Chapter 75

"Papa? Oh, sorry…"

"No, please, it's all right, Matthew, you can come in," France smiled, nodding to Canada, who had just opened the door.

"Oh… ok…" Canada smiled faintly walking through the door and into the kitchen to make himself a snack. He glanced back up at France, who sat across the table from a beautiful blonde girl. They were leaning over a stack of papers, sorting through them, pencils in hand.

"So…" the woman said, confused, "So if I want that," she pointed to one of the papers, "Then I have to get this?" she pointed to another paper, looking up at France.

He nodded, "Oui, um, at least, it'll make it much easier… you'll get tired if you have to do that all by hand."

Gisela nodded, looking back at the papers, "So… whipping cream is harder than it sounds?"

France stifled a laugh, "Much harder! You haven't made it before?"

Gisela shook her head.

"Well, if you're going to own a cafe, you have to learn to make whipped cream! Come on, stand up!" he laughed, standing and motioning for her to follow him towards the kitchen. "Gisela, this is Matthew, my son. Matti, this is Gisela, I'm helping her with a business project," He spoke as he grabbed a bowl and whisk, setting them on the counter. He turned to the fridge.

"Hi…" Matthew said shyly, waving carefully, pulling the cuffs of his red sweatshirt half over his hands.

"Hello," Gisela smiled, waving back, "So… if you're France's son…"

"Oh!" France laughed, setting the cream on the counter, "This is Canada."

Canada looked at France, shocked, "You…"

"Don't worry, Baby Bear, she knows all about the Nations," France put his hand on Canada's shoulder with a reassuring smile.

"It's ok if you don't really want to talk to me, Canada… I know all about being shy…" she smiled very kindly.

Canada smiled back very faintly, "No, it's ok. I just wasn't expecting to see you here…"

France poured the cream into the bowl and slid it across the counter to Gisela, handing her the whisk, "Have at it then," he chuckled, shaking his head, "When you get tired let me know and I'll get out the hand mixer."

"Ok…" Gisela laughed too, taking the whisk and starting on the cream. She looked down at the barely bubbling liquid. This was going to take a while. "So, Matthew," she spoke as she whisked, "What's it like in Canada? Is it cold?"

"Everyone thinks that…" Canada shook his head, "But it's not always! Sometimes it's lovely and warm, and the fishing is fantastic, and everyone is really nice and people shouldn't ignore it but they all do and it's actually quite upsetting!" Canada frowned.

"People ignore you?" She asked, slightly amused by how upset he'd become.

"All the time!" Canada continued, "Alfred and F-"

"Alfred?"

"America," France nodded.

"Oh…"

"Yes," Canada continued, "Alfred and France are the only two countries who can actually SEE me half the time!"

Gisela looked at him with an incredibly confused expression, "See you?"

"I'm invisible," Canada pouted.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not quite that bad-"

"Non, he's literally invisible to most of them," France sighed, "But, Baby Bear, that just means you haven't been in all the wars the rest of us have."

"Well, I fought in the second world war… not that anyone remembers that…"

"Did you come here just to complain about being ignored, or…?" France tried to change the subject.

"Well… I thought we were going to spend the day together today… but I guess you forgot…"

"Forget?" France shook his head, "Non! I just thought we were meeting in an hour…?"

"We are, but I was bored so I thought I would come over early. I'm sorry for interrupting… what are you two working on over there?" he tried to look over at the table, knowing full well it was too far away for him to actually see anything on the papers.

"Well, Gisela is visiting from Germany because she's going to move to Paris."

Gisela smiled, looking down to concentrate on the still-very-much-liquid cream in the glass bowl in front of her.

"She's going to open a cafe in the city, and I'm helping her."

"He's currently trying to convince me to get a big electric mixer, and I'm starting to think that it might be a good idea…" She tried to whisk faster, switching arms. Her left wasn't as strong, and it felt clumsy, but her right arm was so tired, "Ok Francis… I may need that mixer now…"

France laughed, "Well that didn't take long." He ducked below the counter on the island they stood at and pulled out the small hand mixer, plugging it into the wall. "There. Try that," he smiled, giving her the mixer.

"Much better," she grinned, speaking a little louder as the mixer made a horribly loud noise.

"You know… if you really wanted to have a nice cafe, I could send you some maple syrup! Especially in spring when it's fresh and nice," Canada smiled a little, looking at Gisela.

"Really? That would be amazing… what do I do with it? I don't think I've ever had it…"

"What!?" Canada froze, shocked. He looked into her face, his jaw dropping, "You've never had maple syrup! You poor thing! I'm so sorry!"

Gisela laughed, right along with France, who went to the fridge again. "Well," she asked, "What do you do with it?"

"Put it on everything," Canada nodded, "Absolutely everything."

Gisela smiled again, "Like, what? Give me some ideas!

"Well… toast, pancakes, bacon, more bacon, squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes…" Canada continued the list.

Gisela looked at France, who shrugged, "You got him going."

"Oh!" Canada brought his sweatshirt covered hand to his mouth, "Was I listing too many things…?"

…

Prussia looked away. The sound of General Winter's knife in Russia's chest made his skin crawl. Russia didn't make a sound. He wasn't sure if it was worse or better how silent he was.

"Look," General Winter ordered.

Prussia didn't obey, keeping his face turned towards the door, away from Russia.

"I said, 'LOOK'!" General Winter grabbed Prussia's face, turning it towards his, leaving Russia's blood dripping down his neck. "You're shaking…?" General Winter asked with a laugh.

Prussia kept his eyes on General Winter's face, trying to force the trembling to stop. He hated it. He didn't want General Winter to see him as anything but strong. Looking weak, being weak, was dangerous.

"You need the drugs again, don't you?" General Winter smiled a little, turning Prussia's face, looking at the marks on his neck.

Prussia shivered, trying to move his head, trying to get away from the hands he didn't want touching him. He tried to ignore the General's obvious amusement at his useless struggle. He couldn't fight him. He turned away, setting his jaw as General Winter's hands slid up his arms. He opened his mouth to cry out in pain, holding it in with the last of the willpower he had as he felt General Winter press against the deep infected needle marks in his arms.

"Does that hurt?" General Winter smiled, digging his fingers into the wounds, pulling on them, pressing into them, "Painful?" he taunted as Prussia squirmed.

"What is wrong with you…?" Gil grit his teeth, turning away, trying not to show how much it hurt, trying not to prove how badly he needed the drugs. He swore under his breath, wincing again as he felt a hand grip his face. He looked into General Winter's icy eyes and shivered, trying to keep the defiance on his face to hide the fear. He looked over to Russia as he heard a faint groan come from his side of the room.

General Winter turned to Russia, standing and walking away from Gil.

Prussia shivered, keeping his eyes on Russia's face, trying to ignore the blood, trying to ignore the sound of General Winter's hand sliding into Russia's chest.

Just, please… Prussia winced, looking away, Don't scream…

…

Lithuania brought the pillow over his head, trying to drown out the noise. He couldn't take it. The screams infected the night even more than the cold. He felt sick, praying each cry would be the last, hoping each long silence meant it was over, that General Winter had gone to sleep, that he'd left them both alone.

"Torshka?" Bela asked, her voice low and rough from barely woken sleep.

He felt her cold fingers brush the bare skin of his back and turned to look into her blue eyes, which sparkled almost purple in the dim light. He touched her cheek, worried, "Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" She closed her eyes, shaking her head, leaning into his hand, "I'm only being kept awake by my brother screaming because my father is… hurting him… again…"

Lithuania sighed deeply, "I know…" he turned away, shaking his head as another scream rang through the house, this time from Prussia. He closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the sound to stop. It didn't. He brought his shaking hands to his face, shaking his head again. He breathed faster as the screaming didn't stop.

"Torshka?"

He heard her voice very faintly, her words echoing in his head though he couldn't understand them. He looked up, trying to look around his room, trying to find something to focus on. Everything blurred together, colors slurring in the dim light from the open curtains. He felt a hand, stronger than even General Winters, pressing on his chest, wrapping around his heart and squeezing it until he couldn't breathe. He pressed his hands into his face again, shaking as Belarus took his wrists gently, pulling his hands down. He pulled away from her touch on his face. Why hadn't the screaming stopped? It had to stop. It had to stop…

"Torshka, Torshka I'm right here, please! Look at me…"

He tried to focus on her face, his breathing slowly steading to normal, the pressure on his chest releasing. The screaming stopped. He looked down for a moment, then back up at her, "I can't take it. I can't… I can't listen to it anymore, I just… I have to do something. I have to," his breathing wasn't as steady as he wanted it to be.

"Toris… he'll kill you…" Belarus touched his face, shaking her head, "Please, please don't…"

He shook his head, "I have to," He threw the covers off, shivering as the cold air hit his skin. He stood, reaching for his clothes. He sighed as Belarus's hands slipped around his shoulders, her cheek pressing onto his scars.

"Bela…" he was shaking. He couldn't do nothing. He had to do something. He had to stop it somehow. He would rather be beaten with them than have to listen to it. General Winter scared him even more than Russia. But he couldn't do nothing. He shrugged Bela's hands off his shoulders, turning to look at her.

"I have to do this, Bela. It's your brother, don't you want me to help him too?"

"How can I help?" She smiled, looking up into his face, "I'm not as afraid of Father as I should be. Need a distraction?"

Lithuania shook his head, "Never. I would never ask you to do that. But, neither of them have eaten…"

"I can make them something."

"Quietly?"

She nodded.

"Ok. I'm going to go see if Estonia will help. He's better at planning this kind of thing than I am."

"And Latvia?"

"General Winter would kill Latvia. It's better if he stays asleep."

Belarus nodded again, "I'll make some broth? Do you think that would help?

Lithuania nodded, "I don't think they'll care. It's been almost 3 days…"

Belarus grabbed her dress and slipped it over her head, smiling at Lithuania one more time before walking out of his room towards the kitchen.

Lithuania threw on clothes and turned to the door. He closed his eyes hard, shaking his head again as more screams rang through the house. He turned the corner of the hallway towards the stairs and stopped. Poland was waiting for him.

"You're going to stop him, aren't you?" Poland asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

Lithuania's hands shook. He hid them behind his back, nodding, "Yes. I'm going to try…"

Poland sighed deeply, then rolled his eyes, "That's, like, a really bad idea… you know that."

"Do you have a better one? All I need is time for Bela to get them food. That's all."

Poland smiled, "Ukraine is already in the kitchen making them food. Looks she had the same idea you did."

"I can't-" he waited for the screams to stop before speaking again, "I can't keep listening to this. I can't keep letting this happen to them. Not if I could do something about it…"

Poland sighed again, shaking his head, "Well I can't let you face General Winter alone." Poland extended his hand to Lithuania.

Lithuania looked at Poland's hand, "I let you put yourself in danger again, Feliks…"

"Like you get to choose! Come on, Liet, just like old times! Fighting bad guys! Working together! Being the best team in the world… besides, what's dying a few more times for me? I like, totally have to keep my nickname… like, meaningful, don't I?"

Lithuania half-laughed, "'Pheonix'? That one?"

"Yeah. Coolest nickname ever, right?"

"I can't watch him hurt you…"

"Then don't look," Poland shrugged, motioning to his hand again, "Well?"

Lithuania sighed, and took Poland's hand, "Ok."

"Great!" Poland started running down the stairs, practically dragging Lithuania behind him. When they reached the black door, he stopped, Lithuania almost running into him. He looked at the door for a moment with a sigh, glancing back at Lithuania. "You're shaking…" he whispered.

Lithuania shrugged, "Normal. Don't worry about me."

"Fine…" Poland winced hard at the sounds coming from the other side of the door. He felt sick. Prussia was barely making noise anymore, and what low screams he did were rough and broken. Poland looked up at Lithuania again. "You scared?" he whispered again.

Lithuania nodded, "You?"

Poland nodded back, then set his jaw, turning to the door again. He was scared, but he was even more angry. He slammed his fist on the door, "Hey ice-brain! Pick on someone your own size for a change! You want strong!? Try me!"

Lithuania stared at him as there was total silence on the other side of the door for a moment before heavy footsteps approached the door. Lithuania wasn't sure he wanted to see what was on the other side. He could already smell the blood. He bit his lip, crossing his arms over his chest to hide their shaking as the heavy door scraped open.

A/N: New chapter up! yay! Finally! Took me long enough! One of my real-life jobs involved a LOT of typing this week... tired fingers lol. XD Anyway, here you guys go. Some cheerful happiness in the beginning, thanks to Canada and France and Gisela! (I REAAAAALY love writing France and Gisela. No ship for those two though, they're just good friends. France is almost older-brother-y. Maybe even kinda like a father too? Since she really doesn't remember her own. Also, Dad France to Canada is adorable... so adorable...)

Aaaaaand then General Winter. He's not finished with Gil and Ivan yet... but Liet and Feliks have had enough... and so you guys get a cliff hanger. There certainly doesn't look to be any way for this to go well... Also Poland being brave as anything here. It's safe to say he's basically back to 'normal'. Adorably fearless. Also, had to mention his nickname. XD

As always, reviews are deeply appreciated! Thank you to everyone who keeps reviewing! I know life is busy, and I haven't seen a few regulars lately, but that's ok. I still love you guys! :D I really hope you liked this chapter. More to come soon. General Winter is a problem that will need to be dealt with somehow after all... hopeing it won't be a week between uploads this time! :D *hugs*