-fanfic- Šasnaccac
The owner does not live here. She merely sleeps in the elegant bed at night, and most of the time, not even there. The girl with the haughty stare and the ribbon in her hair does not consider this sad place with all its memories her home.
It is here that a boy, a teenager with brown hair with his green eyes, comes once a month. He has been coming for a while now, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful girl. He greets the old cleaner in her language as he passes. The caretaker lets him in and chuckles at the look in his eyes.
It is night now. The teenager, who is actually the personification of Lithuania, watches the windows. There is something different today and he does not see it immediately. When he does see it, he is surprised.
One of the windows is shimmering with candlelight. Lithuania sees the girl with the long blond hair carefully light the last candle. He also sees the flag she once used, the plain white flag with a red strike through the middle. The flag that was banned from Belarus.
“What is she doing?” he asks the old caretaker.
The old lady smiles. “You should ask her yourself,” she says, and she’s right. It only takes a moment to walk up to the door and to knock on it. His heart is pounding, just like a lovestruck teenager and not like the centuries old being he really is.
Belarus opens the door. She does not have her usual disdainful look on her face. They stand there in a moment of silence.
She has the first word. In another time, even yesterday, she would have chased him away or broken his fingers. Today, she just says one word. “Салідарнасьць.”
Solidarity. Lithuania is familiar with the word, knowing it from Poland’s union in the 80’s. The Pole had irritated his masters with his strikes and his Solidarity, but it had helped him shrug off the burden of communism.
Belarus is still talking. “The candles show our feelings of solidarity with the political prisoners, the families of the disappeared and all those fighting for freedom and democracy in Belarus.” She says this like she’s just parroting a message. Her eyes betray her conflict, her desire for change but also for the status quo.
The Lithuanian listens, amazed. He had always known that there was some kindness in the ‘last dictatorship in Europe’, despite what Poland or his brothers said. “Do you want change?” he asks.
She hesitates. “Yes,” she says under her breath. She moves to close the door and does so, leaving Lithuania just standing. He waits for a couple of minutes before he walks away.
As Lithuania leaves the mansion, he remembers. He thinks about a small girl who looked up to him, a beautiful young girl who tried to do whatever she could to help and succeeded. She was taken away from him just as he was split away from Poland.
He would do anything to get her back.
~><~
America is talking in the front of the room about Climate Change and about how they’re going to hire the developing countries to get rid of greenhouse gases… or something like that. He’s just going on and on, speaking so loudly that it’s safe to whisper without being heard.
“Natalya?” Lithuania is sitting right next to Russia, which would normally be a bad thing. However, since China is sitting on the other side of the Russian, this means Lithuania can accompany the beautiful Belarus.
He receives a glare from her. “Go away,” she hisses. Oh. Shouldn’t have used her ‘human’ name. It was a difficult issue with some of the other nations, especially those who hadn’t decided on one.
“Uh… remember yesterday?” he asks, forever hopeful. “You can talk to me if you want to.”
And now she’s gone into full death glare mode. She stares at him in disbelief, totally ignoring America’s rather significant remarks about Russia. Lithuania has to strain to hear what she says next, and when he does it almost stabs him in the heart. Almost, because she’s so beautiful and he’s never, never going to give up on her.
“Stupid Lithuania.”
~><~
The candles flicker, casting the room in their small sunlight. They light up the garden outside with the tall flax flowers and the creeping ivy vines. It is a strange sight, as the flowers and the weeds both cast devilish shadows.
Belarus sits on her bed and watches the moving shadows on the wall. It has become a ritual - every month, on the 16th, she would light some candles and place it on her windowsill.
She does not think Russia would approve, but for just one day, she does not care about him. For just one day, her heart is with her people. Or is it? She rather thinks she does not know. She is certain that her president has her best interests at heart, but there are times when she doubts him.
Like today.
The sky outside is dark now, the hour of twilight. The sky mirrors her candles with the stars, shining beyond. Her brother is like one of those stars, beautiful and unattainable, but dangerous.
Belarus is jolted back to reality when she sees a couple of lights coming up the pathway. They illuminate their bearers - four people she knows.
She can hear them through the open window.
“Liet, like, are you sure this is a good idea? No offense, but Belarus is totally not interested in you.”
“I actually agree. Toris, this just might be a little risky. Ow!”
“Uh, E-eesti, you just b-burned yourself…”
And the one person in the middle does not say anything. He looks hopeful, which is magnified by the dancing light on his face. He whispers something to his brothers and his friend, and they grow quiet.
They are all holding candles, tiny flames that represent unity and harmony. She does not know, but she suspects that candles are being placed on windowsills all over the world.
Belarus smiles.
~><~
~Notes~
On the 16th of October, 2005, at 8 pm, an estimated 100,000 people in Belarus placed a candle on their windowsills for fifteen minutes. They wanted to show their solidarity with the families of the political prisoners and ‘disappeared’ people of their country. From then after, the event was encouraged to happen on the 16th of every month. It even spread all throughout the world to places like Belgium, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, the USA and others.
The event is called (on Wikipedia) ‘A Day of Solidarity with Belarus) and the English Homepage is -here-.
The title is Romanized Belarusian for Sixteen, the day of the event. If I’ve transliterated it into English incorrectly, please tell me.
And, uh, please review?