After the whole "beating up Prussia" fiasco, it was already sunrise. The group decided, with Sven greatly influencing the decision by biting Prussia's already beaten up rear end, that it was high time to leave the clearing without delay. And so this rag tag bunch ended up walking along a snow covered path with a bunch of random footprints left behind by who knows how many creatures.
"Do we really have to follow this guy?" questioned Prussia, pointing the trotting elf who was happily munching on some tree bark. "I mean the awesome me can most definitely find a way to help us reach the cottage!"
"Oh yeah," challenged Hungary who still had a little desire to beat Prussia once again, "then why are we still in this place after a day had past?"
"Nuh uh. It's been 18 hours 20 minutes and 35 seconds since we got here," retorted Prussia.
"You just made that number up didn't you?"
"No way!"
Somehow after that conversation. Prussia seemed to have picked up the pace a little bit more.
"Are you sure we're going the right way Sven?" asked Vietnam who didn't seem to mind the fact that she was talking to an animal.
Abruptly stopping form his mellow walk, which resulted in everyone crashing into each other, Sven turned back his head over to Vietnam and gave her a nod.
With that, he continued his walk.
"Are you serious?" said Prussia who was pushing himself up from his fall. "He made as crash into one another just to give her a nod? Has this idiot ever heard of multitasking"
"Just shut up Prussia," ordered Vietnam, covering her ears from Prussia incessant talking, "Sven is the one who is helping us out. I don't see you doing the same right now."
"Yeah but-"
"She's right," piped up Austria who was somehow being carried bridal style by Hungary, "be grateful you idiot or else you might get bit by him."
"Says the person who is being carried around like a baby," replied back Prussia.
"It's not my fault I'm ranked 23rd for walking," huffed Austria with a blush forming on his cheeks.
"Awww you're so cute when you blush Roddy!" cooed Hungary who was pinching Austria's cheeks affectionately.
This only made Austria blush even more as Hungary continued to coddle him.
"Pfft," snickered Prussia, "do you see what I'm seeing Vietnam?"
Looking over at the silent nation, Prussia saw that Vietnam was giving them a look of pure glee.
What the what? thought Prussia who continued to watch Vietnam.
The Vietnamese girl was now saying random things like "aww" or "they're so cute!"
The reason why Vietnam was being the equivalent to Hungary reading a Yaoi manga was because she was secretly a fangirl of all things that involved couples acting all affectionate regardless of sexuality. It was a mystery how she still kept her composure when she saw the Nordic couples being all cute and affectionate.
"Uh Vietnam?" asked Prussia who was suddenly getting a little scared at the slightly shorter version of Hungary. "Are you ok or what ?"
"Huh?" said Vietnam, shaking off her fangirl face, "what is it now Prussia?"
"Uhhhh."
"Ok then. You can continue with whatever you're to do, and I'll see Sven now."
And with that being said, Vietnam strode over to the elk.
"Did you guys see what I see?" asked Prussia, turning his head back to the couple.
Soon after he did, he instantly regretted even wasting a single breath on those two because they were now all kissing and stuff; sounds included.
This is going to be the worst walk of my life! thought Prussia who continued to trudge through the deep snow surrounded by a lovey dovey couple, a closet fangirl, and a trigger happy elk.
After what seemed like hours of walking, Sven suddenly turned a sharp right away from the path, and into the most dense part of the forest the group had ever seen.
This time, there was no outcry from the now silent Prussian or any other sound whatsoever from the group entirely because for one thing, all of them were tired and they had just covered a lot of distance from their original starting point.
As they continued to follow the elk through the dense forest, Vietnam saw that there was a great shift in scenery the deeper the group entered the thicket. The trees began to have less and less snow on their branches, and in fact, small buds were beginning to appear on them. Also, the ground didn't even have an traces of snow at all. Instead, the grass was the greenest hue she had ever seen on grass. The weirdest of them all with this place was that the climate began to get warmer as well, and that was something since it was just winter a couple of minutes ago.
"What in the-" began Vietnam who immediately silenced by the sight her eyes laid upon.
Right in front of her was a crystal blue stream with live aquatic life merrily swimming along with the current, and a naked woman who was loftly reclining with her eyes closed against an enormous birch tree. The woman who was reclining against the birch tree had long, wavy blond hair that reached her waist, porcelain skin, and a cow tail.
The cow tail was the final thing that threw Vietnam off most of all. She wondered if all of Sweden was like this with exposed women and weird forests.
Upon hearing the group shuffling around, the cow-tailed lady slowly opened her eyes, and faced the shell-shocked. Casually dragging her eyes to each person, they finally landed on Prussia who was oddly looking away from the lady's sky blue eyes began shine with excitement as she continued to study the awkward Prussian.
"It's you," whispered the lady in a sweet voice laced with happiness.
Pushing herself off the ground, the mysterious lady sprinted over towards Prussia, disregarding the rest of the group. She then proceeded to hug him, much to Prussia's embarrassment.
"Urm," said Prussia awkwardly, "can you please get off of me so I can see who you are?"
"Oh," said the lady, "alright then."
Hopping off of the Prussian, she calmly looked up at Prussia in the eyes, still not caring that she was naked for all the world to see.
While she stood there, Prussia disregarded the lady's naked form due to the fact that he was of course a courteous person towards women. He closely studied her face, when all of a sudden, realization hits him.
"Are you Cajsa?" questioned Prussia.
"Yes," said Cajsa who was happy by the fact that Prussia didn't forget her after all these centuries, "that is why I had Birger come lead you and your friends to me."
"How the hell is Birger?" wondered Prussia outloud.
"Oh sorry," apologized Cajsa, "it seems that he was given another name by Miss. Vietnam over there."
"How did you know I was the one who named him?" asked Vietnam with her usual mask of indifference in place.
Smiling up at her, Cajsa then replied, "why I know everything that is happening in this forest since I lived here since the beginning of time."
Vietnam felt flabbergasted with the strange woman's response.
What does she mean by the beginning of time? thought Vietnam who continued to look over at the scene between the lady and Prussia.
"Anyway," continued Cajsa, "Birger brought you here to me just so I can help you with your current predicament."
"But why are you even helping me out when it was like three hundred years ago when I last saw you?" inquired Prussia.
"It's because as a skogsrå I must treat a person with kindness who has treated me with kindness in the first place, and vice versa for those who don't," she responded, "not only that, you were the first man to never look at me with eyes of desire."
"Hold up," interrupted Hungary who was covering Austria's eyes from Cajsa, "how did you guys exactly meet? I have never heard that idiot mentioned helping a woman in Sweden at all."
"Well I'm sooo sorry for not telling you every detail Hungary ," retorted Prussia sarcastically, "if you want to know, go look for journal 321, which you will never find keseee."
"Whatever," said Hungary, "just tell us the story."
"Yes," agreed Vietnam who took off all her coats in order to comfortably sit on the ground, "tell us."
"Well," began Prussia who suddenly took on a thoughtful look, "it all started during the Pomeranian War."
~~~Flashback~~~
It was the winter of 1760, and the Pomeranian War was still raging on after three years of stalemates between Sweden and Prussia. Battle after battle, there was a never clear winner after each one. Sweden after Prussia, and Prussia after Sweden. This time it was Sweden after Prussia.
During this time, Prussia tried to attack Sweden in his own land, but to no avail, was now being chased after by the target he was meant to chase himself.
As Prussia continued to run away from the approaching Swedish counterattack, he quickly ran over to an enclosure that was a little piece of Spring amongst all the drab Winter that encased almost all of the forest.
Steadying himself against a tiny birch tree that was near a small creek, Prussia quickly scanned the area to ensure that there was no enemies lurking about around him.
Seeing that there wasn't any Swedish soldier, Prussia flopped onto the ground from pure exhaustion. Thinking back on what had just happened to him and his army, frustration began to take over him.
"Scheiße!" shouted out Prussia who gripped his hair with anger. "Why did I have to bring those innocent men out there? If only I didn't listen for just one moment, then they wouldn't have to die in some god forsaken place."
Placing his head in his hands, Prussia just sat there contemplating about the meaning of this war and Europe itself.
"Ugh," moaned an unknown voice from the far left of Prussia.
Lifting his head up from his hands, Prussia looked around the enclosure to see who it was. Once again, a moan resounded from his left. Slowly pushing himself off the ground, he crept over to where to moaning was coming from.
As soon as he laid his eyes on the perpetrator, concern quickly filled his head. In front of him was a young naked woman who had deep scratches criss cross her arms and legs, and sadly a few nasty burns were scattered throughout her back from what looked like gunpowder.
Walking over to the woman, he said, "Hey, are you awake?"
Seeing there wasn't any response from her, he sighed, and lifted her up from her spot. Setting her down on a patch of budding flowers, Prussia began to take care of the woman's injuries. First, he ripped a piece of navy blue cloth from his sleeve, and dipped it into the river.
Swabbing away the patches of blood and grains of gunpowder, Prussia then unbuttoned his army jacket entirely and ripped away more pieces of it to serve as bandages for the woman's injuries. After she was cleaned up and patched up, Prussia settled her down next to him against the birch tree, and just sat there waiting for the woman to wake up.
Soon, afterwards, Prussia began to close his eyes and doze off.
Later
"Excuse me sir," said a melodious voice, "could you please wake up."
Tiredly opening his eyes, he saw that the woman he saved was now awake and had a look of concern written on her face.
"Oh hello there," greeted Prussia, stretching his cramped up arms, "how are you feeling?"
"Oh," said the woman, "I'm fine thank you, but were you the one who saved me?"
"Ja. I'm sorry that you were hurt, but the awesome me saved you so you're not hurt anymore keseee."
"Well thank you…" said the woman who was trying to get Prussia to introduce himself.
"It's Prussia, but you can call me Prussia if you would like."
The woman giggled at Prussia's egotistical introduction, and said, "You can just call me Cajsa, and it's nice to meet you Prussia."
"So," began Prussia casually, "how did you end up in this place?"
"Well," said Cajsa reluctantly, "this forest is my home and you just so happen to stumble upon my secret hideout."
"Whoops sorry."
"Oh no. It's quite alright since you saved me after all."
"If it's ok with you," said Prussia with a serious look on his face, "how did you end up getting beaten up like that?"
"Oh. Well, there was a battle earlier and was somehow caught between it since I was trying to retrieve some herbs for my meal. I managed to escape to this place, but I soon passed out from all my injuries."
Looking over at Prussia, Cajsa saw that he had gullit etched on his face.
"It's ok if you were part of it as well Prussia," reassured Cajsa, placing a hand on his shoulder, "you helped me out in the end."
"If you say so," said Prussia reluctantly however still feeling guilty.
Seeing that Prussia had a glum face, Cajsa then said, "Why do you have that funny hat on?"
She gestured to the black tricorn hat with a white plume sticking out from the front of it.
"Oh come on," said Prussia, "this is the awesomest hat old Fritz has ever given to me. It's lightweight and cool at the same time."
"Right."
"Maybe I should ask Fritz if I can get you one too."
"Who is this Fritz you keep talking about?" inquired Cajsa with a look of curiosity.
"Only the greatest king that the kingdom of Prussia has ever seen!" replied with a goofy grin plastered on his face.
After that, Prussia continued to talk about Old Fritz and his many accomplishments to the little the things about Prussia himself. The same goes for Cajsa who had enough trust to tell him who she was.
Pow Pow
Prussia suddenly heard the shots of bayonets resounding throughout the forest, and instantly knew that the enemy was closing in on his location. Turning his head to look over at Cajsa, he saw that she understood what was happening as well.
Scrabbling up from his seat, he then said to Cajsa, "It's been an awesome time talking to you Cajsa,and you're also an awesome friend too. So, goodbye and maybe I'll see you some other time."
"Yes," said Cajsa with a hint of sadness in her voice, "you're an awesome friend to me as well, and I hope to see you sometime soon."
And with that being said, she gave him a hug, and quickly let go of him.
"Now go!" shouted Cajsa.
Giving her a nod of understanding, he took off from his new friend, and into the winter esque forest. Seconds after he took off, Prussia slightly turned his head back to where Cajsa was standing at only to see that she had disappeared.
Waving off the nagging feeling about Cajsa's safety, Prussia turned his head back, and never looked back again.
~~~The Present~~~
"And so," finished off Prussia, "that is how I met Cajsa. Are you happy now Hungary?"
After hearing the story, Hungary was left there slightly shocked that A) He didn't pounce on a naked woman, and B) He didn't give Cajsa a crotch cloth at all.
"I take that as a yes," said Prussia, "Anyway Cajsa, can you please tell us how you are going to help us?"
Everyone looked over at Cajsa to see that she was wiping away a few remaining tears on her face.
"Are you ok Cajsa?" asked Vietnam who still couldn't believe the fact that Prussia could be so gentlemanly at times.
"Oh yes ," replied Cajsa, "I'm quite alright. It's just that his kindness have saved my life."
"I see," said Vietnam, "but can you still please tell us how to get back to Finland and Sweden's house?"
"Oh yeah," said Cajsa, remembering why she had the group of countries gathered at her place, "all I have to do is touch your foreheads and poof, you're at your destination."
"It's that simple?" questioned Vietnam skeptically.
"Of course," replied Cajsa who was walking over to Hungary and Austria, "watch me."
With a light tap of her index finger on the two countries' foreheads, they instantly vanished.
Vietnam's jaw instantly dropped. She couldn't believe that Cajsa could actually make people disappear.
"Who's up next?" inquired Cajsa looking between Vietnam and Prussia.
"You can go Prussia," said Vietnam who was ever so the polite one .
"No I think you should go," insisted Prussia.
"Oh no you better get going," encouraged Vietnam with a scary smile on her face.
He loudly gulped at the prospect of further annoying Vietnam any longer, so he silently agreed, and he vanished soon afterwards.
"Okie dokie Miss. Vietnam," said Cajsa happily, "this is goodbye."
"I guess so," replied Vietnam awkwardly.
"One more thing before you go," began Cajsa who was suddenly in front of Vietnam, giving her a mini heart attack, "please take care of Prussia for me if you know what I mean?"
"What?"
Giving her a sly wink, she promptly touched Vietnam's forehead. After that, Vietnam's vision went dark.
Hi there! Yeah, I know I haven't posted anything last week, but something important happened on Saturday so I didn't even get to touch my computer all day that day, and on Sunday, I was too worn out from that thing on Saturday. I'm making sure that I'll try to post every weekend, so have no fear(yet). Anyway, I hope this chapter wasn't boring or anything, but at least the Forest Arc is coming to a close once and for all. And so, I hope you have a super duper awesome day and night! :)
*Small cultural note-
A skogsrå(Swedish)/huldra(Norwegian) is a are forest and mountain dwelling creatures, that take the form of tall, very beautiful humans with long, flowing hair. Their backs are hollow, like a rotting tree trunk, and they often have animal-like tails. They may appear nude in their most basic form, or disguise themselves and hide among humans, masquerading as farm maidens. If a human manages to somehow see their back or tail, the spell is broken, and the human is no longer susceptible to the their avances. Some huldra or huldrekarl are inherently deceptive, and evil, but many respond to the treatment they receive. If treated kindly, they have been known to use their magic to help humans, and solve their problems. If treated unkindly, they can be hateful, and vengeful.