I'm sorry it's been so long! I've been so busy with huge projects in school and several conventions and I haven't had time to continue writing! . I've got one more convention this weekend and then I should be free for a while, and my next project for school is really laid back after our last huge project so I should have plenty of time to write. Hope you guys enjoy!^^

Latvia was sitting on the edge of the bed, fiddling with the frayed edge of the blanket while his legs swung back in forth, sometimes brushing against the metal bed frame. His neck was sore where the collar lay, rubbing up against the skin and leaving a raw area. He had tried removing it but had just irritated the skin more. He heard the door behind him creak and a heavy foot come down on the first step, he turned himself around, avoiding moving his neck, to face the Russian. He was carrying a tray, piled with more food than the small nation could ever eat. He had grown suspicious of the large nation, ever since he had woken up in the basement, Russia had been acting differently. Estonia had come down and visited him several times but never told him why he was down there or attempted to help him, but he still enjoyed the company.

"You are feeling well today, da?" Russia set the tray down on the edge of the bed.

"Y-yes…" Latvia mumbled, shrinking back a little.

"Have you seen Estonia today?" Russia held out his hand and rested the back of it on the small quivering boy's forehead.

"N-not yet…" The small nation was trying not to jump back, afraid of causing Russia to lash out at him but ended up jumping when he heard someone rap loudly on the front door upstairs.

"I'll be right back, da?" The large country shifted his weight to slide off the bed and wander up the stairs, letting the door drift closed behind him, Latvia paused for a second before scuttling off the bed and as close as he could get to the door, craning his head to hear. He lost his balance and fell, spotting something shining out of the corner of his eye. He crawled over to the edge of the bed, and realized that the small shining object was Russia's pocket knife, it must have fallen out of his pocket when he sat down. He quickly grabbed it, struggling to unfold it, and started working on unscrewing the bolts on the collar. When he finally removed the collar he could hear the voices upstairs arguing loudly, he tightened his grip on the knife and worked his way up the stairs, having to use his hands on the dusty steps to support himself since his muscles in his legs had weakened considerably.

He heard something crash near the entryway and decided to try going out the kitchen door to avoid bringing any attention to himself. He stepped through the hall as quickly as possible, being careful not to lose his footing, and stepped into the kitchen. He could see in the reflection in a mirror in the hall that the person at the door was his brother, Lithuania.

"Where is he? No one has heard anything from him in weeks. What did you do to him?" Lithuania's voice was getting louder and had started to crack, there was a pause while Lithuania waited for a reply.

Russia gave a low, somber chuckle, "He's safe, there's more wrong with your brother than you think."

"Of course there's something wrong with him! He's constantly in fear of you and you won't let him go!" Latvia thought for a second, should he run out and help his brother or sneak out the kitchen door? He decided that Russia wouldn't harm his brother, he was too fond of the oldest Baltic. He would sneak out the kitchen door and catch his brother when Russia kicked him out.

He grabbed the door handle and jumped back when it turned under his hand, the door flung open to Poland standing there in neon pink camo.

"Wow! Broski! You just made my life a whole lot easier!" He grabbed the small country's hand and pulled him out, kicking the door closed behind them. He smacked his hand on Latvia's back hard, "I totally thought you were dead!"

Latvia just stood there stunned, "U-ummmm, what?" he stepped back, looking up at the feminine country, " W-what are you d-doing here?". His voice was raw from not using it in the weeks he was held captive.

"I, being the totally nice person I am, volunteered to help in your rescue after Lithuania told me about your disappearance and threatened to ignore me if I didn't help him… But I totally would have come anyways!" He grabbed a hold of the small nation's wrist and realized how thin it was, "Dude! Has Russia been, like, starving you or something?" he was pinching Latvia's stomach, looking for any body fat.

"N-no… He's b-been feeding me…" He stepped away, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden social interaction after weeks of only brief, cold conversations with Russia and slow, comforting conversations with Estonia. Where was Estonia? He hadn't seen him all day. Maybe he had run away? He wouldn't leave me, would he?

His train of thought was cut short by the sound of the front door being slammed, "We better get going, Liet will be waiting." He pulled the small boy through the brush and out by the street. Lithuania was walking away from the front of Russia's house, running when he spotted his little brother.

He pulled his brother into a strong embrace, "You look thin, are you ok?" He worriedly looked over the small boy's body, flinching at the boy's wince when he touched his neck. "What's wrong with your neck?" Lithuania was now crouching down to get a better view of his brother's raw neck.

"C-collar…" he looked down at his feet, shivering as the wind blew straight through his thin clothes, "It's c-cold…"

Lithuania quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around his brother, leaving further inspection of the small boy for when they got home and were warmed up with some food.

Ok, I just started making a new cosplay, I'm gonna be Poland!^^ I've found a new love for Lithuania now, though I still think he's too sickly sweet, so I might start writing more about him. This part of the story is somewhat written from experience, no I wasn't held captive in Russia's basement, but I was really sick for quite a while when I was 15 and I had to stay in my room, barely ever leaving my bed, for the entire time and it's surprising how much muscle and weight you lose. I figured that not moving all day would make me gain weight but after a couple weeks of lying there you lose interest in eating. Also I was always pretty uncomfortable with social activities before, but after months of just talking every once in a while with my parents, I would start shaking and stressing out being around even just 3 people. Sorry if I've kinda been ranting here a little bit but I just thought I'd tell you why I wrote this chapter the way that I did, I hope you liked it and didn't lose interest with my babbling, please comment and I should be updating my other story soon as well!