Hey there, Fang here.

Well, here we go again...Next chapter!


Alfred rubbed his eyes and sat back, trying to keep himself from ripping the parchment to pieces.

"What the f*ck is this…"

"Hand me one, eh?"

Alfred obliged. Matthew scanned over the hand-written paper, and his eyes took on the same angered, shocked quality that Alfred's had.

"Alfred…"

"How the f*ck could they say those things to him?"

Matthew steadied his angered voice and began to read.

-Dear b*astard baby brother,

Hand over your d*mn borders, you a*shole! I don't know why you bother resisting me, when I'm obviously so much stronger than you!

What do you think you can accomplish anyway, you f*cking little sh*t? You can barely defend yourself from me anyway! It's only a matter of time, and I will destroy you!

You're useless. You have no real power, and you know it!

Believe me, when this is over, I will wipe you from any map you could get your hands on. I will personally rip you limb from f*cking limb when I've got you under my control, and your entrails will be spread from coast to f*cking coast of this whole Isle!

And when I'm done with that, I'll make sure that your eyeless head will be shoved onto a pole and hung-

"Stop. Just stop, Mattie."

Matthew did as he was told without any sort of a fight. He bent down and rummaged around the other papers scattered around the floor.

"The rest of these are similar in context…"

Alfred's fist slammed down onto the floor, going right through and into the ceiling of the floor below them.

"That b*stard! Arthur was just a kid! A f*cking kid!" he yelled at the wall.

Matthew remained a bit more calm.

"Maybe…it was just how it was back then…"

"They were his brothers! His own brothers! And they treated him like nothing…"

"…Maybe that's why…"

But Alfred had already stood up and was walking to the attic door with a steady, frightening gait, cutting Matthew off.

"Look, we need to go find Iggy now and talk to him about these…letters!" Alfred was already jumping down the stairs three at a time, Matthew not far behind. The American paused once he reached the floor, unsure of where to look first.

"I'll take the two down floors, you take the rest of those, Mattie." He called after his brother as he headed down to the second floor to begin the search.

It was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Arthur's house was quite large, and Arthur was so small that he could hide almost anywhere. It took Alfred more than forty-five minutes to search the second floor thoroughly. Alfred glanced outside the sun was on the horizon…had it really been that long? He could see dark clouds gathering in the not-so-far distance as well…hopefully it wouldn't be a thunderstorm. He looked out the window at the setting sun, trying to sort out his thoughts.

That's why Artie was so frightened of others, he realized. Scotland's words…they were absolutely despicable. No one deserved to be told such things. No wonder Arthur became as he was…he wasn't given much of a choice. He didn't have a chance for childhood…he grew up too fast. And he was just a kid, reading those words, Alfred grimaced. He was younger than Alfred had been when he was found…

"Al?"

Alfred turned around to find Mattie coming into the room, shaking his head. "You didn't find him?" Alfred gave him a thumbs down. Matthew sighed.

"Then we've narrowed it down…one left."

Al was already down the stairs, single-minded in his quest, never allowing for any other sort of distraction. He headed off to the right once down, and Matthew, once he reached the last floor, went the other way, checking room by room, meticulous and exactly. He hadn't gotten three rooms in before he heard Alfred call out in surprise.

"Al?" Matthew rushed to the tearoom where he had hear Alfred's voice. Running in, he noticed the much chillier breeze and flickers of drops of the coming rain sprinkling in on his face from the open window. Alfred was staring at the exit from the house, and the stack of books from Arthur's lower shelves leading up to the sill. He suddenly turned and marched to the coat rack, grabbing his bomber jacket and Arthur's long coat before heading toward the front door. Matthew quickly shut Arthur's means of escape and hurried to catch up to his brother.

"Al! Al, wait, where-"

"I gotta go find him, Mattie."

"A storm's coming-"

Alfred whipped around and grabbed his brother's shoulders, staring Mattie right in the face. The Canadian could read the fear and panic distinctly in his eyes, and the guilt right behind those dominant emotions. He closed his mouth, and Alfred took his hands away.

"I know! But that's why I have to go! I have to hurry!" Al was slipping on his jacket.

"…the storm is only going to hurt your chances of finding him…" Matthew whispered, trying to give Alfred reason to think logically. He knew Alfred's extreme fear of thunderstorms, carried on from his childhood. As far as he had heard though, no lightning or thunder was present yet.

"That's fine by me! I'll beat the #!*% storm! I'm not going to leave Iggy out there alone."

He opened the door, shading his face against the wild wind that blew in with a fury.

"Arthur wouldn't have let me stay out there when I was little." With that, he rushed out into the storm.

Alfred lost track of time after fifteen minutes in the wind and rain.

"ARTHUR!" his voice was carried away in the wind. Because he was America and impervious to weather, he had no trouble moving in the storm, which was blowing full blast now. The rain pelted down on the American like rocks, but Alfred didn't blink. Trying to suppress his ever growing panic, Alfred barely paid any attention to the cumbersome weather around him, only concentrating on finding Artie.

The boy couldn't have gotten far, he told himself. Arthur, though a lover of rain and fog, was not dressed for high winds and this sleet. He would have had to stop somewhere for shelter…but where, exactly?

Alfred opened his eyes against the howling winds and couldn't see anything that resembled a small child. Moving on, he took a right, heading on towards what seemed to be a small grove of trees, not a mile from Arthur's house. Alfred took off running against the restricting wind for it. After thirty minutes of searching so far in a radius around Artie's house, Alfred was getting desperate. Arthur already didn't trust him at all, though considering at this stage in his life how he couldn't trust anyone, that wasn't surprising anymore.

He was at the edge of the trees now, the wind only slightly deterred from the shelter. It still blew like a lion, but at least Alfred could breathe when facing into it. He yelled again.

"Artie! Arthur!"

No response. Alfred's heart was pounding harder, as hard as the rain still shooting down on his drenched head. In this darkness, Alfred wished for a flashlight, but in his haste to find his brother, everything else had slipped his mind.

A rustle and a tiny, barely perceptible whimper answered his calls at last, and he ran to the noise, barely hoping for what he wanted to see.


AUTHOR'S COMMENTS:

Alright!

hey again, iggy demon sis! I think it's pretty awesome myself...but that just makes me sound really prideful, and thats not good..._ but I'm glad you think so!

And HunterWindstalker, yes, your status as English makes you automatically awesome. I actually have some questions about the Battle of Britain and the Blitz in general...I'll message you about it, there are some things I am rather confused about...but Thanks for reading again!

EliteKessu, Poor Artie is right! I love torturing him! Keep reading, I'll love you for it!

OMG, meme12345bunny, you have hit my Anglophile button again! You really are? I'll continue just for that! #!*% yeah!

LOl, Haley Tran...I love that song! I want to learn it so badly...and it's so addicting! Haha, isn't it awesome that Alfred's the youngest of that family...i think it's hilarious. Plot building is hard...you want to let everything about it out in one chapter, but you can't do that! I learned that lesson the hard way...you should see some of my early fics...so bad, I won't even post them...^_^

Ah, Faith Altoire, you really should post it so I can see it...I bet it looks awesome! If you drew for this fic too...you are amazing...just amazing. Don't try chai tea, it's disgusting, unless you like really sweet milky substances... Everyone wants to hug Iggy!

And darkangels1112, I'm so happy you've been reviewing my other fics!...I'm fine with yaoi if it's tastefully inserted into a fic, but yaoi incest? That's the reason why I won't write Arthur/Alfred fics...I feel it's taking brotherly love a bit too far. But hey, whatever suits! Hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!

Hey, SandyAngel, yep! Makes me happy...^_^ I love these two so much...They're so adorable...and hey! You found out what it said! Woot!

And to mackie19, Alfred's a big and scary and rather awkward when it comes to kids country...Artie is so adorable when he's trying not to show that he's scared...Glad to hear from yoU!

...Reviews...they make me soo happy on the inside...thank you so much...!

Sorry about the letter if it wasn't good...I didn't really look up hate mail too much in my research, and it probably shows. Little Iggy...how I love to torture you as well...oh well.

Hope you guys liked so far...should be 2 or 3 more chapters before I'm done with this one and I can move onto my next two!

I love reviews...you guys have been amazing..its pretty much the only reason I take time everyday to update...keep it UP, please!

-Fang