Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya

OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls

A/N: Meh. I feel like crap, have a headache, and just want to review. Maybe I'm sick =O But anyways here's another chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it and comment if you have any questions ^^ (I'd write more, but I really don't know what I should say...)

! #$%^&*()

A groan escaped your mouth and you licked your dry lips, trying to force your eyes open as you felt heat around your body. You hissed in anger, your arms pushing the cloth that was wrapped around you and you shoot up. Quickly regretting your harsh movement you slumped back down, your eyes blinking as you stared up at the ceiling and noticed that the blinds were closed and the lights were off. "W-wha…" you looked around confused. This wasn't your room, that's for sure. It should be colder and you wouldn't have such nice blankets. You smiled slightly, running your fingers through the fabric. It was soft and warm, something you weren't used to waking up to in the morning. You usually had to crawl out of bed and build some sort of fire before getting this much heat, but apparently the person that had found you could afford something so nice.

Wait.

Your face suddenly paled. It was that Ivan from the tavern that saved you, you realized, and did he bring you to his home or something? You looked down, noticing that your clothes had been changed to pajama pants and a shirt. Did… did he change your clothing? Your flushed face slowly held a tint of red, your hands rubbing your shoulders as you began to shiver. "Damn it," you grumbled under your breath. That darn General Winter was close again; you could practically feel his gaze outside the window.

Then the door open and you flinched, your eyes gazing upon the large white haired man that had saved you from the storm. He didn't look happy, but he didn't notice you were awake as he pulled back the blinds and you stared face to face with the mean old Winter. "Why are you here –"

"Give me the girl and I'll leave you be, little Russia," the man told Ivan through the window, but you frowned at how forceful Winter sounded.

"I suggest you leave before I kick you out of my property," Ivan's eyes narrowed back, but you clutched the blankets over your face and tried to hide the nervous looks that you were showing.

"You can't kick Winter out, Russia. You know that," General Winter said, giving you one last glance as you flinched back and whimpered.

That's when Ivan noticed you had woken up and he closed the window and blinds, the freezing temperatures leaving the room and you let out a content sigh. "You ugh… you okay?" you asked, a look of worry on your face as he raised an eyebrow at you.

"Why wouldn't I be okay? You're the one who stupidly walked into a snowstorm instead of staying in the city… Why does that thing want you?" Ivan stared at you confused, sitting down on the end of the bed and gently touching your hand.

You paused, noticing the ice chill in his much bigger hand, but you chuckled lightly since you usually had cold hands yourself. "I umm… I-I don't really know. That story you were saying earlier, with the General Winter character… it's n-not as uncommon as you might think."

The man stared at you as if he was thinking, but then he got up and walked over to you. He pressed the back of his hand to your forehead and you let him, closing your eyes and waiting till his hand left you to stare up at him confused. "Да, no fever," he thought aloud, looking at you with critical purple eyes. "Are you hungry?"

You couldn't help but nod at the sound of food, your stomach grumbling on cue as you quickly held your sides. "Uhh… y-yes, да, but you don't have to feed me… I-ivan –"

"You rest. Food will be with you in a minute." He gave you a slight smile before turning and leaving the room, your head trying to look out into the hallway until he closed the door behind himself. You sighed and slumped back down, wondering what time it was. Since light had flooded the room you could safely say you were passed out till morning. Still, you didn't like being stuck and walked over to the door, opening it and smiling happily before shuffling back onto the bed and looking around the room.

The room was rather quaint, the walls painted white with some pictures of sunshine and rolling fields. Noticing a picture that interested you, you jumped to your feet and shuffled across the room to the picture. "W-woh," you gasped, taking the frame off of the wall and scooting back over to the bed. You had heard from Canada that there are places much warmer then Siberia and even places that had never seen snow before. Snow? What place hadn't seen snow? Still the picture was lovely. It was a field of golden under a bright sky. The mountains were familiar to you, but instead of snowcaps it looked warm and inviting. "Ivan… B-bra… Braginski? Ivan Braginski," you smiled to yourself, happy that you had read the painter's name completely.

"… M-miss?" a quiet voice came from the door, your eyes looking up confused since you hadn't heard anyone show up and noticed a boy much shorter then yourself. He had messy, untrimmed light blonde hair and light purple eyes that looked more blue then purple, but his clothing was a red uniform that you had never seen before. "T-tea?"

"Tea?" You stared at the boy confused, jumping off of the bed and walking over to him. His shivering intensified as you got closer, your eyes inspecting the tea pot and cups he had on a tray. "Why did you bring me tea?"

"T-tea is a… ummm… ai-ah umm…" The tray began to clatter as he shivered, his eyes starting to tear up as you grabbed his hands suddenly to stop him. "AH! I'M SORRY –"

"Eh?" You blinked confused, grabbing the tray from him and looking around the room. "Why are you scared? I won't hurt you. I don't even know who you are – Ah hah!" His eyes stared at you confused as you skipped across the room, finding an empty place to set the tray down before grinning happily and skipping back over to him. "… So?" You poked his arm playfully, a yelp escaping his lips as you smiled, "What's your name?"

"R-raivis…" His eyes looked into your own and he seemed entranced by them, your head tilting to the side as your amethyst eyes sparkled like precious gems and his shuddering slowly stopped. "Ummm… what's yours –"

"[insert-name]," you held out your hand and grinned.

"Oh! You're that new country, aren't you?" Raivis said as you nodded, your hand slumping back to your side as you smiled to him.

"Yes I am –"

"You should run away and never return here," he whispered, your face scrunching up as you stared at him confused. "You don't want to be here. You'll get hurt or possibly killed –"

"LATTTVIAAAAA!" A voice came from behind, your head looking past the boy to the man standing behind him and at the door. There stood a man with long brown hair, at least for a man, and navy blue eyes. You pouted; noticing the bags under his eyes and you reached out a hand to say something, but was quickly interrupted by the older man's comment. "Russia specifically told us not to talk to the new country –"

"S-she started talking!" Raivis said in defense, "and w-what can I do? B-e quiet? –"

"I uhmm…" you said, noticing the tray in the taller man's hands. Narrowing your eyes and noticing that the two people wouldn't stop talking, you snorted and grabbed the tray from the man's hands. He stood petrified, watching as you walked across the room and set the tray down beside the one you had taken from Raivis. "You need to learn to be quiet," you pouted, causing Raivis to shake, but the other man wasn't at all flustered by your comment. "Plus what do you mean you can't talk to me?" you sighed, opening the pot and seeing that there was soup inside. "Oh cool! Shchi! So much stuff in there too!"

The two stood by the door, baffled as you grabbed the bowl that was set on the tray and began to pour the hot contents into the bowl. "… W-who are you –"

"You didn't answer my question first," you snorted, sitting on the end of the bed and using a spoon to scoop out little pieces of cabbage as well as meat before putting the bowl up to your lips and slurp up the liquid.

They both glanced at each other and Raivis gave the older man a pleading look in his eyes, the man sighing as he took a step into the room and watched as you ate. "We ummm… Russia told us to only give you food and drink and then leave… Are you here for something –"

"I passed out in the snow and Ivan saved me," you told them, giving them a confused glance as you set the bowl down and looked over at them with bright purple eyes. "I do not know of this Russia… is Russia Ivan? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes –"

"Oh crap!" you grumbled, the two of them snapping in surprise as you jumped to your feet and walked back over to the trays. "My boss told me to stay away from him… oh well," you shrugged and put more of the shchi into your bowl. "He can't tell me what to do. No sir, he can't."

They had to admit, they were very confused with this new country. They didn't know if you were talking to them or to yourself, but as you mumbled under your breath and continued to eat the one with brown hair walked over to you. "So… what's your name?"

"[insert-name]," you smiled, "I'm [insert-name]. You?"

"The name is Toris," he told you, "but I'm the country of Lithuania and Latvia is behind me –"

"I don't like using the country names. It's so formal. Ugh!" You huffed in disgust and began to crunch down on the cabbage pieces again. "No, I will call you Toris and you Raivis. Not like England… So what is this exactly? I'm a bit confused."

"Confused on what, dear? –"

"If Ivan is Russia, then why are you two here?" You stared at them curiously, a sigh escaping Toris lips as he began to tell you the situation.

"You see [insert-name]… we're very poor and our bosses made us return to Russia so he would help us and our countries –"

"S-sadly," Raivis pouted.

You nodded, another sigh escaping your lips as you set the empty bowl back on a tray. "Too bad. I think I have that same problem," you pouted before a grin showed up on your face, "but you shouldn't be so down! Why are you so down? I don't get it."

"Wait, what?" Toris blinked confused.

"W-hat is there to not u-understand?" Raivis shrugged. "Russia is a m-mean, l-l-arge country that p-ushes on m-my head all the time. I-it hurts! I-I can barely br-e-eathe!"

"Well for calling him mean~ I wouldn't be surprised," you huffed, Toris blinking in confusion as Raivis' mouth practically dropped. You didn't know why you were defending him, but he surely couldn't be mean if he let you live instead of letting you become a frozen popsicle in the middle of nowhere. "… Maybe it's just misunderstandings –"

"H-he beats us," Raivis told you.

"Latvia!" Toris yelled at the small country behind him. "Don't scare the poor child!"

"I-I'm speaking the truth –"

"I don't see anything wrong with that," you said with a shrug, the countries looking at you as you huffed to yourself, "because I get hit all the time. What's wrong with that?"

"… Someone beats you?" Toris began to say, gently sitting on the end of the bed and staring at you with worry in his eyes. "Who does that –"

"My boss," you told him with a shrug, "but it's no big deal. I deserve it. I run away and I refuse to make treaties with countries, so I deserve it –"

"No one deserves that," Toris responded, suddenly running a hand through your hair, but stopped when you flinched away and crawled fearfully across the bed. "… Sorry."

"No, I should be." You shook your head, "I shouldn't shy away like that. Just… ummmm… l-look I don't really know why that's a bad thing, okay? You do something bad you get punished somehow, right? That's what мама always taught me."

"And who's she –"

"Well мама is no longer around," you shrugged, Toris staring at you with interest as Raivis seemed to have run out of the room for some reason. "She disappeared at the beginning of the snowfall… I don't know why though. We were having so much fun!"

"… May I ask how long you've been around –"

"Almost a year… I think… and counting," you grinned happily.

His eyes widened, "B-but you're so tall and –"

"I'm told it's because of the country I am," you shrugged. "No big deal. So I'm a bit tall for my age, so what? And I was a child, once. Just don't really remember when or why."

"Why? –"

"Lithuania," came a voice from the door, causing the country to flinch as you looked behind Toris' body to stare at Ivan in confusion, which was at the door smiling to them. "Little Latvia ran away. Can you fetch him for me? I need to speak to you both in the living room."

"Y-yes Mister Russia," he quickly jumped to his feet and ran out the door, your hand reaching for the man, but he was gone before you could say anything.

"Oh! B-bye…" You looked at the door for a few minutes before looking at Ivan, watching as he walked around the room and over to the trays set on the table. "I have a question."

He looked over at you, giving you a smile before investigating the trays. "Да, tell me –"

"Is your name Ivan Braginski?" You continued, his eyes looking over at you shocked before softening and he sighed.

"Да, that is me –"

"Cool! So you painted this?" You asked, holding up the painting that had been lying on the bed and holding it up for him to see. "I didn't know anything could look so beautiful, and so golden! Very pretty!"

He noticed the painting in your hand and smiled, sitting down on the edge of the bed where you were and lifting the painting up so he could see. "Only in my dreams [insert-name] –"

"Wait, this isn't real?" You pouted. "Awwww~. I thought it was!"

"Sorry to disappoint –"

"No that's okay!" You chuckled, "and ummm… you're Russia?"

You noticed his eyes growing colder, but that didn't keep you from smiling happily at the other country. "Да, I am –"

"My boss tells me to stay away from you, but you don't seem so bad," you told him bluntly, Ivan blinking a few times in confusion before his features softened. "I don't know why though. Why did you help me last night? If it was last night?"

"… You were being attacked," Ivan shrugged, "and you screamed."

"I did?" you blinked confused, chuckling lightly and scratching the back of your head. "Oh, okay. I usually don't do that."

"If you don't mind me asking [insert-name], but you are a country, да? If so then what's your name –"

"Siberia," you told him, but quickly pouted at the name, "but I don't like to be called Siberia. Just call me [insert-name], да?"

"Да," Ivan smiled back, "as long as you call me Ivan."

"Okay Ivan," you nodded happily, yawning slightly and scratching your eyes. "Oh darn! I thought I was all rested already."

He smiled to you, grabbing the painting and putting it back in its proper place on the wall. "Then sleep [insert-name]. I will talk with you later."

"Okay," you nodded, yawning again as you shuffled back under the sheets and watched him as he grabbed the tray with food on top. "… Ivan?"

"Да?" He asked, pausing at the door as he noticed you were already snuggled up against the sheets and had your eyes closed.

"Thank you for saving me. I would have frozen to death if you hadn't saved me from General Winter's wrath," you told him, cracking and eye and giving him a smile.

He smiled back, watching as you closed your eye and began to go back to sleep. "You are welcome," he answered you, about to leave again.

"Oh!" you realized, looking over at him before he left. "And if you can, don't hurt Toris and Raivis. I was the one who wanted them to talk to me… I usually don't hear others talk to me except for my boss."

"Да, sleep now," he said, this time a little rougher than his tone before, but you ignored it as you yawned and did as the older country said.

! #$%^&*()

)(*&^%$# !

You groaned, jumping out of bed and stretching your limbs. You may like warmth, but that bed was way too warm and woke you up again! Okay, it wasn't that warm and you'd admit that, but you weren't used to being woken up because your body was hot. You opened the blinds and smiled, noticing the sunrise, or perhaps the sunset, on the horizon. "Maybe I should look around," you thought to yourself, wandering around the small bedroom and noticing that your clothes weren't in the room. Better yet you should find your clothes, since some of the material of clothing was very meaningful to you and you hoped you didn't lose it.

You slowly opened the door, smiling triumphantly when the door didn't make a creak and looking back and forth down the hallway before walking into the narrow space. There seemed to be a few doors and then a staircase you spotted at the end of the hallway. You quickly made your way to the end, your mouth trying to surpass a giggle as the carpet rubbed up against your toes. As quick as a mouse you scurried to the bottom, your hand resting on the end of the railing as you gasped in astonishment. The house must be bigger then you originally thought with enough room to fit a dozen people! Where there other people here? You didn't know, but you were certainly going to find out. Quickly your senses picked up the smell of cooking and noticing the light fog on the top of the ceiling you snuck through the oddly quiet house into the kitchen. Your eyes opened widely at the sight of all the food on the table, licking your lips as you smelt fish sizzling on the frying pan. "H-how much should we give Siberia? S-urely R-russia will be m-ad if we give her t-t-oo much?"

"Just enough," Toris told the boy as he ordered him to gather items around the room. "She can have bits to our share too."

"Oh, b-but I'll be hungry! –"

"We mustn't anger Russia and we were told to give her as much as she wanted. I don't know why she's here, but if Russia got a hold of her somehow it can't be good, especially for poor little Siberia," Toris thought aloud, but you shook your head and tried to rid yourself of the conversation.

You broke a piece of a long loaf of bread that you spotted on a table and continued your search around the large house, not wanting to hear what Toris and Raivis had to say about you and your country. You didn't like how they badmouthed Ivan behind his back because he actually saved you. No one does that!... Except for maybe Canada, you had to admit. You doubt those two would do that. They'd just scurry away like frightened rodents. You may not know everything about yourself, that's for sure, and what other countries thought about you, but you were willing to learn and try your best to be the best country you can possibly be. You wanted to live up to your мама expectations for you and even if you didn't know what those expectations were, you were willing to learn them as quickly as possible so you can get started on your country's economy. That mean boss of yours, you have noticed, uses a lot of the money that should go towards the people for himself. You didn't like it, but you figured he was dying soon so you could work around him. He may have broken your мама to the point that she obeyed him and saw him as a good leader, but you certainly didn't see it and wished he'd disappear.

You were starting to wonder where Ivan was and decided to look for him, munching on the piece of bread as you cautiously walked around the house. You didn't like how quiet it was, but your house was also large and quiet. Though maybe not as large as this, your house would be considered tiny compared to this, but all that lived there was yourself and pets. Your boss didn't stay at your place, but when you refused to see him he would show up. Sometimes you just did that to have some company, even if it was a mean, grumpy old man. The countries that had visited you only showed up to try to make treaties with you, and since you didn't know who and why and how it would affect you, you quickly declined. You didn't like America, he was too persistent. England wasn't very fun and his cooking was bad. You did like Canada, but by the tone of his voice he wanted to take a large chunk of you and would call you the Province of Siberia, under Canadian rule. Actually they all wanted to do something like that, carve you up into pieces for each other. You sighed and scratched the back of your head. You didn't like the other countries fussing over you and to have Toris and Raivis talking about how you should run away when you have the chance… did you really want to? Matthew was a nice friend, but he either didn't talk about or notice General Winter. Either that or General Winter barely noticed the country. Matthew did say once, or twice, that General Winter had showed up, but that was a rare occurrence for the other country to talk about it and even if he did your mind would wander before he finished talking.

Yet you did like the part that General Winter caused America to pull his troops back into his own country. The man could serve to be a great ally if he could do that, but you didn't like him. He was too cold and bitter and was always freezing your house. Speaking of freezing you heard a scratching on a nearby door. Curiously you stuffed the bread behind your back and opened it, your eyes beginning to water when you noticed the freezing animal in front of you. "Oh no!" you gasped, grabbing the small shivering wolf and wrapping him in your sleeves. You quickly slammed the door and you heard the other two countries yelp is surprise, but you ignored them as you walked over to a roaring fireplace and knelt down on the floor. "Hey there," you smiled, running your hands through its long black fur as the animal glared at you with bright golden eyes before looking away and shuddering again. "Here sit by the fire," you told the pup, opening the screen so the warmth would flood the room, "and have some bread."

The wolf looked at you confused, noticing that you were holding out bread for it, but shrugging you set the bread next to his muzzle and stood up. Your head snapped up when you heard the 'pitter' 'patter' of Toris and Raivis running into the room, Raivis jumping back and screaming at the top of his lungs: "I-It's a wolf! Run! –"

"Will you shut up! God!" you growled back, the wolf snarling at the sudden noise until you placed a hand on its head and looked down on its eyes. "I don't want a new friend to run away," you continued with a giggle and gently petted the pup on the top of his head, "so quiet tones please. And besides this is a pup. He's probably looking for his мама and needs to go back to her."

"R-russia isn't going to like this –"

"It's a friend in need and we must help him," you snorted, the wolf standing to his feet when you continued to place a protective hand atop his head. "Besides it's freezing out there. I can't just let him go –"

"What is all this racket –" Ivan paused, noticing the wolf in the room as he began to growl and snarl at the large man coming down the stairs. The man narrowed his eyes back, but the wolf seemed to step forward to stand between you and the larger threat. You sighed and pushed the wolf away, the pup showing his teeth at you and you simply growled back in annoyance. The others watched this display and the pup quickly backed down, but was still growling and snarling at the new people in the room. "Who's that?" Ivan decided to ask, wanting to know what was going on. "A friend of yours?"

"He is now!" you giggled, rubbing the top of the wolf's head to calm him down. "He was stuck out in the blizzard and I couldn't let him freeze. Don't worry though, I know he's wild. I'll let him go once the weather is better," you smiled happily, though you were hoping the tall man would let the cold animal stay at least till the weather gets better.

Toris and Raivis were trembling in fear, but you didn't know why as you turned your gaze from Ivan to them and stared at them confused. "… Да," Ivan said, your mind not registering his response until your eyes lit up and you stared back to him.

Your bright purple eyes shined happily and you giggled, running at the man and grabbing him in a tight hug. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Raivis couldn't help it, but he let out an 'awwww'. You actions were like a child and it seemed that Ivan had also grasped that part of your personality. You did say you were only around for about a year, so why wouldn't you? Toris was smiling too. He could tell that Russia was kinder for some reason, especially since he didn't beat him or anything last night. Maybe that was why, it was you.

Ivan smiled slightly and returned your hug, brushing through your hair as he let you bury your face into his chest. "Да," he continued, though is tone was much more serious than before, "but there are conditions."

"Yes, o-okay!" You nodded, staring up at him with a grin on your face. "What are they?"

"You watch him and make sure he doesn't make a mess of the house," Ivan told you, his features softening as he looked to the top of your head and ran his large head through your soft strands of hair. "And call your boss and tell him that you'll be staying with me from now on."

"Oh?" you looked at him confused, your eyes dulling at him slightly as you pouted. "Stay with you? Sorry I can't do that. If I do that then Matthew will worry and then America will show up and mess up my country and all my little animals were starve without me there! Eh! I can't do that! At least not right now –"

"You will eventually?" Ivan asked you, though you noticed a strange purple aura radiating from the top of his head that caused the other countries to shudder and try to squirm out of the room.

"Maybe~" you giggled, not at all flustered by his aura as you grabbed his hands that were around you and placed them on his chest. "I don't know you well enough to say that. I don't even know myself that well. I don't even understand why you want me to live here and does that mean something different in country terms to people terms –"

"Hush child," Ivan chuckled, your smile growing larger once you noticed that he was grinning again and didn't seem angry anymore. "You ask too many questions that I can't answer. Now Toris," he turned his gaze to the two countries, Raivis letting out a frightful whine as the brown-haired man tried to hold back a sigh and looked to the other country.

"Yes sir –"

"Is dinner ready yet?" Ivan decided to ask, noticing out of the corner of his eye that you had gone back to the wolf and picked him up into your arms.

"Not yet, sir –"

"Be done in fifteen minutes," Ivan told him roughly, his voice hitching when you pulled on his sleeve and smiled to him. "Да [insert-name] –"

"Hey I just wanted to know where my clothes are. I have some important things that I want to grab and make sure I didn't lose anything," you told him, your eyes sparkling in such a way that seemed to make his own cold purple eyes glimmer too. "Plus your house is so big! I feel like I'll get lost if I don't follow someone around."

"Да," Ivan nodded, giving Toris and Raivis a glance that caused them to scurry away, "I will show you around, Siberia –"

"It's [insert-name]," you pouted, "Russia~~. See! Ivan sounds better, да?"

"Да [insert-name]," Ivan smiled and rustled up your hair. You yelped and scrunched your head, trying to move your head away from his massive hand. "Now come." You nodded and walked behind him, nuzzling into the top of the pup's head from time to time as he licked your face happily. You giggled. You were happy meeting new friends and to have Ivan say you can keep the wolf around, well let's just say that made you appreciate him a bit more. Though you didn't like that he said you had to stay with him because hey all the other countries have been telling you to do that every single time they come over, but since he saved you, you can't be rude and leave yet. That would be, well, rude.

)(*&^%$# !

A/N: I do have to say this chapter was cute XD Ivan's softening ever so slightly! ;3 And just remember this is set in the future, so the reasons why Latvia and Lithuania are at Russia's house is different than during the Soviet Union… though not by much. Not by war aspects, but because he's rather wealthy. I hope you enjoyed the story so far. Comment if you have any questions and I'll SEE YOU LATER! ^^