When she fully disappeared I smiled. She's growing soft. It's true that I had watched the entire trip, including the conversations she had with Russia. I scowled a bit. How dare he say such things about her? If I was brave enough I'd slap him across the face and tell him to apologize, but I don't want to hurt our relationship now. I sighed and was fighting ideas that were popping up in my mind; I don't want to hurt our new friendship.
I was still stumbling on certain thoughts when I heard a knock on the door and jumped. "Bela? Are you in there?"
"Yeah." I opened the door to see Ukraine. "Sorry."
"There's no reason to apologize." She smiled and I moved into the room look out our window. "Russia wants to talk to you."
I feel my eye twitch and suppress the urge to deny anything. "Oh yeah?" I turned around and forced a smile. "Is he in his room?" She smiled and nodded. I sighed and walked to the door. I put my hand on the door knob, but didn't turn it. "Ukraine?"
"Hmm?"
I hope she doesn't think I'm crazy. "What would you do if I told you that the Belarus that appeared today wasn't me, but was Lia?"
She didn't answer right away and I was about to tell her to forget that I asked, but she beat me to it. "I'd be surprised and I would be happy that she acted like herself."
I lifted my head and turned to her. "What do you mean?"
She was still smiling like before. "Sometimes I just have a feeling that the way Lia acts is a forced act. She doesn't really know what to do, so she goes by impulse and scares everyone. In my opinion, she's shier than you are."
I smiled and looked at the floor. "I believe that, too." A silence had come between us but it wasn't awkward, it was more understanding. "I'm going to visit Russia now."
I turn the knob and exited into the hall. Once I closed the door I leaned against it and sighed. At least one other person understands Lia. I moved from my door to his and stood there before I knocked. What would he want to talk about with me? I moved my hand up next the door and knocked. "Hold on a sec." I heard some movement, a drawer close, then some footsteps came towards the door, and he opened it. "Ah, Bela." He smiled and I forced a smile back at him. "Come in." He moved so I could come in and I stepped through.
Once I stepped in his room, a horrible feeling arose in my chest and in the back of my head. "What would you like to talk about, brother?"
He motioned for me to sit and I did. His smile never faded from his face and it just fueled the fire that was burning in my chest. "I just wanted to ask if you had fun today."
I nodded. "She did." He cocked his head to the side, but before he could ask I started talking again. "Thanks for buying the penguins and for extending our vacation."
He just nodded and he finally took off his fake smile and opened his eyes. He turned serious within a second. "What did you mean by 'she did'?" I just shrugged and felt the room's mood turn into an eerie atmosphere. "You said she, so that means that you weren't in control today."
"Does it matter?" I glared at him. "It's not like you'd actually care about who has control on what day."
"I do care."
I scoffed. "Yeah, you care whether Lia will chase you again or not, and you'd do anything to stay away from her, wouldn't you?" I was growing angrier. "You called her evil! I couldn't believe you said that right in front of her! You're lucky she didn't go crazy like she usually did back then. You know, I may love you, brother, but there are points when you shouldn't be an arse to everyone." I closed my eyes and calmed myself down a bit. When I opened them to look at his face I was stunned; he looked like he was guilty. I stood up and looked away from his face. "I'm going to bed."
I walked to the door and opened it to retreat to the hall. Once I closed it I heard two others open; France and Britain opened the door and stepped out a bit. "So we were with Lia today?" I looked at Britain and nodded. He looked at the floor and the face he put on could have made some one feel guilty.
"Poor girl." France came over to hug me, but Canada grabbed his sleeve.
"I think we should just leave her alone right now." France sighed and gave into the blonde. They gave a last smile then went back into their room.
"Goodnight, Bela." Britain also went into his room again and I decided to go to mine.
I opened it with the key and went into the bathroom again. I looked into the mirror hoping to see Lia, but she didn't appear. I waited, but she didn't come. "Damn it." I started to feel the tears bite at my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but that just made it worse; they fell onto my cheeks and slowly slipped down. I heard a knock and saw Ukraine. "You heard it, too?" She gave a slight nod and I just broke.
I fell to my knees. The tears started to burst out of my ducts and I couldn't stop them. She came over to me and hugged me, shushing me and cooing the same lines over and over again. "It's going to be okay. Shh, Bela."
It's funny really. I'm crying right now and feeling guilty when the one who should feel even guiltier is brother. Could I be wrong? Did I just snap for no reason? I pressed the questions out of my mind and kept crying.
Ukraine helped me to the bed and tucked me in. Once she shut off the lights, I felt her climb into the same bed and I scooted over to her. She hugged me and started to pat my head. Later I had fallen asleep.
The morning sun had risen and I turned in the bed to shield my eyes. I thought I was on the bed but instead felt grass under me. I opened my eyes and sat up. What I saw was a field of flowers. "Beautiful, isn't it?" I looked to my side and saw Lia. "It's a sunflower field; brother's favorite flower."
Even though we were in our own world now, I still felt my eyes being stun in pain from the tears. I was about to cry again. "Lia."
"You didn't have to snap at brother you know." She turned to look at me and extended her hand to wipe away a tear that escaped. "And you don't need to feel guilty either." I grabbed her hand in mine and squeezed it; she squeezed back. "It's only true, what he said."
I shook my head. "Not anymore. You're not like that anymore." She smiled and so did I.
"Thanks, Bela." She looked back at the field and chuckled. "It's funny. We use to hate each other and fight with each other, but ever since you took control it's like we've become more of a person with one mind instead of two."
I smiled and looked out at the field, too. "You're right."
"But it doesn't mean that I'll be like this forever. I could go back to being to old Lia and I could start fighting for control again." I chuckled and she gave me a glare. "I'm serious."
"I know." I laid back down onto the grass and sighed. I instantly smelled something burning and turned to see what it was. I stood up and Lia did, too, the burning was coming from a church. The field had disappeared and we were floating above the building. "What is this?"
I looked at Lia and she stared at the fire with her old evil grin on her face. "Natalia!" I looked back down and saw a woman yelling our name. "Natalia! Please someone save her."
It was Ukraine. She continued to shout, but no one came. All of a sudden we were in the building and I saw her. Us. "Lia. Stop this." Was that me?
"Why should I?" I looked and saw Lia in a black dress looking at me. "You were the one who wanted this to happen."
"But I didn't mean it!" My hand felt cold and I saw my Lia hovering over the other one. I hovered over my other and saw what she was holding. My eyes went wide at the sight and I screamed. "I didn't want him to be killed. Brother I'm so sorry."
"Serves him right for being a freaky jerk." I looked at Lia and saw her face. She was hiding the fact that she was sad by putting on her bitchy attitude.
"Shut up!" I cradled his head and cried. "Why, Lia? Why did this have to happen?"
She finally got up and came over to me. Once she got closer to him she started to break down. Her act was crumbling. She fell to her knees and cried along with me. "I don't know. I'm so sorry, brother, Bela. I'm so sorry." We hugged and at the very end, like the other dream, the beam fell and hit us.
I woke up and started to cry again. Now I felt even guiltier. "Bela? What's wrong?"
I saw Ukraine and instantly hugged her. "I had a nightmare."
"Was it Lia?" I shook my head and kept crying. "Well, would you like to tell me?" I shook my head again and remembered Russia. He still had that stupid smile on his face, even when he was dead. That idiot needs to stop smiling. I cried until my tears had stopped and I calmed down. Ukraine kept rubbing my back and humming a song that she used to sing when putting us to sleep. She stopped and sighed. "Do you still want to see the sights? We could just walk around near the pier."
I thought about it and nodded. "That sounds nice."
We got up and dressed. I wasn't in an all good mood so I took my time. Once we were done she opened the door and let me go through it first. I looked up and saw the Brit standing next to his door and he smiled weakly. "How are you this morning?"
"I'm fine." I moved so Ukraine could come out and shut the door.
She turned and saw him, too. "Good morning, Arthur." Her smile was also weak. Am I affecting everyone that much?
He nodded. "Morning." We were silent for a bit. I bet he didn't know whether to ask me about last night or to just leave it be. He cleared his throat and I looked up. He paused, but then decided to speak. "We're going on the freedom trial today. Would you like to accompany us?"
Ukraine looked at me and I shook my head. "No thank you. I'll just walk around."
"And I'll be with her." I looked at Ukraine and she smiled. It wasn't weak this time and I smiled back.
He nodded. "All right. I'll ask Alfred if he can give you some money, just in case you want to go on the subways or eat out."
"Thanks Arthur." He nodded and went back into his room.
After a couple of minutes he came back out and handed us some bills. "There's about fifty pounds…uh I mean dollars."
Ukraine smiled and took the money, thanking him again. After that we left the building. We decided to go back to the aquarium but only to walk around the pier and probably around the food and shops. We got to the pier and had forty-four dollars left. At first we just sat on some benches facing the ocean, but my eyes couldn't handle the salty wind. We started to walk around and found the shops. Ukraine went to browse and I just followed her uninterested in everything around me.
An hour had soon passed and we were still walking around. We were just walking around aimlessly. Ukraine had a small smile on her face and I looked at the ground. Once I did I saw a red line. I moved my eyes to follow the line and found myself following it. Ukraine was right beside me. I looked up and saw the line go on for a distance. I smiled a bit and kept walking the way the line was going. I was smiling until I saw them.
They came around a corner and looked down. America was trying to lighten the mood, but didn't succeed, and so they just walked in silence. I frowned and hid in an alley way. Ukraine followed me and, once they passed, we came back out. "You can't stay away from him forever."
I look at Ukraine and sigh. "I know." I looked at their backs and saw Russia's was hunched. He must be really down to be hunching. "Let's follow them for a while." She nodded and we walked.
They weren't really looking at the sites that were along the trail; they just walked it in silence. It bothered me, but I didn't know what to do. "Bela." I looked at my sister. "Is it okay if I go ahead of you and catch up to them?" We were sitting in a bench watching them eat their lunches.
"Okay." She smiled and left to go over to them. I watched and once she got to the table I looked away. I scoped the area; I wasn't really looking for something, but my eyes came across a name that made my mind agonize. "Salem?"
What I was looking at was a bus that was heading to Salem. I got up and wanted to go over to the bus, but someone called my name. I looked and the others were waiting for me to walk on over, so I did. I got to the table and avoided eye contact with my brother. "What were you looking at?"
I snapped back into reality for a split second and shrugged. "Nothing really, just a bus heading for Salem."
"Ah, that old place," I looked at America and saw his face go into horror, "that place has a bad history." I looked at the ground, for what seemed like the thousandth time today, and I heard him sigh. "If you'd like to go there tomorrow we can."
I smiled, but didn't lift my head up. "Thank you." For the rest of the day we went on the trail. This time we did visit the different sites and I laughed at America's silliness and Britain scolding him. Once in a while I'd look at brother and find him staring at me. He eyes would widen then he'd turn his head; I was starting to feel bad and, when he did it a third time, I walked over to him. "Could you please stop doing that?"
He looked at me, his eyes still wide and looked away. "I don't deserve to look at your eyes."
I sighed and grabbed his hand. He flinched, but didn't move away. "I'm sorry I snapped at you last night." He finally looked at me. "I didn't want to it's just…you called her such an awful thing and since Lia and I are one person, it felt as if you were saying it to the both of us, not just her." He looked away again. "I got mad for a stupid reason and just lashed out; I shouldn't have done that and so…I'm sorry."
He didn't say anything after I finished. I was about to walk away, but he held my hand tighter. "You shouldn't apologize, da?" I looked up at him and he was smiling a warm smile. He wiped away a tear that ran down my cheek and chuckled. "I deserved that. I shouldn't have called her that; I may not have realized that she was the one I was talking to, but that doesn't mean I can get away with saying something like that." He paused and I smiled. I know what he's going to say. "I'm sorry, to the both of you."
The great Russia apologizing; that isn't something you see every day. Once he apologized, a weight had lifted off my chest and the back of my head didn't hurt anymore. I smiled even wider. "We forgive you."
He smiled back and we walked back to the others still holding hands. Bela… I sighed and looked at Russia. "She wants to say something to you."
He smiled and we switched places. "Brother."
"What is it, Lia?"
She started to cry. "I love you. We love you."
He hugged us and kissed our forehead. "I love you, too." She wiped the tears away and smiled. "Now let's get back to the trail, da?"
We laughed and the both of us this time spoke in unison. "Da!"
I took a different turn for the story, but i think i like it. I just started typing unsure of what to do, but came out with this. I sort of like the dreams she keeps having, it's almost like a vision...or is it? ;)
A little angst in this one, but it goes with the story; i like how Russia is a bit different than usual and that he actually felt guilty. I hope you all don't mind me changing the characters attitudes in this story.
I hope you liked it. R&R
