Gah! I went to bed and came back to see so many favs it was so unexpected! I then spent a while trying to update this but it wouldn't let me I am soooo sorry!

JeanneSama- I prefer the word 'persuade' but go ahead if you think I should get more reviews- I am actually more inclined to carry on a story is I get reviews

AlmostAsAwesomeAsPrussia- AH! Don't kill me! I'm updating I'm updating!


Alfred slumped over in the corner of the room. It was a classroom on the top floor of the school; Ivan had claimed the room for his own and wasn't allowing the teachers in it. This was where Regret hung out, where they dragged people to torture. Alfred's hand curled into a fist as he surveyed the room. Vash was sat in the opposite corner to Alfred, he had settled himself on top of a filing cabinet, and he hugged his gun to his chest looking at his feet. Gilbert and Francis were sat near the door, deep in conversation over some matter to do with class; Alfred noticed they kept looking over at Antonio who was leaning against the window seemingly lost in thought. Ivan had left them to go see the headmaster on another matter.

"Well Alfred…" Alfred turned to see Francis walking over "welcome to our hell…"

He looked a little depressed and put his hand on Alfred's shoulder who in turned pulled away muttering a few curse words at the French bastard. Francis sighed "we are more alike then you first realise mon ami"

"Oh really?" Alfred shot up and glared at the boy "Please feel free to enlighten me!"

Francis paused and looked at Gilbert who nodded scratching the back of his head and took something from his pocket and looked at it.

"My name is Francis Bonnefoy, I am the son of a wealthy family back in France, I was sent here to continue my education away from…distractions"

"And?"

"I am to inherit everything, I am proud to be able to take over my father's position when such amazing developments are happening in his company" it sounded scripted yet it seemed the boy truly believed every word he spoke. "And must be able to have an heir of my own"

"Look, you're really starting to bore me"

"Oh for goodness sake Francis, stop reciting the stuff your father hypnotised you with and get to the point!" Gilbert growled, and Francis shot him a glance

"My parents say I must marry a perfect lady, and anything else will cause me to be disowned, abandoned and disgraced"

"Oh…" Alfred felt a little sorry for him even in his anger, this boy's life was being dictated to him and all he could do was swallow what he was being force fed and accept it.

"I…fell in love…and slept with a man…" he looked away "I never told my parents, I would never dishonour them that way…and the man who I loved left me…because I was afraid…."

"…" Alfred found himself suddenly interested.

"Ivan found out. He said he would tell my family everything…" Francis turned away "I couldn't allow my father to have to deal with my shame"

"But surely if you loved the guy…it isn't shame?"

Francis turned to look at Alfred and blinked "I…no…it is shameful, so sh-shameful" he seemed to be breaking up at these words

"But hang on a second…" Alfred stood up and looked at the boy "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Why do you think we are called Regret?" Gilbert perked up. Alfred looked at him and pondered the idea "We Regret ever meeting the bastard known as Ivan…none of us are here by our own free will. Francis…although he gave you the long, I'm a daddy's boy version of his story, the short run is; his parents are homophobes and will effectively hang him out to dry and wash their hands of him if he tells them there is a possibility of him being gay"

"I'm not gay!" Francis defended "I was just curious"

"Keep telling yourself that Francey" Gilbert smirked and turned to Alfred "Now I on the other hand…just can't leave this school"

"What?" Alfred stared "As in never leave?"

Gilbert nodded "Before here I lived on the streets so this school is effectively my home until I graduate…" he looked at the photo in his hand and pushed it onto the table.

Alfred drew it closer to him, the picture was of Gilbert and next to him was a boy with blond hair combed back. He knew the boy by sight. Feliciano talked to him as they were in the same art class, if he remembered rightly the guy was absent a lot so Feli took it upon himself to make sure the boy kept up.

"That's my younger brother Ludwig…" Gilbert smiled "I have been looking after him since practically the day he was born…I protected him and raised him…but"

Alfred looked up at the albino male

"I couldn't protect him from the illness he got…"

"He's sick?"

"Seriously ill…some days he doesn't have the energy to will himself awake…I worry about him" Gilbert sighed "Ivan found us and saw me street fighting to get our next meal. He talked to Ludwig and found out he was ill and that we didn't have the money to get him to a doctor"

The boy swallowed at the painful memories of being on the streets. Alfred stared at the photo of the male

"Ivan… paid for us to come here, to live here, and gets my brother seen by doctors…but in return I must do as he says"

"Or you're back out on the streets and on your own?" Alfred guessed and the boy nodded

Alfred was starting to realise the bullies were victims. Francis turned to the well armed male

"Come on Vash…your turn" at this Vash snorted

"Why should I tell him about that?"

"Because you know Lily would love seeing you making friends"

"And besides he isn't gonna tell anyone he is one of us now" Gilbert chirped in

Vash looked over and seemed to consider his options.

"You know we all need allies Vash, even though you want no part in the fight… you know we are right"

He growled then sighed sliding off the cabinet "I am Lily's carer... legally"

"But how? You're barely a teen, surely you are not old enough!" Alfred was surprised.

"After my parents died we were to be taken into care, but…no one wanted both of us so Ivan… pulled some strings…so I could legally be Lily's guardian…but…" he put his gun on the table "One slip and he will withdraws his support, and he will alert the authorities to us, we will be taken into care and separated…but I can look after her! I…am all she needs no one else!" he cocked the gun and Francis shot forward grabbing it

"No one is taking Lily away Vash…put the gun down" he spoke gently and softly to the boy, who looked at him, blinked then turned away looking red

"I told you not to do that to me!" to which Francis laughed. Gilbert then pointed out the mesmerised Spaniard to Alfred. Antonio seemed to be drawing pictures with the clouds

"Toni there…is a lot like you Alfred. As long as he does as he is told, someone he cares about won't get hurt"

"Who?"

"Someone you know actually…" Gilbert replied looking out the window seemingly looking for someone

"I do?" Alfred blinked at the boy who smiled seemingly finding his target

"Yo Toni!" at this Antonio turned "Tomato at 3 o'clock"

"But its 4…"

"Tomato….Antonio, remember tomato?"

At this Toni's eyes went wide with realisation and he looked out the window, he smiled and a blush came to his cheeks, he placed a hand on the glass "Lovi…"

Alfred choked a little and jumped up at the window. There in plain view Lovino was sat under a tree reading a book in the afternoon sun, completely unaware they were watching him. "You're in love with Lovino?"

It was a shock. Lovino was someone who could be hard to understand so for someone like Antonio to be in love with him was a little…well weird and unexpected.

"Yes…OK I am in love with Lovino Vargas! But Ivan…." He punched the window.

"Ivan doesn't mind not hurting Lovi physically though" Vash spoke as he managed to wrestle his gun form Francis' hands "he can use Feli instead to keep him in line"

Antonio growled a little and rubbed his knuckles "I wish I didn't have to do this…but…"

Alfred was shaking. Regret…it was more of a label now, like they were an attraction. Roll up, roll up, come see the boys who sold their souls to the devil.

The sun rose and fell 30 times and in that time Mathew found he became fearful of his brother. Alfred left early and returned late, he would sit on his bed and chunter about how weak some kids were or how he wished he didn't get blood over him.

He tried hard to ignore it and tried talking to his brother but half the time got snappy responses, which was followed by apologise and tears as he hugged Mathew shaking

"I just want us to be together…you're the only real family I have…" Alfred was shaking and crying over the boy. Mathew smiled

"We will, we will" Mathew was just worried for his brother's sanity. The caring hero obsessed smiling boy was slowly crumbling, two personalities forming; one of the heartless violent bully, the other a crying child who only wanted to hide in his closet and never come out.

The riddle was this: How to keep my brother from falling into the spiral of darkness while he is under the thumb of a psychopathic Russian maniac?

The question plagued on his mind to such an extent that if gave him a headache when mixed with the noise of everyday school life. So he went to the one place he could hear his thoughts.

He pushed open the door to the library; he had never really been in here since starting school, it was a large open room with two levels and desks to work from. It was quiet and Mathew smiled, his head easing.

"You know that's a weird idea, right?"

He jumped as he heard the voice.

"No…no that is stupid…"

Was the other person in the conversation really quiet?

"N-no…I wasn't being rude…he didn't need to meet me I told you that!"

Mattie walked around the bookcase and saw a boy sitting on his own laughing to himself. He looked around and saw no one else around. He had been talking to himself.

Suddenly the boy's eyes shot up, he went pale, which brought out the dark brows on his forehead.

"I, er…did you need help finding something?" Seems he knew he was talking to himself. Mathew smiled and walked over to where the lad was sitting

"No, I needed to get away and go somewhere more tranquil"

At this the boy smiled and the blood returned to his face "It is nice here…not many people come so I can study in peace"

"Really? You spend a lot of time in here?" Mattie was curious, since he couldn't recall seeing the boy a lot. He nodded and stroked at the page he had been reading

"I am here on a scholarship in English so I like to read as much as possible"

"In English? Wow, you must be a good writer"

"W-well….I write short stories and I am trying to write a novel but I am stumped for ideas at the moment"

"Really? What's it about?"

"Well it's about a boy who is trapped, and it's about his struggle but…the more I write the darker it becomes…so I stopped" he seemed down

"Well I bet you will come up with something" Mathew smiled and sat down next to the boy leaning on the table "I'm Mathew Williams by the way"

"Hello Mathew" the last name now seemed to confuse the boy "My name is Arthur Kirkland"

"Nice to meet you Arthur…is something wrong"

"Oh it's nothing really Mathew, but I could have sworn you were a relation of a boy I have met"

"Really?"

"Yes…a boy who is on the track team…Ivan's new guy…but his name is Alfred Jones…"

"Jones is my mother's maiden name" Mathew's voice dropped

"W-what? Oh but then…I am so sorry Mathew I have upset you and…" Arthur seemed to panic as if Mathew was going to punch him in the face. Mattie could see this

"Are you ok?" he asked

"I didn't mean to upset you…"

"Oh its ok, me and Alfred and twins. Our parents split up but fortunately we were already enrolled to come here so we are happy we can be together" he smiled "Hey have you got anything planned?"

The eyebrows raised in surprise, like Mathew had just told him he had three arms and was hiding the other under his shirt.

"No…no I don't"

"Then can you come over to my dorm? We could hang out tonight"

Arthur opened his mouth then closed it, his eye twitched as if someone had begun whispering to him then he sighed and smiled "I would love to; I'll come after dinner, OK?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun, see you then Arthur" Mattie got up and left feeling a lot more happier about today, maybe he could introduce Arthur to his brother, maybe Eyebrows was the answer to his riddle…

Arthur sighed as he heard the door close behind the boy and he turned to look to his right, a woman no larger than a girl's doll was sat smiling on his shoulder

"And tell me again why going to hang out with him is a good idea, Felicity?" Arthur asked a little annoyed, she had nipped at his ear and shouted at him not to dare tell him no, threatening all sorts of mischief if he did.

"You need human friends Arthur…" she fluttered her wings and hovered in front of his face "Your writing reflects you Arthur, its dark because your feelings are dark, go have fun, go make friends and your writing will be so much happier, don't waste your talent!"

"Fine, fine I get it" he laughed. He knew she was right. Then he gasped as two hands came down on his shoulders and a head peered down at him

"Talking to air again Arthur?"

"Ivan…"