Hey everyone! Xascul here with another Hetalia fic about Belarus again. I wanted to expand more on her character because I feel that she is an awesome character that sadly gets too little screen time. As many readers and fans will note, Belarus and her brother Russia are both insane. Reading the webcomics, it states that Russia's mind cracked in 1905 during a protest. However, it is never stated as to why his sister is also insane, or seems to be worse than he is. This is my interpretation of it, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia nor any of its characters.
The Insanity of Belarus
Present Day
Poland was busy with paperwork when he heard the door open.
He heard a rather cheerful voice that he recognized easily as Lithuania, "hey Liet, I'm back!"
Poland walked over to meet him who was carrying some packages. He was followed by a rather pretty girl with silvery blonde hair and dressed in navy blue and had a handkerchief tied around her head.
"This is Miss Belarus! I'm so happy that I got to go on a date with her today!"
Poland nodded politely and said, "Mm hmm, so like, how was it?"
Lithuania began to take off his jacket and replied, "Well, it was only for three minutes, but it was fun! Here are your souvenirs!"
Poland was not that interested but Lithuania was too excited to pay attention, "I was so shocked when she suddenly held my hand!"
Then he noticed his hands, but they didn't even look like hands at all. No, they looked more like pale spiders with their legs bent in all directions.
"Oh my God! What happened like, to your hands and such? Why are they bent in that shape?" Poland exclaimed.
He cringed slightly at the oddly bent fingers. Then he looked down at the small girl and noticed Belarus was still holding Lithuania's other hand, and she was bending each one out of shape and he could hear from five feet away the little, sickening cracks of bone against bone.
"And she's still going at at it!" But for some reason, Lithuania did not seem to mind.
"Ah, p-perhaps I am actually able to bend my fingers in many different directions! I didn't know I was double jointed!"
The blonde nation saw it. Lithuania was head over heels for his former master's sister. Feliks had seen her a good number of times and heard how insane and harsh she was to the Baltics. Poland wandered how this beautiful nation became so deranged like her brother.
This is the story of how a nation who went from being innocent, to bloodthirsty and insane.
World War II
The year was 1939. Germany had just invaded Poland, and placed him under house arrest with his own henchmen to supervise him. At first, Natalia did not mind too much as her brother had signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany not too long ago. It even seemed that they might even join up with the Axis soon afterwards. However as the war began and relationships between Belarus' brother and Germany deteriorated over dividing Poland, and eastern Europe, Belarus began to worry.
Then came June of 1941.
Germany was carrying out the orders of his crazy boss, code named Operation Barbarossa, otherwise known as the Invasion of the Soviet Union.
Belarus knew that sooner or later, the war would come to her and her brother. But she never expected Germany, the pinnacle of a professional soldier, to go back on his word and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. She and her older sister Ukraine were prepared to defend their dear brother when the time came. Geographically, the two of them were on the front lines if Germany was going to attack their brother, whose home laid further east.
Belarus was prepared for war, but not the destruction that was about to happen. Belarus was at her brother's house helping with the chores when he heard that Germany was on the move. A rather distressed looking messenger came to her and told her the news.
"Comrade Belorussia! Germany is on his way and he means business. I don't know the exact numbers, but it looks like he has an army of 40 million strong!"
Belarus didn't even finish listening to the messenger. She dropped the broom she was holding and quickly ran out the door.
I have to protect dear brother. I have to protect dear brother. I have to protect dear brother.
It was all she could think about as she raced back to her home, whose border was not too far from German-occupied Poland. She made a hasty stop by her home and armed herself to the teeth with her rifles, pistols and knives. She then raced to the border fortress of Brest, which were preparing to hold off the German Army. She knew that if Germany were to attack the Soviet Union, this would be the place he had to get through first.
She told her commanders and officers to hold out as long as possible, to buy her sister and her brother as much time as they can so they could implement an age old strategy: awaiting their assistance from General Winter.
And hold off she did. The fortress was attacked on the first day of the invasion, and Germany had expected the fortress to fall within a few hours. But thanks to Belarus and her soldiers' tenacity, the fortress held out for several weeks before Belarus gave the order for her troops to fall back to the capital. If this was all Germany got, then let him come. She was ready.
As she retreated, she ordered her troops to destroy everything that could be of help to Germany, so that when his troops came through, all they conquered was scorched earth. She remembered this strategy that her brother employed when France's own Napoleon came through over a century ago, and now she was using it herself. She sent a message ahead to the generals in her capital, Minsk, to prepare for battle as the German Army was right on her heels.
Belarus found herself fighting tooth and nail against the German soldiers right and left. She was tired and hungry, but she did not care. As long as it meant defending her brother, she felt as though she could take anything the blonde man could throw at her. As Germany crept closer and closer to Russia's borders, Belarus knew that she had to make a stand. She received intelligence every so often of the other advances on the front. Her older sister, Ukraine, was bogged down defending her own capital of Kiev from Hungary's armies, while the Baltics were busy defending their homes from a third wave of attack.
As Belarus prepared to make one final stand against Germany before he crossed into her brother's territory, she coordinated with her sister and told her to stall and if possible, draw as much of the German Army's strength away from Russia and wait until winter sank in. The strategy worked. At the last minute, German forces were redirected south to capture Ukraine and it was just enough for Russia to call on his troops to defend his capital.
The attack came right on schedule. She saw German tanks head towards her and clash against her own tanks. She rushed to the front lines to raise morale and hopefully meet him in battle. The battle raged on for most of the morning and at high noon, she saw him. There in the midst of all the fighting, as bullets and shells flew every which way and exploded around them, sometimes mere inches from them, she saw Germany taking his rifle and pistol and killing her soldiers.
She rushed out to meet him in battle with her arsenal of weapons.
Germany saw her and stared her down. For a moment, time seemed to freeze for both of them and the battle around them forgotten. For several seconds their was a deafening silence before he finally spoke with a menacing but professional voice, "So we finally meet on the battlefield. You are in my way. If you stand down, I shall call my troops off."
Belarus was furious. She matched his icy tone with her own, "Like I will ever surrender to the likes of you! I have to protect brother! If you want to get to him," she cocked her rifle with a click, "You'll have to get through me first!"
And without further ado, Belarus took aim at Germany and pulled the trigger.
There was a loud bang but Germany already saw it coming and side stepped a millisecond before. He took aim at her and fired two rounds. Belarus dodged one bullet, and felt another graze her left arm. She saw Germany trying to reload his pistol and took the opportunity to throw one of her many throwing knifes at him. He merely knocked it aside with his pistol without a change in expression and took aim and fired several more rounds at her.
Belarus felt the bullets hit her and felt blood spurting out. She didn't care though but if he got off any more shots, she would not last much longer. As Germany tried reloading again, Belarus rushed forth and just as he finished reloading his pistol and was about to fire again, Belarus kicked the gun out of his hand with a well placed kick and took another knife out and tried to stab him in the shoulder.
Germany saw it coming and with his left hand, caught Belarus' wrist and stopped the blade mere inches from his shoulders. With long range weapons out of the question, the two fought a bitter hand to hand fight.
Belarus slashed, punched and kicked in every which way possible to gain the upper hand. Germany on the other hand, blocked and parried her punches and kicks and tried to find some opening for a counterattack. Germany had to admit that this was one, if not the toughest fight he had in a long time.
He expected taking Italy and Austria to be tough, but they easily joined with him at almost no cost. France had put up a decent fight earlier in the war, but Germany easily overpowered him. But he had to use every trick he knew to not get slashed in this fight. He was amazed at the speed of her attacks and resolve. He had to admit that he underestimated her.
As the fight dragged on into the afternoon, Germany felt Belarus' attacks slow down and for a split second, saw his chance. Belarus slashed again, but this time, he grabbed her right wrist in one hand and grabbed the other hand with his left.
"You fight well Fräulein Weißrussland, I commend you for that, but this fight ends here!" Then in a split second, he pulled Belarus closer to her and torqued her off balance. Germany then flung her to the ground with all his remaining strength. He knew he had the upper hand in physical strength and used that advantage as soon as he could.
For Belarus, it seemed to happen so slowly and she saw her life flash before her eyes before she felt her head slam on the icy ground. Then all went black.
When Belarus woke up, she was aching all over. Every single part of her body was sore and in pain. She slowly opened up her eyes and nearly screamed. She was covered in blood from head to toe. It took a few seconds to get her bearings straight and get used to her surroundings. She realized she was in a dungeon of some sort and as she looked around, she was in solitary confinement. She saw several gruff-looking men dressed in green Waffen SS uniforms standing at attention with stone-faced expressions.
She heard a door open from somewhere above her and down a flight of stairs came Germany with two body guards.
"Ah, you have awakened, mein gefangener. You fought well against me. But it is too late, my armies are on their way right now to meet your brother. It will only be a matter of time." Germany said stiffly.
Belarus felt fear and anger well up in her, she tried to say something, but she choked and coughed up some blood and vomit. Germany did not mock her nor did he belittle her. He merely sighed and replaced his cap and left the distraught nation.
For three years, Belarus remained a prisoner in her own country. Each day, she had to endure the pain of having her homeland destroyed. Whenever a city was leveled, she felt it in her body. Every day this happened, although she had yet to see it, she could only imagine what it would be like when and if she was freed. It was not like she was taken prisoner before. In their youth, she and her older siblings were subject to raids and bullying from the Mongols until they decided to band together and form their own nation.
There were nights where she could not sleep. Then there were nights when she felt so much pain, that she cried herself to sleep.
Where was big brother? She thought to herself one night.
Then in 1944, her brother finally came.
One morning, she heard some sort of commotion above her. She could distinctly hear commands being yelled in Russian and Belarus' heart jumped into her throat. Sure enough, sounds of gunfire and struggles could be heard above and Russia came storming down with several other troops. There, standing a few feet behind the iron bars was Russia. Belarus was overwhelmed with joy.
Before she knew it, she was being whisked away in her beloved brother's arms and taken back to his mansion. Ah, how wonderful it was to be back in her brother's home. It felt like an eternity since she stepped foot in it again.
Natalia spent most of her days recovering until the war ended. She wanted to be in tip top shape again as soon as possible just in case another attack or invasion came through. Fortunately that was not the case as barely a year later, Germany surrendered to the Allies and Belarus.
Although Belarus was still recovering, she could see on the television and in the daily newspapers the good news. She was indignant however when she heard that Germany's crazy boss committed suicide in an underground bunker. She wanted so badly to strangle him with her bare hands and have him beg for mercy. The way she saw it was that he was a coward at the end who could not face up for actions. She was so grateful to her dear brother for rescuing her and by the time the troops came home, she was well enough to stand beside her brother and comrades and watch the 1945 Victory Parade in the Red Square.
As her brother and Comrade Stalin stood atop Lenin's Mausoleum and saluted the troops, Belarus felt slightly ashamed that she missed out on the last of the war. She only admired her brother more who twice now held off two invasions to his homeland.
When her brother and sister deemed her well enough to walk around on her own, they allowed her to head back home. Sadly enough, the two of them both knew that she would be back soon.
She came back to her home thinking that it would be devastated but would be somewhat recognizable. It wasn't.
In fact, walking back towards where her home was supposed to be, she barely recognized the landscape anymore. She herself ordered the troops to burn everything when they retreated but the countryside didn't even look like scorched earth anymore.
As she toured around, she was stunned speechless at the extent of how devastated her territory and home had become. Everywhere she turned, there were bloated carcasses, half destroyed tanks, body parts littered around from bombs or mines. Once grand buildings that symbolized the state's power were barely recognizable now if even standing. Factories once filled with the sound of machinery chugging and people hammering away were reduced to rubble. Everyone she passed looked the same: weather beaten, cold and hungry. Some of them had nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
She walked around some more and eventually came upon her capital city, or what was left of it. Although most of everything was destroyed, there was a glimmer of hope as already soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and reconstruction crews have already sprung up all over the place to help rebuild.
Then she came upon a large stone marker that looked hastily erected. A passerby and presumably a survivor of the war told her, "This stone you're looking at in a monument to all who died in the war. There were a mountain of bodies to sort through and this was all we could do for them." He walked up to her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, "I am sorry Comrade Belorussia," he said with a tear in his eye before walking off into the distance.
For a minute she looked at the monument and at the inscription.
Then a flood of emotion washed over her.
She collapsed and clutched her head as in her mind, image after image flashed in her minds eye as she began to see what she did not see when she was unconscious.
In her mind, she saw that after Germany defeated her in combat, he proceeded to march through her territory taking anything and everything that could be of use for the army. His brother on the other hand, being the smart ass that he was, decided to take it to the next level. Prussia's army proceeded to destroy and loot her cities, pillage and plunder her industry and on Germany's orders, proceeded to wipe out the 'inferior' Jewish population.
But worst of all was the human toll on her. Nations can feel pain whenever their country was attacked or some kind of natural disaster struck, but the vast majority of the pain were minor and healed quickly. It was the human destruction that really hurt the nation because those wounds took much longer to heal.
For Belarus, she felt the loss of so much of her population, that she wouldn't be the same for another two decades. As she stared at the monument, she felt each and every one of her people's death as if it was her own. Needless to say that the loss of her soldiers felt that a part of her was gone forever.
Germany and his brother Prussia had destroyed her.
When all was said and done, a survey of the damage was taken, 209 out of 290 cities of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic were obliterated, including 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings, were destroyed. The human losses were estimated between two and three million people and while that may not seem like much compared to the number of soldiers who died on the battlefield in Russia, for a small nation like Belarus, three million people was the equivalent to one-third of her total population. Some groups, like the Jewish population of Belarus, was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. Belarus did not regain its pre-war level population until 1971, and by that time, she had already gone insane.
The war, especially Operation Barbarossa affected Belarus more than anything else in modern history. As she stood directly in the way of Germany, of the fifteen Soviet Republics, she got the worst of the war and had suffered the most damage. Even the Baltics who were scared senseless of her cold and menacing aura, could not help but feel sorry for their fellow comrade and sent aid whenever they could.
After the Axis Powers surrendered to the Allied Forces, there was much discussion with how to deal with the losers. Everyone agreed that it was Germany's bosses who had to pay and they were subsequently sent off to the Nuremberg trials.
But when she heard that her big brother would be getting Prussia and would be overseeing him for the time being, she smiled a twisted, evil smile.
Prussia was being worked to rebuild his side of the country but in the eyes of how Russia saw fit. He was going to remake Prussia as one of his own comrades with a communist government and economy. Whenever he stepped out of line, Russia turned him over to his younger sister and said with his faint smile, "I'll let you handle him sis."
And handle him she did. She tortured him everyday slashing at his limbs and letting the blood ooze out and spill on the floor. Oh how she found herself enjoying the sight of that warm, red color. Brother always did say red was his favorite color. Surely a little more can't hurt right?
As Belarus grew more and more insane, Russia began to notice that her 'enforcing' methods had become even more harsh. Even before the war started, she had a reputation as being Russia's harsh enforcer but merely stared his subordinates down. But Prussia looked so battered and beaten that even Russia shuddered to think what kind of punishment his younger sister was doling out. Not that he minded of course.
Russia did not seem to notice, as he started to pay less attention to Natalia, but ever since the 'Great Patriotic War' ended and the Cold War began against his former ally, she had trained day after day to get stronger.
Every morning when she woke up, she would jog on her treadmill for thirty minutes before taking a shower and starting her daily routine. Every afternoon after she was done with the work her brother gave her, she would jog again for another half hour and work out for another hour before taking a shower and going to bed. She really wanted to be stronger both physically and metaphorically for her brother...often to the point of obsession.
She set up a target range outside her home to practice her shooting with the various guns and rifles she collected over the years. The Styrofoam boxes she used for targets were also subjected to her throwing knives as she would practice her aim and accuracy from a distance. She always had a fascination with knives for some reason, as it was her favorite instrument of torture. She never liked pistols or guns as they harmed her victims much too quickly. Nope, she wanted to see their every twist and turn and watch their tiniest squirms and listen to screams as she slowly slashed and cut them.
It was music to her ears really, the Eastern Bloc's screams. She had so many people she had to 'discipline' and she always had something new up her sleeve. She couldn't get enough of it.
Recovery was always slow, but it happened nonetheless. Each day, she could feel herself recovering her former strength.
But it was not enough. Weapons were getting more and more sophisticated and Belarus was not about to let another one hurt her or her beloved brother. If she was going to protect big brother, she would have to train even harder. It was not that she didn't like training, she actually enjoyed it. She was not one to sit around and push papers like her brother. She loved how her body seemed to get infused with power when she lifted weights and her muscles expanded and contracted. Oh how she loved and savored the feeling. And she only wanted more. She wasn't being selfish. After all, this was all for her brother right?
By the time the Cold War ended, her seemingly frail-looking body had become fused with strength and power. Her body had become much stronger yes, but she already lost most of her sanity at the same time. She had studied Russian backwards and forwards and all but forgotten her own language. Unlike her older siblings who asserted some independence and personality, she had lost herself almost completely.
Finally, in 1996, she was ready. Ready to become one with her brother again.
"Brother....I'm coming for you. And not even you can stop me...."
Please read and review!
A/N: In case you didn't notice, the beginning of the story talks about Operation Barbarossa, one of deadliest military campaigns ever recorded in history. This fic is a departure from the more goofy and light-hearted side of Hetalia and a glimpse into the nations' more serious side. I also want to thank Neo-Byzantium for telling me about the research and background of the German Invasion of the Soviet Union.
