Natalia had to leave.
Now.
It was her last day in this house.
Everyone else had already left.
Even her sister was gone.
She was happy at first.
This meant she could have Brother Russia for herself.
But he was upset.
And she had known what he had one to the Baltics.
But she never considered that he would do the same to her.
The thought never crossed her mind.
After all, he was terrified of his younger sister.
Once the alcohol set in, he was fearless.
And he was much bigger than her.
Even if he wasn't, Ivan had the pipe by his side.
Her affections for him had been fading for a while.
Whispers of freedom haunted her in her dreams.
Natalia heard them on the streets.
And now they would be followed.
Natalia would be the last to go.
But she was certainly leaving.
Russia was too drunk to notice the sounds of packing.
He would find out in the morning, though.
When she was gone.
Natalia felt a pang of guilt.
She was betraying her brother.
Something she swore she would never do.
But she had to.
It's not like she still didn't love him.
She did.
But not enough to stay here.
So she wrote a letter.
Explaining everything.
Apologizing.
But it was still a goodbye.
Natalia dragged her luggage behind her, pinning the note on her door.
A tear hit her cheek.
She told herself to stop crying.
For a moment, it worked.
It was too nice out.
It should be snowing.
It should be cold.
But it was late July.
Too late for the ice that gripped her heart to grip the Earth.
So she walked in the night.
Cold on the inside,where it counted.
A thought hit her suddenly.
Where would she go?
And then,
Standing in the summer night,
She realized that she had nowhere to go.
And that is when Natalia allowed the tears to fall.
It had been years since she cried.
Decades, actually.
Not since the Second World War.
Before that, not until her first failed attempt at independence.
She almost never cried.
Natalia allowed tears maybe two or three times a century at the most.
But the stream wouldn't stop.
So she screamed instead.
And those screams turned to sobs.
And after letting it all out, she composed herself.
Her back was straight, her shoulders were back.
She walked like a solider off to war.
Where to, she did not know.
But she was not sitting still.
Natalia's arms felt tired.
She had been carrying everything that was rightfully hers.
All of it crammed into two large suitcases and a purse.
There might be more.
She could always pick it up later.
One way or another, she found herself outside of a familiar door.
Lithuania's.
He had left first.
Packing up and going on a cold March day.
She knew this house.
Had lived there in the days of the Grand Duchy.
And then she remembered something.
Something she couldn't believe she forgot.
He had told her the door was open for her.
Just before he left.
But she laughed in his face.
And now here she was.
Standing outside, knocking on the door.
Tears and blood dripping from her face.
Toris answered the door.
Not believing his eyes.
Because there was Natalia.
The women he loved.
With dried tears and open wounds.
Standing with all of the pride in the world.
Clutching her luggage like it was a lifeline.
She didn't speak.
Didn't have to.
He just opened his door wider.
Letting her in.
Because he would never close his door to her.
Toris loved her too much.
It took hours for her to speak.
He had taken care of her injuries.
Given her a room.
But she never said a word.
"I'm going to be free."
Was all she said.
A simple sentence in the early morning.
Spoken while she glanced at her full cup of tea.
And looking into those violet eyes,
Shining not with tears, but with determination,
He believed her.
AN: In this story, I basically told the canon to screw itself. Please review!
