The lights were all out, it was completely dark and Alfred was afraid. Not for his self, of course, but for his little brother. He was nine after all, practically an adult, while Mattie was only eight. Loud bangs and bright flashes attacked the house and poor Matt would undoubtedly be terrified, Alfred reasoned.

So, being the great big brother he was Alfred slipped from his bed and tread cautiously into the hall. The gray clouds obscured the moon so this night was darker than usual. Alfred tried his light switch to make sure the power was truly out, it was, as ecspected.

Matthew's room was two doors down on the same side of the hall, just after the bathroom. Across the hall was dad's room, it was huge and had it's own bathroom. Matthew's room wasn't far but Al had to be careful because there were monsters in the house.

They always came out during storms. Usually they would pull at his blankets, they wanted him to come out and promised they would eat him when he did. Alfred always very smartly stayed in bed but they weren't in his room today, this could only mean they were threatening Matt. But maybe they just wanted him to think that, maybe they were waiting for him in the hall, in the corners where the outside light didn't reach.

Alfred really wanted to go to Arthur for help but he never believed him. He always said that the monsters were in his head. When Alfred asked how the man knew there were no monsters in the house Arthur would always say, 'because my fairy friends told me'. Yeah, and he was imagining things.

He slid down the hall slowly with his back to the wall, watching for movement. Halfway to Matthew's room he was pulled backwards and he screamed. He tumbled into the bathroom, landing hard on the floor. Alfred scuttled to the side of the bathtub then curled into a ball and waited for them to get him. When he wasn't eaten after a time he stood up again, sweeping the small room with his eyes before running back into the hall and slamming the door behind him. Her ran the rest of the way to his brother's room and slammed that door too. Alfred heard Matthew yell from the bed. The monsters must be there, they were trying to eat him!

"I'm coming Matt!"

Alfred jumped onto the be and started pulling at the lump of covers. It pulled back. Matthew yelled again so Alfred pulled harder. Too hard, the blanket was suddenly released and Alfred fell off the bed. He hit his head on the floor, it hurt but he was more worried about his brother. He crawled to the side of the bed, using the fallen cover as a shield.

"Matt?"

"Al."

Relieved that the other boy was alive and not moaning in pain Alfred climbed back onto the bed to hug his brother.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He didn't seem hurt but he was just attacked by a monster.

"I was just fine until you barged in and jumped on me." Matthew rubbed at his eyes sleepily, "What's your problem!"

"I was saving you! From the monsters!"

"Al...thank you, now lets go back to sleep." Matthew knew his brother believed he was helping and sometimes it was just better to let him. He was grabbing his covers off the floor and fixing his pillow when Alfred grabbed his arm.

"Al,"

"We can't go to sleep yet, we still need to save dad!"

"He's in his room,"

Alfred just stared at him and Matthew knew he wouldn't be getting to sleep just yet. He hopped off the bed pulling his little brother after him. (Alfred always claimed to be the older but Matthew had two years on him.)

"Lets go check on him then."

Alfred nodded, squeezing his hand tightly. They knocked on Arthur's door across the hall and when the man didn't answer Alfred started to panic.

"They've got him, they ate him!"

"No they didn't he's just sleeping,"

Matthew opened the door and they went inside. Arthur wasn't there. While Matthew checked the connected bathroom Alfred walked to the bed. His bare feet met something wet on the carpet and he leaned down to investigate. The entire carpet around the left side of the bed was wet. Alfred touched it with his middle and pointer fingers, bringing the digits close to his face. It was red.

Alfred jumped to his feet and felt the covers on the bed, they were soaking wet and a puddled had formed at the center. He very much doubted Arthur had peed the bed.

"MATT!"

Matthew was already at his side gazing at the dripping mattress. He skin was paler than usual but the scattered moonlight made it hard to tell.

"Th-there's no way..."

They stood there at the side of Arthur's bed not quite sure what to do, they were just kids after all, that's why they had Arthur, to tell them what to do. But Arthur was... where was he?

"Whoever did this is probably st-" A loud crash interrupted what Alfred was going to say. The two boys ran out the room to the end of the hall and peeked down the stairs where they had heard the sound. They heard a door slam shut and then all was silent.

"We have to stop them!" Alfred screamed. Matthew nodded though his eyes were clouded with tears.

"We can't let them take his body,"

Afraid but determined, the two boys slowly made there way down the steps. In the living room, from what they could see through flashes of lightning, nothing was out of place. The front door was still locked from the inside so the monster must have went through the back. They were about to cross the archway that led to the dining room when a dual boom of thunder startled them back and another flash a lightning revealed broken glass littered along the cross way. Alfred looked to Matthew.

"How do we get through?"

"Maybe go around the house?" Matthew walked across the room to the front door, Alfred close behind. He peered out the mail slot into the night. It was still raining very heavily.

"I don't want to go out there,"

Matthew didn't either. He looked around the room.

"Oh, got it," He pulled a cushion from the couch. Alfred grabbed one too, though they didn't need it. They placed the large pillows next to each other over the glass and walked across. The dining room was a mess. The table was pushed to the side and most of the chairs were knocked over, one seemed to be missing a leg. The glass door to the cabinet that held all of Arthur's fancy dishes was smashed. The glass was out of their way so Alfred and Matthew walked easily to the kitchen, the state of the last room had frightened them so the boys were relieved to find the kitchen mostly in order. On the table was a very bright light that lit up the room as if it were morning. This light allowed them to clearly see the wide open back door and ripped screen door hanging off it's hinges.

Alfred grabbed the battery powered light off the table, it was very heavy but he could manage it. Matthew grabbed a butter knife out the silverware drawer. They were both shaking from more than the cold wind blowing into the house. Alfred tipped his light to see outside at the same time a scream tore though the night. But not just any scream, Arthur's.

"He's alive!" Alfred yelled

"We have to help him!" Matthew could see from Alfred's light that Arthur was struggling with another man. They tumbled to the ground first Arthur was on top, then his hand slipped on the wet grass and the man was straddling him, grabbing at Arthur's hands. The rain made it hard to make out much more than Arthur's white night robe.

"ARTHUR!" Both boys screamed. Their voices threw off the man who was pushed back by a kick from Arthur. The boys ran to his side.

"Arthur!" Alfred hugged him. Matthew checked the mans robe for blood, there was a red stain.

"Alfred? Matthew? Why are you-" Matthew screamed swinging his butter knife frantically as the man got to his feet and walked towards them. The dull blade made contact, the man cussed and retreated into the house. Arthur panicked seeing his boy with a knife.

"Give that here! You don't touch things like this, you could hurt yourself!"

"But he was tying to kill you!" Alfred defended. Arthur seemed confused.

"Trying to...?" Then he understood and started laughing, "Oh, you two. Come on, lets get inside before you get sick," He ushered the boys inside and they were very much not amused.

"What's so funny? You almost died!"

"I-isn't he in here?"

"Oui, I am here. Would you like to finish me off?" Alfred shined his light in the corner of the kitchen where Francis was holding his bleeding hand to a kitchen towel.

"P-papa?"

"Don't call him that. And you, frog, don't go dirtying my kitchen with your blood!" Matthew ran to Francis' side to check his hand. Francis glared at Arthur.

"And who's over reaction was it that lead to this?"

"Over reaction? What sort of bloody idiot dumps a bucket of wine on a sleeping man! What sort of response were you expecting!"

"Well," Francis seemed unwilling to admit any fault, "You didn't have to destroy the house chasing after me, I thought you were actually going to kill me!"

"I was! You're lucky the boys stopped me." Alfred pulled on his father's arm to get his attention. Arthur's heart ached when he looked down at Alfred tear filled glared. He sat down in a kitchen chair and pulled the boy onto his lap, wiping rain water from his small face.

"You lads were really worried for me weren't you?" Alfred nodded and buried his face in Arthur's soaked shirt to hide his tears. "I'm sorry boys." He beckoned Matthew over and pulled him into his lap as well. They were a bit heavy but he wanted to have them close. He understood how scary it must have been for them to go after a man they though killed him, while in a dark house and during a thunder storm.

"I love you boys and it makes me happy knowing what you tried to do for me,"

Francis closed the back door (the screen door was a lost cause) locked it and went upstairs to wrap his hand and get towels to dry the boys off. He was a bit curious about the couch pillows on the floor but set his wonder aside for the moment. When he returned to the kitchen the three were still hugging.

"Come on you two, you're dripping on the floor and only Arthur's allowed to destroy his house,"

"You're paying for this, frog." Arthur snatched a towel to work on drying Alfred.

"What!"

"I'm sorry, papa." Matthew was standing in front of Francis, looking at his wrapped hand. They both ignored Arthur's cry of 'he's not your father!'.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Francis bent down to dry off the boy he considered his son, "You fought to protect your family. How could I blame you for such pure intentions?" Matthew didn't fully buy it but he smiled anyway.

"You're my family too."

"Of course, no matter what that uncute man says, I always will be your papa."

The cold rain obliterated any tiredness the boys may have felt so Arthur made them hot chocolate and the four of them spent time in the kitchen until Alfred and Matthew drifted off.

The two men carried the boys to their rooms. It was late so Arthur, out of the kindness of his heart, allowed Francis to spend the night. He slept in Matthew's bed and since his bed was destroyed Arthur slept with Alfred.

I tried something new when writing this one and i think it turned out better then my other stories. But what I think isn't important, let me know what you think! There shouldn't be any spelling errors but let me know if you caught any.

Did you notice my attempt at fluff at the end? I'll say it's bad to seem modest, but I'm secretly pretty proud of it~

Dude, thank you so much for reading and stay determined!