-Phone vibrations

5 minutes before the bell rang to signal the end of their 6th period Gil's phone started to vibrate, and not just his, but Mathias' could also be heard. Both of them knew exactly what had happened, after Gil sent out the mass text for his gang to find Arthur, it meant that someone finally had.

Mathias quickly pulled out his phone faster than Gil could his own and swiped the screen to read the text. Gil looked over his shoulder as Mathias positioned the phone so Gil could see it, as he knew Gil would want to read it as quickly as possible. Sure enough someone found Feliks Lukasiewicz unconscious in the park on the route toward the high school, one which they knew Arthur took.

The text read: Found the gossip passed out on a bench, we shook him awake and he spilled everything he knew. Ivan's got him; he's at the closed down builder's warehouse downtown. You know the one. Want us to get him?

Mathias peeked over his shoulder to Gil for a response.

Shit. If it were just some of Ivan's lackeys I'd tell them to go, but Ivan? My guys can't handle that guy on their own. I have to go; I'll just ditch my next class and deal with this shit.

Before Gil could start to give Mathias a response their teacher, having seen Mathias' phone out, started to scold him

"Mathias, you know better than to have that out, I'll have to confiscate it now. Hand it over."

Not giving a second thought he bolted upright and announced

"I'm really sorry Miss! But I just got an emergency message 'bout my lil' brother! I have to go!"

Not waiting for any response he ran out of the room. He didn't even stop to give Gil a look of assurance that he was going to go and deal with Ivan and get Arthur back. Gilbert already knew however.

What the fuck? WAIT YOU STUPID BASTARD! Don't just go off on your own!

Gil sat in disbelief for a moment, and then looked around at Francis and Antonio. Francis knew automatically what was happening without having to be told what Gil had done or where Mathias was going, even with his blatant lie. The dread and anger in his eyes said he was not going to be attending his art class again. Antonio on the other hand knew he would be making a few excuses for his friends once the bell rang to their teachers, and started to think on some of his best lines that they normally bought. He also knew he would have to go and ask Matthew for Francis' missed art assignment as he was the only one who would be able to get it this time. He wondered if Lovino would join him in his errands.

The teacher was stunned briefly by what Mathias had done, but from the way Mathias acted she bought the lie and skipped to giving out the homework instead of running the clock for their remaining 4 minutes of class.

They were the worst 4 minutes of Gil and Francis' lives. For entirely different reasons however; Gil was terrified of what would happen to Mathias should he take on Ivan by himself. Francis only thought of what happened to Arthur, if he was alright, and swore that if anything had happened to him, there would be hell to pay, someone would face true wrath.

Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! Come on, come on, come the fuck on! Ring god damn it! Gil was on the edge of his seat.

The second the bell finally rang Gilbert and Francis bolted out of their desks and ran out of the room.

"Buena suerte mis amigos!" Antonio called out to them as they ran.

They pushed into students as they were flooding out from classrooms, they didn't stop to apologize nor did they slow down when shouted at to do so by teachers or other students. As they ran they caught the attention of a few people, Lovino was one, who acted as though he saw nothing, he would get the details from Antonio later. Another was Ludwig, who first looked irritated seeing his brother come racing down the hall, but when Gilbert didn't even bother to stop or say anything to him, he just watched his brother's back as Gil continued past him. He knew he would hear what happened later, but it wouldn't be from his brother. A sinking feeling rested itself in his stomach, as it always did when he felt there was a chance that his older brother might get hurt. He suppressed it and moved towards his next class.

The last person they nearly bypassed was Alfred, who was fuming that Arthur still wasn't at school. When he saw Gilbert and Francis running toward the exit at the end of the hall he immediately knew something was wrong. They must have known something about where Arthur was, because they both wouldn't be ditching class and running like maniacs for nothing. Especially not Francis.

"HEY! You two! Where are you guys running off to so fast? Do you know something about Arthur?"

"No time to explain and it's none of your business hero boy, go to class like a good kid." Gilbert breathed out as they got closer to Alfred.

Alfred however did not let that slide, and as Gilbert came in arm's length of him he swung his right arm out and caught Gil in the chest, whirled him around and slammed him into a wall.

"Oh my god!" Francis panicked. What mad strength!

Gilbert however only gasped as air rushed out of his lungs. As Alfred pulled his arm away Gil slid to the floor.

"Say that again and I'll leave you sleeping here tonight." Alfred was beyond pissed and was in no mood for anyone's games. He knew something was wrong and had hoped his time wouldn't be wasted, but his hopes were for nothing; as always all anyone did was fuck around.

"Now, WHERE the hell is Arthur you asshole? You know, so tell me! What did you do to him this time?!" he shot a glare in Francis' direction.

"Alfred, Alfred, please calm down, we've done nothing! We don't have time for a fight, alright we do know where Arthur is, he's been taken by Ivan, he's in a warehouse downtown; we're heading over to save him now! Mathias went ahead of us already, we have to go!"

As soon as Francis was done giving Alfred the quick summary he reached out his hand to help Gilbert up, who looked as though he wanted to kill Alfred, but Francis shot him a look that screamed now is not the time for this! and Gil just growled under his breath.

OOO

Sitting in class Lukas' phone had vibrated twice, the first was just before the start of 6th period; he passed a quick glance at it and then shot a look to Berwald who sat across the room near the window. Their eyes met after Berwald read the message on his phone, both knew that someone else would handle it however and sat in class not dwelling on the order. The second message was a response that came 5 minutes short of the out bell, and sure enough other members had pin pointed the location of Arthur and Ivan. Even though it was a response meant for either Gil or Mathias, the members simply made it a point to mass text every move they made; to keep everyone alert to where people were and what was happening.

As soon as he and Berwald walked out of class they grouped up with Tino who shot them a look that asked did you guys read the messages? Their exchanges were usually silent, so a whole conversation like this could happen with nothing but nods, hums and eye movements. They were a family after all; this was easy enough to do. They wouldn't have a chance to see Emil until after their last class, being a year younger than them he was in the 2nd building for his pre-calculus class, they weren't too worried about how he would react to the messages though. After all he cared very little about how things were dealt with when they were in school, that's what other members were for, to handle the things they didn't have time to deal with.

Lukas, Berwald, Tino and Mathias had the same class for their final period. Woodshop just seemed like the best class to end the day on, and the cool thing about it was, as soon as the bell rang they didn't have to clean their benches, because following would be Home Ec. club.

Their woodshop teacher was incredibly laid back, he made it their thing that the first 10 minutes of class was just prep, so he didn't even enter the room until long after the bell rang. It wasn't surprising when Lukas got a text 3 minute after the start bell for the period rang. He knew who it was the moment the idiot didn't join them in the hall.

Mathias' text read: Gonna go save the princess and slay the dragon! Be back for club though! ;)

Berwald who had stood behind Lukas looked down behind him and read his message. He gave a grunt when he was finished and it caused Lukas to turn and look at him.

"What?"

"Ya think he can handle it by 'imself?

Lukas hummed. Normally if it were some other person, the answer would be yes, Mathias could handle just about anyone; but Ivan? He wasn't just anyone; no one becomes a gang leader being just anyone. Ivan was scary, and worst being the people who joined his gang; blood thirty, uncontrollable dog types who just thought following Ivan was the easiest thing for them. They know they can get away with their violent style unlike in Gil or Sadiq's gangs.

Lukas thumbed his phone, running his finger over the screen in a circular motion. They were already in class. To leave now would be a bother, and he knew that if Mathias needed help there were other people who could catch up to him sooner. But they never fought without each other; it was just common practice that one of them was always with another if things got bad. For Mathias to be alone or to fight with someone who wasn't in tune to him, it could end badly.

"Do ya think we should go 'n help him? Are ya worried 'bout him Ber? Do ya think he might need us fer this one?"

He didn't get an answer right away, as he knew Berwald was thinking about it too. They were most likely thinking all the same things; Berwald was probably coming to the same conclusions. This was why he also didn't have a concrete yes or no answer.

"Mmm, I dunno." Was all Berwald could give.

"Well, let's weigh our options here; if we go we miss class, not a terrible thing, but being scolded by the teacher doesn't sound so great. But, if we go and help we know for a fact nothing bad will happen to Mathias; right? Now, if we choose not to go, we get through class, we skip club for one day, and hopefully Mathias is able to deal with Ivan and we meet up with him later. Now, that's where the bad part comes in, say we stay in class, and we don't go help Mathias, and it turns out he can't handle Ivan on his own, and he gets hurt…what then?"

Tino semi-rushed through his dialogue as he spoke out loud what they had all been thinking. It's not so much can he handle it; its how badly could he be hurt? If he fights on his own, it'll be bad, but if they fight together, then the chances of being hurt are reduced. Mathias wasn't weak though, which was why this was not an easy decision, he could handle almost anyone, so to think he couldn't take on Ivan would probably be an insult to him.

Lukas breathed out a sigh.

He swiped over his phone's screen and reopened his message from Mathias, the ;) face really annoyed him.

That idiot, he better not get himself hurt, or I'll finish him off.

Lukas tapped out his own message and shut his screen off. Thrusting his phone back in his pocket he went and started to prep his station.

-Message sent!-

Message: I'm not saving your spot. Don't get burned by dragon fire, crazy knight.

OOO

The lackeys had said they knew where Ivan was, but what they failed to mention was who else was out here with him. After texting Lukas about his plans Mathias went and tried to see who else may be free. There wasn't too many really, just a few of the older members who wouldn't be helpful for very long, as they would be off to jobs and late university classes, the ones who had shot the message about Feliks to begin with were already long gone.

Everyone else was still back at the high school; he bolted before really thinking about who had been missing from the few classes he had attended that day. He knew Ivan wasn't there, duh, or Feliks, Arthur, Toris, but who else? Then there were the important members, he really didn't pay too much attention to any of Ivan's family members, were Natalia and Katyusha at school? What about some of the higher up members like Toris; Eduard or Raivis? He felt he should really start paying more attention to these people; they were his enemies after all.

At school they weren't though. At school they were all just normal students, kids that sat in class, took notes, did homework, ate lunch, did clubs and hung out with friends. At school no one could really tell what they did outside of it; that a few of these kids were gang members, ones that got into fights, beat each other up over territory, sent threats, controlled areas, all kinds of deviant behavior that got them a fair share of trouble from adults, parents and neighbors; and of course the police.

This was one of those situations that would get the police involved. Kidnapping was a huge one, attacking and leaving a person unconscious in a park; count two major offenses. Ivan must be crazy to pull this one off in the middle of the day, with so many students missing too, the teachers could attest to cops who was not in class and may have been out causing trouble.

They tried not to involve adults, but with things like this happening it was nearly impossible. Hopefully he could get Arthur without too much of a scene, but he didn't hold his breath on that thought.

"Oooookay, so, who's the person standin' over there now? How 'bout ya come on out 'n we can deal with this quickly. I gotta princess to save!"

Ivan's younger sister Natalia stepped out from behind a leaning piece of wood on the warehouse. She held a 2x4 board in her hand, glaring Mathias down she slapped it on her other hand a few times; it was meant to be intimidating. Such a scary face didn't detract from the fact that Natalia was beautiful, both the Braginski sisters were beautiful, and that beauty was deadly, too many hot-blooded young fools met defeat thinking that just because these women were lookers meant they wouldn't be dangerous. Natalia especially, her devotion to her older brother's cause made her more lethal than any other member of Ivan's gang. Some would even say she was more terrifying than her brother.

"Turn around. I'll only give you this one chance to leave. I won't hesitate to take your head off if you choose otherwise."

Cold and blunt, her voice cut the air like a saw and if her words could kill they would have left him on the ground right then.

"Now, now, ya know why I'm here; don't be like that right from the start. I just came to get Arthur fer my boss 'n I'll be leavin'. Simple as that. Now, hand him over 'n this won't have to be a bigger issue, please 'n thank you."

Mathias wasn't being sarcastic, but it came off that way, and no one could have taken it differently either, almost anyone would take the last bit as some form of mockery. Natalia took it just as such. Not missing a step she flew at Mathias, swinging high and hard.

He sidestepped quickly, feeling the wood brush the top of his hair. He let out a huff in annoyance as he wasn't interested in fighting, not when he still had to go and face Ivan, who would be just as unwilling to listen to reason.

She spun and this time aimed lower, swinging for his ribs. He covered by throwing up his left arm as defense, as soon as she made impact he grabbed hold of the wood with his free hand and tried to force it from her grip. She was strong though and when Mathias grabbed hold of her weapon she crouched and tried to push herself away from him, trying to give herself an extra bit of force to get Mathias to lose his grip.

He didn't let go, but the sudden thrust caused the edges to scratch against his hand, it was painful and it showed on his face. Moving his right arm down and swinging it out briefly he brought it back in to grab higher on the board. He now had a solid grip on it and Natalia wouldn't be able to get him to let go.

Using his height as an advantage he brought the board up, hoping to lift her and have her let go of the wood. Natalia however kept her hold, she brought her legs up, tucking her knees under her chest, and she kicked out with both her heels, right into Mathias' stomach.

He was left breathless but didn't have time to think as she reared up to do it again. He let go of the board instead and quickly grabbed her ankle, flipping her and causing her to land hard on her side. She rolled and moved into a crouch, she looked like a wild cat; board still in her hand.

Mathias rubbed his mid-section, boy did that hurt, women's heels were such a pain in the ass. His hand hurt too, looking down briefly to see that under his thumb one of the edges had cut into his palm. Luckily the place on his arm where he defended himself wasn't hurting, the skin looked red from the hit but for now his body was in adrenaline mode so his muscle's kept the pain at bay.

-Whistling-

"Boy oh boy, yer a tough one. No wonder people say yer scarier than yer bro!"

"Shut up!"

Pushing herself from the ground in a sprinting movement she was at him again. This time she swung low, aiming for one of his legs, Mathias jumped and then somersaulted backward landing on his feet, neither of them missing a step. She swung at his stomach again; he ducked, stepped forward and tried to punch up on her chin. Natalia spun-kick and struck Mathias on the right side of his head.

The blow left him disoriented. As he blinked his eyes and shook his head the blur in his vision began to fade a bit, however, the blood coming from his ear was going to be a nuisance.

OOO

"Well, that wasn't very nice, was that really necessary huh? I just wanna get Arthur 'n go back to school, I got my club to attend ya know! Lukas isn't even gonna save my spot for me!"

"I told you to shut up! I don't care, brother told me to keep everyone out except for Beilschmidt, so that is what I will do."

"Gil? Tch, that ain't gonna happen, the boss puts his faith in me, there's no way in hell I'm gonna let him down. I'll be takin' Arthur, going back to school, 'n doin' woodwork with my brothers. All ya gotta do is sit over there 'n be a good kid, why's that too hard for ya?"

"No. This is what is going to happen. Beilschmidt will lose to my big brother, who in turn will show you Diebe members that your gang is dead. Those who want to serve under him will be given a chance to join our gang, and then we will go and take down Adnan. Once we do that we will finally have taken over this stupid town, no one will oppose us. As for you, I've grown to hate you in these last few minutes, I would prefer if you just died here and now, which it would seem might just happen, blood from the ear is usually a sign of brain trauma, you may just have a stroke anyway."

For the first time since earlier in the afternoon, Mathias' smile fell from his face. He found nothing amusing about what Natalia was saying; in fact it pissed him off. It wasn't an easy thing to do, but once he was mad it took a lot to cool him off. It really wasn't his plan to hurt anyone, but this girl was bound and determined to push his buttons, he wasn't going to waste any more time playing with her.

"That's a shame, I really didn't wanna hurt ya, ya know? Such a shame when an older brother can't protect his younger ones, it's an older brother's job to do that ya know, protect the people he loves…it really is just sucha shame."

Glaring her down he moved behind a pile of woodchip bags to grab his own weapon, a broken pipe piece, to at least use as a shield against her weapon. If he was going to physically hit her, he wouldn't use a weapon to do it; it would at least be with just his own hands. Diebe after all wasn't a gang that tried to start bloody fights; they just wanted to end them. And today was not one that needed to go in that direction either. Not when there was a bystander involved, it wasn't fair to Arthur to put him in more danger, he was probably already frightened, any more and it could potentially traumatize him.

As soon as he came back from around the bags she charged him once more. She brought her board up above her head, in an attempt to lock his weapon beneath hers, so that she could bring her knee up into his leg. Hopefully throwing his balance and putting him on his knees, she accomplished half of what she wanted. The only thing he didn't do was buckle and kneel; taking the pain he remained standing, turning on his leg slightly he attempted to kick her feet out from under her. Natalia jump-stepped back and pushed forward again; using her 2x4 as a sword she stabbed forward. Mathias blocked with his left arm, with the pipe in his other hand he swung it down on her board, with the force he managed to snap it in two.

Natalia was shocked. Eyes wide and mouth dropping open she didn't think anyone could do something like that, but she wasn't so careless to remain consumed by it. She threw down the rest of her broken weapon and scowled at him, biting on her lower lip in frustration.

"Damn you." She growled.

"Will ya NOW go 'n just stay out of this? Yer not gonna beat me, just go 'n tell Ivan that I'm here 'n have him bring Arthur out 'n we don't have to fight. That's all I'm askin'!"

Mathias lowered his weapon, but didn't let it go. He kept his eyes on Natalia waiting for her next move. She was a tough one, and he knew this wouldn't be enough, but she was just standing in place looking at him, or at least it seemed, but it felt as though she was looking past him. He was too worried to look behind him though; it could be a trick to get him to drop his guard.

He should have done it though. But all he could feel was this horrible pain in his back. It was suffocating. As he brought his hand to his side, pulling it away and staring down at his palm, there was blood.

"I didn't think Beilschmidt's right hand man would be so reckless. Oh well, he'll think twice about letting his men out by themselves after this."

Mathias hit the ground and his eyes were still on Natalia. Her expression was still, but her eyes had a hint of something in them, it looked a bit like remorse, but why would she feel sad? This is just how these things happened, that's how her brother's gang worked. Didn't it? So why, why did she look so sad…

"If he dies, you'll regret it for the rest of your life you know. Go and call an ambulance, I'll go and tell my brother this has gotten out of hand now. Be grateful, I have no intention of telling him who caused this."

Natalia stomped away.

X

A/N:

BWAHAHAHA, I stabbed my own favorite character…and I have no clue who I should have been the one to do it. None of the characters are mean enough in this story to go so far, but I don't do OC's…so it's gonna just have to be one of Ivan's mad dogs~ will he live? Read on my doves!

I do NOT own Hetalia nor did I create any of the characters that credit goes to Himaruya.

Seeing as this is a Hetalia story the characters introduced are as followed:

Natalia Braginski – Belarus
Katyusha Braginski – Ukraine
Raivis – Latvia
Eduard – Estonia

Differentiation of speech, thought, flashback and action:
Speech is anything in "parentheses", hopefully it's clear who's speaking
Thought is in Italics
Action will be put in *asterisks*
Flashback will be in bold

Should multiple characters be doing something different I shall give explanation. But, hopefully nothing will be too complicated.

Thanks for reading!