Scars

He thought back to their childhood. She always wore clothes to show off her skin, always proud of it. It was beautiful skin, fair, unscathed, wonderful. She had always worn anything that let her skin show. Shorts, short sleeves, skirts, it didn't matter, not to her. Even when she dressed as a man she always had skin showing. But that was in their childhood, ever since he had been taken away from her by Russia, things had changed. In fact, he couldn't remember a single time since then that he had seen her skin, not one. It was odd, to say the least. Gone were all the shorts and short sleeves, replaced with pants and long sleeves or sweaters and coats. He had to know why, just had to know.

She used to love her skin, she was so proud of it. It was flawless and had the color of fresh cream. She would do anything to show it off; wear anything, and face any comments. It was her pride and glory. Sure she was Rzeczpospolita Polska and proud of it, but she did care about how she looked. There weren't many female countries and what few there were did their best to look amazing. But World War II made her hate her skin; all the scars from Germany, Italy, and Russia. What was even worse was that Russia was her cousin. Not any more, at least not in her eyes. He took her Liet, her strength, her most prized possession, and worst of all, tried to kill her. It wasn't the first time, not in the slightest. She had been partitioned before, fought wars before, and she always came back. It infuriated her cousin, made him try even harder to dispose of her. But she wasn't afraid of him; in fact, she was the only one of them all that wasn't afraid of him. But what he did to her skin, she hated him even more, and hated herself for letting him get to her like that.

It was time; he was going to find out why she didn't display her skin anymore. He didn't care what would happen if he crossed paths with Russia or if she was angry with him for prying into her life. He loved her, always had, always would, and if she was hiding something serious, well he just had to know. He walked up to her door and knocked, waited for an answer. There was no way she wouldn't come get the door, he knew that, they were in a relationship and it wasn't their first, he just had to give her enough time. Besides he could hear the shower water running.

She woke up fairly early that morning. 7 o'clock, but it was a Saturday and she normally slept until 9. She went into the adjoining bathroom and took off her nightgown. She stared at her body in the full length mirror, 'All those scars. I'm hideous.' She stopped her staring and turned on the shower. The water was refreshing and the scent of her body wash calming. Then she heard it, a knock. On her door in the middle of the morning. Anyone who knew her at all knew that she was not a morning person. Oh there was going to be a murder this morning. She finished her shower, got dressed, and went opened the door only to see the last person she expected sitting on her doorstep.

Shock displayed across Poland's face before she opened the door wider. "Come on in, Liet. Sorry the place is messy; I didn't really expect to see you."

"I know, I just needed to ask you something."

"Well at least let's talk inside, it's cold out here." They went inside and Lithuania sat on her couch while Poland went and got refreshments. She came back with tea and pazcki; somehow she always had the pastry no matter what time of year it was. He took one and a cup of tea and they sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

"You know, Liet if you just wanted to leach free food off me all you had to do was ask."

"Wh-what! No, that's not why I came today, I just like your food." He blushed.

"Awwww! That's so sweet of you, Liet. Now, what did you want to ask me?" He fiddled with his hands before speaking.

"I've noticed how you stopped wearing shorts and short sleeves-"

"Well duh Liet, it's winter."

"Not just now, but all the time. Winter, summer, spring, fall, you don't let any skin show. None you were so proud of it too, it really was beautiful. I guess I just want to know why." She blanched; she hadn't actually expected this question from him. There really wasn't any reason why she couldn't tell him, he had his scars too. The ones on his back from where Russia beat him and the ones from his own past. She just couldn't tell him. The words wouldn't pass her lips, her throat closed at the mere thought of telling him that. She was supposed to be strong, not weak, happy instead of loathing- be it self or at others- and she couldn't bare for the one she loved to see her like that.

"Toris, it's just a fashion change, nothing to worry about."

"You just called me Toris, that's not normal. Its obviously weighing on your mind, please tell me what it is."

"It's really not a big deal, ok?"

"Tell me what it is, Felicja, or so help me God," he trailed off ominously. She looked down at her hands and played with the cuff of her sleeves.

"I-I just can't say it," she said in a small voice.

"Can you show me?" She nodded and stood up. She led them both to her room and she disrobed. He stared at her, blushing at her nearly naked form before the seriousness of what he saw sunk in. There were scars, so many scars, all over her body. And the worse of them all was right over her heart, her capitol. She was standing in nothing but her bra and panties and he couldn't even comprehend that. All he could comprehend was the amount of pain she must have gone through, and even then, he knew that he couldn't even imagine that kind of pain.

"See?" She asked him. "See what I've become? I'm hideous."

"No, you're not. You're beautiful. These scars prove it."

"Prove what? All they prove is how weak I actually am."

"No, they prove how strong you are. If you were weak, would you still be standing here? No, you would be dead, but you keep coming back, like a phoenix. Nobody is ever going to be able to kill the great Lenkijos Respublika."

"Thank you, Liet. I really needed that."

"D-do you remember them all?"

"Yeah, I do." She took his hand and they sat on the bed. She guided his hand over every scar, every one. The ones from when the commonwealth split, he had scars exactly like those, every battle from the Polish-Soviet war, every bombing or invasion from World War II, every partition, everything. There were so many, more than he could ever remember. When she was almost done she brought his hand to her heart. It was the worse it looked like someone had completely mutilated the flesh and had tried to put it back together. By the time she had finished explaining she had tears rolling down her cheeks, he reached up and wiped them away. He told her that she was beautiful once more and they shared a blissful kiss.

"Kocham cię, Liet."

"Aš myliu tave, Felicja."

Oh dear Lord what have I done. I wrote an oneshot when I haven't even finished "Lies for You". So if you read "Lies for You" it's not over nor on hiatus, but I don't know if I'll be able to update within a week so don't hate me. Yes, this is Fem!Poland/Liet but that's because I LIKE that pairing and it is DRASTICALLY under-appreciated. So yeah, translation time!

Polish:

Pazcki: it's a freakishly delicious Polish pastry. It's almost like a jelly donut but that is like calling a Billionaire poor.

Rzeczpospolita Polska: Republic of Poland

Felicja: It means "happy/lucky" it's got the same meaning as Feliks so yeah.

Kocham cię: I love youm

Lithuanian:

Lenkijos Respublika: Republic of Poland

Aš myliu tave: I love you

I used Google Translate, don't hate me! Ok so yeah, R&R

IMAxENIGMAX out PEACE!