Disclaimer: Do not own

AN: the (italicized brackets) are Russia's very inner thoughts.

A Soviet Dinner

He sat at the head of the dinner table, his violet eyes shining with a mellow glow in the dimness of the unlit room. The silver of the moon was the only source of light from the high windows whose frames rattled like skeletons in the cold, snowy breeze of the outside. His finger caressed the faded metal of the fork that lay by his plate of untouched, cold food before looking up at the people that sat in utter stillness or fidgeting with uncertainty, pain or frustration before him.

He glazed his eyes over Hungary, who sat stiff with her eyes glaring at her knees, then at Romania, who uneasily sat back, his tooth gleaming at it pricked his lower lip. The Prussian's eyes were shaded by the darkness, the bandage around his arm turning scarlet as he shifted while the Baltics sat stone-faced, their expressions carved out of silent ice.

How should he say it? How should he tell them?

He caught Belarus' eyes, steely looking at him, unblinking with determination while Ukraine sighed ever so slightly in light remorse. The sound of his chair hissing against the floor made all eyes look straight at him, both curiosity and fear in their orbs. The way Latvia shook and the way Romania hissed made him wonder if he had truly been that cruel.

Looking at the battered pipe whose red bloodstains were vivid, he doubted they were wrong.

"Comrades," he smiled (but inside you were breaking), "We have spent a lot of time together in the walls of this house (too much time together) and hopefully we have come to grow strong bonds between us (bonds of terror?) like a family (Because all this time, that was all you wanted)." He caught the scoff in Hungary and the hardened eyes of Prussia. (Had it been another time, you would've beat them.) His smile didn't falter. "However, my leader and I have come to spread the terms that have to be passed on from this day onwards (You don't have to punish them anymore)."

He felt his fingers tighten on the wood of the table. He knew their reactions- he feared their reactions.

"From this day onwards," his breath caught in his neck (how can you let your family walk away?), "the countries of Eastern Europe (the family you worked hard to build) have control (you were letting them slip away) on their own (so alone) affairs."

The stillness was deafening.

"The USSR will no back up your governments," his breath hitched, "I will not back up…" my orders.

Nothing moved. The china didn't even clink, the breaths didn't even whisper and the rattling of the wind against the frame did not invade. (Perhaps there was hope). He stood with his chest tight yet his smile enforced on his face- so much he felt his cheeks burn and stiffen. Suddenly, the scraping of the chair was like a jagged knife tearing out his heart.

Hungary pushed back against her chair roughly, her face coloured with a life he hadn't seen glow in her for a long time. Without a second's glance, her footsteps echoed in the dim room as she ran out. She tugged against the door and swept it open, tearing down the hallway.

His smile was still on his face.

Poland, his eyebrows mocking, stood next. He gently curved upwards, not caring if the scratches showed on his porcelain skin and didn't bother pulling down his shirt to hide the ruins. He let a sweeping glance ride the room before it landed a bit sadly on Lithuania, who was steely staring at his empty plate, before swerving around his chair. His back was stiff and his nose a bit haughty and he walked slowly- as though tantalizing the Russian. Only when he was out Russia's sight did he start to quicken his pace, a smile biting at his lips, before he was out of the hall.

"Wegry! My new boss is totally gonna be the first non-commie!" his voice broke through the corridors. "He's, like, totally gonna be the first one in like, a free Poland!"

His smile winced.

He cast his eyes over the table once more. He could feel his sister's shocked vibes piercing his like knives and he could see the slow widening of Lithuania and feel the utter concentration of the man as he was deeply thinking.

CRASH

Startled, he caught the face of Prussia, his red eyes piercingly glaring at him with so much hatred he could feel a burn etch into his cold skin. Prussia stood tense, hissing between clenched teeth, his skin taut over his bony figure that it showed him as a starved predator raged with anger. With a seething cry, his bandaged arm grabbed hold of a jug and threw it against the wall, shattering to it pieces, the glass like fallen tears. He swept his other across the bowls and spoons, making them clang and clatter against the floor.

Russia did not move.

Prussia kicked back the table and grabbed the legs of the fallen table and swung it with all his might at the Russian. Russia did not even bat an eyelid as the chair flew past him and banged against the large window, cracking the glass.

The bandage on Prussia's arm was vivid red and blood smeared down his knee but he took no notice. With trembling fingers that were tightened to fists, he limped away quickly, his hand staining the walls with blood as he grasped them for support.

Then, the cracking of bones alerted him.

Russia sharply skimmed his eyes past the rest until they landed on Romania.

Romania's left hand was gripping at the metallic cuff of the other, pulling against it with feral, uncontained eyes. He was pulling his hand out of the cuff, but the metal was wound to small around his wrist and was unyielding. His metacarpals were crushed- the bone peaked under the skin, glimmering white and shocking red in the tainted moonlight- as the metal started to move against his palm, blood dripping out of his fingers and nails, spluttering against the dark wood in front of him.

With a pained gasp, the metal rang as it fell to the floor, only to be overpowered by the guttural anger of the groans in the Romanian's throat. His teeth were biting against his lip too hard that blood dripped down his chin as though he had just pierced them into a person's neck. The bones crushed from the sliding metal cuff on the other hand sounded once more, intertwining with the sounds of splattering blood before a monotonous ringing sounded in the room.

Romania threw his hands on the table, smearing them with blood from his ravaged hands, and glared like a crazed animal before a wide, maniacal, smile ripped past his face. Stumbling back, he suddenly dashed off, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

Bulgaria eyed the blood and the metal cuffs uneasily before Czechoslovakia brushed him on the shoulders as he casually took his way out. The dark-haired youth, his eyes not meeting anyone, soon followed the younger boy out of the hall.

Russia's smile was completely shattered.

"Brother-" Belarus' voice cut through the thick silence.

"It's alright," he bit back a sigh and tried to smile. "I expected this." (Or were you holding onto false hope?)

He slowly started to lower himself to his chair. His knees creaked as though an old door left to stand and rust before it was slowly closed. The chair was ice and its' arms were bars that he wound his fingers around. Glancing at the empty chairs that were once filled, at the ruined cutlery and stains of blood, he felt lonely.

But it was over.

What was done was done…

He took a small glance at the Baltics- Lithuania had still not moved- then at his two sisters. At least he still had them with him. He still had a family. Silence reigned on between them and it calmed the jolting heart in his tight chest that was hidden under layers of clothing. When the silence was stable in his head- when he thoughts things could now go back to the way it was, the sound of the chair pushing against the ground shocked him once more. He looked up to see Lithuania standing, his face set and his mouth determined, the crook of his brow firm and resilient- his eyes alit with determination that Russia thought he had crushed a long time ago.

"Lithuania?" he forced the smile up his lips. "Is there something you want to-"

"Independence."

He heard the stifled gasps from the other Baltics, saw the incredulous look on Belarus' face and didn't miss the musings of Ukraine who remained silent. Russia felt his smile break on his face and his eyebrows twitch. He had seen the people he worked hard to bring together leave without a second's glance- he would not have more seats around his table empty-

He struck the Lithuania's face and the man whipped to the right, grasping the edge of the table for support as his green eyes were suddenly wide. Russia caught the glimmer of fear and that put his tightened chest slightly at ease (you thought that things were still going to be the same) but this hope quickly evaporated as Lithuania stood straight once more.

"I want my independence."

Russia let his smile coolly come up on his face. "No."

This small simply word made the room icier. Made his fingers grasp the wood of the table with so much tension he could hear the wood splinter.

"No," he breathed, taking a step forward towards the slim man. "No."

He towered over him, however Lithuania slowly shook his head with slight remorse in his eyes- a fatigue and tire in his bones- that made the Russia run his eyes to the bare neck that was white with scars and the thin hands that were fresh with cuts.

"I want my inde-"

He grabbed the man by his shirt and slammed him onto the table. The cutlery shuddered and clattered onto the floor, spilling all their contents and staining the grounds. Estonia and Latvia jumped away with Ukraine gasped, her eyes clouded with tears. Belarus had her eyes transfixed on the scene, her fingers wound around the arms of the wooden chair like needles.

"I won't allow it," sneered Russia, his eyes wide and his smile hysterical, "there's no way I will allow it!"

Lithuania's fear was evident in his eyes as the larger man pressed forward. (He watched them all walk away) he was not going to see another back turned (he watched them scamper away from him like the plague) he couldn't let him leave (he saw them-

"Brother, stop!"

He felt a vice grip on his arm and woke from his frenzy. His senses were heightened and he could hear the blood rushing in his head and his pants heavy in his chest. Looking down, he saw a sharp, deep scar on Lithuania's cheek, bleeding earnestly on the table and dripping to the floor in a pool of blood. His grip on the Lithuanian's arm was sharp red. Turning to face the speaker, he saw Belarus with her hands around his own, stopping the penetrating knife that was edging deeper into Lithuania's skin.

Tugging out the blade (that grunt of pain was too familiar), Lithuania tumbled to the ground with heaving breaths. Belarus' icy eyes had softened to an unstable watery blue as she watched the Lithuanian being helped back on his unsteady feet by Estonia and Latvia. The blade fell from Russia's hands and he stepped away, his eyes twitching.

Were they going to leave?

"I don't allow it!" his voice rang like church bells over a graveyard. "I don't allow it!"

However, they made no notice of hearing him. Estonia whispered something in Lithuania's ears, whose blood had made a red mask on half his face, before Latvia, his face set and his eyes focused on the door like it was a lifeline, started to tug them both towards it.

Belarus held onto his arm, her fingers like piercing daggers into his thick coat and embedding his icy skin, as he watched, with shuddering horror, the family he had built walk out him. The Baltics turn their back and slowly, their fingers trembling and their steps uneven move forward.

"I don't allow it!" he screamed, trying to lunge forward, but Belarus had reigned him back. "I don't allow it!" his voice rasped, threatening to bleed with the same blood Prussia and Romania had shed. "I don't…"

But the hall was already deserted.

The scent of blood was stronger than ever- so bitter it was like someone had crushed the juice out of his heart. However, it was the faint footsteps that he knew so well that made his knees buckle and made him fall to the wooden ground below him, his shoulders slumped and his hands falling to his side.

Ukraine, her eyes still on him, tears dripping down her pale face, was softly walking towards the door. She placed a small hand on the handle before turning away, her raking shoulders muffling the sobs that moved her chest. He felt Belarus' grip on his arm loosen and for once, he wanted her to stay with him. He felt as though something had been drained out of him- sucked out of him leaving him like a puppet without a puppeteer, his strings lying helplessly by his sides.

The faltering clacks of Mary-Janes on the floor made him close his eyes and clog his ears by his hands.

He didn't want to hear it.

He didn't want to see it.

But even now, he could hear the bricks crumbling beneath one another and the whole world that he knew falling apart. He opened his lilac eyes, so dimmed with tears, and took in the emptiness of the hall that had been once great. Now, it was nothing but a relic that was smeared with blood, ruin and loneliness.

AN: History time!

So basically, Mikhail Gorbachev stood up and said 'Well, the USSR isn't gonna back up eastern Europe's communist governements so you guys can deal with your own affairs!'

The Hungarians just rushed off and the first thing they did was dismantle this wire between them and Austria. Poland held up elections and got the first non-communist president after the second world war (Lech Walesa). East Germany had a huge demonstration/strike (hence, Prussia breaking everything) before they went off and broke down the Berlin Wall. It was Czechoslovakia that calmly opened it's borders next and called on for free elections. Romania soon followed but they had a VERY bloody revolution against their communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescue (hence, the bloody removing of the cuffs on his arms) before Bulgaria had a huge demonstration as well (but I didn't really add that since I don't really have much of a grasp on the guy's character... well, you can always imagine him trashing his bedroom maybe... or Russia's).

Onto the Baltics! Lithuania said it wanted independence and when the USSR said 'No way!' they went and did it anyway. However, the USSR wasn't too happy so unlike the rest of the eastern European countries, they sent in their troops and tanks and it was bloodshed. But, Latvia soon led all the Baltics towards independence. Soon after, Ukraine simply declared independence and Belarus... well... I'm not too sure of her but I read that they celebrate their freedom from the USSR so I guess they must've declared independence as well at some point during this whole chain reaction...

There was a bunch of other countries as well- Azerbaijan, Georgia etc but I guess there wasn't any characters (that I know of at least) to fill them in.

Either way, please review and if there are any questions, then do not fret to ask me!