Francis, Alfred and Gilbert reached the warehouse where they had heard Ivan was keeping Arthur. They came through the front and sure enough, before even going through the open doors they saw Ivan sitting on a pile of wood planks. Sitting on the floor not too far away from him was Arthur, who looked as though he had fallen asleep.

"ARTHUR!" Alfred and Francis shouted to him at the same time.

Both tried to run toward him but stopped when Ivan got off the planks.

"No, no, no~ that's not how it works you know? I would prefer if the two of you went over there."

Ivan pointed his pipe to the opposite side of the warehouse away from Arthur and out of the way of any fighting that may ensue between him and Gilbert.

"Like hell! Hand over Arthur now! We're getting him the hell out of here!" Alfred wasn't afraid of Ivan, and had no intention of following any orders.

"Shut up Alfred. Francis, go with hero boy and stand over there, this is just between me and him."

Gilbert stood in the warehouse opening, not once taking his eyes off Ivan. It was better for him if the other two were out of the way, Arthur wasn't going anywhere anyway, and was in a safe enough spot where he was. He shot his eyes around the room trying to spot Mathias and saw nothing.

"Hey Ivan, where's my guy?"

"Hmmm? What guy?"

"Don't fuck with me. Mathias left before we did, so he got here before we did, where the hell is he?"

"Mathias? Really? I haven't seen him. Ah, perhaps he ran into Natalia near the back, I told her to keep watch back there if someone tried to interfere."

"Tch, shit, you better not be lying to me or I'll fucking kill you this time you bastard."

"Now Gilbert, why would I lie to you? I haven't lied to you yet, even if I hate you, I'm not a liar. Now, if someone else just so happened to show up and help her, that's not my problem."

"Damn you!"

Now Gil was shouting. Mathias never fought alone, so if a fight went two-on-one in a place like this, who knows what some of Ivan's uncontrollable dogs could do. At least if it were the people who Gil knew in Ivan's gang, like his sisters or those three guys who shake when Ivan's around, he would feel more at ease, they were at least decent people. But the hounds? Not even Ivan could do anything about those guys; he only let them join for the numbers, not for loyalty or help. He let them do whatever they liked. That, to Gilbert, was the exact problem here. Natalia? Fine. A dog? If Mathias was hurt, he swore to God this would not end well for anyone.

"Ahhh, I thought this would be a little more exciting, but a one-on-one with no one around but bystanders is kind of boring. Oh well, all I have to do is beat you and parade your broken body around and Diebe will crumble. Then with that hopefully Sadiq will quietly surrender and we can be done with all these petty fights."

"You're the one who started all these 'petty' fights when you moved here! Adnan and I had a sweet thing going and you moving here fucked it all up. Beat me? Adnan surrender? You must be insane to think things will go so nice and easy."

Ivan didn't respond; he didn't like the insult of being called crazy. He was very much sane, and people questioning that annoyed him. A crazy man would just charge in and start shedding blood; he planned things out, tried to avoid permanent damage and even had nice little conversations like this one, would a crazy man do these things? Of course not.

Ivan began to tap his pipe against his shoulder, and mockingly rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. It would be too disappointing to have to attack Gilbert himself, he would rather Gilbert attacked him, that way he could say it was in defense, and hopefully get some sympathizers from Diebe, more members would be nice.

Watching from the sidelines Alfred was getting impatient. Arthur was right there, and they had nothing to do with this fight. If he could just rush over, grab him and run he didn't care what would come out of leaving Gilbert and Ivan to their standoff. Hopefully if he was lucky they would beat each other so badly they'd both be removed from leading their gangs anymore.

I need to get Arthur…but how?

Alfred scanned the room to get a better understanding of his surroundings, see if there were some routes he could take in getting Arthur out without Ivan getting in the way. With only one main entrance and exit it was a bothersome place to be, and aside from going straight in between Ivan and Gilbert, the only other way to Arthur was to go around the edges of the room. Right now it wouldn't be too hard to move behind Ivan; with him preoccupied by Gilbert he wouldn't pay too much attention to him. But then there was Francis, there really was no telling as to what he was thinking or planning to do.

What Alfred didn't know was that Francis was very perceptive; he had already taken in the layout of the warehouse the moment they stepped through the doors. He had already planned out a few routes from where he chose to stand at the side of the room. For one, this was a relatively new abandoned building, it had been foreclosed only about 2 months ago, people were constantly in here stealing wood and anything left behind when it was shut down. The owner went bankrupt and ran out of town, workers just up and abandoned everything, no one cared about this place, but it was still in a new enough condition where the walls and doors worked. It did have more exits/entrances; they were just currently closed, sealed off by police hoping this place wouldn't be used by bums and drug dealers. Of course though, anyone with the right kind of tools could easily get in here.

From where Francis stood he had a better sight to something Alfred did not, and that was a slight gap in one of the side doors on the other side of the room. Closer to where Arthur was, and large enough for a few teenagers to slide under. With enough time he could pull Arthur under and carry him away from here, or better yet, if Arthur was ok and woke up, they could run away and not look back, no matter who may follow behind.

Francis motioned toward Alfred to move closer to him.

All I have to do is get this guy to see what I'm seeing and we could come up with an escape strategy. Francis hoped so anyway.

Sure enough as soon as Alfred moved he began to see what Francis had seen. His eyes widened with hope as his thoughts started to match Francis'.

It dawned on them at the same time however, that not all three could potentially escape; someone would still have to stay behind and assure Arthur and the other could get away. Alfred immediately took into consideration his strength, because even if Arthur was unconscious, he could carry him and run, fast enough to get away and not be caught, and even if they were, he could fight. Looking at Francis, Alfred knew that he couldn't possibly do all that. But then there was the actual size of the gap in the door, it was low; really low actually, it was clear Arthur could get through with his small frame, but Alfred may not. Francis however was not broad like Alfred, he wasn't the same slender size as Arthur either, but should he stay flat on his stomach, maybe he could get under.

The sinking feeling in Alfred's gut told him the answer was obvious. He would have to stay behind, and Francis would have to be the one to save Arthur. He would have to willingly let this person, who he did not like nor trust, take Arthur to safety, despite it being very clear the only reason Arthur was in this situation at all was because of Francis and his friendship with Gilbert.

Alfred shot a sideways glare at Francis, but as he turned his face toward him Francis was already looking at him, pain lacing his face. The look in his eye saying

I am so very sorry Alfred, I never wanted this to happen. I would never bring him into this on purpose. You don't understand anything about this life we live.

Alfred turned his face away. Not able to bear the weight of Francis' apologetic expression. He didn't understand it. Francis had hurt Arthur before, he heard all about what happened, he thought so anyway, so why was he getting such a broken expression from Francis? Had Arthur really told him everything about what happened? Is there more to this he wasn't getting?

Alfred looked back up toward Gilbert and then toward Ivan, neither had moved, and even weirder, throughout this time neither had spoken again. He looked back at Francis who had composed himself and now looked very determined, as he knew what was going to come next for them.

OOO

Gilbert had watched Ivan, neither moving nor speaking. Scanning the room from the beginning he already knew what Francis and Alfred would do. Now he just needed to give them the distraction they needed to accomplish their plan of getting Arthur out. He just wasn't looking forward to feeling that pipe on him again; it hurt like a mother fucker.

He still didn't know where Mathias was either, it shouldn't have taken him so long to beat Natalia and join them in here. He had heard she was strong, but he also knew that Mathias was stronger, no matter what she may try to do; he could endure pain and keep fighting. With that he should already be in here. Leaving without him was not an option for Gilbert, 4 people came in, and with Arthur 5 people were leaving, that's all there was to it.

Gilbert took a step forward.

Mathias you bastard, you better be ready to run once this is all said and done.

"Hmmm, oh, so you're finally ready? Let's start then shall we!" Ivan lowered his pipe to his side.

As soon as Gilbert took his first step Francis moved with him, quickly going down the side of the wall. Alfred watching him like an eagle, ready to strike if he needed to.

As Gilbert and Ivan walked closer to one another there was a clicking sound coming from one of the back doors.

-Chink, chink, chinkchinkchink. Clack-

As the door raised Natalia stood behind it, she walked through and stopped. As did everyone else.

Alfred had not moved, but instead stood even more still, as he eyed Francis who was not even 5 steps away from the door that had just opened, and thus was 5 steps away from Natalia. Ivan had turned to face his sister, clear irritation on his face from being interrupted, and finally Gilbert, who wore a blank expression, Francis was in quite a shit spot if she turned on him now. Also, Ivan could very well see Francis, his eyes shifting from his sister then Francis, around the room and finally to Arthur. Registering what was going on behind him, he was becoming angry.

"Natalia! Why did you interrupt? I told you stay outside and watch over this place! You not only failed but now you're interrupting! Why?!"

"I'm so very sorry brother! I do not mean to interrupt, but, well, the situation at present has become…complicated…"

"Spit it OUT Natalia!"

She flinched. She could not bear to have her brother yell at her. But with how things ended with Mathias, if her brother's fight started now, there would surely be huge consequences to follow. They would already be under suspicion once the lackey did what she'd asked of him. How else would anyone be able to avoid questioning after a high school boy was stabbed?

"Brother, there was an accident involving…one of our grunts, he was simply helping me but took it too far! We have to leave now, we had to call an ambulance, somebody's been stabbed, I'm so sorry!"

The sickening cut of oxygen from the room made Gilbert falter. He moved his arms up in a way that made it look he was reaching for something to support him. Somebody was stabbed, and it sure as fuck wasn't Natalia, and following her words it wasn't that grunts either.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

Gilbert lunged forward, but Ivan caught him, pushed Gil forward a step only to whirl around behind him and get him in a chokehold; one to keep him from moving, not to hurt.

"Calm down Gilbert! Natalia did nothing! You do not know who's been stabbed!"

"THE FUCK I DO! She said it! She already said who it was! I'll fucking kill all of you, let go of me! IVAN!"

Francis slipped right behind Natalia and out the door she came in through, he shouted at Alfred to get Arthur before running to find Mathias. Alfred was so very confused, but hearing Francis snapped him into duty, as long as he had an order of what he should do then he would follow it. Running like a linebacker he didn't care if he had to start plowing through everyone, though no one stood in his way, or even tried to, he got to Arthur in seconds, lifted him on his shoulder and ran out the main door. He didn't bother to look back.

Gilbert struggled in Ivan's hold, he was making it harder for himself to breathe, but then again most of his air was escaping from how heavy he was breathing as his heart was racing uncontrollably. His thoughts were chaotic, focusing only on Mathias, a man had been stabbed? HIS man had been stabbed? How could this happen? How could he have let this happen?

Gilbert let out a scream that made even Natalia step back, Ivan eyed the man in his arms with fear, if he let him go now, he may very well die.

Who was it? Who was it that acted so stupidly! Ivan was seething, he gave no one permission to do something like this, the fight today was only between him and Gilbert, he had not even wanted to hurt Arthur the way he did, that was an accident, he hadn't hit Feliks hard enough to bruise him, and yet when he hit Arthur he bled. It frightened him, the last thing had wanted to do was hurt Arthur, he was just bait! He specifically wanted to take Arthur without hurting him, because once this got back to Yao, it was going to be impossible to ever be forgiven.

This is not how I wanted this to go! Whoever did this will pay!

Ivan let go of Gilbert and kicked him away. He motioned for Natalia to leave the same way she came in and Ivan quickly walked toward the main entrance.

"I won't let you go! Ivan!"

Gilbert got up; he turned on his heels and rushed toward Ivan. Ivan evaded and kept some distance.

"I'll be taking my leave now, it seems as though things got too out of hand here, I just wanted your head today, but if two people wound up near death then we'll have the police bothering us again, and I hate dealing with them, don't you?"

Gilbert swung at Ivan, missing him by a lot, he wasn't close enough to him, and Ivan was only getting farther away.

"Don't you DARE FUCKING RUN AWAY! Ivan! FIGHT ME, I'll make you feel the pain you caused him!"

"I won't apologize to you but, perhaps one day I can send my regards to Mathias, his family will be very upset about this…"

This tipped Gilbert over the edge, but Ivan took the last second to run away. Leaving Gilbert there to scream by himself.

OOO

Francis found Mathias not far from the back door he came through, he was only a few feet away and right around a corner. Francis stumbled over to the ground and saw how much blood Mathias had lost.

He was terrified at the amount, to lose so much, could he even live? Was he even still alive? He pressed his fingers to Mathias' neck, it was faint but he found a heartbeat, and if Natalia told the truth then an ambulance was on its way, they could save him in time.

Francis took his jacket off; he had seen a lot of documentaries and read a lot of books to know that to slow the bleeding of a bad wound you should try to press something against it. He curled his jacket into a ball and pressed it to Mathias' wound. The low murmur out of Mathias sent a feeling of hope through Francis' body.

"Mathias! Mathias? Hold on alright, an ambulance is on its way, we're going to help you, so please stay awake, ok? Stay with me alright? Hey, I know, tell me about your brothers? Start with; start with telling me about Lukas? He's a weird one that guy, very much like a black cloud among you guys!"

Mathias let out the smallest laugh; Lukas was a weird guy, but his best friend. He was too tired though, he just wanted to go to sleep.

"No, no, come on, tell me about Berwald then? Tino? Tell me about Emil! Mathias, hey! Stay awake!"

Francis was beginning to panic, but there was nothing more he could do. He heard a yell from within the warehouse and it sent shivers down his spine. Who the hell was that? Was that Gilbert?! What happened?

I hope Arthur and Alfred got away safe…Please God, if you can hear me, don't let this man die.

Francis suddenly heard footsteps behind him, he spun his head to the side to try to see who it was, praying it was Gilbert, because if it was anyone else he was in no position to protect himself and keep his hand on Mathias.

It was Gilbert. The face he wore made Francis regret it was him, in fact, he was now wishing it was even Ivan instead.

"M-Mathias…"

It was barely a croak, Gil's mouth and throat were so dry, and his whole body was starting to feel numb. How could he have let this happen? Diebe was supposed to protect; but this? What was this? And for what? For who? Why?

"Gilbert, listen to me, he's lost a lot of blood, but he's still alive, they said they called an ambulance remember? We don't know how long ago that was, so we just have to wait. If they get here soon it'll be alright, ok? Everything will be alright, I promise, please, please don't lose it yet, I need you to help me, help him! Gilbert!"

There was a low laugh from somewhere behind the wood chips bag pile Mathias had found his broken pipe earlier. It grew louder as the person stepped out and really started to let loose.

"Did she really think I was just gonna follow her orders and call an ambulance? This is war; we don't send aid for the enemy. We kill the enemy, we let them bleed and die."

This was too much, Francis couldn't stand it, one thing after another, and he felt like he would vomit. He could do nothing now; there was absolutely nothing he could do now, not just to save Mathias, but to stop Gilbert.

"What? What did you say?"

Gilbert's head was bent low, low to the point where his bangs covered his eyes and the top part of his nose. All that could be seen was his mouth, drawn in a hard-line broken only by him speaking. Francis could feel the wrath radiating off his body.

"I SAID, I didn't call no fuckin' ambulance, that piece of shit is gonna die there in the dirt like the worthless garbage he is! Or are you deaf you fuckin' psycho?"

Gilbert straightened his back, cracked his knuckles and in a swift movement, revealing his widened red eyes and sickening wide grin, he shot forward.

X

A/N:
Kyakyakya, oh me oh my, how far I've deviated…well, good news is I plan to get back to the FrUK stuff next chapter cause I need to build the suspense! I also need to remind myself that this was originally a shipping story…by an author who could not actually decide how to go about the FrUK breakup…but! All this time later and THIS buildup I have figured out how to not ONLY explain the "devastating" breakup BUT how to mend the FrUK! That's right, a reunion and some potentially ~naughty~ things are to come for some of our ships ;) because author feels bad that she's been so neglectful of this story X_X

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

No new characters this chapter.

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!