Alfred peered into the darkened room in his home. Mattie was flat out on the bed, snoring softly. They'd been walking round New York all day and towards the end, he'd fallen asleep on Alfred's shoulder. It was funny really, to think that this was his elder twin brother. It definitely didn't seem that way now.

Slowly, he closed the door, making sure it didn't creak, and leaned against the wall. This was all his fault. Mattie had forgotten everything. He'd forgotten pancakes, syrup, maple leaves... he'd even forgotten Kumajirou. Not just his name, him as a bear. Kumajirou definitely hadn't forgotten Mattie... but that wasn't the point. Mattie had forgotten everything, and it was all his fault. He'd let his brother get killed. He'd even forgotten about him. It had been the vase, smashing open in the corridor that had gotten his attention, but even then it had been too late. Mattie was clever, but he was too slow.

Definitely not a hero.

"You never were" he hissed at himself. "You were always weak, pathetic. You call yourself a hero and you can't even look after your own family. They all died, and you did nothing to help save them. Some hero you are huh?"

Alfred growled at the comment and walked downstairs into the kitchen, slamming his fist into the wall in frustration. A shock of pain shot up his arm and he nearly yelped. Sometimes... not all the time, just sometimes, he'd still feel where Allen had smashed his arm. And when he did, it hurt like hell.

"You're still wincing at that one?" he laughed at himself. "You really are weak."

Then a knife was in his hand. He didn't know how, or where it came from, but it was just... there. It hovered over his wrist for a split second before he lowered it slowly. He couldn't do that. He needed to be here for Mattie. He needed to look after Mattie, unlike he did before. He needed to protect Mattie. That was the most important thing here, protecting Mattie.

He flipped his arm over, not taking a second to glance at the scars, and sliced. For a second, nothing happened, then beads of blood appeared above the cut, slowly growing and making orange trails down his arm. Alfred swallowed for just a split second. This had happened before, and Mattie had found out about it. He remembered his face, one of hurt and... disappointment. He couldn't do that to Mattie again, that wouldn't be fair. He'd only just come back into the world.

Alfred cursed and sliced his arm open another few times. What did it matter? What would Mattie care anyway? He'd probably be happy this time. He'd let him die after all. And anyway, on the off chance that Mattie did care, it still wouldn't matter, because he'd never know. But why should Mattie care? He'd forgotten him. It was only fair really, given the years and years of him forgetting Mattie.

Perhaps now, it was his turn to be forgotten.

*

Ivan stepped off the plane back into the ice cold of Russia and stretched his back. It cricked after staying so still for the journey.

"I do wish you'd stop doing that" Viktor said, coming out behind him. "It creeps me out a little."

Ivan laughed and held back a 'well you've changed'. "See" he said instead. "They don't hate you, not really. They're thankful to us for helping with the upkeep of countries. That means they're thankful to you to."

Viktor shrugged. "I still think it's mainly you they're thankful to."

He was proud of Viktor, he'd lost the murderous instinct completely and was doing well in a normal life. Of course, every so often he'd go weird and start muttering stuff under his breath, but it was once in a blue moon, so it didn't matter. It did make him laugh sometimes how similar they were. Same hair, same eyes, same nose. If Viktor put on Ivan's coat, they'd be unrecognisable as different people. That was why Viktor's coat was black instead of brown.

"Are they still meeting us?"

Ivan blinked and glanced at Viktor. "Who? Katyusha and Natalya? Oh yes, they're staying for a week."

Viktor visibly shuddered. "Natalya hates me. I can tell."

Ivan laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry. Natalya doesn't actively hate anyone she just..."

"Hates me" Viktor interrupted, looking at him, dead serious. "She hates me."

"Well... maybe she hates some people" Ivan muttered. "But I don't think she acutally hates you, I think it's more of a... deep disliking."

Viktor gave world's smallest smile and sighed. He didn't usually smile, it was usually a kind of blank, emotionless face that mirrored those of Lukas, Emil and Berwald.

"Ivan"

Ivan turned slightly and was attacked by a whirlwind of platinum hair identical to his own.

"Big brother, marry me."

Viktor pursed his lips and looked away, smirking. He always smirked when Katyusha and Natalya were around.

"Hello Katyusha, Natalya" Ivan grinned and hugged his sisters back.

"Hey Viktor" Katyusha said, stepping back and waving. Viktor nodded in response, ignoring the disgusted look that Natalya gave him.

"You touch big brother and I'll kill you" Natalya snapped.

Viktor gulped and bobbed his head, acknowledging the threat.

"No need to get violent" Ivan said, patting Natalya on the head. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"Of course it isn't" Katyusha smiled. "Natalya is just over reacting as usual."

So sorry I haven't updated in ages, just been really, really busy with coursework, school trips and had serious writer's block. I will update as much as possible, but still can't think of much DX
Also, I'm aware that before, I called Ukraine Sofia and here I've called her Katyusha. I started off with Sofia because it was the only one I remembered, but I prefer Katyusha to Sofia so she's going to be called Katyusha from here on XD