Final Night - Prussia x Reader

Prussia x Reader
Final Night
♥

You ran. Your breath came in short gasps as you jumped over logs, ducked under branches, and dodged around trees. You didn't care if you fell. You just needed to not stay at that place. You needed to be there. Now.

Panting, your feet stopped and you were still. Your chest rose and fell as you stared around the clearing, mind clear and empty. You were relieved to be here, a fine, delicate and ornate set of old ruins the color of marble and pearl long forgotten about in the dense forest.

A man with messy silver hair sat on one of the ruins, a book open on his lap and a pen in his hand while the moonlight shone mysteriously, glinting off his light hair the a metal cross that hung around his neck.

"Gil?" you asked in between breaths.

He jumped and turned, startled, his bright ruby red eyes falling on you.

"Ah, j-ja, ________," he said catching his breath.

You cocked her head to the side, wondering what was wrong with him. You'd known Gilbert for a while, being his girlfriend and all, and he usually wasn't like this. He was unusually subdued, compared to how egotistical and loud he was normally.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Shrugging, you wandered closer. You truly weren't expecting to find Gilbert out here, you just needed to get away for a while. But it wasn't like you were surprised to see him out there either. The old ruins, he showed them to you in the first place, and since then they had just become a place to escape to. Neither of you had been out there for a while, however. You guessed fate was just strange that way.

"Whatcha doin'?" you hummed over his shoulder as you looked down at the book he was writing in. The date was written at the top, that was about the only thing legible. The rest was in a long, old-fashioned scrawl and the language was German.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied.

Rolling your eyes, you walked around to his front and plopped down on the ground. There were a few other journals strewn about, too. Gilbert looked at you for a moment and you smiled brightly before he went back to writing. You dropped the smile and grabbed one of the books.

Examining it, it looked kind of old. Snapping it open and blowing through the pages, you were  intrigued. You didn't know exactly what it said, and it frustrated you as you stared at the pages, baffled. A whine came from your throat.

Gil snapped his head up and his eyes widened. "Oi!" he cried, diving for his journal.  "Don't look through those!"

Always defiant, you grabbed another before scrambling to your feet and running a short distance away. Now this one was really old, the cover was coming apart along with the binding and the pages were yellowed. Before your boyfriend could reach you, you flipped open the cover. You were only able to read the date before it was torn from your hands.

You let him have it as the date spun around in your head. 1786. The writing on the page was smeared, but the year at the top was undoubtedly 1786. And your mind instantly traveled to the question: Why?

It wasn't anything fictional or anything, he didn't write that kind of stuff. Those were his diaries, as he so proudly stated without one shred of embarrassment for the girlish word. He wrote in them everyday. Unless it was copied from a history book or something, you had no idea where it would've come from..

Gilbert turned, clutching the precious book in his hands. He only had one of everything, no copies. He couldn't let them be destroyed, not right now. A little pissed off, he looked down at the page and felt his throat close. Of all the entries it could be... He dropped the book on the ground and his hands clenched into fists.

You opened your mouth to ask just as Gilbert's voice pierced the air, sharp and cold. "Could you leave?"

Your shoulders dropped and a small pain went through your heart. What had you just done that was so important and bad?

"I want to be alone."

Your heart was pierced through again. Alone? But, you was the one who had come here to escape. What had you even done?

He was here first, your mind whispered, and you swallowed a lump in your throat. You backed up slowly, bringing your hands up to your chest and covering your mouth. It felt like you would cry any moment, and not just silent tears, but full, body-wracking sobs. You wasn't even exactly sure why you felt this way. It was just too much at the moment. If anyone could have cheered you up, it would've been Gil, but now he was only hurting you more.

The tears slipped down your cheeks and you backed up faster. Gilbert still had his back to you. He couldn't see. Good. You didn't want him to.

And then exactly what you didn't want to happen, happened. A sob managed to work it's way out and Gil turned.

And you spun on your heel and ran.

Gilbert angrily stomped, the sound of his boots clashing on stone ringing out. "Verdammt," he hissed. He hadn't wanted to make you cry. Everything was going so wrong. He chased after you.

You could hear him following close behind. You didn't understand why. Hadn't he just told you to get lost? You tried to speed up, but before you could even reach the edge of the ruins, something ice cold wrapping around your wrist had you froze in place. Suddenly terrified, you couldn't move a single muscle, your breath coming in shaky gasps.

"__________..."

Shivering. You were shivering.

"__________," Gilbert pleaded again. "Turn around."

Your shaking hands clenched into fists.

"Turn around."

You screwed her eyes shut tight and turned around. "What do you want from me?" you yelled at him. "I thought you wanted to be alone!" You bit your lip and kept your eyes closed to try to hold back the tears. No. No. No.

"__________," he breathed your name again.

That was it. Choking again, you forced open your eyes before you started to shake violently. You felt like you could've been sick right there. What the hell was this?

His hand, that should've been wrapped around your wrist like it had been thousands of times before, wasn't there. It was ice cold, and you could feel the pressure, but his hand wasn't there. Traveling up his arm, a wrist faded into existence, but as you stood and watched in shock, it was getting fainter by the minute.

"You," you whispered, hardly able to find your voice as your imagination went wild and to your worst nightmare. "You aren't real?" You looked up into his eyes, yours wide and pleading.

"No, no, I am," he protested.

You didn't want to hear it. "What are you?" you cried, trying to pull away.

"I'm human," he replied weakly.

"No, you aren't!"

"I am."

"Tell me the truth!"

He bowed his head. With a shaky breath he asked, "Do you really want to know?"

You nodded.

He gave a rueful chuckle, thinking to himself that you'd never believe him. He lifted his head and met your eyes. But he had to tell your. He hated not telling you, but no one was supposed to know.

Prussia. Such a weird thing to have to explain, being responsible for a whole nation. He was so lucky to still have hung on for so many years, almost one hundred. But time was cruel, and his final night on the planet he had known for hundreds and hundreds of years was this night. No regrets, right? He hung his head again and explained apprehensively. He was human, just not a normal one. That's all there was to it...

"You aren't real!" you yelled, denying everything, grabbing his wrist and holding it up to his face. "Can't you see? Humans don't 'die' like this!"

"I am real," he whispered. He lifted his head and stared into your eyes. "Please."

You dropped his hand and took more steps back, shaking your head. "No."

"No!" you screamed, trying to run off again, but your legs failed you and you tumbled to the ground. Quickly pulling yourself into a sitting position, you scooted backwards until you were backed up against a tree, where you curled yourself up into a quivering ball.

Gilbert slowly followed and kneeled down in front of the terrified you. "Please," he begged in a quiet voice, gently taking your hands.

You lifted your head and stared into his blood red eyes. You could see the pain he had lived through, and all the scars he had gotten. They shone in the silent moonlight and sparkled as tears started to fall.

"Forgive me. Ich liebe dich," he said softly.

You could see all the stories, every last wonderful moment and terrifying second; every happy truth, although they were far outnumbered by the pains of neatly spun lies and torture. Everything he must've lived through, it was something no normal person could endure.

And then you saw yourself.

Reflected in the scarlet mirror as the tears fell, you were there, staring wide-eyed with tearstains upon your face.

And there was a love, a deep longing affection you could see through the crimson.

And it was painful.

Your throat closed and the tears flowed again as you threw her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. You couldn't bring yourself to say, "I'm sorry," or, "I forgive you," but you hoped he would still understand.

He wrapped his arms around your back, pulling you into his chest. His head buried into your shoulder. He didn't want to have to think about anything, just for this moment. Not about his bruder, not about his past, not about his friends. Not about how he could already feel his arms vanishing. Not about what it would be like once...

He pulled away from you. "Don't you ever forget me," he said. The rest of the world might, but it wouldn't be so hard if just a few people could remember.

With his fading hands, he reached up and lifted his necklace off. He had taken the black iron cross he had worn for years and put it on a chain so it would fit with more "modern" fashions. He had done the same for his bruder, too. You had always cherished the cross, even if it didn't belong to you. He lowered it over your head and held onto you closely again. "Mein frau," he whispered.

You swallowed and nodded. "I promise. I promise."

It was an empty one, both of you knew it, but as you pressed your lips together neither of you cared. You broke apart and fell asleep in his arms, terribly worn out, reveling in what was left of his warmth for the last time.

♥

When you awoke from horrid nightmares, you were alone in the dark. The moon that had illuminated your final night was gone. The bright, silver, shining moon, it had long since sunk from the sky, and the safe haven the night had been for only a little while was shattered.

You sat, numb and silent, as you watched the sun slowly crawl over the horizon. It shined in happy, blissful ignorance of all that had gone on. Cold metal teased your fingertips as your hands floated up to around your neck. You gripped the cross in your unsteady hands as you watched the sky be painted from black to pink and gold and finally a light blue, the day already moving on. Then, you slowly got to her feet and walked into the forest.

You turned around and went back. Grabbing the old books scattered about, you clutched them to your chest. You would have to move on, too.

Not yet, but you would.

Your fingers tightened around the cross, and you lifted it up to fully examine it.

Don't forget me...

You brought it to your lips and hugged the old diaries close to your chest before running off.