Hello everyone. I have returned. I have no updated in awhile I know, but I have been off in the big bad world. College preparation and such. But for now I have time to sit, relax, and most importantly, write. So here I am.

This chapter in particular will be a bit gruesome. Sorry folks just the way it is.

Dragon does not own Hetalia.

Norway

That day Mathias and I spent together in our room was perfect. But the next day was right back to responsibilities and expectations. And I was in a fairly fowl mood because of it.

Nonetheless, Mathias and I got out of bed and got dressed. Mathias was chattering about something or another because he knew he probably would not be allowed to speak much today. I allowed myself a small smile listening to the sound of his voice and tuning out what he was actually saying.

It was so normal.

No sooner than we had gotten decent clothes on, a winded servant knocked on our door and hurriedly informed us that my father had finally requested our presence. Mathias' face drained of colour instantly and he looked at me with wide eyes.

I strode over to him and planted a kiss on his forehead, "you will do great. Just remember, act Omega. And tonight, when it is all over, we will relax and have something sweet okay?"

He nodded and steeled himself to the best of his ability.

We walked to my father's chambers at a purposefully slow pace, Mathias walked two or three steps behind me with his gaze focused on the floor. My heart longed to have him standing tall beside me instead.

I knock on my father's door to announce our arrival and step in slowly, "Father? My mate and I have come."

"Come in boy. Hurry." My father wheezed.

I did as I was told and went to my father's bedside. Mathias lingered behind me as I kneeled beside my dying father. On his other side was my misty eyed mother. Beside her, also in tears, was Emil's much younger mother.

"Let me see your chosen boy. I wish to see her." My father requested.

"Actually father, my mate is male." I motioned with a finger for Mathias to step forward. He did so, but wisely kept his eyes on the floor as he kneeled by my side.

"Ah. A male Omega then. It works just as well. He is a strong one. Healthy. Definitely fit to stand behind a king. You... Have done well my boy. Take care... Of... The kingdom..." My father said between deep wheezes. And then, his loud breathing slowed to a stop. It was so sudden that I actually got dizzy.

"F-father?" I stuttered. His two omegas both burst into tears. The nurse, who is a strong hearty beta woman steps forward from the shadows.

"He knew this was coming, but he held on in hopes that he would meet your mate in slightly better health, king Lukas. Unfortunately, when he did not get better, he knew that he would have to settle for just being able to meet your mate. He was a good man, and a great king. We all grieve for him this day." She said softly.

Tears fell from my eyes. My father was gone. So suddenly. Poor Emil didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. It was too sudden. I grabbed Mathias' arm.

"Take me to our room Mathias. I may be sick." I mumbled.

He nods, "ladies I apologize for speaking out of turn, but my alpha has requested to be taken to his chambers. May we be dismissed?"

The beta nurse nodded then went back to comforting the two sobbing Omega.

Mathias helped me stand and I proceeded to stumble back to my room with him following me and discreetly helping me. Only when our door shut behind us, did I let my emotions free. I fell to my knees and put my face in my hands to cry. Mathias hugged my shanking body from behind and leaned on me comfortingly while I grieved. All told, we were probably there for at least twenty minutes but Mathias never budged and he never tried to interrupt me. He just held me in silence and brought me as much comfort as he could.

Slowly, the pain in my heart dulled to a steady throb and I reigned my emotions back in. When my tears had stopped, Mathias slowly stood, grabbed a small soft towel, and gently wiped my face.

"Are you going to be alright?" He asked in a soft voice.

I nodded, "Yes I will be eventually."

He smiled, "Just remember I am always going to be here okay?"

I nodded again, "Thank you."

I laid my head against his chest and stayed that way for another ten minutes or so then I decided it was time to get up, "Come on. I need to see about Emil."

Mathias nodded and stood up.

My brother's room was relatively close to mine. Just two rooms down the hall. I knocked on the door to see if he was there and sure enough, he answers the door.

"Lukas? Why are your eyes so puffy?" He said obviously still half asleep.

"Actually, you should probably let us in and close the door for this." I said.

Now more alert and awake my brother nodded and stepped aside to allow my mate and I to enter his room. Leona was sitting in the bed with her back against the headboard and a hand on her pregnant belly. Emil sat beside her after closing and securing the door. Mathias and I took seats close to the bed and I took a deep breath.

"Emil.. our father is dead." I said slowly. Mathias grabbed my hand and I gladly accepted the comfort.

"... Oh." My brother said simply getting an odd look on his face, "was it... I mean was he in pain?"

"No not that I could tell. And he met Mathias before he passed. I think he was happy." I said.

"Good." Emil said softly. He looked peaceful.

"You're not upset?" I asked more out of curiosity than anything.

He looked at me and shook his head, "I miss him. But he was so sick for so long... I just think that this was inevitable. And that it is good that he is no longer in pain. Is that bad?"

"No I don't believe it is. And when did you get so mature? I am supposed to be the big brother here." I said deadpan. Mathias chuckled beside me.

"I have never acknowledged that." My little brother said with a scowl.

"But you will. Someday." I said.

"Keep dreaming. Anyway, what do you plan on doing now?" He asked.

I glanced at Mathias then returned my gaze to Emil, "What do you mean?"

"You're king now. You inherited all of father's problems. The discord in Danmark, the poverty, the uprisings, all of it. You are going to be coronated within the week with Mathias as your queen. What the hell are you going to do?" Emil said. He seemed to be freaking out about it more then I was. Leona placed a hand over my brother's.

"I have no idea. There's the ugly truth. But my mating to Mathias should smooth things down in Danmark. As for the rest... I will just have to work it out as I go." I said.

"I guess that is all you can do." Emil said softly.

Mathias cuddled me, something he would normally get scolded for doing in front of others, but I let him do it and even cuddled back a bit. Emil was right, he and I were in for a long week.

Time Skip

The next two months passed in a blur. Even if I could describe all the things that happened, I probably would need a whole day to do it so I won't. I will give the short version.

I was coronated two days after the death of my father. Now officially king, with a mated and Marked queen I was expected to produce and heir within the next year to two years, which, I didn't think would be a problem. In fact at first I thought my heir would be born in the next nine months because my mate was pregnant after the first heat we spent together.

But Mathias miscarried.

He was devastated. The loss of the child that he had only carried for a few weeks was still understandably painful for him. All I could do is use what little alone time we had together to comfort him.

Eventually, he got better and though he still mourned the loss, he was mostly himself after awhile. His heats happen every three months being that he is an extremely fertile Omega. Normally omegas only go into heat every six months, and some less fertile ones go into heat only once a year. Since he was so fertile, we would have time to try again but I worried that he would not be able to go full term. Unless we could produce an alpha child to be my heir, Mathias would be deemed infertile and would be killed.

And if that wasn't enough there were other stresses too. Having an entire kingdom dropped on your shoulders was hard by itself without that kingdom being fractured at the seems. People were poor, starving, and there were revolts all over the place. I tried to keep the peace but it was hard considering all the lands I ruled over now.

I was in over my head and stressed beyond belief.

The only upsides were, Mathias who I no longer believed I would be able to live without, my brother who was always by my side trying to help, and Leona who tried to relax me with remedies from her Homeland despite her enormous pregnant belly.

All that being said, nothing truly terrible happened until two months and one week after my father's death.

Mathias and I laid in bed talking in hushed voices about something that I don't entirely remember. I do recall the beautiful sky blue of his eyes in the moonlight, but that has nothing to do with anything.

Everything seemed peaceful that night until I heard a crash from across the hall. I sat upright on full alert but though something made my senses very unnerved, there were no more sounds to warn me of something that was wrong. I slowly laid back down beside a slightly spooked Mathias.

"Probably just a servant that broke a vase or something to that effect," I said patting his hair. He nodded at me.

He had soon fallen asleep but I could not. Something was wrong I could feel it, but what? Soon I was so on edge that it began to affect Mathias' sleep so I got up to ask Emil if he was having similar experiences.

I walked two doors down the hall to my brother's room. As soon as I arrived, I know something was wrong because the door was standing slightly open. Emil is as paranoid as I am so he wouldn't have left his door unlocked much less open. I drew my dagger and slow pushed the door open. Nothing could have prepared me for the horror of what I found.

The first thing I saw was blood. Startling red covered most available surfaces. Leona laid on the bed gagged and with her belly slit open like a gutted fish. She had bleed to death by the looks of it and the murderer had ripped her baby from her womb.

The baby was strung up by her umbilical cord. She had probably died shortly after being cut from her mother but the way she was now it looked as if she had been lynched with the very thing that had given her life in the womb.

And Emil. My precious baby brother. He was in the corner of the room with a gag still between his teeth. There were cut ropes around him lying in the bloody pool and his ankles were still tied together so I assume his wrists had been too. But now both wrists had deep slits in them across the veins. The dagger that matched mine rested in his hand. He killed himself. Probably after being forced to watch his mate and child murdered. Tear tracks still showed on his cheeks.

I couldn't comprehend what I saw. Murders of the royal family were not unheard of. But this... This was the most brutal murder I had ever seen or heard of. And my poor brother had done nothing to deserve this. Nothing at all. So why?

I fell to my knees with grief filling my soul to the brim. Why? Why Emil? Why Leona? Why that innocent unnamed baby? They were all innocents.

My lamenting was interrupted by a scream from down the hall. Mathias! My blood felt like ice. I jumped to my feet and bolted down the hall. They wouldn't take him too. My father, my brother, and Leona had all been stolen from me, but they were absolutely not about to take my mate too.

I burst through the door and leapt at Mathias' attacker without even assessing the situation. I grappled with him and stabbed at him with my dagger. I didn't make more than a flesh wound though. As soon as I had wrestled my dagger into a deadly position I heard a voice from behind me.

"If you value your mate, I wouldn't bring that dagger down." Said a woman's voice.

I turned to see her sitting on Mathias' back with a sword at his throat. My poor mate looked terrified, his entire body shook with fear. Those lovely sky blue eyes were wide with terror.

I backed away from the man I had been about to kill.

"Good boy. Now drop the weapon." She said.

I would be defenseless without that dagger I couldn't just-

"I said now!" she growled pushing the sword harder against Mathias' neck. Blood beaded up from a cut just above his Adam's apple and he winced.

I couldn't bare to watch him die. I dropped my dagger. I was going to die. My father's line would end tonight.

"That's much better." She nodded at the man behind me. He leaned down and picked up the dagger.

"Now I must say, Prince Lukas, you are quite dull." The woman chuckled.

"You are the dull one. I am king. King Lukas of Norway. You are going to pay dearly for my death, and for that of my brother." I said boldly. Much more boldly than I felt.

"King? Oh well that doesn't matter dear. I am simply misinformed. You on the other hand. You didn't figure out that someone could have still been in the castle even though your brother's door unlocks from the inside. Tsk tsk tsk." She said tapping the sword against Mathias' neck dangerously with each tsk.

My heart sunk. She was right. I had been foolish.

"You could have avoided this whole thing if you had just called for the guard. You would have lived at least. We were just trying to kill your pretty little mate before we were taken out but you just handed yourself to us. Now you both get to die. Isn't that wonderful?" She said licking Mathias' cheek. He shuddered in response.

"You said you wouldn't kill him!" I shouted.

"I did not. I never said anything of the sort. I just wanted you to get rid of your weapon." She said sweetly.

"Please don't kill him! Please! I won't fight. I promise! You can kill me but please don't kill Mathias!" I begged in a panic.

"Oh poor thing. Begging just makes this more fun for us. And now that there's no treat from the guard, we get to play with him as much as we like." She said with a voice so sweet I thought I would vomit.

She then set her sword aside and forced a gag into Mathias' mouth. I felt myself forcefully pulled back and my hands being roughly tied behind my back. Next were my feet and though I kicked and tried to yell, nothing worked. Soon I was against the wall and totally unable to move. I was horrified. This was what had happened to Emil and Leona. They were going to torture Mathias to death and make me watch. I struggled against the rope but it only made my wrists bleed.

"So brother, how do you think we should play with this one? He may last longer than that little pregnant woman did.." she said playing with Mathias' hair.

"Hn. He sure is pretty. Look at those eyes." Said the man lifting Mathias' head to see his eyes. Tears were running down my mate's cheeks. I screamed into my gag and tried harder to free myself. Rope burn was my only reward.

"You like him huh? He is a looker isn't he? But I heard he has some pretty bad manners. Maybe you should teach him a little something about how a real alpha deals with bad little whores." She said with an evil sneer.

"I think I should. He doesn't look as if he has been taught that lesson yet." He said. The woman removed herself from Mathias who immediately tried to get up but the man stomped on Mathias' back.

A sickening crack filled the room and Mathias spat up blood which soaked the fabric between his teeth. I whimpered wishing desperately than I could save him from the beating that he was undoubtedly about to receive.

"Stay still." The man snarled.

The man then began to undo Mathias' clothing. A new wave of profound horror rushed through my mind when I realized what that murderer was about to do to Mathias was going to be a lot worse than just beating him.

"Are you enjoying the show yet?" The woman purred from beside me. I could smell her arousal mixed with that of her partner. These sick bastards got off on this?

I trashed against my bindings but they wouldn't give. I wished I would have cut that scumbags throat when I had the chance.

He raped Mathias with no mercy. No matter how much Mathias cried or fought it only seemed to egg his attacker on. And when blood started running down Mathias' thighs from the brutal treatment and the rapist's climax neared, the man wrapped his hands around Mathias' throat and cut off his air supply. Both murderers moaned as if Mathias' torment brought them immense pleasure. The man came inside Mathias then lifted the weak Omega into the air by his neck and sneered as Mathias' strength ebbed away even more.

I cried out pitifully as my mate's end neared, but the gag prevented the noise from escaping.

Mathias was limp with his eyes beginning to slide closed when by some miracle the door to my room swung open. An arrow shot through the man's neck before he could react. The woman, who had been rubbing herself to climax watching her partner torture Mathias, stood up and almost killed me with her sword but she was caught with an arrow between her ribs and through her heart. I only got scratched.

The men from my guard solemnly walked inside and cut my binds. I bolted to Mathias and removed the bloody gag.

"Mathias? Oh gods I'm so sorry. Please don't be dead. I need you please wake up." I patted his cheek trying to wake him. It didn't work. I lowered my head to his chest to check for a pulse, or breathing, anything that would tell me my precious mate was still alive. I almost sighed with relief when. I heard the weak beat of his heart and the ragged breathing of his lungs. I looked back up at my guardsmen.

"Don't just stand there, he needs help immediately!" I scolded. They ran to forfill my order.

I stayed beside my unconscious mate all night praying to whoever was listening for him to pull through and return to me.