Part 2
Chapter 9
Red: Part 1
A/N: I am ashamed of myself. I haven't updated in almost two weeks. I'm awful. I know you all have been waiting patiently. Thank you for bearing with me. I'll try not to leave such a huge waiting gap in between chapters next time around.
Red: This color is commonly associated with anger, danger, and violence.
Everyone had once again departed to their rooms to catch a few more hours of sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Soon, the sun would begin to crawl up the horizon and they wanted to get back to sleep before the sunlight streamed in through their windows.
Denmark yawned, stretching his arms over his head and got up to head to the staircase.
"I'm gonna go to bed, now." He said. When he didn't receive a response he turned to face the person beside him, "Nor? Ye okay?"
The other did not respond. He was hanging his head, hunched over and covering his face.
"Nor?" He lightly ghosted the smaller nation's shoulder with his fingertips.
"No...no I'm not.."
"What's...wrong...?"
Norway did not uncover his face, "I yelled at Iceland in front of everyone...I feel awful...I embarrassed him and I was such a jerk..."
"It's okay Nor, someone had to tell him."
"No it's not!" Norway exclaimed, lifting his face briefly. His eyes were misty and emotion was prominent in his voice. Denmark was taken aback by the volume in the usual soft-spoken Nordic's voice. "It's not okay..." He said softly, "When I got inside he didn't even look at me...I didn't want to yell at him...that was awful...the last thing I want to do is tear a bigger rift between us...there's already one...things have changed so much...we aren't as close anymore...he doesn't even want to be..." He trailed off and continued,
"I want to tell him what's going on...I really do. And it's killing me that I can't. Because I don't even know...this whole thing is confusing to me. I don't know what's wrong with Tino...I don't know why things have been so tense lately...And I'm...and I'm...I'm worried about it..."
"Oh Norge. I feel your pain." Denmark sympathized, "We're all worried. The only two people who actually know what's wrong with Tino are him and Berwald. And they won't tell us."
"Why can't they tell us so we can help? Last I checked we were a family...not a house divided. Do they not trust us? I want them to feel like they can tell me anything...I want them to trust me too...am I too cold..." He trailed off again.
"So do I, Nor...they'll tell us though. They probably just don't want to worry us or haven't fully figured it out themselves." Denmark replied, trying to reassure him. However, he hated being out of loop as much as Norway did.
"I highly doubt they haven't figured it out." Norway snorted.
Denmark sighed, "They'll tell us in a matter of time. Don't worry. Also...maybe try explaining things to Iceland? Just like you did to me."
"I suppose..." he replied uncertainly, "What do you think?" He asked the troll. There was a short block of silence. "Okay." He sighed, "I guess."
Denmark laid a hand on Norway's back, and rubbed some small circles. The small Nordic was tense at first, but then he relaxed at the Dane's sympathetic, gentle touch.
After a while, Denmark drew his hand away and stretched his long arms with a yawn, "Well, I'm going to bed." He started to get up off the couch.
"Goodnight Dane."
"G'night Norge."
With that, Denmark started up the stairs. However, before he vanished into the darkness of steps, he looked over his shoulder, "Promise me you'll try to get some sleep."
Norway nodded curtly. He watched him vanish up the stairs before turning and lying on his side on the couch cushions.
-xXx-
It was a late morning for everyone. It was almost half-passed ten when a majority of the house woke up. The household was off to a sluggish start. When Iceland came down the stairs, he was surprised to see Denmark and Sweden in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
"Morning...?" he said awkwardly. His voice surprisingly loud for the quiet environment.
He was greeted with a, "Shhhh." from Denmark. He glared and threw his arms up, confused. The dane pointed to the couch. Iceland looked. Norway was asleep on the cushions, with his body turned to the back of it, a fluffy grey blanket covering him. His chest was steadily rising and falling, indicating that he was still asleep. Iceland's expression in response to his brother's sleeping form was unreadible. He was still angry with him about the night before, but not quite as angry as he was when he had gone too bed.
"He was seriously too lazy to go upstairs and sleep in his bed that he slept on the couch. Hmmph. Wow."
"He was probably way too tired." Denmark replied, defending the mysterious Nordic, "Don't act like ye haven't done that before, Ice."
Iceland scoffed and blushed. Then, he grabbed his mug from beside the sink and started the preparation of his morning coffee. Norway didn't prefer him drinking it, but he couldn't care less about that. He liked his coffee anyway.
"Hey Sve?" he asked while he set the table and waited for his coffee to brew.
"Mmm?"
"Where's Finland?"
"St'll sleep'n. He's b'n t'red. H'sn't been sleep'n all t' well."
"Oh."
"Is he okay, Sve?" Denmark inquired.
"Mmm." Sweden shrugged.
"So no...?" Iceland translated.
"D'n't w'rry 'bout 'im." Sweden replied, "He'll b' f'ne. Br'kf'st's 'lm'st r'dy."
-xXx-
Tino woke with a start to dead silence. Blinding sunlight streamed in through the curtains that covered the windows. A chilly draft passed about the room. He turned to face Berwald's side of the bed. Panic began to bubble up in his chest. HE WASN'T THERE! Where was he? He was never up before the Fin! He looked for Hana at the end of the bed; she was gone too! He was completely alone. He felt nevers start form a knot in his chest.
He glanced at the digital clock on the beside table. Half-past eleven!? It was near noon! Why had he slept in!? He wasn't supposed to sleep in! What if the rest of the family-what if Berwald had gone about the day and he was all alone!? He didn't want to be alone! He couldn't be left alone, what if he had another PTSD episode!? Berwald! Berwald! Where are you!?
Tino jumped out of bed and started to rush about. He knew he shouldn't be panicking, for the logical, rational side of his mind told him that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. But the turbulent emotions that were suddenly over-powering everything else inside him were causing him to panic.
"Su-san?" Finland got out of bed and started to frantically search about the room for him. He wasn't anywhere in the bedroom. He wasn't in the bathroom.
"Su-san?" Where did you go! "Su-san!?" He went out the door and was met with a drafty, empty hallway. He started quickly down the corridor, into the main room. He was also met with emptiness. Without a second thought, he burst into the kitchen door. Empty! The dishes had been cleared and done, and the smell of breakfast lingered in the air. Only a plate dished for him remained at his place at the table. No one was in the house! He was completely alone! The room suddenly grew much colder.
"Su-san!? Su-san!?" Tino continued his desperate search. He searched the rooms that were never used...looked behind the doors that were always closed, checked the bedrooms upstairs. Nothing. It seemed everyone had already left for their day. And he was late for his. But he had to find them first! He had to make sure they were okay. He hated being alone in the silence. It was too quiet. Much too quiet. Chillingly quiet. It was as if it was all quiet on the winter warfront. As if he was standing alone in the middle of the field with the snowflakes around him covering his fallen brothers, burying them, releasing their brave souls to the next world. That eerie, bitter, cold silence. The soundless white noise. And he stood idle, still, silent...with his sniper hanging limply at his side-that was what the empty house felt like to him.
He started for the back door. Outside was the only other place they could be. However, the door opened before he got to it. He jumped back, startled. For the door made a loud noise when it opened.
Followed by some gentle, breezy air, Sweden swept into the room, with his long coat swishing about his body.
"Su-san!" Tino was relieved beyond words. He stepped forward and threw his arms around the tall Sweden, tightening his strong grip around him. Sweden stiffened for a moment at the quick advance, before relaxing and returning the embrace, gently patting the Fin's back. When they broke away, Tino went off on a tangent, sputtering out his unpleasant morning experience.
"...I woke up and it was late and cold...and then I didn't see you or Hana in bed...you were gone and I got very nervous...I looked everywhere in the house and I couldn't find any of you...I started panicking more and more...I thought something had happened and...I thought I was alone-I didn't want to be alone...I thought you guys had left me without...or...something happened and...It made me feel like I was back in the war alone...and then..."
Sweden finally interupted him, as he could see the small Fin was getting quite worked up just by rehashing the experience. He had begun to sweat, tremble, and stutter even more with every garbled phrase, and his voice and speech started to speed up considerably, increasing in pitch.
"T'no, T'no...s'okay. Jus' calm down." Sweden lay a gentle hand on Finland's small shoulder. The other blonde relaxed a bit, and started to blush with embarrassment. The much taller of the two pulled him into an awkward hug.
"I'm sorry..." Finland murmured into Sweden's chest, since he was pressed against it and could not speak properly.
"S'fine. No one's h'rt. Ev'ry'ne's fine. W' didn't wanna wake ya, so we ate without ya. Th'n we all l'ft s'ya could sl'p as long as p's'ble. S'rry f'r scarin' ye. I w'nt t' w'rk 'n the sh'd, Ice and Nor w'nt t' the store t' get food, 'nd Dan t'k our kid t' the p'rk t' m't some friends."
"Oh..." Finland trailed off, feeling quite foolish about himself.
"Here. Yer st'll pr'tty r'led up. Why don't ya eat, and 'll make ya some coffee. Th'n w' c'n t'ke H'na't'mag' f'r a walk t' help ye clear yer head."
Finland nodded slowly.
A/N: This isn't my best chapter, I'd say. It's another establishing chapter. However, now we've moved on from Dissociation to the next set of symptoms known as Hypervigilence. This can include being "startled very easy, feeling tense, trouble sleeping, or outbursts of anger". So you can imagine this section is going to be lots of fun. I already have some ideas for this section that I want to include, and I was given a few ideas which I will be incorporating. (Thank you Simana!). There's a lot of directions this part can go, and more suggestions and ideas are always welcome! Even if you feel iffy about an idea, send me them to me anyway! I will try to incorporate as many of your ideas as possible. I'm sure all of you fellow writers have awesome ones!
Stay tuned for the next update, which I plan on posting later this week if time allows me to. Love you all!
