Shadow has returned! And Latvia WILL do something in this chapter! Oh my gravy, you guys... I did not expect all the positive feedback I got last chapter! Thank YOOOUUUUUU! Okay, maybe I'm overdramatic, but seriously! That made my day!
Shall now answer the guest review. ;)
Guest: Thank you for reviewing! :D I was a bit scared for those two myself when I was writing that chapter... I hadn't planned what happened at all, so I didn't really know what was going on. I'm pretty sure Russia has no idea how terrifying he is... *sigh* Someone needs to explain it to him.
Chapter Nine:
Latvia was scared. There was definitely something wrong, and no one would tell him what. Actually, there was no one left to tell him. Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia had all disappeared, and he wasn't going to go looking for Ukraine. It wasn't that he was scared of her, it was just that he didn't think she would know any more about what was going on than he did. No, he definitely wasn't silly and childish enough to be scared of Ukraine. Definitely not scared.
But as time wore on, and neither Lithuania nor Belarus appeared, Latvia began to be more than a little nervous. Finally, he decided to check upstairs for Lithuania. He had done all his chores anyways, so Russia wouldn't get mad at him… Would he? Anyways, it was likely that Lithuania would be up in his room. And if he wasn't…then Latvia would panic.
The small nation shivered as he tiptoed upstairs. It was scary being alone, without Lithuania or Estonia to reassure him that everything was all right.
Latvia remembered the days he had spent locked in Russia's attic, alone. It was an experience he never wanted to repeat. The loneliness, the cold… He had spent so many days and nights huddled there in the cold, wanting to fall asleep but not being able to because of the shivering. Usually, when he got too cold, he would sneak over to Lithuania's room. The older nation didn't seem to mind sharing a bed with him sometimes, and Latvia had once asked if Lithuania got cold at night too. The other nation hadn't given him a direct answer, only smiled and said that no matter how warm his blankets were, another person made things much, much warmer.
He went to Estonia sometimes, when Lithuania was already asleep. But Latvia felt as if he bothered the bespectacled Baltic with his presence, and he only went to Estonia's room at night when he absolutely had to.
Now, as he trotted down the empty hallway, Latvia remembered the cold loneliness of the attic, and felt slightly comforted knowing that surely nothing could be as bad as those days. Nothing could possibly get that bad again. Could it?
He didn't think it could. He remembered that on one of the many cold nights, he had gotten an unexpected visitor, although how he had gotten to the attic, Latvia never figured out. Estonia had come to get him, but they hadn't even been able to make it out of the attic. Well…Estonia had left, but not in the way Latvia thought the older Baltic had probably planned to. Russia had thrown Estonia down the stairs.
"Estonia's up here, right?" Latvia thought, having found himself confronted with Lithuania's conspicuously empty room, "Maybe he knows where Lithuania is."
It was with this thought in mind that the boy went to knock on Estonia's door. For a few moments, there was no answer. But then, just when Latvia was about to give up and go back downstairs, he heard a quiet voice answer him.
"Come in."
And Latvia obeyed, although he thought that there was something not quite right about Estonia's voice. It sounded too…too tired and too broken to be Estonia. But surely that was just his imagination.
Estonia already regretted having told whoever was at the door to come in. It was probably just Lithuania, and he didn't feel like dealing with the other nation at this particular moment.
But, to his surprise, when the door opened, it only opened partway. As Estonia tried to figure out this strange phenomenon, he saw a small, blonde figure peeking around the door at him.
"Latvia…" Estonia thought, "Why is he here? Lithuania wouldn't let him come see me. And anyways… If he cared, wouldn't he have come to see me sooner?"
With Latvia, it would have been easy to believe that the young nation really cared, were it not for one particular incident. The night Estonia had tried his best to release Latvia from captivity in Russia's attic…and ended up being thrown down the stairs.
And Latvia had done nothing. He had just stood there, looking down at him, and then he had run away, and left Estonia alone, and Estonia hated being alone because it was just so scary feeling like no one cared about you, and…
"Estonia?" Latvia said timidly, "Can I come in?"
Estonia considered the question for a moment. It was easy enough to resent Latvia when the boy was not around. But now that he was there, Estonia realized that it would be terribly hard to turn his friend away. And, besides, Latvia was so easily scared… What had happened on that one night didn't necessarily mean that his younger friend didn't care about him. All it meant was that Latvia had been frightened, and so he had gone back to safety, because that was what any normal person would have done.
But there was still the part of his mind that insisted that no one cared about him, that he should kill them all and leave this place. And it was that part that he fought to keep from taking over now.
"I will not hurt Latvia. I must not hurt him… He's just a kid…"
And then he was talking, without even realizing that he had come to a decision.
"Sure," he said, "You can come in."
Latvia's movements were hesitant, timid, and for a moment, Estonia wondered if his friend knew what had happened in the hours since night had fallen over Russia's mansion, the hours before the sun had once again risen, as he suspected it had now.
But, no, if Latvia knew, then he would not have come. The boy was so timid, he would never consent knowingly to being in the same room as a…
"Murderer?"
The thought startled Estonia, and made him angry with himself.
"I'm not a murderer! Lithuania's a murderer! He…stabbed me…"
"Estonia?"
Latvia's childish voice startled Estonia out of his thoughts. The smaller Baltic was standing in front of him now, looking worried.
"Are you okay?" Latvia asked, "You keep staring off at nothing."
Estonia tried to smile, but found he couldn't. Instead, he kept his face emotionless. It was easier that way.
"I'm fine, Latvia. You can sit down, you know."
Slowly, the other nation complied, although Estonia noticed that Latvia was careful not to sit too close.
"Why did you come up here?" he asked, "Aren't you supposed to be doing your chores?"
"I did all mine," Latvia said, "Well, all the regular ones. Lithuania's supposed to tell me what our other ones are, but… I can't find him anywhere."
The smaller Baltic frowned, and Estonia struggled to find an answer that wouldn't show just how little he cared about Lithuania's whereabouts.
"Just as long as he isn't here bothering me, and telling me I was in the wrong when I wasn't, I don't care where he is!"
But he couldn't tell Latvia that. The tiny boy already looked worried enough, and suddenly, Estonia had a new mission.
"I have to protect him from the truth. If he doesn't know the truth, then… Then he won't hate me. He's the only thing I have left. If he hated me…"
And so, he turned to Latvia with a smile, and hastened to reassure the younger nation that Lithuania was perfectly okay, and would probably be back soon. Even though he was almost completely sure it was an outrageous lie.
Russia hadn't expected going to reassure Ukraine to take as long as it had. But his older sister had refused to be reassured, convinced she had heard screaming. Which she had, but Russia couldn't tell her that. He had already lost Belarus's love; he would not lose Ukraine's as well.
But once Ukraine was comforted, he had to stay with her for a while, to make sure she wouldn't get suspicious. And it would be suspicious if he hurried off right after saying nothing was wrong.
He judged it to have been about thirty minutes from the time he had left his room to the time he returned. But in that time, Belarus and Lithuania appeared to have…fallen asleep?
Russia blinked in surprise at the two sleeping countries. Belarus was leaning on Lithuania, who had both arms wrapped around her.
"I had never been expecting this…" Russia mumbled. "She was not supposed to be associating with him in the first place, and now she is…is she liking him that much?"
He was confused. How could Belarus have gone from hating Lithuania to actually letting him become close to her so quickly? It didn't make any sense to Russia, but there was one thing he did know. It was going to stop. Belarus and Lithuania were not supposed to associate with each other in the first place, and all their friendship was doing was causing trouble. So he would make sure they weren't friends any more…even if it meant having to hurt his own sister even further. Even if it meant having to lie to her.
"Is for your safety," Russia mumbled, more to reassure himself than anything else, "You will not be having any of the good life if you are being of the friendship with Lithuania."
Lithuania didn't remember falling asleep. And when he woke up, it took him a few minutes to remember where he was. At first, he thought he must be in bed, and the person he was hugging must be Latvia, who had probably come to his room to escape the cold.
But this person was not small enough to be Latvia. The tiny nation was much smaller than this person. Estonia, then? But Estonia was locked in his room…
Lithuania opened his eyes, and found himself staring down at someone's extremely long blonde hair.
"Belarus…" he thought, suddenly remembering what had happened, "We…we must have fallen asleep."
His body still ached, but he knew it was time to get moving. There was no point in staying in Russia's room until the larger nation made an appearance. Russia would no doubt appear soon enough, and he would not leave Belarus behind to face his wrath.
"Belarus?" he whispered, shaking the girl as gently as he could, "Belarus, we need to get moving."
The girl began to stir, murmuring something about how there was no need to wake up. Then, suddenly, her eyes snapped open.
"Where am I?" she snapped, "What's going…?"
Then, she appeared to realize where she was. Belarus pulled away from Lithuania as quickly as possible, leaving him still leaning against the wall.
"Russia has not come back," she stated.
"He'll probably be back soon," Lithuania said, "So…we should probably leave before he comes and finds us still here."
"Agreed," Belarus said, "I… You will call for help if anything goes wrong."
"No, never," Lithuania thought. After seeing Belarus beaten, he was even more determined not allow her to become further involved in the Baltics' troubles.
But he could not say that aloud, or she would argue with him, and didn't want to fight with her now, not here, not after what they had been through.
"Yes, Belarus," he said quietly, "I will not try to face my problems alone any longer."
"I don't believe you," Belarus muttered. Then, her fierce expression softened slightly.
"It was time for me to learn about real pain," she said, "You are not at fault for what happened to me, and I do not blame you for it."
"It was my fault…" Lithuania murmured, "Please, Belarus, don't try to save me. It's far too late for that."
"How can I not?" Belarus retorted, "He hurts you, and you don't deserve it…"
"If you ever want to save me from Russia," Lithuania said, "Then you will first have to help me save Russia from himself."
Estonia didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid of the inevitable moment when Latvia would leave him. So afraid that he invented things to talk about so his friend would stay longer.
But when Latvia finally did have to leave, Estonia felt panic setting in again.
"No, Latvia, please don't leave me alone! If you leave me alone and never come back, then I'll know no one cares for me! I know you'll probably never come back, and I'll be here alone forever! I can't… Please…"
Latvia was halfway to the door when Estonia lunged forward and grabbed the boy's arm.
"Latvia, wait!"
The smaller nation jumped, but Estonia didn't feel guilty. He was scared, and he needed reassurance that Latvia wouldn't leave him alone forever.
"Promise me you'll come back and visit me!"
Latvia stared at him, his violet eyes wide and confused.
"E-Estonia…"
"Promise!" Estonia insisted, "Please, Latvia… I need you to come back!"
The boy was silent for a long moment. He looked confused, and slightly frightened, and it took all of Estonia's willpower not to grab Latvia's shoulders and shake him.
"I…I guess I can come back later," Latvia mumbled.
"You can't tell Lithuania!" Estonia said, "Okay?"
"Why not?" Latvia asked, sounding worried and confused, "How come I'm not allowed to tell Lithuania I'm visiting you?"
"Because," Estonia said, "He might not let you come. And then I'd be all alone, and that would be sad. You don't want me to be sad, do you, Latvia?"
"N-no…" Latvia whispered, "I don't want you to be sad, Estonia. I…I'll come back tonight, after Lithuania's asleep."
"Promise?" Estonia asked.
"I…"
Latvia hesitated for a moment.
"I promise."
Told you Latvia would do something! And now he has. ;) Don't worry, this isn't the only chapter with him in it. He'll have a pretty big role in this story from now on.
Reviews help me remember to update on time for once! ;) (Although... EEEKKK! It's freaking Christmas... Maybe I won't update on time after all... Anyways. See you guys next chapter!
