"Big Brother."
.
The words echo off the stony walls.
No one wants to hear them repeat, over and over, inflicting shock with every soft reverberation.
Yet no one dares break the silence.
The painful, deadly silence.
.
Johannes slowly slides the papers onto the table.
As if we'll understand the numbers and figures better than his voice.
He won't meet any of our eyes.
.
I can practically feel the tense atmosphere.
Tino is just staring, slack-jawed.
Mathias looks pale.
Berwald is expressionless, but I can tell he's shocked.
We all can.
.
I can't take this.
I run.
No.
"Run" isn't the right word.
.
My legs take off in the other direction.
Moving of their own accord.
My brain is disconnected from my body.
I am not running.
I am flying.
.
I don't know how long I do this.
Minutes?
Hours?
Eventually I have to stop.
The air burns through my lungs mercilessly.
.
It's funny, isn't it?
One would think my lungs would take in the air painlessly.
It's something they've been longing for.
Ever since they lost it when I exhaled.
Somehow, when they get it back, they can't accept it.
It hurts them.
Like fire.
.
I find a brick wall and slide my back down it until I'm sitting.
My shirt rips.
The ground is cold and hard.
I don't care.
.
Johannes is not my little brother.
I don't care what his DNA says.
Emil was my little brother.
.
I was four.
My mother was crying.
She said I would never see the platinum-haired infant again.
I didn't understand.
I told myself, he must have died.
.
Are Johannes and Emil the same person?
My head hurts.
I don't know what to do.
It starts to rain.
I can't tell if I'm cold.
.
"Erik?"
I hear footsteps.
I don't look up.
.
I feel warm arms wrap around me.
I can't help myself.
I start to cry.
.
Mathias stares at me.
"Why are you crying, Erik? You found your baby brother!"
I can't respond.
My face is buried in his shirt.
.
"No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do."
His fingers trace gentle, calming circles on my scratched back.
I feel infinitely better.
But I still can't stop the tears.
I love him.
I want to remind him of this, but my voice won't work.
He says it for me anyway.
.
Mathias pries me off of his torso and begins to lead me through the rain.
He's holding my hand.
Somehow, I believe that I can get through this.
Emil. Johannes.
"Big Brother".
.
A/N: This was going to be a poem, but I gave up on that after one stanza. FAILPLZ. So yeah, now it's a one-shot…like…thing. Enjoy and review, but this is my first fanfic…thing…so no flames or I'll catch on fire and die. D:
Disclaimer: I do not own characters from Axis Powers Hetalia. They belong to a genius named Hidekaz Himaruya. :3
Oh, and…
Erik = Norway
Mathias = Denmark
Johannes/Emil = Iceland
Tino = Finland
Berwald = Sweden