((Ugh I wanted this to be longer but I ran out of ideas so last chapter! Though it's possible I might add something in somewhere in a while. Teesy bit of a pairing in this one because how could I not slip in some of my OTP when it's historically accurate? Anyways HUGE thanks to shannalauren on tumblr for looking over everything I write for grammar/spelling errors before posting and xXxMusexXx for her amazing and undeserved reviews that make me smile for hours and want to keep writing, along with everyone else who reviewed and ugh I love you guys. Thanks for sticking with me and my irregular posting schedual. I don't even have any legitimate fanfic ideas for after this I don't know when I'll write again but it's been so fun (just an Avatar:TLA parody collaboration with my friend eheheh). I guess I could see if anyone would like to request something... Anyways thanks again. :D Also watch this video youtube[dot]com/watch?v=dDZqYGVrhvw))

Prussia woke in darkness again one morning the next month to a considerable weight absent from his chest. He felt around to discover that one of the large cuts on his collarbone had healed over. It wasn't one of the ones he had received from Russia directly, but the kind that just appeared on his body to reflect what had been happening to his people. He got up weakly and stumbled to the door, banging on the metal.

"Kat! Kat!" he yelled, his voice cracking slightly from lack of use. "What happened? Something happened! Kat!"

He stepped back slightly when he was able to make out some footsteps in the hallway. The door banged open violently however, and to his horror, Russia stood silhouetted in the light. Prussia choked out a gasp as he was seized by the throat and thrown back against the wall. He glared up at the tall man and spat a bit of blood in his general direction, but refused to make another sound. The heavy boot met the side of his face before resting the entire weight of its owner on his chest. The Russian bent down and grabbed the other man's bruised jaw, bringing his battered face only inches from his own, which was twisted in fury. The false innocence was gone.

"You. Will. Never. Leave. This. Cell," he muttered through clenched teeth in barely surpressed rage. He slammed the albino's head back against the wall and swept his heavy coat around, turning and exiting in much the same manner as he had entered. The lock clicked loudly behind him.

Prussia sat where he had landed for a few minutes, holding his jaw and catching his breath that the heavy boot had expelled from his lungs. His head spun, and he reached his other hand back to feel the growing bump where his skull had connected with the stone wall.

The former empire smiled as he pulled himself up shakily to sit on his cot, however. He had been noticing these short episodes of Russia taking out his anger had become more frequent. He was stressed and redoubling his efforts to break Prussia down and beat him into submission. But Russia would never break him now. The frequency of the beatings and the fact that one of his older cuts had healed proved that Russia was slipping. Something was working against him, and it was getting worse. That is, better for everyone else.

Prussia couldn't stop a flinch when the lock clicked again, but it was Yekaterina who poked her head in.

"Were you… did you call me?" she asked hesitantly, very aware of what her brother had just done.

"Yeah," he croaked, still smiling though talking was painful on his jaw. "One of my nation cuts was healed this morning. Something good must have happened. What is it?"

Kat blinked at him in surprise. "I… hold on, I'll go check."

She shut the door and returned a few minutes later with a grin. "Yes! It was in the paper. You are friends with Miss Hungary, yes?"

"What? Lizzie? Is she okay? I thought-"

Kat giggled and put a finger to his lips, pushing him back to sit on the cot he had risen from so suddenly.

"She and her people have lead many revolutions lately against the Soviet control. They lost a lot of lives and she was very hurt-"

"Is sh-"

"But she won today and gained back her independence. She opened her borders, and thousands of East Germans are escaping into the West by that route," Kat explained, her smile widening. "Your people are being saved. That's why you're healing."

Prussia's mouth fell open. "Liz… Hungary opened her borders to the Soviet Union so that my people could escape?"

Kat nodded and handed him some smuggled bread.

He laughed and tore into it gratefully. "That's just like Lizzie. Of course she would never let Russia control her for long. Makes sense that she would be the first to go."

Kat gave him another smile and left as he leaned back on his cot, taking his time to chew his bread through his bruised jaw. Russia's control was weakening, Hungary was free and safe, and his people were getting helped. Things were definitely starting to look up.

He rubbed his collarbone absentmindedly.

"Thanks, Lizzie."

Gilbert had stopped bothering to look up when his cell door opened anymore. He refused to let his spirit be broken by the filthy communist swine, but he had been beaten and deprived of food for too long to be willing to put in the effort to react physically.

"Prussia!"

Gilbert's eyes blinked open in surprise. It wasn't Russia's voice, or Kat's.

"Like, come on! We can go!"

Gilbert blearily watched in amazement as Poland unlocked the shackles around his ankles. Was this a dream?

He pried open his parched lips. "What happened?" Seeing him clearly now, Poland looked a lot like he probably did: very very thin, sunken eyes, and skin littered with cuts and bruises. His hands trembled as he threw off the shackles.

"I don't really know. Russia's control just like, fell apart or something. Toris came and let me out, but everyone else left as quickly as they could."

Gilbert stumbled to his feet. "Is this for real?"

"Totes." The blond hurried out the door as fast as his injuries would allow.

Gilbert followed him, hardly daring to believe it. "And why are you-"

"Helping you?" Poland pulled himself up the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing. "Like, don't get me wrong, i still don't like you, but I thought it was the decent thing to do since you did like, help me when-"

Gilbert bumped into him as the blond stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. He gazed in horror through the open door to his left.

Gilbert looked too, and felt his blood run cold. It was Russia's private study, and the man himself was sitting slumped at his desk with a half-empty bottle of vodka in one hand. The office was in complete disarray, much like its occupant's appearance.

The Russian slowly raised his head and glared at the two of them murderously. They stood rooted to the spot. After a long moment he turned away in disgust, throwing his bottle. It shattered on the door frame.

"Get out," he hissed.

Gilbert didn't need telling twice. He grabbed Poland's arm and yanked him down the hallway and out the door.

They both blinked in the sunlight that neither of them had seen since their last escape attempt, almost two years ago now. They took in the vast crowd of people running down the street, all in the same direction. The two nations joined the throng as they were pushed along with everyone else towards the Wall.

Most people were shoving through towards the gate while others were simply climbing over the spots where the barbed wire had been cut or trying to break the wall down. As soon as he was close enough, Gilbert leapt for the top and laboriously tried to pull himself up. The strain was lifted off his weakened muscles as Poland gave him a slight boost and he was able to swing his legs over to straddle the surprisingly thin concrete wall. Immediately he reached down to grab Poland's hand and hoist him over. They leapt down the other side and sprinted across the No Man's Land, ignoring their injuries. Gilbert hardly felt his feet touch the ground. Because West would be over there. He could see West. He would never leave him again.

The two nations arrived at the opposite wall to see that a large section had been broken open. The Germans of West Berlin collected in a vast crowd to welcome the East Berliners with open arms.

Gilbert lost sight of Poland almost immediately after making it through the wall, but it didn't matter. They had each done their part. Only one thing mattered now.

"West! West!" he elbowed his way through the crowd desperately. People were patting him on the back, smiling at him, offering him beer... How long had it been since he had seen a genuine smile? Or had a swig of beer for that matter...

The buildings around him had been restored from the war. Everything was clean and proper and so very German without any signs of the Soviet Union. He finally felt like he was home and that everything was just so right after what had felt like an eternity of utter wrongness.

"West! Ludwig!" he felt himself smiling even through his desperation. He finally relented and took a swig of beer through his shouts. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world as the warmth spread through his entire body.

Suddenly he was grabbed roughly by the arm and his previous thought about beer being the most wonderful feeling in the world was completely abolished.

"Bruder."

A wet face was pressed into his shoulder as thickly muscled arms wrapped tightly around him. Gilbert ran his hands gently through the slick blond hair. "H-Hey West," he choked out. "You been good while I was gone?"

Gilbert did not cry. Sometimes his eyes would water from severe pain, but not from something sissy like emotion. Gilbert did not cry from the indescribable happiness he felt as it was finally assured that he never had to go back into that hellhole. He did not cry as he promised himself that he would never again be separated from his brother. He did not cry because every emotion he had kept inside to stay strong during those forty-four months were finally released and washed over him all at once. He was not crying. West was just a very strong, large man and he was hugging Gilbert to his chest so tightly that he couldn't breathe and his already bruised ribs were probably cracking. Gilbert's eyes may have been watering a bit from the pain and lack of oxygen, but certainly not from something sissy like joy.