Note: Yeah, the characters obviously don't belong to me.

~/\~

Norway stretched as he snuggled deeper into his bedroll. Denmark had manged, once again, to convince the other Nordic to go camping in the woods. Not that Norway minded, it was a nice chance to get out of the hectic pace of this 'modern' world. He was startled awake by the soft crackle of bushes, and he carefully sat up, heart pounding. Forbanne, weren't there wolves in these forests?

He held his breath as he carefully started to ease out of his bedroll, trying to see through the opaque tent wall. The shape he could see didn't look wolfish... it looked quite humanish. This only served to make him more nervous, however. In his experiance, people who crept through the woods at night usually didn't mean travelers well. It was not in his Viking nature to admit that he was scared... but he didn't have a weapon, unless he counted the axe in Denmark's tent.

"Norge!" Denmark said cheerfully, popping his head through the tent flap. He was momentarily startled by the sight of Norway trying to scramble away, but he brushed it off as being due to his fearsome appearance. "Ah, you're awake already! Good!"

Norway could only sputter as he glared at the other man. By the gods, it had only been Denmark. It was a small comfort knowing that while Russia wasn't lurking his tent, Denmark probably had come to wake him up to drag him out into the woods for something random. He shivered as he remembered the time Denmark had dragged him out into the woods to look for 'moonlight mushrooms' (whatever those are) and it had started to snow.

"Denmark!" Norway whisper-yelled, finally regaining the ability to speak, "I thought you were Russia!"

"Russia?" Norway sighed mentally as the other Nordic peered over his shoulder, "Nope, no pipe-swinging maniacs out here tonight. Just me!"

"And isn't that scary enough..." Norway muttered, freeing himself of the bedroll as he stood up, crouching slightly so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling. "Okay Denmark, what magical activity have you planned for this evening?" he asked sarcastically.

"I don't have anything planned, but I think Mother Nature does!" Denmark announced, grandly opening the tent flap so Norway could exit. "We have to hike over to the cliff so we can see it, though. We'd best hold hands so we don't get seperated in the dark, eh Norge?"

Norway stood up fully once he had exited the tent, skillfully dodging the Dane's outstretched hand. He hadn't spent all these years with the taller Nordic without learning things. One recurring lesson was that once Denmark had a hold of your hand, he wasn't likely to let go.

"I think I can see well enough in the dark to not fall off a cliff," Norway commented dryly as he waited to follow Denmark to the cliff. Denmark practically pranced by as a rougish smile crept onto his face.

"Ah, Norge, but there was that one time in the good ol' days where you chased the bird who stole your sandwhich over a cliff," Denmark teased playfully as he started trying to find a trail through the woods.

"I was much younger then!" Norway protested as he followed, carefully clambering over the half-rotten logs. Oh, this brought back memories, not all of them pleasant. There was one memory that he didn't know how to categorize, the time Denmark had lured him out to a beach at midnight and then, as they were starting back to the campground, had pinned Norway to a rock and kissed him. Norway felt his ears start to burn as he remembered how he had stood dumbstruck for a full five minutes while Denmark had scampered off to the camp.

The two trekked onward, Norway lagging slightly behind as he remembered similar 'hikes'. Denmark really did have a habit of under-estimating the lengths of his night adventures, and this was certainly no different. Finally, after what seemed like hours to the Norweigian, the undergrowth started to thin and they could catch glimpses of stars.

Norway had fallen somewhat behind on the hike, and so by the time he made it onto the cliff, Denmark was already standing at the edge. The taller man was simply staring into the sky, black coat flapping softly in the wind. Norway paused where the trees ended, just trying to figure out what the hell the other Nordic was doing.

"Norge, I think it's starting," Denmark said, in a voice filled with wonder. Norway walked to the edge of the cliff to stand next to the Dane, and tilted his head back to look at the stars. Whisps of color were starting to thread across the sky, steadily growing brighter and more numerous. A wide grin slowly crept across his face. So this was what Denmark had wanted to see.

They stood on the cliff for what must have been an hour, silently watching the skies dance. Norway was somewhat surprised that Denmark was able to stay silent for so long, usually the other man seemed hyperactive and full of words. Tonight, however, Denmark just seemed to be content to watch, eyes reflecting the colors of the aurora.

"Do you remember what we thought back in the old days, Norge?" Denmark asked softly, finally breaking the watching silence. Norway merely blinked and looked over, surprised by how soft the Dane's voice was. "You always used to call them the Norðrljós. Do you remember how we thought it was the armour of the Valkyries reflecting? I miss those days, before they were dissolved into particles and all those scientific things."

Norway did not answer, as he was thinking about how he had always thought Denmark a bit too dense to actually appreciate the wonders of nature. The fact that Denmark had actually remembered the complicated reasons for the Northern Lights was a revelation. The other man seemed content to let the silence rest after his speech, but Norway had been taken away from the wonder of the sky and had been drawn into the depths of his mind. Was this what the modern world did to a man? Was science destroying Denmark's sense of wonder?

He shivered, both from the thoughts and from the cold of a northern light. Norway twitched in surprise as a warm arm wrapped itself around his shoulders. Glancing up, he saw a glimmer of concern in Denmark's eyes.

"Are you cold, Norge?"

"A little," Norway answered relunctantly. He didn't want to leave the cliff, didn't want to go back to his life. He didn't want to go back to a world where science was destroying the old myths.

"We'd better head back to the tents then, eh Norge?" Denmark seemed to have shed the seriousness that had prevailed on the cliff, as he moved his arm to tightly grip Norway's hand. They wandered back down through the woods, back to the campsite.

"Damn bears!" Norway cursed as he looked at the ruins of his tent. He knew better than to leave something that attracted bears in his tent, what had happened? Denmark's laughter broke him out of his self-anger.

"Looks like we have to share a tent, Norge!" Denmark said cheerfully. The Norweigian merely glared at him before prowling over to the Dane's tent, waiting for him to stop laughing and come over. They crawled into the tent and flopped down onto the bedroll, the toll of their venture catching up with them. Norway yawned and didn't have the heart to protest when the Dane drew him into his arms.

"Good night, Norge"

~/\~

Author Notes:

Norway literally thinks 'curse' in the first paragraph, as I didn't have the heart to go searching for Norweigian curse words. XD I think Denmark is the sort of guy who sees himself as much tougher than he actually is, resulting in the refrence to his 'fearsome appearance'. Sorry for all the exclamation points, I blame Denmark.

Thank you to the internet for completly dispelling the notion that Vikings had mythology about the aurora. . (Yes, I actually bothered to research it. Aren't you proud of me? |D) The only myth I could find was that it was caused by the Valkyries, so I went with that. (Even if I had been hoping for something slightly more mystical. Ah well.) Wow, you can probably tell where I started writing it again. (Two sessions because of a little thing called sleep. XD)

And these Author Notes are proof of why you should never let me type down my thoughts about a peice while I'm actually writing it. :P Sorry if my writing style gets erratic, I'm used to rps. I hope you enjoyed reading this, because I had some fun writing it. ;)