Chapter 4

"I swear, Ice, the next time I need money, I'm calling you!" Denmark exclaimed.

"I am never doing something like that again. That was humiliating." Iceland said bitterly, angry at how Denmark was still dwelling on that episode. "Just drop it, alright?"

"But you-"

"Drop. It."

The three Nordics, having paid for as much coffee as they could carry, were heading out to where they had parked their car. Finland, having detected a tense silence after Iceland had yelled at Denmark, was rambling on and on about nothing. They were walking peacefully for about thirty seconds when, as was becoming a pattern, something went wrong.

"Hey- where's our car?" Finland interrupted himself. "It was just here when we went in!"

"Well, it's not now. Someone must have stolen it," said Iceland, the ever-optimistic.

"Or it could've… well, maybe… or possibly…" Denmark tried to come up with an alternative, but failed. "Yeah, it got stolen."

"Okay, everyone stay calm!" said Finland, who was the only one who was freaking out. "It's got to be here somewhere. Cars don't just disappear!"

"No, but they do get stolen."

This earned a certain silver-haired Nordic country a smack upside the head.

"Let's go look for it!"

"Finland, you're not making any sense. There's barely anyone in the parking lot, there's nowhere else the car could be, and furthermore, what exactly do you think happened to it? Like you said, cars don't just disappear!" Iceland was becoming indignant.

"So, let's just say that someone stole our car. How exactly are we going to get home?"

"We could walk!"

"Are you out of your mind, Denmark? It's miles!" said Finland, who was so far past being tolerant that it was a miracle that he was even standing.

"Alright, how about this? We can hitchhike! I saw it in a movie once!" Denmark said excitedly.

"Yes, and I saw a movie once where these guys robbed a bank and murdered someone," said Iceland.

"Iceland, we don't need to put murder in anyone's mind," said Finland hurriedly, trying to defuse what was quickly becoming WWIII.

"All right, this is ridiculous," he continued. "Let's start off walking, and then, if we really need to, we'll hitchhike."

This solution, while not exactly being the most desirable, ended up being the one that invoked the fewest murderous thoughts, so it was chosen in the end. Unfortunately, even the most random things lying by the side of the road could give Denmark an excuse to annoy the hell out of anyone near him.

And equally as unfortunately, the two nations near him happened to be in bad moods from caffeine withdrawal, not to mention Iceland's temper in the first place.

"Hey, guys! Guys! Look at this pebble I found!" exclaimed Denmark, having gone about thirty seconds without saying anything.

"What's so remarkable about it?"

"Well, it's, like, three different colours! That's… more than two!"

Denmark was getting delusional; he was going through caffeine withdrawal and he hadn't had beer for almost thirty-six hours.

"Yeah, good math, Denmark."

Iceland was too tired to care at this point.

They continued in this fashion for about fifteen minutes, which seemed like quite some distance to the travellers, but was apparently not even a mile.

Of course, when the frazzled and tired countries found this out, some mild hell went down.

"FJANDINN!"

Iceland was starting to lose it.

However, the saving grace appeared when someone pulled over and offered the three Nordics a ride, most likely out of pity.

And that someone was none other than the Republic of Korea.