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"Toris! Ravis!" Eduard tried to shout, but the words couldn't even leave his mouth and choked up in his throat, making it harder to breathe. His hands were chained to his side and no matter how hard he struggled, they seemed to move, winding tighter and tighter as the cries grew louder and louder. He couldn't block out Latvia's sobs from the left, weak whimpers and wails that begged him to turn that way and comfort him, nor could he tune out from the cries of pain, stifled screams and sounds of blows that came from his right, the screams pleading for help, using Lithuania's voice.
Estonia screamed, but again, it caught in his throat, strangling him like hands that slowly seemed to become more and more real; Eduard could feel the smooth leather of the gloves tightening around his neck, he could see the glint of innocent purple eyes but there was nothing he could do, he couldn't twist away and the screams got louder, louder, lou-
Estonia shot upright. His scream dropped into a cry, then into silence. Shaking, terrified, the blond stared around him, trying to make sense of the dark, fragmented room around him, but he wasn't wearing his glasses and everything was blurry and nothing made sense! Panic shutting down his mind, Eduard brought his knees tight to his chest. He couldn't stop shaking. The door opening only sent another bolt of terror through him, and when a gentle hand tried to touch him, he jerked away with a cry.
"Estonia?" Even his own name just brought back memories of Latvia, clinging onto him and begging him to make the screams stop, which of course he couldn't do, he could only cover the youngest's ears and try to comfort him.
"Estonia!" The voice calling him was urgent, just like when Lithuania would grab his arm and tell him to get Latvia and go upstairs. Estonia would always hesitate, he would want to stay- surely his way with words could get Toris out of this, but the Lithuanian wouldn't let him, and he had no choice but to do what he said.
The memories- they were too painful, too recent, and they spun around his mind, refusing to release him from the nightmare whether he'd woken up it not.
"Viro..."
Despite the fog of panic swirling around him, cutting him off from the logical world, Eduard heard that. Viro. That...that was his name too. But in Finnish. Finnish meant Finland. And Finland meant...
"F-Fin..." Estonia's voice was barely a whisper, and he couldn't finish the word, but he thought he heard someone sighing in relief. Then his bedside light came on. The harshness of the light made Eduard flinch again, but the figure sat in front of him was a familiar shape, even if the world was still a blur without his glasses. More words reached through to Estonia.
"Viro, katso minua. Look at me."
Finland's gentle voice brought up more memories, but these of peacetimes, of childhood days spent making snowmen or exploring the woods. Nice memories. Slowly, Eduard loosened his grip around himself, and when Tino reached out his hand, he didn't move away. Instead he stayed very still as Finland leant closer, watching for when his friend's eyes focused on him, and then carefully, wary of startling the Estonian, slipped an arm around his shoulders. Estonia tensed at first, unused to such comforting contact, but it was Finland. It was Finland, and within minutes Estonia let his choked sobs come at last, he let the tears roll down his cheeks, he let himself curl his fingers into the soft cotton of his best friends nightshirt and he just collapsed.
"Viro...se on ok..." Tino shifted, letting Estonia lean on him, and wrapped his other arm around him too. "You're ok, Eesti, I promise."
As soon as he'd said it, Finland nearly kicked himself. How many times had his friend heard the words ‘I promise’ as a lie?
“Suomi.” The whisper brought the Fin back to Earth, and he loosened his hug to let Eduard draw back. Quickly leaning over to the bedside table, Finland pulled a tissue from the box and wiped Estonia’s cheeks and nose, smiling softly.
“Better?” he asked. Estonia looked up at him, and attempted a smile.
“Jah.” He managed it, though it was weak, and still tear-stained. Drawing in a breath, Eduard tried again, and this time his smile was more solid. There was even a hint of a sparkle.
“Do you want to…?”
“What’s the point?” It sounded more like a statement than a question. Finland bit his lip.
“I just thought it might, you know…help.”
“But you know what it is.”
Estonia made a good point, but inspiration had struck the Fin.
“Alright.” The determination of his voice made Eduard look up. Tino was smiling, but the Estonian couldn’t see that until he groped for his glasses on the bedside table and slipped them on. Then Finland sat properly on the bed. “How about we talk about something else?”
“Such as?” Estonia questioned. Tino’s grin widened.
“Do you remember, in the 14th century, when I met you in Tallinn?”
Estonia’s eyes widened at the sudden reach into his memories, but the recollection was a happy one, and his mouth was twitching too.
“I remember.” He said. “Wasn’t that…the first time I had seen you since Denmark sold me?”
“Well yes, but remember that was the first time I had seen you since you hit your growth spurt!” Tino had dissolved into laughter and Estonia shoved him, but he was grinning too.
“You were so annoying…”
“But you were so tiny before! Remember, you barely came up to my shoulders!”
“I think that might have changed, short-ass.”
“Shut it, Four-eyes.”
“Isn’t that what Iceland calls me?” Eduard’s chuckled. “Non-Nordic four-eyes. I don’t think he likes me much!”
“Iceland doesn’t like his own bother, Eesti, there’s no hope for you.” Finland flopped backwards onto the patterned covers of the bed and grinned at the ceiling. For the very purpose of looking out on a night like this, there was a window right above the bed, and Estonia lay down next to his friend. The two stared up at the stars. There was a pause. When Finland spoke, it was purely in Estonian this time.
“Remember 12..15?”
“1214, 1215 what was the difference?” Eduard replied softly. That was the year little Finland had decided to adventure south for once, and wandering through a forest came across another blue-eyed and blond-haired nation that now lay beside him.
“You were tiny.”
“You’ve already said that, Soome.” Estonia smiled even as a wave of tiredness washed over him. How late- or early- was it anyway?! “I could sleep.” he commented.
“Go for it.” Finland refrained from adding ‘you need it’ to his reply, but worry stabbed at his mind as he glanced at the time and saw it was 2:45am. Estonia would need to leave at around 6am to be back at Russia’s house before the end of the day, or who knew what would happen. Well, Finland did know what would happen, and that was exactly the reason he didn’t want to let Estonia go back there. But they had no choice. Finland would gladly fight Russia again, take him on, anything to keep his best friend safe, but they had no choice.
Reaching out a little bit, Tino found Eduard’s hand. It was like the hug from before, a gentle, reassuring squeeze with accompanying words.
“You’ll live.” To many it could sound callous, but Estonia knew the depth behind those words. Centuries of friendship had given them that kind of bond, the kind that wouldn’t be broken by anything. Still, his reply was quiet.
“I hope so.”
“I’ll drag you out the f*cking grave myself if that’s what it takes.”
“...Thank you.”