Note: Denmark and Norway were slightly younger than Sealand in this chapter.

***

That had to be the most dreadful nightmare he'd ever experienced.

Denmark woke up to find himself encased by the warmth of a blanket, with Norway lying asleep next to him.

"Why am I in this tent, wasn't I supposed to have gone out at midnight?" Denmark wondered, "Or..."

"Ya've awok'n?"

A strange boy's head suddenly appeared as the flap was lifted up.

"Argggggghhh!" Denmark shrieked like a girl.

"Danmark, keep your mouth shut for God's sake! Why shouldn't you let me sleep instead of freaking me out... OH MY GOD!" Norway cried out in fright, noticing the unexpected guest.

"Wh... who are you? What do you want?" Norway shivered.

"Ya two m'st be h'ngry now. G' out, I've pr'pared some food." The strange boy said, coldly.

"A midnight meal?" asked Denmark.

"Ja. Isn't it th't ya haven't eaten? I've g't some. C'mon."

What's going on? That dude seems mysterious. Is he planning something... eerie? His face gives me the willies.

That was what both Denmark and Norway thought as they left the tent, before getting totally lost in amazement.

A gleaming, radiant fire had been lit up, dancing with excitement as tiny twinkling sparks scattered on the ground, beneath the strange boy who was grilling two fish.

"S't down." He beckoned the Vikings to get closer.

Denmark and Norway had no other choice but to obey. For some incomprehensible reason, they remained petrified with fear, as that taciturn

boy's eyes kept glowering, sending a chill down their spines.

"Done. Ya c'n eat now." He handed the two the freshly grilled fish.

They hesitated. What if the boy had already poisoned the food? Was it a trap that he set up to catch and eat them? Well, at least that seemed quite possible.

"Hm... We, uhm..."

"Eat." That intimidating child steely glared at them, like a harsh babysitter forcing toddlers to eat.

Leaving their lives at the mercy of fate, Denmark and Norway reluctantly took a bite of their offered meal.

"IT'S TOO TERRIFIC!"

The two little Vikings greedily gobbled down the fish, for all those years they had never tasted anything more fantastic. It was astonishing that their newly acquainted guy had such incredible skillful hands.

"Is 't okej?"

"Wonderful! We had expected that you gave us poisoned... AGH!" Denmark cried out in pain as Norway's elbow hit him hard.

"DANMARK!" The indigo-eyed reprimanded, turning to the stranger, "He didn't intend to say so, it's just that we are a bit frightened when you appeared out of nowhere at midnight... Still, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Norge and he's Danmark, we're staying here in preparation for our next voyage. So what's your name, and why do you help us?"

"I'm... Sv'rige... Ya seemed to h've much d'fficulty in th's forest, so I c'ught some f'sh in a n'rby stream." Sverige (or Sweden) answered.

"Eh? What about the wolves? Weren't you scared?"

"Th'y are not d'ngerous, 't was j'st their c'lling for mates."

As the three boys fell into silence again, the crackling of burning firewood was the only sound echoing in the curtain of night.

.

.

.

"Ahhh... I'm worn out." Denmark moaned, "Thanks for the meal, Sverige."

"Hn." Sweden murmured, before standing up and walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Norway asked.

"G' home."

"Who do you live with?"

"Al'ne."

"Then... join us, you can become a Viking too."

"Vik'ng?"

"That's right. You can be my younger brother, a brutal Viking!" Denmark intervened, "We can be friends as well, and isn't it that you aren't as scary as your appearance?"

"Fr'nds?"

"Yes, we will be brothers. What do you think?"

From the bottom of his heart, Sweden had always been yearning for some lifelong friends. His life outlasted those of humans. They got along with him, but all departed this life in the end, leaving him in a senseless, endless world of solitude. Those children, how they were the same existence as him...

"Uhm.", Sweden nodded in agreement.

"Hahahaha.... We will have a subtle Viking trio! Sverige, you will soon observe our real powers."

For the whole night, Sweden was engrossed in the other two's stories about the journeys they made, the triumphs they scored. He felt an extreme eagerness emerged. Crossing oceans to explore the world? Spoils of victory? All of them were truly worth hoping for. Still, Sweden had many things to learn...