Believing in heros is something that only someone who has never been a hero can do.

Maybe that's why America could only believe in Villains.

Brothers, friends, enemies, all of them were villains. America knew that, and had faith in that. One by one, each had proved it in their own way. And Alfred had learned to trust that once a villain, always a villain.

A hero could not believe in heros, and a villain could not believe in villains. So therefore, he must be a hero. Then, by the same logic, Russia, the villain, must believe in heros. That was what America had thought.

Then, one night,

"Hey Russia,"

Drunkenly,

"Do you believe in Heros?"

Would a villain even answer honestly? But Russia's face didn't show his regular mask, a blinding beam, but something twisted and forgotten, and frozen mitten forgotten in the snow, a flower petal wilting as frost melted off it. Russia's face looked honest, just for a moment.

"There is no such thing as a hero."

Then, back with the mask, unreadable lies.

"America must be drunk to ask such foolish things."

And he was, but that didn't invalidate the question or the answer. A hero couldn't believe in heros. If Russia didn't believe in heros, did that make him one? Had Russia at some point, been a hero, to a friend, or a sister? Then how could he be the villain now? And if America. Was wrong, what did that make him, the hero?

A hero couldn't believe in heros. A villain couldn't believe in villains.

"Then, do you believe in villains?"

The mask didn't show any emotion behind the smile.

"There is no such thing as a villain."

America didn't know what to make of Russia's answer. Perhaps the longest conversation they'd had without jabs, maybe the only one where America had seen Russia's honest face. An answer that America couldn't know.

A villain that doesn't believe in the hero. A hero that doesn't believe in the villain.

Wavering.

America watched Russia, looking for the truth, trying to discern the lie. A test.

"Then what do you believe in?"

There had to be a character, a "brother", a "sister", an "enemy" or "ally." A "Good" and a "Bad".

"Nothing."

America couldn't read a lie or honesty from Russia's mask. A world without heros, a world without villains, something America couldn't understand. A hero meant hope. A villain meant despair. A world with neither, America couldn't imagine it. A bank world with flat emotions and flat characters, no tragic backstories, or redemption arcs, or character growth. A world with a thousand empty characters who didn't grow from pain, who didn't sprout with hope. A world like a snow covered field , muffled and cold.

"It's lonely."

America's conclusion of Russia's world with no heros or villains.

"I don't like it."

The Villain, Despair, looked at America. The hero, Hope, turned his gaze away.

Hope that could not see hope. Despair that could not feel despair. If he wasn't the hero, if America didn't have a character to play, he might have thought they both lived in Russia's empty world. But America was Hope. He had to be.

So Russia must be Despair.

There had to be. Good and Evil, Hope and Despair. Heros and Villains. As China said, Ying and Yang. In Hope, there was despair. In despair there was hope. So, America, the hero, could not believe in heros. Russia, the villain, could not believe in villains.

"Maybe," America voiced drunken thoughts aloud, "they cant believe in either."

But if Heros couldn't believe in heros or villains, who could they believe in? If the Villain could not believe in either, what did that make him?

America, the hero, believed in the villain. He believed in the evil acts, the coldness of the heart, the cruelty hidden. He believed that the villain would attack, so a hero was needed. America, a hero, could not believe in himself, so he had no choice but to believe in the Villain.

"If the Villain makes evil plans, the Hero has to be there to stop him."

If Russia had left, America wouldn't be surprised. If Russia had ignored him, mocked him, or turned away, America would have felt that was right. But Russia watched him, and there was something behind the smile and the light voice that America liked, though he didn't clearly see what it was.

"Then a Hero must exist if the Villain exists?"

A childish tone, and innocent smile, a question that showed something deeper.

"Of course."

America replied as only a hero can, confidently. America was a hero who believed in the villain, and only the villain. He did not believe in Heros. He didn't believe in the innocent either. Russia, the villain spoke, his face betraying a shadow of something beyond the mask.

"I see, so that is your world."

America was hungry to see more. He wanted to see the face behind the mask again, he needed to see behind the mask to see if Russia really was the villain. Russia's mask didn't slip yet.

"And there cannot be a hero without the villain?"

A thrust.

"Of course not! A hero exists to defeat the villain!"

A parry.

Russia's beautiful icy mask was slipping again, and America couldn't take his eyes off Russia.

"Then I must be the Villain?"

Russia was preparing to wear another mask, and America's heart best faster at the excitement.

"You are the villain."

A confirmation, a final push. Cuffs, locking into place. America, the hero, must defeat the villain. Russia, the villain, must resist the hero.

Russia, the hope in despair, began to place a new mask on his face.

"But you see, America, I dont believe in Villains."

America, the despair in hope, pushed the mask on with a final click of settling into place.

"Then just believe in the hero."

Two background characters stepping from an empty, 2D world into characters in a 3D world.

America would only trust in the Villain.

And Russia, the Villain, would only trust in the hero.

Even if neither could trust in anyone else, even themselves, America would always believe the villain was creating a plot, and Russia would always believe that the Hero was trying to break his plans.

In a world with no villain, a hero is not needed.

In a world with no Hero, a villain is not needed.

In a world with just America and Russia, both a hero and a villain are needed. America was needed, so he would fight. Russia was needed, so he would fight.

A lonely world, with just two of them. A Hero, who could only Believe in Villains, and never allies or heros. A Villain, who could only see danger at every turn, a world full of heros to destroy him. And between them, hundreds of extras wearing the same mask to live in a world were they were needed.

England and France were bickering, somewhere in the background.

Heros and Villains.

China was scolding Japan, somewhere just barely in earshot.

Villains and Heros.

And Russia.

Russia was dumping alcohol sticky, cold, and unpleasant, over America's head, streaming through his hair and down his face, falling from his chin and hair to stain his shirt and stick it to his skin.

Heros.

And America was surging up to meet the provocation, swinging a fist to meet Russia's face.

Villains.

Russia blocked, and America tried again.

A feint.

Blocked.

Pulling back, tension in the swing.

Parry.

A careful game where both played the parts, where the hero couldn't win, and the Villain couldn't lose.

In a world where the hero falls, what becomes of the villain?

In a world where the hero wins, what becomes of the villain?

There cannot be a hero without a villain. There cannot be a Villain without a hero.

Russia cannot win.

America cannot win.

This was the role America had chosen to play. This was the role Russia chose to accept. An act created so "The Hero" could live. And an act accepted so "the villain" could survive.

England and France came shouting, argument forgotten. China abandoned scolding Japan to come to try to restrain Russia. America and Russia were pulled away from each other.

America glared at Russia from behind his mask.

Russia glared at America from behind his.

A villain cannot believe in villains, so Russia chose to believe only in America.

A Hero cannot believe in heros, So America chose to believe only in Russia.

This was the way the hero, spilling drunken words, and the Villain, without wearing his mask, chose to survive.

And it would work, for a little bit at least, is what America thought. Until either heron or villain fell, the story would continue.

This is the way a hero survives.

This is the way a hero dies.

"And the same for the villain too."

America muttered under his breath, satisfied, relaxing in England's arms into an alcohol induced unconsciousness.

"I do not believe in Villains, ." Russia rumbled the world's no one else could understand. "I only believe in Heros."

And the hero and the villain survived another day.