Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or its character, only the story idea.

Chapter 4

When Matthias was a boy, his father introduced him Hans Christian Anderson. His old man, being the proud Dane he was, had practically bottle-fed him the stories to the point where he almost had them memorized. He used to imagine that Anderson's world lay right beneath his own. Whenever he saw ducklings, he looked for the ugly one that would someday become a swan. Whenever he gazed into swirling waters, he would hope to see a flicker of a little mermaid's golden tail.

Though he soon realized the world didn't work like that. Fantastic creatures only existed in the pages of a book, and they only came to life in his head. He was a dreamer, a romantic, a fantasist, and the world hated that. It tried to kill that part of him and exterminate it like it was a disease to be cured. The world forced him into reality, a reality that was as hard and cruel as tundra's winter.

But now he was here. A character in one of Hans Christian Anderson's tales meeting an irrational, wild, extraordinary creature.

"Hey, Lukas" he said slowly. "All I want is a yes or a no." Matthias paused and Lukas's eyes curiously rose to meet his. "Can I ask you what you are yet?"

The being's eyes slid away. They looked everywhere. Everywhere but at him. Then, Lukas gave a barely noticeable shake of his head. The fire seemed to dim.

"No," he whispered. "please, no." another breath. "Just not yet." His head hung in shame, and his eyelids half-covered his eyes. A shadow had cast over his face, making it into a half-moon. One side as light as new fallen snow, one side dark, cold and chilling.

"Hey," said Matthias as he scooted closer to his hunched savior. Lukas didn't shy away this time. The moon grew larger. "Hey, hey. It's all right. I know you will tell me when you're ready."

Lukas finally raised his head and his sharp, iron eyes met Matthias's. The being's stare bored into him and he felt a chill whisk through his blood.

"How do you know I'm going to tell you?" He asked, his voice dripping with confusion. "Why do even trust me that much? I've already told you I'm a killer." His eyes searched Matthias's, looking for some kind of fear, understanding, or even some kind of reassurance.

Matthias leaned back into the couch and let out a large, heavy sigh.

"You know Lukas. You keep telling me you're a monster, or a killer, or something like that, but you have yet to show me it. So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really believe you." Matthias tilted his head back and gave a small smile to the ceiling. Beside him, he could feel Lukas's stare and utter disbelief.

He felt his heart sinking, like it was being dragged down into a deep, dark ocean. What kind of life had Lukas lived? What kind of life would force someone to believe they are a monster?

Maybe it's because he is a monster.

Then, he heard a small sound, a tiny, blissful laugh that chimed like a dozen silver bells.

"You are an idiot, you know." The voice was tiny and fragile, like a snowflake against a windowpane. His head snapped to Lukas.

He was leaning forward with his elbows rested on the top of his knees. He had drawn his face into his hands and was holding his head. The light outlined his face, giving his profile an almost golden gleam.

Matthias first noticed the tear in Lukas's eye. It hung on his lower eyelash and threatened to spill over and onto his cheek. But for now, it was just a tiny orb of silver that was barely clinging.

Then Matthias noticed the quivering of Lukas's bottom lip. It was shivering like a leaf. It was trying to hold back a sob.

"Lukas," Matthias said while getting closer to his savior. " Why are you crying?" Slowly, he reached up his hand, daring to touch Lukas's face. He brushed against the teardrop and wiped it away, so it could never tarnish him.

"Because you are an fool, Matthias, a wonderful, glorious, fool." Lukas met his eyes and a snowflake smile graced his lips. "But that is exactly what this world needs. Promise me that you will never stop being a fool and that you will never stop hopelessly believing in people, because without hopeless believers no one would ever believe in anyone."

Matthias blinked and felt the need to take a step back. Nobody had ever said something like that to him. Nobody had ever called his imaginings anything but useless daydreams.

Suddenly, Lukas's eyes went wide. He looked widely around like a trapped animal. Everything became cold and even time seemed to freeze for an instant. Shivers raced up. Gelid ice shot into his veins. Matthias's spine became laced with cold, steel, panic.

"Lukas?" he asked questioningly. "Wh, What's going on?" He heard the controlled frenzy in his voice, causing his words to come out in a shaky mess.

The being didn't say anything. He kept looking blindly into the air as his frosted breath rose around him. His eyes were looking, but they were not seeing. He reached for Matthias, his hand scrambling to touch the other's arm. When he finally found it, he latched on to it, holding it like it was his only lifeline.

The air was suffocatingly cold and it seemed to pierce Matthias's lungs every time he took a breath. He felt the feeling rush out of his fingers and toes as the air turned his blood into ruby ice. He desperately tried to move them, but they didn't. He body wasn't listening to him anymore.

"Lukas, please, you have to stop." He said through chattering teeth, but his savior didn't make a move. He was staring at the fire.

The fire in the fireplace quelled, becoming low, hissing embers. The air was smothering it, too. The dancers howled in pain as the air became dangerous around them. The cold was quenching its life, slowly, surely, unrelenting.

Then, Matthias felt the being on his arm shudder.

"Lukas? Lukas!"

Lukas's shudders didn't stop. They got worse. His body was contracting and writhing as if he was caught in the throws of a nightmare. His breaths were short and ragged coming out in quick bursts. Pain bled through every one of his actions and Matthias could only hold him helplessly.

Then, the being became still and slumped like deadweight.

"Lukas!" Matthias nearly screamed. Was he? Was he? No. He couldn't, right?

A fresh wave of panic hit him, but this was unlike anything he had felt before. It hurt more than anything he felt before. This hurt filled him entirely and became him, breaking apart his mind and his heart.

Desperately, he forced his hand to move and his fingers to obey him. He put there against the other's neck and searched for a pulse, a sign, anything. Then, he felt it, faint, but definitely there.

Darkness had engulfed the room, gilding it in murky, leaden shadows and blocking out all that was right. In the fireplace, the embers clung to the last of their heat and their glow diminished. What used to be the bodies of the dancers were now thin ashes, grey backs hunched over in the paralysis of death. Without the fire, everything had become heavier and familiar shapes seemed to sneer at Matthias from behind murkiness. The only light in the room came from the yellow candle on the table with its guileless flame and from the moonlight streaming through the glass window. They were the sole fighters against the darkness now.

Matthias hugged his savior closer to his body as if he could drag him away from the shadows and the shade. As if he could save him from unknown demons.

Something was so wrong as Matthias had no idea what. He wanted this being to trust him and tell him on his own time, but at some point he was going to have to demand answers.

Anyways, this situation was really beginning to freak him. No, who's he kidding. This situation was scaring him shitless. If this was a Hans Christian Anderson story and he was the main character, this was the time something bad happens and someone dies or a deadly secret is revealed.

But, thankfully, this isn't a Hans Christian Anderson story.

Matthias looked down into his arms when he felt Lukas begin to stir. Immediately, he felt his heart struggle in his chest, like it was caught in an animal trap.

He opened his eyes and ice, cold daggers toned down by confusion blinked up at Matthias's. In the darkness, his eyes were even more piercing, like two ice shards. Light seemed to glint off of them.

"Wha-" He began. Then, he stopped. He remembered.

Every ounce of confusion and sleepiness was gone in an instant. He practically jumped off the couch and began to look around wearily as if he was expecting an attack in a moment. Or maybe he was.

Matthias watched from his seat. Lukas hadn't looked back at him, and it was almost like he had forgotten he was there. His savior was pacing before him, his steps silent and soft, but all his muscles were tense and taunt. His graceful movements were now controlled by instinct and need. They were all primal and visceral without the steady composure of polished logic. He looked more animal than human. He looked like the wild, vicious creature that he said he was.

Cold was heavy in the air and the temperature was dropping steadily. Matthias felt the now familiar sting of frostbite licking at the edge of his body. It was both numbing and burning at the same time, and he desperately tried to push the feeling down.

"Lukas?" he began hesitantly. "I think you need to calm down." His words were shaky as his teeth started chattering. He grit his teeth and tried to remain as calm as possible.

The being whipped around and through the darkness his eyes glistened dangerously.

"Please, Lu. I don't know what your doing or how your doing it, but you need to stop." Slowly, he posture began to relax and the cold eased.

"Why don't you come back over here? We can sit just like before and talk and I can light the fi-"

"No!" His voice was iron-sharp and sliced through the room. "No fire. Do not light it again." The chill returned full force and frost covered the windows.

Matthias shook at the command. Lukas had never sounded so threatening or so savage. He still tried to desperately remain calm, but his heart rattled against his ribs. But he had to get Lukas to listen to him. He just had to.

"Alright, then. No fire. But I still think you need to come over here." He had attempted to make his tone stern, but it barely came out as a feeble request.

Lukas turned away from him and into the darkness, becoming bathed in its shadows. He began pacing again, like a wild cat caught in a cage. Matthias tried to reason with him again. But he ignored the human.

Matthias sighed and leaned back into the couch, carefully trailing the being with his eyes. Every one of my muscles were telling him to flee, to run out the door to get away as far as he could. But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't, not when Lukas was so obviously terrified. So he stayed.

Slowly, the cold was lessening and a comfortable warmth came back to the room. Lukas stopped pacing and silently slipped on to the couch where he was before.

There was a long silence that drifted between them. The mood is the air was tense and palpable like any sudden movement could set it off. Matthias risked a glance to his savior and saw that his head was hung, refusing to meet his eyes. It seemed like there was an ocean between them. The water was deep, vast darkness. The shores were two slivers of silver on the very edge. And they were two people on rim shouting to each other, but barely hearing. Their voices were whipped away by the wind and taken to a place where only the heavens could hear them.

"I'm sorry, Lukas" his apology was soft and battered by the air of the room. "But I need some answers if you want me to stay."

He watched the other, looking for some kind of sign that he had been heard. The being's body was stiff; he slowing raised his eyes to meet Matthias's.

For a second, he feared the worst. His savior was going to tell him to go. To leave. To get away and never come back. To acknowledge his own stupidity and naivety to go back to harsh reality.

"Alright" Lukas said, his voice low and stern. "I am called a snow spirit, but that is not what I truly am. I am the death that the snow brings, the chill that traces down your spine, and the last breath you give before death takes you. I am the cold of winter, which takes life away."

A/N: Hello everybody! Sorry for such a long wait on this chapter, but I've been extremely busy and took a hiatus from FanFiction altogether. (as most of you know it can be very addicting) I'm super excited for this chapter because Nor's identity is revealed! But if you think that's all I have planned for this story you are very wrong.

Alright, as always PLEASE REVIEW! That's the only way I get feedback from my readers and know if the story is any actual good.

Keep Writing,

Silverwind10123