❝don't wake me up; i am still dreaming. the story's undone, unraveled at the seams...❞
Title: it wasn’t a dream
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Words: 715
Characters: Russia/Belarus
Rating: R
Warnings: sexual content
Summary: In the aftermath of WWII, Belarus is broken and alone. The only thing that gives her life is someone who may be a dream.
it wasn’t a dream
She has never been vain of her beauty. Long snow-blonde hair and icily perfect features meant nothing to her, because he never appreciated them. No one around her ever noticed a woman’s body hidden beneath yards of lace and a little girl’s mind. Instead of the slender curve of her neck and the sharp light in her eyes, people looked to her and saw the straight steel and sharp point of the knife in her hands.
She laughs at those foolish enough to pity her; this is the way she wants it to be.
But now she’s leaning against heavy stone walls, her lace ripped away from her body and her mind not steady enough to keep up a façade. The knife has long since been wrenched from her hands, and her hair is dirty and matted, pulled away from her face. And that self-assured, powerful glow in her eyes? That has been replaced by a cold, dead stare.
“брат,” she breathes, briefly, and then she slumps to her knees.
---
She wakes up in a daze, and it takes her a moment to realize she’s lying down on a bed, her warn-torn body carefully washed and mended. She feels like a doll, lain down and ready to be dressed by a little girl’s careful hands. But she can also feel an icy cold entering the room through the half-open window, and she shivers beneath silky sheets, her naked body absorbing the temperature.
It takes another moment for her to realize that she’s not seeing anything; she’s just registering sensations.
“Беларусь,” a voice says next to her, and her heart leaps with joy when she recognizes it.
“брат!” She cries out her glee, and turns around, groping blindly for him beneath the sheets.
“You have to get up now,” he chides her gently, but in the next moment she’s found him, and burrows her face into his bear chest, her sightless eyes leaking tears of joy as she mumbles his name over and over again.
“No,” she declares, impetuous like a child. “All I want, брат, is to stay with you.” As though to prove herself, she reaches up and kisses the hollow of his throat, not letting go. For the first time, he doesn’t pull away. Though she hears him sigh distinctly, he doesn’t do anything but wrap his strong, powerful arms around her.
“брат, брат…” Her voices reverberates against his skin as her lips explore his neck and chest, the soft skin of his shoulders and cheeks. As her lips caress his skin and her tears fall against him, he does nothing, only holds onto her. She clings to him as though she’s afraid he will disappear at any moment.
What her lips don’t touch, her hands do. Though she cannot see him, she drinks in every detail of his body-the soft downy feel of his hair, the noble bridge of his nose, and powerful build of his legs.
He doesn’t move, except when she decides to slip between his legs. At that point, he pushes her gently away; but when she begins to weep, her clutches her against him, embracing her while he denies her.
She leans her forehead, cool and smooth, against his shoulder. Her hair, long and loose, covers her back and shoulders like a curtain, like a shroud. Her words are whispers into the dark, and though she speaks continually, she doesn’t ask the obvious questions-where she is and what’s happening, and why the world has gone dark.
“You are not well yet, Беларусь.” He says the words simply, and only then does she register a dull ache in her bones and a throbbing in her temples.
“So?” She laughs. “I’ll be alright, брат, if you stay with me.”
And so he does, holding on gently, until she falls asleep with a smile on her face and his name on her lips.
---
When she wakes up and opens her eyes-a day later, a month later-she can see. Snowy hills are visible outside her window and the space beside her in the bed is empty. When her sister comes to check on her and to change the bandages, she does not mention their brother.
And ever after, she cannot be sure that it wasn’t a dream.
---
footnotes;;
* “Беларусь” = Belarus ; “брат” = Brother.
* Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 - the Fortress of Brest in western Belarus receiving one of the fiercest of the war's opening blows, with its notable defense in 1941 coming to be remembered as an act of heroism in countering the German aggression. Statistically, Byelorussia was the hardest hit Soviet Republic in the war and remained in Nazi hands until 1944. During that time, Germany destroyed 209 out of 290 cities in the republic, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings. Casualties were estimated to between two and three million (about a quarter to one-third of the total population), while the Jewish population of Byelorussia was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971. After the war ended, Byelorussia was officially among the 51 founding countries of the United Nations Charter in 1945. Intense post-war reconstruction was initiated promptly. During this time, the Byelorussian SSR became a major center of manufacturing in the western region of the USSR, increasing jobs and bringing an influx of ethnic Russians into the republic. The borders of Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn to a point known as the Curzon Line.
Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences. This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. The official use of the Belarusian language and other cultural aspects were limited by Moscow. After Stalin died in 1953, successor Nikita Khrushchev continued this program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism."
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Words: 715
Characters: Russia/Belarus
Rating: R
Warnings: sexual content
Summary: In the aftermath of WWII, Belarus is broken and alone. The only thing that gives her life is someone who may be a dream.
it wasn’t a dream
She has never been vain of her beauty. Long snow-blonde hair and icily perfect features meant nothing to her, because he never appreciated them. No one around her ever noticed a woman’s body hidden beneath yards of lace and a little girl’s mind. Instead of the slender curve of her neck and the sharp light in her eyes, people looked to her and saw the straight steel and sharp point of the knife in her hands.
She laughs at those foolish enough to pity her; this is the way she wants it to be.
But now she’s leaning against heavy stone walls, her lace ripped away from her body and her mind not steady enough to keep up a façade. The knife has long since been wrenched from her hands, and her hair is dirty and matted, pulled away from her face. And that self-assured, powerful glow in her eyes? That has been replaced by a cold, dead stare.
“брат,” she breathes, briefly, and then she slumps to her knees.
---
She wakes up in a daze, and it takes her a moment to realize she’s lying down on a bed, her warn-torn body carefully washed and mended. She feels like a doll, lain down and ready to be dressed by a little girl’s careful hands. But she can also feel an icy cold entering the room through the half-open window, and she shivers beneath silky sheets, her naked body absorbing the temperature.
It takes another moment for her to realize that she’s not seeing anything; she’s just registering sensations.
“Беларусь,” a voice says next to her, and her heart leaps with joy when she recognizes it.
“брат!” She cries out her glee, and turns around, groping blindly for him beneath the sheets.
“You have to get up now,” he chides her gently, but in the next moment she’s found him, and burrows her face into his bear chest, her sightless eyes leaking tears of joy as she mumbles his name over and over again.
“No,” she declares, impetuous like a child. “All I want, брат, is to stay with you.” As though to prove herself, she reaches up and kisses the hollow of his throat, not letting go. For the first time, he doesn’t pull away. Though she hears him sigh distinctly, he doesn’t do anything but wrap his strong, powerful arms around her.
“брат, брат…” Her voices reverberates against his skin as her lips explore his neck and chest, the soft skin of his shoulders and cheeks. As her lips caress his skin and her tears fall against him, he does nothing, only holds onto her. She clings to him as though she’s afraid he will disappear at any moment.
What her lips don’t touch, her hands do. Though she cannot see him, she drinks in every detail of his body-the soft downy feel of his hair, the noble bridge of his nose, and powerful build of his legs.
He doesn’t move, except when she decides to slip between his legs. At that point, he pushes her gently away; but when she begins to weep, her clutches her against him, embracing her while he denies her.
She leans her forehead, cool and smooth, against his shoulder. Her hair, long and loose, covers her back and shoulders like a curtain, like a shroud. Her words are whispers into the dark, and though she speaks continually, she doesn’t ask the obvious questions-where she is and what’s happening, and why the world has gone dark.
“You are not well yet, Беларусь.” He says the words simply, and only then does she register a dull ache in her bones and a throbbing in her temples.
“So?” She laughs. “I’ll be alright, брат, if you stay with me.”
And so he does, holding on gently, until she falls asleep with a smile on her face and his name on her lips.
---
When she wakes up and opens her eyes-a day later, a month later-she can see. Snowy hills are visible outside her window and the space beside her in the bed is empty. When her sister comes to check on her and to change the bandages, she does not mention their brother.
And ever after, she cannot be sure that it wasn’t a dream.
---
footnotes;;
* “Беларусь” = Belarus ; “брат” = Brother.
* Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 - the Fortress of Brest in western Belarus receiving one of the fiercest of the war's opening blows, with its notable defense in 1941 coming to be remembered as an act of heroism in countering the German aggression. Statistically, Byelorussia was the hardest hit Soviet Republic in the war and remained in Nazi hands until 1944. During that time, Germany destroyed 209 out of 290 cities in the republic, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings. Casualties were estimated to between two and three million (about a quarter to one-third of the total population), while the Jewish population of Byelorussia was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971. After the war ended, Byelorussia was officially among the 51 founding countries of the United Nations Charter in 1945. Intense post-war reconstruction was initiated promptly. During this time, the Byelorussian SSR became a major center of manufacturing in the western region of the USSR, increasing jobs and bringing an influx of ethnic Russians into the republic. The borders of Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn to a point known as the Curzon Line.
Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences. This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. The official use of the Belarusian language and other cultural aspects were limited by Moscow. After Stalin died in 1953, successor Nikita Khrushchev continued this program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism."