"Do you think everything's okay?" Iryna asked tentatively.

"Shut up. Everything's fine," Natalya snapped in reply. Iryna knew enough about her sister to tell that her response meant she was worried too.

They were standing on the doorstep of their brother's house. Everything around them was silent, and there were no lights in any of the windows. Natalya's recent knock had gained no answer.

Yet the text message they had both received had definitely come from their brother's phone, and had begged them to come over as soon as possible. That wasn't a normal request. Oh, Ivan was close to them and often wanted to see them, but this was different. This time, it had sounded urgent.

So something must have happened.

As that thought arrived in Natalya's head, worry for her Beloved Big Brother took over and she seized hold of the door impatiently. "What are you-" She ignored her sister's confused tones from behind her as she forced it open violently.

"Come on, let's go and find him," She urged, beckoning for the other woman to follow her. They stepped inside, Natalya striding ahead defiantly, calling out her Brother's name as she searched for him, Iryna trialing hesitantly behind.

It was still silent and dark. It also looked as though they had entered a haunted house. The walls were hung with cobwebs. Some of the furniture had been covered over with sheets of black fabric.

The cold had crept in. It was April, but in Moscow, it was still icy, and the house was infected with the freezing weather that normally dwelt outside.

"This place is like a morgue... Something must be wrong!" Iryna whispered in Natalya's ear as she clung to her sister fearfully.

The younger woman sighed deeply. Her sister was older, and usually the motherly figure of the family. Yet, she was also prone to panicking. And clearly, Iryna was upset. With good cause too. Much as Natalya hated to admit it, the place did have the atmosphere of a mortuary. It was depressing, enshrined in dull grey light and silent except for the wind whistling through the broken door...

Of course they had to worry. Their brother should be here and he wasn't. He had been, earlier that morning. And he had sounded scared. Her brother didn't scare easily... But now he was gone. The house seemed completely abandoned.

And it wasn't just personal worry that was affecting them. Though Natalya was worried out of love for her brother, there were bigger implications too. They were personified Nations after all. And as Russia, her elder brother was an important world player. With him gone... Who knew what might happen?

"Little Brother! Vanya! Are you home?" Her Ukrainian sister called out as they walked around the house, still hunting for him.

"He didn't respond to my calls, I don't think that will work." The Belarusian pointed out. "I will go upstairs and look for Brother. He must be here somewhere, after all. And I am usually good at finding him..."

Iryna shivered as she considered that comment. Natalya was good at finding their Brother. But usually. this was because Belarus chased Russia down, demanding that he married her. Ukraine's little siblings had always concerned her with their strange behaviour...

This was a new one, though, she had to admit. Ivan had never vanished on her before, nor sent scared texts over anything more serious than their young sister's antics.

She watched gloomily as Natalya set off up the large staircase. She didn't like it here, not one bit. Even though it was her brother's familiar home, it felt odd today. Even so, she supposed she should assist with the search, so she wandered into the kitchen to check for the missing Russian man.

Her scream echoed through the whole house.

Belarus came running, a knife she had pulled from God alone knew where clutched in her hand, ready to protect her sister.

The crying Ukrainian threw her arms around her and clung to her, incoherently sobbing.

"Whatever is going on?" Natalya demanded to know, as she looked around the kitchen and saw absolutely nothing to warrant Iryna's bloodcurdling screech. She squirmed under her sobbing sister, trying to get out of the hug and continue with the task at hand: Finding her Beloved Big Brother.

But when Ukraine had composed herself enough to answer, it came as a horrible shock to Belarus as well. "Vanya's dead! Or he's hurt anyway! It's terrible and it's all my fault for not being here for him! I'm an awful sister!"

It wasn't this tearful babbling that caught Natalya's attention, only the key part. "Vanya is..." She couldn't bring herself to imagine the possibility of her Brother not being around anymore, let alone say it, so she paused to interrogate her sister, "What makes you believe that?"

Iryna wordlessly pointed to the kitchen floor as she tried desperately to stop the sobs that were shaking her whole body. On the floor, a pool of vivid red surrounded a large kitchen knife. The Belarusian froze.

She wasn't disturbed by the gore, nor was she afraid. She had enough experience with knives of her own to block that out. What horrified her was that someone or something had done... Done something awful to Ivan. Her Brother.

Anger and sadness fought for dominance. But with Iryna already in tears, she had to be the strong one, so she held her own misery in and let her rage prevail. "Right..." She growled, "Then we find who did this and give them hell!"

Iryna frowned, "Revenge won't help, Sister. We can't bring him back... Besides, we have to..." She paused, hiccupping and snivelling as she repressed her sobs, "We have to put our personal, family life aside for a moment and consider the global impact. What can the world do if Nations are being murdered?"

Natalya seemed to be considering this when they heard a very unusual noise for a murder scene.

There was a giggle. The two women turned as one, their eyes falling on the source of the sound.

In the doorway behind them, their brother stood giggling to himself. "You fell for it!" He declared.

"We... We what?" Iryna was totally lost now, one moment she was grieving over her Little Brother's murder, the next, she was holding back her murderous sister, and now her 'dead' brother was back.

For Belarus, though, the penny began to drop. She had pulled enough pranks in the past to know the signs. "Vanya, that was unfair! Why are you pranking us?" She snapped.

"This was just a prank?!" The incredulous Ukrainian gasped, "I was so scared!"

Ivan sighed. Suddenly, their reactions weren't quite as funny as he had hoped. "I'm sorry, Sisters. It's just... Amerika and I were trying to make friends, da? So he told me about something called 'April Fool's'. Apparently on the first of April, you are meant to prank people. But all his pranks were boring, so I made a new one."

Iryna managed to calm down, listening to her brother's innocent little excuse, "I see... Well, maybe next time, pick one more... Fun?" She suggested.

"Or just never take advice from Amerika," Belarus chimed in, scowling.

"I like both those suggestions," Ivan nodded, relieved that they seemed to be taking it a little better now that he had explained things. "Now... We should go and pull another prank... On Amerika, for starting this, da?" He made a suggestion of his own with a grin.

There were no objections at all from his sisters. So began the Cold War - Prank addition.