The bad news is that this chapter's a little shorter than the last one. The good news is that the next chapter is almost completely finished, so hopefully a quick following update will balance things out?
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The sounds of violence stopped a few minutes later; Liet whispered a heartfelt thank you that at least Russia didn't drag it out.
Creeping up the stairs and peeking down the hall, he glimpsed the huge nation disappearing into Poland's room, a limp body in his arms. He reemerged a moment later, empty-handed; Liet ducked out of view, heart pounding, heard a door open and the sounds of something heavy hitting the wood floor. He risked another glance—the door to his room was open.
Russia was ransacking his room. Of course. If Poland was guilty, then Liet was obviously his accomplice. But he had no contraband items, so he was fine. Nothing to be done about it.
But, while the arctic nation was distracted, could he…? No, better not risk it. He slipped back downstairs to the kitchen. He'd go check on Poland when Russia wasn't on the war path.
Estonia had made tea. Lithuania accepted a cup gratefully, fingers curling around the burning china as if hoping the physical pain would outweigh the rest. The Baltics huddled around the table, focused on their drink, trying to purge the echoes of Poland's beating from their thoughts.
"He has no common sense," Estonia remarked after a few minutes of silence.
"He's stubborn," Liet responded, flinching as something crashed to the floor upstairs.
The taller brother sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Russia in a bad mood puts us all at risk," he said, choosing his words carefully.
Lithuania frowned. "Are you saying that this is Poland's fault?"
"No," Estonia answered mildly. "But he…"
"He causes problems on purpose," Latvia interjected.
"What do you expect me to—"
"All I'm trying to say," Estonia said evenly, before his brothers could start arguing, "is that when Poland pulls these sorts of stunts, we all suffer for it."
Lithuania was silent, knowing Estonia was right and knowing that it wasn't going to change anything. "He's not going to stop, you know," he murmured.
"I am not so sure."
The Baltics jumped, tea sloshing onto the table, Latvia's cup slipping to the floor and shattering loudly.
Russia leaned against the door frame, arms crossed. "Litva. Come with me," he said, beckoning as he straightened and headed for the stairs.
What now? He couldn't have found anything in his room, Liet didn't have anything there.
His brothers stared resolutely at the table as he followed the huge nation out.
Through the living room, up the stairs, down the hall. Lithuania glanced into his room as they passed by—desk drawers emptied, sheets thrown to the floor, bookshelves cleared—a small disaster zone. It was going to take forever to clean that up…
Russia opened the door to his office and held it, waiting expectantly. Liet came to a halt, unwilling to go further. Into Russia's office? Might as well walk straight into the tundra in the dead of winter, emphasis on dead.
Seeing his hesitation, the arctic nation nudged, "After you, Litva."
Taking a slow breath for composure, Lithuania crossed the threshold; Russia entered and the door clicked shut behind them.
A chill settled over Liet like an early frost. I'm in Russia's office. This is a whole new level of bad.
The room wasn't any larger than the bedrooms, with most of the spacing along the left wall devoted to bookshelves. To the right of the door was a liquor cabinet that looked like it had been lifted out of a noble's house, a stark contrast to the decrepit phonograph next to it resting atop a small shelf neatly lined with records. A desk occupied the room's back center, a high-backed chair behind it, two smaller chairs in front of it. Directly behind the desk hung the Soviet flag, huge and bright—the focal point of the room even more so than the desk, it commanded attention immediately, left no question as to the owner's loyalty. To its right was a framed picture of Lenin, and to the left a faded poster from 1918, a stern soldier pointing at the reader with the text, 'Citizen, have you joined the Red Army?' Lithuania was certain that the only apolitical thing in the entire room was the painting of a sunflower field next to the window— he knew the framed picture of a snowy birch forest on the window's other side symbolized 'the spirit of Russia', who was presumably about to hurt him.
"Please, take a seat, Litva," the huge nation said amiably, all politeness and courtesy as he seated himself behind the desk. Liet wondered if that wasn't the tone he used when dealing with human diplomats.
The Baltic sank into the chair in front of him, thoughts racing. I'm in trouble, I don't know why; please let me get out of this in one piece. He could feel the faint tremors beginning.
"So," Russia began, taking an envelope out of his pocket and placing it on the polished surface of his desk. "You are writing letters to Germany?"
A letter, addressed to Germany first with Poland's name underneath—
Liet's stomach twisted.
"No!" he blurted, panicked. "Not to Germany! T- To Poland…" The last letter he had written to Poland, he hadn't sent it because the blonde had come back, oh god, why hadn't he destroyed it?!
"Hm, I can believe that," Russia said, extracting the letter and looking at it curiously. "It's entirely in Polish, a language I'm sure Germany considers beneath his study." He paused, offering the letter to the Baltic, who took it with trembling hands. "Read it. Aloud."
Shaking visibly, Liet struggled to read the wavering words, translating to Russian as he did. "D- Dear Feliks,"— a comma meant that things were okay— "I hope this l- letter finds you in better health than w- when I last saw you. I haven't gotten a-any word from you; I wonder if you're getting these m- missives at all. I'm getting a lot better at cooking Russian food, though I've ruined two sh- shirts—" shirts, I've been interrogated twice "—with stains. Ivan's sisters came to visit for a week; we went ice skating and had a sleigh ride and a s- sn- snowball fight…" Lithuania barely managed the word, remembering gun shots, and almost couldn't continue. "The snow's melting now though, finally. Winters here are very long." A snort of amusement from Russia; Liet paused but the man didn't say anything. "I- Ivan is out of the house most of the day, working. He's building new railroads and schools, and training with his soldiers..." Liet swallowed, wetting his lips and continuing. "Feliks, if you get this letter at all, write me back. I- I need to know if you're okay. Let me know if you need new shoes—" shoes, Do you have food? The unwritten question: Is Germany still starving you? "M- Maybe Ivan will let me send you a pair. I hope to hear from you soon. Signed, Toris…"
Lithuania lowered the paper slowly, staring at the wood grain pattern on the front of the desk, waiting for the arctic nation's reaction.
"This is what you wrote verbatim?" Russia queried.
The Baltic nodded jerkily. Please believe me…
Russia held out his hand, took the letter back. "I will get an official translation tomorrow," he said casually, tucking the letter back into the envelope. "You should be more careful with what you write, Litva. People see letters like this, written in Polish of all things, they worry." He chuckled, a bemused smile that didn't reach his cold eyes. "You wouldn't want people to think you're spying, da? Or better yet, plotting a resistance!"
Russia dismissed him. Lithuania managed to get down the stairs before he broke into a run, pushing past his brothers to burst out the kitchen door into backyard. He staggered into the side of the house and lost his dinner.
The warning was clear: don't send letters to Poland, or I will charge you with inciting rebellion. Liet sagged against the wall, gulping the cool night air like a fish would water, staring up at the black sky speckled with stars. Gradually his heart rate calmed and the tremors subsided, and Lithuania went back inside.
"Are you alright?" Estonia asked the minute he walked in.
"I'm fine," Liet lied easily. "Russia just had a question, that's all. It's fine now."
And he desperately hoped that was true.
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Lithuania heard nothing more about the letter.
Poland was under solitary confinement again, until he 'learned proper manners'. Liet almost laughed at this—proper manners, Poland? But this meant the duration of the confinement was dictated by Russia's fickle whims, and in the meantime Liet was back to sneaking into Poland's room. Yet he quickly found this nearly impossible. Russia's schedule was suddenly sporadic; some days he went to work on the construction projects, other days he stayed in his office, sending Lithuania out of the house to deliver this message here or retrieve these things from there. And the huge nation abruptly decided that Liet could handle all of the shopping himself as well, demanding that Estonia and Latvia stay home to assist with the chores (and by assist, Russia really meant that they could do the chores themselves). Of course, Liet always seemed to have the greatest number of errands when Russia was out of the house. Oh, and Estonia and Latvia would take Poland his meals, as Liet was far too busy…
Lithuania saw what Russia was doing—divide and conquer, keep him away from Poland—and resented it, but there was nothing he could say except, 'Da, Russia Zimavich; of course, Russia Zimavich'. He took Estonia aside when he could and asked him about the confined blond, but Estonia shook his head: Poland wouldn't talk to him. He was pretty battered though, his wrist swollen, probably sprained—he has it wrapped at least.
Estonia fidgeted and looked away, mumbling, "He said he wanted to see you."
But Liet couldn't find any time. Whenever Russia was out of the house, he gave the Baltic so much to do that Liet didn't get back until shortly before Russia did. And he didn't dare try it when the huge nation was home, not when Russia seemed dead-set on accusing him of collaborating with Poland. Just looking for an excuse…
But a week and a half after Poland was first confined, Lithuania threw caution to the wind and tried sneaking into Poland's room one afternoon while Russia was home.
And found the door locked.
Cursing silently, the Baltic retreated to his room for a paper clip to pick the lock. Of course Russia decided to lock Poland in this time around. He paused at his desk as he bent the clip out of shape, hesitating. This was truly an awful idea, Russia could come out of his office and catch him at any moment, and there was no possibilityof talking his way out of that…
But he peeked at Russia's door, then bolted to Poland's as quietly as he could, jamming the bit of metal into the keyhole. Heart pounding in his ears, he jiggled the lock, praying the teeth fell into place and—
He tried turning the knob and it opened. The breath he hadn't known he was holding rushed out in relief and he darted in quickly.
The look of caution and fear melted from the blonde's face the minute he saw who it was. He let out a shaky laugh.
"Geez, Liet, like, knock or something before you come in, yeah? I like, totally thought it was Russia again…"
Lithuania opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. "How are you feeling?" Poland looked terrible…
The boy slouched back on his bed, leaning against the wall. "Pretty shitty," he admitted, flipping his hair out of his face self-consciously. One of his eyes was blackened, and the bruise on his jaw stretched across to his healing split lip. His left wrist was tightly wrapped in a length of gauze, but there was no blood. "Wasn't as bad as last time. He totally screwed up my wrist though, the jerk." He wiggled his fingers experimentally, suppressed a wince. "At least it wasn't my right."
Lithuania nodded slowly. "Yeah…" Why was Poland still in such rough shape? His wounds should have healed by now; it had been nearly two weeks… "What have you been up to?" he asked, not seeing any books or papers near the blond.
"Oh, nothing really. Thinking. You were right about the bugs; I found one," Poland leaned over and tapped the light shade of the lamp on the bedside table. "So I've been singing, like, my national anthem and random songs, God Save Poland, Sacred Love of the Beloved Homeland, The Oath, you know, stuff like that."
"Good god, Poland…" Lithuania muttered. Right next to the wire… It's a wonder Russia hadn't gagged the boy yet. Although, Russia didn't speak Polish, so there was no way he'd know that all of those songs were highly patriotic and about as rebellious as possible against foreign occupiers.
Poland frowned at him. "So, like, what took you so long?" he demanded.
"I was trying to wait for when he wasn't home, but he's been keeping me really busy," Liet explained, coming over to the bed. No need to explain who he was.
"So he's gone now?"
"No… I came anyways," Lithuania muttered, thinking of Russia sitting a few rooms away.
Poland's grin was so bright it hurt. "That's awesome," he said. "I like, knew you had it in you, definitely." He paused, the smile fading slowly. "I was worried, when you didn't come," he admitted, sounding vaguely embarrassed. "I thought maybe you felt too guilty for not helping me…"
Lithuania blinked. "What?"
"When Russia was beating me up, duh," Poland said with a touch of exasperation. "But like, you came today, so you're obviously not a wuss, you know? Hey, do you think you could get me something not full of communist bullshit? He totally took everything out of my room that wasn't—"
"Poland, what was I supposed to do?" Liet interrupted. "I couldn't stop Russia."
"Probably not on your own, yeah, but that's why we work together. If we both—"
The room was still bugged. "We're not working together."
"What?" Poland sounded confused.
Lithuania shut his eyes briefly, hating what he was about to do. "Poland, I can't… fight Russia the way you do," he confessed. The smile faded from his friend's face. "You can resist, but I can't- I can't help you. I can't risk my people that way—"
"Oh what, you think I don't care what happens?" the blonde snapped, sitting up straight.
Shit. "No, that's not what I meant, I—" Liet tried to backpedal, but Poland rode over him.
"You think I'm doing this for fun, Liet? You think I don't know that Russia could take this out on my people?" he asked in disbelief, then anger. "I'm doing this for them. They're so strong, they give me strength—they want this, I could never even do it if it weren't for them!"
"Poland, I didn't mean—"
"I don't know how you aren't fighting," Poland said, voice steadily growing louder. "I don't understand how you can just sit there and let him walk all over you!"
"I'm trying to protect my people!" Lithuania defended.
"By whoring yourself out to Russia?!"
Liet gaped, stunned into silence. H- had he just actually suggested…?
Poland was scarlet. "D- Don't think I don't notice how he looks at you, how he- he- touches you," he continued haltingly, clutching the blankets tightly. "And you just let him—"
"I am not sleeping with Russia," Liet ground out through gritted teeth, fists clenched at his side.
The look on Poland's face told the Baltic that Poland desperately wanted to believe him, but fell short. "Then why—"
"Because he could beat the shit out of me without even trying!" Liet exploded, flinging his arms out. "Because he could kill my people! Because I can't do a god-damned thing to stop him; I'm not strong enough! Because I'm scared, I don't know what to do, I can't do anything! I can't help anyone! Not you or my brothers or my people or myself!" He could feel the tears streaming down his face, matching the words that poured from his mouth. "We can't win against Russia, Poland! We just can't. Not right now at least…"
"You've got to try, Liet—"
"I am trying!" Lithuania protested. "I'm trying to keep my people alive!"
"What's it going to take to get you to fight back, Liet? A massacre?" Poland demanded incredulously.
Lithuania bit back a completely inflammatory retort and counted to five. "Okay, obviously we can't have this conversation right now," he managed, wiping his cheeks dry. "I'm going to go, alright? I'll be back when I can get away again."
"Fine. Be that way," Poland sulked.
The Baltic shut his mouth and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Oh Poland… He didn't want to have that conversation… But he supposed it had to happen sooner or later. The rebellious blond might be fine with resisting, blowing up ammunition factories and mouthing off to Russia, but Lithuania didn't want to bring any more misfortune on his people than they already had. It didn't mean that Liet wouldn't fight Russia given the opportunity, but he'd rather risk his people when he knew there might actually be a chance to win…
He sighed, and turned to head to his room—
And gasped, jumping back in shock.
Russia was watching him, leaning nonchalantly against the door to his office.
Trembling, Liet stuttered incoherently for a moment before he could get anything intelligible out. "R- Russia Zimavich, I- I-"
Russia's lips twisted into a smirk for an instant before all emotion fell away; he straightened and came over—Lithuania backed away, shielding himself against the expected blow, but Russia stopped before Poland's door, removed a key from his pocket and relocked it. Returning the key to his pocket, he turned to the Baltic, blank violet eyes studying fearful, cautious green.
"I left a shopping list with Estonia downstairs," the arctic nation said emotionlessly. "There should be enough money on the table."
Liet nodded shakily. "Da, Russia Zimavich."
The huge nation treated him to a soft smile, reaching up to caress his cheek. "Good job, Litva," he said quietly.
Liet flinched under the gentle touch, Russia's words hitting him like a punch to the gut.
Russia didn't seem to notice, dropping his hand. "I will see you at dinner then, da?"
At Lithuania's stammered 'da', Russia returned to his office.
Liet stared uncomprehendingly at the spot Russia had been. Russia didn't do anything. Why? Liet had snuck into Poland's room right under his nose and got caught. How— how was he still uninjured?
And the answer hit him almost as hard as Russia's words.
The fight with Poland—Russia wanted to drive a wedge between them, to separate them somehow, and now he didn't have to. Liet had done Russia's work for him. The Baltic hadn't sided with Russia, but Poland never did anything half way: if Liet wasn't actively against Russia, then in Poland's mind, he was with him.
Lithuania was almost looking forward to dinner. For once, he wanted the vodka.
Until then, shopping. And hoping that he didn't come back to find Poland dead in his place.
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Yeah, as I said, short. My apologies, but the next section made the chapter too long...
To give you an idea of all the awful situations Poland has been through over the years, consider this: the Polish national anthem is the only nation anthem that starts with the words "Poland has not perished yet/so long as we still live". The current official lyrics mention Sweden and marching back from successful battles in Italy, but the old lyrics also mentioned Germany and Russia as enemies. And there's a lot of talk about taking things back at sword point. ^^;
Next chapter is forthcoming!
Read and review, comrades!