Poisoned thoughts

There's a whole wide world outside,

But not a world meant for me,

You took the light from the end of the tunnel,

Now darkness is all I see.

Feet pounded against the moist earth behind Sweden's house. Back and forth, steady pace. Quick, pained gasps could barely be heard over the thudding, a strangled cough was heard now and then as the running figure strained itself, pushing past the boundaries of his body. The tired feet stumbled suddenly, caught in some invisible stone on the ground and with a small cry, the figure fell head first into the ground.

A quiet 'faen' could be heard as the lean figure struggled to get up off the ground. The figure swore quietly again as the sky decided to drop its heavy load of water right at that moment. The water rushed down like a shower, soaking everything in seconds; the soft ground had already turned into a slippery mud puddle.

The rain muffled any sound the person may have uttered, leaving a weird, hollow silence as the sound of the rain muffled all else. The figure sat down heavily in the ground after inspecting one of his knees, shrugging at the blood that was flowing out the newly acquired wound. The figure covered his mouth as his body shook with heavy coughs before he fell back tiredly; stretching his arms out beside him and closing his eyes, letting the rain wash away the grime and sweat on his face. An arm was placed over his head as his body once again shook, this time with muffled sobs.

-Norwegian Boredom-

Norway was sitting in his room, hunched over slightly as he looked out the window. A mixture of snow and rain pounded against his window. His body ached after hours of exercise, all he could do was sit in his chair and look out the window, down at the depressing and dark, Swedish woods that stretched miles and miles over the hills behind Sweden's living quarters.

Paperwork lay undone before him, piling up as the days went by. The Norwegian's pen laying ignored at the side. Sweden's words the other day come as a shock to Norway; the hurtful words ingrained themselves into his brain and his vulnerable state took them to heart. It had only been a question about time when his mind would eventually turn against him. He had already been close to a breakdown from the stress of the new union, and his already strained nerves from the previous union. He would have never imagined that Sweden would be the one to eventually push him over the edge.

Of course, Norway could not at the moment see that anything was wrong with him, mentally that is. It was later that he would sit up in the dark hours of the night, and think about the madness that had overcome him. A quiet, but deadly disease; spreading through his mind and fouling all his thoughts, taking over his body and his will.

Sweden's words were constantly ringing through his head, day and night, every hour and minute that ticked away. He would grip his head late at night and curl up on himself, pulling his knees close to his chest and making himself as small as possible, while his whole body shook and a continuous flow of "Nei" could be heard from his small figure.

Normally, Norway wouldn't have thought about it once if he had been called fat, but this was not a normal time. Years, centuries of built up stress needed to get out, needed something to blame and Sweden had given him the perfect object. He was fat, if only he was a little thinner, all the pain and suffering would be gone. He loathed his body for it, and he was going to do something about it. Sweden would never more have a reason to say that he was eating him out of the house. There wouldn't be much eating on the Norwegian's part anyway; he would make sure of that. The time of being a glutton was over, a new regime would start and this time, Norway would be in control.

-Norwegian Boredom-

There weren't many changes to Norway's room during the next few weeks; a little less tidy maybe, a few clothes laid draped over a chair by his small bed. Norway considered that messy, but he was would consider anything beside perfection a mess. The only noticeable change in his room was the four purple candles situated on his desk, one of the candles had been lit, just about two days ago. Christmas was coming closer, straight towards them at high speed, a fine blanket of snow had finally settled in the area and successfully cheering everyone up, the Christmas spirit setting in.

With the exception of two people - or rather – nations; Sweden and Norway. The Swede had never been one for holidays and happy occasions, there were really no need for them as they only broke a daily routine and made people lazy when they had time off. If he was to be in charge, there wouldn't be any holidays at all, the weekends were more than enough he would say. But what he said didn't necessarily mean he meant it, the real reason he didn't want a holiday right now was because of Norway.

The Norwegian had changed the last few weeks; he had drawn into himself, closing himself off from the people around him. At first, Sweden hadn't minded, he quite liked not having to handle Norway on a daily basis. However, as the days piled on without any contact with him or any sight of him at all, it was only natural for Sweden to want to check on his fellow nation.

Too bad Norway didn't seem to be anywhere in the Swedish house. There was no sign of him, not even a note to say where he was. Berwald eventually forced himself into the Norwegians bedchambers only to find it deserted. All his possessions were still there, but the actual person that Sweden was looking for was nowhere in sight. Asking the servants that were ever present did not help the least, no one knew of where the missing nation was.

Sweden decided that he would seat himself in the living room, close to the entrance and wait for Norway's return. He knew the fellow male would be coming back, at least after a while when all his clothes and other priced possessions were still in Sweden's house. Taking out a well read book, Sweden sat himself comfortably in an overstuffed chair, adjusting his glasses slightly and began reading.

- Norwegian Boredom -

He had been walking aimlessly for hours, his feet dragging behind him in the heavy snow that laid like a blanket on the roads and fields. Soft, powdered snow covered his hair and back as the wind blew at him, his skin had gone numb the minute he left the house; shivers shook his whole body, cold fingers fumbled with his thin coat in a futile attempt to gather some more warmth. His stomach rumbled painfully, craving the food it needed but hadn't gotten in a long time.

"Hush, you're not getting it. You have done nothing to deserve food," the hunched over male hit his stomach, ignoring the pain, only relishing in the silence that followed as his stomach stopped rumbling. He sighed and pulled his coat tighter around himself again as the wind picked up, thick snowflakes whirling around him as he walked in the direction he hoped was Sweden's home.

Norway coughed once, cursing his health quietly and stumbled on. It was getting harder and harder to drag his feet through the snow that by now, reached up halfway to his leg. The many hours of walking had already drained him of any energy he may have had since he started, exercising on an empty stomach was apparently not a good idea; there were nothing to work with.

Not eating more than breakfast the whole week and then some didn't help with his energy either, but Norway liked it. He could deal with the pain, the first time he had hunger pains he thought he, but now he had grown accustomed to them, come to like them even. He never stopped exercising if he was in pain, there was only exhaustion. He would only stop when there was no chance of going any longer, only exhaustion was achievement and he would get it.

Someone was walking beside him, a light, bony figure floating in the air. A black coat was draped over its shoulders, shielding it from the cold winds that constantly attacked Norway. Had he not known better, Norway would have thought it was the grim reaper. But he knew, he knew this was not a dangerous being that brought death to all it touched. Liked most of the peculiar creatures the Norwegian saw, this dark, bony figure could not be seen by anyone but him. It didn't occur to Norway that this was no fantasy creature that had granted him the permission of seeing them. This was something more sinister, something of which would cling onto his mind and drag him down into the darkness.

To be continued

Here's the fourth chapter, I have an idea as to what the next chapter will be, but I don't know if I'll write a lot during the holidays... I haven't read through this after I wrote it, so most of it probably don't make sense at all : \ Any ideas or offers to be a beta will be loved upon.

Please review, it seems like people lost interest ^^' Tell me what you think; I might drop it if people really aren't that interested.