The music blaring out of the various foot-high speakers dotted around the acoustics centre rendered you deaf to all other noise – not that you were paying attention to the outside world, anyway. You had been locked in this room for what felt like days, in your own little world as you mixed a new CD for your Music practical exam. Between majoring in both Art and Music, you barely had any time left to think these days!

They had said to make an entire CD featuring music that reflected your current emotional situation, so yours was full of heavy beats, big bass effects and a whole lot of fancy techno beats. The entire CD was completely devoid of lyrics. You smiled to yourself as you shimmied in front of the turn table, adjusting a few knobs here and there. There really were no words to describe how happy you were at the moment, it was something only feeling could express.

There was a knock at the door, breaking you out of your reverie. Twirling around gracefully, you spotted the course of your ridiculous happiness levels waving at you from outside with that trademark cocky smirk on his face and mischievous glint in his ruby-red eyes. Dancing over to the door, you swiftly unlocked it and slid back to the turntable when a new song started to play. You stuck your tongue out in concentration – this one still needed a bit of work before you would be happy with it.

Gilbert seized your arms from behind and copied your dance moves as you both swayed to the music.

"You've been locked up in here for almost a week," he whined, nuzzling against the crook of your neck. "It's unawesome how little time you've spent with me this week!"

You laughed as he twirled you around and pulled you back again. "Gil, we share an apartment – I see you plenty!"

He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into a sort of waltz – completely at odds with the techno-pun music pulsating around the two of you. "The awesome me demands more than a few hours a day!"

Pulling back, you gave him a serious look. "The dishes are piling up again, aren't they?"

"Frau, I can't even see the sink anymore," he swept you into a low dip, the ends of your ponytail brushing the linoleum floor.

You rolled your eyes and laughed. Gilbert pulled you back to your feet and you replied with a smirk and a snort, "It's like you're allergic to dishwashing liquid or something."
Just as the albino opened his mouth to say a smart-ass reply, you laid a finger over his lips to shush him. "I know what you'll say, and no – you're not getting out of doing the dishes when we get back to the apartment."

Gilbert stuck his tongue out and you pulled your hand away, snickering. Hands pressed flat against your back, he smirked and pulled you closer for a kiss. You smiled into the embrace, threading your arms around his neck and tilting your head to deepen the kiss. Passion rising, the two of you were so absorbed in the moment that you failed to notice the ominous aura drifting into the room from the open doorway.

Eventually, you had to pull away from some oxygen. Smirking at your boyfriend, you purred, "You're still not getting out of it."

Gilbert rolled his eyes but grinned. "You've gotta give me credit for trying."

A loud bang on the door brought your attention to a large figure standing in the doorway. Peering over Gilbert's shoulder, you recognised the unnervingly innocent face of Russia.
"Oh, hey Ivan! Sorry, didn't see you there," you unwrapped yourself from Gilbert's arms and turned to flick the sound system off. While your back was turned, you didn't notice the venomous look the albino German shot the Soviet nation, nor the chilling grin he got in return.

"I was just wondering if I could use the sound room for a bit, da?" Ivan walked slowly into the room, dressed in his beige overcoat and scarf despite the soaring heat outside.

"Of course," you offered him a smile. For some reason, you had never really minded the child-like nation when everyone else seemed to fear him. He had never done anything to you personally, so you didn't have a reason to dislike him. Sure, he could be a little bit creepy at times, but not overly so. "Gil and I were just leaving, anyway."

You ejected your CD from the stereo and headed out the door, motioning for Gilbert to follow. He cast the Russian one last dirty look before starting to follow you. The two nations had never gotten along well.

"You know," Ivan started, making Gilbert pause in the doorway. "She will become one with me, da?"

"Like hell that will ever happen," the albino snarled, glaring over his shoulder at the smiling nation.

Gilbert turned and marched after you, rage boiling under his skin as he clenched his fists. That filthy Russian would never have you. You were HIS.

Ivan watched the other nation stalk away and chuckled to himself, that deceivingly child-like grin still plastered on his face. "Yes, one of these days…"

**********************************************************************************

The next day, you had given into Gilbert's pleading and had committed to spending the entire day with him (after forcing him to help you with the dishes – he was still new to the concept of 'compromise').

The two of you were relaxing in the campus gardens, just generally enjoying the sunshine before winter set in. Gilbert was leaning against a large tree with you lying against his chest, his arms around your waist and legs on either side of you. He had his cheek pressed against your head and seemed to be half-asleep while you had your nose buried in a book.
Everyone else seemed to be enjoying the peace as they milled around aimlessly between classes or sat on the lawns with open textbooks shading their eyes from the sun.

"Ah, _______! I was just looking for you!" a cheery voice broke through your concentration, and you peered over the top of your book to see Ivan standing a few feet away from where you and Gilbert sat, his trademark child-like smile gracing his features.

"Ivan!" you sat up straighter, surprised that he had been looking for you. You had never really interacted with the intimidating Russian much before. "Anything I can help with?"

Gilbert narrowed his eyes at Ivan, tightening his grip around you. Whatever the Russian wanted, it couldn't be good. Gilbert sighed mentally. Why were you so damn nice to everyone? Even the unawesome bastards like Ivan?

"Become one with me, da?"

Both yours and Gilbert's eyes widened – yours out of surprise and confusion, his out of rage.

"W-what do you mean, 'become one'?" you questioned uncertainly, frowning. You didn't like where this was going.

"You bastard!" Gilbert growled, glaring murderously at the taller nation, standing abruptly. "I told you, she won't become one with the likes of YOU!"

His innocent, peaceful façade not slipping for even a millisecond, Ivan produced a small revolver from the recesses of his large overcoat. Upon seeing the weapon, a few students that had been watching curiously from behind scattered, shouting out fearfully.

"Ivan!" you yelled, shocked, as you clambered hurriedly to your feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Where did you even get that?"

But the Russian wasn't paying attention to you. He pointed the weapon straight at Gilbert's chest, an icy look creeping into his lavender eyes. Suddenly, his innocent expression took on a much more sinister twist. He and Gilbert never broke eye-contact, the albino's furious glare never diminishing. He wouldn't let Ivan have you. Never, no matter what.

"You WILL become one with me, da?" Ivan's psychotic gaze switched from Gilbert to you, his tone brooking no argument.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" you snapped angrily, marching infront of Gilbert. He tried to protest, tried to get you behind him, but you waved him away. "You point a gun at my boyfriend and expect me to do whatever you say? It doesn't work like that!"

"______, don't!" Gilbert hissed, tugging on your arm. "You don't know what he's capable of – the bastard's a raging psychopath!"

Your fury wavered a little, your uncertain gaze flickering from Ivan to Gilbert's worried face. The clicking sound of a bullet being forced into the gun's chamber made your blood run cold. Eyes widening, you whipped back around to give Ivan a horrified look. He had the gun pointed straight at Gilbert's head. "I won't ask again, ______."

Seeing the glint in the Russian's eyes, your stomach plummeted. He was seriously going to shoot Gilbert if you didn't do something. You couldn't let him do that – Gilbert was everything to you.

"Stop it, Ivan!" you shouted, lunging for the gun.

"______, no!" Gilbert cried, trying to grab you away.

Your smaller hands closed around Ivan's larger one, pushing the gun away from your panicking boyfriend. You wouldn't let anything happen to him, not in this lifetime. "Put the bloody gun down NOW, Ivan," you hissed venomously, trying to pry it from his grip.

The Russian's smile faded, his expression turning dangerously blank. His looked down at you as the two of you struggled for possession of the weapon, an even colder look creeping into his eyes. Just him simply looking at you was enough to force jagged chills down your spine.

As you tried to wrestle the gun from his hand, there was a loud, ear-shattering BANG. Your struggles immediately ceased and your eyes widened, as did Gilbert's. Ivan's face just remained as deadly passive as before. Your head was spinning, your ears ringing from the loudness of the noise. A sudden wave of dizziness hit you like a ten ton truck, causing you to stagger backwards. Your hand strayed to your side, and when you brought it up to your face, it was covered in dripping crimson blood. Your blood. You looked down – the dark liquid was seeping freely through your shirt, dripping down the fabric and staining the grass underfoot bright red. Funny…you hadn't even felt that.

Dimly, you could hear people screaming and Gilbert shouting your name. All the noise seemed to be coming through a sudden haze that had enveloped your brain, filtering through the overwhelming sound of your pounding heartbeat. Your vision blackened for a moment and your left leg gave out from underneath you, sending you crashing to your knees. Through the encroaching darkness, you saw Gilbert launch himself at Ivan, tackling the larger Russian to the ground and viciously attacking him.

You blinked a few times, trying to clear your head. It felt as if it was stuffed with cotton wool. Shaking it did nothing to dislodge the fuzziness. You slowly sank to the ground, a hand pressed to your side to try and stop the bleeding. But the crimson liquid continued to gush out, pooling around you.

Your eyes flickered upwards, and you caught sight of streaks of navy blue running towards you. A sense of peace settled over you when you realised they were policemen. One of the officers pulled Gilbert off of a very beat-up looking Ivan, but the albino shook him off roughly and raced to your side. He dropped to his knees beside you, his face filling your entire field of vision.

"_______? C'mon _______, hang in there, help is coming soon," you could hear him pleading with you, stroking your face gently and cradling your head in his lap. "Keep those beautiful eyes open for me, please… Just for a little bit longer…"

You could see…tears streaming down his face. You wanted to reach up and wipe them away, tell him not to cry, that you would be okay. You wanted to tell him you were just glad that he hadn't been hurt. But your muscles refused to work, and you were too tired to move your tongue to form any words. Blood loss making you light-headed and dizzy, you fought against closing your eyes.

"________, please! Keep looking at me, frau. I'm right here!" Gilbert's voice was getting softer and softer, like someone was turning the volume down with a television remote.

You drank in the sight of his ruby-red eyes, his snow-white hair, his pale alabaster skin, the feel of his hands on your slowly-numbing skin…you memorised every detail you could before everything faded to black.