PROLOG-

Mattie held his eyes shut, tears rolling down his face in a great waterfall. The snow was cold under his knees, but he bowed, crying. His fingers ran thru this beautiful animal's fur, it's lifeless body dragging out silence over the snow hills.

Blood flowed over the animals coat, the white now dyed crimson. Mattie's hands tightened into fist, his pale face red from the mass of tears. This beautiful animal was slaughtered, just for the human's sake for fur.

Wiping away the tears, Mattie over looked this massive bear. Her jaw was dripping blood, and her paws were bounded together. With shaking hands, Mattie untied the bounds, letting her paws lay free.

"B-Be free..." He whispered, grabbing a hold of the female polar bear's fur, and swearing under his breath. "..B-Be...f-f-free..."

He heard gun shots crack in the distance and winced. Standing up, Mattie could see clearly that in the distance, the train was boarding. What had that poacher said? Bomb. The. Train?

Racing thru the snow, Mattie ran. The train station was so far. He couldn't...

In a bliss of a second, all he could see was the orange exploding fire sounding off from the train. His eyes widened, the violet color glowing from the mass of light, and his body dropped quickly to the ground.

"MOM!" His eyes stung with the feeling of pain, his heart breaking into pieces. "DAD!"

As the fire calmed, he tried to see thru the smoke. His hands fell to his sides, tears awakening and falling down to soak his coat.

He lay on his back, staring up at the gray cloudy sky as snow slowly fell. His body was cold, and he knew if he stayed there he would soon freeze. Pain ran up his legs from the cold, a pain that almost could be mistaken for heat, but Mattie was too much used to this burning cold to mistaken it for flames.

He then felt a nudge on his arm. Very light, but it made him open his eyes. A small helpless polar bear nuzzled into his side, and Mattie let out a gasp. "B-Bear.."

With shaking legs, he stood, picking up the bear. Limping, he carried the small thing back to his cabin. The old cabin that his parents had once loved. And as he fell at the front door, he realized something. He saved this young polar bear. And the polar bear saved him.

Ch. 1-

Matthew sat alone on this rather quiet day. No one talked to him. Nor, in return, had he tried to caught anyone's attention. He was incredibly still, barely moving as the others walked past him, in and out of the World Meeting room in large, loud groups.

His brother made a complete fool of himself, pointing and laughing like he always did. His brother was always the hero after all—so of course he did draw eyes towards his super heroic shadow, un like Matt—who really did hate it when eyes were all pointing his way.

Matthew soon saw his step father, Francis. Deep down he felt sorry for his dad—everyone was so mean to him, calling him perverted, when really it was just his way of expressing his love for the apple of his eye. Mattie tightened his grip on his polar bear, and shuttered at the thought of his real family.

"Oh, Bonjour Matt~" Francis smirked at him, his eyebrows arching above his blue eyes. "And how may you be?" Matthew blinked.

His dad was the only one who even knew he existed.

"I-I'm fine.." Matthew soon answered in a soft voice, and sighed. A curious curve showed in Francis' brows, and he sat next to his son.

"Oh no no—Please tell me what is bothering you~?" Close up Matthew could tell Francis needed a quick shave, his chin covered in small stubby hairs. Francis wasn't an ugly man—he had clear blue eyes, and sandy blond hair that went to his neck in waves. Normally he would see his father with curved, interested eye brows, and a small smirk at the corner of his month. But now, in the mist of the beginning of this World Meeting, Francis looked worried for the concern of Matt, and deep within, Matthew felt guilt weld inside his stomach.

Before answering, Matthew held his bear closer to his chest, using the bear almost like a body of armor. "N-Nothing is wrong—I've just been trying to concentrate on Alfred's topic of global warming, is all." Mattie lied against his own better judgment.

"W-Well, you do know I will help you with any problem that occurs, right?" Francis stared into Matthew's eyes for a moment, until finally looking away, satisfied that Matthew was really fine.

"You! Bloody French Frog, do you mind stop talking so we can really continue with this meeting?" Arthur, the British man, said with a sigh.

Of course, that started an argument.

"I will stop talking once you cook editable food!.." Francis glared at Arthur with hatred.

"Excuse me? Shut up you French Twit!"

"Aiyah! This always happens! Hasn't anyone heard of 'peace'?" Yao cried, and yelped as Francis and Arthur threw things back and forth, trying to play darts with each others' faces.

"Matthew, can't you try to calm your father down for once, aru?" Yao hid behind Mattie as things were being throw across the room in the middle of a meeting. Again.

"S-Sorry..." Matthew said in a slow whispered voice, looking down shyly. Yao stayed by his side, trying to hide from any flying objects.

Yao was a Chinese man, who had the appearance of perhaps a more feminine man. His eyes were glowing golden in the light, his hair pulled back into a pony tail that lay over his left shoulder. He wore an outfit that had the look of an older Chinese military design.

"Aiyah!" He rose up, then yelped as a pen threw past his head.

"Guys, guys." Ivan sat on the other side of Matthew, watching the fight in almost pure joy. "Stop fighting. We aren't here all day, da?"

Arthur looked completely pissed- but sighed. "I suppose you are right.." He took his seat, and ducked right before Francis threw a coffee mug at his head.

"I suppose it's not damn right you-" He huffed, unwillingly taking his seat.

"Okay. Now that this meeting is in section I say we tackle the big issues!" Alfred, Matthew's hero brother, stood before everyone, pointing at meaningless graphs. Matthew studied his brother, noticing how alike they both looked. Normally people—cough cough Arthur—would confuse him for Alfred.

His brother did look like him. They both wore glasses, and both had the same facial features. There hair were both blond, and easily from behind Matthew could be mistaken for Alfred. But—Alfred's eyes sparkled a sky blue, unlike Mattie's, who's eyes were a cold violet color. And who wouldn't notice the ahoge curl sticking out from Matthew's hair? Alfred also had one mismatched piece of hair, altho it looked almost like a cow lick, that stuck out at the side top of his head.

But Matthew wasn't Alfred, and never would be.

"I say we tackle the issue at hand!" Alfred huffed, smiling proudly after finishing his long speech.

"Issues like...animal cruelty...and polluting of the world.." Matthew whispered under his breath, but no one looked back at him.

"I'd like to call close to this meeting. Everyone in favor say 'I'!"

A series of I's came from the small meeting group. Of course, no one noticed as Matthew muttered 'No'.