/AN
Back by popular demand! I'm glad so many of you like this story so much, so here we go with Chapter 2!
AN/
We walked back to the orphanage, still wearing our theater costumes, talking about how it went. We were still careful to avoid the topic of how much we were able to make each other believe what we said.
Arthur opened the door and stopped, staring at something we couldn't see.
"Arthur, you will move, da?" Ivan asked.
When it was clear Arthur wasn't moving, Lovino walked forward and shoved him on his face, then stopped, staring at whatever was inside.
Alfred complained, "What's wrong? Let us in!" He pushed Lovino and tripped over Arthur trying to get inside.
"Are you guys all right?" a voice I didn't recognize asked.
The rest of us tensed. A voice we didn't recognize and the voice sounded like a kid. We ran inside and found that we were right. A blond-haired male who didn't appear to be any older than the rest of us was sitting on the stairs, looking at Alfred, Arthur, and Fratello in concern. "Seriously, are they all right?" he asked.
"They will be," Ivan replied.
It was clear we were all thinking the same thing – this was bad. Very, very bad. How did he end up here?
"I'm Francis," the kid greeted us, standing.
"F-Feliciano," I replied.
Francis went to shake my hand and I stumbled backward, tripping over Alfred and whimpering as I clutched my head.
"Hey, is something wrong?" Francis asked, staring wide-eyed in concern.
Yao mouthed at me from behind Francis, We've got to get him out of here.
I nodded in agreement. We did need to get Francis out of here, before he became like us. Before he became broken, and who knew how long that would take?
I got up off Alfred, who got off Lovino, who got off Arthur.
"How'd you end up here?" Kiku asked. It seemed strange that he was the one asking, but we were all curious just the same.
"Hm? Oh," his face turned downcast. "My parents were shot to death from some gang leader. It was in their will I be sent here, the matron was a close friend to my family."
So it was more like he was condemned to this fate. "Hey, why don't we move this to the bedroom?" Lovino asked, ushering us up the stairs and into our room.
Lovino and I sat down on the same bunk; Yao tossed Alice in Wonderland onto the makeshift bookshelf with other books and dropped where it was sitting on the bunk. Ivan joined Yao, lying his head on the pillow and staring at the ceiling, Kiku went over to his corner and just sat there, staring at a spot on the wall intently like he was trying to burn a hole through the wood, while Arthur and Alfred took their places on either side of the chess set, examining the game they left there this morning.
This left Francis standing in the middle of the room looking at us. Now that we weren't in anyone else's range of sight, we let the depression show on our faces, the sag of our bodies to show just how tired we were.
We heard snoring and everyone became alert at once, our bodies tensing as we tried to figure out who feel asleep. We looked at the bed Yao and Ivan were sitting on and stared at Yao, who let out another snore.
Ivan, Lovino, and Alfred jumped over to him and grabbed his arms and legs. Arthur joined them and started trying to slap him awake, while I sat nearby to help calm him down.
"AUGH!" Yao came to with a scream, shaking. He was also staring at us like it wasn't us he was seeing. "Don't hurt me!" he cried.
"China! We're not going to hurt you!" I cried over him.
Yao looked around and finally seemed to realize where he was, because he collapsed and started sobbing.
"I-Is that n-normal?" Francis asked, staring in shock.
Kiku walked up next to him, staring at Yao in concern, and explained, "Here, we've got a daytime orphanage and a nighttime hell."
"He's not calming down," Lovino muttered, as Yao started screaming random things again.
I took the position by his head and started singing Marukaite Chikyuu.
"Marukaite Chikyuu, Marukaite Chikyuu, Marukaite Chikyuu, Boku Hetalia, Marukaite Chikyuu, Jitto mite Chikyuu, Hyotto shite chikyuu, Boku Hetalia…" I sang my version of it softly, and by the time I reached the end Yao, Arthur, Alfred, and Kiku had joined in.
"Thanks, Italy," Yao muttered, sitting up. It was clear he was still shaken up, but we had calmed him down.
Francis was staring at us. "What do you mean daytime orphanage nighttime hell?"
"Francis, how did your parents know the matron?" I asked.
"Th-they never said, just that she had a s-service set up they li-liked using," Francis muttered.
We collectively shuddered. We knew that service, but we would not have pinned parents using it, and sending their kid here after they died to suffer through the same thing.
"Does that mean something?" Francis asked, staring at us confused.
Arthur hissed, "We need to change into our clothes! Who knows what the matron will do to these outfits?"
We could hear her coming. I ran over to our chest and pulled out outfits for each of us; passing them around, and gathered the clothes we got from Hungary and hid them under the bunk I shared with Fratello. I closed the chest and quickly got my clothes on and sat down on the other bunk.
We were trained in this. When the matron walked in, we were all sitting where we were before, with Francis still standing in the middle of the room looking around, while the rest of us stared at her, looking as alert as we possibly could.
She sniffed in disgust and said, "Here's dinner." She tossed us a bag and slammed the door.
Alfred caught the bag and sighed. "Arthur…"
"No," Arthur replied immediately.
"But why?" Alfred complained.
Arthur shot back, "You're the one that complains about my scones all the time!"
"But I'm starving!" Alfred complained.
"We all are, bastard," Lovino growled. "Get used to it and pass the bread."
"But it's molded!" Alfred argued.
"Good, maybe if I eat enough I'll get out of this hell," Lovino replied.
I blanched. We had talked about trying to find a way out, but we agreed that we should never, ever resort to poisoning ourselves to do it.
"Fratello, don't," I pleaded. "We agreed we wouldn't do that!"
Lovino growled and looked away.
"Could someone explain what's going on here?" Francis asked, looking at each of us. He finally looked at me and asked, "What happens here?"
I shuddered, whimpered, and hid under the covers.
"Nice job, bastard," Lovino shouted. He immediately went to trying to coax me out from underneath the blankets, but I wasn't going to move.
I heard Arthur say, "You know what sex slaves are, right?"
"Y-yea," Francis stuttered. It was clear he didn't like where this was going.
Ivan told him, "Long story short is that we're sex slaves."
"You're not," Alfred replied miserably. "You're only called out if someone doesn't want to live."
"Wait, what?" Francis asked.
I heard Ivan jump off the bed and say, "Every night for a long time now, the matron has a nighttime service running that, as she says, puts us to more use. Every night, she comes in here and tells us where we are. She'll call the person's name and where they're supposed to go."
Alfred choked, and I heard him go to hide under something. It was probably Yao's and Ivan's bunk.
After a pause, Ivan continued, "While we're in there, we have unimaginable things done to us. You…" his voice dropped to a whisper, and I knew that Ivan asked if he saw the bruises that were left behind on my body.
"Yea, I did…" Francis replied after another pause.
Ivan continued, "Those are from constant beatings. But last night…"
I wasn't sure I liked Ivan telling these things to Francis, so I hid myself even deeper under the covers and started sobbing.
"Now, look, bastard, you've made him upset!" I heard Lovino shout. He started to whisper to me through the covers, in the kindest voice he could manage.
We sat there in silence for a little while, until Arthur, who must've been looking out the window, solemnly stated, "Nighttime."
"Hell," Yao replied as we heard the downstairs door open.
I crawled out from under the covers. I wasn't sure how hard I was crying, but it must've been hard because when they looked at me, concern flashed through their faces.
Fratello took a handkerchief and was about to start wiping off my face when I retreated and fell off the bed. It was clear I had hurt him, but he also understood why I did it.
Francis stared, understanding donning his gaze now.
We heard the matron coming and I hid under the bed. I looked around and realized that Kiku must've joined Alfred, because he had disappeared.
The matron stomped in and growled, "Where are the other three?"
Reluctantly, I crawled out from underneath the bed while Alfred and Kiku crawled out from underneath the bed Yao and Ivan were sitting on and felt something painful lash across my back. I cried out and collapsed. Not even my clothes did anything to take away the pain.
"Feliciano!" Lovino cried from on top of the bed as I started sobbing again.
"Oh, shut it, brat," the matron growled. She pulled out the list and stated, "Yao is in the downstairs bedroom, Lovino is in the top bedroom."
We watched as Yao and Lovino left, their sag clear they weren't looking forward to what would happen.
I felt another lash of pain across my back, and cried in time with Kiku and Alfred. "Don't try that again, or there will be worse consequences," the matron growled before leaving, still holding the whip in her hand.
I curled up, gripping my legs tightly and sobbed. I could feel blood coming out of my back. She must've broken the skin on one of my bruises, because it hurt so much.
Francis leaned down next to me. "What can we do?" he asked, looking at Ivan and Arthur with concern.
In answer, Arthur started singing Marukaite Chikyuu, Ivan quickly joining in. I let my body relax and let the song wash over me, calm me and soothe me, and joined in singing until we were finished.
Francis seemed amazed one simple song took the three of us in sobbing messes and calmed us down enough to join in singing it.
"I-I'd like to learn that song," Francis stated.
Arthur nodded. "You'll be coming with us to school tomorrow. We all have the same classes, so you can join us in our history class."
"But who would he be?" Ivan asked.
Francis, again, seemed confused.
"France," I said.
"But that's the name of a country," Francis replied.
"France fits," Arthur agreed, continuing on to explain, "Our history class is special. It's also our only safe haven. What happens is that while we're in that class, we aren't tortured souls who have to go through that every night." He waved his hand at the door, motioning to where Yao and Lovino were.
I picked it up. "While we're in that class, we're countries, and we can do anything we want. We re-reen…reenact events that happen in the world and even perform some of them to the school."
Alfred nodded. "You heard us calling each other by our country names earlier."
Ivan finished, "When we're called by our country names, we're remained of that inkling of a normal life we have, and can continue on with the rest of what happens."
"And…it's also that one class that allows us to forget about what happens here," I add, remembering the play we did that very same day and how I had forgotten about this horrid place until that dreaded bell rang.
Arthur nodded. "In that class, I'm England."
"I'm America, and Kiku here is Japan," Alfred added.
Ivan grinned mischievously, saying, "I'm Mother Russia, and Yao is China."
"And Fratello and I are Italy!" I finished.
"But there's only one Italy…" Francis muttered.
I nodded. "We form the north and south halves. I'm North Italy, Italy Veneziano, and Fratello is South Italy, Italy Romano."
"Then Miss Elizabeta, our teacher, is Hungary," Kiku said.
"And Ludwig is Germany," Alfred stated.
Francis looked around, like he was expecting another kid to show up. "Ludwig?"
"He's not here anymore," I said, relief in my voice. "He was able to get a family to adopt him. You'll be able to meet him tomorrow."
Arthur hushed us and slid over to the door. He put his ear to it before opening it up a crack. "Ok, they've left."
"Has the matron gone to bed?" Kiku asked.
Arthur paused for a moment. We heard a door close and filed out of the room.
"Aren't we supposed to remain here?" Francis asked.
Kiku explained, "As long as we don't let her know we're out, she'll never know. Besides, this is something we normally do. If not, Yao and Lovino will be likely to remain where they are the whole night, and they need us."
"Alfred, Kiku, Francis, go find Yao," Arthur ordered. "Feliciano and I will go find Lovino. Ivan, make sure the matron doesn't wake up."
"Da," Ivan replied. We split up and headed for the respective bedrooms.
I ran up the stairs and saw Lovino shaking on the bed, crying. "Fratello!" I cried, running over to him. This time it was him that moved away from my touch.
"Fratello, please, you've got to come back down," I coaxed while Arthur started gathering his clothes.
"What's the point?" Lovino replied, sobbing. "There's nothing we can do to change this!"
"That's not true, Romano," Arthur pointed out. He walked over and, setting Lovino's clothes down on the bed, continued, "Don't forget we do have someone that worries about us. She'll find a way to help us."
I nodded, though I wasn't sure what Hungary might be able to do to help us, I agreed with him all the same. "England's right," I said. "Hungary will find some way to help us."
After a bit more coaxing, we got Lovino into his clothes and back downstairs in our room. After a few minutes, the rest of the group joined us. Yao was shaking uncontrollably and still sobbing.
It was clear on Francis' face that he didn't like what he saw. "This…This happens every night?" he asked.
"Three hundred sixty-five days a year," Arthur grumbled.
"Why don't the police do anything?" Francis asked, clearly trying to grasp an answer.
Lovino replied, "They don't know. The matron has a very special way in telling people about this place, in such a way the police would never guess, and, as she so constantly likes to remind us, who would believe a bunch of orphaned kids?"
I shuddered. Everything Lovino said was true, and we still hated it.
"But, the teachers at your school must realize something's wrong," Francis stated.
Yao mumbled something, and Alfred quickly said, "Hush. You don't need to talk. You've been through a lot."
"Yea, but…" Yao started before sobbing. He choked out through his sobs, "This…this one was-was-was the-the principal." With that, he broke down and started crying.
This came to us as a shock. Even our school's principal was in on this?
Francis seemed truly at a loss for options now. "Why don't we all get some sleep?"
We stared at him like he just suggested we eat poisonous spiders. Although, if this kept up, that may just end up being what we would do.
"What?" Francis asked.
Another collective shudder. Lovino explained, "We don't sleep."
"We suffer nightmares when we sleep," I said, whimpering at the same time.
Francis looked all the more displeased. One thing was for certain, though, we would hate watching him become like us. Another dejected soul that had to live day by day waiting to suffer more torture.
xxx
We arrived at school the next day dressed in our regular clothes, but over the night we made makeshift bags for us to carry our history/theater things around in. Right now, each of us had our outfits inside these bags, and we labeled them by placing the flag of our country on it. These bags were crude, but we wouldn't need to carry anything really heavy in them, so they should do.
"Hey!" Ludwig ran up to us. Just since yesterday, he appeared to be much better. He grinned, but didn't make a move to touch us. I stared into his eyes and saw that he was still scarred, and all of us probably would remain scarred from what happened for the rest of our lives, but at least Ludwig's got the chance to live a life outside of what he had to go through.
"Hey, Ludwig," I replied, smiling.
Ludwig looked at us, his eyes landing on Francis. His muscles tensed immediately, but he couldn't remark because we heard someone pass us and say, "Good Morning, kids."
Yao winced and looked away, gripping his arms in protection. The person that passed was our principal, and Yao's motions didn't get past Ludwig, because his eyes darkened in concern.
We moved ourselves inside and made our way to our history classroom. It was always unlocked in case Miss Elizabeta was running late, and we, guiltily, hoped that might be the case right now so we could have some time to talk in private.
No such luck. We walked in and weren't greeted with just Miss Elizabeta, but also a young man with black hair, glasses, and a mole.
We hadn't seen him before, but we weren't sure what to think.
"Good morning," Hungary said, putting some papers away in her desk. "This is a guest to our class, Mr. Roderich."
We mumbled all sorts of 'hi's, and it was clear Francis was the most energetic about seeing him. The only thing that ran through our heads was another potential customer like the principal.
/AN
R&R Please!
AN/
