Chasing a Memory

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

He was real that white haired man from his dreams was real. Arthur could hardly believe it, but the pictures proved he was real. Arthur looked through each picture and it seemed like the red eyed male was in a majority of the pictures. In each photo the white haired man always looked so very confident and he always had a smile on his face. Arthur had a feeling that the man was a little cocky which was a little surprising to think about because he always seemed too serious and sad in his dreams.

Arthur really had to wonder what his relationship with this guy was. Where they best friends or where they something more? Arthur blushed a little at the something more thought but he quickly shook it out of his head. Arthur was bisexual (not that anyone knew that) and he had to admit the red eyed man was good looking, but Arthur seriously doubted that he and the white haired male where together or anything. Arthur took his attention away from the red eyed male and looked at the other people that where in the pictures.

While their where all kinds of people in the photos their where some people who appeared more then others. There was a man with bright blue eyes, glasses, a bomber Jacket, and dirty blond hair with a cowlick. This man always had a big happy smile on his face and he was usually always flashing a thumps up at the camera. There was another man who looked a lot like the happy man, but this boy had a few things that where different about him. While he had blue eyes, glasses, and the same dirty blond hair as the happy man, his hair was longer and instead of a cowlick this boy had a hair that curled and stuck straight out.

The man had a soft almost shy smile and he was almost always carrying what Arthur assumed was a very realistic polar bear plushy. There was also a man with long blond hair, a beard, and bright blue eyes but for some reason any time he and Arthur where in the same picture Arthur always seemed to be yelling at him. Arthur was not too sure on what to call this man, but whenever he looked at them the word frog would pop up in his head. Arthur just decided to call him the long haired man until he could actually figure out what his real name was. Arthur noticed a very serious man with gelled back blond hair appeared quite a few times in the pictures with the white haired man.

He also saw a man with black hair, dark brown eyes, and a soft smile quite a few times and in almost every picture that had the serious man in it there was almost always a boy with a single curl and a happy go lucky look on face there as well. Their where other people in the pictures as well, but these people where the ones who showed up the most. Just who where these people and what did they mean to Arthur. He felt like he should know who these people are, but Arthur could remember nothing about them. He actually felt kind of bad that he could not remember who they were.

He felt like he was looking at someone else's pictures and that feeling made Arthur kind of sad. Mischief just watched Arthur look at the strange machine for awhile before he finally placed his paw on Arthur's hand and let out a loud meow. As far as Mischief was concerned the strange thing was taking his owner's attention away from him and he did not like it. Arthur looked over at his cat and smiled before he placed the Trace Memory down on the counter before he picked his cat up.

"Well Mischief I guess I will be going on a trip."

"Meow?" Mischief then tilted his head to the side and gave Arthur a confused look.

Arthur just smiled at the white cat before he let out a little sigh. As crazy as this was Arthur had decided that he would go to that mansion. He wanted answers and the only way to get them was to go to that mansion and that was just what he was going to do…..

Arthur was all set to leave for the mansion. He had already asked his boss if he could have a couple of days off and his boss had kindly given him two weeks. Arthur had never taken a day off for anything so he was getting to the point where his boss was about to force him to go on vacation anyway. Arthur had already asked Jack to take care of Mischief for him while he was gone and he had already packed up a suitcase of things he would need for the trip. All he had to do was get through work today and he would leave for the mansion. He only had to get through one more hour and work would be over and that was something that he was grateful for.

For his final hour of work he was busy making quick repairs on some books and Mary was working right along with him. Everything was quite but it was not an awkward silence at all.

"So I hear you are going on vacation." Mary said.

"Yes for two weeks." Arthur said.

"You usually never take vacations, is there a reason why you're taking one now?"

"I just want to figure a few things out is all."

Mary just nodded her head, but she did not bother asking anything else. The silence want on for a few minutes before Arthur finally looked up from his work and over at Mary.

"Mary, can I ask a question?"

"Ask away." Mary responded.

"What do you do when you don't want to forget something?"

Mary looked up at Arthur and smiled before she said "Just keep repeating whatever it is in your head. You won't forget."

"Are you sure?" Arthur asked.

"I'm positive."

Arthur just looked down at his book he was working on and said nothing.

Mary just looked at him for a few minutes before she said "Arthur I don't know what you hope to figure out on this vacation of yours, but I hope all you questions will be answered."

"I hope so too Mary, I hope so too."

Again the silence filled the room, but this time Arthur and Mary didn't try to break it…..

Arthur was all set to drive up to the mansion. He had his suitcase in the trunk of the car, he had the Trace Memory in his pocket, and he had the map that would get him there. He had checked to see if his GPS would lead him to the mansion and sure enough it was able to. However just to be safe he kept the map in the passenger seat next to him just in case something went wrong with the GPS. The mansion itself was about five hours away from the town Arthur lived in and Arthur was slightly surprised to find out that the mansion was rather close to London.

That was interesting, but it was not something that Arthur thought too much about. He just started up his GPS and started to drive to the mansion. The drive itself was a little boring, but Arthur was happy that the weather was nice and the sun was out. However that ended up changing the closer and closer he got to the mansion. At first the sky just got full of gray clouds and soon it started to rain.

The rain was gentle at first but by the time Arthur drove into the driveway of the mansion the gentle rain had turned into a harsh thunderstorm.

"You have now reached your destination." The GPS said in its robotic voice.

Arthur kind of wished that the GPS had been wrong about this being his destination because the mansion looked kind of intimidating. It seemed like no one had really been taking care of the mansion over the three years because the grass was very long and the plants where running wild. There where vines that where slowly making their way up the walls of the building and grass had to be up to Arthur's knees. The manor was rather isolated and their where no other houses to be seen in any directions. There was a large forest that could be seen surrounding the mansion and the woods looked like they could go on forever.

The place looked like an abounded mansion only without any broken windows. A loud crack of thunder sounded in the area and the flash of lightning lit up the area and made the place look even creepier. Arthur sighed a little before he got out of the car and ran up to the door so he could get out of the rain. Once he was at the door he tried opening it, but the door was locked.

"Figures…" Arthur murmured before he sighed.

"Well, now what?" Arthur muttered as he looked around.

That's when his eyes landed on the welcome mat that was under his feet. Arthur highly doubted there would be a key there, but hey it was worth a shot. Arthur got off the welcome mat and lifted it up only to have a shiny silver key met his gaze. Well, that was extraordinary convenient, but hey Arthur was not complaining. The thought that if someone else had found the key they could have just walked in and stolen everything in the place, but there was not much he could do about it and he had to get in some way so he should just be grateful that he could get in so easily. Arthur grabbed the key and opened the door before he walked in and shut the door behind him. Arthur looked around the house only to see that it was just as bad as the outside.

There was a thick layer of dust covering everything in the house and Arthur could see cobwebs here and their around the house. Arthur was standing in the foyer which was completely lit up every time the lightning flashed from outside. There was a door that was across from Arthur and the two staircases lead up to the second floor. From where Arthur was standing he could see two doors up there that would just lead you deeper into the mansion. Arthur walked deeper into the foyer and looked around the room only to notice something small lying on the small chest of drawers that was next to the door on the first floor.

Arthur walked up to the chest and looked at the object only to see that it was a Trace card. The card was partially hidden by the lamp that was sitting there and Arthur was surprised that he was even able to spot the thing. Arthur pulled his Trace Memory out of his pocket and placed the Trace Card into the machine and turned it on.

Arthur

There are Trace cards lying around in a few of the rooms like this one was so keep a lookout for them. Your mansion is very big and there are a lot of places to explore so you have a lot to look at. However, there are three rooms that you should try and look at. The first is the attic you have a lot of things from your past up there and maybe one of those things will help you remember something. The next room you should check out is your office and just trust us when I say you need to see the place with your own eyes.

The last room is actually one that we were not able to get into ourselves. The door was locked and no matter what he tried we were not able to brake in (and trust me we tried). We don't know what could be there, but it could be something important. Before we let you lose to explore there are two things we should tell you. The first is that we will be going to the mansion to get you.

I know you must be wondering how we will know that you are there, but that is something you should not worry about. The second thing that you should be careful of is that those people who caused you to forget everything may come to your mansion. We have yet to ever see or hear of them going in there since you have been gone, but you should still be careful.

Signed, The Nations of the World

Well, this message was rather worrying. The people who caused Arthur to end up in this mess might come back so he should be careful? Great, the mansion was already creepy enough as it is this just made it ten times scarier. Also, Arthur seriously had to wonder just how the nations of the world would know he was there, but he decided to not think about it too deeply. Arthur briefly wondered if the white haired man would be with them, but he supposed he would find out when they got here.

Arthur turned the Trace memory off and placed it back into his pocket before he turned and walked up the staircase that was closest to him. If he was going to explore this place he might as well start with the second floor now, he was probably going to get lost in this mansion anyway so it probably didn't matter too much on where he started. Once he was up stairs Arthur went through the door to the left and walked deeper into the mansion. However as Arthur was exploring he never noticed the three pairs of eyes that where watching his every move…..

Info time:

Keep repeating whatever it is in your head. You won't forget: This is actually advice that one of the characters in the Trace Memory game tells you. The advice probably does not mean much now, but it will be something that Arthur will take to heart and use as the story goes on.

The mansion's foyer: The foyer of Arthur's mansion was based off of the foyer in Luigi's Mansion (Yes I know that is random). If you look at a picture of the Luigi's Mansion foyer you will know what the foyer in this mansion looks like.

The eyes watching Arthur: So anyone want to guess at whom the eyes belong to? Please tell me in your review because I really want to know who you think they belong to.

Anyway, I will try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible so please review and don't flame.