Berwald's eyes widened behind his glasses in realisation.
'I think he's here.'
He brought the car to a halt near the trees.
"Tolys, I found it." He stated.
"You have?" Came Tolys's chirping response.
"Yes. Lights are on. I think Ivan's here." Berwald shot back.
"What?! Can you see him?!" The urgent tone was evident in Tolys's voice.
Berwald let out a breath that he did not realise he had been holding.
"No, I can't. Gonna go 'nd check."
Tolys began spluttering.
"J-just be careful, okay?! Don't go spooking him! You don't know what he might do and I'm afraid he'll get violent!"
Berwald grabbed the phone and unlocked the car doors.
"Okay. Gotcha. I'll try not ta spook him. I'll contact soon."
And with that, he hung up.
The newly found silence settled heavily inside the car like a heavy down quilt.
Berwald used this as an opportunity to sit and gather his thoughts before he decided to get out of the car.
'If he's got all his lights on like that, he most likely is awake right now.'
He open the car door slowly. getting hit by the sudden rush of cold air.
'He could potentially be or become hostile towards me.'
On that thought, Berwald opened the glove box and retrieved his torch and his handgun, sitting safely in it's holster.
After checking that the gun was loaded, he put the holster on around his waist securely, hiding it underneath his thick winter coat.
'I do not know what he is doing inside.'
He slowly stepped out of the car into the thick blanket of snow that was covering the road and turned the torch on.
'I do not know if he is armed'
He shut the car door with a loud bang.
'I do not know how he will react to me'
Berwald began to slowly trudge through the snow towards the house.
'I've got a bad feeling about this.'
He got to the concrete front steps of the house and began climbing the long flight up to Ivan's front porch.
'This whole scenario is just too odd.'
Berwald took a tentative step onto the snow free porch and arrived at the front door.
He looked up nervously at it, though, once again, it did not show on his face.
Standing there now, Berwald could hear some faint music resonating from the inside of the house.
It was cheerful music. Almost too cheerful, in a jarring contrast of the current situation at hand.
It would be quite funny or even welcoming if the whole atmosphere around the place wasn't so...off.
Knowing this and despite that, Berwald took another step closer towards the door and, with bated breath, took hold of the heavy door knocker and rapped it sharply against it's holder.
There was no response.
Instead, the door just swung right open.
To say that Berwald wasn't expecting that was an understatement.
'What? He just left it unlocked like that...'
The intense feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, which had been there when he arrived, grew heavier.
He knew what he had to do, despite this. He was here to check on Ivan and see if he was okay. He had to. The other nations depended on it, regardless of his feelings.
Berwald took a deep breath and, against his better judgement and his gut feeling that was screaming at him to get away from there, stepped inside into the dark foyer of Ivan's home.
Authors note: Here we go! Berwald should really listen to his instincts, they are there for a reason.
But, then again, if he did, we would not have a story.
