My people Are Suffering
Norway prided himself on being composed most of the time, he truly did. He always kept the same blank expression on his face day in and day out. He had a decent span of his temper, there were just some people who pushed his buttons the wrong way. But most of the time, he was calm and composed. Except around the one person who annoyed him more than ANYTHING. Insert a derisive snort here. Guess who?
Of course. Denmark.
Who else would be stupid enough and annoying enough to bother Norway at all odd hours of the day, EVERY day for some reason or another whether he was drunk, sober, or somewhere in between. Of course it would be the stupid, childish, loud, annoying as hell Danish man. What other Nordic (or any other European country for that matter) would bother the Norwegian all the time?
Which was currently what the ignorant Dane was doing right now. GOD why would he just NOT shut the ******** up for just a MOMENT. Norway was at home right now, having finished his work early for the day and somehow, Denmark thought it the most opportune time to interrupt his quiet time and come visit and invade his fellow Nordic’s home. He’d been rambling on and on for the past few minutes about one thing or another and it was slowly driving Norway mad. The Norwegian was nursing a slight headache already and the Danish man was making it worse.
However, Norway ignored the headache and starting to prepare for dinner, as it would take a while to cook, and Iceland would be there shortly, followed in the later evening by Sweden and Finland. It was their monthly meeting of the Nordics, and unfortunately, it was Norway’s turn to host everyone. Earlier, he’d sent away his troll to go gather some things from town, so hopefully they’d have some peaceful moments. A few of the fairies he knew were flying around him, helping him as he working, fetching the ingredients or utensils he needed and whatnot. Denmark, however, was not helping, and was already drinking obnoxious amounts of alcohol and his already incredibly loud voice was growing even more boisterous.
When Iceland arrived at his older brother’s home, he met the scene before him with an amused snort. Denmark was prattling around in the kitchen, hovering around Norway as he cooked and ticks were forming on the Norwegian’s forehead from irritation as he kept telling the Danish man to ‘sit down and shut the ******** up’. Iceland announced his arrival and sat at the table with grunt from Norway and an exuberant, obnoxious ‘Hej! It’s Iceland!’ from Denmark. Iceland watched in amusement as the Dane continued to harass his elder brother.
The more annoyed Norway became, the more amused Iceland became in return. “I can see you two were having fun before I got here.” A fierce glare was shot his way via a pissed off Norway, Denmark chirping a happy, ‘Of course’ in return. A snicker passed across Iceland’s lips before a creepy haunting tone from Norway stopped him in his tracks. He shivered as the words ‘Onii-chan’ were called in a hollowed haunting tone. “Never.”
Norway, pleased that it shut Iceland up, went back to cooking although he still had yet to get rid of the Danish man. If only Sve and Finland would hurry up, then maybe Denmark would go irritate the Swedish man and leave him to cook in peace. The phone in the house rang out shrilly, alerting the Norwegian someone was trying to reach him. He checked the ID of the call, noticing it was the office number. He picked up the phone with a toneless ‘God ettermiddag, er det noe galt, statsminister?’ as he continued to prepare dinner. The Prime Minister began asking Norway a few questions and conveyed a few ideas to the personification of the country. In the midst of there conversation, Denmark began tapping Norway on the shoulder lightly to attract his attention. The first time went ignored. The second, Norway shot up his hand with his index finger up to signal the Dane to give him a minute. As the tapping persisted and got a bit harder, he murmured a soft, ‘hold on a moment, please’ to the Prime Minister in Norwegian before rounding on Denmark as he covered the phone with his hand and barked out a sharp but quiet, “WHAT?!”
Denmark held up his hands with a sheepish expression on his face before pointing at the area behind himself with a slightly concerned look. “Norge, your friends are going a-wall behind us. They’re trying to get your attention.” He pointed over at the fairies shrieking behind his back with a sheepish grin.
Norway furrowed his brows as he held out his hand and let the fairies drop onto his arm. At that moment, a surge of fear passed through him as a sense of foreboding shook his very core. Sinister thoughts entered his mind and he felt ill at ease, his headache growing worse. He softly whispered to the fairies and they shrieked back frantically, talking to the Norwegian about something the Danish man couldn’t understand. Norway’s mask of indifference broke as a frown marred his lips as he brought the phone to his lips, slipping back into his native tongue. “Prime Minister? Are you at the office?”
“I’m in the one outside of Oslo, not in the main office. Why do you ask?”
“Stay there. Don’t go to the main office.”
A pause sounded from the other line. “Norway? You sound concerned? Is something wrong?”
Norway frowned in worriment. “I had a very bad feeling just pass through me. I think something bad is going to happen. My heart... My heart is accelerating and my head is aching. Something’s wrong, Prime Minister. Please be careful.”
“We’ll keep an eye out and if anything happens, I’ll call you if something happens, okay? Oh, my next appointment is here, I must go but I’ll check in with the main office soon. Goodbye, Norway.”
“Goodbye.” Norway hung up the phone and turned back to his cooking, resuming what he’d been doing before.
“What was that all about?” Iceland stared at his older brother in concern. Norway was still frowning, and that wasn’t a good sign. “Did something happen?”
“No... Not yet.” Norway’s frown deepened. “Something... Something’s not right. I can feel something bad’s going to happen.” A hand was laid on his shoulder, and he shook his head. “I’m alright... Just a bit nervous, is all. It can’t be too terrible. Nothing catastrophic has happened since World War II.” He just waved it off and continued as he was before, but his headache was steadily growing worse by the hour.
Soon enough, Finland and Sweden finally made it to the gathering and Denmark left his spot behind Norway to go boisterously bother the tall Swedish man and chirp his hellos to Finland. Norway gave a sigh of relief as he was given reprieve from the Dane’s annoying company. He continued to fix dinner, listening to idle chatter from the other Nordics. He cussed darkly under his breath as Denmark once again took up his spot hovering around the Norwegian. He glared over at Iceland, who was hiding amused snickers behind his hand. After the Danish man, continued poking Norway to irritate him, he spun around on his heel and grabbed onto his tie and began choking the other nation with it, growling Norwegian death threats under his breath.
Off to the side, Sweden only shook his head with a sigh. “Ya’d th’nk th’y’d git o’er all th’s ’lready an’ juss s’y tha’ th’y’re d’tin’.” Finland nodded lightly with a sigh of his own. Iceland snickered lightly behind his hand again. “That’d be too easy though, Sve. Besides, it’s not like Norway would actually admit it, even if it was true.”
As Iceland turned to look back over at Norway, he jumped at the glaring face of Norway so near to his. “Onii-chan.” That haunting voice was back, a ghost making its way out of the ground to fly around the Icelandic boy. “Onii-chan.” Iceland grimaced further and leaned away from his elder brother. “Onii-chan.” Iceland shook his head rapidly. “Onii-chan.” Iceland shook his head no again. “Onii-chan.”
“Stop it, Norway. I am NOT calling you that.”
“Onii-chan.”
“No.”
“Onii-chan.”
“NO.”
“Onii-chan.”
“NO! Now stop it! Go back to cooking!”
Norway stared at him for a moment, a blank expression on his face. “Onii-chan.” He turned and stared at Sweden with a blank expression. “Stop encouraging him, Sve. We are not dating. And that comment was very rich coming from you.” He then swiftly turned back to the kitchen, resuming his place at his stoves, watching over the pots and they boiled and steamed.
“D’sn’t m’ke ‘t ‘ny l’ss true.”
Norway rounded and sent another annoyed glare over at the Swedish giant. He desperately wanted to make a snide remark but refrained out of politeness for Finland’s sake. He glared up at Denmark behind him, eyes narrowing at the cheeky grin on his lips. He opened his mouth to tell the Dane to shut up for the twentieth time in the past fifteen minutes before everything went fuzzy for a moment. Norway placed a hand against the side of his head, stumbling backwards a bit. He could vaguely hear concerned shouts as his body gave out and collapsed. Soon enough, the pain wracked through his body, his heart constricting tightly as his body went into convulsions. Tremors pulsed through the ground beneath everyone’s feet seconds afterwards.
Denmark held tight to the Norwegian, desperately trying to get the other to answer him and tell him what happened. When the tremors in the ground passed, he looked over at the other Nordics that had quickly rushed over and knelt down beside them both. “What the hell was that? An Earthquake?”
Finland frowned worriedly. “It might have been.”
Iceland shook his head. “That didn’t feel like an earthquake. The vibrations were different.”
“...plosion...” Denmark leaned down, listening closely as Norway spoke softly. “What was that Norge?” Norway shook violently still, staring out into space, not seeing where he was or the people with him. “...Explosion... Panic... Bomb... Blood everywhere... People dead... Hurts... Pain...”
Finland shuffled closely, softly stroking the Norwegian’s hair. “Where does it hurt, Norway?” The sooner they could find out what exploded, they could take Norway to the damage and see what had happened. Norway was silent for a few moments before he started mumbling. “Oslo... Government building... people dead... hurts... Oslo hurting... Make pain stop... Prime Minister okay... Other office outside Oslo... Okay...” Finland’s eyes saddened when he realized it had struck Oslo but was relieved that Norway’s Prime Minister was safe and sound and not caught in this explosion or whatever happened.
As the shaking worsened, Denmark slowly began to rock the Norwegian man back and forth, gripping onto the other tightly, laying his chin on the other’s head. He started whispering soft, soothing words in the other’s ear, still rocking the other gently back and forth. Minutes flew by and slowly Norway was calming down from the slight fright. He soon stopped quivering all together and Denmark and the others helped him stand slowly. He blankly looked towards the door, moving numbly to it. He has to see what happened. He couldn’t just sit there. His people were in pain. Denmark and Iceland shot eat other looks of understanding before quickly following the Norwegian. Finland called after them that he and Sweden would watch over the food and to call when they found out what happened.
Denmark drove them to the middle of town where the Government building was located. Norway’s heart plummeted at the sight of the destruction. He opened the door while the car was still in motion, though slower since Denmark was trying to find a place to park the car. He bounded out and took off towards the buildings and the blockades that were set up around it. Iceland cussed darkly and quickly took off after him. Denmark himself quickly parked the car and took off after the other two. Norway was gripping one of the blockades tightly, his knuckles going white from how tightly he was griping it. Silent tears began to fall from his cheeks. The people around him were all scared and crying from confusion. Denmark caught Norway as he began to fall back again and held him tightly, pressing the Norwegians face to his chest so he wouldn’t see this destruction. People nearby recognized the embodied nations, quickly forming around them. Many people cried with Norway. Others told Denmark to watch over him.
People began to emerge and be brought out from their respective offices. Family members were reunited and people found their loved ones safe and sound. Then the medical teams started carrying out the bodies. Seven in total. Ten people were loaded into ambulances to be treated or taken to the hospital for treatment. Norway watched numbly from his place wrapped in Denmark’s embrace. Iceland was hugging his other side, clutching onto him as tightly as the Dane. At the moment, it didn’t matter.
Slowly, everything was getting sorted through. As the police were telling what they knew about the situation to Denmark and Iceland, another surge of pain shot through Norway instantly. He began jerking in spasms, twisting in the Danish man’s arms. Seconds later, a new wave of tears came forth as Norway felt like he was being loaded full of bullets. His cries of anguish and pure unbridled pain echoed through the area, and to the ears of all nearby citizens. Denmark held tight to the Norwegian, not letting him go no matter how much he lashed out. He couldn’t let Norway hurt himself or do something stupid. “Norge, what’s happening now?”
Norway could barely register the question through the pain. His cries of agony drowned out everything Iceland and Denmark were trying to ask. Pain. So much pain. God it hurt. “Utoya... kids... shooter... open fire... hurts... so much blood... the children...” Tears slipped down his cheeks once again as the waves of agony overtook him. Denmark quickly related what was said to the police officer and units were called for that direction. Denmark slowly rocked the Norwegian back and forth again, clutching him to his chest and whispering soft words to calm him down. At some point during this, Iceland walked away from the crowd to call Finland with updates. Norway was still in too much pain to register what was going on around him.
Minutes went by, and soon, the pain began to alleviate a tiny bit. The tremors slowed down as Norway just curled up into a ball in the embrace, tears still making lines down his cheeks. He buried his face into the Danish man’s chest even further and wept. Denmark held the other tightly still, rocking him gently back and forth until he fell asleep. He shifted his grip, picking up the Norwegian bridal style slowly carrying him back to the car. Iceland shifted himself into the back seat, letting his older brother lie across lap as Denmark made his way slowly back to the Norwegian’s home.
Denmark wordlessly carried the Norwegian inside the house once they’d arrived, making his way back towards the bedroom. He gently lowered Norway onto the bed, wrapping a blanket around him before turning to head back into the kitchen. A hand wrapping around his wrist stopped him. Denmark turned back around, eyes softening at the broken and lost expression on his long time friend’s face. He moved back closer to the bed, reaching the other hand not caught in Norway’s grip to pet through the blonde’s hair. “Yes, Norge?”
Norway’s grip lingered on his wrist as his dull eyes stared up to meet Denmark’s livelier but sadder irises. “P-please...” His voice was broken and so soft the other nation couldn’t believe it belonged to the snarky, often monotonic and dull voiced Norwegian he’d known since they were young children. “Please... don’t go...”
Denmark’s countenance softened and he sat down on the edge of the bed beside the Norwegian, softly petting and stroking his hair with a gentle, sad smile. “I’m not going anywhere, Norge... I promise.” He shifted over to lay beside the Norwegian, wrapping his arms around the other and holding him close. The Norwegian curled up against him, burying his face in the Danish man’s chest. Denmark hummed softly. “Come on boys, come on girls, in this crazy, crazy world, you’re the diamonds, you’re the pearls, let’s make a new tomorrow today.” Norway once again fell asleep, lulled by the Danish man’s singing, too tired to argue about the song he was singing.
Hours later, Norway slowly opened his eyes to find himself in his room with no recollection of how he’d gotten there. Slowly the events of earlier began to come back to him and he shut his eyes tightly, willing away the images and the sounds. He became acutely aware his pillow was moving underneath him and was exceptionally warm. He opened his eyes again and noticed the chest he was laying on top of. He looked up slowly at the sleeping Dane, once again remember what happened when they returned home. He laid his cheek against the Dane’s chest, shifting in surprise when the hold around his waist tightened. He looked up again as one eye opened and a lazy smile was sent to the Norwegian.
Denmark smiled lightly, running his fingers through Norway’s hair with a soft hum. “Feeling better than you were?”
Norway sighed lightly, resting his cheek against the other’s chest once more. “Not really. I’m not in searing pain, but Everything still hurts.” He sighed softly, closing his eyes. “Nothing this bad has happened since World War II... Why... why were WE targeted?” His dull eyes opened again and he stared blankly at the wall.
“Sick people live in the world.” Denmark ran his hands through the other nation’s hair with a soft sigh. “Nothing we can do about that except make sure they can’t harm anyone else.” He gave a soft sigh before stretching his arms up above his head. “I wonder if the others are still here?”
Norway hummed idly before he sat up abruptly in panic. The food, the gathering! He’d completely forgotten he’d left his food on the stove when he’d left in a blind panic. “Denmark, the dinner-”
“Finland and Sweden watched over everything while we were gone, so don’t worry. The food did not get burnt.” Denmark grinned lightly as the Norwegian calmed down a bit and relaxed. He sat up, running his hands through Norway’s hair to smooth it out. He could see the rising flush appear on the Norwegians cheeks, making his grin widen further. He leaned in and abruptly kissed the other full on the mouth, making Norway jolt in surprise before responding in kind, wrapping his arms around the Danish man’s neck. Denmark threaded his fingers through the Norwegian’s hair, humming softly in amusement.
A soft click and a snicker at the door brought both back to reality and Norway quickly pushed the other away, cheeks flushed a dark scarlet as he stared over at the open doorway, where Iceland stood smugly with his phone perched in his hands. “Mhm. Not dating. Sure could have fooled me.” Iceland smirked as the slow realization dawned on Norway and turned and high tailed it across the house as Norway dived off the bed shouting death threats. “DELETE THAT PICTURE YOU LITTLE s**t!”
“Never!”
“ICELAND!”
