Disclimer: I don't own Hetalia or any of its characters, they belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Country and human names used.
Maybe I'm wrong but I think Russia is not a bad person, nor does he torture the Baltics. I think of him more like a child trapped in a really big body, remember he didn't have a very happy childhood, and he acts like one. Little kid love you unconditionally, no matter your age, your country, your gender, your religion, as long as you play with them, but when you don't want to play, then...
Hope you like it ;)
It was winter in Russia, so it was not a surprise for Raivis to see that the lake in the backyard had frozen over. The little boy was sitting at the window ledge looking at the white landscape.
He seemed calm and rested but on the inside his brain and his heart were fighting a battler; he wanted to scape, to run away from that house and the frozen land around it and never come back, but… at the same time he doubted he could cope with the loneliness. To have a family had been his dream since he was child; it's not that Estonia and Lithuania didn't care for him, but they were very different and they had lived their early life away from each other.
Russia was a completely different matter, he was big and scary but he was the closest thing to a Big Brother that Raivis had known, and he loved them all unconditionally; he took care of their "family" the best he could, people seemed to forget that he was under the soviet regime too, and besides, he tried, he really tried to make them happy. It's obvious that sometimes he lost his mind but what could you expect from a person that had seen so much blood during his life. Years ago Ludwig had lost his mind too and everyone had forgiven him and maybe, if they did the same with the Russian, everything would be better.
"Another letter for you" the voice of Toris stopped his wondering. He looked up at the sad face of his brother and knew instantly they were bad news.
After reading the letter he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His people were suffering, he had to behave like an adult and do the right thing, he was going to scape. As he exited the room he saw the enormous Russia approaching him.
"Latviya!" he crushed the little boy in a hug.
"Mr. Russia, I can't breathe" his voice sounded muffled by his coat.
"You're so cute little Latviya!" he said hugging him closer before releasing his hold "Lunch is ready"
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute" said the Latvian with a sad voice.
"Is something bothering you Raivis?" Ivan's face softened.
"No, everything is fine" Raivis forced a smile.
"Okay then" said the Russian putting his large hand on Latvia's head "hurry up or your soup will get cold"
Latvia did not appear at lunch.
"Where is Raivis?" asked Lithuania before sipping his Borscht.
"I don't know, I told him to hurry up an hour ago, he didn't look very well, maybe he is ill" answered Ivan.
"Well, yesterday we worked outside all day, maybe he caught a cold" said Estonia.
"I don't like that little whiner, he gets all of Brother's attention and everyone should know that Big Brother is mine" said Belarus holding Ivan's hand a little too tightly.
"Bela, yo-you're hurting me" he said trying to take back his hand and succeeding after a little struggle.
"Here, take mine" said Toris extending his hand towards her "you have all my attention."
Natasha sent him an expressionless look and started eating again.
"Lame" murmured Felix.
"Did you say something Poland?"
"No, nothing" he answered innocently and went on filing his nails.
"I'll go see if he wants something" said Russia standing up.
As Ivan went up the big marble stairs of the house he wondered what could be the problem with his little Baltic. He knew it was not right to have a favorite, but Raivis was so adorable, it was like having a little sibling… who wasn't crazy. Most people thought he punished them all the time but the truth was that he loved them, including the annoying Prussia, Poland who tried to poison his Vodka, and Hungary that insisted on constantly abuse his face and throw things at him. They were the family he always wanted and so he protected them the best he could, but in Soviet Russia there was always a limit to everything and not even the nation itself could do anything about the misery of their people.
Ivan had a bad feeling when he found the door to Raivis room locked. They had clear instructions not to lock their doors under no circumstances, and Latvia didn't usually break the rules, he was too afraid of being punished.
"Latvia?" he called softly. No answer.
"Raivis are you there?" he asked again while struggling with the doorknob "Come on, talk to me"
No one answered and Ivan felt the cold hand of fear closing around his heart. He took a deep breath before throwing himself at the door trying to knock it down. The others, hearing the noise, were there in a moment.
"What are you doing, Russkie? You are crazier than I thought" said Prussia.
"Shut up and help me, Raivis has locked himself in"
"I'll go search the spare key immediately" said Toris
Before Lithuania could return the two blond countries succeeded and the door fell with a loud thud. Ivan turned white, there was no one inside.
"Latvia is not here. You will divide and search for him in pairs, I want everybody searching, understood?" he said frantically "If they find him before we do they will shoot first and ask later"
The sound of the countries calling Latvia's name could be heard from the house. Russia stood in the middle of the room, he hadn't been this afraid in years. As he went out something caught his attention, a piece of paper left carefully on the pillow of the small bed. Ivan took it with trembling hands.
Dear Mr. Russia:
First of all I want to say I'm sorry; I know you're going to blame yourself, but please, don't do it. Despite all the things they forced you to do you have remained a good man and that speaks a lot on your favor. This hurts me as much as it's hurting you right now, but now I'm a grown man and I need to take care of my people, I only hope that someday you'll be proud of me. We all have to take this decision at some point of our lives, we all have to go against all that we love and do what it's right and I think you know this better than anyone.
You told me once, at the battlefield, that nations should not be blamed by the wrong their bosses do, and for that I ask you again not to carry the blame all by yourself.
I promise one day, when things are right again, we will go to Prokhorovka* and have a picnic surrounded by sunflowers, I'm sure you'll like that
Tell everyone I love them.
And one more thing, if we were human, if we had no duties like the ones that had made me leave, I would have had the best Big Brother in the whole world, Ivan Braginski.
PS: I'll miss our chess games. Goodbye.
By the time Ivan finished reading the note some of its words could hardly be read because of the teardrops that had fallen over them. Russia crushed the paper under his giant hand while clenching his teeth, tears were rolling down his cheeks non-stop and he felt like someone was ripping his heart out with a spoon very slowly.
When Ivan opened his eyes he looked out the window and saw something strange, someone was standing very still far away. Realization dawned on him and it brought relief with it, but it was short lived. Yes, it was Raivis, but he was standing over the frozen lake.
"Raivis!" he ran out of the house to the backyard.
Once he reached he saw the small figure of the Baltic trembling, and the thin ice breaking under his weigh.
"I-Ivan, ple-please help me!" cried Raivis.
"Okay, okay, I'm going to take you out of there, just don't move" the other nations had already gathered around them.
"What happened?" asked Hungary
"I-I was trying to-to reach the ca-car and the ice be-began to break an-and…"
"It's okay sweetie, it's going to be alright, Vanya is going to save you" said Ukraine softly.
"Most importantly don't move a muscle" said Gilbert seriously.
"I'm going to die!" Latvia wasn't crying anymore, he was howling.
"Raivis! You are not going to die! Listen to me, look at me" he looked at the big nation, sniffing once in a while and rubbing the tears off his eyes "Do you want to hear a story?" asked Ivan while taking off his boots.
The Latvian nodded.
"Okay, it happened in an abandoned building in 1942, in Stalingrad" he took of his coat "Ludwig was pointing at me with a gun and he looked me in the eye and said-"
"You are not going to die, I will not allow it" said Prussia looking at the terrified nation.
"And, do you know what I said to him in Berlin in 1945?" he unwound the pinkish scarf from around his neck.
"You are not going to die, I will not allow it" repeated Gilbert.
"Look at me Raivis" he wound up his scarf around his left wrist and gave the other end to the German who did the same "you are not going to die, I will not allow it" with each word he took a step closer to Latvia.
But it was too much weigh for the ice and it cracked under their feet. Ivan reached Raivis before sinking, catching briefly the gasps of the others. The freezing water cut his breath and his view blurred.
"Little Rus remember this always, if the ice breaks and you fall into the water keep at least one hand over the surface so you can held onto the edge and fortunately boost yourself up again" said Alexander* hands on hips as always.
"Yes, sir" said an energetic little Vanya.
As everyone held their breaths a hand, with the scarf attached to it, resurfaced putting everyone to action. The first thing that made it to the surface was Raivis' white face followed by the Russian's big body helped by Prussia and the others who were pulling the scarf.
Once in the shore Russia asked for his coat taking deep gasps of breath between words. He put it around them both and looked ant Latvia. His lips were purple and he was trembling so hard that it seemed he was struggling.
"Come on little one, talk to me" said Ivan caressing his curly blond hair.
"Big Brother" murmured Latvia while in the edge of consciousness.
Those two, apparently insignificant, words stopped Russia's breathing. He always considered himself the Big Brother of every occupant of his house, but hearing his little Baltic saying it filled his frozen heart with love. He hugged him tightly before carrying him inside.
The fire, burning safely within the confines of the fireplace, provided the living room with comfortable warmth while a trembling Latvia took small sips of the homemade chocolate Ukraine had prepared for him.
"Enjoy it, you deserve it" said Russia smiling brightly "and besides we don't have much of that around here, we are communists, you're not supposed to eat chocolate if the other children can't" the big man put his right arm around Raivis' shoulders trying to get him as warm as possible.
They were all sitting in front of the fireplace. Latvia was sitting in the couch between Russia and Ukraine; Belarus sat on the floor between his brother's legs and was glaring at Hungary who had taken her place beside him. The others were sitting in wooden chairs except from Prussia who, being the awesome one, had quickly taken possession of the only armchair in the room, although Ivan had told him that was Stalin's former armchair.
"Gilbert, why do you know so well how to react in a situation like this?" asked Raivis.
"Yes Gilbert, tell us" Ivan smirked.
"Well, ah…" Prussia cleared his throat "sometime ago my awesome Teutonic Knights and me decided to bring civilization to the infidels living in a place called Novgorod" the Latvian looked at Ivan with wide eyes "and there was this final battle over a frozen lake called Peipus and well… our-our armors were to heavy and we all fell into the water, including that dumbass" he said pointing at Russia.
"I fell because you grabbed my tunic and started shouting like a little girl"
"Shut up"
"Help me, it's cold"
"Shut up!"
"The awesome me is drowning"
"Oh, look at me, I'm Russia and I'm big and scary but a bunch of panzers can take my most important city"
"ALMOST take it!"
"A shepherd from the Urals saved you!"
"Shut up German Democratic Republic!"
"I hate you so much!"
"For God's sake" sighed Elizaveta before taking Raivis' hand "come, it's time to sleep"
Meanwhile the two nations kept yelling at each other while Poland cheered.
The trembling hand turned the doorknob and cracked open the door very slowly. Russia was sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling with each breath. Latvia entered quietly and approached the bed before creeping under the covers. Once settled comfortably beside the Russian, Raivis looked at him and giggled, he was wearing a white flannel pajama with a sunflower pattern, but then he remembered why had he come and started trembling again. He had had a terrible nightmare, he drowned in the freezing water while hearing Ivan call his name over and over again. He snuggled closer to the warm body next to him and tried to relax.
He looked down and saw the Russian's feet hanging off the end of the bed, his own government didn't let him have a bigger one, and smiled relieved. His Big Brother was so big that nothing could harm the Latvian.
The iron fist of the Soviet Union he would fight from the inside, beside his family.
*Prokhorovka: This region of Russia is know for the battle fought there in WWII and for its fields of sunflowers.
*Alexander Nevsky (Александр Невский):he lived in the 13th century and was king of the region called Novgorod in the north of Russia. He was declared one of the best liders of history in Russia for fighting against the Swedes, the Teutonic Knights and the Tartars and for winning numerous important battles against them.
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