Chapter 5- Lomake Litto

Finland sat in his salon reading a book next to his fireplace. He had just put another log on the fire, and the flame was more intense than he would've liked. He was to involved in his novel to get up and poke the fire down. He was very calm for a man that had only three days ago severely assaulted his best friend. Their dog, Hanatomago, wasn't faring so well. After the news broke that Sweden had been shot 3 times and was in the hospital, deep in a coma, Finland briefly returned to his Stockholm town house to get the little dog. Hanatomago was glad to see Finland since his now comatose co-owner wasn't very keen on giving him the proper attention that a small dog deserved. At least that's what Finland thought. Ever since returning to his Helsinki home, the dog would spend all day waiting by the door for his other master to return.

Finland was just about to get to the best part of his book when a sharp knocking came from his front door. He sighed, put his book on the side table, and went to answer the door. Hanatomago had to scurry across the tiled floor to avoid being stepped on by his owner. Finland pulled the door open slowly and was surprised to see Romano standing there in a fall coat, shivering while snow fell lightly on his head and shoulders.

"Hey licorice bastard. Your place is freezing! Can I come in?"

"Why of course." Finland stepped inside and over to let Romano in. The latter quickly stomped into the warm embrace of the house. "How have you been? I know it's only been a couple of days, but with all the other Nordics camping out at Sweden's hospital it's felt like months."

"Have you visited him yet?"

Finland closed the door and crossed his arms. His face went stern and he avoided eye contact with his guest. "I've considered it, but I don't think I'd be able to resist the urge to snuff him with his own pillow."

"Wow. Well you should. The other ice boxes might start to get suspicious."

"They're all idiots..."

Romano gave him a small shrug. "Anywhere I can hang this stupid coat?" Finland gestured to the coat rack behind Romano. The chilled man pivoted his whole body and hung the jacket. "Great. Can we move to the soggiorno? I have news."

"Sure. It must be important, considering you came all this way." Finland guided Romano to the living room and motioned for him to take a seat on the sofa opposite his chair. Romano chose the spot closest to the fire and began rubbing his hands together near the flame, trying desperately to recapture the heat of the Mediterranean. After Finland took his seat he spoke, "So you said you had news. Tell me." Romano turned his attention from the fireplace and looked at his host.

"I did it."

"Excuse me? Did what?"

Romano's gaze hardened and he straightened up in his seat. "I did it. I killed Spain." Finland stared at the latter for a second, then intertwined his fingers. as he looked at the fire. "I knew you would. Our talk was sure to spark something."

"Well..."

"Well I congratulate you. You took a step ahead of me and outed your problem. Mine still lives, hopefully he'll die in the hospital on his own so that I don't have to do it for him."

"You really did hate him, didn't you."

"The damn dog loves him more than me. What does that say?"

"The dog...?"

"Look by the door.", Finland gestured to the entry hall. Sure enough, the small dog was once again staring at the door, waiting for Sweden to walk in. "That man barely payed attention to him, too busy ruining my life to give a crap about our dog. And yet Hanatomago shows more adoration for him than I ever will..."

"You don't even miss him... just a little?"

Finland's head snapped away from the fire. He trained his purple eyes on Romano's face and put on a small, sadistic, smile."Is someone having regrets?"

Romano jumped slightly in his seat. "Wh-what? Me? Regrets about killing T-Tomato-bastard? Never."

"You're lying. I can tell."

"N-no..."

"Then stop stuttering."

Romano went to snap back, but shut his mouth instead.

"Good. Now, no I don't miss that creep; and yes, I can still tell that you're lying about having 's why you came to see me, isn't it?"

"Yes... I've told myself times over that I did the right thing, but I always still end up rethinking my actions."

"So you came to me for a second opinion, yes?"

"More like a final opinion. You gave me the idea to kill Spain, I want you to tell me if it was the right thing do do."

Finland untangled his fingers and placed his hands on the plush arms of his chair. "Awww." , he said almost mockingly, "I feel so honored."

"S-shut up! Just tell me your opinion already!"

Finland placed one leg on top of the other and leaned back. "You did the right thing. Us underlings never receive enough attention, nor are we treated fairly. Our weak past always carries into the present. No matter what we do... we are always cheated, ignored, and misrepresented. What we did set in motion a shift in power. With our "bosses" out of the way now we can get fair representation on the world stage."

Romano shifted slightly and looked away from Finland. "I guess...But what if we get caught?!" His outburst was met with the pompous flapping of Finland's hand. "Please!We'll get away with it. I have an idea that'll keep us safe."

"Yeah...?"

"You and I team up, use both of our strengths to keep us safe and help all others trapped in our situation."

Romano gave him a look of utter disbelief, "You mean... L-like... Kill other peoples overseers?"

"Exactly. Think about it, we'd be doing plenty of other countries huge favors. We'd be heroes!" Finland's tone became more excited and as he said this he leaned forward a little.

"I guess... It would be nice to be seen as a hero for once..."

"That's the spirit! C'mon! I already know who to help first."

Finland jumped from his seat and grabbed Romano's arm. Leading him to the door he said, "Grab your coat. It'll be cold where we're going!" Romano snatched his jacket as he was being pulled out the front door. He had only seconds to say farewell to Hanatomago before being whisked into the snowy storm by his new partner in crime.

So yeah... Finally a new chapter. I hope I did good with this one. After capping off the last chapter I got some new ideas, so now this story'll finally get worked on again.

Please review! See you next chapter!