Hi! It's Nony! & it's my turn for a chapter, which shouldn't be a surprise as to how long this took. Sorry. School sucks

Plus, I won't be here for a few days & it would guilt me so not to have this up, so...yeah...stuff

Disclaimer: Sterling & I only own this lovely man, Jared

Norway opened his eyes groggily, his head feeling like a sledgehammer was pounding against his skull. Or like Denmark was on one of his drunken rambles. He moans. Peering around as his vision cleared, the Norwegian personification found himself alone, with Jared nowhere in his current line of sight. His wrists ache from the cuffs binding them. Not to mention the tingling sensation left over from having said wrists scalded by the pipe he was chained to.

The basement door opened. The sudden light burned Norway's eyes, forcing him to close them. Entering, Jared had his signature smug smile on his face and one hand behind his back.

"Hello again, my guest," came Jared's voice in its sickly sweet tone. "It was unfortunate that we lost a day. I seem to have underestimated my own strength."

"What do you-?" Norway began.

"You were unconscious all day," Jared cut in. "We lost precious time." A sly smile graced his face. "Now, are you ready to remove the curse?"

The wounded blond glared at his captor.

Jared sighed. "Do you know what happens to those who are troublesome?" Bringing the hand behind his back around, Jared revealed a leather belt.

"When I was a child," he explained, "this used to be a proper punishment for kids when they misbehaved. Now, are you ready to remove the curse?"

Norway remained silent.

"Well?"

Silence.

Jared pulled back his arm wielding the belt and whacked it hard against Norway's face with an audible smack, leaving a red welt on the Norwegian's cheek. He didn't flinch.

Jared growled, frustrated.

"Why are you so stubborn?" He demanded.

Norway gazed at the man before him directly in the eyes, his face completely expressionless.

"Why are you so pushy?" He deadpanned without missing a beat.

"Why you insolent-!"

SMACK!

The belt whipped across Norway's face with much greater force, causing the previous slap seem like a light tap. The dark eyed male bit back a cry.

Jared glared at Norway. "Any more witty comments?" Scorn dripped from every word.

"You're insane," Norway muttered.

"Care to repeat that?"

The received response was another glare.

Jared sighed, limping to the door. Opening the door, the scents of delicious cooking foods entered the room. Norway's mouth began salivating against his will. He hadn't eaten anything since the morning of the meeting and the last thing he drank was the drugged coffee. It never crossed his mind how dry his mouth felt. Or overall how empty his stomach seemed.

"Hungry?" Jared inquired with a smirk.

"Not at all," Norway lied. His stomach told another story.

Jared chuckled. "I wonder who I should believe. You or your stomach." He mock thought for a moment. "Then again, you are quite a liar. I believe your belly speaks the truth."

He received yet another glare.

"Now, now, Norway. Don't be like that. You can eat and drink to your icy heart's content once you remove the curse."

"Over my dead body," Norway spat.

Jared's smirk widened.

"We'll see about that."

Nor just can't seem to get a break. By the way, Nor's line "Over my dead body" is a reference to a fic I wrote for Nordipalooza, that I have yet to put up here...If anyone's interested, the title is "Fallen" & I'm Ruby_Writer on LiveJournal, but enough shameless advertising for me

Man, do I want to punch JAred in the face in this chapter...

R&R as always to make us happy & READ STERLING'S FICS

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