Denmark sighed to himself as he trudged on in the snow, watching his shallow breath come out in little white clouds.

Denmark just dropped off Peter at Finland's so they got back their son. And Denmark knew he still didn't possess the courage to speak to his friend, as he just knocked on the ivory door and ran as fast as he could.

Unknown to the Dane, he was leaving a blood trail in his wake.

While Denmark was walking, he felt oddly calm…something he had long abandoned almost a month ago.

'I wonder how everyone is doing….' Denmark asked in his mind. Ever since that little show he made with Iceland, crushing multiple cell phones, and relocating, no other country, other than this one time with Tino, bothered to talk to him.

'See? They don't care enough to even question why you did that to poor, little Iceland. They probably hate you by now.'

Denmark flinched at the words in his head, using his good arm to grip his head. "Stop it…!" He hissed out, little beads of tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. He knew thinking about the others would put his mind in this state.

When Denmark found out that Peter was missing, Denmark knew he contracted a parasite that played with his mind, telling him negative things, giving him doubts, and messing up his thought process in general.

And he knew that this parasite wasn't something he could chop up into bits.

'Shouldn't it be better that you just cut all your ties right now? Why don't you go and disappear? No one will care enough to wonder where you are, because you are worse than filth.'

Denmark's thoughts broke when he heard the sound of snow crunching.

Those hateful comments in his head faded to a low hum, and he would have to strain his ears to hear parts of what those nasty voices said to him.

Denmark listened to the snow crunching, and registered them as footsteps. Denmark knew that no one else took this way since he was going back into the solitude he now lived in.

Even so, what would motivate anyone to come into a place where it was pine trees for miles?

Denmark looked down, before it made sense.

Since he had on moccasins to hide his tracks in the snow, he did nothing to try and staunch the blood flow and blood had dripped down in droplets, leaving a temporary red scar on the pure whiteness of the snow.

"Shit…" He cursed, wiping his hand and gripped his shoulder before retreating to a tall-as-him tree that was surrounded by taller trees.

Denmark hid, and watched the owner of the footsteps slowly come into view.

Denmark let out a held breath as he couldn't believe his eyes.

Sweden looked around the landscapes, breathing heavily from running a long way from home.

Denmark's head swirled with question that he knew wouldn't be answered unless he asked the Swedish man himself. 'Why did you follow the trail?' He wanted to ask.

Sweden allowed himself to catch his breath before seeing nothing…and the blood trail that cut off suddenly.

"D'mmit…" Sweden breathed out. He had followed this to find out who was the one who brought back Peter.

Denmark watched as Sweden looked around, trying to survey the area for movement before sighing. It was no use. The person who left this trail was nowhere to be seen.

Denmark had to turn away and grit his teeth to fight the urge to run up to his friend and apologize for not finding Peter sooner.

"That's right Berwald…go back to the light side of this world…where it's warm and safe." Matthias spoke as he pushed himself off of the tree, and slowly walked deeper into the darker part of the forest.

And never in his life has he seen such a lonely road.

"Please…" He pleaded to no one. "Please don't follow me into the dark, where it's cold and lonely."

And with those last words, he walked further on, never looking back as his words fell on deaf ears.

As Denmark laid by the fire, waiting for the personal doctor his boss called in, Denmark looked to the calendar…and froze.

"No…" Denmark whispered out, holding the page of the calendar in his trembling hand.

Today's date was December 30th.

That meant…he had only one more day to complete the pact.

One more day before everyone would know.

"Oh god…" Denmark whispered, hiding his face in one of his hands and started to weep silently.

Unbeknownst to all of the countries, on that day where everyone thought he cut down the Icelandic boy, it was all but a ruse.

No one knew that Iceland was never injured to begin with. No one knew that Iceland and Denmark had planned this all.

And definitely no one knew the horrors they faced.

"Are you ready, Denmark?" The figure said as Denmark turned to the figure, and his blood boiled once again. He hated this thing with a passion.

"Why are you here?" He asked, his hand subconsciously touching his limp arm since it has no time whatsoever to heal. "We just settled this tonight."

The figure cackled as it pointed at the calendar. "Denmark look! You're almost out of time! And you're nowhere NEAR how much we agreed on!"

"DON'T REMIND ME!" Denmark screamed, knocking over the table by flipping it over. Denmark paced around the figure, hiding his face. "I'm…I'm so useless…I can't even finish what I have started…" He sobbed, hating how he looked SO weak.

But this time…the figure did not mock him. Instead, it lowered its hood, showing it's features to Denmark.

"You are not as useless as you say, Matthias. Yes, you may have no time to complete our agreement, but know that you tried your hardest."

Denmark turned to the figure, unamused. "How DARE you say those things!" Denmark yelled, jabbing his fingers at the figure's chest, trying so hard just to focus on its blue eyes instead of it's familiar face.

"You were the one…who did those things…" Denmark said, sinking to his knees. "You killed Tino, Berwald, and Lukas…" Denmark whispered the truth out. "You killed my family."

The figure was silent before it covered its face with it's hood and smiled manically. "But it's in my blood Matthias! It's all I know!"

Denmark just stayed silent as the figure continued on. "This battle is a special one. You know that frozen lake you passed when you watched your brother walk away from you? Yeah, go there in the wee hours of the morning!" It commanded as it disappeared.

Denmark just allowed himself to feel the pain in his chest.

Even as the doctor came in to help treat Denmark's injury, Denmark knew that nothing could help with what would happen in the morning.

Nothing.

A/N : Well, well! What a twist!

As always, please respect and rate my work!