Can't Catch a Shadow

About three years later

Hetalia couldn't move. Her feet had been cut in cross-sections again and Dr. Greysolon was nowhere in sight. She was wondering if, by some crazy wonder of God, she was still being punished for going AWOL all those years ago. It wouldn't surprise her. Glendayle was pissed beyond belief for what happened at the palace.

Her head was starting to feel light and like it was stuffed full of cotton. She had felt something similar when she was in The Cage. She was losing a lot of blood, but not enough to kill her. Glendayle may have been pissed, but not pissed enough to kill off one of her greatest assets.

Hetalia could hear shouting and screaming out in the hall, but she either didn't want to care enough or she was too far gone to be able to muster enough emotion to give a damn. It was when one of the orderlies fell into her door and busted it open that she even stirred, too light headed to notice that the large man was having trouble breathing caused by a crushed windpipe.

A woman in a black jumpsuit walked to the side of her bed and stared at the Russian teen. Hetalia's vision was too blurry to see anything other than bright burgundy hair and a girl-ish figure. The woman carefully scooped her up and carried her out of her room and, eventually, out of the building.

The sun was too bright for Hetalia and caused her to squint before eventually closing her eyes against the brightness. Not long after her eyes slid shut did she pass out in the arms of her rescuer.

****

Roman walked to the front door. Whoever it was, they were really anxious to see him. The doorbell had been going off for nearly three minutes without missing a beat.

The middle-aged Englishman opened the door to see two vaguely familiar gingers on his doorstep.

"Roman," the eldest said. "Do you remember us?"

Roman nodded. "Ivan's daughters, yes. It's been a long time, Natasha," he said quietly. "What's wrong with Hetalia?"

"She was in Glendayle, Roman. She need medical attention now."

Roman nodded again and took Hetalia off her older sister's hands, bringing the injured teen into his dining room and setting her on the mahogany table. "CHERI," Roman called. "Can you start diagnostics, please?"

"Right away, Mr. Christos," his AI replied.

Natasha sat down in one of the chairs and began cleaning the infected cuts in her baby sister's feet. "I haven't seen her since she was six," Nat said quietly. "She's so much older now."

Roman lifted open one of Hetalia's eyelids and looked into her eyes. "You think that's a long time? I haven't seen her since she was four. You both were so little." Roman closed the teen's eye and continued on some other exams, focusing first on her lymph nodes and throat. "Where did you find her? She had completely fallen off the map."

"I'm not a spy because of my looks, Roman."

"I know that, Natasha, but I've been searching every database since we found out she was missing."

Nat nodded her head. "She goes by a new name. The Shadow, I heard."

Roman straightened up, almost forgetting about the unconscious Hetalia on his table. "Hetalia is The Shadow?" Roman asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Why, is there a problem with that?"

Roman put his hands on the table, assuming his usual frustrated pose. "When was the last time you looked at a local paper?" he asked with an annoyed tone.

Natasha shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. This is the first time I've been close to home since I left, Roman."

Roman sighed and spun around, leaving Natasha alone with her sister for a few minutes before returning with a large stack of newspapers. "These are the all the papers that even mention The Shadow. I've been trying to figure out who she was since her name first popped up."

Nat took the papers and started to flip through them. The first one had a headline that jumped out at her. "Клетка Бернс, Shadow обвиняют"

"Cage Burned, Shadow Blamed?" Nat read in English. "What does that mean?"

"She broke out of The Cage and burned it to the ground, killing hundreds of people."

Natasha quickly leafed through some more of the papers. "Бабник Погиб в дом, тень виноват?" "Сын Барона убили. Тень Скорее всего, подозреваемый"

"A womanizer and a baron's son?" Natasha asked. "How are these connected?"

"Believe me, they are. A lot has happened since the two of you were separated."

"I refuse to believe that my baby sister is a killer, Roman."

Roman nodded once. "Fine," he said simply. "Then you ask her when she wakes up."

****

Natasha didn't leave Hetalia's side. She had not seen her sister in almost twelve years, and a lot had changed between them.

Hetalia finally started to stir, hands clutching the silky sheets underneath her body. She looked up at Natasha and blinked multiple times to see through her mental fog. "Natasha?" she asked weakly.

Natasha nodded and took her sister's hand. "Hey, Hetalia."

Hetalia chuckled humourlessly. "You lost your accent," she said.

"And you have yet to lose yours."

Hetalia looked around the room, finally realizing that she was no longer at the Institute. "Where am I ?" she asked as she looked at her big sister. "Why are you here?"

"Your at Roman's house," Natasha said calmly. "I saved you from Glendayle."

Hetalia looked at her sister with a perplexed look on her face. "How did you escape Glendayle?"

Natasha shook her head. "I didn't. I was released."

"So what does that make you?"

"A spy."

Hetalia nodded. "You have something you want to talk to me about, don't you?" she asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Nat nodded. "Roman showed me some old papers that talked about your...achievements."

"You act like they're not so much like that."

"No, they're not. You've killed a lot of people, Hetalia."

Hetalia gave another dark laugh. "It's been a long time since anyone has called me that."

"This is serious, Hetalia. Why? Why would you kill all those people?"

Hetalia’s eyes welled up with tears at the thought of admitting the truth to her sister. “Those people in The Cage either did not get out fast enough or they were a greater threat than I would like to explain. I killed the bastard in Moscow because he was threatening the lives of innocent girls. And as for Henry,” Hetalia paused; feeling like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. “As for the baron’s son, Glendayle forced me to kill him for a mission.”

Nat nodded. “I guess that makes more sense. I’m sorry for doubting you. What’s worse, Hetalia, I’m sorry for abandoning you. I should’ve tried to come home sooner.”

The ginger shook her head. “Don’t apologize. You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”

Nat sighed and ran a hand through her long curls. “Not for much longer, I’m afraid. I have a mission coming up with a SHIELD agent in Budapest.”

Hetalia’s heart sank. “Oh. I see.”

“Wait,” Natasha said as she thought out loud. “I could bring you with me! You could come on the mission with me!”

Hetalia’s face lit up. “You mean it?” she asked excitedly. “I can go on a mission with you?!”

“Yeah! What do you say?”

Hetalia smiled and hugged her sister. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”