Note: This is a Flashback chappy

The day was as any summer day should be. The weather was pleasant and the air from the sea was fresh and inviting.

As their long boat came ashore, Lukas was filled with excitement. They'd been at sea for several weeks, committing countless raids on their way up the Finnish coast and now they were headed inland again to plunder yet another village.

Lukas stared at the empty bag he planned to fill with valuables. He'd already accumulated some treasure but he was eager to gather more.

When he returned to Norway, all the precious items he plundered could be sold and he'd finally be able to live a comfortable life.

During his voyage, he befriended Berwald and Mathias, two of the stronger Vikings in their party. The two men had plenty of valuable things already but preferred fighting best and chose the life of being at sea over one of comfort.

"After tonight's raid, I'm gonna get so wasted," Mathias said enthusiastically, "So each of you guys better bring me back some of the village's best alcohol." He took a swig of ale.

"You shouldn't drink before a battle," Lukas scolded, taking the container away from Mathias and thrusting it at Berwald.

"C'mon. There's no need to be superstitious," Mathias remarked, grinning at the dishwater blonde.

"It's not superstition. It's common sense." Lukas sighed.

Berwald took a swig and then tossed the empty container into the water.

As the other men started to leave the boat, Lukas checked his equipment. As he was doing so, a strange feeling washed over him.

He looked up and noticed a small clique of Viking men looking over at Mathias and whispering. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the boisterous male wasn't well liked by his fellow shipmates.

A chilling touch fell upon Lukas' right shoulder, one that made his arm numb. He glanced over. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a hand but it disappeared along with the unexpected numbness.

Lukas was startled by the sound of a loud thud at his feet.

"Quickly. Hide this!" Mathias said as he tossed the rest of Berwald's equipment at Lukas.

The dishwater blonde ignored him and got off the boat. Berwald marched past Lukas and sucker-punched Mathias into the water.

Lukas could see that his other Viking companions were less than amused with Mathias and Berwald's constant playful fighting. He, himself, even found it to be annoying.

"LUKAS~! Help me out will ya!" Mathias called to the Norwegian as he grabbed Berwald by the cape and yanked him into the water too.

Yes, in hindsight, Lukas could see exactly why they were disliked.

It was just before nightfall when their party finally arrived at a wooded area outside a village. It was strangely quiet and the houses were dark and seemingly still. The original plan had been to wait and scout things out but something unexpected changed their plans.

Lukas heard the scream of a Viking being struck down unexpectedly. It seemed they had been discovered and surrounded somehow. All their plans went straight to hell. The Finnish villagers knew they were coming.

"Fight on!" someone shouted as a battle cry, though from which side it originated, Lukas was uncertain.

"Shit," Mathias swore, as he ripped up his axe and charged in to engage their enemies. Within moments, they were fighting their way towards a losing victory, attacking whoever took up arms against them.

Berwald, who was always fierce in battle, used his powerful arm to swing his sword through man and flesh with ease. Screams filled the air as the village men challenged him. Most, however, ran away from him due to his intimidating appearance.

"Hey, Berwald," Mathias called from across the chaotic battlefield to the Swedish man, "I'm taking on three at once. Think you can do better?"

Blood splattered Lukas on his right side as Mathias swung his two handed Danish battle axe and killed another villager. The Dane was so magnificent and fearless in battle. It was no wonder that Berwald rivaled with him.

Lukas stepped over a body that he had killed. He rushed inside a nearby house intent on pillaging as much as he could. He was after anything that was expensive looking and could be sold for a profit. Lucas felt lucky that he was able to find some jewelry and gold chains. There were more valuable looking objects contained in a chest that he grabbed as well.

Lukas took some alcohol too, intent on giving it to Mathias afterward when the man shared the account of his conquests with their party.

"SHIT!" Mathias called out as he stumbled backwards "This is bad!" Berwald turned his attention to his fellow Viking. He seemed to be taking care of himself with the fighting, so what was the problem? Berwald glanced in the direction Mathias was turned and saw what the Dane had exclaimed as bad. Being gutted at that very moment was the leader of their Viking party.

A few Vikings began to flee, others continued fighting choosing honor rather than victory. The loud wordy shouting drew Lukas' attention. He heard an anguish filled bellow and then the cries of men bemoaning their leader. The situation outside sounded as though it had become worse.

Lukas could feel the despair in the air. This raid was becoming increasing ill-fated.

Something sharp and unexpected pierced him from behind through his right shoulder. He cried out in pain as the sword hit bone and turned around to see the villager who had inflicted the wound.

Blood sputtered into the air as the man pulled his weapon out and the dishwater blonde felt strangely noxious from the pain.

The villager swung the dagger again, this time at Lukas's chest. The Norwegian cringed, throwing his body backwards against the wall to escape the driving blade.

He avoided his enemy's second attack. His hand immediately went for his weapon. Without hesitation, he dispatched his enemy and left the other man's body fall to the floor.

Lukas winced and grabbed his shoulder wound with his good hand. It was bleeding profusely and he needed to fix it up quickly. Ripping off a piece of cloth from the dead body of the villager, Lukas tied it with his good hand as tightly as he could on his shoulder.

He lurched forward and stumbled to the floor. It was embarrassing to be in this bad of shape from one wound and not dead. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight much longer with this current level of pain. It was a bad dilemma. He could either bleed to death or be slaughtered by the villagers.

This was the worst fucking raid ever… Well according to him it was. Lukas pulled on the door of the house and glanced out at the ongoing chaos. His chances of doing any real damage in another fighting encounter were slim now that his right arm was useless. If he could get back to the long boat somehow he have a better chance of surviving.

Running seemed like his best bet. Lukas decided he could make it back to the seashore. He'd have to bring the treasure too or else his earlier efforts would have been all for nothing. It didn't really matter what his crew thought of him; all that he cared about was that he'd live.

Lukas headed out into the turmoil.

Of course racing back to the seashore SEEMED like a grade 'A' plan but as Lukas found out, the loss of blood and shearing pain slowed him down tremendously. His normal running pace was cut below half and seemed more like walking, yet it was the fastest Lukas could bring his legs to go.

It was in that moment that Berward caught sight of the Norwegian struggling to leave the battle. He looked completely defenseless.

Berwald rushed over to Lukas. "You ok'y?"

Lukas didn't look back. Instead, he struggled forward.

Time felt as though it was in slow motion and as much as Lukas wanted to answer him he couldn't muster up his voice to say more than "Nmm. "

It hurt. Everything hurt.

Berwald grabbed Lukas by the cloth around his waist. His hand pressed open the door to the nearest house. He gave a quick once-over glance around the dwelling before pulling Lukas inside.

As much as the Norwegian didn't want the help, he was thankful that it was coming from a good companion.

Lukas let his body slump to the floor as Berwald flung the treasure bag next to him.

"St'y here," Berwald said firmly to Lukas.

Heading back outside, Berwald pulled the wooden door shut. He removed a dagger from his waist belt and nailed it through the latch hoping it would prevent others from rushing in and attacking his wounded companion.

Berwald then rejoined Mathias who was taking on more opponents than he should.

Lukas gave a pained look at his shoulder. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep, maybe then the pain would dull.

He closed his eyes and then blacked out.

Outside, a fire began to spread. The village was now beginning to burn as the other Vikings and most of the villagers retreated. Mathias, who was not willing to give up on anything once he got himself going, found himself one of the last few still fighting.

"We need t' go," Berwald stated to Mathias as he struck down more men. He turned his attention to the row of buildings where he had last left the wounded Lukas.

"What's your kill count?" the blood covered Dane asked as he huffed and swung his axe down.

"Doesn't m'tter," Berwald replied, his own body finally starting to sweat.

"I got like sixty people, alive and dead." Mathias bragged though the concept of it made absolutely no sense to the Swede.

"No t'me for this," Berwald answered, "Now c'mon."

Mathias sighed heavily as he took out another person. He really wasn't ready to leave even though they were clearly outnumbered and losing against the native population. The fire didn't scare the Dane either even though it was spreading like crazy around them.

Berwald caught his arm, his face overly serious. "He's ins'de." the Swedish man stated, gesturing towards the building, "We h've to get him, now."

"Who?" Mathias demanded, "Who's inside?"

"L'kas," Berwald explained as they fought they're back towards the row of houses, some of which were already burning.

"Which one?" Mathias asked with concern. Berwald looked from house to house. He'd gotten disoriented while they were fighting and lost track of which one it was.

He shook his head. The abundance of smoke wasn't helping either.

Mathias called the Norwegian's name as he hit another door.

Inside, Lukas tried to lift his head. Everything was blurry and it was getting harder to breath.

The building was on fire, wasn't it?

It was so hot inside. He found it very difficult to move but he still had to try.

"-kas,"

He thought he heard someone calling. Was it Death? He'd heard the whispers of the dead before but nothing like this. Was it his time to finally go to Valhalla?

He didn't want to.

He coughed as he drew a deeper breath. The smoke was heavy above him but he had to get out of there somehow.

"LUKAS." He heard the voice again. This time he recognized it.

"I'm…here." his voice was hoarse but he hoped the Danish Viking would hear him.

His name came again, louder than before and he could actually hear the pounding on the door.

A burning piece of the roof fell down near his body.

"MATHIAS!" Lukas called at the top of his lungs. He really hated this. The last word he ever spoke would be that asshole's name.

He closed his eyes and then forced them back open again. The smoke hurt them so bad.

When his eyes opened this time, he saw another pair of bright blue ones looking back at him.

Great. He was gonna die thinking about that guy too.

"He's okay!" Mathias shouted into the air, "You're okay?"

Lukas closed his eyes again, a faint smile slipping across his lips. "You're an idiot for coming in here."

He felt the other man lift him into his arms and press him close to his chest ."Gee, what the hell happened to you? You look like shit."

Lukas knew it and he hated the other man for saying it. He took a pained breath. The fire was intensifying around them but Mathias walked around like nothing was even there.

It was hard not to admire a man like that. "Take the treasure," Lukas told him, gesturing towards the floor where he had dropped the bag, "We should get out of here."

"What's the rush? Could it possibly be so we can enjoy our spoils of war and drink? Then everyone can tell me how great I was in battle? Cuz I was great. Is that why you want to leave so bad?" Mathias scrambled to say the last of his sentence, the air becoming almost too heavy with smoke.

"Because a little smoke isn't going to stop me from rescuing you. I think you must be happy that it's me saving you. Are you going to thank me? I can stay in here all day till you do." Lukas heard Mathias muffle a cough.

Lukas let out a sigh as he gave a push to be let free from Mathias's arms. "I can save myself."

Mathias puckered his lips to the side, still holding his grip tight around Lukas. "Hey, hey, do you think that since I'm the king of battlefield that would mean rescuing you would make you my 'queen' or is it 'princess'? Which one do you-"

Lukas used his good hand to grab on Mathias's collar, giving a tight pull. "You're so annoying. You're going to suffocate from inhaling so much smoke with that big mouth of yours."

Letting go of Mathias's collar, Lukas moved his hand to Mathias's forehead and gave him a swift whack "I'm only saying 'thank you' so you'll shut your mouth and leave."

Mathias's blue eyes were watering from the smoke and he heard him gasp in relief after they got outside.

Berwald was still fighting against the enemy which was much less in number than before. Most of the Finns were gone now and there were no other Vikings left behind except the ones that were already dead.

With a swift sword stroke, Berwald cut a path through the defending people. "Let's go!" Mathias shouted to Berwald, as though he was the one holding up the group.

They were forced to run back to the shore but when they arrived, their long boats had already gone out to sea. The sight was quite unsettling. Their fellow Vikings who survived the raid were sailing back to the main ship in their only way off this land- both long boats.

"YOU'RE LEAVING US?! WE'RE STILL HERE!" Mathias shouted, kicking the sand.

He dumped Lukas on the ground and started running out into the water.

"FUCK! FUUUUUCCCKKK! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Mathias swore again as the boats continued to sail on without them.

To be continued~~~

Author's notes: Please review, it would be sooooo awesome if you did~