Chains Part 23
An hour later, Barnabas's body had been taken away. Germany had managed to hold himself together long enough to get Hesse and Norway bandaged up. Luckily, the bullets hadn't hit anything life threatening, but Norway had a large lump on his head from when he had been knocked into the wall. Hesse had handled the authorities and Germany had managed to give a statement. Luckily, since it was a case of necessary defense he wouldn't be charged with anything and the body was quickly taken away. Then, Germany had crumpled on the floor, shaking like a tree in a hurricane. Norway instructed Hesse to make some tea and had left to call Prussia and Denmark.
Prussia's cell kept ringing and ringing. Norway tapped the receiver impatiently. Prussia wasn't picking up. Norway glanced down the hallway, towards the kitchen. A few moments after Germany had started shaking, he slipped into a dialect of Silesian that neither Hesse or Norway knew. Right now, Hesse was trying to calm him down.
Eventually Prussia picked up.
"What?" he growled. "I'm busy!"
"Barnabas was here."
"What?" Norway heard wispering in the background and heard Prussia shush whomever was talking. Probably Denmark
"Barnabas was here. He was looking for your brother. Your brother...." Norway paused, uncertain of what to say.
"What happned? Is he alright?" Norway heard the crash of a door, rapid footsteps and then the sound of someone fumbling for the phone.
"Norje?" Denmark sounded breathless.
"Danmark? What happened to Prussia?"
"He left in a hurry. Their boss is fine, she just has a lot of paperwork to do. What happened?" Norway could hear his voice shake. The sound of footsteps was constant and Norway could hear the faint sounds of traffic.
"Are you running?"
Norway could hear Denmark nod. "Y-yeah, he should be there any minute." Norway hung up and reached the front doorway, just as Prussia barged in.
"West!" Norway stopped him with a hand to his chest.
"Calm down," he said sharply.
"I have to see West!"
"You can see him after I've talked to you." There was a crash from the kitchen and they could hear someone shouting. Prussia pushed past Norway, hurried down the hall and stepped into the kitchen. Germany flinched when he saw him and muttered something. Prussia frowned.
"Why would I hate you West?" he asked, stepping forward. "He would have hurt you again, if you hadn't." He took another step forward. Germany stepped back, blinking. "It's ok," Prussia said carefully, "I don't hate you." Gently, he hugged Germany. Germany squeezed him, tucked his head under Prussia's chin and started to cry.
Denmark snuck around them, gently grabbed Hesse and Norway's hands and tugged them out of the room.
"We shouldn't see this." Both of them nodded their agreement.
"When did you grow up?" Norway asked once they were outside? Denmark shifted.
"After...after all of you left….it was hard. Everyone expects me to be happy all the time, but during that time...that's when I grew up. You just didn't notice." Norway gave him a sharp look.
"You seem to know a lot about what Germany's going through." he said, carefully.
Denmark turned red and looked at the ground. "I read about it." he mumbled.
"What?"
"I did some research...after we talked."
Norway laughed. "The librarians must have been surprised to see you!"
Denmark grinned. "They sure were!" Then his smile fell and he turned to look at the door.
"He'll be ok." Norway said, seeing the look. "After all, he has both you and Prussia."