A/N: Me? A commie? Really, what makes you think that? ... erm. Moving on. Here is the next batch, fresh from the factory.
31. Flowers
A field, stretching far in every direction, yellow all around, brightening the day. He knows he can't stay here forever, he knows that all this splendour will whither and die come autumn, but he can keep a piece of the sunshine in his heart for when the snow comes back.
32. Night
The calm before the storm – that's an expression everyone knows.
But what about the calm after the storm? What about nights that are still and cold and black-blue, the air not thrumming with tension but drained of everything it once held?
It's night.
Russia is too tired to sleep.
33. Expectations
He doesn't know what he expected, fear or hatred or forgiveness or something else. He gets none of the first, some of the second and maybe a hint of the third. But something else predominates in former - former - Prussia's gaze when they meet again twenty years after the chain reaction.
34. Stars
They're white, colourless, he tries to tell himself. But there is a corner of his head, a number of his people, that would like to disagree. Old and young, they long for a past that has not been all bad. He can hear the shouting again.
"Red! Red!" they scream.
35. Hold My Hand
„Hold my hand," he says,"I will teach you."
He has spoken these words countless times, since the first of his people laced knives to their boots and went to the frozen rivers. But as pale, strong fingers determinedly clasp his own, he knows that this time will be special.
36. Precious Treasure
Are all rare things precious and all precious things rare?
Diamonds are nothing but carbon, as are our bodies - blood, flesh and bone.
Amber is nothing but resin, the blood of trees hardened by aeons of untold pressure.
Lithuania's amber is anything but rare, but it is more than precious.
37. Eyes
His eyes, wide, violet and surreal, are set in snowy skin and outlined with cast shadows, and if they looked closer before running away, they could see the spark of sunset-sunrise that means real happiness.
What good are windows to the soul when no one dares look through them?
38. Abandoned
He has abandoned ideas, ideals, ideologies for the sake of them.
For the sake of his soul, if he has one.
For the sake of the world, if it isn't doomed already.
For the sake of God.
If He exists.
If He cares.
He has abandoned, for better or worse.
39. Dreams
Once, I asked him what his dream was. He looked away, and whispered I would not like the answer.
Oh, but I am terribly curious, you see.
When I insisted on it, he finally answered.
"I dream that you are dead and gone, and can never hurt me again."
Oh.
40. Rated
Rated as a threat. Rated as obsolete. Rated as functional. Overrated. X-rated.
America loves nothing more than to rate, to define, to classify.
Russia hates nothing more than being examined.
He doesn't let himself be labeled.
He doesn't make any sense.
He's the biggest threat and the greatest fascination.
A/N:
34: As a good Russia fan, of course you know what "Red Star" stands for.
35: Who is this "Plushenko" you speak of? It could be any ice-skater, really. (Oh, who am I kidding, of course it's him!)