I almost did a double take, but somehow I knew my eyes weren't lying to me. Romano was quietly sobbing into his younger brother's shoulder, the latter wailing loudly.

"N-no, fratello, you can't leave! I won't let them take you away from me!" Italy cried. The older of the two fisted his hands into the fabric of his brother's clothes, trying to get him under control.

"I-it's not like you can do anything about it, idiot. Th-they bought me, so now I have to leave!"

I had a gut feeling that I shouldn't be watching this unfold, but I couldn't look away. It was like every muscle in my body had frozen and just couldn't thaw out properly. Luckily, it didn't look like the twins would be noticing me any time soon.

Just then the door opened, revealing Matthew, Gilbert, and another boy who looked to be around fifteen, like the twins. He looked like he was Spanish and had a giddy smile on his face, but it fell when he saw what was happening in the room.

"Um… Should we really be in here? I think we interrupted something…" the stranger said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Gilbert came in and separated the two, holding them both by the collars of their shirts. Italy whimpered and wiggled around to try and get free while Romano let out a loud stream of curses in both English and Italian, struggling with all his might. Eventually he gave up and went limp in Gilbert's grip.

"Now Romano, you know better than to use that sort of language in front of guests, especially your new owner. This is Antonio. You will be going home with him. Please be nice to him, eh?" Matthew told him in a kind yet stern voice. "Now, if Gilbert lets you go, do you promise to behave and not run off?" Romano didn't answer, but the doctor seemed to take that as a yes. He nodded at Gilbert who released him. Almost immediately he scrambled to get out the door, but Antonio caught him before he could make it across the threshold.

"Aw! But Matthew specifically asked you not to run off! I know you don't like leaving all of your friends, but I promise it's really fun at my house! We have lots of board games that we could play together, and you get your own room, and I can cook you whatever you want, and—"

Antonio was cut off by a head-butt to the stomach that looked very, very painful. He doubled over, a hurt smile on his face.

"CHIGI! LIKE HELL I'LL GO WITH YOU, YOU STUPID SPANISH BASTARD! WIPE THAT RETARDED GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, I'M NOT SETTING FOOT OUTTA HERE!"

"A-ahaha! So mean… Come on, Roma, please? You don't really wanna spend the rest of your life here, do you? Nothing exciting will ever happen! Gil, help me!" the Spaniard pleaded, looking in the direction of the albino. Gilbert smirked and nudged Italy forward.

"You sure you want that one? Italy's better behaved, and so is pretty much everybody else here."

"No, I told you that my parents can only afford Romano. Besides, he's so cute! Why would I want anyone else?" Gilbert just rolled his eyes.

"Mein gott, you are so fucking weird, you know that? Even Francis thinks so, and that can't be a good thing…" He smirked and went to grab hold of Romano once again. "Come on, buddy, it's time to go. Say goodbye to your brother," the albino said as he started walking out the door, dragging Romano and releasing Italy. The younger just fell to the floor in defeat.

"R-Romano… I-I… I'm sorry. Please, just… try not to get into trouble, okay? I'll be alright, really! I have Germany to make sure I'm okay! A-and Antonio?" He addressed the teen about to turn his back who spun back around to let Italy know he was listening. "You'll take care of fratello, right?"

Antonio beamed down at the worried boy and bent down to pat him on the head. "You don't have to worry about a thing, mi amigo! I will take good care of your brother!" Italy seemed to like this answer and sniffled, smiling up at the kind Spaniard.

"Italy… You're just going to give up? Just like that?! Get off your ass and save me, idiota! They're taking me away, can't you see that?! Don't do this to your own brother, come on!"

I could hear Romano ranting all the way to the hallway, even after Matthew shut the door behind them. Italy straightened up, his back to me looking down at the floor. He sat like that for a solid five minutes.

"Russia…" I jolted when he suddenly said my name. "I know you're there. You saw the whole thing, didn't you?" He said it in a flat tone; not really a question, just confirming what he already knew. I took this as an invitation to come in, so I popped the screen out of the window and climbed through from the garden outside. Once I was in, the boy on the floor patted the space next to him. I sat down and finally looked at his face.

His face was flushed, eyes red and puffy from the tears he had shed. I couldn't read the expression he wore. It wasn't sad, it wasn't angry, it was just… nothing. Like the events that had just transpired had ripped something from his very being. I guess they did, in a way.

"Russia, do you understand what just happened? Why Romano was taken away from us? It wasn't a bad thing, so don't be angry with Matthew and Gilbert. It's just… hard when you live with someone for so long and then they disappear." He paused and tilted his head to the side, as if he was listening to something in the distance, then continued. "It will happen to all of us eventually, so it's no good to be sad about it. We need to move on and put this whole thing behind us… Russia, when this happens to you, I want you to be happy with whoever picks you. Be nice to them and keep them company. Sing extra special for them, okay?"

How was he already over this? I thought he would be upset for a long time about losing someone so precious to him. I noticed he was still waiting for an answer, so I hastily nodded my head.

"Да! I will. I will try my best." I said nervously. The new serious Italy had put me on edge. "Um… Do you think you should go see Germany and tell him what happened?"

He stared off into space for a few more moments before absently nodding his head. "… Yeah, I guess so. We'll be sharing a room from now on, after all…" With a great sigh, Italy stood up and opened the door before looking back at me. "You might wanna get back to your room. Free time is almost over, and it'll be lights out soon." I was surprised when I looked out the window to see that the sun had indeed set while I was engrossed in eavesdropping. I got up off the floor as well and followed the lonely twin through the hall until I was at my own door. We said our goodnights and I entered my light blue room for a restless night's sleep.

Everything is so bright… the light is blinding me. Am I… in the white room again? No, it's cold. Too cold. Oh, that's why, it's snowing… Huh? There's someone over there…

"Hello? Where am I?" Oh! They turned to me. His face is so hard, and he has a mustache. That outfit he has on looks so warm… maybe if I ask nicely he will give me something warm to wear! "May I have something warm to wear, please?"

"No. You will endure the cold." Aw, that's too bad. My fingers are getting numb, too.

"What is your name, mister?"

"I am the personification of your darkest and innermost thoughts. My name is General Winter. Your weak mind is troubled from the events of the day." Oh, so he's my… thoughts? He seems a bit rude… "Do not listen to your friend. You are not worthy of the people with enough money to buy a Vocaloid. Nobody would consider you for a purchase; you're simply not good enough, and you never will be." He's very rude…

It's getting so cold. Why won't the snow stop falling? Why can't I feel my hands and feet? Why does it feel like I'm worthless all of a sudden? Surely what this man is saying isn't true… is it?

"What does it feel like to be useless, pathetic scum? How does it feel to be unloved?" Why is he making me feel so bad about myself? What did I ever do to hurt him? Ah… I'm crying, and the tears are freezing on my cheeks. So cold… Stop it…

"Stop saying that!"

"Why should I? It's true, isn't it?" No, it's not true. That can't be right. My fingers… ice is crusting over them. My legs won't support me anymore. The snow on the ground is so freezing against my face.

"No… it's not true…" My voice sounds so weak.

"Why are you wasting space? Still purposelessly breathing air that could be put to better use by someone else? You make me sick." Ow… Don't kick me like that… don't torture me. Just let me freeze to death in peace… "Do you want to die? Do you hate yourself now?" I can't think straight… everything is bright and cold and painful. General Winter, why are you doing this to me? Don't make me want to die…

"I-I… Please…" My whisper is being swept away by the wind. "I… I want to live…"

"You're just making yourself and everyone around you suffer, can't you see that?" My heartbeat is slowing down… It feels like there's ice trying to pump through my veins instead of blood. I'm so cold, just… so… cold…

"P-please… let me d-die… in peace. I c-can't take it." I'm sleepy all of a sudden… maybe if I rest a little bit… the pain will go away…

"Do you finally understand, brat? Do you understand that you need to die?"

"Y-yes. P-please, just kill me already…" Thank you…

BANG!

I bolted upright from the hell of a terrifying dream. What was that? Some sort of insane, subliminal message my subconscious was trying to send me? General Winter… he told me to die. He told me I was useless… and I believed him! I actually asked him for my death! Why would I ever do that? Maybe it was because of the traumatizing events yesterday that my dream turned out the way it had.

Everything was just so confusing right now. Nothing was making sense… maybe getting through a second day would make things better. I rose from the bed and looked down at myself. I was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday… I hadn't exactly been paying attention before, but now that I got a good look around at my room, I saw a wardrobe in the corner that I presumed had clothes in it. I strode over to it and opened the doors in a swift motion. As expected, there were the basic undergarments and some simple shirts and pants. I put something on at random and wandered down the hall to the Common Room.

It was not a friendly greeting.

The moment I stepped into the open room, the quiet chatter that had been taking place between everyone was silenced. I was reminded of my first day yesterday…

"Russia… how could you?" It was America who spoke to me with teary eyes. I didn't understand. How could I what? What did I do wrong?

"Ah, I'm sorry… what did I do?"

Finland stepped forward, hands held up defensively. "Now America, I'm sure it wasn't completely his fault. Maybe he just—"

"NO! There is no excuse for what he did!" America insisted. I was starting to get intimidated by the increasing volume of his voice.

"What did I do?"

America shook his head slowly. "No… It's not what you did. It's what you didn't do. You saw Romano getting taken away! You were actually there! You could've done something about it, stopped them, anything! Instead you just watched as our friend was forced out of his home! At least Italy tried. How could you be so worthless at his time of need?"

My breathing hitched at that one word. Worthless. Flashes of the previous night's painful dream ran rampant through my head, and suddenly I felt sick. So… he thought so, too? I really was useless, worthless, unimportant? I stared back at everyone, their faces full of sadness and pity at me. It must be true then.

I didn't respond to America's accusation. I just turned on my heel and sprinted for my room as fast as possible. I had to get away from these people. These people who saw no good or use in me. Once in my room I slammed the door behind me and opened the window to the garden outside, not bothering with finding the proper exit again. I followed the path to the patch of towering yellow flowers and crouched among their stems until I thought myself well-hidden.

I sat there in the fetal position for a long while, watching the sun slowly rise and warm the earth. By noon time I was starting to get really hungry, but I ignored my growling stomach. Unfortunately, it was this sound that gave away my position.

I heard Gilbert coming towards me on the gravel path, so I held my breath to keep him from hearing me, but my stomach chose that time to rumble especially loudly in its cry for something to eat. I cursed to myself when I noticed the footsteps stop in front of my hiding place.

"Russia? Are you back there?" I didn't answer, but my stupid stomach wouldn't stop making noise! Gilbert parted the sunflowers and crawled through to get to me. "There you are! We've been worried sick about you, kid!" He reached his hand out and grabbed me by the wrist. "C'mon. Somebody's already here to look at you!" I just got up and followed him blindly, not really caring anymore. He was surely lying about people worrying about me, but I didn't comment.

We arrived at a room I had never seen before.

"Okay buddy, you stay here and I'll let them know I found you." Gilbert sat me down on the floor while he went inside. I heard muffled exclamations of "oh, you found him!" and "where was he?" After they calmed down, Gilbert came back to fetch me with a huge smile on his face. "All right! The guy in here wants to listen to you sing. Doesn't matter what, just do awesomely!" I entered the room. It was a small office, complete with a desk and chairs. I was met with Matthew and somebody I didn't know who was sitting down. The boy(?) was Chinese with long dark-brown hair tied back into a ponytail and casual clothes. He quirked an eyebrow at my entrance.

"This is him, aru?" Matthew nodded.

"Yes, this is Russia. He just fully recovered yesterday, so he hasn't had any vocal training as of yet. Russia, this is Yao Wang. He is the young man interested in meeting you, so say hello." I politely held my hand out for him to shake and smiled when his small hand was completely enveloped by my larger one.

"Hello there, Yao. My name is Russia. I hope we get to know each other, да?" I said, trying to keep the strain and hurt from the recent trauma out of my voice. It worked, and Yao smiled up at me.

"Yes, it is nice to meet you, too, aru," he said. After a moment, he looked down at my hand, still holding his. I noticed and snapped my hand away, embarrassed. He just smiled again and chuckled. "Well, are you going to sing for me?" he asked. I nodded and cleared my throat, planning on just doing a scale, when something echoed in the back of my head… a tune. It was the song Matthew was humming yesterday that I improvised on! And suddenly… it felt like I knew the words to it now… they weren't happy words, but it wasn't a happy song, either, so I guess it fit. I closed my eyes and let the lyrics come to me from my heart and all my emotions from the past day.

Why does my heart so tired from crying?

Why do I hate myself so much?

The people that walk past are scolding…

Are they upset with me?

Why am I breathing?

If only I could just stop breathing pointlessly.

"Someone please help me,"

My heart yells out in loneliness

Even if I pretend to be tough,

I want somebody to find me soon…

I stopped singing when I saw the three staring at me with wide eyes. Gilbert had a look of shock on his face, while Matthew looked like he was about to cry. Yao just kind of looked at me with some sort of fascinated sadness (if that was possible).

"Is that… Is that really how you feel? Russia, tell us, please?" Matthew said sounding concerned. I didn't respond to him. I was too transfixed with what Yao would do and say now that he knew I was messed up. Clearly it wasn't normal for people to sing songs like this. Aren't you supposed to clap when you like a song? So this meant that nobody in this room liked my song, and since Yao didn't like my song he won't buy me, and if he won't buy me who will? What if I have to live here forever where everyone hates me-?

"How much is he?" Yao interrupted my train of thought. Did he really… just ask for my price? As in he was thinking about buying me? Why? I was worthless, right?

Gilbert withdrew a folder from the desk and looked over its contents. After flipping through it, he rattled off a fairly large number. Yao nodded and took out a cell phone and flipped it open.

"Excuse me; I need to let my little brother know about this, aru." With that he pressed a button and held the phone to his ear. The other line rang only twice before it was picked up and I heard the other person say something that sounded like "moshi moshi." Yao immediately began to converse with the other in something like Chinese. I didn't understand anything, but I did hear my name thrown in a couple of times. Eventually the chat was over and Yao closed the phone with a snap. He then got out a checkbook and scribbled something inside, then ripped the note out and handed it to Matthew. I saw that it was patterned with little pink Hello Kitties, and I had to hold back a chuckle.

"You do accept personal checks, right?" he asked, and Matthew nodded and took the check. Yao then turned to me and smiled. "Looks like you're coming home with me, aru! How do you feel?"

How did I feel? After being brought into this strange place surrounded by doctors and nurses and kind people like me named after countries, then watching Romano get literally dragged away with his brother crying after him, having a horrific nightmare in the freezing cold where I asked General Winter for my own death after making me feel utterly worthless, only to wake up and get called worthless again by the people I thought were my friends, and now I'm going to get bought by this nice Chinese boy my age and not be missed at all unlike Romano because everybody resents me, all in the course of two days, how did I feel? To be absolutely honest…

"Great. Thank you for choosing me!" I finally responded, breaking out in a brilliant, ecstatic smile. My heart was doing flip-flops in my chest at this feeling of being needed, of somebody actually wanting me despite what General Winter told me. I wanted to hug Yao and thank him over and over for getting me out of this place where I wasn't wanted.

Yao seemed puzzled by my reaction, but pleased nonetheless. "Do you want to say goodbye to your friends? You can if you want—"

"No!" I said a little too quickly before realizing it. "Er, I mean, it's okay. Can we go now?"

This seemed to confuse Yao even more, but he didn't comment on it.

"Thank you, Doctor Williams. I'll be taking him home now. Take care, aru."

"You too, Mister Wang. If you have any problems with him just come see us. Goodbye!"

And so, I was led out of the institution by my new master. No… friend.

A/N: Chapter two, edited. Very slightly, but still edited. I really hate my old writing style...

~Jel