Okay, so I mentioned something at the end of the previous chapter about flashing back frequently. Now, you will witness that I wasn't kidding. A single section italics will represent a single flashback as some single point in the past. There might be, as in this chapter, several sections of italics separated by a return to the present timeline (signified by normal font). This does not mean that the flashbacks go together or are necessarily in chronological order either (this chapter is, though). The normal, non-italics font is present storyline which, while there might be scene changes, will not have such disparities in time-skips as the flashbacks or any at all and will certainly be chronological. I tried to write it so it would be evident what time period the flashback was taking place, but I will clarify at the end of the chapter in case there was still some confusion.

Sorry for that. Here's the disclaimer then on to the show!
I do not own Hetalia. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidakaz.

"Alfred, come downstairs! I have someone I want you to meet~."

As expected, a thunderstorm of footsteps rumbled down the stairs. Alfred, bright-eyed as ever, ran over, held on to the leg of Arthur's trousers, and jumped up and down, begging to see the bundle in his master's arms.

"Who is it? Who is it?"

The tiny boy in question, who had previously fought with all his strength to get away from Arthur, now clung to him -practically burrowing himself- to get away from the scary, loud boy at his feet.

Arthur smiled warmly and patted his cowlicked charge on the head.

"Settle down. He's quite shaken."

It was a day and night change. Alfred froze and became as still as a statue, clutching his fists to his chin cautiously. He didn't dare make a sound.

Kneeling down slowly so the boy wouldn't scare at the sudden level change, Arthur lowered Matthew into full view of Alfred.

Curious, Matthew opened a single, purple eye to take in the blonde boy who was no older than he. Arthur took this as an opportunity to put Matthew down now that the door behind him was shut and locked. He couldn't have the little guy running off now, could he?

Matthew's eyes flew open in panic as he clenched his fingers into a death grip on his arm. He didn't want to be left to fend for himself –even if his only other company was his kidnapper.

Arthur shook the boy's grip off and Matthew stood as immobile as Alfred. He hugged himself and dug his chin into his collarbone while his eyes squeezed shut. He wished himself back to his old master's good-smelling house with its warm fire and soft blankets. He could feel the tears forming and didn't hesitate in letting them fall.

Alfred, who had been twitching from how still he had been trying to keep himself, finally couldn't stand it when he saw the big, crocodile tears dripping off the other boy's cheek. He ran over to the kid, took a pudgy thumb, and, more roughly than he probably intended, wiped the tears from under the kid's eyes. Matthew was too horrified by the sudden action and invasion of his personal bubble to do anything.

Alfred, finished with his work, smiled then opened his mouth to say something but became distracted by a string dangling in front of the boy's face. It was a small strand of hair with a runaway curl on the end. Alfred had his own hair quirk, but his wasn't nearly as fun. He started to bat at it like a cat which, after a few bats, actually elicited a response from the other. He backed away and hunched over with his arms hiding his face from further onslaught.

Alfred smiled at the shy gesture and pursued the retreating child.

Arthur, smiling at the amount of adorableness, couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Alfred had somehow managed to wrench the boy's arms apart so he could give him a proper hug and crush him into said hug. Matthew didn't struggle, but he didn't hug back. It was hard for Matthew to tremble when he was being constricted.

"His name is Matthew. He's a vampire like you. He's going to be staying with us from now on."

"Really?" Alfred gasped.

"What do you think of that, my boy?" Arthur mused.

Alfred smiled a huge, bright beam.

"I like him!" Alfred decreed as he smothered the other child in deeper hug, threatening to knock them both off their feet. There was no room for debate in his declaration.

It was official. Arthur now felt completely justified in his actions. It would be almost cruel to separate the two now.

Alfred bounced up and down, still holding Matthew hostage, and giggled incessantly.

"I have a brother~! I have a brother~! I have a brother~! The bestest brother in the whole wide world~!" The blue-eyed boy sang grabbing Matthew's hands and pulling him around in a circle, encouraging him to dance with him.

Matthew simply tried to keep from falling down as Alfred swung him unmercifully around in his euphoric glee.

"Careful, Alfred. He's more fragile than you."

Alfred didn't stop spinning but slowed down some.

"I won't let anything hurt Mafhew!"

It wasn't in defense of his own actions, it was a bold promise. He would take care of this funny boy he'd only known for five minutes. There was nothing odd about it in Alfred's three-year-old mind. It seemed perfectly logical to him.

Arthur didn't know how much more of this sweet innocence he could take before he simply melted into a pool of goo.

"Very good, Alfred. Now, why don't you show him the room upstairs that is next to yours? That will be his new room."

"I can share! I can share my room!"

"That's kind of you, but you both need your own rooms. You're big boys, remember?"

Alfred's face fell slightly, but he brightened immediately as he yanked the purple-eyed child up the stairs chatting away animatedly.

It wasn't a surprise that he found Matthew's bed empty that night and Alfred's with two, distinct bulges in the covers. Alfred was sprawled out like a starfish, drooling onto his pillow while Matthew was huddled into Alfred's side curled in the fetal position.

Arthur shook his head and stifled a chuckle at the scene and left the room silently. Matthew would warm up to Arthur. Alfred would make sure of that some way or another he had no doubt. Before he knew it, he would forget all about the frog. This was his new home now.

"Alfred! Was that you that slammed a door down there? Come upstairs! I have good news to share with you and Matthew~."

Alfred bolted up the stairs, his adrenaline still pumping from his "near-death" experience in the ice room. He finally made it to the main floor and found his master, Matthew, Martinique, and Guadeloupe in the living room. He joined them, plopping down next to the pale blonde and focused on getting his breathing back to normal.

"So what's up, Artie?"

Arthur cringed at the nickname and would have scolded him for such informality if anyone besides than the other servants had been present. It just wasn't worth the energy now.

"Francis and I have reached an agreement."

Alfred shot Matthew a worried look.

"I have decided to show the miserable frog some mercy. I gave him a choice: I would either return to him Martinique and Guadeloupe or Matthew, but not both."

Matthew stopped breathing.

"And he would swear to me that he would never try to capture back whichever group he didn't choose."

The game was over. This wasn't a deal; these were terms of surrender.

He left the group hanging in a moment of suspense.

"So who did he choose?"

"Mathieu! Oh! Merci, Dieu! Mathieu!"

Matthew heard the voice of Francis call out. He and Alfred had been allowed to play outside for a time while Master Arthur attended to business, but Alfred had dragged Matthew deep into the woods to show him the den of baby bunnies he'd found. They had wandered a little off the path, and Alfred insisted he knew where they were. However, Matthew remained unconvinced. He had been wishing someone would find them and take them back. His prayers were answered better than he'd even hoped! Master Francis was here!

Matthew grinned happily at Alfred and began tugging him in the direction of his guardian. He hadn't seen Master Francis is a month since living with Master Arthur and Alfred! And he couldn't wait to introduce Alfred to him!

Alfred was wary of the new stranger, but he figured if Mattie thought he was okay, then he must be.

Francis scooped his treasure into his arms and squeezed tight as if to test if he was hallucinating. Matthew hugged back, drinking in the comforting scent of his master.

"Hi!" Alfred said, feeling rather left out. If there was a group hug, he wanted to be a part of it!

"Oh, Mathieu, iz this your friend?"

"Oui! This is my new brother, Awlfred! He's really nice and fun to play with!"

"Frère? My dear, you don't…'ave any brothers."

Matthew shrugged.

"Well, would Alfred like to come back and live with us?"

"Um, I…"

"Awfie! Come with us!"

"Yes, you must come with us. You will like it very much. I will make you delicious food, and you will get to play with Mathieu all the time~. Viens."

Francis smiled as he held out his hand for Alfred to take. Alfred was very conflicted and just stared at the hand. Then the hand reached out and took Alfred's anyway.

"Come along, garçons. I'll make you a wonderful feast in light of Mathieu's return and our new friend, Alfred."

The cowlicked boy felt panic grip him. Would this mean he would never see Arthur again? He just couldn't leave him.

Alfred began to struggle and try to pull his hand out of the man's.

"Alfred, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to go!"

"Mon cher, why not?"

Alfred dug his heels into the soil and started to squirm.

"Let go! Let me go! I don't want to go!"

"Child, calmez-vous. I'm not…"

"Unhand him!"

A red blur appeared out of nowhere and stopped feet in front of them.

"I said unhand him! Now!" Arthur shouted, his hands shaking with anger.

Francis, in shock more than anything, released the boy who ran to hide behind Arthur's legs.

Francis stared at them both, mouth agape.

"'e iz…yours?"

"Yes! He's not my son, but he is my charge! Now, leave!"

Francis stood silent for a moment, still choking on the revelation.

"…Très bien."

With that, he turned heel and started back for his manor, but a tiny voice cried out.

"Wait. Wait! Mattie! No! He's taking Mattie away!"

"Alfie!" He heard the tiny boy on his hip call back, just as desperate.

"Non, Mathieu. You are not to see that boy again."

"But he's my brother."

Walking quickly to put as much distance between them and Arthur, Francis made for home. The only reason he had been able to get to Matthew was when he was because the boy was wandering in the woods that separated the Kirkland from the Bonnefoy Manor. There was no way he could get over the gates that surrounded Arthur's estate anyway. He made it akin to a fortress.

"'e is not your brother. I'm sure you boys get along great, but that man iz the one that kidnapped you, remember?"

"Oui, mais…"

"But nothing! That Arthur iz an evil man who kidnapped you from your home, from me! I am never letting that 'appen again!"

Matthew was shocked at the strong tone he'd never heard his master use before. He shrunk back and buried his head in his shoulder. Francis stopped and reprimanded himself at scaring the child.

"Désolé, Mathieu, but I cannot let you play with Alfred anymore. Do you 'ave any idea 'ow scared I was when I lost you? I would 'ave never forgiven myself if I 'adn't brought you back."

"Désolé, Francis," Matthew said, saddened.

"Now, if you ever see Arthur or Alfred again, you are to come straight to me, understand? You are not to talk to them or go anywhere with them."

"But, what if I want to go play for just a little while and they bring me back when I'm done?"

"They won't. If they attempt to take you, you are to fight back in any way you can. You are to escape and come back to me even if that means 'urting them."

"But I could never hurt anyone!" He said, appalled at the idea of causing harm to someone else.

"Enfant, listen to me. This iz a sad world we live in. There are people out there that will try to 'urt you, and you cannot let them. You must defend yourself even if that means causing some pain to someone else. You are more important to me than anyone else! If something 'appened to you, I don't know what I would do."

"I still don't want to hurt anyone. Maybe I can just ask them to go away nicely? Or I could just run away?"

Francis pulled Matthew into a hug again and tried to hold back the tears that had been falling too easily recently.

"That will leave you in a place you don't want to be."

Francis tried to take another gulp of his wine, the glass rim hitting the bridge of his nose as he lapped at the red wine that was as scarlet at his flustered cheeks. Matthew had never seen his old master drunk. He was notorious for always having a glass in his hand, and it would seem to the outsider that alcohol was all he drank. However, he was sure to never push the limit before. His reason? Utter vanity. Being drunk was ugly, and Francis was not ugly. Matthew now understood exactly what he meant.

The front of his once-nicely-tucked-in, ruffled shirt was now sticky with pink, and Francis no longer carried himself with an air of dignity. It was a miracle he was standing at all.

The former-servant backed up from his former-master as the blonde man in blue stumbled around angrily. Matthew turned to his new master and pleaded that they leave with his huge blue-purple eyes. He regretted coming at all. It seemed a good idea to bid Francis goodbye, but now…

He knew Francis was forced into this. He understood why he did what he did. His estate was crumbling while Arthur's was prospering. Matthew would be well cared for in the Kirkland Manor, and he could sell off Martinique and Guadeloupe with no feelings of guilt as to whom they might end up with. They would be fine wherever they went, but Matthew wouldn't fetch a good price nor would Francis be able to save his home off him. If Francis really wanted to, he could visit the Kirkland Manor and visit Matthew. In the meantime, Francis had made the hard decision to give up his whole livelihood. He admitted defeat and was planning on looking for a place to work to provide for himself. However, that didn't mean that he planned on doing it with a smile or without mourning.

The thick-browed man remained impassive as he dug out the pouch he carried with him and threw it at the Frenchman's feet.

"Here, frog." His voice didn't carry the venom it normally did.

Francis drug his eyes over to the bag at his feet, but through his tear-blurred eyes was unable to see what it was. He knelt down and picked it up only to cry out in anguish and throw it toward the door.

Matthew and Arthur flinched as they narrowly ducked out of the way of flying coins.

"Igaveyoueverything! Je…practically raised you…" the blonde man slurred as his legs gave out and he slid to the floor.

Matthew ran to catch him before he hit his head seeing as he refused to let go of the chipped, empty wine glass even if it prevented a head injury.

He regained his balance after a second or two, and he pulled himself up to stand shaking but defiant as ever.

"…Icaredforyou! Tu ne te souviens? But youdon'treturn ze favor, I guess!"

Matthew began to cry unabashedly. He didn't care if Master Arthur was standing there. He was broken.

"I'm sorry! S'il vous plait! Forgive me, Master Francis! I should have fought! Désolé!"

But Francis didn't hear him. He started to walk into the kitchen leaving Matthew on his knees in the foyer and Master Arthur at the door.

"Come now, Matthew. Let's leave him be."

He paced over to Master Arthur, and they began to walk out the door. They could still hear Francis's ravings in a mixture of garbled French and English. Matthew still couldn't stop crying.

He should have tried harder to stay. He should have put up a bigger fight, but how was he supposed to know that his latest capture was to be permanent?
When they made it to the carriage, they saw Francis in the doorway, drenched from wine and tears.

"Et this iz 'owyourepay me? Leaving with 'im? Je thought I could trust, but vous …you…vampire!"

Matthew was shocked. Francis hardly ever lost his temper at him, but, even if he did, he never held Matthew's vampirism against him! Yes, Francis was clearly drunk, but he'd never been biased against vampires before. In fact, he was often sympathetic. He had a soft spot, an innate kindness in his heart for the vampire kind. Why else would he fight for one as weak as Matthew? Francis, in his core, was all heart. This was totally out of character. It was almost inexcusable even considering how inebriated he was. Nevertheless, Matthew was crushed beyond a stray happy thought.

He didn't speak the entire way back.

Okay, so here's the flashback clarification.
I will have roughly four different points of time (so far).
-Hunters Era: The time period of Chapters 1-3. Teen!Austria, teen!Prussia, teen!Hungary, tween!Lithuania, and tween!Poland as hunters with olderteen!Russia and adult!Turkey as the vampires, teen!Switzerland on the sidelines.
-Transition Era: The time period of Chapters 4-5. Olderteen!Switzerland finding young!Lili, young!Romano working for olderteen!Spain, olderteen!France being an older brother to a bratty, young!England, olderteen!Prussia heartstruck over olderteen!Hungary, young!Italy and Hungary working for olderteen!Austria.
-The Revenge Era: The broad time period in between that is only written in italicized flashbacks. Twenties!England raising young!America, latetwenties!France raising young!Canada, and England and France fighting for Canada as the NA bros start to grow up.

-The present time period is the normal font of Chapters 6-7. This period is the Imperial Era where it has teen!America still working for latetwenties!England, earlythirties!France giving up his manor, and the battle for teen!Canada ending.

The first and second flashback of this chapter take place at the beginning of the Revenge Era and pretty much go back-to-back with only a short gap of time between (like, a few days).
This is the first time that Canada was taken from France, and, in turn, the first time France gets him back.

...

The beginning fluff had to be written. (Side note: when my younger brother was born, I was two at the time, and I was taken to see him for the first time at the hospital, the first thing my mom says I said about him was, "I love him!" I kinda tried to use that when I came up with America's reaction to seeing Canada for the first time. It just seemed so much like what he would do, you know?) And I really love protective!pseudo-father!France. Even in the anime he's shown as being great with raising his little brother even though he teases him relentlessly too.

Anyway, it wouldn't be a Cixalea story if there wasn't angst, am I right? I've had the last part of this chapter written for a while, but I felt that it needed a bit more explanation so it can be much more heartbreaking when Canada is forced to leave his pseudo-dad.

Historical note: after the Seven Years War, the terms of the French surrender did make France have to choose between keeping some of its Caribbean colonies (Martinique and Guadeloupe) or what it owned in NA. It was a no-brainer to choose the Caribbean colonies because they actually made France money (that it needed desperately after losing a war) from the sugar plantations and etc. while Canada was practically a money pit anyway. It was also a power play by the British Empire to get Quebec (New France) and thereby extending it's grip of NA into Canada. This is twenty or so years before American independence and several American generals such as George Washington participated in this war for the British side. So that is why America is working with England at this point in the story.

(By the way, I google translated all the French because I don't know a lick of it. Only the words that we stole and use regularly in the English language are the ones I know how to pronounce and spell. So, if you want to know the meaning of a word, go google it. Most of them are one word-ers that you can probably guess the meaning of anyway.) Sorry, if it was hard to follow in the last scene. France was drunk so I tried to make him use French in random, nonsense places in his dialogue.

The next chapter will probably be the last of the FACE arc. Sorry it was so short. I don't know if I'll come back for the American Revolution or the War of 1812 and so on. But we're off to fresh faces after the next chapter -following the Axis! Get excited!

Anyway, review if you so desire. I appreciate it~!

Looking forward to it.