This was one of my first Hetalia fics so I apologize if it seems cheesy or too OOC. I'm not a very good writer but I try!
I also apologize for any grammatical errors. I read over this many times before uploading it, but I'm sure that I missed something.
And of course, enjoy!
Norway shifted again in the uncomfortable chair but maintained a grip on the hand that belonged to the pale figure lying in the hospital bed. Hospitals were at the top of his 'Places I Don't Like to Go' list. The clean sterilization smell was overbearing and everything was too white; white was supposed to be a color of purity and hope, but only sickness and death were associated with hospitals.
The pale figure shifted slightly and a pained expression bloomed across his features as he slept. Norway leaned forward to sweep the silvery bangs that loosely hung over his eyes back and to stroke his head in an effort to calm him. His features relaxed once more as the door opened, causing Norway to jump. He didn't move his eyes away from Iceland's face but he had a fairly good idea as to who had entered.
"I brought coffee!" A voice declared cheerfully despite the solemnity of the hospital room.
Norway sighed in exasperation as he heard Denmark plop noisily into the chair beside him. He tapped him on the arm with the hot cup of coffee. "I brought coffee," he stated again.
"I'm not deaf, nor am I dumb," Norway said blatantly, taking the coffee from him. "I heard you the first time." He took a long sip of the coffee without really tasting it. It was a while before either of them spoke again.
"So how is he?" Denmark asked. Even the Dane understood how dire the situation was and had learned to control himself quite considerably lately.
Norway scoffed. "What does it look like? He's in the same damn situation as he was before you left," he replied bitterly, surprising the Dane with his use of foul language.
Denmark said nothing but instead rested his hand atop of the hand that Norway was clutching Iceland's with. They both knew how bad things had gotten. But Iceland had known about things long before anyone else had, and Norway had found out about this the hard way.
Everyone in the normally crowded house was gone, save for Norway. Norway had spent hours reading before he finally grew tired of his book. Setting the book down, he walked out of his room and into the vacant living room, making sure that he didn't trip over any trash in the hallway. Upon standing in the middle of the living room, he realized just how dirty the house actually was: dishes were piled up in the sink, pizza boxes were stacked together on the table, and the hallway was a miscellaneous cluster of laundry and God knew what else.
So he took it upon himself to clean the house, starting with the stack of papers on the kitchen counter. He quickly filed through most of them, determining that most were either bills or bogus offers from magazines. But one particular item of mail caught Norway by surprise. It was for Iceland and it had already been opened; hell, it wasn't even in its envelope anymore, the letter was just sitting out in the open.
Curiosity ebbed at him and he complied, picking up the letter and scanning over its contents. It was from a doctor. When had Iceland seen a doctor? Was he sick? He hadn't told Norway about this. He kept reading until one sentence, one simple, little sentence, made him drop his jaw in utter shock and caused his blood to run cold:
Your cancer tests have come back positive.
Cancer? Iceland had cancer? No, no it wasn't possible. Why hadn't he told Norway, or anyone else for that matter, about this?
Norway checked the date on the letter and saw that Iceland had received it over a year ago. Norway was shocked and fuming- no, he was absolutely furious. He and Iceland had a serious topic to discuss when Iceland returned home.
Norway had finished cleaning which had allowed him to be in the recliner by the time Iceland came home. Iceland was in a cheerful mood when he arrived, completely oblivious to the dark secret that the Norwegian had uncovered.
"Come sit down. Now," Norway ordered.
Iceland opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, but seeing as Norway's tone implied that he didn't have another option, he shut his mouth and silently obeyed.
"We need to talk," Norway stated simply, with closed eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Um, okay," Iceland muttered, knitting his brows together in confusion.
"Explain this." Norway unfolded the letter and held it out so that he could see it, looking at Iceland for the first time since he had arrived home to study his reaction. His eyes visibly widened and all blood drained from his already pale complexion. "Answer me."
He instead avoided the question. "H-how did you find that!?" he stuttered, struggling to properly use his voice.
"Oh, I don't know. It just happened to be lying underneath a pile of year old mail!" After saying this, Norway stood and closed the gap between them so that he was looking down at him. "Did you think that you could hide it forever? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell anyone else, Iceland?"
"Because my health is my business!" he shouted, making a run for his bedroom.
Norway was there first and blocked the door. "But I'm your brother and I have a right to know if something is wrong with you. Especially if it's something this serious," he said coldly, his eyes narrowing.
"No, there is something seriously wrong with you, Norway!" Iceland cried, shoving Norway aside so he could get to his bedroom. He threw open the door and plopped down on his bed, the tears finally starting to cascade over his thin cheeks. "Did you ever think that I wanted to tell you, but didn't know how to?" he asked softly.
Norway had started to make his way to Iceland's bed but stopped short when he heard this. "I wanted to tell you all so badly, but I was so frightened. I knew how bad it would devastate you all, so I tried to hide it. I wanted to tell you many times before, but I didn't have the heart to. I could never imagine how bad it would hurt Sealand." By now Iceland was sobbing and he couldn't keep his voice from trembling. "I know that it was selfish and unfair of me to keep you in the dark, but I-I was so scared."
Norway's eyes softened and he felt his heart wrench in his chest from the sight of his brother suffering. He stepped forward and ran a hand through his soft, silvery locks before pulling him into an embrace. He slowly rocked his brother and told him that everything was going to be alright as Iceland sobbed his heart out. Norway silently let himself shed a few tears as he thought of what this would mean for Iceland; as he thought of what it would mean for them all.
And that was how they had ended up here just a few weeks after the big confession. Iceland had completely lost his appetite and wasn't eating or drinking anything. As a result he was sent to the hospital out of sheer weakness and dehydration.
Even after the large argument the two had gotten into over the fact that Iceland had withheld his cancer secret for over a year, neither of them had spoken a word about it to the other Nordics. Iceland had begged Norway not to. This, of course, proposed a problem when Iceland was suddenly rushed to the hospital and the others demanded to know what was wrong with him. So Norway had to share with them what Iceland had been so eager to hide.
"Iceland...has cancer," Norway muttered quietly, staring down at the floor. They all had been ordered to stay at home to let Iceland rest. Thank God Sealand is in bed right now, Norway thought gratefully. He would have hated to explain what cancer meant to the child.
"What? Cancer? No, you're joking, Norway. Please tell me you're joking!" Finland was starting to panic, as usual. When I think about it, sometimes he's worse than Sealand, Norway thought with a twinge of annoyance.
Norway just shook his head sadly. "No, it's true. I wish I were joking."
Finland burst into tears and ran into the bedroom that he and Sweden shared, with Sweden silently following. Although he didn't say a word, you could see the look of shock clearly on his face.
Denmark looked as though he had just suffered whiplash. He stepped forward so that he stood behind Norway and placed a hand on his shoulder. "My God, is it really true Norge?" he asked, being serious for once.
Norway struggled to keep his voice under control. How many times did he have to repeat himself? How many times would he have to admit that his little brother, whom he loved more than anyone in the world, had cancer and was slowly dying? "Yes it's true, damn it. Why do you people keep asking me that?" No matter how hard he tried to play the tough one who never let his emotions bleed through, his voice cracked on the last sentence and his walls broke down. He put his head in his hands as he started bawling.
Denmark pulled him into a hug and held him like that until he stopped crying. When he was finished, he wiped the remaining tears away with his thumb, leaving wet traces behind on Norway's cheeks. "He'll be fine, Norge. The kid's tough," he said reassuringly.
Norway sighed. "I can only hope that you're right."
But that had all happened two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, Iceland might have had a chance. But he just kept getting worse and worse. He wasn't eating and he wasn't drinking; he was getting everything he needed from an IV.
By now he was so weak that he could barely keep his eyes open, so most of the time he just slept the day away. Whenever he was awake, he was in pain and was barely coherent when he tried to speak, so Norway always told him to save his strength and to get some rest.
Yes, two weeks ago and Iceland might have been fine, and he would have went home and everyone would continue on happily with their lives. He would have been fine had it not been for the news that his doctor had given them only a week prior: Iceland had only about a week left to live. And that week was already here.
As Norway finished the tasteless coffee, he drew his hand back from Iceland's, just so that he could lean over and rest his head in his hands. Denmark reached out and patted his back. Denmark normally wasn't this chill in the hospital room; he normally kept up his happy facade for Sealand and for Finland's sakes, and for those rare occasions when Iceland was awake, but he had no reason to fake happiness now. Finland and Sweden had left to take Sealand home so that the kid could finally sleep in his own bed rather than on the hard couch in the hospital room. Deep down, Denmark was just as grief stricken as the rest of them, and he knew that his overdone-personality didn't make Norway feel any better, so he just decided to drop the act for the time being.
Just then Iceland stirred in his sleep, causing them both to look up in unison. His eyelids fluttered as he slowly came to. "Big brother," he whispered, so softly that it was barely audible.
Norway could hear him anyway and leaned forward to smooth his hand across his forehead. "I'm right here, Ice. What is it?"
Iceland smiled feebly and made a sound that resembled a laugh. "I...had a dream about the time you took me ice skating for the first time. I remember how bad I was." He stopped to chuckle faintly, spiraling him into a coughing fit. He paused for a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "It was so much fun. Do you think we can go skating again sometime?"
Norway swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Of course we can, Ice. We can go ice skating as much as you want."
"Yay." Iceland smiled slightly to himself as his eyes drifted around the room. "Where did everyone else go?"
"Sealand got tired so they took him home," Denmark answered, finally speaking.
Iceland sighed sadly. "It's crazy how things turned out when you think about it. We view ourselves as immune to all sorts of situations and then when things blow up in our faces it's more than unnerving." He laughed bitterly. "I guess I was a fool too."
Norway blinked a few times in shock. "What are you saying Ice? It's not like you could do anything to prevent this, don't talk like this is your fault."
Iceland turned to stare at him with sad eyes that were burdened with pain. "But that's the worst part of it all. I can't help but feel like a failure, I feel like I-" he was broken off as his chest clenched up tightly, the pain searing through him. He grunted in pain but continued talking. "L-Look, Norway. I'm sorry about all of this. About all of the trouble I've caused you- about the trouble I've caused all of you," he panted out, eyes darting between Norway and Denmark.
"No you're not causing anyone trouble Ice, just take it easy," Denmark said. He tried to gently push Iceland back down onto the pillows but he refused and sat back up.
"Guys, I know that I'm not gonna live forever...hell, I'll probably be gone by the end of this week, but I-I," his voice caught in his throat as a tear rolled down his cheek, "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me. And I love you guys." He grabbed Norway's hand and squeezed it with as much force as he could muster. "And thank you big brother...for everything." He closed his violet eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.
His grip loosened on Norway's hand and Norway would have believed that he had just fallen asleep but he heard the heart monitor start to make noises that it should not have been making. The reality of what was happening then sunk in. "Ice?" No response. "Iceland?" Utter silence. "Denmark, go get help!" he commanded the Dane, his voice frantic. Denmark nodded and ran out to alert the doctors.
"Iceland? Iceland? Please answer me!" He took Iceland by the shoulders and began to shake him. "Iceland, wake up! We have to go skating, remember?" He continued to shout at him and shake him like a madman, but no matter what he did those violet eyes of his never opened and he never said a word.
The next few moments passed by in a blur, yet they would live with him for the rest of his life. There were doctors rushing in, people were swarming all around him, their voices a dull buzz in the background. Tears were streaming from his eyes and were staining Iceland's hospital gown. Hands covered his own and began to pry his death-grip on Iceland's shoulders away. He turned to see Denmark staring at him, pale as a ghost, traces of tears on his cheeks.
Denmark slowly drug him towards the door, Norway kicking and screaming the whole time, but the only audible sound he heard was the long beep made by that damned heart monitor. The last thing he saw was his little brother being covered by a thin, white sheet. And then he was back into the hallway with those glaring bright lights of the white-washed hospital that he hated so much.
Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are appreciated- I love to read what you guys think of my stories and I like to see how I can improve! So please critique me as you see fit. Just please don't kill me! .