Do you have any aspirations for the future?-

The future? Gilbert was never the one to look to the future, live in the moment. In the past, his aspirations were to become to strongest, number one in the world. He couldn't say the same thing now. He's changed after he was dissolved.

Now he worried about what would happen to him in the future. He'd been a 'human' for quite some time now, but he hadn't aged. He'd cut his arm badly, and it took a long time to heal, longer than it should of if he was still a country. He was weaker than he used to, living with Russia had made that only more apparent.

Gilbert was fairly young when he heard the news. Ancient Rome had disappeared. This news troubled him, where would he go? He would just abandon his country and family like that? He was young, he thought nations couldn't die. The actual case of a country dying was extremely rare, mostly they were annexed.

It was several years later that Gilbert heard that his grandfather, Germania had passed away. This was more apparent to be actual death, but it still bothered Gilbert. Ancient Rome and Germania were the strongest nations of their time but they died none the less.

When Germania died, Holy Roman Empire came along. Prussia developed into one of its' small countries within the empire. Prussia had grown stronger by this time. He's gone into his first war against Austria, and was feeling on top of the world. That changed when he heard of Holy Roman Empire's disappearance.

It was starting to feel like death wasn't something that was far off. It was just the other day that Germay had told him something interesting, Ancient Rome had come from heaven to see Northern Italy. So there was a heaven for countries after all.

That was a comforting thought. The scary thing was, Gilbert knew he could die now. It wasn't a fear, just a feeling that he was getting older, that he could die just as easily as a human. It didn't stop him from being reckless, it was just...there.

GIlbert stepped out into the bright sun. The light glistened off the white snow. He held his snowboard in his left hand, shielding his eyes with his right. He was on top of a mountain, getting ready to tackle his first double black diamond. Germany wasn't famous for it's skiing but it was still awesome.

He hadn't had too much snowboarding experience, but how hard could it be? Gilbert strapped his foot into his board and looked over the edge of the steep slope. Leaning forward, he started down the steep slope.

The wind blew past Gilbert's face as he jostled over the many bumps covering the surface of the mountain. He wobbled precariously, swerving desperately to avoid being launched into space.

"SON OF A"

Gilbert felt himself pitch forward, launching high into the air. He felt a moment of panic, followed by surprise, followed by the thought that he should of worn a helmet. He waved his arms around in the air before landing roughly back on the snow.

He grinned stupidly as he continued speeding headlong down the mountain. "Take that sucker!"

GIlbert felt his legs skew wildly as he fell swerved wildly back and forth. As he bombed down the hill he started shouting.

"HEEEEEY!"

He was turning heads, feeling like he was one with the wind. One with the wind that is, until he crashed right into his brother. He was just speeding down the hell when he ran into Germany.

"WEST!"
Germany turned around to see a blue and white blur heading straight for him. It was too late to move to the side to avoid the attack so he braced himself for impact. They slammed together, knocking them down in a big heap by the side of the slope. Germany groaned and sat up , pushing Gilbert's arm off of his chest.

"Honestly Prussia. Don't be so reckless especially on a snow-"

Gilbert lay unconscious, blood dripping from a wound on his head onto the clean snow. The area where they had landed was covered in fallen branches, and rocks hiding underneath the thin layre of snow. Germany could feel some cuts and bruises, but he was wearing a helmet, a newly dented helmet. Gilbert wasn't wearing safety gear.

Germany quickly pulled off his hat and gloves, pressing them gently to the gaping wound in his brothers head. Then he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, holding the compress with one hand, calling with the other. He was efficient in how he worked as he always was, but this time he was more flustered than he normally was. It wasn't a citizen he was working on, it was someone he loved.

Gilbert recovered after he went to the hospital. He had to say, waking up to see the look on his brothers face was almost worth the splitting headache. Of course it was a 'miracle' he had survived. He was too awesome to go out that way. He had to go out again and make it down the mountain though. That was a challenge he wouldn't pass up.

What are your aspirations? -Conquer every Mountain in the World

Metaphorical and physical of course, Gilbert added in his head. He got ready to hand in his paper, when he noticed the girl in front of him was gone. Oh crap! Gilbert got up from his seat and raced out the door. He looked around up and down the hallway and saw her red backpack disappear around the bend.

"Hey Wait!" Gilbert tore around the corner to smack faces with Canada. Gilbert stumbled backwards falling down. He rubbed his forhead and stared up at the also pained nation.

"Oh, Sorry Prussia!" Canada extended his hand to Gilbert and gave a small smile.

"Thanks." Gilbert took the warm hand, pulling himself upright. "Hey..."

"Canada." Matthew smiled at Gilbert.

"Right, Canada...wait what?" Gilbert looked at the other man again. Now that he thought about it, he looked sorta like America, except he was quieter and gentler. He was also wearing a t-shirt with a maple leaf. "I've never seen you at the conferences before."

"Umm yeah, I don't like to go to many conferences. It's too loud."

"I'll agree with you there. Did you see a girl around here, with a red backpack?"

Canada turned red, "No, I don't think so. I was just meeting with the president of this company for a visit."

"Ahh, so un-awesome!" Gilbert groaned and looked around impatiantly. "I was going to ask her out too."

"You- you would what!" Canada looked like he was going to melt into a puddle of goo.

"Yeah, but now I have nothing to do this weekend. You wanna hang out?" Gilbert shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Yes! I mean...sure. Do you want to come to my house?" Canada started chewing on his bottom lip. " The skiing's really good around now, unless you snowboard, or if you don't know how, in that case I'm sure that-"

"Sure."

"Huh?" Canada stopped examining the floor and looked up.

"I'd love to go skiing with you. I'm an awesome snowboarder."

"Sounds good. Umm, you can call me Matthew."

"And you can call me Gilbert. I'll see you at your house tomorrow. I've got to go. West and I are getting smashed tonight!"

"Don't get too bad of a hangover!"

"Don't worry, I never do!" Gilbert ran out the door over to his brother's house. He needed to rediscover his old snowboard, and possibly a helmet.

Matthew sighed in reliew as Gilbert left the building. He picked up his red backpack and hoodie from under the table where it slid after being knocked out of his hands.

Author's Note- Done! Okay, the pairing was predictable, and this chapter was late, I apologize. This feels so good to finish after working on it for so long. I also seem to be a masochist, because I'm making a sequel. Below is a sneak preview for the next story about what happens on that skiing trip. It may have horror, angst, comedy, and awesomeness! It SHOULD be uploaded in a week or two. Thank you everyone for supporting me through this see you later everyone!

50 Meters above ground.

Matthew looked at Gilbert nervously. "The ski llift isn't moving."

"It's okay, they do that. It'll start up again in a moment." Gilbert swung his free leg nervously.

The minutes passed, slowly. Gilbert could feel his fingers starting to grow numb, He flexed his fingers once, twice. He could feel a tingling rush shoot into his hands as the blood began flowing again.

"Are your hands cold? You can use my mittens." Matthew tapped Gilbert's shoulder, handing him his thick woolen mittens.

"Won't you be cold?" Gilbert asked incredulously.

"I'm a northern country, I don't get cold so easily." Matthew lied through his teeth, smiling cheerly as he tucked his bluing fingers in his pockets. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm worried about my bird. He's all alone right now. He gets lonely easily." Gilbert shivered and moved closer to Matthew's warmth.

"It's okay Gilbert, you'll be home to see him soon. We'll just have to wait a while." Matthew tucked his knees up against his chest. He had dropped his skies a while ago. It was too high to get down, a full 50 meters to the ground.

"I hope so." Gilbert rubbed his warming hands together.