A/N
I got off my lazy ass and actually wrote something! Haha, this is inspired by: www. [X]nordicheadcanons[X].tumblr.[x]com/[x]post/11779917317/anon
Norway version: www.[x]fanfiction.[x]net/s/[x]7508605/1/bOnce_b_In_bA_b_bLifetime_b
Denmark version: www.[X]kingofscandinavia.[X]tumblr.[x]com/post/12089802548/once-upon-a-time
Sorry if it's confusing, it's also a bit long too… All written on my iPhone, excuse any mistakes please V^V; Enjoy!
It was a nice Autumn day. There was a little breeze about Reykjavik and frost was beginning to cover objects left vulnerable to the cold.
A silver haired boy, who didn't look a day over 23, was walking down a street with his head down, hands stuffed in his pockets and rushing to get to his warm warm home when suddenly he walked into someone. Papers went flying, folders landing on the floor with resounding thuds and 'Sorry's repeated over and over.
Iceland looked up his silver hair now slightly messed up. What he saw wasn't something he could put into words. He had bumped into a girl, no more than 23, with long pale blonde hair topped with a woolly purple, pink and blue hat. She took off her reading glasses and apologised once again. Iceland didn't hear, he only looked, or stared more like, at her face. Her grey-blue eyes, pale skin and matching pale pink lips, her red nose from the cold and the little blush that dusted her cheeks. She looked like something from a fairytale-
"My name is Halldóra. But most people call me Halle" she held out one of her gloved hands "'cause it's such a long name and such and I guess it can get annoying to keep repeating 'Halldóra! Halldóra!' so yeah I guess everyone just opts for using Ha-" she abruptly silenced herself when Iceland stopped gawking at her and shook her hand he looked away into the empty road beside them, to avoid doing something stupid. Like staring.
"My name is Eirikur..."
"Hm, Eirikur... What a nice name!" and she laughed, or giggled rather. Iceland glanced at her, her eyes were full of glee, she was a very beautiful person on the outside. And Iceland was sure she was just as beautiful in the inside.
She then realized she had been standing in a little pile of sheets and folders and bent down to pick them all up. Noticing this Iceland helped her too, he noticed that all the sheets were of Iceland and it's geography, and that made him blush a little and a small smile graced his lips behind his scarf. After all the sheets and folders were collected, some still in Iceland's arms, "Would you like a coffee? Or do you like to drink tea... I'm not sure would you just like a varm berage" she tried to correct her mistake from running all her words together "Warm. Bevage" she shook her head, clearly frustrated "WARM BEVERAGE" she shouted. Iceland only smiled at her little scene. "Warm beverage. Would thou liketh one?" she smiled at her success in pronouncing the two words. Iceland nodded. "Hmm, you don't talk much do you?" Iceland only looked at her' she took the hint and continued "I guess I'll just have to speak for the both of us!" and she looped her arm around Iceland's and waltzed the way to the nearest café.
Iceland felt warmer being next to her than being by the orange flames at his fireplace.
After hours passed by and numerous cups of tea and coffee being drank. Iceland asked if she would like to have dinner with him. "Yes, I'd love to!" she smiled the whole day afterwards.
And as the months went on, they liked each other more and more, they wanted to see each other more and more, they wanted to be with each other. More and more. But they promised each other that once Halle finished all her studies and got the degree she longed for in Environmental Science, they would move in together and both work on improving Iceland -environmentally. Of course Iceland was an expert in this forte; he was the personification of the island. But that was what led to their relationship hitting rock bottom.
When Halle got her degree and moved in with Iceland or 'Eirikur' she was 25. Iceland still looked 23, but she only shrugged that off. They took a trip around the whole of Iceland, they were happy together and it couldn't get better.
Because it got worse.
Halle was starting to find it difficult to be an Environmentalist. Her ideas were constantly shot down and she lost all confidence and hope she once had. Iceland no longer had the time to comfort her because of unannounced meetings and spontaneous issues happening. The next 3 years of their relationship became a blur. Iceland realized he couldn't be with her, not because he didn't love her, but he knew that by being with Halldóra like this, she will just end up dying alone without someone who could properly appreciate her, whilst Iceland still wouldn't look a day over 23. Iceland tried to stop loving her more than his people, he tried to make her hate him, tried to make him the bad guy. But in the end she would smile, hold his hands and kiss him on the cheek and she would whisper "Why don't we get a warm beverage?"
Then one day things went out of control. Iceland was away in a meeting, and Halle had gone out to research more like she usually did. But today she decided to do her researching by the plains, where no vegetation grew because of previous eruptions had covered the land in a blanket of ash. The weather wasn't very good, and she knew a storm was coming over head. But she didn't expect it to come so soon.
The winds picked up, and ash flew around her. Grey clouds turned darker and her papers flew out of her hands, she closed her eyes and tried not breathe in the ash, but when she took one breath she could feel the dirt stuck in her throat, the dry taste of ash in her mouth. She willed herself to move, but she couldn't. She was trapped here. In this storm. On the island she loved so much.
Iceland arrived home on that dark evening to find that Halle was no where to be seen. He searched the house over and over, he ran around Reykjavik again and again, face flushed and voice raw after calling her name repeatedly. He called the police and search teams went out against the howling winds and then rain started to pour from the heavens.
Then after hours of searching Iceland or 'Eirikur' saw his girlfriend Halle. She was laying on a hospital bed and was being taken to the operation theatre as fast as possible. Her face was covered in black, wet ash, he hair was too no longer the blonde it used to be. She had an oxygen mask on and the nurses and doctors were speaking frantically.
Iceland was sat in the deserted waiting area, the rain could be heard and the wind never ceased to stop howling. Then arrived Halle's family. Some were sad, some were angry. They turned to Iceland.
"Get out" spat Halldóra's father. Her mother was beside him and looking Iceland up and down and in the end stood waiting for him to leave. A doctor came out and told us all the Halle was going to be okay, soon. And then Iceland spaced out. The shouts of Halle's father and his grip on his shirt. The crying of her mother and the nurses trying to hold her father back. Iceland tried not to cry. He tried not to tell them that he loved her. He tried to hold back his feelings and instead put on an mask. Hiding all his emotions. He walked away from Halldóra's father and exited the white hospital after a quiet "Goodbye".
The goodbye which meant the end of Iceland's charade of being Eirikur.
Years past. Iceland kept count of how old Halle would be, and if he was correct, she'd be 42 now. During the 14 years of her absence in his life, he helped her from afar. He talked to his government and then it ended up with Halle creating different ways of helping the environment. She became successful. She gained back her confidence and hope. She was happy again. She still ran all the words together in her sentences. She still had the same woolly hat. She was still the Halldóra Iceland knew and loved, the one he loved among all his other people.
The next and last time Iceland saw Halldóra. He was no longer Eirikur, she was no longer young. Her hair was more grey than blonde. Her body fragile like a glass doll. The last days of her Environmentalism glory ended long ago. And she just lived the rest of her life longing to hear Eirikur's voice again.
On her bed with only Iceland in her quaint home, Iceland tells her of him, him as Iceland. "The nation?" she asks, her lips dry, skin slightly wrinkled, but eyes still bright, curious and full of that pale blue colour he grew to love.
"Yes, I'm the nation you love so much. I'm the person you love too..." Iceland reached for her hand underneath the bed sheet. It was cold now, her fingers no longer felt like they did after their first dinner together
"So all along, you never aged."
"Never..." Iceland glanced around the room. Not much had changed since he last came into these four walls over 20 years ago. The sunlight was pouring in through the open window, the curtains were drew to the sides. But the warmth the sun gave was still not as warm as when Eirikur was next to Halle.
"And you still love me after so long? Even though I'm so old? Even though I'll die?" her mouth was no longer a straight line, but instead a wry smile.
"I knew you would die, It's natural for humans to." Iceland whispered. He had to face it. It was the truth.
"Why would you love a human when you know you've promised yourself a life of loneliness afterwards?" her smile got smaller, her eyes began to get sadder.
"I don't know. I can't answer that. It's-" she rested her other hand on Iceland's. Her eyes looked straight into Iceland's forever youthful and bright ones. "Don't worry, I still love you Eirikur. Or should I say Iceland?" a dry laugh "I just hope that you'll be able to grow and become the great nation I know that dwells inside of you. Because I knew all along you were different, maybe not in the way that you were immortal or a nation as such but-" a deep breath. Her eyes starting to close. Iceland let go of her hands and they rested by her sides, both limp. "I hope you know that I don't care what you are."
"I still love you." She breathed.
Then the warmth she gave that was warmer than a thousand fireplaces disappeared. The brightness of the day had suddenly dropped. The autumn colours that the island reflect no longer have anything prettier to compare to. Iceland was no longer Eirikur, and there is no longer anyone able to call him Eirikur.
Because Eirikur died along with her, but perhaps this name will be his and Halldóra's little secret. Forever.
A/N
I was reading the Norway one then I followed the link to the Denmark one... Then I decided to pinch the idea and do an Iceland one w Original idea not by me though. Although I have always wondered what it would be like for a nation to fall in love with a human… I might add a next chapter as after math. But for now, Adieu!