"And do your gods support monsters who are dead and alive as well?" asks Denmark. "You can't have two opposite things at once!"

"You could have some qualities of one thing and some of another, couldn't you?" he argues. But nobody is really listening to him anymore and the damage is already done. "What if he was like me," Finland asks, thinking of how the wolf had said it - brother.

Denmark shakes his head. "I'd've known," he says. "You're not like him because - well. Anyway, I'd've known. And you don't need to change into a wolf when you hunt, do you?"

"I've seen y'hunt," Sweden reminds. "When y'weren't lookin'."

Finland glares. So Sweden was the one who followed him reported back to the others. Sweden was how they knew to find him here, with his wolf.

"Y'don't change t' hunt, or under duress. Diff'rent people, diff'rent walks of life."

But surely they were not so different?

...And yet, the transformation back to wolf took so much less time. It almost seems logical - that's the wolf's real form after all.

Then what was it he shared with Finland, was it a strange dream vacation of some sort?

"Look," Denmark says reassuringly, "if it really is his natural form to be a man, then he will be. He can throw off whatever Norway's spells are - they're not that tough to do!"

"Ex-cuse me," interrupts Norway, "I like to think I've got some significant power."

"You turned me into a toad once and it took me a half hour to get back."

"It should've taken you a minute!"

"That's 'cause I have all the magic of a blackfly."

"Y'see?" Sweden offers. "If it's his actual form it won't take 'im long."

They wait an hour. Then two. Finland pleads with the wolf, begging the man inside the animal to re-appear, or even show some sort of human-like nature.

Nothing. If anything, the wolf is even more animal. It paws at the ground. It sits back on its hind legs and scratches its ear. And when Finland approaches it, it backs off and snarls.

Finland's heart rips in two.

"C'mon," Sweden says. "Y'gotta let 'im be."

He feels at once the traitor and the betrayed and knows the wolf's eyes are watching them leave.

--

Later around the fire, Finland is left to his thoughts a spell for drink flows particularly freely on heavy days, and today was heavy indeed. He thinks he hears the far-off howl of a wolf, unanswered by any pack, alone.

He knows what he's doing now, Finland thinks. A wolf is safe out there alone in this weather, can provide for itself. A man, maybe not so much.

Besides, he thinks as he watches his new friends, and then lets his gaze settle on the forest: brothers form a bond stronger still.

He'll figure out what it is that made his wolf transform in the first place - was it being alone with Finland? Was it fishing? Hell, maybe it was the bread!

Later - after Norway and Denmark and Sweden have left - he'll come back, like he promised.

--

_{heavily inspired by Johanna Sinisalo's Not Before Sundown and also Akka (tiedostoaeisaatavilla.tumblr.com)'s amazing art about a werewolf AU which this fic borrows A LOT from. If you enjoyed this you would enjoy her EstFin werewolf!Estonia draws, she is such a good artist. :) Anyway I really hope you enjoyed this! Sorry it's so long, OP. I hope it contained all that you wanted. :3}