Fragile Relationship

Chapter 7

I hate the way that I cannot become honest when I need to be; that my voice refuses to come out when it is most needed at the scene.

I also really hate how I can say that nothing is wrong with me, and people around me actually believe my words.

But really, even if I laugh or cry, time doesn't stop for me at all. So which way should I spend it…?

"Hanatamago," Finland whispered to the puppy that growled at the door, picking up an unknown scent. Finland recognized the voices and language they spoke outside however, but refused to answer it just yet. What did Netherlands want with him?

From what he remembered, Denmark was the one who borrowed money from Netherlands in hopes to fight and get advantage over Sweden right now, who was quickly gaining power. Denmark had the money, being used to running the five regions before, and used it to attempt to protect his spot as the ruler as well as try to bring back Sweden and Finland under his command and care. So if anything, Netherlands was supposed to go off to speak to Denmark, not Finland. Scowling, he peeked out to see that the other country had brought a large army along with him, all armed and ready for a battle. He sighed in attempts to calm his rapidly speeding heartbeat and quickly grabbed a piece of paper and some ink. Without bothering to get the pen that went along with it, he dipped his finger into the ink and began to write on the paper in bulky letters. Only after he was satisfied with what he wrote did he wave the paper a few times to dry the ink and folded it, putting it to the puppy's mouth.

"Find Sve," He whispered to the dog, whose ears perked up slightly in interest. "If they decide to attack, I won't be able to fight them off… I'll need him fighting with me…" He grabbed one of Sweden's used shirts, pressing it up against the dog's nose. After he was certain that the pup took in a few good sniffs, Finland finally headed for the door, placing the pup beside him as soon as he was in front of it. "I'm coming," He announced, "Who is it?"

"I'm here to speak with Sweden and Finland." Netherlands spoke up from the other side of the door, making Finland blink once more in further caution. He wasn't involved in this… Was he? Finding the situation unavoidable, he took in a deep breath and opened the door, being greeted with spears at his face. His eyes caught Hanatamago running off, slipping in between the men's feet.

"Sir!" One of the men spoke up when the white pup was spotted, making Hanatamago stop and wag her tail slowly at the attention, "The dog!"

"Leave the dog. We have more important matters to care for." Netherlands ordered, and without a question, the man obeyed and turned his full attention back to Finland, who just stood still, a displeased frown clear on his face. Hanatamago ran off into the snowy forest, and after making sure that was accomplished, Finland finally spoke up, addressing the spikey-haired blond nation. "What is it that you want?"

"We're taking Mr. Puffin, right?" The child asked as he was lifted from the ground, reaching down for the bird. Denmark blinked, grinning right after and nodding, scooping the small bird into his hands and holding it up to the boy. Iceland took his pet into his arms as he was cradled into Norway's, the Norwegian's jacket wrapping around both his and his brother's figures to protect them from the weather outside. The storm was gone, but that didn't mean it was suddenly now sunny warm. It was freezing, and Norway was not going to risk himself getting sick over a simple travel back. That would be pathetic.

"Yes," Norway replied to his brother after he watched the animal be held tightly, "I don't think Denmark is capable of caring for himself... There's no way he has time to care for an animal."

"…" Denmark said nothing back to the comment, a scowl showing on his face at it. He sighed, opening the door slowly for Norway. The shorter nation carried the child out the door, giving one glance to Denmark, making him respond with a small nod. They needed no words to communicate; both knew what was going on. Iceland too watched his caregivers, his mouth opening to comment on it, but thinking against it figuring he'll get in trouble for not sleeping when he was supposed to be. That thought itself made Iceland shake his head slowly, causing Norway to shift his gaze to his brother in question.

"Are you cold?" He asked, shifting his coat slightly so that he covered more of his small brother with it. Iceland just nodded, giving a small lie but not feeling one bit guilty about it. He snuggled into the coat and his brother's chest, taking in all the warmth there was to offer to him. The crunching of the older brother's boots sinking into the deep snow was all that was heard for a bit until Iceland began to hum, unable to take the silence. Norway on the other hand, who was in deep thought about what to do from now on, was taken by surprise. Though he didn't show it much on his expression, he glanced down to his brother in silence before his eyes softened.

"…Do you know the words to that song, Iceland?"

"Fin-nii sang it to me before…"

"Is that so?"

"…Mhm. I don't remember it, though."

Norway gave a small chuckle at that. Finland seemed to always sing songs to Iceland when he tried to comfort him. It always worked, but Iceland, as young as he was, could only remember certain parts of the tunes that were sung to him. Moving his arms so that his brother was comfortably placed in one arm, Norway used his free hand to pull a part of his coat up to cover his brother's head, seeing wind ahead soon to reach them and blow snow onto their forms. Soon after, the wind blew into Norway's face, spraying him with ice and snow. Protected, Iceland simply watched as his brother's face got covered in white. A small giggle escaped past the child's lips.

"…Is Nor-nii cold?"

"I'm fine…" Wiping the snow off his face after the wind passed, Norway sighed. "Anyway, that song… I know it too."

"Nor-nii does…? Does Nor-nii know the words?"

"…" After a small pause, Norway nodded and began walking in smaller steps, deciding to enjoy the time he had alone with his sibling for once. "One day in my life, I lied to myself. I told myself that I can keep on going. But then, soon, the lie became the truth; and soon it turned into 'I have to keep going'. Like that, I have done my best and came up to here… I had a dream once, long time ago: I wanted to be the prince that rescued the princess. I would dream about me being the main character and will forget it before I was laughed at. But did I really forget it…? No, not at all. I still hold onto that dream…" He stopped, wondering why Finland would even bother singing this song to his brother. Iceland on the other hand had his eyes sparkling with interest as he squirmed in Norway's hold for a moment to get comfortable, grinning up to him.

"That's so cool! How about this one?" And with that, he began to hum again, giving Norway the tune to another song Finland used to sing to him. Norway listened before he gave a soft grin and nodded to his brother.

"No need to worry… Your thoughts to that person will one day reach them; tomorrow will come for sure. No matter how hard life is now, no matter how much you want to give up, don't throw your hopes out… Carry on, Carry out, one hurts another daily just by loving, but we cannot live without love. Let's dream once more… Do you remember what it was without love? Carry on, Carry out, look up to the sky and remember, love will always win over the pain…" He chuckled at the words to the song as soon as he sung it to the tune his brother hummed.

So this was what Finland was doing… Norway was finally catching on. He felt so foolish now; of course Finland would stay away from the fights and try to have Iceland remember such tunes… Norway couldn't help but to replace himself in the lyrics each time he sung the words to the humming. As if he himself had no clue, Iceland smiled up contently, happy to hear someone other than Finland or himself singing. Feeling calm for once, he released a deep breath before he asked, "…Do you have another song, Iceland? I'm sure Finland sung a lot…"

"All the time!" Iceland commented, trying to think of another that the Finnish nation sang often to him, remembering then suddenly and beginning to hum again. Norway smiled at that and opened his mouth to sing the words to it, only to be stopped when the brothers heard high pitched barks.

"Puppy…" Iceland commented, his eyes glued to the white pup that seemed to blend into the snow. Norway knelt down in front of it, wasting no time in taking the paper that the dog was holding in his mouth. The paper was wrinkled and slightly wet with the dog's saliva and the snow it was partially dragged in, but it was still readable. Norway's eyes swam through over the words written on the paper, narrowing immediately after when he finished half way. Iceland peeked into the paper and scowled. "What does it say?"

"We need to go back," The older brother muttered, clearly distressed. The white haired nation just glanced down to the puppy that sat in spot, unaware of the situation around him just as the younger boy was.

"Is the puppy going?"

"Hold the dog, Ice."

"…Did the paper say bad things?" Iceland asked again as the dog was lifted in his arms, beside the bird that was now stirring awake. It gave the puppy one glare and looked up to Iceland, as if it wanted to complain of its now cramped space in his hold.

"…"

"…It did." Iceland concluded when Norway didn't answer. He looked down to Mr. Puffin, who blinked up, clueless. "Maybe Mr. Puffin can tell Den-nii?"

"How can it-…" Norway stopped when he noticed his brother's eyes locking onto the paper he was holding. The idea clicked in his head as soon as he did so, folding the paper once more and pressing it to Mr. Puffin's beak. Iceland muttered in his mixture language of what Norway could only understand as gibberish and the bird spread his wings. The next minute he flew up into the calm sky, speeding his way in air back towards the direction the brothers were walking from.

"He said he'll give it to Den-nii," Iceland commented when his brother seemed slightly confused. Norway gave his brother a grateful grin and turned around, rushing back towards the Dane's house.

When Denmark couldn't see Norway anymore in between the trees, he sighed and absentmindedly ran his gloved fingers through his messy blond hair. No storm seemed as if it was going to attack soon; it calmed down for now, and Denmark had to admit he was both glad and disappointed in that. If the storm was coming, he could have kept Norway and Iceland to himself slightly longer, using that as an excuse. But at the same time, he couldn't deny the fact that Norway would most likely still try to leave as soon as possible; if that was the case, then he rather Norway walk through the forest without worrying about being constantly blown on by heavy snow.

He turned and opened the door to his house just as he felt a sudden punch on the back of his head, causing him to wince and turn around quickly with a growl, hoping to threaten whoever the idiot was. It wasn't any small, joking punch either. It really freaking hurt, and when Denmark saw his offender, he couldn't help but to feel anger rush in his veins.

"Sve… What are you doing here?"

"What were you doing in there with Norway?" Sweden asked back instead, though, Denmark could sense he really didn't have a choice in answering or not. Sweden wasn't going to take silence for an answer. Despite being the quiet one in the group, when it came to problems as such he hated the quiet world. The Danish nation gritted his teeth in anger.

He couldn't tell the other about Norway and his deal.

"It's none of your business." Denmark fought back, rubbing the back of his head. He wasn't in a mood for a fist fight, in all honesty. He wanted to just go back into the house and sleep; he hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before, having had to care for the sickly Iceland. So when Sweden raised his fist again in a threat to hit the Danish nation once more, Denmark simply opened the door to his house and was ready to close the door, when he heard a weird squawk. Sweden too looked up in the direction it came from, confused by the sudden noise, when he saw a piece of paper fly down. Denmark stared at the bird that flew down and face planted into the snow, not being able to land correctly.

"…What is that?" Denmark asked when Sweden opened the paper, not minding the bird that pulled his face out of the snow. Sweden gave Denmark a look, signaling for the other to be quiet for once finally, and read the paper. It was only after he read it half way did his eyes narrow in alarm. Denmark took the paper rather forcefully from his Swedish comrade when he was certain he had enough time to read it all and began reading it as well when he noticed shadows appearing near them.

"Norway?"

"Did you read it?" Norway asked, readjusting his hold on his little brother, who quietly stayed curled up in Norway's hold with Hanatamago. When Sweden just rushed past by him, Norway couldn't help but to sigh. Well… It seemed that one of them did.

"Give me a moment." Denmark commented his response after he watched Sweden leave in a rush, anger clear in his eyes. Norway simply did so, giving Denmark some time to read the letter himself before he bit his lower lip. "…"

"…Finland's in trouble." Norway muttered when Denmark's expression changed. When Denmark said nothing, Norway tried once again, a little louder, "Denmark, snap out of it. Finland needs our help!"

The oldest simply stood his place, closing the door behind himself and leaning against it. The door creaked at the weight. The Dane finally crippled the paper in his fist when he read it for what seemed like the hundredth time, his free hand reaching up to cover his eyes. It was as if he was trying to hide himself, unable to deal with his stress.

"Denmark!"

Norway's voice sliced through his mind when Denmark was unable to think, his mind fogging up. He managed to focus his light blue irises on Norway and grumbled, "…He doesn't need my help."

"Finland? If he doesn't need help, he won't be sending this."

"Sweden is on his way to help him. If he really wanted my protection, he shouldn't have left my house."

"Denmark, wake up! What does that matter right now? Finland is asking everybody for help."

"Sweden is on his way," Denmark muttered once more, as if he was trying to hold back some weird urge. "And… Sweden definitely doesn't need my help."

Norway couldn't hide the irritation he felt towards the pathetic Dane at the moment. Sure, he made a deal to help out and forgive the Dane about what happened, but obviously Denmark wasn't willing to let anything of the past go. Norway took a deep breath and knelt down, lowering his brother on the snow before he stood up once more, grabbing the paper from Denmark in silence. Denmark flinched as the shorter nation gave him a cold glare, then turned to the paper for the address and left.

"…"

"…"

Denmark closed his eyes and kept leaning against his door, unable to get past the whole complication of helping Sweden fight. How could he? Helping Sweden would only cause Sweden to become stronger; though he wanted to help Finland out of this mess, Sweden was a nation Denmark couldn't afford to have become stronger at the moment. The moment he would gain the power, Sweden was not going to hesitate to take Denmark down fully. Denmark wasn't dumb; he knew this fully well.

"…Does Den-nii not like Fin-nii anymore?" Iceland asked in a saddened mumble, nervous to speak up. Norway had always told him that these were one of the things that children shouldn't know about, so that if Iceland was to come across the adults speaking of such things, to just stay out of it. Iceland knew he was breaking a rule that both Denmark and Norway pushed on him, and things were never great when he did so.

Instead of telling the boy to stay out of it however, Denmark's eyes widened from their closed state. He glanced at the boy who nervously gripped at his sleeves, frowning. "…No, it's not that."

"…"

Denmark shook his head and slammed the door open behind him, causing the child nation to squeak softly and flinch. He reached in and grabbed an ax, reminding himself of its weight before scooping up Mr. Puffin nearby, walking towards Iceland. He handed the bird to the child and picked the boy up when he knew Iceland had a good hold on both the dog and the bird, carefully cradling him with one arm while the other dragged the ax behind him. He had no choice; he couldn't just leave Finland to Netherlands, especially when he was the reason that the other nation was getting attacked. Damned Netherlands-… He really knew how to push Denmark's buttons when he didn't get what he wanted right away.

"Let's go help Finland."

"Den-nii know where it's at?"

"…I read the address in the paper," Denmark grumbled his reply as he began making his way into the forest, "And Iceland…"

"…?"

"…Don't call me big brother."

The trip seemed to take forever when they were in such a rush. Denmark was sure he couldn't move slowly if he wanted to be there in time to help with the battle, but the snow his feet crunched into didn't make it easy for him to run. That, along with dragging a huge ax, only made the task take double the time as to if none of the obstacles listed was present. By the time he managed to find the crowd, the Dane found himself lightly panting, trying to regulate his breath after the travel. He searched the battlefield, finding blood and bodies staining the white snow, and finally was able to spot his comrades. Sweden was trying to push Netherlands away while Norway took care of the army. It took a bit, but Denmark managed to find Finland leaning against the house's wall, seemingly unable to move.

The Danish nation quickly ran his mind over several battle strategies he had premade. At the moment, the person who needed the most help was Sweden, no doubt. Though the Swede was strong, he couldn't hold back Netherlands alone. Norway on the other hand seemed to have things under control, easily using his troll to help as well by how some men suddenly flew up and was thrown into the snow without the Norwegian's hands touching them.

"…D-Den…" Iceland whimpered, beginning to quiver in the blonde male's arm. Denmark's eyes narrowed as he continued trying to analyze the situation before he finally began to make his way towards the battlefield. When he noticed that he was getting closer to the scene, Iceland's voice shook as he protested in fear. "Den! No! I'm scared!"

"Stay by Fin and you will be fine," Denmark reassured, walking past the seemingly shocked Norway. Norway stared at Denmark at first, unable to believe that the nation actually brought his little brother here, but decided to just deal with the problem later. For now, he needed to focus, so he instead just called out to Denmark.

"Help Sweden!"

"You didn't have to tell me; that was my plan," After placing the boy next to Finland and making Finland wrap an arm around the frightened boy and the animals, Denmark got up and made his way to the main battle. "…I'll get rid of him." He commented to Sweden when he reached them, lifting his ax and swinging it towards Netherlands once. The enemy jumped out of the blade's way and gave a sincere grin, as if he was still on Denmark's side as far as their problems went.

"Denmark? What a surprise."

"What are you doing here? My loan has nothing to do with these guys."

"But you don't pay." Netherlands stated matter-of-factly. He relaxed and commanded in his tongue for the rest of the army to step back, and they did so, moving away from Norway mostly. "If you don't pay, I need to take something that's your's…"

"I'm not his." Sweden growled at the comment, his face shadowing in anger. Norway patted his hands together as if he was just playing in a sand box and turned to watch the three, figuring the army won't attack for now, giving him no reason to fight either.

"I will pay by the end of the week." Denmark butted in before Sweden could protest anymore. Netherlands looked at his army as he took out his pipe with one hand, his other lighting the fire. He then closed his eyes, stepping back for now.

"…I have no reason to fight, then." He announced, breathing out the first of smoke from his mouth. "…I will help you out a little and make your payments easier, though. Interested?"

"Not in the slightest bit." Denmark replied, grinning, a nervous sweat droplet coming down his forehead at the comment. That usually meant another attack and most likely taking his people or land. Denmark couldn't afford that at the moment.

"…Your choice." Netherlands closed his eyes and nodded, "One week, then." He then turned, motioning with his hands to the army that were still alive, telling them to come. Several stood up and some helped carry the dead, but the number of people on the field decreased soon after. It wasn't until after Denmark was certain that Netherlands was indeed gone that he finally stepped away from Sweden, heading to Norway's way, who was now turning to Finland.

"Are you ok, Finland?"

There was a short moment of silence in the group, but soon enough Finland grunted out softly his response to the question. Hanatamago wagged her tail and tried to get loose from Iceland as Norway finally knelt down beside the Finnish nation to get a better look at the damage done. He was bleeding from his head, which Norway considered the worst of the male's injuries and after telling his younger brother to keep the pup away for now from jumping onto her master's body, he stood back up and rushed into the house to find the medical supplies.

"…He wanted Denmark to pay back the debt he had…" Finland breathed out softly, his eyes still closed, murmuring some words as if he wasn't sure exactly where he was or who he was talking to. Denmark scowled at the comment.

He had hoped that Sweden wouldn't find out about that. It only would show how vulnerable he was at the moment if attacked and that this whole raid was his fault to begin with. If he had paid his bills on time, this wouldn't have happened. In all honesty however, he just didn't have the money at the moment, and especially now with Norway and Iceland not in his care anymore, he had even less money he could use.

Sweden of course heard what his Finnish partner murmured however and quickly glared to Denmark, who shifted his gaze away from Sweden immediately. Finland kept muttering something that none of them could hear, but at the moment it was no longer the injured nation that gathered attention. Sweden reached out and grabbed Denmark by his collar, lifting up slightly so that Denmark stood on his toes, who had managed in gathering enough pride and courage to glare back to the Swede.

By the time Norway returned to the scene, the two were already landing blows on each other, arguing about the whole attack. It took a few seconds for Norway to catch on, but when he did, he simply turned his attention to Finland and started to wipe the blood off of him.

"If you'd just paid your debt then this would've never happened!" Sweden yelled, slamming the Danish male into the snow. Denmark mustered a animalistic growl from his throat and flipped their positions so that he was now holding Sweden into the snow, sitting on top of him with a small, satisfied grin.

"If you'd only let me keep what is rightfully mine, then I would've had no troubles doing so. So in the end, it was your fault!"

"I'm neither of you two's property." Norway butted in his words when he heard the Dane speak as so. He managed to get Iceland help him hand over what he needed while he bandaged up the Finn, who was now slowly beginning to gain his full consciousness and watched the two fight with his uncovered eye. "So stop trying to treat me as such. Iceland, give me the bandage roll."

"…This one?" Iceland held up a bottle that contained some unknown medicine to the Norwegian.

"…No, no. The one right there." Nodding his chin to the rightful item, he smiled his thanks to the young boy when the child held up the asked bandage. "Good job… Now, can you go inside for a bit? I think the adults might want to have some big people chit-chat. Take your bird and the dog if you want company."

Iceland's cheeks puffed out slightly at the request, but he gave a silent nod and looked back to Denmark and Sweden still fighting in the snow. He lifted Mr. Puffin and Hanagamago in his arms and with slight struggle, toddled into the house. Norway watched and closed the door after he was certain the child was in the house with his foot. Finland frowned worriedly when he then stood up and headed to the two, much taller nations still struggling at each other's strength in the snow. Norway's arms crossed as the battle continued under his gaze.

"Break it up." He commanded, and when it didn't happen, he simply used his foot to separate the two by hooking the tip of his foot between the stomachs of the two men and kicking up, watching Denmark roll of Sweden after some fight against the pressure of being pulled off the other. "I said, break it up. We obviously need to talk."

A/N: Sorry this took forever. I'll try to update more often ;u;