Alright, so it's really not fair to leave everyone hanging off a cliff like that, so here's chapter 12. As usual, the only character belonging to me is Wegener. Enjoy! :)
Iceland stared. "You want what now?"
"I want," Wegener said, taking a deep breath, although his face remained rather composed, "I want to be independent."
"No," Iceland immediately said, shaking his head and making his hair fall unevenly across his forehead. Where on earth had this come from? "Just… no."
"Why?" Wegener asked, a growl of some sort building in the back of his throat, although that was more so nerves than anything.
"Why? Why?" Iceland stopped his pacing to stare at the teen, pretty angry at this point. "You tell me one good reason why you should be independent."
"I want to be able to go to the meetings."
"Meetings! You've got to be kidding me! Meetings are boring and uncooperative and-"
"And important," Wegener finished, a new light flashing behind his eyes. He took another deep breath to steady his nerves and spoke on. "The world has it's problems, and it always will. But I could fix some of them if I only could explain some of my ideas and-"
"And what about me!? I listen to your ideas, I share them at the meetings. What makes you think it would be any different if you were the one telling them?"
"I don't. But I won't know unless I actually go?" Wegener said.
"And what if you did? What if I found some way to let you go? Would you be happy then?"
Wegener didn't blink, didn't even look away from Iceland's glare. "I highly doubt I would be taken seriously if I wasn't a real country."
Iceland stared, trying to come up with a counterargument, but couldn't find one. Wegener was right.
"Iceland? Will you let me be independen-" he didn't even get out the last word before hearing the door slam and realizing that Iceland was no longer in the room.
"Do you mind?" Norway asked grouchily, coming out of his hotel room a few doors down. It may not be late enough for most people to sleep yet, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear a ton of doors slamming while he tried to read either. He immediately lost his train of thought when he saw the expression on Iceland's face though.
"What happened?" he asked lightly, falling into step behind his younger brother as he walked briskly down the hall, going nowhere in particular.
"Wegener wants to be independent," Iceland growled, stopping abruptly at the end of the hallway: a window overlooking Amsterdam.
"I'm not surprised," Norway said after a long pause.
Iceland raised his eyebrows, but otherwise ignored the comment.
"How do I convince him to stay?" he asked, looking down at the city several floors below him without really seeing it.
Norway leaned against the window, deep in thought, although you would never be able to tell just by looking at him.
"Maybe you don't."
Iceland turned to him, eyes wide with anger or shock or some mixture of the two. "Excuse me?"
"If you let him go now, you two could still be on good terms. If not, you may have to fight him and could win, but hardly be considered friends let alone family. And if you lose, then you would lose all ties with him."
"I wouldn't lose," Iceland muttered, his resolve building.
Norway just stared at him, expression unreadable. "Not unless other countries stepped in to support his cause."
"What are you trying to say?" Iceland stepped back. "You wouldn't support that, would you?
Norway shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know yet."
Iceland spun around ready to walk back to his room, seething. Norway's arm shot out and stopped him.
"Let me talk to him?"
Iceland looked at his brother, glowering almost, but it was clear that Norway wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Fine."
Somehow, Denmark ended up going with Norway. They found themselves sitting the armchairs with the horrible patterns that nobody would buy for their own homes, but always seemed to end up in hotels. The three of them arranged them into a sort of broken triangle and sat down.
"I'm assuming you know why we're here, Wegener," Norway said calmly, resting his chin on his hands."
"Yes," Wegener nodded. They were probably here to convince him to remain a part of Iceland.
"So can you tell us why you want to be independent."
And so Wegener told them everything about the meetings. All things that they already knew, of course.
And in turn, Denmark and Norway walked him through what being an independent country would be like. There was trade, government, more economic responsibility, defense, and so on. Independence didn't just mean getting to go to meetings.
But Wegener insisted he was ready for it all.
"I still don't know," Denmark said after their good hour long conversation.
"The point of raising a kid is to prepare another person to make their own way in life. I'm prepared, but I'm not able to make my own way through life like this."
Denmark and Norway exchanged glances at these words, partly amazed that a thirteen year old was able to come up with that point. If it came down to supporting either Iceland or Wegener, they knew whose side they needed to choose. Norway had considered staying neutral for a while now, but knew now that this wasn't something he could stay out of.
Iceland paced restlessly in the hallway, listening to the stories Finland and occasionally Sweden told of times when countries became independent without difficulty or any grudges held, but he couldn't really remember any of them after a few minutes. He was fairly sure that they would be on his side if he needed to fight to keep Wegener.
Finally, Norway and Denmark stepped out of the room, Wegener standing behind them.
"Iceland," Denmark said, not smiling for the first time in what seemed like forever. "If you decide to fight to keep Wegener, I'm afraid we'll have to defend him."
Iceland glared at the three nations across from him, only hearing his own breathing behind his ears. He remembered Norway's words from not too long ago. Was it really worth it? Was it worth it to go against three of his best friends, two of which were his own brothers?
He turned his gaze towards Wegener. "You want to be Independent? Fine," he spit. "Merry Christmas. But don't ask me for any help anymore." And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving 5 stunned Nordics behind him.
So Norway was right is one aspect: fighting to keep Wegener wasn't worth the cost.
But he was wrong in another aspect: he and Wegener wouldn't be on good terms. Iceland was upset with Wegener for turning his back on him like that, while Wegener grew cold towards him when he realized that Iceland wouldn't respect the situation or let it go. They wouldn't speak to each other for many years.
Before you say anything, no, this is NOT the ending! Trust me, I'm not going to leave the story like this. In fact, I'll probably have the next (and last :'( ) chapter up in a couple of hours. If not, then definitely by tomorrow night. Thank you to everyone who read, favorited, reviewed, and followed. Special thanks to chapter 11's reviewers: Transformers' BABY, Shattered. Yin-Yang, major-fan-girl-in-here17, and one guest. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.