Third Chapter! I'm up to it sooner than I thought :)

Anyways, here's something I forgot to mention last chapter:

If you're wondering what Harold Norm has to do with the rest of the story, let's just say he (and Karey as well) play an important role in the plot as the others try to find Toris.

Well, here it is!

Chapter 3

"A-Alfred? Why are you yelling, you bloody git?"

"IT'S AN EMERGENCY! JUST GET OVER HERE, AND BRING FRANCIS WITH YOU!"

"But whyyy?"

"Get over here right now or I'll shove a hamburger down your throat tomorrow!"

That was enough for Arthur. He called Francis to tell him, and quickly drove over to Alfred's place. As soon as he arrived, Francis was there as well, and Feliciano, who tagged along.

"Big brother France, why are we here again?"

Arthur sighed. "Alfred. He was screaming at me to come. What is it this time? Roach infestation?"

They opened the door, only to find Alfred with the phone in his hand, crying uncontrollably. Next to him were Matthew and Feliks, trying to comfort him.

"Alfred! What's wrong?"

Hearing the voice, Alfred finally looked up. His blue eyes were puffy and stained with tears. He managed to hold back his sobs to say:

"It's T-Toris. He wouldn't pick up his phone, and I think...s-something bad's happened to him."

Francis sat down next to him and placed an arm around his shoulder. "It'll be okay...Toris is probably just busy right now, maybe he'll call you back..."

Just then there was loud, frantic knocking at the door.

England opened it; in rushed Raivis and Eduard. Eduard looked worried and afraid, while Raivis seemed close to tears.

"Hey, guys! Have you seen Toris? He hasn't come home, and when we tried calling him, he didn't pick up..."

There was a moment of silence.

"No, this can't be...I was supposed to protect him, I'm the hero..." and with those words, he ran into his bedroom and grabbed a piece of paper from under his pillow.

It was a picture of him and Toris. Back when he still worked for him, Alfred had let Toris sleep with him due to having nightmares of Ivan. When they woke up the next morning, he found out that Arthur took a picture while they slept, and denied the incident. Although everyone forgot about it, Alfred still kept the photo, secretly hiding it under his pillow.

Just the memory of it caused him to burst into tears again.

He had failed. Now one of his best friends was missing, and probably cold, scared, and hurt.

"Don't...worry, buddy...I'll come for ya..."

As he stared out the window, Harold saw a group of kids in his backyard.

He sighed, wondering if they did that just to annoy him.

Ever since he moved in, he found out that 8 year olds liked to use this place as a playground.

And it wasn't just them; occasionally there would be obnoxious teenagers running through the place, laughing and cursing.

He tried to continue his journal entry. As his eyes moved to the window again, he saw the kids playing and...a brown haired teen?

Hmm, that guy looked awfully familiar. He reminded him of his best friend.

"No, that can't be him. He wouldn't pay attention to me like this, let alone send me a messenger."

"Then again, does he really care about me?"

"No, no, no, no! He dosen't give a crap about me! Ugh, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here right now!"

He then went on, telling the wall about his college experience and how sad he was. But the whole time, he felt like someone was listening.

"Harry, are you all right?" Karey was back. Apparently, she was here to check on him again.

"Oh, it's you. I just need some fresh air right now."

"Well, then, go ahead." She left for home. "Same old Harold all over again."

Harold literally ran outside. Something about that brunette teen bothered him; but what?

Toris was breathing heavily, although he considered himself lucky to be breathing at all.

He was bound tightly by the ropes around him, which was quite uncomfortable. It only added to the pain he suffered from his other injuries.

In addition to a gashed arm, he now had several bruises and scars, and was sure that he had some broken bones.

He wondered where he was. The man had blindfolded and beaten him inside the house, and when he could finally see again, he was in a pitch dark room.

Another worry to add to his already long list. It ran through his mind:

"What was Alfred doing right now? What about Arthur? Francis and Feliciano? Feliks? His brothers? Everyone else? Do they even know I'm stuck here?

Well, maybe not here, but still, they do notice something, right?"

Just then the door opened.

The same man that beat him was standing right in front of him.

"Oh, God..." Toris closed his eyes, bracing himself in case he got hit again.

"Oh, finally talking, are we? Now answer my question: What were you doing in my backyard?"

"Um, what backyard? I don't remember anything about any backyard..."

"Don't play dumb with me, kid! You know something about Alfred!"

"Oh, uh, I don't know any Alfreds. Who are we talking about again?"

"You know who I'm talking about? Tell me everything you know about him!"

As he said that, he raised his fist, like he was going to hit him if he didn't tell. Toris knew that he was barely strong enough to survive another punch from this guy; but if anything was more important, it was taking care of his friends.

"No...I'm not telling..." he said, in barely a whisper.

"What?"

"I said I'm not telling! What do you want with him, anyway? I swear if you lay a finger on him, I'll..."

"SHUT UP!" He was cut off by a sharp smack across the face, causing him to flinch in pain.

"I'm...not...going to say anything...don't even...try..."

"I'll deal with you later." The door slammed shut.

The Lithuanian closed his eyes. His suspicions had been confirmed. That man was trying to kill Alfred.

"Don't..worry, Alfred...he won't hurt you..I'll make sure of that...somehow..."

"Alfred! You can't just leave now, you don't even know where you're going!"

Eduard was trying to hold back the American, who was trying to step out of the door.

"But Toris needs my help, and I'm the hero, so don't try to stop me!"

"You have no idea where he is!"

"Oh yes I do! He's...on second thought, I don't know."

"Knock it off!" Arthur was now even more serious than before. "We've got to get some ideas first."

"Like what? We don't even have any clues to start with, except that he's been gone for a few hours..."

"Then it's time for Detective Poland to, like, totally spring into action again!"

Feliks grabbed a magnifying glass from the counter and did his most magnificent pose.

"Very nice. We might need your skills for this case. Now stop posing and get over here."

"So, like, any theories?"

Silence. Then Raivis spoke.

"D-do you think that I-Ivan has something to do with this?"

Everyone stared at each other, whispering. That was the most probable explanation. Ivan.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go to Russia's!"

-Is worn out from all the action-

Wow, that took a while to write.

Toris is in deep trouble now...when will the group find out what REALLY happened to him?

That might take a while, especially with the conclusion they came to. Sigh.

Tune in next time for chapter 4.

With all due respect,

Blue Cotinga Girl