A/N: Okay, I will still be writing AHDCSR in between fixing this up, but I MAY be able to finish this story come the beginning of December. Whoot! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do writing it. This makes me so happy~! I predict a total of 18 chapters. This MAY change. Review please? ^^

Alfred and Matthew poured over a map on the small dining table that had a detailed picture of the county. A red dot indicated General Whyntir's place of residence, but a blue 'X' crossed it out. Matthew had gone to check the home out before Alfred had arrived; it was empty and a "For Sale" sign hung on it. The guy had bailed a while ago by real estate notes and records, so now they had absolutely no idea where he could have gone.

"How are you sure he's the one you're looking for?" Mattie asked as they stood on the porch watching the snow and ice melt in the hot sun and Alfred had a smoke. Arthur had been in such a depression, all he could ever do was drive into the town three miles away and ask if anyone had seen a boy that matched Peter's description. He even drove farther sometimes, but always came home before dark.

Alfred took a drag on the cigarette, his eyes closed before reopening them and sighing a puff of smoke, "You wouldn't believe me."

"Hey," Matthew smirked, "I believed Arthur when he told me his fairies were watching me in the shower."

"Yeah, but do you still? And for the record, I still believe it."

The two laughed for a moment before Matthew shook his head, "I'm too old to believe in the unreal Alfie."

"Aw, then you wouldn't believe me when I tell you that I know all of this from a ghost of some twelve-year-dead boy who died at this guy's hands and is swearing to time indefinite to torture this man in way Satan could never imagine," Alfred grinned behind his glasses with shining blue eyes.

Matthew blinked twice before laughing, his amethyst eyes closing, "Really Al, what's the real reason?"

"That's it," he stated, grinding the butt between his thumb and forefinger with a quiet hiss before stuffing it in his pocket, he wasn't one to litter, "He was just there and I happened to see him. His eyes look a lot like yours now that I think about it."

Matthew stared for a moment, watching his brother's expressions. He wasn't lying, joking, nothing to give it away. He was as serious as he could ever be, especially when bringing in his eyes. He was the sole inheritor of their mother's violet eyes. Alfred was extremely touchy about their mother, she was not one of those women who kept their head down over anything and wanted to help everyone. Matthew swore that his brother's antics were inherited by their mother whereas he was the quieter one like their father.

"So what are you going to do?"

Alfred looked out to the snow, "Find them; both of them. Maybe, some others are still alive too."

"Yeah," Matthew followed his gaze to the wilderness of snow that was the Canadian winter landscape before squinting behind his own pair of glasses, "Do you see that?"

"Hm?"

"Take off you glasses you dimwit and look! I honestly have no idea why you wear glasses when you have twenty-ten vision!" the elder snapped (1).

Alfred tugged them off reluctantly before looking out to the snow. He saw them, two figures heading towards the solitary house through the snow, one carrying the other. Alfred tugged at his brother's sleeve before running out into the snow with Matthew following not too far behind. As they came closer, Alfred could make out blonde hair and ragged, soaked clothing. They looked absolutely frigid, the smaller was unconscious, his lips a shade of blue and the rest of him pale, the symptoms of stage two hypothermia. The other was tall, his eyes blue and his expression, though tired, was determined. He wasn't shaking, though he looked just as bad as the smaller; not a good sign. He stopped walking, looking at them confused as though not understanding where they had come from.

Alfred stepped forward slowly and placed a hand on the man's shoulder, "I'm Alfred, who are you?"

"Berwald . . . Oxenstierna," he managed with a heavy accent and a slight pause, trying to remember his own name. They had been out in the cold for days by the looks of it.

With a quick glance to Matthew and a nod from the elder Alfred placed on a winning smile, "We're in that house you see straight ahead, you can warm up there." He nodded numbly and they lead him as quick as he could go with frozen muscles to the house.

When Peter woke up, he was alone in the room. He had never felt the other leave and it worried him. Had they taken him? He didn't know, but the doors opened not long after and a girl was thrust into the room. She was small with long brown hair, her clothing were the remains of a dress that had undergone hell and then some. She was crying and dragging herself across the floor, her leg bleeding badly. Peter jumped up and ran to her, "Hey, what happened?"

"Who?" she asked, her tears pausing for a moment, "Who are you?"

"Peter Kirkland. What happened to your leg?"

She looked down to her limp and badly twisted leg before letting the tears run down her cheeks again, "Meimei. Th-they caught me. I-I went with Tino and Berwald, but I was taking up the rear." Using his Boy Scout skills, Peter took up the end on her dress and ripped a thin piece off of it and wrapped it around the wound. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, but they refused to stop shedding tears, "It is no use Peter, I'll be iced soon enough."

"I-Iced?" he asked in fright. What did that mean iced?"

She pointed out the window, "We face the front, but in the back is a river that freezes over real fast at night. This weather is perfect for icing. It freezes roughly two inches in within a matter of minutes, but that isn't good for them. They wait for it to freeze thoroughly before they cut a hole into the ice and pull it out before throwing you in, pouring in water after you, and covering it back up. Then, you're iced." She began crying again, "I'm going to be iced! I'm so sorry Kiku, Yao! I'm so sorry! I-I just wanted to get back home!"

Peter didn't know how to react; all he knew was that he didn't want to be iced. He didn't want Meimei to be iced, but what could he do? When, or if, Ivan came back, he wanted to ask. He needed to.

It had been hours, the two frozen males had been placed in their bathtub to defrost. Matthew was with Berwald, watching him carefully since he had fallen into stage three hypothermia where as Tino was easier to care for. Apparently the Swede, as Mattie had matched the accent, had given up his own heat source to keep Tino from progressing into any higher a stage. Alfred ran his hands through his hair, he needed this kid to wake up, maybe, once they were better, they could tell him where they had been held. Maybe. It was farfetched, but he'd go for absolutely anything at this moment in his stressed out life.

"Mmm . . . B-Berwald?" a small voice drifted in the overly heated air.

Alfred sprang up to his feet from the toilet seat lid he had been sitting on to see the small boy had semi-awakened. He looked so much like Ivan that it stole Alfred's breath, but no, Ivan was dead and possessing bodies and being completely unhelpful at this point in his after-life. Alfred felt his forehead, he had warmed up a bit, but the boy didn't respond further. Tino was, at least, coming to.

"He's lucky," a voice behind him made him jump. He turned to see eighteen-year-old Ivan leaning against the wall, "They got the girl though. Just like me."

"What do you mean?" Alfred asked, this seemed to be on a straight path of conversation.

Ivan sighed, "Two-out-of-three made it, but barely. The girl that was with them was shot in the leg and captured. Beaten and branded with the mark of a dead man. She's ten, captive for four long, painful years. She knows what is to become of her, another ghost, another shell, another doll in the frozen wasteland of death."

Slowly he put the clues together. She was ten, held for four years. He knew of one girl who disappeared four years ago: Meimei Wang. He jumped to his feet, "Where are they! You had to have been going there, you knew what was happening! Where is Peter? Is he alright? You better fucking tell me!"

"He's alive, very much alive," Ivan asserted, stepping away from him as though fearing bodily harm, "I have been with him for the night to keep him warm and safe. I was going to go back now."

"WHERE ARE THEY!" he demanded, reaching out at him. Much to both of their surprises, he actually caught cloth and wrenched the taller towards him, "This is the last fucking time I'm asking."

As he blinked, he felt the clothing between his fingers dissipate and he looked down to see a frightened, tearful ten-year-old Ivan holding onto his scarf, "I-I don't know. I don't! I just end up back there. All I know is that the water never melts, it is cold all year, but coldest now, and I know it is to the north, by a few weeks walk. A train is nearby that stops at the town three miles away, but I can't tell you how to get there, the degrees on a map, or even let you follow me there! I just go back. I close my eyes and I am there! Please don't hurt me. Please?" He looked so pitiful, cowering under Alfred. He didn't even know how he had touched to ghost, but now that he knew he could he would use that to his advantage.

"Alright, then tell me why you hate the police chief so bad?" He'd get something out of this!

Ivan looked up angrily, tears sliding over round, pale cheeks, "He looks for them. He looks for all the children. I thought I would be safe since he liked my sister so much, but he wasn't good for her and I made that very clear . . . so he killed me. He killed me!"

Alfred had not expected that. The police chief had access to all the files of every person living in the town, their relatives and family heritage was recorded and everything, it made sense as to why they knew who they wanted too. "Then why did he pick out Peter."

"He wants you off the case, a ransom letter was sent to you," he pulled it out of the thin jacket and timidly placed it on the floor, "I took it, b-because then you would go looking instead of dropping the case."

Alfred looked down at the boy before picking up the letter. He could get his cousin back now with nothing to lose except Ivan's trust and probably gain a few threats of his own for his afterlife. Still, he could give this up and pretend it never happened. But Meimei was there, still alive, and Kiku was his best friend. He turned back to Tino who was turning a healthy shade of pink from the warmth. He had risked everything to get out of there. Arthur would tell him to drop the case, he knew it.

The door opened and Matthew peeked his head in hesitantly, "Berwald . . . didn't make it. He-he told me to check on Tino as soon as I could."

"He's fine," Alfred said deadpan. His body suddenly felt three degrees colder, "C-can you watch him?"

"Yeah." Mattie blinked away the gloss in his eyes. He had never seen a man die before, especially one who was so devoted to another person so closely. He had looked through the Swede's things. He had been a guard of high security access to wherever these children were held and he risked his own life to save this boy. Before his expiration, he told Matthew that his one regret was that he couldn't save all those children. He was a good man, despite what he had been forced to do.

Alfred stepped out of the room, barely noticing the crying ghost-child following him like a baby quail follows its mother. He sat on the couch in the family room and stared at the envelope for the longest time. He made a deal with himself, if he opened the seal, he'd give up the case. He tapped the paper a moment in the palm of his hand before making his decision. He took the top of the paper in his hand and gripped firmly, a part of him not believing he was actually doing this and another coaxing him along.

He tore the entire letter in halves, then fourths, then to uneven bits before discarding it in the trash without once looking at the note. He turned back to the ghost, only to see he had disappeared. Alfred couldn't stop the smile from pulling at the courners of his lips, "Keep them safe."

Peter awoke again, this time in the dead of night, to the sound of screams down the hall outside his door. Meimei was with him still, much to their surprise and relief. What startled both of them was the added body between them from where they had fallen asleep. Ivan sat erect and awake while they had been laying their heads on his lap. When had he returned, they could careless. What put Peter at ease as well was the fact that Meimei seemed to know him too. The sound of a key in the lock of their door made their blood go cold. Someone was being taken tonight.

Meimei had tears brimming as the key turned and the mechanism clicked, she knew it would be her. Ivan stood and retreated from them to a courner behind where the intruded entered. The other two didn't know what to do. Peter, feeling that same urge that gripped Alfred, held onto her protectively. The guard came into the room, shackles in his hand as he leered at the small girl. He stepped in and closed the door, by doing so, Peter and Meimei could now see Ivan wielding a lead pipe.

"Close your eye," he said, though the man didn't seem to hear. The two children obeyed however and covered their ears for good measure. They never heard the crushing of bones that haunted the walls of the cell. Once it was over, he led them out to the hallways.

"Wh-where are we going?" Meimei whispered, not wanting anyone to know what was happening, but Ivan went to the next door and unlocked it.

"We're getting out. Someone is waiting for us."

A/N: That's right Ivan! Take control! XD I'm sorry, I am totally Sweden/Finland but I couldn't have everyone live. I wanted to cry when I did that. :( Also, since Arthur still has the power to see ghosts and fairies, Alfred can touch them if he has the mind to. Alfred has the effect of revolution, even to dead souls ^o^ Anyway, Reviews?"

(1) "Take off you glasses you dimwit and look! I honestly have no idea why you wear glasses when you have twenty-ten vision!" the elder snapped. ~ This actually happened to my brother. He has ten-twenty vision. I think that's how you say it anyway. It's where, what a person with 20/20 vision can see at 10 yards, they can see at 20. So it is beyond perfect eyesight. My younger brother has that and he was actually given glasses to "correct" his eyesight that was beyond correction XD