To him there seem to be a thousand bars

And back behind those thousand bars no world

~"The panther" by R. (1902)

First, a warning: English is not my native language so I'm sorry for probable grammar mistakes and bad formulations.

Before someone is shocked, China is female in this because I think that fits her better, hope that's no problem.

Also I don't want to be offensive and I hope that no one feels insulted from this.

And this is not a 100% accurate historical story although it has a lot of history in it.

That was everything so far, now, enjoy!

"Open the door! State security service!"

The voice from the other side of the door sounded dull and was barely understandable due to the harsh knocking. Feliks nearly choked on his milk and while cringing with fright he upset the glass. The liquid flowed over his newspaper and quickly soaked up every letter. It wasn't a real loss, the newspapers just kept on telling the same censored reports.

Someone kept on knocking on the door and Feliks quickly got up to open it. He was already sure who was standing there and he didn't like it at all. After all these weeks of rain, today had been a day with pure sunshine and he had thought that this must have been a positive omen. Obviously he couldn't have been more wrong.

It was never nice having someone knocking on the door. Especially when this person sounded like he would kick in the door any second. But if someone who stole your kingdom, took you prisoner, humiliated and tortured you so many times you cannot even count it anymore, killed and tortured your people, burnt your cities and occupied your country, if someone like this knocks on your door, you really know that a hard time is waiting for you.

Why can't they just leave me alone?, Feliks thought. He had no intention to see the others, those who were exactly like him and yet so different. The only people he liked to meet were the old men who kept on talking about the past. He liked to share stories with them and wallow in old memories. But with the years these stories were about a younger and younger past and now the oldest told about the Polish national movement in the 1880s. The thought that soon the oldest people wouldn't remember his time in imprisonment anymore filled him with a bitter fear.

Slowly Feliks opened the door and immediately wanted to slam it shut again. Gilbert grinned widely at him, one hand still in the air as if he wanted to knock again. Next to him was Erzsébet standing, her arms crossed, her face an annoyed frown. Even without minding the deep shadows under her eyes Feliks could see how very exhausted she was. He was not surprised, exhaustion described his own feelings all too well.

Without even trying to hide his anger Feliks asked "Can't you knock like any other normal person? I almost got a heart attack!"

Gilbert laughed. "Why so scared? Didn't really expect the SB, didn't you?"

"It is frightening when you beat the door like this," Feliks replied. "It always reminds me of..." "1939," Gilbert slurred. "Westernplatte, yes, yes, yes. Can we come in now?"

Feliks shot him a death glare and just like all the times before Gilbert seemingly didn't even notice it. He acted like nothing special had happened, like that topic was already a long forgotten story from the past. Maybe Gilbert didn't think of it anymore but Feliks remembered all too well how the door had trembled under the harsh knocking, how the same rasping voice demanded admission. Albeit, back then Gilbert had been armed, uniformed and dead serious. Feliks had to admit that the figure of his nightmares had little in common with the bedraggled looking man who was standing in front of him now.

With the ruffled, white hair, the blood-shot eyes and the shabby clothes he looked simply pathetic. That he was drunk didn't make it better but it was probably the reason why he could still grin like this.

Finally Feliks answered "If it's really necessary" and opened the door a little bit wider. He was proud that he only sounded a bit offended, enough to make the other think about his words but not so much that it would make him look ridiculous.

It was already dusk and the sky began to darken. Obviously the two must have been looking for an accommodation for the night. Feliks knew that they wouldn't leave anymore, he had no other choice but let them into the house.

Slightly staggering Gilbert walked inside the house and looked around. "Ratty as always here."

"Thank you," Erzsébet murmured as Feliks closed the door behind her. She looked resigned but there was also a hint of guilt in her green eyes. She probably understood how much Feliks wished them to leave again. He shrugged as an answer, not knowing what else he could say.

"Hey, your fridge is as good as empty," he could hear Gilbert say and quickly hurried into the kitchen as well before the other could do something stupid. In his opinion Gilbert was always doing something stupid and it would be best to just lock him up in some cell far away from Poland.

"If you wanted something to eat you could have phoned me," Feliks said angrily. "And don't dare to touch my Prince Polo!"

Gilbert looked at the chocolate bar which was still laying untouched on the kitchen table and grinned ironically. "How cute." Before he could do something Feliks grabbed the chocolate and petted the packing gently. The time was flying by and everything changed but one thing remained; Polish sweets would always cheer him up. Feliks had the bad feeling that he would need a lot of sweets in the future. Preferably together with a cigarette, a bottle of Vodka and some ear plugs.

Gilbert had observed the entire kitchen now and asked in a critical tone "Do you actually know the word 'cleaning'?"

"You could have phoned me," Feliks repeated and gritted his teeth. Although he didn't look like it, Gilbert always tried to keep everything clean and in order. Of course he would be shocked of the mess Feliks' kitchen was in. But Feliks didn't care.

Not so many years ago he had owned a beautiful little house and he had cared for it a lot. Then the war had come and his house had got destroyed. Feliks didn't have a home anymore but as long as the war went on he didn't spend a thought about it. There were other things he had to worry about. After the war Ivan himself looked for a house in which Feliks could live and he insisted that Feliks should stay in the ruins which once were his beautiful capital.

Feliks didn't care about his new house which seemed to lack any individuality. He did some cleaning when the dirt started to bother him. Besides, he liked it when things were not always in the right place. Without even thinking about it he liked to go against the order.

"What are you even doing here?" he asked now and Erzsébet answered „We actually wanted to go to Dresden." Meanwhile she had come to the kitchen as well and leaned with crossed arms against the door frame. "Gilbert had the great idea to look for a house there." "But they didn't want to give me one because I was in no need," Gilbert explained. "So I told them I have a pregnant girlfriend and need a taller flat as soon as possible. But they wanted me to actually show up with a woman and lovely Erzsébet was ready to help me."

"You didn't tell me about the pregnant-part," she answered with a frown. "And I was only ready to help you out because you gave me your last cigarette pack, don't forget that."

Gilbert waved his hand and nearly lost his balance. "Yes, yes. I want it back by the way." "Forget it, idiot!"

"Well this isn't Dresden, so what are you doing here?" Feliks repeated and Erzsébet laughed bitterly. "You wouldn't believe it but as soon as we managed to cross the Polish border the car broke down and didn't move anymore. It was a miracle that we managed it to get a train. But it only brought us to Warsaw and now we're here."

"We knew you would take us in," Gilbert grinned. "And we're grateful for that," Erzsébet added. The imagination of travelling together with Gilbert the entire day was so horrible that Feliks immediately felt sorry for the woman. "Just for one night," he said and Gilbert said with a shrugging "Why would we want to stay longer? I searched the entire kitchen, no beer, no vodka. Truly, these are sad times."

Feliks who had feared that someone could suddenly come for a visit had hidden all his drinks and didn't intent to let Gilbert know about that.

"Where can we sleep?" Erzsébet asked and Feliks quickly thought about all his chambers. Of course, he didn't have something like a guest room. Finally he said "You can share the living room. I don't have an oven here but I can get you some blankets."

Gilbert grinned widely at Erzsébet. "Sounds pretty good, right? We can share one blanket together, wouldn't that be cuddly?"

Erzsébet's dark stare was enough of an answer. "Come near me and you won't see tomorrow."

Feliks decided to leave and look for blankets. He remembered a very old one which even still had holes and spatters he had no memory of where they came from. Just the right thing to give to an old enemy.

But before he could actually go the phone rang and the shrill sound made all three of them cringe. Feliks actually hated phones. He would never admit that but he really didn't like these modern things. He hated the sudden ringing and how strange the usually familiar voices sounded. Also, phone calls always reminded him of bad things.

Mostly calls of a superior who complained about this and that and somewhen started shouting so load that Feliks had to step away from the phone.

But he also remembered desperate phone calls with England and France before his door was kicked in.

And in recent times it was always Russia calling, never minding how early it was in Warsaw.

Wanting to stop the annoying sound as quick as possible Feliks hurried to his bedroom in which the phone was- his guests followed him without a question.

Feliks took a deep breath and answered the call. "Slucham." "Good evening, tavarish," a soft voice answered. "You're sounding so tensed. Is my call coming at a bad time?"

Feliks had frozen once he heard the first word. No, this really wasn't a good day. The probably only person he hated even more than Gilbert had called him and he already knew that this conversation would lead to something bad.

He really had to force himself as he said "No, of course not. How... nice to hear you." Gilbert quickly grabbed the phone from his hand and said "Ivan, old chap! Long time not heard!"

That was a silly lie. It only had been some months ago that Ivan had called for all of them to meet. All of them contained Feliks, Gilbert and Erzsébet of course but also Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Czech and Slovakia. Ivan himself had come alone but delivered the greetings of the other Soviets. For some reason China had also come, saying she wanted to know what her 'Western comrades' were doing.

Ten people in a small room together were not much fun and of course Ivan had chosen no other place for their meeting but Feliks' little house.

Their meeting started with all of them sitting around the kitchen table and Ivan doing his usual speeches about friendship and about the evil doings of the imperialistic Western nations who had founded an aggressive organisation they called NATO. He started with "Since the glorious October Revolution a lot of years have passed but communism didn't weaken but made us all stronger. Yet, there are still those in the world who keep on oppressing our brothers and sisters and who won't rest. As comrade Lenin already said..." and ended with "And after all these years of great economical assistance between us I am very happy to say that we now are ready for military assistance which will also make all of us stronger and bring us closer together against our enemy."

Meanwhile, Romania had a little accident after rocking his chair too much backwards and forwards (Ivan was not very amused about it), Czech and Slovakia started a little on a paper written down conversation about who of them forgot to lock the door and if that was actually necessary and ended up fighting about lunch (Ivan slightly became angry) and Bulgaria finally fell asleep (Ivan looked like he wanted to kill him).

Finally they all got a treaty to sign which Ivan called a Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance. Maybe it was just Feliks but he found it weird to actually sign a treaty which forced him to be friends with someone.

Besides winning so many friends at once Feliks also learnt a lot of important things during the meeting.

Having Hungary and Romania in one room was not a good idea- unless you don't care much about your furniture and want to learn interesting new expressions you probably should never use in public.

Don't take Bulgaria's cookies when he offers you some- you need hours to get rid of the taste again.

Calling China cute is as clever as fighting against the entire Red Army- with a wooden stick.

And apparently no one understands the words "The glass is for drinking not for throwing at people's heads".

In the end Feliks decided that they should never meet in Warsaw again or at least not in a house he still continued living in.

Gilbert's obnoxious laughter brought him back to reality. "Such a coincidence, I know," the white-haired said. "And you know what? Hungary is here, too!"

Erzsébet glanced angrily at him and Feliks quickly took his phone back. "Why are you calling?" he asked but like so often Ivan completely ignored his question. "It sounds like you're having a nice time," he said instead and Feliks was sure to notice a hint of yearning in his voice.

That was exactly what he needed now- Ivan wanting to pay him a visit as well. He quickly answered "It is not so nice as it sounds. In fact the weather is really bad. And actually I don't even have rooms to share. And the two of them wanted to leave soon because, um, we're all quite busy with, um, things, you know."

"It is praiseworthy that you work so hard," Ivan answered and Feliks could almost see his cruel smile. "I have good news for you. In Moscow the weather is wonderful and you know how big my house is. Wouldn't it be great if all of you would come for a visit?"

"Actually I'm really busy here and..." Feliks started but Ivan interrupted him quickly. "What kind of problem is it that you need to stay in Poland? If it is so serious maybe you would like to get some help? We could send troops for support."

Feliks clenched his fists and said "No, it's not that serious. I will tell the others about it." "Otchin kharasho. I'm expecting you tomorrow then." With that Ivan hung up and Feliks looked at the phone in disbelief. Tomorrow?!

Erzsébet and Gilbert were still fighting about "stop telling Russia where I am all the time!" but got silent when they saw Feliks' face. "What did he say?" Gilbert asked.

"Oh, he wrote a letter to the West," Feliks said seriously. "He offered a German reunion and said he would give East Germany back if the allies would let go of West Germany." "What, seriously?" Gilbert's red eyes suddenly seemed to lighten up with hope. Feliks hesitated for a moment before he replied "Of course not. Why would Russia do something like that?"

Oh, it was such a pleasure to see this deep desperation on Gilbert's face. Suddenly completely silent he sat down and stared at his slightly shaking hands. It was only a small revenge but nevertheless it cheered Feliks up.

Resentful. That was what Toris called him once. "You are always carrying grudges against people for things that happened decades ago" was what he said but Feliks didn't agree on this. He was able to forgive people, in fact he forgave people quite often.

France used and exploited him and evilly played with his hopes in 1812, betrayed him in 1920 and didn't help him again in 1939 and still he forgave that stupid snails munching bastard, didn't he?

And Sweden! Feliks still remembered the 'bloody flood' from 1655 and how that bastard defiled his precious churches and monasteries and yet he was ready to speak with Sweden without mentioning this all too often.

And finally Ukraine. She even started a rebellion against him which started the decay of his empire and he forgave her. Probably because he learnt how horrible it was to be oppressed by another country (although he was sure that he had been a very nice and just ruler).

But all this was a proof that Feliks was not unforgiving, it was just like that: some people didn't deserve to be forgiven. And anyway, Toris was the resentful one when he was still refusing to talk to him. Again, Feliks had the feeling that something had to change. And maybe this visit could change a lot.

Hope you liked it at least a bit. (In year 1955 the "Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance" or simply "Warsaw Pact" was founded.)

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

And I would love to hear your opinion, so please review!