AN: So sorry this took so long! Thanks for the reviews and faves you guys are so awesome~

Unbeta'd

Matthew watched Russia closely as they walked back to the hotel in silence. He had made a few aborted attempts at awkward conversation; Russia had deflected all of them with grunts and monosyllabic replies.

The silver haired man from the park was a few feet in front of them, striding along with a spring in his step. There was a familiarity about him that Matthew couldn't shake, it was eerie. Nations could recognise other Nations easily, there was something about them that set them apart from other humans (not that humans knew that) and Matthew had felt something akin to that about the man. But it was different somehow. Duller, fogged, masked.

It was so weird.

He'd heard some Nations had had children with humans before; he'd never actually met any though. Maybe that was what the man was, maybe that was why he felt like a Nation but didn't at the same time.

They were nearing the hotel now and Matthew silently cursed. He'd promised Katyusha that he would find something out; all he'd achieved so far was confirming that something was indeed wrong. He glanced down at Kumajiro ambling along beside him who met his gaze sombrely for a few moments Matthew wondered if the bear was disappointed in him (but he rationalised that Kuma was probably just tired or hungry or trying to figure out who he was).

Still, Matthew decided to give it one more shot before they got back to the meeting.

"So, who's your friend, Russia?"

Russia froze at the word 'friend', "He is...simply a colleague." He said stiffly.

"A colleague?" Matthew repeated, frowning. "Is he part of your government?"

"Da, he came to check up on me." Russia answered quickly, too quickly. Not that Matthew would have been convinced anyway; it was rare that anyone other than Nations attended these conferences and even when a human did they were always pretty well known officials.

"Is he new?"

Russia stared at him.

"I mean, I thought I knew what most of your higher ups look like pretty well and I just don't recognise him," He said cheerfully watching as a fleeting moment of panic flickered across Russia's violet eyes.

"Da, he is new, he is here learning about our conferences." Russia's voice was still stiff and Matthew could tell by the way he kept his eyes fixed in front of him that the Northern nation was getting annoyed.

"Oh? That's cool; shouldn't you be introducing him then, eh? I mean if he's going to learn about us maybe he should meet a few of us." This is suicide, a small voice warned but it was quickly drowned out by he could be in trouble and you promised Katyusha. And Matthew really didn't want to let her down.

Russia shot him a quick glare, "He is rather shy, Matvey."

By this point they had reached the hotel, the silver-haired man was lounging against the wall beside the sleek glass doors and Matthew smiled politely at him. The man smiled back, though it was more of a smirk and said something in Russian which made Russia stiffen slightly.

"Matvey, this is Nikolai," he said gruffly.

'Nikolai' grinned wolfishly, "So good to meet you, Matvey. If you are done with him I should very much like to borrow Ivan for a few minutes before the meeting."

Shy, indeed.

Matthew glanced at Russia whose face was carefully blank. He didn't really want to leave him with this 'Nikolai' but what choice did he have? He and Russia weren't really friends and he couldn't of a lie quick enough so he said, "Sure, I'll see you in the meeting, Russia," and strode back into the hotel, waiting until he was a safe distance away from them to allow his shoulders to slump in defeat.

There was definitely something going on.

He wasn't left alone to dwell on it long though.

"Matvey!" Katyusha cried, barrelling over to him. "Matvey, did you speak with my brother, did you learn anything?" She asked so quickly the words ran together.

"Non, he didn't say anything, I'm so sorry, Katyusha." He admitted quietly, bringing one hand up to rub her arm comfortingly.

"Oh," she whimpered, blue eyes filling quickly with tears. "Oh, Natalya, where are you?"

"I'm sure she'll turn up," Matthew said. "She'll be okay, Katyusha, you'll see."

Katyusha sniffed. "I hope so. I don't know what I would do if..." she trailed off and rubbed at her eyes.

While Katyusha composed herself Matthew looked around the reception area, aside from him and Katyusha there were a few other groups of Nations taking a final opportunity to relax before the meeting resumed. Russia was in the far corner, talking hurriedly with 'Nikolai'.

"Katyusha, do you know who that man talking to Russia is?" he asked quietly, watching the pair closely.

"What?"She looked up slowly, eyes narrowing as she spotted the man. "No," she breathed, "No, I have no idea who he is."

Matthew grimaced, "I knew you'd say that..."

Ivan didn't resist as Bela pulled him off to the side.

"What the hell was that?" his sis-brother spat in Russian, grip on Ivan's arm unrelenting. (The grip made his skin crawl, he itched for his pipe but he couldn't use it on Bela)

"What did you want me to say, Bela? I can't very well call you Natalya, can I?" Ivan snapped back, yanking his arm out of his sibling's grip. (More bruises, more bruises)

"Fine," Bela growled, "Nikolai it is."

For a moment the two glared at each other (Ivan tried not to think of that icy blue gaze roaming across his-) "How long do you plan to be like this, Bela? You have to change back!"

At this Bela smirked, "And loose you, dear brother. Not likely, not when we've grown so close." He leant towards Ivan and Ivan couldn't help but flinch away. "Now I can be with you always and you can't do anything about it."

By now Ivan was pressed up against the wall behind him (trapped again, nowhere to run, Bela pressing against him-) He shuddered, "People will notice, you're a nation, you can't just disappear. What about Katyusha?"

Ivan could see his older sister across the room, crying again and talking with Canada, Bela glanced around too, "Stupid Canadian," he snarled. "Katyusha will be fine, I'm not changing back. Maybe we should just tell people the truth."

"And explain it how?" Ivan hissed.

Bela smirked again, ice cold, dagger-sharp, "Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something, brother dear."

"I don't like him," Matthew said quietly as he and Katyusha followed the other Nations into the conference room. "There's something off about him."

"Tak, I agree," she replied.

'Nikolai' had left Russia at the conference doors and vanished upstairs and the Northern Nation had dropped into his seat and buried his face in his hands. "I need to go take my seat, Matvey," Katyusha said. "We can speak afterwards?"

Alfred was waving frantically at Matthew from across the room, "Oui, I need to sit down too. Talk to you after, Katyusha." He smiled encouragingly at her as they parted ways and the meeting began.

"Hey, Mattie," Alfred hissed, midway through the conference. "What do you thinks eating Russia? Heh, maybe the Baltic's finally got a restraining order on him."

Matthew tried his best to smile at his brother's awful joke as Alfred sniggered and Arthur rolled his eyes. "He does look pretty down though," Matthew whispered back, glancing over to where Russia was still slumped on the desk, Katyusha talking to him in a low voice.

"Whatever man, after all he's done he probably deserves whatever's wrong." Alfred drawled, ignoring the sharp look from Arthur. "Where's his creepy sister though? She was here right?"

"Oui, she wasn't here this morning though."

Alfred sniggered again, "Hey, maybe the Commie finally snapped and did away with her." Then he paused, sat up straighter. "Shit I hope he didn't, that'd be a democratic nightmare!"

Matthew glared at him, "It's not funny, Alfred. Besides, I don't think he'd kill his sister, he's not that bad. You were friends with him once."

"Yeah, before he was a Commie bastard!"

"He's not even Communist anymore," Matthew hissed.

"Once a Commie, always a Commie." Alfred said with a self-assured nod and Matthew shook his head, sometimes he found it hard to believe his brother was one of the strongest countries in the world. Alfred was the host nation surely he should know who was in attendance?

He should know.

Matthew leant forward, "Hey, Al, do you know if there are any normal people attending this conference? You know, like politicians?"

Alfred yawned and frowned, "Nope, don't think so bro. I'd remember."

"Would you?" Matthew asked with a small smile.

Alfred shot him an exasperated look, "Yes, Mattie, I'm pretty sure I would."

Matthew highly doubted that but he figured that if there was an extra Russian in the hotel Alfred would remember (and probably freak out about the Communist invasion) He sat back and frowned, 'Nikolai' definitely wasn't a Russian politician, so who was he then?

He kept a close eye on Russia throughout the rest of the meeting, ideas and explanations running through his head but none of them fit, none of them covered all of it. When Germany finally decided they could go he stood up and was about to make beeline for Katyusha when she shook her head, one hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Talk later," she mouthed.

Matthew nodded, feeling a little disappointed and watched as she steered Russia out of the room. He was about to leave when he felt a tug on his arm and turned to find Alfred grinning at him.

"Come eat with us? I promise we won't forget you this time!" he added with a chuckle.

Matthew doubted that but Kumajiro pawed at him, "I'm hungry."

"See," Alfred laughed, "Even your bear wants to come, Mattie."

"Who's Mattie?" Kuma asked, yawning.

"I am. Your owner, Kinkajou."

"Oh."

"So you in, Mattie? We're gonna head out now, Francis and Arthur are meeting us at the front."

Matthew took one last look in the direction Katyusha and Russia had gone before nodding, "Sure, Al. I'll come." He couldn't help Russia by moping about and wondering where he and his sister had gone and he may as well spend some time with his family.

He scooped up Kumajiro and followed Alfred out of the door.

Katyusha phoned as they were leaving the restaurant.

"Hey, did you find anything out?" he asked, walking a little behind the rest of the group, not that they noticed (sometimes being invisible had its perks.)

"No," she sounded absolutely miserable. "He did not talk to me at all. I'm so worried, Matvey-" she broke off with a half choked sob. "I haven't heard from Natalya either!"

"Oh, Katyusha..."

It took him the whole walk back to the hotel to get her to calm down a little, he'd promised to meet up with her for breakfast too and she'd finally hung up the phone and (he hoped) gone to bed. After bidding good night to a drunk Arthur, a tipsy Francis and a very happy Alfred Matthew climbed the stairs up to his floor, lost in thought.

He was brought out of those thoughts by Russia's voice in the corridor.

"Нет, не, стоп. Пожалуйста!"

Matthew froze, crouching in the stairwell, door to the corridor half open.

His Russian was rusty but from Russia's tone of voice he was pleading with someone.

"Брат, пожалуйста."

Please, he recognised that word.

"Перестаньте быть таким ребенком, брат!"

That was a different voice, Nikolai. He felt Kuma rumble at his feet, growling. With a sudden surge of bravery Matthew burst out of the stairwell, Kuma leaping with him, snarling loudly.

Nikolai had Russia backed up against the wall beside his door and he had somehow gotten Russia's arms pinned above his head with a look of pure terror on his face. At the sudden appearance of Matthew and Kumajiro though Nikolai let go and backed away in a single fluid movement, grinning, "Good evening, Matvey," he greeted politely.

"P-Privyet, Matvey," Russia mumbled.

Matthew narrowed his eyes and drew himself up to his full (impressive) height. If Russia couldn't even muster up the energy to pretend to be okay then something was really wrong. "What the hell is going on here, eh?"

"I was just talking to Ivan," Nikolai said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Right?" he said, nudging Russia almost playfully.

Russia was shaking, genuinely shaking, Matthew noticed. "D-Da, just talking." Russia nodded then he swallowed, steadied himself and said, "I am fine, Matvey."

"So if you don't mind," Nikolai said taking a step towards Russia who very visibly flinched, "You're kind of interrupting."

To Matthew's surprise Kumajiro leapt forward, positioning himself between Russia and Nikolai. Russia stared at the polar bear blankly and Nikolai eyed him warily. "I think you should leave now, Nikolai." Matthew said calmly.

Nikolai glared at him, icy blue and chilling, "I will leave when I feel like it, Canada."

Kuma advanced, growling and Nikolai took a hurried step back. "He hasn't eaten today," Matthew said, stepping closer to the bear. "He can be pretty vicious when he wants to."

Nikolai glared at him but then, eyeing Kuma's teeth he raised his hands. "Da, okay. Whatever. I'll leave." He said darkly. He shuffled passed the polar bear and headed towards to the stairs, turning back to fix Ivan with a cool smile, "See you tomorrow, Vanya."

Russia shuddered.

When he was gone Kuma stopped growling and Matthew turned to Russia, eyes wide with concern, "Are you okay, Russia?"

Russia avoided his eyes, fiddling with the ends of his scarf "I told you, Matvey, I am fine. I did not need help."

Matthew gaped at him, "You didn't need help?" he scoffed, "Is that Russian for 'thank god you saved me'?"

Russia crossed his arms and glared at Matthew. "I did not need help." He said petulantly.

Kuma made a sound that sounded (to Matthew at least) like a laugh and Matthew crossed his arms too, he was really getting annoyed now. "Okay, so you won't mind if I leave then? If I just go back to my room? That guys not gonna come back is he? Only he looked pretty insistent on staying with you."

Russia's gaze fell to the floor but he said nothing.

After a few minutes Matthew turned to his room, "Come on, Kuma, let's get to bed."

"Nyet," Russia called after him in a small voice. "Nyet. He might come back..."

Matthew turned back to him expectantly and Russia sighed. "Please, Comrade Matvey, I need help...just for one night...please."

Matthew smiled, slightly relieved (he really didn't know what he would have done if Russia hadn't crumbled) "I wasn't really going to leave you alone. Do you want to come to my room for a bit?"

Russia nodded hesitantly and followed Matthew to his door. "Of course if you're staying you'll have to sleep on the couch- will you fit on the couch?" Russia glared at him after that remark and Matthew had to bite back a laugh at the annoyance in his expression.

When they got into the room Kuma leapt up onto the bed and promptly curled up to sleep (Matthew made a mental note to ask him exactly why the bear seemed to care so much about Russia in the morning) and Russia sat awkwardly on the couch, fiddling with his scarf again. It was almost endearing to see the Nation that terrified pretty much everyone else sitting on his couch like a shy child.

Matthew sat down on the edge of the bed and regarded him. Russia still looked slightly shaky; Matthew hadn't seen him looking this scared since the wars, since Stalin. "So who is Nikolai, really?" he asked quietly.

Russia jumped slightly at Matthew's sudden question. "He is...He is..." he stammered and Matthew could almost see him scrambling for another lie.

"You're really frightened of him, aren't you?"

Russia glowered at him.

"What did he do to you? Does he know you're a Nation, is he black mailing you about it?"

Russia shook his head.

Matthew frowned, "Is he trying to force you to do something? Like pass a law? Start a war? Go back to Communism?"

Again Russia shook his head.

"Does this have something to do with your sister?"

A flinch, his grip tightened on the scarf.

"It does, doesn't it!" Matthew cried, sitting forward. "Is she alright? Does he have her hostage or something?"

Russia looked away, bit his lip.

Matthew stood up, moving across the room to kneel in front of the other Nation. "Russia if she's in trouble you can tell me, I can help."

"Nyet," Russia said eventually, his voice raspy, "Nyet, that is not it..."

Matthew frowned again, it definitely had something to do with Belarus, "Did she...Did she hire him? To you know...Make you marry her?" he asked in a low voice.

The reaction was instantaneous; Russia drew his knees up to his chest and bit his lip so hard he drew blood. "N-Nyet," he gritted out.

And then it hit him; why the man was so familiar, why he felt like a nation but different, why Russia was so scared of him. "That man," Matthew said, "That man is Belarus isn't he?"

Russia didn't reply instead he hid his face in his scarf with a dry sob and that was answer enough for Matthew.

He sat back on his heels, almost falling and ran a shaky hand through his hair, "Jesus," he mumbled. "Jesus."

This was way more messed up then he thought it would be.