The two started down the pebbly beach, both keeping a sharp eye for a small child. Denmark even proceeded to call for the nation by using his pet name he gave the child. "Ice! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
Norway didn't say anything, considering the whole process a waste of time. He rolled his eyes as Denmark raised his voice higher. "Ice, where the hell are you?!"
"Denmark, this is pointless." Norway informed the Danish man, clearly bored.
Denmark picked up a rock, looked under it, and set it down. "It is not!"
"Yes it is. And why did you just do that?"
"Ice could be a baby for all we know." Denmark explained as he picked up another rock to look under it. Norway was tempted to push the rock down on his head.
"Even a baby wouldn't fit under rocks," Norway said sharply.
"...a really small baby."
"And you are still an idiot." the Norwegian said, bluntly.
Denmark jumped to his feet after putting down the rock, "At least I care about Ice! You don't seem to give a damn whether it's alive or not."
"Because it probably isn't!" Norway retorted. "Why don't you just accept that?"
"Because I'm sure it's alive!"
"It hasn't even been two days!"
"Two days or not, I'm looking." Denmark snapped, walking up ahead.
Norway shook his head, irritated with the Dane already, "You do that. I'm heading back to camp."
"Fine!"
Norway turned on his heel and stalked away, hating how the Dane broke through his stoic facade all the time. Honestly, why did they spend so much time with each other? Denmark always seems to think they're the greatest of friends, but all he did was make life difficult for the Norwegian. When he returned to camp, one of his men asked, "Where's the annoying blond?"
"He's off searching for the child."
"Speaking of," another one piped up, "this place was named."
"Named what?" Norway asked curiously. Well, he supposed that if the men were going to settle there then they had the right to name the place.
"The land!"
"We're calling it Iceland."
Norway stared. It sounded like something Denmark would've come up with. Then again, it did make sense considering the ice chunks scattered around the shore and the cold weather. He thought back to his comment from the other day-"It's an ice land-and smirked. It wasn't difficult to see where they had come up with the name.
"How d'you like it?" the man who brought the topic up asked.
"Creative." Norway commented, joining the group. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a loud crash. The group turned to see Denmark, who had stumbled back looking defeated.
"There's no kid."
Norway raised one eyebrow. "You don't say."
"Yeah... I'll check again tomorrow though." Denmark noticed the vikings had returned to what they were doing, ignoring him. t was still early afternoon, but there was quite a bit of work that needed doing. The whole crew sans Denmark (who puttered around looking put out) put forth their best efforts and by the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. In fact, many of them just about fell asleep while eating their nightly meal. Denmark, despite being tired, was the one talking the loudest all throughout supper, stating how he was close to finding Iceland that day. The rest of the men just smiled and nodded, occasionally looking to Norway nervously, at which point the nation would catch Denmark's attention by insulting him one way or another. Each time Denmark would just brush the insult off as if he were unaffected by it. Instead he would start babbling about some adventure that made completely no sense to the Norwegians.
Norway largely ignored the stories, having been present for most of them. It wasn't until Denmark began getting into his subjugation of Sweden and Finland that he interrupted, calling for everyone to go to sleep and prepare for the next day. His orders were followed quickly, and soon all the lanterns were put out.
The next day wasn't eventful in the slightest. The Norwegians decided it was in their best interest to just let Denmark sleep as long as possible, and managed to get a lot done without him causing disruptions every few minutes. When the Dane finally did awake, he took off immediately to continue his search for the new Iceland. The rest of the day was uneventful for the Norwegians. They would often hear a distant 'Ice!' from Denmark, but other than that, they could work in peace.
The same process went for the next day, and the next. Denmark seemed to become less enthusiastic as time went on, returning to camp each day with a downcast look to match the gloomy, overcast night during supper, Denmark was unusually quiet and picking at his food instead of inhaling it. The other men were pleasantly surprised with the Dane's new attitude.
"Have you finally given up?" Norway asked him quietly. Denmark shrugged.
"I dunno. I just wanted it to be real, you know?"
"Give it time, and it will be," Norway answered, wondering why he suddenly felt the need to comfort the Dane.
"Alright." he sighed in reply. He forced on a weak smile, "I'm heading to bed, Norge." The blond man stood up went to his mat to get some sleep, his mind thinking of places to look.
"Is he still down about not finding Ice?" a rather short yet stout viking asked.
"Yes."
"Is it really that big a deal?" another asked. The whole group was beginning to look curious. Norway put his chin in his palm.
"It's a big deal," he answered. "There aren't very many people like us, you see."
"Hey, why don't we join 'im tomorrow?" one suggested to the others, "it's a kid! How hard can it be?"
Norway glanced over at the one who spoke, "Extremely."
"Oh yeah? How do you figure?"
"A small child in such a large place?" Norway sighed. "It's harder than it looks. The Dane was searching under rocks during the first day. Besides, we don't even know if Iceland's been born yet."
"True..." one of the men murmured after a brief silence.
"We should get some sleep." Norway excused himself as he started his way to his sleeping mat.
The men dispersed, muttering quietly amongst themselves. Soon, the whole camp had fallen into a peaceful silence, puntuated only by the sound of the occasional snore.
In the early morning before the sun had even risen, Norway awoke to the sound of cluttering. He didn't think much of it at first, thinking it was a small rodent running through their things. However, when he heard the sound of the stacked firewood tumbling down, he knew this was bigger than a rodent and had jolted awake.
Nobody else seemed to have noticed, but Denmark stirred slightly in his sleep. Norway reached and grabbed the dagger he kept within arms reach and slowly stood up, keen eyes searching the camp. All his men were in place, so it wasn't just an early riser... He cautiously walked over to the scattered logs and frowned. What could have done this? It looked as if someone had bumped into the pile. His ears perked when he heard the scampering of feet hitting the dirt. He turned around swiftly, trying to catch the culprit, but they had evidently taken shelter behind some of the other supplies. Maybe it was some wild animal?
Norway steadied the dagger, ready for anything to jump out at him then slowly approached the stacked supplies. Before he saw what the creature was, he raised the weapon in front of him and jumped into view. A small shriek pierced the Norwegian's ears, and he lowered the weapon on confusion. What...?
He blinked back his confusion when he saw a small girl wearing a long dress. Her most notable feature being her silver white hair that was styled into a bob cut.
Well, Norway certainly couldn't remember bringing a little girl along. So that meant...
Oh god.
Denmark was right.
Why did Denmark have to be right? Norway couldn't find anything to say to the girl. He was speechless.
He held the child's violet gaze, stunned, until he heard a shuffling behind him.
"Norge?"
Ah hell. Of all the bad times for Denmark to actually wake up early...
He hissed to the Dane, "Be quiet."
Denmark didn't listen and instead when he saw the young nation, cheered. Loudly. He pointed at her, flailing, "I can't believe it! We found Iceland!"
Norway had never seen a child flee so quickly. She was running as if she was on fire.
"Aw shit!" Denmark exclaimed, his voice still raised. "WAIT COME BACK!" He took off after her. The Norwegian watched the Dane chase the nation then turned around to wake his men up. They needed to catch that child before she became too scared to even see one of them. On second thought, that might be a bad idea...who knew how she would react to seeing a huge hoard of men chasing after her?
Norway stood torn between waking them up and chasing after Denmark and Iceland himself. In the end, he chose the former, tearing after the two as quickly as he could. He managed to catch up with Denmark who was trailing close behind a now screaming Iceland. The Icelander turned sharply into the trees, hiding from the two men. Norway lunged forward and grabbed the hem of Denmark's tunic, halting the man in his tracks.
"Stop!" he hissed, "all you're doing is frightening her."
"But Norge! We finally found her, we can't lose her yet." Denmark protested, but did listen to Norway's instructions.
"Denmark, I need for you to stay here until I return."
Denmark pouted, but stood silent as Norway strode warily into the forest. He had enough experience with others like him to know nations were a crafty bunch, newborn or not. For all he knew, Iceland could be waiting in a tree waiting to ambush him from above.
"Iceland?" he called softly, scanning the area.
He heard rustling in the bushes as if the girl was crawling through them. With no hesitation, the Norwegian went up to the bushes, his dagger sheathed so that he wouldn't scare her again.
"Iceland?" he repeated. "I'm not the crazy Dane. You can come out, it's alright."
There wasn't any response, which Norway had been half-expecting. He turned around, figuring she would come back out if she thought he was leaving. He took a few steps forward, and nearly tripped when something tugged on the end of his cape. Norway looked over his shoulder to see the little girl gazing up at him with big, fearful eyes. Norway kneeled down to look her in the eyes. At this height, he could fully see how tiny Iceland was.
"Hello," he said quietly, giving her a small smile. Iceland didn't smile back, but said in a high, even voice, "Who are you?"
There was an impressive silence as Norway thought on how to introduce himself. Finally, the Norwegian replied, "My name is Norway. What is yours?"
The young girl murmured, "Iceland." She was fiddling with her long sleeves that were covering her small hands.
"I'm like you, Iceland," he told her. She looked up at him wonderingly.
"Really?" Iceland blinked.
Norway nodded. "We're the same."
Iceland bit her lip, "I thought I was by myself..." She wiped her eyes, trying to dry the tears that had formed.
"It's alright." Norway placed a hand on her left shoulder in his way of comforting her without frightening the youth too much.
Iceland startled the Norwegian by throwing her arms around his neck. Immensely surprised, Norway awkwardly wrapped his arms around her small frame and lifted her off her feet.
"You're safe now," his quiet voice reassured the Icelander.
"The rocks by the water were pokey..." she buried her face into the Norwegian's shoulder blade. Norway frowned. What has this...? Oh.
"Was that where you woke up?" he asked the small girl who nodded.
Norway patted her back, secretly feeling a spark of smug satisfaction. And Denmark said she wouldn't want to be on the beach.
"That must have been lonely," he said aloud to Iceland, feeling a sudden surge of protectiveness. She really was tiny... "You don't have to be alone anymore. I'll be with you."
Iceland looked up at him, her wide violet eyes full of tears. "You will?" She gave a large sniff and wiped her eyes. "Like a brother?"
This comment really hit Norway. He hadn't had a sibling before and the closest he had ever gotten was, well, Denmark. The Norwegian gave her a light smile, "Yes... like a brother."
And for the first time, Norway saw a smile cross Iceland's small face. It better suited her than the frown she wore before.
"So I'm your little sister." The smile on Iceland's face spread into a grin, and the protective feeling Norway had before intensified. He adjusted Iceland in his arms and coughed.
"There's another one of us here. A person like us. He's annoying, but he listens to me. I won't let him do anything to you, alright?"
"Was he the one who was chasing me?" Iceland asked the elder.
"Yes. His name is Denmark."
"I don't like him."
Norway snorted involuntarily. "I don't much, either. But you learn to deal with it. Are you ready to go meet him?"
"Not really..." Iceland admitted,uncomfortable with the idea of meeting the man who scared her.
"You'll have to meet him eventually." Norway replied, already beginning to walk back.
"But he's weird."
Norway laughed outright at that. "Don't worry." His free hand stroked her hair. "I'm protecting you, remember?"
Iceland didn't answer, but squirmed a little in his arms. He carried her back to where Denmark was waiting impatiently. The Dane was pacing in a circle when Norway had returned. Denmark immediately stopped mid-circle to greet the two, "Norge! You have her. Heh. I told she was going to be a girl and wow. You're carrying her. No clue how you did that considering she was running from us." the Dane rambled on before hurrying up to the girl who was refusing to look at the man.
Denmark leaned in close to the two of them, and Iceland buried her face in Norway's neck.
"Aw, come on," he said, sounding disappointed, "can you look at me? Please?"
"No." Iceland's voice was muffled by the fabric of Norway's cape. "I don't like you."
Spluttering a bit, the Dane looked to Norway for help. Norway shrugged and said flatly, "She doesn't like you."
"What the hell did I do wrong?"
"Chase after her while screaming like a crazed maniac."
"I didn't think that would scare her!"
"You don't think much at all."
Iceland giggled very faintly, then peeked out shyly, getting a glimpse of Denmark's face before hurriedly hiding her own again.
"She looked at me. I think that counts as something!" Denmark grinned triumphantly.
"Not at all."
"Stop it." Denmark rolled his eyes at the Norwegian before returning his attention back to Iceland.
"Why don't you like me?" he asked, pouting a bit. There was no answer. "Icelaaand."
The girl ignored him to Denmark's dismay. He whined yet again and this time Norway snapped, "Can't you see she doesn't want to talk to you?!"
"I spent the last two days looking for her..." Denmark replied, disappointment in his tone.
"Suck it up. Let's go back to camp, alright?"
Denmark grumbled, "How come she likes you?" but followed along.
Along the way, Denmark walked behind the two glaring at whatever his eyes laid on first. Iceland even peeked a few times to see the Dane shooting a sour expression at a puffin.
A puffin...
Iceland's head shot up, staring at the puffin with an entranced expression. Norway stopped and turned around to see what she was looking at.
"Hm? What is it?"
"A puffin! See?" she pointed up at the sky, smiling. She had seen a few before disturbing the vikings. "I want one to keep."
"You want a puffin?"
The child nodded.
"They're pretty," she said.
Denmark stared at her. "Those things cause nothing but trouble," he said. "They were getting into the supplies."
Norway sent the blond a warning look before saying, "Perhaps we can get you one."
"What?!"
Norway had to smile when he saw Iceland's face light up. "Really?"
Behind them, Denmark shook his head.
"Yes, I don't see why not."
"I can name a lot of reasons on why you shouldn't get one!" Denmark added his two cents into the conversation.
"I don't know how we'!l catch one, though." Norway continued disregarding Denmark.
"That's reason number one!"
"Shut up," Norway and Iceland chorused together. Denmark halted in his tracks, flabbergasted, before throwing his arms up.
"Fantastic! We've picked up a mini-Norge!"
Norway himself couldn't deny the pleasure that statement brought him.
"Whatever, 'cause you know what? I don't care anymore." Denmark sped up his pace so that he was ahead of them, "I'll leave you two to your bird hunting!"
Norway looked down at Iceland. "We can't just leave him by himself. Do you absolutely need one today?"
Iceland shook her head silently, and the two of them followed Denmark's trail back to the campsite.
The other men greeted Norway and Iceland with open arms. None of them were in her face like Denmark was and that was just the way she liked it. The blond gawked at the sight of Iceland shyly saying 'hello' to the burly men. Denmark sulked completely until nightfall, lurking around the camp with a surly expression. One could tell from a glance that he was not happy about the way Iceland had turned out.
The girl obviously didn't fit his expectations. After a hearty meal, it was time for bed, only Denmark left the premises, stating he'd rather sleep on the rocky, cold beach.
"Just watch," Norway whispered to his little sister, "After about an hour he'll come back."
It was true. Just as Iceland was beginning to fall asleep herself, Denmark came traipsing back grumpily, though settling back away from the settlers. Norway could tell that in the morning, his bad mood would be gone replaced with a burning desire to win the new nation's affections. He looked down at Iceland, who had curled up close to him and was sleeping soundly, her chest rising and falling softly.
She was certainly not what he expected, but he was thankful to had found her before he left. He smiled. He had a little sister! He mentally decided that he was going to catch her a puffin before they leave later on in the week.
But for now, he needed sleep. And he drifted off into a slumber himself.
A/N:
Hatsu: [insert endless keysmash] ALL OF MY FEELZ. SO MUCH CUTE.
Lolo: My heart was about to explode while writing this and then HATSU HERE POSTS THIS ADORABLE PICTURE ON FACEBOOK AND I JUST ABOUT DIED.
Hatsu: I WAS ON A CREATIVE STREAK I HAD TO DRAW IT OKAY
Lolo: She drew a picture of Norway carrying Iceland.
Hatsu: I'll scan it and post it on DeviantArt so all you lovelies can see it.
Lolo: It is pretty and adorable.
Hatsu: Aww thank you! And to the people who fav'd and followed...THANK YOU! You all should review. Updates come faster when you do.
Lolo: Please do! We insist!
Hatsu: Preasu!