I had no idea that Gil owned a car. And I was very surprised to learn that he could drive. And even more so surprised when he showed me his driver's license.

"You actually bothered to get one?" I gaped at the plastic, checking over all the information, wondering if it was fake or real.

"West dragged me to the DMV, made me wait in line for like three hours to get the damn thing." Gil started up his truck after climbing back in. He had just had a little fight with my wheelchair, having trouble folding it back up, and it was funny to see him yell at it, and Sydney was able to do it in about two seconds. After that, he'd thrown it in the bed of the truck and glared at it.

I nestled deeper into the passenger seat, and glance back at Lovi and Sydney in the back, while Gil pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

"So Sydney," I began "Why were you at the hospital?"

Sydney started playing with a hole in her jeans, "I've got a weak body. I-I got sick."

Poor girl was so nervous. I was never really that shy, but I was always cautious. Being cautious was good, especially if you were around Russians. That Ivan kid who I'd met on my first day of school wasn't really all that bad; he just scared me the death. Along with Toris and Ravis, too. I never understood why he scared them so much; they were reduced to trembles whenever he was in the general vicinity.

I felt comfortable with Sydney, every person in the hospital made me nervous, because they could be anyone, could be anything. But my anxieties were calmed when I looked into her blue eyes, she seemed to have that effect on Lovi and Gil too, because Gil couldn't keep his eyes off her, smiling every time their eyes met. Lovi didn't fight with Gil on the whole car ride to our new home either.

I should have been jealous of Sydney, but because she looks up to Gil like he's her brother, and Gil only see's her as his little sister, I don't have to worry.

"Ah, what did you get sick with?" I inquired, trying to bring the younger girl out of her shell.

"Pneumonia." She answered, and Gil nodded.

"She scared the crap out of West and I with all that coughing." He remarked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, cranking up the radio. The song Fireflies played from the speakers, and I hummed along.

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I tried to start a conversation with Sydney again, "Sydney, do you go to HWA?"

She nodded, "Yes, I'm the personification of Wisconsin."

"So are you like, related to Fiamma Jones then?" I asked her, and she nodded again.

Fiamma's a senior at HWA, though she acts like one of the freshmen, which makes her pretty likeable. She's snuck into my homeroom a couple time's and we like to chat until she gets caught and kicked out. She personifies New Jersey, and apparently hates Jersey Shore.

Fiamma isn't the only person who likes to hide in homeroom's that aren't theirs. Her brother and sister Rune and Garret A. Jones are constantly hanging out in the back of my classroom, talking to some kids. They're both pretty loud, so I was naturally drawn to them, much to Lili's displeasure, I found myself with two new friends.

Rune personifies Washington and Garret personifies Oregon. I've never asked any of the states what heir actually relationship to Alfred would be, because it could be something strange.

Garret's a total flirt, he reminds me of Francis, but not as extreme, he knows when to stop. It's pretty funny to watch the girl's in my class blush when he says a cheesy pick up line, and Lili, Rune and I all can't help laughing about it.

Rune and Garret usually have to leave after Fiamma is kicked out, for some reason, they don't have to leave until she has to, and it makes no sense to any of us.

Fiamma pitched a fit once, "You're prejudice! You don't like me, but you love my little sister and brother, so when you make me leave, they have to leave to so no one finds out! I bet you love them so much you wonder if they're good in bed!"

Rune and Garret had to drag Fiamma out of the classroom, after repeatedly calling our teacher a "Pedophile rapist with no life", since then, Fiamma's had a harder time getting into the classroom.

"I really can't tell, you act so different from Fiamma, Rune, and Garret." I remarked, and she cracked a bit of a smile.

"Yeah, most of my brothers and sisters are kind of loud. The only ones that are sane besides me are like, Kansas, Iowa, Georgia, Virginia, and sometimes Michigan."

"I've got two siblings, a little sister and an older brother. They drive me crazy."

"Well I have 49 siblings; I'd trade you any day."

"I don't think I can live with Fiamma." I smiled at her.

"I've done it before, it's interesting." She replied, and I turned back around in my seat, because my lower back was starting to hurt.

The traffic in the city was insane, as usual. Getting out of the city would take forever. I decided to just take a nap, because my eyelids were growing heavy. I closed them and fell asleep to Gil's soft humming and tapping.

I was in unfamiliar territory.

Alone.

I bolted upright, the soft bed sheets falling off of me. I got a head rush and my vision blurred.

My room was dark; the curtains were pulled over the windows, and no light escaping through.

My panic level was rising, and my breathing quickened.

Being alone, in a dark unfamiliar room was not safe. What happens when you're in an unfamiliar dark room?

You die.

And my protector wasn't with me.

So I die.

"Lovi!" I called out his name. He didn't come bursting through my door.

It was everywhere. That damn eye. The brown orb was watching me, waiting for my demise. It wanted me dead. And I was terrified of it.

I curled into a ball on the bed, hyperventilating, whispering Lovi's name over, and over, waiting for him to come rescue me.

The eyes were all over the place, on the walls, on the ceiling, on the bed sheets, in my mind.

Leave me alone.

"Lovi…" I whimpered, "You promised to stay with me this time."

Liar.

The darkness was suffocating me, and I couldn't breathe.

I was back in the fire, just waiting to burn to death, positive that the end was near, that soon, the pain would go away. But I could feel the heat on my skin, smell the smoke, and sense the eye, still waiting for me to just die.

What did I do to deserve this? To deserve this pain, and fear? The karma must have caught up to me, or my sins.

The smoke burned my lungs, and the fire burned my skin. I waited for Lovi to come rescue me.

He was taking too long; I was going to die in this fire if he didn't save me. This eye would rejoice when I was dead, the soullessness leaving it, replaced with utter joy.

I called for him again, louder. I ducked my head into my knees and let the tears fall, staining the sheets.

My door burst open, "Desi!" Lovino's voice broke into my brain, and the fire went away, and the eye disappeared.

My lungs didn't burn, and my skin felt fine. I breathed a sigh of relief and raised my head from my knees.

"You told me you'd stay with me." I whispered to him. His hazel eyes darkened, and he walked up to the bed I was in.

"Scusa." He apologized, and crawled into bed with me, holding me tight in his arms. He pulled us back so we were lying on the pillows, and then softly put the bed sheets back over us.

He held me close to him, and I could see out of the open door. Feliciano and Gilbert were watching us.

Feli looked at us with a sad expression, and Gil's mirrored his. He reached across Feli and held onto the door handle, slowly pulling it shut.

I was engulfed in the darkness once again, but I was okay this time, because I had Lovi. He was holding me so close; I could only see his neck and shoulder, which was fine by me, so I snuggled close to him, enjoying his presence.

Lovi fell asleep eventually, and his soft breathing coaxed me back into closing my eyes for another rest.

I woke up in Lovi's arms, with a feeling of security wrapped around me. I pulled out of his arms a bit and glanced over his dark brown hair, searching for a clock.

I found one on the nightstand, the small red letters reading 6:07 AM. So we both slept through the rest of the day and the whole night.

I was surprised, I knew we both loved sleeping, but sleeping that much? I guess I was exhausted mentally, while Lovi was exhausted physically. Who knows how many night's of sleep he's missed, because of me.

I eased myself back down, and Lovi's grip around me tightened again. I smiled and absorbed the warmth radiating from his body.

Lovi was always so warm; he was the perfect match for me, who always seemed to have cold skin. Some people say that girls naturally have cold skin, and I don't understand why. Is it so we have a reason to cuddle up to guys like this?

I closed my eyes and nestled deeper into Lovi's chest, and right after I let out a content sigh, the door banged open.

I shot into an upright position immediately, only to be thrown back onto the bed by a frightened Italian.

"Hey, hey, Desi, Lovi! There's a ghost!" Feli pushed himself in between us, and woke up a very confused Lovino.

"-the hell?" Lovi grumbled the grogginess evident in his voice. He turned his back to us and tried to go back to sleep.

I reached over him to the lamp on the bedside table, where I pulled the chain, and a soft light filled the room. I was grateful it wasn't one of those harsh; blinding ones that you so commonly find that hurt your eyes.

"What is it Feli?" I asked, and poked Lovi in the back, "Lovi, you should listen to your brother."

He mumbled at me, "Beh, nonseiuna persona di mattinadi oggi."

I smiled at him, "I'm no morning person, and we just slept a lot, how can I still be tired after that?"

I propped myself up against the big wooden headboard and motioned for Feli to explain what was scaring him.

"There was a ghost!"

"A ghost?"

"Si!"

"Where was this ghost?"

"In the kitchen."

"Why?"

"It likes pasta."

I blinked at him, and sighed. "And why is this ghost a problem?"

Feli looked at me funny, "Any ghost is a problem, ve!" he looked down at his hands, "Also, I kinda think it might've – Um, kidnapped Ludwig?"

I heard Lovi's muffled voice rise from where he had shoved in face into his pillow, "Good."

"Lovino~ let's go see." I poked him in the back, and he grumbled and rolled out of the bed. He had to steady himself for a second, and held his arm's out to me.

I accidentally let a "Ve~" out while I crawled over the bed, and laughed about it. I rarely made that noise, and when I did it was completely involuntary. Lovi made them too, but very rarely. Feli was the only one out of all of us who said it regularly. He made the noises when he slept all the time.

Lovi chuckled at me, and scooped me up into his arms, carrying me bridal style. I put one arm around his neck and pointed my free hand at the door, "Onward!" I cried, giggling.

Lovi was still groggy, so he moved kind of slow, which bothered Feli.

"Ve! Fratello, hurry up!" Feli open the door, and ushered us through it, slamming it behind us.

"Wow, fancy hallway." I remarked, it was huge! Why would you ever need a hallway to be this big?

There were these big windows, letting the pink morning light come through. Lovi's and Feli's feet made soft patting sounds on the marble tile, creating a steady pattern. The walls were painted a deep beige-amberish color, and it complimented the tiles nicely. Every couple feet there were paintings hung up, I recognized some of the people in them, and others were just of random things. Like grassy fields, bowls of fruit (cliche), flowers, stuff like that.

Most of the paintings were of Gil and Ludwig; I saw one of them of a normal looking Gilbert and a young Ludwig, looking angry about being told to stand still for such a long time. It made me realize just how old Gil was, and now that I thought about it, it was kind of creepy that he was dating a 16 year old human.

My eyes settled on a painting of what looked like an even younger Ludwig, this time wearing a black cape and funny hat. He was holding hands with a small girl in a maid outfit, who was smiling widely, and the look-a-like Ludwig couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

She looks like me. I thought, but shook it away, because it was impossible. It could have been Feli, and it was, according to what Feli just told me.

"Desi! See that painting? It's of me and Luddy, a long, long, long time ago! I didn't even know it was him until a while ago. We were in love even when we were bambini!"

Lovi growled, "You aren't in love, Feliciano. He has you hypnotized."

"But Lovi, I am! You love Antonio, don't you?"

"I don't love tomato-bastard, and what does he have to do with this?"

"Because, Toni says you love him just as much as I love Luddy!"

"He's crazy, don't listen to him."

I poked Lovi's ear, "Aw, Lovi. Just admit it."

He lightly slapped my hand away, "There's nothing to admit."

We started down the long marble staircase that went to the first floor. I marveled in its elegance and beauty.

"Nice staircase." I commented, and reached my hand down to feel the banister, amazed by its smoothness. "Wow."

Three dogs greeted us at the end on the stairs, and I saw Carmine on one of their backs.

Carmine was perched on the head of a large German shepherd, who was waiting quite eagerly for us to reach the bottom steps. Carmine obviously didn't like his twitching in place, so he clenched his little fists and brought them down on the dogs head, not doing much damage.

Lovi praised him, "Good Carmine, kill Blackie."

We stepped of the stairs and the dogs surrounded us, I reached down to scratch Blackie behind the ears, and Carmine quickly climbed up my arm, and hoped onto my shoulder, rubbing his head into my cheeks. I giggled and ran my hand down his back, which he loves being pet so when I tried to remove my hand, he grabbed it and put it back.

I glanced at the remaining two dogs, still fighting for our attention, a Doberman and a Golden Retriever.

"What are the doggies' names?" I asked Feli, who answered with ease.

"The Shepherd is Blackie, the Doberman is Berlitz and the Retriever is Aster." He reached down and hugged Aster, "I never knew how much fun dogs could be until we started living here!" Aster rewarded him with a lick on the face, and Feli let out a squeak and wiped off his cheek with his sleeve. "Ewww."

"Come on, ignore the stupid dogs and let's go take a look at this ghost." Lovi grumbled, and we heard some footsteps behind us, I spun my head around and saw that it was just Sydney.

"Oh, hey Sydney, why are you up so early?" I asked her and she glanced down at the phone in her hand.

"Um, I just got a text from Gilbert saying that he was kidnapped by a ghost." She frowned at it and flipped it open, rereading the message.

Her hair was flowing freely, and it reached her elbows. I was jealous, I missed my long hair. My neck was freezing! I was glad it covered most of my neck though, I don't understand how girls can survive cutting their hair like a guy, their ears must be miserable.

"Gil would never be kidnapped by a ghost, let's go see what's going on. To the kitchen." I squirmed in Lovi's arms, trying to get him moving. He obliged, and the dogs all focused their attention onto Sydney.

She adjusted her sweatpants, which were beginning to fall down, and redid the knot on the drawstrings. Sydney pushed herself out of the circle of dogs and followed us through the house.

I got a glimpse of the living room before my line of sight was interrupted by the wall of the hallway we were going down, this one had no paintings, and it was kind of boring.

We pushed through a swinging door and into the kitchen, we were greeted by a loud noise, and I automatically screamed and started shivering, pulled myself closer to Lovi, and burying my head into his shoulder. Sydney had shrieked also, but I could hear her light giggle now.

So, I guess that I've been suffering from paranoia lately, and all dark room and the screams didn't really do anything to prevent me from freaking out.

Someone turned on a light; I heard the click and the blackness from behind my eyelids turned a dark reddish color.

"Desi, it's okay." Feli cooed into my ear. I relaxed a bit, but didn't raise my head.

A pair of hands lightly pulled me out of Lovi's arms, I yelped as my world of darkness was removed and I opened my eyes to see a very angry Lovi.

I squirmed in my captors arms to identify them, relaxing when I discovered it was Gil.

"Calm down liebling, it's just awesome me. And these other people." He gestured to the others in the kitchen, crowing around a marble island in the middle of the room, and leaning on the stainless steel appliances.

There were a lot of people. I recognized my friends, but there were also faces I didn't register with. A tall blonde haired blue-eyed man glared down at Sydney, and I was surprised she didn't flinch away from his gaze.

"Berwald!" she cried out, louder than I've ever seen her, and she hugged the scary looking man, who's expression softened the slightest bit, but still looked incredibly intimidating.

"H'llo Sydney, c'ngratulati'ns on being r'leased from the h'spital." He patted her head, in what I figured to be a loving gesture.

Sydney thanked him and was greeted by America, Lili came out from behind an annoyed Vash and walked up to me.

"Hi, Desi." She smiled at me, and I returned it.

"Hey Lili. Sorry about the lack of contact lately." I apologized and Lili's smile dropped.

"I was really worried, you don't get yourself in the hospital often do you?" she questioned, and I shook my head.

"Not really, this was the only big thing that's happened besides a car crash awhile back." I winced as Carmine tugged on a strand of my hair, demanding my attention. "Why is everyone here?" I asked her, and she glanced over her shoulder before replying.

"Surprise party!"

I blinked at her, "For what?"

"You and Sydney just got out of the hospital; I guess you could say it's a 'Welcome Home' party. We missed you." Her smile returned, smaller than before, more hesitant.

"I've only known you guys for two weeks, and you already missed me?"

"Well, we've known you for almost like, three months or something." Lili paused, "I almost sounded a bit like Feliks there. I've been hanging around him to much."

I laughed at her and made Gil set me into my wheelchair that Feli had gone and retrieved from the foyer. This gave me free reign to go talk to everyone who came.

Alfred apparently is very close to Sydney, and so was Berwald (who actually was really scary, it wasn't just his looks. He terrified me when we had a little conversation, but his friend Tino is real sweet!). After Alfred left Sydney with Berwald and Tino, he came over to me, Lili, Madi, and Feliks to play with my wheelchair.

We had vacated the kitchen shortly after arriving and went into the living room, and Madi had given me support when I moved from my wheelchair to the couch. My legs were real sore, I'm guessing its cause they weren't fully healed when I had my little race down the hallways of the hospital, I shouldn't have even been moving at that time. I blame the adrenaline.

We watched Alfred pop wheelies and try and run Arthur over, eventually ending with him getting banned from the wheelchair by the Brit. Arthur put him in 'Time-out' and made him stand in the corner, which was hilarious.

"Thanks for not letting the doctors shave me, Madi. That would have been terrible." I turned to my southern friend, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, I figured that bein' bald would really upset you. I swear, those doctors are insane. Like your new haircut?"

"It takes some getting used to, but I guess it looks good."

It did, my curls went from graceful to wild and bouncy. I'd have to figure out a new way to style it, but I like it. I still prefer my old hair, but this will have to do until I can get extensions or grow it out. I feel like I look less like Feliciano now, and it's kind of sad that at a first glance people won't think that were twins, what with the red mark on one side of my face.

Gil swears we can get it fixed soon, but it will probably never be the same, which is kind of sad.

In addition to being Tomophobic, I also happen to be Neophobic, which is the fear of change. I have no idea what's going to happen in the future, and it terrifies me. I'm scared of life after high school, when I'll be living on my own. My dependence on my parents is supposed to cease, and I'm expected to get a job, pay my bills, and be a responsible adult. The second I graduate, all my ignorance about adult life will have to disperse, and I'll have to change.

It's upsetting. I don't want anything to change. I want to stay here with all of my friends and cousins. No one ever getting sick, or hurt, or dying. No one moving away, fighting, or breaking up. I just want us to stay like this, happy, and ignorant of the world around us.

Madi's phone made me jump, it was resting on the leather between us, and when it started vibrating it sent the vibrations through the couch, startling me.

"Ah, it's Georgia. I gotta take this. Be right back, y'all." Madi scooped up her phone and walked out of the room.

"What Georgia's real name?" I asked Lili, assuming she'd know. "Or is her name Georgia?"

"No, Madi just calls her that because most of the states do. Her real name is Belle."

"I see."

Gilbert appeared out of thin air and plopped into Madi's vacated spot on the couch. He let out a sigh and put his head on my shoulder.

"What's wrong, Gil?" I asked, poking him in the face. He puffed out his cheeks in response.

"Didn't get much sleep." He lifted his head from my shoulder, cracked his neck, and put it back. "Morning parties are a bitch."

"Yeah, it's kind of early. I'm sleepy, too." I replied, my eyes trained on Alfred, who was getting chewed out by Arthur once again. Who knows what he did this time. Poor Alfred, Arthur never gives him any breathing room.

"How can you say that? You slept so much." Gil yawned.

"Don't know. Accidenti, that looked like it hurt."

Arthur had smacked Alfred upside the head, and Alfred somehow ended up falling and hitting his head on the ground. That's why he was getting scolded. He was obviously drunk now. How I didn't see it before, I don't know.

Alfred seemed to drink a lot; I'm kind of worried about him now.

"Does Alfred drink often?" I asked Gil, who nodded.

"Yeah, it's got something to do with his economy. Arthur's been trying to get him to quit, with obviously no anvil."

I glanced over at Lovi, who Alfred had ditched Arthur to talk to. Lovi was sitting in one of the recliners and glaring at pretty much everyone, and especially Alfred.

"Dude, what caused the fire in the first place?" Alfred questioned, slurring on the word 'place' a bit. Lovi's gaze met mine for a second, and then he turned his head to Feli, who was sitting next to him. After a small nod, he turned back to Alfred and answered.

"Feliciano left the damn coffeepot on, and it burned down the damn apartment building." Lovi crossed his arms and glared at Feli, who shrugged.

My stomach clenched, and I shared a look with Gil, who had lifted his head my shoulder once again when Lovi started speaking. My confusion and suspicion was mirrored in his eyes.

Lovino was lying.

But it was true. Feli did leave the coffeepot on. I know this because I was the one who unplugged it before going to bed.

Lovi was no liar. He might be mean, but he never lies. The only thing I've ever heard him be untruthful about was his feelings for Antonio, but that really doesn't count.

Lovi couldn't just be mistaken either. He had to have smelled the gas filling the apartment, the stench was so strong, and it couldn't be ignored.

That person, too. But Lovino might have not known about the person, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that this was a fire started from a coffeepot. Why was he lying? It made no sense.

Unless he knew something.

He would only be lying if he thought it'd protect someone. That someone being either me or Feli. And because of the look they shared before Lovi's reply, I'm guessing that someone was not Feli, and it was most likely me.

Gil's scarlet eyes darted from me to Lovi, then back to my amber eyes, it was like I could read his mind.

We have to have a talk about this.

So, I feel like its been a long time since I've updated this. But it's probably only been like, a week.

This is a shortish chapter kind of, not the shortest but not as long as I'd want it to be.

So were finally about to actually get into the plot of the story. Thank god.

I can't wait to write the sequel for this, but I refuse to even start it until after I finish.

I'd like to finish before this summer, which is possible. Maybe. I don't really know how long I want to make this story.

Maybe like, 20, 25 chapters?

Sorry that I haven't really been updating anything lately (again, I actually have no idea whens the last time I did.). Family drama, ya know.

And school drama. And convention drama.

MomoCon's in a month, I'm so excited. But I'm sad that me and my friend can't go to AWA this year, sosad. And I got my cosplay the other day, it wasn't supposed to be here for like, another two weeks. China get's stuff done fast.

Imma shut up now.

WAIT. I've started a Unit thing that i'm working on, sortof. Not really. You know the Lolidictator Manuel things? Yeah those. I'm working on the first chapter, no idea if I'll ever actually finish / publish it or anything. We'll have to see.

~Ayai