Arthur stood agape at the childish voice, that was now humming in thought, wondering aloud if they'd changed the password without telling him. No way. There was no way this was happening. He turned to Matthew, who was already reaching for the crutches again, and pulling himself to his feet. The other two nations seemed frozen in place, but Matthew was up and gone in a matter of seconds. The Canadian nearly tripped several times; mind wanting to move faster than his body would let him.

The only thing keeping him upright was the silent mantra falling from his lips like a prayer. "He's alive, he's alive, he's alive!"

Crutches were abandoned as he flew into Ivan's unsuspecting arms, making the man take several steps backwards to keep from falling from the force. Matthew was crying and laughing all at the same time, kissing any part of the Russian's face he could find.

Ivan laughed, and pressed him close. "I missed you too Matvey."

"I thought you were dead!"

"It takes a lot more than that to kill me, I can promise you that."

Arthur and Alfred watched the scene unfold from a distance, still in a bit of shock that the Russian was alive, and had found their base and remembered the password.

"Matthew, would you be a dear and let the poor man inside?" The Brit finally called.

With a sheepish smile, the blond ducked his head, and carefully lowered himself to the floor, picking up the discarded crutches as he did, and led Ivan by the hand back into the living space, where the Nordics were already assembled.

"Welcome back Ruskie." Alfred said, almost as an afterthought. "Couldn't for the life of me figure out a battle plan against Yao that didn't involve you as my backup!"

He was expecting Ivan to glare at him, be annoyed at his hero complex. He wasn't expecting the man to calmly nod, even chuckle a bit as he sat down on the loveseat next to the Canadian.

"So, Ivan." Arthur started, clearing his throat. "Care to tell us where you've been all this time?"

The violet gaze darkened slightly, and he nodded. "There's not that much to tell. Bombs fell on my home, and I lived. Once I saw some of Yao's men digging through the rubble of the house, I abandoned my scarf, hoping that they'd decide I was dead, and I went to find my sisters. But by the time I was able to get to the borders, I heard the announcement of Ukraine's capture, and figured Belarus wouldn't be too far behind, so finding you seemed to be my best option at the time."

"'nd this t'k y' a month?" Berwald asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, I had to check everywhere…" His pale face turned faintly pink, and he continued, "Canada has a lot of houses and camps." He finished simply.

"You checked all of them?" Matthew asked, mouth hanging slightly open. He did have at least one apartment or house in most provinces, and a cottage like the one he and Alfred had just come from, on both coasts, and in Ontario. For Russia to sneak around the entire country to check them without being caught was a miracle alone.

"Da. Except the one you actually were in, apparently."

"Yes, that one's a well-kept secret."

"Well, anyway, it was all fairly easy until I got to the apartment in Ottawa. I was nearly seen by all of China's men searching it. I believe they were waiting for you to show up."

"So, Yao is looking for Mattie?" Alfred jumped at the thought, running to hug his brother. "The hero will never let that guy take his brother! You're too pretty for jail Matt!" He whimpered, bottom lip quivering pitifully.

"Thank you for being the five-hundredth person to say that." The blond deadpanned, glaring blankly at Alfred's hands. "And it's more likely that he was looking for you, anyway."

"Why would he be looking for a comatose nation he's already destroyed?" Freyr mused quietly.

"Well…" The Canadian didn't want to flat-out say it was because he was usually looked over, and even if Yao could remember about the Northern nation, he would likely figure him to be useless as a bargaining chip. It was typically embarrassing for him to admit it, both for him, and the nations who forgot him. "He'd have more of a reason to want Al, out cold or not."

"But you're the techie Matt!" Alfred was still wibbling. It wasn't really an attractive look for him. "And related to me, so you're totally sexy and hot too! Why wouldn't Yao want you?"

They quickly switched topics to something a bit more light-hearted. They needed to enjoy their moment of peace. For war would soon be upon them.

{}}{{}

Toris had finally calmed himself down when Yao re-entered the room. "Francis has turned out to be useless as well." The dark-haired man sighed. "I suppose if nothing else, we could use him as bait to lure out the others, right Toris?"

"Right." He murmured, watching Yao flit smoothly across the room to sit in front of the computer screens with a pair of headphones wrapped snugly around his head. He could usually stay quiet like that for a few hours, just watching the survivors struggle in attempt to beat him.

The Lithuanian stood, and moved to the small kitchenette, and started on the tea. Yao would want tea soon.

Maybe today would be a good day to ask about the others. About Ravis and Eduard. Even though they weren't brothers, they'd always felt like a little, patchwork family. And he hadn't heard a single word about their current situation in months. Yao always went quiet when he dared to ask about them.

He made the tea carefully. Green tea with a bit of honey, Yao's favourite, and set it up on a tray to take out to the older nation.

"Y-Yao? I made tea." Toris said quietly, even though the man couldn't hear him because of the headphones.

He didn't move for the cup, even as the tray slid almost directly under his hand. That was a bit odd for him. "Is everything okay?"

Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned to face the standing nation. Amber eyes were glazed over with anger, with disgust, with loathing. "You fool!" He spat, tearing off the headphones.

Toris took a step back, terrified by the sudden mood swing. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Look at this, and you tell me, what's wrong!" One strong arm shot out, grabbing the Lithuanian by his scalp, and forcing him to stare at the screen, specifically where the nine surviving nations were settled in the living room.

Nine.

Settled comfortably on a dark red loveseat, one arm wrapped casually around Canada's shoulders, was Russia.

"What the-?" He was cut off as the Asian sent him flying across the room.

"You told me he was dead! That there was no way he could've survived the bombing!"

"I thought he was! I saw the house fall myself, and I knew he was inside! No one could have survived that!"

"And yet he lives! Here he is! Right there, smiling! Acting like nothing's wrong! I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with Canada and America, but one is injured, and I can work around it, but this! This was completely unplanned for! And it's your fault!"

"Please! I had no idea, I'm so sorry." Pleading was the only way Toris knew to avoid Yao's wrath. After years of living with Russia, he could dance around the man's twisted emotions with ease, but this had only been a few months. He didn't know what to do but hope that the man's fury would subside.

"You could have very well just cost me this war." He snarled, whipping out a gun from the folds of his robe, and pressing it to the pale brown hair of the nation kneeling before him.

Wide blue eyes stared up at him, shining with unshed tears. Those lying eyes.

He pulled the trigger without a second thought.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading~!

If it makes you feel any better, my English teacher thinks I'm insane now, as does the class, seeing as I started bawling that I'd killed Lithuania in the middle of the class… I'm not allowed to do the hand-written stuff at school anymore.

But that first bit of the chapter…I love it, it's so happy, and as much as this entire story has changed in my many drafts, that part has always stayed the same because I love it so!

Review to save lives! There's no telling how many more I'll kill if there aren't enough reviews to make me smile… that's a subtle enough threat, right?