Poland considered the cold expanse before him; it seemed like only yesterday he had been here, freezing to death. He pulled the thick coat closer to his small body, attempting to keep the warmth in. How had he ever survived this?

"Are done yet?" Russia questioned, standing there impatiently; he didn't seem cold at all. Poland looked down; it had been over a hundred years since his people were forced to travel to this place, to work in the freezing cold until they dropped to the ground, never to be buried by anything other than snow. He felt Russia settle a hand on his shoulder.

"Memorial is beautiful, yes?" Russia prompted. Poland nodded quietly; the gleaming marble tower was beautiful.

"I..." Poland tried to speak, but found he couldn't.

"Don't cry, will freeze to your face." Russia reminded him.

They had already spoken about this before; it had taken years, but they had reconciled.

Well, perhaps not that. It was more like they had united against a common enemy in the East: Asia. Ever since Japan and China had become close allies, Eastern Europe had been in danger of losing any world power they happened to have.

Poland was quiet for a moment longer, before finally speaking again.

"It's beautiful."

Russia smiled, satisfied with his work. He turned back to the waiting snow mobile, giving Poland some space.

It had taken so many years for this to happen. So many long, long years. Poland's fingers ran over the names inscribed on the monument; these weren't all the people that had died here...there were so many unnamed. But it had been long enough that he no longer felt their deaths like a searing wound in his gut.

He smiled lightly; things would be brighter now. Truly.

He heard Russia beckon to him; they couldn't stay here long, it was too close to China. Lately, he had taken their advance to anywhere near his borders as a threat. Of course, that wasn't a ridiculous notion, since they were at war. He turned back, leaning heavily on his crutches; a nuclear attack had laid waste to his legs, leaving them nearly useless. Normally, he would use a wheelchair, but the snow had not allowed it.

With a bit of help, he was on the back of the snowmobile. After this war, they would have so many more monuments to build...

I'm actually considering making this a full-fledged fic...but for now, it's a one-shot.