One year ago - Christmas Eve

Wrapping his scarf more tightly around his neck, Lukas trudged down the empty street. It was late in the evening, and the sky was almost pitch black. There was a little snow that floated down, but not enough to impair the Norwegian's vision. It was quiet, and Lukas had an odd sense of...loneliness.

Earlier in the day, Tino had asked him and Emil to go to the store to get things for Christmas Lunch tomorrow. He and Emil had gone, but then Emil had decided to go home a different way. That was because they had run into a friend of Emil's at the store: Leon. Lukas had never been fond of Leon, but Emil trusted him and he had nothing to do but go along with it (otherwise Emil would probably ignore him for weeks).

He turned a corner sharply, making his way down the street where Tino and Berwald would be. He momentarily realised that he was on the completely wrong side of the road, and sighed as he crossed the road.

He didn't notice the blinding white lights before the horn of a car.

He spun on his heel, but found he could not move out of the way. Was this really the way he would go? And on Christmas Eve of all days?

"Look out!"

A loud holler brought him to his senses, and he yelped in surprise when he was violently shoved aside - out of the way of the speeding car. There was a screech of tyres, and the Norwegian stared at the car continued down the street and turned left. Inconsiderate bastard.

A hand was dropped in his line of vision, and he grasped it as he was hauled to his feet by his saviour.

"...Thank you," he murmured.

"Nej, it's fine," the stranger grinned at him. "...Say, haven't I seen you before? You're...Lukas Bondevik, right?"

Lukas glanced away when he recognised the nationality of the stranger. "...Ja, I am. Why?"

"Don't you recognise me? It's me!" the stranger laughed at him, and Lukas instantly remembered the pale brown-blond hair and bright blue eyes. "Mikkel Densen! The guy you met in Tórshavn?"

"...Mikkel?" Lukas could clearly remember the time he went to the Faroe Islands, and had met a bright, happy young man (who reminded him of Mathias, which hurt a lot to notice).

"Ja, it's me!" Mikkel smiled, before his expression became confused. "Wait, where's...?"

Lukas noticed the question an interrupted. "He's...uh...he's been missing for two years now."

"Missing?" Mikkel sounded surprised, before he turned away guiltily. "Sorry, I didn't realise-"

"It's fine," the Norwegian cut in. "Just...avoid talking about it."

Mikkel regarded him with an unsure stare, but shrugged his shoulders and his smile took over again. "Okay. So, how've you been-?"

"Mikkel!"

At the call, the dirty-blonde turned and sighed. "One minute!"

"Nei, I'm just wasting your time," Lukas shook his head. "You can go."

"...Just don't go running into the road again, ja?" Mikkel joked half-heartedly and waved as he walked in the opposite direction. "See you, Lukas."

"You too, Mikkel," Lukas smiled back, though it was forced.

His arm dropped limply to his side when Mikkel turned a corner and went out of sight. The ache of loneliness returned, and he spun on his heel and continued his trek towards the house. He tightened his scarf again, and exhaled softly.

"...Jeg savner dig..." he murmured, but he knew fully well that no one was likely to be around to hear it.

Reaching his destination, he didn't hesitate to open the door and slip inside. Though, if he had stayed outside for a moment longer - he would have heard a reply.

"...Jeg ved*."

*"I know." - Danish

NOTE: MIKKEL IS A ROUGH START TO MY FIRST, NEW OC: FAROE ISLANDS. HIS OVERALL DESIGN IS NOT COMPLETE, SO THIS IS JUST A START TO HIM. THE NAME IS ALSO NOT EXACT, AS IT COULD CHANGE.