Alright. As promised, here is the next chapter.
And of course, I must say that the only character that is mine is Wegener.
Without further ado, chapter 13!
Wegener walked into the meeting room and abruptly sat down in his chair. They were in Japan this time. By now he had been to plenty of meetings and understood what Iceland meant when he said that the meetings were often organized and didn't accomplish much. Nevertheless, he was glad that he was able to go to them. He actually had managed to accomplish a lot. He proposed a project that was accepted and eventually produced a sustainable replacement for fossil fuels. The rise of global temperature even slowed down as a result!
Norway sat two seats away from Wegener, trying to get his papers in order before the meeting started. He and Iceland, unlike Iceland and Wegener, were still on speaking terms. Still, nothing had ever been the quite same as those few golden years when Wegener had just been a kid. Norway didn't think anyone else noticed, but he had caught Iceland smiling down at the tabletop when Wegener made some sort of discovery or had a new idea at the meetings on multiple occasions, always trying to hide his expression by brushing his hair in front of his face. He would never admit it, after all, he'd reverted back to his untalkative self after Wegener left, but Iceland was proud of the little guy… although Norway would hardly consider 17 little.
Norway was pulled away from his thoughts by Iceland sitting down in his chair between him and Wegener. Nobody had ever told them that their seats were assigned, but it seemed to be some sort of unspoken law. Iceland sat between Norway and Wegener. Norway sat next to Denmark, who sat across from Sweden and Finland. Iceland didn't say anything, he simply sat down, pulled out his laptop, and started organizing his notes. He stopped abruptly then and looked to the right, where Wegener had pressed his forehead against the cool table, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" They were the first words spoken to Wegener in a long long while.
Wegener just nodded and focused on breathing. He felt like absolute crap today: hot, sweaty, chills, nausea, dizziness, vision sparkling, ears ringing, headache, everything. He jumped when he felt a hand brush under his bangs and press against his forehead.
"Come on," Iceland said, standing up.
"What?" Wegener groaned groggily.
"We're going home."
"Home is almost 9,000 kilometers away."
"Hotel then, you know what I mean."
"No. Need to stay-" the rest of what Wegner wanted wanted to stay was lost in a string of coughing."
"You're sick. Come on." He pulled out Wegener's chair and gathered up his papers for him. Surely one of the Nordics would let them copy their notes later.
Wegener groaned and gave up. Honestly, going back and laying down was starting to look pretty good right about now.
He stood up, stumbling slightly. The room seemed to rotate from left to right slightly. Iceland put his hand on his shoulder to steady him and guided him out.
Behind him, the nordics all glanced at each other with almost suppressed smiles, even Sweden, who watched them make their way towards the door. Things would start to get better.
Once in the car, Wegener leaned against the window and closed his eyes.
"Volcanoes?" Iceland asked. There had been quite a bit of volcanic activity in the past few weeks. He didn't know that it was close enough to effect Wegener, or that it was that bad, especially since he felt no effects himself.
Wegener nodded, unsure of what to say after that, although he was feeling a bit too sick to put much more thought into it. Before he knew it, he was laying down in bed (although he could barely recall walking out of the car), while Iceland placed a cool washcloth on his forehead. It felt like heaven. What was this supposed to mean though? Did Iceland forgive him? Could things go back to normal now?
"You didn't have to do that you know," Wegener finally said, already feeling the effects of a restless sleep take over.
"Well sure I did. You're my little brother."
Wegener blinked his eyes open, sitting up a little.
"What?"
Iceland watched Wegener for a moment, whose face was an unhealthy pale color and eyes shining with that enthusiasm he'd come to know so well at the meetings lately even though the rest of his face displayed none of it.
"I said you're my little brother." He pulled a chair over and sat down, running a hand through his hair. "Listen Wegener, I know I haven't been very nice these past few years. I'm so sorry, and I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished. If-"
Iceland was cut short as he was pulled into a bear-hug. "I rushed into the whole independence thing too. It's okay!"
Wegener sniffed, though Iceland couldn't tell if it was to keep from crying or because he was sick.
It was then that Iceland realized that despite everything, Wegener was still 17. Still just a kid. And worst of all, he had to set up a government all on his own, after Iceland said he wouldn't help.
"No. It's really not okay. You were left to go start a country and I abandoned you!"
"Don't worry about it. My country is doing fine. Government running smoothly, good export of fish and crops, no trouble from foreign countries. Everything is going well."
Iceland smiled. "Good job, kid. Still. There has to be something I can do."
"Just promise we'll all be a family again."
"Deal."
Wegener smiled and finally drifted off into a light asleep, face first in the pillow.
They would be a family again: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Wegner. The Nordic six.
And there you have it! This will finish off my first multi-chapter fic. I'll be moving this over to the complete category now :'( However, I can't say I won't come back and add an epilogue at some point. I have a few ideas for continuing this story. If you have any requests for an epilogue, or a chapter you want me to put in between some others, or want to use Wegener in a story yourself, just let me know! :) Once again, nothing in this story was meant to depict the actual countries, just the characters in the anime. I know I've been saying this for thirteen chapters now, but thank you honestly to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! Also, thank you to Transformers' BABY, Rosemary1234, and Rylee Wyatt for the feedback on chapter 12! Special thanks to Miss Akiyate, Transformers' BABY, and PianoKeys4 for leaving feedback on so many chapters since the beginning! I'll be writing more soon :) Thanks again!