The next morning Antonio woke up before the rooster could crow and was dressed and out the door in a matter of minutes. Grabbing a quick breakfast to eat on the way, he jumped in his car and was off. Most of the morning was spent getting to Ireland's home; a quick drive to the airport, a short flight, and then a long drive to the forest home. It only took a few knocks on the door before it was open by a red-headed man with freckles.

"Hello, Spain. What are you doing here this early? Isn't it Spanish custom to sleep until ten?"

Laughing, Spain nodded.

"Normally, si, that would be true but I'm on a mission!" He leaned in close and whispered, "It's about your brother and Francis."

The Irishman's eyes widened.

"Oh really? You better come in and tell me then." He stepped out of the way and pulled his door farther open for the other man to enter. When Spain was inside he was led to a living room and told to sit down so they could talk. "So," the red-haired man started as he made himself comfortable on the couch opposite Antonio's. "What happened to mah wee brother and his decidedly French lover, hmm?"

"Well I can only answer part of your question. The other part you will have to tell me."

An eyebrow was raised.

"And why is that?"

Antonio smiled.

"Because I only know half of the story."

The other grinned, he liked where this was going.

"Alright then. You tell me your part and I'll try to fill in your blanks, deal?"

He nodded.

"Si. That will work." He took a deep breath and started to explain everything that had happened in the last week, down to every last injury the Frenchman had sustained knowing that would make the older man talk since he had never approved of Arthur dating Francis. "So that is why I came to talk to you. As the closest Kirkland age-wise to Arthur is you I thought you might know something that we don't."

The Irishman had a wide smirk on his face.

"I always knew that he would realize that old, frogbreath wasn't worth his time." The smirk turned into a very serious face suddenly. "However, mah brother did love that frog like no other. For him to change his mind so drastically is concerning. The number of times he stood up to all of us, defending the man, and going home with bruises and black eyes showed just how much he cared and was not going to give him up." He leaned back and rubbed his chin as he thought. "I would say that someone put a spell on him but we can detect magic and the only magic lately has been an entrapment charm and a snare curse. Wales was probably hunting again and too lazy to do any actual work." He was quiet again. "Another strange thing though is that I haven't seen Scotland in a few weeks. He has not come around or even sent a message. It's very curious. I would go talk to him and see if he knows anything."

Antonio stood up.

"Gracias. That is very helpful. I will tell you what I find out."

Ireland nodded.

"Alright. I hope you figure this out."

"Me too. Francisco is my best friend and I want him to be happy again."

The red-head smiled and for once it was a genuine smile, not mocking or condescending.

"You are a good friend. You are traveling across Europe, braving Scotland and myself, to try and figure out what happened to your best friend's lover."

"Francisco is very important to me so this is practically nothing. He is like my family. I would do almost anything for him."

And with that, he left.


Back at home, Lovino was trying to make breakfast for Francis and himself before the other woke up. He was just putting the dishes on a tray to carry out to the man in bed when he heard crying.

With a sigh he finished what he was doing and carried the tray to the guest room; even as big of a jerk as he could be he was not going to make Francis walk to the kitchen in that state and he sure as hell wasn't going to carry him.

Stepping into the room he saw that Francis was awake and crying once again; knees curled up to his chest and his face in his knees, tears streamed down his cheeks that he couldn't control.

"Oi! Wine-bastard! Stop that! I brought you breakfast!"

Francis looked up, eyes red and puffy, and stared at Lovino for a moment, trying to process what he had said.

"Where is Antoine…?" he asked quietly.

"He got up this morning and went to visit Ireland."

Francis tilted his head a little.

"Pourquoi? He hates him. Or…" Tears blossomed in his eyes again. "Or did he just want to go as far away as possible because of moi?!"

Lovino rolled his eyes and hit the Frenchman in the head, though much gentler than normal since he was still very injured.

"You are an idiota. He did not leave because of that! He did leave because of you but not that!"

The Frenchman started sobbing.

"So it is my fault! I should just leave! Go jump off a bridge or something and get stop ruining everyone's lives!"

Mouth open in shock, Lovino simply stared at the man in bed. This was not the Frenchman he was used to. Where was the constant need to hit on everything that moved? The general cheerfulness even when things were so low? The over the top amount of self-worth that he had? The Frenchman he knew would never even think about something as dark and depressing as suicide. Arthur had really messed him up in every way.

"F-Francis…you don't ruin anyone's life." He couldn't believe that he had to reassure the man of such a thing. His voice was shaking in pure disbelief. "I don't know a single person who would think the world was a better place without you. I know I am always mean to you but that doesn't mean I want you dead. Even the other British nations would be upset. They don't like you but they like that you make their brother happy. I know that something weird is happening with England right now but he still loves you. I don't have the smallest doubt that he doesn't. Antonio loves you just as dearly. That's why he's gone. He had to go talk to England's brothers to see if something happened that made him act like that." His voice steadied and he became more confident of himself. "He is gone because he loves you, Francis! He would never abandon you! You should know that! He saw your bloody body in the snow and brought you here! He fretted over you while you were unconscious and you even made me worry! Would either of us do that if we wanted you dead?!"

Francis was speechless. He had tears frozen in his eyes and those on his cheeks were quickly drying, leaving salty trails. Lovino's rant was still echoing in his brain and it confused him greatly. Not only did he defend him, but he used his human name, not 'bastard' or 'wino'.

"O-Okay…I-I believe you…" he whispered finally, still shocked.


AN: Yeah so Lovi is kinda OOC but I needed someone to be the voice of reason and only he was around. But I liked that he gave the speech. It was cute from him~