Orange and Navy (The Many Colours of Life and Death AU)

Chapter One

The Austrian Empire was at peace. He was accepted by other countries as a hero! He'd always been the villain, a ghost story to scare kids that were getting their power. That was fine. If it meant kids didn't end up killing their own father the moment they got their power, it was fine.

But now that he had killed the Roman Empire, a murderer of several innocent countries, he was a hero! Sure, he had died in the process, but it wasn't so bad as he got used to it.

The Realm of the Dead was strange. That was what the Mongol Empire referred to it as. It was a mixture of blues and whites, with only dead countries showing any colour. Alive countries were different shades of orange, for some reason.

AE made his way to A-H and GE's house, passing by his father, the Holy Roman Empire, on the way.

"Hey AE! How is my grandchild?" HRE asked, grinning at him.

"They're great," AE responded with a wave, "I'm visiting them now!"

"Tell them I said hi!" HRE said before going off to do who knows what. AE nodded and continued on.

He spotted a red country in the distance, and nearly jumped out of his skin, thinking it was the Roman Empire. Thankfully, he realised it was just the French Empire turned sideways—which wasn't much better. She had betrayed everyone and joined the Roman Empire's side, only to be betrayed herself.

He hid behind a thick blue tree to avoid her, the moss scraping his back and gloved hands. Even in death, he couldn't escape his cursed powers. Oh well. At least he could control it better now. He was still working on doing it unconsciously. Thirteen years wasn't enough to practise, apparently.

After a few minutes, he left the tree and entered the German Empire's house. Austria-Hungary was painting a portrait of GE, while the German Empire was baking a pastry. It looked amazing. AE wished he could still taste. Or smell.

He turned GE's unattended mix of batter into gold so that he knew he was there. When GE went to stir it, he ended up clunking his spoon into a hard, shiny yellow mixture.

"Good afternoon, AE," GE chuckled.

"Is he here?" A-H perked up, his bright eyes sparkling.

"I assume so, unless some other country can turn my batter into gold," GE glared off into space, nearly opposite from where AE was standing. Now it was his turn to laugh. He turned the batter back into its original substance, and waited for GE to get the letters out.

Dead and alive countries had formed a system so that it was easier to communicate with each other. They brought out large letters—along with a few other symbols—and set them up in a row so that the ghosts could spell out what they wanted to say. Some countries, like BE and FE, could materialise their power out of thin air. AE was working on that, but it was a lot easier to spell out the letters.

H-I, he spelt.

"Hello," GE said. A-H abandoned his painting, throwing the brush into a cup of water, and scurried over to join GE.

W-H-A-T-I-S-A-H-P-A-I-N-T-I-N-G? AE tapped each letter, then undid the gold as he tapped the next one. GE quickly wrote down what he said, and said it out loud for A-H to hear.

"I'm painting you," A-H looked a little bit embarrassed.

C-A-N-I-S-E-E?

"Sure..." A-H mumbled after GE told them what AE had said.

AE walked over to the painting, and saw the blurry outline of two golden shapes. Oh no. AE recognized it.

It was the statue of the Roman Empire and him dying.