?" Austria asked, looking at Switzerland's face. He still wore that angry expression, but it was the nervous version.

"Well, it's just that I, I wanted to… Damn it."

"Its okay, Switzerland," Austria said. "You don't have to thank me."

"Idiot, what makes you think I was going to do that?" But the relieved look on his face said otherwise.

"Come on," Austria said, putting his hand on Switzerland's arm in return but, feeling awkward, taking it off almost immediately. Oh well, someday they would get along. "That strudel does smell really good."

He caught the flicker of a smile on Switzerland's face just before he turned away.