It was a calm and quiet evening during February of 1947, too quiet and calm for the liking of Roderich Edelstein due to the news he had just received regarding the series of events that had occurred earlier that very day.

Prussia was gone.

After the end of the Second World War, the Allied nations had punished Germany for its actions. First they had forced the once-powerful nation to admit its guilt for starting the war, which then had lead to a debt of 30 million dollars to pay for the damages it had caused to the allied countries, and its army and navy were reduced in its size while its air force was disbanded. Secondly, it had its colonies in Africa and Asia taken away, and was forced to return the land that was taken from France during the Franco-Prussian war, and lose even more land to Poland.

And finally, they had branded Prussia as the bane of modern German and European history, believing that it was the source of the German malaise that had effected the continent of Europe, and had chosen to abolish it.

Prussia had been taken off the map, just like that.

Glancing out the window, watching as flakes of powder-white snow fluttered to the ground, creating a glistening carpet over the earth as the sun sunk below the hills, Roderich took another sip from what must have been his tenth cup of tea in the past hour, though the warm beverage did nothing to calm his mind. He was worried, worried about the welfare Ludwig and Gilbert Beilschmidt, more worried about the latter than the former, though his pride would never allow him to admit to that. A call he had received from the blond-haired German a mere two hours earlier, who had told him that he was surviving, despite the odds, had lowered his worries for the man, if only a fraction. However, the conversation he had held with Ludwig had also raised his worries about the second man on his mind.

Gilbert had left and hadn't returned.

Nobody had seen him for almost a day now.

'He left early in the morning,' Ludwig had told him, 'The noise woke me up, you know Gilbert, loud as always, and he was muttering something about how he needed to be somewhere. I didn't catch where though, and nobody's seen- or heard- of him since...'

Roderich sighed as he finished his cup, brushing a strand of his brunet hair out of his face and adjusting his glasses before rising from his chair and heading towards the kitchen to boil the kettle once again.

The calmness and quietness of the night was not disturbed as a figure moved slowly through the trees, cursing silently under his breath at the snow that was quickly surrounding him. Why didn't he think to bring a coat with him? It was winter after all. Sighing irritatedly, he attempted to stop himself from shivering as he continued to move forward. Night had fallen already, he needed to get there quicker, before midnight, before his time was up.

Glancing through the trees in front of him, crimson eyes widened in relief as he recognised the building in front of him as his destination.

Forcing his freezing body to move a little quicker, aware that he had a time limit weighing down on his shoulders, he emerged from the shadowy cover of the trees, the light of the freshly-risen moon illumination the snow droplets caught in his silver, almost-white hair and catching in his eyes, almost making him seem to glow in the new-born night. He paused only for a moment before taking another step forward-

And falling straight through the snow into the hidden ditch right in front of him.

The Austrian jumped, almost choking on his tea, as he heard a shout coming from outside. He glanced out the window again, looking out across the large field that ended with the tree-line of the woods, but did not notice anything out there in the snow which the sound could have come from. Placing his cup and saucer carefully on the table, he rose from his chair again, deciding that it would be best to go outside and check for himself, just in case he had missed anything.

Retrieving his coat and scarf from the hat stand as he walked down the hallway, he opened the door and stepped out into the cold of the night. Despite the fact he was well wrapped-up, he shivered. Winter nights like these were indeed harsh, so he wasted no time walking the perimeter of his house, stopping every few seconds or so to glance around in search of any person or animal who may have been in distress. He did not venture too far away from the walls of his home, however. After all, he did not wish to be in distress himself.

He made his way back towards his front door, having found nothing and no-one who may have made the noise. He wondered if he had imagined it. It was getting late and he was probably beginning to get tired after today's events. Shoving his hands into his coat pockets in an attempt to warm them up a little and keeping his head down against the wind, Roderich rounded the last corner of his house, only looking up when he reached the door, but gasping once he did.

Stood right in front of him was Gilbert. He wasn't wearing a coat, he was covered from head to toe in snow, he was paler than Roderich thought possible, he was shivering violently, and his lips were blue-purple from the cold, but he somehow managed to smirk down at the brunet in the same way he always did. There seemed to be something a little different about his expression this time, however, but the Austrian could not put his finger on what it was...

"It's a good thing you're hot, because it's fucking freezing out here!"

And with that, the Prussian fell unconscious.

Roderich quickly reached down and caught him as he fell, noticing the blush on his cheeks from Gilbert's statement but ignoring it as he carried the white-haired man into his house, away from the cold outside.