Title: The Reason I'll Never Let You Go

Summary: 'I can't just leave her like this.' Extended episode 45 of Axis Powers from Switzerland's perspective. SwitzyxLiech one-shot. Please read/review!

Rating: K

Genre: Romance/Friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

A/N: Yeah, I know, I should be working on chapter three of Lullabies and Second Natures…but I was rewatching episode forty-five of Axis Powers and a bunch of SwitzyxLiech YouTube videos, and this idea blared into my head. :) I decided to go into a little more detail about the actual meeting of the two, so bear with me here, 'kay? *thumbs up* All flashback scenes are in italics. Onto the story~

Switzerland was not in a good mood.

Even his country, which normally prospered in this respect, had been hit hard by the depression, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

Walking down the alley, he ignored the rain. It fell all around and on him, but it was only rain. It definitely did nothing to improve his mood, but it didn't really matter.

A sound from ahead got his attention. "What…?" he muttered. It sounded like…someone crying? He saw someone sitting against the wall up ahead and went closer, stopping a couple steps away. It was a young girl. She was wearing a pink dress that went to her knees, with a torn white apron over it. Her tannish-blonde hair was in two braids in front of her shoulders, but her eyes were closed. "Hey, are you okay? You know it's raining, right?" Switzerland said, concerned. She looked vaguely familiar…

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Switzerland recognized her then as Liechtenstein. He'd seen her with Germany a few times… He watched her, worried about why she would be sitting here in the rain all alone. Wasn't she living at Germany's house? But then he remembered that the depression had hit all of them extremely hard, including Germany. Did he throw her out or something? Switzerland wondered. He wouldn't necessarily put it past Germany to do that… As her green eyes stared straight at him, he realized that she was in a hopeless situation. Without anyone to rely on…she would die. I can't just leave her here…I can't just leave her like this…

He shook his head, trying to shake the thoughts off. He couldn't afford to feed himself, remember? Let alone someone else. There was no way he was able to take her in. It was impossible.

So why was it, then, that he held out his hand to her? Why did he tell her, "Come with me," and help her stand?

He knew. It was because of what would happen as a result of taking her in.

Switzerland watched her eat the bread. She had to be starving. "Do you like it?" he asked.

Liechtenstein nodded, taking another bite. "Yes, thank you!" She swallowed and looked at him, confusion written all over her face. "How come you aren't eating anything?"

"Oh…because I had dinner earlier." Switzerland didn't want to tell her the truth. He couldn't afford to feed both of them. But Liechtenstein was on the brink of dying when he'd found her. There was no way that he was about to put himself before that.

Straightening out the sheets to dry, Switzerland watched Liechtenstein gathering everything into the basket. Looking at her over his shoulder, he said, "I, uh, hope you're feeling better." Mentally, he cringed; he was definitely no expert at making small talk.

But Liechtenstein didn't seem to mind. Standing and lifting the basket, she said, "Yes, I'm fine now." She smiled at him.

"…good."

Switzerland was sitting on the small bench, drinking coffee, when Liechtenstein came running up. Confused, he looked up at her, but before he could ask anything, she stopped a few feet away. "Bruder, we have to talk!" she said. "I had a weird dream last night! It was about when you brought me in off the street!"

"Hm." Switzerland looked down at the cup, wondering if she knew he'd been thinking of the same thing sitting there. "Is that so."

Liechtenstein ran over and sat next to him. "I was wondering…why did you take me into your home back then?"

"It's way too early in the morning for such a serious question!"

"It's just…I heard you were having trouble even feeding yourself at that time."

The pure innocence of her question was making Switzerland flustered. "I don't know. I just did what I thought was right. It wasn't because I was trying to be a hero or anything." He tried to explain better. "There are certain things that we should expect people—we should expect all people to do!" Mentally smacking himself for trying to come up with his original explanation and failing, he sighed. Then he took a deep breath, leaning back slightly and closing his eyes. "So when I saw you sitting there all alone in the rain, I knew I had to do something. Now I just want to make sure that you're happy. That's all."

Liechtenstein watched him for a moment, understanding lighting her eyes. Then she sat up straighter. "Hey, do you know what?" she said, eyes sparkling brightly. "With you, I'm happy."

Thank goodness he was experienced in keeping neutral. Hearing those words from her made him feel his heart skip a beat. Keeping his eyes closed, Switzerland simply said, "That's good." He glanced at Liechtenstein for a second and smiled slightly.

"Switzy?" Liechtenstein said. She was the only one who would ever be allowed to call him that without getting shot.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." Liechtenstein laid her head on his shoulder. Switzerland's eyes widened, but he smiled slightly after a second.

Putting his hand against her head and stroking her hair, he said, "You're welcome." He was only planning to tell her the one reason. She was too attached to him as her older brother for that yet. He would tell her eventually, but not yet.

"Ich liebe dich,Switzy," Liechtenstein said sleepily.

That made Switzerland's head shoot up. He stared at her. Liechtenstein had her eyes closed and looked like she was falling back asleep, but her hand was wrapped tightly in his, and she had a smile on her face. "…Ich liebe dich, Liechtenstein," Switzerland replied finally, sure she was already asleep. He didn't know if Liechtenstein meant it the same way he did, but he would ask her when she woke up. He wasn't going to wake her. Hesitantly, he kissed the top of her head. Even if it was hard at the time, I'm glad I saved you. I love you, Liechtenstein. And that was the reason he would never let her go.

A/N: Awwwwwwwww~ SwitzyxLiech is so cute! *makes heart with hands* "Ich liebe dich"is German for "I love you", if anyone doesn't know. And yes, I had episode forty-five open in another tab to get all the quotes right. ;P Please review!