This Is Our Last Song

One- Je Suis Un Homme

"Alfie," he croaked, "Alfie, help me." He collapsed, falling limply to the floor with tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

Alfred kneeled next to him, holding both of the other's hands in his own. "I'm here, Mattie. I'm here."

"Alfred, it hurts. It hurts so bad, Alfie. Make it go away."

Canada's face contorted in pain, and his grip on his brother's hands tightened considerabely. Alfred cringed and shuddered, face contorted in a grimace. "Hush, now, and rest your head. It'll be over soon and the pain will go away."

"I don't want to leave you."

"I don't want you to leave."

A moment of silence stretched between the brothers, before the northerner spoke to him again. "Alfred," he muttered, "Sing. Please."

He nodded, and quietly started singing an old tune.

"Je suis un homme de cro-magnon
Je suis un singe ou un poisson
Sur la terre, en toute saison
Moi je tourne en rond, je tourne en rond

Je suis un seul puis des millions
Je suis un homme au cœur de lion
A la guerre, en toute saison
Moi je tourne en rond, je tourne en rond..."

Quietly, he finished the song, tears beginning to leave tracks down his dirt smudged face. The peaceful look of contentment on his brother's face made him smile a watery smile.

"Thank you, Alfie."

"Don't say goodbye."

"I won't."

--------

America walked into the old conference room. There was no door left on the old rusted hinges. The windows were all broken, the roof caved in, the walls crumbled and collapsed.

But, the wooden table in the center gleamed, it's surface unblemished and meticulously wiped clean. The podium in the front was in a similar state, as though none of the destruction around it was real.

He walked up to the front of what was the meeting room and set up a small camera on a tripod, pointing at the podium.

Alfred stepped around the podium and shuffled a few of the papers, as though he were about to give a speech, and smiled into the camera. Then, he started speaking.

"Hello again. My name is Alfred F Jones, also known as the United States of America. And as of today, July 1st, 2051, I am the last known surviving country of World War Three, or the Thermonuclear Storm." His smile broke and he choked on a sob. He looked away from the camera and covered his mouth with the back of his hand. When he had himself under control again, he looked back at the dark lense.

"Today the Canadian Provincial Democracy fell for the last time, and the personification of Matthew Williams officially Faded. Let the records show this to be true.

"That concludes today's entry." He nodded and picked up his papers, moving around to collect his camera once again. For some reason, he stopped before he left, taking one last look around the place.

"I'll be seeing you again soon, guys," he whispered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Then, avoiding as much broken glass and debris as he could, he left just as he had come.

"Hey America, you good?" an accented voice asked.

"Yeah, Dee, I'm good."

"No you're not," she crossed her arms and gave him her signature Don't lie to me look.

He sighed in resignation. "Alright, I'm not so fine. But I will be. That better?"

"That Canadian, he was your brother, right? Didn't you say you both grew up together?"

"Yeah," his voice was hoarse, tears threatening to spill out of him again. "We were raised together by our mother, Native America. She had no name. Then, way back, in the sixteen-hundreds or so, we were found together by a few of the other European countries that were looking to expand to the New World. Ever since then, other than a few decades around my revolution, we've been almost inseparable. And now he's..." Alfred trailed off, unable to bring himself to say that his brother was gone. It would make it too real. "So now, for the first time in my hundreds of years of life, I'll be without him completely. And I don't know if I can do it."

Dee nodded, and wrapped an arm around his middle, guiding him back to the path that lead into the camp. "I know, America. You can live through this. We all can," she tried to reassure him. He seemed to straighten up, becoming just a little bit higher than he had been.

"Yeah, I can. We all can."

~*~*~*~
im going to start releasing chapters of this, one every other day or so.

reviews welcome!!