If you've lived with Russia for any amount of time, you're bound to develop some sort of mental problem. For me, I became a bit OCD when I was nervous. Let's just say, Poland was making me very nervous.

The journey today was normal, for us at least. Poland rode on his pony and talked of trivial things to pass the time. I listened of course as I walked beside him. It was actually pretty nice. Sort of like in the old days when we were together. That's when the trouble started. My mind kept thinking about when we were together. Poland usually just bossed me around, but there were times where we genuinely relied and depended on one another. Those times were probably the happiest of my life. But why did they make me so happy. I didn't feel nearly like this with others like Estonia, Latvia, or even Finland.

When the sun had begun to set, Poland declared that he was too tired to go on. We weren't too terribly far from the place Romano stayed. If we kept going, we could probably reach there before midnight. I suppose there was no real need to rush. I found a nice level place by a stream and helped Poland off his pony. There were a lot of preparations for the campsite. Poland ran off somewhere, so I had to do most of the work myself. I had already set up the tent and collected firewood, but he still wasn't back yet. I looked at the mud prints left by Poland that stained my borrowed shirt.

I should probably get those cleaned out.

I went to the cool clear stream and striped off the shirt. I scrubbed at it furiously. Poland couldn't have gotten lost, could he? I put the shirt in the water again and again. I needed to calm down. If Poland needed help, I probably would have been able to hear him call. He's not that hopeless. My anxiety still ate at me. Germany's shirt was clean, but I was still scrubbing the invisible dirt stains. I focused all of my energy into the nonexistent spot on his shirt. I was so focused that I didn't notice until I felt the gentle hands on my back. The gentle small, hand pushed me face first into the stream.

I was surprised to say the least. I sputtered out the water that was trapped in my mouth. The stream wasn't that deep. Sitting down, it only came up to the middle of my bib cage.

"Ha! You should totally see your face right now!" Poland was at the bank of the stream staring down at me. He had changed from Italy's clothes to a ruffly pink bikini. He was obviously prepared for being wet. As for me, I had once again managed to get my clothes completely soaked. I sighed. I slipped off Germany's shorts and threw them at Poland's face along with the clean shirt.

"You jerk, where did you run off to? You had me really worried."

Poland waded into the water and sunk down. With his hands touching the bed of the stream, he walked them over to me. He was floating above me with his hands on either side of my waist.

"I saw some bad ass wild flowers." Poland lifted one hand out of the water. He smoothed back the wet hair from my face. His cool hands felt nice as my face was getting warmer. His hand went to his chest and slid under his bikini. He pulled out a few small white flowers and proceeded to decorate my hair with them.

His face was so close to mine. His soft pink lips were just a few inches from mine was he reached for the back of my head. He brought back his hand and a sweet smile lit his face.

"You look so fabulous right now, it's like not even funny."

My hand went to his face. His skin was soft and smooth. It lingered there, out of my control. What was I doing? I shoved Poland's face to the side, dunking him in the water.

Under the water, his hair looked like golden streams. When his head surfaced, the smile on his face was far from sweet. It could even be sinister in a way.

"Ah, you broke the rules! That calls for a punishment!" he said.

"Punishment?" I really didn't like where this was going.

"I'm applying Polish Rule, you'll need to…take off your underwear!"

"What? No way! I'm not taking them off!" I took a few steps backward away from Poland.

He crept toward me through the water like a snake. His hand snatched forward and grabbed the waistband of my boxers. I struggled to keep them up, but gravity was on his side. I twisted around, trying to preserve my modesty as my underwear gathered around my ankles. I shielded my front from his view. I shouldn't really be this concerned. I mean we were both guys. I had seen his, and he's seen mine. Stuff like that happens when we've known each other for this long. So then, why did it feel like my face was burning up.

Poland stopped tugging on my clothing. I pulled up my boxers and tried to regain my composure and dignity.

"Well, are you satisfied now? We should stop messing around, it's going to be dark soon."

"Hey, Lithuania. How did you get all of those scars on your back?" Poland said. All the fun in his voice was gone. It almost sounded like he was going to cry.

"You don't need to worry about them. Those happened a while ago," I said. There was no use in bringing back those sad memories.

"Those scars…they're from Russia, aren't they," Poland said.

"Yeah," I confessed. I looked down at the bubbling stream. The sounds of he water were the only sounds filling the air. I turned around and painted a smile on my face. "Come on, let's head back to camp. We need to get dried off." I offered my hand out to Poland. He placed his and mine and we made our way back to our tents.

The fire had me nearly dry. I had caught some fish for us to eat for tonight. It was oddly quiet. Poland hadn't said much after the stream. His eyes glinted as he peeked up at me from the fish he was nibbling on.

"Liet,' he finally said. Maybe now I would know what was on his mind. "Do you believe in magic?"

"In a way I guess," I said, looking up into the night sky. "There's just something about the word that seems mysterious and beautiful. I guess that could be magic. Things like the stars." They seemed so clear tonight.

"You're right," Poland agreed, looking up as well. I looked over at him. His green eyes pierced the night, contrasting the fire, but shining just as bright. How strangely beautiful he looked tonight. How mysterious and strange these feelings felt to me.

I was awoken in the middle of the night to the soft sound of my name. Beside me, Poland lay. He was writhing in his sleep. Tears dripped from his eyes.

"Liet…Liet! I'm so sorry. Don't take him away! Don't! I was…I'm supposed to protect him! Don't leave Liet!"

"Poland. Wake up, it's just a dream," I said sleepily. I place my hand on his shoulder. Poland was shaking. He was still trapped in his sleep. Instict took over. I wrapped my arms around his quivering body, trying to keep him together. As I held his body close, the shaking slowed and stopped. Tears ran down his face.

"I was supposed to protect you…my princess I failed," he muttered.

"You fool. I'm not the princess here, you are. I'm more of the knight type," I said. What was I saying? I was burying myself deeper and deeper into a place that I was not certain I was going to get out of it. I place my lips on Poland's forehead. The small, innocent kiss plunged me deeper into the darkness.