So, this is late. That's because of a few reasons, actually. One is that I ran out of time. See, I thought I had an extra week before I moved back up to college, but apparently not. So, that left me with less time than I thought. Second is that I don't really like this chapter. Well, I like it now, but I didn't when I started; there was just so much I needed to add, that I wasn't sure how to start it or how to write it. Don't worry, I succeeded! Third is that my Internet is weird. Unless I'm on wireless, my Internet is kind of sketchy at best, and when I'm connected to it, I can only stay on for so long before it stops working. Even without that, my wireless is unsecured, so who knows. You can both thank and blame my sis for this chapter. She's the one who really got me to write most of it, but then again, she keeps distracting me from writing it. MLA.

Well, this chapter is the turning point for this story, definitely the most important chapter so far. You'll see~

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. After this chapter, it's probably a good thing (they would kill me…)
Warning: Language, for later in the chapter. For good reason, you'll see (am I hinting too much?)

"Cause when the roof caved in
And the truth came out
I just didn't know what to do" –Whatcha Say, Jason Derulo

Vash wouldn't say he was worried…Maybe a little concerned. Then again, he had good reason to be; he hadn't seen his sister in close to a week! She was always leaving for school early in the morning to walk with her friends, and the same happened in the afternoon as well. In fact, sometimes Lili wouldn't come back until late at night, having spent the afternoon at the library with, you guessed it, her friends. Vash was glad that his adopted sister had friends now. It was good for the girl. It's just that…Vash wanted his sister back. She was the one he was closest to, the only one, besides his parents, that he went out of his way to be nice to. Vash didn't want to interfere in Lili's life (too much), but it just felt like she was pulling away from him.

Vash scowled, clenching the banister of the staircase he was on in his house. He knew who was responsible for taking his sister away from him. It was all clear to him. Ever since that Mei Wang-girl and her family moved here, things haven't been the same. Everyone's on edge, people are keeping secrets, and Lili started avoiding her family. Granted, she hadn't started doing that until a few weeks ago, but Mei and that Natalia Arlovskaya girl were doing the same thing, Vash had heard.

There was never any good to come out of mingling with outsiders. Vash knew this, he thought Lili did, and their parents knew this of course. It was a Zwingli family creed, had been for generations, that outsiders weren't to be trusted. Somehow, this didn't count with the Burghaps as it used to. Vash Zwingli VI, the head of the Zwingli family around one hundred and fifty years ago (current Vash being Vash XI) had, drastically in the family's opinion, befriended Roderich Edelstein III, head of the Edelstein family and leader of the Burghaps back then. This friendship eventually led to, a generation or so later, the Zwingli's joining the Burghaps. Ever since, the Zwingli family has been…open and welcoming even to the others in the Burghaps. Vash Zwingli (XI), however, was a purist. His family had been weary of outsiders since before the merger and that was how Vash felt now.

This was how Vash felt. However, it wasn't how Lili felt. Vash couldn't hold it against her, either. She had come from as far outside as you could get in Vash's world, so she was of course used to different ways. He never wanted to intrude on his sister's happiness.

Frowning, something that was quickly becoming his default expression, Vash continued upstairs. It was late at night, and Vash was on his way to his room for the night. Walking down the hallway, Vash halted as if struck by lightning. There was a light coming from Lili's room. Already, Vash could feel his heart start to speed up. This was his chance—his chance to see Lili again! Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Vash internally scolded himself. Just because he hadn't seen Lili in a few days didn't mean that he had to act like that. Taking a deep breath, though he didn't know why, he walked over to her open door and knocked on it.

Inside, Lili had been facing her computer. Judging by the way she was moving her hands, she had probably been in the middle of a conversation with someone. Vash felt both guilty and vindictive that he had interrupted her. That changed, though, when she turned around to face him with a smile, which Vash hesitantly returned.

Lili looked just the same as the last time he had seen her, though her eyes were a little shiny; probably from spending time in front of the computer for so long. Considering her hobby involved working on the computer for hours on end, working with complicated formulas that Vash could only dream of being able to solve, it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"Big Brother," Lili signed, wiping at her eyes absently. "Is there something you need?"

Vash looked to the side, cheeks burning and suddenly feeling awkward. What was he supposed to say? That he had been missing her because she had suddenly isolated herself? He couldn't say that; Lili looked up to him, so he couldn't show her a weakness like that. That he didn't want her to spend so much time with her friends? Vash also couldn't say that. He had seen for himself just how happy she had been lately, and it was all because of her new friends (even if Vash did disapprove of them to some extent). Plus, she was talking, so to speak (actually, now that he thought about it, shouldn't her throat be better by now?), with one of them now. That would be extremely rude, and would end up making Lili hate him.

And he couldn't have that.

So. Vash said the next best thing. "…I didn't see you at dinner tonight. I wanted to check to see if you were doing okay."

Lili's smile turned softer, with a hint of something Vash couldn't identify just then. "I'm doing fine, thank you for worrying about me."

"Of course," Vash said quickly. "A-after all, Lili," Vash was suddenly hyperaware that one of Lili's friends was listening in on this conversation. Probably Natalia, she seemed the type to keep quiet during situations like this. Still, Vash pressed on. "You-you're very important to me."There, that seemed neutral enough, right? Everyone knew how important Lili was to him, so it's not like he gave anything away, right?

Lili seemed to know the struggle that was occurring in Vash's head, and chuckled softly.

"I know. Thank you very much," she signed, that strange smile on her face again. "And…I love you, Vash."

Vash's face colored again, as it did every time the two adopted siblings exchanged these words. Mumbling a quick 'love you, too' he sped out of the room. Marching back down the hallway, it wasn't until he reached his own room that his blush had faded, slightly happy smile on his face.

As Vash pulled on his pajamas, a thought occurred to him. He didn't know that Lili's friends knew sign language.

The noise was almost unbearable. Hong and Kiku, the only ones who were quiet at the moment, as usual, were off to the side, watching the drama unfold before them. They could only be glad that their neighbor Mathias was holding a party at his house at the moment so that nobody paid the slightest attention to the Wang household. Hong wondered how long it would be before Kiku was dragged into the conflict. As usual, it would be only Hong that would be left, left to be by himself and left to watch as his family slowly tore itself apart.

From what Hong could see, the actual argument was a three-way between Yao, Yong Soo, and Mei. Yao didn't like that Yong Soo had spent the night over at Alfred and Matthew's place the night before instead of coming home after school. Yong Soo had taken to going over to the North American brothers' house after school, and he had ended up not bothering to call home to tell them that he was staying the night. Yong Soo didn't like that Yao was trying to control who Yong Soo was friends with nor not. After all, wasn't Yao friends with Alfred, too? Kiku would point out, for once not actually sensing the mood, that since he and Yao were on good terms with both Alfred and Arthur (and thus Hong was dragged in), then they shouldn't have a problem with their (actually, he said 'Yao's') relatives being friends with them, as well.

That's when things got tricky.

Yong Soo didn't like Kiku defending him. Mei didn't like Yong Soo turning on Kiku, nor did she like Yao trying to tell her what to do. Yao didn't like all of the disrespect he was being shown, and Kiku didn't like getting dragged in to all of this fighting.

Hong just didn't like all of their fighting.

"Stay out of this, Kiku!"

"Don't talk to him like that!"

"Yeah, don't talk to Kiku that way!"

"Stay out of this, sensei!"

"But I'm agreeing with you, aru!"

Hong sat back, eyes closed, hoping to block out his surroundings. After his talk with Arthur a few weeks ago, he was starting to get fed up with his own family. Why were they fighting? Didn't they see that what they were doing was just so pointless? Of course they didn't. They were too busy off in their own little worlds, not seeing that they were repeating the same things over and over again. It looked like Hong would have to be the adult this time around.

Searching through his long sleeves, Hong idly thought about how his firecrackers and fireworks would go along great with Mathias' party. A quick glance out the window told him that the party in question had already spilled outside. He could see Mathias attempting to give a drunken noogie to a not quite as drunk, but just as high Nate. He also could have sworn he saw Norge standing over to the side, shaking his head at the duo. Hong had a sudden urge to want to have Arthur over. His expression would have been hilarious. Looking back at his relatives, and suddenly reminded why he needed the loud noise in the first place, Hong decided that it was a good thing Arthur wasn't there after all; he shouldn't see Hong's family when they're like this. What Hong didn't know, however, is that Arthur was just right across the street at the party, passed out on the lawn. The loud sounds of both fireworks and firecrackers going off inside the Wang house was enough to jar him awake, and made all of the partygoers cheer. Hong stepped outside briefly to bow at the applause before he was dragged back inside by an irate Yao.

"What was that all about, aru?" he demanded. Hong stood impassively. Mei hurried to open a window or two to let the smoke out as Yong Soo and Kiku lay on the floor, choking from the smoke. "Haven't I told you how dangerous it is to set those things off inside?"

"Um, yes. Multiple times," Hong said, only slightly ashamed at how much entertainment he was getting from watching his brother's face turn different shades of red. Yao suddenly sighed, face going back to its usual color and sitting down. Hong hadn't been expecting that. He had thought that Yao would start yelling at him again. Instead, he looked very tired. Hong frowned. He didn't want Yao to yell at him, true, but he also didn't want to upset his brother like this either. Remembering Arthur's Western etiquette lessons, he hurried to the kitchen and poured his brother some tea from the already filled, previously forgotten teapot. Luckily, it was still pleasantly warm. Coming back into the room and taking a seat next to his brother before Yong Soo had a chance to, Hong handed Yao the tea cup.

"Are you feeling okay, sensei?" Yao looked at him wearily.

"Why don't you ever call me 'brother'? It's always 'Yao-ge' this, or 'Sensei' that."

Hong looked at him. "Because sensei is sensei. And it annoys you. What else are brothers for? If I didn't have you to annoy, like, I'd be left with annoying Arthur all the time, and he gets cranky if I do that."

Yao smiled slightly, taking the offered tea. Yong Soo and Kiku were starting to recover themselves by now, and Mei sat down a few feet away from the others. Hong raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't looking in his direction to see it. He resolved to put Yong Soo up for finding out what was wrong with his cousin/sister.

"So," Yao said, directing Hong's attention back at his brother. "I'll ask again. Is there a reason why you set those things off inside when you know you're not supposed to, aru?"

"I wanted to get your attention."

"Well, you definitely got it, da-ze," Yong Soo said wryly, hurrying over to sit on Yao's other side. Kiku chose to sit across from the group, rounding off something that could possibly be a circle. If one looked hard, that is.

"Well, if all of you weren't shouting loud enough to drown out the music that's coming from Mathias' party, then I, like, wouldn't have to. It's your own fault," Hong said, defending his firecrackers and fireworks. I mean, his actions.

"We probably did get a little carried away…" Mei conceded, looking suitably ashamed. Yong Soo looked over at his cousin quickly, shot a quick glance over at Kiku and decided to beat the Japanese boy to apologizing.

"I'm totally sorry for what I did, too, da-ze!" It went without saying that the polite Japanese boy would apologize as well, so all eyes turned to Yao. The older boy huffed when he saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Taking another sip of tea to avoid looking at anyone in particular, he apologized with everyone else.

Hong, feeling that he was on a roll, continued on. Besides, playing mediator was fun when the other parties were your family, and they couldn't argue with you. "So, now that we've all apologized to each other, let's work on why we're angry. Okay?"

"Fiiinnneee…" Yong Soo whined. Hong looked at him sharply.

"Let's start with you, Yong Soo. Sensei, why are you angry with Yong Soo?"

"Because he didn't call to tell us where he was yesterday!" Yao exclaimed, still angry and upset. "And he keeps disrespecting me, too, aru."

"Yong Soo, you really should have at least called one of us, preferably Mei," Hong said before the Korean boy could argue back. "We were all worried about you, since none of knew what had happened to you. It's a good thing that Matthew called Yao to let him know that you were staying over at his house, or Sensei would have called the police."

Yong Soo looked down, feeling suitably contrite. "Sorry I didn't call, Aniki. But, you wouldn't have let me stay if I had, da-ze!"

"And with good reason!" Yao said sternly. Hong turned to his brother, subtle irritation on his face.

"And what would that good reason be, sensei?" Yao stuttered slightly, not having expected the question.

"Well, it's just-um…Kiku, you know what I'm talking about, aru!" Said Japanese boy hadn't anticipated that the question would suddenly be turned to him.

"A-actually, Yao, I agree with them. I don't see why they shouldn't see Alfred-san, or Arthur-san, or even… あの, what is his name? Alfred-san's brother…"

"Matthew," Yong Soo muttered sullenly, looking for anything to stay mad at Kiku.

"But, they're just not good enough to be your friends!" said Yao stubbornly. "Especially Arthur Kirkland," he continued, looking over at Hong. "He's not good company, and he's really immature. You don't want to be friends with him, aru."

Hong's brows furrowed. "I think I should be the one to decide that for myself, sensei."

"Yeah, and aren't you and Kiku friends with him, and the others too?" Mei pointed out. "So why do you get to be friends with them and Hong and Yong Soo don't?"

"It's not so much that I want to be friends with them, aru," Yao muttered softly. In a louder tone he instead replied "It's because I know them, and I know what they're really like, that I don't think they are good enough company for my little siblings…"

Hong frowned, though inside he was touched. Deep, deep inside, because on the outside he was still angry. However, it was the touched part of him that let him see reason, and almost understand where his brother was coming from. "You still should let us decide."

"Yeah! How else are we going to be able to be our own individuals if you keep telling us what to do, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked. When he saw everyone's looks he shrugged. "What? I listen too, da-ze."

"Well, that aside," Kiku spoke up, breaking the silence without being prompted to all evening. "I think that that was the bulk of our problems that we had been having. How about a compromise?" Upon seeing that he had the room's attention, he continued. "Yao and I will try to be more open minded about who you are friends with and who you spend your time with, if you—and this means all three of you, not just Yong Soo—will be more honest about what you are doing. This means no more going to someone else's house without telling us, no more instigating fights, and no more relentlessly teasing Yao. Just the regular kind will suffice."

"Hey!" Yao protested, but upon deaf ears. Hong, Yong Soo and Mei all looked pensive as they contemplated the new deal. Really, he wasn't asking for much. They could easily ease back on teasing Yao (though it would always be a work of art and a competition between Hong and Mei), and it wouldn't be that difficult to call in every once in a while. On the other hand, they would then get to have Yao (and Kiku, but only Yong Soo considered this) off their backs. It sounded like the perfect deal, to be honest.

Mei looked up, smiling brightly. "I…think I can agree to those terms. If you try, then I will."

"I could live with it," Hong replied, leaning back. Now that the worst seemed past, he had to mentally catalog how many fireworks and firecrackers he had used. He'd have to replenish his supply soon; he had something big planned for his six-month anniversary of meeting Arthur (though he knew the other, older boy was probably hoping that he had forgotten. While it would take the element of surprise out of the fun, that didn't mean that it wouldn't be worth it).

Looking back and forth in between Mei and Hong frantically, Yong Soo stood up quickly, fist pumping in the way that Alfred had taught him. "I totally agree too! I can compromise just as well as Mei and Hong can, da-ze!" There was no way he was going to lose out to his cousin and Hong, just no way! He felt a steady fire of determination burn in his eyes at his thoughts. Oh, those two were so going down. He didn't know what they were going down in, or how, but they were going nonetheless! "'Cause you know, family togetherness tootttaalllyyy originated with my people, da-ze!"

Mei smiled amusedly at her relative. Standing up as well, and stretching for effect, Hong couldn't help but noticed that she had a look that said that she had just decided something. Considering all that had just happened, Hong wasn't surprised. Catching his eye, Mei smiled.

"Well, if all of that's taken care of, then it's time for me to go on to bed," Mei said, giving Yao a kiss on the cheek. Glancing amusedly at Yong Soo, who looked extra excited for some reason, she gave him one too, as well as Hong and Kiku. "I have to meet up with Lili and Natalia at the library early tomorrow, so I better head on. Good night, everyone!" With that, Mei cheerfully left the room.

Yao frowned when Mei had disappeared around the corner. Hong noticed, nudging his brother in a silent question asking what was wrong. Yao looked around at the others gathered in the room and sighed deeply. Crossing his arms and legs, he looked down, serious.

"I know that we just agreed to the compromise, but I'm still not sure about Mei being friends with Natalia Arlovskaya. It's nothing against her," he said hurriedly, catching the disapproving looks he was getting from Yong Soo and Hong, "though she is a little weird herself. It's just…I know her brother rather well. And this isn't on the same level that I know Alfred, Arthur, and…Alfred's brother. I know Ivan; I'm not sure I want Mei to be out there and exposed to him like that. Everyone around here knows about Natalia and how she feels about Ivan, so there's a good chance that she spends a lot of time around him, too."

"If even Yao, Ivan's self-proclaimed 'best friend', is feeling this way…" Kiku said evenly, though the distaste that he had about Yao's 'friendship' with the Russian boy was evident in his voice. "I, too, am not sure about how I feel about Mei's friendship with Natalia."

Yong Soo frowned. Hong could tell that a temper tantrum was coming on. "Well, that's not up to you at all," he said angrily. Hong had a feeling this would happen. Yong Soo had always been protective of his cousin/sister, so of course he would be upset that Yao and Kiku were against her being friends with someone. The fact that Kiku supported the idea, as well, probably made him very mad as well. "What gives you the right to say what my cousin can do or not? I'm the only one she's related to!"

A harsh silence fell over the room at those words. Hong didn't know if he dared to break it or not. What Yong Soo had just said… and in front of Yao of all people. This was unheard of. The Chinese boy had always been sensitive about his family. Because of all of the adoptions, and the fact that his parents hadn't been around much before Yao's father had died suddenly, Yao had latched onto his new, adoptive family. It was this clinginess that had led to Yao's big fight with Kiku, and was also the reason why they had left for World Series to get on better terms with each other. Viet had always resented Yao's insistence on their family relationship now. If Yao hadn't left with Kiku back then, it really looked like Viet would have.

Hong tried to be there for his brother, even though it seemed like that sometimes. He was always trying his best to act like how normal brothers did; he would tease Yao like the little brother he was, he would do him little favors without being asked, and he would try his best to make his brother happy. But right now, when Yong Soo was smacking Yao in the face with the fact that they weren't actually related, Hong didn't know what to do. A glance at Kiku showed that the older Japanese boy didn't know what to do, either. Stealing a look at Yao, Hong wasn't surprised to see his brother's face frozen in whatever expression it had been in when Yong Soo had said that.

Slowly, very slowly, Yao blinked and released a long, slow breath. Hong felt like the entire room took a breath after what seemed like a long time. Every single person in the room was waiting for Yao to say something. What happened next would depend solely on Yao's next actions and words. Opening his eyes just as slowly as before, Yao stared at nothing in particular in front of him. "I see. Then, please, don't let me stop you from doing what you want."

It was those words, delivered in a monotone, Hong suspected, that caused Yong Soo to stagger back before catching himself. Straightening up, and missing the incredibly disapproving glare that Kiku was sending him, Yong Soo stalked coolly out the door. Hong didn't know where exactly Yong Soo planned on going this late at night, and he suspected that the Korean boy didn't know, either. Either way, he was out the door and onto the dark street before anyone could say anything. Hong was glad. Maybe this way Yong Soo could cool his head. Also, his brother needed him.

"Yao…" Hong started to say, arm reaching out to his brother, when Yao interrupted him.

"You should go on to bed to, Hong. Didn't you say something about meeting up with friends early tomorrow?" Hong recoiled at his tone, still in a monotone. What was worse, Yao hadn't moved from where he was sitting, still looking at nothing in the distance. Kiku had already moved over to Yao's side and was doing his best to comfort the Chinese teen. Swallowing back a bitter taste that had settled in his mouth, Hong stood without a word and left the room. Even though Yao was his brother, and as such Hong was supposed to be the one who knew him best, he could do nothing. Kiku was still there to take over what should have been natural for Hong to do—comfort his brother.

Walking up the stairs dejectedly, Hong was surprised to meet Mei in the upstairs hallway. Judging by the look on her face, she had heard everything down below. Giving a wry smile, Mei spun around and entered her room. Hong shook his head. He would never understand what happened in his family. As he entered his room, the sounds of the drunken party outside raged on.

A week later, sometime in early-to-mid February, a sudden snowstorm hit World Series, closing the school until further notice. For Arthur, this was the worst thing possible to happen. He knew, he knew that if he stepped outside he would immediately become a target to those three hooligans. And at any rate, it seemed like as good a day as any to stay inside, cuddle up in a warm blanket in his room and read a nice book. Unfortunately for him, one of his older brothers was visiting unexpectedly from Uni on holiday (and what a holiday it's been…). Picking up Arthur by the scruff of his shirt collar and his belt loop, his brother bodily threw him out into the snow with his snow jacket, hat, gloves and boots following shortly behind. Shouting a quick "It's character building!", Arthur's brother slammed the door in Arthur's face. As he was pounding on the door, demanding Peter, someone to let him in, he froze.

He could feel them smirking behind him.

"Oi, lookie here guys!" a cackling voice said. "Looks like someone got himself locked out of his house."

"Oui, and in this weather, too."

"Armada…armada…armada…"

"You know, I do think we owe it to our dear friend here to…liven up his day, don't you?"

"I agree, mon ami…"

"Armada…armada…armada…"

Whirling around, skillfully dodging the snowballs that were thrown at him, Arthur quickly grabbed his things and pressed himself against a snowdrift. Already breathing hard, Arthur could hear Gilbert and Francis jeering at him from the other side of the snowdrift. Pulling his jacket and boots on, Arthur called out "It was just a tree house, Antonio! Get over it!" A sudden barrage of snow in his direction was the only answer he received. Putting his gloves and hat on and into place, Arthur thought of a battle plan. Okay, so the Bad Friends wanted to play rough? Arthur could play, too. Carefully sneaking around the other side of the snow bank, careful to make sure that he wasn't seen, he reached for his cell phone in his pants pocket. Luckily, he had already had his phone on him when his brother decided to 'help' Arthur with his 'character building'. What else were big brothers for?

Moving through his contact list, Arthur called up the only people he could think of that would willingly help him in his time of need.

"Hello, you have Hero!" Arthur sighed. Why did he have to rely on Alfred at times like this?

"I have the perfect job for a hero and your brother. Are you up for it?"

"Is this a trick question? Hey Mattie, we're helping out Artie!"

"Do you even know what we're helping him with?" Arthur could hear faintly in the background. Checking behind him to see if he had been spotted or followed, he hurried down the street, hoping to get to the Jones-Williams (or was it Williams-Jones? It was really hard to keep up with) house before the Bad Friends found out that he had left. Judging by the noises he was hearing from back at his own house, they had probably just figured out that he was gone. Cursing silently, Arthur realized that his footsteps would be obvious in the snow. Knowing Francis, the Frenchman probably knew where Arthur was heading and what he was planning. Knowing Gilbert, he would try to cut Arthur off, making sure he received no help. Knowing Antonio, he would not stop until he had shoved snow down Arthur's pants. Picking up his pace, Arthur spoke as quickly as he could to assure his alliances.

"Listen, I need you and Matthew to help me out. Bad Friends have marked me as a target in an impromptu snowball fight and I need back up. Think you and Matthew can help?" Even as he was racing across Atlantic Avenue, recklessly not even checking for oncoming traffic (a more dangerous task than usual considering it was almost impossible to predict which way oncoming traffic was going. Good thing it had snowed after all…), Arthur couldn't help but feel proud that he had remembered the Canadian boy's name without any help. Over the phone, he could almost imagine Alfred snapping to attention.

"Say that I'm your hero," he suddenly demanded. Arthur sighed exasperatingly, rolling his eyes.

"If you help me out, I'll say you're my hero as many times as you want for the rest of the day."

"How can I say no to that? Hey Mattie! Tell Francis and Gilbert to suck it, we're helping Arthur!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"He called you Matthew on the first try."

"Let's go, then…" Arthur was suddenly very grateful that he had remembered the other boy's name. Take that, Francis! A speeding snowball passing just inches from the side of his head brought him back to his immediate danger. Barely sparing a second to glance back, he saw where the three members of Bad Friends were chasing after him, scooping up snow as they went and throwing it at him. He didn't have time to be gloating. This was war. Like Hell would Arthur let those-those street Arabs get the satisfaction of knowing that they had managed to land a hit. So far he had been lucky, but unless he could get to the safety of the Jones-Williams (or was it Williams-Jones? Oh, he just didn't know any more and really couldn't spare any extra thought to that) then he was doomed.

"Listen, I'm almost to your house right now, I'm passing by the Old Elm Tree," Arthur panted out into the phone. Running all the way from his house with Francis, Gilbert and Antonio chasing after him, dodging the snowballs that they were throwing at him and talking on the phone was taking the breath out of him. "They're right behind me; I'm going to need some cover fire. Do you think you lads can handle that?"

"Who do you think you're talking to, Arthur?" he heard Matthew's calm, soft, yet still strong voice say over the phone. Alfred must have put him on speaker phone, which was just as well.

"Yeah, man, I mean, I'm pretty good, but damn. Mattie's a freakin' beast. Oh, hey, I think I can see ya now, Artie!" Indeed, looking up Arthur could see the North Am. siblings standing on top of a particularly tall snow bank, easily several meters off the ground. How on Earth did they manage to make that so soon? Were they working on it all day? Not wanting to waste his fortuitous luck, Arthur sprinted the last meter into the convenient opening in the snow bank, diving into safety. The pleasant sounds of snowballs hitting their targets, the slightly painful screams were all music to Arthur's ears.

Bent over, catching his breath, Arthur heard the crunching of snow approaching easily by his side. Tilting his head, Arthur noted Alfred sauntering over, smirk on his face. Arthur shared his satisfaction with a shaky smile of his own. Letting Alfred wrap an arm around his shoulders, the two made their way to the top of the snow bank where Matthew was laying on his stomach, intense look of concentration on his face. Pulling his arm back, Matthew took careful aim and in a second had already launched his next volley, easily keeping the Bad Touch at bay. Standing up straighter and brushing the American's arm off, Arthur smirked out at the three who were being forced to draw back. Pulling his glove off, he briefly let out the wilder, teenage punk side of himself as he forked them, in true British rebel teen style.

Alfred's laugh brought him back to his current situation. Flushing, and hoping that it was easily passed off due to the weather and his previous exertion, Arthur hurriedly pulled his glove back on. "Man, Artie, that was a lotta fun! Definitely more fun than if we'd sided with Francis."

"True," Matthew said, brushing the excess snow off of his jacket front as he sat up, eyes still trained on the horizon. "It would have ended up being five against one. That's no fun…"

Sighing gratefully, Arthur smiled at the brothers. "Thank you again for helping me out. You really were the greatest heroes I could ask for in this particular circumstance." Ignoring Alfred cheering in the background, Arthur helped Matthew to his feet. "Should we continue on? I'm sure Gilbert's going to want to join up with more people to make a second wave attack."

Alfred's eyes brightened excitedly. His smile widened farther than Arthur, or Matthew for that matter, had thought possible. "Can we invite Ivan and Yao and Yong Soo and Kiku?" Matthew sighed exasperatedly at Arthur's side, but Arthur smirked, eyes shining mischievously.

"Of course…hero."

After all, the more the merrier…

Ludwig wished he wasn't so…like himself sometimes. This was one of them. It would have been so much easier if he had just stayed in bed today. First there was Gilbert waking up at an un-Godly hour in the morning, cackling to himself as he moved about the house. After a quick warning from their grandfather not to do anything illegal, his older brother left the house in high spirits. Knowing his brother, Gilbert was probably recruiting his friends to form some sort of ultimate snowball fight. Again.

This happened every year. Every year, there would be one perfect snowfall, and then Gilbert would lead the neighborhood into battle. Alliances would be made and broken every year, but each and every time they would have their battle, the alliances were permanent. If you found yourself suddenly huddled behind a random large object with someone else, desperately dodging and throwing your own snowballs at a common enemy, then for the rest of the Snow Battle, for however long it lasted (and they usually last a day or two on average, a full week at the longest recorded time) you were in an alliance. Even if that person was your mortal enemy, you were now each other's best friend with the knowledge that you can't turn on them without them turning on you, making you both easy targets. It was a pride thing, and each skirmish and battle had your pride laid down on the line.

This year, hoping to for once avoid the Annual Snow Battle, Ludwig had tried to stay home and perhaps work on some project or another. Unfortunately, his grandfather had other plans. Not trusting his oldest grandson (who lived in the house with him) and rightly so, Ger had asked Ludwig to keep an eye on his older brother. Knowing that he had no choice in the matter, Ludwig prolonged his leaving the house, letting his brother get a head start. If his brother was out of his visual range, then he was no longer Ludwig's problem. Or so he hoped.

In the past, Ludwig hadn't always felt this way. In fact, from what he could remember when he was younger, Ludwig would wake his older brother up in the mornings to go out and team up for the Snow Battle. It had been a rite of passage, a way to spend time with his brother back when he still looked up to Gilbert. In more recent years, he would leave early so that he would have a better chance of teaming up with Feliciano for the Snow Battle. If there was one thing that he never wanted to repeat ever again, it was having to be on opposite sides of the Snow Battle with Feliciano. True, there were rarely only two teams during the Snow Battle, so you never knew who was on your side or not, or even if your team could form a temporary alliance with another team. However, unlike with an alliance within a team, alliances with other teams were usually very fragile. Regrettably, because of recent events involving said lovable, adorable, unattainable Italian, no matter which side he was on, it would still be very awkward.

Walking down the lane dejectedly, really no looking forward to the Snow Battle, Ludwig almost didn't notice someone calling his name. Glancing up, he saw Vash jogging over towards him. Looking uncomfortable next to someone, but still very comfortable in the snow, Vash avoided looking directly at Ludwig. His cheeks were reddened from the cold, and Ludwig was glad that Elizabeta and her family weren't around at the moment. They would probably end up taking it the wrong way. Ludwig could emphasize with the Swiss teen's seriousness, though. It was rather nice, being exposed to at least some semblance of seriousness in his life.

"Have you seen Lili lately?" Vash asked, surprising Ludwig with the question. Shouldn't Vash, as Lili's brother, know where she is? When he brought this up, he was met with Vash's glare as an answer. Feeling that he might have overstepped his boundaries, Ludwig answered that he hadn't seen the smaller girl in a little over a week. Then again, lately he had spent most of his time keeping track of his own brother and trying (read: trying) to keep him out of trouble, so he hadn't really noticed anything unusual. Vash sighed disappointedly, rubbing his hand through his hair in worry. Ludwig frowned, upset that he wasn't more helpful.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," Ludwig apologized. Vash waved the apology away, not in the mood. Irritated, but not quite willing to give up human contact just quite yet, Vash suggested something decidedly un-Vash like.

"My family recently got some new ammo to try out. Want to come to the shooting range with me?"

Hmm. Did Ludwig want to decline and go out searching somewhere for his brother, who would most definitely bring him into some crazy scheme of his and also possibly run into Feliciano, or did he want to go to the Burghaps family's shooting range and test out new ammunition that most likely hadn't even reached the stores yet?

"Definitely. I'll bring this new gun that I recently received, too…"

Huddled up behind the fountain in the park that had been turned off due to winter, Ivan was breathing hard, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He lived for this excitement. It was his favorite time of year, even if Uncle Zyma would come over and pick on him sometimes. Taking a deep, steadying breath he examined the situation he was faced with. On his team, huddled with him behind the fountain, were Alfred, Yong Soo, Kiku, Toris, and Raivis. Over on the other side of the small quad that they were situated in inside the park were the other two members of their team, Arthur and Matthew. They were currently trying to sneak around to surprise attack the other team consisting of Bad Friends, Elizabeta, Roderich for some reason, Tino, Berwald, and Matthias. The Danish member of the other team had apparently tried to recruit Norge and Ice for their team, but the Norwegian teen had slammed the door shut in his face. Matthias had taken this as a sign that Norge wasn't feeling good, and that his 'best friend' (Matthias' words, not Norge's) was leaving the battle up to them. Swearing to do all in his power to bring victory in Norge's name, Matthias had cheerfully set off for battle. Meanwhile, Norge had cheerfully bet on the other team.

Remembering the last time that they had had their Snow Battle, Ivan thought back to his own personal scout for his team. He hadn't seen Natalia in a while. It was starting to get worrisome, as Ivan was more than used to not being able to go ten feet without running into his little sister somehow. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. On the one hand, it seemed that Natalia was happy with her new friends. On the other hand, they might have involved Natalia in something bad, something that Natalia shouldn't be involved in. Ivan didn't know how he felt about that, either. Leaning back against the fountain, his back to all of the action, he pondered some more. Were Natalia's friends getting her into trouble? Is that why she hasn't been around in a while? The last he saw of her, actually, was a little over a week ago. He hoped she was okay… He would have to go search for her when the Snow Battle was over. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by Toris whining on his left. Looking over, Ivan saw that the Lithuanian boy's attention was across the field.

"Feliks…"

Ah. Apparently, the Polish teen had been roped into helping out the other side.

"This isn't good," Alfred muttered over on Ivan's right. He had seen the situation, and knew what this meant. "Now they have an extra person on their team, even if it is Feliks." Ignoring the look Toris sent his way, Alfred continued with his train of thought. "We're gonna need someone else, now…"

"Eduard," Ivan said simply. Seeing that he had Alfred's attention, who was self-designated platoon sergeant, he continued. "He's the perfect choice. He's mainly computer-smart, so he won't be of much help on the battlefield like Feliks, and he has a best friend over there, too. He'll be to Tino what Feliks is to Toris. It's only fair, right?"

Alfred thought this over, nodding slowly. Talking lowly so he wouldn't be overheard, he gave out orders. "Kiku, Yong Soo and Raivis; you try ta find Eduard as fast as ya can and enter 'im inta our alliance. Toris, Ivan and I will stay here and distract the others. Meanwhile, we'll wait for Arthur and Matthew ta come around and give us support once they've broken through the lines. 'kay?" Everyone nodded in agreement, so Alfred sent them out, copying a move that he saw once in a ninja anime that Kiku let him borrow once.

Smirking at his friend's childishness, even when he was being completely serious, Ivan scooped up as much snow as he could. His specialty was large snowball attacks, after all. And oh, what luck! All of those naughty boys who kept picking on Ivan when he was little are all conveniently gathered on the other side! Ivan's aura grew steadily darker as he started chuckling, packing all of the snow into one large, hard ball. Time for a little payback now, da~? Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Toris and Alfred knew what was coming and had a mixture of worry and vengeful cheer on their faces.

It seemed like the other team knew what was coming, too.

"Kol-Kol Bomb, incoming!" Various shouts were heard across the 'field'. Ivan smirked. As if that would help them. Standing up, he launched the massive snowball as hard as he could. As predicted, it landed right in the middle of enemy lines, covering everyone with snow. But that wasn't great victory in itself. By now, everyone would have been covered in snow. No, what the great victory was, in Ivan's eyes, at least, was that he had managed to hit the ones that had bullied him all those years ago. There went Gilbert~! There went Berwald~! There went Matthias~! Smiling cheerfully, Ivan sat back down to the congratulatory hand-pats from a crowing Alfred.

"Hot damn, that was awesome!"

Struggling to stand up, Gilbert pointed a shaky finger at Alfred…or at least in Alfred's general direction. "H-hey! Y-you can say 'awesome', only th-the Awesome Me c-can!" he protested weakly. Matthias squawked, hitting Gilbert on the leg from where he was still on the ground. "Oh, and Matthias."

This only made Alfred grin wider, chuckling rather loudly. "You don't look so 'awesome' from here! Only awesome people get ta use the word awesome, right? And I can so say awesome whenever I damn well please!"

Whatever else Gilbert was going to say in protest against Alfred was drowned out by a furious battle cry. Bewildered, everyone turned to face Elizabeta who was hunched over and shaking, ominous dark aura that could put Ivan's to shame leaking out of her. Standing slowly, still shaking, she looked out across the field. Ivan, Alfred and Toris flinched at the sight of her eyes. They were dark, crazy, and mad. Pointing a shaking finger at the three, she said in a voice as dark and shaking as she looked "You hurt Roderich…You hurt Gilbert…I will end you!" Before they could complete their 'oh, shit!' moment, Tino stood up, looking as upset as Elizabeta did.

"You hurt Berwald…Time to pay!" a dark look entered his hooded eyes, making him seem scarier than Elizabeta at the moment. That was a lot of scary.

"Um, guys? Maybe we should r-retreat f-for now?" Toris stuttered out, eyes never leaving the sight before him. On the other side of Ivan, Alfred nodded furiously.

"Good idea. I don't know where Mattie 'n Artie are, but we need ta leave, ASAP! Tino's as good as Mattie when he has it in 'im." Ivan, on the other hand, considered his options. They really didn't know where Arthur or Matthew had gotten off to. They had just sent about half of their forces away to forcibly recruit another member. It was just the three of them now, against the full team of nine that the other team had. Things were not looking good. However, if they moved now, they would be easy targets; it would be very difficult to get away unscathed, especially from an angry Tino and Elizabeta, not to mention the other members. Then again, if they stayed, they would be sitting ducks. And as Ivan knew from past experiences, both personal and inflicted, sitting ducks were easy prey. There wasn't much time to think, though. Ivan had to come up with a plan. Hearing a sharp gasp to his right, he looked at Alfred with a raised eyebrow. Alfred looked angry and…hm, what could that expression be? Ivan loved expressions. If he had to guess, he would say that Alfred's other expression was a mixture of betrayal, indignation, and…offended? This Ivan had to see. Turning around to look back across the field at whatever it was that made Alfred put on that lovely expression, Ivan's own soon soured.

They had managed to recruit Yao. Now, that was just uncalled for.

Ivan scowled. "Okay, new plan. Since they have Yao, we'll have to get someone even better."

"But who's better than Yao? He has a freakin' wok!" Alfred exclaimed, throwing up his hands only to lower them just as quickly to avoid getting hit by snowballs. "Also, we have Kiku and Yong Soo on our side! That's definitely going to do some damage to our morale."

"S-should we call them to ask if their sister can come in?" Toris asked timidly.

"Well, we should call them anyway to see where they are," Ivan allowed. He sighed. It was so tiring having to keep track of everyone. Shouldn't this be Alfred's job? Ivan would much rather do a full-frontal charge. Then again, he would be an easy target…again. Hm, maybe this was why Alfred was over here. "And besides, Yao can't actually use his wok to attack us; it's strictly a snowball fight."

"T-true, but he can use it to launch multiple snowballs at once!" Toris warned, pointing up at the sky. Ivan looked up and cursed. Diving out of the way, he managed to avoid the snowballs before they hit him. Looking to his sides, Alfred and Toris had done the same, too.

"Now this is just pissing me off," Alfred said angrily. "Okay. I know what we have to do now. Ivan; you call up Raivis and ask them where they are. When they have Eduard, tell them to meet us at Nordic Avenue. Toris, you try to lay down cover fire for us. Me, I'll call up Mattie and ask where he and Artie are. They should have come in by now…"

Ivan nodded, acknowledging for the time being that this was a suitable plan. Placing the ringing phone between his ear and his shoulder, he helped Toris make snowballs of various sizes. Smiling, he couldn't pass up the chance to tease his smaller friend. "Hey, Toris~" Ivan said lightly, poking the Lithuanian boy in the cheek. "You better make sure you hit at least one, or else~!" Poor Toris started shivering. Well, Ivan acknowledged, it was pretty cold out. Although, he himself was rather used to this weather.

"-Click!- H-hello?" Ivan blinked. Time to talk to Raivis!

"Hello, Raivis! Where are you now?"

"W-we're at E-Eduard's house now, Mister Ivan, sir…"

"Good, good. So, when you get him be sure to meet us over at Nordic Avenue, okay?"

"A-actually, sir, Eduard doesn't want to take part. He says that he doesn't want to be on your team."

"Raivisss!" Ivan frowned. Well, that was just rude of him.

"I see. Put him on the phone, will you Raivis?" Ivan could have sworn he heard a squeak, followed by what sounded like that Korean boy's laughter, but Ivan was surely mistaken. After all, it was quite noisy on the field. To his immediate right, Alfred suddenly shouted "WHAT?" Ivan turned and scowled at him, but the look went unnoticed. He was still talking on his cell phone and seemed really agitated about something or another. Still, it was very rude to shout like that when he was on the phone. Americans.

Turning back to his own conversation, he heard Eduard answer the phone with a timid 'H-hello?'

"Comrade Eduard! How are you doing on this fine, Snow Battle day?"

"F-fine, sir. Listen, it's not that I don't want to play with you-"

"Excellent! So, I'll see you over with the rest of us over on Nordic Avenue, right?"

"W-well, but sir-!"

"Eduard," Ivan said in a hard voice. Sometimes you had to be firm when you were dealing with children, Ivan knew. Also from experience. "You don't want to leave your brothers to be on a team by themselves, do you Eduard?"

"Actually, Ivan, we're not really brothers," Toris said from beside him. Ivan patted him on the head for being so helpful. Then again, Toris should be focusing on the battle, not on Ivan's phone conversation. Eavesdropping was bad, after all~.

"Now, now Toris, I'm talking with Eduard right now. I'll play with you later, okay?" From across the field, Ivan could hear Feliks shout 'Hey! Take your hands off Liet, like, right now!" Ivan ignored him.

"My point is, Eduard, don't you want to come play with everybody? You could even play with Tino, you know." Ivan thought he heard a gulp on the other side of the line. Vaguely, he wondered what sort of expression his Eduard was making, right now. It was probably hilarious.

"O-of course, I'll come!" Eduard said cheerfully over the phone. Ivan smiled wider.

"Excellent! We'll see you over on Nordic Avenue!" With that, Ivan cheerfully hung up the phone. At around the same time, Alfred hung up his. A grim look was on his face.

"Bad news, guys," he said, quickly throwing a snowball over his head with precision. Ivan was vaguely impressed, and very much humored, that it hit Feliks on the top of his head. "Artie and Mattie have been captured!"

"Captured!" Toris exclaimed, horrified. He had paused momentarily but quickly picked up the speed with throwing snowballs. Unfortunately, they were running out of available snow to throw. "But—how? And how were you able to talk with them if they were captured?" Annoyed, Ivan started swatting the snowballs away as they flew by.

"Artie still had his phone on him, and he answered. However, Francis and Antonio were 'guarding the prisoners' or somethin' like that. I think Roderich was with 'em too, since he's kinda useless out here." There was a sudden lull in the snowball throwing that made Ivan uneasy. Since he was the one facing the field, he was the one to see the sudden barrage of snowballs heading their way, looking eerily like a movie he once saw with Alfred. Ducking down, he shoved Alfred and Toris to the ground and out of harm's way.

"Did you really have to say that so loudly, Jones?" he asked roughly, irritated by the Hungarian woman's almost supersonic hearing when it came to anyone saying anything bad about Roderich.

"It's like she has sonar…" Toris said numbly. Alfred scowled.

"Isn't she goin' out with Gilbert now? Save the snowmagedden for when I diss him."

"Focus, Jones!" Ivan growled out. "What are we going to do now? Are we still going to Nordic Avenue?"

"Of course! Our secret weapon's there!" Alfred said proudly. Flinching when a snowball came just a little too close, Alfred glanced back wearily. "First of all, though, we need ta get outta here…" Pausing in thought, he continued. "Okay. Here's what we'll do." Looking at each of the boys next to him, he told his plan. "I'll try ta go back and rescue Mattie and Artie. You two go find the others, and then do all ya can to recruit Norge for our side. Trust me, it'll work! I'll try ta join back up with all of ya when I can, hopefully with Artie and Mattie with me. 'Kay?"

"Don't, Alfred, it's a suicide mission!" Toris protested. He didn't want his friend to get hurt. "It's going to be at least three against just you, it's too dangerous." Ivan set a hand on Toris' shoulder, smiling at him.

"If Alfred wants to sacrifice himself in a 'heroic' last-chance effort, then let him. I for one intend to win this Snow Battle. What about you, Comrade Toris?" Toris gulped, looking in between Ivan and Alfred. When he saw Alfred smiling sadly, he hesitated.

"Please," Alfred whispered softly. "They're my brother and friend. I can't just leave them in enemy hands."

Toris frowned, looking like he wanted to say anything but what he said next. "Fine," he relented. "But be safe," he added quickly. Alfred flashed a heroic smile and a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, the hero's always safe!"

"That's nice and all," Ivan said, breaking into their nice little moment. "But we still need to hurry up, da? Toris and I will draw their fire. Jones, you try to be sneaky and get our comrade's back."

"Right-o!" Alfred cheered happily. Before he could leave, Toris pulled on his jacket to get his attention. "Remember, they managed to catch Arthur, and he's the sneakiest one of us," Toris warned. "And no doubt they'll know that you're coming."

"Roger!" with that, Alfred fled to the other side of the park quad, away from the hail of snowball fire. Actually, that reminded Ivan cheerfully of the Snow Battle of '08. That year, they had sneaked actual ice into the snow. Ever since, though, it's been a strictly snow-only battle. Ivan missed the good old days. Taking Toris's hand in his, he hurried the two of them after Alfred, away from the fire. Hearing the footsteps running after them, Ivan dove head first into the trees, hoping to lose them that way. Toris struggled to keep up. The only bad thing about using the trees as cover is that everyone had been in there at one point or another, so everyone knew the grove of trees that made up a small forest like the back of their hand. Luckily for Ivan and Toris, they were faster.

Once they had managed to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers, Ivan slowed down enough so Toris wasn't being dragged along behind him. Making a wide arc, Ivan led Toris to the north, straight towards Nordic Avenue. Halfway there, they ran into Kiku, Yong Soo, Raivis and Eduard. Since they were relatively safe where they were, Ivan decided that it was okay to take a break and chat.

"Hello, everyone!" Ivan called cheerfully. He probably imagined the flinches he saw from Raivis and Eduard. Then again, it Then again, it was cold out… "How is everyone?"

"We are fine," Kiku said evenly, looking Ivan straight in the eye. "Where is Alfred-san and Arthur-san?"

"Oh, they were captured," Ivan said happily, loving the looks he was getting from that simple sentence.

"WHAT?" Kiku and Yong Soo exclaimed together. Curiously, at least to Ivan, they then turned to each other, glared and turned away. Ivan wondered what that was about.

"Th-that's n-n-not good!" Raivis squeaked.

"It's not like that!" Toris interjected. "Ivan was teasing. Yes, Arthur and…Alfred's brother were captured, but Alfred went to rescue them. We're supposed to recruit Norge now, that's why we're going to Nordic Avenue." As he said this, Toris led the others back into moving to said avenue.

"We're getting Norge now?" Eduard questioned, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "But then we would have un-even teams again. Did they get someone else?"

Toris winced, glancing at Ivan and at Kiku and Yong Soo. "Um, yes. They have Yao now."

"Aniki?" Yong Soo asked, astonished. Kiku glared at Yong Soo when he said this. Ivan was intrigued. He had never seen such emotion on the Japanese boy's face before. As curious as he was for why such an emotion was on Kiku's face, Ivan was more interested in if he could get some other strong emotion on his face. This would take some time…

"You are not related to him, remember," Kiku said softly, probably so only Yong Soo could hear. Ivan looked up and saw that his Baltic Lane boys were up ahead, chatting softly about what had happened so far. It looked like only Ivan could hear this; how nice! "So you shouldn't call him 'Aniki' anymore." Yong Soo frowned, turning his head away. Ivan decided that he was bored with their drama. He wanted to hurry up and finish this Snow Battle so he could look for his sister. Their parents weren't home and wouldn't come back for at least another two weeks, so maybe he could convince her to spend the night with Katyusha and himself during that time. That would cheer her up, right?

Reaching Nordic Avenue, Ivan led the way over to Norge and Ice's house. Putting on his best smile, he knocked on the door cheerfully. Waiting a minute, Ivan was disappointed at the lack of answer. He was pretty sure that the brothers were still in their house. Shrugging, he knocked once again. There was still no answer. The smile on his face was starting to drop. Why weren't they answering? Maybe he wasn't loud enough. Knocking harder, Ivan was delighted to hear footsteps coming toward the door. His expression brightened.

"Matthias, I already told you, I'm not joining in your silly little Snow Battle-!" Norge's voice floated through the door right before it opened to show the Norwegian teen's annoyed face. Well, that explained why he hadn't answered at first. Still, Ivan wasn't impressed by his expression. Still, he had a job to do, and he wouldn't give Alfred the chance to say that he had messed up. "Oh, it's all of you. What do you want?"

"We would like you to join our team, da!" Ivan said happily. Norge raised an eyebrow.

"No."

Ivan's expression dropped in confusion. He hadn't been expecting that. Hmm, how could he make him change his mind? If he couldn't, Ivan could already hear Alfred's annoying voice saying that he had failed. That just made him angry. Toris' hand on his arm brought him back to reality.

"U-um, let me handle this, okay Ivan?" Hm. If it was Toris who failed, then he wouldn't have to deal with an obnoxious American. He could live with that.

"Okay, but if you mess this up, there will be dire consequences~!" Behind him, Ivan couldn't see where Raivis and Eduard were shaking, looking at Toris in both awe at standing up to Ivan and pity for standing up to Ivan. Kiku and Yong Soo still weren't looking at each other. Meanwhile Norge was watching the scene in slight amusement. Behind him, still in the house, Ice was watching on in boredom.

"Um," Toris said, twiddling his fingers together. "If you join up with us, you'll be against Matthias in the Snow Battle." That made Norge pause. Contemplating, Norge was silent for a moment. Ivan could tell from his expression that he was considering. Norge looked back up, staring Toris in the eye.

"If I join, then I would get to see Matthias' face when he finds out I'm against him?"

"Yes."

"Do I get to target him exclusively?"

"For as long as you want."

"I'm in."

Hours later, after the epic Snow Battle ended in a draw for the day, everyone was making their slow way home. Ivan, Gilbert, Kiku, Yong Soo, Yao, Alfred, and Toris had ended up finding Vash and Ludwig on the way home. Vash really didn't like having to spend so much time with other people, but he had no choice, it seemed. Especially since Gilbert wrapped his arm around both his brother's shoulder and Vash's. Probably because of the intense fighting from earlier, what with Gilbert and Yao being on the other side of the others, conversation lagged. At least, it lagged until Toris brought up a very, very important question.

"A-Alfred? Have you seen Natalia lately?"

Alfred frowned in thought. Now that he thought about it, he really hadn't seen his little-sister figure in a while. When he said this, Ivan scowled, though whether it was because of the mention of Natalia not having been sighted in a while or because Alfred still seemed to think of Ivan's little sister as his own, nobody knew. Still, it brought up other questions.

"Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen Mei in a while either, aru," Yao said thoughtfully. Kiku and Yong Soo looked concerned, too.

"H-hey, when was the last time we saw Mei, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked worriedly, looking frantically in between Kiku and Yao.

"…a week, I believe…" Kiku said slowly, scared that he actually had to think about it. Behind him Vash froze.

"That's the last time I saw Lili, too…" he said slowly, mind racing. Beside him, Gilbert's mind went into overdrive, connecting series of events that had seemed trivial at the time but now suddenly made sense.

"Oi, Ivan," he said suddenly. Ivan looked over sharply, understanding that something important had happened. "When was the last time you saw Natalia?"

Ivan's face darkened exponentially. "About a week ago."

"What's this all mean, guys?" Alfred asked, looking in between everyone. Nobody answered him though, all thinking the same thing.

"They're missing," Gilbert said simply. Though everyone had been thinking it, to actually hear it out loud was distressing. Toris gasped, Alfred and Ludwig paled, Yong Soo, Kiku and Yao looked like they would be sick, and Ivan just…looked very distressed. Missing? His little sister? Missing?

"H-how could this have happened?" he asked, voice sounding very small."

"Is there a chance that they were stolen, do you think?" Ludwig asked, trying to maintain some semblance of control over the situation. It was up to him, after all, to keep a steady head.

"How?" Alfred asked dryly, the shock of the situation turning him angry so that he started lashing out. "This is freakin' World Series! I think someone would have noticed if something like that happened."

"A-Alfred's right," Toris said, smiling hopefully. "M-maybe we're just being hasty. T-the girl's a-are probably at home, and w-we're panicking over nothing." Ludwig looked over at his brother, knowing that if it was possible the thought would have occurred to him. Gilbert's grim expression told him all that he needed to know. They were missing. Still, he didn't have the heart to tell the others this.

"Y-yeah, let's go check and make sure, da-ze!" Yong Soo exclaimed, tugging on Kiku and Yao's sleeves. "We'll call if we find Mei! You all should do the same, da-ze!" with that, the three hurried off to their home, growing more and more desperate by the minute. Running all the way back to Nordic Avenue, the three burst into the house, collapsing on the floor from their run. Hong walked over curiously, knowing they had been playing with in the Snow Battle earlier.

"Was it really that exciting?" Hong asked. "If so, I may have to join you all tomorrow."

"Not right now, Hong!" Yao snapped, surprising his younger brother into silence. Kiku, having recovered his breath quicker than the other two, interpreted Yao's anxious mood to his sibling.

"What he means is, we have another problem to deal with," Kiku smoothed over. Hong tilted his head in confusion.

"Mei!" Yong Soo breathed out desperately, clawing his way into a sitting position. "Where's Mei? Is she here? Please tell me she's here, da-ze!"

Hong blinked, bewildered. "N-no, she's not here. I thought that she might have gone out with her friends and was in the Snow Battle. Is something wrong?" By then, the three collapsed teens had gotten their second wind and raced by Hong, not answering his question. Hong followed along behind, very, very confused by everything and steadily growing more worried. What was going on?

They had reached Mei's room and burst in, hoping to see the only female member of their strange, little family sitting in her room. Unfortunately, they were hit with disappointment. Mei's room was neat and tidy, Mei's open closet that was empty of some of her clothes the only sign that anything was wrong. Yong Soo stumbled in, dazed. Everything looked just the same as normal, yet it felt infinitely emptier. It was obvious that nobody had been in the room for a while. The lightest coating of dust was on her dresser and nightstand, and her bed looked like it hadn't been slept in—in about a week. That was when Yong Soo noticed the piece of paper that was on the bed.

Reaching out with a shaking arm, Yong Soo barely noticed the sound of voices in the background. To him, it was like he was in a tunnel, everything was suddenly distorted; the room, the voices, reality, it was all distorted. Mei should have been here. Mei should be in this house, telling Yong Soo that they were siblings now, conspiring with Hong about how best to annoy Yao, fawning over Kiku. She should have been here. With a trembling hand, Yong Soo opened the folded piece of paper.

Inside were only four words. Only four words that told everyone what had happened, why it happened, why Mei was gone. Yong Soo collapsed heavily on the bed, eyes unseeing. He twitched when he felt Hong's gentle hand on his shoulder. He briefly looked at Hong, and it was that look that told Hong everything that had happened. "No…" Hong whispered, sitting down next to Yong Soo.

"What is it? What does it say, aru?" Yao asked, gently taking the paper away from the Korean who was still in shock. Yao opened the paper and looked inside, Kiku reading over his shoulder.

'Family Togetherness' My Ass!

After Yao and his family had left, Ivan had rushed off for his sister's house. He had to check. He had to be sure. Thoughts raced through his head, going a mile a minute. This couldn't be happening. Why was this happening? Maybe it wasn't happening. But deep inside, Ivan knew it was. The signs had been there, after all. Natalia had been distant lately. Not just because she wasn't following Ivan around anymore, but she had been distant even when they had been together in the same room. Ivan knew who was to blame, too. It was those two friends of hers! Ever since they came, Natalia had been acting different! Natalia wasn't Natalia anymore!

…She was no longer the Natalia that Ivan knew. Now she was this 'New Natalia'. And while there were some aspects of New Natalia that he liked (such as her not stalking him anymore), if this is what New Natalia would do—leaving her family like this—then Ivan didn't like New Natalia. In fact, he hated New Natalia. Stopping, Ivan realized that he was standing in front of Natalia's door. He didn't even have to enter. He knew it would be empty. Right now, he would even settle for New Natalia. All he wanted right now is his sister back. Clenching his teeth and fists, Ivan hit the doorframe. He was Natalia's big brother! He should be there for her right now! He should have known, somehow, that this would happen! There had to have been something. But the only things he could think of now had already happened.

Didn't they say that hindsight was 20-20?

"Vanya!" Ivan froze. That was Katyusha. What should he say? What would he tell her? He had to tell her about Natalia, but how could he do that? He hated to see his sisters upset, and this would definitely upset her. If Ivan was feeling this way, how would his more sensitive older sister feel. Steeling himself, he turned around to face her—and was met with Katyusha throwing herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face.

"Y-Yekaterina, what-?" Ivan stuttered, not sure what to do in this type of situation. Sniffling, Katyusha looked up at him.

"T-Toris called, he t-told me w-w-what h-happened," she explained through her tears. Ivan's mind blanked. Toris? But hadn't he said that it was probably just a misunderstanding? Ivan smiled wryly. And all this time, he had thought that the Lithuanian boy was a horrible liar. Not only had he fooled Ivan, he had fooled himself, as well. But still, Ivan supposed that he had to thank him. After all, this saved any hard explanations with his sister. "Oh Vanya, why do you think-?"

"I don't know, sister," Ivan said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket for his sister to use. She took it gratefully. "But, perhaps we will find something in Natalia's house, da?" Taking his sister's hand, both for her comfort and for his own, they entered the house together. Inside, it was dark and gloomy. Ivan had rarely been over at his sister's house before, as she would always come to his, but he didn't remember it looking so gloomy before. Did his sister come home to this sight every day? Or was it just because they were still in shock of what had happened? Ivan didn't know. Slowly, they searched the house room by room. Ivan didn't know what he was looking for, whether a note or some kind of evidence that would show where in the fucking world his little sister was. But they didn't find anything. Nothing at all. While they were in the middle of searching the first floor, Ivan's cell phone rang. It was Yao. Mei was officially a runaway, with a note and all. Ivan wanted to hang up so he could focus completely on looking for anything that could help, but he couldn't do that. Yao's voice sounded so lost, so sad, so small. Ivan couldn't bring himself to hang up like that. Instead, he offered condolences in the only way he knew how and said that he and Katyusha were still searching for a note. Yao understood and hung up quickly. Ivan was grateful.

While they were searching Natalia's bedroom, carefully scouring it for any shred of evidence, for if there was any to be found it would be here, Ivan's phone rang again. This time it was Gilbert. Vash had called him, and Lili was officially a runaway, too. Again, there was a note, but this time it was electronic. That gave Ivan hope. Telling Gilbert the same thing he had told Yao, he hung up before calling Eduard. When the Estonian boy heard what happened, he rushed over. Ivan stood over Eduard's shoulders, watching with avid interest as Eduard poured through her computer. Katyusha had finished looking through all the rooms and was sitting on her sister's bed, hands clasped together in silent prayer.

Eduard didn't find anything. Ivan told him to check again. Eduard did, but still didn't find anything. Katyusha began to cry. Ivan told him to look harder, maybe Natalia had picked up a trick or two from her friend Lili. Eduard still said that there was nothing to find. Ivan almost lost his temper when Katyusha's small voice thanked Eduard, telling him that he could go home now. Eduard offered condolences and escaped from the house as quickly as he could.

Katyusha collapsed on the floor in tears as soon as they heard the front door close. Ivan really wasn't good with handling crying sisters, but he did his best. He walked over to Katyusha and wrapped her up in his arms. He could feel her shake from her sobs that she tried to suppress, but it didn't quite work. Instead, it only made her shake worse. Ivan understood.

Why? Why didn't she leave a note? That was the one thing Ivan couldn't understand. Well, no, he didn't understand a lot of this business, but that was the one thing on his mind right now, other than where the fuck was his sister? Ivan took a deep, shuddering breath. Okay. Time to think logically. Why wouldn't she leave a note? First off, why wouldn't someone leave a note? Various possibilities stuck out to him. Someone was short on time. Judging by how neat everything looked, that wasn't the case. Someone didn't have the necessary things to leave a note. That wasn't it, either. Ivan had found plenty of writing utensils, and paper and things to write on. Even if she didn't have any of that, she still had her knives. She could have easily carved a message, whether in the furniture or on the walls, there were plenty of options. Ivan would have noticed if anything like that had happened. So, if it wasn't because of any of those reasons, then maybe someone…didn't think a message was necessary? That a message wasn't important? That struck Ivan through his heart like a blade.

Natalia…didn't think that she should leave a note? Why not? Was it because she didn't have anything to say? She didn't think anyone would see it? Ivan could feel a shudder in his chest that had nothing to do with Katyusha. Did Natalia really not expect anyone to see it? Or care? Was that it? That Natalia didn't think anyone would care? Ivan could feel a liquid rolling down his cheek. Did they really leave her with that kind of impression?

Was it really all their fault? All Ivan's fault that she had disappeared? More liquid ran down his face. His cheeks, which were feeling so cold along with the rest of his body, that had nothing to do with the weather, were suddenly enveloped by warmth. Looking up sharply, Ivan could see the blurry face of his sister. Her hands had cupped his cheeks and were wiping the tears away.

"We'll find her, Vanya," Katyusha said, voice slightly wobbly from emotion, but still surprisingly strong-willed. "We'll find her. So don't worry, Big Sister's here. It will be okay soon enough," she murmured, saying more comforting things that made Ivan feel so much better, even though he knew it was that simple. Still, it felt really nice to be comforted by his older sister.

Vash stepped through the doorway to his house hesitatingly. He took a deep, shuddering breath. The others were wrong. There was no way that Lili had disappeared. Vash just hadn't seen her in a while, that was all. In fact, when he walked up those steps, he would be closer to her. Walking mechanically, he climbed the stairs. Images flooded his brain. He was suddenly reminded of the last time he climbed up these stairs with purpose to see his sister. And just like that time, he would soon see her again! For some reason, his stomach felt hollow, like that wouldn't happen.

Pausing at the top of the steps, he looked down the hallway. There wasn't a light coming from Lili's room. But, that didn't mean anything! She could just be…sleeping or something. Even as he thought this, in the back of Vash's mind, he knew that that wasn't what had happened. Regardless, he continued on. He would show everyone! After all, what possible reason could she have for…for…Vash couldn't even think it. He just couldn't. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. Still, Vash needed to know.

Slowly, he approached Lili's bedroom door. It was closed. That didn't mean anything. Knocking softly on the door, Vash waited for an answer, but none came. That didn't mean anything. She could be asleep. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door. The light from the hallway shone directly on Lili's empty, made bed. He couldn't deny it any longer. Collapsing against the door, Vash didn't know how long he stayed there, staring at nothing. Eventually, in his stupor, he noticed another light illuminating through the darkness in Lili's room. Looking up, Vash saw that Lili's computer was on. Stumbling to his feet, Vash flipped the light switch on, bringing light into the dark room.

Moving to the computer slowly, cautious not to touch or move anything for fear of contamination, Vash hesitated before sitting in the computer chair. Bracing himself, he looked at the computer screen. A screen was already open. Vash wasn't an expert, but it looked like a video screen. Judging by one of the icons that said "For Vash" on it, Vash was supposed to watch it. Remembering back to the last time that he had seen his sister, he remembered that she had been chatting with someone. Vash had thought that, because that's what he expected from a teenage girl with friends. But now that he thought about it, he didn't know who she was talking to. After all, she was using sign language, not her voice. Was she…was she perhaps saying her goodbye then? Even though Vash was right there? And he couldn't do anything to stop her?

Could he have done something?

That was the question that was going to eat at him for a long time. Taking a shuddering breath, Vash clicked on the icon. A new window pulled up, and on it was Lili. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look too distressed. He was reminded of Lili's strange smile from then. He thought of that extra element in it, the one he couldn't identify. Sadness. It was sadness. He cursed. He should have noticed it. He should have known that something was wrong. Unfortunately, it was too late for that now. So, Vash watched as Lili took a deep breath and raised her hands to the screen.

"To my dear big brother…"

Notes

1. Oh noes! What's happened to them! Eh, by now I've pretty much spelled it out. Yes, Lili, Mei and Natalia are gone now. Don't worry, we'll see them next chapter, though! Also, if you could do something for me; was it totally obvious before this chapter that they were going to run away? I really can't tell with these things, so I don't know. If you could tell me how I handled this whole thing, then that would be great! Also, on that note, we have now reached the turning point of this story! It was a long time coming, and now that it's actually here, I can't help but think finally!

2. Everyone in the Burghaps is named after someone else in their family, so everyone has some number or another after their name. Even Lili; when she joined the Burghaps, she was named after Vash's favorite Great-Aunt Lili Zwingli.

3. It's said that Liechtenstein (the character) is good with technology, so when I heard that I knew I had to add it somehow.

4. My side story for this is up now, with the first (and so far only) chapter being Natalia's conversation with Toris. I'm not going to say 'you have to read it to understand what's coming up next', since I'll try to write it in a way that can make since without reading that, but there is some vaguely important things brought up (mostly with character development. Though, since it's a rather small-ish chapter, I kind of feel that it's rushed. That's another reason why you don't have to read it, actually! ^_^). Still, if you want to check it out, there's a link on my profile.

5. I can't really think of anything else to say about this chapter, so if you have a question, then be sure to ask! ^_^ Oh yeah, and 'forking' is pretty much the British version of flipping someone off, but with two fingers instead of one. At least, that's what I've been told...

6. Special thanks to b4ndg33k, webcomix, amerique, and YummyCheese (I'm glad you liked my India! ^_^). Also,

7. Please review! ^_^