One Day Too Late

by What The FrUK

Arthur Kirkland has dreamed of falling in love his whole life, but his weak heart prevents it. It's only when he starts to give up hope that he runs into a mysterious man who just may offer the key to his salvation. If only he were willing to give it.FrUK

2. Rewound

One Day Too Late: Rewound

Myriad didn't want to add AN's today, but I did so :p

And besides, I have to answer the reviews, no?

Moonstreakneko- ur reviews bore me. =_= make them longer! (I'm only harassing u cause I luv yah)

Foxyaoi123- Yay! We should start a club of twilight haters. Oh wait, I'm already in one. :]

Lady-ribbon- I love u so, u kno that right? Never read the Anne Rice stuff since it is illegal to write ff on. So it makes me angry. But I might take a look-see eventually. :3 Stop lookin too much into the scene at the end! U'll spoil it! *puts hand over mouth* and when is there NOT Alfred/Kiku in my stories? = 3= IDK about a wedding. I shall take ur suggestion into account. (can I put Arthur in a dress? I want him in a dress. I have a fanart of that u kno).

Lucky-Angel135- Lol, I love u too. :3 FrUk just needs more love all around, nu?

Chipmunk-Chihuahua Hybrid- Aww, thankies! It was confusin? Francis was apologizing because he feels he was to blame since he riled Arthur up so.

Chris-Remmey- thankies thankies! Glad u like!

Soul Fang- lol, thankies very much! Glad that FrUk is ur OTP, it needs the lurve.

ShadowlovesRouge- Well we are glad u are not disgusted then. :3 and Sexy Francis always comes to the rescue! Shhhh . . . Foxiness and the spy will be revealed soon, no worries. :] and the Prussia pair has been decided cause Myriad took too long to get this chapter out, so I gained control over it. *thumbs up*

And a special thankies to VelvetChinaDoll who gave us this piece of complete awesome! Watch it!

.com/watch?v=yUiUN57NE-w&fmt8

And now u may continue on with the story. :D :D

Weeks had passed since Francis disappeared and Arthur had had his last attack. It soon came to the clinic's attention that his heart was as vivid and healthy as ever; almost as if there had never been a problem with him in the first place, let alone having been born with the disease. Traces of damaged muscle tissue in his heart were still evident, but it was only a like scar now. The scar could, of course, rupture under intense stress, but it was a highly farfetched possibility that Arthur would ever be injured that seriously any time soon. Then again, it's also farfetched for there to be any logical explanation for how he was miraculously healed. Hearing the news, Feliciano whooped Italian exclamations of joy for his friend as he hugged him fervently and declared a celebration of Ludwig treating them to ice cream ("My treat? Don't decide such things on your own!"), despite the winter. While Feliciano enjoyed his gelato and Ludwig sipped his hot chocolate, Arthur settled for a single scoop chocolate-chip mint cone and silently thanked the vampire who had saved his life, who he vowed to thank personally someday. He no longer had to lie in a hospital bed wasting all his days away, and instead enjoyed staying with Feliciano's family as he had over a year ago as though he had never been away. And then, after much debating with his doctor, he found himself walking onto the campus of his old high school--the one he'd missed going to for the past year.

The nostalgia rushed at him like the winds of winter in February. A decent comparison, since that was his experience the minute he got out of Ludwig's car parked in front of the school. Arthur regretted forgetting to put on his earmuffs before he, Feliciano, and Feliciano's twin brother Lovino got a ride with Ludwig. He had only a thick, hooded black cape that had belonged to his father, a last token and one of few pleasant memoirs of his dead parents, to keep him warm. But even despite the freezing cold and chilly wind, the blonde teen looked straight ahead at the high school he thought he'd never see again with a mindset that held his thankfulness for another chance at life. It looked just like the picture Feliciano had drawn for him months ago. The Brit inhaled the cold air, savoring the fact that he was finally returning, that he was finally going to see all his friends he'd missed so much over the past year. Feliciano and Ludwig had visited him just about every other day, but never did he hear from his other companion, Kiku, and the memory of waiting for him to visit in vain left him feeling slightly hollow, and just a little bit worried. Leaving a friend without so much as a goodbye was very unlike the well mannered Japanese teenager, and it unnerved him a bit to think that maybe Kiku just hadn't cared enough to come. The blond made a face at the idea, but he shook it off to focus his attention on how he would go through this day.

"Ve, Arthur! Why are you just standing there?"

Arthur was snapped from his reverie to see Feliciano and company ready to enter the building. Rushing to get out of the cold, Arthur sped his way across the campus lot and into the building. Ludwig and Lovino departed from Arthur in the main hallway, but Feliciano stood by him with a ready grin.

"Ludwig gave me your schedule~ Here!" You and I have the same first period! Isn't that great~?" The Italian held up a crinkled blue piece of paper that Arthur seized from his hand. "Oh, and Kiku is in the class, too."

Arthur raised his eyebrows, the same unease trickling through him as it had a few moments before. He didn't really hear much about Kiku from Feliciano or Ludwig, except for during his first few weeks in the hospital. The subject of the other after that just seemed to drift off. The Brit contemplated questioning Feliciano about this, but decided against it for whatever reason.

Feliciano continued to happily think out loud about how happy he was at the moment while he and his British peer moseyed along to their class. As they walked, Arthur wondered exactly how much had changed. He was a junior now--eleventh grade. There had to be new freshmen this school year, and new teachers. Arthur wanted badly to see all his old friends. Then, a bit worriedly, he wondered if maybe he'd done something before he'd been locked away in his cell of a hospital that had terribly offended Kiku somehow. But rather than assuming such, he thought positively of how much he hoped to surprise him by being out of the hospital and miraculously healed.

Then a thought hit him; if Francis had been around several weeks ago, was it all too likely that he didn't live in town? He'd also said that he was only seventeen, which meant that by all logicalities he was in high school. But it was also likely that he went to a different school--Hetalia Senior High School wasn't the only high school in the area . . .

With some sort of hopeful giddiness in his throat, Arthur entered the classroom after Feliciano. His vision flew right towards the faces of rest of the students. His eyes frantically searched for a familiar face, namely Francis', but not one was to be found. Feeling the excitement within him dwindle, he released a held-in breath with a disappointed sigh that was drowned out by the sound of the class bell.

"Arthur! Sit next to me over here." Feliciano sat and pointed to an empty seat near his own. A fairly dejected Arthur ignored the suggestion and sat in a seat near the back of the room instead, leaving the Italian to himself, though he felt like a right ass for doing so as Feliciano gave him one of those sad-puppy sort of looks that made Ludwig blush.

Feliciano noticed his friend's decision and mood, and titled his head perplexedly, though he felt a little left out. 'Ve . . . I wonder what could be wrong with il mio buon amico . . . ?' he thought with slight worry. Then, looking around, he noticed that Kiku was not present. Feeling himself consumed with concern for some reason, the Italian could do nothing but panic as he looked from the door where Kiku was supposed to come in to Arthur's grim figure. Suddenly, as if to calm one anxiety, the door burst open and in flew a blur of black hair and pale skin.

Kiku stood himself up straight and then, bowing apologetically, nearly shouted, "I-I am sorry about being late!" The class was silent and then erupted with giggles. The Japanese boy flushed, putting a late note on the teacher's desk and finding a desk to sit at. He saw Feliciano, who waved at him half-heartedly, and was going to sit down in the seat next to him when he looked across the room to see-

Kiku stopped. 'Arthur-san?' He looked back over to Feliciano, exchanging glances between Arthur and him until the Italian glanced over at Arthur and gave Kiku a nod. With some sort of relief, Kiku excitedly met Arthur in front of his desk.

The Brit looked up. "H-hey! Kiku! Where've you been? I haven't heard from you," he asked, trying to hide his unrelated disappointment.

Kiku trained his eyes to the floor, "I've been really busy, Arthur-san. I'm s-so sorry," he stammered with a truly regretful look. "But I knew you'd be all right so . . ." he paused as the teacher sent a dangerous glare in their direction before hurrying off to an empty seat a few rows away, mouthing that they'd talk later over his shoulder.

English class had always been a pain to Arthur, the reason revolving around how "America's literature style just doesn't make any sense!" which was the often used as an excuse when his essays were returned to him with those horrid red marks all over them. His teacher the last time he'd been here quite some time ago had long grown tired of him playing the "stupid foreigner," especially with people like Kiku in the class. But this was a new teacher and a new start. He planned to test out how long that explanation would get him this time.

For the next three periods, Arthur managed to have at least one of his friends in each of his classes, though he zoned out too much in each after a half-hearted search for the platinum blond hair and brilliant blue eyes he knew he wouldn't find. Lunch, or "dinner" which Arthur made a great inference with in his head, didn't seem to be any different than it had been a year ago. The line was long if you weren't fast enough and the students were noisy and insistent as always. It was nice distraction, he supposed, but he couldn't seem to shake the fact that he was likely never to see Francis again. With more of the concern about the latter floating about his head, he wondered if Francis would ever find--or had already found--a partner before his eighteenth birthday.

"He must choose a life-partner before his eighteenth birthday, or he will die."

The words of that girl, Ilea, echoed in his mind. If Francis could just manage to find a partner, he would be fine. But only if he was willing to take one. Arthur didn't really care if it was even him, like he had suggested. As long as the French vampire just found someone. But a tightening in his chest came into being when the thought came to mind.

Gripping the place over the tense feeling with his hand, Arthur made his way over to where Feliciano was waving his hand hysterically in the air to catch his attention, setting his tray down with a muffled sigh. He listened halfheartedly as Lovino pestered the other two about something or another that Arthur was not all that interested in until he was in mid gulp of the cafeteria milk (which he had forgotten he hated, but was grateful enough just to be here that he choked it down anyways), and Lovino cut in with a snide comment about a blowjob.

Arthur coughed, nearly gagging his milk up all over his tray, which wouldn't have been too much of a loss, but all the same, wasted food was wasted food. He shot a glare at Lovino, who immediately quieted mid sentence and turned emerald eyes to Ludwig, who was staring at the ceiling, and Feliciano who was wolfing down his food in a way that was unusually fast, even for him. "Is there something he should know?" he asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.

Ludwig shifted uncomfortably, and Feliciano merely continued to inhale his food, so Arthur nodded to Lovino as a cue that he could speak without fear of death once more. Lovino pulled at the collar of his shirt nervously, "Er, well . . . I guess I was just being nosey but . . ." He paled as Arthur rolled his eyes and gave him a look that said get on with it, "I saw them doing weird things, okay?!"

Arthur pushed his food out of the way and rested his elbows on the table, his chin on his palms, "And when did this happen?" he asked, directing his gaze at Feliciano as the younger twin ran out of food to use as an excuse.

Feliciano's eyes welled up with apologetic tears, "M-Mi dispiace!" he wailed. "We held off from starting anything because we were worried about you, even though Ludwig told me he loved me last Valentines and-"

The German clamped a hand over Feliciano's mouth, his face reddening, "You don't need to spill everything to him, Feliciano," he scolded softly. He glanced at Arthur, "I mean . . . It's okay with you, isn't it?"

The Englishman smiled, "Why wouldn't it be? I mean, the way you two are with each other, I'd be worried if it ended up not being that way, you know?" His small smile fell, and he turned back to poking at his food with an inward sigh.

The other three looked at their gloomy-faced friend with some sort of concern etched in their expressions Well, Feliciano looked fairly worried, Ludwig looked for the most part oblivious, too relieved for his own situation to notice, and Lovino was basically just indifferent.

"Ve . . . Arthur? Is something wrong? You were all depressed during first period, and you're being really quiet now." Feliciano nudged his shoulder to encourage a response, but Arthur just turned away.

". . . Really." he replied monotonously, as though he had not noticed he was being so, hoping to discourage further questioning.

Ludwig grimaced, finally taking note of his companion's sour mood. "Ja. You were silent during second period as well. It's not like you to be so depressed, well, considering your condition before, it wasn't unusual, but you don't really have much of a reason now. Why--"

"Yeah, why so serious, damn it?!" Lovino cut in with his blunt form of speech, slamming his hands on the table and getting in Arthur's face. "You're being stupid, brooding over nothing! Be fucking happy you're not dead like you shoul--ow! Augh! Hey, don't let this guy hit me, bro! Do something, dammit!" Lovino now hid behind his still-concerned brother from an annoyed-looking Ludwig who had just hit him upside the head.

"Quit being such an insensitive trottel and give him some space." Ludwig turned to Arthur. "But he's right, camerade. What could possibly make you down after what you went through and survived?"

Arthur answered with a reserved scowl of silence as he fed his growing visual interest with today's lunch special, an oxymoron in its own right. Lunch special, he thought to himself, ha.

Ludwig seemed to go into thought, and was about to speak when Feliciano interjected for him.

"Arthur, is it about that one guy? The one who helped at the restaurant when you had the attack? I saw him with you a couple times after that and right before you had the attack when you almost . . . You know," he drew off, fidgeting a bit and feeling slightly out of bounds for bringing it up.

Arthur looked up at his Italian friend in surprise. He had had no idea Feliciano somehow managed to even notice Francis the whole time that turn of events took place. Then again, he himself hadn't really focused on what anyone was doing around him, other than Francis alone.

Seeing that the reaction registered positive, Feliciano smiled encouragingly. "Ve, you don't have to worry! I'm sure you'll see him again someday! He seemed like a nice guy, did you like him?" the auburn haired teen added extra emphasis on the word "like" much as an elementary school student would, and Ludwig rolled his eyes beside him.

Now at that, Arthur twitched. He tried opening his mouth to speak, but words came out in little chokes that sounded oddly like a croaking frog. Sure, he'd suggested becoming Francis' partner, but it wasn't like he'd fallen in love with the guy! It was a split second of desperation, was all. Er, not that he was too desperate for his own well-being rather than making sure Francis didn't throw his life away. It would be sad to die that young, anyhow. And no one knew how that felt any better than Arthur.

The look of worry once again crossed Feliciano's features. "V-ve?! Arthur, you look pale! You're not going to have an attack, are you?"

Arthur closed his mouth and shook his head. "No, no! Something like that shouldn't happen again, Feli. It's nothing. It's just that . . . What you said . . . " His expression turned to another look of downcast solitude, only a small contented look and a slight blush hinted themselves on his features. Feliciano was had been right about so many, many things before, even his once fruitless hope of Arthur living out another year. If he said that Francis would show up again, Arthur couldn't help but believe him.

Ludwig patted Arthur's shoulder a tad gruffly. "Well, you seem to be a bit better after hearing what Feliciano said, right? Try not to feel so sorry for yourself if it does so happen that you never see that guy again." With a forced smile, he glanced at Feliciano who gave him a cheery thumbs-up.

"Yeah, okay," Arthur looked up and smiled sheepishly. He sighed for what must have been the millionth time that day and made himself more comfortable in his seat, glancing around the cafeteria that Kiku had been oddly absent from. Besides their small exchange in English class that morning, Arthur hadn't spoken to him since. "So . . ." he started, unsure of where to begin when asking about his strangely absent friend, "Anything particularly life changing happen while I was gone?"

"Well, how come no one introduced me to the guy with the cute accent?" a rather annoyingly loud voice asked from directly behind Arthur, making him jump and turn so fast in his chair he nearly tipped over his tray of food, but luckily only sent a stray carrot crashing to the floor instead. The person who had spoken was a tall (and by tall, he meant tall, he'd thought Ludwig was tall until just now, but this guy was at least two inches taller), sandy-blond teen with azure-blue eyes nearly identical to Francis's hidden behind silver rimmed rectangular glasses. He tilted his head to the side with a smile that practically screamed "Yeah, I'm here to make your day awesome!" before he spoke again, his eyes traveling up and down the blonde's figure in a way that made Arthur twitch, "Have we met?"

Arthur couldn't help but stare for a long, uncomfortable moment until a faint spark of realization coursed throughout his body, "A-Alfred?"

The taller blond smirked, blue eyes glinting beneath his glasses, "You recognized me then, huh? Darn. I wanted to play with the oblivious amnesia kid." He shoved a disgruntled Lovino over, forcing him to take up root on the other side of the table facing Ludwig, whom he chose to glare at, and sat down next to Arthur with a chuckle, "It's been a long time, hmm?" He lifted up an arm with a motioning flick of his wrist, "Now hug me like you mean it."

The rest of the table just stared at the two of them in confusion as Arthur obligingly all but threw himself at Alfred, pressing his face into the larger boy's shoulder with a muffled curse. Lovino narrowed his eyes at them as Alfred laughed uproariously, patting Arthur's back with a broad smile, "Including people into one's odd looking conversations is a common courtesy," he frowned.

Alfred looked up with an almost shy smile, as Arthur still had his face pressed to into his shoulder, "I may have just moved here a few months ago, but I'm far from unacquainted with the town," he smirked. "When I was six and Arthur was seven I had to stay in the hospital for a period of time."

At this, Arthur looked up, jumping back from the other with scarlet flushing across his cheeks, "Ah, yes. That was it. Alfred had a bad case of the flu or something, an unusually high fever. But he just up and disappeared after a few weeks and never came back. I just assumed that meant he'd gotten better." He smoothed down his shirt that had become rumpled from the hug, "Now that I think about it, didn't you have a brother?"

"I'm here, Arthur," a quiet voice spoke up from behind them.

Arthur turned in his seat, smiling at the almost identical teen that he had failed to notice before, "Hello Matthew." Once he had the younger sibling in plain sight he was able to recall his name, though he was appalled to realize he couldn't just a moment before.

Alfred grinned and motioned for Matthew to take up a seat beside Lovino, "You had that heart thing, right?" he asked, waiting for a nod from Arthur before he continued, "The doctors said you weren't supposed to live past fifteen, you've got to be older than that now since I am too." The American blinked, "So why aintcha dead? Get a visit from an angel who gave you another chance? For whatever reason, I'm sure it wasn't karma," the high school junior of sixteen joked.

Arthur blinked at the odd preciseness of his comment as he considered the part about the angel, but before he could say anything a small voice piqued up from behind Alfred. "Ah, is it okay if I sit here?" Kiku approached them with an air of hesitance that put Arthur off balance. Sure, the dark haired teen had always been shy before, but he'd been assertive.

The taller blond laughed, waving at him, "Yeah, yeah! Come sit over here." He pointed excitedly to the seat between Lovino and Matthew that had been vacated after the former had sent Matthew a dirty glare for sitting too close.

Kiku slid into the seat with a sideways glance at Alfred that the other either didn't notice, or ignored, before he turned to Arthur, "So you're feeling better then?"

Arthur patted his chest, "Right as rain, actually. It's like I never had the condition at all." He shrugged and said plainly, "It's like you said, I guess an angel gave me another chance." A slight smile and a distant look crossed his features before he caught sight of the look Alfred was giving him.

The younger boy's eyes were trained on him like a fisherman watching his lure and Arthur felt the hair on his arms stand on end. "An angel?" he asked, voice unusually low though no one but Matthew and Kiku seemed to notice.

"Y-yeah, an angel," Arthur said, trying to force sincerity into his voice.

A long moment passed before Alfred's smile returned full power, "Well that's great! As long as you're better that's all that counts, isn't it?" he slapped Arthur on the back a bit harder than he was used to, and the older teen bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, though it wasn't much. After a moment of quick excuses that really weren't need for such a little amount of blood, he rushed off the bathroom.

He hadn't realized how long he'd lingered in front of the mirror in the small tiled room, sucking on the small gash on his lower lip, until the bell rang. But he still didn't move.

"I've always wondered what the cops would say if they found a body drained of blood. They'd probably blame it on some satanic ritual, even thought the twin bite marks of a vampire would be as clear as day."

"Ami, can you think of anything more disgusting than drinking lukewarm liquid that tastes like a penny? Ew."

He hated admitted to being worried about anything, especially a guy like that. But, oh hell, he'd admit to it now. When the hell was Francis's birthday exactly? How long did he have left? Was he really planning to just wither away alone? Those were the sorts of questions that ran rampant in his mind, though he tried to shoo them away, to little avail.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Arthur nearly fainted, and for a brief moment he thought it may have been Francis, the scene at the moment reminding him of when they'd first met. But to his disappointment he looked up to see Kiku reflected clear as day in the mirror. The dark haired teen cocked his head, "Is something bothering you, Arthur-san?"

Arthur quickly shook his head, "No, nothing, I promise," he said, though his smile was blatantly forced.

Kiku gazed at him, expressionless, for a long moment before he reached over, taking Arthur's hand in his own and turning it palm up, "Meet me after school, okay?" He ran his index finger over the blonde's palm, begging a dance that had no pattern.

The Englishman blinked in surprise as Kiku just as suddenly pulled away, making his way out of the bathroom as Arthur was left to stare blankly at his hand, still raised from where Kiku had held it. B-E-H-I-N-D-T-H-E-P-O-O-L. That had been the series of letters the shorter teen had diligently marked on his hand. Why he couldn't have just said it out loud was beyond Arthur, but he wouldn't inquire about it.

So it was that he found himself feeling like a fool shortly after the last bell rang and a quick assurance to Ludwig and Feliciano that he'd be fine walking home, standing behind the gym where the school's pool was located just beyond the wall. He'd been waiting far longer than he would have liked, and he glanced impatiently at his watch, noting that it was nearly a quarter to four, almost an hour after school let out.

A rustling in the bushes startled him out of the angry inner rant that had begun about waiting for someone who wasn't even nice enough to come visit a dying person in the hospital. The blond crouched down as a fox dislodged itself from the undergrowth with a shake, it's pitch black fur puffed up and a spring leaf stuck to it's fluffy tail. Arthur laughed, watching with amused eyes as the fox seemed to glare at him before he held out a hand towards the creature. Hesitantly, the fox leaned as far forward as it possibly could, stretching out it's nose to sniff cautiously at Arthur's skin before it leapt back and began to make a beeline for an old storage shed on the other side of the football field behind the shed.

Arthur called out for it to come back, but, being a fox, it pointedly refused and carried on it's way, Arthur trailing after it, curiosity getting the better of him. "What, did I smell bad or something?" he chided, sniffing his own hand with a frown. "It's not like you don't lick yourself or anything, that's worse in my opinion." He chewed on his lip as the fox shot him a look that could only be described as offended, before trotting off towards the shed again. The creature paused just beneath the aging structure's shadow before darting off around the corner of it where Arthur couldn't see. The blond scowled and moved his feet to follow when the sound of similar footfall made him halt where he stood.

Alfred rounded the corner the fox had vanished behind, his blue eyes seeming unusually dark as he leaned against the wall of the small building. The fox was twisting its long body around one of his legs, looking up at Arthur with almost sympathetic eyes as Arthur took a wary step back. Alfred merely smiled, "You know, I never expected that it would be someone like you who'd find what I've failed to."

"W-what are you talking about?" Arthur stammered, suddenly feeling as though his feet were locked in place under that blue gaze.

"The vampire. I've been looking for him for quite awhile now," Alfred smiled. "And yet he came to you without a problem. Why is that?"

"I-" he had been about to say that he didn't know why Francis had first approached him when he realized that the look in Alfred's eyes was positively deadly. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he hissed instead, his shoulder's hunching defensively.

Alfred tilted his head to the side in the way that told that he was deep in thought before his normal smile replaced the much darker one of before, "Come with me."

Arthur inhaled sharply, alarmed at the sudden change in attitude. Alfred seemed not to notice his reaction however, and turned towards the storage shed, lifting up the padlock and unfastening it without a key or code. The doors swung inwards, revealing a dingy, almost empty interior that was strangely free of dust. The taller blond waltzed inside, pausing for only a moment to scratch the black fox behind the ears affectionately, murmuring something Arthur couldn't quite make out before shooing the creature away and glancing at his companion, "Close the door behind you."

The Englishman did as instructed, enveloping them in darkness for a brief moment before a low scraping sound of large items being slid across the floor greeted his ears, mingled a moment later with the screech of rusty hinges as a shaft of light appeared in the center of the ground. Alfred held open the trapdoor with a smirk, waving wordlessly at Arthur to jump down into it ahead of him. Cautiously, the older teen shuffled over to the place and peered down into the opening before Alfred forcefully shoved him down it, a drop which couldn't have been more than eight feet but made his ankles twinge painfully when he landed anyways. Scowling, he stared up at the other as Alfred slid down beside him, closing the door over his head. "Where exactly are you taking me?"

"Somewhere secret," Alfred said calmly, his face betraying nothing as he kicked the back of Arthur's shoes restlessly, urging him to move down the short tunnel ahead.

The number of steps it took to get to the end of the tunnel to where the light that lit it illuminated from was twelve, Arthur counted so that he'd know just how far he'd have to run if things turned bad. He lifted a hand over his eyes as they turned into an unexpectedly large room that the light was coming from, and his eyes strained to adjust to the sudden brightness. Computers lined two of the four walls, file cabinets against a third, and a large tack board against the final one, it's surface covered in newspaper clippings and internet printouts.

"Oh hell," a voice said sharply, distracting Arthur from the inanimate features in the room, "Why is the Brit here?"

The blond felt a faint start of surprise upon seeing Lovino splayed out on his stomach on a sofa near the center of the room. A sucker was hanging half out of his mouth as he glared at Arthur, one eyebrow raised in undisguised curiosity. Another boy, a senior student Arthur knew he should recognize, was laying on his back beside him, a whole bag of multicolored candies of all types sitting on his stomach, a seasonally out of place candy cane twirling between his fingers. His skin was slightly more tan that Lovino's, which was saying something, and his hair was a dark chocolate brown contrasting pleasantly with his green eyes. Oh right, Arthur remembered now; he was the student body president, Antonio something-or-other.

Alfred rolled his eyes, "Lovi, I thought I told everyone this already."

"Well maybe it was just so boring I didn't bother remembering it," Lovino snapped, frowning and scooting an little closer to Antonio in the process as though the Spaniard could protect him if his words made Alfred mad.

Which was hardly the case as Alfred turned away from them without another word, blue eyes scanning the two people seated at the computers on the far wall, "Ivan, Gilbert, stop looking at porn."

A teen with strikingly white hair and crimson eyes twirled dramatically in his seat from where he'd been practically glued to the computer screen, a mock look of astonishment on his face, "It's not porn, Alfred, it's art! Awesome art!"

"You're corrupting Ivan," Alfred pointed out, motioning towards the other who was still staring intently at the monitor. He was another face Arthur recognized, the Russian exchange student who had the highest grade point average in the entire school, and that was something compared to the diligently hardworking Ludwig and the child genius Kiku. His lavender eyes widened a bit beneath ash-blond bangs and he looked up at Alfred with an innocent expression.

"Yah-tah, it's not corruption. It's entertaining. And besides, I've seen boobs before."

Alfred's hand met his forehead with a resounding smack at the same time the trapdoor behind them creaked open again. He made no movement to see who had entered, merely calling out, "You're late Mattie, Kiku," before turning his gaze to a very confused Arthur. "Lovino and Antonio there are our top spies, infiltrating higher up places and social groups to gather information. Gilbert and Ivan at the computer there are our heads of technology and weaponry." At this, the albino teen, presumably Gilbert, flicked his wrist to reveal a long silver knife Arthur only just now realized he'd been holding all along. "Kiku," Alfred paused as the Japanese student drew up beside him, shifting uncomfortably on his toes, "is the know-all sort of guy. Any questions you have he'll be able to answer. He does the heavy duty research and such." He thumped a hand to his chest with a wave at Matthew, who was standing off to the side. "And Mattie and I are the heads of this whole operation."

"What operation?" Arthur asked snidely, "All I see are a bunch of weirdos underneath a storage shed."

A sly smile cut across Alfre'd face, a look that made Arthur shudder, "Why, the operation of hunting and killing anything and everything supernatural. We're the guns and rock-salt sort of guys, the exorcists and hunters of the paranormal. But you can just call us The SPN."

"S-P-N . . ." Arthur sounded out the letters, growing more and more wary by the second as Alfred continued to babble on.

"Exactly. And you're here because we need your help on a little project." Alfred tilted his head to the side, blue eyes glinting in the odd glowing light of the room, "We're looking for that vampire friend of yours."

Arthur stiffened in response, "I don't know any vampires," he said defensively, starting to take a step back until the other's eyes locked with his.

Beside Alfred, Kiku shook his head, twisting his fingers into the American's shirt sleeve warningly, but Alfred ignored him. "Either you do or you don't. But that shouldn't' stop you from helping us, right?" The tone was almost a snarl.

The blonde's heart thundered in his chest, and somehow, he knew Alfred could hear it. He wanted to flat out refuse, but the fact that Alfred knew about Francis at all meant that that option would be even more of a danger to the vampire than the alternative. If he joined them then there was the off-chance he could lead this strange posse astray from their target... "No, it doesn't," he said after a long moment of thought. "But I have no idea where this vampire you're talking about is, I've never met such a thing."

Alfred growled, but straightened, touching the Kiku's hand briefly in reassurance, "I can smell a lie, you know. Do not take me for a fool." Arthur bit his lip, meeting his gaze as evenly as he could. "Just as I can smell that creature's smell on you. You've become mixed together." He flicked his head a bit, eyes narrowing behind his glasses, "Right then. Do you have any special skills that could be of value to us since you refuse to tell the truth about your vampire?"

Arthur wanted to snap that Francis was hardly his vampire, but he kept his mouth closed while he thought. "I-I can see ghosts and stuff," he muttered, face red with embarrassment. "Fairies, demons, things like that."

"Now that is a skill." Alfred whistled, sounding impressed, his fingers doing a lazy dance against the back of Kiku's hand that was still fisted into his sleeve. "Kiku has a similar power, right?" Kiku nodded. "Then why doesn't he teach you a thing or two this weekend?" He flicked a hand towards the door, his eyes on Lovino, "Take him home, you two live together, right? There are a few things that must be wrapped up here first and foremost before I'm ready to assess him."

Lovino rose obediently, Antonio following him with his eyes alone but not moving from his position other than to mouth something to the Italian, apparently not allowed to do the same without orders from Alfred. Lovino grabbed Arthur by the back of the shirt and dragged him back down the tunnel, ignoring his loud bemused protests at being dismissed so suddenly.

Alfred waited until the trapdoor slammed shut behind them before he motioned for Antonio to move off the couch, taking up the spot instead with a heavy sigh. Matthew went to riffle through some of the articles on the tack board while Kiku remained where he was, watching the exit with narrowed eyes. "Is this really the best idea, Alfred-san?" he asked after a moment of silence in the room.

The blond craned his neck to stare at him upside-down, reaching a hand over his head to grab Kiku's wrist, pulling him over to the couch, "It's the only idea I have left, and you know it." He sat up and pulled the older teen onto his lap, reaching a hand down the top of Kiku's shirt, making the other gasp slightly. Alfred withdrew a small pouch hanging from a cord on the other's neck, holding it tight in hand as he pressed his forehead to Kiku's, "We have two choices, Kiku. These," he shook the little cloth bag, a faint metallic clinking and rolling sound coming from within, "Or that vampire's blood."

Kiku's eyebrows furrowed with anguish, and he snatched the bag back from Alfred, tucking it beneath his shirt again, "Don't say that. It will never come to that, I swear."

"And that's why you alone hold the key to my demise." Alfred smiled. "Just get me that vampire, and it won't have to."