Solving of the Countries (Book 2)

Chapter 94

     "Maybe that one time I argued back... she felt threatened?"

     Russia stared at his hand. He certainly didn't feel like one right now. And he didn't like feeling like a threat either. Especially to Ukraine, or any of his siblings and friends.

    The early afternoon was full of cool breezes.

    He was laying on his back, his hand in front of his face. No power emanated from it as of now. It was a normal hand, with ice running through his veins. Was that a joke? One could only guess.

        Did Ukraine think of him as constantly as he did of her? Perhaps not as willingly or with much fondness, for that matter. He wished she'd understand that he didn't intend for the invasion or the war to happen. But it did anyway. What was he gonna do? Cry about it?

      "You're a threat to everyone-"

"Shut up, Third,"Russia immediately snapped back, irritated just by the sound of his tone. He dropped his hand.

    "Rude. Rude as always. Maybe if you showed some respect, Ukraine wouldn't feel so offended by you."

      "Tsk."

As if. He offended everyone, somehow. He sat up, looking over at his desk. There was homework.

      Fudge it. He had nothing else to do. And besides, it wasn't like it was absolutely mandatory to complete these assignments. He might as well do them to kill some time and to distract himself.

       Damn. He couldn't focus. Thoughts kept on going back to the unpleasant possibility of fighting Ukraine. Staring at the paper didn't help either.

     That was when he came to the realization. He had to stop doing those useless things that wouldn't help anyone. Obviously, finishing his homework wasn't completing some sort of life-changing or self-fulfilling prophecy. But he didn't need one. What was he doing? Trying with futile attempts to complete everyday things?

     Including listening to a malevolent disembodied voice who still continued to nag him and didn't make known his purpose? The most information he got was from PKI. A Mind Breaker. Huh. Russia wouldn't be surprised if he himself went mentally insane.

       Maybe track Third down? It could be a trap, for all he knew. Or...

     Find Ukraine's Nightingale.

It sounded absurd. It was absurd. He had no way of finding the National. Unless...

   

     Russia stood at the edge of the forest, the darkness before him. Like the same darkness he'd seen in his dreams. Although he never encountered the torrent of blood as he did in said dreams.

     Dreams before the insomnia fully hit, anyway. Did he even have the strength to Transform? Was he even willing to do it? Although being a Wolf would be faster and efficient, Russia still doubted his ability to get used to it in such a short amount of time. And it was still weird.

     He thought long and hard about finding the National. Third was the only one he ever encountered in the forest. And somewhere inside, Russia felt that it was the most likely place as to where the Nationals were kept. It was deep and dark the further you walked in. And don't even mention trying to fly above and getting a view.

   The forest canopy was hard to see through.

     It was the perfect spot to hide so many glowing animals at once. The dangers that lurked inside the forest was too much of a risk to Transform anyway. Even riskier going on his own.