Hetalia one-shots

Cold (Russia and Ukraine)

** Leningrad from WW2; see end of work for notes (I sound like AO3 omg) **

"Vanya?"

Ivan Braginsky looks up, face expressionless. His big sister Kat reaches for him; she's almost thirty but he really can pick her up. She weighs less than one hundred pounds. And he, at over six feet, weighs about the same.

The last thing they ate was the cat. Ivan remembers his sister cried. That was almost a week ago...

"'M so cold..." She whispers. He lifts her up onto his lap and wraps his arms back around her. That doesn't really help. They need to burn things.

"I know." Ivan's voice is hoarse. "We still have the books."

Kat's eyes widen. "We will be uncivilized without books, Vanya -- it is what the Germans are wanting."

"They are wanting us to go insane. Eat each other." Ivan says flatly. Kat flinches but says nothing. She knows he's right. After all, their little sister Natalya had already starved to death (but they buried her in the backyard before the ground became too hard). "We will burn the German books first, yes?"

She hesitates and nods. "Y-yes."

"Good girl." He presses a platonic kiss to her forehead and stands up -- from their spot on the floor, they had already burned the chairs. "I will go stand in the bread line."

Kat nods again. "Be safe, Vanya."

As he trudges through the knee-deep snow, pulling his raggedy coat closer to him and clutching his precious bread cards for dear life, he looks at all the dead bodies lining the street. People like his sister, thin as twigs, with no more room for their very souls.

Ivan doesn't cry. The tears would freeze to his cheeks.

[ Leningrad = the siege of Leningrad during WW2, blockaded by Nazi Germany. It lasted for nearly 900 days and over one million civilians died of freezing and starvation. This abomination was an experiment: Nazi Germany thought they could destroy a city and drive its people to insanity in a matter of mere months. While some people did resort to cannibalism, it was a surprisingly low amount considering the circumstances. They proved the Nazis wrong. ]