Not So Ordinary Sights
It had happened again.
In the ordinary eye of an ordinary person, it would simply be another coincidence; sure, a little spooky to have continued happening, but merely a coincidence. The small things like the books falling from the bookshelves were just foolish placement, a mistake that was determined to be corrected. The whispers were just a minor result of exhaustion, an overreaction of the brain in the midst of night, lingering onto the forgotten horror stories that desired to emerge. The figures were a trick of the light.
But the words on the wall? They were always the hardest to explain.
But that was a lie, it was easy to explain and just as easy to brush off the truth as nothing more than a childish fantasy; because in the ordinary eye of an ordinary person, that's all it was. A childish fantasy.
But Denmark? Denmark knew better and that was why – no matter how many times he told himself he wouldn't – he paid attention to everything the ordinary eye would miss. It was why as he bends down to pick the fallen book, his eyes glance over the area; sweeping quickly over the scene even though he knew he wouldn't see anything. It was why his fingers linger on the rough edges of the book before slipping it back onto the shelf and it was why he has to take a moment to rebuild his barriers and shut his eyes.
They were still mad at him. He'd never seen the fae so riled up before
Of course, even though this was the magic trio's forte, Denmark could easily identify a fae when he saw one. Quite a few nations probably could as a matter of fact; because there was magic lingering dormant within each and every one of them – whether they unleashed it or not. Of course, unleashing it was always more likely during the times before civilization tainted them, bringing along venomous thoughts that could never quite separate their so called 'fantasy' from 'reality'.
However, these tainted thoughts always seemed to steal the truth away, blinding those who used to see. Everyone assumed only Norway, England and Romania were clinging onto the legends passed down from generation to generation, and the magic trio thought so too. But they were wrong because there were others, reluctant to admit it for their own reasons.
Denmark was one of them.
His own gifts had always been muddled, never quite focusing on one element or area of magic, always jumping around and twisting and turning and constantly changing. It attracted quite a few spirits initially, until they had been forced to step in and actually take action before the child ended up doing something ridiculous. However, it also attracted many bad things; things that would forever haunt the newly seeing children in the forms of monsters crawling underneath the beds like insects.
It was these things that had most likely started it all. To protect the Norwegian that had leant towards these strange arts – alongside all of the others with blooming gifts – the Dane had ventured out to calm these monsters down; quelling the fear of them by pretending they didn't exist. It made him feel rather sick, beginning this little string of lies; but by the time there was nothing to worry about, it was something he couldn't bring himself out of. A web of lies and deceit he had ended up tangled in.
Getting caught wasn't a big worry, even as time flew by and the practises became more welcomed. Denmark had never used magic for trivial things or showy things, only little things to satisfy his curiosity and a few others things. He'd sometimes use it for bigger things: such as calming down the madwoman in the village a few miles away or to purify the poisoned water in the river several water spirits guarded.
Either way, with the illusion only three nations knew magic; they had never bothered to look.
Except for one time, the Dane muses as he resumes to the activities in his hidden basement; the one of which contained all of his treasured secrets and a few more. The one time had been recent, where he had made the mistake of allowing a certain Prussian to phone Norway when both had been drunk; the alcohol had gotten to their systems and as a result the bar had ended up with a few broken light bulbs.
It hadn't ended there,
When the Norwegian had arrived at the bar the first thing Denmark had noticed just had to be a certain troll alongside him; somehow, even in his drunken haze, he had avoided completely exposing his sight and magic up until the point he had been thrown into the car. If the light bulbs hadn't been a mystery enough, the constantly draining battery in Norway's car certainly confused a great many. The great many involving the bunch of fae who had followed Norway and had been left to figure out what the heck was going on while the Norwegian tried to think of everyone he knew that had magic.
It was that reason he hadn't been caught.
That and the help of a certain fae that had stayed by Matthias's side for an incredibly long time and had the sense to cover up the magical energies he had left behind in his drunken state. Her name was Rei and she was easily identifiable by her onyx hair; the front of which framed her face had been secured in small crimson hair cuffs while the remaining hair had a larger one secured in. Burgundy eyes were always sparkling and were framed by thick, long lashes. Her wings were thin but long and took on the appearance akin to a moth; tipped with shades of purples and reds. She was normally a rather cheeky fae, energetic and young and for some reason always used Denmark's human name of Matthias; contrary to most fae's belief, she was rarely angered for long periods of time.
Judging by the book though, she was still mad.
Denmark didn't blame her, he really didn't. Of every stunt he had pulled off related to magic; from the time he had decorated his axe in strange runes to the time he had dared anger the Seelie Court, completely cutting off his magic had been one of the least things she had been expecting and despite the fact it meant he was locking away his sight, she was determined to make her presence known.
That didn't mean she was getting any closer to convincing him to unlock it all. He had noticed how all the books that had fallen happened to be magic books; ones they had found or collected during the times where magic was everything and nothing. He had noticed that all the messages were written in runes (Though that wasn't as important as the fae seemed to think it was) and he had noticed how the whispers were always singing tunes unfamiliar to those who had never heard a spirit sing.
Not that fae were spirits, but they had certainly met a few.
He had noticed it all, because despite his efforts; he was never going to see things through the ordinary eye of an ordinary person.
Of course, they all knew the group of fae could easily turn to Norway and get the Norwegian to aid the situation; they knew he wouldn't be afraid to use force, but none of them were willing to have to explain the not quite known reasons as too why they had always been hiding. It had been like a game for them, to hide and make sure neither Norway nor his own group of magical beings noticed them; it had been this reason they had run into a few other nations hiding magical secrets, but that's another story.
Either way, the fae seemed to be caught in this web of lies as well. Or maybe they didn't want to risk the Norwegian killing Denmark when they told him. Even more so for trying to lock it all away; as to lock it all away after letting it roam free was like locking up a wild animal, it didn't want to be trapped or tamed and it tried all means of escape, sometimes going as far as to hurt it's user, sometimes as going as far as to kill.
Rei knew this, Denmark knew this, Norway knew this, but nobody could find reason as to why someone would lock it up anyway; and as Denmark goes to leave the basement, he can't help but catch himself wondering why as well. Why was he trying to pull off something so ridiculous? Were the strings in his web breaking? Was he trying to protect it? Or maybe he was tired of forcing the fae to lie. But no matter the reasons, only Rei and Denmark seemed to know this barrier would only last forever, just like everything in existence – a tangled web of lies and deceit, a long forgotten book, a seemingly never-ending fire – it had to change, it had to bend and break.
But that didn't mean they were going to stop trying. It didn't mean Rei would stop trying to convince him herself, and it didn't mean Denmark would let his magic roam free and let his secrets loose.
Instead, Matthias Denmark Kohler was just going to pretend he had the ordinary eyes of an ordinary person; he was going to pretend it was all a big coincidence, that he was an idiot who knew nothing of the world behind the blindfold. He was going to pretend it was all just a childish fantasy.
But that was all a lie and he was just another liar.
But that was OK, because it made it easier to tell himself everything was fine when it really wasn't.
A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoy this little one-shot. It's based off a variety of roleplays done by myself and Crimson-Puppetmaster, revolving around the idea of Denmark (and a few other nations) actually being aware of magic, but always hiding it. There are plenty of references to our roleplays in this, so I'm sorry if it's slightly confusing XD
The Seelie Court is basically the fae's government, the rulers. just in case you were wondering XD
I have nothing else to say...
~ Rose