"Hey."

A single word roused Germany from his fitful slumber. He sat up and his eyes met the blank brown irises of Israel, who stood over the German nation with Germany's coat hanging around his shoulders. The child looked rather cute like that: cloaked in a coat much too big for him, calm and slightly bemused as he looked down at his not-prisoner.

"Hello," Germany replied, stifling a yawn, looking at the Jewish Ghost with equal parts relief and confusion. The child took off Germany's coat and held it towards its owner.

"Why'd ya' give me this?" he asked. Germany, who wasn't entirely sure himself, pondered that question for a moment before shrugging as casually as his stiff joints would allow him to.

"I…just thought you needed it more than I did," he muttered.

"Oh," was Israel's only response, and for a moment the Nazi and Jew were so silent that the whole world seemed to go mute. At last, Israel made a movement: he offered Germany his hand. Germany glanced at the hand, the Jewish hand, the hand that was supposedly the source of all his woes.

He took that hand, grasping it firmly as the Jewish lad helped him to his feet. Israel's poker-face broke as a smirk tugged at his lips once more.

"Ungh!" he grunted as he yanked the German up, "Fat, still too fat!"

Germany snorted and clutched his snarling stomach. "I certainly don't feel fat."

"Well, your size seems to imply otherwise," said Israel, handing the German his coat.

"You're so kind," sighed Germany, snatching his garment and quickly putting it on, straightening out the wrinkles as best as he could. "Next time I'm letting you die of hypothermia."

"And next time I'm lettin' you die of smoke inhalation. Speaking of dying, am I to judge by the fact that I didn't wake up to find you sharpening a spear or gettin' ready to crush my head with a boulder that you're ready to play nice?"

Germany almost let his pupils wander to where he had tossed the sharpened stick that he had almost used to murder the Ghost, but he managed to keep his eyes on Israel and shrugged.

"At this point, Je…Israel, I just want to get home in one piece. You're…confusing, to say the least. Stubborn, annoying, foulmouthed and an unbearable nuisance…but you're not a bad kid. Besides, you did save my life. Us Germans may be harsh sometimes, I'll admit…"

"Sometimes?"

"But," Germany continued, his ice-cold eyes softening ever-so-slightly, "we're not a gang of ingrates and traitors. That's what I thought you and your people were…but you're not, and neither am I. So, yes, I'll come along with you and I'll…try to help. I won't hurt my own people, mind you, but if we come across any Germans I'll try to vouch for you and make sure you're not harmed."

Israel gazed at Germany with an indiscernible expression for quite some time before he gravely mumbled, "Y'know, Spit-Shine, I wish all your people were like you."

Germany arched an eyebrow at that, but before he could decide on whether or not that statement was offensive a sound struck his ears: a very, very heavy footstep close by.

"You hear that?" muttered Israel. Germany nodded. The child wrinkled his nose.

"Ugh!" he gagged, "You smell that?"

Although his long stint in the woods had dulled his sinuses to foul odors, Germany indeed managed to pick up the scent that Israel found so repulsive. It didn't belong in a forest. It was the smell of alcohol.

Vodka.

"Oh, shit…"

Israel seemed to realize what that scent portended as well. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and stepped in front of Germany in a rather protective manner.

"Stay back, Spit-Shine, and don't say a word," he ordered brusquely. Germany, unarmed and exhausted, obeyed, stepping back like a timid child as Israel got into a fighting stance and the one who smelled of vodka emerged from the fog.

That smile. That damned smile that Russia had, it was a smile that could have made the mightiest of beasts back away in trepidation. And Germany, powerful Germany, Aryan Germany, felt a shiver snake its way up his spine as Russia and his smile appeared not ten yards away. Russia and his smile and his dried-blood-coated pipe and his devilishly twinkling eyes.

Those eyes, however, moved from the disheveled German to the armed Israel and widened in disbelief and…was that fright? Fright in Russia's eyes, fright brought about at the sight of a little Ghost. Even Germany at his strongest had only managed to earn anger from those violet eyes, never the fright he had so wanted to see.

But fright came to Russia's eyes as he stared at Israel and that sinister smile fell apart as his lips parted in surprise.

Israel smirked.

"Snowflake!" he cried as though he and Russia were old schoolmates. Germany almost snorted at that. Snowflake? he thought, gazing at the giant personification and pondering that nickname, which was simultaneously perfect and completely inappropriate. Well, I guess I'm not the only one he gave a stupid nickname to.

The wind caused Russia's snow-white scarf to flutter about, partially obscuring his face and making his countenance's change from surprise to hesitant anger seem all the more sudden.

"Maliny Israel," he chirped darkly, and Germany's eyes bulged with surprise.

"He knows too?" he cried in disbelief and moderate ire, "Did every country know you're still alive except for me?!"

"Count that as a good thing, Spit-Shine," said Israel, "It means I never had'ta find you and kick the shit outta you until now."

"I'm surprised at you, Maliny Israel," cooed Russia, that sickening smile returning to his face as he gestured towards the unkempt German with his blood coated pipe. "Keeping this filth so close by without even having him leashed."

"He was on a leash 'till the fire started," Israel replied, scowling and standing up straight, crossing his arms confidently over his chest as he snapped, "I guess I have you to thank for that fire-fun, Snowflake. That's a bit unlike you, trying to kill someone with heat."

"Unorthodox measures must be taken in times of crisis, Little One," chirped Russia almost mechanically, as though that was something he had heard many times from his boss and was simply reciting like a loyal parrot. "I was simply trying to get rid of a problem, our problem. A problem that you are unable to take care of, Little Ghost."

"Same way I couldn't take care'a the problem that was you a few decades back, Snowflake," sneered the Jewish Ghost. "But I still managed to knock your unnaturally large ass into a frozen lake."

Israel beat Russia in a fight? Germany thought with surprise as he crept behind Kucyk, who was standing in the background aggressively stomping his hooves on the ground and glowering at Russia with those large dark eyes of his. It took the German a moment to recall that the Jewish Nation had famously beaten the Roman Empire himself in a fight, but even then the thought of the tiny nation actually doing damage to the giant Russian was so strange. Russia was young, strong, and hardy enough to deal with most anything that tried to injure him.

"That is in the past," said Russia, an aggressive edge coming to his seemingly sunny tone as he lowered his pipe and extended a welcoming hand towards the child. "Now that I'm here, Maliny Israel, I can solve both of our problems. Give me the German and I'll get revenge for both of our people. I'll put an end to all of this misery."

Israel shook his head and drew his sword. "Sorry, Snowflake, no can do. The Nazi fucker's staying alive and he's staying with me."

Russia's smile began to melt away into an aggravated frown. "And why is that? If we kill him, Little Jew, we can stop this war in one fell swoop…"

"By killing an entire country and all his people? Sorry, I don't think so."

Germany peeked over Kucyk's saddle, staring at the Jewish child in grateful bewilderment. He shouldn't have been shocked, the Jew had already saved him once after all, but hearing such a proclamation fall from the child's lips still filled him with surprise. The child would not kill him and his people, not even when the opportunity arose to doom the Aryan race that he supposedly despised.

"He would have happily done the same to us!" growled Russia.

"Yeah, true, but I don't tend to compare myself to the lowest common denominator," said Israel. "I have high standards for myself. I'm better than him and I'm better than you."

"No, you're not," sneered the Russian, smiling once more. "If you felt even a quarter of the pain I feel right now, Israel, you would break, you would have me slit his Nazi throat."

"Russia," said Israel, suddenly serious. "I feel your pain."

"You don't…!"

"I really do. In more ways than you can ever know." The child inhaled deeply, glanced briefly back at Germany, and raised his weapon.

"Turn and walk, Ivan," said the Jewish Ghost. "I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to."

Russia glowered and lifted up his rusty pipe.

"I do not wish to fight you either, Maliny Israel," he hissed. "I did not wish to fight you before, but I did so for the sake of my people and I will do so again…"

"And you'll lose…" replied Israel, "Again."

Russia's only retort to that was 'Kolkolkol'.

Israel attacked first and Germany had to grab onto Kucyk's reins to keep him from trotting forward and joining the fray. The horse turned its deep and furious black eyes onto the German and Germany was almost afraid that the animal would kick him, but the horse stood down and Germany turned his attention away from the horse and back to the fight.

It quickly became apparent that Israel did not require the help of the horse, and if Germany had wondered before how a tiny boy like Israel could topple an empire he received his answer as he observed the battle

Israel was faster than Italy retreating. Russia attempting to hit the child with his pipe might as well have been a lackadaisical Prussia attempting to swat at a fly. Israel hopped to and fro, stabbing at the Russian and leaping back before Russia could even think of hitting him. The child was panting, clearly tired, but nonetheless he continued his pattern of leaping and striking, leaping and striking, until Russia was cut, bruised, and battered.

Russia snarled in fury and raised his pipe, putting all of his weight into his swing. The boy stood still until the Russian began to lower his pipe towards the boy. As the pipe came down, the child rolled out of the way, behind Russia, and while Russia was slightly bent over the child was able to reach his foe's head. He struck Russia's skull with the back of his blade, stunning the already battered nation and bringing him to the ground.

Germany stood stunned, his jaw slack. He had tried, he had put all of his effort into it, but he hadn't been able to beat Russia. It appeared that in this case, small and swift won the battle rather than big and brutal. He looked at the Jewish Ghost…no, no, he couldn't be a Ghost, not with that sort of speed and strength. He must have been lying before. He was a full-fledged nation, and a strong one at that.

And as Germany looked at the Jewish nation, he could swear that he saw the child's formerly hazel eyes glowing gold. He blinked and by the time he opened his eyes, the child's irises were their normal shade once more. Perhaps he was simply delirious…

Israel sheathed his sword, rushed over, and hopped onto Kucyk's saddle.

"Germany, c'mon!" cried the Jewish Ghost, offering the German his hand. Germany hesitated, glancing back at the dazed and vulnerable Russia. Hitler would be ecstatic if he could…

He felt something sharp pricking the back of his neck and realized that Israel had taken out his blade and was threatening to slick into the German's flesh.

"You either get onto this horse or I cut off your head and drag you along, you fucking Nazi! I didn't let him kill you and I ain't gonna let you kill him!"

Germany sighed, "Fine."

Israel sheathed his sword and helped Germany onto his steed. The German instinctively wrapped his arms around the boy as the boy whipped at Kucyk's reins and they took off at full speed.

Russia head stopped spinning within ten minutes, and by then the Jew and the German were long gone.

But…

He looked down at the snow and saw hoof-tracks. He ran back to find his men so that they could get together and start following the trail before the next snowfall let the fugitives escape.

Sorry about the lag in updates, folks! My wrist was injured pretty bad a little while ago and typing has become something of a slow venture!

However, many thanks as usual to:

Guest

Tremblinghand: Thanks for your usual review and as for your question, that will be somewhat explained in a later Memory Dream. Also, as someone who has read some of your stuff, you should try to write whatever you like! I'm sure you'd do it very well!

Aronpuma: Who graciously agreed to look at, review, and criticize this story! Thanks, aronpuma! By the time you get to this chapter I'll probably have already sent you a PM, but I do want to cover one or two things you brought up for the sake of the audience:

"Hitler isn't shown. Himmel is, and he is a human. Humans do not understand this, and he should consider it buisness as usual if not the crowning achievement of all they've worked for. Why should this human, leader of an empire that has conquered Europe, be scared?"

That's actually an interesting point. Those of you with really damn good memories will recall that Hitler has not shown up yet (he will) and that it was Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, who gave Germany his mission back in chapter one. Himmler was very nervous about the whole affair and, believe it or not, that's based off of historical record.

Heinrich Himmler was NOT the sort of menacing figure one would associate with an organization as brutal as the SS (his deputy Heydrich, also briefly mentioned in chapter one, fit the bill far more). He was short, near-sighed, sickly, and a coward of the first degree. He managed to weasel his way into Hitler's good graces mostly because he was known to be loyal (Hitler called him True Heinrich). However, he had thin-skin and was easily frightened and sickened.

He couldn't even stand the sight of blood. He was a desk murderer in the sense that if you handed him a piece of paper that said "Do you want us to kill one-hundred Jews at dawn?" he would sign off on it, but he couldn't stand to watch those hundred Jews get executed because the premise of gore outside of the sterile, controlled environment of his office terrified and disgusted him. The one occasion, when he did watch a mass execution he actually vomited…it was that very incident which led him to look for a less personal way to execute Jews, which eventually led to the cold, effectual, organized gas chambers.

But now I'm barfing a history book at you. The Jewish Virtual Library has a pretty good article on him if you wanna check it out, or you could read Peter Padfield's book on him. Or, if you don't feel like leaving the boundaries of , go to my Fav stories and look for the story The Lies My Boss Told Me by Ludwig's Alter Ego. GREAT fanfic that has a really great scene with the German High Command.

"I do feel like you miss something in having Prussia call it "not awesome" because it's not Prussia's place to be apprehensive about fighting an enemy. Italy yes, Italy is perfect. Just not Prussia."

True enough, though Prussia wasn't really concerned about his own safety. If Prussia had been a full-fledged nation and not a vulnerable Ghost he likely would have gone along to fight himself, but he can't. Prussia's brash, but not stupid (Which, I think, is an important thing to emphasize: no country in this universe is stupid, but they can be impulsive).

Prussia wasn't calling this situation 'not awesome' because he's scared of Israel, he's calling this situation not awesome because his little brother is going to face a supposedly invincible nation by himself without his awesome bro to back him up. This situation, to him, is not awesome because his brother is being put into unnecessary danger and could very well get himself killed. The Awesome Prussia at his prime might have been able to handle the 'Invincible' Israel, but his admittedly arrogant little brother who's already beat down by a multi-front war? As England might say: Not bloody likely.

I guess I could have made that more clear. My headcanon has Prussia as loudmouthed, arrogant, and brash, but brotherly and smart. You can't become a long-lasting empire without knowing when to pick your battles, after all.

As to your point about Villain Sues, well, at this point the readers know that Israel is not a Villain, but I do have a question for you, my awesome audience: do you think that Israel is leaning towards any sort of 'Sue' category? I'd like to know what you guys think of his character.

Lastly, thanks to ApostolicShadowNinjaGirl for your review and a reply to your comment:

"My one real criticism is that you made Israel pro-homosexual. If he is a Jew he shouldn't be, especially since he's been a Jew since Jews existed. If you don't want to make him anti, I would just suggest leaving it out entirely. I just feel like it's kind of a misrepresentation and unrealistic."

A very valid point and one I should address before we get much further:

Those of you with really damn good memories will recall that around Chapter 7, Germany and Israel exchanged this bit of dialogue:

"Shame. Not surprised, though. Got any family, then? Brothers?"

"No."

"Sisters?"

"No."

"Cousins? Aunts? Uncles?

"No, no, no."

"Girlfriend?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

Germany scowled and made a sound of disgust.

"Don't be an asshole," Israel admonished.

Now for those of you who are not aware, in Judaism the Children of Israel are commanded to keep 613 laws that can be found within the first five books of the bible (the Torah). These laws range from 'don't murder' to 'don't move your neighbor's fence' and everything in between. One law amongst these laws is 'Man shall not lie with a man as with a woman'. In Judaism, homosexual intercourse between men is forbidden, hence the objection to this little part.

Israel is, indeed, a religious Jew who follows the Torah. HOWEVER, he is also protective of his friends, and Poland is a close friend of his (obviously). He is not pro-homosexual, but he's also not anti. There is a difference. Much in the same way that he considers eating pork or worshipping Jesus a sin, but would never hurt or scold or refuse to befriend someone for believing differently. Germany could have mocked Poland for being a Catholic and Israel's reaction would have been the same: 'Don't be an asshole'. Just because he doesn't actively like or agree with something doesn't mean he won't defend somebody if they're being mocked for it, especially if it's a friend of his.

I was actually gonna go more into detail about this later, but that's just for the record. And I don't mean any offense to anyone when I make this argument: if it doesn't hurt or annoy me or anyone else, I usually don't really care what your personal beliefs or lifestyle choices are.

Now I feel like a PSA. And I hate PSA's. So I'm gonna wrap this up!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, followed, and criticized: seriously, folks, if you have any problems with this story, don't; hesitate to say so! I'll respond either here or in your PM box, but I know my story's not perfect. No story is perfect after all! Except the story about how you left a review, that's a perfect story!

Special thanks to aronpuma! If you're here, hope you're enjoying yourself!