I click my tongue against the top of my mouth when I am waiting for this boring class to be over. It could be any minute according to the clock that was on the wall of the classroom. It didn't really feel like the think was working since the hands barely moved when I looked at it.

I am Ivan Braginsky, I am from Russia or well to be completly correct, I am Russia but that is beside the point now. I was born on 30 December, I don't correctly remember what year anymore. Not that it really matters for a country, to us it is the human age that count and not how long you have been alive in general since almost none of the countries keep counting how old they are.

I have never known my grandparents at all so I can't really say much about them.

Next to none actually. I only know of them that I have the character and most of the looks of my grandfather, most of my genes that make me who I am today are from my mom's side of the family.

I have one older sister and one younger sister. That makes me the middle of the three kids my parents had while they were alive. Which was not long, I think that Belarus was a year or two when they died.

Belarus or Natalia Arlovskaya, whatever you want to call her. I don't mind that much as long as you won't say anything bad about her. Even though she can be very crazy when she is around me. What scares me a lot but in a way I know that she doesn't mean any harm with it.

I also have a big sister named Ukraine, but due to things going on between her country and mine I am not able to see her much. She isn't allowed to talk to me either, her boss said so and my boss thinks the same about that too. I find it sad that they see us as object and with that I mean that they don't think how we as nations would feel when we are seperated from our family.

When the class finally ended, I got up and grabbed all my stuff before leaving the classroom. When I was walking through the halls I hear another pair of footsteps behind me. When I turned around I saw that it was America who was following me.

Now I remember that we had both had to a lady in a small room to change something in our documents. We have graduated years ago but we all have to do a year to refresh the most important things.

The thing is that the papers that the school has are way more outdated than we thought they were. Not a suprise since the last time that knowledge was brushed up and tested was before World war I.

For America it was just a little change in administration, he didn't tell me why though but he said that there were some small mistakes or outdated things that were in his file. When I asked why he would change those small things, he replied that it were small but important things.

And to be completly honest, I don't want to be rememberd or called like that anymore. It was a time where my people had to suffer a lot. They had to work hard and yet they didn't recieve enough money to support their families and I just can't stand seeing something like that.

But than in the middle of World war one there came a change for my country and my people, well not completly my country since it included other living nations. It all started with the Februari revolution, that was the event that set everything into motion.

It was the reason why we had to stop fighting and had to retreat the people who were there at the front, as much soldiers as we could though. Everything in my country was shifting and changing, I knew it because I could see but also feel it. We couldn't continue fighting and the Eastern front dissapeard by that.

As a person I would have wanted to continue fighting. I would have helped out Serbia and do more for him. But in the same time I realised that what was happening maybe was the best for my people, who really needed it. I really hope that he understands that.

Of course retreating like that wouldn't be let without any consequences for my country, I was well aware of the fact that it would happen. I had been alive long enough before that war to know that a thing like that would end up happening. If it was soon or if it would be many years after I really didn't know.

The back than named Russian Empire was offically brought to an end and the land was reduced by the treaty of Brest-Litovisk that was signed in the year 1917. The land that was given away are now parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

People speak about Alaska being a part of my country but at that time it had allready been sold to America, we were in need of money I guess. I am not sure because I was only told it very late. Alaska was sold to America back in 1866. I noticed that America himself now likes the state a lot, while he didn't really seemed to like it when he bought it back than.

In 1917 for a short period of time I was a Provisonal governement and a republic. But those didn't exist for to long. The longest of the two was a month of four the other was around two if I remember it correctly.

A year after the war had ended, I was given the name of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic or SFSR for short. This changed its name in 1922, four years after it was formed with the treaty of creation of the USSR. When that was signed I was known as the USSR.

What I can say about the USSR is nearly the same as what I can say about the Russian Empire. It almost felt the same to me after all. The only difference being the way that people lived. Going from living with a tsar to living in communism.

The red tread as some have called it over the course of the years. I can't say that they weren't right about it. I have seen many red over the course of the sixty-nine years that it was able to exist. In those years the red tread was able to spread if I remember to the Berlin Wall.

Not only red in flags and such but also in blood that was shed by my bosses. For example 12 million people that have let their lives during the rule of Stalin over the country, war included. I wasn't that fond of him and he must have noticed that.

Because I as a nation during that time hadn't got that much of a status left anymore. With that I mean that while I had the name of the country, I didn't know what they decided or had any imput in it. That to me wouldn't be that much of a deal since that is how we as nations have always lived. The thing that was painfull was that I got double blamed and sometimes even beaten when something went wrong.

While I was lost in my thought, America was staring at me. From the looks of it he was looking at my scarf. I always wear it, it was a gift from my big sister . So with wearing the scarf I always have her close to me even when we are far away from eachother.

"Your scarf, some parts of it ate darker. " he said and pointed at a darker spot on my scarf. "You know it's a shame that you don't wear that white scarf anymore." He simply continued.

I bit my lip when I heard that from the American. The truth is that I am still wearing tbe scarf that he had mentioned. You wouldn't say that. Now it has such a pink colour that you wouldn't think that the original colour was white, like America mentioned.

It managed to hold that colour for many years, long enough at least for mister I can't read the mood, to remember that it was that colour. After that I got beaten so much and got so many wounds that it turned bloodred. I have tried to wash it off, but it wouldn't return to its original colour and instead turned in a very light shade of pink.

"It's a shame indeed." I finally said, though it wasn't for the same reason that he said it. I found it a shame that my precious scarf is so coverd in my blood that people can't tell that it is the original scarf.

"Now we will just have to wait for the lady to come so she can correct our papers. Don't you think I am right, Russian Empire?" He turned to look at me. Most likely to see my reaction to what he had just said.

My eyes widend in suprise when I heard that name being mentioned. Something I was called a century ago. A day and age I didn't know what do as a nation and to be honest, right now I don't know much more than I did back than.

I had friends back than, yet in a way I would not want to change that fact. But if what I have been go trough is better for my people in some way, even if it is just a little I would have still done it in the end regardless.

I was surprised that America of all people rememberd my name from back than. Before someone has said it, so he couldn't have heard it from someone else. People and teachers call me Russia, it's shorter and a lot easier to say.

He of all people, the person who live the least in the past and always looks at the future. America used a name that isn't used for 98 years right now.

"D-Da." I stuttered, still in to much of a shock to fully function again. Unfortunatly right now, it was my speach that didn't want to function like I hoped and wanted it to work.

America looked at me with a warm smile, what was rather odd. He never smiled like that or at least not at me. America either fakes as smile when he is around me or sometimes he even looked at me with a slight hint of disgust in his eyes. Yet this time I could see that it was a real smile.

"Oh, of course that is the name that you used to be called by before. Before and during World War one, sorry I seem to have forgotten that for a little." He didn't forget it , he was acting like he didn't know. In reality he was well aware of that I was used to be called like that.

" A big nation with economical problems." He hit the right detail. "But I guess I am putting salt on old wounds, that have yet to heal." America said and looked around to see if the lady who would do our papers had allready arrived.

He better know that he is doing that. "But it isn't like you can see in a history book if that even is painfull for the representation of the country or not." I gritted my teeth at hearing that. He was right about that, you can't see if an historic event has left emotional scars in the nation that reprents it.

Like humans, countries differ from each other. With that I mean, we can be different in our way of thinking but also believing in stuff like unicorn, ghosts or aliens. Thanks to that some nations were able to stand much more pain than others, without suffering emotional pain from it.

I am angry to hear that he has been right the whole time. It pissed me off so very much that a person who normally only takls in nonsense was making sense and even being right about stuff the whole time.

I wanted to push him against the walls of the hall, but I didn't want to show how much that he was bothering me. I don't want to show him my weaknesses, to many nations and people have allready seen them. America knowing about them would be a little to much for me.

I was almost so lost in my anger that I almost didn't notice that he mentioned a history book. Which now I think of it and let my anger slide, is not something I have heard America say before. Well I have never seen him reading either. During class he stares out of the window and when he wanted to study with the Allies, he was the only one who had not opened his books at the end of the two hours that we had been there.

What was more surprising than that America had read a book, more specific a history book, was that America had read the part about Russian history. I always thought that would be the parts that he would rahter skip than read.

Yet I heard prove that I was wrong about that as well, not that this pissed me of that much that I was wrong this time. I was more surprised that I was than anything else. America seemed to dislike me the most of all nations, so you wouldn't expect him to read about me in the first place.

Well some smart people would actually read the past of the one they hate so that they can use that knowledge against that person. I have never seen America do something like that and I personally don't think that he is smart enough to realise that there are a huge amount of things that he can use against me.

America in general would be to kindhearted to do such a thing, even towards someone he hates as much as he hates me. It is some kind of mental blackmailing that you can see in other nations like England and France for example but not in him. That is maybe why everyone likes him so much.

I looked around me to see if the woman we had been waiting for at least ten minutes at this point, she was very late that was for sure. After that my eyes landed on the younger nation was was standing against the wall.

I saw my change and placed my hands on both sides of the American. His eyes widened at my sudden movement. "R-Russia.." He stuttered and looked up at me. I had a slight frown on my face.

"Tell me why you know so much about my past. Why do you know so much about me? Why did you read the parts in the books that were about my country if you hate me so very much?" I was letting it all out, there was no holding back at this point anymore. He was doing to hear every little frustration that I had about this whole situation.

It wasn't like I wanted to let everything out at him, like I said before I don't want my weaknesses to be shown at him but he had pushed me to a point that I couldn't hold it back anymore.

It was not only all the frustration that I was lettting out at him, also the feeling that I have been holding back all those years. How I have felt about everything that has happen.

Why I let all of that right now is something that I don't know but letting it all out, telling it to someone is a nice feeling and it releaved a lot of the stress that I was having. At one point I switched over to the feelings I had for him.

I noticed that he was smiling the whole time while I was talking about him. Even when it was about how much I have hated him during the Cold War, the last war that we had been us, all back than. I don't hate him anymore to be honest.

Not since the year 1990, a year before the Soviet Union had come to an end. It was a sudden change that I didn't notice at first but after a while I started noticing. I have questioned the change a lot but have never seen to come up with something that would have been able to such a thing.

We are now twenty-five years after the change in feelings, yet I have yet to find a answer to the question that has been keeping me bussy for so very long.

At one point during my rant I was almost sure that in a way I was boosting his allready to big ego. That must be the reason why he has been smiling the whole time, while I was ranting about him.

When I was finally finished ranting, he spoke up again. "Russia I have never hated you at all." He said and his smile grew warmer. "There is a very good reason why I learned about your country."

Well now we will have it, the reason why he has finally read a book and knows so much about my country. I have to be honest I am quite curious about the reasons he had for knowing everything.

"The only thing I can say is..." America said and stopped in the middle of his sentence. "I was learning the past of my lover."