Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen, nor do I own Hetalia or any of the characters in this fanfiction. Disney owns Frozen and Himaruya owns Hetalia

I find the time-skippy stuff to be absolutely dreadful, but it had to be done for this chapter. The following chapters will be better quality, I promise, but the show must go on! I hope that everyone is enjoying this story. It's a bit of a struggle for me, but I definitely am~

Characters in this chapter:

Lithuania as Anna

Latvia as Elsa

Toris woke up early one morning; the moment that light began to fill his room. A couple of weeks had passed since the incident that he had no memory of, and loneliness was beginning to nag at him. He crawled out of bed and scampered across the vacant room. Climbing into the window, he gazed out at the gentle snowfall with a faint gleam in his eyes. The glistening snow that softly blanketed the ground outside reminded him of happier days, before Raivis moved out of the room. Many of their fondest memories were in the snow, he remembered. Maybe the beautiful weather would coax his little brother out for once. He smiled at the thought and jumped down from the window, running out the door and down the hallway to his little brother's room.

"Raivis?" Toris stood on his tiptoes, bouncing a little with a combination of nervousness and excitement. He wanted to see his brother again more than anything. Taking a hopeful breath, he lightly knocked on the other's door. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" he chimed, pressing his ear against the wooden door to listen for a response. "Come on, let's go play!"

He waited for a moment, keeping his ear to the door. Silence ensued. "Please, Raivis? I never see you anymore; it's like you've gone away. We used to be best buddies… and now we're not." He sighed wistfully, trying to peek into the room through the key hole. "I wish you would tell me why. Raivis, don't you want to build a snowman?" He pressed his lips against the key hole with hope in his little eyes. "It doesn't have to be a snowman," he added. The smile quickly disappeared from his face when he heard his little brother respond from the other side of the door.

"Go away, Toris."

The older child felt his heart sink at the three words, and his entire face fell with disappointment as the feeling of utter loneliness returned. "Okay, bye," he replied in barely a whisper. Turning away from the room dejectedly, he kept one hand pressed to the wooden frame for a brief moment as he slowly let go of all hope that his brother would change his mind. He dropped his hand to his side slowly, and walked back into his own room with his shoulders slumped and his eyes fixed to the ground. Maybe tomorrow would be different.

Meanwhile, Raivis was in a struggle of his own. He tried to push back the loneliness he felt in a desperation to control his powers. It seemed by his mannerisms that he cared more about his powers then he did about his family. It was not so. In his eyes, and in the eyes of his parents, he was putting his family and the staff first by keeping them safe. He sighed softly as he stared out the window at the beautiful snowfall. He wanted to be out there to enjoy the weather, but he couldn't. He had to stay inside, he had to stay isolated. Harming another friend or family member was not an option.

He yelped in astonishment when his door swung open, disrupting his thoughts. It terrified him for a brief moment as the memories of what he had done to his big brother flashed through his mind. He sighed in relief when his father walked in and put two gentle hands on his shoulders.

"It's just me, Raivis. How are you, son?" He looked into the young prince's eyes with love and concern, which settled the child a bit.

"I don't know what to do…" he replied softly. His powers were taking over his life, and he was still so young. He didn't want to be stuck in his room anymore. He wanted to be happy again.

"Here." The king reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of gloves, slipping them on Raivis' hands. "The gloves should help. How is this?"

The six-year-old looked down at his hands and then back up at his father. It seemed to have worked at least a little bit. He walked slowly back toward the window and touched it gingerly with a gloved hand. No ice formed on the glass; this was an improvement. Things would be looking up for sure. "Thank you papa… I think this will help…"

"Remember," the king replied softly. "Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show."

With a deep breath, the young prince repeated his father's works, looking down at his hands as he did so. "Yes papa… I won't. I promise."

Three years of the same routine, and Toris never gave up. Every day, he gave his younger brother's door a knock, called in to him, offered to talk or play. He felt like he would fail his best friend if he ever stopped coming to visit him, no matter how many times he was pushed away. It was now exactly three years after the incident, and absolutely nothing changed. With the snow outside, Toris tried once more to coax his nine year old brother out with the same offer.

"Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on, Raivis," he encouraged. "Isn't it lonely in there?" He sat down by the door and placed his hands against it. "I think some company is overdue for both of us… Mom and dad are never around anymore… and, well… There's nobody to talk to. Please, Raivis, I know you can hear me."

Raivis was at the other end, pacing worriedly as he stared down at his hands. Soon he will leave, he told himself. He didn't want his brother so close to him. Through the past three years he tried and tried to control his powers, but they only strengthened within him, and became more difficult to manage. Even now, everything he touched with bare hands turned cold and icy upon contact. He hoped that Toris would go away before he noticed the temperature difference near the door, but the more anxious he got, the worse it became.

"Conceal it, don't feel it," he whispered to himself, biting down on his lip as he continued to pace edgily. "Don't let it show."

The gloves his father provided were helpful for touch, but there was so much range to his ice powers that they couldn't hold back. The temperature, for example, was something that radiated from his body and not just his hands. The room was slowly freezing around him. Every passing second that Toris stayed at the door only made it worse. Just as solid ice was beginning to form on the walls, he heard his brother's voice from the other side of the room.

"Ok, bye then…"

Thank goodness for that. Nothing in the room thawed at that moment, but the freezing began to subside. Toris would be safe another day at least, but how much longer could this continue? Raivis used to let his parents try and help him, but now he didn't even wish for that. He didn't want to risk hurting them either. The isolation had to go on.

Four more years, and Toris had grown into the slightly quirky but gentle and kind prince that his parents knew he would become. They knew that he would make a fine king one day, but worried a little bit now about how the closed gates were affecting him. They wanted him to be aware of his surroundings, and they wanted him to learn to be sociable. Talking to inanimate objects and his brother through the door didn't help much with this skill.

The decision was finally made that the king and queen would travel west over the Baltic Sea to work out trade agreements between kingdoms. They chose to take their time in these matters, and leave Toris in charge of the kingdom for two weeks.

After going over everything the young prince needed to know to properly run the kingdom, the day finally arrived for his parents' departure. Toris ran down the hallway, pausing only for a brief moment outside his little brother's room before continuing down the stairs and pulling both of his parents into a hug. "See you in two weeks."

The queen smiled, cupping her son's face in her hands. "Look at you, almost grown now. I'm so proud of you. Take care of the kingdom, love; just be yourself and everyone will love you almost as much as we do." She gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead and stepped back, taking her husband's arm as they prepared to depart.

A timid voice from behind them redirected Toris' attention. He was not at all expecting Raivis to have already been downstairs. Actually, he didn't expect him to be outside of his room at all, but there he was.

"Do you have to go?" the thirteen-year-old asked softly, looking up at his parents before fixing his nervous gaze to the floor.

His father took a step toward him, wanting to do or say anything to reassure his younger son. Raivis took a couple of precautionary steps back in response, and didn't look up to meet his eyes again. The king frowned, but didn't try to push any farther.

"You will be fine, Raivis."

Toris turned away from his brother to wave as his parents one more time as they departed. When he turned back around, his brother was gone.

"No, wait!" He quickly ran up the stairs, trying to catch his little brother before he disappeared from the world again. It was too late; he heard the door shut the moment he reached the top of the stairs. "Raivis!" He quickly reached the door and pressed his hands against it, trembling a little bit with a combination of frustration and distress. "Why are you always doing this? You don't want mom and dad to leave, but I'm right here. I can help you too if you would just let me… I want to help you, just… let me." He closed his eyes tightly, biting down on his lower lip. "I don't understand," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from his face as he slowly backed away from the door. "I want to talk to you again. I want my brother back."

"Leave," Raivis replied sharply from the other end of the door. He was curled up in the corner of his room, trying to fight back against the powers that were taking control over him. It killed him inside that his big brother was getting so upset over this, but nothing could change yet.

"Fine," Toris replied. His voice was soft-spoken, but loud enough to be heard. "Hide away like you always have. I'm going to open the gates tomorrow though, so I can see my kingdom. If you change your mind and want to go outside with me, you're always welcome to…" he backed away from the door and retreated to make his own preparations, blinking away the angry tears that threatened to form in his eyes. He shouldn't have been too worked up about something that was already expected of his brother. He had more important things to do anyway.

Toris spent the rest of the evening preparing to have the gates opened. He knew it would only be for a couple of weeks while his parents were away, but he wanted to make sure that he did everything right. He studied his kingdom, making sure to self-teach himself everything that he hadn't yet learned. For his little brother's sake, he decided to go out among his people rather than having anyone go into the castle. He figured there would be a day sometime in the future where that could happen, but not too soon. The smile eventually returned to his face as he finished up the last bit of his studies; he was excited to meet everybody.

All of the anticipation, however, very quickly turned into a nightmare for the royal family. It happened so fast, in fact, that Toris didn't even believe it at first. It was early the next morning, and he was getting ready to get up and open the gates when he heard a very urgent knocking on his door. His stomach twisted into knots at the sound; something was definitely wrong. Turning slowly, he approached the door and answered it, shocked to see three unfamiliar faces. The one immediately in front of him was a middle-aged man, trembling and kneeling at Toris' feet. Tears rushed down his face and silent sobs of combined fear and sorrow silenced him for a long time, while the other two stood at either side of him with grave expressions.

"I'm so sorry your highness," the trembling one cried. "I'm so, so sorry. Forgive me, I tried. I tried..."

Toris felt his heart ache at the man's pain, and knelt down so he was at his level. He put his hands on both of the older man's shoulders gently and looked into his eyes.

"It is alright," he replied softly. "I believe you, but you need to tell me what happened."

Looking up at the future ruler, the middle-aged man took a deep breath in an attempt to force the information from his lips. Though there was nothing that he could have done, he felt that it was his fault; he found that he was worried not only for his own fate, but for the princes' as well.

"This ship that the king and queen traveled on last night… got caught in a storm at sea," he choked out. "It was late at night, you may have slept through the storm, your highness, but the winds were rough. The waves were brutal and I… I couldn't keep control over my ship."

Toris didn't react to this at first. It felt completely unreal to him, like he was walking in a dream or a nightmare that was just so absurd; he knew it wasn't real even as he was dreaming it.

"Where are they now?" he asked softly. He kept his voice gentle even though inside his heart was beginning to pound fast and hard in his chest.

"The ship went under," the man murmured softly under his breath. "It sank and they were still in it. I was the only survivor; found by a fishing boat and brought back here. I tried to save them… I tried. I really tried." He looked into Toris' eyes with a deep sorrow. "Your parents are dead."

Suddenly in that instant, time completely froze. Toris' breath caught in his throat, and he felt that he couldn't breathe at all. The only thing he could feel was an almost painfully heavy pounding in his chest and a ringing in his ears from the sudden, eerie silence. The reality of the situation slapped him in the face with an agonizing amount of force, and his eyes widened with shock and disbelief.

The prince used his door frame to support himself as he got back to his feet, shaking his head slowly. His chest tightened as his hands started to tremble, and he only made it a couple of steps backward into his room before slumping to the floor again.

"Mama… papa…" he whimpered. He suddenly felt like a helpless child again, lost and alone. One of the young men that accompanied the ship captain rushed to his side, getting down beside him in an attempt to get him back to his feet, but Toris ignored him. He covered his face with both hands, taking deep breaths to try and fight the raging storm of emotions that clouded his sense of reason.

"Prince Toris…"

"Leave me be," he replied hoarsely, pulling away from the young man who tried to assist him. "Please…"

"The funeral will be held this evening," he replied softly. "I'm sorry…"

"Leave," Toris repeated. He kept his face buried in his hands as the three men slowly departed, leaving him alone in his room. Loneliness was something he was used to, but this was unimaginable. He inhaled slowly, trying to regain control over himself, but the pain was too great. With another deep breath, he finally broke down into heavy sobs, leaning against a wall as he cried bitterly into his hands.

How could it be? From prince to king at the age of fifteen, over the death of his parents, and now he was really alone. No matter how many times he denied it in his head, the only people he ever loved were all gone from his life. How could he be a king to his people now? He couldn't; he wasn't ready. Anyone could see that.

For the first time, Toris realized a different kind of pain: being shut in rather than being shut out. He hugged his knees and kept his face hidden in his arms for hours, completely ignoring the staff members who frequently knocked on his door to make sure he was ok. He didn't eat, he didn't speak. He didn't even bother to move from that very spot in his room until he had to get ready for the funeral. So this is how Raivis feels…

"Raivis." Toris had barely finished getting dressed for the funeral and was running a brush through his disheveled hair when his brother came to mind. His dear brother, the one person he had left.

The funeral was short, by Toris' request. Many people arrived to grieve over their wonderful rulers. It seemed the whole kingdom came at some point or another. Only one person didn't arrive, the one and only person Toris wanted to see: his brother. Without Raivis, he had to bury his parents alone, and that was more painful than anything else. It weighed on him for the rest of the evening; he was the last person to go when the burial was over. He walked slowly, keeping his head down as he re-entered the castle. The gates were shut behind him, and he didn't even care. Nothing mattered anymore; life itself just seemed so purposeless.

As he made his way numbly up the stairs toward his room, he paused by the closed door that he knew so well. He pressed his ear to the cold surface and heard sniffling from right inside.

"Raivis…" Toris whispered. The whimpers and quiet sobs from the other end of the door stopped abruptly when he knocked gently on the door. "Raivis?" he repeated a little louder, pressing his forehead to the door as tears formed in his eyes again. "Please… I know you're in there. I'm right out here for you… just… just let me in." He turned around and leaned against the door, slowly sinking to the ground. "We only have each other now. It's just you and me. Please, let me in. Raivis…" His head drooped as tears ran down his cheeks. He found himself asking the question that used to always work, even though he knew now that it was pointless. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Raivis was sitting against the door as well, back to back with his brother and surrounded by ice and snow. He wanted nothing more than to throw the door open and hug the other tightly, but he knew that he couldn't. That was what killed him; the last person he had left in his life had to be pushed away, or he would be gone forever too. The blonde choked up when he heard his older brother ask the old question, the one he hadn't heard for so many years. He gave up trying to not care and cried silently as well, turning a little to press one gloved hand to the door.

In that moment since their young childhood, Toris and Raivis had never been so close to each other, but it was a hollow, physical closeness. At the same time, they were both so much lonelier than ever before. "I do," Raivis whispered, blinking as he stared down at his trembling hands. He knew that his words were too quiet to be heard, but oh how he longed to say these things aloud. "So much, Toris… I do. I want to build a snowman… with you."