Norway

All I could see was the inside of my eyelid. I couldn't move, but I felt my heartbeat thrumming weakly through my veins. My breath was limited, but it was there. My lungs were still operating, sucking air in and out, but they were faltering every now and then.

What had even happened? Why was I here? More importantly, where was I?

Sure enough, the memory came back to me as suddenly as the semi had materialized. I had been driving, but due to traffic in my nation the streets were busier than usual. My body had been struggling for a while, however. I knew the end was most likely coming soon for me, and to be honest, I was happy of that fact. The life of a nation is long and tiring, and so many memories have been stacked in my mind that it can be overbearing, making my head feel that at any moment it would explode. I don't know how I had been able to miss it, but I had been turning and a semi truck had smashed into the side of the car that, naturally, I had been sitting on.

I struggled to remember anything after that, seeing as my entire world had gone completely black immediately after the incident.

I tried to move, but the pain was so excruciating that I instantly froze up again.

That was when I heard the voice. The pain I felt throughout my body was carried in his voice alone. It took me awhile to recognize the voice, but once I connected the face and name of the one of whom was speaking I swore mentally.

Not him, I thought to myself, Odin, please not him. I don't want him to see me like this. I don't want any of them to see me like this, but especially not him.

As if ignoring my silent prayers on purpose, his voice got closer.

"They say you're not going to make it. I… can't bring myself to think such a thought." I heard fingers clutching the edge of my bed… Ah, so that's what the beeping noise was.

My heartbeat.

It's a scary feeling, when you can hear your own heart slowing and beginning to fail every now and then.

"I don't know why I think you can hear me. Maybe it's just to sooth my own mind," he paused, drawing in a noticeably shaky breath. "but I hope that if you could hear me it would sooth you too." I felt my arm move, not by my control but by his. It was quite painful.

He had entwined his fingers with mine.

I could sense this not necessarily because I could feel his hands, but that I knew my hand had moved.

Why did he have to be here?

I didn't want him to see me die.

I didn't want him to see my breathing decelerate until my chest was still.

I didn't want him to hear the machine tracking my heartbeat blare its signal my heart had stopped beating, stopped working.

To be honest, I hated the fact that he was even there. I hated the fact that he had to go through such a thing, and hated myself even more for not being able to prevent him from being here.

And why, why did he have to talk? I felt bad enough already.

Oh the things I yearned to tell him.

"There's nothing that can be done, go home to Iceland and tell him what's happened. Be there for him, seeing as I am incapable of being there for him ever again. Nothing that happened was your fault. Most of all, I love you, always have and always will."

But just like the rest of my body, my mouth refused to move.

"I rushed over as soon as I heard. I haven't slept for the past two days, nor eaten." He said, and it pained me to hear it. Why oh why couldn't I still be completely unconscious? "I've drank so much coffee… " He paused to laugh, but it was a laugh with no humor behind it, its emptiness echoing around the room. "I've even made–" his voice cracked at this point, and his body jolted. I knew this because I felt it through my arm. "–I've been making you cups too. Every time I get one, I make you one the way you like it, just in… In case you w-wake up."

It was clear, just from listening, that he had tears streaming down his face.

It was clear, just from listening, that his light blue eyes had water flowing down to the brim of his eyelashes until they fell from his face, leaving streaks marking their former paths.

I heard him inhale another shaky breath. "You… You've been asleep for so long, Nor… Almost three days now," he stated. Honestly, I was a bit impressed with that. "Why, why won't you wake up?" He asked with a strained voice. There was a long pause. I felt my arm being moved up –or at least I think the direction was up– and was able to feel my hand hitting something soft, most likely flesh.

"I hope you know that you don't have to hang on," he whispered suddenly. "I wish you would just wake up or pass peacefully, and soon. If I have any more anxiety I won't be able to stand it." At this point his voice was shaking. I was surprised he was saying this, but it also bothered me. Why was he so incapable of being quiet?

"I just want you to know that it's okay. No matter what, you're my best friend. It's okay for you to leave, but we all want you to stay."

His words struck a chord in me. If it had been before the crash I would have hit him, calling him annoying and cheesy.

Now, though..? That's a different story.

All I wanted in those few seconds was the ability to say "thank you".

"I'd miss you. I-I'd miss you." His voice was stuttering, quivering and failing him. I felt something soft brush against the underside of my chin, of which I could only assume was hair, seeing as I felt the weight of his entire torso leaning on my chest.

Odin, did it hurt.

"I'll miss you too," I wanted to say. I also wanted to say "Anko, get off" but remained incapable of moving.

"You're in pain though, and I can't stand seeing that," he whispered, and I knew it was true. After all, he constantly worried about us, whether or not he would admit it. I knew that for him to even be watching the news and get a phone call it would give him a heart attack–literally, once. I understood the worry, but at the same time I didn't understand his anxiousness.

Well, not until now at least.

"Please, Norway. Don't make me have to watch you suffer." He said, his voice heavy as it carried its sad and heavy plea.

"I love you," I wanted to say. "Tell the others that I love them too," I would have added. "Tell Iceland to stop trying to grow up so fast," was another thing I wished I could say, "and tell Sealand not to give Finland and Sweden too hard of a time." My mind processed these thoughts and it hurt my heart to know that Denmark would never hear them. I heard the beeping machine that was keeping track of my heartbeat start to speed up. Denmark jumped, and from the clatting noise of fancy shoes I knew that someone else had most likely entered the room.

"He'll die soon if his heartbeat continues accelerating at this rate," I heard a muffled version of those words, however. I felt Denmark's hands grip my shoulders and my head limply rolled to the side slightly. Something small and wet hits my cheek, and without anything to wipe it off it slowly rolls toward the tip of my nose. I depicted that "it" was probably one of Denmark's tears.

"No… Nej, this c-can't happen…" Denmark's strained voice said while his breathing became gasps. He moved one of his hands so he wouldn't lean on me and put his mouth next to my ear. "But it's okay if it does, it's okay, it'll be okay…" To me it sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself rather than me. I continued to hear my own heartbeat increase in speed and felt Denmark's familiar hand grip one of mine.

"We can put him on life support, sir," a small and feminine voice offered, but Denmark protested.

"No. If we put him on life support it'll just be longer until he wakes up." I would have sighed with relief, if I had been capable, that is. The gaining frequency of my heartbeat made the inside of my eyelid appear to become redder and redder by the second. I could feel my chest palpitating from my heartbeat for a moment before it stopped completely.

It's quite a scary feeling, not being able to feel your own heartbeat. Or hear it. It's terrifying for the blank alarm on the monitor to start screeching that your heart had stopped. From what I knew of hospitals and Medicare, I knew that I would be alive for only a few minutes, but the slight red of my eyelid was beginning to fade. I felt something wet press against my forehead, but I quite simply tried to ignore it.

I let my soul relax, seeing as I couldn't move my body, and began to let the darkness flood over me. Soon, the world was black, and I, Kongeriket Norge, was gone.