Disclaimer: Hetalia and its characters do not belong to me or Da Yuu-May - unfortunately - they belong to their respective creator/owner.
Author Note: I have arrived from the land of Finals and I have lived, sort-of! It was tricky to keep my mind on "Nordics" when I had other fic ideas bouncing around in my head, but a review or two helped remind me that people were waiting. Enjoy and leave feedback!

Chapter 10:

Return to the Country

The windy, cool air of the port could not feel more welcome against Sealand's skin. The sights of the boats tethered further down the docks only made him more glad to be here. Finally! He'd be worry-free when he reached his own country. Well...maybe not, but he'd at least have less to worry about – like his brother forcing him back to the Nordics. He looked to his left. Further away but still within yelling distance was England speaking to the captain of the fishing boat which would transport Sealand to his place. The jerk had complained and snarked the whole way here but at least he was doing what Sealand had asked of him. Which was weird in the first place but Sealand wasn't going to "look a gift horse in the mouth" and jinx his good luck so far.

He turned back to the waiting sea and took a breath of faintly-salty air.

Motion caught his eye as England made his way over.

"Well, everything's set. The captain's ready to sail in ten minutes, so it's best if you get on now," he informed, stuffing a few currency notes into his pocket. "Can't believe I have to pay someone off like that again."

Sealand watched him stuff the money back into his pocket, switched to watch the scraggly captain walk to his boat, then back to his brother. "He's not gonna throw me overboard as soon as we set sail, is he?"

England stopped his grumbling to look at him in indignation. "What? Of course not! He's trustworthy – he wouldn't throw a child overboard!"

Sealand pointedly ignored the mention of his "age". "Uh-huh…."

England huffed and glanced at his watch. "Your fort –"

"Country!"

" – is completely out of his way. It's only courteous to pay someone for their trouble on your behalf." He straightened his jacket almost reflexively.

Sealand gave him a weird look. "Why are you so twitchy?"

"'M'not twitchy!"

"Well, stop it!"

"Don't tell me what to do – I'm your senior! …And it's nothing, I just haven't been to the docks in a while. It's nostalgic." England turned to look at the waters behind the wall of boats and sails.

"Um…you could always go sailing again, couldn't you?"

England snorted and slid his eyes to Sealand dismissingly. "Unfortunately, being a world-recognized country doesn't leave one with a lot of 'free time'."

"…God, but you're an ass."

"What did you just say to me!"

"Nuthin'! I said you're…class. You're classy. No wonder you have no free time – you're so important and everything!" He desperately tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He must've succeeded because his brother merely looked at his watch again.

"Almost time."

Sealand nodded and fiddled with his ever-present hat. Should this be the moment where he thanked the jerk? Or…hugged him or something? He always gave Sealand what he asked for even if the jerk wasn't too nice about it. But they had never been as close as other brothers were, or at least Sealand didn't think they were. He lifted his eyes with indecision just as a cell phone ring pierced the air.

England dug in his other pocket and looked at the caller identification. "Huh. That must be Tino's number."

Sealand's heart rate spiked faster than the blink of an eye as he stared with shock at the cell phone's ascent to England's ear. Tino. Finland. Now? No, it was too soon! He wasn't even on the boat right now! He still had a few minutes left! If he ran for it, England could figure out the situation in time to stop the captain before he even made it out of the country. His breathing accelerated and, as his brain had stilled with panic, his body did the only thing it could.

England had just enough to time to say "Hello?" before a sudden force sent the cell phone flying out of his hand and skidding across the ground. He couldn't even gather enough thought to figure out what happened before Sealand ran past him with a hurried, "Sorry! Spasm! I'll get it!"

Sealand ran to the cell phone, now with new scratches. He resisted the urge to stomp on it. Looking at the ticking time on the screen he realized it was still connected. Tentatively and careful not to say anything, he put the phone's speaker to his ear.

" –ou there? Arthur? Is everything alright? Did you get my messages before? Arthur? Hello?"

It was hard to hear Finland's voice. Especially so worried. He didn't want to cause this, he just wanted to be the one to leave first. To get some fresh air – some space. To have time to figure out what he would do now, without the fear of "what will I screw up today" or "how will one of us get hurt this time" in his head.

But the voice was becoming more despondent every second that passed in silence.

"A-Ah…." Bugger! He hadn't meant to open his mouth like that!

"…Peter? Are you there?"

"…"

"Peter! Is that you? Where are you! Please-!"

"S-Sorry. I-I gotta go now."

"Pe-!"

Sealand hurriedly ended the call. His throat felt tight. He had never heard his Mama Finland sound like that; it was disconcerting and made him feel so, so guilty for causing it. But-! But they were going to tire of him, he just left first! He wasn't part of their Nordic family – if he was, he'd have been included long before now. He just…

He just left first.

A boat sounding its horn made him jump at the same time the cell phone rang again. He turned the phone off as England called out to him.

"They're leaving now, Peter! Get going!"

"O-Okay!" He shakily made his way back to England in a hurry, deftly pulling out the phone's battery in hopes of giving him more time to reach his country. He slipped the phone quickly into England's pocket while ignoring the waiting hand. "It was just M-Momma Finland wanting to know if I had made it there yet! I already talked to him, so no need to call him back – he's very busy right now. Papa, too," he babbled before England could ask about the call. He got a strange look for his behavior but had no time to offer more excuses as he ran to the boat about to leave him. The captain spared him a searching glance before ordering for their departure.

Sealand went to stand at the front of the boat (the bow, his mind supplied) and looked at his brother as they set sail. England met his eyes and they stared at each other before England put on a scowl and made a show of halfheartedly waving at the imp that grated on his nerves so very much. Sealand smirked and cheekily waved back, leaning dangerously on the safety rails till they were out of sight just to irritate the jerk.

._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

The trip to Fort Roughs was uneventful and actually quite boring. Sealand had stayed near the bow of the boat, preferring to keep to himself (as did the other seamen, he guessed). He normally was more social than this, especially with people who also loved or at least knew the sea, but his stomach had that "butterfly feeling" now that he'd had time to reflect on his actions. He'd talked to Finland – the first time since he ran away. Nothing important was said, nothing hurtful or shocking either. Still, he could not stop the sensation in his stomach that felt like he had Prussia's little bird fluttering inside.

He looked up finally as the boat began to pull near the fort that held his being and made an effort to push the sensation out of his mind. He probably looked desperate what with practically throwing himself off of the boat as soon as it was close enough to the lowered pulley system, but Sealand could care less about his appearance right now. He would only feel right once he finally stepped on to his country. Holding tightly to the pulleys which were usually used to raise or lower boats stationed on Sealand (mainly the lifeboats), he casually waved to the awed and confused crew who had served as his transportation as he ascended towards his country. Sure, he could have taken a helicopter to his country but he liked arriving this way (after informing his people that he didn't need to ride a landing float up, he'd just hold onto the pulley straps). It gave him time to gaze at the beauty of the waters surrounding him; reminded him of all his dreams and all the things he wished to accomplish for his country and his people in the future.

It also helped that riding the pulley system was a hell of a lot of fun!

Stepping onto his country for the first time in months, a sense of completeness rushed into him. He felt…whole. As some of his citizens hurried to greet him and whisk him safely away from the edge of the fort, he came to the realization that he missed this. He missed being greeted by his citizens, by people he knew and who knew him. He didn't need a million people who he couldn't keep track of, no, all he needed was the few he had gotten to know, even if some of them didn't live here physically in the Principality of Sealand. Even those who staked claims to his titles online he valued. It didn't matter if the others laughed at his boss for selling titles online for people who may or may not care for him – they were still his citizens and that was all he cared about!

One of the workers on duty informed him that while his boss could not greet him in person, he and his family wished Sealand a welcome return home.

Home. Well, Sealand still didn't know how he felt about that, but it was certainly nice to return to himself for a change. He already felt better in all aspects. For the next few hours all he wanted to do was walk around his country again. It had been too long.

._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

He supposed it was too simple to think the world had forgotten about him for a while. Peace and personal time was something hard to find when one was a country, even a principality. A few hours after landing back on the principality and he may already have company. He leaned tensely on the rails of his first home as he held the old-fashioned telescope to his eye. There was a decent-sized boat approaching the fort at a speedy pace. He frowned.

After making sure that the Principality of Sealand was in tip-top shape (he would have known even if he had not looked for physical evidence), he had made calls to his boss to ensure that incoming vessels from the countries of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland would be "dissuaded" from approaching Sealand. Taking it a step further, he made sure that any vessel approaching Sealand would have to be pre-approved by himself before any crew set foot on the fort. His boss had been skeptical and more than a little disgruntled but Sealand assured him that he wouldn't ban any vessels seeking help or trade. Sealand also had to spend a couple more minutes assuring his boss that there was no trouble brewing with other countries, his fault or otherwise. It was just a personal problem he could take care of himself. Which was true, of course. Sealand could handle any confrontations with the Nordics now that he was on his home turf. Maybe.

Lifting the telescope to his eye again, he could just make out the blotchy spots that were the crew's faces. He squinted as if that would help him to see the symbol printed on the side of the boat. It was colorful, like a flag. …Was it a flag? Maybe a fellow country really was coming for a visit.

Or a fight.

He kept his eyes trained on the flag image until it solidified into something he could recognize. When it did, he groaned. A quick scan of the blurry faces was all the confirmation he wanted.

Just what he didn't need – a visit from some silver-haired loony. He sighed at the figure displaying confidence and arrogance at the bow on the boat with its arms crossed in a haughty manner.

What was Prussia, out of everyone in the world, doing at the fort?

TBC...

Post Script - Prussia, what in the Marukaite Chikyuu are you even doing here! GTFO! But, no, I look forward to writing ze loveable, Awesome Prussia! I hope I got the specifics of Sealand's system correct - all I could find were a few schematics and maps online. I think "Nordics" is slowly winding down now. It's already expanded more than Da Yuu-May and I expected when we began.