I don't own Hetalia okay? I know it has been a long time for me to update this, but I do hope to eventually finish it. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
October 13th 1919,
(From the journal of Ivan Braginsky)
I lied to Katyusha and Natalya today when Lucille had come by to take me to the doctor. I finally "Bit the bullet" as Fredka would say and let Lucille take me to the local medical school she worked with while working as a nurse on the battlefield for a brief time. She had made connections with some prominent New York doctors who are leading the way in research in the fields of radiology and spinal injury according to her. I had told my sisters that we were going to the park together and it would be a long day. Natalya looked over at Lucille sternly and then turned back to the children, who were over at the house today playing with Katyusha and had been reading a Halloween magazine for ideas for children's parties, but Natalya thinks the children are too young. Maybe she should talk to Fredka about it. Apparently he had talked Natalya out of the superstition of naming someone after a living relative. Then again, she has said to Katyusha in supposed confidence that she hadn't wondered if it was true, just diluted by their American father. Silly. Stupid. But it's just how her mind works at times.
Why did I not just tell my sisters the truth? I guess it was mainly because I didn't want to give any of them false hope. And possibly I'd feel even more like a burden than I am now if I got their hopes up that I could somehow return to normalcy. I feel like since all Lucille has known me is as a practical invalid, then if it's impossible, it won't bother her so much. I had asked her if she had heard from her brother in a while, since she said he wouldn't shut up about my "heroics" in the field and my "call to a higher duty". I just felt no man should be left to die because his noblemen wanted to fight my side's 'noblemen'. To some basic human kindness is a radical idea. Such a radical idea that the International Committee of the Red Cross had to campaign for injured soldiers. At least that is what Lucille tells me.
However, she said that France is not doing well. Makes sense really. Most of the war was fought along its borders. I can somewhat sympathize. My sisters and I had left Russia due to revolutionaries and from what I have heard since, it is not good. I know that if I had not had us leave, Natalya would likely not have ever wed, the only man I had ever seen interested in her was some man from Lithuania who she broke his hand, and Katyusha would be in utter poverty. But it is where we are from. It is not easy to start anew.
I was nervous at the doctor's office. I was in a room with many other veterans, some of whom thought Lucille was my wife. She gracefully just said I was a trusted friend and let it go there. She knows who my heart belongs to as I know who hers belongs to as well, but it's something people keep saying. But it was rather cumbersome, even if the doctors and Lucille wanted to act like it wasn't. They took many pictures. Some of me lying on my stomach to photograph the injury that way, then they strapped me standing up to get more from that side as well. I knew they needed to get as much information as they could, but it felt like I was a piece of meat to be inspected. Once that was done, a doctor told me that if there was shrapnel in my spine, he had an experimental idea to perform surgery and remove it, and possibly, this could restore my ability to walk. I mean there is no downside to that from what he said. It would either help restore my ability to walk, even if I would need a cane and not be able to run like I used to, but I could be much more independent, or things would stay the same. The doctor assured me that it was very safe, but I still was scared. What if something happened? Could things get worse? Would it kill me? I know that area is close to the femoral artery, I was lucky, the shrapnel that paralyzed me didn't hit that. It was close, very close. But the doctor hasn't told us the results of the Xray. He said to come back in 2 weeks to discuss it. Lucille agreed to come with, but I just don't know.
So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. Yeah I haven't updated this one as often as I should have but hey, the idea hit me back again. Anyway, remember to read, well you just did and review. You can go to my profile for this story's predecessor The Longing of the Heart and the Sequel of that The Healing of the Heart. Ciao for now,
otherrealmwriter
aka
Realm