Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

Really sorry for the long wait-been too distracted by LOTR to concentrate on Hetalia stories.

Chapter 16

General Winter watched the young sprites as they followed Finland's directions, only to shake his head. Kids these days, he thought, having to rely on others to come up with ideas and help. He remembered when he went through a similar trial having to get out on his own. Perhaps he should have placed that nation in a different trial; since working together seemed to be his main idea.

After several days of thought and trying, the sprites had Pyry continue his work of reaching the ceiling. Soon he had reached the point where when Finland climbed up to the top he could almost reach the top if he jumped his highest. But the ceiling was too thick for him to push through himself. The other sprites were glad that they had come to some idea to get out, but disliked the halt due to the lack of breaking the ceiling. This was quickly fixed, however, when Hong-Kong's sprite threw a fit and decided to burst through the ceiling with his powers, only to have the debris fall of the icy pillar-steps and smash a good portion of them plus injuring the sprite. They were worried about him until that evening when he work up dazed, and Pyry was not at all pleased to see his work destroyed, but they all enjoyed being able to see their way out much clearer.

The nations had continued to look into where Winter could have taken the sprites and Finland, only to finally have a clue when they heard that a bolt of lightning broke open an ice cave. Thinking that it had to be the sprites, the nations looking for them rushed to the area. As they expected, the area was far from human civilization; making their progress grow far from smoothly, but eventually they reached the desolate glaciers and found the large hole the lightning made. Cautiously, several of the nations crept to the hole and peered down into the darkness.

The cave was rather dark, and they could only barely make out the broken pillars of ice stair-stepping up to the hole. After a moment England commented, "This must be the place, it only makes sense."

"But then where are they?" America asked. He figured that the sprites and Finland would still be in the cave and their disappearance puzzled him. They hoped that they had not left and started off in a different direction, but that was certainly an idea.

Seeing that it was growing dark, the group decided to make camp and wait until the next day. Deciding on this, the next morning they prepared to break into groups, one to explore the cave and two others to start in separate ways to look for any tracks of them. The group headed for the cave was about to head in, only to stop when New Zealand pointed to the sky and called out, "Gus!"

The others followed his finger to the sky, only to then look surprised when they saw the little wind-sprite spot them and quickly push himself towards them. The sprite smiled as New Zealand hugged him happily, only to then be asked where the others were. After thinking the question over for a moment, he pointed in a direction causing the group to quickly regroup and head that way.

Finland was completely lost. Since he was the one who got the sprites out of the cave they looked to him as their leader, but Finland did not even know where they were. He had a good feeling that if they walked in their current general direction they would eventually reach his house, but he had no way of telling how long they would need to walk to get there. Along with this, their lack of food and the winter weather was starting to get to all of them. At last in a desperate idea he told Angelica and Gus to fly in different directions for some ways and to come back; hoping that one of them would spot someone who could help them.

As they waited Ama tried to make a fire to warm them, but their place to rest had little she could burn and they soon became weary of the wild winds. After what felt like forever, Angelica came back looking glum, obviously unable to see anyone. Gus came back much later, only he was much more successful in his task.

"Thank God! I wasn't sure how much longer we were going to last out here!" Finland exclaimed as the other nations stopped their off-road vehicles and rushed towards them. All of the nations and sprites were happy to see one another, and the nations sat and listened patiently as Finland explained to them what happened as they headed to the nearest town.

"So he wanted to test you guys?" Seychelles asked confused after Finland finished.

"I suppose a final trial would be expected. After all, you don't want little sprites who can't control themselves controlling the nature," Switzerland replied after some thought.

"But little kids shouldn't be treated like that, even if they are supposed to control such things. Couldn't he of at least waited until they were older?" Canada protested.

"magical creatures like the sprites tend to age differently," England commented.

"I guess it doesn't matter now since we have them back," New Zealand commented, only to then look to the sprites who were all sleeping contently together. The others soon looked at the sprites also, only for some of them to frown.

The sprites had acted a little different since they vanished, and the nations were not sure if it was simply their remembering differently or if something happened in the ice cave. The sprites seemed more confident than before, and while some still held onto a bit of childishness, it was more of the older-child filled with adventure-seeking than the babyish-child from before. They did not want to say anything, but several of the nations who noticed this wondered how long they would have the sprites back for.

Not wanting to dwell on the topic, the nations and sprites soon returned to their own homes and tried to act as if everything was back to normal. The sprites enjoyed being home, and enjoyed the praise they received for their further mastery of their skills, but after some time more of the nations noticed the sprites act antsy. They had begun to notice the sprites wishing to venture out by themselves and not return for longer and longer times.

The nations were still fairly sure that the sprites were staying in the general area of them, but this knowledge only made them more curious. Following this curiosity, the nations one by one decided to search out for their sprite, only to eventually find their creature happily managing their respective element. The sprites had changed in more than just their attitude and power, as the nations discovered. The sprites had also grown up in taking on their task.

Seeing the happiness on their little sprites, and knowing that they could not force them to return and also be happy, the nations eventually decided to let the sprites go off on their own for good. On occasion the sprites would return to see their past caretaker, and they never ventured too far from their home unless needed. All of this causing the nations to realize that while they may have had and lost a little charge, they had also gained a new and valued friend.

And we shall end it here.

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