He must've walked for... what felt like miles in the darkness. Maybe... maybe there was nothing else, just... darkness.

No, he refused to believe it.

He sighed and sank to the floor again. This was hopeless. He glanced up, straight ahead. Nothing. Sighing, he lay down and turned round. There, the light.

He leapt up and started running, exhaustion all gone, the light getting brighter and brighter by the second.

It could only be a good thing... right?

*******

Yao launched himself at Kuro, swinging the sword which was only just blocked. Kuro snarled at him and attacked. Sparks flew as the blades clashed again, and again, and again. Half way through it, Yao became aware of the return of the burning pain in his side. His wound had re-opened. Already he could feel the blood seeping out and staining his shirt... not that it would matter really. It was red. Blood couldn't be seen on red. There was no way that Kuro would notice with him being so focused on the fight.

At the side, Alfred had blacked out but was breathing steadily and Ivan was starting to come to, massaging the back of his head where it had hit the wall. There was a thin trail of blood leading from the crack and vanishing under his hair. It didn't look good.

For a split second, Yao let his attention wander. Was anything having an effect on the countries themselves? The dead countries. Were they already in economic declines? Already on the road to being destroyed? He was sure that someone would look after them. If he survived this, he'd look after Japan. Alfred would look after Canada for sure, but the other countries... there was no telling what would happen to them.

Metal sliced through the skin on the shoulder of his sword arm. Yao yelped and jumped backwards for a second, putting him out of harms way.

"You shouldn't let yourself get distracted Yao" Kuro said, the same blank emotionless expression as Kiku's.

Yao held back a hiss and forced himself onwards. Blood was now starting to drip from his side and he felt faint. No way was he backing down. Not to him. Not to his little brother. Counterpart or not. He went to attack, but held himself back. Kuro went to defend an attack that wasn't there and Yao drove his sword through his stomach. For a second, Kuro just stood there, his shirt getting darker by the second, staring. Then, he coughed and small spurt of blood into Yao's face. Yao dragged the sword down a little, making the wound at least three times it's original size and then yanked it out, letting Kuro slide to the floor.

Ivan carefully stood up, waving slightly and leaning on the wall, clutching his head still. Yao shivered and turned away from Kuro, dropping his sword. He killed him. It wasn't like when he'd killed Xiao, he'd deserved it, he'd only looked a little bit like him. Kuro on the other hand was almost the spitting image of his little brother. And he'd killed him.

"Y... Yao?"

He turned round and stared at the bloody mess. The black shirt he'd been wearing had switched a little. A white patch appeared on his shoulder, gradually growing, the red glow leaving his eyes and being replaced with a dull, brown colour.

"K... K... Kiku?" Yao nearly kicked himself and slowly sat down, cradling his head. "I... I..."

Kiku shook his head and smiled slightly. "It's okay. He's gone now. I was already dead."

Yao bit his lip and nodded. The thin strip of light in Kiku's eyes faded into nothing, leaving them duller than before.

"It's over?" Alfred coughed, leaning on Ivan who limped up behind him and nodded.

"It's over."

Yao stood up carefully as though he might break something if he moved too fast. "Not many of us were meant to survive this in the first place" he said quietly, staring down at Kiku's body. "If anything, I'd say it's a miracle we did."

"But..." Alfred blinked. "But... everyone's dead."

"It's over" Ivan whispered, a tint in his voice threatening to break into a weak laugh. "They're all dead, and it's over."