"What are you looking at, you pathetic little wimp?!"

Mathias' back slammed against the brick wall and he could taste the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth. Fatigue settled over him as he sidled to the ground, the bruises and wounds on his body aching, cruel laughter ringing in his ears.

Tears stung the boy's eyes as he looked up and out at the small sliver of sky which could be seen between the edges of the two houses on either side of the alley. It was just turning a deep orange color as the sun was about to set. Clouds tinted red and orange skidded across it and Mathias yearned for nothing more right now than to fly through that sky, fly through it and just get away from here. Away from them...Away from everything...

He heard them mocking him again. Probably because he was crying. But their voices were oddly muted. All the boy wanted to do was lie here and cover his ears from their mocking voices. Just shrink into a ball and not come out until they were gone. Until everything was gone.

A hand grabbed Mathias by the collar and pulled him up roughly, so his feet hung inches above the ground. Although he was right in front of him, Mathias couldn't properly make out the face of the boy. His eyes felt heavy and he wanted nothing more than to close them. Close them against anything, everything, that was wrong with his life.

"Do you hear me, you dumb bastard?!

A hard fist connected with Mathias' stomach and he doubled over, clutching his stomach, coughing out blood. All he could hear was the raceous laughter. That laughter which he despised yet feared at the same time...

More punches followed after the first and all the boy could feel was pain...A numbing pain that unabled him to move any part of his body.

He couldn't do anything.

He was weak. He was pathetic.

And he was sick of it.

Mathias woke with a stiff neck and the feel of cold metal against his back. He groaned and brought a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it as he rotated it around. He looked up and blinked at the bright shaft of sunlight which filtered through a small rectangular window above the cells.

He sighed and hung his head. And that was when he noticed a slightly crumpled brown paper envelope in the crook of his arm. All of a sudden, he remembered that he never got the chance to give it to the Boss like Berwald had instructed him. Just the thought of what the Swede would do to him if he found out was enough to make the Dane's skin crawl.

"About time." A cold voice said behind him.

Mathias turned to find himself staring back at a pair of dark blue eyes, which immediately made his heart jump in his chest, though he had no idea why. "I was beginning to think I was gonna starve here." The Nordic spy, Lukas said in his cold drawl of a voice.

Mathias grinned and got to his feet, stretching. "Good morning to you too, Sunshine."

Lukas frowned, "My name is not sunshine."

"Well it is here." Mathias declared proudly. "'Cause you're in Kalmar territory now, baby!"

The Norse didn't seem too happy about that. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared indignantly at the Dane. "I'm hungry."

Mathias responded to his glare with a grin, "Yeah. So?"

Lukas scowled but he didn't need to say anything to get the message through. The Dane blinked at him then he laughed, "Oh you thought I'd get your food for you?" But when this only met the Norse's cool stare, Mathias smiled. "Okay, fine. I'll get your food for you."

Mathias walked down the hallway, humming a familiar-sounding tune under his breath. When he finally reached the main hallway, the musty smell of snake-oil met his nostrils. He quickly covered his mouth and nose with his mouth. God, he hated that smell! Clutching the envelope with his left hand and covering his nose with the other, Mathias walked off and ascended the creaky staircase. He breathed a sigh of relief when he emerged out of the dungeon and into the clean air outside.

"Well, well. If it isn't just the person I wanted to see!"

Mathias froze. He knew this voice. Oh God...not him. But Mathias could already feel the sweat in his palms and the dread in his heart as he slowly looked up to find himself facing a silver-haired, red-eyed German with what looked like a permanent smirk on his face. The German wore a blue military uniform almost similar to that which most of the soldiers wore. But he had a gray cross on the collar of his uniform which the Dane glared at openly. If it had been anyone else but this man who was wearing that symbol on his uniform, then Mathias would have gladly killed him right then and there. Unfortunately, Mathias had neither the authority or the skill to do so, so he simply settled on glaring.

"What do you want, Beilshcmidt?"

"Me?" The German smirked in mock surprise. The he let out a raceous laugh that reminded Mathias too much of the group of boys in his dream, or his memory to be exact. "Actually Kohler, I actually DO want something from you." The man's eyes took in Mathias, inspecting everything about it and the Dane felt uncomfortable under the German's gaze. Finally, the red eyes alighted on the brown envelope in Mathias' hand and his smirk seemed to have increased by size.

"I see you haven't done that little errand Berwald wanted you to do." Mathias scowled, "How do you-?"

"Word travels around fast in a small place, Kohler." The German said before Mathias could continue. He hooked an arm around Mathias' shoulder, which the Dane didn't quite like. In fact, he loathed the sight of that arm around his shoulders, which he immediately tried to shake off, but the German was too strong for him. He steered Mathias down an adjacent corridor and kept his arm around him as they walked down the hallway.

"If you're just going to waste my time, you'd better-"

The German laughed, "Relax, Kohler! I'm not gonna do anything...yet." He added, smirking darkly. Mathias stumbled a bit but the German caught him. "Easy there, Mathias, I was just joking." He laughed but the smirk never left this face.

The Dane glared at him. "Since when did I ever give you permission to call me by my first name?"

"You didn't." The German laughed as if it was the funniest joke on Earth. The Dane was simply disgusted to even be in his presence. "So what do you want?" He snapped at the German.

The German smirked, "Simple." He snatched at the envelope and was able to grab a corner of it. But Mathias had anticipated the move and his grip on the thing was like iron. "I want to know what's inside." The German smirked.

Mathias glared at the German's eyes. "Why?" He said suspiciously. For a long moment, the two simply stood there, glaring intensely at each other. Then, the German started to chuckle. The chuckle turned into a giggle, the giggle into laughter, and the laughter turning into even louder, wilder laughter. Mathias simply stood there, stunned before the German let go of the envelope and straightened up. "Relax, dude. I was just joking." The Dane didn't seem convinced but he let his tense shoulders relax a little.

"But seriously." The German draped his arm over Mathias' shoulder but the Dane immediately stepped out of the way. "What is inside?"

"None of your freakin' business." Mathias snapped. "Now you're just wasting my time. I have more important business to do." The Dane thought about Lukas in his cell, probably starving by now.

"Well, perfect!" The German clapped his hands together. He held his hand out to Mathias. "If you'd rather not waste your time, then I'll take it to the boss for you." Mathias narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the bastard. "How do I know that I can trust you?"

"Oh you can!" The German smirked. "I promise I'll bring it to the boss neat and clean and just fine!" Mathias seemed to contemplate this for a while. But all that he thought of was Lukas starving in his cell. Oh God, what was wrong with him?

"No"

Mathias tucked the envelope safely under his arm and walked briskly past the German and down the empty corridor. His soft footsteps echoed around the walls but that was all that could be heard.

Don't look back...Don't look back, damn it!

But Mathias couldn't help it. He glanced behind him, determined to just glance for at least a second. The German still stood there, but he was facing Mathias as he walked away. His hand was still held out to him and there was an eerie smirk on his face.

The sight disgusted Mathias so much that he quickly looked away and quickened his pace.

The more distance there was between him and that guy, the better.

"Sir...?"

Mathias opened the door to the boss' office a crack. He could just make out the sleek black high-backed chair faced away from him, as always. "Sir...May I enter?"

There was silence, before a voice said, "Yes, you may, Kohler."

Mathias quietly sidled into the room and closed the door behind him. "What is it?" The Boss said. "Sir." Mathias walked forward the placed the now crumpled envelope on the Boss' desk. "Oxenstierna told me to give this to you, sir."

The Boss sounded mildly surprised when he said, "Oxenstierna? The Swedish? Well, well." Mathias could have sworn the Boss was smiling now. "You may leave now, Kohler. Thank you."

Mathias turned and made for the door. His hand was just on the doorknob when the Boss suddenly said, "Oh and Kohler."

Mathias froze. "Yes, sir?" He said stiffly.

"How is the assignment going?" Was it just him or was there a mocking edge to that voice?

Mathias paused before answering, "Fine, sir. Just...fine."

"I hope you aren't slacking off." Now Mathias could distinctly detect something in the boss' voice. "No, sir. I promise you, I haven't." Mathias replied.

"Good." The Boss said, a chuckle in his voice. "Don't worry, Kohler. This assignment will be over soon enough for you. Now don't go getting too attached to that Nordic spy now."

He was mocking him. The Dane was sure of that.

"Yes, sir." Mathias bowed stiffly then quickly left the room, hurrying to the kitchens to grab Lukas (and himself) a quick breakfast.

"Who was he?"

"Hm?" Mathias looked up from his bowl of soup. "Who was what?" He turned around to face the asker of the question, a certain Norse spy who was glaring at him over his own meagre bowl of soup, who scowled and said, "That man with the silver hair and red eyes. Who was he?"

"Oh." Mathias turned back around and stared at a patch of the concrete floor. "That was Gilbert Beilschmidt. A German. He came to see you did he?"

There was silence before the Norse spoke, "But he was wearing the symbol of my side, the Nordic cross. Isn't that a treason?"

The Dane chuckled, "Yeah, technically it is. But I don't know anything about the guy. He turned up here all of a sudden saying that he had given up on the Nordics and was switching sides. But even though he switched sides, he was still allowed to wear that on his uniform. I don't why though. Maybe he bribed the boss. But I don't know why he'd still wear that too if he says that he's given up on the Nordics..."

A short, thoughtful silence followed before the Norse said, "He's showing off his power..."

Mathias looked up, "What?"

"By still being allowed to wear that even after switching sides, he's showing off how much authority he's got." Lukas continued. "It's like he's saying, 'I can wear this here and you can't do anything about it.'"

Mathias turned to face Lukas and found himself staring at those cold blue eyes that hid a hint of sadness in them. Then he grinned, "Wow. You're pretty smart, Norge."

Lukas glared. "My name is not Norge."

Mathias laughed, "But you're my prisoner, so I can call you whatever I want!"

Lukas looked away in disgust. "You Kalmars...You make me sick. And your food sucks as well!"

Mathias smiled in amusement as he stared at Lukas thoughtfully. The boss' question turned around and around in his head. "How is the assignment going?" "I hope you aren't slacking off" "Now don't go getting too attached to that Nordic spy now." His mocking tone kept returning to Mathias and he couldn't shake off the feeling that the boss hasn't really been serious when he had assigned Mathias this duty. But he had to do it. If he wanted to continue in the army, then he'd have to do it. He couldn't keep on going in circles like this...

"What?" Lukas said when he noticed that Mathias was staring at him. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and Mathias couldn't help but find that look kind of cute. Funny...

"How were you captured anyway?" The Dane finally asked.

Lukas' eyes widened in surprise of being asked such a question but his cold, hard frown returned almost immediately. "I already told you, you won't get any information from me. Not today, not tomorrow, nor on any other day I spend in this stinking cell." And as if to emphasize this, he looked around the cell in disgust.

Mathias frowned a bit, "Yeah, but if you think about it, how you got captured isn't exactly much relevance to our victory in the war. It's just the story of how you were captured. And it would have leaked anyway, knowing how...loud Alfred is." The Dane chuckled.

The Norse gave Mathias a long hard look, as if he were assessing whether he was to be trusted or not. He looked away and suddenly seemed to become interested on a piece of gray wall on his cell. Mathias waited, then sighed and was about to turn away when Lukas said, "It was my brother."

Mathias turned back to look at him and blinked, "Your brother?"

Lukas scowled at him. "Yes, my brother. Or are you deaf?" Mathias chuckled, "All right, go on."

The Norse looked away and hesitated for just a brief moment before continuing, "My brother and I were assigned to spy on this base. He wasn't exactly the quickest, or the most silent but he was okay. We were doing fine, keeping hidden and all, until we started to argue about something, I forgot what it was. At first we were just bickering, then we started getting louder. Before long, he snapped and started shouting. Naturally he was heard. They didn't see me because I hid before they could and they captured my brother. I couldn't stand to see my brother like that, bound and gagged and captured. He was my little brother. So I offered the Kalmars a deal."

Mathias watched as tears started to form at the corners of Lukas' eyes. For just a single moment, he thought that he was actually going to cry. But with one quick swipe of his hand, Lukas wiped away the forming tears and gave the Dane his coldest look ever.

"My freedom for my brother's."

Mathias simply stared back at the Norse, almost stunned at the story. It then occurred to him that Lukas was a person too. And like every person, he had a story of his own. And probably even a family. He had a brother. So why not a family? Mathias hadn't really known Lukas for long. So how could he know? But there was something deep inside Mathias that wanted to know. Wanted to know more about Lukas.

What if Lukas and his brother hadn't signed up for the war? What if they had merely been forced to enter it? What if, somewhere in Norway, or wherever Lukas lived, he had a family waiting for him and his brother? What if he even had a girlfriend? Somehow, the thought of this made Mathias' chest feel heavy, though why was beyond him.

What was Lukas' life like at his home? Was he like this too? Or was this just a facade he kept around strangers?

"Wow." Mathias said. Then he grinned, "So you're actually just a softie after all, Norge!"

Lukas scowled at him. "Again, my name is not Norge."

Mathias laughed but then he smiled kindly at Lukas. "But seriously...What you did for your brother...That was really brave."

For a moment, a stunned expression passed over the Norse's face but then he quickly looked away. "Shut up, you dumb Kalmar." He muttered. Mathias could have sworn that there was a small flush on Lukas' face.

How cute...Wait, what?

Mathias simply laughed it off. "But it's true, isn't it?"

Lukas shook his head. "If he hadn't even started that argument, then I wouldn't even be here right now."

"Yeah, but well" Mathias shrugged his shoulders and grinned at the Norse. "Who knows, maybe you were sent here for a reason!"

Lukas returned his grin with a glare. "Oh like what? To get irritated by an exasperating Kalmar?"

Mathias laughed, "You're funny, Norge." He smiled. This time it wasn't one of his famous, over-confident grins. It was a true, genuine smile. "I like that."

And now there was simply no mistaking it. Mathias could have sworn that a pinkish, maybe even slightly reddish, color had crept into the Nordic's face at this compliment. The Dane's chest did a little jump at the sight of this, though the reason was completely beyond him.

But Lukas quickly looked away.

The silence between them seemed almost impenetrable. Not a sound was made after that and the day passed in an uneventful blur.

"I'm not going to stop following you around until you say it."

The boy with silver hair and violet eyes stopped and glared at him over his shoulder. "I'm not ever gonna say it, so you're just wasting your time!" Then he stomped off.

Lukas quickened his pace to catch up with his brother. "Come on, Emil. You know you want to."

Emil shot him a withering look. "No, I don't!"

"Yes you do." Lukas replied evenly, now jogging into place beside Emil. "I know you better than anyone else."

"No you don't!" Emil snapped back at him. "Mr. Puffin knows me better!"

Lukas frowned. "Why can't you just say it? Don't you remember? You kept calling me that when you were younger."

Emil finally stopped and glared up at his brother with his white-blond hair (complete with stray curl) and cold dark blue eyes the color of the sea. "That was when I was younger! I'm thirteen now! I'm too old for that!" He made to run away but Lukas quickly grabbed his shoulder and his grip was strong. Emil looked extremely uncomfortable.

Lukas leaned forward until his mouth was only inched from Emil's right ear. "Big brother." He said softly in it. Emil cringed as Lukas continued to say those two words in his ear. "Big brother. Big brother. Big brother. Big brother. Big brother. Big brother. Big brother. Big brother-"

"Enough already!" Emil stepped back and stumbled but luckily regained his balance. He glared angrily at Lukas. "I'm not a baby anymore!"

He started to run, but then slowed down and stopped only a few paces away. He hesitated, turned around and stared back at Lukas, embarrassed.

He sighed sharply then, looking away from him embarrassingly, he muttered, "Big brother..."

He gave Lukas one last glare before running off. Lukas watched him go. Then a slightly amused expression appeared on his face.

"You were always so cute back then, Emil..."

"Emil..." The Nordic spy whispered in his sleep as the Kalmar soldier guarding him grunted in his sleep and shifted into a more comfortable position.

LOL I see what I did there XDD. Anyways, I'm sorry for the long update ;A; but I'm so happy! REVIEWS! REVIEWS EVERYWHERE! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH~!

~Anon~