And then Francis was off.

Red blurred his vision, his fists were clenched, his left eye was twitching violently, rage filled his insides, and his hands were begging for a certain face to be placed in front of him so he could scratch that certain man's eyes out.

By now tears were leaking out of Arthur's eyes. He knew he shouldn't have told Francis this, it just made everything worse. Oh, and that horrible memory . . . Arthur was trying to conceal his sobs and hiccups from reliving it again. And what will Alfred think of him now, probably call him a slut and break up with him. His brothers . . . Arthur couldn't stop himself as he let out a few hiccups and sobs. As much as Arthur wanted to deny it, he missed his brothers. Oh, and he missed Alfred a lot, too. They'll all be disgusted with him. It didn't help that he was a virgin when it happened.

Oh my God, thought Arthur, Alfred didn't even know I was a virgin. Only my brothers knew. Wait a minute, Francis didn't even know that either. So when I told him this right now, that means. . .

"Francis you didn't even know did you?" asked Arthur, tears rolling down his face. He watched Francis, with the latter looking like he was in a far off place and seemed to be having malice in his eyes. Francis heard the question, took one look at Arthur, and literally threw himself at Arthur, smothering Arthur's head into his chest.

"Mon petit lapin, Angleterre, England, Arthur," soothed Francis, calling Arthur all kinds of names (good names). "You'll be alright, don't worry, you'll be okay." But it sounded like Francis was trying to calm himself down rather than Arthur.

Arthur flinched at the contact of the touch of another human (or rather nation). He sucked it up, though, only letting a few tears fall onto Francis, but he pushed Francis off soon.

"A-answer my question," Arthur said unsteadily, crossing his arms over his chest. Francis blinked when he realized that he was not hugging his crush, instead pushed off onto the hard ground.

Francis looked at Arthur in confusion, an eyebrow raised as well. "Mon petit lapin, I have no idea what you are talking about."

Taking in a deep breath, Arthur repeated the same question from before. It was too bad that Francis looked even more confused than ever.

"I'm sorry, mon Angleterre; I don't know what you mean." Francis offered a sorry look to Arthur, because frankly, Arthur looked like he was losing his patience. Eh, Arthur was never one with tons of patience anyway.

Then Arthur's expression turned into one of depression and sadness as he understood that he had to explain again. "I mean that when I was r-r-r – when it happened, he - he t-took my v-v-v-virginity. You n-never knew t-that I was a v-v-virgin, did you?" A tear rolled down Arthur's face when he finished.

Francis's face turned red with anger, but it softened when he saw the silent tear travel its way down Arthur's tear-stained, flushed face.

"Oh, Arthur," cooed Francis, reaching out for the overwhelmed Briton, "come here."

But Arthur didn't budge from his spot, giving Francis a hard look and slapped Francis's hands away when Francis tried to wrap them around him.

"Answer my question," said stubborn Arthur, crossing his hands over his chest once more.

Since Arthur won't move from his spot and since Francis remembered the question, Francis's face got all red and angry. When he got his hands on that guard . . . or better yet, if Alfred and the Kirkland brothers find out. . .

Arthur cleared his throat, obviously waiting for Francis to answer the question. To tell the truth, Francis was so shocked that Arthur was r-r, when it happened – he couldn't even bring himself to be around that word, let alone Arthur in the same sentence! – that he didn't pay attention to the fact that Arthur said anything about his virginity. Until Arthur mentioned it, he never noticed.

"Okay, okay," Francis finally complied, "Arthur, I never knew. And it rips my heart apart to know that this happened to you, especially with someone who has kidnapped you. But with you being 'holy' and all, I just want to rip that guard's head off like what happened to by heart. But don't worry, you can pretend this never ever happened and go along like you were normally. Besides, when we get out of here, you'll have a lot of people beating that idiot up."

Arthur's eyes were brimming with tears again and a few slipped out. He looked down and Francis assumed that he was sobbing, because Arthur was making a noise similar like it.

"Hey, hey, petit lapin, I didn't mean for you to cry. Come on, I'm really, really sorry," apologized Francis, wanting to just wrap his arms around Arthur, but didn't dare to.

The sobbing Arthur was making got even louder and then Arthur lifted his head to show his eyes still filled with tears, but with a great, big smile on his face. Francis almost kicked himself for thinking that Arthur was sobbing, but he was actually laughing. Real, actual laughter that Francis was overjoyed to hear, since this was the first time he saw Arthur smile, let alone laugh, from the moment they got here.

Still overcome with tears, Arthur put his hand into Francis's hand and told him in a quiet voice, "You silly frog, you git, how could you ever think I was sobbing? You make me laugh, honestly, you say sorry too much." Then as soon as Arthur was finished talking, he dropped his hands away from Francis.

Francis smiled: a real smile absolutely full of warmth. He smiled because Arthur was smiling, because Arthur bothered to touch him. That simple touch told Francis that Arthur trusted him and wouldn't think otherwise. That touch showed him that Arthur could depend on him. That touch told him that even through the toughest times, everything could get better. That touch was a miracle to him; that Arthur touched him, even if it was a short time, that despite what had happened to Arthur, Francis got to see the first step of recovery. That simple, simple touch that anyone could do was something special that Francis would always remember and treasure.

And then, just because the world hated him, Antonio and Gilbert came over. Now, this wasn't a bad thing – well, usually it wasn't – and Francis had no problem with it. There were just two giant problems:

Problem Number One (or Uno to be more appropriate) Antonio put his arm around Arthur's shoulders.

Problem Number Two (or rather Zwei, just in memory of one of Francis's 'best friends' when this was over) Gilbert put his arm around Arthur's waist.

"Artie, you're up! How are you? Man, they didn't hurt you too bad right? That's one ugly shiner on your eye," said Gilbert, still blunt as ever and rude. Oh poor Gilbert and Antonio, they had no idea that death was around the corner.

Arthur didn't take too well to the touch. That was the least unexaggerated you could say, and also the one that lies the most. The real truth was that Arthur was spazzing and freaking out; he pushed both sets of hands away from him (in a crazy manner) and hid behind Francis's back, clutching onto the bottom of Francis's shirt.

Boy, the look on Francis's face when that happened could've made the toughest man on Earth – no, scratch that, the strongest thing in the universe – soil and wet his pants.

Arthur was whimpering behind Francis, and that just made the latter even more furious at his 'good friends.'

"Whoa, whoa, Francis, are you okay? You look really angry . . . like you're going to kill someone." Oblivious Antonio caught up to speed as to what was happening and he was terrified. Gilbert too, although he noticed the moment Arthur hid behind Francis, but he at least attempted not to let Francis murder them.

"Francis! Hey, good buddy, you aren't going to kill us, are you? I mean we're your bestest friends forever! We're BFFs, Francis, BFFs! There's no need to get rid of the awesome me here, maybe Antonio, but not the awesome me! So what do you say, buddy, friends?"

Francis looked at the other man behind him, and then turned back to Gilbert and Antonio with a look of fury in his eyes. "Does this look normal to you?"

Both Antonio and Gilbert craned their necks around Francis to see the shivering, terrified Arthur. Arthur had a crazy look in his eye and he was hiccupping as well, as he was holding his knees to his chest and rocking back in forth. To see Arthur like this, the almighty, powerful, pirate Arthur Kirkland that would make men shiver by the sound of his name, degraded to acting like a little baby, was really one of the most frightening moments in both Gilbert and Antonio's lives.

"W-what happened to him?" Antonio had asked as soon as Arthur had noticed them, then squealed and cowered behind Francis, to which Francis covered most of Arthur pretty well; you couldn't even see him if you were looking right at the front side of Francis.

Francis glared at both of them, and then turned his back to Gilbert and Antonio to talk to Arthur, who went to Toris when Francis was done speaking. After that, Francis was facing the Spaniard and Prussian and huddled them together into a small circle group.

"You really want to know what happened to Arthur?" asked Francis, whispering in a very, very quiet tone in a very, very depressing sound. Antonio and Gilbert nodded eagerly and fast, wanting to know badly as to what went wrong with Arthur.

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone," emphasized Francis, looking at the two. Both nodded their heads quickly and furiously.

Taking a deep breath before talking, Francis began. "When Arthur was taken by the guard, you saw all the damages and bruises on him, right? Well that's not all that guard did, he did the most awful thing anyone could do in this world: he r-r-raped Arthur." Francis didn't need to tell them that Arthur was a virgin when it happened; he didn't need to tell them at all. That would be a violation of Arthur's privacy.

The two bad touch trio friends gasped out loud, both in surprise, shock, and anger.

"No way in hell!" shouted Gilbert loudly, attracting the attention of the other kidnapped nations. "I'm going to kick his fat ass!" Antonio nodded along with Gilbert, both frowning.

Francis shushed them, though, before they could form a gang to destroy the guard, and whispered, "SHH! Are you crazy? If anyone else hears I'll knock both of you out so bad you won't remember your names!"

"But you can't let him get away with it!" whispered Antonio furiously right back at the Frenchman.

"Of course I won't! I'll save that for later when I actually get to beat that bastard down!" argued Francis, winning over both Gilbert and Antonio.

"I agree with your idea," stated Gilbert, whose frown turned into a malicious smirk, "but only if we get to kick some guard ass!"

Francis would have answered, if not for a full out, terrified for your life scream. The bad thing was that Francis recognized that was Arthur's scream. The even worse part was that that guard was here. Before Francis could even leap to Arthur's defense, the guard pulled on Arthur's hand, trying to yank him out of there. Arthur screamed even louder, which was such an unArthur-like thing to do, but then Francis remembered that Arthur wasn't in his right mind right now. Toris was pulling on Arthur's other arm, trying not to be too rough, but that was a pretty hard grip Toris had on Arthur.

The other nations, shocked by this, rushed to Arthur's defense, trying to pull him away from the guard. By now Arthur was screaming bloody murder, since being pulled in both directions felt like you were going to be ripped apart. It all ended when Toris, who had to stop pulling Arthur's hand to do this, punched the guard right in the nose, in effect making the guard let go of Arthur to hold his nose instead.

At the moment when the guard let go, Francis rushed to Arthur and brought him into his safe, warm arms, hiding Arthur's head into his chest. He glared at the guard and Gilbert and Antonio were right behind him, both cracking their knuckles loudly. But they couldn't reach the guard in time before he grabbed Toris's hand and took him out of the room.

"NO!" yelled Francis, but immediately softened his voice when Arthur was startled by it.

"That guard took Toris just because he had tried protecting Arthur! That's unfair!" said Antonio, angry because another nation was taken right under their noses.

Francis sat back on the ground, holding Arthur in his arms. There was no way he would ever, ever give that guard back Arthur to him. Arthur was too precious and he absolutely could not be hurt again. If Arthur was forced into having it again, then Francis would blow up into an explosion.

But as he stroked the startled and frightened Arthur's hair, Francis began to become saddened by the other's appearance. Arthur's eyes were wide and alert with a crazy look in them, his hair was tangled, he was bruised up, and his clothes were torn up. Arthur looked like he was insane, though he is delirious right now, but Francis had no idea how to turn him back into his normal self. Maybe if they slept on it, it would work. And by they, Francis meant Arthur, because no way were they going to sleep at the same time. What if they took Arthur again? No way was Francis going to risk it.

Maybe this was a little selfish to think, but Francis was glad that Toris was taken. Well, not exactly glad, just a little happy that Toris was taken rather than Arthur. Inside him, Francis felt guilty for feeling happy, since Toris always helped him with Arthur and was nice and kind, but hey, rather Toris taken than Arthur. At least in his world he would prefer it.

Francis took another look at Arthur. "Mon amour, you should sleep right now. It would be good for you."

Arthur shook his head in a childish way, still delirious. Francis was still pissed and angry with Gilbert and Antonio, for managing to screw Arthur up like this (To self – do not use the word 'screw' and 'Arthur' in the same sentence, thought Francis).

"Come on Arthur, you'll make me happy," begged Francis, but that didn't work either against Arthur. "Please?"

Then Arthur had a thoughtful look on his face and said in a very childish voice, mispronouncing every R with a W. "Okay, but only if you tell me a story."

Since Francis saw this as the only way to win, he said, "Fine, but here, come sit on my lap." Arthur was originally smothered against Francis, but he had been frightened by the touching that he ended up lying next to Francis with the Frenchman stroking his hair. Arthur objected to that, but Francis didn't push it.

Francis decided to tell a Fairy Tale, because it seemed like something Arthur would enjoy, what with all that unicorn nonsense. "Here goes:

"Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a real princess, not just those fake ones who claimed to be princesses. He went all around the world to find a princess, but he would never get one. Sure, there were a lot of princesses, but he had no idea whether to believe if they were a real one. Every single one had something about them that was wrong. So he went home and was really sad because he wanted a real princess badly.

"On one night a horrible thunder storm came, and the rain poured down on everything. Then, a knock was heard at the city gate, and the old king got up to see who it could be.

"Right at the front of the gate there was a princess! You should have seen her how she looked like with all the rain and wind. The rain was everywhere on her, drenching her completely in water. But she said that she was a real princess.

"'Well, we'll soon find that out,' the old queen thought. Even though she had said nothing, she still went into the bed room, taking out all the bedding off the bedstead and laid a pea at the bottom. After that she took twenty mattresses and put them on top of the pea, and then twenty eider down beds on top of the mattresses.

"The princess had to lie on this all night. When she got up in the morning, she was asked how she had slept.

"'Oh, vey badly!' said the princess. 'I barely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in that bed, but there was something so hard that I'm bruised all over my body. It's awful!'

"Now they all knew that she was a real princess, since she had felt the pea right through twenty mattresses and twenty eider down beds.

"Only a real princess could be that sensitive.

"Then the prince married her, since he knew that she was a real princess; and that pea was taken into a museum, where it may be seen, as if no one has stolen it.

"Now that is a true story." Francis looked down at Arthur only to see that he was fast asleep with his head on his shoulder.

Hopefully Arthur will be normal by the time he's done sleeping, thought Francis. This Arthur is a handful to care for.

~ Hetalia! ~

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And have many wishes, to all of you! Oh, and yes, that story that Francis told Arthur is The Princess and the Pea.

See you all for another update next year!

~Aly208