"What are you doing here?" Lithuania asked bemusedly as he stepped out of his old, beaten up car.

Estonia had left own his house just before midday, assuming that he would get to Lithuania's house after the latter had returned from work. He unfortunately did not factor in Lithuania's extreme work heavy attitude, and therefore had been sitting outside Lithuania's house for around an hour before its resident had returned, passing his time by watching the sun travel through the sky. He had thought about many things whilst doing this; the weather, the strength of the euro, what the next meeting between China and Japan would be like, and, most importantly, what Lithuania's reaction would be as he was handed back his sword. Estonia was excited at the thought of being able to make his friend happy.

"If you had said you were coming to visit, I would have come home early," Lithuania seemed to be happy about receiving his unexpected guest, but he also looked tired and worried. "Please, come in," he told Estonia as he unlocked the front door of his house. "Would you like some coffee?"

Estonia stepped out of his car and walked into Lithuania's house. He didn't trust himself to talk too much without blurting out something about the sword which was currently placed in the boot of his car. He wanted to make Lithuania wonder about the reason for his visit before he was surprised with the gift.

Lithuania's house was certainly a sharp contrast to the last house Estonia had visited: China's. Whilst China's house had been a traditional structure, Lithuania's was a new build. It was clean and airy and easy to navigate, although from behind half-closed doors Estonia could see piles of paperwork. It was minimally decorated, a couple of landscape paintings hung on the walls and there was a rather expensive looking clock hung up in the hallway, but there was nothing to hint that its resident was over a millennium old.

"You drove all the way here?" Lithuania frowned as he ushered Estonia into the front room. "Are you okay? You're not too tired, are you?"

"Not at all," Estonia replied, trying to hide the smirk which wanted to appear on his face. Lithuania was rushing around the room straightening lampshades and sneakily dusting already clean shelves. Ordinarily Estonia would have felt guilty about making him worry so much; but this time there was a reason for his abrupt appearance, so he felt a slight strange happiness at watching Lithuania's haste.

Eventually Lithuania sat down in a seat opposite to Estonia, handing him a mug of coffee.

"How have you been? Where have you been?" Lithuania curiously asked. "I phoned up your office a couple of days ago, but I was told that you hadn't come back after going to Russia. Worried me a little," he chuckled.

Estonia paused for a second as he raised his mug of coffee to his mouth and took a sip. He enjoyed watching Lithuania's curiosity grow, watching him lean forward in anticipation of an answer.

"I've been travelling," Estonia spoke, setting down his mug onto the coffee table. He saw Lithuania grimace as he didn't place it the coaster. "I've been to China. And Japan."

"To do what?" Lithuania asked, an uncertain look on his face. It obviously wasn't the answer that he was expecting.

"It was more for pleasure than it was business," Estonia spoke slowly. "But I did get you a souvenir. I'll go get it now," he stood up and made his way back outside.

"A souvenir? You really didn't have to," Lithuania tried to stop him. "Did you come all the way here just to bring me a souvenir? You shouldn't have."

Estonia moved round to the boot of his car, Lithuania hovering at his side, trying to tell him that he wasn't bothered about any souvenir, and that Estonia's presence was already enough of a gift. Estonia ignored him, opening the boot and pulling out the crate.

"That's certainly a large souvenir," Lithuania sounded impressed as he momentarily stopped his objections.

"It would be best if you opened it inside," Estonia spoke, not being able to keep his face straight any longer as he started to smirk. Lithuania picked up on this change in facial expressions and paused, before starting to smile himself. He let Estonia carry the crate into his house without any objections.

"Go ahead, open it," Estonia lay the crate down in the hallway of the Lithuania's house.

"Is this a practical joke?" quietly asked Lithuania as he crouched down. He reached his hand out and ran it around the top of the crate, letting his hand slide down to the side of the box. He hooked his fingers behind the lid and started to pull the top off, hands shaking ever so slightly. Estonia stood behind him, smiling and feeling rather self-important.

Lithuania paused a little before he finally lifted the lid fully clear of the rest of the crate. Then he stopped, letting the piece of wood drop with a clatter and just staring at the sword which was safely nestled amongst its bed of wood shavings. He crouched there in silence for a while, shaking a little. Was he crying?

"Are you okay?" asked Estonia. He wasn't expecting such an emotional show over such a generic-looking piece of metalwork.

"Thank you," choked out Lithuania, still staring at the sword. He reached out to touch it, but drew his hand back before he made contact. "I want to show you something," he directed his speech at Estonia, turning around to face him. He wasn't quite crying, although his eyes did seem a little reddened and twitchy.

Estonia nodded, and Lithuania went off up the stairs of his house to gather something. Estonia looked at the sword which was resting quietly in its crate. He felt some kind of contempt towards it, it had given him a lot of trouble and grief; yet at the same time he could look at it with a kind of fondness, without it he wouldn't be here, able to bring joy to his good friend. In a way he would miss it. He had grown in confidence over these past two weeks. Two weeks ago he would have laughed at and brushed aside anyone who had told him that he would be brave enough to travel around the world in search of an antique; why would he put himself in such a situation? Of course, he was still annoyed at how he had been manipulated by China; and drugging Japan hadn't been his finest hour; he even felt a tiny amount of guilt about robbing Russia, but overall he felt that he had grown from the experience.

Estonia turned to face the stairway as Lithuania returned down it, carrying some small object which was wrapped in a white cloth.

"This goes with the sword," Lithuania spoke softly. "I managed to get it out and hide it beneath my jacket before Belarus found me," he held the item out before him and smiled a little. Estonia accepted the item and relieved it of its cloth blanket.

The item was revealed to be a small shield, the type which would be fitted over the blade of a ceremonial weapon. It was painted with a coat of arms; a bright blood red background with the likeness of a white eagle placed in the foreground. Estonia frowned. It was Poland's coat of arms.

"This goes with the sword?" Estonia asked, frowning. "I thought you said that the sword belonged to you."

"I thought so too," Lithuania sighed, looking sheepish. "The swords we were given were identical, they stayed together for centuries. In all honesty, I expected to find them together in the same place."

"I expect you think I should go find yours now," Estonia chuckled; he half wanted to be angry about this discovery, but he found that he really didn't care. He had done this to make Lithuania happy, and he had achieved that goal. He was content.

"Oh no," Lithuania widened his eyes, not realising that Estonia was joking. "You have gone above and beyond even what I asked of you," Lithuania looked Estonia in the eye. "You have my eternal thanks."

"I mean no offence when I say this," Lithuania started. Estonia wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what was going to come next. "But I'm finding it a little hard to believe that you went through with going all around the world for the sake of something I had to force you into caring about. I hugely appreciate it, of course. In fact," he smiled, "I think I'm going to search for my own sword by myself."

Estonia opened his mouth to say something. He wasn't exactly sure what, maybe that he would help with Lithuania's mission. Lithuania held up his hand to stop him.

"If you, who makes his way through avoiding and staying away from difficult situations, can bear to spend so much time going out of the way to rescue something which is only important to a distant friend, then I certainly can gather up the courage to do something for myself," he looked kindly upon Estonia, his eyes twinkling. "Thank you."

And as Estonia stood opposite his old friend, watching said friend's resolve steel itself, he felt a strange surge of pride. He was appreciated, he was exhausted, and he was glad.

And thus ends my first foray into the world of multi-chaptered fiction writing! I am amazingly appreciative of everyone who has read, favourite, followed, or commented on this story. Thank you!

It would be great if you could comment on the story. What did you like? Dislike? Any suggestions I could use in order to improve?

Thank you once more for taking your time to read through this!