Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. It belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.


Part 5

'Sweden'? Was that what Herra Sininen was really called? He leaned forwards to hear better what the man with the battle axe was saying, heedlessly not minding the discreet cracking noises beneath him.

"…could come live with me", Tino heard him say. Sweden just sat still on the ground. Tino wished he could see his face but he could only make out his captor whose quite handsome façade probably was popular among the ladies. "You and that little one."

The branch cracked and a few seconds later Tino hit the ground with a loud thump. Cones scattered around him, Tino landing on a few of them as well as a thick root sprouting out of the ground. In the duration of one day he managed to yet again add injuries to his pale, otherwise neat skin. Whilst getting up on his feet he hurriedly tried to get away as much dirt as possible from the stinging scrape wounds and thanked every higher power that he hadn't broken anything. His hand travelled to the sword sheath and not a second later was he being surrounded by armed men pointing their arrows and swords at him. His hand gripped the handle a little tighter without really thinking what the consequences of a fight would be.

"Nah… wouldn't do that if I were you", said one of the men tightening his bow with the arrow ready to be fired at the Finn. Tino just glared at him with murderous eyes without loosening the grip of the sword.

"Don't be a fool", said another one who must have noticed how the fearless lamb among the lions wasn't ready to just give in without a fight. Fearless but stupid. "Just let go of the sword and come home with us. You must have noticed that only an id-"

He was cut off as Tino's blade cruelly pierced through his belly. Before falling to the ground he got the chance to catch a glimpse of the other men advance all at once to catch the boy that had most probably just taken his life. More than that he would never find out for the next thing he knew his vision blackened and everything was quiet. The determined Finn tried twisting himself out of the hands that were now strongly gripping his both arms. The man with the arrow was sitting by the side of his dead partner uselessly trying to 'wake him up'. Tino stopped squirming for a moment and looked at the two. Deep down inside he was sorry that he had to kill him but the others had left him no other choice. The grieving one shot a death glare at Tino. He grabbed his bow and rose. For a moment Tino was certain that he'd just earned a punch in the stomach or face and prepared for one, but no strike came. It was as if the anger of the captor had vanished. Instead he seemed completely indifferent, perhaps even sad. His face told one story but his eyes another. He told the other two something and suddenly the three of them were walking in the direction towards 'Sweden'.

It didn't take long for them to get there. The two guards – as Tino had now titled them – placed him standing next to the blond after tying his hands behind his back. With a glance upwards the Finn saw Sweden doing nothing but staring angrily at the leader with his head held high to not come off as submissive – he was taller than everyone, now that Tino thought of it. Without weapons and hands tied Tino wondered how he – they – would get out of this one. The others exchanged some words with each other in the unknown language and then the leader aimed his attention to Sweden and Tino again. "You were not easy to catch", he admitted. He wasn't angry or scornful, just amused in a way. Tino said nothing and aimed his glare in another direction, hating himself for getting caught. The handsome man continued talking, believing that the Finn was paying attention but his eyes had detected something else that was far more interesting than hearing the annoying voice of the intruder. (Tino could really come up with all sorts of names for this man.) Not until now had he taken notice of a red and white fabric attached to a pole that had been thrust into the ground. He didn't recognize this strange device and inspected it, trying to figure what good it did there. A piece of cloth on a pole? Why? The handsome one walked up to it. "I see you've taken some interest in this!" he said proudly, obviously interrupting his other speech without qualms.

"What is it?" Tino asked, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"This, my friend, this is Dannebrog. The flag of the Danish Kingdom." He held up the fabric for Sweden and Tino to see, the horizontal white cross on the red background now clearly on display. "Ingenious, isn't it?" he asked without expecting any answer. Something was off about him. He acted as if though they weren't enemies at all. As if Tino and Sweden weren't standing there with hands tied behind their backs, covered in blood and dirt. He didn't even seem upset over the fact that Tino already had killed two of his men (if Kirvesmies was dead, that was...) There was no way he didn't know.

"So, what say you, young man?" he asked and let go of Dannebrog, eyeing Tino with what was possibly the greatest grin he'd seen before.

So far Sweden hadn't said anything at all. Tino looked up at the man and noticed he was staring at him. Something died within the Finn. He was indeed frightening, especially up close when royally annoyed. Actually, even if he acted only annoyed, he looked positively furious. Tino was almost going to squeak but hurriedly turned his head back to the Dane. "About what?" he managed to ask unable to control the evident nervousness his voice suddenly held.

The Dane sighed. "Not very attentive, are we?" he asked rhetorically. "I want you and Sweden here", Sweden tensed next to him but the Dane took no notice "to come live with me! Imagine the advantages! We'll be able to protect and look after one another. The benefits are greater than the disadvantages."

Hardly, Tino thought.

Disadvantage: Leave home.

"Mitä?" Tino said instinctively and a second later bellowed: "No!"

The Dane raised his eyebrows as if he had never before heard the word 'no'. Tino continued. "You just came here and force me to spill blood! We don't know you and-"

Sweden cleared his throat. Tino looked up at him. Why is he so intimidating all of a sudden? he whined in his head.

"We've m't b'f're", Sweden explained and Tino had to focus and listen carefully to understand the words.

"You-you've met before?" he asked surprised.

"'nce."

"Oh..."

For some reason it was completely silent for a while.

"Either way…" the Danish man continued. "It seems like you two have no choice. A new power is growing in the East and you, little one, are the first one the Mongols will seize when they get this far", he explained a matter-of-factly. Tino felt uncomfortable being referred to as something that could and was to be seized.

"I'm not afraid." Which he wasn't.

"Little one, we caught you didn't we?"

Little one this, little one that…

The Dane nodded once to the guards behind Tino and Sweden and a few moments later the world went noticeably darker. The softest punch in the back of his head could have him pass out given his poor condition, yet the guard hit him extremely hard without taking that into consideration. Sweden fell down next to him, eyes closed.

Denmark sighed after seeing the two of them fall. He ordered one of the men to get their last man as he saw the last three returning, only to find out that one of them was not alive anymore. When the last one returned with another dead Dane Denmark picked up the smaller of the foreigners as well as his battle axe and then proceeded to leave together with his remaining men. The man with the bow had to drag Sweden since the nation was significantly bigger.

They left Dannebrog in the vast eastern forest.

The End


Now I have finished it~ My friend suggested a sequel, but we'll see. For now I need to focus on school. It took me long enough to write this chapter and get it beta-read. xD

Thank you for reading!

Translations:
Herra Sininen = Mr. Blue
Kirvesmies = "The Axe Man"
Mitä? = What?