I should really be working on the three stories I have started, but instead all I can write is one-shot scenes about the future. I am terribly sorry about that. The good news is, senior year is almost over, which means I get to write again during the summer. Yay!

I have an entire storyline laid out in my head for Prussia's death, but I cannot post it as a full story because it is extremely politically sensitive. The "predictions" in this scene are completely my speculation, completely for Hetalia purposes. Ivan's attitude is NOT meant to portray a national Russian opinion - it is personal to him as a character. Also if you'd like some background information on how Prussia ended up in Ukraine, you can read my two-shot Friends Like These. Hope you enjoy!

Five Years Later

Shafts of morning light filtered through the lace curtains of the dining room, broken by the shadows of birds swooping and bickering over the birdfeeder in the front garden. The house was silent save for the rustle of Ivan turning the pages of the newspaper and the soft whistle of the teapot. A silver spoon clinked on the inside of the teacup as Toris stirred in the vodka. He walked into the dining room and set it onto the table with a light thunk.

"Spasibo, Litva," Ivan muttered from behind his copy of Lietuvos Rytas. Toris couldn't see his face - only thick fingers curled around the edges of the newspaper. He smiled when he realized that the Russian wasn't wearing gloves this morning - it meant he was starting to relax.

"Any news?" Toris joked, deciding to test how much of the Lithuanian Ivan actually understood.

"Mmm… Something about some basketball team beating another basketball team, some politician calling out another politician…"

Toris rolled his eyes. "Very specific, Ivan."

"Hey, I'm taking notes. See?" Ivan dipped the paper down so that Toris could see the hatchmarks of underlined and circled words. A small thrill coursed through him. He still couldn't believe that Ivan was learning his language! Ivan hated new languages; he was much too paranoid about appearing weak or incompetent in front of foreigners. The fact that he was taking the time and effort to learn Lithuanian meant more to Toris than he could put into words.

He smiled. "Keep it up and you'll be speaking fluent Lithuanian in no time."

Ivan huffed through his nose and brought the paper back up. "You know it is really not like Russian at all."

"Ne," Toris agreed, returning to the kitchen for his own cup of tea.

"The grammar structure is completely different. And you have too many declensions!"

"And you have a completely different alphabet," Toris reminded him, stirring some sugar into his own cup. Suddenly he remembered something and glanced up. "Wait, don't you speak Mandarin? Don't tell me Lithuanian is harder - "

"I learned it as a child; doesn't count."

Toris picked up his tea and took a seat at the table. He smiled. "Well at least you're trying."

"Da."

Over the years, Toris had acquired an ear for the different meanings of Ivan's notorious "Da". That simple word could mean anything from a simple, "Right?" at the end of a sentence, to a chillingly happy death threat: "You will come to my office now, da?", with the unspoken or I will snap your neck hidden in the question mark. There was that awe-struck, "Da," usually followed by a long gaze and passionate kissing. It was a combination of all the things Toris could see in Ivan's eyes but were rarely formed into coherent sentences: "You're beautiful, you're perfect, you're so much more than I deserve, I love you." And then there was simply, "Da." Usually Ivan used this when he was preoccupied, or talking with other countries - especially when talking to Natalia. It meant, "Whatever you have to say to me is not worth my time. Leave me alone."

It was obvious which "Da," Ivan had just used, as he was completely engrossed in the newspaper. Toris didn't mind. He leaned back in his chair, taking light sips from his teacup as he watched the sparrows flit about the birdfeeder in his front garden. It was so strange, he realized, for him and Ivan to be sitting at the same table in complete silence… and yet he didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Toris smiled to himself, rubbing his thumb across the smooth handle of the teacup. So much had changed between them. It almost seemed as though they were a normal couple – no twisted history, no thirty year gap of never speaking to each other… of Ivan wanting him dead.

But even with the miraculous changes Toris had seen in Ivan, there was still something that bothered him. His stomach clenched at the thought, his gaze flicking in Ivan's direction. The Russian's brow was furrowed as he scratched a note onto the margins of the newspaper. Toris quickly looked away and felt a chill sweep down his back. He didn't want to ask. He didn't want to ruin this peaceful moment. In fact it would probably be better for them both if he never asked at all…

"Litva, is something wrong?"

Šūdas. Toris's eyes darted to meet Ivan's. He ran a hand through his hair, laughing lightly. "No, what makes you say that?"

"You are looking like something is wrong."

"I'm fine."

Ivan let out a great sigh, allowing the newspaper to fall onto the table with a slap. "After all this time, and you are still trying to hide your discomfort from me. We should be past this."

Toris felt his face flush. "I'm not – it doesn't matter, it – " But one look into those steely eyes, and he knew that Ivan wasn't going to let him go until he got a straight answer. Toris sighed, averting his gaze to the napkin holder at the center of the table. "Alright, if you really want to know… I was just wondering…" He swallowed and curled a fist at his cheek, then forced himself to look at Ivan. "Why didn't you come to Prussia's funeral?"

Ivan raised his eyebrows. "Prussiya's funeral?" Toris nodded. To his surprise, Ivan's lips curled into a half-smile. "I did not go, because I did not want to start World War Three."

Toris frowned; that smile unnerved him. "I don't understand."

Ivan leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. "Well now if Germany invaded with all his military strength – not to count his allies – plus my nuclear power, I do believe that would be enough to cause a global catastrophe, do you not agree?"

Toris was confused; was Ivan suggesting a war? "You know as well as I do that Germany wouldn't take part in a military conflict to save his life."

"Nyet, but he would had I come to the funeral."

"Why?"

Again, that twisted smile. Ivan's eyes glittered as he said, "Because I would have laughed."

Toris was taken aback. He stared at Ivan in disbelief, but he could tell by that steady gaze that the Russian was being completely serious. He waited for more explanation, but Ivan only lifted the teacup to his lips, taking a loud sip.

"I – I'm sorry – " Toris scoffed, "I don't understand – "

"And that," Ivan said, gesturing towards Toris with his teacup. "Is why I did not go. If this is your reaction, then just imagine what kind of hell I would have to pay from Germany! That zombie apocalypse shelter of Amerika's would come to good use, da?"

Toris was lost. Ivan clearly thought this whole situation was funny; he couldn't see the humor at all. "Would you please explain to me why you would have laughed?"

"Not why I would have laughed, Litva. Why I did. I got the news from my sestra: 'Oh brother, Prussiya is dying, you must come at once to Berlin to see him, all the other nations are coming!' and on and on, you know how she is. Well of course I told her I would not come and hung up. And then I laughed to myself, and I toasted to Prussiya's death." Ivan made a toasting motion with his teacup.

Toris's mouth had fallen open. "Ne…"

"Do not look so surprised, Litva. You know how much I hated him."

"But… you saw how he changed us, how happy we were with him! Isn't that why you released him from the Gulags?"

"I never said I did not appreciate Prussiya's presence in my house. Nyet, I could never thank him enough for bringing us all together. I even considered him family."

This confused Toris more than anything. "But – then how – "

Ivan's lips spread into a patient smile. "It is a joke, Toris. Nothing more. When it was voted that I gain custody of Prussiya, I had only one consolation, and that was the chance to kill him. He even said it himself: 'How would you like to be the one to kill the Great Prussia, once and for all?' Well of course I wanted to. That Nazi was the scourge of the earth; he had started more wars and killed more of my people than could be counted. But I didn't just want to kill him, Litva. I wanted to do it slowly, painfully, I wanted to watch the very light go out of his eyes."

For the first time in years, Toris saw a familiar sadistic glow come over Ivan's face. His hands clenched into fists in his lap and a familiar voice told him to put more distance between him and his former master. Toris blinked and tried to control his emotions. He's not my former master, he's my boyfriend! He took a shaky breath and forced himself to sit still.

Ivan continued, "But after years of trying to kill him, I had accomplished nothing. That cockroach was no closer to death in 1950 than he was in 1945. And that's when I realized: Something must be keeping him going. He must not be dying because he couldn't die – because he still represented some pathetic scrounging group of people. All of my time and energy, my false hopes – wasted. Seven years of torture, and the only thing I had accomplished was to drive him completely mad."

Toris could hear the frustration in Ivan's voice, and it angered him. How could he speak so lightly of a nation's life? "You didn't just drive him mad. You drained him of all his memory, his identity. He didn't even know who he was, he wanted to die!"

"He did not want to die, of that I am certain… He was ready, but he must have made some kind of deal with his brother." Ivan shrugged. "It does not matter. After I realized that my efforts were pointless, I finally decided to allow Prussiya into the family." Ivan stopped and looked at Toris expectantly.

Toris frowned. "I still don't see the joke."

"Aha!" Ivan's voice boomed, causing Toris to jump. "Because you are forgetting the cause of his death! What was it, Litva, who killed the Great Prussia, once and for all?"

"We... don't know," Toris said slowly, measuring his words. "The Ukrainians never found the shooter."

That twisted smile again. "Ah, but we can guess, da? It was either a Ukrainian separatist or a Russian volunteer, this much is obvious. Which means, what?"

Toris could tell this was the punchline. His stomach clenched in dread; he didn't answer.

Ivan's face spread into a grin. "It means that I bent over backwards trying to kill Prussiya myself for seven years, only for him to be shot and killed by a Russian seventy years later, and completely by accident!" Ivan slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups clatter. "An accident, Litva, can you believe it? I did not challenge Prussiya to fight in Ukraine, I did not send any volunteer to kill him. Nyet, I did not even know Prussiya was helping my sestra at all! Yet had I not sustained the war, Prussiya would still be alive today. And so enough with this bullshit about 'whose-fault-is-it' and 'he-would-have-died-anyway' – Nyet!" Ivan leaned back in his chair, hands on the arms like a king after a victory."After all these years, since the moment he first spat out those words to me in 1945… It was I who killed The Great Prussia. I killed him, once and for all."

Toris stared in horror. At last he managed to form a sentence. "You – you talk as if his life is some kind of… trophy! A – a bragging right!"

Ivan only raised his eyebrows. "Prussiya was a nation. Of course his life was a trophy, that is all we are: political figures."

"And what did he represent?" Toris asked, his voice growing loud in his anger. "East Germany? The dying memory of Prussia? The Holocaust? What, Ivan, what did he have left?"

Ivan's eyelids drooped in a look of boredom. He waved a great hand. "This is why I did not go to the funeral. Of course everyone is sensitive about these things – "

"Sensitive? " Toris scoffed. "Prussia was like a brother to me! And to countless others – you should have seen the hundreds of Jewish descendants from the prisoners he saved during the war! Or the children that wrote letters to him, thanking him for his historical presentations at the elementary schools! And what about you, where would your 'family' have been without Prussia to bring us all together? And you are dismissing us as being 'sensitive'?"

Ivan's gaze darkened. "If you are trying to stir up my pity it will not work. All nations must die. Prussiya was long past due; you should be grateful that he got as much time as he did."

"Yes, I am, but that doesn't mean you have to disregard his death as a joke!"

"I am who I AM, Litva!" Ivan's voice boomed and Toris shrank back in his chair. Ivan rose to his feet, looking down on Toris with a glare that froze him on the spot. "You have always tried to change me. You are always trying to find the 'real' me, as if all unpleasant parts of me are simply a mask. You should know better."

Toris's voice froze in his throat. That look in Ivan's eyes - he hadn't seen such anger directed at him in years, and it terrified him.

"I love you, and I have made some changes for you. But you cannot continue to treat me as your therapy patient. You think I stopped the war in Ukraine out of 'the goodness of my heart', because I pitied her?" Ivan scoffed. "The only reason I started compromising was to get leverage over Natalia - to be with you. My conscience had nothing to do with it; had Natalia not blackmailed us I would have continued that war until sestra came crawling back to me, broke and begging for mercy."

Toris felt tears well up in his eyes. "Ne… Ivan, she's your sister…"

"And she has done more to rip our family apart than I ever have!" Ivan's voice had risen in volume so that it vibrated through Toris's bones. There was a long stretch of silence. At last Ivan let out a great sigh, his eyes fixated on the table. His voice was much softer - dangerous.

"China warned me of this… he said,'Lithuania does not love you, he loves a fantasy sugar-coated version of you that he dreams up to justify your actions. And he will not stop until he has molded you into who he wants you to be, instead of loving who you are." Ivan's eyes narrowed, his voice low and guttural. "Do not prove him right, Toris."

He turned on his heel and left, the thumps of his boots fading into the hallways.

AN:

Again, I'm sorry if this offends anyone. I know that whether or not Russia is 'stimulating' the war in Ukraine is a controversial topic.

Thanks for reading, and please review! :D