Today, February 24th, is Estonia's birthday! And to celebrate, this chapter will mostly be in his point of view. :)
The water tank was large, red, and hung almost precariously from the ceiling. Skinny pipes ran into it, supposedly meant to fill the tank with water from the world above. But there must have been something seriously wrong with the world above, because no water was coming out, no matter how hard Estonia banged on the pipes.
There was a nuclear explosion, you idiot, Estonia reminded himself, stepping down off the rickety chair he had been standing on. His whole body ached - arms, legs, head - and his eyes just didn't seem to focus. Sighing, the Estonian sat down on the chair to rest, head fuzzy with exhaustion.It's no use trying anymore. Water's not going to just magically appear in the tank, you know.
With a groan, Estonia put his head in his hands. It's just that I'm so useless! We're all going to die from lack of water, and it's all my fault! Maybe if I were just a little stronger...maybe if I kept trying again and again until it worked...He stared blearily up at the pipes; if he hadn't been so worn out, he would have glared at them.
Oh, who am I kidding? I'm no help to anyone. I can't take care of Russia, I can't get water...hell, I can't even tell Latvia that there's not enough food. I'm just weak little Estonia, who knows too much about how things work but can never do them.
A chill swept through the room, and Estonia burrowed into himself, trying in vain to stay warm. He was starting to feel the beginnings of a headache, and his exhaustion was nearly unbearable. It was no wonder that he then began to weep, shoulders shaking with the force of his muted cries.
He cried for who knows how long, then the sound of padding feet approached him. Caught up in his misery, Estonia didn't even notice until a person lightly tapped his shoulder. "E-estonia? Are you okay?"
Estonia looked up, frowning. Latvia stood in front of him, face creased from sleeping at the table, eyes wide with concern. "A-are you okay?" the boy asked again. "I woke up and heard you c-crying."
"I…" Estonia began. Should I tell him how I feel? Or should I fake happiness? Nah, I could never fake happiness well enough to fool Latvia. Only Lithuania's able to do that. "I'm...n-not okay," he finally said, looking tentatively up at Latvia to see his reaction.
The Latvian nodded. "I'm n-not okay, either." He crept closer, pale face shadowed in the faint light of the flashlight. "E-estonia, I'm s-scared. I d-don't know what's going to happen to us!"
Estonia sighed. "Neither do I, Latvia. I don't think anyone knows."
Latvia let out a long, quavering breath and stared down at his feet. "Are we all...g-going to die?" he asked after a while.
"Well, I hope not, Latvia! But..." Estonia's eyes traveled up to the water tank, and his voice trailed off.
Latvia's gaze moved to the tank, too. "W-what is that?"
"That? It's a water tank."
The Latvian squinted his eyes. "Is there any water in there?"
Estonia frowned. "Ah, I don't know…" His shoulders slumped. "I was trying to see if any would come out if I banged on it, but that didn't seem to work."
"So...you m-mean there's no water?" Latvia's voice trembled. "Then how will...how will we-"
How will we survive? "I…I don't know! We'll just...have to wait and see if any comes out."
The Latvian furrowed his eyebrows in worry, voice becoming more high-pitched. "But...we need water, E-estonia!"
Estonia scrunched up his face, mentally cursing this boy for stating the obvious. "I know, Latvia! Don't you think I know? We'll just have to-" His voice faded off suddenly, and the Estonian stared fixedly at something over his shoulder.
Latvia's fearful gaze shot up to meet Estonia's. "E-estonia? What happened?"
"Shh, just look!" Estonia raised a trembling finger to point in the direction of Russia. The large nation writhed around on the floor, moaning and screeching unintelligible words.
Latvia opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it, for Lithuania was now running jerkily towards him and Estonia with a strange glazed look in his eyes.
"F-fever…" the Lithuanian panted, coming to a clumsy stop right in front of Latvia. "R-russia has...a fever! C-come quick!"
Russia opened his eyes, mind reeling. The fallout shelter was blurry and tilted at a weird angle, and a bright light shone onto his face. Snapping his eyes shut in pain, Russia's foggy mind scrambled to make sense of what he had just seen. What was that...a dream? A hallucination? Was that...what really happened to my country?
Murmuring voices became barely audible through the incessant ringing of his ears.
"...He's stopped screaming," said one. "A-and his legs aren't twitching anymore."
"W-what do you th-think is wrong with h-him?" asked another.
Russia heard a muffled thump, as if someone had kneeled down onto the floor. A cold hand tentatively touched his forehead. "I...don't know for sure," said a different voice, "but I think I know what it means when a nation...has a f-fever."
What? What does it mean when I have a fever? Russia tried to speak, but could just barely open his mouth before...he couldn't move again! The ringing in his ears got louder, nearly covering up someone's trembling voice. "M-move back! H-he's starting to-"
And then the room vanished again, before Russia could even react. Blurry images swirled around him; glimpses of snowy Moscow and the Kremlin, soldiers standing at attention, and Russia's leader: a bald, fat man by the name of Khrushchev.
Russia's head pounded with a splitting headache as the images began to spin faster and faster, rushing past him before he could even register what he was seeing. A dull rumble rose up from the ground, and the whole city of Moscow vibrated and shook.
What is this? What's happening? Russia felt as if he was going to split apart, like some small part of him was about to break away.
And then the Kremlin collapsed. The red brick building crumbled to the ground in a dusty crash, and people screamed, running away from the building in a panicked frenzy. "Earthquake! Earthquake!" someone yelled, adding to the frantic chaos as people rushed away in fear. Russia could see all the people in the Soviet government fall from the Kremlin along with the rubble, dead before they even hit the ground.
He swayed, black dots enveloping his vision. The rumbling faded to a dull roar, the vibration slowed, then everything went black.
"He...he's unconscious," Estonia said, voice quavering. He walked over on shaky legs to peer blearily down at the pale and sweaty Russian.
Latvia's trembling voice rang out into the cold room. "Wh-what happened to him?"
Estonia's face was almost as ashen as Russia's, and he mumbled wearily, "S-something must have destroyed his government. That's w-why...he has a fever."
Lithuania stiffened. "I-is he going to be okay?" he asked, swaying unsteadily on his feet.
"I-I don't know," said Estonia. "No one really knows for sure what happens to a nation when their government is destroyed."
"W-will he die?" Lithuania's voice was urgent.
Estonia shot Lithuania a strange look. "He could die...or he'll just lose all connection with his people and go insane. I really don't know." He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "I...just wish we could all get out of this hellhole alive."
"D-don't you think we will?" asked Latvia, legs shaking violently underneath him.
Tears formed in Estonia's eyes. "I...don't know anymore," he said, shaking his head. "I just d-don't know." He turned away from Latvia, trying his best to keep himself from breaking down and sobbing right there. Please, he thought as his gaze drifted up to the water tank, his vision so blurred with tears that the red paint on the tank looked like streaks of blood. Please work so we all won't die.
So sad… Anyways, to explain this more, when a nation has a fever, it means something horrible has happened to their government. In Russia's case, vibrations from the nuclear bomb triggered an earthquake in Moscow, which destroyed the Kremlin. Since the Kremlin is where the Soviet government works, all the people in Russia's government died. You're probably going to find out how this affects Russia in a chapter or two. :)
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