Tino did his best to conceal his anger and sorrow at work, but it wasn't easy. Even though he loved photography, loved people and loved taking pictures of people, Tino's day was little more than a joyless gray haze. Every smile that he gave was forced, and when talking to children, he had to make his voice go up and down in an intonation that was so artificial it hurt his ears.

The worst moment of the day was when Elizabeta noticed.

"Tino, you aren't yourself today, what's wrong?" her green eyes were widened with worry.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Tino replied, wincing at his contrived tone, "I'm just tired is all."

That was when Elizabeta's gaze wandered to Tino's left hand. "Did you and Berwald have a fight?"

"Let's not talk about it." Tino said.

Elizabeta furrowed her brows, "It's okay, you can tell me about it."

Tino bit his lip until the inside of his mouth tasted metallic. "Just let me get back to work. This isn't professional."

Tino's return to his apartment was even worse. He didn't hear the usual sound of Berwald's heavy footsteps or feel the larger man's arms wrap around him. In fact, Tino was ashamed that he had enjoyed these things at one point.

Hanatamago seemed oblivious to the situation as she came bounding towards Tino. He knelt down to greet the puppy and scooped her wriggling body up into his arms.

"Looks like it's just you and me, girl." Tino said.

Hanatamago barked, the sound was too playful and sweet to fit the mood, and it echoed through a newly hollow place in Tino's brain. Happiness had left, and who knew how long it would be gone.

Tino then noticed a note of some sort lying on the kitchen table. He made his was over with long, automatic strides. He also tightened his grip on Hanatamago a bit. As Tino picked up the white piece of paper, he noticed that the handwriting scrawled on top of it belonged to Berwald. Tino didn't want to read what Berwald had to say, but found himself doing so anyways.

"Tino,

I'm sory about what happend, I would explain it all to you, but it's clear that you won't lisen. I can't stand seeing you hurt like this, so I left. I will always love you, and I'll never forgit you.

Goodbye,

Berwald"

Tino almost let himself think that the misspellings sprinkled throughout the note were cute, but then he remembered who wrote it and threw it onto the ground.

"Hana, I'm sleepy." Tino said. The dog, finally picking up on the fact that her master wasn't in the best emotional state, whimpered and nuzzled against his face. Tino looked at Hanatamago and gave her a tired smile. "I think I'll lie down on the couch. I've done too many disgusting things on the bed."

Tino soon found himself collapsing onto the old couch, still holding Hanatamago. He buried his face into her snowy fur and wept loudly. Then, with a tear stained face, his mind drifted into a deep sleep.

"No, st'p!" Berwald shouted, "This 's a TRADE MISSION, n't a raid!" but the ax wielding men didn't seem to hear him. Berwald turned to Tino and Sven, "Run away. I don' wan you gettin' hurt."

"Sven, go into the forest." Tino said to the frightened red-head, who then ran off.

"Why aren't ya goin' with him?" Berwald asked Tino.

"It's my duty to help protect my people." Tino replied, "Don't try and stop me."

Berwald smiled. "The spirit of a true warrior."

It turned out that the rough band of men had one target and one target only, Pyry's home and land. Under the leadership of both Berwald and Tino, a band of loyal subjects of the elder fought valiantly and surrounded the white haired man with what could only be described as a human shield. The Vikings were outnumbered, and soon all fighting stopped.

"What h've ya done?" shouted Berwald at the Vikings, "These are our allies."

It was then that Ivar stepped fourth and gripped Berwald's forearm. "Nephew, our family has lost many a fight and much of our land. We had expected you to join us in the conquest of this new land."

"Uncle, ya never told me 'bout this. Why did ya lie to me?"

"Someone told me that you have found a delicious little plaything here. I knew that if you had been told of the situation, that you would put an end to it before it began. Consider this a favor."

Tino stomped over to Ivar, his hair flowing behind him like an angry flaxen flame. "I am not a plaything. You will find that when the rest of the villagers arrive, you will be overrun."

"Don't be so sure of yourself, Tino." said a male voice. Taisto and a band of villagers larger than the one commanded by Berwald and Tino had arrived.

"Taisto, you have finally arrived." Ivar said with an edge of irritation in his voice.

"What is the m'ning o' this!" shouted Berwald.

Taisto's face split into a murderous grin. "Reform. Instead of having Old Pyry curse our land with drought once more, and I have enlisted Ivar's help in eliminating him."

"Taisto, the villagers love the leader. You cannot get away with this." Tino said.

"Then why is my faction so much bigger than yours?" Taisto asked, gesturing to his men with one arm.

Then there was a piercing shout of pain. All turned to look at Old Pyry, who had been stabbed in the chest by one of the villagers. "Taisto and the men from across the sea will protect us from all curses and evil." he shouted fanatically.

"Berwald," said Ivar, "You must take your position as owner of this land or be punished as a disgrace to our family. What do you choose?"

Berwald inhaled. "M' desires are Tino's desires. I will not ta'ke this land."

"Traitor" shouted a man somewhere in the crowd.

"You have made a poor choice. I truly believed that you would side with us." said Ivar, shaking his head. "Taisto, how do you propose we punish this man?"

Taisto's grin grew wider. "I shall seal him away for many centuries. When he is freed, he will be lost, alone and nowhere near his beloved Tino."

Then, a group of fifteen massive Vikings grabbed hold of Berwald and pulled him towards Taisto. Berwald struggled as hard as he could, but was unable to free himself.

"Don't touch him!" shouted Tino, raising his sword and charging. None of his other men moved: they were outnumbered and afraid.

Tino had always been a proficient fighter, so it didn't take him long to slash his way through several Vikings in order to get to Berwald. Before he could free his beloved, however, Tino felt a blunt blow to his head and his vision went dark. Someone had hit him.

When Tino finally came to, he found himself tied to a tree, standing face to face with a puuko wielding Taisto.

Awakening from that particular nap was like bursting out from under ice. Tino's body was cold, but heated the moment he sat up. Like the waters of a Finnish lake, everything was clear: Tino knew how he and Berwald had lived and died.

Berwald!

Tino had banished the love of his life from his side without bothering to learn the whole story. Who knew where the Viking could have gone. Tino's worry became stronger when he noticed that there was no light coming through the window and Hanatamago was asleep. It was night time and Berwald was missing,

Tino pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. If he was lucky, Berwald had just taken shelter with Lukas. At least, he hoped that was the case. With shaking hands, Tino selected his friend's name from his list of contacts and hit call. Lukas answered after the first ring.

"Hello?" Lukas' mellow voice was unmistakable.

"Lukas, this is Tino. Is Berwald with you?"

"No. Why?"

Tino began to hyperventilate, "I kind of kicked him out this morning and now I can't find him."

"You what!?" shouted Lukas.

"Okay, look, I had this memory of an invasion of my village and thought that Berwald was behind it. I had another dream just minutes ago and now I know that it isn't the case at all. You've gotta help me find him."

Lukas let out a long, hissing sigh, "Tino, you can be such an idiot some times."

"I know." said Tino as he felt even more guilt wash over him.

"He could be over by my house. Get a flashlight and drive over."

It turned out that searching for someone in the blackness of a moonless night was more difficult than Tino had anticipated. The night's shadows seemed to have a way of swallowing whole people up, even if they were as big and tall as Berwald. Luckily, with the help of Lukas and a reluctant Emil, it couldn't be impossible could it?

After three hours of searching, Tino's throat began to feel numb from all the shouting of Berwald's name. Even though he only was able to see them when the light of the flashlight passed over them, Tino could tell that Emil and Lukas were just as exhausted as he was.

"We can't give up." said Tino, trying to encourage his companions as well as himself.

Lukas put a hand on Tino's drooping shoulder. "We aren't going home without Berwald." he said.

Emil, meanwhile, was skimming his flashlight along the bed of a creek. In an abrupt instant, he stopped moving his flashlight. "There's someone down there!"

Tino looked into the spot of light and saw a large, male looking figure. "Berwald!" he shouted as he ran towards the creek. Lukas and Emil weren't far behind.

Tino knew that the shadowy figure was indeed Berwald when he sat down next to him and shined his flashlight up and down his body.

"Berwald, I had another dream! I know the truth now. Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" all of Tino's word's escaped his mouth in rapid succession.

Berwald stroked Tino's cheek. "Fell 'bout an hour ago an' sprained m' ankle, I think. No one saw or heard me."

Lukas knelt down and examined Berwald's left ankle. "It's swollen really bad. He's probably right, it looks sprained."

"Thank God it isn't worse than that." Emil groaned.

Tino leaned in and kissed Berwald hard. He could feel himself crying, and it seemed that Berwald's cheeks were dotted with tears as well. "I'm so sorry, Ber. I shouldn't have doubted you. I know you didn't remember everything, but I should have trusted you with what you did remember." Tino then took Berwald by the left hand. "You're still wearing your ring."

Berwald chuckled, "'course I am. Still love ya."

"I don't deserve that." Tino replied.

"I und'rstand why ya got angry. S'okay, s' over now." Berwald wrapped his arms around Tino, who buried his face into his lover's chest and sobbed.

When all was calm once more, Lukas spoke, "Emil and Tino, help me pick Berwald up. We need to get that ankle checked out at a hospital."

The three men hoisted Berwald up and supported him with their shoulders.

"Looks l'ke it's Tino's turn t' to help me walk." said Berwald.

All Tino could do was smile.