A young nation had hidden himself away in the closet of a much larger nation's house. If he could just hide there a while longer, maybe the larger nation would go to sleep, and then-! The door to the closet opened, shocking the small nation into huddling farther into the corner.
"Latvia, where did you go?" A husky yet playful voice called. The small nation, Latvia held his breath as he waited for the other to go away. There was the rustling of coats, and Latvia's heart beat in his ears. He was sure that the larger nation heard it. After what seemed like an eternity, the closet began to close, and he thought he was in the clear. Then, a hand reached into the small space, and grabbed the small nation's arm. Latvia gave a yelp. "Ah, so this is where you've been hiding."
"Ah-a-a-a-a! Sorry Russia! I thought that you wanted to have some more friends, so I thought-!"
"With America? You are sweet one." What the country was saying and his playful tone contradicted his actions. He had picked up Latvia like a doll, and was holding him up by his right leg and arm, spinning around and nearly knocking his head into the wall and several pieces of furniture.
"I'M SORRY!" The smaller nation pleaded, with Russia smiling down at him until Latvia's head felt a large shooting pain, and then darkness washed over his eyes.
Latvia woke up in a dark room. He sat up, and felt a shooting pain through his head. A hand reached up to rub it, and he felt bandages wrapped around his forehead. He rubbed his forehead, and looked over to see Estonia on one side of him, and Lithuania on the other. The small nation guessed that they had found him on the floor after he hit his head, and helped him. This wasn't the first time that something like this happened, and he knew that if he stayed here, it wouldn't be the last time. The other two nations with him wouldn't protect him from Russia. They always tip-toed around him! Latvia and these other two didn't have anything in common besides being the underlings or Russia! Tears welled up in Latvia's eyes, and he decided that right then, right there, he was going to leave. Latvia crawled out of bed, careful not to wake the other two, and put on his military clothes. With nothing else on his back, Latvia went out of the room, through the dark hall way, and walked right out of the front door.
A shiver went down the small nation's spine as he stood on the deck of a boat traveling. It had been over two months since he had left Russia's without a word or warning to anyone. He remembered when Lithuania had left and stayed with America for a while. Latvia and Estonia had gotten really roughed up by Russia. The thought made him hesitate, and thought he should go back to lighten the blows, but he told himself if he went back now, he might never get out again. He made a promise to himself as well, on this journey; he would find himself a family!
The boat that he was on was a fishing boat. He had been switching and traveling on whatever boats would allow him to come aboard with them. This last one he was on was docking, and Latvia said his good bye and thanks to the men who had let him come aboard, as they were going to sell what they had caught in the country. Latvia didn't really know where they had arrived, but it looked old here, with a lot of pillars and ruins sticking up. He guessed that there were probably tourist shops somewhere close by, but the area that he was in right now wasn't a major port.
Latvia had walked farther inland, and felt his tummy growl. He went over to one of the shops, and tried to talk to one of the local food vendors. The problem was that he couldn't understand the vendor, and tried to sign out what he wanted with his hands. The vendor, after watching him, gave a look of disgust and shooed him away. Latvia tried this with several other vendors, and a nice lady, who had watched him go from vendor to vendor, had bought him some sort of food on a stick. "Tourists like this," was all that she could say to him after trying to say it in several different languages.
Latvia nodded, thanking the woman and waving to her as she walked away. Latvia had then scurried away to sit at the base of some ruins. He had only kind of noticed it before, but there were a lot of cats around this place. Latvia took a bite of the food that the lady had bought for him. It tasted odd, but good. A cat came up to him and meowed at him. Latvia smiled at the kitty a small smile, and held out the food to it. The cat took a bite of it, purring. Two more joined, and they began to eat off of the stick. "Um," Latvia couldn't take the stick away from the kitties. He would feel bad if he did that! "Uh um…!" He couldn't stop the kitties.
A fully grown pair of hands appeared in his field of vision, picking up one of the cats in a slow and calm demeanor, and cradling it so it was looking the one who picked it up in the face. "If it's that good, I'll get you some more." The man spoke, but Latvia could understand him. It took him a moment to realize that he recognized the man! He was young looking, with wavy brown hair and green eyes, but he was a nation! Greece! Latvia had taken this time in staring at the other nation, as Greece looked down, and calmly said, "Your food is getting eaten."
Latvia's attention turned back to the stick. "Ah!" It was all gone! He sat there, pouting a little bit, but the two remaining cats on the ground were purring, and rubbing up against him. Latvia couldn't be mad at the cats. Instead, he just petted them, still a little sad that he let his food be completely consumed by the small furry animals. He saw Greece watching him out of the corner of his eye, and then slowly walk away. Latvia was unsure if he should call out to the older nation, and just decided to sit there as the friendly cats sprawled themselves over him. After sitting there for a long while, just relaxing, which was something he could never seem to do at Russia's house. The cat's didn't call for attention, but Latvia just petted them anyway.
A few sticks of the food from before had appeared in his line of vision. "Here." Lavtia looked up to see Greece was the one holding the food. Latvia looked at him, somewhat confused, but took the food and thanked him. He ate one of the sticks, while holding it out for the two cats on him to sniff, and then yawn and proceed to ignore it.
Greece had taken a spot next to Latvia, and petted the cats. After a while, Latvia had finished off the food, and had just sat there with Greece. Latvia was slowly starting to feel nervous, thinking that he should say something. While Greece made no effort to start a conversation, Latvia started to worry. What do I say? I haven't run into another country since I left Russia's house! He doesn't seem so bad. Latvia glanced at Greece who was playing with a cat by holding it by its paws. But what if he blows up on me if I say the wrong thing? What if-? "Are you one of the nations that becomes scary after getting to know another nation?"
Latvia caught Greece staring at him, and then the small country realized that he was trembling. "I-I-I mean-!" The small nation jumped up onto his feet, and both cats went tumbling off, one hissed at him and ran off. "Ah!" Latvia reached out a hand to try and stop them from running off, but it was too late. The two cats went out of sight, and Greece had watched them go, and the cat that he was holding wiggled. Greece released it, and it left to join the other two. "I-I-I'm just going to—" Latvia pointed in a random direction, and Greece looked at him, as if he knew, but let Latvia try and work it out while babbling, "Go to the shore, and-and—" Latvia's head lulled to the side. "I have no place to sleep tonight."
Greece nodded. "The ruins make great sleeping spots. Especially in the day time."
Latvia's shoulders slumped. So Greece didn't even bother with pointing out a place that wasn't out in the open. At least he wasn't being mean exactly—And Latvia saw Greece climb on one of the wrecked walls of the ruins, taking a white cloth cap from his head, and putting it on his stomach with a hand resting on top of it.
"…Hello?" Latvia cautiously went up to Greece and peered over at him. He was asleep. Latvia smiled a little bit. He wasn't meaning unfriendly. He actually slept out here it seemed. Latvia looked around. There wasn't much on him to steal, so he took a section of a wall a little farther down. The surface was rough, and he could feel it through his clothes, but he took his jacket off anyway to bundle it up into a pillow. The older nation with the wavy brown hair was really easy-going, and nice. Latvia fell asleep after a while.