"HE DID WHAT?" the servants yelled in shock when Arthur told them.

"I afraid it's true." Arthur hung his head.

"The potato bastard just let him leave?" Lovino shrieked.

"But 'e was so close to breaking the curse." Francis' lit candles went out as he took in the news.

"After all this time," Antonio sighed. "He finally learned to care for someone more than himself. He's finally learned to love."

Francis perked up at this. "Zere you go zen, zat should break ze spell!"

Antonio shook his head. "That's not enough. The conditions of the spell were that Gilbert had to fall in love and be loved in return. And I think the words have to be spoken aloud to each other."

As the enchanted objects were trying to console each other, Lovino slipped away. He certainly had a thing or two to tell Matthew if he thought he could get away that easily. As much as Lovino hated Gilbert (as well as just about everybody), he wanted Gilbert to break the spell (after all, being a coffee mug was horrible, what with being afraid of breaking nearly all the time).

"I don't know about those other idiotas, but I am not staying a stupid mug for the rest of my pathetic existence" Lovino grumbled as he hid in Matthew's bag. His plan was simple, to tell off Matthew at the first opportunity and convince him to go back. Even if Matthew didn't want to go, he would still have to take Lovino back anyway. He was confident in his plan.

***
Matthew leapt off Kumajiro's back the moment he got back home and ran inside to see Alfred (who still had a hamburger on his head). He didn't see Peter run away from the bushes at the sight of Matthew.

"Oh Alfred." Matthew muttered as he came in a saw Alfred's pathetic state. He removed the hamburger and making some soup to feed Alfred.

He reached into his bag to take out some medicine when he felt something move next to his hand. He grabbed it and pulled it out to find Lovino glaring at him.

"Lovino! What are you doing in my bag?"

"What am I doing in there? What the fuck are YOU doing here?" Lovino said angrily. Matthew knew Lovino wouldn't stop talking until he tired himself out, so he busied himself making medicine for Alfred as the mug berated him for leaving.

Matthew was relieved when Alfred let out a weak "Mattie?" as he awoke.

"Don't worry, Alfred. I'm right here." Alfred gasped as he realized that Matthew really was right in front on him and not a hallucination.

"Mattie! You're here! But how did you escape that yeti thing?" Alfred pulled Matthew into a big hug, nearly squashing both of them. Alfred's strength was returning, meaning he was getting better.

"He's not a yeti thing, Alfred. His name is Gilbert and he was a lot nicer than he seemed to be. I could have come back anytime, but I chose to stay. And he remembers me, Alfred. He's my best friend."

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you!" Lovino yelled at Matthew. A knock at the door stopped Matthew from responding to Lovino.

"Can I help you?" Matthew asked as he opened the door to find Ivan Braginski, the owner of the insane asylum at his door. He shrunk back a bit from the tall man, who scared him despite his calm smile.

"I'm here for Alfred Jones. Unless you are Alfred."

"I'm not Alfred. I'm Matthew. But what do you want with Alfred?" Matthew asked, dreading the answer.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him, da." Ivan said as he waved toward a wagon, which Matthew recognized as belonged to the Maison des Lunes, Ivan's insanity asylum.

"Alfred's not crazy!" Matthew told him firmly as he stepped outside the house. He noticed that nearly the whole village had gathered in front of his house."

"Oh yeah?" Peter jeered. "Well, Jones was raving like a lunatic when you disappeared, claiming you'd been kidnapped by a yeti and furniture. We all heard him." The crowd murmured in agreement.

Matthew rushed into the crowd trying to explain, but no one was paying attention as his brief moment of being recognized faded.

"Poor Mattew." A voice behind him drawled. Matthew turned to see Matthias smirking at him. "Such a shame about Alfred."

Although he hated to have to go to Matthias for help, Matthew knew he was listened to by the villagers. "You know he's not crazy, Matthias. Please tell them that."

"Hmm…" Matthias stroked his chin as if pretending to think. "I might be able to clear this whole thing up…IF…"

"If what?" Matthew asked, trying to distance himself from Matthias.

"If you'll marry me."

"Never." Matthew spat. He was disgusted at how low Matthias would stoop to get his way, going so far as to lock Alfred up.

Matthias' smirk darkened in a scowl. "Have it your way then." he sneered, before ordering the men from the asylum to seize Alfred, who merely fought them off with ease. Matthew couldn't hold in his anger any longer: He punched Matthias in the face, breaking his nose, before running back into the house and grabbing the magic mirror.

"Alfred's not crazy and I can prove it!" he cried out, finally getting the crowd's attention (much to his surprise).

"Show me Gilbert." Matthew ordered the mirror.

The mirror shone bright green before showing Gilbert brooding over the wilting cornflower with only two petals clinging to it. As Matthew watched, one of the petals fell leaving only one remaining.

Matthew held out the mirror toward the crowd who screamed when they saw Gilbert's frightening appearance. Too late, Matthew realized what he had done and tried to calm down the crowd. "It's okay, he's not dangerous. He'd never hurt anyone. He may look scary, and he seemed full of himself when I first met him, but he's really sweet and caring and the best friend anyone could ask for."

He failed to see Matthias growing angry and jealous as Matthew spoke so gently about a MONSTER.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you had feelings for this hideous monster."

Matthew narrowed his eyes. "Gilbert's no monster, Matthias. YOU ARE!"

Matthias snatched the mirror away from Matthew and began addressing the crowd. "This boy is as crazy as his brother. I've hunted wild animals and I've seen what they can do. The beast will try to eat your children and come after us all. I say we go and kill the beast before it gets us!"

No one heeded Matthew as he protested against Matthias and pleaded for someone to listen to him. Matthias continued to urge the crowd with more lies, and they began lighting torches and grabbing pitchforks. Matthew tried to grab the mirror away from Matthias but he held it above Matthew's head before shoving him in his own cellar with Alfred before either could react, saying "We have to lock them up so they don't go warning the creature."

Through the cellar window, Matthew watched the mob leave. He could also see that Matthias had grabbed an axe while figuring out how to get the mirror to show him the way to the castle.

"Oh, I'm going to kill Matthias." Matthew rolled up his sleeves. "Let's do this, Alfred."

Lovino had just made his way to the cellar door holding the key when he heard a loud "HEADS UP!" and he jumped out the way just in time to avoid the broken glass and wood splinters flying in the air as Matthew and Alfred burst out of the cellars. The two had charged the locked doors at the same time and their combined strength had been more than enough to decimate them.

"WATCH IT!" Lovino screeched. "YOU ALMOST BROKE ME YOU DAMN BASTARDS!"

"Well you do have a small chip on your rim." Alfred pointed out causing Lovino to begin cursing again.

"Never mind, we have to warn Gilbert and the other." Matthew said as he ran to Kumajiro, snatching up Lovino with him. Alfred followed him.

The horse gave him a brief "who are you?" look but still let Matthew saddle and mount him. Matthew rode with single-minded determination to get to the castle as soon as possible.

***
Within the castle, the mood was very subdued. In a room with a window that faced the castle gates, Arthur paced back and forth in front of Francis and Antonio.

"I knew it. We shouldn't have gotten our hopes up." He tried to convince himself.

"Maybe it would 'ave been better if Matthew 'ad never come in ze first place!" Francis huffed, crossing his arms as he stared out the window and jumped back in surprise.

"Sacrebleu! Invaders!" The others rushed over to look.

"The one in front has the mirror! Something must have happened to Matthew!" Antonio rushed to the West Wing.

"Master! The castle is being invaded!" At this, Gilbert looked up from the cornflower. While he felt heartbroken over Matthew, he had to lead his servants. Gilbert was a prince after all and had a duty to his castle and its inhabitants. Fortunately, he was also an excellent military strategist.

"Barricade zhe doors und guard all of zhe entrances und alert the rest of zhe castle. Take anyvone who does not vish to fight or cannot fight to zhe castle cellars. If zhey break through zhe barricade, zhen pretend to be objects, und attack vhen zhey all enter. Have the cutlery defend zhe kitchens, zhe armor defend zhe halls, und I'll defend zhe Vest Ving."

Antonio nodded and left to give the orders to the servants.

Gilbert knew the servants could take care of themselves. Under Francis and Arthur's lead, they could fight off anything. He heard with his keen lupine ears the sound of something pounding again the doors eventually followed by silence and Francis crying "NOW!" before all hell broke lose.

In the midst of the chaos Gilbert caught Antonio yelling "Take this you scum." followed by screams from him most likely after pouring boiling hot coffee on the invaders.

Arthur could be heard screaming "TALLY HO! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!" before cackling madly and joining the fight. After a few minutes, nearly all of the villagers had run out screaming for their lives.

Gilbert could just make out Arthur snapping at Francis. "Stop kissing me, frog!"

Finally, Gilbert heard footsteps coming up the stairs to the West Wing and coming toward him. The door creaked open and he saw a handsome young man standing before him with blond hair sticking straight up and blue eyes who sneered at him. He carried an axe with him

"You're even uglier in person."

"I'm sorry you zhink zat." Gilbert smirked back. "For I am zhe awesomest person you have ever met so you might as vell give up now."

"Not a chance." Matthias raised the axe and charged at him. Gilbert dodged him but Matthias kicked him through the glass window to the balcony, receiving some scrapes and cuts as a result. In turn Gilbert reached out and scratched Matthias' arm.

The two fell onto a rooftop that was now slippery from the rain that was pouring down. As they wrestled, Matthias began screaming insults at Gilbert, which he ignored until he mentioned Matthew.

"You're in love with Matthew aren't you? Did you really think he could love you, when he had me?" Matthias cackled madly as lightning flashed above. "He despises you and he sent me here to kill you!"

"Zhat is utter bullshit." Gilbert growled. "Did you really zhink I vould buy zhat?"

Matthias would have answered, but from below Gilbert could hear Matthew's voice.

"No! Matthias, leave Gilbert alone!" With renewed vigor, Gilbert continued wrestling with Matthias, both of equal strength and neither winning.

"Just give up already, Matthew is mine!" Gilbert's temper snapped at that. He grabbed Matthias by the throat and held him over the edge of the roof.

"Let me go, please. Don't hurt me. I'll do anything!" Matthias cried as he struggled.

As much as Gilbert wanted to kill him, he realized he couldn't. Matthias was exactly the person Gilbert had been before his curse. He also remembered Matthew saying "No one deserves to die because someone else lacked compassion." Instead of letting Matthias fall, he pulled him back onto the roof.

"Don't talk like zhat about Birdie. He's his own person und belongs only to himself. Now get out." Gilbert growled at Matthias.

"Gilbert!" Gilbert whirled around to see Matthew on the balcony of the West Wing holding out his hand toward him.

"Birdie," he breathed. He climbed up the roof, mindful of the slippery shingles and eventually made it back up to the balcony. Gilbert took Matthew's hand in his own noticing small cuts on the others hand from the splinters and broken glass after breaking out from the cellar. He looked back up at Matthew's smile and got back on the balcony with Matthew before embracing him. "You came back."

Matthew was relieved that he had arrived in time. He had only had enough time to drop off Lovino with Antonio ("Oh mi tomate, you're back!" "Don't touch me."), before running up to the West Wing. He leaned into Gilbert's embrace just before Gilbert roared in pain and Matthew saw Matthias laughing manically, having just dealt Gilbert a fatal wound in his side with his axe.

Matthias was about to swing again but lost his footing on the slick roof and plummeted off the edge with a long and loud scream as he fell into the moat.

Francis, Arthur, and Antonio arrived at the West Wing to see Matthew trying to help Gilbert lay down comfortably, and press Gilbert's cloak against the wound to stop the bleeding. Gilbird who had been flying around frantically during the battle, flew back on top on Gilbert's head, and chirped sadly.

"You…came…back." Gilbert said weakly with a small smile. "I guess…you couldn't stay away…from my awesomeness huh?" He spoke with small gasps as he struggled to take breaths.

"Of course I came back. I couldn't bear to let them hurt you. If only I hadn't been so stupid and told them." Matthew sniffed, trying not to cry.

"Nein…It's not…your fault." He coughed and his breathing became even more ragged. Matthew clutched at the fur on Gilbert's chest.

"Gilbert!"

"Birdie…I…Ich liebe dich. I love you." Gilbert's eyes began to close and Matthew tried to stop him but his pale lids slid over his ruby red eyes.

"No…No!" Tears stung Matthew's eyes and trickled down, joining the light raindrops on his face.

"Gilbert, please don't leave me. You were the only person who remembered me on a constant basis, who really listened when I had something to say, and who could always make me laugh. And you knew how it felt to be lonely. You know that saying 'home is where the heart is'? Well, now I know it's true because…you're my home. My heart is here with you. I was too stupid to realize it before but Gilbert…I love you too."

As Matthew sobbed over Gilbert body, and felt his heartbeat slowing, the last petal fell from the cornflower and its glow faded.