So at school the AC burnt out, and temperatures were in excess of 100 degrees. Or maybe not quite that hot, but it was stuffy, humid, and overall terrible. THEY LET US HOME EARLY~! I'm so happy about that. *ahem*
Let me know if I messed up Poland's speaking patterns or mannerisms.
Review! :D
Lithuania was worried.
It'd been about a day, as far as he could tell, since the attack to the ships, and the results were devastating. Several cities lay ruined, charred by the silent lasers. Smoke steamed into the air from the wreckage of several planes. And, most worrying, not a single one of the six nations that had gone up again had come back down, or even radioed a message. I hope they're all right.
He thought about Belarus. She was so beautiful, with that cascade of blond hair and those ice blue eyes and her shapely figure. More than anything he wished he could take her in his arms and kiss her. Ah, Belarus...
"You're thinking about Belarus again, aren't you." interrupted Latvia, who was sitting across from him.
The three Baltics were just sitting on a rock in a field in the park, needing some time to themselves to think and just unwind. There was no point in trying to assemble another meeting all stressed, because then absolutely nothing productive would come of it. Poland was there too, but he was chasing butterflies. Estonia was napping, or, in his words, 'earning some much-needed rest', and Hong Kong was off with his family. I wish I had a family... thought Latvia wistfully. Lithuania and Estonia could be my older brothers, and it would be nice...
"How did you know?" asked Lithuania in surprise.
"Your eyes get soft looking, and you stare off into the distance or at random things and you look at whatever it is like you want to marry it." Latvia responded.
"Yeah..."
"Why do you like her so much?" Latvia broke into the Lithuanian's fantasies again.
"Well...well..." Lithuania stammered.
Latvia counted on his fingers. "She's a knife-wielding maniac, she loves Russia, and she broke all your fingers once and you didn't even notice."
"Yes," sighed Lithuania, who obviously wasn't listening. "But she's beautiful and strong and I just like her. And she's nice."
At that, the blond burst out laughing so loudly that Poland stopped for a moment to look over curiously. "Belarus?" the Latvian sputtered. "Nice?"
"What?" asked Lithuania crossly. "Why're you laughing? What's so funny?"
"You...you really mean it." Latvia managed, and then went off again. After a moment, the blond managed to catch his breath. "Are you kidding?" One look into Lithuania's green eyes told him that no, he was not, and the Latvian almost erupted into giggles again.
"Did you not hear a single thing I just said?"
A wrinkle formed between the brunette's eyebrows. "No..."
Latvia sighed and repeated himself. "All right. She's a knife-wielding maniac, she's not interested, and she broke all your fingers. It's not like she's, I don't know, MADE OF PURE EVIL, maybe?"
"Belarus is none of those things!" Lithuania protested. "She's lovely."
Latvia went into gales of uncontrollable laughter.
The brunette scowled at him again, and was about to retort when another tremor shook the earth.
They sobered. It was too easy to forget the harsh realities of the outside world, and the havoc the aliens were causing on the nations' land.
Russia had been burnt in a spontaneous white flame that had spewed straight from the earth, like a white geyser, burning through miles until it was finally vanquished by a blizzard in some areas, and sprayed down in others. It was now under control.
According to Cuba, America had had an awful earthquake stretching from North Carolina to the very tip of California. Giant earthquakes, like in movies, where the ground pulled apart and mashed back together and yanked apart again. The rumor was that if one peered down the still-present rift, they could see the glow of magma at the bottom.
Taiwan had gone to investigate the eastern areas. She said that the people of Japan were suffering from a mysterious plague that cut swaths through the population, and the people in China were quarantined and in basic anarchy. The government had retreated to a safer area, leaving the people in chaos.
France was plagued by severe thunderstorms, bordering on hurricanes. There had been frequent reports of floods, and the numbers of the injured were rising. England had the corner of that storm, but the main problem there were the sinkholes; huge tracts of land suddenly collapsing underfoot.
Northern Italy had gone absolutely insane. There were mobs charging everywhere, and arsonists were igniting fires that the Southern forces were extinguishing just as quickly. Romano was doing his best to try and maintain control, but he wasn't the best suited for it, and didn't have much back up, what with Italy and Spain missing.
Surprisingly enough, the land of Germany was almost all right. When Hungary had gone to check on the place, all that was off was the eerie silences in the streets. No one was talking, and everyone kept their eyes down.
Lithuania knew what had happened in the world was a semi-mirror to the nations. They could feel this pain.
A small, sarcastic thought said, What would happen if the Eiffel Tower fell down? It was a cruel thought, but he couldn't help his laughter, Latvia giving him a weird look.
"Sorry," said Lithuania. "My brain just came up with this little random thought."
"There's a first time for everything!" said Latvia cheerfully, and Lithuania gave him a flat look before repeating the little thought. For the third time that day, the blond was laughing.
He actually looks happy, thought the brunette, smiling at his friend. He hasn't truly looked happy for a while.
Estonia sat up, disgruntled. "What are you all laughing about?"
Stifling small giggles, Latvia said, "Nothing."
At that moment, the twice-daily downpour started. Water crashed into the earth in long ropes. "Crapola!" they heard Poland shout from somewhere in the field. "I, like, haven't even got one butterfly yet! We're totally gonna get wet!"
The four of them darted towards the trees. Lithuania felt his worries return. Brooding silently, he stared at the rain. What are we going to do?
Poland snuck up behind him, pink ribbons in hand. The blond dexterously twisted the Lithuanian's hair into braids, nimble fingers finishing several in no time. The brunette remained oblivious until Poland gave a sharp yank.
"Ow!" One of Lithuania's hands flew to his scalp. "Poland, what are you doing?"
"I'm, like, obviously braiding your hair." Poland pointed to the braids, which the brunette couldn't see.
Lithuania sighed. "Please undo them. I don't want my hair braided."
Poland pouted. "But you'd be totally adorable!"
"I don't want to look adorable!"
Poland grumpily went to the task of unraveling the damp braids. Lithuania went back to his worrying, staring into a rapidly growing puddle at his feet. He watched his distorted reflection shiver with ripples of raindrops. He worried about Belarus, about the rest of them, about the Earth.
He looked up to find Estonia and Latvia staring at him with big smiles on their faces.
"What? What is it?"
"I fixed your hair!" chirped Poland brightly.
With growing horror, Lithuania lifted a hand to his hair and felt the ends of lacy little ribbons tying his hair into loops.
"Poland!"
The other three started to laugh as Lithuania tore at the ribbons with his hands, trying to make his hair fall back into its normal waves. In the midst of this chaos, his phone rang. He fished it out, one hand shielding it from the rain. "What?"
On the other end, he heard the voice of one of his trusted advisers. "We weren't able to stop the fire in Russia."
Lithuania stopped pulling at his hair. "What? Didn't you say you'd-"
"We thought that we'd beaten it."
"What about the rain? Isn't that helping any?"
"Ne, it just evaporates. It has to snow for it to overwhelm the flames."
"Is it spreading?"
There was a moment of silence. "Yes. It's already-"
At that point, Lithuania's hand burned with sudden pain, and he dropped his phone. It squelched into the mud, and the faint crackle of a voice came through. "Sveiki? Lietuva?"
The nation in question ignored it and attempted to stop the phantom pain in his hand.
"What is it, Liety?" Poland looked worried.
"My hand," gritted the Lithuanian. "My country is on fire. The house-" His eyes went wide, and he sprinted away.
Latvia looked worried. "Could it spread to us, too?"
Estonia picked up the phone. "This is Estonia, Lithuania's friend. Please tell me the fire's statistics."
The man on the other end hesitated for a moment before continuing. "There is a good chance the fire could spread to you as well. You may want to go back to see what you could do. Geriausios kloties." The line went dead.
Latvia had heard every word, and the other two Baltics took off. The rain was marginally less hard now, and a thick fog was rising up.
"What about me?" said Poland to the air. "I, like, need a ride, too. And some of those were my favorite ribbons." He plucked a few off the ground and wiped mud off of them. "Oh, look, Liet's phone. I should, like, call him later to see if he's okay." He slipped the phone into his pocket. The Polish nation trudged off in the direction the others had gone.
Poland almost didn't see the aliens. The pounding rain disguised their squelching footsteps in the mud, and the fog disguised the rest of them. At the very last moment, he heard a twig crack behind him, and he turned partially around before taking a stinger to the knee.
"Like, OW!" Poland shouted before fire shot up through is veins and silver slid out of his mouth.
A light pierced the permanent darkness and pulled up the two forms.
And all was still again.
Translation:
Ne - no (Lithuanian)
Sveiki? Lietuva? - Hello? Lithuania? (Lithuanian)
Geriausios kloties. - Best of luck. (Lithuanian)
These recent chapters have all been under 2000 words, but that's the price of updating relatively quickly. I think.