"And what are we supposed to do in here?" Emil asked as he followed Arthur through the darkness.
"Whatever you want, this place is yours."
"So, say, if I wanted to go back to earth, would I be able to?" Arthur stopped and turned around, meeting the boy with a neutral gaze.
"In theory, yes you can, but it doesn't actually seem like you want to." He observed. "That's why you killed yourself in the first place."
"True, some people were dumbasses."
"That term doesn't apply to me, does it?"
"Nah." Emil shrugged and sighed. Then looked around and suddenly thought of something. "Can I go back to my past?"
"Yes, but only as an spectator."
Emil frowned. "I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted."
"Here. Going back to your past as part of it would mean living it. Which you can't." Arthur gave a tired sigh. "Even in the seemingly nowhere there are a few unsaid rules, and when I said 'whatever you wanted', I meant you could wish you had a plane and suddenly have it delivered to you."
"I can?" Arthur glared at him through a slightly ticking eye.
"For the third time, yes."
"Then I want to go back and see my past."
.
Emil Steilsson was born on June 17th 1992, in a small village in Iceland. His mother used to be a waitress until she ran off when she found out she was pregnant again, taking along her Norwegian first-born.
She died some time after Emil could drink milk substitute without getting sick of the stomach, when he was eight months old.
Now being orphan, a teenager and big brother, it was time for Lukas to run away. This time to Denmark where his uncle lived.
The man received them with open arms after finding out what had happened to his dear cousin, and so they lived in Denmark.
A little after Emil's first birthday, Lukas met Matthias Køhler, an incredibly obnoxious and cheerful Dane that pissed the hell out of him, but for some incredible reason, he still became friends with him.
Matthias Køhler not only turned out to be good at molesting Lukas and receiving all the bad comments the Norge gave him (which he also seemed to enjoy, strangely enough), but was also good with kids, having once been a babysitter.
And so, thirteen-year-old Lukas Bondevik and sixteen-year-old Matthias Køhler, together raised little Emil Steilsson.
When Emil was old enough to go to elementary, Lukas had already graduated from high-school and Matthias was halfway to finish a college degree on physics. Specifically electromagnetic.
When Emil was in fourth grade they all moved to England. Matthias because he got an awesome job offer, and Lukas because he got a scholarship in a university nearby.
So they went to England.
Emil, having always been stoic as he was, didn't seem displeased with the change of scenery, nor did he seem specially enthusiast about it either. He just didn't voice his opinion as people usually do.
They didn't know, elementary boys liked to make fun of him because of his grayish hair and weird accent.
Most of the days Emil could ignore it by working on the task at hand—and they usually had many—, and when he couldn't, he would find refuge in the bathroom or in the deserted hallways.
He didn't know that kind of behavior was wrong until it was pointed out to him in social studies. And still, he didn't make a big fuss of it nor did he report his persecutors. He had endured it most of his school life and he could endure the rest, thank you very much.
Outside school Emil didn't go out much, mostly because of his distaste towards social interactions. And so he would stay at home, doing his homework, or reading a book.
Before entering sixth grade, Emil met Eduard.
Ivan Braginsky was a known bully, the most famous in the school, actually, and so he would try to corner the new guys into his small circle of friends. This time he was attempting to integrate an Estonian exchange student.
"Please, I promise I'm a very loyal friend, and no one will mess up with you…"
"You're already doing that," both Scandinavians turned around and noticed a boy with icy skin and fiery eyes. (As so would Eduard later describe him.) "Leave him alone, Braginsky, he's a teenager, he's old enough to know what he wants and what he doesn't." Ivan blinked a couple of times, surprised that Emil had stood up to him, and then he turned to his usual, child-like smile, along with a giggle that sent chills down Eduard's spine.
"Little Emil, it's nice to see you again," the Icelandic just nodded, already accustomed to the sickenly sweet character of the Russian boy. "Well, I must hurry with my sister now, if you change your opinion, Eduard, the offer is still open, da?"
"Y-yes." He stuttered. And he watched dumbfounded as Ivan walked out of their view. "Thank you," he said as he turned to face the boy, who was now eating a chocolate bar with the same poker face as before. "My name is Eduard Von Bock," he said as he offered a hand.
"Emil Steilsson, why thank me?" He questioned after accepting his hand.
"For saving me from that guy, he has been hot on my heels all week long."
"Well, you better learn to save yourself, because this is a one-time thing." He gave a last bite to his chocolate bar and threw the covering to the thrash can. He turned around to get out of the boy's way, and just as he walked a couple of steps, a hand on his shoulders made him double take. "What now?" He asked irritated to the boy's insistence.
"Why do you act so cold?"
Emil shrugged. "Maybe because I'm from Iceland," he said casually, not even blinking an eye when the boy gave an enormous laugh.
"Nice pun you had there." Emil shrugged again, but you could see the hint of a smile overshadowing his lips.
"You could say that," he stared at his watch and then back to Eduard. "Listen, I gotta go to class already, but you can meet me at recess, ok?"
"It's a date, then?"
At that moment, you could almost see the faint blush in Emil's cheeks.
"Dates are for couples." He stated.
"An outing, then?" For some strange reason, the blush deepened.
"Yes."
.
It would be an understatement to say those two became best friends, and even though their first outings together were limited to school grounds, the next ones were always at either Emil's or Eduard's. The everyday question was 'to whose today?'.
And everything seemed perfect at the moment.
Their grades were high enough to get in a respectable high school, and so they went to high school.
The first semester —as is any first period of your life—, was a crazy mixture between wild, exciting, and terrifying. They had to deal with a lot more pressure since they were no longer kids or teenagers, but youths with a promising future and goals in life. Realistic goals.
Most wanted to be accountants, other lawyers, many more wanted to be doctor's and there were even a few soon-to-be writers. Emil's choice was a very discreet scribble in the corner of the las page in one of his notebooks. It was written with his elegant handwriting that a somewhat admiring appearance to it. 'Archeologist.'
Why that, you say? Well, he grew up in the perfect environment to discover his love for hidden treasures in the depths of any nation, he, like Indiana Jones, felt passion for the ruins in places like were the jungle, deserts, and even tundras.
Not long ago, he had discovered that recent excavations demonstrated Iceland had no native population, but were actually Norwegians born in Iceland. And it had excited him!
Also Mr. Puffin would totally agree to go with him on mission. The bird was like a mobster and therefore bound to love adrenaline.
First semester was over and they passed with flying colors.
Second, third, fourth, and fifth semester passed in a similar fashion. Nothing actually outstanding to say of those.
Sixth semester was an emotional roller coaster for Emil.
.
Mid-terms were finally over and they were allowed to go wherever they wanted between periods, and so they both decided to go to the cafeteria.
They both took a coffee, talked nonsense as they would each meeting, and then, all of a sudden: "Emil, would you like to hang out?"
"More than we already do?" Emil tilted his head. "Uh, sure, where to?"
"No, you misunderstood me, I meant hanging out as in…" he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come. "A date."
Emil tensed, this he did not expect. He stared at his friend for a couple of seconds, making sure he had already gulped his portion of cappuccino, and tried talking.
Step 1: failed. He could only gape.
"I… you… I never…" and so, his try on human speech discouraged Eduard, who stared low-eyed as his best friend and recent crush so blatantly reject him.
"I-it's ok," he said, and when he heard the ring bell, he rose from his seat and walked to the trash can to throw away his waste. "Um, meet you later at my place?"
"Yeah."
That week was the downfall.
Hello again, I'm sorry if I bother you, but I was too eager on starting chapter four I couldn't leave it for later. I'm sorry if the chapters are a little short, I prefer them this way just so they won't take long in updating. Sorry again. I apologize for making Russia seem like the bad guy here, but I wanted to make a reference to Iceland and Estonia. If I remember correctly, Russia wasn't accepting Estonia's independence, and so Iceland stepped forward and declared that he recognized Estonia and the two other Baltics as independent nations. And sorry about how poorly I developed that scene.
I think I'm already halfway through this thing, and since I already did all the background, I can finally go forward. Again, thanks for reading. It means so much to me.
See you later!
