Ch.4 Now It's Happened Once or Twice, Someone Couldn't Pay the Price…
AN: Hey y'all, it's me again! Thank you to our new favoriters and any new readers who are joining us. Before I start, I wanted to say that. Without you guys this would've been a lonely, suckish one-shot that never saw the light of day. Also, much as I love favorites, could you guys (and girls) PLEASE REVIEW! If you have any ideas for dreams or comments, I'd love to hear them. Seriously, don't be shy. With that out of the way, let's jump back into our story. To review, Francis is the only one who refused. America, Japan, and Prussia are all with 2p Arthur.
It was the next day. A very bright and sunny day that people normally love. One man, however, was not at all happy and seemed to cast out the aura of a brewing storm. The man was done up in a way that few men are. A very observant onlooker would notice that said man had deep black moons under his eyes, as if he'd been in a brawl or not slept for some time.
Francis Bonnefoy didn't particularly care what anyone thought. He just knew he was going to kill that English brute the first chance he had. How dare he!
The nerve of that insufferable pig, to just barge in on someone's dream like that and act like nothing was wrong with it!
Well, he'd teach him what comes to people who attempt things like that…
America ran into the meeting, energized for the first time in who-knows-how-long. The Hero was actually ready to start solving problems. He had reached his seat before he realized something was wrong. People were too quiet. They'd look over towards France's seat, then to England's, whisper, and then shut up. It was more than a little creepy.
Asking everyone, "Dude, what's going on? Has anyone seen Francis or Iggy?"
Uncomfortable, awkward silence. The very kind of silences he hated. They were just so…empty.
Finally, Germany spoke. "To clear up any confusion as to what happened earlier; it appears that Francis had thought England had done magic. He insisted he had not, which just seemed to aggravate France to the point of actually hitting him until his face was covered in blood. I took England home and France seems to have disappeared. They will not be attending this time, but it past time we start."
Needless to say, the Meeting was very subdued and called off very early. Without France or England fighting or presenting, it just didn't seem like a real meeting.
Japan and Prussia stayed in a corner, whispering with concern over this oddity.
America came over just as Gilbert finished something he'd started, "…Nein. I don't like this."
"Dudes, what don't you like?"
They fell silent and looked at him, as if thinking about what they were going to say. *Why does everyone seem to think I'm stupid?* he wondered for the hundredth time. He could handle whatever this is. He was the Hero! He was supposed to be able to help and the best way was to be smart. Finally, Kiku asked, "Has Francis had repeating nightmares? Like every time he goes to sleep he wakes himself screaming?"
That made Alfred pause. He really didn't know. Mattie might but he wouldn't tell him if his "father" had asked him to keep it quiet. Finally he went with the truth.
"I don't know. Probably."
"Ja." Prussia threw in. "He has for a while now. Nearly scared the crap out of Antonio when he found us both screaming at 3 in the morning."
"I wonder why Arthur hasn't come to him yet…" Kiku wondered aloud before Alfred interjected,
"Wait! Was the whatchamacallit you guys were talking about yesterday? That thing that takes your dreams looks like ARTHUR?"
"Kesesese, what did you think we were talking about? Fairies?"
"Dude, Arthur showed up in my dream last night too."
"Ja. He's been to mine too."
"Mine as well. Though I think I should look into this more before we try Francis again."
"Why? The awesome me says we get to him now and look stuff up later. He's already bloodied Arthur's face; I don't want him to get arrested for something." Despite how he tried to play it down, the other two could tell he really did care about the Frenchman.
"I just don't think it would be wise to make any decisions until we know for sure what we are dealing with. After all, if it wants something in return, it would be better to fully understand what that would be before making any promises."
"Yeah… what Japan said. I don't want anyone to get hurt or anything just so I can sleep."
Very reluctantly, Prussia had to agree. That was smart and France wouldn't be able to fight them as hard when they could spell it out like that. Plus, it'd give the guy time to cool down. No need for anyone to get socked in the face when they were only trying to help.
They agreed to let Japan research for the next 2 or 3 days before trying France again, even though that left everyone more than a little uneasy. His mind wasn't the most stable right now and it could be exponentially worse by the time they got to him. The minor comfort for each of them being that when they did confront him, all of them could tell that they had much better sleep with the pseudo-Arthur than without him.
Kiku had hated lying to the other two. There was another reason he wanted to look into this matter further. For several nights now he'd given over his dreams. He had noticed something odd last night and wanted to see if there had been others with the same.
He had been dreaming of something, he didn't know what exactly anymore except that it had been a peaceful dream, and all of a sudden it was gone. He was standing in a warped version of Arthur's kitchen. Warped in the sense that the tools were ones Arthur wouldn't have the faintest idea of how to use and that everything was either pink or purple.
While still puzzling this, the other Arthur-san had come in humming to himself. This took a while but as he was flitting about, Kiku realized Arthur couldn't see or hear him.
"Well that's disappointing." *He doesn't seem all that upset about it. Then again, he doesn't seem the kind to be anything but giddy.* this was vaguely disturbing for the Asian nation since he had seen Arthur-san with a wide range of emotions but none of them like this.
"Bonnefoy is being naughty. No matter, he'll learn soon enough what everyone else already knows. And then I'll have four little collections to make when the full moon rises again."
Even as he was speaking, he was…baking? There was something very wrong if Arthur was allowed to bake.
He'd forgotten that when he'd woken up, but it had come back when he'd heard about Francis. Now that he could think about it all the way, it was deeply disturbing as if some instinct were screaming for him to run before it was too late.
He shrugged it off and sat at his computer to start working on what exactly this was that had appeared to all 3 of them, if not 4.
^^^^^^^^^^^5 Hours Later^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kiku fought to stay awake. He had some in late as it was (Korea had tried to claim China again and he'd had to convince Yao it was safe to come into the house again) and staring at the computer in front of him hadn't helped.
He wanted to sleep so badly; he needed it so badly….. *No! Get back to work. The others are counting on you to have something to report.*
That had been Gilbert's compromise. He'd make a report as to what he'd discovered so the others weren't completely in the dark.
Of course, he and Alfred were probably already asleep so how would they know if he just lay down for an hour or so?
Forcing the welcome thought of rest from his mind, he doubled his efforts. After an hour of intense searching, he had run into a wall. At least, he had until he found a site he'd missed before. One that was a search engine for creatures that weren't supposed to be real.
He typed in 'dream eater' and a very small list popped up. Rather to his surprise, he found that this creature had actually been legend in his own country.
As he began to read, however, a chill crept up his spine and he started to shiver. He had to tell the others as soon as possible. He had to tell them-
Kiku woke confused and disoriented. His laptop claimed it was no that couldn't be right, 1:20 in the afternoon. The mirror showed that he had keyboard marks on his face.
*Did I fall asleep at the computer? What was I looking for so late at night?*
Looking through his browsing history was odd. Dream eaters, magic spells… why had he looked this up? Finding the dream eaters page again, he was filled with the same horror.
He had fallen asleep at the computer! He hadn't had time to warn the others that they were making a horrible mistake. He ran from the house, not caring that he hadn't changed his clothes, grabbed any shoes, or eaten since last night. He prayed desperately that he wasn't too late.
AN: And thus ends the chapter on a cliffhanger. Please don't kill me! *waves white flag like Italy* There is reason I left off there. We'll pick up with the other three next chapter. Until then, adieu and watch out of monochrome dream eaters. Guess the reference of the title and you guys get virtual brownies! :D