This chapter is dedicated to the many, many, pirate themed pictures of the AMV Listen to your heart by Avarice Rose (because this is among the very few places you will see pirate Antonio).

Also, for review responses (that are anonymous), go to the end of the chapter. This weeks trivia will instead be found on my tumblr: sunshineauthornotes

Ps: Don't hate Antonio after this, the poor guy has his reasons.

Chapter 7

Misleaded

"Arthur? Where are you off to?"

"Bed" was all he said, passed his mother by the foot of the stairs, walked to his room and slammed the door behind him. It wasn't very late and he had just gotten back from Francis and the dinner, but he couldn't stand it anymore.

During the short walk home all he could think of was Antonio, Antonio... that sodding git. He was furious, and worse, he had absolutely nothing to vent his furiousness toward. So, he did the only thing you can do in a small room with thin walls and nothing to punch.

He lay down and cried. Thank God Allistor was nowhere to be seen.

His cheeks were slightly damp as he stared at the walls of the familiar room. On shelves that once held toys and fairytales were now thicker books and a stereo. The only familiar figure left was the little mint green bunny that had stuck with him all until now. It was his old companion since childhood. Allistor had not yet been able to somehow damage it, and as they got older, the horrid attempts of bunny-mutilations ceased. Though, he would often question how old Arthur was to keep something that childish.

He yawned as rage gave in to exhaustion. "What would you have done?" he asked the little bunny and closed his eyes. He could almost imagine what the small plush would say.

But he was too tired to think about it.

Instead he dreamt that night. He dreamt that Francis was locked away in a tower and guarding it was a dangerous pirate. He, Arthur, was no more than a stranded captain on this island out in the middle of the vast sea. He didn't know why he had to save the prisoner. He only knew that he would regret it if he did not. The journey had taken weeks, and the island was made from grey rocks piled ominously to grow into a crooked tower of more round stones, most likely forged together with magic. Behind him he could hear the lonely cries of black gulls, with red eyes that seemed to wait for someone to keel over for them to devour. And they might have their chance. As it was, a man stood in his way, dressed in a red long coat, a pistol stuck in a holster and a large hat with a ridiculously large ostrich feather on top. This captain's name he knew was Antonio.

Arthur raised his cutlass for attack, which Antonio parried easily. They engaged in a fiery dance of blows, neither seemed to get the upper hand as they were well matched in strength.

Until.

Antonio kicked his boot into the stone, and somehow dust moved and shot into Arthur's eyes. It hurt and he closed his eyes in a futile attempt to cover, but Antonio took this as his opportunity to kick him off balance. Arthur groaned as his head hit the stone, he was sure he was bleeding.

"Don't think you can win over me!" the Spaniard said with a gleeful smirk. One boot pressed down upon Arthur's chest to keep him from getting up. He fought against the tall brunette, but the more he struggled the harder Antonio would press down on him. It was as if he was meant to lose.

But he had to win. He had to save Francis no matter what. But Antonio stood over him like some wild beast in red flowing coat and large hat, wild untamed like hungry snakes. It was terrifying. From the tower he could hear Francis: "Arthur, Arthur! Save me!"

A light broke through the dark clouds and landed on his cutlass. It gleamed and it gave Arthur the idea he needed. He angled his sword and to his immediate luck, the light hit Antonio in the eyes. The Spaniard backed away momentarily, as his view was clouded by dark spots, but it was the moment of weakness that Arthur needed to push Antonio away. The Spanish pirate disappeared in a wisp of black smoke.

Arthur drew in a deep sigh of relief. He couldn't believe his luck as the lone ray of sunlight quickly disappeared. For a moment he felt disoriented, why was he fighting in the first place?

"Arthur."

He quickly got back to his feet and nearly stumbled to the small thick metal door that now separated him from Francis. Quickly he unlatched it and threw it open. He was greeted by a flash of blue. Francis was dressed in a silk blue cape, with gold embroideries of lilies. Arthur hugged him close, one hand rested upon the golden locks and one around his waist.

"Thank you, mon cherie." Francis said softly while they stared at each others eyes. Arthur gasped, he felt mesmerised by what he saw. Francis eyes seemed to shine brightly, like sapphires.

"You're welcome." he said and his voice faded at the last syllable because Francis was so close. He closed his eyes and felt the faint touch of Francis lips on his. They hadn't changed, they were just as he remembered them.

-000-

Arthur woke up with a start. At first he wasn't sure what woke him, until he heard his mother's familiar voice,

"Arthur, Arthur, get up. Mrs Bonnefoy asked me to wake you, she said it was important."

He groaned, and covered his head with his blanket. The air felt cold and he just wanted to sleep and forget his own predicament. What on Earth could Francis need him for? It had to be quite early.

He could hear his mother walk up the stairs and open his door. He was close to fall asleep, determined to ignore her, until she drew the blanket from his face.

"Mrs Bonnefoy said Francis has hurt himself. They needs a favour."

Arthur stiffened and opened his eyes wide.

"What did you say?"

"Francis fell and hurt himself" his mother continued. Arthur leapt out of bed, both cold and fatigue completely forgotten.

He rushed to his wardrobe to get a t-shirt, sweater and his pants then he rushed down the stairs. He only tripped once, but that cannot be blamed on his part. Allistor stuck his foot out as he hurried pass him in the kitchen.

"Ye'r earlie, whit dragged ye out o' bed? A fire?"

"Shut up!"

Arthur had no time to argue with Allistor, not that there was anything to argue with. His brother was in no mood for anything that did involve him. Instead he hurried to the door and put on his shoes as quickly as he could tie them, and he was off.

The sky was grey and it seemed to fit his mood. He contemplated climbing the wall instead of running around the house, but figured he'd run instead. There was no need for two people to injure themselves. He was certain that this sudden injury had to do with the newcomer Spaniard.

It would turn out that he wasn't wrong.

He reached the house as Francis mother helped Francis to the car. The French teenager grimaced every time he put his right foot to the ground. It was obvious he was in some kind of pain. Antonio walked from behind them, and he looked quite concerned. It surprised Arthur, but it made him angry as well.

Ig Antonio hurt Francis, Arthur would make sure he would feel pain as well.

"Madame Bonnefoy!" Arthur said and hurried up to them. Francis smiled at him, despite the pain and Arthur felt his face heat up.

"Arthur, good, you came. I was worried you might be out, but your mother said you were in bed."

"What happened?"

"It was just an accident." Francis said, but his mother disrupted him.

"After dinner last night Francis and Antonio got a little energetic and to keep things short. They were fooling around in the sofa, Francis fell out, 'it his foot in the table. 'e ensured me it was nothing and that he didn't hurt himself, but this morning I found that 'is foot has swollen to twice its size."

Arthur's eyes widened and he stared in disbelief from Francis, to his mother and to Antonio.

"It is nothing." Francis tried again.

"Nothing?" Madame Bonnefoy picked a stray lock from her face. She looked unusually dishevelled as her hair was put into a quick bun and she wore no make up on her usually orderly face. Arthur had never seen her this worried, not even during the times they spent at the raft as children or the time they fell asleep at the old vineyard and didn't turn up until the next morning.

"You, my dear child, are just like your father. You never stay where I think you are and when I turn my back you've just done something. Oh, mon dieu. What am I supposed to do with you?" she said with a sigh and kissed Francis on the cheek. Francis smiled and shook his head. She then hurried into the driver's seat, but Francis did not close the door. He looked straight at Arthur with a pleading look.

"Arthur, I know this is much to ask of you, but could you please look after Antonio for me."

"What?"

"Antonio is new and I don't want 'im to feel lonely here. Mother said we need to see Docteur Segal. 'e is our old family doctor and he lives closer to us than the 'ospital. You could... you could show 'im the village and all of our favourite spots. 'e is a sculptor, so maybe 'e can find some inspiration 'ere. Please Arthur, I would 'ave taken 'im myself, but I don't want to bore 'im waiting at a clinic."

Arthur sighed. "Fine" he said.

"Thank you!" Francis leaned forward and planted a kiss on Arthur's cheek. He then closed the door and soon Arthur saw the car leave. He stood there for a moment just to watch the small dot of the car vanish around the bend.

"Lo siento, but could we please move. It's cold." Arthur heard Antonio say. The Brit sighed deeply. He had almost forgotten the Spaniard. For a brief moment he had forgotten he had promised to look after him for the day.

"What is there anyway... what is there anyway to do in this place?" Antonio asked and stretched. Arthur felt his insides boil from disgust. He truly wanted to hit this man, though as Antonio was both taller and more muscular than him, he was sure he would lose.

"There is a lot to see." Arthur said and lead the way.

Arthur took him all over the village. He showed him the school, the lake, the old church. But it became apparent each time that Antonio looked as bored as one person could be. He had absolutely no interest in the school. He refused to go near the lake saying he didn't want to fall in and freeze to death. When they passed the church he simply shrugged and rudely called it: "A pile of rocks." He then proceeded to talk about the amazing cathedrals and buildings he had witnessed throughout the Mediterranean Europe, from the towering mosques in Istanbul to the simple yet elegant yet small churches he saw on Malta.

The more Antonio talked the more Arthur was convinced that the Spaniard was trying to mock him. Nothing seemed to be good, not even OK for this apparent well-versed Spaniard. After another few tours Arthur felt a deep desire to simply throw him into the lake. He tried to keep things neutral, but Antonio made that really hard for him.

So instead he sped up, and walked faster to each new direction. Antonio did not take well upon this, and soon had to jog to keep up.

"¡Espera! Wait!" Antonio shouted after him. By this point they had returned to the centre of the village, close to a small fountain. Arthur stopped, quite pleased for knocking some of that ostentation out of him. The Spaniard almost fell onto the edge of the fountain to sit down and rest at the polished stone. Arthur took that moment to look at his fingernails. He noticed he had a small smudge on his thumb.

"Arthur!

Arthur looked up to see none other than Julie and Delphine walking arm in arm toward them. Both stopped as Antonio looked up from where he sat and his fatigue was immediately gone. Instead he regained his posture, leaned back a little and gave a confident smile. Arthur gaped slightly at his sudden change and he could not, for the life of him, understand what the guy was thinking. Delphine's face reddened almost immediately and she seemed to hide slightly behind Julie, who was less affected.

"Who is your friend?" Julie asked.

"Oh... this is An..."

"Antonio Fernández Carriedo, señorina." Antonio said quickly and made a move as to take Julie's hand to kiss it. Arthur didn't know whether to gag or try to behave in front of his friends, but Julie was thankfully not someone you impressed easily. She withdrew her hand quickly. Antonio stopped and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I am sorry, señorita, but I cannot stop myself in the presence of such beauty." he said. By now Delphine had hid her face in Julie's back.

"You're a funny one." Julie said and smiled back. "And excuse my manners, my mother warned of the Spanish long ago. My name is Julie, and this is Delphine."

"Charming."

Julie turned to Arthur and gave him a look that clearly asked: "Who is this?"

"This is Francis boyfriend." Arthur said and tried his best to drag the amorous Spaniard away from them.

"Oh, so you are the handsome fellow Francis told us about? I guess I have to give him credit, he has good taste." Julie said and Arthur couldn't help but to chuckle. Ever since he was young he had liked Julie. She was very caring, and yet not easily fooled. Which seemed apparent since she visibly kept Antonio a few steps away from her.

"Francis has spoken about me?" Antonio seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yes. He speaks about you a lot over the phone, won't shut up about you."

"Wow, I didn't know."

Delphine looked up from behind her friend. "Does... does Francis ever mention us?" she asked.

Antonio was silent for a moment, then he said: "No, I am afraid not. But, we'reall kind of busy at the school, and well... I barely know half about everyone. We're mainly international students from all over the world, so I think we never had the time to really discuss this beautiful French countryside."

"I see, so where in Spain are you from?" Julie asked.

"Barcelona, but I've lived a bit of everywhere."

Arthur sighed. He just couldn't understand this guy, and he hated how he seemed to become best friends with his own friends so easily. He took out his phone, quite obvious to the fact that he was ignored for the moment and noticed that he had received a text.

We are back, where are you?

Francis

"Oy, loverboy!" Arthur said sharply from where he stood. "Are you going to flirt all day, or should we keep going?"

Antonio looked back at him with his brows knitted into a tight frown.

"Francis is home. I think we should head back." Arthur continued. Antonio turned back to the two girls and bowed. Then he took out a piece of paper and a small pen, and wrote down something.

"My number." he explained and Arthur stilled abruptly. What did he just do? That disgusting prick.

Antonio gave one final smile and clearly raised his hand to imitate a phone by his ear. Arthur stared at him, as did Julie but not as dramatically. She took the piece of paper quietly as Antonio bowed and then followed Arthur back toward the direction they would walk to head back.

Arthur was silent and most of the walk back was done in silence. He didn't know what to call Antonio anymore, truth to be told, what he had witnessed disgusted him. He was well aware that flirtatious people could be annoying, one happened to be his best friend after all. But he had never believed he would ever meet someone who could flirt even more, and feel so fake.

Antonio hummed happily, but it didn't take too long for him to notice Arthur's strained silence. Still, he kept quiet until it was time for them to part, something Arthur was more than happy to do. He needed a shower, badly, after this. He saw Antonio to the front of Francis' house and then quickly made his escape.

"Oi, Eyebrows!" he suddenly heard from behind. Antonio made no move to walk after him, but he had a wide knowing grin on his face. "Try not to be so unsexy next time."

If looks could kill, Antonio would have died several times over that day.

TBC

Anonymous Review replies:

Francis: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for your kind words. I am so pleased you found my changes good, because it has been slightly scary to change things. The problems with Hetalia are that you have to make certain changes if you put the characters as human, especially in a story like this where characters grow and mature. So I was so happy for your review and know that it gave me the energy to finish half a chapter, because I was so happy. You made me so happy to write again.

Guest: I am so sorry. I was one minute late on updating this story. I hope next time I will be ahead of you before you'll feel the need to chase me again.