Author's notes: Bah, it took several days of staying up late to finish this one. And I'm EXTREMELY sorry for the late update, it's my entire fault. I had exams and I had to study, but it was bad-timing on my part for posting this a few weeks before the exams; again, deeply sorry for the terribly late update. Hopefully it's as good as I intend it to be. Again, I apologize in advance for grammar, punctuation, or spelling mistakes and OOCness. Half the credit goes to Ms-Octoberry. Oh yeah, I should warn you that I'm going to be putting multiple pairings in this story. I don't care even if they clash with the other pairings, I'm putting them in. Feel free to suggest any pairings that comes up to your mind. Oh, and since I have no experience writing romance in general, if I were you, I wouldn't expect fluff on every chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, it belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.

PROLOGUE

PART 2

Ivan followed his mother, his hand still tightly clutching hers, into the grand ballroom of the Braginski manor. Ivan rarely went in the grand ballroom, for reasons he himself couldn't understand why. It felt wrong to be in the large room. To Ivan, the room terribly reeked of power, greediness and hostility. It was a place where he would imagine dozens of aristocrats dancing on the polished marble floors, talking with each other with their smug smiles and carefree attitude, drink glasses upon glasses of wine or champagne and eat out of a silver plate, laughing down at the less-fortuned people, and how terribly his humble and kind parents stood out from the rest of their frivolous family.

Even though it was a celebration of his own tenth birthday that day, he was completely reluctant with having to celebrate it with the rest of the Braginski family. Don't get him wrong, Ivan loves just about everything and anything on this Earth; but he downright hates his family. He hated when his bratty cousins and their snobby parents came to visit, all of them did nothing but cause problems for Ivan and the rest of his family with their constant complaining of their housing and possessions. He hated when his family had to go and visit his spoilt cousins and their families only to have them brag about the things they have and Ivan's family don't. He especially hated when the elders of the family came to visit them. He remembered the last time his grandfather came to visit; all he did was complain about Ivan and scold his parents for not abandoning little Ivan the first chance they got. Aren't they all a one, big, dysfunctional family?

As soon as Ivan stepped into the ballroom, he was surprised at what he saw, and apparently all the guest were surprised of what they saw. Ivan looked at the crowded ballroom, examining each and every detail of all the familiar and unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Several faces that he could recognize, them being his annoying cousins, much to his chagrin, were looking at him with a look of pure disgust and mock. But he didn't care how they looked at him; he was too shocked at the large amount of people inside the room.

He knew no matter how much he hated his family, his family hate him ten thousand times more. The insults and scorn coming from the elders of the Braginski house for Ivan didn't go unnoticeable to the rest of the family. Instead of protecting Ivan from these scorns, since he was only just a child, they sneered gleefully and were often part of it. Of course they would be happy, there's one less potential rival for the heir of the Braginski fortune after all. Now this is where karma struck these people; Grandfather Winter, the head of the family, actually chose Ivan to be the heir of the fortune. The rest of the family were shocked and tried to convince Grandpa Winter to choose someone more 'suitable' and less 'disgraceful', but Grandfather Winter did not want to hear any of it. Ivan was going to be the heir, end of the story.

Not that Ivan knew about this ordeal, or his parents for that matter. Even if he did, he wouldn't care, he preferred being poor and loved than rich and hated.

"Oh, look what the cat dragged in and threw up on the floor."

Ivan flinched, he knew that voice, and he certainly didn't like who it belonged to. He scanned the crowd another time to see that his suspicions were correct. His worst nightmare, his sworn enemy, the rain on his parade, the Satan to his hell, his second cousin, twice removed, Alexei. How it made Ivan want to puke just by thinking up his name.

There, behind his pompous and arrogant mother, Alexei stood, face contorted to what seemed to Ivan as a failed expression of mock and superiority. His pompously styled blond hair perfect as ever, his blue eyes boring into his violet ones with a discriminating stare, his thin lips pulled up to a failed attempt of a smirk, his nose pointing up, showing off his nostrils. Whatever Alexei tried to look like, Ivan thought he looked like a blond pig.

"Hey, commoner, are you that listening to me?" He went off again, "Or, are you to illiterate to understand me? Shall I use caveman language then? Or, perhaps I should start screeching like a chimpanzee for you to understand?"

A seriously ugly blond pig with an attitude problem.

"Now now, Alexei," his mother chuckled under her breath, "You must not waste your time talking to these commoners. Come now, you're far more superior to that disgrace of a child."

Ivan felt his mother's hand tighten its clutch at his hands. Ivan knew if there was anyone madder than him, it was his mother. As much as his mother and father tried to hide the apparent 'violent tendencies' his mother like to have from time to time. Really, the whole town and their grandmothers knew about it, so why should she hide the fact that she beats up people with a shovel when they made her angry, with an overly creepy smile on her face while menacingly chanting 'kolkolkol'?

…On second thought, don't answer that question.

"My, if it isn't Kathy," His mother replied in a sickly sweet voice, topped with layers of venom to give it that extra jest, her face darkening as she does so, "How very…pleasing to see you here."

"And Annie," The woman replied with as much honey and venom, "It's been far too long since we last saw each other. When was the last time I saw you? A little over a month ago, I suppose, perhaps a little longer?"

"Unfortunately it hasn't been long enough. I had quite a peaceful time without hearing your horrible voice screeching my eardrums off."

Everyone in the room, including Ivan, gasped at the bold move she just made, of course, Ivan's mother being…Ivan's mother didn't care what they thought and proceeded to smile at the shocked woman. The woman's face contorted to that of disbelieve, surprise, anger and hatred. No one tried to stop them though; no one dared to get in the way of the two bickering sisters. Really, trying to get in between them is like trying to get in between a herd of stampeding rhinos and a herd of stampeding elephants. It was a stupid move to make.

The woman regained her composure, though her face was turning a vivid shade of crimson from the embarrassment she just faced, and managed to stutter out a reply: "H-How dare you…!"

"And that dress? Really," His mother chuckled darkly, "It makes you look older than you actually are. And I thought I was supposed to be the older sister."

The woman was visibly shaken up; she, on instinct, looked down at her dress. It was a fancy dress, with golden silk ribbons, satin laces and a deep velvety maroon color. It was tight around the waist, but flared gracefully down to the floor in a mix of maroon and gold. The ruffles and embroidery on her neckline and sleeves were taken directly from the Victorian era designs. It took her weeks of fitting and finding the right fabric to get this dress right! It was way more expensive than the whole Braginski estate combined! How dare she call her old!

"What are you talking about?" She spat with much more venom, "This dress is exclusively tailored for me! You can't get this kind of dress ever, not even in your dreams! It's nothing compared to what you commoners wear! It's definitely way more expensive and cultured than those rags you call a dress!"

Ivan's mother smiled and nodded slowly, "True," she said, in barely a murmur, but her eyes twinkled brightly, "But I guess the fanciness of your…overly extravagant dress didn't help to cover your fat. And have you gained more wrinkles the last time I saw you? You're practically a dried up prune!"

Ivan's mother sighed in discontent and pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand, "And I thought I was the older one…"

"At least I don't look like some half-eaten sparrow the cat vomited on the porch!" Her sister rebuked harshly.

"Oh, but for a half-eaten sparrow, I was much more popular than you in our youth. Do you remember?"

"Lies!" She fumed, "You paid all those boys with your body to gain their untimely affection, you little wench! You're nothing but a shameless woman who befits her damned mother!"

Ivan could've swore he heard something snap inside his mother. His mother glared at her sister with her piercing eyes and creepy smile like there was no tomorrow, all the while loudly chanting 'kolkolkol'. Ivan could feel the atmosphere in the room becoming tenser and tenser. He knew family was important to his mother, and thus she never truly unleashed her age on either of them no matter how annoying they get! But she had her limits, and trash-talking the mother she respected was crossing that line.

"You are one to talk sister," Ivan's mother literally spat out, "Your marriage with your so-called 'lovely husband' is as fake as the fact that you were the most beautiful person in this room!"

Quiet murmurs of fear and worry started spreading around the room. They're no fool; they know that when something like that happens, it wasn't good. The only one who wasn't affected by his mother's dangerous killing aura was the said person's soon-to-be-victimized sister, who was glaring at her full force with a vein or two popping on her head. Ivan shivered slightly in fear; he can feel the tension weighing on his shoulders, and he just couldn't take anymore.

"M-mama?" Ivan stammered out looking up at his mother.

"Not now, sweetie," His mother replied, her smile still present and never taking her eyes from her sister, "Mommy's having a bit of fun teasing her little sister. Why don't you run along and find your papa and your sisters? Before her sad excuse of a pig she calls a son comes and bullies you again."

She yelled the last sentence so loudly that it echoed inside the silent ballroom. Everybody in the room stared at her, not with surprise, not with awe, not with anger; they just stared with their faces contorted into a funny expression. The kind of face that is commonly known as the 'Oh, she did not just go there!' face. And, apparently, ladies and gentlemen, she did just go there, and she's quite proud of it too.

"Scoundrel!" Her sister started yelling out in a burst of red fury, "Street rat! Hag! She-witch! You daughter of—"

"Enough."

Suddenly, the air in the room became cold and tense, even tenser than it was before. Ivan's aunt's face changed from that of a red tomato to a pale ghost. Ivan could see his mother's smile immediately changed into a deep scowl; his mother never scowls like that, she only scowls when she's afraid. A chilly breeze blew past Ivan, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

"Ivan, go find your papa and sisters," His mother whispered harshly, her eyes set firmly on her trembling sister, "Now."

His mother didn't need to tell him twice to get out of there. Quickly, he rushed towards the opposite direction the menacing aura was coming from. He didn't know where his father was, or anyone else he knew that wouldn't jeer him too much, but as long as he was safely far away from the deathly suffocating cold aura, he doesn't care. He knew that aura, that ever threatening presence that will continue to haunt him for the rest of his life, the only person, other than his mother, that he truly feared from the pit of his heart.

Grandfather Winter.

Once Ivan's small figure was safely out of her line of sight, Ivan's mother released her breath which she didn't even realize was holding back. As long as he was well away from Grandfather Winter, even if it meant she was to suffer, she was relieved and slightly assured. Gulping down the bitter taste of fear forming in her mouth, she slowly turned her head to her left and cracked a forced grin.

"My, if it isn't papa, how are you today?"

Please review, sorry for the late update again and, hopefully, I can finish the absolute FINAL part of the prologue.