Chapter 10: It's Going to be a Long Night
I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 10 already? Can't believe it~ :)

Luka watched Matthias try to get her to cuddle with him- keyword being try. Matthias hadn't been successful yet, and although Luka wasn't planning on giving in anytime soon, she wondered if it'd be quicker to give in. She was beginning to feel a bit frustrated. I just wanted to go to sleep, but knowing him, he'd want to sleep in the same bed as me, and probably cuddle as well… not that I'd particularly mind. She shook her head. Where did that thought come from? I most definitely don't want to sleep with him. Anyways… hmm… I need to take a shower; I don't feel like leaving the room right now… but if I don't take one now, I'll end up taking one in the morning. Well, maybe it'd be a good enough distraction… he does have a rather simplistic mind… most of the time. She decided it was worth a shot as he asked for the hundredth time (or so it seemed to her).
"Please, Luka? I'd feel much better knowing you were safe in my arms."
"No." She said, standing up and walking over to a wardrobe to pick one of the simpler nightgowns (most of them were either very fancy or quite transparent and from Matthias. Berwald had given her some simpler ones as a birthday gift (although Luka was certain it had been a suggestion of Tino's)). "Come on, I'd like to shower tonight."
Matthias was on his feet in seconds. "Alright, I'll grab my stuff from my room first. I'll be back in a few minutes." He said cheerfully as he left the room.
She sighed. Well, she did distract him… although that wasn't the outcome she expected. It was going to be a long night, wasn't it?

Francis watched Maddie sleep. He wanted to wake her up and alert her of the situations, but he couldn't find it in himself to wake up the girl. Her long, wavy hair had been taken out of their pigtails and looked absolutely beautiful splayed out on the sheets, like a goddess.
I suppose it's all I'm used to.
Francis frowned as Maddie's words from earlier echoed in his head. What was it she used to? Hurt? Abuse?
Punishment?
Who could honestly find it in their hearts to hurt such an innocent girl? A girl who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly, much less a person.
So why would she be hurt?
Francis found himself awake for the rest of the night with these thoughts.

Ivan sat if a field of sunflowers, thinking. He had originally come out here to pick some for the medicine Maria had suggested. Berwald had offered to keep an eye on the both of them if he had decided to leave. Ivan decided to take him up on the offer, knowing he probably needed the fresh air. He had put aside a pile of seeds to take back, and was admiring the flowers. He picked one up, murmuring to himself as he plucked the petals.
"He's okay, not okay. Okay, not okay." He said, plucking a petal each time, until he was down to the last ones. "Okay, not okay, okay, not…" He starred in despair at the petal, before laughing to himself. How silly for me to leave Yao's fate up to a couple of petals. Yao will be fine, he told himself. Just fine, and everything would be back to normal.
He heard a rustling sound from behind him, and his head snapped up, looking around. Before long, a familiar figure stepped out. "Katyusha?"
"Ivan! I was going to the mansion to find you!"
"Is there something you needed?" Ivan stood up, hearing the urgency in her voice.
"Yes, I'll tell you and father at the same time, though." She said.
Ivan picked up the sunflower seeds and put them into one of the pockets of his jacket as they headed back to the mansion.
The whole way, he wondered what could cause his sister to look so worried.

Sakura hurried into the hotel they always met in, going up a flight of stairs and heading down a hallway. She approached a large door that lead to a meeting room, typing the pass code into the door as she waited for Heracles to catch up. The door beeped, letting her know in the pass code was accepted right as he rounded the corner. She sighed with relief, and he soon caught up to her. She opened to door hesitantly, looking around. Ah… everyone is here before us this time. She bowed, before apologizing. "Gomenne, we got held up. I hope you all weren't waiting up on us too long."
"That's, like, totally not cool, Sakura." Feliks said, before Toris hit the back of his head.
"Don't worry; we got here not too long ago either. I suppose you didn't get the second message, then?" Toris told her.
"Nani? What second message?"
"We had to send out a second message that we'd be put off a day or two behind because those two" Eduard said, pointing to Emil and Leon. "Got delayed, and we had to reorganized the schedule. Don't worry about it Sakura. I know you tried to get here on time."
"Now that we are all here, let's actually get on topic." Spades snapped, looking annoyed, not that Sakura could blame him.
"Now, now, Basch. Could you fill us in on what you four," Club said, pointing to him, Emil, Roma, and Eduard. "Have been oh-so animatedly been discussing."
"Well," Eduard said, pushing his glasses up. "I have to wait to be certain, but we may have a major lead- and advantage- on our hands."
"You see, Roma here got his hands on a valuable ally. The poor girl has a friend and a sibling in the famed Winter Mansion. And she has a way to infiltrate it." Emil spoke up next.
"We still have to wait on Eduard's computer to find out the results, but we probably just hacked a decent amount of information from their computers. We may even be able to find out if we know anyone in there." Basch said.
"And she was able to describe a few of the people she knows in there." Roma spoke up.
"I'm sure that will help us a lot." Clubs said sarcastically.
"Actually, I'm fairly certain one of your brothers is in there, most likely the youngest one, Allistor." Roma said. He left out that he also heard that Sakura's brother was also in there. He didn't want to get her hopes up. She'd been through enough as it is, by the sounds of it.
Allistor sighed, putting his head in hands. "Peter, Peter, Peter. How did you end up there?" he murmured, more to himself than any specific person.
"So," Heracles said, speaking up for the first time that day. "How long till we can attack?"
The others seemed to look at him blankly. What had happened to the sleepy Greek man who always had kittens with him that they knew? They hadn't expected such a question- or at least not from him.
"Well," Eduard said, hesitantly. "Today is the 26? 27? Something like that. End of September anyhow… We'd have to account for the time it'd take to strategize and travel planning… I'd say we'd probably be able to go anytime around the beginning of November, I'd estimate. Nothing sooner than that for sure."
"I can get in touch with her and see if she can get us basic floor maps." Roma offered.
"Yes, I think that would be most ideal. We'd also need to account on getting all of us weapons… I'm sure Basch has enough to last him for a lifetime, but as for the rest of us…"
"I don't have that many guns." Basch snapped.
"Really? I'm pretty sure having almost 50 guns counts as more than a few." Eduard retorted dryly.
"How would you know this?" Basch said, raising an eyebrow.
"Hm? I speak with your sister occasionally. She brought it up once." He said nonchalantly. "Hm?" His attention was diverted by a beeping sound from his computer. "Oh, it's done retrieving the information." His eyes widened at the information incoming to his computer. "You would believe it…!"

Plot progress is being made ^^ Anyways, halfway point, as this part will only have 20 chapters. I think I wrote more than I normally do for the Vastupanu at least :D The part with Katyusha will be continued next chapter and looks more into Natalya's characterization. And yes, Roma's newfound ally is Katyusha. Any guesses on who her friend is? Anyways, as a review:
Heart= Roma
Diamond= Emil
Spades= Basch
Club= Allistor (Scotland)
And speaking of review, please review~
Thanks for all the support so far, and I'll see you guys with the next update~