First Hetalia fanfiction, whoot? I don't really write much but I wanna try and get better at it. And hey, what better way then writing delicious delicious USUK. Gonna try and make this a decent sized chapter fic, so it might take a few chapters to get this baby moving. Hope you enjoy~

Those sirens were getting really annoying.

We've been walking for about twenty minutes now, and I've been hearing nothing but sirens, sirens, sirens. After the fifth fire truck drove past, my little brother, Matthew Williams, stopped and pointed over some buildings ahead, towards the bright red horizon, commenting nervously that it must be a terrible fire, and he hopes nobody gets hurt. That's just like him, always thinking of other people. Now I'm not a cold-hearted person, but at the moment the only thing I wanted was for those damned sirens to stop. I had a crazy stressful day and those blaring, flashing noise makers were doing nothing to help.

Heaving a deep sigh and rubbing my frozen hands together for warmth, I ushered Matt forward again, eager to get home. I had to go and pick Matt up from his friend's place, but I figured it wasn't very far so there was no need to bundle up too heavily. Big mistake. I'm freezing my berries off! Well, at least Matt was warm since mom bundled him up this morning. We continued down the dark, dimly lit street, the same direction all those fire trucks and ambulances had been traveling, not even a flicker of suspicion that what was really going up in flames were our very lives.

I was jarred out of my thoughts when I heard the thunk of something hitting the concrete. Noticing the absence of footsteps next to me, I turned around to see one of the most heart-wrenching sights of my entire life. Little Matt had dropped his backpack and fallen to his knees, mouth agape and eyes wide in horror.

"N-no..."

I ran to his small form and slide to a stop, kneeling in front of him and pulling him into a tight hug. "Matt! Matt, what's wrong!"

He raised one arm and pointed behind me. I turned quickly...and that's when my heart stopped outright. Our apartment building, our home, our lives were consumed in a hellish mix of billowing smoke and flames. All the emergency vehicles from before were parked in front of our...well, what used to be our apartment building. The shrill shriek of the sirens matching my internal screaming. It felt like one of those out of body experiences you hear about, like I was watching my body lurch forward lifelessly, reaching a hand out to our home engulfed in red, unable to control myself.

~/_\::*-officer-*::/_\~

" Hey kid! What do you think you're doing!"

A young boy, probably about 17 or 18, was staggering towards the fire. I quickly grabbed him by the arm and stopped him in his tracks. About to scold him for trying to enter such a dangerous area, I was the one who stopped dead then. The look on his face, or more his eyes, was heart-breaking. His eyes were wide and unfocused, tears streaming from iced blue eyes down reddened cheeks, looking utterly hopeless and forlorn. I had no idea what to do. Fresh from training and massively inexperienced, I just tried the only thing I could think of: talking, hopefully snapping him out of his trance and distracting him from the situation.

"K-kid, d-do you live here?"

He said nothing, just lifted his head up to stare at the burning building, red lights dancing in his glassy eyes.

"H-hey...um...What's your name?" I had to keep trying something.

"Where's your family?" Oh God, I had to be an idiot for saying something like that. He obviously wasn't so distraught over just losing his house.

At this question his eyes regained some focus. With a soft cry of "M-matt!" He jerked out of my grip and ran behind me. I turned to follow and saw him run to a young, blond boy curled up and crying into his knees. The older blond slide down in front of the younger and hugged him tightly, whispering words of comfort into his ear and rocking back and forth. The poor boy, both boys, were probably traumatized. I had to do something! Even though removing them from the ghastly scene wouldn't undo any damage, it'd help prevent more...I hoped.

"Do you boys have anymore family around?" The older blond looked at me like I was an idiot and I couldn't help but remember my diarrhea of the mouth minutes before. Inhaling deeply, I knew what I had to do. Walking over, I picked up the little one, Matt I reminded myself, and with a gesture of my head, I took both boys to a squad car in the back.

"T-toris-kun! Where are you going?" That hesitant, quiet voice...

Turning I saw my friend and fellow rookie, Kiku Honda. After opening the car and letting both boys in out of the cold, I turned to Kiku. "I found these boys wandering towards the building, figured it'd be best to try and get them to a safer spot. Besides the older one looks a little cold."

At that we both turned to glance at the blonds. The oldest pulled Matt onto his lap and continued to hug him tightly. I looked back to Kiku, figuring that look of awkward sadness on his face to be on mine as well. We didn't expect police work to be all car chases and catching the bad guy, being a hero. We knew there was a constant fear of death, our own or of others, but seeing tragedy affecting another person right in front of our eyes, it was a wake-up call.

"Hey! What are you two rookies doing? You aren't here to hang around your squad car. You're on crowd control, and I see a crowd forming! Get back to work!"

We both must have jumped a foot in the air. Our police commissioner, Elizaveta Hedervary, was a very kind woman and had an overly mothering side, but man, she was one of the toughest people I've ever known. She strode toward us, ready to do some more scolding, when she noticed our 'guests'.

"What's with the kids?"

"O-oh, I found them near the building. Seems their parents are inside...I figured it was best to give them some space."

"Ah. Oh, the poor things. Since they aren't injured, take them to the station to wait. We'll see about what to do with them when this chaos dies down."

"Yes ma'am," we both chorused, selfishly thankful for a reason to escape the hellish blaze ourselves.

/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/::*Alfred*::\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\

Men and women in uniforms or suits were running about, messages and orders quickly shouted, and phones ringing off the hooks. The entire police station seemed to be in a state of chaos. Between the contraband imports and mass robberies in the shipping yards, the attempted assassination of the mayor and police commissioner a couple weeks ago, and the mob war that seems to be going on in the shadows, everyone seemed too busy to deal with two stranded children.

I hug Matt to my side self-consciously; he hasn't spoken since we first stumbled upon the fire. The few people that staggered out of the building, the survivors, were taken to the hospital. Since we were unharmed with no place to go, a policeman on the scene took us back to the station to wait until they could sort out where to put us.

I'm no fool. I may act a little ditsy, naive, and optimistic, but I'm no fool. I know the firemen wouldn't be able to stop the raging flames before the entire building was consumed, and I know the fire was raging the hardest near the upper floors...

our floor.

I knew there was no hope for us, for our family. We are all that's left. Matty and me.

I struggled to choke back a sob. I couldn't cry. I had to be strong for Matt! Heroes didn't cry. Heroes didn't show weakness, and that's exactly what I was going to be for my little brother, his hero.

"Alright everybody! I want updates on all major cases. Reever! What's happening with the robberies at the shipping yards?"

"Ma'am, the Shenzhen line was hit last night. We've been questioning the cargo-hands but they all claim to not have seen anything or anyone unusual."

"How can that much cargo go missing and no one see anything! Keep on them; someone had to have seen something. Joan, Elliot! Any new developments with...w-with...Why are there two children sitting over there?"

Everybody froze, all turning their gazes towards us.

"U-um, Miss Elizaveta!" a small voice squeaked out from the back of the room. The young man that helped us earlier stepped forward.

"Hm, Toris? Oh right, the young boys from the fire earlier. Has any family been contacted on their behalf?"

"W-Well, aside from their parents who..." a nervous glance toward us, " No other family could be located, immediate or distant."

"Well keep looking. We need a place to keep these two. A police station is not a proper place to house chil-..."

I droned her out. A little piece of me was glad he didn't actually say it. That'd make it all the more real, and I didn't no if Matt, or myself really, could take that right now.

The rest of me, however, was enraged. These people, charged with keeping the public safe, secure, and happy, 'pssh, yeah right,' were talking about us as if we were mere objects, or at most some person's lost pets. There were a few sniffles to my left, but they went unattended. Aside from that one newbie, Toris, the rest of these officers were completely indifferent to us.

"Hey there, little guy. Would you like some hot chocolate?" a smooth voice said softly to my left. I turned quickly in surprise. Crouching down in front of my brother, in order to see eye-to-eye, was one of the officers. Detective, I corrected, judging by his suit and lack of a blue uniform. He had pale blond hair, lighter than mine, and bright green eyes, situated under possibly the bushiest pair of eyebrows I've ever seen. He then turned to look at me.

"Would you like some too?" he questioned me with a kind smile on his face. Unlike the other officers we've seen, who've mostly shown us only indifference or some forced concern, this man's eyes held nothing but a gentle warmth. I felt my heartbeat quicken, b-but why would it do that?

"We usually have a decent stock of drinks and snacks in the break room. Besides, you still look a little cold." Oh God, he even has an accent. British. I've always had a soft spot for British accents, and if you search...had searched my (now burned) computer, you would have found many gigabytes of torrented shows and movies from the UK.

Face heating up in a blush, I nod hesitantly. He picked Matt up and carried him off towards the back of the room, still smiling at him and saying something softly in his ear. Blaming my strange reaction to the Englishman on his cute accent and the stress I've been drowning in this evening, I followed him silently.

He set Matt down on the counter of a quaint little kitchen in the back of the precinct. He tapped him on the nose and, with a small laugh, said, "just wait one moment," getting a giggle in reply. It was an oddly tender, domestic scene, considering where we were right now.

He started boiling the water and setting some blue mugs out, while I settled down at the small, wood table set up.

"I would hate to reinforce any stereotypes, but...well, one of the forensics team members always brings in a box of donuts and pastries. Would you like anything?" He held open a box of assorted, brightly colored donuts to Matt, who went straight for the maple, then to me. I picked up a neon pink one with rainbow sprinkles. He set the box down on the counter and went back to fixing the cocoa. He handed us each a mug, and we lapsed into an awkward silence.

"So...um, s-sorry we didn't have any marshmallows." I decided to humor the Britain's attempt to break the deafening silence. Silence meant I had to think.

"It's okay. This is a police station after all. I'm surprised there was even hot chocolate here."

"Ah, yes. Well, the sister of one of our snipers visited the station a few times about a month ago, and she adores chocolate. He dotes on her every chance he gets, so I suppose he bought some incase she wanted it." he explained in that cute accent.

"O-oh! She won't m-mind were drinking it, will she?" Matt squeaked out shyly.

"Oh, no! Don't worry, she wouldn't mind. In fact, she'd probably be more than happy to share." As he spoke, the blond detective had moved back to my brother's side and pat him comfortingly on the head. He's definitely a lot more comfortable with Matt then with me.

"Ah, here you are Arthur." That Elizabeth woman was back. Wait! She said Arthur, didn't she? So that's what the British guy's name was. It kinda suited him. "I was wondering where you slipped off to. You seem to be getting along well with these-" She stopped suddenly, face lighting up as the light bulb in her head went off.

"I have a great idea!" she exclaimed excitedly, grinning to herself. "Why don't these boys go stay with you!"

...

"WHAT!"

And there's my sad attempt at a cliffhanger. I'll try to have this updated quickly, if work isn't too much of a b***h.