A/N: A quick Gilveta written for a little writing exercise. Well, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I...unfortunately don't own Hetalia. Only the snow and the soldiers.

Snowflakes were falling around us, deepening the drifts of bleak whiteness that already reached past my ankles.

This was it.

Hope was leaving me, drop by drop. All that remained was an empty, bitter void. Watching her retreating figure, a cold, grey veil settled itself upon my world. Everything we had fought for, every obstacle we had overcome, all those battles we had won and lost…It all meant nothing now.

For once, I think, I stopped believing that everything was going to turn out okay, no matter how many friends and family we had lost in our struggles. Just as long as we were together.
Together. What did that word mean, again?

I glared at the crisp, stark snow against the backdrop of an unyielding, hard grey sky.

This world, which I had tried so hard to keep intact, was finally cracking, losing its shine. My world. Before, it had been Elizaveta's, too.

Elizaveta…I tried to call her name, even though I knew nothing would work, now. My voice choked into a despairing silence.

Gone.

My knees shook as I sank down, desperately trying to hold back tears. I was too awesome to cry.

Something wet slid down my frostbitten, pale cheek.

I had failed.

Pressing my gloved hands against my eyes, I tried to forget, to escape from the disappearance of everything I had loved, everyone I had secretly cared for.

I didn't hear the harsh yelling of the soldiers, coming towards me, to capture me. Or to kill me. I barely noticed a thing when I was dragged roughly to my feet, arms bound behind back. I didn't resist, for I had no reason to- I just couldn't bring myself to care about anything anymore.

I had no purpose. Until I heard one of them give an order to go after "the girl". I knew he meant Lizzie. A sudden rage swelled from my chest- I didn't know where it came from; I thought all emotion had left me when she turned away. I wrenched myself free and kicked my captor, hard, with burning relish. I was still strong, still awesome, and I would still protect her even though I had officially lost her forever.

A loud bang rang through my head and a burnt smell reached my nose. A flash of white and I was on the ground. The side of my face was throbbing dully, and trickling with something warm and wet. What had happened?

I stared with unseeing, crimson eyes at the point of a smoking gun, still held where my head had been before I fell.
As the unshaven soldier placed his gun back into his belt, the last ounce of willpower that had burst from my anger quietly seeped into the snow. Fatigue pressed against my conscience, closing my eyes.

…I'm tired. I'll take a rest now, just a quick nap…Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll take Elizaveta to safety. Tomorrow we will be safe. But for now…

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