A/n:Okay, so this is going to be my first fanfic in almost 4 years. (ooh, I'm so nervous...)^^;

This entire story will be dedicated to Sara, my best friend for life and my partner in crime. She was the one who inspired me to come up with this story and she even helped me come up with most of things that happens in this chapter! What she doesn't know however is that I'm putting it up here!*evil smirk* You could say that I am doing this as sort of a surprise, and god, will she kill me if she finds it before I show it her myself!XD She has no idea that I've written it down and even if she'll never read it I still feel that she deserves half the the credit for the work. So here you go Sara, I'm dedicating this fic to you, you stubborn piece of awesomeness! 3

So welcome to the first chapter of Elskede! This is going to be my first Hetalia fic anyone will actually be able to read, and for the occasion I'm pretty scared actually;P This is going to be a fanfiction starring DenNor (Denmark and Norway) as the main pairing, meaning there will be yaoi, shounen ai, boyxboy, whatever you'd like to call it C: It's pretty funny that I'd start out with this pairing since it isn't one of my absolute top pairings(I still love it all the same though3) but this idea appealed too much to me.:)

The story is set during an era similar the early middle ages, a theme I enjoy almost a little bit too much!:D Note that this is an AU, revolving around a world that is not our world. Countries like Denmark, Norway, Germany etc. doesn't exist here. In fact there will be little to no mentioning of countries at all in this story. Still it's not completely different from our world. I guess that it's more like a parallell universe so some things will still be mixed in here and there. For example, I'm going to use a lot of things from the Nordic Mythology.:) I have choosen to let the characters keep their country names despite being humans and I've done this because to me it simply feels better to do so for this particular story. So before you ask know that I've already stated my reason for calling them Norway, Denmark and so on.

I hope someone out there will enjoy what I've written and without further ado, here we go!:D

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. If I did, the most non-canon pairings would probably be canon!

~Elskede~

Chapter I:

The Frost

Shuffling about in the dark, the silence of the room stirred a little. A small movement, a breath and the creaking of old floorboards. "Nor," the boy with the pale white hair and rosy cheeks shook the figure lying buried deep under the fells of animal hide. "Norway. Come on, wake up," the boy's voice was hushed, barely louder than a whisper fleeting past in the cold morning. It helped in rousing the other from his sleep however as he was rewarded with a soft moan in response. The white-haired boy looked up and out the small opening that served as their only window, where the first golden rays of the sun peeked in, almost blinding him when they met his pale blue eyes. "The sun is up already," he whispered as his eyes narrowed a little before he averted his gaze from the light.

Norway's eyes opened slowly, accompanied by groan that rumbled up from his chest. They met with the other's blue ones before he, with some difficulty due to his half asleep state, pushed himself up on his elbows and yawned with a hand over his mouth. "Iceland..." He acknowledged and the boy frowned a little in response, before getting up from the bedside.

Norway looked at his brother, first up, then down and then back up, seeing him already fully dressed in thick and warming trousers, a white tunic made out of wool and the tough brown boots that Norway himself had obtained for Iceland last year. A difficult and expensive bargain it had been, but in the end the blonde man had been allowed to leave the salesman, together with the boots, for a reasonable enough price. "Have you been up for long?" he asked. Iceland shook his head no.

"Not too long," He tossed a shirt that had hung over the back of a chair at the older of the two. "Get dressed. I'm freezing to death just by looking at you," Norway's lips just twitched slightly in response to this. His younger brother had always, despite his frail looks, been a hot-blooded person. It took a lot for him to freeze that much. Of course, as Norway noted as he pulled the shirt over his head; this morning seemed a lot colder than most.

"I'm going to get some milk from the farmer," Ice's voice cut through his musings as the teenager pulled down his winter coat from the hanger beside the door and put it on. The older gave a grunt in response as he moved to open the door. The boy's features scrunched up into a bothered frown while his hand rested on the handle. "It's going to snow," he said. "You can smell it in the wind..."

Norway swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood. The cold prickled at his skin but he ignored it with well-practiced ease as he walked over to a bucket of water they used to wash themselves with. He splashed some of the almost freezing cold water onto his face, completely pulling himself out of his half-conscious daze. "Winter is here little brother. It always snows then..." he mumbled calmly and used a torn rag to wipe his face.

Iceland looked away from him and pursed his lips in dismay. "I've told you not to call me that... You are not my brother."

"I will always see you as my little brother Ice..." Norway retorted with soft frown, matching Iceland's own as he put on his belt. The white-haired boy grunted in annoyance before leaving their little home to go bargain with the farmer for a jug of milk.

Norway let out a soft sigh as he put on his old and beaten boots and pulled on his coat before going outside to feed their only horse. It was mare, a strong but beautiful Fjord horse with a grey gold coating and a black and white mane and tail, and she neighed happily in a greeting when she saw him, knowing that she'd soon be fed. Norway patted her affectionately on the muzzle and whispered a soft good morning, before feeding her some hay.

While the horse happily ate her hay, Norway looked out over the fields in the west, covered in morning mist. 'It seems it's still not too late in the year for the elves to dance their morning dance,' the blonde man mused as he folded his arms over his chest. If he strained his ears he thought he might even hear their enchanted singing and giggling across the plains. Shaking his head lightly, the blonde man patted his horse one more time before walking out of her little stable.

Norway went on about doing his usual daily chores until Iceland returned with the milk. The two brothers went inside and proceeded to have their usual meagre breakfast. Milk, some bread and cheese and a few bites of dried meat. There would be times when they would have saved up enough money that Norway would give in to temptation and buy a piece of ham, but in between those times the milk was the only fattening thing they could be allowed to indulge in.

When the bread, cheese and milk comfortably laid in their bellies Norway used some of the water from the wash-bucket to wash the dishes while Ice went outside to say hi to the horse. The mare was the apple of his eye and Ice affectionately called her Brúnn because of the deep, rich brown colour of her eyes, but only when he thought Nor wasn't listening. His younger brother probably thought it was embarrassing to have the other listening in on him getting mushy with a horse or something like that. Norway never minded.

With the dishes done, Norway decided to check on their storeroom and was utterly displeased with the result. "I need to go to the village soon..." He muttered and looked around the house. 'Might as well stock up,' he thought grimly and closed the door to the pantry before walking across the room and sticking his head out through the small window.

"Ice!" He called. "I have to go to the village! Could you saddle the horse?" He heard Iceland's somewhat muffled shout of "Okay!" from the little stable before he pulled his head back in and ran a hand through his straw-coloured hair. Walking over to the old fireplace, he removed a loose rock on the left side of it to retrieve a small pouch where he hid their money from potential thieves. Norway then sat down by the table and hastily counted the money, removing a certain amount of it before putting the rest back. 'This should be enough,' he surmised as he put the pouch back into its hiding place. Putting the removed money into a new pouch which he securely attached to his belt, the young man once again pulled on his coat and went outside where Iceland stood with Brúnn, saddled and ready to go.

"I'll be back in time for dinner. Perhaps earlier," said Norway as he sat up on Brúnn's back and looked down at Iceland with a gentle smirk. "Take care, alright?"
Iceland nodded and smiled at him very quickly before rushing inside. Norway chuckled before spurring Brúnn on in a fast run towards the village.

From Norway and Iceland's little house the village laid a ten-minute gallop away in the south, down a long hill. It wasn't a big village, not like the ones further to the south, but it was still lively and the people were amiable enough Norway supposed, never having been a real people person. He and his brother mostly kept to themselves in their little house up on the northern hill which had been left to them when the relative who had owned it had passed on to the life on the other side. Perhaps it wasn't the most ideal place to live, with its sometimes leaking grass-roof and the strange sort of attraction it seemed to hold for all sorts of vermin, but they figured that as long as they had somewhere they could seek protection from the cold and where they could sleep they couldn't complain.

He let his dark violet eyes stray across the frost ridden fields as the horse started to slow down to light trot when they neared the village. It looked both beautiful and troubling at the same time, promising the arrival of the darkest period of the year, the winter.

They arrived to the village and Norway pulled gently on the reigns. "Easy girl, easy..." He murmured calmly under his breath and stroked the horse's neck until she came to halt by a wooden stake sticking up from the ground. There he quickly tied her reigns up so she wouldn't suddenly try to run away. With a smirk at the mare's grunted out protest at being tied up Norway pulled down his saddle bag, along with a trusty bow and quiver of arrows which he always brought with him when going for a ride. "Don't whine like that kjæreste, I'll be back soon, maybe even with a carrot or two if I'm lucky," Norway offered as treaty of peace and he almost laughed at how the horse's ears perked up at the mere mentioning of carrots.

After receiving a light buff to the head as if saying "Don't forget now what you've promised me human," Norway could finally venture into the small market place. Being as a tedious task as stocking up was, the whole thing went pretty smoothly. The merchants greeted him in happy recognition and some even offered him some really good bargains. He even got some leftover money he could use to buy Brúnn those aforementioned carrots, and even those for a good price!
Bristling with personal satisfaction Norway hummed lightly as he packed down his wares into the saddlebag when a wailing cry suddenly cut through the air. Norway's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed just as the shop vendor out loud asked with his deep and rumbling voice; "Now what was that?"

The two men directed their eyes towards the hills visible from the village square where they thought the scream had come from. Down the hill from the direction of the woods came a woman, half running, half stumbling over the long skirt she was so desperately trying to gather up in her arms as she ran, crying and screaming as if she had been possessed.

"A Sáltyv! A Sáltyv took me daughter! Oh, please gods, help her!" She screamed while she ran into the village, tripping and falling sobbing into arms of a man kind enough to catch her before she lost consciousness. The once so calm village square reverted in the blink of an eye to worry.

"A Sáltyv! May the gods be merciful!" Someone shouted over the buzz of other people's voices as Norway pushed his way through the crowd to kneel beside the woman. She was pale and her jaw slack, showing no signs of being awake. The blonde's eyes narrowed into a serious scowl and his head whipped to the side and he trained his gaze onto the hill from which the woman had come from.

The Sáltyvs were wretched creatures, thought to once have lived side by side with the evil giants in the frozen land beyond Bifrost(1), but now housed in the land of man. They were flying monsters, caught somewhere between the body of a man and that of a raven, and they were known for kidnapping young men and women, preferably those that had just take the first steps into full adulthood. No one knew what happened with those that got abducted, but most believed they were brought to the Sáltyvs' nest and eaten alive. They were big, some even as large as horses and had sharp claws and a strong beak that could easily crush bones. But despite its large size, claws or beak, the most threatening aspect of the Sáltyv was its eyes. If you ever got into close combat with a Sáltyv you should be sure to never look it in the eyes, because they could steal your soul away if you stared too intently into them. Such were the nature of the Sáltyv, the Soul Stealers.

"It has come to take the young ones!" An old woman cried just as the sound of large wings flapping met their ears. Norway quickly stood up and inhaled sharply.

It was not one, but several Sáltyvs and they were all flying at high speed towards the village, spotting the grey sky like black flecks. Norway hastily counted them in his head; 'One, two... eight,' Eight birdlike creatures singing out their promise of death and havoc in chorus with the frightened screams coming from the small and weak humans.

"Get the women and children inside!" A male voice boomed over the distressed crowd. Norway quickly whipped out his bow and was just pulling out an arrow from his quiver when the Sáltyvs dove, swooping in for the crowd. A poor girl, barely a woman yet, who hadn't been quick enough got grabbed by the long claws and was taken high up in the air, screaming and hollering at the top of her lungs, out of her mind with fear and panic. Norway gritted his teeth and without further ado took aim and fired at the Sáltyv. The arrow embedded itself into the Sáltyvs right wing but clearly not deep enough as the target only snarled in mild irritation, showing no signs of wanting to let go of its prey.

Everywhere people were panicking, trying to find somewhere to hide. Norway was almost pushed to the ground as he was reloading his bow by a woman running past him. They were running in circles, screaming, falling down only to get back up again. There was utter chaos as two young men got caught and carried away from the village with a lot of screaming and struggling, with their parents screaming after them.

'This is not good,' the blonde archer thought, a new arrow already latched into place on the bow. Norway took a deep breath and mumbled a spell, making the fletching under his calloused fingers to bristle and shimmer in a faint purple. With a new magic enhanced arrow at his disposal the young man once again took aim at the Sáltyv carrying the girl, which sailed across the sky over the marketplace. Maybe the first arrow had done something after all since it seemed the creature had a problem with holding itself steady. He waited only for a split second before he let the projectile sing through the air.

It hit its mark perfectly. The arrowhead lodged itself into what would have been the Sáltyv's right shoulder if it had been a man, where it magically started to burn. The Sáltyv let out a shrill shriek of pain and in shock loosened its hold on the girl who fell towards the ground at an alarming speed. Luckily the Sáltyv had not been too far off ground and some of the other villagers managed to catch her before she, in worst case scenario, broke a leg or two. The poor thing was as white as a sheet as she was in no time carried inside one of the houses for safety.

Norway was quick to fire another arrow towards the birdlike monsters. Around him there were some brave men trying to fend them off using whatever weapon they had found at the moment; rocks and pebbles, pitchforks, axes, even a broom. The Sáltyvs hissed and snarled in anger at them and retaliated by diving at them with their claws bent, fully intent on killing. Norway's heart pumped madly in his chest as he fired at them the best he could, somewhere in the back of his head registering that another young woman got caught and carried off.

"Run!" The shop vendor from earlier was suddenly at his side and at just the right time pulled the younger man down to the ground before a Sáltyv could bury its claws into the back of their necks. Norway gasped at the impact the ground made and quickly covered his head with his arms. The shop vendor did the same thing.

For three scary seconds they laid there flat on the ground. Norway had the side of his face pressed into the earth, eyes wide and pupils dilated to the max. His breath came out in short, panicked gasps. He could smell the odour of the frozen soil and dust and the cold sweat seeping out of his pores. Hell, he could even taste it!

"Quick! Get up son!" The shop vendor cursed into his ear and grabbed the young man's arm with a firm grip that was sure to leave some bruises afterward and they both stumbled to their feet before hobbling over to the nearby stable to get in under the roof. Norway grabbed onto one of the wooden pillars holding the whole construction up to keep himself from falling down again, while the old man who had been gracious enough to help him sank down in hay and wiped some sweat off his brow.

They had almost been killed... Swallowing, the blonde pressed his forehead against the cold wood and took a moment to catch his breath. 'Breath slowly... in... out... in... out...' he urged himself mentally and when his breath was finally steady enough his lilac eyes opened in a glare.

"Stay here old man," Norway growled and pushed himself off the pillar. The shop vendor waved his hand dismissively after him, either too out of breath to say anything or knowing by the solemn tone of his voice that trying to convince the young archer would be completely fruitless. Norway jumped out of the stable and ran cautiously along the wall as he placed a new arrow in his bow. The remaining Sáltyvs had flocked themselves right above the village square where they were pestering the fighting humans. "Weren't there five of 'em just now!? They're only four!" Someone shouted. Norway's head snapped up towards the sky. 'One, two, three...' Excluding the three that had already left, each with a young teenager in their clutches, there should have been five Sáltyvs flying around, but instead there were only four of them!

'Did someone kill it-?' Norway thought, looking around as he suddenly caught sight of it. Instead of harassing the humans at the square along with its brothers, it seemed that it was rather flying away from the village to the north...

Norway's blood ran cold and a choked gasp left his lungs.

It was flying right in the direction of his and Iceland's home.

"No!" Norway's eyes widened in fear and he quickly abandoned the arrow as he with the speed of sound propped his bow back over his shoulder and ran. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to Brúnn and untied her. The horse screeched and tried to rise on her hind legs, no doubt frightened by the black feathered predators circling the sky, but she quickly calmed down when she saw her master come running.

With his heart beating all the way up in his throat Norway threw himself up on the mare's back and with a shout spurred her into a full sprint towards the northern hill.

He rode as fast as he could. Brúnn's hooves slammed against the road like thunder leaving a cloud of dust behind them. "Come on girl! Faster!" Norway urged desperately and dug his heels deeper into her sides. They rode with unforgiving speed but the Sáltyv had already gained too much of a head-start for them to catch up. "No, NO!" Norway felt fear building up inside him like a raging fire. When he got up the hill his heart skipped a beat at the sound that greeted his ears like a kiss from a fist. Two cries: one from the Sáltyv and the other belonging to his little brother.

"Iceland!" Norway screamed and steered Brúnn towards their house. He got there just in time to see the Sáltyv flying up in the air with a few strong beats of its wings, Iceland screaming and struggling in its clutches, his stark white hair sticking out against the creature's black feather mail. "Iceland!" Norway shouted again.

"Let me go! Norway!" Iceland screamed and kicked. Norway jumped off the horseback and reached for his bow but it was already too late. They were already too high up and too far away for even him to hit. "Ice!"

"Norway!" Iceland screamed desperately until his throat was sore, struggling and wriggling all he could in the creature's grasp. "Norway, NORWAAAAAYYY!"

Norway ran. He ran with all the power that he could muster, but they only flew faster. He gritted his teeth and saw the Sáltyv fly to join its brothers further ahead. "Iceland!" He shouted. "I'll come and save you Ice! I swear I'll bring you home!"

Iceland fought and cried after him as he was carried away with the other young men and women that'd been kidnapped from the village. "Ice!" His brother screamed as hot tears streamed down his cheeks. "I swear! Iceland!"

Gasping and sobbing Norway fell to his knees in the frozen grass and could do nothing but watch as they disappeared in the distance. He cried his brother's name unrestrained, choking on his own sobs while he repeatedly slammed his fist into the ground.

His sobs and screams eventually quieted down, leaving Norway sitting there, slumped over in the frosted grass, fingers buried in cold soil and with tears silently escaping his eyes. When the first snowflake melted and blended with a hot tear on his cheek, he turned his face up towards the grey skies. One after one, the snowflakes fell in silence, covering the land with their simple white beauty. More of them blended with Norway's tears as he inhaled deeply. The scent of snow was so clear in comparison to everything else.

Winter had come, and along with it snow, just like Iceland had dreaded.

A/n: No, Iceland! Wow, such heavy stuff already in the first chapter:O

(1) If you've read a little about Nordic mythology, or if you've seen Thor you probably know what Bifrost is:) It is the rainbow bridge that leads between the different realms belonging to humans and gods and its protected from the giants by the god Heimdall. Look it up if you're interested:)

I want to make sure you know I'm taking some liberties using the way of history here. Most things I write are not going to sit well with the actual time era I've placed the characters in. For example, as far as I can remember milk was not something you drank back in the middle ages. People opted to make cheese and butter out of it instead since it would have longer durability and not go bad after a short while. So yeah, don't think too seriously over the technical properties of this fic.

I sincerely doubt anyone will read this but if you did I can only hope you like it well enough:) The main goal is to write something others can enjoy after all.

Until next time!

~M. Cinzano