With an undetectable sigh, Tino lifted the last pink potion bottle up to his lips and swallowed the mouthful left in the bottom. Would it be enough to get them to Norway before sunrise? Time would only tell, and it looked as though they were running out of that too quickly.
'Not enough to turn back time again... We still have about half an hour before sunrise, though, and the sleigh is full of countries. We can make it' he thought, refusing to let his anxieties put a damper on his magic.
What he had neglected to mention was how his wound had begun to ache again, and slowly the pain's intensity had gone up as he continued using magic. 'Is this magic poisoning...? Ei, ei! I'm not going to think about something like that tonight. It's Christmas and I have to deliver all these presents without fail. That's the duty of Santa!'
From between Italy and Ukraine, Liechtenstein leaned forward to see Finland with more ease. "How are you doing, Tino?"
"Fine," he answered instantly. "We'll be cutting it a little close, though." He didn't have the heart to lie to her-- not on Christmas, not after all they'd been through together.
"How close are you meaning?" she pressed, worry lifting her eyebrows and pulling them closer together. "Are ve going to make it before sunrise?"
Finland inhaled deeply, then let it out and replied. "The sleigh is full of countries, right? We'll travel farther in less time than we would have if it had just been you, me, and Alice and Yao. I have confidence that we can make it before the sun rises."
"Even vith the time zones?" Lili asked, apparently unable to let her worry go. "Vhat about the boosters?"
"I just drank the last one," Tino answered, adjusting his grip on the reins. "Now I'm giving it all I've got, but it would help if everyone were awake to concentrate on traveling."
She understood and nodded, then put a hand on Italy's shoulder to shake him awake gently. His eyes snapped open and he looked all around quickly only to relax when he remembered where he was. "Sì, Lili?"
"Ve need everyvone to be avake now" she explained. "Can you climb back there and vake everyone up, please? I can't move very vell vith Ms. Ukraine leaning against me."
The Mediterranean nation saluted her cheerfully and stood to do as she asked. Once the other passengers had blinked themselves into a state of semi-awareness, Finland spoke over his shoulder and addressed all of them.
"Everyone, I need you all to be awake so the sleigh will go farther in a shorter amount of time. It's going to be a little while before we reach Norway, and the sun will be up soon. Can you do that?"
"Sure," Hawaii answered around a yawn she hid behind a hand. "No problem..."
"Don't sleep," Oregon said, and pushed on her older sister's shoulder to make her eyes open back up. "Remember?"
"Right, right," Miliana sighed, rubbing her eyes with both hands. "Ugh, I'm just so tired..."
"You've all been wonderful passengers," Tino complimented them honestly. "When we make it back, you all can sleep as long as you'd like. I'm certain we can make it in time."
"And... vhat if ve run out of time?" Liechtenstein dared to ask him softly.
"I'll just do an emergency landing and we'll walk the rest of the way," he said. "I'll make sure we all get there by morning. That's a promise."
When Finland makes a promise, he keeps it, no exceptions whatsoever. Knowing this, Liechtenstein found that she could smile a little through her trepidation.
'I hope this vorks... Please, Tino, don't fail.'
Land flashed by below their feet, then choppy blue waves that looked so much smaller from so high up. Meanwhile, the sky began its shift from midnight blue to grey to the faintest beginnings of a vibrantly colored sunrise. It was like God Himself had painted the sky as beautifully as possible to celebrate the occasion, but this time it wasn't a welcome gift to the world. All it succeeded in doing was make a cold sweat begin to break out on Tino's brow.
The two reindeer-- Tino's magic had only been sufficient in summoning two as opposed to the usual eight-- worked their legs rigorously, sensing Santa Clause's rising worry and doing everything in their power to lessen it. Their puffing breaths filled the air with substantial sound and created great clouds of fog that dissipated into the cold night. Mentally, Tino thanked them profusely and apologized for the strain he was asking them to put on their bodies.
'I'll make this up to you' he promised. 'Just don't fail me now, please. You've done wonderfully so far, pulling us along when it's just the two of you.'
Granted, there had been noticeably fewer stops to make this Christmas, so the ride had been easier than it normally was. Even so, that didn't disregard all the effort the reindeer were pouring into making sure they reached their destination before the sun peeked up over the horizon and shone its first rays of light on their portion of the world.
Suddenly Finland felt a fierce tug on his heart, urging him to bank right a few extra degrees and continue in that direction instead. It was his homeland calling to him, asking him to return. He shook his head emphatically, making his hair swish around, and refused to divert his course. 'I'm sorry, but I can't go back. I have a job to do and important promises to keep.'
~~
Resisting the urge to sigh and possibly wake up his peacefully dreaming wife, Lukas Bondevik finally accepted his fate and rolled out of bed despite the fact that it wasn't even time for the sun to come up yet. He'd been tossing and turning all night, trying his hardest to find that special place where he could drift off for a few hours, but for some reason it eluded him completely that night.
And so, tired and a little lethargic, he rose to his feet as smoothly as he could and padded to the kitchen to brew himself a cup of very dark coffee. Maybe, because it was Christmas, he'd be a little naughty and break his rule about limiting himself to one cup a day... 'It'll be a little present to myself' he mused, lifting the hot drink up to his lips for that first sip.
'I vonder vhy I can't sleep... Is it because it's Christmas?' Norway asked himself, taking his coffee to the table in the living room and sinking down into a couch cushion. 'I can't see vhy that vould be the reason, unless... it's because Tino isn't here.'
All too clearly, Lukas could recall how he had asked Tino for a dreamless sleep one Christmas Eve, right around the time when he and Mary had first begun to date. That had been a small miracle at the time, without a doubt. Now that Tino was presumed dead, maybe that miracle would never be experienced again...
"Vhat an empty holiday this is now," Lukas sighed mournfully, and drank down the last of the mug's contents.
Nevertheless, he knew that he'd act normally throughout the day for his family's sake, as they all would. No one would want to spoil Christmas for the others, especially the kids.
Before making that second cup of coffee, Norway snuck into his and Mary's bedroom to grab some clothes for the day: a dark red, long-sleeved V-neck shirt and sharp black pants would do nicely. He dressed in the bathroom and threw his pajamas into the laundry hamper, then drifted back to the kitchen for more life-saving coffee.
This cup went outside with him on the porch after he threw on a knitted scarf for warmth. Never mind the temperatures out there; this was his own country, and he could handle the cold better than most. His forearms rested on the wooden railing and he looked up at the gradually lightening sky. 'At least I can look at the sunrise...'
Norway only managed to get a couple of sips in before the front door of the other half of the duplex opened and closed softly, admitting a young man with silvery hair into the cold. His eyes lit up with relief when he saw his older brother already awake.
"Lukas," he said, and then raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here so early?"
"I could ask you the same thing, lillebror," he replied easily before taking another drink. "Vhat is it? Did something happen?" (little brother)
"I had the dream again," Emil reported breathlessly, leaving behind his and Willow's porch to step up onto Lukas and Mary's. "But I saw something different this time. You're never going to believe it!"
"Okay, so tell me," Lukas prompted, shifting his pose to give him his full attention.
"I saw myself," Iceland whispered, sounding as incredulous as he felt inside. "Or at least I think it was myself. I knew what to expect this time and I didn't let the dream end right when I felt that yank on the back of my shirt. Then I looked down at all the white beneath me, and I realized it was definitely snow, right? But then I could see people on the ground, and someone had his arms out to catch me-- they were my arms!"
"Vait, you caught yourself?" Norway repeated, mild concern crossing his features. "I'm not sure I understand."
"I don't know, either!" Emil all but exclaimed, but he remembered not to be loud because others were sleeping inside. "I just-- I saw my own face, and I looked like I was about to start crying. And the Me on the ground was trying to catch myself in his arms, but the dream ended before anything else could happen. Seeing my face startled me into waking up.
"Lukas, do you have any idea what this means?"
It was hard to give bad news to such an imploring face, but someone had to do it. "Emil, I... I vish I knew vhat vas going on vith these dreams. Vas that all you saw? Did you see vhat you vere vearing, maybe?"
Iceland shook his head. "I didn't, just my face and my arms. I think I was wearing a T-shirt, though, because there were no sleeves."
Norway dared not let his coffee grow cold, so he took another long drink and tried to figure out an explanation as the liquid slid down his throat. "I don't know... Dreams are not really my specialty, lillebror. Othervise I vould tell you everything I knew about it."
"Well, what are you thinking about it right now?" Emil pleaded urgently, so unlike his normal attitude. "Even if it's nothing, you have to tell me! These dreams are driving me crazy with questions, okay? I have to know what's going on!"
"Shh, lower your voice," Lukas cautioned him quietly, and looked down from his brother's face a few degrees. "Listen. All I can really think about in regard to the dream is the fact that you're vearing a T-shirt right now and there's fresh snow on the ground."
~~
Sweet wonders of the world! The Norwegian coastline was in sight! Sunrise was approaching fast, but Finland and his sleigh were approaching their destination even faster. Maybe they would make it in time after all without needing an emergency landing!
He reached one-handed under his seat and latched onto a smooth, round object that was almost too large to hold comfortably in his hand. Rising to his feet, Finland took careful aim and pulled his arm back in preparation for a mighty throw.
"Vhat is that?" Liechtenstein asked quickly, indicating the glass orb he held. Inside it were what looked to be vapors of almost every color, swirling and twisting around in their little prison.
"It's a signal," he answered, and gathered strength to let it fly. The glass ball sailed out of sight ahead of them, and then all of a sudden the sky was filled with a most magnificent Aurora Borealis. The colors were amazingly saturated, the lights' strength so bright that it could be seen much farther south than what was considered normal. The sleigh sailed right on through and kept going, undeterred.
"Clear skies ahead," Tino commented to himself. "He should see it. If he's not awake already, that would have woken him up. I hope..."
~~
If there hadn't been fresh snow on the ground, Norway would have broken his mug when his grip on it faltered and it tumbled to the ground just in front of the porch railing. As it were, the snow around it began to melt as the dark brown stain spread out and tainted the white snow.
He didn't pay any attention to that, though, even if it was coffee. Lukas's eyes were aimed skyward, at the Northern Lights that had exploded into being far too quickly and vibrantly to be considered natural in any situation. Emil couldn't take his gaze away from the familiar sight that was sending undulations of intense deja vu up and down his spine.
'The lights... the snow... my face... my T-shirt...' he pieced together, unable to believe what was happening.
His dream had been a premonition, and it was about to come true.
"Er dette mulig...?" Norway whispered, making his way to the steps down to the ground. He stepped off and didn't, even for a second, tear his gaze away from the sky. "... Finland?" (Is this possible...?)
~~
Tino couldn't keep lying to himself anymore. Whatever that yellow potion had done to him before had not fully gone away, and now it was coming back for revenge. But the mountain range was just ahead, and beyond it he knew the compound lay in wait.
"Just past those mountains!" he called out, keeping his determined expression fixed on the goal ahead. "They're all just a little farther ahead!"
And yet... had the ground been that close a moment ago? Those trees looked a little larger, too. Were they losing altitude?
Behind the Northern Lights, the sky grew brighter still with the coming sunlight that was only moments away from peering up over the horizon. 'Come on, come on, come on!' Tino chanted in his head like it was a special mantra. 'We can make it. We can make it! Just over the mountains, and I'll put the sleigh down. We can walk the rest of the way, and we'll be there soon. Come on, come on!'
The mountains loomed higher and higher as they approached, the reindeer giving it all they had to keep going. Alice's breath hitched in her throat and she hid her face in Miliana's side for her sudden fear that they would all become an incredibly festive grease spot on the side of the Norwegian mountain range. All Miliana could do was hug her fiercely, close her eyes, and pray that they would clear the tall mountain peaks.
Tino aimed the sleigh toward a V-shaped space between two mountains and poured as much of his magical energy as possible into bringing their altitude up. "Mielelläni, mielelläni, mielelläni!" he whispered too quietly to be heard; the fast winds stole his words away before they could reach anyone's ears. (Please, please, please!)
Everyone either ducked, flinched, cried out, or did a combination of any of those as they drew near enough to make out details in the rocks. The tops of the tallest trees scraped the sleigh's runners and created a racket, but nothing was going to deter their course.
Finland let out a shout and slapped the reins urgently, and the vehicle surged upward at such an alarming rate that everyone riding in it were pressed against the back of their seats. And then... no more trees. No more mountains in front of them. They were still flying.
They made it!
A cheer rose up in the sleigh, but the rejoicing was cut short when Tino slumped in his seat and accidentally let the reins slip out of his gloved grasp. "Emergency... land..." he mumbled, but his eyes slid shut before he could snap himself awake.
"Tino!" Lili exclaimed, reaching for him desperately.
And then the sun came up.
~
"What's going on?" Emil cried out, following his barefooted brother out into the snow.
"You can call me crazy if I'm wrong, but... I think this is Finland's doing," Lukas replied incredulously. His eyes immediately went to the mountains that served as protection on that one side of their compound; something in his gut was telling him that something was coming from that direction.
"Tino?" Iceland echoed. "But-- How?"
"This is a spell I gave to him for vhen he got into trouble on his delivery route," Norway explained quickly. "I'd see the lights and know he needed my help-- Der!" Out of surprise for what he saw next, he had accidentally slipped into his native language when he pointed at the shape that had just appeared from between two tall mountain peaks. (There!)
It was flying in fast, growing larger and larger as it drew near. Santa's sleigh's familiar shape became clear to the two brothers just a split second before the sun came up and made it disappear until next Christmas.
"Finland!" Iceland cried out, and he and Norway took off on swift feet that were used to snow and ice. Things were falling-- no, people were falling!
Lukas thrust his arms out toward the falling shapes and shouted something outlandish and ancient. Suddenly they weren't falling anymore, and Emil copied his brother to help hold all of them up. Slowly, gently, they set them down to the ground and then gasped loudly for air, their brows beaded with sweat from the spell. But there was no time for weakness; Tino was alive after all, and he had brought people with him!
~
Screams were torn from their throats; loved ones latched onto each other as wind rushed past their faces and whistled shrilly in their ears. The sleigh may have been losing altitude, but it had certainly not lost enough to make a fall from their height survivable. Eyes closed in preparation for the end.
Except the end didn't come. There was a sudden stop, yes, but no impact to speak of. Their eyes cracked opened warily, and promptly widened to see that the lights were still in the sky, the snow on the ground was below them, and they were hovering in midair.
"A-Are ve...?" Liechtenstein asked shakily, unable to finish her question due to the fear choking up her throat and the staccato pounding of her heart in her ears.
Then they started to descend, much slower than before, and soon collapsed into the snow once weight was put on their trembling limbs. They'd all had one foot in Death's doorway a mere second ago. Who could blame them for their legs giving out?
Two pairs of footsteps muffled by the snow ran up to the crowd and came to screeching halts when they could recognize the people Finland had rescued. "I-I don't get it..." Iceland could only whisper as he openly stared. So many of the missing nations had been found and brought back all at once!
Farther behind them two doors opened and shut, and Sweden and Denmark started running toward them. "Hey, what's goin' on?" Matthias called out. "What's with all the-- hoooly lort." (shit)
"Fin," Sweden breathed, and spotted the blond nation dressed completely in red and white lying on his side in the snow, unconscious and pale-faced. The taller Nordic was at his side in an instant, gingerly rolling him onto his back and checking his vitals. Liechtenstein weakly dragged herself onto her knees, looked over at the sight of Finland unconscious, and made her way over as well.
"Mr. Sveden... he's hurt," she said, still struggling to catch her breath after such an intense scare. "His side... vas shot."
"Nor, over here!" Sweden bellowed immediately, and Norway materialized on Finland's other side a second later. "He's hurt."
"How badly?" Lukas asked even as he was lifting up Tino's shirt and exposing the wound. Black veins, spindly and intricately twisted around each other, were spreading out from the puncture site that had begun to bleed yet again. Lukas sucked in a sharp breath and placed his hands over the injury; a pale blue light shone forth from between his fingers. "Magic poisoning. How did this happen?"
Liechtenstein jumped when addressed but quickly answered him. "A potion-- on the crossbow bolt. Ve tried vhat ve could to heal it but it vas taking so long to heal! I-I think it poisoned him...!"
"Don't vorry," Norway told her calmly, his cross-shaped clip catching the light of the rising sun. Auroras still wavered in the sky above them. "I can take care of this. You should probably go help the others if they need you, Lili."
She nodded after a second and rose on shaky legs. Her eyes skimmed over the scene and she counted heads, making sure to account for the Nordics that had shown up in the nick of time.
"Vait... vhere's Alice?"
"Huh?" Denmark yelped when he heard Liechtenstein. "Where's who?"
"Alice," she repeated, strength returning to her limbs out of necessity. Where was the little girl? Why wasn't she on the ground? "Oh, no, vhere is she?"
"Heyyy!"
Lili, Matthias, and Emil (among others) lifted their gazes upward and found a silver shape hovering over a more colorful shape with long hair tied in a braid. Alice was floating, suspended in the air, thanks to the silver umbrella. Its handle had hooked itself into the back of her shirt and its canopy popped open when she had begun to fall, thus slowing her descent!
"Heyyy!" she called out again, squirming in midair. She tried kicking her legs and flapping her arms, but that did absolutely nothing to help get her down any faster. "I'm stuuuck!"
Both of Iceland's hands flew up to cover his open mouth, but only for a second. In the blink of an eye he was running to stand underneath her, his arms outstretched and ready to receive. "Alice!" he called out, tears welling up in his purplish eyes.
'So, this is what the dream predicted' he thought, completely unashamed when the tears spilled down his cheeks. Now it all made sense: the lights, the snow, the flash of silver out of the corner of his eye, and the yank on the back of his shirt had all been seen from Alice's point of view. Now Alice saw Emil's face beneath her, slowly getting closer as she drifted downward and wet with tears of joy.
"Emmi!" she cried, reaching for him with both arms while her legs kicked like she was swimming through the air. A gust of wind pushed at her back and propelled her toward the closest person she had to a dad, who enveloped her in his arms as soon as she was close enough.
The umbrella unhooked itself from her shirt and dropped into the snow, forgotten for the time being. Alice was too busy hugging Emil, and vice versa, to take notice.
"Emmi," she hiccuped, crying into his shoulder as she gripped two handuls of his nightshirt. "Daddy, I missed you...!"
"I missed you too, Alice," he whispered, his own tears meeting up at the apex of his chin and dripping onto the back of her shirt. "Ó, Guð, þú ert í lagi...!" (Oh, God, you're okay...!)
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To be continued~
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