Nobody knew why Poland's eyes have always been half lidded with slitted pupils, even his family were worry that his eyes would never return back to their normal and round eyes, cheerful than ever before.

To everyone, his eyes meant nothing special since even Switzerland has them, but only his family knew of why his eyes turned dull, lifeless, and boring. Lithuania, curious as ever, had even asked him

"Hey Pol" Lithuania greeted. Poland turned around, smiling as he lunged at his best friend. Though his smile screamed happiness, his eyes said otherwise

"Liet! Hi!" Poland pulled Lithuania into a hug, the taller nation returned the hug. It lasted a minute before Poland broke the hug and pulled Lithuania deeper inside his house

"So, how have you been, Pol?" Both finally settled down in the living room. Poland left for awhile to get Lithuania some tea, the Polish sat down beside his best friend

"Oh you know, the usual, Kraków and Warsaw are fighting again, Gniezno pulled Wroclaw to a sky diving class, hopefully he doesn't kill him, and the same old same old" They kept talking to each other for awhile before Poland's national animal, the white tailed eagle, landed on Lithuania's shoulder

"So, how's this little guy been?" The eagle squawked happily. Poland smiled softly before crushing his paluszki and opening his palm filled with crumbs to the eagle. The eagle then started pecking on the crumbs

"Well, he's been fighting alot with Pony and Wawel" Poland sighed as he patted his eagle. Another creature came flying down, a cute little green dragon rested on Poland's shoulder. The eagle noticed the new comer and attacked the dragon who had no choice but to retreat back to Poland's bedroom, crying

"See?" Lithuania chuckled for a bit. Once the crumbs were all gone, the eagle flew down a little and nuzzled beside Poland

"How's your companion been?" Poland asked. Lithuania could only smile

"Well, let's just say they have a better relationship with each other than yours do" Poland pouted, he was pretty much sick of handling his eagle's antics but they were his companion. Lithuania glanced at Poland when he noticed the abnormal half lidded eyes of the Pole, he then asked

"Hey Pol, why are your eyes never fully open?" Poland didn't respond and Lithuania was worried when Poland changed the subject with a forced smile

"Let's go out shopping! I'm sure Warsaw won't mind us ransacking her mall" The fact that Poland wanted to ransack his own daughter's mall grabbed Lithuania's attention

"We are not ransacking a mall! Let's just go buy things like normal people" Then again, Poland was not at all normal

"You're no fun!" Poland pouted, Lithuania had considered it cute whenever Poland was disappointed

"She is your daughter, let's not ruin her economy" Lithuania chuckled a bit before Poland pulled him out of the house and towards a nearby mall, which was really near because it's just 2 blocks away

Once they're finished ((*cough*ransacking*cough)), Poland invited Lithuania to stay over for a girls night out, boy style. Lithuania agreed, having his boss giving him some vacation days to sooth down stress, and what better ways to spend it than with your Polish friend who always pull you to commit car robbery every Tuesday night?

"So what's your plan for this boy's night out, oh great master of party?" Lithuania did not like the smirk on Poland's face

"First, we're going to go car shopping then we'll go around town eating, drinking, and we'll go back home and play some fruit ball" Lithuania knew car shopping means taking some random stranger's car when they're asleep in their house. Lithuania had always wondered how he enjoyed playing Poland's game of fruit ball, he hated getting sticky

"Alright, let's go" When they were out 'shopping' for cars, they spotted a murder and Lithuania was blamed for being too close to the event.

"Hold it right there!" Poland stepped infront of the police with the same lifeless look on his eyes

"Mr. Poland, this man had comitted a murder and you're defending him?" The police argued. Poland showed no signs of anger or fear, his face was emotionless, like Norway's

"First of all, he's Lithuania. Second of all, have you got any prove he did it?" The police went silent

"That's what I thought. Run a full examination before you start blaming" Poland then pulled Lithuania, leaving the police to investigate. Lithuania has never seen this side of Poland, so lifeless and empty, not a single track of emotion

"Poland? Is everything alright?" Poland's expression didn't change as he responded

"Be more careful, Liet" And the two took off doing everything planned, Lithuania got wasted really quickly and Poland somehow out drank him. The two went back to the house and played a little game Poland, Iceland, and Romania liked to play, fruit ball. Lithuania threw some fruits and Poland must hit it with a baseball bat, kinda like baseball with fruit. Poland mostly has raspberries so their clothes were mostly covered in sticky red goo

"You got hit by a watermelon!" Poland started laughing

"Well, you missed the orange!"

"At least I didn't dribble the pumpkin" The two continued laughing. Lithuania noticed Poland's laughing was a bit forced, he was worried how much he didn't know about his friend's well being

* The next day *

Hungary, Czech, Latvia, Estonia, and Slovakia came over, wanting to join their little guys's night out. They all went out on a movie. Being the two youngest of the group, Slovakia and Latvia reccomended watching Pirates Of The Carribean: Salazar's Revenge. Because the others were forced, they ended up watching it, laughing in progress

"That movie was hilarious! I've got to give England some credits for the pirate thing" They were out of the theater, still laughing

"Told ya! So much better than the Mummy!" Latvia and Slovakia cheered. They continued their journey. After the movies, Poland went quiet. Lithuania was worried, Poland was quiet during the whole trip ever since yesterday's event

When they were back at Poland's house, they bid the nation goodbye. Lithuania pulled the three family member of the Visegrad 4 to his house to discuss somethings

"Eh? Poland? I see nothing wrong with him" The two Visegrad member nodded at Slovakia's statement. Lithuania noticed something wrong in his tone, like they're hiding something

"Guys, come on! I know you're hiding something, Pol's my best friend too! I need to know what's wrong with him" The V3 sighed before Czech started explaining

"Poland never really show true happiness... It's all a lie and we knew it..." Lithuania froze, his friend was never really happy? What about those teasing, smiling, smirk, laughter? Were those all lies?

"What? How? I've seen him laugh like a maniac before just because I tripped down the stairs! Was that... A lie?" The V3 nodded

"Poland distanced himself from others just to prevent emotions. He's like Norway, but even Norway is more expressive than him" Lithuania was worried, nobody's more emotionless than Norway, even Japan

"When... How?" Lithuania couldn't word out the right question

"It all started during the times Mongolia invaded"

But Mongolia is Poland's first invader... He's been hiding it since then?!

"And then?" Lithuania was both curious and worried as hell

"When Mongolia took him away, he promised not to hurt his family, in this case, Czech and Slovakia. When he showed fear to Mongolia, he commanded his men to take Czech and Slovakia away, tearing the family apart" Hungary stated

"When he was thrown into the prison, he cried hard and loud but nothing changed. That was when he stopped showing fear and sadness" Slovakia continued. Lithuania stopped them mid sentence

"How did you guys know? You were seperated!"

"Slovakia snuck in the prison to see him, we told Hungary afterwards" Lithuania then turned silent

"Anyways, when Mongolia left, he rejoiced, thinking it was the end, then Sweden and the Ottoman empire attacked, it wiped his happiness away, his eyes were quarter closed" Czech continued then Hungary raised her voice

"When the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was made, he has one emotion he held dear and promised would hold on to" Lithuania started humming before he thought

Hope

"When he took Vilnius, he thought that would make him feel better, he said you won't mind it. But when he gave Vilnius back, or in this case, you fought and broke their commonwealth, he lost his sympathy and empathy" Slovakia stated

"But then Nazi, Soviet, Austria, almost every single European superpowers came and sliced him to pieces, he knew he would be erased, he accepted the fact he was going to die. That's when he lost his hope. Hope for tomorrow, hope for survival, hope for life" Czech continued in a stern manner but tears were visible in her eyes

"When the war was over, he had lost every single emotion he had... Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, hope, sympathy, everything. His eyes became half lidded, dull, lifeless with slitted pupils permanently..." Slovakia held onto Czech closely as tears began streamming down. Lithuania watched in sympathy as the little brother of the V4 was remembering everything

"He used to live by the motto 'Smile all the way to keep the wars far away', but then he turned his life into 'The moment you show true emotions, the same moment the lion will pounce and eat you alive'. He makes weird life mottos, I know. But that's not the point" Lithuania then watched as Slovakia wiped the tears from his eyes

"Well, we've told you everything. It's not like he's going to show emotions any time soon" Before they knew it, Lithuania left the V3 and towards Poland's house

"POL! POL! WE NEED TO TALK!" Lithuania knocked at the door furiously before the door opened, revealing Poland with no reaction whatsoever

"What's up, Liet?" Lithuania sighed and pulled Poland to the living room

"Pol! Don't try to hide things from me" Poland stared with a smile

"What are you talking about, Liet?" He's denying it

"I know you're hiding something from me, just come clean, I need to know, why are you so... Lifeless?" Poland froze before responding with hollow tone

"Isn't it obvious Liet... I'm weak... The only thing I can do is stand my ground. That is to never show enemies of what I felt, because if I do, I'll be trapped like a scared little mouse" This time, it was Lithuania who froze. Poland felt that way? He thought he would be fine without his emotions?

"Pol, you're not weak..." Poland scoffed at the statement

"That's what my siblings said, that's what Iceland and Romania said, that's what France and Hong Kong said, that's what everyone I know said. But I don't believe in lies, Liet. I lost that belief long ago"

"Pol, that's not true-" Before Lithuania could finish, Poland slammed his right fist to the table

"Then what is true, Liet?! I've seen people, I can read people! No matter what they say they have always thought you're the warrior, the strong one! Then what am I, you ask? Just some loser following you around like a lost puppy! I'm worthless and you know it!" The Polish said, his emotionless tone had some pressure on it

"But Pol-"

"And that's not all! I've heard people said I'm the 'dude who crossdresses and goes around stealing cars and betraying his friend cause he wanted to feel better and cause he's a selfish prick!'" Lithuania pulled Poland into a hug before the Polish pushed him away

"But Poland, you're not weak!" Lithuania tried to persuade

"Save it, Liet! If I can't fight with my own sword to defend my people, let alone my fist, then what am I worth for?! I can't fight, I have anxiety, I mask my emotions, I crossdress, I can't even fix my own chair!" Poland pointed at the crook chair beside them before the chair fell apart

"Poland, just listen to me! You are not weak! Sure, you can't fight, you have anxiety, you crossdress, you can't fix a chair but being strong doesn't always mean to have brawn!" Poland scoffed a bit

"Then what? If I don't have it, what do I have that makes you think I'm not weak?" Lithuania pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket

"This" Poland took the paper and froze when he saw what it was. It was the strategy he drew for his nation's uprising

"I've seen you plan some amazing strategies that blew my mind! I've seen you up in the air with your Air Force, driving the fighter plane and commanding your Air Force with great precision! I've seen you do things with your eyes and brain I could never believe" Poland looked away

"Those were just amateur luck"

"But it wasn't! Pol, you might not be the strongest with your fist, but you're the smartest, most cunning, and most fearless person I've ever met! When we were fighting as a commonwealth, you were the one who designed our battle strategy, and we won with it! You were never afraid to face anything and that gave us hope for a victorious fight and strategy! I have to admit it, your ambition took you this far, an independent nation! Not to mention, I'm really jealous of your mentality!" Poland then glanced back at Lithuania

"My mentality? Why?"

"You're the hardest person to break. Everyone I knew suffer from at least PTSD or are still mourning after the war, but you moved on. Sure you have anxiety, but you have a way to balance your duties and your fun times! By all means, you are the strongest person I've ever met, and I could never compare to you, no matter what the others say"

"I love you, Pol" That was the moment his mask break. Poland's eyes did not fully open but it finally showed true emotions, sadness, happiness, relief

Hope

"Thank you, Liet... For always being there for me even though I'm such a selfish prick" Lithuania let Poland cry on his chest, it was his first time in centuries to actually spill real tears, the first time in centuries to actually believe in something

"I'm always here for you, you're my best friend... Also, that chair was Sweden's fault for making Ikea chairs really hard to assemble" Poland laughed for real, for the first time in centuries he showed true happiness

"Yeah, I should totally send a customer critics to him, I bet he'll freak out" And thus, his first time showing real emotions in centuries, though his eyes won't change, it was more lively and bright

The eyes of a true Phoenix