Chapter Four: NO, Christmas Tree! (and ear-flap-hats)
^(goshes, I can't stop with the themed titles)^
Hi, yes, B is back yet again...
The whole chapter thing/ numbers not matching up is really annoying me, so I'm just going to change the prologue to 'Chapter One' and so on.
I intended this to be really Latvia-centric, but I keep getting Esty's grumpy point of view! So yeah, he's sort of writing himself. Don't blame me for his really bad mood!
Thanks for being awesome, guys. *gives more mice pies, and tea, then glares at you for leaving virtual crumbs on my keyboard* Ahem, da. Here's Chapter Four (it got a bit depressing at the beginning; I think I forgot I was trying to be happy and Christmassy, hence my need to immediately lighten it with Twenty Questions and the Beatles) WARNING: Slight fourth wall breaking (I can't resist it)
Spelling and grammar mistakes are just because you got crumbs in my keyboard during the last paragraph, and not due to my lazy editing.
(Hetalia is not mine... TODAY!)
December 8th, 1963. Nearly 8PM (to start with)
It was very dark now, and Estonia was shivering hard. His shouts were getting weaker as his throat grew hoarse, and tears stung his eyes. He hadn't been this cold since the Second World War, and the memories that came with the thought of it were nearly as painful as the wind whooping in his ears.
"LITHUANIAAAAA! TORIS! TOOORIS! T-T-TORIS! I'm sorry, Toris! I'm sorry..."
A flashback: he thought about Germany and Prussia, untying him, smiling with their lies. Ludwig:"You're safe now, Estland."
Gilbert: "We promise, and we don't break our awesome promises..."
Yet within a month he'd lost his independence, his friends, his people...
"Cold, Toris," he said softly as he lost grip on the top branches. "I'm too cold."
They had all piled into Russia's sturdy sunflower-gold Volga, playing a game of Twenty Questions to keep them occupied on the trip. Lithuania was driving, Estonia had jumped in up front next to him, Latvia was squashed between facing the back window, and Russia was sprawled along the whole back seat.
"...Um, is it a living thing?" Lithuania asked, attempting to see through the horrible weather. The windscreen wipers swung rythmically.
"D-da. That's four."
"Can it fly?" was Estonia's bored query.
"Nooo!" Latvia said, as if this was really obvious. "Five."
"Well, I don't know what it is, do I?"
"Shush," Lithuania admonished him. "M-Mr R-Russia? Y-your turn."
"H-he's asleep." Raivis sighed.
A few moments passed. The car idled in a jam. The wipers swished.
"Does it eat carrots?"
"No. Six. Guys, I'm really squashed..."
"I give up," Estonia finished the game prematurely by turning on the radio (which they only had because the car was government issue) and messing with the dials until he found a pirate station. "And if you don't like it, you can go in the boot. OW! Toris!"
Lithuania had kicked his ankle hard. "Give the kid a break, Eduard!"
"TH-THE B-BEATLES! S-Sea loves them!" Raivis shouted, incognizant; jumping up and down to the tune on the radio and singing along in English. "Love, love me do! You know, I love you! I'll always be true!"
"So pleeeeaaaase, love me do-o!" Russia bellowed unexpectedly from the back of the car, causing a "pask!" from Estonia and making Lithuania swerve the Volga violently.
"Ak dievs, a-a-ak d-dievs!" moaned Latvia. "I a-am in tr-trouble..."
However, Russia didn't sit up or yell or sing anything else, and the Baltics decided he was probably joining in whilst asleep. Still, it was deemed safer to turn the Western pop off for the remainder of the journey.
"I wonder where he heard that before..." Lithuania couldn't help but smile.
Humming "Do You Want To Know A Secret" under his breath, Latvia thought about his best friend. He hadn't seen Sealand in weeks, and it made his heart hurt slightly to be reminded of him. Resolving to call as soon as they got back, he wriggled as much as he could trying to get into a comfortable position.
At last, they arrived. Lithuania tried to come up with gentle ways of waking Russia, but Estonia just leaned over and said, "awesome."
It did the trick. Russia woke up with a jolt and an angry yell of: "Prussiya, vy ne kruto!", immediately alert and waving his pipe in the air.
"That wasn't nice!" Lithuania hissed, exasperated. "Esty, what has got into you today? You're the one who always says it isn't nice to bully the weak..."
They were on the outskirts of a desolate, snowy forest, with nothing but coniferous trees as far as the eye could see. The nations clambered out of the car, parking it next to a large red signpost with faded lettering. "We don't want to get lost in this. Maybe we should come back when it's lighter, M-Mr R-Russia?"
"Nyet. We're here now."
There was never any arguing with Russia.
Raivis, for once, was glad of the furry hat with ear-flaps Lithuania had made him wear, even if it did make him look about seven or eight. The sun was dipping rapidly below the trees, and he attempted to match Russia's pace (although he always stayed slightly behind). He could hear Toris and Eduard fighting behind him, even through the ear-flaps, and he wished they weren't. It always made him feel sick inside, made his stomach churn with possibilities... what if they really fell out? What if they went to war - I would be stuck in the middle! What if they left me here with Russia? What if...? What if...? They were, he realised, sort of like parents who wanted to divorce - Lithuania would definitely be the worrying mum, and Estonia the stressed dad.
And Russia would be... who knows? An absolutely mental, powerful grandfather who kept escaping from the nursing home? The thought, although it was a bit mean, cheered him up a bit.
"Are you all right, Lat?" Lithuania caught up with him, rubbing the ear-flap-hat affectionately.
"Y-You were arguing w-w-with Esty," Latvia didn't turn to look at him, concentrating on Russia's pink-and-tinselly scarf ahead.
"He's being a -" Lithuania swallowed his words, remembering that he was talking to Latvia and that this fic is K+ rated. "Anyway, don't worry about it. Where's M-Mr R-Russia going?"
"Found it!" Russia turned to them, pointing at a fir almost as wide as it was high. "This is the one!"
"D-don't you th-think maybe it's a little big for the fr-front hall?" Lithuania stammered as much as Latvia normally did at the sheer size of the thing. He pictured Russia making them drag it all the way back home, looking ridiculous and freezing half to death...
"HAHAHAHA, got you good, da? Nyet, THIS is not the right size at all."
Lithuania forced a laugh. "H-ha, very funny, M-Mr Russia. Got me there-"
"THIS is!"
It was three times as large.
Toris almost fainted.
Meanwhile, Estonia had stormed off to another part of the forest, muttering to himself about how it was: "...always my fault, because I'm bullying the big kolkolkoling brute-"
Trailing off, in the same way that a small child stops peering through a shop window and suddenly glances behind him, Estonia realised that he was lost. Guilt flooded him with his next breath, and then panic. He checked his pockets - no map, no torch, no money...
"Jumal küll! No no nonononononono!"
He cursed himself for being such an idiot, being so nasty to Raivis, fighting with Toris, losing Russia... and his fear led to some quite bad decisions.
He began to climb the biggest tree he could, shouting their names all the time. To himself, he reasoned that nothing could climb up and eat him (it could) and that he'd be able to see better at the top (it was still horrendously cloudy, and night was falling). Although he looked weedy, he'd fought a lot in his short lifetime and often went riding during his independence... but he was hungry, tired and definitely not the toughest nation out there. And when he reached the top, he realised he didn't have the strength to get down again.
He wished he'd worn his own ear-flap-hat.
Russia removed an axe from his coat, causing Latvia and Lithuania to take two or three or ten steps back.
"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing!"
Possibly the seven scariest words that exist, particularly coming from a mad axe-wielding Russian.
He swung his axe.
Craa-aack! echoed through the forest.
"DER'MO! MY SHOULDER!"
He had missed the tree entirely.
Estonia felt almost frozen as his fingers began to slip. It ached too much to hold on anymore, and he fell, hitting every single sharp branch as he tumbled down, down, down...
As Russia hopped up and down, swearing and kolkolkoling about his dislocated shoulder, Latvia heard the sound of branches flicking back. Glancing up, he saw... "ESTY!"
Russia, roused from his own problem by the cry, dived and caught him just in time.
"Eduard, my little Eduard!" he gasped, cradling him as if he was a baby. Estonia coughed and was sick all over his boss, before falling unconscious completely.
9th December, 11AM
"We are getting an artificial tree," Russia told them over a very late breakfast.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia nodded in agreement, the last with crutches under his chair and a face covered in plasters and scratches.
Russia's coat was stained.
Nobody thought it was wise to say anything else about Christmas trees that day.
So, that happened. Poor Esty! And yeah, I've written another one for today! *pats self on back*. Review and you get a mince pie, shortbread, tea and a CUDDLY TOY! No, seriously, I hope you liked it. My chapters are getting longer and longer!
AND NOW... Many, many chapter notes!
~Estland - German for Estonia (well I never). When the Germans occupied in 1941 the Estonians thought they would be independent again... alas, no.
~In the USSR Volga's were really popular and desirable cars. And I don't know if they'd be able to get pirate radio stations, but hey, Estonia's got techie skills!
~Love Me Do by the Beatles was their debut single and was released in 1962. It did well in the charts, but my favourite Beatles songs are the later ones. I know Beatlemania wasn't that widespread yet in 1963, but Lat and Sea are trendsetters!
Ak dievs - Latvian, oh my God
~Do You Want To Know A Secret is another Beatles song that was out in that time. It's Sealand and Latvia's song (to me, anyway. Aw, they're cuties!) Google the lyrics and ship away...
Prussiya, vy ne kruto! - Prussia, you are not awesome! Actually, literally it's 'Prussia, you are not cool!' - Russia doesn't even have a word for awesome. That's got to be solely to annoy Gilbert.
~If Estonia and Lithuania went to war, Latvia is both metaphorically and physically stuck in the middle. (cries at thought)
~Ear-flap-hats! Because I can.
Jumal küll - Estonian, oh my God
~Der'mo! - Russian, shit!
