A night In Paris ( Countryhumans)

A visit in Moscow 3 : end

Everything was so strange around the little girl, she had the impression that the walls kept changing shape but also the tapestry that was on it. It was like a shapeless mass engulfing her, Russia had no idea whether she was on the ground or on one of those strange tapestries. She did not have time to see correctly the patterns that it disappeared a few seconds after it appeared. This frightened the little girl who tried to protect herself by bringing her knees closer to her chest. Making herself very small in the huge room.

Yet at one point the motifs of the tapestry stopped changing, everything seemed to harden and to return to their original form. The little girl did not know what had just happened but one thing was for sure she had not returned in 1917. The room was devoid of furniture and the tapestry was torn in several places. The child proceeded quietly to the door, opening it slowly for fear of the door squeaking. Fortunately this was not the case and Russia was able to leave the room.

She did not know how to return to her time.

With hesitation Russia moved in the corridors lit by candlelight, the flames cast small shadows on the walls. Making the atmosphere more distressing for the little girl who felt that the darkness was going to engulf her. The architecture of the palace did not seem to have changed greatly over time so that Russia quickly found the staircase that leads to the grand hall .

As soon as she had had time to go down the stairs, she heard screams coming from above. To hide from a possible danger, the little girl ran to get behind a huge white marble column. The cries came closer and Russia could partly understand what the two strangers were saying.

"How could you do that? He is your son!"Shout furiously the female voice, one could feel the anger and sorrow in the tone of her voice but also the distress of the young woman. His interlocutor did not answer her immediately , he seemed to think about what he was going to say.

"If your brother is strong, he will survive, otherwise he was not worthy to be my heir." He finally replied in an icy tone, which made Russia shiver.But the young woman did not fear him and mocked his attempts to intimidate her.

"How can you say this without feeling the slightest remorse? I hate you, Father!" She finally let go, those words that weighed so heavily on her heart. But her father ignored her words and acted as if it had not touched him.

"Go and join your husband and let it no longer be spoken of. If he does not return after one year, he was not worthy to have Russia or to know our family secrets." And these were the last words spoken in such a dry and contemptuous tone that it only enraged his daughter even more. She began to insulted him under all sort of names , that he was an unworthy father , a mad men . But he continued to ignore her as he descended his sumptuous stairs. Russia took the opportunity to take a discreet look. The man was very tall , a long dark beard that stopped in the middle of his chest but Russia could not observe him any longer as he had turned his head in her direction .

Russia thought she had been seen, her little heart was racing. The beating of her heart accelerated when she heard the great man shouted in her direction.

" Is it you, Artiom? You have already returned from this hunt for bears and wolves, have you found what I asked you?"
The only answer was silence.

The poor little girl trembled with fear.
  
The man thought that he was being played a trick and proceeded quickly towards the hiding place of Russia. Followed shortly afterwards by his daughter.

Russia tried her best to curl up in the shadow of the column, hoping it would hide her enough. She didn’t have the strength to run and had no idea where to go.

"A child?" Surprisingly exclaimed the stranger as he looked at the poor little girl crying. He did not recognize the flag she had and found her little dress strange.

His daughter had approached and did not hide her surprised look. She wiped the traces of her tears with a lapel of her hand before leaning over to the little girl , whispered her reassuring words so that she could come out of the shadows.

"What’s your name, little girl? " Asked the young woman softly but seeing that the child hesitated to speak, she had at least to know what they were called. Then the woman continued in the same tone.
"My name is Akulina and he," pointing to the giant man with a simple movement of the head, "my father is called the kingdom of Russia." The little girl hesitated for a moment and murmured timidly
"Russia." 
The two adults looked at her with curiosity.

"When did you come from? Who are your parents and what is your real name and not the position you occupy? You seem too young to lead a kingdom. " Akulina asked to her with sweetness while her father looked at Russia with curiosity.

"My mom told me to never  say my real name. I don’t know why. I ...I come from December 1950.My parents are USSR and France."Answered timidly Russia as she pulls on the bottom of her dress, she began to feel cold in the legs.

"Hmmm, the Kingdom of France has been dead for three years so there will be a new succession . It’s interesting ." The kingdom of Russia said to himself. He no longer seemed interested in the little girl and turned around to go to do his business.

His daughter stayed with Russia and noticed that the little girl was not wearing a shoe, she took her in her arms, thus avoiding her to walk again on the icy ground. letting herself be rocked by the melody of the beats of her heart. The sleep carried her away again. Akulina noticed that the child had felt asleep , she murmured for herself:

"I hope that Artiom will come back home and that this little girl can find the warmth of her parents' arms. If only Father would tell me where he hid our most precious possession and this little girl could return to a normal life. I dare not to imagine the distress of her parents. "

A distress that only increased, because now the body of Russia had totally disappeared from the bed on which she rested , disappearing in front of the eyes of her parents in tears. The snowstorm outside was finally over.France rose from her chair, staring at the now empty bed, her eyes filled with tears, she gathered the little toys out, taking the letters that her dear daughter had discovered. USSR watched her do it , he was still under shock, he felt for the first time in a long time tears running down his red cheeks. He could not believe what had just happened, that his little girl had disappeared. He did not know if she was still alive.

"We are leaving, nothing can be done here." Whispered with sorrow France, but she knew perfectly well that her daughter was probably dead.

"And Russia? "asked USSR in a worried tone.

"She...she is probably dead ... "Just after speaking  France burst into tears . USSR did not want to believe her. He got up , anger prevailed .

"No, she’s not. How could you said that she have died? She was so young!" Shouted with anger USSR towards France but also against himself for having touched the idea that his daughter was dead.

France rose up, tears still flowed down her cheeks. She repeated without stopping: " she died , she died . Like all my other daughters. They’re all dead. Russia is gone."

USSR looked at her with horror and tried to show her that she was wrong. But she looked at him, her grey eyes were filled with an immense pain. This pain was the one he had seen when they met in the coffee . The weight of having survived his daughters . This weight must have been unbearable .

" I’m going to go to Canada for a while. Yes, that’s what I’m going to do . It will be for the best ... I... I am afraid to look at you and to see in your eyes those of our little Russia ... I am terribly sorry. I love you but the pain is unbearable to me. "

USSR did not know what to answer to this. He watched her leave without a word. He had to find a way to bring their little girl back even if he had to sacrifice all his strength, his power and his life.