Spiky Head

Blistering gusts of wind brought the Scandinavian up with a sense of panic. He could feel his heartbeat throbbing from the usual dark memories that haunted his mind every night.

'Would it kill anyone to just give me a break,' Mathias thought to himself as he clumsily pulled his fur boots over his substantial amount of socks. Never hurt to be well layered in this new climate – very different from his mother country of Denmark. 'Greenland' is what Lukas called the place. Though, from the looks of it, it wasn't very green at all. Leave it to Lukas to ironically mess up names for newly developing countries.

After a quick attempt to control his bedhead hair, he gave up halfway, well-knowing that his hair would never tame. Mathias knew that today was the day he would personally find the little runt who personified the land. Norway had no such luck, bringing the challenge to Mathias, which of course he accepted. Who knows, maybe the child would end up like Iceland, a nice addition to the 'family'. Just thinking of having a new member brought a huge grin to the Dane's face.

Weeks upon weeks of searching for some sort of human life in Greenland was harder than it seemed at the beginning of the expedition. Many of Denmark's sailors decided to take the fastest route out of the area once other ships arrived. That didn't set well with Mathias. Not one bit. He well knew that in order to find 'Greenland' he had to come up with some unorthodox way.

And that's when it hit him. Quite literally.

"HEY- WATCH WHERE YOU'RE THROWING THINGS- "Mathias stopped himself in mid-sentence as he met eyes with a small child looking up at him. A snowball had perfectly rested on top of his head, a true accomplishment on the child's behalf.

". .Spiky head!"

Denmark felt a sudden twitch to the new name he was given by the small child. He knew his hair was out of control, but 'Spiky Head' was literally the best name they could come up with?

"Uh. . yeah, sure kid- what are you doing out here? Did you come for some food?"

The child's eyes widened at the mention of food, quickly nodding at the offer.

"Right, well. You must be a native here, huh? How about you tell me a bit about yourself, I'm trying to find someone."

Their head cocked slightly to the right, glancing around the Dane and the camp. The smell of freshly cooked seal brought their attention elsewhere.

"Hey- kid- did you hear me? What's your name and how did you even find us here- "

"Greenland."

Mathias stood up straight at the mention of the country. This small child was who he was looking for. . .for weeks? And they just waltzed right into his camp?!

"Okay, 'Greenland'. I need you to come with me okay? I'll get you some food and- hey!"

The child had already dashed over to the buckets of freshly caught fish, grabbing one for themselves and viciously grazing on it. They had no need to worry of the new settlers, it wasn't the first time strange men with beards set up camp on their shores.

"Hey- kid, don't you got any manners, I was talking to you." Mathias kneeled down to Greenland's level to make direct eye contact. He couldn't have a child bossing him around already and stealing food.

"Spiky head."

"Right, yeah. Okay but it's Denmark actually. I prefer Denmar-"

"SPIKY HEAD."

A 'tch' escaped through the slightly annoyed Dane. The nerve of the child was already on the same level as Emil's. Though Emil was a bit quieter in nature, he could already tell he was going to have a handful with this one.

"Say, how about we make a deal?"

"Why?"

"Why-? Well uh. .cause. .deals are . . .good. ." A poor excuse of course, but he was already getting the feeling Greenland wasn't going to cooperate very well, like most children their age. He glanced at them up and down, trying to gather any noticeable information by appearance. Their tanned skin seemed smooth and blemish free, adorned with curious light blue eyes, much like his own. Their hair was messily scattered about, much again like Mathias'. It was quite shocking the few things they had in common.

After the child had finished devouring the fish, they tossed the bones back into the water, lightly rubbing their mouth with poorly crafted mittens.

Mathias had a sense of responsibility already for Greenland. He told Lukas that he would 'take care of the place as his own'. Although it seemed a bit too fast to make the decision, the Dane at least knew he could make a friend out of the whole ordeal, hopefully.

Extending his bare hand to them, Greenland looked at him and back at his hand a few times before awkwardly taking his hand and placing it on their face.

"Er- I was gonna go for a handshake, but that works too. .now, Greenland. .do you uhm. .have any family, like older siblings, parents, friends maybe?"

"Nuh uh."

"No one, huh? Just. .you here, all alone."

With a curt nod, they placed his hand on their cheek instead, giving a small smile to Mathias, seeming to like him already. Mathias was usually quite cheerful and was great with little kids, an advantage he had over Lukas.

"How about. .I take care of ya? You can have all the fish you want, and we can hunt and build all sorts of stuff-"

Greenland eagerly agreed with him, hugging Mathias as tight as they could.

"Oomph- well that went better than expected," he muttered to himself as he too smiled a little at the child. In so many ways they reminded him of Emil, yet something was completely different about Greenland.

They had that same smile he had centuries ago.

Days had passed since Greenland had made themselves present to Denmark. Already they had a name, Christian. As soon as Mathias found out that Greenland was a girl, he felt even luckier. Female personifications seemed to be almost non-existent these days, and it wasn't every day a new nation or country popped up.

Christian had started a strict routine of constantly pestering Mathias to teach her Danish so she could converse better with his sailors. The whole camp of course helped the girl in any way they could, since she was quickly becoming a favorite of Mathias'. Though the two fought sometimes over snowball fights and ever present problem of having to possibly leave her behind, the Dane found a happiness that he thought he would never re-gain again.

Christian would always sleep beside Mathias, finding him to be more of a parental figure than anything. She was only at the physical age of four, but was quite wise for the amount of time she had lived. Well knowing her boundaries, she always pushed them and loved to challenge the Dane to hunting competitions, climbing, and her favorite, ice fishing.

Once word back from Denmark had come months later, Mathias was faced with the decision of either leaving or taking Christian with.

". .Well let's hope you don't melt. ."

A/N: Hey everyone! I decided to start a little series with my oc, Greenland. I hope it was enjoyable to read, and the next chapter will be posted soon!