New year, new experiences, same brother. Canada sat in his living room, staring at the fire on a bitter cold morning. It was a few days after the new year, and his family had come to visit. He had hosted the party this year, and it was so much fun seeing them all together again, being able to relax and drink without worrying about deadlines and world affairs. But now, the festivities were over and Canada sat with a hot cup of coffee to chase away the remaining feelings of slumber pulling him back. He stared into the fire, set at the front of his living room, and listened to the silence. This, however, bothered him. Canada looked at the clock in his kitchen, saw the time to be about 9 am, and pushed himself from the couch to go check on his brother.

America had decided to stay with his 'awesome brother' for the remaining two weeks of his vacation, and Canada was more than happy to have the company. However, the absence of America's snoring from the other room worried him. The other nation's sleeping habits were similar to Canada's, and they usually woke up around the same time. Canada had been awake for an hour now, trying to warm up, but not succeeding, and simply grabbing a drink to warm him from the inside.

"Al?" Canada asked, peeking his head inside of Alfred's bedroom door, which had been left ajar. Matthew pushed the door fully open when he received no response and stepped into the room. The room was a bit messy, a few objects thrown about and clothing littering the floor. Matthew could not help but smile at the memory of when he lived with his brother all those years ago and he would have to share this mess with him. Canada turned his attention to the giant lump on the bed, and noticed that it was moving.

"Alfred, I can see that you're awake. You're lack of loud snoring is indication enough," Canada said, walking up to his brother and pulling back the covers, only to find another blanket covering the shaking lump on the bed. He pulled the second blanket off and found his brother, wearing his winter jacket and snow pants, and shaking like an autumn leaf in the wind.

"Al, are you alright?" Matthew asked, suddenly worried for his brother. Alfred, after a moment of trying to compose himself, but to no avail, pulled down the hood of his jacket and pushed himself from the bed, sitting back to look groggily at his brother.

"G-g-g-g-goodmornin', b-bro," Alfred stuttered out, his shaking intensifying as he lost his bubble of warmth he had created while under the blankets. "What-t-t's up?"

"I didn't think it was this cold in here? Come sit with me by the fire," Canada offered, then noticed Alfred's eyes had focused onto his cup of coffee. "Here, you can have it. I'll make another." Canada waited until America pushed himself from the bed and stood shakily next to him, then handed him the coffee. Alfred held it gently, then lifted it to take a sip, but his shivering caused it to spill on the way up and Alfred cursed under his breath, handing it back to Canada.

"I-I'll make my own," Alfred struggled to speak without shaking, but it became harder with each passing minute.

"You never answered my first question, Al," Matthew said, staring at his brother with newfound concern, Alfred never being one to turn down a cup of coffee, and his shivering seemingly nonstop.

"Y-y-ye-a-ah. Why d-did you ask?" Alfred grabbed the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around himself, then shuffled out the doorway and to the fire in the living room. Canada followed slowly behind, watching his brother's slow, careful movements, and walked over to the kitchen to make a second cup of coffee to warm his brother. Even from afar, he could see his brother's perpetual shaking. Canada shivered, too, after pouring the cup of coffee and adding in the right amount of sugar and cream that his brother likes. Canada was cold, too, but he was used to it at this time of year. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to check the weather, though, to see if it wasn't something country-related causing them both to feel like Jack Frost was personally torturing them.

Canada walked over to the fire and sat down next to Alfred, handing him the new cup of coffee as soon as he was situated.

"G-geez. It f-f-f-ee-eels like the cold is ev-verywhere," Alfred stumbled over his words as he stared at the fire, trying to feels its warmth, but the cold inside of him seemed too persistent. After a minute of silence, only broken by the sound of Alfred's teeth clicking together from shivering and the fire, did Canada reach over and feel his brother's forehead.

"W-w-what are you doing, bro?" Alfred asked, but did not push his brother away.

"Well, I can't really tell if you're colder than me or not. I heard something the other day that the polar vortex was going to come back and-"

"Not that again," Alfred groaned, and fell onto his back, curling himself into a fetal position to try to get warm. "The last time it came through in D-december, I got a head cold for a w-week. You remember. I was w-with you. Those snowstorms s-s-s-ucked," Alfred mumbled under the blanket he had wrapped around himself, covering his head.

"Yeah, they were not fun," Canada remembered, and was not looking forward to a repeat of what happened last time. Matthew was not as worried about it as Alfred was, however. Canada had always been more resilient when it came to cold weather, and the polar winds and snow were not new the the Canadian. They did, however, affect Alfred much harder, his core being closer to the equator and his people not being used to such extreme temperatures and weather.

After another few minutes of almost silence, Canada pushed himself from the floor and walked over to the counter where he had left his smartphone charging. He shivered in the cold air that was far from the fire and unlocked the phone to see a special news report pop up from the weather app. He opened the application and groaned when he saw the temperatures and prediction for the next week. He scrolled through the story, and walked back to his brother, who had not moved from his spot on the floor, and sat down in front of the fire again.

"So? What is it M-Mattie?" Alfred pulled the blankets from his head and stared up at his brother, wordlessly demanding to know whatever his brother now knew.

"It says that the polar vortex is back and-"

"Great. Here comes another head cold," Alfred groaned.

"It says that temperatures will be reaching well into the negatives for the next few days, not including wind chill. Your country is thinking about issuing a state of emergency in a few major cities already," Canada leaned back on his free hand and continued to scroll through the story, then closed the app and shivered, just thinking about how cold it was going to get tonight and tomorrow making him want to lie down in the fire and sleep the two days away.

"S-s-so, you know how t-t-to deal with this, right, bro?" Alfred said from his huddled up ball of blankets.

"Yeah, you stay by a fire and keep as warm as possible until it passes. This part of being a country is not fun. Weather is completely out of our control," Matthew sighed and set down his phone, opting to simply stare at the fire and will its warmth to encompass him, but knew nothing would warm him at this point. He pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around them and resting his chin on his knees and prepared himself for the worst.

The day passed relatively quietly, the brothers playing a few board games lying around the house and staying close to the fire. Hot cocoa was a staple for the two over the day, and they made dinner and drank cocoa by the fire that night. Alfred had set his full plate down and became quiet over the past hour, the sun having set over an hour ago.

"Al, are you alright? You're awfully quiet," Matthew asked, and frowned when he did not receive a response. "Alfred?" Canada moved from his place near the fire and sat down right next to his brother, who had not moved, not even shivering, which had been persistent throughout the day. Alfred sat, staring at the fire, until Canada touched his arm, which he finally took his eyes from the gentle crackling in front of him to look at his brother. Canada put his hand on his brother's forehead, just like that morning, and pursed his lips when he could not feel a temperature difference between them. His brother had always been much warmer than Canada, and for them to feel the same temperature now scared him, knowing full well his brother was not used to this sort of weather affecting such a large portion of his population at once. Canada slowly pushed himself from the ground and went over to the bathroom on the other side of the living room. In there he gathered a few supplies, including a heated blanket and thermometer, and walked back, dropping the supplies in front of him and his brother.

"Al, can you hear me?" Matthew asked gently, grabbing his brother's arm again and shaking it, trying to illicit a response.

"Bro, what're you doing?" Alfred asked, his words seeming to slur together.

"Alfred, can you open your mouth, please?" Matthew asked, then placed the thermometer in Alfred's mouth once he finally responded.

"Mattie, I'm fine," Alfred mumbled around the thermometer, staring into the fire. Canada waited for the thermometer to beep, then pulled it out and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Thirty-one," Matthew said aloud, reading off the numbers then stuck the thermometer into his own mouth to get a comparison. He turned on the heated blanket while waiting, and threw it over his brother. When the thermometer beeped, he pulled it out and saw that he was much warmer than his brother, at 34.5 Celsius. His fingers must be freezing for him to think his brother was the same temperature. He wondered about this for a minute until he remembered all of the other snowstorms, and how his brother could not handle them as well as the snow warn brother could. Alfred's country must be getting hit hard tonight, Matthew thought, then was pulled out of his thoughts as he saw his brother pull off the blanket and began work on pulling off his jacket as well.

"Al, what are you doing?"

"I'm too hot," Al muttered, then began working on his hoodie, until Matthew grabbed Alfred's hand and pulled the blanket back over him.

"No, Al, you're cold. I know that for a fact. You have hypothermia, and taking off the only things warming you is not going to help," Matthew said, matter-of-factly, watching Alfred until the other sighed and pulled his legs in, wrapping one arm around them, the other hand reaching out for the mug of cocoa from earlier. Matthew painfully watched his brother as he shakily reached for the mug and missed, then, with a frustrated huff of air, tried again, only to miss and give up.

"I'll go make some tea. You stay here by the fire until I get back," Canada said, then stood up and walked into the kitchen. He rummaged through the cupboards for the special tea that England had left for them, and heard Alfred's phone buzz. He looked over into the living room and saw Alfred fumble with the phone for a few seconds before finally answering it.

"Hello? Yeah… fine," Canada listened to the one-sided conversation and remembered that he had left the tea in the storage closet in the back of the house. He shut the cupboards and listened to Alfred asking about the power outages in a few cities before he made his way down the hallway and through the family room with the Christmas tree. I should probably take that down soon, Canada thought as he finally found the closet at the back of the room and began rummaging around for the special tea. He found the small box a minute later hiding under a few other boxes filled with tiny presents from his holiday parties and opened it up to smell the sweet herbs inside. Canada smiled and shut the closet door, then made his way back to the living room. Once he reached the hallway, however, he noticed that something was wrong. The air was colder than it was a few minutes ago. Canada hurried his pace and upon entering the living room, found out what the problem was. He walked over to the front door, which was wide open, and dropped the tea when he looked back and found his brother nowhere to be seen. You have got to be kidding me, Canada thought as he grabbed his coat, threw on his boots and ran out the door. I was only gone for a few minutes. Where could he have possibly gone in that time. He wished he had brought Kuma with him to the cabin, but the bear wanted to stay at home this year, not enjoying the loud parties that Canada's relatives always threw.

Canada searched the ground for any kind of footprints, but the wind was blowing hard and covering up any tracks that would have been made.

"Alfred!" Matthew yelled into the strong winds, but his voice was carried away like the snow. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself and made his way over to Alfred's car, which seemed to have remained untouched.

"Dammit!" Matthew kicked the car, and groaned as the wind pushed up under his jacket, causing him to lose whatever warmth he had. He began trudging up a hill that overlooked his house and used it as a vantage point, to see if he can find any trace of his brother. Canada reached the top, struggling over the ice that seemed to coat everything, and saw a flash of light in the trees in front of his house. He ran over to the object and gingerly picked it up, knowing immediately that it was America's phone. Canada flinched when the phone began to buzz in his hands and he answered it, putting the frozen object up to his ear.

"America?" The voice on the other end asked, hints of worry coming through the phone.

"No, this is Canada. Do you know where he is?"

"You don't know where he is? In this weather? Are you outside?"

"Yes, and he ran out here somewhere. Now, where did he go?" Canada's voice began to rise at the last sentence, anger beginning to boil over into his words.

"I-I don't know," the man on the other end stammered, "I was updating him on the current state of the country, so he wouldn't worry, and he said he was coming, and then he hung up. I don't know anything else, really!"

"Okay, okay. Thank you for the explanation. I'll find him," Canada reassured, not wanting the other man to panic that his country just ran off during one of the coldest nights on record.

"Thank you. I'll tell the representa-"

"Not yet. We do not need to create any unnecessary worry. I'm sending you an address. If you don't hear back from me in an hour, send help here." And with that, Canada hung up the phone and, after texting the address, put it away in an inner jacket pocket, hoping it wouldn't freeze in the negative temperatures.

"Dammit, Alfred," Matthew hissed under his breath, shivering and shoving his hands in his pockets, hoping he would not get frostbite. He already could not feel his feet and fingers, and he knew from experience how fast the frigid cold will take victims. And hypothermia was not something to be reckoned with. Canada had seen the warning signs early enough, but had left his brother unattended when his symptoms had reached a high point. The symptom Matthew had not expected to show up quite yet was disorientation. Perhaps being told of what the country was going through made his overall health worse, as he become more aware, or less aware, of how serious the weather truly was. At least if he died, it would only be temporarily, but the scars would stay.

"Why couldn't you have been sensible enough to wear some shoes," Canada muttered, anger temporarily overcasting his worry as he went headlong into the wind. He needed to find his brother soon. Even if they were countries, the elements still affected them like humans, and frostbite was unforgiving.

After what seemed like hours in the harsh environment, the phone inside Canada's pocket went off again. Canada took his hands out of his pockets, and fumbled with the zipper of his coat, trying and failing to open it, his hands not responding to him anymore. He tried flexing his hands, and they barely moved, the appendages a bright red and freezing cold. He shoved them back in their pockets and blinked a few times to try and get his bearings. He left his glasses back at the house, and could not see well in the dark. It was a miracle in its own that he saw his brother's phone off in the distance. He tried calling for his brother again, having not done so in about twenty minutes, and realized his voice would not work. Canada knew well what hypothermia looked and felt like, and immediately the realization dawned on him that he was in as real danger as his brother was. The Canadian pulled out his frozen hands and worked to pull down the zipper on his jacket again, working it down far enough for him to reach in a grasp the phone. He pulled it out and tried unlocking it, but lost his grip on it and it fell to the ground, hitting the ice and snow that blanketed everything in sight. After a minute of staring at the phone, it began to vibrate again. Canada leaned down, trying to grab it, and slipped on the thick ice, hitting the ground hard and pushing the phone a few feet out of his reach.

The snow is kind of warm, Canada thought as he lay on the ground, snow and wind blowing harshly into his face. Canada had the passing thought of trying to push himself back up off the ground, but his body would not respond to him. He felt as if he should have been more concerned than he was at this, but the thought was cast off in favor of a seemingly better sounding thought to his rapidly failing mind; sleep. Matthew felt panic well up, the feeling all too familiar, his experience and common sense finally overriding his concern for his brother. He was going to freeze to death out here. But at least the snow was warm, the passing thought coming back once more before he let his consciousness fade.