Long Road Chapter 23

[lothinielflowermaiden]

Warnings: Any warnings from previous chapters can continue to apply, but this chapter needs a specific warning for abuse.

Chapter Twenty-three

Norway still had some doubts about whether he could trust his mother. Even though she had claimed to be helping him, he wasn't sure that she didn't have some ulterior motive. She might even be working with Scandia and this help could be some kind of trap.

She had been careful to keep some distance away from him, and had kept silent since telling him what was outside the door. At last, though, she broke the silence. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"Not this time," Norway answered. Truthfully, he did have a bruise on his arm that he had gotten when Scandia had tried to pull him through the door. However, given the way most of his encounters with his father went, he did not consider that worth mentioning—any time where he managed to get away with nothing worse than bruises, he considered himself lucky. "How did you make him leave?" he asked. The fact that his mother had been able to make Scandia leave was one of the things that made him worried they might really be working together. Even during the confrontation the previous summer, Scandia had only left as a way of making sure he got the final word—no one had actually made him leave.

"He knows I will not hesitate to use magic against him, and he has always had a very strong dislike of magic. I believe that fact is at least part of the reason why he has treated you the way he has. I knew from the beginning that he felt that way and that there was a darkness in him, but at the time, I trusted that at least he would not harm our children."

Silence fell again. Norway had several questions that he wanted to ask his mother, but he could not bring himself to ask any of them. He was afraid of some of the answers, even though he did not want to be. He was afraid of finding out that the things Scandia had done to him really were his fault.

"I should have realized how he would react if one of the children inherited magical abilities," she said, after some time had passed in silence. She seemed to be able to pick up on the fact that he could not ask the questions he wanted to. "At the time it didn't seem important to worry about. Magic was becoming less common with each generation of our kind, and the chance of a child inheriting the Gift from a parent was very slim. And our first two children did not inherit anything beyond that which is standard for our kind—the connection to our land and people. Of course, Scandia was pleased that his sons would be like him, and he actually did say some things about being glad they had not inherited any of the Gift.

"I knew that the more children we had, the greater chance there was that one would inherit the Gift, but I chose not to worry about it. We had not originally planned to have more than two children, so your conception was a surprise, but to me at least, it was a good surprise. But I was frightened when I learned that you would inherit the Gift. And when I told Scandia he did not take it well."

"How did you know?" Although, he was curious about the answer to that question, Norway had mainly asked it in an attempt to block out the memory of his father's voice telling him that he never should have been born—that he had ruined their family by being born.

"I could sense it," she answered. "You'll know if you ever have a child that inherits the Gift." She was silent for a few moments before speaking again, and when she spoke her voice was tinged with regret. "No one ever told you anything, did they? I knew that you were never properly shielded, but I did not realize that no one had ever explained anything about the Gift to you. But apparently, the others just used what happened to you as a reminder to make sure that their own Gifted children were at least warned about some of the risks that went with it."

By this point, Norway really had no idea what his mother was talking about. He had figured out that the Gift probably referred to magic, but nothing else made any sense to him. He did have an idea about at least one of the risks that she was referring to, but he wasn't sure what she meant by shielding But he didn't want to admit how little he really did know—he knew about how to use his abilities and was able to communicate with the creatures that he was able to see, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

"But then, your father probably would have made sure to keep you away from anyone who could teach you." Once again, regret was noticeable in her tone of voice. "I had hoped to get you away from him—even if it meant giving you up to be raised by someone else—but things didn't go the way I had planned." She fell silent, and it seemed for a while as if she was not going to say anything more. She appeared to be lost in thought.

Norway thought he knew what she was referring to, though—the fact that his birth had caused her death. She was actually trying to help him for some reason, after he had killed her. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Nóregr, you have nothing to be sorry for. What your father told you happened, isn't what really happened. There is some truth to his story, but not everything happened the way he claimed it did. I can show you what really happened. After all this time, you deserve to know the truth." She held out her hand towards him.

Norway backed up against the wall, not wanting her to touch him. He had been hurt too deeply by the only parent he really knew to be comfortable with the idea of being touched by her—whether or not she was trying to help him.

An expression of sadness crossed her features, as she let her hand fall back by her side. "I won't hurt you. This is the only way I can show you what really happened. Whatever you decide to do, you deserve to know the truth about what happened before you were born." Once again she held out her hand towards him, but stopped short of actually touching him. Instead, she waited to see if he would reach out to her.

It took him a few moments before he was able to do so, but eventually, Norway reached out to clasp her extended hand. Then, the room they were in faded and they found themselves outdoors.

A short distance from where they stood, were four people—two adults and two young children. Their style of dress made it clear that this was sometime in the distant past, although the exact year was not clear. Once he had recovered from the disorientation of the sudden change of surroundings, Norway recognized that the adults were his parents, and once he had realized that, he also realized that the children were Denmark and Sweden.

"This is the day before you were born," his mother told him. She was about to move closer, but noticed that he did not want to. "No one will be able to see us here. This is just a memory that I am sharing with you—we are really still back in that room."

Although he was still hesitant, it was more because he wasn't sure he wanted to know this—he was afraid that it would confirm what his father had always told him, that he had ruined their family by being born.

They were now close enough to hear the conversation between the adults. "I was hoping you would take the boys with you today," his mother was saying. "I have some things I need to do to get ready for the baby."

"I don't see what you could have to do that's so important that you have to neglect your other children. It's not due for another couple weeks, after all." Scandia's low opinion of the unborn child was clear from the scorn in his voice.

"Magic things. I assume you wouldn't want your heirs to be tainted by having magic done in their presence."

"We'll start with that. I would actually prefer for them to never know that they have another sibling that will inherit your unnatural abilities. Once the baby is born, I will expect you to keep it away from them, so they will not be tainted at all by having that in the family."

She looked stricken at those words, and she placed a hand over her abdomen, as if to reassure the child she carried that she did not share his father's opinion. "You do realize that if it weren't for these abilities that you consider so unnatural, we would not have any children."

Norway could not look at this scene any longer—he had always known what his father thought of him, but it still hurt to realize that his father had thought that before he was born as well. He had always believed that it was because of his mother's death, as that was what he had always been told. And, this confrontation was bringing back memories of some of his own confrontations with his father, especially of the one time he had been able to defy his father. That memory was heightened by what happened next.

Scandia raised a hand as if to strike her, but then stopped. "You're lucky the children are here," he said. "We will continue this discussion later, when they won't have to witness it." With that he turned and left, leading the two children away with him.

She was left standing alone, and there was a look of sadness in her eyes as she watched them walk away, but that sadness was quickly replaced by resolve.

"I knew that might be the last time I ever saw them, if I had succeeded. I had planned to leave, and I knew Scandia might not let me return. But I was too afraid of what he would do to you to take risk of staying."

The scene changed to the top of a hill. This time, she was the only person there at the moment. However, when she got to the top of the hill, she had to stop to rest for a moment, and it was then that Scandia appeared.

"Are you actually trying to leave?" he asked, when he had caught up her. "How far did you think you were going to get in your condition?"

"Far enough to make sure my child would be safe from you," she answered.

"And you were just going to leave your other children behind then. You know I can make sure that you're never allowed to see them again. If you stay, I will at least allow you limited contact with them, as long as you're careful not to contaminate them with your unnatural ways."

"Where are they, anyway? You were supposed to be watching them today."

"They're back at the camp. I suspected that you might try to leave when I saw you weren't there, so I came after you. But I didn't think you would want to them know that you were willing to just abandon them—that you're choosing the baby over them."

"They're too young to be left alone like that." She did not respond to the other accusation he had made. She had already said why she was leaving.

The argument went on for some time, starting out similar to the earlier one, but getting more heated as it went on. There was an undercurrent that showed that much of this stuff had been talked about some before, but that this was something that needed to be dealt with now. Her desire to protect her unborn child was obvious, as was Scandia's obvious dislike towards the child, or at least towards the ability that the child would inherit. As time passed, the fight continued to escalate, although it was still only words.

Norway wanted to look away from what he was being shown, because he had a feeling he knew what might be about to happen. He had seen Scandia that angry before, and it never ended well. Plus, he remembered what had almost happened in the earlier argument, and that strengthened his conviction that things were about to get worse. And whatever was about to happen would be his fault, because his mother had tried to keep him safe and that was what was causing the fight. Despite those thoughts, he did feel one little bit of relief about one thing—his mother had actually wanted him, she had tried to protect him.

"If I thought it would work, I wouldn't leave any of our children with you, so that you couldn't teach them your intolerance."

That comment was the last straw for Scandia, and this time, when he raised his hand to strike her, there was no one there to stop him. The blow was not a terribly hard one, but it forced her to back up a couple of steps closer to the edge—a couple more steps and she would risk falling. For a few moments, neither of them moved, or spoke.

"And this is why I'm leaving you, because it's too easy for you resort to violence, and I will not risk letting you hurt an innocent child, who has done nothing besides inherit my abilities. I am not going to stay here and let him be raised by someone who hates him for existing."

The anger was still apparent on Scandia's face, and he took a couple of steps closer to her. "You really believed I would just let you walk away like this. That I would let you defy me." He took a couple of more steps towards her, forcing her to back up to keep out of his reach. She was now only a step away from the edge. "I will have to teach you what the price is for defying me. I will make sure that you no longer have any reason to try to leave. Or have you forgotten that the child is vulnerable until it is born, and now, because of your defiance, I will make sure that it doesn't survive long enough to be born."

"No," she whispered. There was no easy way to escape from him, and she knew she was not powerful enough to overpower him and get away. She was left with only one chance to save her child, and placing her hand over her abdomen, she spoke the first couple words of a spell. She did not have time to completely finish the spell though, before he pushed her, and she lost her balance and fell.

Then the scene faded away, and they were back in the room. "You were born early the next morning," she said, "three weeks before you were supposed to have been born. Your birthday was supposed to line up with your brothers' birthdays. I tried to cast a protection spell, once I realized it was too late to do anything else. Because the spell was not fully completed, I chose to give up my own immortality so you could have a chance at surviving."

Norway was still trying to process what he had been shown. For as long as he could remember, he had been blamed for him mother's death. And now, he had been shown that not only had Scandia been the one to actually cause her death, but Scandia had been trying to kill him. His father had tried to kill him just to teach his mother a lesson. And his mother had cared about him enough to give up her own life so he could survive. And the whole thing had happened because she had tried to leave in order to keep him safe, so did that mean that he was still at least partially to blame?

There was no time to ask any of that, before he heard a sound from outside the door, and realized that Scandia was returning. The brief reprieve seemed to be over, and Norway still had no idea what he could do to save himself. He knew from what his mother had said that there was something, but he didn't know what. And he wasn't sure if he had the strength anymore. He looked towards the door, but he could not actually see Scandia.

"The shield will keep him out for a little while still," his mother said. "He has no power of his own, and so he cannot take down the shield until we're ready to let him in. All the power that your father has used to trap you here, he has been drawing from you. You should be shielded against him so that he could not do that without your permission, but something about the way he raised you made it so you don't have shields against him."

This wasn't the first mention of the shields, but he still wasn't sure what they were. He knew about some types of shielding—that was one of the tactics he had used to keep people at a distance. And he knew something similar to what his mother had used to block the door. But neither of those seemed to be what she was referring to. "How is he doing this, then, if he doesn't have any power? He always claimed that he did—he said that he was the only one who had any power here."

"He is drawing on your power to create the dreams he has used to torment you, and to keep you trapped here. Your power should be shielded against that, but he had gained too much power over you before your shields developed. If I had been there when you were growing up, I would have shielded you until you were old enough to have your own shields, and this situation would not have happened. In order to survive and return to your own world, you need to fix that gap in your shields, and then he will no longer be able to keep you trapped here."

Norway still wasn't sure if he understood what his mother was telling him. The one thing he did know what he now wanted to find a way to survive. Ever since he had felt that call, he had known that he had to keep fighting to survive, and knowing that his mother cared enough to help him strengthened that resolve. But that didn't change the fact that he wasn't sure what to do, or if there was even actually anything that he could do.

He looked towards the door again, but although he knew that Scandia was out there, there was currently no sign of him. However, he knew that time was running out before he would have to face his father, and somehow he knew that this would be the last confrontation, and what his mother had told him only confirmed that suspicion. Either Scandia would win this encounter, and there would be no point in trying to get free, or he would manage to shield against his father, in which case he might finally be free.

"How do I shield against him?" he asked. There were so many other things that he wanted to ask his mother about, but there wasn't time now. Now he had to focus on preparing himself for the final confrontation with his father.

"There are different ways for the shielding to work, and you will need to find it. But one thing you need to remember is that, despite what you have been told, you do have power here—you have the same powers that you have outside this place."

"I don't know if I can stand up to him," Norway admitted, quietly. "The only time I ever did was so I could protect Island. Other than that one time, I've always been too weak to stand up to father. And maybe father's right, maybe everyone would be better off if I was gone." What resolve he had felt a moment ago was rapidly fading, as he looked towards the door again, and knew that Scandia was out there.

"Nóregr, everyone will be worse off if you don't survive. Your people will be left without a representative for several years at least. And your family will blame themselves for not having been able to find a way to save you—they already are, just from the thought that you might not survive. Given enough time, they might switch to blaming each other. Right now, the only thing keeping them together at all is the hope that they might still be able to find a way to save you. They have spent as much time by your side as the doctors will allow them to. They love you, and they are scared of losing you. Your father has tried everything he could to isolate you from the rest of the family, but he has always failed, because nothing can make them stop caring about you completely. And you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You survived all of the things that your father did to you as a child, and you survived the loss of so many of your people to the plague and the years of being controlled by your brothers. And not only did you survive all of that, but you went on to become one of the best countries in the world. I am so proud of you for all you have accomplished in your life, and I love you so much. And I believe that you can survive this, that you can find a way to break your father's power over you."

For the first time since all of this had started, Norway began to think that he might really be able to find a way to get free. That maybe he really did have the strength to stand up to his father. It helped just to know that his mother believed that he could. And, it also helped that she had reminded of what he had to go back for. And with that reminder, he began to find the strength that he needed to stand up to his father.

"I think I'm ready," he said, after a few moments. When he looked towards the door now, he had did not feel apprehension at the thought that Scandia was out there. He wasn't sure exactly what he felt, but he was at least somewhat relieved that soon it would all be over, one way or the other. And, he was determined to find a way to survive, and to leave this place. There were other feelings mixed in there too, but he couldn't identify all of them. All he knew for sure was that, at least for the time being, the fear he always felt when he thought of his father had retreated.

A few moments later, the shield was gone from the door, and Scandia was once again free to enter the room. There was no longer any way to close the door once the shield was gone, which was a sign of just how far the situation had gotten.

Another couple moments passed before Scandia entered the room, and Norway was having to fight to hold onto the resolve he had felt earlier. On some level he was afraid it would all vanish when he was confronted with his father, but he was determined not to give in to the fear this time. He was determined to do everything he could to survive, because he knew he had a reason to go back.

"So, have you finished your conversation?" Scandia asked, as he entered the room. "And are you ready to take the final step to ensure that you can never be a burden to anyone ever again?"

"No. I know what's on the other side of the door, and I'm not ready to go there yet." Although the fear he always felt around his father was returning, Norway still managed to hold onto his resolve.

"You have no choice," Scandia said. "One way or the other, this is the end for you. You can either go through that door now, of your own free will, or you can stay here until it is too late and you die anyway. There is no escape, despite what you may want to believe. You are trapped here, unless I am willing to let you go. And although you can try to convince yourself otherwise, you know that everyone will be better off without you."

Norway felt his resolve begin to falter, and he looked down at the ground, no longer able to meet his father's eyes. A few moments later, he felt a gentle touch on his arm, and looked up to see his mother standing beside him. He could see the love in her eyes, and it brought back the memory of the words she had spoken to him just a short time before. And with the memory of those words, came memories of his family. He remembered all that they had done to try to help him since the revelation of what Scandia had done—they had been there for him as much as they were allowed, even when he had tried to distance himself from them. There were other memories too, memories from before the past year, from back when everything had been normal. Then, he began to see other people, some of whom were people he had never actually met in person, but he still knew them because they were his people. And for the first time since he had found himself in this place, he felt his connection to them.

"You're wrong," Norway said, as he felt his resolve strengthen again. "I do have something to go back to. I have a responsibility to my people, and I cannot leave them without a representative. And I have my family."

Scandia closed the distance between them, and his anger was clearly visible on his face. "You honestly believe your family cares about a little freak like you? Your older brothers are just waiting for the chance to take control of you again, and your child is ashamed to be related to you. And you think that is something worth going back for? No one really cares about you. They are only pretending to care so it will be easier to control you. That's all you're good for, and you know it. Just because you got your brothers to let you go once doesn't mean they're not waiting to force you back into the only position you're fit to occupy. I thought I had managed to teach you your place by now, but you still seem to be foolish enough to believe you can amount to something."

Those words brought other memories to Norway's mind, and he backed up a few steps. He needed to get some distance from his father as he suddenly began to remember everything that he had blocked out. Just like he had in other dreams, he heard a child crying, and this time he knew that he was the one who was crying. He remembered the nights he had cried himself to sleep after his father had finished with him. He remembered everything that his father had done to him. The onslaught of memories threatened to overwhelm him, and he felt himself being pulled under.

"Do you see the truth now?" Scandia said. "Do you see what you really are?"

Norway wasn't sure if those words had been spoken in the present, or if they were just another memory of something his father had said to him. But, then he heard another voice.

"Nóregr, you are not worthless, despite what your father wants you to believe. You are strong enough to overcome this, and you do have people who care about you. Your family is out there, in your world, and they're waiting for you to wake up. And I am right here with you, and I can see how much you have accomplished in your life. How much you have accomplished in spite of the way that Scandia has tried to destroy you. I am proud of you, my son, and I love you." She continued to say things like that, trying to find a way to reach him and to anchor him against the onslaught of memories.

Gradually, Norway was able to focus on his mother's voice, and eventually to discern what she was saying. Although he still remembered everything, he no longer felt overpowered by the onslaught, and he found the strength to face his father again.

Although those memories had almost overwhelmed them, they also made him realize where he must be. Those memories had been buried deep within his mind, so that must be where he was currently trapped. He had not been taken somewhere, and as long as he did not go through the door, he would remain here. And if he really was somewhere deep within himself, that meant that there must be a way back, but first he had to end Scandia's power over him.

"I do see the truth," Norway said. "But not the one you want me to see. And I'm not going to just give up and die, just because you want me to. Especially not now that I know how much my mother has sacrificed so I could have any chance at life. I know that you were the one who killed her, and I know that you were trying to kill me, in order to teach her a lesson. If I let you win here, then her sacrifice was for nothing. And I'm not going to let that happen."

"You really think you can defeat me?" Scandia asked. "Do you realize that you have no power here?"

"You're the one who doesn't have any power. You've been using my power to do this, and I'm not going to let you anymore."

Scandia took a couple of steps towards Norway, his anger obvious on his face. Norway managed to find the resolve to stand his ground, and he concentrated on drawing on his power. Slowly, a shield like the one that had covered the door formed between him and his father. He focused on strengthening the shield, and gradually it began to be easier to draw on the power. The shield grew and became stronger, and it was enough to keep Scandia from reaching him. For the first time in his life, he was really defending himself from his father.

"This isn't over, you little freak," Scandia said. "You may be able to use your unnatural abilities to keep me from giving you what you deserve, but I will just find another way." Despite the threat he made though, there was nothing that Scandia could do. The shield kept him from actually being able to reach Norway, and his words were not having the effect they usually did. And so, he left, but unlike when he had left at the end of his visit the previous summer, he was not leaving with any illusion that he had been the victor of this encounter.

A few moments later, the door was once again closed, the danger shut out for the time being. And the room was beginning to fade to darkness, as the trap that Scandia had set was disarmed.

Norway looked over at his mother, who was still beside him. There was so much that he wanted to ask her, but he knew their time together was ending. And he hadn't even found out what her name was. He tried to hold onto the illusion of the room so that he could have more time with her.

She seemed to know what he was trying to do. "Nóregr, you have to go back now," she said. "I will find a way to see you again, I promise. But now, you need to go back to your own world. You have people waiting for you, after all."

He continued to look at her, trying to commit her to memory, determined to have some memory of her now. She was the last thing he saw as the room faded away completely.

Then, as everything faded away, he had one last thought. That he hoped this was really the way back.

---

Author's notes:

Okay, I have some explanations that I need to give of things that I referenced in this chapter, and also why I included something I did. It started when I saw a piece of fanart that had a caption mentioning that Norway's independence day (that was what it was called in that picture) was June 7th. My first thought was to be relieved that wasn't his birthday, since it would seem like too big of a coincidence if all three Scandinavians had birthdays that lined up like that. Later, though, when I began to come up with the story behind his mother's death, I started thinking—what if that was the day he was supposed to have been born, what if their birthdays were supposed to line up as another symbol of the links between the three of them? From there, I came up with the idea of something happening that caused him to be born early, and led to his mother's death. (Especially considering that June 7th really is exactly three weeks after his actual birthday.)

In the paragraph where his mother was trying to encourage him, there is a reference to Norway having lost a large percentage of his population to the plague. I have seen different numbers for what that percentage is, which is why I didn't specify. However, considering that the numbers range as high as more than two thirds, I think it's really amazing that he survived at all. (And that's also something I wish got explored more in fanfiction, although I have seen a few good stories about it.)

Anyway, I hope people like how I resolved the dream thing, and that it was clear enough what was going on. This is a major turning point in the story, because for the first time Norway has actually successfully stood up to his father. Scandia may have still managed to get the last word, but he still lost the overall encounter, and for the time being, he is less of a threat.

The next chapter should be out sometime in early June, and will go back to what's been going on with the rest of the family.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and I'm really glad that people still like this story. I don't think there's anything I need to reply to specifically, although I do want to say that I will be continuing this story until it is complete. And I am actually beginning to consider ideas for other stories set in this verse, as well. Although some of those ideas will have to wait until I'm comfortable writing more characters.

Anyway, please review. I always like to know what people think of each chapter.

(And in case anyone's wondering, I did intentionally choose to post this chapter the day before Norway's birthday. Because the scenes in the flashback were of things that happened the day before Norway was born, I thought it would be appropriate to post the chapter on that day as well.)