"Are you really serious about this?"

"As serious as I can be."

"But-" Emil stumbled as he tripped over a rock he had failed to notice before running into it. He cursed under his breath as he jogged to catch up with his brother, who was already a good few paces ahead. Eventually, he fell into step beside him, though he still had to jog a little to keep up with Lukas' long strides. "But what about mother and father?" He panted beside him. "What about me?"

"You're old enough to take care of yourself now, aren't you?" Lukas said, that cold hard look still on his face. "I mean, you're-"

"Eighteen, I know." Emil said, what looked like a mixture of a frown and a scowl (so reminiscent of Lukas) on his face. "But then...What happens if..."

His voice faded and his steps faltered. He stopped and stared down at his shoes. Lukas went five more strides ahead before noticing this and he too stopped. He turned to look at Emil. "What happens if?" He asked.

Emil looked up for a second but quickly looked away. "What happens if...You...You know..." He shook his head, as if he'd rather not talk about it. But Lukas knew what he was talking about all the same.

The Norse only shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then what happens...must happen." Emil looked up, stunned. But Lukas' face was a mask of coldness. Then he shook his head, "But wouldn't it be better if it won't happen at all?"

Lukas didn't respond immediately. He stared back at Emil then, closing his eyes and looking away, he sighed. "Who are we to say whether it would be better for something not to happen when we don't even know what that something will bring?"

Emil could only stare back, stunned at his brother. The Norse started to walk away but Emil didn't follow. "This is my choice, Emil." Lukas said without looking back at him. "And whatever happens because of it is my fault and no one else's. I suggest you just accept it."

Emil stood there, rooted, as he watched the retreating figure of his brother getting farther and farther away from him. He clenched his fists at his side as he bit back tears of frustration. What was he going to do now? His brother was going off into the heart of the war and probably kill himself in the process. And he? He would just stay at the farm, hoping and praying like the rest of the family that Lukas would come back alive. He couldn't...He just couldn't stand idly by and do nothing while Lukas risked his life out there.

And even just the thought that this could well be the last conversation that the two brothers would ever have...No...

Emil would have hated to admit it, but he just couldn't stand even the thought of it.

Emil stood up straighter. His mind was made up. His resolution was strong. He was not going to just let Lukas go like this. Not ever.

"Hey!" He ran to catch up with Lukas, who stopped when he heard him calling out. Emil stopped to catch his breath. "Lukas." He placed a hand on the Norse's shoulder. "You're not ever going anywhere without me." He said resolutely. "So I'm coming with you!"

Lukas' eyes widened a little but the hard expression remained. "Emil, think of what mother and father will say. Think of what they'll do."

"I don't care!" Emil snapped back. "I don't care! All I know is I'm going to make sure that you're making it home when all this is over!" Emil hesitated before adding, "Even if I have to die!"

Lukas' brow furrowed. "You don't know what you're saying, Emil. I suggest you go back before it's too late."

"No." Emil held his ground and his grip on Lukas' shoulder grew more firm. "If I can't convince you to not do it, then I'm going to do it with you."

Lukas stared back at the determined expression on Emil's face. "You don't know what it's like out there, Emil."

"Oh what, and like you do?" Emil replied scathingly.

For a moment, the corners of Lukas' mouth twitched but then he turned away from Emil (shaking his hand off his shoulder as if it was nothing but paper) and walked away.

"Well if you're coming to the battlefield with me, then you can start by outrunning me there." And before Emil could even process this, Lukas had broke out into a run.

"Hey, w-wait!" Emil ran after him. "What's with all this running all of a sudden?!"

"I told you, didn't I?" Lukas called back over his shoulder, not a single trace of weariness in his voice. "You're going to have to work that body and outrun me to the camp!" So saying, he quickened his pace and was soon yards away from Emil.

Emil furrowed his eyebrows. What kind of twisted game was his brother playing? Then he thought, 'Oh what the heck' and abandoning all pride and worry, he put on a burst of speed and called out to Lukas, "Eat my dust, you douche!"

And as they raced through the departing countryside, Emil could feel a smile tugging on his lips.

And then suddenly, everything changed.

Emil was racing through the countryside, following his brother, then it all changed.

The countryside dissolved and turned into a barren battlefield. Bloodied bodies, both Kalmar and Nordic alike, lay all around him and still more stood around him, fighting. Emil let out a cry as the body of a fellow Nordic soldier almost fell on him, threatening to crush him under its weight. Luckily, he had managed to sidestep it.

And there he stood, staring down, horror struck, at the face of the Nordic soldier, which was frozen in a look of utter terror. The fear that gripped his heart was unlike anything that Emil had felt before. What...What was happening?

Then there, right in front of him, Emil saw it.

Lukas had stumbled and fallen down. A Kalmar was bearing down on him. Somehow, this Kalmar looked different from others. He wore a long black coat with red cuffs and he carried an axe, which was poised high in the air, ready to strike at Lukas. His face was hidden in shadow but he had a crop of slick, wild blonde hair.

Emil cried out and ran toward Lukas. He didn't know what he was going to do when he got to him, but whatever it was going to be, he was going to stop this guy from attacking Lukas.

But he was too late.

The Kalmar raised his axe then brought it down on his victim.

Emil stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to even hear. All he saw was his brother's broken and mutilated body lying on the ground. The bright crimson blood flowing out of the large wound.

And the one who did this. The Kalmar.

Emil turned to him and was met by an almost surprising sight.

There were tears in the Kalmar's eyes. Tears running freely down his cheeks. He opened his mouth, as if he was about to tell Emil something, but then stopped and turned away from him, wiping the tears away with the sleeve of his coat.

Emil didn't know what was going on.

What the hell was happening? What was he going to do? What...What was going on?!

Emil wanted nothing more than to sink to the ground and stay there. No...this wasn't real...There was no way this could be real! Yet...why did it feel so real? Was that really blood on Lukas? Was he really dead?

And when Emil turned to look at his brother's dead body again, he felt words rising to his tongue. Or more accurately, one word. One name.

As Emil sank to his knees to the ground, his hands over his ears, he screamed his brother's name as loud as he could, not caring if an enemy was going to hear him or not. Not caring at all.

This...This just couldn't be real...Not real...Not everything...

"-mil, wake up!"

"Luk-!" Emil sat upright in bed, sweaty and suddenly feeling very sick to the stomach. He looked around him frantically, but all he was were the white-washed walls of the small dorm in the Nordic base camp and empty bunk beds. He sighed and cradled his head in both hands. What was that just now...?

"Whew, I'm glad you're awake! I was beginning to think that you wouldn't wake up!" Emil turned to look at a short Finnish soldier with light blonde hair and light blue eyes standing beside his bunk bed. "Tino..." Emil muttered then looked away. Tino was a Finnish soldier and although Finland was on the Kalmar side, Tino had declared his allegiance to the Nordics as a medic. Nobody knew exactly why, but everybody just accepted it. And Tino was kind and friendly anyway, so he was instantly liked by many of the Nordics. He was especially fond of the younger Nordics, which was why he was always looking after Emil and Lukas. Emil found it annoying sometimes but also oddly comforting. Nobody knew what Lukas thought about all this. But really, that guy barely said anything sometimes.

Emil sighed and asked, "What happened?"

"You were thrashing around in your sleep." Tino said thoughtfully. "And you were muttering things as well but we couldn't make out what. It looked like you were having a nightmare though. What did you dream about?"

Emil frowned at the Fin. "I don't want to talk about it."

Tino shrugged his shoulders. "Okay." But he still looked concerned. "Come on. You're going to be late for morning assembly."

"Oh. Yeah." Emil replied dully. He stretched then slowly, got out of bed. But as he did so, a wave of nausea hit him and then suddenly, he was falling.

But he could neither hear nor see. It was like his senses had turned off.

All he saw were the images of his dream. Lukas lying dead on the ground while his murderer, a Kalmar, stared coldly back at him. The image kept replaying over and over again in front of Emil's eyes. At first, Emil thought that it was simply his brain acting up. But then he began to wonder if this was not the reason at all. And why was it that it was only this image and this image alone that kept replaying? What if...it was telling him something?

And all of a sudden, Emil knew what it was.

With a sinking feeling of dread, he stared at the mutilated body of his brother one last time before it dissolved. And suddenly he was staring up at the ceiling of the dorm, with it's cracked plaster and cobwebs, and he could hear a voice crying out. "-Emil! Quick, somebody call a doctor! Emil!"

Emil gasped and grabbed for the first thing he could find. It was Tino's uniform sleeve. He pulled himself up, panting. "Emil!" Tino said. "What's wrong? Are you feeling-?"

"Lukas!" Emil gasped.

Tino blinked and stared at him. "Lukas? What-" Then his eyes widened. "Have you managed to get word from him?"

"More than that." Emil sighed then looked away. "I...I think he's in danger...big danger."

"Wake up, Norgy~!"

Oh God. Now he's gone and made a nickname out of a nickname of my name! Lukas groaned and lifted his hand from his face. He blinked and scowled at the bright sunlight filtering in through the cell's steel bars. And there, standing silhouetted against the sunlight was Mathias, who was rapping noisily on the bars with that stupid, overly-cheerful grin of his.

But stupid as it may be, Lukas couldn't stop the small flutter in his chest at the sight of it. He suppressed it however as he sat up and said in his usual cold drawl, "Have you any respect for someone who was sleeping? And for the last time, my name is not Norge!" Though funnily enough, he had gotten quite used to hearing it from the Dane. And in fact, had begun to like the way it sounded when Mathias called him that with that voice of his...That dumb, cheery voice...

Mathias laughed, "Sorry, Norge. But I've got some good news for you!"

Lukas slowly sat upright and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh joy. I can't wait to hear what it is." Mathias laughed, entirely missing the sarcasm in the Norse's voice. "And you've got good reason to! Because the boss finally gave me permission to take you outside!"

Lukas stopped and stared at him. "What do you mean 'take me outside'?" Then his brows furrowed. "If this is some trick to get me talking, I swear..."

"Oh, well." Mathias laughed again. "How long has it actually been since you've last been outside?"

"Oh I don't know!" Lukas said coldly. "How long have I been in this stinky cell?"

Mathias thought for a moment before replying, "Two weeks?"

"There you go!" Lukas said, throwing his arms up. Mathias laughed, "Wow, that's a really long time! Well, good thing I finally got the permission. So!"

Producing a small key from the pocket of his black coat, Mathias fitted it into the lock of the door of the cell and turned it. A long rusty squeal met their ears but afterwards there was a click and the door swung open easily. Mathias grinned at Lukas in the open doorway.

Lukas scowled at Mathias, the flutter in his chest continuing to grow. "How?" He said. Mathias blinked, "How what, Norge?"

"How do you know that I won't bolt the moment I'm out of this cell?" Lukas said. Mathias frowned, as if contemplating this, then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know...I feel it. I feel like...I trust you enough already to know that you wouldn't do something like that."

Lukas felt something blossoming in his chest and threatening to break through at these words. Was it true? Did he really trust him enough to know that he wouldn't do what most people would have thought he would?

Right at that moment, Lukas felt a wind blowing from outside his cell. He felt an exciting chill in his stomach. Was he really finally going to get outside after so many days in this damp, dirty cell? The thought was almost unbelievable. Yet, there it was, the open doorway.

"Come on, Norge, you know you want to." The Dane grinned. Lukas scowled, "Like you know what I want and what I don't." Mathias laughed then held out his hand to Lukas.

Lukas hesitated. Somehow, the thought of holding Mathias' hand had him slightly embarrassed but he immediately pushed the thought away as he got up and took the Dane's hand, trying to ignore the tingling sensation in his fingers.

"Well that wasn't so hard, was it?" Mathias laughed. Lukas suddenly noticed the pinkish glow on Mathias' face as he led him out of the cell. The moment he was out however, Lukas withdrew his hand from the Dane's.

Mathias immediately looked alert. Lukas knew that look. He was doubting whether it had been wise to let him out. Whether it had been wise to trust him like that.

But he needn't doubt.

"Well?" Lukas placed his hands on his hips. "Are we going or what?"

Mathias looked surprised but then grinned. "Let's go then, Norge~!"

"Emil...Are you...sure about this...?"

"As sure as I can get!" Emil raced through the empty corridors, his knee-high white boots making an undignified squeaking noise as he ran. But the Nordic didn't care. All he cared about right now was his brother's fate. And even if he wasn't in trouble, he still had to have him back as soon as possible!

"Wait...!" Tino panted as he ran to catch up with Emil, clutching his side as he went. "Slow down, Emil...! But...my question...is, how can you...be so sure about Lukas...being in trouble...?"

Emil stopped and glared fiercely at Tino, who froze at the sight of the cold gaze (so much like Lukas') on Emil's face and directed at him.

"I know that this isn't really good enough evidence," Emil said in a cold voice (so much like Lukas'). "But I know! I can feel it in my bones, Tino! Lukas is in danger! And you can just go and do whatever you want if you want to, all I know is, I'm not going to leave my brother like that...After all, it was my fault..." Emil looked away and continued to walk briskly down the corridor.

Tino had never seen him like this before. If Emil was acting so serious all of a sudden...then what else could it mean? Tino quickened his pace until he was walking right behind Emil.

"So what do you plan to do?" Tino asked, all weariness gone from his voice.

Emil glanced back at him for only a second before looking back ahead and saying in a completely expressionless voice, "I plan to save Lukas, that's what."

Tino paused before answering, "Sounds like a sensible enough plan to me." A small smile started to creep into his face.

Emil didn't answer but just continued to walk ahead with Tino walking closely behind.

Eventually, they came upon a small door at the end of the hallway. Emil stopped in front of it and seemed to hesitate for a mere second but after which opened the door and walked in confidently. Tino followed, bowing his head and hoping within his heart that this wouldn't end badly.

"Steilsson?" The boss looked up from a stack of papers on his desk to address Emil, who halted at least two feet away from the desk and stood there, staring determinedly at the man. The man turned to look at Tino. "And Väinämöinen too? Well, well." The man leaned against his chair. "This is unexpected. So, what do you want?"

"Sir." Emil said. "I have a request to make of you."

The man raised his eyebrows. "A request, you say? Well, well. How unexpected."

Tino squirmed nervously then couldn't hold it in. He stepped forward, "Sir, let me explain. Steilsson-"

"Sir." Emil interrupted him before he could continue. He took another step forward and said just as straight-forwardly, "I wish to infiltrate the Kalmar military camp where my brother, Lukas Bondevik, was captured." He bowed. "With your permission, of course."

"Hmmm" The boss looked up at them from his intertwined fingers. "Interesting...And what is your reason for this, Steilsson?"

"Sir" Emil stood up and said, "I wish to bring my brother back from the camp. I believe...I believe that he is in danger there."

"Oh?' The boss raised his eyebrows again. "And what makes you so sure of this?"

Tino cringed. Oh God, what now?

But Emil remained unfazed. He stood up even straighter and said with a strange certainty in his voice, "As odd as it may sound, sir, I'm not sure about this myself. But I can feel it. I can feel that something is going to happen to Lukas. And I wish to avoid it in any way possible."

Tino had to admit, the way Emil carried himself at that moment, his steadfast calmness, composure and resoluteness, it impressed him, even just a little bit.

The boss looked thoughtful for a moment. "That is odd..." He said. "But as much as I feel for you..." The boss turned his back on them. "I can't simply send out troops to that camp without concrete proof of the reason. It would be too risky."

Emil looked stunned. "B-But, sir, isn't Lukas-"

"I know." The boss interrupted. "He's the best spy that we've got, I know." He sighed. "But Steilsson, if I send you and some other troops out there to rescue him just based on this...this feeling that you have that he's in danger...Imagine how that will affect our reputation. And who knows, maybe Bondevik is safer where he is right now..."

Emil couldn't believe it. He felt his heart and his hope sinking to his feet and replaced by rage. Rage at the boss. Why did he have to be like this? Wasn't Lukas a fellow Nordic? Wasn't he supposed to take care of his troops? Was this his way of showing it? By leaving Lukas in that Kalmar camp to die?

"Now go on and await further instructions." The boss barked with a tone of authority. "You are dismissed."

Emil swallowed his rage for just a moment to give a stiff bow and walk briskly out of the room. Tino imminently sensed the younger's rage and made to follow him when the boss. "Wait, Väinämöinen." Tino stopped and turned to the boss. "Sir...?" He said nervously.

"Stay." The boss said. "I believe we have something of some importance to discuss. Steilsson, you may go."

Tino and Emil exchanged looks but Tino only gave him a small nervous smile before walking forward to stand in front of the boss' desk.

Emil wasted no time. He pulled open the door and not even bothering to close it behind him, he walked away down the corridor, rage consuming him. How could he do this...? How could he just walk away and accept this?

He had to go back there and outright demand to have that Kalmar camp infiltrated and his brother rescued.

But somehow, Emil's feet carried him back to the dormitory and there he leaned against the wall, tears of frustration rolling down his cheeks, which he quickly wiped away, embarrassed.

Whatever the boss said, whatever he told him to do, Emil would find a way to save Lukas from the terrible fate that was to meet him, whatever it was.

And he was not going to let the boss stop him.

Can you not feel the brotherly love between Lukas and Emil yet? XDD. Anyways, I'm sorry for the long update and if this chapter is too short or seems too rushed, but THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! They really mean a lot to me :).

Oh and a fair warning to my readers: This story will contain A CHARACTER DEATH. Yes, that's right. Character death -.-. I decided this while planning the future chapters for this story. I myself am not sure who will die in the end. (Maybe Denmark, maybe Norway, maybe even Finny ;A;) But if you're not one for character deaths, then I suggest you stop right now.

But then again, I might change my mind around the middle of the story and not add any sort of character death after all. But you never know anyway.

Just a fair warning to my readers who just can't stomach a character death in a story :).

I enjoy reviews very much, thank you!

~Anon~