Arthur sat alone in his empty house, trying to concentrate on his paperwork, but the words kept on jumbling up together making it impossible to read. His fingers tugged at the short golden strands of his hair irritably, frustrated that he could not focus on his work. For the past few hours, he has been attempting to fill out bills, read and sign documents, read memos, record down his current stats and everything else of that matter. It was all due by the end of the week and it was making Arthur stress out as the deadline drew closer.

He sighed and laid his aching head down on his crossed arms that were propped up on a stack of manila envelopes. How he missed his little brothers and he would give almost anything to at least speak with them. He seemed to miss Alfred the most and it troubled him a bit. He should miss them both equally, but his mind is mainly leaning toward the middle child. The Englishmen touched his cheek lightly as he thought of Alfred again, his ever-smiling face and those large baby-blue eyes that used to look up to him with great admiration which he will probably never see again.

Arthur remembered when he was taking the little squirming toddler home. He remembered that it was hot and he was trying to settle the excited child down. He looked around the age of 14 or so and one would think that he would be much too young to take care of a toddler then. Arthur was very mature for what age he looked like, maybe because he wasn't as young as one would think. He might've been around a few centuries old then, for he is much older now and he doesn't care much anymore of how old he really is (he probably has lost track anyway).

Anyways, he was growing impatient with the little one's excessive whining and wild attempts to flee from his grasp. "America! You can't walk or you'll get hurt!" He scolded, but the boy was determined to walk on his own. Even then he was independent. Sighing, he set the boy down into the tall grass of the field in which they were cutting through to get to England's house. The child laughed and frolicked merrily around in the whispering grass that tickled his chin. England made sure not to lose sight of the boy, but soon found that the boy seemed to be trustworthy and focused more on where he was headed. Now he knew that this was a mistake.

The moment he thought this, there was a roar of what sounded like an angry bull and a shriek of a child. Horror stabbed him in the stomach and he immediately looked around to see a full grown male buffalo was being flung around in circle but something hidden in the grass. Astonished and terrified that he did not know where America had gone, he sprinted toward the rotating beast. He called the toddler's name as he parted grass all around until he found out that the boy was the one who was flinging the beast around effortlessly as if it were a simple stuffed bunny.

Arthur gaped at the laughing boy, blown away at the absurdity of this. He shook himself out his stupor and realized that America was strong, but this didn't change the fact the Arthur was angry at the boy for being so unruly and unfair. Why couldn't he have been so strong when he that small?

He was yanked out of his deep reverie at a relentless rapping at his door. Groaning, Arthur pulled his head from out his arms and walked toward the front door. Why did he miss America so much? It didn't seem fair that he favored him more than Matthew. Matthew has been loyal to him for a very long time unlike America who has been pestering him constantly about his independence. He liked that Canada was hard-working and much more mature than his older brother and he tries to make the best of things. It makes him feel bad that sometimes he cannot recall his name or let alone who he is sometimes. Now that he thinks about America more and more, new feelings are beginning to form for him. These feelings to him feel taboo even though he and America are not blood brothers, but it makes him feel like a pedophile for some reason. They may look about the same age, but they are really centuries apart.

But the burning feelings remained in his heart, no matter how much he tried to tell himself that he didn't.

The knocking was steadily growing louder and faster and Arthur felt his patience slowly ebb away for the moron who was knocking at his door. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" He shouted as opening the door. Something seemed to snap in his brain as he saw who was standing at his door step. Francis. Arthur did not need France now, nor would he ever want the company of the Frenchman. "Bonjour mon cher England!" The blonde man cried warmly and opened his arms to hug the shorter one, but Arthur hastily closed the door. There was a sharp cry from the other side of the door and he looked down to see a foot interfering with the contact between the door and the doorway.

Growling, he opened the door and invited the Frenchmen inside. France was dressed in his usual, fashionable, uniform of a blue coat and red pants with boots. His long blonde hair was practically glowing with health and so were his lovey-dovey blue eyes. "Where are the boys?" He asked as helping himself to the refrigerator, probably looking for wine. "America and Canada are at College and what do you want, Frog?" Arthur snapped matter-of-factly as sitting back down in his chair, attempting to sort out the mess on the table.

"Oh nothing much, I was just hoping that I would be able to see my little brother. I also happened to be in the town and decided to drop by," He said as succeeding in finding a bottle of wine in the back of the Englishmen's fridge. "If you are so keen on visiting Matthew, why don't you call before you come over? You are aware that we are currently in the twenty-first century and there are phones." He glared at France as he made a childish look of disgust as he took a sip to the cheap wine he bought at a supermarket for Christmas last year, but had forgotten about it until now.

France merely made a tsk sound as he poured the wine down the drain of the sink. "I can only escape work so much mon cher, I don't have the time to make a call." Green eyes rolled scornfully in their sockets. "Is that the reason why you gave Matthew to me so long ago?" The blonde man froze and pain shadowed his eyes.

"No," He whispered softly.

"Then why did you? Why won't you tell me Francis? For years, for centuries you refuse to tell me why you gave Matthew to me. Tell me now," Arthur urged.

Francis slowly turned around to face the man sitting at the table. He was taken aback of how tired and suddenly old Francis looked. Usually, he was energetic, happy, and a bit horny, but now he looked the opposite. His blue eyes were raw and black circles were underneath them and his face looked a bit hollow. The stubble on his chin might as well be gray with the tired and old look he was giving Arthur.

"I was going through a lot then mon cher. I couldn't afford to support him then. I thought I told you that did I not?"

"Yes, but I want to know the truth, Frog."

The blonde man sighed and ran a hand through his long hair that seemed dull now. "I'll tell you what, how about I tell you at Christmas where I'm not as busy. I really should be going now, I have a lot of things to do."

With that, France was gone.

~;~

I woke up a bit later than usual the next morning and whined a bit in protest at a prodding sensation in my lower back. "Matvey~ . . . Matveeeeeeeey~ . . . Matvey~!" I squirmed as it jabbed a sensitive part in my back and yanked the covers over my head. The blankets vanished suddenly and giant hands grabbed my ankles and began to drag me off the bed. My eyes shot open and I clawed at the sheets in terror, thinking that it was a zombie trying to eat me for breakfast.

"Wahg! Don't eat me zombie! I'm bony and nasty! You won't like me! Eat my brother! He has a lot more meat than me! Oh sweet mother of maple, don't eat me!" I screamed as being dragged onto the floor. My vision was fuzzy, for I didn't have time to put them on, and I glanced up at a freakishly tall shape above me and I felt like I was going to piss my pants. The shadow slowly sat down in front of me and I tried to scramble away, but the zombie grabbed me by the wrists and pinned my feet down with its knees.

I cringed and waited for the zombie to drag my helpless soul to Hell.

"Matvey? Why are you so scared all of a sudden? It's only me, Ivan," A soothing voice whispered somewhere where my weak eyes could not see. Then reality pounded down on me and I was immediately embarrassed at the absurdity of thinking that zombies actually did exist. Warm and strong arms wrapped around me and my face was buried into Ivan's worn scarf. Hesitantly, I hugged him back lightly and breathed in his scent. It wasn't as I imagined up close. He smelt of vodka, snow, and a faint fragrance of sweat. "Sorry Ivan, I was just being stupid . . . Um, you can let go now," I said awkwardly, blushing furiously in his scarf.

Russia obeyed slowly, acting as if he never wanted to let go. He helped me up and I asked him if we wanted anything for breakfast. He claimed that he already ate and I made myself a toaster strudel and gave Kuma a fish for breakfast. The little bear was still asleep in my bed despite the frantic battle earlier. Once I ate, I decided that I should start on some of my homework for a while and then take a break at noon. I set my stuff on the table and started my tireless work for perfection on my report and then move to the other assignments.

The hours seemed to drag by slowly, taunting me with the fact that there was going to be a break in a few hours ahead. The clock on my laptop finally said it was around noon and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. Slowly getting up and out of my chair, I stretched my back and my arms and wiggled my toes before scooping up Kuma and walking out of the dorm. Ivan had left the dorm earlier, probably getting frustrated with his work or gave up to go somewhere.

The hall was quiet except for some noises of stirring and music feeding through the stone walls. I met Prussia at the end of the hall and we started walking toward the front doors so we could wander about in the courtyard. We discussed the usual stuff. Homework, kids who we don't like, kids that we do like, our classes, and so on. We reached the courtyard and it was a murky and humid day which promised some more rain. The ground was muddy and puddles gathered in places within the grass and we decided to sit down on a bench in front of the fountain. The fountain was made of white marble and had a sculpture of planet Earth with gold bars of latitude and longitude criss-crossing around it. Water sprayed out from the top and splashed down into the basin below.

As we were conversing about a girl in our Food class being knocked up, I spotted a flash of a scarf go around a corner to go behind the main campus. I narrowed my eyes and said that I needed to go back to work and left Prussia on the bench. I slowly went round the school to the back where the soaked football field stood empty. Almost. I heard an angry shout and a string of curses coming from around the other corner. There was also a third voice that was chanting someone to bite his ear off.

Cautiously, I snuck around the corner and I felt my heart leap to my throat. There were two guys grappling on the ground and a third standing at a safe distance away from the fight and egged them on. I saw a fair blonde head get held in a headlock and the second guy laughed haughtily in the person's face. "You going to give up now Ivan? You going to run home and cry to mommy? Oh wait, you don't have one!" The other guy was a tall guy that must've been a sophomore or junior here and he had shaggy brown hair that hung in his cruel green eyes and I knew he wasn't a nation. I glimpsed angry red-violet eyes and suddenly, the perpetrator was flung back against the wall and I saw Ivan throw a powerful punch in the other's jaw.

Again and again, Ivan gave the boy a knuckle-sandwich until his knuckles had a nice coat of blood on them. The third guy fleed from the scene, cackling and throwing insults over his shoulder as he went on his merry way. Ivan threw the second down on the ground and stalked off toward where I stood frozen in shock. He stopped suddenly and his big purple eyes looked at me innocently. I said nothing and ran off, terrified that he might come after me. "Wait, Matvey!" He called from behind me, but I ran faster. Suddenly, I tackled to the ground by something big and heavy. I screamed and started to frantically flail and scrabble at the ground.

Giant hands grabbed me and spun me around to face him, but I tried to wiggle away from his grasp, but his grip was firm and would not let me go. "Let me go!" I cried as squeezing my eyes shut and looking away. "Matvey, let me explain! I was only teaching that boy to not mess with countries!" I stopped trying to escape and gave him an angry look. "You didn't need to beat to crap out of him though! You could've ignored him or you could've told him to shut the hell up! Let me go, Ivan!" I snarled as flailing furiously.

"Matvey, you and me both know that doesn't work! Sometimes you have to hurt someone to make them stop." He explained softly, his grip on my wrists loosening a bit. "I didn't hurt you," I muttered darkly, looking away. Ivan fell silent and I blushed a bit at his closeness. "I suppose you're right Matvey . . ." Ivan removed his hands from my wrists and I inwardly shivered at how he gently brushed his fingertips against my skin. Why was he so nice all of a sudden? Why did he have the need to touch me all the time? I'm not complaining I guess, but it seems very odd.

How can he be so gentle to me yet such a jackass to other people, including his sister? Questions crammed my head as he helped me up from the wet concrete. I dashed off as soon as I regained my balance and closed my door to the dorm and slowly sat down at the table. I tried to continue my homework, but nothing seemed to make sense. Sighing in defeat, I packed my things and set my bag in its spot on my chair. I picked up Kuma again who was pawing at my leg gently and I curled up on my bed with the little bear pressed comfortingly against me.

"What's wrong?"

"A lot of things Kumazinu . . ."

I told Kuma everything that I felt and the bear listened and tried to stay awake as much as he could, but he failed and dozed off. I disregarded his slumber and whispered on into his ear, as if he would remember when he would wake up. I finished and felt drained and old. I stroked Kuma's sleeping form slowly and drifted off into a confused sleep.

(Ivan)

Ivan felt awful. He felt like he had punched the Canadian in the mouth or something. He needed to hit something, bad. Growling, Ivan turned to a wall and punched it as hard as he could. Pain ached in his knuckles and his own blood bled from the open wounds on his hand. The wall had now a spider-web crack in the side and bits of stone crumbled away and onto the concrete. Why did he have to snap today? Why did he have to beat the snot out of that boy today? A suffocating feeling filled his lungs and he felt sad. He never felt this way before; this nameless feeling troubled him as he tried to place what it was.

He clutched his chest and slowly sunk down to the ground and hugged his knees. Remorse. He felt remorseful for the first time in his life.

~;~

A/N: I had a head start on this chapter so I kinda threw this chapter together. I apologize if this was a bit sloppy and just not good, I wrote this earlier this morning. I threw in a bit of a bonus in the beginning so I hope you all like it better than I do. Uhg, I'll probably have the sixth chapter up by the end of the week this time if I'm able to sneak on during the week. See you all later!

REVIEW PLEASE!

c(^^c)