A/N: Hello everyone! I'm alive! I'm not going to bother with excuses. I apologise for my extreme lateness from the bottom of my heart. I am such an unreliable author but I hope this chapter makes up for it! I love you all so much for sticking with me! Please fav, follow and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia :(
Enjoy! :D

"Please don't a-hurt me! Please! I never did anything a-wrong!" wailed Romano, as he pathetically struggled against the bonds securing his wrists to the chair. "Spain! Come and save me, you jerk!"

Hungary stared down at her prisoner with a very irritated expression. This stupid Italian was proving to be more trouble than she thought he would be.

Believing that he was the culprit, Hungary had dragged Romano back to Germany's house, where she had tied him to a chair and left him in the shed. His fruitless whining was annoyingly loud, and had soon caused her to give up searching for a more suitable place for his interrogation about Gilbird. She couldn't put up with it any longer. The shed would have to do.

Unfortunately, when she had returned to the dark wooden structure, she was greeted by a situation that did not help her mood. Somehow, he had managed to tip the chair over and end up with his face pressed up against an unused sack of bird feed. God, she wanted nothing more than to whack his face in with a frying pan.

After she had managed to get him back up, with a few smacks for good measure, she turned on the shed's lamp and pointed it at him, in an attempt to make the interrogation more serious.

"Where is Gilbird?" she demanded. Time was of the essence if they were going to save Prussia before he drowned himself in grief, and they had wasted enough already.

Hungary stalked over to her captive, glaring at him threateningly. The shed's lamp cast a dull glow over her face, making her appear even more menacing. It was too much for the poor Italian, who immediately started screaming in terror.

"Someone a-help me! I don't even know who this a-Gilbird is! Spain~"

"You know exactly what I mean!" yelled Hungary, who had reached her limit, "We know it was you! You stole the bird; and if you could see what it has done to Prussia... "

She trailed off, the past day's events overcoming her. Despite their constant bickering, Hungary had deeply cared for him ever since their childhood. She was kind of embarrassed about the whole gender-thing these days (not that she would ever admit it). But Prussia didn't care. Once he got used to it, he carried on like it didn't matter; like she was still the same person. That's why Hungary regarded him as such a great friend: because even though he could be such an annoying jerk at times, he stuck with her no matter what. Seeing him in such a state had really broken her heart, and she was determined to do anything necessary to make him smile again.

"You're a-crazy..." muttered Romano, who still didn't have a clue what she was on about.

Hungary was about to shoot an insult back at him, before she saw a flash of something out of the corner of her eye. She paused. They both slowly turned their heads to see a tiny blond boy racing across the garden, panting and sobbing, with Germany hot on his heels.

Heart pounding in his chest, Germany raced across the lawn in pursuit of the mysterious spy. For a well-trained soldier like him, it took nearly no effort to catch up with the intruder.

With a leap, the German sprang forwards, throwing his arms around the other, who let out a cry before being tackled to the ground. On the grass below him, wailing and crying his eyes out, was a small boy. He tried to cover his face with his arms, desperately trying to avoid being caught; wishing he wasn't there.

When she saw this, Hungary quickly abandoned the troublesome Italian and rushed to Germany's side. Could this be the bird thief they had been searching for? The person who had caused their friend so much trauma? The person who had imprisoned the ex-nation inside his own thoughts of sorrow? This could be it.

With a deep breath, Germany bent down and reached forwards, gently moving the shaking arm away from the person's face, to reveal-

"Latvia?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr Germany!" he cried, "I didn't want to, I swear!"

"Wait, if you're here, then who- ?"

They locked eyes in panic. Russia.

Prussia stared blankly at the doorway where his brother had disappeared, praying that he would return.

Why did Germany just leave him like that? Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want to be on his own?

Alone again, he thought solemnly. Was having a friend really too much to ask? He began to pick at the iron cross around his neck, its edges wearing away with age. He remembered the conversation he had had only a few moments before, when Germany had comforted him. The false hope tore at his heart. Lies; it was all lies. No one really cared for him. Yes, he was nothing more than just a stupid, good-for-nothing piece of crap. Not even his brother cared enough to stay by his side.

Holding back a scream, he tore the cross from his neck and hurled it across the room in a frenzy of heartbreak and frustration.

A surprised gasp came from the place it landed. Tears threatening to spill down his face, Prussia looked up.

A large dark shape entered the room, encased in a glowing purple aura. With a cute sort of waddle, he slowly approached the now terrified Prussian, and stopped before his bed. One thing was for sure: despite his posture, this man certainly was not cute.

"You." growled Prussia, trying to cover up the obvious panic in his voice, "What do you want, you un-awesome creep?"

The scarved man smiled childishly at him.

"Pretend all you want, little Prussia, but you don't need to put on an act around me. We all know you don't really mean that stuff about 'awesomeness'."

"What the hell are you talking about? I am ze Awesome Prussia..." he said half-heartedly. He was trying to keep up his usual cocky attitude, but as horrible thoughts swam around his head, he trailed off.

Even in his sorry state, he knew that if he let his guard down around anyone, especially this bastard, everyone would know about his unfortunate situation. Crying because of a bird! How pathetic! It wasn't pathetic to him, of course. To Prussia, the loss of his life-long companion was devastating. But to other countries- well, it was best not to let one's true colours show in front of the others.

Little did he know, his little stunt at the world meeting, followed by staying in his room for weeks, had caused ridiculous rumours of his mysterious disappearance to fly around the world faster than you could say 'Gilbird'. Needless to say, even when this ordeal ends, if it ever ends, returning to the outside world would not be a pleasant experience with other obnoxious nations whispering behind his back.

Perfectly aware of this, Russia just smiled.

"Missing something?" he asked sweetly.

At that, Prussia looked up and stared the Russian in the eyes.

"What did you do to Gilbird?" he whispered, barely audible, as horrible realization kicked in.

Russia giggled. It sounded so innocent, yet so deadly, Prussia wasn't sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"He is fine. I would give him back, but- oops! He is at my place right now. Oh well, I guess the only way you will see him again is if you come to live with me!"

"Live… at your place again?!" Prussia choked, terrified.

"Oh yes!" Russia smiled, "I'm sure you remember how fun it was last time!"

Prussia remembered last time all too well. In an instant, the memories all came flooding back, the paralysing terror overcoming him as he stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the floor.

Yay :D We are almost at the end of the story! One chapter to go; all loose ends will be tied up in a few weeks time, I promise! I have already started working on the end, so the update won't take nearly as long this time! I hope to see you then!

There is also another story on my account now: an angst-y drabble one-shot, based on Hetalia, called 'Diary of a Nation'. Please check it out? :D