10 minutes and a quick toilet stop later saw Hungary and Lithuania stood at a small counter, the former of which staring down the latter in an attempt to make him choose faster.

For some bizarre reason, the food that the cafeteria was serving was not Polish, and Lithuania found himself being pulled in two different directions – should he have something sweet, or something salty?

The irony didn't escape his notice as he finally pointed to a platter of chips (America must have pulled some strings to get the staff to make food he liked), because of all the hard decisions the Lithuanian had been forced to make recently, this was by far the easiest, yet the one he was definitely having the most trouble with.

How situations changed. He bit back a wry smile as the aproned lady handed over Hungary's bowl of stew, the Hungarian smiling politely before tugging on his arm and steering towards the table furthest from the cafeteria's large double doors.

"So," she said as she settled down, smoothing her skirt and delicately picking up a spoon. "Have you seen Feliks yet?"

Lithuania flinched slightly and diverted his gaze to the pile of chips. "Briefly. It didn't go very well, he was a bit-"

"Sore?" Hungary offered.

He snorted. "More than that - as though he hated me."

"Did he yell at you?" she asked, then sighing as Lithuania nodded. "I'm not surprised, to be entirely honest with you. We've all been a bit rough with each other, even if it has been years. I don't think he's ever had chance to actually speak about anything with anyone – he hasn't spoken to Germany since before the war,"

"He blames him for everything... I didn't do much to help, either, joining Germany's side," he sighed, biting into a chip and relishing in the warmth of the food.

Hungary glared at him. "Don't you dare blame yourself. I did exactly the same, and I'd do it again if it prevented the bastard from blowing up my country."

"I could have gotten out though, that's the thing – after the war ... when America liberated all of those camps at my place, he wanted to take me but I hesitated and got stuck with Russia again and he went insane-" Lithuania broke off and drew in a breath. "He dragged me off – we met with Ukraine and Belarus on Belarus's border, then they brought in Estonia and Latvia as well, I overheard he wanted you and Finland, but apparently that didn't go down to well..." Hungary smiled and giggled secretively before leaning forwards. Lithuania swallowed the hope that she knew what happened – Russia hadn't been keeping it that much of a secret, really, - for a curious spark had lit up in her eyes. He inwardly cursed.

"Were you in a camp? I know Feliks was, and Ludwig, but what did that monster do to you all?"

Brilliant.

"Russia wanted to make a pact, to get some bases, and said he'd give me the Vilna regions back in return. Then he left me alone to fight off Finland-"

Hungary chuckled. "Tino made a right mess of Russia in that, he called me and he was so happy."

"-but then he pretty much took over and I 'became on with Russia', again, until Hitler attacked, threatened to bomb Vilnius, Kaunas and Alytus to the ground, and locked me and everyone else who complained up."

A dark grimace flashed over the Hungarians face. "He was pathetic. I got to stay with Austria and Germany, at the start, and Romania and Bulgaria occasionally stopped over – heavens knows where Prussia ran off to – but at least we had a house. Where about was this?"

Lithuania bit his lip. "Ponary."

The other nation gasped and slapped her hand to the table; it leapt slightly, and her soup sloshed over onto her hand. She swore under her breath and wiped it off, before looking up to glare at Lithuania. The latter flinched back, the muscles across his back going taut, and it took several moments before he realised he was shaking.

"They made you watch your own people massacre millions of others."

It was a statement, not a question, Lithuania realised, as the Hungarian drew back her lips in a snarl.

"He made Feliks go through those torture chambers with all his people, locked up his own country to suffer with his poor people, almost killed Arthur, almost killed Francis and Belle, bombed Antonio, locked away both Feliciano and Lovino, captured Matthias and Lukas and Daan and Roderich and Eduard and Raivis and everyone, and had the nerve to take his own life," she hissed under her breath. "Pathetic."

Lithuania held his breath as Hungary slammed her fist into the table again, before closing her eyes and sighing. "I'm sorry; there was no need for that – it's just-"

"It's fine. Nice to know you care," he half smiled back.

"Of course I care!" she huffed indignantly, and Lithuania held up his arms in mock fear.

"I know. You've always cared - you're far too good to all of us, really,"

With a roll of her eyes, Hungary settled herself back down and picked up her spoon. "Anyway. I guess you haven't heard much from the outside world, eh? It's a pain, really – had we all been housed together this all would have been so much easier, but we can't change the past, can we?"

Lithuania shook his head, and Hungary smiled. "Wait until you hear what your country's been doing without you..."

.

.

When Poland awoke, he was greeted by a bushy eyed Briton and a pair of Nordic countries, the taller of which was leaning heavily on the shorter and supported by a single crutch. Not much was said between the four, other than a few inquiries about the time, how empty the hospital was and how nice it was to have time to relax, for once. It wasn't until they were on their way down the corridor, towards the ward which was housing Lithuania and both Nordics, when Poland spoke.

"I guess you're coming to make me apologise."

England raised an eyebrow and pushed open the door of the ward. "Nope," he muttered, shooing them all inside, "I need to speak with you all urgently, America too,"

Poland sighed and drew a hand across his eyes. "So this can't wait until I've, like, woken up a bit?"

He received a glare and a prod in the back for his trouble, before being instructed to sit. He sank warily into an armchair, watching as Norway helped to lowed Denmark into the bed it was placed next to. England perched himself on the edge of a loveseat opposite him, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

They remained silent for a moment, and Poland was slightly relieved when the door they had just come through was flung open and then slammed closed behind a tense looking America. He threw himself straight into the space next to England and drew his head into his hands.

"I've fucked up," he whispered miserably, and the tear filled eyes that looked up to meet Poland's own filled the small blond with a fear he had not felt in years.

.

.

"...Oh, and I'm back together with Austria too, we reopened our borders officially last year. Prussia wasn't very impressed, but he's got Canada now so I really don't see the problem," Hungary finished with a grin before picking up a slice of bread and watching the other nation closely.

Lithuania was smiling, truly smiling and she was glad for it. It was a miracle the nation hadn't broken down himself, considering all the things that had happened, but, she presumed, the resistance against Russia and his union that had been building up over the past few years in his state had clearly done something to keep him sane, thank god.

"You actually did that? Openly rebelled..."

Hungary chuckled. "Yep, all through '89 - I think Poland started it – we all just followed his lead and argued our way out. I expect Russia was furious, but he couldn't really do anything about it – since we weren't completely part of the Union, and not living with him, he couldn't punish us for it, and his troops just kind of gave up, towards the end. It was great fun, trust me. You would've enjoyed it,"

A blissful smile covered the brunets face. "Just so you could all become independent?"

"Of course, don't you want to be independent too?"

Lithuania choked on his chip. "I just thought that the people were all happy with the way things were... that's what Russia kept telling us, anyway ,"

"Nope, and at your place, the new politician Ozolas has been demanding the removal of the Army for years – he's got thousands of supporters - and everyone's been so restless," Hungary assured, "Prussia and I snuck in a couple of times to check all of your governments, we can go again in February if you like, just to check they're all okay and the dear Soviets aren't doing anything to try and stop you breaking free. We can provide a distraction. It's a shame the human chain idea has already been used, really, that would've been a fantastic decoy,"

With a slightly shaky breath, Lithuania leant back and closed his eyes. "You'd do that for me?"

There was a gentle pat on his arm, and the table hitched slightly as Hungary stood up to take in their plates. "I would, dear; it's no trouble at all. These communist ideas sound like such a good idea in context, but heaven knows I'd rather never go through all of that horror again. I'll keep an eye on everything whilst you sort yourself out,"

Lithuania eased himself up carefully, then waited for the Hungarian to return. His country wanted to be free. What a relief that was – after all of this trouble, it would be so typical for the people to want to remain in Soviet rule, and the thought had been sat like a concrete block in the back of his mind since he made the phone call to America. The weight had been removed, and for the first time he realised that this might actually work.

"Are you ready then?" Hungary asked, lightly prodding his arm before wrapping her own around it. "We can head back to the ward, or go outside or go and see the others or-"

Lithuania broke her off with a smile. "The ward would be lovely, Elizabeta," and he allowed himself to be steered down out of the room, not quite catching view of the relieved tears in the Hungarians eyes.

Maybe the nations were not as broken as she had feared.

.

.

"You've fucked up."

"I've fucked up."

"What do you mean, you've 'fucked up'?"

"I mean that I've fucked up and the shit might hit the fan and rain down on us all sooner than I thought,"

"Delightful. Why were you put in charge of this anyway? You fucking up is hardly a surprise."

England sighed and slapped a hand over his eyes. "This is a truly wonderful conversation, but if you two would stop bickering and let the idiot explain, I'm sure we can sort it out quickly,"

The Norwegian rolled his eyes before stepping back from the American, and sat back down on the bed. Denmark immediately laid a hand on his arm and muttered, "Play nice." He received an almost inaudible snort in return.

"Thank you." England glared briefly at the Nordic duo, then turned his attention back to America. The latter still had buried his head in his arms, and not looked up since he had glanced at Poland.

It was that that worried the Pole the most. Admittedly, America was known to be a bit of a wimp at the best of times – only jumping into something like a war (or two) if he had no other choice, clutching England like a lifeline at a scary movie, almost having a heart failure when France jumped out of him at the last world meeting... - but this... this was completely the opposite of the man who Poland remembered liberating his people. If America could be brave then, surely he was being over dramatic now, for the camps had made each nation who had the heart to face what had happened (which was, to Polands surprise, all but the Axis members, who had visited a few weeks later) turn green at the least. England himself had been brought to tears, but America had marched straight through, face wrought with pain but not showing a reaction other than that. Poland had been glad at the time. Now, it shot a burning feeling through his chest, sinking deep as though trying to carve something out, for the news could only be something terrible after all that had happened.

After what felt like a lifetime of silence, America drew himself upright, not meeting any of the surrounding nation's gazes and nervously jiggling his leg. England laid a hand on the Americans shoulder: he flinched away before looking around at the Briton, eyebrows furrowed.

"Lithuania's still occupied by Russia's troops." He sighed, and rubbed a hand across his forehead. "Until they've all left, Russia could do anything to try and cripple Lithuania enough to regain control."

"So we just, like, force them out and get the government to declare independence. Simple," Poland said, a small amount of relief running through him. Lithuania would be living with him – it wasn't like Russia could do anything to the brunet that Poland had never seen before. They'd pull through, as always.

"It's not quite that simple, Poland," England murmured. Poland rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to say that yes, it's easy enough to overcome if you all just think, but was forced to keep his silence as America butted in.

"What if he uses the army – he could just kill the government and just absorb Lithuania as part of his land,"

"He isn't strong enough to do that – have you not paid any attention to Europe for the last ten years?"

Neither of them heard the door being pushed open.

"All of us satellite states have rebelled! He has, like, no control over any of us whatsoever, he isn't strong enough to do anything of the sort!"

"He could do anything! His troops could blow the place up, kill everyone – this is Russia we're talking about!"

"America," hissed Norway.

"He's more of a machine than he is a person; he has no feelings to stop him!" tears had filled the American eyes, although Poland couldn't find it in him to feel pity for the blond.

"America. Stop," Norway repeated, and the younger jerked his head up to look at him. Norway didn't speak; just raising an eyebrow and nodding in the direction of the door, and the two nations stood there.

Poland looked up in time to catch sight of all blood leaving the Lithuanian's face, and Hungary's eyebrows shooting up behind her fringe. There was a small "Shit," uttered behind the Pole, and he vaguely registered that America had dropped his head back into his hands.

"That was absolutely brilliant, America," England declared, standing up with a huff and lightly smacking his former colony on the back. "I'll leave this for you to sort out, then."

As the Briton made his way out, he muttered something to Hungary, who nodded and gently pulled Lithuania into the room. The nations sat in silence as she dragged over a pair of chairs, pushed Lithuania down into one of them, and proceeded to sink down into the other.

"So," she said, far too calmly, "who would like to tell us what you were just discussing?"

.

. AN .

I have no excuse for this being so late. I'm sorry, and I apologise for the lack of response to reviews, PMs, emails etc, but you should have a message within a week. If you're still here, you have the patience of a saint and I love you.

I'm going to Auschwitz in March for a school trip and I'm excited as fuck. Be prepared for a chapter featuring both camps and a lot of pain. I shall cry and cry for the entire trip and take notes to make you all cry. Because that's just what I do.

History: (Be warned, there's a shit tonne of it and to be fair, it's quite interesting stuff if you're into it. GCSE history has been fantastic for this story):

- Hungary was on the side of the Nazi's during WW2, then was occupied by the Soviets until 1989, when all of the Satellite States (under communist rule, but not official members of the USSR, and therefore not living with Russia) basically rebelled and got rid of communism.. The Austria-Hungary border was reopened in 1989.

- 'He dragged me off – we met with Ukraine and Belarus on Belarus's border, then they brought in Estonia and Latvia as well, I overheard he wanted you and Finland, but apparently that didn't go down to well...' - Germany and the USSR signed a Nazi-Soviet pact to split Poland so that Germany could invade without fearing being attacked by the Soviets. It was also agreed that the USSR would have Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland - Belarus and Ukraine were already Soviet States. Finland refused the ultimatum sent out by the USSR, so the USSR attacked, which started the Winter War - Finland won, with a very small army and artillery, compared to the USSR. The Baltic's had longer to decide whether to join or not, but were pretty much forced to. They were also invaded by Germany until the USSR was finished with Finland, and Hungary gave the USSR trouble by helping Nazi Germany invade, and fought in the battle of Stalingrad, alongside the Germans. Basically.

- Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and parts of Yugoslavia were part of the Axis Powers, on Germanys' behalf.

- I might have already mentioned this, but the Ponary massacre took place in Ponary, Lithuania, and Lithuanian and Nazi troops massacred mainly Poles and Jews, and some Russians. About 100,000 were killed between 1941 and 1944.

-England was bombed in the Blitz and barely managed to 'stay alive' - it was pretty much only our willpower that kept us going
-France and Belgium (Belle) were both invaded in WW1 and WW2 and suffered huge casualties both times
-Through 1937, Spain was in Civil war between the Republican government and Nationalist rebels. Germany and Italy both sent weapons to help the rebels, and Hitler sent special bombs to be tested on the town of Guernica and bombed the city to the ground, to help the rebels and to test the weapons before using them to invade Poland and France through Blitzkreig.
-Italy was obviously an Axis member and did most of it's fighting in southern Europe and northern Africa.
- Denmark (Matthias) was occupied by Germany - the invasion took less than 6 hours (the Danes fought to prove they weren't on the side of the Axis), then surrendered when the Nazis threatened to bomb Copenhagen to the ground. 99% of Denmark's Jews were shipped to Sweden and saved.
-Norway (Lukas) was wanted by both sides because of a) for Germany, it was a good place strategically to surround and then invade Britain and b) was a way for the Allies to get through to Sweden and destroy the iron mines that would give Germany an advantage. Norway fought off Germany for 2 months before surrendering, but there was a huge resistance movement and factories and fortresses were blown up by rebel forces.
- The Netherlands (Daan) was occupied by Germany and suffered heavy bombings in both wars
-Austria was joined to Germany by Anschluss
-Estonia and Latvia were invaded by Germany whilst the USSR was taking part in the Winter War.

-Hitler committed suicide (or was it? we just don't know) in his bunker in Berlin when the Red army finally reached Berlin, signalling the end of the war in Europe in 1945

-Ozolas - a Lithuanian Politician and teacher that had lots of supporters for the idea of Lithuanian Independence

-'human chain' - the Baltic Way, in which over 2 million Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians formed a human chain through the 3 countries and their capitals in 1989

-'camps' refers to the Concentration Camps in mainly Poland. They were horrific. American troops made people from nearby cities and towns go through them to realise what exactly had been going on.

(A shit tonne indeed. I love you guys. If you're still here, that is.)