Russia hadn't made much progress on his 'become one' policy but he was so used to it, it hardly mattered anymore. Still, he found himself reluctant to leave the only place he had any chance of socializing in. He never completely lost hope even though his attempts at joining others' conversations were always interrupted by sudden emergencies the other countries had to deal with. The car he called his own was now one of the last ones left on the spacious lot. It reminded him of himself, alone.

The tall man noticed two other countries remained on the parking. Both of which seemed to be agitated by something. Canada was holding a piece of paper and looking all around while England had paled and was yelling a girl's name : Irene.

The Russian wasn't in the right mood to care and slid in his car before driving off towards the airport. He drove for a while before speaking up:

"Canada and England are looking for you, Дa?" asked the ash blond man after reaching the highway, amused at the girl's bad hiding place. She was in front of the backseats, making herself as small as she could.

"You knew I was in here?" asked Irene as she got up from her curled position and sat next to Ivan.

"There weren't many other cars, you know?" replied the imposing nation "And mine is never locked."

"Right… Anyway, my name's Irene, I'm fourteen and I was summoned to this world by Arthur." Irene introduced herself "If you don't mind, can I stay at your place?"

The Russian was taken aback by the question, no one ever wanted to stay at his house, they all ran away from him. Then again, that girl didn't know him well enough to fear him "How can you trust a stranger like me enough to live with him?"

"You see, in the world I come from, all of you nations are characters from a manga called Hetalia, and being a hardcore fan of that manga, I know everything there is to know about you!" explained the teen. "So technically, you not being a stranger anymore, can I stay at you place? Please? I'll clean after myself and you won't be alone anymore! What is there to lose?"

Ivan looked at the girls big sea green eyes. They showed no fear, like America's, only more… understanding? She held eye contact with him knowing his past and the bad things he'd done, waiting for an answer with a sincere smile. He needed to have her."You will become one with me, Дa?"

"No." she flatly rejected "But I'll be your friend, which is what you actually want, right?" The girl didn't fail to surprise him. She held a small grin, one saying she was smarter than she let see "That's your problem. If you can't get the message through completely, people will misunderstand you."

"I don't understand." Claimed the Russian man

"That complicates everything…And I thought America lacked common sense." Irene huffed. Russia didn't quite enjoy being compared to his old enemy and couldn't help letting out a 'kolkolkol' and his loyal iron pipe, however, the teen's reaction wasn't the one he expected. She glared back. "I'll be your friend as long as you don't turn all creepy on me." The girl sighed before displaying her cheerful smile once more "Talk to me like if I was an equal, as if I was America but with Ukraine's personality. If you see me as a possession or as inferior we'll never get anywhere!" The big nation was starting to doubt whether or not bringing the girl with him was a good idea. She didn't obey, was insolent and read his emotions and thoughts like a book. Yet he didn't mind. She was different and it wasn't a bad thing. She wouldn't leave his side like so many before, she wouldn't fear him during his mental breakdowns, and she would be his friend.

Russia had never talked that much with someone. Irene made the conversation flow easily and even if in the beginning the cold nation let the teen do all the talking, he became more talkative as the flight to his home country came to a close. He was surprised at how random and deep conversations could turn, not once had he discussed red unicorns wearing leprechaun hats or the meaning of life before. He completely forgot about his iron pipe (yes, he passed security with it, don't ask how) and entirely focused on the strange person sitting next to him. He got to know the human better and couldn't see her as anything else then his exact opposite. She was sociable and surrounded by a permanent cheerful mood translated by her bright smile. He also got to know a side of him he didn't know, a natural side.

"I am sorry but," apologized an attendant "this seat is supposed to be empty." She said while pointing at Irene. Russia had enjoyed her company so much he forgot they smuggled her in "Which seat were you in?" He didn't know what to do and suddenly remembered the weapon hidden in his coat. His hand reached for it, slowly. A sob stopped him. Irene was crying.

"I-I don't know… I lost my boarding pass along with my bag and this man was kind enough to tell me no one sat next to him…" Ivan was confused, Irene never had a boarding pass.

"Didn't you memorize your seat?" asked the attendant with a softer voice. Irene let out more tears and whispered something inaudible "excuse me?"

"I'm blind…" she admitted, as if it was her biggest secret. The flight attendant apologized and went away while Irene held back a huge smile. Ivan finally caught up to the teenage girl's plan, he didn't think such a young girl could manipulate others like she did. She reminded him of someone… He just couldn't bring himself to pinpoint who but it was someone he couldn't hate, someone he couldn't hurt because he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Irene hated snow. She couldn't understand why everyone found it pretty; there was no beauty in pure white, just emptiness, coldness and loneliness. Moreover, the crystallized rain could be dangerous, deadly and that fact was underrated.

You might now be wondering why she chose to follow Russia, knowing very well how snow engulfed his country. Ever since she had started down the path of the Hetalia fan girl, the teenager had always wanted to know if the man's psychological scars could be healed, she wanted to have a go at filling his heart with friendship and getting him to let go of the past, even if that meant spending months surrounded by snow. Ivan was one of those she just couldn't leave alone, no matter what. It wasn't pity, it was a feeling she couldn't place a finger on, a feeling that told her the more he suffered, the more she would too.

The girl knew her sudden silence surprised the nation as they walked hand in hand towards his house. The snow covering the great city of Moscow like icing on a cupcake dragged her mood to her feet and filled her thoughts with serious dull stuff. No wonder Ivan turned out like that in this cold environment, she thought as a cold wind penetrated the coat Russia had lent her. The sun slowly disappeared from the horizon, leaving the girl and her new friend in a dark freezing night.

4. Russia's friend list: smiles and tears:

Irene got up feeling the day ahead would be as awesome as nutella filled kinder eggs. She took a quick warm shower the bathroom adjourning her room, combed her hair and slid in one of Belarus' old dresses Russia had given her the night before. The Alice in Wonderland look didn't fit her very well but she didn't really mind, filling her empty stomach was her priority.

She first took a glance at the room she couldn't see very well the night before because of the dark. It looked like a small chalet; everything was made out of light wood and warmed up the heart with bright colors. Next to the door, the double bed was sandwiched between two tiny square tables, one of which topped with an empty flower vase. Across the room, under the rectangle window, was an old fashion desk with many drawers (unfortunately, no computer) filled with old papers and stationeries. Irene wondered if the whole house gave off a family warm vibe.

Russia's house was huge. Three stories high with at least four guest rooms, none of which had been slept in for half a century. Windows covered every wall, bathing the mansion in natural sunlight and turning the nighttime haunted house in a peaceful mini castle. The furniture decorating every square feet looked like it might have been worth billion dollars in its time… which must have been a few hundred years ago. The only things that betrayed the antique overall were the computer in the study on the second floor, the huge plasma screen watching over the living room next to the main door and the many phones stuck on the orange flower patterned walls.

The teenager's stomach complained when she stopped heading to the kitchen to admire the house. "Fine, I get it." She grabbed the staircase rail and flew down the steps as fast as she could. Once downstairs, she noticed her hand had turned black. Dust. Irene realized the rail wasn't the only thing covered in the dust, the whole house was. He hasn't had a guest for so long he just didn't bother cleaning I guess. Her heart tightened, just how deep was the injury in his soul?

The host was cleaning a rectangle twelve person dining table when the girl came in; he was trying to figure out which product was to be used on wood and which on glass. Irene giggled at his desperate attempt to put in everything "Need help?"

The man paled at the sight of the dress but quickly noticed the brown hair and emerald eyes "Niet. You are the guest."

"No, I'm a freeloader, I'll help you once I finished ruthlessly murdering a toast." She declared, heading straight for the ajar door separating the dining room and the kitchen.

The dusty library held possibly thousands of books, thousands of years of recorded history… in Russian. Ugh. The teenager had volunteered cleaning that place in hopes of finding more information about Ivan, completely forgetting about the language barrier. She sighed and started doing what she was supposed to: dust books. Irene put aside all English and picture books so she could go through them once she was done. By the end, the pile had seven books and an hour and half had passed. Seven… How lucky.

The first one was 'How to learn Russian for dummies', one of the most recent books in the library but also the strangest one. Why the hell would Russia, whose Russian was better than anyone's seeing it's his national language, need to learn the language? I'll keep it as a survival kit in Russia.

The next one was a photo album. The pictures were all of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as children in the snow. Ukraine always smiling, supporting her younger siblings like she could, giving emotional warmth when no physical heat was available. Belarus had barely passed the infant age; she was holding hands with either of her siblings who were like parents to her. All three carried heavy injuries but Russia's were far worst, he had bruises painting his body like holes in Swiss cheese and scars covering his every limb. He smiled. Irene knew that smile, the one that protected those dears from endless worrying and waterfalls of tears. She knew that smile, the one that couldn't leave Ivan's face anymore.

Only half of the book was filled with pictures that were all similar to the others, the next half was empty and the teenager only understood to well why. It was the start of the time where he was cut off from everyone, when he was all alone.

Sometimes the girl wished she was stupid. An idiot would have seen these pictures and said 'Awwww, what a cute family!', Irene wanted to burn them. She always saw beyond the smiles and beyond the tears. To her, the smiling Russian boy was ten times more miserable than the crying Belarusian, the eldest girl wasn't the mother figure of the family, she was the one being kept from a mental breakdown by her brother and the snow around them wasn't a background, it was a death threat. Irene sighed, she picked up the pile and dropped it in her room, across the corridor.

She took her time going down the stairs, wondering if she could still look in Ivan's eyes without wanting to hug him and tell him how he's not alone. The nation had finished cleaning the kitchen, the dining room and the living room, he was starting sorting out the storage room when Irene popped from behind "Let's do this one together!"

The Russian man was getting used to the girl's strange demands and agreed. The storage room was a large grey cube with nothing but a dangling light bulb to keep the darkness away. Many chests and shelves held objects that went from a simple doll to full body armors and snow shovels while sculptures and canons stood on the rough white floor. Old paintings hung on the smoke colored wall, each of a different time period and artistic movement, they gave the big box the appearance of a timeline. "This place is amazing… No wonder America had so much trouble cleaning his…" The girl whistled.

"Дa, it will take time." Russia affirmed, pulling his sleeves up.

"Holy shit! We spent four hours in there!" exclaimed Irene, covered in dust from head to toes.

Ivan collapsed on his yellow couch, in the same sorry state his guest was in "It's already two o'clock, do you need lunch?". The girl's stomach answered "I suppose that is a yes. We should hurry, I have an international meeting at five."

"You just had the world meeting yesterday!" reminded the girl

"This time it's the Asia meeting and it's hosted here today, after I'll have to go to the Europe meeting in a week in Poland and then I have a whole month to myself." Explained the country, a bit of sadness as he mentioned the time he would have to spend alone.

"Can I come?" asked Irene

The blond thought for a while and as he knew she would come even if he said no, he gave in "Yes, but you have to stay outside the meeting room, the closet counts as inside."

"Okay~" cheerfully agreed the teen

5. Teenage life: Waiting room conversations:

Irene sat in one of the many chairs in the waiting room right next to where the conference was held. She fiddled with the loose armrest to occupy her hands as she thought of a plan to infiltrate the meeting. Unfortunately, the dark blue plastic chairs, the polished wooden doors, the big wall sized windows, the white view and the vending machines gave her little inspiration.

The teenager really wanted to witness the meeting, she remembered how much fun they were to watch in the anime, how hilarious would they be in real life?

The door she focused her eyes on was the only way to enter or exit the gathering and there was no way she could slid past it unnoticed. Maybe if she started a fire drill the countries would leave the building, giving her an opportunity to sneak in and wait for the conference to resume. No, I need to think of a way out too. She had managed to befriend Russia and didn't want to get on his bad side if he ever found out she disobeyed the only order he had given her.

"No matter how long you stare at the door, I doubt it will open." A boy said, startling the girl. He was a bit older than her, one or two years and wearing Chinese clothing. Irene recognized him the moment she saw his face:

"Hong Kong!" The fan girl greeted, The island was clearly surprised a human knew him "I live in you!" Irene realized how wrong that sounded and corrected herself "I mean, I'm one of your residents… From another world… They have the same countries than here just no personification… you guys are an anime… England brought me here you can just guess what happened."

The island wasn't sure how to react to the weird introduction, whether to believe her or not, but if the girl knew who he was and if England was to blame for her presence, anything was possible "And what are you doing here?"

"I live at Russia's… Don't tell England I'm here." Answered Irene

Hong Kong was surprised "You live with this psycho? Are you okay?"

"He's not a psycho!" defended the teenage girl "Try living centuries alone surrounded by icy cold snow and tell me if you remember – or if you ever learned – how to behave around others! Ivan is just a child inside; he never had any parent to teach him what's good and what's bad! He's like a kid who doesn't know flowers need water to live and always heads out to pick new ones as the old ones wilt. Moreover, he experienced so much pain it became an everyday thing to him and blood a normal sight to him, he just thinks it's the same for everyone and – "

"Whoa, I get it! I get it." The boy interrupted "I only heard about him from gramps, I won't jump to conclusions again. Anyway, you seem to care a lot about him."

"Yeah," Irene replied "For some reason I just can't live him alone…"

The island smirked "Nations and humans don't fall for each other, you know?"

"EWWWWWW!" she exclaimed "No! Ewww! Sick! I don't see him that way! He's like twice my age – "

"Actually he's millenniums older than you." Corrected Xiang

"I meant in human age. Don't pretend you didn't understand… Why did you have to say that? Do you have any idea what happens in a fan girl brain when you put countries and couples together?" rhetorically asked Irene

The boy's grin grew larger "You picture it… And influenced by yaoi I'd say in a very unorthodox way."

Irene's eyes widened "You know what yaoi is?"

The island shrugged "Japan's house isn't that far away from mine and Taiwan isn't ignorant in the ways of the fan girl either. By the way, I still didn't catch your name."

"Oh right! Sorry I didn't notice, I'm Irene, fourteen years old, I live in Hong Kong where I attend the French International School." Quickly introduced the girl "Soooo… What do you want to do?"

"Do you know somewhere where we're not surrounded by boring chairs?" asked Hong Kong

Irene took keys out of the pockets of her dress "We could go to Russia's house, it's the mansion just next to this building. He gave me the keys in case I got bored." The island paled "No, it is not filled with torture tools… well maybe the basement is, I haven't really checked it out yet."

The asian teen relaxed "I guess it can't hurt then, I'll send a text to gramps so he doesn't worry too much." He took out the newest Iphone and finished writing in the blink of an eye "Can I have your phone number?"

"I don't really have a phone with me," Irene replied "it was left in my world."

Hong Kong put away his phone "We have about three hours before the meeting ends, we should go now."

"Okay."

The basement's door was a big chunk of metal, it was locked by multiple chains as hard to break as an expert level Sudoku is hard to complete. Fortunately, Irene was really good at Sudokus.

"You ready?" Irene said

"Where the hell did you learn to pick locks?" asked the boy in amazement

Irene smiled "I had plenty of time to learn at home." She answered, only adding to the island's confusion. The girl pushed the door open, revealing a dark space. Hong Kong switched on the neon lights displaying an a hundred fifty square meter room.

The walls, floor and ceiling were all made of the same material the door was made of. The basement's shape was a perfect rectangle filled with weapons of all kinds. It was a real military base, with a mini shooting range and ragged dummies, guns aligned on the windowless walls, grenades stored in boxes and tanks blueprints lying on the sole table in the middle "This place is awesome!" the fan girl squealed. She turned to her fellow teen to see his face unfazed.

"Every country has one of those." He explained "But I have to admit this one is pretty big. Anyway, there's nothing to do in here."

"Hey, do you know how to use a gun?" Irene asked

"We all do, after all the wars we've been in." answered the island, receiving a little 'Oh' from the girl

"Can you teach me?" carefully asked the younger teen

6. Teenage life: Safety hatches:

Hong Kong thought he misheard. Human girls didn't usually want to learn to use guns; they would rather spend hours painting their nails than shoot bullets. But Irene was a pretty weird girl, he didn't know many that would dare come within five miles of Russia willingly, nor did he knew anyone that could be so cheerful and smiling all the time. Yet he felt something was wrong in her. She cared too much about Ivan. And not enough about her return. The girl is stuck in another world, she might never come back! Shouldn't she miss her family or something?

"So?" insisted Irene, with big puppy eyes "In case I encounter France?"

The island sighed "Fine. Go pick a gun." He observed as the girl skipped towards the wide choice of weapons, staring at all of them, taking one out, putting it back, taking another one… She finally came back with a small gun, one of the most recent models. It was a semi-automatic pistol completely black except for the metallic silver grip.

"Left or right handed?" he asked

"Le – " started Irene before correcting herself "Right handed."

Hong Kong failed to understand how she almost mistook her dominant hand but let it slide as it wasn't important "Just don't forget you're holding a dangerous weapon so beca – "

Click! "Why didn't it shoot? Damn it, there's a safety hatch isn't there?" Irene complained as her right hand pointed the gun towards the target. "How do I remove it?"

Xiang face palmed "I am not telling you how to do that until I am sure you can properly handle that killing tool and the safety measures are drilled in the deepest part of your brain."

"Don't you just pull the trigger?" wondered Irene

"If that's what you thought, what exactly did you expect me to teach you?" Hong Kong asked

"I don't know," answered the girl "Tips on how to aim?"

"First is first," the boy started "are you sure this is the right gun for you? The smaller it is the less precise your aim will be. And you can't use it as a close combat weapon."

"Yeah but this one is easy to hide" She explained "and to carry around." Hong Kong decided it was wise not to tell her she thought like an assassin planning his next victim's death but he still found it suspicious. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to teach her… I feel like I'm turning her into a walking danger. He took a gun himself, the closest one he found and positioned himself to shoot, both hand holding the gun.

"If you use your two hands, your aim will be more stable. You should also close one eye as 3D sight will confuse you." He started, Irene mimicked his movements "Picture a straight line continuing the gun's barrel, make sure it points to the target before shooting. Don't forget to look around before, you never know when someone might appear in your line of shooting, not alerted of your presence." He pulled the trigger. The sudden bang surprised Irene whose eyes shot straight up at her teacher than at the paper target which had a new hole near the center.

"Wow, you're good." Complimented the girl

"That's because in a shooting range like this one, you don't have to bother dealing with the wind, the humidity or any other terrain traits and the target isn't far." The boy explained.

"Can we remove the hatch now?" Irene asked

"Are you in a hurry to kill someone?" wondered the island "No, let me first inform you of safety procedure. I trust you WILL respect them?" the girl nodded "Don't EVER remove the safety hatch unless you're about to shoot or are in a situation where the enemy could be attacking you at any time. Even when the safety hatch is on, don't point the gun at ANYONE if you're not trying to threaten them. Don't show the gun to ANY human. ALWAYS know where it is. If you shoot, prepare yourself to bare the consequences."

"That's all? I had enough common sense to figure those out." The girl commented

"You'd be surprised how often people forget about these." Warned the personification

"Can we remove the hatch now?" Irene impatiently asked with a smile. Hong Kong rolled his eyes and in a quick thrust armed the weapon. He silently showed her how to put the hatch back multiples time until Irene reproduced the move with nothing but perfection.

She raised the gun and closed one eye, like he had showed her. To his surprise, she spent quite a bit of time aiming with a serious expression on her face. Her impulsiveness and carelessness had disappeared the very moment the snapping sound of the safety hatch had resonated on the metal walls. A tense silence let every breath she took be heard. She finally decided to contract her index and a bang broke the absence of noise.

The bullet had missed the target by five times the distance Xiang's did. Hong Kong turned to Irene to congratulate her for a pretty good first shot when he noticed she was grabbing her left arm in pain. "Are you okay?" he asked

"It's an old injury I had forgotten about, don't worry." She said, letting go of her grip. Her usual cheerful smile reappeared on her face "That was awesome! You're a great teacher, you know? How long did it take you to shoot that well?"

"Decades." He answered "Are you sure it's okay to take one of Russia's guns like that?"

The brunette shrugged "He has so many he probably won't notice." She grinned at the older boy's unsure expression "I'll ask him later."

Xiang had a hard time comprehending where her confidence came from. No matter how much she denied it, Russia still had to have at least the tiniest mental problem for such rumors to spread. Never would he dare take risks like these with a person like Ivan. Maybe it's the fact she knows she'll leave one day that makes her able to care so little about those she make her enemies. But the teenager thought wasn't held for long. He had a feeling Irene somehow subconsciously knew Ivan wouldn't hurt her.

"Xiang! Are you okay?" yelled a worried voice. The basement door flew open to reveal Russia and China "I came as fast as I could after the meeting when I read your message, aru!"

Irene burst in laughs "What exactly did you put in your text?"

Hong Kong grinned "At Russia's. I was taken there by a girl wearing Belarusian clothes." The two teenagers cracked up when Yao's face filled itself with confusion "I'm fine gramps, just pulling your leg, this is Irene, the girl in Belarusian clothes."

"您好." Greeted Irene, pulling out one of the few words she remembered from Chinese class, with a terrible pronunciation.

"What are you doing in here?" asked Russia with a creepy purple aura surrounding him.

The teenage girl stepped in front of her shooting teacher "I broke in 'cause I was curious about what was in there, Hong Kong was just showing me his knowledge on weapons. By the way, we used the shooting range if that's alright with you."

To the two eastern countries surprise, Ivan's killing intent disappeared "As long as you didn't damage anything, it's fine."

"W-We should take our leave now… Come Xiang." China mumbled.

Irene was about to say goodbye to the two personifications when an idea hit her like the apple hit Newton's head "It's getting late in China, how about you stay here for dinner and head back tomorrow morning well rested? Russia and I would love to have company!"

What the hell is she thinking? Hong Kong thought before noticing a glint of joy in Ivan's childish gaze. She was trying to help Russia and China's relation. She was trying to help the northern country by creating friendships. How interesting. "Sure, why not?" answered the island.