"D'accord. Bien," Francis said as he put the phone down. He sighed and turned to Ludwig. "Zat was Pologne. He said zat Lituanie has been missing for a few days. He's going to come over to talk to us and should be here in a couple hours."
Ludwig nodded.
"Ja. Zhat's fine."
Japan stepped into the room quietly.
"I just got off the phone with Heracles. He's going to sail here and should arrive around the same time as Poland-kun."
"Is he bringing Koneko with him?"
Japan nodded.
"Hai. He wouldn't leave him alone with all that's going on. And he's only three so he can't be left alone."
Ludwig smiled.
"Zhat's good. I haven't seen Koneko in a while."
"Sōrī. It's very difficult to get to you." Ludwig shrugged and nodded in agreement.
Someone knocked on the door gently.
The group of Francis, Ludwig, Kiku, and Antonio turned to look at it.
Antonio walked over to the door and opened it.
He was shocked to see the person waiting outside.
"S-Suecia?"
The tall blond man nodded.
Clearing his throat and trying to get over his shock of finding the man on his best friend's doorstep, he noticed a small bundle in the Swede's arms.
The man noticed where he was looking and shifted the bundle.
"I heard you've been gathering all the nations that have been attacked so I came to help."
Antonio forced his head back and his eyes upward to look into the tall man's face.
"So you were attacked too?"
Sweden nodded.
"My wife is missing."
Francis joined Antonio at the door.
"Your wife? You mean Finlande?"
"Ja."
Francis grabbed Antonio's arm and pulled him out of the way.
"Come on in. We're all at ze dining room table."
Sweden stepped inside and Francis shut the door behind him.
"Do you have any bottles?" he asked as Francis passed him.
"Oui. Pourquoi?"
Sweden pulled back the blanket on the bundle in his arms to reveal a tiny face.
Francis stared at the face.
The little baby looked so new, so not used to being alive yet.
"H-How old?"
"Three weeks. She was born right before my wife disappeared."
Francis couldn't stop himself from pushing a stray blond hair out of the baby's face.
"Her name is Eeva," Sweden said quietly. "And when she wakes up, she's going to be hungry. That's why I asked if you had any bottles."
The Frenchman snapped back to himself.
"O-Oh. Oui." He walked into the kitchen and grabbed one of the bottles for Steven. "Here you go."
"Tack så mycket. Thank you."
Francis nodded.
"De rien."
He grabbed a second bottle and went downstairs to feed Steven.
The large door opened quietly and he slipped inside.
All the children inside were sleeping and an exhausted Austria was watching over them.
Roderich noticed Francis and straightened.
"Vhat are you doing down here?"
Francis held up the bottle.
"I need to feed Steven," he said simply. He walked over to the crib that his son was sleeping in and lifted him out gently.
The little boy started to cry.
Francis rocked him.
"Ssh mon petit. Papa is here. Just Papa."
Steven looked up at him.
Upon recognizing him, he closed his mouth around the bottle.
Roderich watched Francis feeding Steven with drooping eyes.
The other man noticed and looked at him over his shoulder.
"Go to sleep, mon ami. You can't take much more."
"I c-can't. I've tried."
Francis took the empty bottle away from Steven and laid him in his crib before walking over to the man.
"What's wrong? What's stopping you?"
Roderich closed his eyes.
"Every time I try, I see Vash."
"What do you mean? Is he talking to you or somezing?"
The brunet shook his head.
"No. He's screaming in pain and calling for help frantically. He's pleading and begging with someone to stop hurting him. And he's covered in blood and dirt. That's vhat I see when I close my eyes. Vhen I manage to actually fall asleep, I see him getting tortured and whipped and all sorts of zhings zhat I can't stand. It's horrible and I wake up screaming too."
Francis stared at him.
"Zat doesn't sound like our Suisse at al. He's so strong and takes pain almost as well as Allemagne and certainly better zan eizer of us."
Roderich pulled his knees up to his chest and put his head on them.
"Zhat's vhat YOU'VE seen. I've seen ozher sides of Vash. Ones zhat no one else has seen, not even Lili. He can appear so strong, but he's not. He has a very hard time trusting people." Roderich looked guilty. "I suppose I had a hand in helping with zhat but zhat's one of zhe main reasons I'm trying to get him used to people again. Liechtenstein is helping too. She's zhe one who really started it. I just joined her. Having someone to live vith him forced him to reacquaint himself vith people. After Prussia burst in on zhe three of us having lunch, I knew I had to go over and apologize to him. He was so awkward and shy and it vas just so cute zhat I couldn't stop myself and I kissed him."
Roderich sighed.
"He got so mad at me at kicked me out. Eventually he came to talk to me about his overreaction and zhat's when started our relationship. I zhink Lili had said somezhing to him which made him act like zhat but I didn't care. I got vhat I vanted and Vash got a second person to help him back into society. He's still very afraid of people and since he had locked himself avay for so long to avoid them, he vasn't used to being around large crowds or being out in public. Lili and I are determined to make him back to xhe way he was."
Francis stared at him.
"A-Are you serious?"
Roderich nodded.
"So the man zat I've been afraid of for years, is afraid of me?"
The man nodded again.
Francis was silent in shock for a moment before laughing loudly.
"Oh I am going to help him get used to people so I can use zis against him!"
Roderich looked up at him.
"Don't hurt him."
Francis dismissed him with his hand.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to help you get him back just to make him leave you! I'm not zat kind of homme! I SUPPORT l'amour!"
Roderich sighed in relief.
"Ja. Danke."
"Bien sûr."
AN: So hopefully Arthur's plan should be revealed next chapter...but that may take a little while unless I actually GET an idea for his idea...(SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME [HEAVILY ENCOURAGED]) And we'll see what happened to him during China's "entertainment"...
Fun stuff to look forward to!
But yeah, according to the Hetalia wiki, France is actually afraid of Switzy! XDD I'm not sure why...maybe because of his triggerhappiness? *shrugs* whatever
Okay but that should be all the couples now...I had to make a sheet so I would know all the couples and their kids' names. XD
So for the pairings we have, FRUK, Spamano, GerIta, SuFin, Pol/Liet, Edelweiss, and Grekan. XD I made up Grekan. (the name of the pairing, not the actual pairing)