Norway jumped from the front of his ship on to the soft sand of the newly discovered island. A few of his men followed, weapons already drawn and prepared for a battle. A couple yards down Denmark and his men did the same but with much more energy. Norway looked over to lock eyes with Denmark who looked like a hound dog ready for a chase. He was already standing in fighting stance with his battle-axe held tightly in his right hand. Norway gave a slight nod and the whole Danish fleet ran to the left, yelling and waving their weapons around. Norway sent his own men in the opposite direction, and then started walking by himself in the spare space in between. The screams eventually faded and the peaceful silence of the vegetation around Norway could be heard again. He started poking around, only going towards plants he was familiar with and left the rest to be looked over later.
After a couple of minutes of searching and nothing useful coming up, Norway decided to head back to catch up with the others. As he turned around and started to walk a rustling in a bush behind him stopped him in his tracks. He slowly pulled his sword out so it wouldn't make any noise and gripped it tightly in his hand. With even and quiet breaths, Norway turned around and crept towards the bush. When he got close enough he crouched down and held the sword up as he pushed the leaves aside to see what was hiding. Norway quickly lowered his weapon at the sight of a small child hiding fearfully in the dense bush. The boy tried to back away more when he met eyes with Norway but he was quick to stop him.
"Nei, nei! Ikke kjør!" Norway dropped his sword and held his hands up.
The child stopped but looked even more confused and frightened than before. 'Oh duh he doesn't speak Norwegian.' Norway thought and decided to try again.
"Do you speak English?" He asked and the child seemed to relax.
He nodded but wouldn't speak.
"Okay good...I'm not going to hurt you. Just come out of the bush." Norway pleaded, knowing that wouldn't stay completely true. They were Vikings, not baby sitters. The only reason Norway hadn't killed the child yet was because he wasn't sure what the rest had found.
Still it was a child so he was easily convinced. He stood up and slowly stepped out of the bush and to the side so Norway wasn't too close. Norway picked up his sword and sheathed it.
"What's your name?" Norway asked. It was weird for him to be talking to a stranger but there was something...off about this child.
"U-um...well..." He stuttered, looking down like he was unsure of something, "I don't really know..."
Norway raised his eyebrows to give the little one a suspicious look. "You don't know you're own name?"
He shook his head and looked around. "I don't have a family to name me."
Norway's hard glare softened from the child's predicament. "Well I'm Norway," he said and held out his hand, "Let's go back to where I came from."
The child smiled and held on to Norway's hand as the started to walk. He didn't talk simply because he had nothing to talk about. Norway didn't talk because he knew what was going to happen when they got back to camp and almost felt bad for the kid.
As they came out of the woods and back on to the beach Norway could begin to see that temporary tents and a fire had already been set up. 'Looks like they all found their way back.' Norway thought and let go of the kid's hand. The child looked up at him worried but Norway refused to return the gaze. When they got close enough that they could be seen Norway pushed the kid roughly behind him so he was out of sight.
"Danmark! Kom her!" Norway yelled, grabbing the attention of a few of their men but all of them too distracted by food and alcohol to care. Denmark heard him though and ran over with a grin.
"Hey Norge! Find anything good? We didn't find any people but there were a bunch of weird animals that we killed and they're cooking now." Denmark rambled until Norway flicked him on the side of his head.
"Shut up, we need to talk-" Norway started and Denmark immediately went to try and take him back to camp, "In private."
Denmark stopped and gave him a strange look but agreed. Norway reached behind him and picked up the child with one hand as they slowly backed away.
"Whatcha hiding?" Denmark asked when they were far enough from the others.
Norway pulled the child from behind his back and pushed him in front of Denmark. This scared him though and he quickly tried to hide again but Norway simply picked him up and held him in the air.
"He's the only person we've found on this island and he doesn't have a family." Norway explained before Denmark could question him.
"So what's you're point?" Denmark asked, sounding a bit annoyed, "Isn't that even more of a reason to kill him?"
The child looked back at Norway with betrayal in his eyes but Norway ignored him.
"No you idiot!" He said and dropped the child so he could make better eye contact with the Dane, "He could be the country."
"Oh..." Denmark looked down at the child recovering from the fall, "You're not thinking of...?"
Norway looked down awkwardly, "Uh actually...yeah."
"You're kidding." Denmark couldn't believe Norway actually wanted to keep the country.
Norway huffed, "Come on..." He leaned in closer so it was easier to whisper, "Han ser ut akkurat som meg."
Denmark began to argue again but the yelling of their men in the distance made him stop. "Vi vil tale mere senere."
The child stood up shakily and tried to sneak away but Norway caught him before he got too far.
"What about him?" He asked when Denmark started to walk away.
"Bring him with us."
"Are you crazy?! They'll kill him as soon as we have our backs turned."
Denmark knew that was the truth so he walked back to the kid. He crouched down in front of him and gave him a kind smile.
"Can you do me a favor and not run off for one night? Just one? I'll even bring you food but I have to know I can trust you won't leave." Denmark asked nicely.
The child looked from Denmark up to Norway and slowly nodded. "I promise."
"Thank you." Denmark sounded relieved and stood up again to turn to Norway, "Find him a safe place for the night and I'll get him some food."
Norway nodded and Denmark took off in a sprint back to camp with the yelling men. Norway turned and motioned for the child to follow him back into the bush.
"What were you talking about? Me being a country?" He asked when Norway started making a bed from familiar plants.
"You'll understand later." He said and sat down on the ground, "You think you'll be okay here?"
The small boy walked forward and sat on the makeshift bed with a nod.
"Good, I have to leave now but Denmark should be back soon." Norway stood up and the child waved goodbye.
The night went by quickly, their men were already boozed up by the time Norway and Denmark got to eat. On the bright side of that they were able to escape quickly when they wanted too. The two ducked inside the farthest tent with a sigh.
"I can't believe you actually brought him back." Denmark admitted but with a bit of a laugh.
"Neither can I..." Norway wasn't really the kid type so it was surprising to him too.
Denmark stripped a layer to make the first half of a fur bed on the ground.
"So you really want to do this? We can't just take the land and leave him. We'd be responsible of him for centuries." Denmark wanted to make sure Norway knew what he was getting into and didn't seem to mind the idea.
"Yes I know." Norway sighed as Denmark came over to take him fur coat off him and make the last part of the bed, "But maybe that's a good thing...we can't pillage everything our whole lives."
Denmark laughed and pulled on Norway's thinner shirt. He stumbled and fell forward, both of them collapsing into the small fur pallet on the floor. "Yeah maybe it is."
Norway rolled his eyes and adjusted himself so they both could lie down. Of course that meant that Norway was basically lying on top of Denmark. It didn't bother either of them though since this was a nightly routine.
"We need to give him a name." Norway said after a few seconds of silence, "Something that'll keep the other countries away."
"Hm right..." Denmark hummed and wrapped an arm around Norway's waist, "Remember that one place we found a while ago? The one that was completely frozen."
Norway groaned, "Don't remind me...that place was awful."
"Exactly!" Denmark smiled, "That place was cold and dead. This place is green and beautiful!"
"What are you getting at?"
"Well..." Denmark tone made him sound like he had the most brilliant idea in the world, "What if we named him Iceland and that other place Greenland! Then everyone will want to go there instead of here!"
Norway sat up just to give Denmark a dirty look, "You actually believe that's going to work?"
"Yeah why wouldn't it?" Denmark shrugged off Norway's look, "When people want resources they'll believe anything."
"...Fine." Norway still thought it was an awful idea but was too tired to argue so he lay down again.
Denmark felt proud of his idea and sat up enough to quickly kiss Norway, "It'll work, I promise."
"Sure it will, go to sleep now." Norway yawned and curled up to a comfortable position.
Denmark laid the same but pulled Norway closer to get more warmth and within minutes they were both asleep.
They woke up the next morning before any of the other men and immediately set out to find the child. A minute or two into the walk Denmark started a conversation.
"He might not actually be the country, you know."
"I know..." Norway sighed, "but there's one way we can be for sure."
"And how's that?" Denmark grinned.
Norway silently reached down to his boot and pulled out a dagger, which made Denmark pause.
"You're not really thinking of doing that?"
"No, I'm not going to." Norway agreed and handed Denmark the small knife. "You are."
"What? No! It was your idea!" Denmark argued as the blade was forced into his hands.
"I'm not hurting a little kid with no family." Norway explained.
"And I should?!"
"How many have you killed already? What difference does it make now?" Norway had had his fair share of kills but he'd never hurt a kid.
"Fine." Denmark huffed and shoved the knife into a holster. "But you own me."
"Whatever," Norway shrugged, "there's nothing you can make me do that I haven't done already."
The rest of the walk to the hidden spot was silent, both secretly insulting the other. When the got to the makeshift bed they were both surprised to see it empty.
"What the hell? He ran off?" Denmark raged, kicking the empty bed to pieces.
Norway look around the bed for any sign of the child but found nothing. "Yeah, I guess he did…"
Denmark huffed and sat on the ground to pout.
"I didn't think you'd be so upset about him leaving." Norway said as he continued to look.
"I gave him my food…"
Norway rolled his eyes and was about to give up his search when something landed on his head. "Uh, what's on my head?"
Denmark look up and grinned, "It's one of those birds we found yesterday! Except this one's a lot smaller."
"Well would you get it off?" Norway asked as he tried to shake it off.
"Sure." Denmark got up to help but as soon as he go close to Norway the bird started pecking at his hair.
"Ow, what the hell!" Norway yelled as he tried to swat the bird off. The black and white bird flew off of Norway's head and landed on the tree beside them, "Damn bird…" Norway hissed and brought out his second dagger.
The bird looked at him and cawed before swooping down behind the tree. Norway followed and had his knife ready as he turned the corner. He stopped his angered sprint when he saw the bird was perched on the child's head.
"Found the kid!" Norway yelled to Denmark who came around the tree to look.
The yelling woke the child who, at first, wasn't surprised to see the blade in Norway's hand. When he saw what it was aimed at, however, his eyes got wide.
"No, don't hurt Mr. Puffin!" He cried, reaching to his head to grab the bird and hug it tight to his chest to which the bird showed no acts of protest.
"Mr. Puffin?" Norway and Denmark questioned at the same time.
The child nodded and blocked the bird from their sight. "Yes, his name is Mr. Puffin and he's my pet!"
Norway slid his dagger back into his boot and crossed his arms. "Well if your "pet" wants to live much longer I'd recommend you train him not to peck people's hair out."
He looked down at him bird friend and lightly hit the top of its head as if to tell him not to do it again. He then released the bird from his grasp and let it fly back to its branch on the tree.
Norway continued to glare at the bird for a second but then tried to move past it. "So did you sleep well?" He asked while sitting down on a nearby rock.
The child looked at him suspiciously for being so nice. "Yeah, I liked the bed."
"Good," Norway nodded and made a motion for him to come closer, "come here."
He looked up at Denmark and then to Norway like he was distrusting but climbed into Norway's lap anyways. "What's wrong?"
Norway glanced at Denmark as a signal and held on to the kid. "Nothing I just need you to hold still for a minute." He grabbed his left arm tightly and pulled it forward so his whole arm was exposed. "This is going to hurt but you have to trust me."
The child squirmed and tried to break free but was obviously much weaker than Norway. Denmark sighed and brought the knife out of its hiding spot. He walked down and crouched by the child's arm before placing the cold metal against his skin. The child was about to start crying before the knife even pierced his skin and looked away in horror. Denmark tried to make it as painless as possible by not making the cut too deep or too long, making it just big enough that it started to bleed. The child almost started to scream and would've if Norway hadn't noticed and covered his mouth. He did cry then, feeling completely helpless and in pain. Norway took out the small cloth he had brought with him and placed it on top of the wound before applying pressure to it. The child sniffled and looked over at his arm, as the pained seemed to be fading away. After a couple of minutes Norway looked back up at Denmark before peeling the damp cloth away to find the child's cut had completely healed back already.
"So he is the country." Denmark grinned, and looked at the child who seemed to be in shock.
Norway nodded and tucked the bloody cloth away to be washed; continuing to hold on to the child in fear that if he put him down he would run away. "Looks like he is."
Norway could hardly finish his sentence before Denmark butted in again, picking the kid up to hold him up in front of his face. "So that means we're keeping him right? We can't just leave him by himself for another country to pick up."
The child pushed back against Denmark and whined, still not understanding what was going on. "I don't wanna leave with you! You hurt me!"
"I'll start heading back to tell the men so that won't kill him on the spot so you get to explain this to him." Denmark huffed with the child pushed against his face in an attempt to get away.
"Let me down, I'm scared! Mr. Puffin!" The child continued to scream but was completely ignored, even by his bird friend who was mostly frightened by the two brutes.
"Fine I'll watch him but you better have them calmed down by nightfall. I'm not waiting any longer than that to come back." Norway nodded and watched him struggle, knowing that if they were going to potentially raise him the fear factor would have to come to an end.
"Not a problem. You know they'll listen to me!" Denmark laughed again and lightly tossed him to Norway without any hesitation, obviously not very experienced with any child under the age of eight.
Norway yelled as he took a large step forward to unsteadily catch the flailing kid, scooping him up in his arms to his chest and stumbled into Denmark. Luckily able to stay on his feet but clearly wasn't happy about having to almost dive to catch him "What was that?! You can't throw a child like you throw an ax!"
Denmark put his hands up as if to surrender and smiled down at him shyly to hopefully stop the chance of getting hit. "Oops! Well if he's a country the fall shouldn't affect him anyways, right?"
Norway looked down at the child as he shivered in his arms, shaking his head slightly and gently pushed the blonde hair away from his forehead so it wouldn't get in his eyes, "It doesn't matter…"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Denmark sighed and kissed the top of Norway's head before starting to move away, "See you two at dinner! Jeg elsker deg!"
Norway rolled his eyes slightly and waved to say goodbye before drawing his attention to the shaken child in his arms. "Calm down, we're not going to hurt you again."
The boy simply shook his head in response but didn't dare to move out of pure fear. Conjuring up his voice enough to whimper, "L-Let me go…I-I didn't do anything, this is my home."
There was a sudden ping of guilt that overcame Norway but it was impossible to describe. A quick, sharp pain that could almost be - oh, what's that word - sympathy? No, that wasn't possible, how many cities has he rampaged, how many families had he watched his men separate and kill, forcing them to the ground in front of their burning homes. So now this innocent, seemed to be orphan child lay before him and he felt empathy for him, a certain tenderness that should only be felt for family, like Denmark. "Don't cower, you'll be able to come back here when you're grown…"
Another sniffle, another shake of the head, but no cowering, "Why do you want to take me?"
"Let me explain," Norway sighed and strides to the boulder from before to rest, "You are a country. A young, uncorrupted country. This means you represent this whole island."
He continued to look up at Norway, obviously confused but didn't even know where to start with questions so he just kept them simple, "That doesn't…"
Norway hummed lightly and nodded, looking around to become more aware of his surroundings. "I was giving you some background information, We're taking you because if we don't, another country will."
Perking up slightly from his curiosity, the young nation finally made eye contact with the other. Just wanting answers, of course, "You and the loud one are countries too?"
Norway nodded and tried not to look as intense since the boy seemed to begin to become more comfortable which was the perfect time to gain his trust, "Right, I'm the Kingdom of Norway and the idiot is the Kingdom of Denmark."
"Do I get a name?" He questioned Norway who nodded in return.
"We were thinking of one earlier…" Norway responded and rocked him slightly, enough to encourage him to be more open.
There was a hesitant silence before the boy tugged on Norway's ripped left sleeve, turning his head sideways to shift his gaze downwards, "...Can I hear it?"
The small voice caught the elder nation's attention. It was a surprising question since Norway was sure the child wanted nothing to do with him or Denmark so this was almost a sign of desire, the desire to be wanted. In fact it was pure luck that the friends found him first and were able to claim this emotion. The pause made the curious child uneasy since it felt like Norway had been lying but he was sure to speak up before this suspicion could grow any stronger.
"Iceland…we thought Iceland would be a good name…" He finally replied and for some reason he looked at "Iceland" to see if he approved. He shouldn't be this worried, he was the one that found him so he got to name him, no questions asked. That wasn't the case as much as he wished though because there were just feelings that he was unable to hide.
"Why Iceland? There's not much ice here." He continued to ask questions but didn't say he disliked it.
Norway rolled his eyes a bit since he completely agreed on the idiocy of the complete opposite names, 'It was Denmark's idea…he thought it would trick the other countries, not that that makes much sense.
"You're trying to hide me?" Iceland refused to stop asking questions until he was filled in enough that he felt comfortable with the situation.
"Well...yes." He thought for a second because he wouldn't necessarily word it like that but, then again, he was talking to a child, "I guess it is like hiding you."
Iceland was too quick to respond, "Why?"
More hesitation on Norway's part, "Why so many questions?"
"Am I going to get hurt?"
"Not if you listen to Denmark and me."
There was silence for a few moments as Iceland wasn't sure if he could trust them. But within a couple of seconds he realized, as a child, he didn't have much of a choice. He couldn't defend himself against any other nations and certainly not the other two. For those reasons he simply nodded, but couldn't stop his mouth.
"Why do you want to protect me?"
Norway seemed surprised and caught off guard from the last question and was very tempted not to answer at all. Unfortunately once again Iceland's innocent, childlike eyes filled with a certain curiosity and that was just something he couldn't say no to.
"Honestly the only thing we've discussed is ownership of your land." Norway answered with the trust because it was pointless to lie.
That answer seemed to discourage Iceland and he wasn't proud to admit that. Why should he be worried about what some strangers thought of him? No, that can't be what he's confused about...it's his land, of course. Though he couldn't protect himself from the creatures living on his island, he couldn't act like he was okay with it being taken over. Yes...that was it.
"I don't want you destroying my land." Iceland mumbled, too scared to speak loud and proudly.
Norway still heard him clearly without his head being held high and almost felt it was cruel from him to have to think like that at such a young age.
"We won't destroy it…" There was an unsure tone in his voice so he quickly tried to protect his statement, "We'll do our best to preserve it."
That was a promise he'd never made before because he'd never cared. Immediately after the words left his mouth did he start to think about how Denmark and the rest of their men would react. They were a whole group trained to do nothing but destroy anything to get to the wealth and power they seeked. They were always so brutal and suddenly Norway was going to ask them to be gentle? He already felt ridiculous thinking about it. But through his worries he got a small reward, a simple spark of hope and happiness from Iceland, the poor boy looked like he was going to jump and hug Norway just from a simple promise.