Disclaimer: Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz

Closure

For near 160 years, there hasn't been a body.

No matter how many times France walks among the dead, scans rows of living faces, searches the leaders of charges for traces of a ghost; he never returns.

France can't stand this—this name without a face. He washed his hands at Pressburg, but the bitter taste won't vanish. When did politics ever glide like pen over paper?

"Tell your Francis to give it up." Resigned, sitting in Austria's parlor, victorious France refuses to meet his eyes. He's ripped too many occupants from this whittled-down house. "Then I'll speak to Italy."

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End notes: On 6 August 1806, Francis I of Austria drops the title of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, following the Treaty of Pressburg (26 December 1805) and the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (12 July 1806), and the Holy Roman Empire is finally officially dissolved.

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Windswift