(Y/N) woke up the next morning wondering where she was. Then she remembered, she was sleeping in a shelter of branches. She looked out, seeing the snow had gotten deeper. This was bad and meant she would have to clear it away or keep looking for a new place. She sighed getting out of her shelter. It was going to be another long day.
Sweden had went outside to collect firewood when he came across unsuspecting sight. There in the snow, leading up towards the living room window was a trail of footprints, then a trail of messier footprints leading straight into the woods. The footprints also appeared to be hard to make out since they were half covered up with new snow. The Swedish man bent down to get a closer look at the prints realizing their size, a creepy smile spread that would have made Russia proud across his face as he stood up.
"Hey Den, come and check this out." Sweden called. On Cue, Denmark trudged out of the back door in his pajamas, pulling his robe around him, with his boots on.
"Seriously Sve? It's only 8:00 in the….Ooh what do we have here?" Denmark asked eyeing the footprints. He stepped closer, just enough to not destroy the evidence. "So she thinks she can outsmart the king of Denmark huh? We'll just see about that!" Denmark cackled in triumph. He probably was a bit too loud because at that moment, Norway, Finland, and Iceland strode into the backyard to see what the commotion was about.
"What's going on out here?" Norway asked crossly.
Denmark quickly turned to face his younger brother who was looking at him oddly,"Oh hej Norge!" He said blushing.
"Is there any reason you just woke us up this early?" Iceland yawned.
"What is that?" Finland asked pointing to the tracks left in the snow.
"Come see for yourselves." Denmark said. Norway, Finland, and Iceland shrugged and walked up to where Denmark was standing.
"Pahuksen! That's her alright." Finland said aloud.
"Even better now that she knows where we live. She made the mistake of leaving behind any traces of her being here." Norway smiled smugly.
"Where do you suspect she could be?" Iceland wondered.
Sweden looked down at the messiness of the trail of footprints leading into the forest, and then looked closer near the window to see a small rock lying beneath the window. He moved closer and bent down to pick up the rock, came up to Denmark and showed it to him.
"Is this what you heard last night Denmark?" Sweden asked him.
Denmark nodded,"She threw it at the window, and likely as soon as I got up to go see what had happened she made an attempt to run away which explains the untidiness of these tracks. Very much likely did it to taunt us." Denmark said thoughtfully.
"These tracks lead up to the far end of the forest. She could likely be hiding there." Sweden said.
The other four nodded in agreement. Denmark finally sighed, "Everyone get dressed and into your uniforms. This krybe is stalking our territory, and we're going to bring her down if it's the last thing we do!" Denmark announced. Everyone did as they were told, headed back into the house, and threw on their respective clothing and uniforms.
(Y/N) headed out of the woods and started down the road into the town. She needed to try and collect money from some of the townsfolk as she she could not survive on just what was left of the $20 that was given to her yesterday. She just needed enough to get required necessities. This was going to be hard, but she had to give it a try. Finally making it onto the crowded streets once again, she headed into an ally discovering a thrown out container she could collect money in. "This will do." the woman smiled to herself. She crept out of the ally, hoping nobody would see her and sat against a wall with the container out in front of her. At first nobody seemed to care, but little by little, people did step up to give her the money she needed, as she thanked all of them for their charity. From this moment (Y/N) felt like she had accomplished something. She felt like she was finally getting back on track. Pretty soon her days of sleeping in the snow and abandoned houses would be over. And no more depending on eating scraps from the garbage. She lie against the wall in relief, and almost forgot about the fact that there was somebody who was plotting to stop her dead in her tracks.
Meanwhile, in the forest…..
The Nordics searched here and there trying to find traces of where (Y/N) could have been hiding out. The forest around their home was quite big which made it easy for someone to get lost in. The Nordics thankfully knew their way back to the house.
"No sign of her here."Finland announced.
"You don't suppose she could have been hiding in there? Iceland asked pointing to a nearby cave.
"Nah." Denmark said
"Hold on, what's that?" Norway pointed out to a shelter that was made out of large branches. The five men headed closer to the shelter, and examined it carefully.
"This is definitely where she was hiding. I can tell because there's at least $16.50 worth of cash here." Denmark said as he reached inside the shelter and pulled out the evidential trace of (Y/N)'s presence. The dollar bill we're pretty damaged from the wetness of the snow though.
"This is not any kind of Scandinavian money. How'd she get American money?" Finland wondered.
"She could have stolen it from a tourist most likely." Norway suggested.
"What makes you think that Norge?" Denmark asked.
"Look at it this way. Why else would anybody be carrying American money around here? But all in all, it's best we do not go searching for whoever she got it from as we do not even know of this person's whereabouts or who that person is." Norway explained.
"True. Very true." Denmark folded his arms, nodding.
"What I wonder is why she chose to lug these heavy sticks around rather than just going into the cave." Finland wondered. "How could she have lifted them anyway? She was tiny little thing!"
"You can't just underestimate someone' strength by their size Fin. They just may surprise you. Sweden quipped. Finland giggled at the statement.
"Well the good news is that we're getting pretty close to her, and when we finally lead her into our trap, she'll certainly have nowhere to run." Denmark grinned proudly.
The Nordic 5 headed back to the house. Once they were all in, Sweden turned to face his brothers and "wife".
"Alright here's the plan. For all we know she could be anywhere. So for our convenience we are taking these radios with us to contact each other when we have located with her. Iceland, you go with Finland. Denmark, Norway, and I will check the other area." Sweden explained as he handed the other radio to Finland who took it and pocketed it.
Sweden turned to Denmark and sighed, "Denmark I Need you to go out to the shed and get the two unused rolls of heavy-duty duct tape. She'll need to be restrained." Sweden instructed his brother. Denmark nodded and went to get the duct tape. Finland, for a moment, looked down shamefully, and pondered over what they were going to do. Maybe (Y/N) was not as bad as she seemed, but it was for the better. Denmark soon returned with the duct tape.
"Okay, I've got the tape. Let's make a move for it." Denmark urged as he placed the duct tape inside his long coat.
The others nodded, and with that the five of them headed out the door. "I'm leaving the door unlocked, because you just never know."Denmark added slyly as he pocketed the key. The two groups parted and started their search for "game". As soon as they were gone, Mr. Puffin and Hanatamago ran up to the window to keep an eye out for (Y/N) just in case she came here and they could warn her away.
(Y/N) had successfully filled her most of her container of Scandinavian money. The container was quite large so she still had ways to go, but she was satisfied with the amount she had now. She picked up her container and started heading down the street but was stopped dead in her tracks by three familiar people. It was Sweden, Denmark, and Norway!
"Well look who showed up." Denmark smirked.
"Finally, you decided to go after the native money." Norway said pointing to the container in (Y/N)'s hands.
"Native money?" (Y/N) asked raising and eyebrow. Denmark, on cue held up the $16.50 that was found in (Y/N)'s shelter, smirking. "We just came by you're little hideout and found this. Did you happen to pick this up from a U.S. citizen, because we sure as h*ll don't use it around here." he said tauntingly.
"How'd you guys know where I was?" (Y/N) said suspiciously.
Norway sneered, "Don't insult our intelligence, you can't fool us. Your footprints made it clear to us." He replied.
"You also had every audacity to throw a rock at one of the windows." Denmark added.
Sweden stepped up to a now trembling (Y/N), "You stole this money didn't you? My brother was certainly right about you. We hate to do this but it's mandatory we take you in."
(Y/N) backed away horrified by what the former Vikings were hinting at "You guys are insane! You'll never take me alive!" She cried and took off running with the container in her hands. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway didn't bother to chase her, knowing she'd fall into their trap.
(Y/N) kept running until the town was out of sight and was finally on the road leading towards the house of the Nordics. On instinct, she ran up the house where she dropped to her knees, panting heavily. She wondered how she could run that far when she felt so weak. Maybe it was a sudden instinct to escape the danger that was about to engulf her. She looked up at the door. It did not appear to be locked. Feeling brave she turned the knob and prayed open the door slowly expecting the Nordics to be there, but they weren't. Slowly she stepped into the living room making the mistake of leaving the door open behind her. The silence was interrupted when Mr. Puffin and Hana appeared out of nowhere.
"(Y/N)! What are you doing here?!" Mr. Puffin cried out, flying over to (Y/N) as the small white dog followed close behind.
"Why's the door unlocked?" (Y/N) asked hesitantly.
"They're trying to lead you into their trap! It's best you get out of here!" Mr. Puffin said panicking.
(Y/N) turned to leave but when, but saw that Finland and Iceland were standing right behind her, blocking her way. Seeing the cold expressions on their owners' faces, Mr. Puffin and Hanatamago ran off to another room not keen on seeing what was about to happen.
Finland and Iceland exchanged glances, and Finland stalked over to the small woman, a look of sadism on his face.
"Well, fancy seeing you here." the Finnish boy said with a fake smile spreading across his lips.
"Don't even think of getting free now, you're in a dead end." Iceland smirked shutting the door.
(Y/N) knew what she had feared most came true. She was trapped.
Chapter 5 complete. What are the Nordics going to do to poor (Y/N)? Will she get away or will the Nordics have their way with her? Keep reading find out!