I'm not sure if you guys already knew this, but I think the format looks better if you set it at ¾ a page instead of a full page. Well, for my story anyway. The setting for it is at the top right of this table if you don't know.

Enjoy~

Chapter III

It so happened that Russia was staring out that one window—that one window that was splattered with blood and snow on that one day.

It was a fixation he had adored.

The red liquid trickling down the frosted panes into the countless ice crystals fascinated him. He would often experiment on his precious person just to see if it'd create the same effect.

God, he loved that too—more, even. The flushed skin ridden with tears and blood sent waves of overwhelming revelry throughout him—it was wonderful, blissful in its own twisted way.

And then he hated that as well.

Sometimes—no—all the time, he would be confused. The gentle feel of silky brown hair sliding between his fingers did appeal to him, and so did the sound of his strangled screams as he choked on his own blood. Yet no matter what hell Ivan had put him through, he still retained that glowing ember. It gave off a lovely light—the only thing he, Ivan, could reach for.

That was a very long time ago

Lithuania was right beside him with a hand placed on his lap. Ivan found it comforting. "The weather is nice today. The rainclouds from yesterday cleared up."
Lithuania figured something was bothering him when he didn't respond at all.

"What are you thinking about?"

"…No one will ever forgive me." It wasn't exactly an answer to his question, but Ivan felt he needed to let Toris know. He seemed to be upset about his notion though. He was sorry—he didn't mean to trouble him.

But Toris only entwined his fingers—they were soft, like always—with his own cold fingers, blanketing them in heat. He couldn't help but have his free hand join them.
"We are all…" he tapped every one of his fingers as he spoke in soft tones. "…Looking…" The Lithuanian's thumb landed on the Russian's smallest finger. "…For forgiveness. " And then he gazed up at him, green orbs half-hidden by dark lashes. "We can only hope for grace."

"And me…?" He asked. To be free from all of this sounded too good to even be fathomable. He could not erase hatred—the past. He was hatred. But then again, Toris wouldn't lie to him—not now. It was going to be different now, so maybe he could be…

"You'll be fine," Lithuania murmured, placing a light kiss on his forehead and everything felt right again.

He continued, "If you'd like, you can stay with me. It'll only be for a little while—until you get better." Russia noticed the anxious undertones. Was he afraid? Why would he be?

Russia rested his head on the other's shoulder, closing his eyes. "If that's what you want."

Toris squeezed his hand and he reopened his eyes. "What do you want though?"

What did he want? He wanted an escape. He wanted to be somewhere bright, somewhere away from the cold—anywhere with Toris. Russia pressed their hands together even tighter. "I'll go."

Maybe this was one step closer to that light.

-x-X-x-

A week passed and Lithuania found himself in the company of both England and America.

"So… I guess we've reached an agreement then?"

They were seated at a small round table. England jerked, it seemed he had been in some kind of stupor while stirring his tea even though the sugar had long been dissolved.

"I'm sorry, what?"

America shot him a look as Lithuania tentatively took a sip of his own tea.

"You're a hypocrite, you know? I've been saying it'll be fine for Russia to recuperate at Lithuania's since it's safer. Oh and that he has our complete support, just as long as he lets us know how it's going every once in a while."

Lithuania murmured a thanks but he doubt anyone heard.

"Fine," England responded, irritated. "But would you stop talking like that?It's bloody annoying…"

America smirked at his success. "Sounds good then. So, Lithuania, is there anything else?"

The brunette shook his head. "No, that's it at the moment."

England leaned forward so suddenly that Toris feared for a moment he was going to knock over his cup. "How long do you think it'll take for things to return to normal?"

"N-normal?" Lithuania blinked. He knew the question was going to be brought up sooner or later—but it didn't mean he had a solid answer for it. "I'm not really sure. It's been two weeks ever since and he's gotten a little better, but progress is still rather slow and this isn't something we'll be able to fix overnight."

England sat back, sighing and rubbing his temples. "The wanker… Yes, you're right. We'll have to let things take their course. You have my backing as well then."

Lithuania nodded and got up from his seat. "That's all then. Thank you for meeting with me, it's appreciated." He inclined his head in their direction and left the room, shutting the large doors behind him.

"Poor bloke," Arthur remarked when he left, "he does seem pretty worn out. Are you sure this was a smart choice?"

Alfred scratched the side of his head. "Now I'm not so sure, but he seems pretty determined. Remember the last meeting? He was kind of… uh… passionate I guess."

Arthur gave him an odd look. "You don't think…?"

America chortled, waving his hand in dismissal. "It's pretty believable but let's not hurt ourselves thinking about it."

England rolled his eyes, exasperated. The idiot never really took things seriously, did he?

"But seriously now. Do you think Lithuania will be able to defend himself and Russia with his current military power?"

America shrugged. "It's hard to say. He managed to stay out of war for a long time now, I wouldn't be surprised if it shrunk a little ever since then, but I wouldn't worry about it either. Didn't we say he had our support?"

"Well I'm thinking that over."

He looked at him questioningly, "Why? Don't. I know him, you know him. He's a good guy."

England remained silent, thinking hard. No doubt at least one country would try to get a piece of Russia for themselves, whether it be by force or "peaceful" negotiations. He knew that Russian territory was one of the few remaining oil sources known which troubled him even more. If it weren't for the fact that Russia was shielded (if only partially) with his current alliances, Arthur wouldn't be surprised if the whole country was split into pieces by a third party by now.

But then again, what if those third parties formed an alliance, or staged an attack with his already existing alliances? Lithuania would be forced to defend his neighbor and then England and America would have no choice but to join him as part of their agreement.

But there was no way someone was going to start a third world war over oil alone.

Maybe he was just worrying too much. A large country such as Russia overwhelmed with this many war damages was alarming, but maybe Toris did have it under control.

Toris was strong, he mused. It was true he lacked nuclear missiles or other WMDs of his own, but he didn't need those to keep the Baltics together or to take in another country under his wing.

He was a good guy.

-x-X-x-

"How did it go?"

Lithuania hung his blazer on one of the entrance room chairs. Latvia was standing not too far from him with an armload of papers for him to sign later.

"Great I guess. America has confidence in me and so does UK, but not as much." Lithuania sighed. "But it could've been way worse I guess. The other countries must know by now so…" he shrugged.

Latvia nodded. "Well then, I'll just leave these in your office. I haven't read them so I'm not sure what they are."

"Thanks." He turned towards the kitchen. "Oh, by the way, where's Estonia?"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you, he's been gone for a while. He told me he had a meeting with someone… I forgot whom though. Talking about meetings, what about Ukraine?"

Lithuania jolted. He had almost forgotten! He already accepted to grant an audience so their meeting was scheduled for tomorrow noon. "Eh… Thanks for reminding me. I'm meeting with Miss Ukraine tomorrow." He sighed again, "Good thing I took care of everything though. The house is getting dusty, I should probably clean…" The last part wasn't really directed at anybody but himself.

"Okay then," Raivis replied before disappearing behind the office doors.

Lithuania set to taking out the cleansing fluid, rag, and duster. However, a loud series of knocks echoed from the front door, startling him into knocking over the bottle.

"Who is it now," Lithuania thought to himself, exasperated.

He unlocked the door a little harder than necessary and answered it. "Uhm, how may I—" he stopped in mid-sentence. His face was met with a gaping steel hole that was barely a foot away.

"Hey, long time no see," East Germany, or Prussia, said, cocking the magnum in his hand.

"You…" Lithuania narrowed his eyes. He knew that one shot from the gun would blast away more than just his head. "What are you doing?"

Prussia smirked. "I'm just here for a little bargaining that's all. Now aren't you supposed to welcome me in? I heard Lithuanians were excellent hosts."

Toris had no choice but to step aside and hold the door open. "I don't know what you're hoping to gain, but you're not going to get away with this."

He only laughed as he stepped in. "I think you do know what I want—and relax—who said I had any plans on killing you?"

"What?"

Prussia's smirk grew wider—Lithuania hated it. "Say if I shot here-" he jerked his gun which was still aimed at Toris's face, "Or here-" he lowered the gun so that it pointed towards his heart, "you'd die won't you?" Then he snapped his fingers with his other hand. "Just like that. It wouldn't be any fun." He lowered the gun to his side to Lithuania's puzzlement. "Besides, I just showed up. It wouldn't be fair for either of us if this ended too soon."
He added, "And don't even think of surrendering. I want this to be worth my time." He spat and Toris kept himself from flinching.

He still didn't understand why Prussia had shown up at his doorstep all of a sudden, armed. "So what are you planning to take from me?"

He shrugged in mock indecisiveness. "Some Baltic shores, Russian land sounds nice too even if it is a bit cold. It'll be good for profit though."

"It's not my place to hand out land just like that," Lithuania said, his voice dripping with venom, "especially when that land isn't mine to hand out in the first place. Try something else." He knew he was treading on dangerous ground but he was too angry to care.

Prussia shook his head. "That's not how it's supposed to go. I'm not expecting my requests to be met in an instant. I'm not stupid either-- do you even know why I'm going to you for this?"

Lithuania only glared at him.

"Because if I decided to invade Russia—as easy as it would be—everyone else would get on my case about it and West will never let me out of his sight. However-" he held up a single finger with his free hand. "-If I have you persuade the others to surrender some of their territory, then things will be perfectly fine. They all love you, right? I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off."

"No," Lithuania replied coldly, "I'm not going by your rules or demands."

Gilbert sighed. "Yeah, I knew you'd say that. I was kind of hoping for that response too."

Toris didn't bother to ask.

"Alright, listen up then. I'm the one who's armed here. If you don't listen to me, I'll have to shoot you in your leg or something until you actually listen." He gestured with his gun and Lithuania couldn't help but draw his foot back a bit. "Or," he added, "I can be nice and give you a chance to fight. If I win, you do what I tell you to do with no complaints; and if you win, I'll leave you alone. So how's it going to be?"

Lithuania thought about Latvia who was probably in his room, away but aware of the scene. Estonia was out and will probably stay like that for the rest of the day. Russia was still resting in one of Lithuania's spare bedrooms. Everyone was safe—for the time being at least. If he can beat Prussia here, things will turn out fine and it'll be one less thing to worry about.

"The latter," Toris said. He wasn't sure what he meant by "to fight" but hopefully it wasn't with firearms.

As if he was reading his mind, Prussia tossed back his magnum, which skidded on the tile and out the door, far from either of their reaches. Next, he slid a hand into his uniform to pull out something sharp.

Lithuania had a second to react as he caught the flying knife by the handle. The blade was curved and thick—it was obviously made for combat. He tested the tip to see if it could stand up for use—It was sturdy.

Toris looked up to see Prussia pull out a similar weapon to his. He twirled it between his fingers into the desired position. Without saying anything more, he lunged forward, swinging his arm at Lithuania's face.

Toris stumbled back clumsily to avoid the attack. He barely had enough time to right himself before throwing his knife forward to deflect a blow aimed for his middle.

"You're really slow. I guess six hundred years didn't do you justice," Prussia goaded as he delivered a set of heavy blows.

Toris felt his weight and strength in every strike. There was no doubt the other had the advantage. He hadn't fought like this in a very long time.

Toris moved his arm faster to go on the offensive. Up- left- right- up- down. To his dismay, Prussia blocked every blow with ease. To the right, then to the left. Lithuania was forced a step back.

His green eyes synchronized with the movement of the blades.

Come on… I used to be so good at this. Just block out everything else… His brow furrowed in deep concentration, then he noticed a lag in Prussia's movements. Wasting no time at all, Lithuania thrust out his arm towards his chest.

Prussia avoided the attack—but just barely. The teeth of his knife had snagged on the uniform, effectively ripping it. He tsk'd.

"Well there goes one set. I sort of liked it too."

"They're all the same," Lithuania retorted through clenched teeth. No distractions.

Prussia only chuckled and stabbed at Lithuania's own chest. He swerved to the side to avoid getting cut.

However, the position was too awkward for him to strike back. Prussia took advantage of it and aimed for the face. Lithuania twisted his feet over each other to get out of the way. Too slow, he thought in panic.

And less than a split second later, something warm was dribbling down his cheek.

He bit his lip and tried to ignore the burning.

The corner of Gilbert's mouth twitched. "Well aren't you lucky. Any moment later than that and I probably would've been able to cut your face properly."

Lithuania replied with an attack to the chest. Prussia blocked it with his knife and the teeth of the two blades caught against each other. Toris forced his weight onto his weapon to inch the tip closer to his skin. Prussia responded by forcing his blade outwards as well.

Just one slip… and we're both dead, He thought apprehensively. He felt a faint vibration and he wasn't sure if it was from him or Prussia. He stared angrily into his burgundy eyes. You're not winning this one.

Prussia, however, twisted his blade to force Lithuania's away. They both stepped back in anticipation. Lithuania took the first move and aimed for the heart again. Prussia dodged this one altogether and threw out his arm, missing Lithuania's side by a hair.

He then brought the knife up in a swoop; Lithuania leaned in a curve to evade it. Prussia leered as he took advantage of the momentary distraction and grabbed the Lithuanian by his hair.

"Ah-fuck!" Toris hissed. His head was twisted back as he was forced to turn around. He couldn't get a clear aim so he cast his blade forward blindly. It met with something hard and the next thing he knew, the weapon was twisted out of his grip.

The hold on his head tightened. He was dragged and then for a moment, he felt weightless.

His fore head met with the corner of the nearby table, sending stars into his vision. Then his hair was seized again. Lithuania struggled to retaliate but blood from his fresh wound dribbled profusely into his eyes, blinding him. His conscious was faltering and stars continued to swim from under his eyelids. He couldn't see and he couldn't think straight—he was at Prussia's mercy.

D-damn it all! I can't lose!

The grip on his hair relinquished only to refasten itself around his throat. He was then lifted, struggling, into the air.
The back of his head burst with pain, and all was black.

-x-X-x-

Prussia stood over his defeated opponent. Lithuania was slumped against the wall. His head had left a smear of blood against the white paint and the window above him had cracked.

"I hit him pretty hard," he mused, "but he's still bleeding. It's probably just a concussion. A bad one." He shrugged to himself. "Well I shouldn't be worrying."

Prussia set to cleaning off his knife on the Lithuanian's clothes. Then he gathered the other dropped blade and scowled. He let him touch one of his precious knives for this. He'll have to think more about these things in the future, now he had a dead weight to take care of.

"Toris?"

That voice—! Prussia spun around, his blade still in hand, but his gun was outside, far from reach. "Stay back," he demanded.

Russia tilted his head, his eyes following the diminutive splatters of blood and onto the unconscious figure that lay ahead of him. So this person was…

"What did you do to Toris?" Russia asked, his voice terrifyingly calm.

Prussia narrowed his eyes. The man before him was still as tall since he had last saw him, yet he looked frailer—smaller, and he knew it wasn't the absence of his coat that made it seem so.

He still gave off a frightening aura.

"I asked YoU wHaT you did To tOris…" His voice transformed into something unstable—the pitch of it changed erratically. Prussia took a step back. He full well knew what that meant. The mauve irises began to drive daggers through his soul.

"PleAsE lEaVe… " He took a step forward. "Please leave. I wAnT to hurt you. Toris wOuLdN't want that, but he'll fOrGiVe me just this once…"

Prussia's gaze darted towards the door, it was only a meter or two away and it was wide open.

Fuck, this hurt his pride and even worse, fear began manifest in his center. It wasn't supposed to go like this—who knew when his next chance would be? His people couldn't wait any longer.

Prussia turned towards the door and left in long strides, not pausing to pick up his discarded gun, nor look over his shoulder.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Germany was never going to let this go.

-x-X-x-

Russia took slow, deliberate steps towards the slumped figure. His gaze lowered as he studied the drying blood on Toris's face. The raw patch that was half-hidden by his disarrayed bangs glistened but the bleeding had stopped. Ivan knelt down beside him, his knees shaking.

With the utmost care, he reached forward to brush the brown hair away from his bloodied face. "Toris, I told you to be careful," he spoke softly. He took Lithuania who fell into his arms without resistance. The back of his head rested against his collarbone and red daubed onto his scarf but he took no notice.

It wasn't fair. He was trying so hard, yet Toris always ended up hurt. It wasn't his fault—it wasn't supposed to be his fault.

"R-Russia?" He looked up at the tentative-sounding voice. It was Latvia who was standing at the foot of the stairs. His tiny body was shaking—he was scared.

Scared for Lithuania or scared of him? Forlornness settled in his stomach as he searched his memory. Latvia was always trembling in his presence, wasn't he?

"Lithuania is…"

"W-we need to get him help…" He said.

Russia looked down at Toris with a blank face. "Help…?" Then awareness of the severity of his injuries clicked in his mind. His eyes widened in horror.

There was a clamor at the still-open front door. Both of them swapped their attention to see Poland stumble in. He bent over forward as he struggled to catch his breath.
"I'm here… I tried to get here-" he paused to take in a gulp air, "-as soon as I could… after you called. Oh God, Liet…" He staggered over to where Lithuania was; he was still in Russia's hold. "I'll have to… like… ask about this later."

Russia looked up to study the blonde's face. His cheeks were flushed but the rest of his exposed skin was pale with fear. His olive-colored eyes were wide and staring at him with the utmost urgency.
Poland was… Lithuania's friend. That's right. He was dear to him.

His head began to spin as his vision hazed over. Poland was saying something but he couldn't make out his words clearly enough. Ivan's reply never left his lips—he had already passed out.

-x-X-x-

It was Feliks and Ivan who were seated at Toris's bedside. The brunette had been brought in over an hour ago—he was still out cold. Ivan stared on with a dismal expression while Feliks checked over the IV drips to make sure everything was right.

White bandages circled around Toris's head and a single band-aid was placed on his cheek. With all the gore cleaned off his face, he looked livelier in a way. The doctors said there weren't any permanent physical damages, but they would have to wait for him to wake up in order to make a proper judgment.

However, his injuries weren't the only problem. If what Raivis said was true, then Prussia had indeed carried out an act of war. Poland had already learned about America, England, and France's response to the incident. Their feelings were mixed but needless to say, they were still furious.

Poland was incensed himself, but he was still against Liet going to war. There was no way something involving this many countries could be contained in a two-sided conflict (thinking about the last world war made the line traveling down his torso prickle) and he didn't look forward to ending an era of peace they had all managed to maintain—In short, Poland was worried about the other's reactions. He couldn't tell them to calm down either—what Prussia did was completely uncalled for.

Russia, on the other hand, seemed to be impassive about the other nations' thoughts. The last thing he said had been at Liet's house. Feliks found it odd for Ivan to remain this quiet—normally, he would involve himself in anything that wasn't supposed to involve him and offer his assistance (though Poland wasn't sure if it was always considered as such).

It hadn't been a long time since he heard that Russia was recuperating at Lithuania's. He was shocked and concerned at the same time when he first received the news. The two countries' relations were unclear since everybody had little to no contact with the larger nation during his civil war, but Feliks was under the impression that Lithuania had always disliked Russia. Well, he was proven otherwise.

He himself didn't hate the nation—nor did he like him.

But the decade-long war had also clearly altered Ivan. Feliks no longer found himself on edge in his company. The thought of a repressed Russia seemed so alien to him, yet here he was in the same room with him in total harmony.

As much as he would like to keep it passive, the quiet air caused copious amounts of tension to build up in his chest.

"I hope he wakes up, like soon," he said awkwardly. Russia blinked and looked at him. Poland began to wish he had just stayed quiet.

"Hn," Ivan rested his chin against the back of his linked hands, "Da. He will."

"Oh well, then… How do you feel about this?" Poland wasn't sure if that came out right—he just wanted to maintain the conversation.

Russia shrugged. "I feel… angry that someone would do this, but then I'm relieved that Toris will be okay." His gaze lowered and his expression changed to that of remorse. "Ah… But I wasn't any better, no?"

Feliks wasn't sure how to respond to that. "We've all done some totally bad things, haven't we?"

Ivan cast his gaze to the side; his eyes were half-lidded. "Maybe so. Haven't I hurt you as well?"

Poland's hand automatically flew to his chest. The long, caved-in scar could be felt through the cloth of his top.

The permanent infliction was more than apparent, yet Poland never really thought about it. "It was a long time ago. It, like, isn't noticeable with most of the clothes I have, so it's totally fine."

Russia nodded slowly and didn't pursue the subject any further, but Poland had the feeling the matter didn't leave his mind.

-x-X-x-

The evening had dimmed into night and the curtains of the ward had been drawn. Poland was curled up on his chair fast asleep while Russia remained awake.

Earlier, the two had made it clear to each other that they wanted to be there when Lithuania awoke.

Ivan didn't trust himself to fall asleep. The last thing he wanted to do was arouse the two of them with his nightly episodes. He didn't even feel tired, which was unusual since he was still prone to fainting spells.

"Nn…" came a groan from Lithuania, the first sound since his hospitalization. Russia reached forward, elated that he was finally getting a reaction from him. "Nn-no… stop…" He froze—Lithuania was not announcing his regained consciousness, but talking in his sleep.

The Lithuanian's brow creased as he tossed his head to the side. "I-I'm sorry… Please don't…" His entire body was convulsing now. Russia couldn't bring himself to try and hold him still. "I'm sorry… S-someone… someone help me please… please…" A dry sob escaped his lips. Toris's hysterical murmuring didn't wake up Poland, but Russia was still there to hear everything. He couldn't do anything but listen in his own petrified silence.

"I-I didn't…." His words broke into indiscernible sounds.

He stopped mumbling for a moment. Russia pleaded to himself that that was the last of it.

Toris wasn't done though. In a cracking tone, he whispered, "I lo-love you…"

And then all was still.

Ivan was left to cry silently alone in the dark.

-x-X-x-

I'm really sorry this is late! I'm in Arizona for part of my spring break and where I'm staying doesn't have internet Dx (I'm uploading this at my brother's dorm, I'm so paranoid that I left a lot of mistakes in here x-X) I made this chapter longer than I planned so I could make up for it. The hospital part was supposed to be saved for Chapter four.

This chapter made me realize that I'm not very good with Poland's character ID' I'm all right with the dialogue but I have no idea how Poland thinks. I mean, people don't really add words like "totally", "uncool", "like", and "to the max" to their thoughts, do they? That being said, I think I made him really serious, so he seems out of character orz. I didn't really have much of a choice though D; -flail-

Oh, I know I made Prussia seem like a total dick, I'm sorry Dx. I needed an antagonist and since Prussia wasn't on very good terms with Lithuania (?) and Russia, I figured he would've been the best choice. Don't get me wrong though, I love Prussia. He's just… mislead in this story otl.

I hope I didn't overdue this chapter either owo'. I need to organize myself more~

Anyways, last but definitely not least, thank you for all the kind reviews last chapter ;A; I honestly love reading from you guys~! –showers you all with love–

That's it, Ciao~