Setting: They day is dark and gloomy and warns those who dare to venture out of their homes, of a terrible storm to come. And a forlorn nation sits at his desk which is covered in long forgotten paperwork and empty vodka bottles.
The large nation put his head in his hands and sighed. Never before had he felt such despair. He wanted to rip his heart out of his chest to rid himself of the pain. The pain and despair had always been there, slowly winding through him and pulling him into the darkness. It attacked him many times and he lost most of the battles. He reached a gloved hand across his desk and pulled a bottle to his lips. He threw his head back and his tongue searched for just a drop of liquid.
"Shit" he cursed.
He dropped the empty vodka bottle to the floor and smiled a grim sort of smile as it shattered into little pieces. Sighing sadly, he slowly lowered himself to the floor and began to pick up the larger pieces. A smile played on his lips as he thought of Estonia scolding him silently with his eyes, never with his voice for fear of being punished, for being so careless. He shook the thought away and focused on the pieces of glass. The bottom of the bottle was mostly intact as he picked it up. The strong smell of vodka wafted from it and he fought the urge to lick the broken glass. He quickly dumped the pieces he'd picked up into the trashcan beside his desk. Russia knelt on the floor and stared silently at the remaining glass shards. He sat there for some time inhaling vodka fumes and listening to the wind that whipped at his house. A storm was coming, and a violent one at that. General Winter would be coming soon. He shivered as he removed his gloves and placed them carefully on the desk. Carefully, he began to sweep the glass into a pile. His mind wandered to happier places until a sudden pain shot through his hand. He looked carefully at his left hand. Imbedded in the center was a small piece of glass. He smiled sadly as he removed the glass and flicked it into the trash. Looking at his hand he saw a pearl of blood roll down towards his arm. As he watched his eyes became glazed over with a child-like fascination. How large the bead would grow before dripping lazily down his hand. He tilted his hand down and watched the blood begin to cover his fingers. An image of Lithuania floated through his head. He was shaking his head as he bandaged his hand.
"Please be more careful" he would beg.
Drip, drip. His blood began dripping from his fingers and plopping on the floor. The slow steady drip lulled the nation deeper into his stupefied state. He imagined Latvia, scared, shaking, and as pale as a ghost, worriedly scrubbing the blood from the floor. Russia pulled himself out of his mind and stood up. He walked slowly to the door and leaned heavily on the frame. He looked sadly at his bloody hand and closed his eyes. The house was so quiet it hurt his ears. He began pulling memories up in his mind and the air was filled with laughter and screams of joy. Belarus laughing as Ukraine threw her playfully in the air and caught her. Tickle fights when they were just children. A knock on the door brought him back to reality all too soon. Reluctantly he began walking towards the door. As he walked he concentrated on each step and completely forgot about his bloody hand. When he reached the door he forced himself to stand up straight and tried to smile a little. He pulled the door open and was greeted by a man in a lovely bright blue jacket and bright red pants. Atop his head was a thick pair of black earmuffs.
"Bonjour mon ami!" smiled the flamboyant Frenchman.
Russia forced a smile.
"Come in tovarishch."
Smiling the Frenchman happily skipped past the larger nation and directly into his kitchen. Russia closed his door and slowly followed.
"'Ave you anyzing good to drink en zis 'ouse? Wine would be lovely no?"
Russia ignored the Frenchman rummaging through his cabinets and slumped into a chair. He ran his hands down his face and closed his eyes. The metallic smell of blood lingered in his nose as his mind roamed through the many bloody battlefields of his past. He was in the middle of reliving a terrible battle with Germany when he heard a faint voice. The voice got louder as Russia's mind began to clear.
"Mon ami!" cried France. "Qu'est-il arrivé? Your 'and ez bleeding."
Russia opened his eyes and looked down at his hand. A small fresh pearl of blood rolled down his blood covered hand.
"Ivan? Êtes-vous bien?"
The large nation sat there, unresponsive to the concerned man in front of him. Huffing, France pulled Russia up and dragged him to the bathroom. He impatiently began filling the sink with hot water. "'Onestly mon ami I do not zee 'ow you can get hurt zo eazily."
Russia ignored France's chiding and continued to stare at the floor. France grabbed Russia's hand and began scrubbing the blood off. As he finished he noticed a blood smear going down the other man's face. Angrily he grabbed a wet cloth and scrubbed the away the blood. After France had wrapped his hand he stared at the depressed nation. Russia's face was red, from where it had been viciously scrubbed, and his hair hung down over his dulled eyes. Russia looked absently at his boots and hummed a sad sounding tune. France reached over and pulled his head up.
"Ivan, tell me what ez wrong. I am very worried for you."
Tears sprang into the broken nations eyes. He quickly wiped his eyes on his coat sleeve and led France to his study where shards of glass, and drops of blood, intermingled on the floor. Sighing France retrieved a broom, dustpan, mop, and bucket of water.
"Go lie down Ivan. I will clean zis up."
Russia nodded and obediently walked to his room upstairs and flopped down on his bed.
It was dusk when the three Baltics nations returned home. Snow had begun to fall and the three hurried to put away their groceries.
"Lithuania, I do believe it is your turn to inform Mr. Russia we are home." Estonia stated as he quickly cleaned the snow from his glasses.
"Of course it is." Lithuania sighed, it'd been 'his turn' for a while, but he still obediently left to find Russia.
Lithuania stopped when he reached the kitchen door and stared, horror struck, at the floor. Latvia was putting away some tomatoes when he spotted Lithuania frozen in the kitchen door. I wouldn't want to tell Mr. Russia we were home, his eyes fell quickly on Estonia, but I wouldn't want Estonia yelling at me either. Latvia moved quietly over to Lithuania.
"Lithuania," Latvia tugged on his shirt "aren't you going to tell Mr. Russia we're home?"
Lithuania said nothing and continued to stare at the floor.
"Lithuania?" Latvia waved his hand in front of the others face.
"Li-"
Latvia's' hands flew to his mouth as his eyes traveled to the floor. Estonia closed a cabinet and turned to see both Latvia and Lithuania staring at the hallway floor. Estonia rolled his eyes impatiently and strode quickly over to the two men.
"Lithuania I told you to go see Mr. Russia and Latvia you should be putting things away," The two continued staring.
He sighed.
"What, may I ask, are you two doing?"
Other than wasting time, he added to himself. Latvia shakily pointed at the floor. Estonia's eyes grew larger as he took in the trail of blood.
"Oh m-"
"RUSSIA!" Estonia was cut off as Lithuania ran screaming from the room.
"RUSSIA!"
Why isn't he answering? What if he is badly injured? Lithuania panicked even more.
"IVAN!"
He would always respond to his human name….. right?
"IVA-" His scream was cut off as he ran face first into France.
"Settle down leetle one. Vhy zee rush?"
Lithuania jumped up quickly, barely noticing the soapy water spreading through the hall. "Mr. France? What are you... never mind. Where's Ivan I-I mean Russia?" Lithuania was filled with fear for his friend. Russia could be childishly cruel, but he still cared for the Baltics in his own way.
"I 'ave told you to call me Francis, and do not worry my dear Toris 'e eez fine," France smiled happily. "I told 'im to lie down in 'is room."
France had barely gotten the last word out when Lithuania thanked him and ran upstairs. Lithuania just barely managed to stop before he plowed into Russia's door. He opened it quickly and sighed in relief. Russia was on his bed, fully clothed, and lying on his back. Lithuania walked over to him quietly and gently shook him awake.
"Mm? Liet is you da?" The Russian smiled sleepily up at Lithuania.
"Yes Mr. Russia" Lithuania smiled back.
Lithuania stared at Russia's bandaged hand. A small dot of red had appeared on the bandage.
"What… what happened?"
Russia giggled.
"I dropped a vodka bottle, careless no? Small piece of glass got me… Such a big nation, taken down by a splinter of glass. Pitiful da?" he smiled sadly.
Russia sat up groggily and Lithuania sat down carefully beside him. Lithuania closed his eyes as he steadied his nerves. You can do this. Russia stared curiously at Lithuania's determined expression.
"Liet" he began.
Before he could finish Lithuania had thrown his arms around him and hugged him tightly. A truly happy smile crept onto his face as he wrapped his arms around Lithuania and pulled him happily into his lap.
"Thank you Liet."
Lithuania felt a hot tear hit his face. He buried his face into Russia's chest and held onto the broken man. Russia let go of all the fear and pain and hurt he had let consume him as he held Lithuania and just cried. Lithuania rubbed the bigger mans' back comfortingly and patiently waited for him to finish crying. As the last of his tears fell he let go of Lithuania. Lithuania, however, still held on tightly to Russia. Russia wrapped his arms back around his little Lithuania and nuzzled his hair happily. After a few more minutes they reluctantly let go of each other. Lithuania removed himself from the others' lap and stood in front of him.
"I-I was s-supposed to t-tell you that we w-were h-home."
Lithuania seemed very nervous but he had the same determined expression. Russia laughed.
"Thank you Liet… Thank you f-"
Lithuania bent down and kissed Russia quickly on the lips before he sped out of the room. Russia laughed happily as he fell back on his bed.
Estonia was silently sipping a cup of coffee as they waited for Lithuania to return. France had produced a bottle of wine and was tempting Latvia with it when a very red faced Lithuania stumbled in. The three looked up at him silently. He ran his tongue over his lips, which tasted faintly of vodka, and cleared his throat.
"He uh he knows we are home."
France laughed as he poured himself some wine.
"Zat took quite a long time to simply say zat you are 'ome."
Latvia handed Lithuania a cup of coffee and tugged gently at his sleeve. Lithuania bent down to listen to the smaller nation.
"Is Mr. Russia okay?"
"Yes, he is fine."
The Frenchman laughed again and Lithuania turned to the counter to hide his blush. Feeling the whole situation was becoming rather awkward Estonia gave a little cough.
"So, what exactly happened while we were gone?"
"Well," Lithuania began, "he dropped a vodka bottle and cut himself trying to clean up. I suppose he was off to the bathroom to clean off his hand when Mr.F-, I mean, when Francis arrived."
Estonia nodded.
"I see, and why exactly are you here Francis?"
"To see an old friend of course! Ez zat such a crime?" he huffed.
"No I suppose not…" Estonia sweat-dropped and glanced away.
Latvia quietly snuck out of the kitchen as France began questioning Estonia about what he was insinuating. He quietly walked upstairs and knocked on Russia's open door.
"Da?"
"M-may I come in?"
"Of course you may."
Latvia walked slowly over to the bed and smiled shyly up at Russia.
"I b-brought you s-some c-c-coffee."
Russia took the cup and patted Latvia's head.
"Spasibo Raivis."
Latvia quickly hugged the bigger man.
"I'm glad that you're okay… Ivan," he whispered before rushing back to his brothers.
Russia smiled happily into his coffee.
Latvia snuck back into the kitchen just as silently as he had left. Estonia sighed loudly and rubbed his temples.
"Since the storm has obviously gotten worse, I will go prepare you a room Francis."
"No need I 'ave taken ze liberty to prepare myself my usual room."
Estonia glared at the red-faced Frenchman.
"Very well," he sighed. "Latvia you may head to bed if you'd like."
Latvia rubbed his eyes sleepily and smiled gratefully.
"Thank you Eduard. Good night."
"Good night." The three countries called out.
"I zink I shall head off to bed as vell. Bonne nuit!" France giggled and flitted down the hall with his wine bottle.
Estonia shook his head and laid his glasses on the table. He rubbed his eyes wearily.
"Lithuania…. Is he really alright?" his voice was laced with concern.
Lithuania laid his hand on Estonia's shoulder.
"He is alright but…." He hesitated. "I'm sure he would appreciate it if you checked in on him."
"Yes, you're probably right." He cleaned his glasses and slid them on. "I will clean up, you go get some sleep."
"Good night Eduard."
Estonia wiped down the dining room table, washed the dishes, and finished putting away groceries. Satisfied with his work he went to check in on Russia.
"Mr. Russia, may I come in?"
"Da, come in, come in."
Russia smiled at him as he entered. Estonia's eyes went to the coffee cup on the table. Russia laughed at the scolding look in his eyes.
"So," he cleared his throat, "you are alright Mr. Russia?"
"I have not felt this good in ages."
He looked into Russia's eyes and saw that they glistened with tears. He coughed and picked up the stray coffee cup. He wasn't good with….emotional situations. He put his hand on Russia's shoulder.
"I'm ah; I'm glad that you're um…alright Mr…. I mean… Ivan," he smiled a tad bit awkwardly.
Russia smiled. Even though it was a bit awkward, it meant a lot to him coming from his friend. All his friends showing him such kindness touched even his icy heart. Estonia looked as if he would say more but at that moment a certain Frenchman ran by chasing a terrified Latvia. He sighed and ran after the two.
"Leave him alone Francis! He's too young for you!"
Russia giggled happily. He truly loved his friends. He kicked off his boots and crawled under his warm blankets. He smiled sleepily at the ceiling. He fell asleep thinking of his caring friends and happily slept the night away.
Translate:
Mon ami - my friend
Tovarishch - comrade
Qu'est-il arrivé? - What happened?
Êtes-vous bien? - Are you well?
Spasibo- Thank you