Hello, everyone! I feel like it's been a long time since I updated, and I don't know why...
Anyways. Staying on track... Um... I have nothing to say.
Chapter Six:
It took a few moments for Russia to open the door, but when he did, he looked genuinely surprised to see Latvia there.
"I had been thinking that it would be Belarus who would come here at this time," Russia said, "What is it you are wanting, little Latvia?"
"I… I w-want…" Latvia stammered. This was significantly harder than he had thought it would be.
"Come on. Be brave, for Estonia and Lithuania."
"I want you to stop hurting my friends!" Latvia squeaked, his voice coming out extremely high-pitched.
"I would not be hurting them if they would be obedient," Russia said, "What are you thinking you can do to help them?"
"I d-don't know," Latvia said, "But I've gotta try, because they're my friends, and they don't deserve to get hurt. E-Estonia's going to go i-insane again, unless we can get out of here… And I want Lithuania… I want Lithuania to come with us when we leave!"
Russia sighed.
"You seem to not be understanding, Latvia. Litva is the one person who still cares about me, but you want to take him away. Isn't that a little bit selfish?"
"I think it's more selfish of you to keep him locked up in here without letting him see anybody!" Latvia blurted.
Russia's eyes narrowed, and Latvia stepped back slightly, shaking harder.
"W-why do I o-open my mouth?!"
"Latvia…" Russia said, "You should be thinking about what you say before you are speaking, da? And since you are not thinking about your words before opening your mouth… I think I will have to teach you to be more of the quietness."
"T-teach yourself to be m-more quiet!" Latvia exclaimed, "You talk way more than me, and you don't make any sense when you talk!"
"I am thinking that you have been spending too much time with Estonia," Russia said, "You are starting to sound like him."
"You hurt Estonia!" Latvia cried, "He hasn't woken up since this morning! Stop hurting my friends, Mr. Russia! It's… It's not nice to hurt people!"
"It is not nice to be waking people in the middle of the night and screaming at them, either," Russia said, "So, Latvia, we will exchange not-nice things. I think that it is time to stop being so lenient with you just because you are so little…"
"M-Mr. R-R-Russia…" Latvia whimpered, backing away, "P-please don't…"
"I thought you were wanting me not to hurt your silly friends?" Russia said, "So, it would be most logical for you to get hurt, instead."
"Russia, leave him alone…" said a weak, tired voice from inside Russia's room.
"Lithuania!" Latvia thought, "But he sounds so… He sounds exhausted…and beaten…"
"I'm okay, Lithuania!" Latvia squeaked. He glanced at Russia, who was still glaring at him.
"I-if you've g-gotta h-h-hurt me, c-can we go s-somewhere else?"
"Da, Latvia," Russia said, "That would be a good idea."
Russia grabbed Latvia's arm and pulled the tiny boy down the hallway, and downstairs to what had once been the Baltics' area of the house. At the end of the hall, there was an empty room, which Latvia had once nicknamed 'The Torture Room'. In the distant past, this had been where Lithuania usually ended up receiving punishment. Latvia usually managed to escape mostly unscathed, but this time…
"This time, I want this… Don't I? Or… Do I just want freedom? Nope, none of these… I just want everybody to be safe. So… I can try to ask Mr. Russia to stop…"
Russia pulled Latvia into the empty room, and then, locking the door behind them, turned to face the small country.
"Take off your shirt, Latvia. It is nice shirt, so we do not want to ruin it."
"Mr. Russia!" Latvia squeaked, "I want to ask you something! Will you please try not hurting anybody? It would be nice if you could do that! And then we could all be happy, and we wouldn't have to go away…"
"Latvia!" Russia snapped, "When you are stopping the misbehaving, I will stop the hurting! Now, take off your shirt!"
Shaking, Latvia complied with the larger nation's wishes.
"I gotta s-stop being a coward… But he's so s-scary…"
"Now, on your knees. And try to be staying still," Russia said.
"W-what are you g-gonna do?" Latvia asked, allowing himself to drop into a kneeling position.
"I think that since your bones are so fragile, it would not be much good to use my pipe at this time," Russia said, "So… I am thinking that a whip will not hurt you irreparably, da?"
"Y-yeah…" Latvia stammered, "Y-you're probably r-right."
"You are seeming very calm," Russia noted.
"I d-don't mind this," Latvia said, "I c-can't really remember how getting punished feels, since Estonia and Lithuania always stand up for me. M-Mr. Russia… If people have to get hurt as long as we misbehave, and Estonia and Lithuania usually get punished instead of me… Couldn't it be my turn to get punished for them, from now on?"
"It is funny…" Russia said, "Lithuania said the same thing."
The whip slashed down without warning, and Latvia gasped.
"Don't scream, don't scream… You're fine… You're okay! You're going to be strong now, and not get scared even though it hurts…"
"You and Lithuania are so much alike," Russia commented, "It is interesting how even though you are so small and shivery, you are like him, in the end."
"I… I'm like Estonia too," Latvia whispered, "Or I wouldn't be here."
"Da," Russia said, "Like Estonia, you think that if you can be taking everyone else's punishments, you are worth something. Sometimes, with Lithuania… I think he is almost liking to get hurt, but not only because he wants to save everyone."
"How come you act like you care about Lithuania, but then you hurt him?" Latvia asked, "N-nobody should do that, Mr. Russia. It's c-confusing…"
"You are starting to sound like Lithuania," Russia snapped, slashing the whip down again, "Be quiet now!"
But Latvia couldn't be quiet, although he tried. The whipping was extremely hard to ignore, and although he tried to be quiet, and not to scream, he couldn't stop tiny, pained sobs from escaping. Eventually, his whimpers turned into sobbing, pleading moans.
"It is surprising that you do not react much," Russia said, "I would be expecting you to scream louder than this…"
"I d-don't want E-Estonia and Lithuania to h-hear me…" Latvia whimpered, "Can… can you stop now? Please, sir… It hurts… It hurts a lot…"
"I know," Russia said, "But you said you were wanting to find out how it felt."
"Not because I want to get hurt!" Latvia exclaimed, "It's because… I don't want you to hurt my friends. It's cruel to hurt people over and over…"
He paused, trying to stop himself from saying what he wanted to. But, somehow, he ended up blurting it out anyways.
"Mr. Russia, you're crazy if you think any of this is helping us!"
"Latvia…" Russia hissed, his voice dangerously low, "You should not have been saying such things."
"Well, you are crazy!" Latvia replied, "You're even crazier than…"
He never had a chance to tell Russia exactly what he thought of him. He was cut off by an unexpected, crushing pain as something crashed down on his back. After that, he couldn't even think, let alone form coherent sentences.
At some point, Latvia realized that despite the fact that Russia himself had stated that using a metal pipe to punish him would crush his bones, that had not stopped the large nation.
He didn't know how long it took before he blacked out, but he did know that by that time, he felt as if there must be pieces of him scattered around somewhere. That was how much it hurt.
"I'm s-sorry… I guess… I can't help you guys after all… And I can't even…be brave… Can't…even… Stay awake…"
Estonia woke up alone. He should have been used to it by now, but he had still hoped, deep inside, that he could somehow wake up with someone there, just for once.
"Is it my own fault that I'm alone? I… I suppose it…"
"Estonia!" a cheerful voice said from the doorway, "You're awake!"
"Ukraine… Where's Latvia got to?"
"How long was I out?" Estonia asked, sitting up.
"Most of the day," Ukraine said, "We were really worried about you. Latvia literally wouldn't leave your side."
"If he wouldn't leave me…" Estonia said, "Then where is he?"
Ukraine frowned.
"That's what I'd like to know. Belarus and I were outside for a few minutes, and when we came back, he was nowhere to be found."
"Then we have to find him!" Estonia exclaimed, "He could get hurt!"
"Don't get excited," said a quiet voice from behind Ukraine, "But I found him."
Ukraine turned around, and Estonia heard her gasp.
"What's wrong?" the blonde Baltic asked, trying not to panic.
"N-nothing!" Ukraine stammered, "Latvia's just a little bit… Um…"
Estonia stood up, and, to his relief, he no longer felt dizzy.
"What happened to Latvia?" he said, hearing his own voice drop to a low and probably slightly menacing tone.
Ukraine turned back to look at him, and Estonia saw tears in her eyes.
"You don't need to see," she said.
"Damn it, Ukraine, stop sheltering me!" Estonia snapped, "You're worse than Lithuania! I have a right to know what happened to my friend!"
"Let him see," Belarus said quietly, "He'll get angry if you don't."
Ukraine bit her lip, and stepped aside, allowing Estonia to see Belarus clearly. And since he could see Belarus, he could also see the child she was carrying.
"Latvia!" Estonia exclaimed, confused and horrified by what he saw. The smaller nation appeared to be unconscious at the very least, as he was not moving, and from the cuts and bruises on Latvia's body, Estonia could easily imagine what had to have happened.
"I am going to kill Russia…" Estonia muttered, "And no one is going to stop me, this time."
"Estonia…" Ukraine whimpered.
"It's not as if I'd actually do it!" Estonia snapped, "Belarus is right, you know! I am a coward, and that's why I won't go near Russia ever again if I can help it! Anytime I try to help, I get hurt more… But now… Why would he want to hurt Latvia? Why?!"
"Estonia… It's all right…" Ukraine said, and then, to Estonia's surprise, the girl ran over and…
"What are you even doing?" Estonia roared. He honestly hadn't meant to be so forceful, but the fact of the matter was that Ukraine was the only person he knew who would come over and hug him without any warning, and it was more than a little bit disconcerting at times.
Ukraine squeaked in fright, and backed away, leaving Estonia more confused than ever.
"She hugs me, then she's afraid of me… Why are girls so weird?"
By this time, Belarus had shoved past Ukraine and Estonia, and laid Latvia down on the sofa.
"We need to fix him up as quickly as possible," Belarus said, "I don't think he's breathing."
For a moment, Estonia was seriously considering arming himself with every gun in the house and unloading the entirety of the contents of the aforementioned guns at Russia. But then, looking at Latvia, who was so small and still and hurt, he felt more sad than angry.
"He's just a little kid…" Estonia murmured, "He doesn't… He doesn't deserve…"
"Estonia?" he heard someone say, "Estonia, are you… Are you crying?"
And then he was crying, because in the end, despite all the times he had tried to help, to save someone, he had been unconscious and unable to help when Latvia had really needed him.
Someone was hugging him again… It had to be Ukraine, and this time, he returned the gesture. What did it matter what they did anymore, when Lithuania was being held prisoner and Latvia had technically been beaten to death? Their home-such as it was-was falling apart around them. This was no time to shove people away, as he had always done before. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed someone now.
"H-he saved me…" Estonia whimpered, "He saved my life… And when he needed me… I wasn't there…"
"Do you think that maybe…" Belarus asked, "Maybe he wanted to save you?"
Estonia had no idea what to say to that.
"Latvia… Trying to save me?"
"Estonia, don't cry…" Ukraine said, "We'll fix Latvia up, and he'll be fine."
But Estonia couldn't stop crying, because in the end, by trying to save his friends, he had failed them all.
Lithuania could hear Latvia's screams from where he lay, and he began to cry again, listening, powerless to help. He could barely even move, let alone run downstairs.
"Russia…" he whimpered, "You broke…you broke your promise…"
It was as if he was sinking into some kind of delirium, and the harder he tried to escape, the more they were all pulled into this insanity.
"So there will be no escape. We…we're all… Are we all doomed to die here, broken and insane?"
He lay there, sobbing, wondering what would happen when Russia returned. And he could still hear Latvia's screams.
"Latvia… No… He'll die… Russia doesn't know how fragile he is… Have to… Help…"
But he couldn't move. And when Latvia's screams finally began to grow quieter, and then faded away, he gave up trying. What did it matter? They were all going to die here, in this despair.
"Oh, Litva…" said a voice from the doorway, "You seem…sad? Are you sad?"
"You promised me you wouldn't hurt them," Lithuania said, "You lied to me."
Russia was beside him now, lifting him from the floor, and Lithuania had no strength to resist him.
"You hurt Latvia…" Lithuania whispered desperately, "He's too little… You'll…"
"Hush, Litva…" Russia said softly, "You are not of the wellness at this time."
"Because of you!" Lithuania sobbed, "Why, Russia? I'm scared…"
"Scared?" Russia asked, "You are scared of me?"
Lithuania couldn't reply, not to that question. He could only sob, even as Russia laid him on the bed and tucked the blankets around him.
"I scared you…?" Russia asked, his voice distant and confused.
Lithuania whimpered and shook his head.
"I don't want to answer. You'll hurt me."
And then he heard someone humming. A slow, quiet, soothing sound. Lithuania felt he should remember the song, felt that it was a song Russia liked to sing. But he couldn't remember. He could barely even remember who he was, let alone what song his captor was humming.
A large hand was stroking his hair now, and he was too exhausted to move, too worn out to shy away, although he was terrified.
"Maybe I am not wanting to hurt you…" Russia said, "Because you are the only one that cares for me. So that is why I break my promise. Litva… I would rather not hurt you, but it seems that you are misbehaving more and more every time I am trying to help you."
But by that time, Lithuania was too far gone to reply.
*still has nothing to say* *has built a higher wall to keep people from killing me*
I fail at author's notes lately...
Anyways, please review! :)
