Chapter Text
Roderich sat down in the worn love seat, twisiting the wedding ring on his finger. The engraving of his late husbands name engraved into the side.
He set down his mug of warm coffee onto the table next to him. He focused his attention back to the ring that he will never take off.
Gilbert it read. Roderich weakly smiled, trying to stay positive. Gilbert will always be in his heart, for he is in the kingdom of the angels now. The heavenly place where he belongs, for this earth isn't worthy of his presence. Or at least, that was what Gilbert had liked to say.
He hadn't been in his sunroom in ages, for this very reason. The memories that linger are too much for a heartbroken soul such as himself to handle.
"Oh how I miss him..." Roderich sighed, tears pricking at his eyes.
Roderich's ex-wife, Elizabeta, has been a great friend of his. For she has been helping him cope with the death of his beloved for all these years.
4 years it's been, 4 years since they're wedding. It was beautiful, elegant, exactly how both -mostly Roderich- had wanted it to be.
|~|
"Do I look alright? Is my tie straight? Is my hair nice?" Roderich panicked.
Sure he had been wed before, but he wasn't being married to Gilbert Beilschmidt. And Gilbert was a man as well! This was an all new situation for the Austrian, and nervous he was.
"Calm down, you look fine. Now hurry up, it's about to start!" Elizabeth urged.
She wanted the best for her ex-husband, and if being there to watch, and support, him be wed to another man was what it took, then she was willing to do it.
Roderich cleared his throat, took a quick look at himself in the mirror, and then waltzed towards the door confidently. Elizabeth followed closely behind, only to turn and walk down a different hall.
The Austrian froze at the door, his hand planted firmly on the handle. He had butterflies in his stomach and felt great, but at the same time he felt nervous and anxious.
He took a deep breath, gripping the bouquet of blue and white flowers. They were the national flowers of the countries they were born and raised in. It was a fun twist, and quite frankly set the mood well.
He pushed the doors open slowly And gracefully walked into the chapel, head held high. The music started playing softly from the piano in the corner. Elizabeta's fingers hitting all the right keys.
Roderich's white suit seemed to sparkle in the elegant lighting of the room. Eyes went wide at how stunning the sight before them was. Chatter stirred up, but Roderich kept walking.
Slowly, he made his way to the end of the isle. There stood Gilbert, who looked just as outstanding and elegant as the Austrian before him.
Gilbert lovingly held Roderich's free hand with both of his. "You look amazing.." He said silently, looking as confident as ever.
Roderich flushed and returned the compliment. Smiling the whole time.
The room fell silent once again as Gilbert started saying his vows.
"Roderich, I don't know where I would be without you. You saw the good in me, even when others didn't. You've surpassed everything I ever dreamed of in a man. No matter how many stupid things I say, or crazy things I do, you still love me. I never want to be away from you ever again, I want to spend every moment I have with you. I promise I won't leave you until your dying day. I love you, Roderich, so much.." Gilbert smiled and kissed the top of Roderich's hand, making everyone 'ooh' and 'awe.'
Roderich felt like he was going to cry, and the Austrian isn't know for crying. Roderich recovered quickly and cleared his throat before he started his vows. Of course, he practiced this in the bathroom mirror a thousand times in the weeks leading up to this fore longed event.
"Gilbert, you are my light in the dark. My knight, if you will. You have been there for me, and I want nothing more than to be able to spend the rest of my days with you. You complete me, and without you I feel like I'm missing a part of myself. I want to be whole, and to accomplish that I need you to be with me. To never leave my side. I love you, Gilbert, and I will never stop loving you."
That was the breaking point for the onlookers as most started crying or comforting said crying people.
Feliciano hugged Ludwig tight and sobbed, who was crying a small bit himself. Romano was denying that he was crying at all to Antonio, who knew he was lying.
Ivan sat there with his usual smile and an arm draped over Alfred's shoulders. Alfred just looked happy, with only a few tears. Matthew, Yao, and Elizabeta were standing by the piano and sobbing quietly.
As everyone dried they're tears, it was time for the two men at the altar to say the infamous 'I do''s.
"Do you, Gilbert, take Roderich to be you're lawfully wedded husband. In sickness and in health, 'till death do you part?"
Gilbert answered with a nod and a loving "I do."
"And do you, Roderich, take Gilbert to be you're lawfully wedded husband. In sickness and in health, 'till death do you part?"
Softly and happily, tears in his eyes, Roderich smiled and said the words he never once regretted.
"I do."
|~|
Roderich smiled at the memory, but sadly it was merely that. Just a memory. He took a quick sip of his coffee before setting it back down.
He'll never forget the day Gilbert had passed away, or the last words he said to him. It was unfair, oh so unfair.
Gilbert was an innocent man for the most part. Sure he did do some pretty stupid things before, but they weren't illeagel. All he did was go out to get some more groceries for Roderich and his anniversary dinner. That's right, they're 4 year anniversary.
|~~|
Roderich started getting worried when Gilbert hadn't gotten home from the store yet. Surely there was no traffic, Sunday's are calm days for most people in their area.
Roderich switched on the television, hoping to soothe his worried mind. But what he didn't expect was to be met with a new broadcast of a horrible wreck that had happened down town.
What was worse? That was easily the remains of Gilbert's car. Roderich broke out into a panic. He ran outside, forgetting his coat as he rushed towards his car until he chilling October air.
He got down there just in time to see Gilbert being hauled into an ambulance on a stretcher. He got out the car and begged for them to let him come.
Unfortunately, they ignored his pleas and hauled Gilbert away. Distraught, Roderich drove behind the ambulance and followed it to the hospital.
He sat grief stricken in the hospital waiting room. He held his head in his hand. A kind lady next to the Austrian tried to comfort him the best she could.
"Roderich Beilschmidt?" A nurse called out.
"That would be me." Roderich said, his voice quivering a bit.
"You can come see Gilbert now." The nurse said solemnly, seeming bothered by something.
The nurse led Roderich through the hospital busily until they reached Gilbert's room. They entered and the nurse shut the door behind them.
The sight before him was horrible. Gilbert laid down on the hospital bed, different machines hooked up to him by colored wires. A heart monitor to the left of him beeped steadily, but was slowly dropping and getting slower.
"He isn't going to make it, I'm sorry..." One of the doctors said.
Roderich rushed to his husband's side, dropping to his knees next to the bed, avoiding important wires.
"Gilbert..." Roderich gasped, holding onto his beloved's hand in his final moments.
"Roddy, I don't have," he was interrupted by a short coughing and wheezing fit," much time left..."
Roderich stared into his ruby red eyes, although they were very cloudy and didn't shine like they used to.
Gilbert coughed again, "I just want you to remember..." His heart rate started dropping more, the beeping of the monitor getting faster.
"That... I love.. you... so very m..uch..." He said, his voice raspy and his eyelids drooping.
"An...d.... p...please..." he coughed up some blood into the sheets, "k..keep living... f...for me..."
Roderich placed a final kiss on Gilberts lips as the life of the once confident and cheerful man died out, and the beeping died into a long continuous shriek.
"No...don't be gone..." Roderich cried, "No..!"
"Today was our day... our 4 year anniversary... and this happens?! Damn it.. damn it!" Roderich cried at that bed side while the nurses and doctors watched in sorrow.
Roderich never shouted, not like this anyway. It was so out of character for the Austrian man. He had never been this angry, the upset, this heartbroken before.
All he could do was cry, and hope and pray that this was some twisted nightmare, and that he would wake up next to Gilbert. Where he'd comfort him and tell him that everything was okay, and that he was alive.
But no, this was reality. No matter how much hoping and praying you do, the dead cannot come back to life. Roderich choked out the only words he had left to say..
"You promised...you promised you wouldn't leave me..." he cried.
"Don't leave me...! Not yet... please... don't leave me..."
|~~|
Roderich decided it was time for him to leave that room, he was getting upset and thinking back to the past affects the way you think about the future.
He grabbed his coffee and dumped it down the kitchen sink. He wasn't in the mood for coffee anymore.
All he wanted to do, was take a nap and dream of seeing Gilbert again. To dream of holding him, loving him, and making up for all the time lost. And to never wake up.
Roderich sighed and grabbed his medication from the cabinet. He twisted the lid off and swallowed as many of them as he could before falling to the tiled flooring.
The cold embrace of death's arms enveloped him and he smiled as all life flew from his reach. His eyes closed for the final time, and the sweet release felt heavenly.
'I promised you I'd live on, but not all promises can be kept.. I'll see you soon, my love. 'till death do us part..'
| Fin |