Estonia rarely panicked. In fact, he's been described as a 'soothing presence' by many, and as 'the calm Baltic', because he's the one that cries the least and tries to think logically. Well there he was, being logical, as he grabbed book by book off the bookshelf, and bit his nails in anticipation, looking like a high-school nerd preparing for an exam.
Books cluttered to the floor abandoned, as he licked his finger and flipped wildly through each new one, looking for words like 'hybrid species' or 'personified nation' or 'animal testing' or something. This was the one important question that burned in his mind: Are the nation-animal mutants immortal? He's found very few information about this kind of specific case, but all of it points to 'no'.
He bit his nails more and more nervously at the thought that their companions could actually die. Taking out a red pen, he went through each page, circling, underlining, drawing arrows, and making notes. After an hour or so of this kind of study, Estonia brought himself to a conclusion.
He stood up and walked to a window, where he could observe the depressingly bare trees and gloomy skies. He thought about everything he read and everything he knew. What makes a personified nation immortal? The people, the customs, the very character and prosperity of a society is what gives their bodies life. 'As long as there are people who repair the ship, it can be used forever', Estonia recalled someone say.
So when mutant-clones of the three of them were made, did they retain this capability? Estonia took his glasses off to rub his tired eyes. From what he had gathered, they were in fact, immortal to an extent. They can't die, unless they are killed. If they are safe, they may as well live forever.
This relieved him a bit, and he went upstairs to check up on Shreduard and Boneliet. Lithuania had found a baby bottle in the basement (don't ask), and was holding Boneliet as he fed him the milk. Boneliet's leg was wrapped up in a homemade cast, with no traces of blood.
"How is he?" Estonia asked, cringing at the memory what happened the day before yesterday. Latvia cleaned up the blood in the hallway. "He's getting better" Lithuania said, stroking the soft mane. Esti nodded and went to check up on his own mutant, who's snout was wrapped in bandages. Fatvia was busy licking Shred.
Lithuania was left to his own thought, and he rocked Boneliet softly. How could anyone even think about hurting someone like this? He understood Russia, but he tensed with anger at the thought of him. He knew Russia for a very long time, but now that Russia could potentially hurt one of the closest people (and mutants) to him, and very seriously too, he began to think about escape even more.
He let the poor animal suck on the bottle, and carefully rubbed the scars on Bonie's back. Meanwhile, Russia paced his study. The worst of the disaster was gone, and he sat at his desk, thinking about what Lithuania had said and turning it over and over in his head. Dry blood was still on the floor, and the walls were full of holes. He felt an uneasy kind of anger at Lithuania, for not calling him a treacherous brute, for not screaming, even though he hadn't done it to get a particular reaction from him. Still, the nerve of that guy, he wasn't even scared.
Even back when they were children, Lithuania didn't bully him or fear him like the others did. Actually, he hated Prussia, Russia's biggest childhood bully. And Germany was still winning, wasn't he? Everything was the exact same as it has been before his outburst, if not worse, now that Lithuania was mad at him.
But Russia felt a kind of peace about him, as if he could chose how to feel and where to go. He's always blamed one thing or another for his thoughts and actions. His terrible childhood, his social status, the war, and everything else. But in front of Lithuania he felt undignified and silly, not the horrible monster everyone saw him as. He put his head in his hand, and looked over the documents for the experiment. 'Operation: Monster' was written at the top of the page in bold, red letters.
What had stopped him from hurting Lithuania back there? He felt like hitting him, so why didn't he? Russia felt as if Lithuania screwed with his system somehow. Nobody ever stood up to him before.
The rotary phone interrupted his thoughts with a shrill ring. Russia slammed his arm down in annoyance and picked up the phone. Apparently, his boss wanted to see him. Russia walked out his study and headed down to the garage to start his car, making a mental note to clean up the blood and have his walls repaired for the fifth time that year.
He started the rectangular car, and took off to the government building. Estonia was in the garden, still raking the leaves. He watched Russia's sputtering car puff by, then returned his gaze to the leaves on the ground. Truth was, he was thinking about leaving. About leaving the Soviet Union and living away from the terrible , in a nice little cottage by the river.
Lithuania had an understanding towards Russia that Estonia could not comprehend. He had every reason to be as mad at as Estonia was. Estonia kept raking the leaves. He's told Lithuania a few times about his idea, and as much as Lithuania hated going against the rules, he admitted that would be best.
Latvia said it was ridiculous. Leaving the Soviet Union? Well, Estonia was the 'calm Baltic' after all, the logical one, not a title he earned by being ridiculous. It's not like he had nowhere to go. Russia did his best to secure the iron curtain and make sure no outside information reached them, but Estonia had his way of finding things out, of hearing the hidden static and picking up crummy hints and storing them away for later.
He knew Finland, his lifelong friend, was going to war with Russia very soon, and was not very far away from the area at all. He might be watching Estonia rake the leaves right now. Estonia held the rake with one hand and waved wildly with the over, just in case Finland was watching. Maybe he was even waving back right now.
Estonia saw a few white snowflakes fall from the sky, and whirl around in the air, before a few more joined them, and a few more. Soon, the entire garden was covered in a thin layer of snow, and more kept dancing in the wind to join them. Latvia ran outside with Fatvia, who jumped around the yard, eating the snowflakes. Estonia smiled up at the white, clear sky. It was finally winter.