Recently I discovered just how hard it is to use chopsticks with a sprained wrist...and then all my poor noodles fell to the floor TT-TT soo depressing...

Disclaimer: Hetalia doesn't belong to me


"Vee~ Ludwig, she- he's unconscious!" Feliciano called in an urgent voice to the strong blonde man attacking the other men.

Ludwig glanced back, swore, and didn't hold back as he harmed the men. When he was finished with them, he walked over to Feliciano and examined the unconscious boy.

"Vee~ Ludwig, we have to take him back with us!" Feliciano pleaded.

"I know, I know. Stop hanging off of me!" Ludwig carefully picked up the delicate boy in his arms. He grimaced as he noticed the body seemed to be a little too light, the boy's arms easily flopping off his body as he was picked up.

It didn't take long for Ludwig and Feliciano to reach their homes. It wasn't in an area like Arthur's where all the mansions were grand and extravagant, nor was it even in an area like Francis' where the houses were just beginning to run down. Ludwig and Feliciano's house was located in a poor area where many of the people living there had come to the city hoping to find and lead a better life. The homes there were all run down, but everyone who lived in the area was trying to make the best of it and pretty flowers and colorful decorations had already been added.

Ludwig took Yao's limp body into a small house with the German and Italian flag hanging side-by-side outside. Ludwig started to lay Yao on the couch when Feliciano stopped him, shaking his head and directing Ludwig to his bed.

"I'll make some pasta for when he wakes!" Feliciano happily declared, running off to the kitchen. Ludwig sighed and proceeded to carry Yao upstairs. He gently lowered the body on to the bed, propping up Yao's head with a pillow and started to set about mending the injured body.

"Veee~ How is he?" Feliciano poked his head around the corner.

"He'll be fine. It's a good thing you heard him," Ludwig commented. Then he sighed. "I didn't think we would be doing this when we moved to this city. I don't want to make any more enemies but…"

"Ludwig, you're the best! Vee~" Feliciano hugged Ludwig from behind. Ludwig coughed, trying to hide a blush, and nodded.

~oO|Oo~

Arthur cursed everything in sight as he struggled to remain seated in the carriage instead of bursting out of it to run around to find Yao.

"Bloody bastard," he mumbled. He would, in fact, be running around searching for Yao right now if not for the fact that his uncle's lawyer had called him. He also had no idea where Alfred was at the moment, which made him rather nervous and worried, thus putting him into a terrible mood.

The office where the lawyer was located was old and had lots of ivy reaching up towards the sky with bricks falling off here and there. Arthur's carriage driver tried to convey to Arthur the slight suspicions he was having, but Arthur was much too preoccupied to listen.

The inside of the building was also decorated with cheap and tacky furniture, something Arthur would definitely have picked up on if his mind weren't so consumed by anxiety.

Upon meeting with the lawyer, both stiffly greeted each other and the lawyer bade Arthur to take a seat on a beat up couch, handing Arthur a cup of mediocre tea. Arthur did his best not to spit the offending tea right into the lawyer's face and tried to focus on what the bothersome man was saying.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but your uncle has recently passed away," the lawyer spoke, not looking particularly sorry at all.

Arthur's mouth opened and closed, his eyes bulging. "I- I…"

"He left you this sum of money and the mansion," the lawyer handed Arthur a paper declaring the amount (which wasn't much).

"On top of that he also left you a debt."

"D-debt?" Arthur grabbed the next paper out of the man's hand. His face went white as he saw the amount. "This- this can't be right!"

"No, Mr. Kirkland, I am confident that it's correct." Arthur thought he could see the lawyer trying to hide a smirk. "Well, that will be all."

Arthur felt desperation clawing its way back up him. He needed to find Yao quickly.

~oO|Oo~

Feliciano hummed a soft cheerful melody to himself as he climbed the stairs to his room, intending to briefly check on the boy. The sun was shining softly into the house and Feliciano had been pleased that the boy was looking much better when he had checked on him earlier.

"Ludwig!" he yelled.

"What is it?" Ludwig swiftly ran up the stairs, abandoning the clock he was making.

"Vee~ Look! He's awake!" Feliciano cooed, pointing out the obvious. Yao was propped up against some pillows, his long hair flowing freely down while Feliciano tried to convince him to have some pasta. Feliciano frowned. "You need to eat!" He pushed the pasta towards Yao who looked as if he was a small trapped animal surrounded by hungry beasts.

Yao shook his head, the last memory of someone else feeding him engraved too deeply in his head for him to be able to let someone else feed him. Ludwig knelt down next to Feliciano.

"You need to eat," he told Yao. Yao, trembling, refused to look either in the eyes.

"Ah! You must be scared of us! We didn't even tell you who we are. Vee~ I'm Feliciano and this is Ludwig. Ludwig saved you when those men attacked you. He also bandaged you! Vee~" Yao glanced at the mentioned bandages while Feliciano offered a bright, comforting smile. "What's your name?"

"…Yao, aru." Yao's eyes darted left and right searching for possible exits out of the room. His eyes rested on the door and the window- both of which he had a slim chance to get to.

"Vee~ Please eat, Yao."

Again Yao shook his head.

Now that Ludwig could see that Yao was well enough, he began to scold the poor boy. "What were you thinking walking alone at night? Especially in these parts! Do you have any idea how stupid that is? You're lucky we were close by!"

"Ludwig!" Feliciano protested, distressed for the small boy.

"I was looking, aru," Yao interrupted. The other two froze, surprised to get an actual response out of the Chinese boy.

"Looking?" Feliciano asked and attempted to get Yao to eat some pasta.

"For…man, aru."

"Who?"

"Yiwan, aru." Yao's face suddenly crumpled up as tears began to leak down his face. Feliciano started to panic, trying to get Yao to stop crying.

"Ludwig," Feliciano whined. "Why isn't the pasta working?"

Ludwig was too deep in thought, the name evoking a distant memory. "Do you mean…Ivan?" Ludwig frowned as he said the name.

"Aru?" Yao's head snapped up and his tears stopped midstream. Hope gleamed in his eyes, though he tried to quash it. "Yiwan?" He leaned over and grabbed Ludwig's collar, his strong grip surprising the German man.

"Y-yes."

"Vee~ You mean Natalia's older brother? He just came moved here recently, right? The one with the scarf? He's really tall! And has strange colored hair!"

"Yiwan!" Yao shrieked and tried to get out of the bed. Ludwig and Feliciano both had to combine efforts to restrain the excited boy.

"Wait Yao!" Ludwig ordered. "You need to rest first and we don't know where he lives." At Yao's glare he added, "Tomorrow we'll take you."

"Antonio will know! Vee~" Feliciano grunted as they both pushed Yao back into his bed.

"Tomorrow, aru?" Yao gazed up at Ludwig, his face betraying how badly he wanted to believe him yet was afraid to properly trust.

"Yes. I promise," Ludwig ruffled the Chinese's hair in a rare effort to comfort.

~oO|Oo~

Yao held tightly on to Feliciano's sleeve, biting his lip nervously while glancing at Feliciano and Ludwig, then at their surroundings. Kids played on the streets and they all gave Yao a curious glance. Yao shrank towards Feliciano, suspicious of all the looks. He gave the two a suspicious look. Were they going to betray him too?

As promised, they brought Yao to Antonio's house. As soon as Yao walked in, all he could see was tomatoes and bright colorful decorations- such a change from what Arthur and Francis' homes were like.

"Aru?"

"Tomato bastard!" they heard a shrill scream come from upstairs. "What did you do with my shirt!"

"I'm wearing it!" A Spanish man, who Feliciano pointed out as Antonio, proudly called back, stepping out from the kitchen revealing himself unknowingly to the three. "Lovino's so cute," he sighed. Then he took note of the trio. "Oh! Feliciano! Ludwig!" He greeted them cheerfully, then looked questioningly at Yao who had hidden behind the tall German. Ludwig sighed and pulled Yao out from behind him.

"This is Yao, veee~ He's looking for Ivan, Natalia's brother," Feliciano took it upon himself to explain.

"Really? That's good. I'm sure Natalia will be happy that her brother's getting some visitors. He's still injured, you know," Antonio chattered away completely oblivious to Yao's intense stares.

"Injured, aru?" Yao yelped, jumping towards the Spaniard. Feliciano and Antonio laughed as Ludwig caught Yao, stopping him from attacking Antonio.

"I'll get Lovino to take you." Antonio called to Lovino who stormed angrily downstairs, muttering darkly.

"What?" Lovino spat.

"Brother!" Feliciano ran to hug his brother, but Antonio beat him to it.

"I need you take these people to Natalia's house," Antonio told him.

"What? I'm not taking them to her. She's fucking crazy! She almost stabbed me one time!" Lovino protested.

"You probably deserved it," Ludwig muttered, still holding on to Yao.

"What's that potato bastard?"

"Please, veee~" Feliciano begged. "Yao needs to go see Ivan."

"Fine!" Lovino grumbled and stomped his way out. "Come on!"

"Do you promise to calm down?" Ludwig asked Yao. "I won't let you go if you won't remain calm. You'll only hurt yourself if you get too excited."

Yao nodded his head, impatient to follow Lovino. Ludwig sighed and let him go. Yao quickly caught up to the two Italian twins and Ludwig couldn't help but wonder just how important Ivan was to Yao.

After turning down a couple of street and hearing a lot of swearing from Lovino, they arrived at a house. Unlike the other homes, there was no effort to try to make it look friendly. Instead it emitted a creepy aura.

Lovino quickly muttered a goodbye and left while Feliciano shivered. Even Ludwig had to admit that the house was slightly daunting. However, Yao- either he was extremely brave or didn't notice or care about the aura at all- walked straight into the house without even bothering to knock.

"Yiwan?" Yao called out and was met with pointed end of a knife. "A-aru?"

"Who are you?" a young woman growled, her eyes trained on Yao.

Fear flickered across Yao's face, but he wasn't backing down when he was possibly so close to finding Ivan. "Where Yiwan?"

"Why are you all coming in here!" she shrieked as Feliciano and Ludwig came in.

"Natalia, we're here to see Ivan," Ludwig firmly stated.

"No!" Natalia protested. "No one can see big brother except for me!"

"No! See Yiwan now, aru!" Yao grabbed the knife and twisted it, determined not to be stopped at this point. Gasping in slight pain, Natalia let the knife go and Yao threw it against the wall. Seeing the intimidating face on Yao, she unwillingly nodded and let Yao pass to go see Ivan, gesturing to a room down the hall. Yao ran down the hall, slipping and sliding on the smooth floor.

"Yiwan!" Yao cried in relief as he found Ivan lying asleep on a bed. He dropped down on top of Ivan's chest. "So- sorry! Aru, sorry! My fault," he cried. He buried his head into Ivan's chest.

Yao lifted his head when he felt a large hand running through his hair. Ivan's tired and surprised eyes locked with Yao's.

"Beautiful," Ivan whispered.

"Yiwan!" Yao yelled through tears and threw his arms around Ivan's neck, hugging him close. Ivan slowly put his arms around Yao's small body.

Yao pulled away and Ivan held Yao's face in his hands, smoothing Yao's tears away with his thumbs.

"Who are you?" Ivan asked. Yao's breath caught in is throat, his mind freezing and heart dropping.

"Y-Yao, aru." Yao forced a pleasant smile on his face and drew back slightly.

"Pleased to meet you, da. I'm Ivan," Ivan introduced himself, trying not to betray how confused he was and how weird he found the situation to be.

Yao's eyes were like dull glass, his insides hollow. Why didn't Ivan remember him?

A cold hand grabbed Yao's collar and dragged him away from Ivan. Yao twisted back, trying to break free of the woman's unyielding grip, sending desperate glimpses towards Ivan.

"Natalia? What are you doing?" Ivan called after them, even more confused now.

Natalia ignored her brother, instead flinging Yao at Ludwig and Feliciano. Both jumped to catch the limp boy. In a voice laced with cold fury she told them to get out.

Ludwig and Feliciano glanced quickly at each other, conveying their worry while they led the boy out of the dilapidated house.

"Yao?" Feliciano called tentatively, but Yao didn't answer. The boy looked as if he had gone into a state of shock.

The way back home was spent in silence, Yao trapped inside his mind while Feliciano shot worried expressions towards Yao.

~oO|Oo~

"Vee~ Ludwig, I'm worried," Feliciano flapped his hands towards Ludwig. Though Ludwig said nothing, he was also worried. Ever since they had gotten back from seeing Ivan, Yao had not uttered a word, instead preferring to curl up into a ball on the couch, ignoring both Ludwig and Feliciano.

"Yao, have some pasta," Feliciano tried to comfort Yao. Yao smiled and gratefully accepted the pasta earning a relieved smile from Feliciano.

But it was a bitter smile, and Feliciano couldn't help but notice how Yao's eyes- once alive and animated at the thought of finding Ivan- were now bleak and lifeless.


Review? Yes, yes?