Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

Chapter 16

"Well, Trollkin, what do you think? Who do you want to stay with?" Shetland asked Trollkin again, who simply stared at her with a confused expression. The expression then changed to in thought as he considered what the adults were saying. He looked up to Norway, frowning slightly when he saw the nation motion a no. He then looked to Troll to see his father motioning a yes.

After some pain-stakenly long moments of thought, Trollkin answered, "I like Papa. And Mama! And Den-papa too!"

The adults all frowned to this, causing Norway to kneel next to the child and say, "No Trollkin, the four of us can't be together. If you pick Denmark than you can't have Troll, understand?"

"No," the child whined as he shook his head.

Norway sighed and said, "Try to understand. Now you need to pick, Den or Troll."

"You too?" Trollkin asked as he looked pleadingly to his mother.

"No, you don't need to also pick me. I'll always have my house open to you, but you seeing me may be more possible depending on who you pick," Norway explained, causing the child to think of his options.

"But I want all three," Trollkin whined slightly as he glanced between his two father figures. It was a difficult decision, and he disliked the idea of having to never see one of them. They picked up on this dilemma, and as they saw the worried and uncertain look on the child Troll began to frown.

While to Troll the answer may seem simple, it obviously was not the case for his child, and he could already feel the dread of the boy choosing one and constantly regretting it. Deep down, even if he was not the best at showing it, Troll cared for his son's well-being; including the boys desire's.

"Come on Trollkin, you wanna be with your big buddy, right? You know that it'll make both Nor and me happy if you do," Denmark commented, giving the child his brightest and most encouraging smile. Trollkin looked in thought to this, only to then look to Troll.

In response, Troll told his son to choose whoever he wanted to live with, not who people told him to live with. Trollkin thought about this too as Norway gave Troll a skeptical glance. It was the first time the creature sounded so…rational; humanly mature.

"Whoever I want," Trollkin mumbled while he thought. At last he said, "I don't know…too hard to say goodbye to one…"

"Then don't think of it as a goodbye, just as a 'til next time.' I mean, Norway just said that you're always welcome at his house and it's not like you wouldn't be able to come visit more often when you're a little older," Shetland commented encouragingly to the child.

"Oh, come on, this is starting to get ridiculous! I mean, Nor, are you really going to let a little kid just choose his future like this? You know what's best for him, you're his mom!" Denmark yelled out, growing impatient with having to wait to hear he would win over the child.

"Shut up Denmark. While it's true that I believe I know what's best for him, I may not be in the right either. I feel that maybe none of us are right now," Norway answered before turning to Troll and asking, "What about you Troll? Why do you want him so badly?"

Troll thought about this for a moment before saying that Trollkin was his son and also a fellow troll, therefore he wanted to help the child grow into the best him he could. Norway listened to this before rebutting, "And you feel that he cannot become the best him while living here with me and Denmark?"

Troll nodded to this, causing the two adults to look to Trollkin who had listened patiently to all this. At last Norway said, "I think, that it's at least worth a try. But I'm going to warn you right now that if you hurt him or any of us again, or if Trollkin has legitimate reason to not want to be with you then I'm keeping him for good, understand? And you have to let him come back to visit whenever he wants."

Troll smiled at this and looked at his son, only to then ask if he wanted to live with him but still be able to come back to see Norway soon. Trollkin smiled slightly at this idea and agreed to it. Soon afterwards, both Troll and Trollkin were gone.

"I can believe you just did that. I mean, after everything that guy put us through you just gave him the kid?" Denmark asked after they were gone.

"Troll will look after Trollkin. While Trolls may be crude, harsh, and not the best at showing their feelings, they do still believe in protecting their young. And beside, this way everyone can be happy without having you bleed even more on my property," Norway answered.

"But are you going to be okay?" Denmark asked, watching a flicker of sadness come onto Norway's face.

"I'll manage, it's not like it's the first time I said goodbye to a charge. And he will return, even if it's just for a day or so."

"Right, and when he does you guys can be here to welcome him just like with all the others," Shetland chipped in, smiling slightly at her past care-takers.

"Right," Norway answered with a slight smile. He then hid a yawn and looked at the clock, only to see that it was almost midnight. After seeing this, he told the others that he was going to bed and they soon decided that that was a good idea.

"Mom! Den!" Trollkin yelled out as he rushed over to tackle Norway in a hug. Several years had passed, with Trollkin now being ten-years-old with roughly the same height and strength as his mother.

"Hey, kiddo, you're sure getting bigger!" Denmark commented as he watched Norway get up from underneath the boy.

Trollkin smiled and nodded at this before giving a proper greeting to the adults. They returned the greeting and headed inside to talk, Norway leaving briefly to make Trollkin his favorite snack for when he comes over. Like what was agreed upon, Trollkin was allowed to come over whenever he wanted, which was quite a bit when he was younger and recently beginning to wind down. The adults did not think too much about this, however, taking it instead as a good sign that things were going well with the child living among the trolls.

So there they sat and talked about what was new in Trollkin's life. How Troll had recently decided to try teaching the child magic, how the other day he caught a large elk, what was new with Troll, and so on. This continued for some time, and the more they talked the happier the three were.

Kind of a crappy ending but oh well…

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