AN: For once, I have a legitimate reason for not updating for so long, and that is because I was in a power outage because of stupid Hurricane Sandy. Besides, it wasn't even too long. You guys survived the wait okay, right? Also, for you East Coast Americans, y'all alright? That hurricane was pretty bad. Did you get power back and stuff? No one hurt?

I don't own Hetalia. I am simply not worthy of the awesome responsibility.

The sunlight was streaming through the window when Alfred woke up, hunched over his desk. His glasses were lying neatly folded beside his head. Alfred picked them up and put them on, wondering vaguely how they had gotten there.

"Good morning," a voice said from behind him. Alfred jumped, swiveling his spinny chair around to face the bush-browed source of the noise.

"Oh, it's just you. You scared me," Alfred laughed sheepishly.

"Thought I was an evil ghost coming to eat you again?"

Alfred grimaced. "What time is it?"

"It's Friday, one o'clock."

"Woah… I slept for a long time."

"Well, you did stay up until four in the morning," Arthur smiled.

"Did I finish the last panel?"

Arthur nodded. "This shall be your best issue yet. In my humble opinion, of course."

Alfred beamed. "Awesome! Oh, hey, so I had an idea. So you know how Todd came by the other day?" Arthur nodded. "Right, so Todd thought my house was a comic book store."

"Not surprising. You have memorabilia strewn everywhere."

"Well, I was thinking that I should convert the downstairs area into an actual comic book store. Once I get better 'n stuff."

Arthur blinked. "That's going to cost money."

Alfred frowned. "Well… Well what about after I get fabulously rich and famous?"

Arthur sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Let's worry about paying your hospital bills first, hmm?"

"Ugh, fine. You're such a buzzkill."

Alfred thought he saw Arthur's face flash with hurt for a moment, but figured that he had just imagined it. Still, he didn't want to lose another friend so soon after losing the first. "Hey, I didn't mean it," Alfred apologized. "It was a stupid thing to say."

"It was, but it's fine." Arthur paused. "You need to learn to think before you speak."

"I do know how!" Alfred protested. "I just…don't."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "And you wonder why Alice left you."

"Okay, I deserved that one." It still hurt, though.

"Hungry, Alfred?"

"Starved."

"I'll get you something, then."

"Alfred, whatever happened to your family?"

Alfred munched slowly on his pizza, then swallowed, eyes trained on Arthur.

"Sorry if I'm imposing. I just thought it was strange that you lived alone."

"It's been eight months since we met. I was wondering when you would notice." Alfred put his pizza slice down.

"So, yeah, you're right. I used to have a family and shit. A pretty rich family to boot. We lived in a sweet penthouse, and my dad owned an airplane, and we had a huge balcony with a pool in it. I lived with my mom, my dad, their UPPs, and my twin brother. Life was pretty fantastic.

"When I was six, around midwinter, we decided to take a trip to the Great Lakes in my dad's plan." Alfred smiled fondly, remembering each detail of the flight. "I loved the entire flight ride there. I spent the whole day in the cockpit with my dad, pretending to be the copilot. While my brother and mom were in the bedroom watching cartoons, my dad was teaching me how to fly."

"That sounds beautiful," Arthur breathed.

Alfred nodded. "Especially during sunrise. I stayed up the entire night with my dad just so I could see it. You wouldn't believe how many more colors you can see when you're up in the sky."

"Mm." Arthur seemed content to imagine the picturesque scene for a while, so Alfred took the time to figure out how he would continue. He realized that Arthur's eyes were the exact shade of the plains during his trip. The same plains that had broken his fall.

"Alright, I can see it clearly now," Arthur said. Alfred nodded.

"Right, so, anyway. We stayed in a cabin for two weeks, right by the edge of Lake Superior. My twin, Matthew, really liked hockey, so Dad taught us how to play. We skated right across the lake one day." Alfred grinned. "Matt and I made it all the way to the other side of the lake and back. It took nearly the whole day, but it was great. Granted, we probably went in an arch and made the trip shorter, but we did it."

"Did you and your brother get along?"

Alfred nodded. "We were always together and didn't fight very much."

"How lovely…"

"Mmhmm. Anyway, after two weeks we piled into the plane again to go home." Alfred paused. "It happened while we were over Lake Erie."

"The engines failed. We started falling out of the sky. Dad threw Matt out, then me. He and Mom never jumped."

"How did you survive?" Arthur asked, eyes wide.

"We weren't very high up when we jumped. Dad knew what he was doing. He was good at math. He and Mom were scientists."

"So then where is your brother now?"

Alfred took a deep breath, unsure if he could continue. It still plagued his darkest nightmares.

"Alfred?"

"He fell into the lake. He hit weak ice and fell into the water. I fell onto a bush and broke my arm. It took me an hour to find Matthew. By then, he had dragged himself onto shore, but he already had hypothermia," Alfred continued. He spoke quickly, trying not to dwell on his words. His voice had grown soft as if he was trying to keep himself from hearing what he was saying. "I carried him into a cave and tried to build a fire, but six-year-old me with a busted arm could only make a little smoke. I left to try to find some drier wood. When I came back, I saw a bear leaving the clearing where the cave was." Alfred took a shaky breath, summoning all of his courage to continue. "The bear was white. Maybe it was a polar bear, maybe it was a grizzly with snow all over it. I don't know. I know that its paws were red. Of course, I dropped what little wood I had and ran into the cave. Matt was…"

"Oh, god," Arthur gasped, pulling Alfred into a tight hug. "I'm so, so sorry. You don't have to continue if you don't want to."

Alfred leaned gently into the embrace. "I have to finish. I want to."

Arthur nodded. "Alright. But take your time if you need to."

Alfred closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, composing himself while Arthur rubbed his arm softly. He didn't feel like crying. He felt like his physical body was falling apart. "I buried Matt by the cave. Didn't want the bear to come back and eat him or something. Then, I set out to find civilization. It took five of the worst days of my life to find a town. I nearly died, but I made it. After the townspeople fixed my arm and treated me for shock, I was sent to an orphanage, where I stayed until I was sixteen. At that point, I ran away. I had still kept in touch with my childhood friends Ludwig and Kiku, so I ran away to them. I got a job and borrowed some cash, and I bought this house. And here I am."

"Wait, I don't understand," Arthur said. "What happened to all the money your parents had?"

Alfred smiled wanly. "Like I said earlier, my parents were scientists. That's how they got rich. They made it so that I couldn't get a hold of the money until I solved a puzzle."

"And you haven't solved it?"

"If I had, I would own Marvel. It's not so simple as just an ordinary puzzle. I got half of it. Matt got the other half."

"And he never told you his half…"

"That's right.."

"Well, can I at least hear your half? I might be able to glean something from it."

"Sure." Alfred took a moment to remember it. "'It needs what the other creates what it needs.' That's my half."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Exactly."

Arthur sighed. "How frustrating that must be."

"It's mostly depressing, actually. Alright, I need something to cheer me up from all this sad. What was your life like?"

"I'd rather not say."

Alfred pouted. "C'mon, Art. It'll cheer me up. It's only fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"I am extremely aware of that. Please? For me?"

Arthur sighed. "Fine. If you must know, my life was wonderfully uneventful. I was born into a middle-class English family in Southampton, I had horrible siblings whom I hated, I moved to London when I graduated university, I wrote books, I got cancer and died. The end."

"Wow, that's boring. Didn't you get married or something? I mean, your books were all about love and sappy stuff. Didn't you have any of that?"

"The only love I had was for literature."

"Everybody has at least a crush!" Alfred pressed. "Even someone as stuffy as you."

Arthur released Alfred and stared at him. "I am not stuffy."

"Artie…"

"Alright, there was one person, but they didn't even know who I was. I saw them all of one time."

"What were they like?"

"No. You've wheedled enough information out of me." Arthur crossed his arms, looking supremely uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. Alfred decided to leave Arthur alone for now.

"Fine. I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

Alfred's mind, however, didn't drop it. Thinking about Arthur's life was a good way to keep from thinking about his own. He picked up his pizza slice, now cold, and pondered ways to get information out of Arthur.

Yay for backstories! I love backstories. Especially depressing ones.

So a bit more information about my current situation. I lost power for a week. I got wifi back five days ago. Since then, I have joined NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, it's really great you guys should join it next time around) and have finally, FINALLY, gotten started on writing a story that has been in my mind for half a year. I'm afraid NaNoWriMo takes precedence over Structure - sorry guys! Nothing against you, it's just... A novel, you know? That I can publish? So this is mooooooooooooost likely going to be the last update for this month. After November, when I hopefully have a novel written, I can get back on track with this. I might update later in the month. Maybe. Also, if I don't report to you a completed novel by the end of the month, feel free to shame me forever.

I also have a fab idea for a Cardverse story to write after this one. Tell me if that interests you. I'll probably start writing it after New Year's, depending on how long this baby takes.

Thank you to the wonderful people who reviewed! You warm my heart. Thank you very much to mochiusagi, Eurlenette, and Leprechon for your reviews on Chapter Six, and thank you so much to Ayamari Uta for reviewing on EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER! Wooooooh! Cookies for all of you!