!WARMING (IT'S IMPORTANT!)!

You guys are going to hate me for this one. Before continuing, it is advised that you read my other story, A Change of Pace: Year One, if you haven't already. You don't have to do it, but it might be good if you do, because it explains some of the things that happens here. Kind of. But you can skip it and read on, if you like. Just know that if you ask THAT question, I am not going to answer.

Thanks.

Declaimer: I don't owe Hetalia, it belongs to Himarya Hidekazu.

Chapter 4: Halloween Jitters

At the beginnings of October, everything seemed fine. Alfred was still as childish as ever, pushing Nick and Jason into a pill of leaves that he and Charlie created with Lisa's help on one Saturday morning, to teasing Nick about his quick relationship with Fiona in the next. Heck, he even teamed up with Nick to tease Jason about his relationship and tried to set him up with Taylor a couple of times, to which Jason said was too fast for his taste and Alfred said that Jason now reminded him of a certain Negro friend of his back in D.C. and Jason paled at the realization of who that was. He even sweated a little at how serious and knowing Alfred suddenly looked when he directly said that to Jason. But he ended up chasing after the laughing Alfred once he found out that it was just a joke and his paranoid mind working.

However, as Halloween approached closer day by day, Lisa and the three agents noticed that Alfred seemed twitchy, anxious and more on guard than usual. He was also really clingy, always clinging to one of them, and he was even willing to cling to Lizzy until he could successfully find a new target and remove himself from her.

It seemed that he was really desperate, always expecting something to come out and attack him at any givn moment- something that Nick had experienced first hand when he snuck up on Alfred and the boy back flipped him onto the concrete floor, snapping some of his bones and then, much to Jason's surprised- which seemed to keep increasing (the profile was really lacking and did not prepare them for this. He could definitely hear their three bosses laughing at them right now. Those damned old geezers), panicked and processed to successfully reset all of Nick's broken bones- the ones that were instantly fixable anyways. Though, Nick still had to go see a doctor, and he was glaring at the cheapish Alfred the entire time.

"Hey, at least she's still going to help nurse you back to health, right?" he said. "You'll still get some cute time with her, man, come on, don't be like that."

Nick continued to glare at him. "And what's so good about having her so close to me, yet not being able to do anything fun, hah?" he asked.

"Well hey, look on the bright side! At least she's still beside you. Mine's all the way on the other side of the world. Like, literally! And we don't even meet all that often! Come on!"

Nick still won't forgive him, but they did talk and Alfred did try to get back on Nick's good grace again. However, Alfred still refused to tell anyone what was going on and continued to worry all on his own, even when Nick said that he'd forgive Alfred if he told. Alfred still wouldn't do it and correctly commented that Nick wouldn't really be forgiving him either way, which was true.

And this, of course, was now turning into a major problem for the agents, who feared that Alfred may have come into contract with his hunters, who may have threatened him, and that the numbers of hunters may have increased, as Jason had reported that he'd heard Alfred talking on the phone late one night- Alfred thought he'd been sleeping, but Alfred's yelling woke him up. The conversation was a little confusing and went something like this:

"What the hell?!" Alfred shouted into the phone. "Are you seriously kidding me right now? You're still going to do this to me? Give me a break man!"

"…"

"No! I don't want to! I'm already worried enough-!"

"…"

"Well, you're not helping the matter by doing this to me! Look, let's just stop-!"

"…"

"Stop holding a grudge, damn it! It was only once!"

"…"

"What? What do you mean allies? Are you teaming up with those three-? Hey, hey! Don't hang up on me! … Damn it!"

Jason woke up than, and asked the furious Alfred what was going on, to which he apologized for waking Nick up and only told him to go back to sleep before stepping outside to have a conversation entirely in another language that Jason guessed was Japanese, but had no idea of what was being said. Though whatever it was, it seemed to have calmed Alfred down a bit. However, he was still on edge and on guard the next day.

The agents were at their wits end, what with their superiors telling them to consult Alfred and try to calm him down- Jason had experienced first hand what Alfred breaking down and crying while holding onto his knees was like. Apparently it had been a horrible Halloween nightmare or something, and Alfred never spoke of it again, though Jason did wonder about the father Alfred kept calling out to and saying over and over again though his tears that he'd be a good boy if the man would just stop scaring him. Jason really felt like a dad comforting his 5-year-old child from his bad dream that night. And of course, Alfred insisted on sleeping on the same bed as him also, because "The monsters will come and get me~!". Typical.

Wanting to know the reason why their bosses back in D.C. seemed so amused by this, and to get ride of their smudged looks, the three agents decided to use Lisa against Alfred, but that didn't seem to work either. However, Lisa seemed to have come out of it a little bit confused, saying that Alfred asked about Jeanne d'Arc just like Francis. But she was happy though, for she acquired more information on one interesting topic of hers; the mysterious Mr. Francis Bonnefoy.

Though at first, Alfred had been a bit reluctant about saying anything, since he knew that getting involved with humans could be painful- it had been as such between him, Washington, and his founding fathers, and thus America could only imagine what France must've felt. That, and Alfred knew that the second time around may not end well, after all, France and England had advised him to stay away from ****Amelia's reincarnation when he met her in South Korea, working as a plane captain. He was happy to know that she was doing something she loved, and that her life was going well- South Korea even told him that she was getting married to another piloted soon, and Alfred recognized the groom instantly as well. He was really happy that his and Amelia's dreams came true in this life, and knew that France would've wanted the same for Lisa. That was his thought, of course that is until Alfred felt that he was being threatened by Lisa's all too personal questions. Oh well, France had been getting on his nerves lately anyways, being the person responsible for Spain and the others coming after him and all that shit. Man how he hated how England had laughed in his face after he saved him in China. So not cool.

And so, there was nothing the agents could do to stop Alfred's Halloween anxiety, he didn't even want to go to the Halloween party and instead stayed shut inside the sanctuary that was his dorm room. This, of course, meant that none of the three agents were able to attend the party as well, even without Alfred practically begging them not to go- though Jason was actually debating about Charlie going and was relieved that he didn't want to.

Thus, in order to appease Nick, they decided to thrown their own little party in their room, inviting Lisa, Taylor, & Fiona over, though Taylor decided to go to the bigger party with Anna and Kacy. There was, of course, alcohol, but Jason made sure that Charlie only had half a cup, to which Alfred strongly, and strangely, agreed to with a lot of enthusiasm and a small shudder of his own. Jason tried to lay off on the drinks, and Alfred did too, seeming to still be on edge but concealing it nicely.

It was approaching midnight now, and they were telling ghost stories. Alfred finally seemed a bit more relaxed now, too focused on his fears ignited from the story Nick was telling them to be anxious about anything else. Although Jason wished that he wouldn't hold onto his arm so hard, he really didn't want anything to break or to have to be reset, thank you. It hurts like a bitch, he knew it all too well. But he was at least glade that Charlie, who sat on the other side of him, wasn't doing it. And boy was the room getting a little hot, or was it colder now? Is he getting sick? Wait, what was that outside the window just now?

"Oh, that sounds interesting da."

Alfred screamed, throwing his hands up into the air as everyone looked behind him and moved away a little out of fright. There, beside Alfred was the childish face of a pale man with beige colored hair and violet eyes. He was wearing a white scarf over his black cloak and was holding a silver pipe decorated with black sunflowers in his hands.

"Fufufu, dobryy vecher (good evening) little Alfie," the man greeted, never once losing his smile. "Schastlivogo Khellouina (happy Halloween) da."

"You!" Alfred pointed an accusing figure at him once he recovered from his shock and fright. "What the hell are you doing here, dressed like that?!"

"Kolkolkolkol-" Alfred paled at that laugh. "I'm the Grim Reaper this year, and I'm here to reap your soul, da?" He swung his pipe at Alfred, but Alfred quickly moved out of the way. The man seemed a little disappointed at that while Alfred continued to glare at him.

"What the hell? What kind of reaper has a fucking pipe, you freako?! And you didn't answer my question. Why the fuck are you here?"

The man shrugged. "I'm helping big brother* out, da," he replied. "He seemed to have misplaced a little rat somewhere around here." Alfred inhaled and frantically searched around the place while the unnamed man stood up- and boy was he tall and well built, contrasting for a guy with such a childish face. If he wasn't giving off that dangerous and uncomfortable aura, he would've had a lot of people asking to hug him and his adorable appearance.

Seeing his built, Jason bet that he might just be the same height and closely the same built as Alex, and maybe just as intimidating despite their differences in the facial expressions department.

The man turned toward Alfred and smiled a smile that sent chills down the girls and the three agents' spines. "Have you seen him around anywhere?" he asked.

"How the hell should I know? I'm not involved in this!" Alfred shouted out in frustration, his nerves standing on end at the presence of this mysterious man. Jason wondered if they should be worried and what their bosses would say about this when they hear the report.

"Ah da." The mysterious man smiled. "Big brother did tell me that you were not going to be attending the annual Halloween party with us this year, da?"

"Isn't the party supposed to be in Ontario this year?"

"Da."

"Then why the hell are you here?!"

The man looked around, side stepping Alfred's kick. "I told you, little rat, or was it bat, came here and Big Brother and I followed him because we were worried... So you were actually having fun here without the rest of us da, Little Alfie?"

"Don't call me that, you commie! I'm not that little anymore, damn it! And why the hell did he come here anyways? Whoever that little rat is!"

"Piter," Alfred straightened up and his ferry mellowed down as he recognized the name, "and I don't know really." The man shrugged. "He may have had another argument with big brother or something." Jason and Nick noticed that Alfred's eyes moved sideways as if in guilt. "Either way, he ran away and now Big Brother's out hunting for him, otherwise he'll be in trouble if a certain someone finds out later that he lost Peter."

Alfred whipped his head back toward the man, surprised and interested. "Who?" he asked.

The man ignored Alfred's question as his gaze stopped on Nick and he smiled, somehow managing to make the room look like a winter wonderland. "That was a nice story da," he commented. "It had me sitting on the edge of my seat. But you should really tone it down a bit though da. Little Alfie here is very scared of-"

"Hey! I am not! You damn Commie, just go the fuck away already!"

The man turned toward Alfred and the room suddenly felt colder as his smiled widened. "Ahh, but if I did that, than I won't be able to give you the present Big Brother gave me."

"What?" Alfred seemed to have calmed down a bit, as he now looked at the taller man in shock.

The man pulled out something from under his cloak, a black envelope lined in white, and handed it to Alfred.

"Ivan, I've found him-" the group turned around to find a man dressed as a Mad Hatter entered through the once closed window. "What are you doing?" He eyed the envelope that was about to exchange hands.

The man now named Ivan smiled and took the envelope back into his cloak, while the new name's narrowed eyes following it.

"Nothing, Big Brother," said Ivan, acting all innocent. "I was just saying hi to little Alfie. I haven't seen him in a while da."

The Englishman nodded and walked over. "Peter is waiting in the car, why don't you go keep him company, Ivan. Lad's a little moody about being caught and grounded right now."

"Da," said Ivan, jumping out the window and surprising everyone.

"Hello everyone, sorry for the intrusion." The man's eyes never lingered away from Alfred's form as he said this.

"What the hell was that?" Alfred asked as soon as Ivan was gone. "I though we agreed not to do this this year! What the hell, Iggy!"

Alfred suddenly found the hint of the man's cane pointed at his neck.

"Not my name, git," said the Englishman, glaring dangerous at Alfred. "And what do you mean?" His face morphed into one of innocent confusion. "I did nothing."

"Then what the hell was that fucking Commie doing? Suddenly appearing behind me and all that shit?" Alfred screamed in the man's face, pointing angary at the window.

The little man backed away a little. "I don't know, Alfred. I don't control Ivan." He smiled a little. "No one does really!"

"I'm not really so sure about that, now." Alfred crossed his arms as he turned his body sideway, glaring at the smaller man.

The man dressed as the Mad Hatter sighed. "Alfred," he said, "you should know me better than that by now. If I said I won't, than I won't... usually." Alfred silently mocked him on that, and as Arthur's head was turned away, he didn't see much, but did know what Alfred was doing, as he quickly turned his head back and narrowed his eyes at the smiling American. "But no matter how much of a headache canceling the plans with that guy up north gave me, I still went though with it for you, git."

"Up north?" Alfred appeared shocked.

The man smiled. "Relax, git. It's not Ivan. But be ready for us next year though. Even I don't know what that man is capable of coming up with, what with the amount of time now given to him..." His eyes glanced off toward the floor as a small smile crept onto his face. "But… I caution you not to get on your brother's bad side until next halloween's past, git."

"What?!" Alfred panicked. "You teamed up with Mattie? Seriously? He betrayed me? Again?"

The man glared at Alfred. "You attacked him first, git. Remember that." The man called Iggy suddenly pulled out a light brown envelope from his coat and handed it to Alfred, blushing a little. "Anyways, here's your… what you missed. Sorry about… the lost ones. Miles, yes I met with your... second before coming here. He said that he was sorry for it being late and for the work you now have to do."

"He and Alex worries too much," said Alfred, shocking the agents a bit. "Actually, they all worry too much. Instead of worrying about me, they should be worrying about themselves, or the president."

"They can't really help it Alfred. You know that. Anyways, the... work... They were intercepted by the three males of that family, just FYI."

"Nothing important was there, right?" Alfred questioned, a bit worried.

"No, I don't think so," the man answered, his gaze wondering off a bit before he faced Alfred again. " But you'll have to review it yourself. Though Tony, not that Tony-" The man glared at Alfred.

"Yeah. Of course not." Alfred waved him off, bored and not at all surprised. "And that reminds me, I gotta give that guy a call. Someone needs to check on my house."

"I'm not doing it," The man answered blankly.

"I don't expect you to. Besides, you guys will probably just argue and try to ride the world of each other while I'm not looking again."

"So you do know." The man appeared amused. "And here I thought you were oblivious to that fact, along with everything else." The man's happy smile turned into an accusing glare at Alfred, who brushed it off. "Any who, Antonio was nice enough to pry them off Jose's hands and give them all to me. Well, the ones that weren't too badly destroyed anyways. At least that's what he says. Oh, and I've already informed your men about this, just so that they won't go have a panic attack again. One of them seemed to have quite enjoyed his vacation… while it lasted. He even cried on my chest when I told him the good news."

"Ahh. By the way, you're not teaming up with them, are you?" Alfred questioned, a bit concerned, but tried to hide it.

"Of course not, git. Who do you think I am?" Alfred opened his mouth to answer. "However, I did promise Bernardo that I won't interfere this time around in exchange for them not intercepting your... not messing with your stuff anymore and instead, hunt you down fair and square. So now, if any of them pulls their weapons out at you, I won't save you, just a heads up."

"What? Iggy~"

"Not my name!" The man hit Alfred's head with his cane.

"Ouch… Come on Ig- I mean, Arthur…"

"No, git. Bernardo and I have had a good relationship in the past. Despite what was going on between Antonio and I back then, and I'm not about to change that, no matter how irony it all seems. Sorry, git, but you did say you've graduated from me, and that you apparently don't need me anymore." Alfred frowned. The man's eyes moved past Alfred and landed on the girls behind him. His eyes widened. "Elizabeth***," he breathed out, shocked.

"What?" Alfred chocked, his eyes wide as he looked at the man before turning to look at Fiona. "No way." He turned back to Arthur. "Seriously? Then does that mean that those two may be Catherine** and Maria**?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow at that before shaking his head and looked at Alfred. "Any who, make sure to attend the meeting during your Thanksgiving Break or whatever it is you call it-

"Thanksgiving."

Arthur glared. "Git, don't interrupted me. It's rude." Alfred stuck his tongue out at him and Arthur raised his cane, but than put it down, sighing. "Really... grown. At any rate, I'll see you than, git. And don't worry." He smiled evilly. "It's only the 8 meeting, so there will only be eight of us and not... all the ones from across the... well, you know what I mean." Arthur turned toward the door, but paused when he noticed Nick and Charlie. "Ahh… Well, what do you know? You are here after all." He turned back to Fiona and gave her a charming smile that caused her to blush and for Nick to glare at him. "But of course, you would… you did promise***…"

"What?" Alfred asked. "What?"

"Nothing git." Arthur shook his head. "It's just that," he let out a small laugh and covered it with his hand, "I find this situation quite amusing, as it seems to be somewhat similar to your Amelia's. But never mind me and my old rambling ways." He looked up, shook his head and looked directly at Nick, taking him aback with a sense of foreign nostalgia. "Thank you for not coming over to the British Isles and robbing me and my brothers of our precious artifacts, but instead targeted France and the others, Nicholas. Lord knows how much of a headache that's going to cause me. You know we never did quite get along with each other, nor did we enjoy the... family... reunion." Arthur tore his gaze away from the shocked Nick and changed target as he instead, smiled at Charlie.

He walked up and petted the boy's head. Charlie's eyes widened at the familiar, nostalgic warmth that reminded him of a lingering sent from his old home, of his childhood memories. "So, you want to improve England, hah?" said Arthur. "Well than, I will be sure to hold you to that lad. Don't let me down. I look forward to officially meeting you in London again, Charlie Wilson." He looked up. "Well, good evening, chums. Have a happy Halloween, and remember not to stay up too late~" He took off his hat and bowed before the door closed itself in his face.

"Go to hell, old man!" Alfred threw a bottle at the door, shattering it into pieces. "It's your god damn fault I'm this anxious every god damn fucking Halloween!"

Jason turned toward him, wondering if the man was prophase responsible for Alfred's nightmares and Halloween terrors, and if so, how? But of course, he didn't voice this question.

"Okay, what was that?" Nick asked, looking confusingly at the door before turning to Alfred, a little furious now. "Who was he?"

"Arthur," Alfred replied, recomposing himself. "He's a... friend of mine." He looked through the papers in the envelope and pulled them out. "He's also the man who took care of me after my parents died, so I guess you could say that he's my older brother. But I separated from him a while ago, and he's now gone back to living in London and being a full time politician there, or something like that, so…"

"What about the other guy, Al?" Lisa spoke up.

"Who? Ivan?"

"Yeah," said Fiona. "Who was he? And the little boy, Peter?"

"He's a fucking Russian Commie, and Peter… Peter's Arthur's… new charge." Everyone noticed how Alfred seemed a little saddened by that as he moved to sit on his bed and read the papers.

Charlie yawned.

"Well, it's getting late," said Jason. "Why don't you escort the girls back to their dorms, Nick? Al and I will clean up while Charlie go to bed."

"It's okay, I can help," Charlie insisted, swaying a little.

"No, it's fine, Charles," said Alfred, putting away his papers into the envelope and storing it in the top drawer of his bed. "Kids like you need your sleep, or else you won't grow." He looked smudged when he said that. "You can have my bed."

Charlie nodded and collapsed on Alfred while making his way over to the bed. Alfred caught him with a smile and carried him over to the bed, tugging him in and smiling at the scene.

"You seem like you've done this before, Alfred," Jason commented, watching Alfred smile down at Charlie as a father would his son.

"Hah?" Alfred turned to him, confused.

"This." Jason motioned toward them. "This whole tugging people into bed and all that jazz."

Alfred shrugged. "It's not that hard. I have-... I've carried drunken men before." He frowned. "But yeah." Alfred smiled down at Charlie. "I… know a boy. Well, he's not really that little now or anything, and I think... I think he's Charlie's age now, so..." Jason noticed that Alfred looked a little disappointed at that. "But, yeah." Alfred smiled warmly. "I've… I've watched over him from time to time, so yeah… I am kinda use to it. Though, I wish I had more time with him… Wonder how he's doing now...? Hopefully not out wondering the..." He sighed sadly at the thought before getting up to help Jason clean up.

"Think Nicky's coming back anytime soon?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"He probably will be back," said Alfred, smiling a small, happy smile as his eyes glittered over. "Just not to this room. Or alone."

"Yeah." Jason nodded in agreement, thinking back to the glare Nick had given Arthur, and glanced back at Charlie. "Good thing he's sleeping here, hah?" He turned back to Alfred. "You can take the bed this time Al. I'll take the couch," Jason offered.

"Nah man. You've been tired babysitting us and basically giving in to our childish wants all day now. You get some sleep. I'm okay now. Iggy's already paid me a visit and it doesn't seem like he has anything planed for me this Halloween, so we're good! I'm off the anxiety chart! I'll take care of this mess, you go and get some sleep dude. I know you've had a few shots."

"You sure?" Jason seemed unsure about this. "You also had some-"

Alfred smiled. "Yeah, I'll be fine! S'not my first time, and it wasn't even enough compare to what I'm used to, or the people I'm usually with!" He laughed a little. "So, I'm use to it. Now you go get some sleep, man, and leave the rest to me. I insist!" He shooed Jason with his hands. "It's the least I can do for making you guys so worried over me."

So he did notice. "Okay. Goodnight, Al." Jason yawned and collapsed on his bed.

Alfred sighed and got to work cleaning up the room and later, looking over his work, something that Jason kept his eyes open for, wanting to know what Alfred's hiding. But too bad, though, because Alfred made sure not to reveal too much and only cursed quietly here and there before getting to signing those papers that he calls the band of his life, probably the only word Jason was able to clearly hear and remembered from that night.

However, once, at around 1 or 2 a.m., Jason heard Alfred talking on the phone with someone- Jason couldn't really hear much of the conversation, he seemed happy about it though, and it seemed that he even got a picture, or a few, sent to him. After that enjoyable phone call, Alfred finally tucked in for bed on the couch.

*Russia. Yeah, I know. I did it. It's cute, and it gives America more reasons to argue with Russia, who can get on his nerves more. Say whatever you want about it, I like it.

**Can anyone guess which Maria and Catherine I'm talking about?

***Yes, I know about Queen Elizabeth I and what she said about England. But looking up her history, I found something interesting, and, despite so many evidence pointing to their pairings, I don't like it. Sorry.

****Amelia... I got the idea for that one from the Korean Drama Take Care of Us, Captain. I feel like instead of love, it was more admiration for her, more friendship like.

Next Chapter: Are They...?

It's Thanksgiving, and everyone's on break! Not. Oh well, Nick's not complaining. After all, he's going to Disney and is no longer being watched by the government! But... what the hell? Didn't Alfred say that the guy was his friend and former guardian whom he thought of as a brother or something? So what the hell is this picture they're painting? Surely it can't be-! And why's Lisa and Fiona here too?! Damn, so much for a fun day at Disney.

REVIEW!