After briefly explaining what was going on between Alfred and Ivan, the three former empires were very uncomfortable. As people who knew Ivan for the majority of their lives, what Alfred described was nothing of what they've witnessed over the years. Alfred gushed about how amazing Ivan was, how he was a great hunter and dancer, how he loved flowers and stargazing, how he was loving and protective.

They could barely comprehend the fact that Ivan had one admirable trait, much less an entire list of them. Even though they had just reunited with their son, the former empires trusted Alfred's judgement. After all, he surrounded himself with the members of International. They all seemed to be good people, right?

Alfred had been hugging Ivan's arm throughout the entire ordeal, making his siblings feel a bit off. They also didn't like Ivan and thought the same thing as their elders when Alfred screamed. Canada had come in a few moments later, wielding his hockey stick with swift motions, only to see his brother cuddling the larger man.

Everyone was a little put off by Alfred's openness, but what could they do? They hadn't known him because of what the Natives had done. The fact that Alfred had met Ivan before and fallen in love with him, they were quite surprised.

International decided to come into the living area, to which Alfred had to re-explain everything. But once he was finished, he got up and clapped his hands.

"I've gotta make a new batch of soup. Anyone want to help?" Odette, Conrad, and Alicia decided to get up and help.

"How about we all help? I have been inching to bake some scones," Ro asked standing up. Hiroto nodded in agreement and also stood.

"I could make my secret katsudon!" he exclaimed.

"Oooo~ The one with the shrimp tempura?" Enzo questioned licking his lips as he also stood, "I'll help with that!" every member of International stood up and went to help except Dimitri, who sat down next to a bunch of Alfred's sisters. They oogled him and flirted constantly, obviously teasing the taller human. They knew he and Conrad were together, but they couldn't help it.

After all, Dimitri swayed both ways.

This opened up the opportunity for Spain, England, and France to snag Russia and drag him off. So, quietly, the troop of nations left the area and went to a room down the hall. Opening and shutting the door quickly, the three former empires began to interrogate the scary Russian.

"Listen 'ere, Russia! I don't care 'ow much Alfie loves you! I want to know everyzing you did to 'im!"

"Did you hurt him? Did you take his innocence? What did you do together?"

"Did you ever lay a finger on him? Becuase if you did, you little puta, I will kill you-" Carmen began to speak very rapid Spanish, scaring the shit out of Russia. Seeing the normally happy Carmen get so angry was like seeing his elder sister get angry, it was a terrifyingly rare spectacle.

"Wait! Hold on! I can explain everything! Just let me speak!" he shouted as he held his hands defensiviely. The three instantly quieted down as Ivan began his tale, "I met Alfred in a field centuries ago, it was a total accident. I had hurt my leg and he helped me,"

Ivan had scraped his knee on the rocky gravel, the skin bleeding profusely. He had been crying quietly and whining for his elder sister to find him, when he heard a rustling noise in a bush. A little blonde boy with weird clothing came from the bush, his head tilting.

"Are you ok?" he asked softly. He spoke in English, something Ivan didn't expect. But, he shook his head in responce, wincing in pain.

"No, my knee hurts really bad! I have been in bad scrapes before, but this one really hurt for some reason!" the boy came out from the bush and knelt beside Ivan. He looked at the wound and gasped.

"That's because bug have already invested it! Hold on! I'll bring you to the stream!" Ivan wasn't expecting this smaller boy to pick him up, so he yelped when he did, "my name is Maska, what's your name?"

"I am Ivan," he replied as Maska carried him to a stream. Maska quickly cleaned the wound, taking out all the bugs that had inbedded themselves.

"Ok, now that the wound is clean, you have to promise never to tell anyone what's about to happen," Ivan gulped and nodded, waiting for something bad. But to his surprise, Maska's hand began to glow. He placed his palm over Ivan's wound, healing it. Ivan's eyes grew to the size of moons, smiling.

"Wow! That is amazing! You are magic!"

"Shhhhh! If the settlers hear you, they'll bury me alive again!"

Ivan felt his heart break at the thought of his new friend being buried. So, he nodded and held Maska's hand.

"Do not worry, sunflower. I won't let them hurt you again! I promise!"

The empires were shocked by the story, but nudged Ivan to continue.

"I began to see Maska everyday, because he made me so happy!" Ivan smiled as he remembered all the times they spent together, "he was still so young, so young that his mother was still around. I always protected him from anything, I made sure nobody hurt him!" Ivan then frowned, "when I said goodbye, it hurt. But when I came back, it hurt even more,"

Ivan made his way to the hut he knew his friend lived in. It had only been 18 months and he had grown a bit. He hoped that Maska wouldn't be afraid of his new body. He was carrying a large bouquet of flowers. He was bouncing as he pranced and the carved necklace Maska had given him was bouncing with his steps. 

When he finally got to Maska'a hut, sight he was met with mad him angry.

"Nyet," he whispered as he ran up to the now burned hut. He began to scrape his palms as he threw the rubble, "Maska!" he shouted, "Maska! Answer me, my baby sunflower! Where are you?!" his eyes began to empty as tears kept falling down. He came upon one of Maska's favorite tunics, one with beautiful embroided designs.

It was a tunic that Maska had told Ivan was one only worn in front of the people he loved. One that he always wore around him. The white fabric and red designs were stained with black soot, making reality fully hit Ivan in the face.

"NYET!!! MY BABY SUNFLOWER IS NOT DEAD!!! I KNOW HE'S NOT!!! MASKA!!! MASKA PLEASE THE JOKE IS NOT FUNNY ANYMORE!!! PLEASE MASKA COME OUT!!! MASKAAAA!!!" Ivan cried loudly as he clutched the tunic, his sad mourns echoing through the valley. That's when he heard people in the distance, so he stood up and quickly hid behind a large pile of rubble.

"I could have sworn I heard cries of peril," a male voice said, "perhaps one of our countrymen have been hurt?"

"Are you sure it was English and not that savage tongue? The hut we burned down a moon ago is right over there. It may be more savages trying to track us down to avenge their brother and sister,"

"You may be right, let us take our leave before more savages come to aid their fellow barbic brothers," the voices began to fade and Ivan's eyes went empty.

"Englishmen did this to my Maska, they will pay for doing such things," Ivan stood up, still holding the tunic, "the English will pay, I will make sure of it!"

"I despised the English from that point on, for what they did to me personally. I know back then the goal was to become bigger empires, but the way the three of you went about it was horrid. I cannot say I was better, but at least I had remorse when I killed people. The amount of pain I felt was so powerful, it lingered up until I met his eyes a few moments ago. My world had been gray from the second he left my life, and when I found out he wasn't going to come back, it hurt more than a thousand atom bombs. It was as if my world was nothing but a black void,"

"Russia," the three quietly said in unison.

"I never forgave the Englishmen who hurt me, that very night they went missing. For all the other settlers knew, they just went on a hunting trip and got lost. But I took care of them, I made sure they felt the pain they caused me," Ivan clenched his fists, "My sanity just slipped afterwards until I found myself shooting at my own people. I was always so sad because I kept remembering how I broke my promise to him,"

"Russia, you at least protected him. We never got a chance to hold him and apologize until yesterday. He was taken from us too, ya know?" Arthur explained as he gently pat Russia's back.

"We understand 'ow you feel," Francis added as he also patted Russia's back.

"Now, we can all protect him together," Spain finished as she patted Russia's head. A knock came to the door and Rin came in.

"Alfred and everyone finished making the food! Come when you're ready!" she closed the door happily.

The four nations looked to each and nodded in unison, silently promising to protect Alfred.

Together!

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That's not the end, I promise~