Finally, here is THE LAST CHAPTER YAY!

Two hours. Two hours had passed since anyone had last seen Irene. She has simply vanished, leaving no trace, no message, and no clue as to where she had gone.

Adrien was well passed being worried.

Even without looking at his completely chewed out nails or his irritated lips, it was easy to tell the young boy was tortured with fear. He had lost his sister for the second time in the space of three hours (or four years from her point of view) and it was one time too much. Miracles were rare and his had gone and passed.

Nonetheless, he frantically looked around. Whether it be behind bookshelves or under candles, Adrien searched everywhere for his sister.
And he wasn't alone.
All the living souls that were within Norway's walls shuffled and ran around, calling out a single name.

Irene.

My name is Irene Van Ruskie.

Adrien froze as he lifted the curtains.

His eyes ran around the room, only to find the others continuing their search without interruption.

And I declare war.

Adrien couldn't understand. Why was he the only one to hear her?

Suddenly, it became afternoon.
No, that doesn't make sense.
Suddenly, the light that seeped through the snowstorm and into the house turned orange, as if the sun was beginning to set. The changed was too brutal for it to have been natural and had caught everyone's attention, turning it towards the windows. All the nations stopped looking around and gathered in the living room to stare at the window.

The General's siege weakened and all could see the huge flames that rose from the neighbouring forest.
Fires couldn't start and grow so quickly.

Kill me if you want.

A slow headache crept in Adrien's head as more words, muffled out for some, made way into his head. Before he realized it, he was listening to a lullaby.

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night

"This cannot be natural."England said, biting his lips "It's magic, black magic."

"Why black magic?" Hong Kong asked "It could be white magic. Like good magic. However you call it."

"No." Scotland answered "This magic is dark, powerful and concentrated in that fire. Something is happening there and I doubt it's anything good."

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night

"What can we do about it?" Finland asked.

Russia shook his head "Nothing. Even if the storm is gone, the magic has poisoned the air outside."

"Adrien?" France asked with concern. All heads turned to the boy who had been silent for a while. He stood there, staring at the ground with tears in his eyes.

Angels watching, e'er around thee,
All through the night
Midnight slumber close surround thee,
All through the night

"Adrien!" England called "Are you alright?"

"My head…" Adrien muttered without sparing a glance at anyone.

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night

"We can't just stay here and do nothing!" Hong Kong growled "Whatever is happening outside, it's affecting Adrien and I'll be damned if it isn't doing as much to Irene!"

"Irene…" Adrien whispered "She's scared."

"What?" Prussia asked.

"I don't know how I know but…" Adrien replied, his hands clenching his head in pain "She's scared."

My brother, Adrien Van Ruskie, and I, Irene Van Ruskie, offer…

Click.

The front door opened slowly.
Everyone tensed. Silence entered the room.
Slowly, an arm, a leg and a whole body followed the silence.

"Hey, missed me?" Denmark grinned. Before anyone could speak, the Dane rose his hand in the air and rummaged his bag before taking out a knife. "We don't have much time so before you say anything, not that you could with how dumbfounded you all look right now, I need to say I'm happy I'm alive and well too, that I know the whole situation, blah blah blah, and that most importantly,
I'm so sorry for what I'm gonna do."

With a swift movement, Denmark threw the knife and before Adrien could react – before anyone could react -, it had already landed between his eyes.

… our lives.

Irene caught her breath.

"Okay." She started "I'm in the forest."

"Good." Norway answered from the clip. "Don't forget that I just need to activate the fire as it maintains itself on its own so don't rush anything."

"I know, you told me." Irene replied, anxiously looking around. The plan they had cooked up was a very good one - almost flawless when they had discussed it - but actually putting it in action was so much harder than she had thought.
Any minute, any second now, she thought.

And just as she predicted, a dark swirl appeared before her.

The General had found her.

Hello, Russia.

Irene took a deep breath and cloaked herself with courage.
"My name is Irene Van Ruskie," she announced with determination "I am not Russia, and I Declare War."

On cue, the trees around her lit up in flames, surrounding the two in a great fire that covered the whole forest. The fire spread all around, sparing nothing but a small circle in which stood Irene and the General.

"This is magic fire." Irene explained "The only way to stop it is to chant the counter spell which is unknown to both of us. This," Irene motioned the circle "is a protective spell, and this," Irene lifted her sleeve just enough so the General could see the drawing on her wrist "is the rune that keeps it alive. In other words, kill me and the fire will trap you."

Mere fire cannot hold me.

"Magic fire can." Irene corrected. "Magic fire can kill you. The only reason it didn't yet is that no one is crazy enough to kill winter."

Winter's death means the planet's death.

"I know." Irene replied "It means this planet's death, not mine."

The General remained silent and Irene had to do everything in her power to keep fear from invading her composure and her voice.

"So, it's your choice." She continued, daring him with her eyes "Kill me if you want, as long as you're prepared to bear the consequences."

The General didn't move.

"So you do have a bit of logic left in you despite the curse" Irene smiled, controlling her overwhelming relief. "Good."

Irene reached for her pocket. There was little the General could do, surrounded by fire. The heat alone was enough to neutralize his attacks and a physical injury on Irene was likely to kill her with the amount of power he had. Not that that thought was very reassuring.
Irene focused on the fire. Flames had always been her sole companion during the four years that she had spent alone. Their sole presence was enough to restore her confidence.

She quickly unfolded the piece of paper she had just taken out, and began singing the lullaby before the Genral could think of any plan of escape.
Once her voice came out, the ghost froze.

"Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night"

The general's eyes darted to his own body in panic, and that was enough for Irene to know it was working.

"Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night"

She could already feel it surrounding her, slowly coming back.

"Angels watching, e'er around thee,
All through the night
Midnight slumber close surround thee,
All through the night"

It recognized her voice. It reached out for her like a child to a mother.

"Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night"

The dark magic that had slept in her body all her life had recognized her and already the magic that had polluted Norway and Denmark's wounds, the one that had powered up the General, the very same one that had spread all over the world, was coming back to her. Within seconds, the forest was dense with dark magic. Her dark magic.

The General kneeled on the ground. His magic was not powerful enough without the support of Irene's and the siege and the fire drained him to the last drop.

"Surrender, General." Irene ordered "I have won this war."

Your victory will have no impact on the curse, Russia. My surrender will not bring you anything.

"I know. Surrender."

Very well, I surrender.

It had worked. Irene just couldn't believe it. While it was true the General couldn't lose anything through surrendering, it still seemed a bit easy.
Or was it because Irene didn't want the plan to work? Irene ignored her reluctance and continued.

"I need to speak to Winter."

I am Winter.

"No, you are the General." Irene denied "You may be a bit special but you're still a personification. Winter is your power, your magic, not yourself just like Russia, America, Belgium are only the names of the lands they are linked to, not their personality or who they are. I need to speak to Winter."

A small wind blew around Irene and the girl immediately knew it was listening.

"Contrary to popular belief," Irene started "I know that magic has a mind of its own and that like any other being, it strives to survive. Self-preservation id one of the main laws of nature and your first instinct as well as mine." Irene gulped. It felt weird talking to an invisible person; not only could she not see its reaction, she couldn't hear its reply as well. Irene bit her lip; she was going to have to gamble big on that one.

"I have conquered The General." She continued "If he was a normal country, I'd be able to claim his land. However, as he rightly pointed out, his loss cannot bring me any as he doesn't possess land. Instead, I will claim his power."

This is ridiculous. A human cannot become an idea like Winter.

"I know." Irene once again said "But think about it Winter. I have proved myself to be stronger than the General through this brief war, I now possess magic that has grown in me for fourteen years without a single drop having been spent, I am the one to currently hold the power of life and death over the two of us, The General is weak and I am not only offering one life to hold on to but two. Adrien is included in this deal. Wouldn't you rather have a stronger host? One more likely to last longer?"

Winter cannot hold on to a human body.

"Thank you General for this fairly obvious point." Irene sighed, preparing herself for the last part of the plan "If this body is the wall that is keeping you away from me… then… then I-I will get rid of it."

And once again she found her gun willingly touching her skull.

Killing yourself means allowing the flames to kill us both!

Irene smiled at the General. He glanced at her wrist where the rune was, where it had been before he noticed the drawing was half erased by sweat and heat. It was fake. The protection wasn't tied to her body. He could easily have killed her.
And suddenly her smile made sense. She had lied.

"Winter, my brother, Adrien Van Ruskie, and I, Irene Van Ruskie, offer you our lives."

Winter gave no sign of agreeing or refusing, just like Irene thought it would.

Everything was a big gamble.

Bang.

"You killed him." England said, staring at the bloody corpse on the floor. "You bloody killed him."

"Well technically-" Denmark started.

"TECHNICALLY?" Russia growled, spinning his trusty iron pipe in his hand "I guess you won't mind joining him in death, da?"

"Wait I-" Denmark tried.

"What had he ever done to you?!" Hong Kong cried.

"Just let me-" Denmark insisted.

"You're a monster." Canada declared with so much anger everyone noticed him "A cold-hearted, murderous monster."

"So much tension." Norway deadpanned before freezing everyone in the room "Sorry for that, I'd rather you not kill the idiot."

"Then why am I frozen?" Denmark whinned.

"Because you're better like that." Norway smiled "Anyway, Irene did it."

The nations all shared a quizzical glance, allowing the surprise of Norway's sudden appearance to sink in.

"Great! So where is she?" Denmark asked.

"In the forest, lying on the ground, dead." Norway answered.

"Did it work?" Denmark asked.

"CAN YOU STOP AND EXPLAIN?" America cried "I don't understand what's happening here!"

"Well Irene managed to drain Winter and the dark magic" Denmark explained "Then Norway zapped us here since nothing was keeping us from healing anymore."

Norway gave Denmark's head a back slap.
"They were talking about the deaths, idiot. Irene and I have been talking to each other through telepathy with the last of my magic. We managed to build a plan but it required both Irene and Adrien to get rid of their bodies. So we killed them. Well, Irene killed herself, we just killed Adrien as soon as we got here."

"And did it work?" Hong Kong asked "Is she alive? Can we see her?"

"It worked but you can't see her." Norway answered "Not until winter."

England sighed "If you messed up with time and sent her a few months awa-"

"I did nothing of the sort." Norway interrupted "But the personification of winter can be where winter is not unless it is being powered up by a curse or extra magic."

…

"Irene is winter." Iceland said "Okay."

"Half of winter, Adrien is the other half." Denmark added.

"Okay." Iceland nodded "That's normal. Totally normal. Actually, I don't even know why I'm still giving a shit. There's a corpse in the room, a fourteen year old who spent half her life geeking away on a computer has defeated Winter and nearly half a year has passed between this chapter and the last because the author was too lazy."

Iceland's eyes turned gold and he unfroze himself.

"And now she's mixing up Hetalia and Merlin. I am so done with this."

Iceland walked to the door, opened it and left.

Thank you for reading this story to the end! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Hetalia and Merlin do not belong to me.