DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA, NEITHER THE CHARACTERS. THEY BELONG TO HIDEKAZ HIMARUYA. THIS IS A FANFICTION.

Fire. Everywhere you looked, there was fire. The heat was unbearable, but that was okay with Russia, who looked at the hellish scene from up above on his jet. Ivan just sat there in his private room, watching the flames consume the entire landscape. He was sickly delighted.

By his side stood his loyal sister, Belarus, who also observed the scene. The expression on her face was impossible to be deciphered. Was she worried? Was she amazed? Was she delighted just like her brother? Not even she could describe her own feelings. Her brain was somewhat shut down.

A knock on the door made the siblings thoughts disperse.

"Come in." Commanded Russia, without turning around. His head rested on both his hands, which had their fingers intertwined. He looked like a madman who was deep in thought. The door clicked open and Lithuania entered the room. He was pale and his broken arm from a fight before was tied beside his body.

"Russia-san… We are almost out of fuel. We must land somewhere to fill the tank, or we'll be in trouble…" His body was shaking.

Russia sighed and stood up. Belarus didn't even move; her face still expressionless.

"Is that so…" Ivan turned to Toris, his arms were behind his backs. When Lithuania saw his eyes, his gaze fell on the floor. Russia's eyes had changed ever since the war started and he could barely stare at them now. It was like madness had taken over them. Real madness, not the occasional madness that sometimes fell upon his boss. "Then I guess we need to land, no?"

Lithuania waited for any other order, but when it didn't come, he just bowed slightly and made his way back to the pilot's cabin. Estonia was piloting the jet and looked tense. Both Lithuania and Estonia were still shocked with the loss of Latvia, but they didn't have time to grieve. Russia was right behind them and just his presence seemed to tell them to keep quiet.

"Let's land over there…" Said Toris, pointing to a clear place, away from the flames. Estonia nodded and started to descend.

Russia felt the plane going down and sat on his chair. Belarus still stared outside, her eyes shimmering, reflecting the fire. Ivan glanced slightly to his sister, trying to figure out what she was thinking right now. He sighed.

"I guess I haven't thanked you for supporting me. I hope you know I'm really glad you're here, Natalia." He said, smiling to her.

Belarus looked at her brother. Her beloved brother, the one she loved so much ever since she could remember. Now that he had finally trusted her, she should be happy. But why couldn't she smile? Why couldn't she talk to him? Without a word, she turned back to the landscape below. The fire was now less intense and the place they were going to land could be finally seen.

"I told you we'll be back for her," Continued Russia. This made Belarus turn back at him. "No need to worry about Ukraine. You trust me, don't you?"

Natalia looked down, bangs covering her eyes. She opened her mouth and mumbled quietly.

"Yes… Brother."

Ivan smiled. Good. As long as he had people blindly trusting him, nothing would go wrong. From the beginning of the war until now, his mind had been working nonstop. He'd been planning carefully every move, every detail and every loss he could suffer. Latvia's territory had already been taken, but it was fine. He knew it would come to that, eventually. Russia had planned for one of the Baltic Countries to be conquered so then the other two would have to rely on him, afraid the same would happen to them. He chose Latvia to be the sacrifice simply because he was the smallest one. Not very useful either, so his plan was working well so far.

The people he was controlling relied on him. They were afraid of the war, and Ivan wasn't. That made him strong in the middle of the chaos. He was smart and he would definitely win. The people by his side had the advantage of not being against Russia.

It was better to be feared than loved, after all.

Minutes later, the plane finally landed. Lithuania went out carrying two gallons of fuel for the jet, followed by Estonia, who was carrying other two gallons. Russia took this moment to stretch is muscles, so he also got out of the jet and walked around the place for a while. Belarus followed him silently.

He looked around and realized they were on a hill. The city was far away, still burning. He gave a sadistic smirk. The fire would eventually get to where they were standing, but not for another hour or two.

"It was such a beautiful city too, Paris." He said in a sad tone, almost feeling sorry for it.

Francis was out of his country and the French army was completely useless against a full-force attack from the Russian army Ivan had created. They did not expect Russia of all people to be the one attacking them first, so when he did, winning was almost easy. Sure Latvia was lost on the battle, but this was a small price compared to destroying the City of Light.

"France will be rather upset when he comes back." Chuckled Ivan. "How is the fuel going?"

Russia turned to Lithuania and Estonia, but what he found was quite surprising. Both of them were on their knees, their heads covered by a black cloth. There were three people standing near his jet with army clothes, two of them holding onto the two prisoners and the other with a sword in hand, staring at Russia. Ivan's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but then came back to the normal crazy self.

"You sure were quiet." He said, in an amusing tone. How fun!

"And you sure lost your mind, aru."

Russia froze at the voice behind him. Turning slowly, the sigh of China made his hands shake for the first time since the war began. Belarus snapped out of her trance for the first time too, and hid herself behind her bother. Ivan took a long while to find words to speak again.

"China… What a surprise to see you here! You see, I was just about to go—"

"Don't talk like you know me, aru." Yao's tone was cutting. His words made Ivan's heart jump a beat. He clutched at his chest, frowning. He was losing control of the situation, and he didn't like that. China was holding onto twin swords and he didn't seem to be kidding.

"I'm sorry? I don't understand…"

"You understand well enough, aru. I saw what you did to those people down there, aru. You think that's fun, don't you?"

Behind Russia, Estonia and Lithuania yelled incomprehensible words. South Korea kicked Lithuania and that made him stop screaming. Taiwan did the same with Estonia. Hong Kong still stood where he was, ready to attack if necessary. Belarus grabbed Russia's coat, making him look behind. Ivan then caught a detail.

"Hmm, interesting. Where is Japan?"

Yao squeezed his swords tightly. Ivan smirked. Bingo.

"He didn't want to defend his fellow Asian Countries?" Continued Russia, putting a hand over his mouth, in a sign of astonishment. "I can't believe he would just leave you on your own."

"Quiet, aru!" Yelled China. Russia could swear he saw small tears falling down Yao's face, but they were too far to be sure. Even so, he felt something melt inside him. His stomach was sick.

Great. Everything was going well until this. Stupid emotions.

Russia shook his head. There was no place for old emotions to take over him in the middle of a war. He closed his eyes and breathed quietly. Opening them again, he felt renewed.

"I am sorry; I didn't mean to be rude. But then again," Ivan looked behind him. "Your friends were quite rude to my men." He giggled.

"You're going down today, aru. You've caused enough pain for a day." Yao pointed on of his swords to Russia. He couldn't help but to laugh.

"So I suppose you are the hero of the story now? This is funny. It was about time for someone else to take the place of Hero of The World. That America guy was beginning to get annoying." Ivan slowly grabbed his own weapon from inside his coat.

Hong Kong took a step forward, ready to defend China, but Belarus put herself in front of her brother, taking her trustworthy knife from the under her dress. Hong Kong frowned. Belarus didn't move a muscle.

"How about a fair fight? For the old times?" Asked Ivan, smiling.

"There were no old times, aru." Concluded Yao, taking his stance. Russia realized that their talk ended there. He shrugged and turned to Natalia, whispering on her ear.

"You take that one down. I'll take care of this little problem."

Belarus nodded, but not convincingly. But Ivan had other things to worry about now.

"So," Said Ivan, taking his own stance. "Shall we start?"

But that annoying pain hasn't left his chest.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Hungary mumbled under her breath while running.

Her clothes were ripped off in many places and her cheek had an ugly cut right below her left eye. Elizabeta ran with all her forces towards a house that she knew well, cursing herself for being so desperate that she had to ask help from him.

There were no people after her right now, but all because Austria had asked her to retrieve, saying that he would give her enough time for her to be safely far from Austria's house, which was being attacked by the American army. America apparently had tropes all over the world right now, while Alfred himself was together with his newly-made friends attacking somewhere else.

Of course Hungary had immediately refused to leave him, but after looking right into his pleading eyes, she understood perfectly what was going through his mind. Roderich knew it was pointless to keep fighting when they were obviously losing, so if someone had to go down, then he would sacrifice himself for her. She had cried after giving the first steps out of Austria's house, but after that, she forced herself to shut up and look for options.

And unfortunately, the only option she could find was this one.

Finally arriving at her destination, Hungary's eyes took a while to absorb the state of the place. The house was completely intact. There were no people around and no signs of destruction whatsoever. Blinking, she walked towards the front door and hesitantly pointed her finger to the doorbell.

"Here goes nothing…" Mumbled Hungary to herself before pushing the bell.

The sound echoed through the house. It took a long while for something to happen, but the huge door finally opened for her. Elizabeta walked in calmly, refusing to look desperate in front of him. She arrived at the living room and saw the white-haired man sitting on his chair, comfortably reading a book. He raised his eyes from the book.

"Hey. What's up?"

The urge to punch him in the face took over her for a moment, but she forced herself to calm down.

"Hello, Gilbert."

"You look like shit. What the hell happened to your face?" Asked Prussia, straightforward as always. Hungary put a finger on her wound, but took it away immediately.

"That's not important! Look, I've come here to talk to you."

"Oh, really?" Asked him, rolling his eyes and smirking. Hungary's patience was just this close to run out. She clenched her fists.

"Can't you be serious at least once in your entire life?"

"It's a habit." He said, returning his attention back to his book. "But since you had the courtesy to come all the way over here I'm guessing you want my help of some sort."

Elizabeta sighed. She hated to agree with Gilbert.

"…Yes."

"And I believe it somehow involves Austria, since you would not leave his side unless something awful happened to him. Am I close?"

"Fine, you're right! Happy? Just shut up and listen to my offer." Yelled Hungary.

Prussia didn't say anything for a while and kept reading. After he finished the page, he closed his book and sighed, getting up. He placed the book carefully on the desk beside him and turned to Hungary, his expression serious. Elizabeta was taken aback by his face.

"And what can I do for you?" Asked Gilbert, neutral. Hungary blinked and cleared her throat.

"I… Eh…" Damn it, why was she stuttering? "You need to help me retrieve Austria." She said at least. Prussia chuckled.

"You came asking for my help? Wow you must really be desperate."

"I am not desperate!" Blurted out Hungary, blushing. Damn, she was caught.

But instead of taking advantage of her moment of weakness, Gilbert simply stopped smirking and turned his backs to her. He went to his bar on the far back of the living room and grabbed a bottle of wine. Hungary cocked her head to the side, wondering what the hell he was doing. Was he ignoring her?

Taking out two glasses of the cupboard, Prussia served the two of them with a small quantity of wine. Placing the bottle back at the bar, he closed the cupboard with his shoulder and brought back the beverage to Hungary and him.

"Here. You'll like this one." Said Gilbert handing over the glass of wine to Elizabeta. Hungary hesitated, but took it anyway. She smelled the wine's scent and finally took a sip of the drink.

"So?" Asked Prussia. She frowned.

"It's… Good. Really good." She then stopped and looked back at him, with eyes wide open. "You poisoned it, didn't you?"

"Hell no!" Gilbert yelled back. "What the hell do you think I am, a crazy-ass psychopath?"

"Something like that…" Mumbled Hungary, taking another sip of the wine. Gilbert buffed in frustration.

"Let's face the facts here, Hungary." Said Gilbert suddenly, after a couple of minutes of silence. His face was serious again. "We're on World War III. Everything is a chaos and the whole damn world is just fighting because the countries missed their days of glory. This is just like what happened with me, you and Roderich a long time ago."

Elizabeta stared at Gilbert with nostalgic eyes. It was the truth, she had already experienced that, but not when all the countries were involved. That time it was just Prussia, Spain and France against Hungary, England and Austria.

"I'm gone," Continued Prussia, smirking and spreading his arms. "I'm not a country anymore. You see the state of my house? It's in perfect conditions! Because I have nothing! I have no territory and no army. This house is all that's left. Just a faint memory from a battle that took everything from me."

Gilbert approached Elizabeta and bent over until he was staring right into her eyes. Normally she would've beaten him up because of the proximity, but this time she was frozen on her spot.

"Now tell me. Why should I enter a war if I'm perfectly fine right where I am?"

Straightening himself up again, Gilbert finished drinking his wine and sat on his chair once more. Hungary stood where she was, trying to find words, but she couldn't. There was a feeling of loss on her heart that she couldn't bear. Not even Prussia was willing to help her. Austria had sacrificed himself for anything. Soon she would also be conquered and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Her legs were shaking and, without a word, Hungary turned her backs on Prussia and slowly made her way to the door.

It's over, she thought. I've lost Roderich. And I've lost Gilbert.

Before leaving the house, she faced Prussia once more. Her eyes were full of pain and teary, but she didn't care about crying in front of him anymore.

"You know… I've never really thought you were a jerk. Until now."

And with no more words, Elizabeta left.

Gilbert frowned. He didn't care. He was fine on his own and he didn't need to enter a war for nothing. He was safe. He didn't need anyone.

He didn't even notice how strongly he was holding onto his glass until it broke into pieces on his own hand.

Finished chapter 2! What do you guys think of it until now?

This story takes place on the future. It's World War III. When the term "conquered" is used referring to a country it means either:

- The character died

- The character was captured but can be retrieved.

I won't say exactly who did or didn't die. Not yet anyway.

Stay tuned!

- TSL