"It's just counting strides, finding your distance, swapping leads, and looking good doing it. Relax, what could be easier?"
-Anonymous

I ran to the stable, cursing under my breath. My AP chem class had run late and if I didn't hurry, I was going to be late for practise, and at the moment I wasn't quite sure whose wrath was the worst to face.

Bella seemed to be the most relaxed out of my teammates, but after spending only little over a month with her, I had learned that she wasn't her usual self when you disappointed her... And her boyfriend was really scary when she was sad.

As for Jeanne... Never upset a French woman, because they can get /very/ agitated when you go against them. And somehow, French swears seem to have more affect when coming out of a woman; Mattie and Francis didn't seem to have the same level of control over that part of the language as Jeanne.

Then there was Liz. There were rumors around the academy that she had once hit Francis over the head with a frying pan because she was so mad at him, and only a strong, scarier-than-a-demon woman could keep someone like Gilbert in line.

The Beilschmidt grandfather and grandson pair were equally as threatening. They also had the same disappointed look. Must run in the family, though it seemed to have skipped Gil.

As for Arthur... I shivered just thinking about the explosion that was waiting for me. Ever since I went to the arcade with him, he seemed to be avoiding me more and more. And when we did have to interact he would either completely ignore me or find the tiniest excuse to blow up at me. And man, can Brits get really pissed off! Even though when he yells at me in his British accent it makes me smile... This makes him yell more.

As I ran into the barn I checked my watch; I had exactly five minutes to tack Patriot up or I would be late. It was already ten minutes into warm up, which meant I would have to waste some of my time I could be getting tips from the coach.

Quickly I tacked Patriot up and walked quickly to the arena. I glanced at my watch again; I had tacked up in little over ten minutes, a new personal best.

"Jones!" I heard Liz call. As the only senior on the team, she was captain and right now she was pissed that I was late, her bright green eyes glaring at me from under her visor.

"Elizabeta, it is his first time being late. Give him a break!" Ludwig called from the rail. His head was bent as he concentrated on having Blitz side pass but he still had time to delegate situations. He should become a politician or something.

"If it happens again..." Liz threatened before she turned her Furioso, Sanyi, away and kept working on her pattern.

"Alfred..." Coach said from his spot in the middle of the arena. I walked Patriot over. "Your professor called me and told me why you were late, but I still want you to clean stalls tonight as punishment. I run a strict team as you should know by now and just because you are new does not mean you get treated any different."

I nodded my head and apologized, before Coach told me that after normal practise, he wanted me to stay behind with Arthur and him to get in some jumping practise with a more advanced course for the two of us.

The course Coach had us jumping was really advanced, and it was clear that he was expecting a lot from Arthur and me.

The others had put their horses back and come to watch our attempts at the threatening looking course. Some of the jumps were at least five feet tall and one looked to be about a foot and a half wide. I sighed and gave Patriot a pat as if I wasn't only trying to reassure myself.

"Who's first?" Coach asked after we had walked the course.

Arthur said nothing as he knotted his fingers in Morgana's mane. Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and volunteered. As I got ready, the chatter from my other teammates died down.

"Don't rush the first time. Arthur will go through after, and then I'll time the both of you." Beilschmidt explained to Arthur and me.

I entered the arena and started cantering and I had Patriot run through the course. We did pretty well and didn't get any penalties, but I guess that was because I was going so slowly.

Once I exited the arena, Coach nodded at me and Arthur looked up and entered the arena. He took the course a bit faster than me, but it probably was because he couldn't slow Morgana down (that horse was a speed demon), and yet, he still managed to have zero faults as well.

"Now try to do it as fast as you can." Coach told us.

Our teammates had stopped being so silent and instead started cheering. It seemed as if they were betting who was going to win.

I took a deep breath and then spurred Patriot forward and he went off immediately. As we approached each jump, I encouraged him and we flew over. Even though I was taking this seriously I also felt a massive grin on my face as I soared over each jump.

When I finally finished I had one penalty. Coach nodded again and the rest of the team erupted into applause. I turned and went to grin at Arthur but his head was bent with his visor and green bangs covering his face. I saw his mouth moving and it looked as if he was trying to pump himself up. Then he took a deep breath and entered the arena.

"Come on Arthur!" Bella cheered.

"Show the yank what's what!" Jeanne called. I looked over with my offended/puppy dog look and she shrugged in a way that said 'You're new to the team and I have known the short angry one for years so ergo if I am going to bet, I'm betting on him".

"Don't psych yourself out; it's just practise!" Liz encouraged.

Arthur took another deep breath and gave Morgana a small nudge with his heel, which she immediately leapt off of and took off towards the fist obstacle.

They were doing great, but by the third obstacle it was clear that Morgana was trying to get out of Arthur's guidance and just blow right through him.

He was doing a great job, still having her go for the right amount of strides, until the last few jumps.

By the third to last jump it was clear that Arthur was having a hard time keeping her in check. He must have been tired after keeping her in check for so long.

The second to last she had jumped when Arthur was barely ready.

At that point everyone had stopped cheering. It seemed as if everyone was holding their breath together. Even Coach seemed really tense.

That was when Morgana landed funny and had much less space to prepare for the final jump.

I heard Ludwig say "Mien Gott his foot is coming out." I noticed it just after he mentioned it.

Morgana surged forward as Arthur started sliding to the left. She soared over as Arthur scrambled to hang on and swore loudly. I closed my eyes and waited for the telltale noise of a body hitting dirt...

But none came.

I slowly opened up my eyes as a cheer erupted from my other teammates; Arthur was still on Morgana, though he did seem a little shaken.

"Arthur Kirkland, you better not do that again!" Liz called, scolding the Brit as she raced over to him and grabbed Morgana's reins.

"You think he meant to do that on purpose?" Ludwig asked as he walked over with Jeanne and Bella. I jumped off of Patriot and walked over to the others.

"Dude, you okay?" I asked as he slid off Morgana.

Arthur took a deep breath and said "Of course I am okay; it isn't as if I actually fell. And when you talk to me, refrain from using fragments," he scolded. I let out a laugh. If Artie was correcting my grammar then he was just fine, but I noticed his hands were shaking when he accepted the reins from Liz.

"Arthur well done; you won our little competition. Practise is over, everyone get some rest. Jones I want those stalls sparkling." Beilschmidt said as he walked towards the clubhouse; he wouldn't actually leave the stable until everyone else had.

I was expecting the exchange of money for the bets, but when Bella tried to hand Jeanne and Liz money both discreetly shook their head and looked at Arthur... Man, when had I gotten this perceptive?

I was finishing up Blitz's stall when Arthur left to go back to his dorm and the others came in.

"Niet that was the fifth time." I heard Ludwig say.

I poked my head out of the stall and asked "What was the fifth time?"

"It has been a very close call for our cher Arthur, just in these two years." Jeanne explained.

"No, Liz is right! You guys are forgetting about the time he was schooling Blitz and he was almost thrown." Bella said. I went back to work but I still listened to the conversation.

"I'm not counting that as almost falling off." Jeanne said.

"He was holding on by Blitz's neck!" Liz retorted.

"Wait this happens a lot?" I asked as I went to empty out the muck and get new shavings.

"Yeah and if Arthur didn't have fast reflexes and an amazing seat, I don't want to think about how he would be right now." Ludwig explained when I came back.

"So has he fallen off at all?" I asked.

There was a pause as everyone looked to Jeanne. I had found out that her and Francis (they were cousins) had grown up near Arthur and so out of everyone on the team, she knew the short Brit the best. Slowly she shook her head. " I cannot remember a time when he fell off, even when I went back to Domrémy-la-Pucelle mon cousin never mentioned anything..." she trailed off. Quickly we all knocked on wood for our teammates sake.

"Whose turn is it?" Liz asked as I came back from putting the wheelbarrow away.

"I did it last time." Bella said practically putting her finger on her nose.

"He always yells too much when I do it." Jeanne said.

Liz and Ludwig glanced at each other, but then slowly, Liz turned to me with a slightly evil grin on her face. "Our newest member hasn't gotten to experience this rite of passage."

"Yeah... We'll call it your initiation." Jeanne said as she lit up.

"What are you even talking about?" I asked starting to get worried; as much of a hero as I was, I wasn't liking how they sounded when they were talking.

"Every time this happens, grandfather asks someone to check up on Arthur-" Ludwig began to say.

"But as you know, our Brit gets very defensive when he thinks someone is checking up on him-" Jeanne continued.

"So naturally, none of us want to do it." Bella finished.

"Oh come on, he can't be that bad!" I laughed as we walked into the clubhouse.

"Can one of you-" Beilschmidt started.

"Alfred said he will!" my teammates replied quickly. Beilschmidt gave them a look but shrugged his shoulders and went back to grading his student's papers (He taught German as well as ancient history).

"Good luck," he said as I went to leave.

I turned back to my teammates and Coach, grinning. "I'm a hero; not even a grumpy Brit can deter me when I'm on a mission!" I then raced out of the clubhouse and made my way to the Dorms.

As the "Hero" left the rest of the team looked at each other. Ludwig sighed and wiped his face, Jeanne chuckled lowly as she thought of the challenge ahead for the American, Bella hid a small smile as she thought of what Arthur might say, and Elizabeta had a smirk that took up her entire face. Quickly she sent a text to Kiku, the sophomore she had taken a liking to when he was a freshman, and not just because he came from the country that basically invented yaoi. "Get out of your dorm; I don't need you messing up real life yaoi."

"?" was the reply.

"Kirkland fell. Hero is going to check up on him."

"(￣ー￣）"

"Go to Mei's room. I'll be there in a few minutes." Immediately following, the Hungarian rushed out of the room as her teammates shook their heads, knowing of her strange obsession with making new couples, especially male homosexual ones.

Their coach just sat there and sighed as he continued to correct papers, wondering why he had gotten this group of teenagers on his team. As much as he loved each like his own children, he sometimes found them completely exhausting. But he did smile as he thought of the challenge awaiting the self-proclaimed hero.

A/N:

So just FYI Kiku's texts were not bolded while Elizabeta's were.

Fourth Chapter! YAY! WOOOOOOO! *Lights fireworks waves flags*

Thank you to my awesome Beta for being awesome and helping me!

Thank you to those of you that are following/favouriting/reviwing.

Thank you to any of you who are actually reading this.

And I will love it if people dropped me a review or critique, I've been feeling like my writing needs improvement lately so any suggestions...

WAIT! BEFORE YOUR LEAVE! *deadpan* I don't own Hetalia