Still

Still here

How long had it been like this? Three weeks? All the survivors had lost count. Everything about their homes now seemed out of place. Like they didn't belong. The beautiful mansion in Vienna, which at one point, everyone he cared about had lived, turned to ruins. In some rooms, the ceiling had been completely torn off, and most of the windows were shattered.

He could remember those days, when they were all worried about small matters in politics and such. He remembered the days where Ludwig, Elizabeta, Feliciano, and Gilbert came to visit.

There would be no more memories like that ever again. His world had literally been torn apart by a terrible period of warfare; World War Three. They had all gone too far. No one won.

Most countries ended up falling, and the very few still surviving were living in absolutely horrible conditions.

Even through it all, in Roderich's home, everything seemed still. He was still there, he was still alive. Why? He didn't see a reason why he was. The place itself, just seemed quiet, dead, still.

He stood in the courtyard, scorched and lifeless, no plant life whatsoever. He stood, staring at his home. Even though it was in ruins, he still lived there. There was no where else he could go. He decided to go back inside and join the others.

Walking inside and slowing opening the door that was nearly falling off it's hinges, he wandered through the empty halls until he found the bedroom were Ludwig and Gilbert had been.

Roderich was slightly amused at himself, as he had managed to find his way through a place were he had been alienated. Half of the ceiling was gone in this room, and the all too eerie sunlight flooded the room. It was a beautiful day, but after all the raids he could never bring himself to think that the place looked beautiful in any way.

"Will you guys be fine if I wander around here a little more?", Roderich quietly asked the other two. Both silently nodding, he then turned around and walked out of the room.

Interestingly, the only thing almost untouched in the whole house was his grand piano. Walking aimlessly down the halls, he came into the room where it was kept.

Tears welling up in his eyes, he absolutely refused to play it. He didn't dare touch it. He quietly sobbed to himself as he stared at the beautiful instrument, bringing back good memories and setting off bad ones. Ones were he saw himself with many he cared about. Just one person stayed by him through all of them.

"Elizabeta... I'm so sorry..."

Along with a few others by his side in the war, Elizabeta had fallen. Leaving him all alone.