Prologue

"What is going on? Mathias? Lukas? Berwald, Tino!" Had his friends left him? Emil sighed. No way they'd ever do that to him.

"Lukas!" He tried once again. "Lukas, where are you?" He was sure they were here. They had to be.

"Mathias? I know you're here." Panic started to spread out over his body. No one replied.

"Tino? Seriously guys..." Emil looked around. Was that a mirror? What was a mirror doing here?

Carefully, somewhat hesitantly, but quickly, the teen walked to the mirror. He had a good look at himself. He looked different. The same, but... different. His eyes, his hair, his clothing. He stared at himself, but at someone entirely different. Who was he looking at? What the hell was going on?

He stared into his reflection's burning red eyes. He corrected himself in his mind. One of his eyes was covered with an eye patch. Was it even his reflection? It must be. Every move he made, the person in the mirror made too. Every single one. Even if he only twitched his finger.

His hair had turned more lilac, than its original platinum color. His violet eyes had turned red, his usual brown and white clothing were now red and black. This could not be him. He couldn't be looking at himself. This was not Emil Steilsson. No way. He backed away, looking at the clothing he was wearing himself. Red and black. Could he see his own hair? He picked up a strand near his eyes and looked at it. Lilac. Dammit!

"You look lost." Someone behind him said. Emil turned around, facing his older brother. But... no way that was actually...

His hair was darker. His eyes more purple, his clothing deep red, instead of the usual deep blue. And he was smiling. Lukas would never smile. There was a rare occasion, but at times like this, finding his younger brother lost in the woods, no way he'd be smiling. He also had a burn-mark on his face. How did that come there?

"I-uh... yes..." Emil mumbled, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Well, come! The others are waiting!" Lukas, or whoever it was, grabbed Emil's wrist and pulled him through the woods.

Soon after, the two reached a cabin. Emil frowned, looking at the wooden thing.

"Loki! Dammit! Where were you?" Whose voice was that?

"Sorry! Egil was lost!" Emil had lost total track of the conversation. Who were they talking about? Why did Lukas respond to Loki and who was he talking to? Where even were they?

"Well, get the fuck inside." Lukas, although Emil referred to him as Loki in his head already, pulled his younger brother inside.

"Hey!" Hold on, was that... Yep, Berwald.

"Hei!" Loki replied. Mathias sighed and focused on the pile of papers in front of him. Emil frowned a bit.

"Sit down, fuckers." Tino rolled his eyes. This did not help Emil out of his confusion.
"Thurston..." Berwald sighed.

"Yes, what?" Tino, or Thurston, replied. Emil decided to act casually, however he was gonna do that, since what was casual for the Nordics, was completely weird here. Tino could never swear, Lukas never smiled, Mathias was supposed to be the loud and cheerful one, and not Berwald. Emil was sure they had went completely opposite on their personalities.

"Just sit down." Mathias mumbled. Loki and Berwald sat down immediately, it took Thurston a bit longer. Emil sat down with the guy that was supposed to be his older brother.

"So," Berwald looked at the papers on the table. "What's on today?" Emil stayed silent, afraid he'd say the wrong thing. He glanced at the papers situated in front of him.

"First things first." Loki said, his smile slightly faded. "Has everyone figured out what their 1p's are like?" 1p's?

"Mine's a lot like Markell." Berwald sighed. "And I think his is more like me." Mathias, or Markell, apparently, just nodded.

"Mine's so silent. And his expression never changes." Loki sighed a bit.

"Mine's one happy ass fucker." Thurston mumbled. Emil supposed it was his turn to say something, but what the hell was he supposed to say? He had no idea what was going on, what they were talking about, and he didn't even know who he was talking to.
"I-I don't know." He just decided to say, hoping it wouldn't get him murdered or anything.

"Have your information next time, okay?" Berwald smiled at him. Emil just nodded and read what was on the papers.

'Discuss 1p

general problems

personal problems

break'

Emil frowned. Why did it end after 'break'?

"Next up. General problems."
Emil's eyes opened. He let out a sigh of relief, thank God, it was all just a dream... was it? His first intention was to go see his older brother.

The door of his bedroom flew open before he could even move.

"Are you okay?" Of course, Emil thought to himself, brother instinct.

"Y-yeah." Emil replied, and he ran a hand through his hair. "Just a dream." He sat up and moved backwards, leaning against the wall of his bedroom.
"Tell me." Lukas sat down on his bed.

"It was very strange... I was lost in a forest... and no one was there." Emil started. "I... For some reason, there was a mirror." He frowned slightly. "So I decided to take a look, why was it there? And I noticed... I looked different. My hair color, my eyes, I had an eye patch. My clothing was red... then you appeared. Asked me if I was lost. You looked different too, the most important difference was that you were smiling." He saw a small frown form on Lukas's face. "A lot."

"Mm.."

"You took me to a cabin in the middle of nowhere." Emil explained what happened inside the cabin. After he had finished, he kind of stared at the older Norwegian, who was deep in thought.

"Their... 1p's?" Lukas looked confused. Emil nodded slightly.

"I... I think I'm gonna have to discuss this one with the others..." The others, in this case, were Arthur and Vladimir, Emil figured.

"Alright." Emil said. He sighed a bit.

"Now go back to sleep, it's ten past two." Lukas said. Oh God, sleep seemed so far away now.
Emil smiled slightly and watched Lukas leave the room, before laying down and putting the blankets over himself.