Hello people!
Thank you for bothering to look at this, it's very kind of you ^-^ This started off as just a one-shot in my Hetalia Book and I was asked to expand on it, maybe turn it into a seperate book, so I did. Hope you enjoy this, please vote, comment etc.
MiddleEarth4eva

He hadn't though it would happen this quickly. Of course, the whole 'nation' thing had slowed down the process, but still, it was a shock to Emil when he woke up to darkness. He blinked twice slowly in the dark and then forcefully opened his eyes to as wide as they could go before it hurt and he had to let go.

Nothing. Just black and more darkness beyond that.

He knew his glasses were lying somewhere around the room so stood up to try and find them. Part of him knew they wouldn't do anything, but finding them and at least trying it was all he could think about right now. It wasn't as if he could just ask someone else to help him. No. Matthias would laugh at him, Tino would molly-coddle him, Berwald wouldn't do anything and Lukas would get more protective than normal over him. No way did he want that, even if it did mean stumbling around in the darkness for the rest of his life, because that was how long this would last. You only get one pair of working eyes in your life, and his had just packed in.

The sinking realisation of his situation finally dawned on the Icelander and he sank back onto his bed, giving up on finding the glasses, and buried his face in his hands. Did he look any different? Did he look like a blind person? Did blind people look any different from normal people? He'd read somewhere that their eyes seemed unfocused and far away all the time. Was that was his eyes looked like now? Would everyone be able to tell?

He shuddered at the thought and slowly made his way around his room. He'd lived in this house, stayed in this room, for over a century, so thankfully he could already make his way around the room without tripping over anything or making too many dismal noises. Sometimes, he'd wake up in the morning and for a moment, everything would be black, like it was now, and he'd panic, until his vision appeared. After that, he'd tie a length of material around his eyes and walk around his room blinded to make sure he could do that if the worst came to happen.

And of course, the worst had come to happen. And he didn't think that his vison would randomly appear again.

This time, he knew it was for good.

He picked up his pace a bit, collecting clothes from where he'd thrown them around his room and then shuffled to his bathroom. From downstairs, he could hear Matthias and Lukas arguing already and Tino talking to Berwald, he was giving small grunts every so often. There were shouts of 'take that' and video game sounds too from Peter and Erland, already on their games. They were all downstairs. That was good. It meant no one was there to question him yet.

Emil got to his bathroom and locked the door behind him, leaning against it, deep in thought. What was he going to do? How would he explain the eyes if they noticed? What about if he crashed into something or someone randomly? What about anything like that? How would he explain that? Maybe for today, he could just say he wasn't quite with it and was tired. Then he could get back up to his room and hide for the rest of the day. That'd be good. He wouldn't have to confront anyone then, and he could get to grips with this whole new, dark world in his own time without anyone else pestering him. Then maybe, he'd tell them, only maybe though.

He quickly threw on his clothes and splashed some water on his face, hoping maybe the shock would wake his eyes up a little or at the very least clean out anything stuck in them.

It did nothing.

After a while of staring where he knew the mirror was, he sighed and left the bathroom, ready to face the downstairs of his house. Before he took another step, he hesitated, making a mental plan of the house. His room was on the top floor of the house along with Peter and Erland's. They all had their own bathrooms, thank God. That meant that he didn't have to come out of his room later on.

And somewhere next to Peter's room, was the stairs.

That was going to prove a problem.

Neither of the two younger nations were around, so that removed a small problem from the fact. Taking a deep breath, he took a careful step forwards, then another, then another. The sounds from downstairs were getting louder and closer, which meant the stairs were nearby. He put a hand out and felt a door. After a bit of patting, he found a shape which turned out to be a 'P' stuck to the outside of the door. This was Peter's room, which meant that if he just took another couple of steps to the side, he could find the stairs.

His foot shot down and he nearly shrieked but clamped a hand on his own mouth before he could.

He'd found the stairs.

He allowed himself to celebrate this small triumph for a second before slowly descending. The lower floor was a bit more complicated, but if he followed the banister rail around, he should find the other set of stairs. He clutched to it tightly and took a step. Again, his foot plummeted down a drop. This time, it landed on the edge of the step and as he went to put his weight on it, it gave way and he fell forwards, literally bounding down the stairs the rest of the way before skidding on the tiled floor when he got down, slamming his leg onto the hard surface as he went.

Emil groaned and slowly got up rubbing his head and cursing the floor.

"What was that?"

There were footsteps and Emil froze, looking for their source. The voice was Tino's.

"Did you fall?"

Emil nodded and shakily got to his feet, trying not to wince when he put weight on his leg. It hurt.

"How did you fall?"

Emil tried to ignore the laugh that edged Tino's words, so he shrugged.

Tino laughed. "You're alright though yeah?"

Emil nodded and took a step forwards to prove it. He heard the squeak of shoes as Tino left to go back into the kitchen. That was where he was meant to go next.

"Damn it kid, how the hell do you not see the stairs?"

Emil whipped around to find the source of the voice so fast he managed to floor himself again, hitting his head again. A lump landed on his chest and he swatted at it. "Get lost."

"It happened again didn't it?"

Emil nodded and looked away from where Mr Puffin's voice was coming from. "And this time it's not come back either."

"Damn" the bird muttered. "You're screwed."

"Thanks for those wise words of encouragement there" Emil muttered sarcastically before shuffling towards the direction of the kitchen. At least now if he banged into anything, he could blame it on the fall. But what would he say about the fall? Just that he was tired. That'd work. That was what he'd planned to do say anyway.

"You fell down the stairs?"

Emil winced as Matthias laughed and nodded, shuffling to the island and seating himself on one of the bar stool. "So?"

"You've lived in this house for over a century and you still don't know where the stairs are?" Matthais laughed again.

Emil sighed, inside silently cheering at the length of time he'd lived in the house. He might appear normal and not blind if he knew his way around the house. Instead of looking relived though, he forced his face into a scowl.

Act normal.

There was a choking sound which was probably Lukas yanking on Matthias' tie.

"Shut up dum Dane" Lukas hissed. "But seriously Emil, are you alright? Tino said he found you a couple of meters away from the stairs."

"I'm fine honestly" Emil said, waveing away the worry and stretching his arms. There was the clattering sound of a plate being put down in front of him and he thanked Tino. Normally, the Fin would make pancakes. Naturally today was no different, he made sure of that, and the smell was no different from normal. He straightened up a little and went to reach for the syrup before freezing. His arm wasn't even above the table, but he guessed that was a good thing. He didn't even know where the syrup was.

"Um... Lukas" he said as casually as he could. "Where's the syrup?" He was mentally praying that it was on the other surface or behind some box he couldn't see so he'd be passed it.

There was a pause. "It's right infront of you."

He mentally screamed. "Is it?"

"Yeah" there was a shuffling noise as Lukas moved around to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine" Emil said quickly and reached out in front of him to grab where he hoped the syrup was. Thankfully, he brushed against it and was able to change course without anyone really noticing. "Just didn't see it. Just me being stupid."

"Hm" Lukas grunted and moved away.

Emil sighed and patted his pancake to make sure he knew where it was before drizzling syrup on it. He was used to the speed at which the bottle let out the syrup so knew when to put it down without looking stupid. It was the same bottle as normal, he could tell by the shape. He ate slowly and quietly, aware that the room was reasonably silent now. After a couple of seconds he felt a slight breeze over his face and flinched.

"What're you doing?"

"Sorry" Tino muttered. "I was just wondering if your eyes were alright. Didn't meant anything by it."

"It's fine" Emil muttered, so glad that he'd felt it and reacted, otherwise he'd of looked kind of stupid and they'd have definitely figured it out. He finished his breakfast and jumped down off the stool, thankfully landing flat on the floor and walking towards where he knew the door was.

"Aren't you going to drink your coffee?"

He nearly went back for it, but that would mean haven't to find it, find where his mouth was and actually have to almost tell them.

"I'm... uh... I'm not thirsty" he said and left the room before he could be asked again. He went back to where he knew the stairs were and reached out to grab the banister. It wasn't there. He frowned and took another step forwards, then another, then crashed into it in a comical way, like a character does in a cartoon with a lamppost.

"Skit" he hissed, grabbing onto the end of it and running up the stairs, away from anyone who saw that. When he got to the second landing, the lump returned, landing on his shoulder this time.

"We can't have another episode of what just happened there now can we?"

He shook his head and reached up to touch the puffin, who pecked his hand lightly.

"So I'll tell you where to go kiddo yeah?

Emil nodded again and, responding to the bird's words, managed to get himself back to his room relatively injury free.

"So what're you going to do?"

Emil fell onto his bed and stared up at where he knew the ceiling was, Mr Puffin perched on his bed post.

"I don't know" he muttered. "I don't want them to know for a while. I want to get my head around the whole thing first so I understand myself. That'll be the issue."

"True, but they got close to it then didn't they"

Emil sighed. "Yeah. It's gonna be hard to hide it."

There was a snort. "You can say that agian kid. I watched the whole fiasco. It was terrifyingly obvious, and Lukas saw you walk into the banister rail."

"What?" Emil sat upright and glanced towards the door as though expected it to creak and Lukas to appear. "Damn it." He flopped backwards and groaned. "How the hell am I gonna explain that?"

"Maybe you shouldn't just try and explain it?" Mr Puffin said. "I mean, they're gonna find out eventually. They may as well know now."

"No" Emil snapped. "Not now" he sighed and rested an arm across his face. "Give it a week or two" he whispered. "Then I'll tell them."

There was an unusal silence from the bird.

"You promise?"

Emil nodded "I promise."