We all belong together [Ukraine & Belarus]

Natalya was normally awake before everyone else in the house. She had always been an early riser, that was true. However, lately, she had been waking up at points that most sane people would say went beyond early, covered in sweat, her fever having gotten worse over the night as it almost always did. True, her recent habit of remaining awake when she woke up at three-thirty did very little to help make the fever better, but she always assumed she wasn't about to fall back asleep anyway. It also gave her time, time to put herself together enough that Iryna wouldn't fuss over her too much, time to end up in the dining room before anyone else, time enough to hide the fact that the bad days had been coming back with a vengeance.

Some small part of Natalya was quite certain it was the house. She didn't stay there often, giving herself things to do so she wouldn't. The house represented the past, it represented habit, and it had the unfortunate tendency to remind her of things she'd rather not be reminded of. Even looking out the window of her room over Moscow reminded her that she wasn't in Minsk. She shouldn't care, of course. Here, she was at home with family, it was healthier and safer. Here, she ran the chance of falling back into old habits that she'd tried to work out of herself, she'd have to look Lithuania in the eyes, and Ivan, she still wasn't always sure what to make of Ivan and when she was at home she couldn't hide behind orders and pretend it didn't matter.

It was a little sad, actually, that Natalya almost prefered to stay behind enemy lines than in her own bed. But she could ignore that. She really was happy to spend time with her siblings, even if the house seemed like it was slowly bearing down on her (and the ghosts, how could she ignore them- how had she ignored them before?), because if there was one things she had missed (and cursed and screamed and cried for) when she'd been gone, it was her siblings. She loved them, she loved them dearly, even if Ivan hid things and Iryna fussed over her a little too much for Natalya's tastes.

So she was happy enough- really, she was- when she found herself sitting around a breakfast table with Ivan and Iryna. As Lithuania brought her food, though, Natalya felt like sighing. Iryna was about to start fussing over her, wasn't she? Natalya didn't feel terribly well this morning- another bad day, she'd been having more of those lately than good ones, despite the fact that the bad days had supposedly gone away- and certainly did not feel like eating all of the food in front of her. Instead, she just continuously sipped at her water and poked her food, pretending she was eating more than she was. She'd eat more in a few minutes.

With the same blank expression, she looked up at her brother, glad for conversation. "I slept well enough," she said somewhat truthfully. She had, indeed, slept well enough, which, for Natalya, only really meant she'd gotten about two hours of restful sleep. The rest had been that restless, sometimes awake and sometimes asleep sort of sleep. Then, of course, she'd woken up at three thirty in the morning, though for Natalya that wasn't terribly unusual. She had simply trained herself over time to operate on very little sleep at all. Therefore, she had certainly slept well enough, just not actually well. Not that she'd ever tell her brother that.

Despite her misgivings, there was certainly a part of Iryna that was just as happy as Ivan to have their family back together. She could watch over both Ivan and Natalya this way. They could spend quality time together as a family - and when they spent quality time together it usually was truly enjoyable. Moments of clarity showed Iryna that her family was dysfunctional and not at all healthy, but it was still her family. There were so many fond memories there that Iryna's realization that her brother was dangerous was all that much more difficult to come to terms with.

"Me too." Iryna agreed with Ivan. This time, she wasn't lying - Not in entirely, at least. She did miss this. It was part of the reason why she'd been so quick to stand at her younger brother's side once more despite all of her doubts. But was that the only reason, or was it because she was actually afraid of what would happen if she didn't? Just look at what happened to Natalya because she dared to fight back.

The older sister resisted the urge to raise a doubting eyebrow at her younger sister's insistence that she slept well enough. She saw right through that one, but she knew better than to bring it up in front of Ivan. Their brother was in such a good mood that she didn't want to run the risk of doing anything to ruin this moment.

Later, though. Later she would tend to Natalya and see if there were any new worries plaguing her little sister. And she would try to offer comfort as she always did, though whether Natalya would accept it or stubbornly refuse it was much less predictable.

"It would be." She smiled at Ivan's suggestion of going to an ice skating rink. Innocent outings like this were the type that she missed. Her only worry concerned Natalya and whether her little sister was well enough to go ice skating. All the same, she knew that bringing up her concern in front of Natalya would more than likely resulted in a vehement denial from the younger nation, and thus she stayed mum.

That didn't mean that she wouldn't keep an extra close eye on Natalya, however.

To think everything was back in its place. There were a few pieces missing, but slowly the rooms were filling up once more. Most importantly, those closest to him now stood by his side. It had taken over two decades to accomplish such a task, like attempting to glue shards back together of a broken vase. It required patience and a keen eye to detail. His vase almost completed, he could almost add sunflowers for it to hold. It made him quite happy. How could he notice his sisters’ behaviors when everything seemed far too perfect to be true? Not to mention, his sisters’ behaviors always took tolls of oddity. He accepted their odd behavior as normal.

After all, Iryna always looked to be worrying about one thing or another that truly was out of her control. He loved her for her large heart and her desire to help at any sign of trouble, but he wished she would not work herself over such little items. Natalya always held her unpleasant quite terrifying mask of emotionlessness over her face. Her lack of words and short statements held a sense of familiarity to Ivan. His sisters could have been behaving strangely, but how was Ivan to know? They always did so.

His smile turned brighter. He looked genuinely happy, unlike his usual smile of choice. They both wished to spend the day with him. It filled his heart with warmth, and he almost wished to reach out and squeeze them both tightly into a hug. He held it back, not wanting to interrupt their breakfast with such a sign of affection. “I am so happy you both agree!” he said in excitement, “Excuse me, I’ll give him a call now.” He said politely, placing his napkin on the table as he stood from his chair. It was rude to make a call at the table. He took quick steps out of the dining room, an obvious bounce in his step. Once he reached the hallway, he pulled out his phone and dialed his Boss’s number. His Boss always sounded suspicious on the phone when discussing his sisters or any other nation under his roof. Ivan understood. After all, it had taken some difficulties to convince his friends to return home, but now, that they were home, everything was happy once more. Everyone seemed so happy under his protection.

With reluctance, his Boss approved the time off and Ivan gave a happy squeak before hanging up the phone. He then returned to the dining room, phone back in pocket. “Good news, we get to spend the entire day together,” he said cheerily, “When would you like to leave?”

It was a sunny day outside, or so it seemed through the window, and Natalya decided she was glad she was going ice-skating, especially since the weather seemed to be nice. It wasn't even a little bit dreary, really, unless one counted the cold air. Natalya didn't. She often prefered cold weather to warm. In fact, warmer weather was generally irritating to the blonde-haired girl. Still, the sun was out, and it hadn't been for a while. She was only just now noticing because when she'd first come down to eat, the sun hadn't quite yet risen.

Ivan stood up to make a call and Natalya looked across the table at her sister as he did, trying to determine what could have been making her seem a little bit tighter, a little bit more pinched earlier. She couldn't see it. Iryna seemed to have perked up again, whatever mood she'd earlier been in melted away just a little, and she was back to being Natalya's caring older sister again. Natalya gave her something that wasn't really a smile, but wasn't not one, either. "Yes," she said, "I think it would do us all good, going outside together. It is a lovely day."

She fell quiet again while Ivan finished his call. She could hear snippets of Ivan's end of the call. His boss, Natalya thought, was being suspicious again. She supposed he had to be. Ivan sometimes failed to be suspicious enough, though Natalya certainly made up for it. She couldn't quite feel offended that Ivan's boss was suspicious of her in particular, though. Certainly she'd done enough harm. But things had changed. She would no longer hurt her brother (she would hurt her brother again someday when he saw how sick she was and she finally fell, but by then she would have lifted her brother above the void Natalya had so long lived in, lifted him higher and higher to where he was king of all he saw, king of all there was, Iryna safely by his side).

He came back in smiling, and Natalya liked that smile on his face. She liked it very much. She looked up at her smile and gave an even slightly-closer to a smile to him. "We could spend time like we did as children," she said quietly, "if you would like." There was a little bit of pleading to her voice. Yes. Like they'd been as children. Happy as a family together. An odd family, certainly, brought together by dead rabbits and strange snowmen and invisible things, but they'd not quite yet had the pieces and shard of glass inserted among them.

Natalya, who always seemed so mature for her physical age- she liked being a child sometimes too. Just sometimes, it could be nice not to worry. Just sometimes.

She swallowed quietly to herself and started actually eating some of the not-really-touched food in front of her, deciding that she'd have to at least have something, otherwise someone would notice that they weren't really children anymore, that she was sick, that he was at war, that she was worried. That he held the house, that she'd run away, that she'd kept on worrying. That they'd been hurt. She ate only a little before she decided she couldn't stomach any more, but at least then Iryna wouldn't be able to fuss and claim she hadn't been eating. And then they could go ice-skating, the three of them.

'Spend time like they did when they were children.' Natalya summed it up well with those words. This outing was meant to be an escape. They couldn't truly escape, not for long, but they could shove their responsibilities aside for a few hours to spend time together as a family.

Especially when Iryna considered that her self-appointed responsibility to protect her younger sister no matter the cost might very well tear their family apart permanently.

What would have happened had Iryna chose to oppose Ivan alongside Natalya? Would Natalya still suffer the way that she was, or would events have turned out differently? Could Iryna have protected Natalya were she there with her younger sister?

Perhaps she could get Ivan to see reason...to understand that they could still be together as a family without Ivan forcing them under one roof, that her dear little Vanya could make friends in a way that didn't involve taking them by force. She doubted it, though.

At least Natalya was eating, Iryna observed. Food meant energy, which was something that all of them would need if they intended to go ice skating. Especially Natalya, whose health...try as she might, Natalya couldn't fool her older sister. She didn't know just how bad it truly was, but she knew it was bad.

She chuckled at her brother's gesture, truly amused. Yes, this would do every single one of them some good. "I should be," she responded when Ivan asked if she'd be ready after breakfast. "Should we pack food for our trip in case we get hungry later?"

If any family could have a picnic in the cold, it would be these three.