Alfred's seemingly endless darkness was interrupted by the sound of voices. They sounded worried and there were quite a few of them.

"Are you sure he is going to be okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure! …He has to be…"

"But we woke up days ago."

"Bear in mind that we also fainted a couple of days before him, too."

"And what about his screaming? None of us did that in our sleep."

"Well, he's been through a little bit more than us before we fainted!"

"He did go through a trial."

"And he talked to Abigail before she was killed. There's no telling what she said to him…"

"What if he doesn't wake up? What then?"

"He's going to wake up! There's no way he can't."

"How do we even know he's still alive? You can use your magic when you're touching him, after all."

"I'm pretty sure even I could do that now."

"You will not touch him!"

"Why not?"

"Because, that's why!"

"Arthur, calm down…"

"I…I can't. He-he has to be okay. I don't think I could take it if he didn't wake up…"

"I'm sure that's how he felt about you."

"But he continued trying to stop her even after you fainted."

"You need to be able to move on if he doesn't wake up."

"Don't say that!"

Alfred realized that his head was throbbing. He wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn't open and nor would his eyes. He settled with letting out a groan.

"Alfred?" Arthur's voice rang loudly through Alfred's ears. He sounded both concerned and relived at the same time. Alfred felt hand on his arm, someone was shaking him. "Alfred, wake up! Please!"

Alfred finally gathered enough strength to open his mouth slightly and he could barely form words, so all he could say was, "Please stop that…"

The shaking stopped immediately.

"Alfred…" Arthur's voice was thick with disbelief. Alfred groaned again and tried to squint his eyes open. He could barely see anything, but it was bright. And from his position all he could see was a ceiling. Everything was blurry, but as he opened his eyes further and further, everything became clearer and clearer.

He stared at the ceiling for a bit before he looked down to his feet. It was safe to assume that he was on a bed, he felt something soft beneath him and he saw a foot board sticking out around his feet. He saw three familiar faces at the bottom of the bed. Antonio, Francis, and Gilbert. Alfred felt his eyes open wider and he took in a deep breath, holding it in. Was everyone alright then?

He looked quickly over to his right, where he saw Mathew. He was smiling and he looked insanely relieved.

"Hey there, Alfred," Mathew sighed out.

"Alfred?" Arthur's voice rang out again, to Alfred's left. He immediately snapped his head over to the left. He saw Arthur. His hair was even more ragged than before, his skin was pale, his eyes looked dead, and his expression looked shocked, but it was definitely Arthur.

"Arthur!" Alfred cried out and sat up immediately to wrap his arms around Arthur tightly. He felt his strength returning rapidly and he hugged Arthur tighter with each bit of it he got back. He felt tears swell into his eyes and he couldn't help but let them fall onto Arthur's shoulder as he hugged him. And he couldn't help but let the sounds of sobs come out, too. He couldn't speak another word.

"Alfred," Arthur cleared his throat. He sounded a lot more dignified now. "Y-you can let go of me now."

Alfred shook his head rapidly and he could feel himself shaking terribly as he sobbed into Arthur's shoulder. "N-no," he muttered. "I-I've lost you t-twice! I-I'm not l-letting you go a…again…"

"Alfred, are you okay?" Mathew asked quietly.

"No," Alfred admitted. "No, I'm not." He continued sobbing into Arthur and he could barely hear him whispering.

"You should leave," he whispered over Alfred's shoulder and Alfred could see the Three Musketeers leaving the room through a door Alfred could barely see through his tears. Alfred heard the door close.

"Now, Alfred," Arthur spoke louder. "Tell me what's wrong."

Alfred allowed himself to sob for a few more minutes before responding. He didn't know why he was crying, but it felt amazing. He sniffled and then spoke, "I-I thought I lost you. Again. A-And last time I watched everyone die…I…I lost it! A-and I was about to-to do it again! L-last time…I, I helped s-so many get k-killed. I-I watched them k-k-kill a little girl and I-I didn't do anything! A-And then Abigail…" Alfred broke out in tears again and he couldn't say anymore. Amongst his sobbing, Alfred could feel a hand stroking his back and he knew it was Arthur because Mathew came into vision right in front of him. He was kneeling down, his face was soft.

"Hey, it's okay," Mathew smiled softly to Alfred, who started sniveling. "I killed a lot of people too. Every time I would touch a witch, I would almost faint and sometimes I really would faint, so it was very obvious when I found one. Sometimes, I would wake up after fainting to see the person I found with an arrow in their side or a sword gone through them. But I got over it. So can you."

Alfred closed his eyes tightly, still shaking. "Th-the killing doesn't bother me as much as how I…I lost you guys twice. A-and that e-every time it happens…I just…fall apart… I-I don't know why I do it… I-It's just… Sh-she just… She made me lose it before anyone was even gone!"

Arthur shushed him soothingly. "It's alright, love."

"Arthur nearly lost it when you wouldn't wake up," Mathew giggled. "It was pretty cute how he protected you."

Arthur sputtered. "I did not protect him that much!"

"He wouldn't let anyone else touch you," Mathew giggled as Alfred opened his eyes and eyed Arthur questioningly.

"R-really?" Alfred stuttered.

"He insisted he carried you from the jail to this inn," Mathew said happily. "But he had to use a bit of magic so he was strong enough to pick you up. Apparently, while you were asleep, he could still touch you and use his magic."

"You really carried me?" Alfred snuggled his head into Arthur's shoulder.

"Yes," Arthur sighed. "I couldn't stand the thought of losing you and I became a bit overprotective…I didn't know that was how you felt when you had to watch us…die. What did Abigail say to you?"

Alfred shook his head. "She just…brought up bad memories. I-I knew she d-did it to a-affect me…and it worked. I-I wanted t-to talk to you before you…fainted, but sh-she wouldn't let me. Sh-she made it s-so I couldn't t-talk. Sh-she just…shoved all of m-my problems a-and my mistakes in m-my face!"

"I want you to remember this," Mathew caught Alfred's attention again. "That was your past, okay? This is your present and you still have the future ahead of you. That's how I was able to forget what I did and what happened to me. It wasn't happening anymore, so I was able to forget about it. I still think about it, don't get me wrong, but… I've just found that I really don't need to think about it very much. I did nothing wrong, and neither did you. So you can just put your past behind you."

"And you wouldn't believe the things I have had to do," Arthur said. "But I've been able to forget it."

"But I don't want to forget it…" Alfred muttered.

"And that's okay," Arthur said. "But you'll need to forgive yourself either way. Do you think you can do that?"

Alfred nodded. "Yeah, I think I can."

"And do you think you can let go of me?" Arthur chuckled. "Because I am having a rather hard time breathing."

"Sorry," Alfred released him and sat back in his bed. He looked over Arthur one more time. "So is that why you look like such a wreck, because you thought I wouldn't wake up?"

"Bloody hell, I don't look that bad, do I?" Arthur asked.

"Just a bit pale," Alfred smiled and ruffled with Arthur's hair. "But it's okay, you still look cute."

"Cute?" Arthur demanded. "I-I am not cute!"

"Yes you are," Alfred laughed and leaned in and kissed Arthur quickly. "And I'm pretty sure our audience can agree with that, too."

"What?" Arthur turned around quickly, seeing the Three Musketeers leaning in the doorway, grinning like idiots.

"Jesus Christ," Arthur muttered.

"I noticed them a while ago but I didn't want to tell you," Alfred laughed.

"I think you're cute, mon cher," Francis grinned.

"Shut it, frog," Arthur muttered.

"So, Alfred," Antonio spoke. "You alright now?"

"Yeah…" Alfred muttered. "Think so. As long as I won't have to ever see Abigail again…"

"Well that won't be a problem, now that she's executed," Gilbert laughed.

"She what?" Alfred asked.

"Well, it was painfully obvious to the puritans here that she was a witch after you fainted," Mathew stated.

"And then there was the fact that all of us were passed out, too," Gilbert continued.

"And so she was killed before she could do any more or go anywhere," Antonio said.

"Witch Bitch got what was comin' to her," Gilbert muttered.

"Apparently, she put up a very large fight," Arthur said. "There were a couple homes burned down and supposedly the ocean near the port became unexplainably rough. No ship could go through it until she was killed."

"If she had been alive much longer with all of that power…" Antonio said and all of the witches in the room shuddered.

"Right," Alfred said. "She had the power of everyone here… How did they manage to even kill her?"

"My guess is that she wasn't used to having that much power at once," Arthur spoke. "It would have taken her a while to use all of the power herself. I haven't even used all of my power at once yet."

"Well you better get to it," Gilbert said. "You're the last Kirkland left and you're the ones that are in charge of most of the world."

"I never said I was the last Kirkland," Arthur chuckled. "That's just what everyone assumed."

"So you have a sister?" Alfred asked.

"I never said it was a sister!" Arthur complained. "Everyone assumes it's a sister…"

"So you have a brother then?" Francis asked.

"Three," Arthur sighed. "They're just a lot better at hiding than I am."

"You have three brothers?" Mathew blinked at him.

"It's hard enough keeping track of one Kirkland," Alfred sighed.

"Well, they're supposed to be keeping track of me," Arthur sighed. "Not doing a very good job of it, I'd say."

"So you ran away from your brothers?" Antonio asked him.

"Am I not allowed to have my own backstory?" Arthur asked defensively. "I'm just a lot better at hiding it than you are!"

"So am I ever going to meet your brothers, then?" Alfred asked.

"Probably not," Arthur said. "We don't have the best relationship."

"That's okay," Alfred hummed, crossing his legs over each other. "You don't have to tell if you don't wanna."

"Thank you, Alfred," Arthur laughed.

"So, what's our next adventure going to be?" Gilbert asked.

"Perhaps getting to know each other better," Francis offered flirtatiously.

"How about we get a house first?" Mathew giggled.

"How about two houses?" Arthur asked. "I would hate to live in the same house as him."

"Fine then," Alfred said, standing up. "Let's get to it."

"Next adventure: Normal life," Gilbert shuddered. "Sounds horrible."

Hehe... the end!

I would like to thank JapaneseSinister for giving me the nickname Witch Bitch for Abigail. It fits so perfectly! And only gilbert could say it...

So, Alfred finally got his talk. To be honest, I wrote this chapter right about after I wrote chapter 2... So this has just been waiting to be put up.

I hope you've all enjoyed the story! I've learned my lesson and I will never be doing a sequel again! I have learned that it is impossible to escape the fact that sequels suck compareds to the original...

And for my final quip:
Arthur and Alfred are more likely to hate each other for eternity than I am to own Hetalia.

Thank you all! And goodbye!