'ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ' || ʜᴇᴛᴀʟɪᴀ

19

Denmark walked back into the house anxiously. He knew that the others would all be waiting for him thanks to Iceland, and he also knew that he'd have to tell them about his conscious voice if he was going to get away from them.

'Lie to them. Don't tell them what we know.'

"Never . . ." he whispered to himself, and he gave a small smile so that to the other Nordics, he didn't seem completely desperate to get away or too nervous.

The four were sat in the living room. When Mathias walked in, all conversation stopped, and eight eyes looked to him with varying degrees of sympathy, caring and understanding. Emil told him to take a seat and tell everyone what he'd told him out on the boardwalk. Mathias slowly nodded, but he didn't sit. He didn't want to feel trapped.

"Is everything OK?" Tino asked. "Ice didn't want to tell us what happened, so we were hoping you could."

"I, uh . . ."

Mathias took a deep breath. 'Lie. I have to . . . They can't know, because they'll make sure I stay here forever . . .'

"I am not doing good," he slowly said.

There was silence in the room, and the three Nordics who knew nothing looked at each other in bewilderment. It was an odd statement to say the least.

"In what way?" Sweden questioned further.

"Den, are you still getting headaches?" Lukas added slowly, clearly having worked it out quicker than the others. He was unsure of what answer he wanted to hear more: yes or no.

"Yeah . . . They never really went away," Mathias replied earnestly. "I just wanted to keep you guys happy, make it seem like we were all OK again . . ."

"Mathias, you poor soul, you never needed to lie like that," Finland meekly said. "It's not about being happy, it's about all of us sticking together and looking after each other."

"I know, I just . . . I know lying was wrong, but I didn't want anyone to worry!" Mathias continued, feeling extremely guilty and ashamed of himself. "I can take it, but it's you guys I was worried about. You four shouldn't have to fuss over me or look after me like I'm a child."

"Do you think we mind?" Emil said. "It's what friends are for, Den."

Mathias hummed, and returned his attention to the other three. "But there's more I need to tell you . . . More than just the headaches."

And he told them. He explained how he'd started to hear voices--several at first--until the number had reduced to just one invisible friend that decided to stick around. Mathias claimed he didn't mind it, that it didn't bother him; it never said anything significant or degrading, so he just took to ignoring it.

They looked at him without judgement. Denmark had been through a lot, and while he wasn't alone, he'd certainly done a good job of tricking them into thinking otherwise. They all dreaded to think just how much he'd been suffering in silence, but no one asked him. They didn't want him to feel guilty or to push him to more pain, because that was unfair of them. They just listened.

"You don't think I'm crazy, do you?" Mathias quietly asked to finish.

"Nei," Lukas responded. "You're not crazy, and you never have been."

"You just need some help from us," Tino smiled. "The five of us can work together to make you feel one-hundred percent!"

'See? They want to keep you here. They're trying to imprison you. There's only one sure way you can get out of this dream, Denmark . . .'