It was to no one's surprise that the Nordics were quick and efficient in lending aid to Denmark and, through him, Greenland. Mattias was immensely grateful because the sight of his distraught darling girl frantically trying to go help her people when swaying on her feet, far from being recovered from the blow her land received, just about shattered his heart. Additionally the thought of his current boyfriend not doing anything was like salt poured over the wound.

Instead of dwelling on that though, he left Greenland with Faroes, sternly ordering him to keep her resting, and went to help her people himself. After all, they were his people too. So he ignored the low-key pain humming just under his ribs and focused on organizing the citizens that lived in the danger zone to take them somewhere safe.

He spent a few hours doing just that until Sweden, who volunteered for the field job, caught him grimacing and rubbing the painful spot.

"Mattias?" Berwald inquired, his intense stare focused completely on his brother, willing him to answer truthfully. The Dane, despite his constant smile and carefree attitude, was prone to downplaying his own discomfort for the sake of others. It happened especially during times of war. When needled to get help by his concerned friends Denmark used to say that there are more injured people, who should be taken care of first. Besides it wasn't as if any physical wound could really kill him, right? It infuriated his siblings to no end.

This time, too, Mattias sent his brother a crooked smile, saying only "She's a part of me."

Which meant that whatever happened to Greenland, by extension happened also to him, though not as intensely, Sweden guessed, since the girl was practically incapacitated, so hurt she was, and he walked around mostly fine.

Nonetheless pain is pain. This time the wound wasn't exactly physical, unfortunately, so no amount of medication would help. Not until the problem has been dealt with at least a little bit.

"How bad?" Berwald asked. Denmark only waved his hand dismissively.

"I've had much worse." he said and grinned tiredly when his brother narrowed his eyes in irritation. "This is like a shallow cut. Uncomfortable and burns a little but nothing truly serious." Mattias elaborated placatingly. "Nothing we can do about it anyway, save for what we already have going here."

Berwald grunted his acknowledgement and they went back to work but the worry lines on Mattias' face were less pronounced. It warmed his heart that Sweden, with whom he had a rather rocky relationship, cared about him. Perhaps as much as I do about him. He though with a small smile.

When the arduous task of moving people was mostly done, both brothers allowed themselves to leave their posts and went back to Denmark's house, where the rest of their family stayed, managing paperwork and phone calls and checking in on the kids (Denmark had both come to his place).

They were greeted by the scent of Norway's magical hot cocoa and Finland's cooking. Hastily shedding their coats and boots in the hallway, they trudged into the kitchen.

It was a huge place, designed to hold enough people to call a dinner a feast. That's why if they all gathered it was almost always at Mattias'. He was the initiator of most of their get togethers anyway. Stands to reason he'd be prepared to host them.

The magnificent old wooden table was the central piece in the whole room and around it everyone congregated. Norway was looking through some papers, busily making notes. He raised his head when they entered, nodded in greeting and buried himself back in work. Iceland was snapping at someone on the other end of his phone call. Something about shipments of supplies. He barely glanced at the newly arrived and waved a hand in their direction, otherwise completely focused on the scolding he was delivering. And finally Finland abandoned his own place where he was idly typing something on his laptop to come greet them properly with a smile and hug.

Mattias' heart throbbed in his chest at the sight of them and he couldn't have kept the sappy smile off his face if he tried. He didn't even bother. It went unaddressed anyway because he was ignored in favour of dinner.

A joyous affair that was, as always. Even Lukas let himself relax and smile. Recent happenings, however, took their toll and all too soon Denmark felt exhaustion set heavily in his very bones. That, coupled with the delicious meal filling his stomach and Norway's magical hot cocoa, caused his eyelids to grow impossibly heavy. Finally, when a yawn escaped him the rest of his family waved him away to sleep. He was too tired to argue about doing dishes in his own home so he just nodded and trudged off, detouring only to peek into the kids' room to check up on them. Both were sleeping peacefully, Faroes holding his sister's hand protectively, the girl curled up but her expression clear of pain for the time being.

Mattias stood in the doorway for a minute feeling his chest squeeze with affection as he took them in, vowing once again to do everything in his power to protect them both.

"They're fine, Mattias" said a quiet voice behind him. Denmark jolted turning around quickly only to see Lukas' unimpressed stare levelled at himself.

"I know they are" he sighed. "I just wanted to check on them, you know?"

Norway nodded. He knew very well what it was like to have a young life in his care. Emil's childhood will forever remain one of the best times of his life but parenting also had it's darker sides. And right now Denmark was experiencing one of them. The fear for the little one's health and the feeling of utter helplessness in the face of a child's suffering bring indescribable pain to a loving caretaker.

And Mattias was very loving and dedicated to his family.

Seeing Greenland as she was must have been weighing heavy on his heart and mind so Lukas decided to let him rest before he divulged what himself, Emil and Tino had discovered earlier that day, which would undoubltedly end up ruining all remains of Denmark's peace.

"Come on now, you'll wake them." the Norwegian said, herding his obviously bone tired friend to the master bedroom. It worried him how unsteady on his feet Mattias seemed, clearly half asleep already.

Finally they arrived and Norway stayed long enough to ensure that the Dane wouldn't kill himself while taking his trousers off and to wrestle the blankets from underneath Denmark's lax body and cover him with them before he left, killing the light and closing the door behind him.

Then he went back to the kitchen, AKA the Crisis Defusing Team Headquarters. Tino was the one who had once called Denmark's kitchen that and it stuck.

He found the place pristine clean save for the cluttered table. Papers lay scattered, laptops powered up and running, half-buried among the white stacks, and four Nordics gathered around, solemn and determined though there was also a hint of cheer in the atmosphere.

"Something happened?" Lukas inquired.

"Canada called. Heard what happened. Asked if he could somehow help." Berwald explained in his gruff manner.

"How kind of him" Norway commented, rising his brows expectantly. He knew there was more.

"Indeed. Especially since he's right now playing host to Romano, Spain, Portugal and Prussia." Tino grinned with a glint in his eyes. Lukas blinked.

Now that was interesting in and off itself, Matthew inviting so many people to his place. However to them right now more important was who those people were. Matt was a natural sweetheart, kind and caring to all (unless really pissed off – then all bets were off and the monster came out). Antonio loved children and their youthful joy and exuberance. Gilbert, despite all his bravado, had a soft spot for kids, having brought up Germany. Lovino claimed to not have the patience to deal with bambini, but he was a man with strong morals and if someone hurt an innocent child and Lovino Vargas caught him, he was a dead man. Tortured dead. João was kind of a mystery to the Nordics but even if he wasn't interested in the whole affair the rest of Canada's guests were valuable allies, along with Matthew himself.

Norway nodded, already feeling a lot better with the possibility of help from their distant cousin and, through him, a few other countries. Finally some good news he thought but then his mind went back to the matter he had been looking into earlier that day.

"Have you read through my notes?" he asked them. Iceland, Finland and Sweden all nodded their heads. "And?"

"I think you're right." Emil spoke up. "This wasn't a freak accident, dams like those don't just break like that." he snappend his fingers to illustrate his point. "I wouldn't have let her have a faulty dam anyway. Someone must have purposely destroyed it."

"Now we need to establish who was that and why they did it."

/txtbreak/

Hi everyone, how are you? I just finished my exams (this Wednesday) and as a free person first thing I did was indulge in some exquisitly elegant violence, by which I mean I finally got to play Assassin's Creed Revelations. Gods I love that game. But then I promise I got to work and here you go! A new chapter! Hope you like it!

If someone read my other stories they'll probably notice that I went in a similar direction with the "council". Sue me, I'm a sucker for the Nordics getting together and plotting! In fanct I have a hedcanon that they do that and there's the Nordic Council.

Now for explanations:

Iceland says that he wouldn't let Greenland have a faulty dam. That's because from what I discovered at least one hydroelectric plant in Greenland was built by an icelandic company.

I call all the Nordics a family but truly it's more like soldiers consider their fellows brothers. It's a relationship forged in the sweat and blood they spilled together. Greenland and Faroes and closer to Denmark like Iceland is to Norway and Canada is their distant relative because Vinland.

And that's all, I believe. Thanks for reading :)