AN: Hello Hello! New story! Well, not that new since I also wrote this a while ago lol. This was already posted on tumblr by an amazing friend, but I edited it a bit for FF. The reason I posted this is because I want to show it to that one friend of mine in real life who's so supportive of my writing and reads my stories even though she doesn't even watch Hetalia! Haha :'D. I'M SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU AS A FRIEND!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia for the...um...7th time?

We all reside in cages; imaginary and tangible. The question lies in whether we choose to see it or not.

Ivan Braginsky was a simple farm boy who worked for the Lord of Winter. In this age of darkness where streets were ridden with the Plague, his entire life was constrained inside of a castle. Conceived outside of wedlock from a mother who died during childbirth, he was considered cursed by the gods. Being intellectually challenged and in his adolescent years developing schizophrenia, he was born destined to die a meaningless death. The only reason why General Winter didn't just feed him to the hounds was because despite of him not being intelligent, he was strong and could be used for manual labor. Sure, he was not the brightest of his servants, but he was the most easy to take advantage of. Therefore, Ivan grew up in the dreary walls of the castle, and in the seventeen years of his life he was content with simply being alive.

He didn't look forward to waking up in the mornings. His daily routine repeated itself days after days and years after years. But one day an unspoken prayer was answered.

The maids whispered words about him. They said he was crazy to the core. But sometimes they gossip about other things too. Like about the treasure General Winter brought back from the Far East end of the world during his latest visit. They said it was an exotic creature embellished in red; they said it was a shame such a pretty thing was confined in a cage.

"Have you seen it? That ravishing creature?"

"No, but I heard rumors that the General killed to obtain it!"

"Oh my! How dreadful!"

The giggles were heard echoing in the long and winding halls, even as shadows ceased to loom within the stone walls.

One day. One ordinary day. As Ivan finished scrubbing the floors, he heard a crisp sound coming from upstairs. Here, in the gloom of the castle where the cold and dark permanently resided, there was this voice he never heard before. Curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the noise like it was a trail of breadcrumbs. The voice led him to a room where Winter stored all of his conquered goods, without realizing what he was about to do, he pushed open the door and was blinded by the mountains of jewels and gold laid out in front of him.

Amidst the sea of shimmering riches, his eyes landed on an intricate cage carved out in elaborate designs. It was decorated in rubies and diamonds, and the bars were plaited in gold. But what was more exquisite than the cage was the creature inside. A humanoid being the size of his fist was the inhabitant of the cage. He had long black hair cascading down his shoulders in smooth, serene waves. His face was beautiful with its soft features and his eyes shined brighter than anything in the room. His clothes were foreign, and his body was wrapped in crimson silk. Ivan was star-struck at the sight, and his legs moved unknowingly towards the elusive beauty.

"Were you the one singing?" He asked dumbfounded.

The small creature appeared to be startled at first, slightly taken back by the boy standing behind him. "No, I wasn't." He replied coldly.

"But I heard a voice coming from this room," Ivan insisted.

"You must have imagined it then. There was no one in this room beside me."

Silence ensued, but Ivan was unaware of the awkward atmosphere. "You're very pretty," he giggled.

The humanoid narrowed his eyes, "So I heard…"

"It's such a shame that something this pretty is confined in a cage," he unconsciously repeated the words from the maids.

"But it's a beautiful cage, is it not?" He mused. "Compared to the cage you're in, I prefer the one that didn't pretend to be anything else than a prison."

"But I'm not in a cage," Ivan's head hurt from thinking about his words.

"Silly boy, we are all in cages. Mine just appears to be visible." He laughed, and the sound reminded Ivan of trickling water flowing downstream.

"Umm, I'm too dumb to understand this. But I do think that no matter how pretty your cage may be, it's better to be free."

"I am free," he spoke quietly.

Again, Ivan was confused at his words. And for the first time in his life, he felt anger at himself for not being born smarter. As he racked his brain trying to comprehend the meaning, he suddenly remembered that if he wasn't back in the kitchen by four, he would be scolded and spanked again. Sighing, he was just about to leave the room when he realized he didn't even know the name of that person.

"Oh I forgot to be polite again. My name is Ivan Braginsky, what's your name?" He asked sheepishly.

"I don't have a name…But they call me Yao."

"Yao," Ivan tested the sound of that word on his lips. If words have a taste then his name was bitterly-sweet. "Yao-Yao! Yao-Yao!"

He chanted his name over and over again as if it was a children's folksong passed down through generations. "Yao-Yao, I'll come back tomorrow!"

Without waiting for a reply, he skipped out of the door, overjoyed at his encounter with the mysterious creature. The door closed behind him, and he thought he heard the dreamy melody once again.

Ivan came back the next day, and the next. No matter how much work he had to do whether from cleaning the sewers or working in the stables, he would always make time to secretly visit Yao. It was real nice talking to someone, he thought. Everyone else just ignored him or laughed at him and called him 'dumb', but Yao didn't seem to care about the way he spoke. Yao listened to his nonsensical mumbling, and he smiled when Ivan told him about his dream of building a sunflower garden.

"A sunflower garden?" Yao inquired thoughtfully. "Have you ever seen a sunflower before?"

"No," he answered truthfully. "But I've seen pictures! There was this painter who lived with us for a while, and he drew pictures of all kind of flowers! But his sunflowers were the best! Then he left, well I'm not too sure what happened to him…but I loved his sunflowers!"

"I've seen sunflowers before," Yao smiled.

"You did?!" Ivan widened his eyes. "Oh that's wonderful! Were they as beautiful as they are on papers?"

"Yes," Yao held the bars and moved as close as he could to Ivan. "They radiated warmth, and shined brightly against a violet sky." He seemed to silently reminiscent about something before speaking again, "And not only sunflowers… I've seen other magnificent things and travelled to places you cannot even imagine. Have you seen fireworks? Wait, that's a silly question, of course you have not. Anyway, they are explosives that burst into beautiful arrays of colors in the sky! They look like blooming flowers and scatter into falling lights. And also, I've seen peculiar animals that are essentially freaks of nature…"

And so Yao continued to tell Ivan of the things he had seen, and the places he had been. Even though sometimes Ivan was lost in his descriptions, he loved listening to Yao talking and he adored hearing about the untouchable world outside of this castle. He would never be able to step outside of these walls, but that was okay because he felt like he had travelled to the places Yao spoke of through his words. Even if he did leave, he would never make it outside on his own, so he was content viewing the world through Yao's eyes. But during their time together, Ivan always wondered about the song that was never uttered from Yao's mouth. He heard it sometimes when he was in other rooms, but he had never seen Yao sing.

"Will you sing for me?"

"No, I don't sing anymore."

"But I heard you just the other day!" Ivan pouted.

"That wasn't me," Yao claimed. "You're imagining things again."

"Ok, if you say that wasn't you, then it wasn't you…" Ivan sulked. "But why can't you sing something now? Just a melody will do."

Yao sighed. "There's no point of singing now. Who would even hear me?"

"I will."

Yao chuckled bitterly. "Yes, just you and no one else…"

"Who else would you want to sing for?" Ivan asked innocently.

Yao didn't reply, his eyes wondered to the only window of the room and stared at the blank horizon beyond. "Will you even understand my song…If I sing it to you, will you hear the words that I could never say?"

"I…I'm sorry, I don't understand." As much as he tried to grasp what Yao meant, he was incapable to make sense of his remark. Why was he born stupid? Maybe the others were right, his birth was a burden. His entire existence was not needed.

Perhaps noticing the change in expression on Ivan's face, Yao quickly changed the topic. "Vanya, if you ever build that garden of sunflowers, will you bring me there?"

"Da! Of course!" Just like smoke, he completely forgot about his woes and smiled as he imagined the unfeasible future of the two of them.

Another day with Yao concluded peacefully. As he happily closed the door behind and was ready to descend down the stairs, he saw a maid staring strangely at him.

"What were you doing in there?" She frowned.

"Nothing! I was just c-cl-cleaning the room," he mumbled nervously.

"I heard you talking," her eyes glared suspiciously at him.

"Please don't tell General Winter!" He pleaded. "I know I'm not allowed to talk to Yao, but please don't tell Winter!"

"What are you…" For a second she looked almost confused. "You're real messed up in the head you know? You're crazy."

To his relief, she turned and left. He didn't know what she told Winter, but that night he received another beating. His back was covered with slash marks, but it was nothing he hadn't experienced before.

Time passed soundlessly and moved unnoticed. Unbeknown to the two of them, the threads connecting their interwoven fate were unraveling faster than the sands through an hourglass. They met in the wrong place, at a wrong time, and in the wrong bodies. It was the Dark Age, and in those days nothing was eternal. Dispute over territories was at an all-time high, and Lords from different realms and lands fought over everything and nothing. General Winter was no exception.

But he was old and his legacy was dying. He was no longer the young gallant knight he was once, and so his rule was coming to an end. His fort was eventually invaded and the gates were forced open. Fear and dread coursed through Ivan as he saw all the soldiers, swarming like ants, dressed in blood-red scarlet. Leather tents had been erected in neat, tidy rows. A few soldiers wore golden helmets with bright red plumes, giving them a cocky, haughty air. They reminded Ivan of strutting roosters.

Screams echoed through the halls of the castle. Winter had fallen, and the servants were scurrying away like blind mice trying to escape their unavoidable death. Ivan didn't try to run away even though he was in the barns at that time and could easily flee into the forest. He run straight into the castle and up the stairs toward the room adorned in gold.

"Yao!" He screamed. "Yao, you have to leave now!"

"What's wrong Ivan? Why is there blood on you?!" Yao's pupils became larger and his voice oozed concern.

"There were bad people blocking my way, and they will try to hurt you. Please, leave now." Ivan begged desperately.

"I'm not leaving without you!" Yao protested as Ivan fumbled clumsily with the lock on the cage. To his despair the lock required a key.

"No, no, no, you will be killed… they already killed everyone," Ivan muttered uncontrollably to himself. "I have to get you out of here." With no other option left, he clenched the bars with his bare hands and attempted to pull the bars open.

"Stop it Ivan!" Yao cried as he saw Ivan's face twisted in pain. Veins appeared to be popping through his skin, but he didn't care as he used up all of his strength trying to create a space big enough for Yao to escape.

Just as the space became large enough for Yao to fit through, the rumbling of footsteps became louder and louder. The door was barged open and arrows flew in unforgiving lines toward the cage. "Surrender now!"

Ivan blocked the arrows, and barely felt any pain as he reached his hand out to Yao.

"You're free now Yao-Yao," he smiled.

"You idiot! How can I leave you behind?!" Yao screamed.

"You're not leaving me behind…I'll go and find you soon. Your song… I'll follow your voice, so that no matter how far you are, I will find you some day."

"Vanya…" Yao clung on to Ivan's hand.

"Fly away Yao," those were his final words.

Placing a soft kiss on his hand, Yao leaped through the cage and flew through the window.

Ivan collapsed on the ground below him and smiled contently as a sweet melody accompanied him to his sleep. Yao wasn't lying; he was not the one singing from before because this song was much more beautiful than anything he had ever heard. It was what freedom felt like. Don't worry Yao, I'll find you…then we can build that garden full of sunflowers and watch fireworks together, Ivan thought peacefully as he chased after the euphonious melody and took his last breath.

The soldiers crowded around the motionless body lying beneath a broken cage.

"Why was he talking to a bird? What a weird person… Well, at least he looked happy when he died."

AN: Twist ending! Yao was actually a bird, and since Ivan was schizophrenic he saw certain things even if they were something else. You can interpret this story as entirely made-up in Ivan's head (the only real interaction that occurred between the two of them was Ivan saving the bird/Yao in the end), or that Ivan had actually communicated to the bird and they did care deeply about each other, and in the end Yao promised him he would never stop singing so that Ivan could "find" him one day T.T. But of course I mean that metaphorically. Also, the song that Ivan heard in the beginning wasn't from Yao, it was more of his soul searching for a purpose (and it doesn't help since he hears and sees things that are not real). In the end, he finally heard Yao singing, and it was more beautiful than he could've ever imagined. This symbolized his passing over to a better place T.T Maybe in their next lives, they could actually have a future (and Yao would hopefully not be a bird lol), but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Ok, so I copied that note directly from my conversation with her lol. To Lacydior(aka my partner in crime): Thanks for being the first person to indulge me in my weird and angst story ideas :')).

And to my friend in real life: Thank you for reading my fanfictions(even though you don't even watch this anime)! And for the massive support you gave me! ❤ I honestly do not deserve all the nice things you said. :'D

Finally, to whoever finished this short story. Thank you.