A Million Voices [UsUk]

Refused

Elizabeta and Gilbert, followed by Mathias, wanted to visit Alfred. It was a strange feeling of tension being without their best friend and only seeing him at work - he never even wanted to talk to them anymore. He only trusted Elizabeta, who sometimes held therapy sessions with him to at least try to get him back to normal. But he was scared of talking to them. He was scared of everything and everyone.

He was scared of falling in love again.

So the three of them approached the American's apartment, knocking a couple of times. It was already afternoon, so he should have been awake. He didn't get any sleep anyway-

"Alfred! Are you home?" Gilbert shouted and knocked again. No response.

"Goddammit. Maybe he isn't home. We worry too much sometimes, don't we?" Mathias rolled his eyes, but he actually did feel a little tension.

"Remember what happened the last time we thought we worried too much." Elizabeta glared at him for a moment, before shivering at the one second flashback of finding Arthur in the bathroom.

It was a moment that none of them would ever be able to forget.

Mathias and Gilbert paled a little, if it was even possible for the German, and sighed in understanding. "Do you still have the spare key, Liz?" Gilbert asked her.

The Hungarian girl nodded and made a gesture that said 'one moment'  before searching her pockets for the small key. Finding it, she grinned victoriously. "Got it!"
They unlocked the door and stepped into the apartment quietly.

"Alfred? You home?" Gilbert called out, and heard somebody whine from the bedroom.

"I'm not. Go away!" The very familiar voice of their American friend echoed through the hallway. Gilbert frowned and went towards the American's bedroom.

"We hear you, you know." The German sighed and said in a monotone voice as he stepped into the small room. "Hi, Alfred." When he greeted him, Elizabeta and Mathias followed him inside, closing the door behind them as they did.

Alfred buried his face in his pillow, his small body lightly shaking, and small sounds of pain escaped his throat once in a while.

Alfred was so scared.

Elizabeta sat on the bed next to where Alfred was laying down, and began to softly stroke his hair, making him flinch a little and cover his head with the pillow completely. She sighed and took him by the arm. "Alfred, you can't stay in this state forever." She gently said, and the American sobbed harshly.

'What do we do?' She mouthed towards Gilbert and Mathias, who just hopelessly shrugged and looked down, feeling useless in the situation.

"Okay. Listen up. There is an important matter we have to discuss, Alfred. But I will not talk until you calm down and look at me." She sternly said and crossed her arms, hoping that Alfred would listen to her if she spoke a little more harshly. Sometimes, a person just needed some encouragement, and not just soft speaking.

And it worked. Alfred choked out a few more quiet sobs, trembling as he removed the pillow from his head and looked at Elizabeta, quickly falling into her embrace, tightly clutching onto her and crying into her shirt.
She just couldn't do anything except embrace him completely and just... Frown. It was a miserable sight, and Alfred was too young, too kind, he didn't deserve this.

I would take his pain, if I could. He's not strong enough, and he doesn't deserve this.

"Alfred... Would you want to go to Hungary with me and Gilbert?" She whispered out the question, and the younger man looked up at her with teary, clouded and devastatingly sad blue eyes.

He shook his head. "N-no... I want t-to go home..." He cried and buried his face to her shirt again.

"Home?" She frowned in slight confusion. "But you are home, Alfred."

Alfred again, denied. "No... T-this is not my home... I hate London... I... I want t-to go back to America..."

Oh.

Oh.

Mathias and Gilbert watched in awe how Elizabeta even succeeded at making him look at her and even speak a little. Whenever they tried anything, he would just cry even more and push them away, not having the slightest will to talk to them.

They felt so deeply sorry for him.

"Alfred, I don't think you're ready to take a plane to the States." Elizabeta strictly said, and hugged him tighter. "You don't have to take a plane to Hungary, though. We can go by ship through La Manche and then by train all the way to Budapest."

"I w-want to see Matthew." He stuttered out just barely.

"Then he'll come over for Christmas holidays. Listen, if it's difficult to live here for you, Alfred, you can always come to mine and Gilbert's place. Isn't that right, Gilbert?" She shot him a dirty look, and he turned red before nodding in agreement.

"O-of course." The unprepared German replied.

"I'd... I'd like that." Alfred whispered and dared to look at the Hungarian. "Will Matthew come to London?"

Elizabeta nodded. "Sure he will. I'll call him and he'll be here in no time."

"T-that's nice."

The three of them looked at each other, two confused men wondering how she managed to have a proper conversation with Alfred at all. "Excellent. Now, Christmas time will be here soon. You don't want to be sad for that. From what I've heard of Matthew and Gilbert, Christmas time is your favourite time of the year. It always has been."

Since Elizabeta just came into their lives, firstly Gilbert's, she didn't have a strong connection with them until October came along, but she soon became their best friend. Easily. And she found out a lot about all of them from their stories and endless chattering.

"Christmas..." Alfred's teary blue eyes looked into the distance. Holding Elizabeta's hand with his hand tightly, he just stared into nothingness for a few moments.

"It was supposed to be my first Christmas with Arthur..."

"Alfred, you shouldn't-"

"B-but it will never happen."

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A/N

Yeah. I can't. I just love making things sad, okay??

So, what do you think will happen to Alfred?

Will he end up alone, or with someone else? Will he stay alive?
I'm not giving anything away. :)

Thanks for reading!