Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Warning: Depictions of Violence, Death and gore

Part 2: Chapter 6: Closing In

Natalia was with her brother Ivan at Katyusha's home. She was helping him clean out Katyusha's things. They already put the house up for sale and their mother was coming up for the funeral a week later. After the funeral, she and Arthur were moving to Missouri. Natalia was going to plan the wedding down in Missouri to symbolize her fresh start.

Natalia was stuffing Katyusha's clothes in bags to throw into those homeless shelter donation boxes. Natalia was currently in Katyusha's room. Ivan was putting Katyusha's framed pictures into a cardboard box from their place on the wall by Katyusha's fireplace.

Ivan turned upon seeing a red Mercedes pull in front of the house. Out stepped Marianne in her black pumps, grey pencil skirt and purple blouse. Ivan set his box down and opened the door.

"Privet, if you are looking for Kat, she's deceased. The news hasn't traveled very fast. I apologize if-"

"Oh non sir, I'm looking for Natalia. Her neighbor told me she was here."

"Oh my mistake. Would you like to come in?" Ivan said with a smile, stepping aside as the woman nodded.

Ivan called for the other woman. "Natalia, could you come here?"

Natalia emerged, her mouth turned into a frown and it did not let up upon seeing Marianne.

"What do you want?"

"I came to give you this letter. Lili wanted me to give it to you."

"Is Elise dead!?" Natalia asked, taking the letter that Marianne held out for her.

"Non! She just can't leave her house. I think the killer might know that she knows their identity."

"Oh." Natalia said, looking at the envelope.

"I didn't know that your sister died. I only met her once, but she seemed like such a sweet woman. I'm sorry."

"My sister didn't just die, she was killed." Natalia said in a flat tone upon opening the envelope.

She pulled out a letter that was folded up and a polaroid. Natalia looked at the polaroid but didn't read the letter. "Where the fuck did Elise get this?" Natalia looked at Marianne with unmistakable rage.

"I-I don't know! The killer probably. What is it?"

"It's Kat, after that son of a bitch killed her!"

Ivan gasped, bringing a hand to his mouth. Marianne pressed her mouth into a hard line.

Natalia opened the letter and read it's contents, "No. That's not fucking true. For all I know she took the damn picture. I don't believe that bullshit."

Marianne stalked over and snatched the paper out of her hand, "This is exactly what I said you would do! She should have taken it to the police but she believed that you would do the right thing. I knew you were a selfish bitch. Give me the picture; I'll take it to the police."

Natalia grit her teeth, "Read the letter first."

"Fine. I don't see what the big deal is." Marianne said as she read the words on the paper before she opened her mouth agape. Marianne shook her head, "N-non I-it can't-." Marianne's eyes became wet.

"Exactly, what kind of stunt is Elise trying to pull? Sure I think they were together last or some shit but if anything they were fucking. I said that to Kat too and then she started balling her eyes out. But I know how she is." Natalya crossed her arms.

"I am not so sure we can completely rule him out as a serial killer, little sister. I have not been completely honest with you about what happened that night." Ivan spoke up.

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Sometime after the events of the beginning of Chapter 4: The Wolf

Next Saturday Mathiew went to Sraftbridge and to the same bar. He mentioned what he had seen unfold to Ivan, but he said he didn't want to jump to any conclusions without proof that Arthur was cheating on Natalya. Ivan didn't want to get into Arthur's personal business but would support Mathiew if he needed him. Mathiew didn't want Ivan to come because to be perfectly honest the man wasn't stealthy.

He watched as similar events unfolded as last time. Arthur was seated next to another blonde haired woman and after a short chat the two left together.

Mathiew tried his best to follow them, they'd gotten on a bus and Mathiew sat a few seats behind them. He ducked down when Arthur looked in his direction.

Mathiew's eyes were wide, and he bit his lip. He peeked around from the seat's lower half, and noticed Arthur was talking to the woman again.

They stopped in some part of Sraftbridge he'd never been to. Mathiew had to duck into a few alleyways and behind garbage cans because Arthur kept checking behind him every so often. If he had seen Mathiew, he hadn't made any motions to say so. The woman was oblivious to being tailed, possibly from being intoxicated, or she was just ignorant.

They arrived at an apartment complex. Hillside Apartments. It was a more worn down apartment complex with no lobby, or a gate with a code and the need to be buzzed in. A key was only needed to enter.

Mathiew kept to his spot in some nearby bushes. He waited a few moments before stumbling out of the bushes and walking across the street. When he got to the door he started picking the lock with a bobby pin. Mathiew had seen it in a movie and thought he'd at least try it. He gave the door a push and it opened.

Mathiew smiled a small smile. He looked around, and saw no one on the first floor.

The apartment doors were closed on each side of the hallway. Mathiew frowned and closed the entryway door.

Just then the wood creaked above him, and he made his way towards the stairs. He carefully ascended the steps and when he reached the top of the second floor. He came face to face with an auburn haired man. He raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me," he said before he stepped around Mathiew and went down the stairs. Mathiew continued to walk down the hallway with its green carpet and heard nothing, only the slight hum of the light as it flickered.

That was until the door opened to the right of him and Mathiew felt a grip on his arm before he was pulled into an apartment. Mathiew was going to scream when a hand covered his mouth.

"My, my Mister Williams, I thought we had an understanding. I'd stay out of your business and you'd stay out of mine." Arthur said from behind him, voice low. Mathiew stiffened, and the man uncovered his mouth.

"I-I can't let you do this to Natalia." Mathiew rounded on the other blond.

"Is that why you were following me?" Arthur's demeanor was calm, an eyebrow raised at the question.

Mathiew's cheeks were pastel pink with blush, "I realize that this wasn't the best way to go about it but I wanted to be sure."

"Now, now remember, you owe me." He smirked.

"I don't care about that. Out me, and leave the Braginskis alone."

"I wasn't planning to kill either one of them. You don't have to worry about that."

Mathiew raised an eyebrow, "What?"

A moment of silence passed before something clicked between the two blonds.

Mathiew looked past Arthur and down the hallway of the apartment to see the blond haired woman who Arthur was at the bar with laying on the ground, a pool of blood staining the hardwood floors. Her lifeless brown eyes stared right back at him.

Mathiew was going to scream but Arthur covered his mouth once again. "I could kill you before you even think about going to the police." Mathiew looked into the other man's green eyes and visibly shivered. "Then I could kill everyone you know and love. You don't want that do you?"

Mathiew shook his head.

"Good. Now, we're both going to leave here like nothing happened. I won't tell anyone about you and Ivan and you won't tell anyone that I killed this woman."

Mathiew nodded.

"If you even try to double cross me, I'll know."

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The night of Mathiew's murder in "Chapter 9: In The Cards"

Mathiew had dropped by his home unexpectedly. He told Ivan that he was having a disagreement with his brother Alfred. Ivan had not asked what the disagreement was about.

Mathiew shared an apartment with Alfred while he was commuting to and from school. Ivan knew that the two brothers often had their differences and let him stay.

"He has to believe me. He just has to." He muttered.

"We'll talk about it when I get back, da?" Ivan said and Mathiew nodded, biting his lip.

Ivan, worried about being unprepared, rushed out to the grocery store. He got into his car then.

Ivan walked into the Kicking Ticker and looked towards the cash register. Natalia had mentioned to Ivan that Arthur worked the night shifts at the Kicking Ticker, but saw Feliciano Vargas instead.

Ivan approached the cash register. Feliciano visibly shivered. "I-ivan! W-what brings you here?"

"Arthur works here, da?"

The auburn harried man nodded rapidly, "B-but I think he's running late. H-his shift started 30 minutes ago."

"Oh, alright. I'll be quick." Ivan said hurrying past him and grabbing some cans of corn and green beans.

Ivan filled up his basket and brought it up to the cash register a few minutes later. He put them on the conveyor belt. Feliciano scanned Ivan's items and his gaze would continuously flicker to Ivan who smiled at him. He bagged all the items into two large brown paper bags.

Feliciano swallowed and pressed the buttons on the register to get Ivan's total.

"$22.95." He said after he slid the bags to Ivan.

Ivan gave him the money and Feliciano opened the register to give him change.

Ivan hurried out of the store with the bags in his arms. He walked at a brisk pace to his car. It wasn't that late, but there weren't a lot of people out for a Friday.

When Ivan got the groceries out of his car and approached his home, the first thing he noticed was the door being open. He slowed his pace upon stepping in front of his lawn. He approached his steps slowly and presumably with caution.

Ivan then bounded up the steps seemingly in a panic. He went through the open door and ran down the hall towards the kitchen, the only source of light in the house. Upon reaching the kitchen, he took in the scene before him and promptly dropped his bags. They landed on the floor with a thud.

Natalia met his violet eyes with her midnight blues.

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The Present

"I knew you were with Mathiew! How dare you hide that from me! I'm more pissed that he's Jones's brother than you being gay. You got any more secrets?"

"No! Don't turn this on to me! You're in denial!"

"I'm not! I just find it hard to believe because it isn't true." Natalia crossed her arms.

"How could you not believe that it is true? Open your eyes Natalia, that was the night you were planning to leave. Isn't it all too convenient that you were forced to stay because you were arrested?" Ivan said, gripping her shoulders.

Natalia shook her head before making eye contact with Marianne, "That can't be true, you're his friend or whatever, back me up here."

"I am afraid it is true Natalia. The signs were there but I ignored them. M-maybe if I had not, your sister would still be here." Marianne sniffled and took out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.

"It is not your fault. I had not spoken up when I should have. I had a suspicion he killed Mathiew and did not say anything because I was scared of everyone finding out about us." Ivan said, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder

"You can't be serious. Why would he kill my sister? He knows I care about Kat." Natalia said.

"I don't know, ask him." Marianne shrugged.

Natalia pursed her lips and the three were plunged into silence. "So how are we doing this?" She asked.

"Doing what? Going to the police?" Marianne asked.

"No, our revenge. We're going to kill him right?"

"Non! That would make us no better than him. We're going to the police station."

"Alright." Natalia blew out a breath from her nose.

They left the house after that. Ivan locked the door and they piled into Marianne's car. Soon they were on the road, but when they reached a stoplight Natalia unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the car.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Marianne yelled after her.

Natalia did not answer; she continued to run down the street in the direction of Elise and Arthur's apartment complex.

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When Natalia got to their apartment complex, it had been broken into. The door had been kicked down. Natalia stepped over the door and went up the stairs. Two police officers escorted Arthur out of his apartment. He was in handcuffs and he made eye contact with her. And she searched for any sign that it wasn't true.

She saw sadness in his eyes, and without thinking she yelled, "Wait!"

The two officers stopped, one she recognized as Alfred. "Braginski, could you make my job easy at least once?" he said, rolling his eyes. They let Natalia catch up.

"Shut up you bastard." Natalia hissed. "Arthur, they said you killed Kat. That is not true right?" She looked at him, eyes wide and hopeful as a moment of silence passed between them.

Arthur sighed, "I suppose you deserve some kind of closure. I did, I killed your sister."

Natalia blinked as a long stretch of silence fell between them again. Except for the heavy boots of the officers that were going through Arthur's apartment.

"But why? I-I thought you loved me." She clenched her fists at her sides.

Arthur frowned, and avoided her eyes. "I couldn't help myself! Being in love with you wasn't enough!" He yelled.

Natalya stood, presumably in shock. Just how was she supposed to take that information? What did that even mean?

Natalya shook her head. It was as though reality was a nightmare. She squeezed her eyes tight, willing herself to wake up, "Wake up, wake up." She whispered.

"I'm afraid this isn't a dream darling." He said, tone soft, as though he still was the man she loved and not the man she hated the most.

Natalya snapped her eyes open and was angered to find that although she knew the worst about him, his prasiolite eyes were still the same. Natalia's eyes were wet, and she pursed her lips.

"You're a sick bastard. I should have killed you when I had the chance." Her voice was low, as though her words had no weight and she didn't believe she would have followed through on them.

"Although you hate me now. I still love you Natalya and I'm grateful that for a time you loved me too." He gave her a small smile, as tears fell down his cheeks.

Tears fell down Natalia's cheeks, "Get out of my sight, you goddamn monster!" Natalia screamed.

"Finally! Come on, you sicko." Alfred said as he and the other officer led Arthur towards the stairs.

Natalia slumped to her knees and covered her face with her hands.

Ludwig exited the apartment shortly after and sighed. "I'm sorry Miss Braginski, but know that this is not a rare phenomenon. Serial killers are known to be charismatic and can even have families before they are caught."

Ludwig stood there as the woman sobbed.

Elise walked out of her apartment sometime later and hugged Natalia. Ludwig followed the other officers out. Elise continuously apologized, "I'm so sorry Natalia."

Natalia clung to the smaller woman in the middle of the hallway, "Kat I'm sorry. I'm sorry I pushed you away."

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The night of Katyusha's murder

Katyusha stood outside of Natalia's cell, which Alfred had led her to. Arthur didn't want to come in to see Natalia, he said that the woman hadn't wanted to see him so he was returning the favor.

Arthur was still upset after getting rejected in a roundabout way, twice. Although, Natalia hadn't technically rejected him; she just wanted to put some distance between them. They needed to have a conversation to make that clear, but Arthur was stubborn and Natalia couldn't exactly leave at the moment.

Natalia shifted her eyes to Katyusha but did not make a move to approach the bars.

"Sweet sister, how did you get yourself into this mess?"

Natalia frowned, narrowing her eyes.

"They're saying you murdered little Mathiew. That is not true, da?"

"Of course it's not fucking true! But I wouldn't expect you to believe me anyway." Natalia pulled her feet up onto the bed and hugged her knees.

"I do believe you! B-but you've been in here for a few days. Is it looking good?"

"No, it's not." She hissed, looking away from Katyusha and at her own knees.

"What are they saying?" Katyusha approached the bars, her sapphire blue eyes wide.

"All the things they usually say, Kat. What they've been saying for years. Just because I was there and I am me I probably did it." Natalia's voice grew quieter and sounded tired. Natalia sounded like she had given up. "I don't see the point in trying to prove myself anymore, maybe I should confess to the crime and hope they give me parole."

"Nat don't say that."

"Arthur doesn't think I'm innocent Kat and he doesn't want to see me! What's the point?" Katyusha's eyes were wet with tears as she watched her sister's eyes do the same.

"Nat d-don't-"

"Shut up!" She screamed which came out as sort of a wail as she buried her face into her knees.

"Nat I-I could try to get him to come inside! P-please d-don't cry!" Katyusha tried to keep her voice steady.

"What?" Natalia snapped her head up and looked in her direction, cheeks streaked with tears.

"H-he said he didn't want to come inside. S-so I just came to see you. B-but sweet sister, I could-."

"You bitch! I've been in jail for four fucking days and you're already fucking him!" Natalia yelled at the other woman, and was at the bars so fast Katyusha stepped back in fright.

"What? Sweet sister, how could you say that?" Tears fell down Katyusha's cheeks.

"That's why he doesn't want to see me! He wants me to rot in here while he fucks you!"

"No! Sweet sister you misunderstand!"

"You fucking homewrecker!" Natalia hissed and shook the bars, her eyes red from crying and her hair frazzled from not being able to maintain it while in jail. "You are lucky I can't get to you!"

"Maybe you did kill little Mattie!" Katyusha said before running out of the door and out of the police station to the bewildered looks of the officers in the station. Katyusha furiously wiped her eyes as she ran to her car.

"Christ, what happened, Katyusha?" Arthur asked, seeing her reddened eyes as she got into the driver's seat. Katyusha sniffled, "Natalia hates me. She thinks I'm a homewrecker."

"What?"

"I tried to explain and she got so angry. She wants to see you, but I would not go in there now."

Arthur crossed his arms, "She's got no right to be upset. I should be bloody upset, she was going to skip town without telling me. I'm not going to see her; I don't care if she throws a bloody tantrum."

"I do not think I will go back either." Katyusha said sadly. "I will take you back home, Arthur."

"Hey now, since you're upset, maybe I could keep you company?"

"I was either going to cry myself to sleep or drown my sorrows in vodka. So sure, you can comfort me while I cry." Katyusha said while putting the car into drive and taking them to her home instead.

And Arthur did comfort Katyusha while she drowned her sorrows in vodka. The bottle was already half full when she pulled it out of the cupboard. He had his arms wrapped around her as they sat on her pull out couch. It was still in the couch position.

"My little sister hates me!" She wailed, and sniffled. She'd cried on his shoulder and he reassured her that it would be alright.

"She's going to hate me forever! I've been such a terrible sister. Maybe things would have been better if I'd defended her when everyone said she killed Boris. We didn't even ask, we just saw he was dead and freaked out."

"You can't change the past Katyusha. You have to own up to your mistakes now."

"It's too late now." She said through more sobs, "Deep down I fear Natalya. I fear what she is capable of."

Soon Katyusha finished the bottle, and it was already around midnight.

"Well it seems you finished it off. I suppose this means that our time is done." Arthur said, getting up and gripping the neck of the bottle. He felt the weight of it in his hand.

Katyusha, being intoxicated, just looked up at the man with benign interest. Well, that was until he swung it down on the top of her head hard enough to draw blood. She fell off of the couch and onto the floor. She let out a scream. As blood flowed in ribbons down her face, she tried to cover herself to prepare for another blow. Arthur tossed the bottle aside and straddled the blonde haired woman.

It rolled across the wooden floor before hitting the adjacent wall with a soft clink.

"Why are you doing this?" She yelled upon realizing he wasn't going to hit her again.

She searched his face, and his eyes for any sign that what was going on had been an accident. As she stared into the black abyss of nothingness that were his eyes, a slight twitch on Arthur's lips revealed all that she needed to know.

"I've wanted to kill you the first moment I saw you." He gripped her neck tightly, to block the air flow to her lungs. Katyusha gasped trying to claw at his hands, as blood dripped into her right eye. "But I said, 'no Arthur you can't, she's Natalia's dear sister.' So, I didn't." Although her right eye stung, she kicked her legs erratically and dug her nails into his hands, probably hard enough to draw blood, but he did not let up. Arthur squeezed her throat even harder. "But the thought of killing you didn't leave my mind. So I thought since Natalia hates you, why not finish you off?"

Katayusha let a tear fall down her cheek as the life left her eyes, her struggling stopped and she lay still under Arthur, who got off of her then. He frowned for a moment, his eyes also wet, before wiping her tears.

A/N: I was going to lean into the trope where they have a standoff with Liechtenstein and England was going to have a whole unsympathetic rant like in Criminal Minds before Belarus killed him but then I decided not to.

I hope y'all like this version.

Thank you for reading! Criticism welcome