"Don't follow us this time," Alfred scowled, standing on the train platform.
"Sorry about that," Antonio smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I think I should have been more worried about you," Alfred sighed, "Can you find your way home or is that too much, too?"
"Haha. So funny," Antonio laughed, ruffling his hair, "Be good, Alfred. I hope you both get home, safely."
"You too," Matthew smiled, "Goodbye, everyone!"
"Bye!" Feliciano called as Alfred pulled him towards the train. He leaned out the window and waved as they left, but Alfred simply sat on the bench with his hands in his lap, pouting.
"Alfred," Matthew finally sat down, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Alfred answered, fisting a handful of his pants.
"You don't look fine," Matthew frowned, placing a hand on one of his, "You usually love making new friends."
"I don't want to make any more friends," Alfred shrugged him away, pulling his jacket tighter around him.
"But why?" Matthew wondered.
"Just 'cuz," Alfred answered in a tone that signalised an ending to the conversation. Matthew worried, but he let it go for the time.
They'd been riding the train for quite some time when, all of a sudden, it stopped.
"What happened?" Matthew asked. Alfred climbed up in his seat to look around at all the other confused faces.
"Dunno."
"Do you think they needed to stop for gas?"
"What?" Alfred looked down at his brother.
"You know. Like Daddy and Papa's cars," Matthew clarified, "Sometimes we have to stop for gas."
"Do trains work like that?"
"Maybe?"
Alfred climbed over Matthew and looked out the window, seeing nothing but open land for quite a ways, "Don't you usually have to go to a special place for that?"
"I think so," Matthew nodded.
"Well, I don't see any special place," Alfred stated, sitting back down. Just then, the door to the train car slid open and a couple of men entered, carrying guns and wearing masks over their heads.
"Alright! Listen up!" One of them shouted, startling both of the boys, "This is a robbery! Put all your valuables here in the aisle and nobody will get hurt!" A kid a few seats up started crying and his mother tried to calm him down, but it didn't help much.
"Shut the kid up!" the other guy snapped.
"I'm trying," the woman insisted, "Please. He's just scared."
"You better try harder or I'll give him something to be scared about," the robber hissed.
"I hope he isn't going to hurt us," Matthew whispered, turning to his side, only to find his brother missing, "Alfred? Alfred!"
"Calm down, Mattie," Alfred popped out from under the seat, speaking in a hushed tone, "I'm gonna do something. Just stay quiet, okay?"
"Alfred, I don't think-" Matthew began.
"Hey! What are you whispering about?" The first robber snapped, turning his attention to Matthew and started in his direction. Alfred snuck back under the seat and hid.
"Uh..." Matthew stared at him, terrified.
"Who're you talking to?" the robber demanded, looking around.
"N-no one," Matthew choked out, "Just myself."
"Well, don't," the robber growled, turning back to his partner and stalking away. Matthew let out a heavy sigh and looked over in a hope to see Alfred still crouching under the seats, but was startled to see him already crawling under the seats, towards the robbers.
"Alfred!" Matthew tried to call him back, but the warning fell on deaf ears. He moved across the floor, stopping as he reached the boy and her mother.
"Hey," Alfred whispered, startling the sniffling boy and the woman, "Are you alright?"
"What? Oh, yes," the woman nodded, "Thank you."
"Don't worry, Miss," Alfred stated, "I'll take care of those robbers for you."
"Hey!" One of them looked over, spotting Alfred sitting where he hadn't before. Striding across the room, he grabbed him by the collar and lifted him in the air, "I thought I just dealt with you, Punk!"
"What's wrong, George?" The other robber looked over his shoulder, pausing in his intimidation of some poor couple across the way.
"This kid is sneaking around the car," he growled, "I bet you were lying about not talking to someone, you 'lil bastard." He raised his fist to lay a punch on the blonde when Matthew jumped up out of the seat, drawing the attention to himself.
"Wait!"