Hetalia doesn't belong to me. There! Here you have your disclaimer, my dear solicitors!

The Snow King

Once upon a time there was an evil wizard. He was called Ivan and he ruled over ice and snow and he was commonly known as Snow King.

Now this King of snow was very good friends with the devil himself. Indeed they were such good friends that the fallen light made a magical mirror just for the wizard. But the devil was also a very mischievous and bold creature and so the mirror was out of a special glass infused with a special curse.

This mirror showed everyone who looked into it their darkest side, the side they liked to hide because they fancy calling it evil. It showed the ugly and the bad and the nastiness of life, It showed the deepest , most forbidden desires and the worst qualities someone had. The good and beautiful, the righteous and justified, those qualities didn't appear in it.

It happened to amuse the wizard instead of offending him when he glanced upon the devil's gift. He even went as far as inviting the devil to dinner and proposing a .. let's call it prank … on angels and God. The devil upon hearing this immediately agreed to the plan because it would upset God and the devil was still sore about being thrown down to the Underworld.

So the mirror was carried by henchmen of the devil their purpose to position it in front of the heaven gates. Yet the higher they carried the malicious mirror the colder it get and – the henchmen being used to hellish heat – they couldn't stand it. Their fingers grew frozen, the air grew stale and in a bout of clumsiness the mirror slipped out of their hands.

Horrified they could only watch as the mirror fell back to earth and splintered into thousand of shards that were cast all over the world by magic. Both Ivan and the devil were very angry but the devil said disappointed that it was one of a kind mirror and that he couldn't recreate it.

Angered the Snow King ordered the in fear shaking henchmen to collect every single splitter and put the mirror together again. To that the devil bowed his head and told his dear friend that this was a fool's errand. Yet Ivan didn't listen to him.

And indeed his henchmen searched through the world collecting every shard they found either with violence or as luck would have it, Over the years as the King saw his mirror nearing completion more and more everyday he felt satisfied. Until the day came that his henchmen returned to his abode telling there were no more shards to find even though there was hole the size of a human iris in the mirror.

Furious once again the King went to Earth himself seeking the last shard or shards by magic. He hadn't used it before because it was very exhausting to search for small items in the whole world by magic, He could have used that for one or five shards but then he wouldn't be able to use his magic anymore without waiting for his reserves to fill up again.

Finally after several weeks of following his magic he found the shard. It had stuck itself into the eye of a youthful boy. The King couldn't help but admire the boy. He was perhaps around 15 winters old, his hair gleaming like polished gold but looking as soft as expensive silk.

And his eyes! They were mesmerizing!

One was a deep sapphire, blue like the sky at dawn, blue like the deepest sea, while the other was also blue but a pale one. It was the blue of the first snowfall, of the waterfalls caused by melting snow.

The pale eye was where his shard resided.

Knowing that if he wanted his shard that he would have to blind the golden boy and already infatuated with him he was loathing harming the boy. Nevertheless he wanted his shard with him. When he had a flash of genius the King smiled wickedly as his new idea allowed him to get both the shard and the boy.

He came into the little town seemingly exhausted and pretending to be a straying traveler seeking a place to rest. The people welcomed him rather warmly except of the boy he wanted and – he had never been aware of him – his twin brother.

Over the next few months he endeared himself to the citizens yet once again everyone liked him but the twins although the King gleefully noticed that his prey seemed to be in two minds. It was merely the influence of his twin's influence that tipped the scale into the favor of dislike and suspicion.

Only solution: the twin had to go.

Ivan knew he couldn't just outright kill his golden boy's precious sibling and the sibling was precious. Everyone in the village knew that Alfred – that was his golden boy with sapphire and mirror eyes – would die and kill for his brother and would swear vengeance on anyone who dared to harm his cherished little brother.

If the little pest – how Ivan called Alfred's brother in his mind – would seemingly die in an accident, however, Alfred would be distraught and angry and , perhaps, more than vulnerable. He'd need comfort after the death of his twin. Comfort that the Snow King planned to offer and then take him away from all his sorrows.

Arranged accident after arranged accident and the King found himself at his wit's end. No matter what he or his henchmen did it looked like the little pest that turned out to be a great annoyance had the best luck of the world. It avoided being killed by ducking, by randomly dancing, by stepping to the side, by jumping, by being rescued by his better half. It would be maddening if the King wasn't already to hundred percent mad.

Shouldn't the nuisance kick the bucket soon Ivan feared he would be furious enough to let the frozen north winds of ice and blizzards sweep over the land. That would kill a fair share of people and if he did that he'd also risk the life of his beloved, not only of his twin.

So the King thought and contemplated, plotted and devised plans to get rid of the pest. It was ironic that his plans would be useless by the time he started them because Matthew – the problem twin – got terrible sick one day.

It was over the village like a forest fire on a windy day. Even though Ivan was pleased – he didn't show it , of course, that was suicide because everyone loved those twin , both of them – he wasn't as happy to hear that Alfred had holed himself up with his brother.

In the end Ivan terrible as he was couldn't help feeling pity for the one he wished to be dead. The boy suffered for months, pain filling his entire being, agony shooting through him all the time and he still tried to endure, to live on for the sake of his brother.

Unless a miracle happened, everyone knew that Matthew would die giving in to his sickness. Alfred was the only one who didn't believe that, who insisted that his brother would pull through and everything would be the same as before.

The one time Ivan had visited the twins he observed how lovingly his golden boy took care of his brother. He had kept him warm by carefully arranging warm covers on top of his sickly brother. He had fed him broth patiently even if Matthew didn't seem inclined to eat anything.

And all through that Matthew had smiled weakly at him thanking him and agreeing with him that he would survive when Alfred had shouted it full of hope. But the King had been able to see it in the feverish blue-violet eyes. The boy had known that he wouldn't. It had been obvious by the worry in his eyes.

When Alfred had cheerfully gone to wash the dishes Ivan had been surprised when the pale and sick boy had spoken with him.

" I don't know your agenda," the boy had said slowly breath hitching and coughs rattling his body. " I don't know why you seem to want my brother. But when I die" – he had said when not if – "promise me that you will take care of my brother!"

Although those blue-violet eyes were sick and feverish they were also burning and for once razor sharp as they bore through his skull. He had had no other choice but to promise him that he had every intention to.

Matthew's eyes had lost his sharpness then and his smile had turned serene. Not long after that he had excused himself to go home.

Only three weeks after his visit Matthew had given up the fight with his illness and had succumbed to the eternal sleep. It was said that he died with a smile on his lips.

It cut Alfred the deepest. He had hoped for so long that his little brother would get healthy again that now that his fool's hope had shattered he didn't know where to turn to. So the King stepped in with his original plan and offered comfort.

He was astonished to discover that – when they gave Matthew the last honor, a grand funeral, Alfred clinging at his arm seeking strength – he felt sorry for the younger twin's death even though it wasn't his fault, even though he had been planning for his death for so long.

A few weeks after the funeral the king and the boy with the mirror splitter in his eye took their relationship further. They became a couple partly due to the boy's misery because of his brother's death and partly due to the plenty of comfort the king bestowed upon the boy.

That's why when Ivan asked Alfred if he wanted to move to his own home escaping the painful memories of lost childhood days and lost halves the boy immediately said yes.

So they bid farewell to the villagers and began their journey towards the great north. Alfred won some of enthusiasm over the world back on it reminiscing in memories of his and his twin's desire to travel all over the world. These thoughts were still slicing at his heart but slowly with the coaxing words of Ivan he managed to deal with his loss.

Ivan got more and more nervous the closer they were to his home. Soon he would have to tell his beloved about his magical origins since the signs of magic would be evident – in him and his home.

As he tried to gather his courage the world around them was encased in white, a world of snow and ice, and the only thing Alfred could breathe was "Pretty"

Laughing he danced in the snow ignoring the bemused looks of Ivan and the dance was both beautiful and heart-breaking. He moved fluidly and without stocking but his sapphire eye was so full of loss, of a song that spoke of desire to show this to his twin.

" Mattie always loved the diamonds falling from the sky," he whispered wistfully. " That's what he called snow. I have come to like it too."

At that Ivan couldn't help it but the words sprang from his mind, the truth about himself, the truth about everything. The only thing he didn't dare to confess was his intention to kill Matthew, Alfred would loathe him if he knew.

Listening with his jaw on the ground Alfred was barely believing it. So he dared Ivan to prove it. Swiftly nodding the King grabbed his arm – they were near enough to his home that he could directly magic them to there – and muttered a spell causing them to disappear from their spot and to appear in front of a gigantic white house decorated with pale blue ice stalactites what should be impossible.

Alfred's breath caught; it was a beautiful house and when Ivan guided him to an enormous throne room he saw a sinister mirror standing there. He felt compelled to approach it but Ivan hugged him telling him of the shard in his eye wanting to be united with the rest of its glass.

The boy frowned and questioned how he should live here if he was enchanted with a mirror that would harm him. In answer Ivan muttered a charm and suddenly the mirror was torn apart and broken into shards once again. With his magic he pushed and the shards were sent flying in every direction of the sky.

Then the king kissed him assuring him that Alfred was more important than any mirror and begged him to never leave his side, to live with him and love him until the day of eternity's end.

Although Alfred understood that at first it was the obsession over a mirror that had led Ivan to him he knew that the love for him was real. It stood written in Ivan's amethyst.

In the end they lived together for a long time and who knows? Perhaps they are still living among us...

After all, Ivan had been friends with the devil ..

T H E E N D . . . O R P E R H A P S N O T ?

Yes, I know I should work on other stuff like the second chapter of Feels Good, da? ( that despite my claims I haven't already begun .. Sorry Melody) or my kink meme stuff or just perhaps I should do what my mother says and , I quote, " get your lazy ass up and do something for your life!" Well, that's the gist of it considering my mother spoke German

Well, this is for the Fantasia month at the russiaxamerica community in lj ... Every week there is a new theme and dammit I want to win something at the end in the raffle .. meaning I have to write a lot for it and am even planning a short comic .. which (if) I finish it will also put on dA .. however I'm not the greatest artist ...

I rambled didn't I? If you read it ongrulations ^^