Chapter 8

Canada straightened the camera, zooming onto Russia's face.
"Look Ivan, I am a photographer!" Matthew smiled proudly. The bigger man smiled kindly, holding a hand out to falling snowflakes. Canada turned to the hill, catching a glimpse of a wildly moving nation barreling towards him.

"I'm the most awesome snowboarder alive!" Gilbert yelled, gliding quickly over the slick snow, speeding up as he went down the hill. The other German skiing behind in in a different direction. He passed Alfred, Tino, and Berwald quickly, flicking off the 'hero' as he passed. "Beat you to the bottom!" The Prussian called out, the American grinning as he accepted the challenge and began racing after the other. Alfred caught up quickly, the pair heading to the bottom swiftly.

Canada noticed that the Prussian wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and tried to move out of the way, only to get knocked over, camera flying out of his hands, as they both his they snow. The two countries ended up in a tangled heap at Russia's feet, Ivan helping Canada up carefully, glaring at Gilbert menacingly. Alfred wasn't too far behind, skidding to a halt next to the small group, noticing the tension rising.
"Dude, Mattie, are you ok bro?" He asked, Matthew trembling slightly. Gilbert scoffed.
"What about the awesome me?" He grumbled, crossing his arms, Canada's quiet response of "I am fine..." virtually non-existent. Russia growled, taking a threatening step towards the other.
"What about you? You ran into Matvey, da? I think you should apologize." Ivan crossed his arms; the Prussian looked at the shy Canadian and frowned.
"He shouldn't have been in the way! It's not my fault he got ran over, I didn't even see him!" Gilbert started to walk towards the cabin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to meet my brother back at the cabin, I left him in my awesome snow dust!"
"Kolkol…" Russia grabbed Prussia's arm roughly and pulled the man back. "I don't think so. Apologize, Now." Ivan grinned insanely Matthew putting a hand on the other's back.
"Rus- Ivan, it wasn't his fault really, I should have gotten out of the way…" Matthew said as Ivan grumbled in response, Gilbert struggling to get out of his grasp.
"Ja, that's right! Now let go of me you homicidal nation!" Prussia spat, America looking on forlorn.
"At least I am a nation, what are you now anyway? Barely a memory that tags along, grating on everyone's nerves!" Ivan released the other suddenly, Gilbert falling face-first into the snow, yet again. The Prussian man growled, scrambling to his feet sloppily, charging towards the bigger man angrily. America ran, grabbing the Prussian around the waist, pulling him back easily.
"Stop!" He yelled, looking at Ivan from behind the struggling German. "This was supposed to be a vacation! It doesn't matter whose fault it was, it was an accident! Gilbert, just say sorry!"

"Nein! It wasn't my fault!" Gilbert said stubbornly, not waiting to admit that maybe perhaps it was his fault. America tightened his grip, growling impatiently. "Fine, I'm sorry Matthew, and I'm sorry Russia, I should have watched where I was going."
Russia smirked and nodded, Canada smiling politely. America grinned back, letting go of Gilbert.

"It's okay Prussia, I should have moved out of the way." The shy man fiddled with the camera, light still blinking, trying to dry off the wet snow from the lens, as Ivan waved a hand dismissively.
"I won't kill you this time, just don't do it again." The big man said, beginning to walk away. Gilbert growled and lunged at Russia, tackling him from behind, knocking him to the ground.
"Why can't you just say sorry like a normal person, you creepy prick! No wonder your family left you!" Gilbert yelled, Ivan growling and flipping them both over.

"Gilbert, Ivan!" Alfred yelled, running to them and trying to pull the bigger nation off of the other, He tugged Ivan off, struggling to pull him away, the huge nation having snapped. "Why can't anyone get along?" America screamed, tears welling up in his eyes. "Just for one damn minute?" The cheery nation had turned sour, angry and sad, disappointed in both of them. Ivan stopped screaming Russian profanities, Matthew claiming him from Alfred's arms, holding on to him.
"I-it's okay Ivan… let's just keep filming, okay?" the Canadian consoled, as Prussia got up and looked at the American before grabbing his snowboard that came off and said

"Great vacation this turned out to be." Gilbert grumbly said to the hurt American nation as he got up and walked over to where Ludwig was waiting for him.

Al, its ok I'm having fun…just forget about Gilbert for now and go and enjoy yourself ok! Canada said in a cheerful tone as America looked up and smiled.

"Yeah that sounds good." Alfred said as he glided away towards the ski lift and got on, taking him to the top to rejoin others in having fun.

"What was that all about?' Ludwig asked as his brother returned.

"Nothing much, just Ivan being a prick, come on let's go for another round on the ski lift." Prussia stated with a grin and Germany nodded. He and Gilbert slid over to the lift after Prussia got his snowboard back on. And go on the ski lift.

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Meanwhile, Spain was trying to teach Lovino how to parallel turn off on a smaller side of the mountain away from everyone else.

"Ok, now you want to position your feet like this, but be careful not to slide down the hill…" Spain said while reaching down and fixing Lovino's feet to the position that they were supposed to be.

"Ok, ok, I got it bastard…geez…ok, ok, yeah…I know" minutes passed until Antonio finally thought Romano was ready to go.

"Ok, well you look great, come on now let's go down this hill together."

"Ok, but don't be trying anything funny." The Italian frowned.

"Lovi…what could I possibly do to be funny?" Spain asked as Lovino just stared.

"I don't know! Just let me try this on my own ok?"

After he said that, Romano turned his skis around and started going down the hill, faster and faster…

"Lovi! You need to slow down! Turn your skis toward the side of the mountain and ski upwards!" Spain yelled at him from higher up on the mountain.

"I-I can't, I'm trying to!" Romano yelled back after a few more seconds. He thought he might have gotten used to it, and slowly he started stopping but it wasn't good enough, "I can't stoppp-" he yelled and before he knew it, before Lovi could even finish his sentence, he crashed and wiped out skidding across the snow.

"Lovi!" Spain yelled as he came skiing down the hill to help him, as he got closer to him, he realized that he too was going a little fast and nearly almost hit Romano. Lovi looked up from the ground he was on and all he saw was Spain zooming down the hill towards him, and as he saw this he thought for sure that Toni was going to crash right into him. So he put himself in a tornado drill like position and was in the process of putting his hands over his head, and at first Spain thought he'd just barely missed him, but he was wrong. Because right at that exact moment Spain was caught off guard as crashed to the ground as Romano screamed out at the top of his lungs,

"CHIGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Spain was so off balance that he to fell and wiped out…actually everyone there that was on the mountain at the time, all of them seemed to wipeout from the sound of the screech. It was louder than anyone could have guessed as Romano's voice could be, as it echoed in the vast openness of the mountains. It seemed to echo for miles and miles on end, until yet another shout was extracted from the same voice,

"SPAIN! YOU ASSHOLE YOU JUST RAN OVER MY CURL, GOD DANM ITTTT! OOWWWW…" Romano yelled as everyone there already knew who the voice belonged to.

Suddenly, right after that little incident, there was yet another farther off sound in the distant that didn't sound too familiar to any of them. And then…the ground shook. Something was wrong…snow fell; the winds seemed to pick up bringing shivering chills to all the nations. Suddenly, the whole half of the mountain seemed to be tumbling down and collapsing everywhere and abruptly in giant chunks of snow, ice, rocks, and bits of dirt. All the nations on the mountain were screwed as the fast approaching avalanche gained on them and gathered them up into its grasp like a vicious tornado.

There were screams and yells in every direction, so much commotion that is was hard to decipher what was even going on. Some people were screaming names, others just yelling for the sake of yelling.

Alfred tried to get out of the way of the avalanche and ended up skiing down the hill, his speed topping over 70 miles an hour, it seemed, and managed running into Tino and Berwald. Together, the snow hit all three of them, and they all hit the ground tumbling and rolling.

Mathais happened to be near the bottom of the mountain after his last run, so he was near the doors when he saw the monstrous landslide coming. He ran as fast as he could to the door, slipping out of his skis in the process and booked it for the door. He was almost inside the door when he saw Alfred, Tino, and Berwald in the corner of his eyes getting hit.

"Tino, Berwald! No!..." But his effort came in vain, they were already swallowed up in the snow, and if he just stood there he would be in the same predicament as them. So, Denmark turned around and flung open the doors and went inside.

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Prussia and Germany were on top of the ski lift when it happened and could see everything. All their friends getting taken away by the avalanche, but there was nothing they could do, but watch helplessly.

"We should be fine; we are at a high spot." Gilbert told his brother who was sitting next to him on the ski lift looking worriedly at all his fellow nations and friends. Ludwig leaned forward, watching the snow tumble underneath them, carrying uprooted pines and screaming nations.

For now they were safe from the avalanche since they were on top of the ski lift, but that too proved dangerous as the rough snow hit against the polls of the ski lift, and bent the strong supporters.

Germany lurched forwards out of his seat, and the tall man fell head first off the lift. Gilbert gripped the side of the lift and reached for his brother in vain, but to no luck.
"WEST! NEIN!" He cried out as the blonde fell into the swift icy current of snow. The metal groaned and slowly but surely the poles bent over and over until finally were low enough were the snow could get the remaining ex-nation.

"This is so not awesome!" Gilbert said as he fell into the snowy abyss of the avalanche as the cart broke and dropped him.

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China heard the rumbling first, the sound similar to a stampede of horses, or a violent waterfall.
"D-do you hear that, aru?" He asked the shorter nation. Japan sipped at the hot chocolate and looked up from his cup. Behind China, Kiku could see in the distance, the ski lift start falling over, and a rush of snow coming towards them threateningly.
"Yao! We got to get back into the cabin, now!" Kiku said as he grabbed Yao's hand, dropping his cup in the process, and the two nations tried to outrun the turbulent avalanche. The cabin doors were within sight, the Chinese man's longer legs gaining him an advantage over the shorter nation and reaching the handle first. He wrenched it open and shoved Kiku inside it, flinging the man into safety. Before the older man could get in as well though, the raging snow hit him with tremendous force and carried him away. China gripped at the door handle but his hands slipped and he got taken away.

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Near the bottom of the mountain, Matthew and Ivan looked up at the tidal wave of snow, and tried to run inside, but that was proven pointless as the rushing snow crashed into them. Ivan instinctively grabbed the Canadian and tried to protect the quiet nation. The shy nation clung to him but the forceful avalanche tore them apart and drifted them away, carrying them into opposite directions.

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Romano got up and tried to out ski the avalanche, but it was gaining on him, fast! He looked up and terror wiped across his face as it just kept getting closer and closer to him. Spain was yelling at him to come down the hill towards him, but even he could see that Romano wasn't going to make it. Quickly, Antonio scanned his surroundings and spotted a smallish ledge over to his left side. Romano got closer and closer to Spain, and nearly crashed into him as Toni grabbed Romano and skied over to the small ledge. Spain threw him up on it the best he could and Lovi gripped at it for dear life. Terrified at what he was even comprehending at this moment in time.

The Spaniard then proceeded in climbing up onto it as well, but just as he was about halfway up the ledge the snow came tumbling down the hill and hit the Spaniard with such a force, that it knocked him completely off the ledge and carried him away.

"ANTONIO!" Romano cried out, however while doing this Romano heard a sickening crackle noise, and he turned to look down.

"The platform's not going to hold!" Romano shouted out. And after a few more moments, the ledge that Romano was on finally snapped in half from the sheer force of the impact, and clutched Romano inside its grasp. All he could see was whiteness and all he could feel was spinning and swirling and then nothing…he hit hard against the ground, and Romano was out cold.

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The avalanche rushed on by, wiping out everyone who was in its path, and outside during that time and hitting hard against the cabin, making everyone who was inside stuck, stranded, and hopeless, with no way out…The snow was in tall bunches and it was hard to even see the cabin, but the cottage stood its ground, and the avalanche ended up going around the house and into the field beyond. The mountainside lay quiet and motionless after the aftermath of the incident.