M:   Belarus and MA stared at Iremacht with looks of utter confusion, the apparent apology came out so fast that it pretty much flew over both their heads.

"I don't think he meant literally spill it out Iremacht," MA eventually said, "it's not much of an apology if we can't understand it."

"That was supposed to be an apology?" Belarus asked, then fake chuckled, "don't make me laugh, the day that conceited, good for nothing, terrorist owns up to something is the day Prussia rises from the grave and crowns him king of the Prussian Empire."

"Belarus, stop that," MA said, gripping her arm harder, "you saying all of that is just stooping down to his level, making you no better than him."

"Good," she spat, "maybe he'll finally learn something when he looks into a mirror. Though I doubt it since he didn't from the first time he hurt Poldara."

L:   "Stop comparing me to Prussia!" Iremacht shouted. He'd lost his original sheepishness to his building anger. "I don't need to look in any mirror. I am my unique self, not a decedent copy of a rotten old asshole! Can't I be original? Why can't you see me for ME?"

"Machty!" Germany shouted in disapproval. "We came here to apologize, not yell in Belarus's face! Now you'll have to apologize for doing that too!"

"So what?" Iremacht snapped. "She won't forgive us anyway or even try to understand. I can save Poldara from burning buildings a hundred times and she still won't be satisfied. What does she want us to do?" Iremacht turned to Belarus and demanded again, "What do you want us to do about this, huh?"

M:   "Right now I want you to get out of here so I can wait for my ride in peace," she said curtly, then turned to MA, "for the last time. Let. Me. Go."

"No Belarus, I am not letting you go," MA said as he grabbed her shoulders, "I am never letting you go again."

Belarus's face turned confused at the statement, but MA gave her no time to ask questions, "I don't know what made you act like this, but lashing out isn't solving anything. You can't stay mad at them forever, they did nothing wrong."

"Don't tell me you are blind too," Belarus started, but MA covered her mouth.

"Belarus, please," he begged quietly, "please don't hate, I have seen first hand what hate can do to people, it destroyed mine and your father in different ways, it started world war one and two, and it causes friends to turn on each other. I don't want that to happen to you, to us, so please just try to forgive what has happened, because if you carry that hate with you, it will eventually grow big enough to consume you, and I couldn't live with myself if that happened to you."

L:   Hate. It was the most potent emotion in the world, second only to another word of four letters. Wehrmacht had let it run his decisions when he was young, after witnessing A-H's demise, and it had turned him into Prussia's puppet.

"We will do as you wish," he said to Belarus, dipping his head. "We'll get out of here - as we should have, yesterday. MA is right. I do not want to be any more responsible for the hate stirring up inside you. You too, Machty. The longer this drags on, the more hate you will have."

Iremacht balled his fists and opened his mouth but Wehrmacht interrupted, "Please, son, let me be a good father and spare you from hate."

"I ... okay." The young militant exhaled slowly. "But before we go." He stared at Belarus. "I want to know why exactly you hate us and if it's really worth this long-lasting grudge."

M:   Belarus stared at them for a minute, then patted MA's hand still over her mouth so she could talk, he complied and lowered his hand, he let go of her too.

"I-," she started, unable to find the words, MA's speech hit her hard and she was now feeling guilty about what she did, "I guess it's underlying resentment from WWII."

She took a long sigh before she continued, "I have a different relationship with my dad. I never saw what he did to Mandara, and I was more or less shielded from the bad things that he did, so I still love him as my dad. When Third Reich broke the pact and betrayed us, he tried to kill Ussr by literally backstabbing him. I was the one who discovered my father bleeding to death in his office, with Reich already long gone, I was so scared that I was going to watch him die at the hands of a German, and even though he didn't, I never could get over that moment. So from that moment on, I just always had an underlying hatred for you guys."

MA was quite shocked to hear that answer, he never thought of Belarus as someone who clings to the past, yet she just admitted that she did.

L:   "Oh," Iremacht said lamely.

So that was why. Iremacht and Germany simultaneously looked at Wehrmacht, who rubbed his arm with a pained expression. No one liked hearing references to Third Reich, especially not his brother.

Wehrmacht tried to say, "I'm sorry - "

"It's not your fault, Uncle," Germany said. "It was my Vater's choice. You had nothing to do with it." Then he said to Belarus, "As the official country after my Vater, I will bear any grievances you have. Please address your hatred to me, and let me know what I can do to dispel it or lessen the tension. But I ask that you leave Wehrmacht and Iremacht out of this feud."

M:   Belarus didn't say anything yet, she just felt empty and devoid of emotion, she always felt that way when she was upset, and the explanation didn't help any.

MA strode softly over to Belarus and placed a hand on her shoulder, to which she reacted by tightly hugging him, tears starting to run down her face.

"I'm sorry MA," she said, "I never meant to cause all this trouble, I was scared that the people I care about were being hurt by Germans, I couldn't watch that happen again, not after last time."

MA patted her back comfortingly, "It won't happen again Belarus, those days are long gone and are never coming back. The Germans are our friends now, and they have moved on from the past, it's time you do the same."

"I-I c-can't, you don't know what it's like to see your dad dying right before your eyes," she sobbed.

"I do Bel, and mine wasn't as lucky as yours, but I have put it behind me and made peace with the country that killed him. I know it's hard, but if you cling to the past, then you can't move forward to the future."

Belarus looked up to MA, she nodded after a minute and turned back to the Germans, still hugging MA though, "I-I'm sorry for what I said before, I let my emotions cloud my judgment and said things that I shouldn't have, I'm so sorry."