As we fell, he moved his hand off my mouth. I was certainly not going down silently! I started screaming and didn't stop until we landed, which was oddly not painful. I couldn't tell why at first, but when I looked up I noticed he had turned himself to land on bottom instead of side by side. Though normally I'd be thankful to him for that politeness, I was pretty frustrated at him.

" E-Excuse me, but what in all possible hells are you doing?!" I moved off him quickly and stood, backing away. "Why are you doing this?" I could tell my voice was getting too high pitched to sound as mature and angry as I wanted, but I couldn't help it.

He was still on the ground, smirking a bit. " No help up after I saved you? How ladylike." He hopped up, dusting off his clothes and walking closer slowly. " What I was thinking, well you seemed like you needed someone to save you earlier, and I couldn't do anything then. Why I'm doing this is not your place to know." He still had that rude smirk on his face, but his eyes hardened, at least for a good minute. I wish I knew what that was... Oh well, I don't really care. He was nice and all earlier, but he interrupted our romantic moment! What was left of it, anyways.

" Alright, well, thank you for trying to help me, but I didn't need to be saved now. I would appreciate it if you returned me to my room and continued on your way." Looking down at my nightgown, amazingly not ripped, I started to feel tired. It was pretty late out, ya'know. The sun went down a few hours ago. My vision was mostly alright, though every few seconds I could see little sparkles. They went away if I focused on them.

"Ahh, see that's a problem. I'm not telling you the exact reason, but you're coming with me. Plus, you don't look like you could handle a trip back up. If you sit here, I can grab some clothes for you, and then we're off." He held onto my arm and my hand and gently ushered me into a seated position on the ground. If I wasn't so sleepy I would have fought, but... Nah.

It felt like it happened between two blinks, but it must have been a few minutes when he returned. He had a case, the one I had arrived with. He paused to look at me for a couple seconds then leaned down and picked me up by the waist. It was probably easier to carry me that way, but I wasn't okay with his hand there. "Hey... Can you put me down? I can walk myself... This is undignified..." He just laughed. " When you can complete a sentence without that sleepy pause, sure. I don't want to lose you along the way, that would be too much trouble."

There were so many things I wanted to say in response, most of them witty, but the darkness got to me and I could feel myself drifting away.

I'm in that place again, so familiar. Yet so different. Something was wrong, I could feel it. Instead of walking through the forest pleasantly enjoying the feeling, I was trying to run in heavy boots of lead. Something was up ahead, and I had to see it, no matter how much my conscience was telling me otherwise.

I finally reached the little river, and the sight is stunning. I literally can't breathe. The river is darker, not the bright red of story tales, but a deep reddish brown. The source of the discoloring was up ahead. All those animals, oh my goodness. That squirrel, it's family, the rabbits, deer, wild dogs even. All were at the head of the river, near where the beavers were always building their dam. Except there were no beavers, only furry little bodies darkened with blood.

'Tears are running down my face, and the heat building up forces me to take a breath. I regret it immediately, the scent of blood and dead animal strong. Holding back the bile in my throat just barely, I come closer to investigate. The bodies were all injured in the same way, it looks like some sort of wire covered in barbs was wrapped tightly around them until the blood could not run anymore.

Something in there moved, alive maybe. I rush forward to see if I can save it. This being,animal in body yet human in emotion, looked at me. I saw it's eyes as the light of life left it. I reached for the body to see what caused such harm.

Wrapped around it's neck and upper body is a chain, and on that chain, the small metal heart-locket from before. Fear fills me and I turn from the bodies, unable to handle seeing them any longer. That was a big mistake. Those eyes that were full of sorrow last I saw them are now glazed with malice. Those eyes are the last thing I see before darkness envelops me again.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember waking up. My face was wet and I was still being carried. At least I had an explanation for the second problem. "Uhm, hello? Where are we-" I hadn't opened my eyes til just now, but I should have felt the shift in weight. Instead of being slung over his shoulder, at some point he moved me so that I was curled up in his arms. It was warm and comforting, I wanted to feel safe more than ever thanks to that dream. Ignoring the fact that I don't know Gil very well, nor wished to before I slept, I tucked my head down and snuggled in against him.

That let him know that I was awake, but he didn't say anything. After some minutes of silence I looked up, and he looked down. "Are you feeling better? Your eyes started crying in your sleep, and I don't know how to help you in your dreams." He had a concerned look on his face, it truly looked like he was worried for me. Why did it give me a warmer feeling inside?

" I-I'm alright, it was just a nightmare. These things do happen." He slowed down and I thought he was going to put me down. " I, uh, am still feeling weak. It is very kind of you to carry me." I buried my face so he wouldn't see how red it got.

I could tell from his tone he was smirking. " It's okay, I know it's because of my awesome comfortable upper body, you can't help wanting to lean against it~."

Okay, I'm good on the snuggling. I leaned away from him, quickly forcing him to put me down. I caught up with his pace easily and we continued on, through the inter-castle forests, with the sun warming the top of our heads.

Sorry for such a depressing image of a dream~! It all has meaning, don't worry~. Well, we're onto the main part~ hehe. I guess this is about 1/3 of the way through my plans for this story. Hope it's good so far!

Disclaimer, I don't own the show/webcomic Axis Powers /Hetalia/ World Series nor the names of the characters.

There's a couple references to things, stuff that's entirely unrelated to Hetalia at all. ' Heavy boots of lead' is a line in the song Iron Man (it's been stuck in my head, sorry) and 'These things do happen' is what upset the diva girl (Carlotta? I don't care, she was a betch) in The Phantom of the Opera. Again, totally unrelated, but they're there haha.

So, review maybe? If there's something you dislike, tell me! XD It's the best way to get a decently long successful fanfic, feedback.