Disclaimer: Neither Chilly nor Avio own Hetalia, kthx~

Stranded

Part One

Chilly, Avio Favalon

Vanya… Vanya…

…brother…

Natalia naturally felt herself curl around her brother's chest, "Vanya, you saved me..?" She stated, although it was hard to speak with her lungs still feeling like they had been filled to the brim with water, "I knew you loved me…Vanya." She wrapped her hands in his scarf, even though it was wet, this was what let her know that this was her Vanya she was with currently, "Vanya..."

"Well it's my pleasure to have saved your life but I don't know who 'Vanya' is." Natalia felt her eyes burst open and she pulled away from the being that she once thought was her brother, and looked up to his face. His eyes weren't the usual emotional violet she was so used to looking at. They were instead a goofy, ridiculous blue shade that while they were extremely beautiful in the right light, they weren't Ivan's. They just weren't. His hair wasn't Ivan's either. Where Ivan's was sandy-blonde, this man's was blonde in the purest shade. Natalia wasn't sure she had ever seen hair so blonde.

And the more she looked at him, she suddenly came to realization… this was the man she had pushed over the edge of the boat. In fact, she could still hear his screaming in anger the more she looked at him. Why in the world did he get in her way, anyway? He should've known that NOTHING could've kept her from getting her Vanya's attention; he was merely just an obstacle anyway-

And what in the world was this obstacle doing wearing Ivan's scarf! Who did he think he was? To wear his scarf without so much as a second thought!

"You most certainly aren't Vanya. But I understand that you are trying to emulate him." She narrowed her eyes and glanced at the blonde haired boy again, "What is your name?" Her voice came out curt and harsh, despite the fact that she still felt dizzy from the water and almost drowning, and she still felt as though she were under the water.

"My name is Mathias…" Mathias said so very lightly, glancing with worry out in front of him, "Mathias Andersen. I'm glad to know you appreciate my saving of your life. I'm really glad to hear that you are happy I saved you. Really glad." Of course his tone irritated the shit of out Natalia. He wasn't her brother, and only her brother was allowed to speak to her in that way!

Pulling herself away from Mathias' chest suddenly, she snatched away her Vanya's scarf from Mathias' neck, still wondering why he was wearing it, and wrapped it around her own beyond wet neck, "Natalia. And yes. I'm glad you saved me and Vanya is glad too, "Now I demand you to get me back to the cruise liner, Mathias. Get me back to my Vanya this instant."

Mathias seemed to twitch uneasily a bit, before glancing back up to Natalia, "I don't know if you remember or not… but there was a storm last night… well… we kind of sort of got separated from the main boat after they tossed down this here lifeboat…I don't-"

"You don't what!" Her tone was icy and it filled Mathias with dread.

"I don't know where the others are!" Natalia didn't have the slightest idea what happened after she pushed him overboard did she? The storm waves drug her under… but Mathias managed to go swimming after her... he also managed to grab a hold of the scarf, and use it to pull her up out of the depths as well.

He had screamed out for help for what seemed like hours, trying not to kill both himself and Natalia in storm waves larger than he'd ever seen. It wasn't until a rather large sandy haired boy lowered a lifeboat towards them, that he was able to pull both himself and Natalia up into it. He tried to paddle towards the boat for a while, but his nerves took all of strength away, and he ended up blacking out… with the large cruise liner nowhere in sight. Sure it didn't seem so bad when he talked about it like that... but the salt water getting into his eyes, the constant waves, the rain, the lightening, the winds, and the fact that he was supporting a full grown woman in his arms… only made matters worse. "We are alone, okay?"

"A-alone?" She repeated quietly, stumbling back onto the other side of the boat, causing it to rock a little forcefully.

"H-hey, careful! You don't want to end up in the ocean again, do you?" Mathias asked, his loud voice making her ears twitch.

She didn't seem to be listening, hands resting on the scarf, her breathing shaky. "We are… away from everyone else? Away from Vanya?"

But… how am I supposed to get this back to him? What will he do without it? It's what is most precious to him… and… how am I supposed to get back to him?

"How are we to get back to them?" She asked, her voice quiet, eyes down at the scarf's end that she held in her hand, playing with the edge idly, hands trembling from the nippy wind that decided it wanted to blow.

"How am I supposed to know? Our best bet is probably… probably…" She had a point. What were they supposed to do now? Mathias sighed, a hand in his hair. It was like all that could be felt was wet. His usually sticky dry hair, was so wet that it fell in clumps over his eyes, the air was wet, the boat was wet, the water was wet, they were wet, their feet were wet. Heck. Mathias was wet in places that he didn't even think was real. Not only were they drenched... but they were cold as well. Wet and cold. Not a good combo.

He pulled his gaze towards the sun, willing it to be hotter, to dry them a little bit at the least. The storm had long since passed, leaving a relatively-calm ocean around them, making the lifeboat sway gently. The breeze caused a chill to run through the both of them.

Lost in the middle of the ocean. Fantastic. Who knew how far they were from any life of any sort? Any boats or ports?

"Hopefully… maybe they'll try to turn the boat around to get us?" He pondered aloud.

"Nyet, I do not think so… it is a cruise line. They lose money if they do not stay on course. They will probably send someone when they reach land next. Which will probably be a few days, possibly longer."

So… he was stuck with this girl… in the middle of the ocean… for several days? Maybe longer? Maybe forever?

She didn't look at all happy about it. She had a lost look in her eyes as she clutched the scarf, leaning against the side of the lifeboat. "It will be a long time before we are saved. We will simply have to survive until then. Hopefully we will come to land soon enough," she stated, looking out at the waves. Which way had the large ship even gone?

Oh, she couldn't even think properly. Really, all she wanted to do at that moment was just cry. She wasn't about to do that, though. Not in front of a man she'd never seen before, especially after he had gotten in her way and then saved her life. Sighing, she brought her knees up to her chin. She would just have to keep it in, then... at least for as long as she could.

Mathias was extremely lucky he had grown up around boats, and that he pretty much knew that he wouldn't ever get seasick, but he did find himself uncomfortable around this new chick. The way she talked to him, the way she stared at him… sure, she was beautiful, but she was pretty scary as well. The way she glared at him…caused his nerves to crawl. But sitting there… at the edge of the boat she did look rather pathetic…and he knew that she wasn't the type to ever look pathetic of her own accord.

Honestly, he wanted to crawl over to her, and hold her away from all danger she may have to endure ever. To be away from danger though, would mean that they'd both have to be free of the boat… which wasn't an option currently,

"W-what are we going to drink?" Mathias said quietly, "We c-can't drink the ocean water…"

The girl didn't bother to answer, choosing instead to continue staring at the end of the scarf she'd wrapped around her neck. In fact, anything Mathias tried to ask her, ended only with her shrugging him off a bit and muttering something about her "Vanya." Mathias could honestly say he was beginning to hate this Vanya person. What was so special about him? He wasn't the one who was stuck in the middle of the ocean in a boat worrying over where in the world they were going to get their next meal.

And this how it continued until the night… Mathias staring hopelessly at the water, and Natalia staring at the scarf…until a loud rumbling from his stomach suddenly signaled the hunger he had been ignoring since they'd gotten onto the boat and into their little predicament.

"Man I could sure go for something to eat… how about you?" Mathias stood up slowly, still not removing his glare from the waters, "How does a fish sound?"

Yeah... that's right! A fish sounded delicious… in fact it sounded real delicious right about now. But the longer her stared at the water, the more he realized… the more he realized that he had no idea how to catch a fish a fish with his bare hands. The two literally had nothing… nothing but a single wooden paddle and a small boat… they also had a scarf but yeah… how was that supposed to help them?

"A fish sounds good. But I do not see you developing any bare fisted fishing skills anytime soon." The sound of her voice caused Mathias to glance up. She had moved from her position a bit, but was still focused at her "Vanya's" scarf, "Luckily for you. I carry around a knife."

"Why do you carry around a knife? That's just freaky." Mathias laughed uneasily, only to have her stare at him intensely. Oh well… guess it was better than staring at the scarf... right?

"I carry around a knife to protect brother." Her voice was distant, and it caused him to shiver a bit. Seriously, this obsession with her brother…it was creepy. He was probably perfectly capable of protecting himself.

And Mathias wasted no time in voicing his opinion, "I'm sure your brother can care for himself, Natalia! I bet he's not a pussy."

A pussy! How dare he call Ivan a pussy! Who the hell does he think he is!

Natalia narrowed her eyes at the boy and held her hand out steadily in front of her, "Don't you ever say that about Vanya again!"

"Say what! That I'm sure he's not a pussy! Unless he is one? Cause I wouldn't doubt it with a girl like you around all the time!" He clenched his fists together and he could feel his nerves seething underneath his skin.

But she could feel her nerves as well, but unlike him… she had a weapon. She had a weapon she intended on using. That she would use! She reached slowly into her sleeve and whipped out the knife and wasted absolutely no time in tossing it directly towards Mathias' head… She'd have food now wouldn't sh—It was too bad Mathias was quicker than he looked though, and he dodged the knife rather skillfully. Which then meant that the knife sailed past his head, and the edge of the boat… directly into the water… and down to the bottom of the ocean.

"Did you- did you just throw a knife… A KNIFE! At my head! Our only hope of getting food is now sunken at the bottom of the ocean rotting!"

"Hmpf." Her snooty grunt and plopping back into her spot on the bench caused Mathias to take a deep breath of salty ocean air and move back to thinking about a way to catch the food. Without her. He didn't need her! And for now… bare fisted fishing was his best bet.

So he slammed his fist into the water… and waited while Natalia took the same spot as before, staring at her feet and moving her hands up and down the soft and damp fabric of the scarf once again.

Mathias listened idly to the waves, and waited some more…

…and he waited some more…

…and he waited….

….and he waited…

…and he waited…

In fact he waited so long that he ended up falling asleep with his now balled up fist floating rather sadly beside the boat. Natalia, who had started getting a bit sleepy herself, had hardly noticed how long Mathias had had his hand in there until she noticed that he was asleep. Shit. When on earth had he fallen asleep?

…Poor guy… watching this pathetic display only made her feel bad for tossing a knife at his head earlier… she rubbed at her eyes a bit before moving towards him and pulling his hand from the water and looking at it. Yes, of course it was severely pruned, and was actually popping open in certain areas… Shit, maybe it was a good thing he hadn't started bleeding yet… really… she then pulled his hand onto her blouse and tried her best to dry it…only to have it blister open some more. Maybe it would be best to just let that one heal on its own. She placed his hand into his lap, and sighed, before she took up the other side of the boat… and slunk her own hand into the water.

Cold fucking cold liquid ice this is cold-

Fish. Food. Nourishment.

Coldcoldcoldcoldcold

Food.

Cold.

Her hand was burning from the cold; how had Mathias been able to stand it? Let alone fall asleep with his hand in it? It was no wonder it was so blistered, what with the temperature and the salt and whatever the fuck else was in there…

Natalia sighed, withdrawing her hand from the ice water. It was only going to grow colder from here; night was falling and they were still soaked to the bone. The night would not be a comfortable one, Natalia could already tell. Even if the man beside her was sleeping without a care in the world. He hadn't even noticed falling unconscious.

How worrisome it must be for his family. If he can do such an idiotic thing as that, what other kind of trouble does he get into? Surely, he is a fool.

Still, her eyes fell onto the hand in her lap and she bit her lip. It's really bad, isn't it?

Again, she picked it up, gingerly so as not to disturb it, and sighed. This is going to hurt like a bitch when he wakes up in the morning, she said, gently stroking it absentmindedly. What was she supposed to do? She didn't have any medical supplies or anything, really. She placed it back onto her lap carefully, watching him to make sure she didn't disturb him.

The breeze picked up again, and a chill went through her. She wrapped her arms around herself in a vain attempt to get rid of the cold and lay back, careful not to shift Mathias' hand. Fuck, she hoped she wouldn't get pneumonia. She closed her eyes, sighing, trying to relax and find comfort and warmth in the lifeboat.

How were they going to survive long enough for a ship to come save them? Would she ever see her Vanya again? What about Mathias? Did he have a family? Did they miss him? Yes, certainly they must, just as she was sure that Vanya and Katya missed her. Katya was probably crying nonstop, and Vanya probably tried to pass it off with a smile. She wondered vaguely if the ship had run out of vodka yet. It wasn't unlikely; Vanya tended to drink a lot when the mood took him.

uddenly her face was wet... She wasn't crying. She couldn't be crying. The very idea of her crying was preposterous.

However, he is sleeping now… perhaps now… now would be okay…?

She let it go, her right arm over her eyes and her left hand clamped over her mouth. Her body trembled from the cold and from her silent, heaving sobs. The only comfort she had at all was wrapped around her neck, and the most it did was make her think of her brother, which only led to more crying.

It was like that that Natalia Arlovskaya fell asleep, body aching for warmth and food, heart aching for her precious family, mind aching for solutions and safety. She was aching all over, it seemed.

She dreamt of warm fireplaces, warm smiles, and her brother's warm embrace.

A/N: soum. There's a huge explanation for this and everything, but that'll be posted in its own chapter after the omake. :'D