"Really?" asked Sister Sweden.
Faroes nodded.
"Really really?"
He nodded, more vigorously than before.
She said in the most serious tone possible, "I'm going to kill him."
Faroes said nervously, "Not if he kills me first."
"He won't," she said with authority. 'If he lays a finger on you, you tell someone. Anyone. Hear me?"
"Yes, Sweden."
"Iceland, you're excused," Sister Sweden said. Sister Iceland left and closed the door.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Okay, I guess," he replied. "I feel a lot better, but everything still hurts."
"That's typical," she said. "You feel better because you told someone about a detail that you've been actively suppressing for years., and yet you hurt because it doesn't heal the damage done to you." He thought about it, than said, "Yeah, that sounds right. What do I do now?"
"Well, you should still set up regular appointments with me," said Sister Sweden. "Don't worry, I won't charge you a krone. Now, about Denmark. The obvious recourse would be to send him to the Hague. But there's a problem."
"The Netherlands being Denmark's best friend?" Faroes groaned.
"That's number one," Sister Sweden said. "Other than you or I, nobody will- nor is willing to- believe that Denmark would ever do something like that. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. I'll help you out if needed. As for other recourses, we could give him a reprimand and sanctions. They would need to be approved by the Nordic Council."
"Which will never happen," Faroes complained. "He's too beloved!"
"Not as much as you would think," she said. "It would be possible to pass it."
"How?"
She took a deep breath. "You testify to the Council what you just spent two and a half hours telling me. A reduced version, of course."
"No."
"That's what I thought," she said. "There is, of course, problem number two. Denmark's dead."
"Not for much longer. Depends on how well your brother does."
"Yeah…" Sister Sweden trailed. She hadn't heard anything out of Sweden for a while. She knew that he was in Newfoundland, trying to find L'Anse aux Meadows.
The sweat streamed down in rivers. Water was scarce and rationed very conservatively, so they would have extra for later. Both were suffering, but Sister Finland was in the most trouble. She had started lagging no matter how much effort she put into her walk. The sand was too much and it was too hot. On the third day of traversing the desert, they appeared to be no closer to the forest that would herald Tuonela. Estonia had been tracking her progress, and grew increasingly concerned. But now, it had reached the point where she knew that she had to act.
Sister Finland collapsed. "Finland!" Estonia yelled. No response. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!" she muttered as she ran towards her. Kneeling, she saw that Sister Finland was moments from irreversible dehydration. Acting, she pulled out the other jewel. The one they were going to use to get home. Sister Finland mustered all her energy to protest. "I have to," Estonia told her. "You'll die if you're not taken care of now. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." She forced Sister Finland's hand to crush the jewel, and with a loud voice, said, "Stockholm!" And in an instant, she was gone.
Estonia sighed, and trudged on her way, using the same survival tactics that Finland had used. It took her a lot shorter time to get to the forest, though. She was there that afternoon.
Entering the forest, she nearly cut her foot on a large metal object. Looking down, her heart stopped. It was Finland's knife. He must dropped it at the edge and never noticed, the very thought of which made her suspicious. It was always on his person. Picking it up, she was alarmed to see a ruddy brown, flaky material-oxidized blood-crusted all over the blade. She withdrew her own knife-a large black sheathed blade-and holstered Finland's. She had a feeling that there was going to be a bit of dying involved in this rescue mission.
As she walked the twisting path, she came across hints of a struggle- broken branches, stampeded flowers, the occasional corpse. She made her way to the riverbed, where a solitary maiden stood, waiting for her to get in the boat. Knowing that Finland lay on the other side, she reluctantly agreed to cross the river into the Dead Land. It felt very unnatural, like it shouldn't have been happening. As soon as she landed on the other side, guards approached her. She knew that this was the moment, the do-or-die. She took her knife on both of them and ran deep into the land.
Slowing down as she entered another forest, she felt a presence behind her. Wheeling around, she saw a large, black figure advancing on a small, huddled being. She did the only thing she did well at this point: attacked.
To Finland, this was it. This was the end. As the guard advanced, ready to eat his soul (which was going to be an unfortunate experience for the recipient), he heard a scream, and a blade protruded from the guard's gut. As the being dissolved into shadow, Finland got a up-close look on his savior.
It was definitely female, but she looked like hell. She had medium-length hair that was matted with black grime, was wearing nothing except a makeshift top and a skirt, and was bearing a large black knife caked in infernal darkness. His knife was holstered in her sheath. Her arms bore cuts and bruises.
He gaped. It was Estonia!
"C'mon, Finland, there'll be time for ogling later," she grunted, heaving him over her shoulder and trundling off towards the mountains. As they secretly crossed the creek into the land of the living, they could hear the howls of frustration from Tuonela proper. "Ruddy bastards," Estonia said. "Let's go home."
But how? She had used the last teleporter device. Well, the mountains Finland had seen earlier were, in fact, a border of sorts. Over the border was Earth, so that's where they headed.
That evening, when Estonia finally got tired of carrying him, they collapsed near a creek of pure water. They both took advantage of it to clean themselves and assuage their thirst. After the immediate excitement, Finland turned to other matters.
"Er, thanks," Finland said. Estonia turned around. "You're welcome," she replied, and went back to washing her hair. Finland took a deep breath. "No, I don't think you understand what I mean," he said slowly. "Without your help, I would not be a breathing, living human being right now. I would instead be a very dead one." Estonia looked at him and said, "Enlighten me."
"Well, for starters, you killed the guardian spirits that tried to take my soul," he began. "And you gave me food at your personal expense. You fended off that bear. You killed an elk to save my life with a fur coat and meat. Not to mention that you saved my sister's life and took on Tuonela all by yourself, along with providing me an excellent full-frontal view just now." When he looked up at her face, she was beaming. "You're thoroughly enjoying this, aren't you?" She nodded. He frowned a little. "Is it because we've deprecated you for so long?" She nodded again. He rolled his eyes. "I'm tired," he yawned. "Good, because I am too," she responded. She pulled the elk pelt out and covered the two of them in it. Finland raised an eyebrow. "Um, Estonia?"
"Has it ever occurred to you, Finland, that sleeping with someone does not necessarily denote having sex?" He went quiet, and then went to sleep. Not more than five minutes after that she did, too.
Although they were more than uncomfortable around each other when awake, nighttime found them huddling against each other in the frigid night, like yin and yang, complementing each other and yet disagreeing. But for the moment, they were at peace.
"Oh, Iceland…" came Sjöfin's sing-song voice.
"Mmph."
"Iceland, I have a surprise for you!"
"Leemee 'lone."
"ICELAND!"
He popped out, disheveled but otherwise chipper. "You called?"
"You think?"
"What's going on?"
"I'm going back to Asgard."
"What? Why?"
"Don't worry about it, it's just two days."
"You mean that you've been able to leave this whole time?"
"Yep." And with that succinct response, she vanished.
He thought on that single word. It showed that she could've willed herself to leave at any time. But she didn't. Instead she had stayed on the island, putting up with him and the giant wolf that wanted to eat his guts. Why?
Because she loved him, and now he had the evidence to prove it.
The Norwegian siblings, Sister Iceland, Sister Sweden, Sister Finland, and Faroes sat around while Sister Denmark paced angrily around the living room.
"She said what?"
"She said that she could take care of herself," Sister Finland muttered. "Than she forced me to come back."
"Good thing she did," Sweden said, "or you would be dead."
"She's dead, too!" Sister Finland yelled. "Even if she made it to Tuonela, she would have to know where my brother is being held. And then she would have to escape, something no living person has done since antiquity!" She put her face in her hands, and Sister Denmark let out a grunt of annoyance. "Why? Why, Estonia, why?" she yelled at the sky. "What's our latest on Sweden?"
"Nothing in the last day," Sister Sweden reported.
Sister Denmark sighed. "All right. I'm calling a week-long break. The kids need attention and we've been too focused on this. Keep me posted on any new developments."
As they left, she collapsed on the couch, completely exhausted.
"You've done a remarkable job," came a voice she did not expect. She looked up to see Faroes standing there, looking red in the eyes but otherwise in a pleasant mood. "Thanks," she replied, and watched him go out the door. There was something different about him. Something… brighter. More mature. She wondered… and forgot.
"Well, here ye h'are," Newfoundland said, stopping the truck. Sweden got out and mused over the ancient ruins. He remembered the story like it was yesterday…
"So, this the place?" Norway asked, looking over the strange mounds.
"Yeh," responded Newfoundland. "Thar's the ol' Ind'in camp."
"Yeah… Indian camp," Norway murmured.
"Anyway, holler if ye need an'thin'," Newfoundland said as he went back to farming.
Sweden shook himself out of his daydream, and walked into the longhouse, something like Iceland used to live in. And there, in the corner, was a glowing blue wisp of mist. Touching it, he was transported to another world. An ethereal world.
It resembled Pluto if Pluto had a transparent atmosphere. Looking up, he could see galaxies and stars; by extending his arm, he felt that he could touch outer space itself. He looked at his surroundings. Niflheim was barren, with a few cuts carrying pure, crystal clear water. Other than that it was sheet ice. He decided to follow the nearest river, hoping that it would lead him to Hvergelmir, the Eternal Spring.
He followed it until it dropped down into a ravine. "This is as far as you'll want to go," came an eerie voice. "Who's there?" Sweden called out.
"A friend."
"Who?"
"One who suggests not going down there, unless you want a date with Niðogg."
"Who is Niðogg?"
"The great worm that resides in the neverland between Niflheim and Helheim."
"Worm?"
"Parlance for dragon."
"Ah."
The voice drifted away on the wind, and Sweden was left to his thoughts. He took the risk that this stream did flow from Hvergelmir, bottled it up in the special container that Sister Iceland gave him, and turned around to leave. But goddammit, curiosity took the best of him. He shone his penlight down the ravine.
On top of what was the biggest taproot (and collection of roots) Sweden had ever seen, he saw a large… snake? It didn't look like the stereotypical dragon. It was feeding on screaming corpses, which was enough for Sweden, who turned tail and got the heck out of there.
He materialized in his living room, scaring the shit out of a sleeping Sister Denmark. "Gah, you're back!"
"Yep," he panted. "Where's Sister Iceland?"
"At her house," she replied. "Did you-?"
He produced the container.
"Woah," she said in complete awe. But in a blip, it vanished and was replaced by Sister Denmark's now very much alive brother.
"Get everyone here," Sister Denmark, said, hyperventilating. "NOW!"
Denmark sat at the front, looking at the people he had not seen in four and a half months. He then spotted Faroes walking in the door with Sister Sweden, and they made eye contact. Faroes hid behind Sister Sweden, who, upon seeing who had Faroes in a bundle, made a threatening gesture at Denmark.
"I don't know what's going on between you two, but I don't like it, so stop it," Sister Denmark said, directing the two over to a spot far from her brother.
"Brief me about everything. I know I was in Helheim. Hel's kinda cool if you get to know her," Denmark said. "What have I missed?"
"Estonia went on a rescue mission for Finland, who got transported to Tuonela," Sweden said. "And Iceland is on some island with a wolf."
"Fenrir's Island?" Denmark asked.
"Yes."
"You're not going to want to go there for another two weeks," the Dane warned. "It's about to get messy."
"How so?"
"Let's just say that he's gotten himself embroiled in a thing," he said, smirking.
2 days later…
"Honey!" Iceland called, seeing his girlfriend. "How was Asgard?"
Sjöfin grinned. "I brought you something special for our four-and-a-half month anniversary!"
Iceland was suddenly filled with excitement. What did she bring? Food? Clothing?
"Isn't she beautiful?" Sjöfin asked.
Iceland looked down.
Standing there was a little girl.
Huh boy. Let's see how Iceland does as a father to LIVE children, eh?
And you really, really don't want to meet Nidhogg. Regardless, you will soon enough.