Norway watched Denmark and Sweden fight with expressionless anticipation. He always watched their fights and sometimes practiced on his own with a wooden dummy. He wasn't the best physical fighter; he had always focused on his secret power of being able to conjure spells and charms. His magical friends had helped him to become a great magician for a boy his age, but everyone laughed when they saw him talking to his magical friends which they couldn't see. All that teasing and laughing made him want to strangle the harasser, and he had a few times, though the tables always turned on him due to his lack of physical strength.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a slight tug on his pants. He looked down to see his younger brother, Iceland, looking up at him. "Yes, lille bror?"
"Why do they fight all the time?"
"They are training to become stronger vikings." Iceland simply nodded then turned his attention back to the clashing pair. The fight dragged on for a few more minutes before Denmark swung his wooden axe at Sweden's wooden pole and split the pole in two. Denmark saw the slight hesitation from Sweden to regain his balance, that was all he needed. Denmark quickly knocked the edge of his axe against sweden's legs then tackled him to the ground, "I win! Ja!" Denmark proclaimed in a proud voice.
"Are you ok Su-San?" Finland asked as he hurried from his spot next to Norway over to Sweden who was pushing himself off the ground, rolling his eyes at the bouncing Denmark, "Ja, "'m f'ne F'n." Finland returned the answer with a smile and helped Sweden up off the ground.
"Did ya see that Norway? I totally beat him!" Norway rolled his eyes as Sweden did. "Ja." he replied in a bored voice.
After Denmark calmed down the five countries walked back to their viking soldiers and ate with them. In the middle of the meal Denmark asked the other nations, "You guys wanna go camping?"
"Why'd you bring it up?" Finland asked in his normal cheery voice.
"Well for the moment we are in Norway and we don't know the country as much as the others. Also we can practice our survival skills!"
A small voice spoke up,"But I thought you said bror's country was creepy and you didn't want to explore it." Sweden and Finland turned to Iceland. Denmark paled and Norway shot him a glare, much colder than usual.
"Well I.. uhh..." Denmark stuttered.
"What is so creepy about my country?"
"Umm.. well...everyone's going right?"
"Wh't?"
"Alright then see you tomorrow at dawn!" Denmark quickly informed the nations before bolting out of the room leaving his meal unfinished.
The remaining nations returned to their meals. Norway didn't eat much more and thought, 'Is my country really creepy?' while biting the inside of his lip angrily. He waited until his brother was finished with his meal then they walked off to their shared room in the viking ship, leaving Finland and Sweden to finish their meal and to return to their room.
He and Iceland climbed into bed then both slept a dreamless night to wake up, going camping the next day.
Norway woke up to the normal sound of the sea and the smell of salt. He slowly sat up regaining the memories from the past day. He remembered that the five countries were planning to go camping and meet at their normal area a little ways from their viking ship. He also remembered what Denmark had told Iceland. Norway quickly cursed Denmark in Norwegian, then looked out the ship's window and saw that it was rounding close to dawn. He slowly got out of bed, the familiar boards creaked under his weight as he walked over to the other side of the small room to wake up his brother.
Norway crouched down to the bed's level, "Lille bror." Norway said as he softly nudged his younger brother into waking. He retracted his hand as his brother sucked in a breath then opened his eyes as he slowly let the breath out. Iceland rubbed his eyes then sat up slowly remembering what was to come that day. Iceland greeted his brother, "Morning, bror."
"Morning, you ready to go camping?"
"Ja." Iceland said somewhat unpleasantly as he rubbed his waking eyes.
"Oh come on, it isn't going to be that bad." Norway answered sensing the negative sound.
Iceland furrowed his eyebrows at the Norwegian's comment. Norway ruffled his younger brother's hair and let one of his rare, but small, smiles slip past his normally expressionless face.
Iceland looked up at his brother's smile. He smiled back.
"Now let's get dressed." said Norway still keeping his rare smile.
"Ja, bror." Iceland replied as he swung out of bed and went over to his clothes to dress himself.
Norway walked over to his clothes, leaving his brother alone to get dressed as he did himself.
Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland found themselves waiting at their usual spot waiting for Denmark to arrive. They spotted him walking a few minutes later walking up the hill with a few sacks. The four waiting nations walked over to Denmark the help him carry the luggage, each grabbing a sack leaving one sack for Denmark to carry. Denmark smiled, "Thanks! Now are we ready to go?"
"H've y' t'ld th' oth'rs th't w' ar' g'ing?"
"Ja, they know about our trip."
"Did you pack everything we need?" asked Norway.
"Ja, now can we please~ go? I can't wait to find a campsite!"
"I can't wait to go as well!" Finland cheerily commented.
"YAY! Onwards we go!" Denmark shifted the pack on his back then headed off into the forest with the other four following.
"Well this was a complete waste of time." England muttered, walking through the Norwegian forest. "I thought Norway had lots of magical creatures, from the rumors and tales I have heard. I'm such a git I should've known-" England started a stream of English curses.
In the middle of his cursing he heard a familiar high pitched sound. He went silent and looked around to find where the sound had come from, "Hello?"
"This seems like a good spot! Don't you think so?"
"Ja, Fin! Great searching skills!" Denmark answered Finland. "Now let's assign jobs. Hmm... Who wants to help me set up the hut?"
"I w'll."
"Great! So me and Sweden are setting up the hut. Now we need a fire. That means we need someone to build the fire, and gathering the wood for the fire."
"I'll gather wood." Norway answered.
"Ok! Hey Fin, you wanna build the fire once Norge has gotten our wood?"
"Sure, Den."
"So~ lets start our jobs!" Denmark said almost too excitedly.
"You moron you forgot Ice."
"Oh yea, forgot Norge, he can unpack everything from our bags and get everything in order." Iceland gave a sharp and quick glare to Denmark.
"It isn't as bad as collecting wood." Norway muttered to Iceland. Iceland nodded then walked off to where the bags were.
"Ok, now we can start!" Norway simply nodded and walked into the woods to the Dane's statement, while Finland was helping Iceland out with the bags, waiting for Norway to complete his job.
When Norway had gotten into the forest a fairy friend of his met up with him and started talking excitedly about another fairy's' birthday that was coming up. Norway answered, "I will definitely be there."
"Great! It is-" the fairy stopped talking abruptly when he heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Hello?" A new and distance voice asked. Norway stopped reaching down to get the wood he was about to grab and slowly got up and put his back against a tree, his fairy friend mimicking him. Norway stayed silent hoping not to attract who had called; he was not fond of strangers and he didn't get many visitors. He silently whispered to the fairy, "Stay out of sight of the stranger, I am worried, not many people come here." The fairy nodded in response.
Denmark stepped out of the bushes, coming into Norway's sight. For the first time in the Norwegian's life, he was happy to see Denmark.
"Hey Norge, ya have all of the wood?"
"I think so."
"Wow Norge you take too long. Come on. Let's go. Fin is waiting."
"Idiot." With that Denmark just smiled and dragged the Norwegian back to camp.
England heard a boy's voice from a distance, not the high pitched fairy's voice he had heard earlier, ' The boy must be exploring.' England thought. England started wandering in the direction of the voice, but found no one. Angrily he stormed off to make a quick camp of his own.
"Hey Fin, is this enough wood?" Denmark asked as he dragged a very annoyed looking Norwegian carrying wood behind him.
"Yes that is enough, thank you!" answered Finland as he took the wood from Norway and walked over to the small fire pit he had made earlier. Sweden was finishing up the small hut by throwing skins over a wooden structure.
"What about food?" Iceland asked.
"Well, we'll go hunting or fishing, of course! I prefer rabbit over fish, so I am going to hunt! Anyone else wanna go?"
"I'll go, Den!"
"Great, Fin! Anyone else?"
"'ll g' t'."
"Okay. So, Norge, you and Ice are gonna go fishing?"
"Ja."
"Alright then, it's settled. Let's gather our hunting and fishing supplies, then go and fetch lunch and supper!" exclaimed Denmark running over to where his axe was. Finland and Sweden followed him and headed off in the opposite direction from where Norway had gone to collect wood. Iceland went over to the sack that had the fishing supplies which he had unpacked. Iceland and Norway grabbed the supplies and headed off to the river that connected to the area where their ship was anchored.
England had gotten plenty of food, for the forest was plentiful and he was an excellent bowman. He ate most of his food, but saved the rest for the next day to head home and get away from the country that 'supposedly' had plenty of magical creatures.
He waited the day out exploring the forest, looking for magical creatures and thinking to himself, 'Not even my Mint Bunny would come into the forest. I thought it was just because it was because there too many magical creatures or something. Nut burgers I was so wrong. So what made him not want to come in here?'
He eventually got bored and went to his campsite. It had turned night and he didn't even have any wood. He decided to go to the area where he heard the boy's voice, maybe there was a lot of wood there. England grabbed his bow, quiver, and arrows and headed off.
The five Nordic countries sat around their small fire eating the food they had killed. Sweden was the first to finish his meal, so he waited patiently for the others to finish theirs.
After they had all finished their meals, Denmark yawned and commented, "You guys wanna hit the sack? It's getting late."
"Ja, Den." Finland said before yawning as well. "You ready to sleep Su-San?" Sweden nodded at his question.
"Let's keep the fire going through the night. You ready Norge, Ice?"
"Sure Denmark." Norway flatly stated before standing up and following in suit with the other three, Iceland trailing behind him.
Denmark stopped by the entrance to the hut, "Who wants the spot by the entrance? Not it!"
"Not i-" Finland started to say.
"I will." The other four nations looked at Norway.
"Ya, sure?" Denmark broke the silence.
"Yes, idiot. Now, come on. I am tired." Norway said before entering the hut. The other nations simply shrugged and followed Norway into the hut, grabbing a skin and getting to their areas in the small makeshift hut. Quickly the nations fell asleep, all but one.
Norway had wanted to check out who the new stranger was in the forest or see if he was still in the area, so when he heard snoring coming from the Dane who usually stayed up all night, he knew that he was free to slip out of the hut. He slowly pulled the skin off and quietly slipped out of the hut and walked towards the area where he had heard the voice.
England arrived at the area sooner than he had expected. He looked around, and sure enough there was plenty of fallen sticks and bark. He estimated how much he needed, and then quickly started his work.
He had only grabbed a few sticks when he heard a twig snap behind him. He bolted around and caught a glimpse of fur behind a tree. 'Maybe this is what scared Mint Bunny,' he thought. England slowly dropped his wood in a pile, then pulled out two arrows and his bow. He aimed them at the tree and slowly snuck towards the creature's hiding place. He was against the opposite side of the tree of where the creature was. He waited a few seconds then jumped to the side of the tree, letting himself face the creature, but there was no creature.
Norway slowly snuck between the trees separating him from the area where he had heard the voice. It seemed stupid, there was barely even a chance that the person was still there, much less care that he was there. But it never hurt to be too cautious. Norway ran into his fairy along the way and asked if she had been seen. Thankfully she replied with a no, but informed him that he was still in the area and had explored quite a bit. He thanked her and sent her on her way.
When Norway had gotten to his destination he found that there was indeed a person there. He accidently stepped on a twig but immediately jumped behind a tree, rustling some leaves in the process. He slowed and quieted his breathing. He waited for about a minute before turning his head to slightly poke out of the side of the tree's coverage. All he saw was a pile of wood where the person had been. He didn't have time to think about where the person had gone, because a set arrow was pointing itself right at his neck. He stared at the arrow for a second before looking up at it's user. He was a boy a few years older than him with large, bushy eyebrows, emerald eyes and messy blond hair. They stayed like that staring at each other for a few minutes before Norway's fairy friend came by and saw the boy pointing the arrow at his friend and yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" before charging the new boy. In shock the new boy let his arrow slip and only scratched Norway before embedding itself in a tree. "Nutburgers!" the new boy cursed.
Norway having some emotion in his voice told his fairy, "Wait! Stop!" The fairy's small fist had only stopped a few centimeters away from the blond's face. The boy didn't dare breath until the fairy flew away from his face to the younger boy's side.
"W-wait you can see the fairy?" the new blonde asked.
"You can too?" asked the now excited Norway.
"Yes I can. Are you by any chance a magician?"
"Well I can do spells and charms, if that is what you mean?" Norway answered, quietly studying the figure before him. He sensed a strange but very familiar aura coming from the magician. "Are you a nation?"
"W-what?" England stuttered.
"Are you a nation."
"I am but with all due respect why would you ask that?"
"I'm a nation too."
England's eyes widened at the statement
Norway nodded, "Why are you here?"
England hesitated noting the extreme lack of manners from the younger boy. "I heard tales of strange and beautiful forests. I wanted to see if there were any magical creatures here. I haven't seen any so far. Are there any magical creatures here besides your beautiful fairy."
"Well, she isn't my fairy, she just lives here, but she is a close friend of mine. And yes there are many, many more magical creatures here."
England furrowed his large eyebrows, "How come I haven't seen any others then?"
"They don't like to be seen by others, they probably sensed that you could see them though... Do you have any magical friends?"
"Plenty. But they didn't come with me. Also, could I see your magical friends that live in this forest?"
Norway nodded, he chose to trust the newcomer since he was a lot like himself. He called out to his magical friends informing them that it was safe. When nothing happened he turned towards England and stated, "I don't think they like your bow and arrows. Put them down by your wood."
England nodded once again noting the lack of manners in the boy's words. Following his instructions, England placed his bow and quiver neatly by his wood pile. Norway nodded his thanks, then called out again. This time large green beasts came out of the trees startling England. England took a few steps back from the beasts.
"They won't hurt you. Trolls are perfectly friendly, see?" Norway walked over to one of the trolls which lowered his hand to the ground. Norway stepped on the hand as the hand was slowly brought up to the troll's shoulder. He stepped onto the troll's shoulder and slowly lowered himself to a sitting position on the trolls shoulder. Norway turned his head to the troll he was sitting on, thanking him in Norwegian. The troll nodded in response. "See? You should try it."
England looked over, less fearfully, at the troll next to the one Norway was sitting on. He walked over to it and mimicked what Norway did but sitting on the opposite shoulder of the troll. He relaxed when he sat down seeing how gentle the giants could be. England nodded his thanks to the troll then turned to Norway and asked, "Are there any other beautiful creatures in your country?"
Norway hesitated to answer, "Ja, there is this one hydra that lives in the sea by my country, a few griffins and dragons, pixies, fairies, jotuns, nymphs, ents, wyverns, and many more."
"What are jotuns?"
"They are scaly frost giants that live in the Fjords."
"Do you have unicorns?"
Norway looked at the Englishman, "I have only seen pictures of them. Do you have them?"
"Yes, many."
"Could I come to your country sometime and see one?" Norway asked shyly.
"Of course, you showed me trolls, so it would only be the gentlemanly thing to do." At his response England received a small smile from the boy. Now that he thought of it he hadn't seen the boy smile up until then. England had also thought of another important detail, "How will we contact each other?" The boy's smile faded as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"We could use my mirror."
"Mirror?"
"Ja, it is two halves of a small hand mirror where we can contact each other by completing a simple spell any time we want or need to contact each other." he said as he pulled out two halves of a mirror from a pocket in his viking shirt.
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that mirror and why do you have it with you?"
"I found it and I keep it with me for emergencies." He received a nod from the Englishman. The let out a breath and looked up in the sky, realizing just how late it was "I have to go.. I don't want to go back to the other nations, but they might worry about me."
"There are other nations out here in the forest?"
"We are all camping, it wasn't my idea though." Norway said something to the trolls in Norwegian and they let the small nations down. Once again Norway thanked the trolls in Norwegian then they all went back into the forest. "Here is the mirror. The spell the eaver fien spell." Norway handed one half of the mirror to the Englishman then walked away waving goodbye to his new friend.
England waved back and was about to turn around before asking, "What country are you?"
Norway stopped in his tracks and turned, "Norway, you?"
"England, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." Norway blinked, then smiled one of his rare smiles again. He waved goodbye and walked back to his fellow Nordics.