Lukas seems so out of character here… Let's just say that he's happy to see his brother and find out that he doesn't hate him, okay?

Disclaimer (Forgot about this): Fanfiction. Even discounting that, I really should not be the one to own any country. Not sure that I would even want to, to be honest. Too much work. I'd also probably get blamed for everything and that doesn't seem like fun.

Chapter 2: Reconciliation

Eiríkur hoped Lukas wouldn't notice that he seemed to have slept in his clothes.

Yes, that was what he was thinking as he walked up to the Norwegian's house (which was still in as bad shape as he remembered. No wonder he had been mostly staying in Sweden as far as he knew). It was probably his mind trying not to think about what could happen and fixating on something completely stupid. Then again, Lukas had always sort of been critical of how others looked…

The Icelander shook his head, mentally chastising himself for thinking that. He really didn't need more to worry about.

Eiríkur paused in front of the wooden door, hesitating. What if Lukas wasn't even there? What if he had already moved? What if… he didn't want to even see him again?

"Shut up," he muttered to himself. "That letter was too recent for that to be true." Taking a deep breath, he reached out a hand and knocked on the door a few times.

It seemed like centuries until he finally heard footsteps from behind the door when in reality it was probably only a minute or two. Finally, the door opened, revealing the man that had raised him.

Lukas looked more or less the same as he remembered. The same short blond hair that kept for some reason falling into his left eye if he didn't pin it back, indigo eyes that showed more emotions than most bothered to look for, and the pale skin common in the Nordic countries. He did seem to be a little bit older, but not by much- maybe just a few months, if that. He still looked younger than Mikkel. He could tell that, at least.

The only thing missing was his usual carefully blank expression, having been replaced by a shocked and disbelieving one.

"Eiríkur?" he asked breathlessly, seemingly not believing his eyes. Before said boy could reply, the Norwegian begged, "Please, please don't be a dream or a trick of the fey…"

"Lu-" Eiríkur stated, then stopped, looking at Lukas' pleading eyes, saying instead, "bróðir… it's not." He spoke the last two words in what he hoped was still Norwegian.

Lukas tentatively reached out a hand, as if afraid that he would disappear if he made any sudden movements, and put it on his brother's shoulder. Suddenly, the taller man pulled him into a tight hug, almost robbing the Icelander of breath.

Eiríkur awkwardly hugged him back, a little disarmed at the display of emotion. Lukas may be more prone to showing emotions around him, but this was still completely out of character.

After a couple of minutes, Lukas finally pulled away to both the relief and chagrin of Eiríkur- he could barely breathe, but it was so comfortable and nostalgic (not that he would ever admit it) - and smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting you to…" he trailed off, before gesturing for him to come inside.

Upon seeing the almost bare living room with only a couch and some boxes, the Icelander said "So you are moving."

He didn't miss the slightly puzzled look Lukas gave him, though the older nation only said, "I will be the first to admit that this house is a safety hazard."

"Your house has been a safety hazard since the 1500s at the very latest," Eiríkur pointed out.

Lukas just shrugged. "It hasn't fallen down yet."

A typical response from the Norwegian.

The Icelander rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch. The Norwegian sat next to him, but before he could say something, Eiríkur said, "A fairy showed up at my house yesterday."

Lukas frowned. "I thought I had re-warded your house before I left."

"It might have weakened after all that time." He barely caught his brother's slight flinch at the reminder, but continued anyway. "She- well, I think it was a she- left a box that was full of letters… from you."

He looked down at his lap, scared to see what his brother's expression may hold. Silence reigned for a minute or two before Lukas finally said softly, "I didn't expect you to ever read those."

Eiríkur scoffed. "Well, that was obvious." After another pause, he asked, "Why didn't you try to send any of them?" He hated how he couldn't keep his voice completely accusing, how some of the hurt he had been feeling all these decades managed to bleed through.

"I don't know," Lukas admitted. Eiríkur chanced a glance up, seeing his fellow personification's face angled away and down from his own. "I have been asking myself that question since I first wrote one of them. I think… I was scared that you wouldn't write back. Or maybe I was scared that you would. I just… I don't know exactly. That is not an excuse, though."

He gazed at his brother in slight shock. Usually he was more eloquent, not wasting any words and not saying anything if he wasn't completely sure what he meant. "Lukas…"

They sat in silence for a few minutes until finally the Norwegian whispered, still facing away from the Icelander, "I'm sorry… it does not change anything or absolve me of any guilt, but I am… more than I will ever be able to express, no matter how many languages I attempt to speak in..."

Eiríkur was shocked to see his shoulders shake, as if trying to repress sobs. Blinking rapidly, he said, "Lukas…" Did his voice really sound that tearful, or was it his imagination? "I don't blame you for leaving… I did think you… you didn't care…" Dang it, he was over a thousand years old! He should be able to control his emotions! "But reading those letters… I realized that I was… just being stupid…"

The carefully built dam he had constructed the moment his brother had walked out the door 93 years prior finally broke, and he started crying again, burying his face in his hands. Two strong arms came around him, and he instinctively buried his face in Lukas' chest and clutched onto him as if his life depended on it.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that. It could have been two minutes or two weeks, but finally it seemed like he could not possibly have any more tears left in his body. As his breathing slowed, Lukas whispered in his ear in Icelandic, "There has never been a time I have not cared for you, not since you were born and I held you for the first time. A century of separation would not change that."

"That reminds me…" Reluctantly, he pulled out of the hug and looked his brother in the eyes. "I thought you found me after your people came to live in Iceland. But some of your letters mentioned that we shared a mother, and I had a dream last night about when people first settled my land that I don't see how I could make up…"

"Scandinavia." Eiríkur just gave him a look of confusion, so Lukas elaborated, "Our mother. She was the personification of our lands before we were born."

"Wouldn't she be your, Mikkel, and Sweden's mother instead? Your countries are the ones actually called that…"

He shook his head. "No. Their father was Germania. Scandinavia did take care of them after his death a couple centuries before the Viking Age, but she did not actually give birth to them. You and I are her only children."

Eiríkur tried to wrap his mind around this new information. While he knew that female nations could have children and occasionally- extremely occasionally, luckily for France- male nations could impregnate humans, he always just assumed that he was one of the ones to just randomly seemingly pop out of the ground and found by Lukas when he first came to his lands. But this information… "She died because of me, didn't she?" he said in a small voice.

"No." Eiríkur stared at his brother, shocked at the vehemence of that word. "Giving birth to you did not make her fade. If anything, she was dying the moment whichever the three of us is oldest was born. The fact that she made it long enough to give birth to you is a miracle. I may have had to raise you, but I have never regretted it."

"…Why haven't you ever told me about her?"

Lukas sighed. "Let's just say that I have some… mixed feelings about her and leave it at that." Eiríkur just stared at him with that amazingly effective deadpan look he picked up from him, causing the Norwegian to sigh and say, "You know how everyone says that I am emotional block of ice because I do not show many emotions?"

"Personally, I think that's only because they haven't met Sweden."

Lukas had to suppress a smile at that. "While that may be true, if you think I am bad with emotions, she was worse. I can count the number of times I saw her give anything even remotely resembling a smile on a single hand and have fingers to spare, for one. She wasn't necessarily a bad mother, per se, but she was just so distant…"

Eiríkur tried to wrap his mind around this new information. It actually explained several things. Children, from what he could tell, seemed to sometimes take on traits from their parents, which would explain why Lukas only seemed to show slight irritation at the very most around others unless something extremely bad had happened. It might also explain why Lukas had always been extremely overprotective and slightly overbearing at times. While it still irked him, he could at least understand it a little now.

"Can you at least tell me something about her?" he finally asked. "Even if it's just a little bit, I still want to know… I mean, she's still my- our- mother…"

After a moment, Lukas stood up and held out a hand to Eiríkur. "It's about lunchtime. I wasn't expecting any company that I wouldn't immediately kick out, so I do not have much, but there should be enough for both of us. While we eat, I will answer any questions you may have."

The Icelander looked at the hand for a moment, before accepting it and being led past the boxes to the tiny dining room.

Translations:

Bróðir (Icelandic) - Brother

Other Notes:

Nordic Physical Ages- Physically (they have no idea who's actually the oldest), I see the order as follows: Denmark is the oldest at 23-ish, Norway and Sweden look 21-22, Finland looks 20, and Iceland is the youngest at 17-18, at least during the present. In 1905, when this chapter takes place, he looks around 13.

Lukas' house is a safety hazard- took the idea from one strip where his house is completely falling apart when Mikkel visited once. Yes, he lived there with Eiríkur for about three or so centuries while it was like this. He is such a good brother, so worried about safety.

Female nations can get pregnant/Male nations can impregnate human women- headcanon. Also, the only way for two countries to be blood related is to have a common parent.

Germania is Denmark and Sweden's dad- Berwald is apparently his son in canon. I'm just making him Mikkel's dad for convenience and because I've seen too many people make them brothers. Whether they share a mom too is up to you.

Fading away- what happens to a nation when they die. There are some loopholes to keep them from completely dying (which is how Prussia is still around), but not everyone knows about it. No nation knows what exactly happens when they die, and they don't like thinking about it.

Thank you everyone that reviewed or followed! It really means a lot to me. Anyway, next chapter: Lukas tells Eiríkur somethings about Scandinavia, the Norwegian has a request, and Mikkel is made fun of.