A/N: Since I love you guys and since I wanted this up, I present you with chapter 13!
Arthur and Alfred sat together in silence, both lost in thought and struggling to stay awake after their exhausting day.
Alfred wondered who those five blonde strangers had been and what they had to do with the experiment. One of the doctors had called them successes, but what did that mean? Were they the people created with harvested genetic material?
His memory of the events that had happened before they escaped was choppy. Why hadn't they been shot at? How had they gotten past the gates? How did they reach this forest if Alfred had never seen any trees outside? He turned to ask Alfred when he heard something in the bushes.
The heavy breathing of something not human sounded and Alfred heard growling.
"WAKE UP YOU GUYS!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping to his feet. Ivan immediately stood up and grabbed Yao while Gilbert did the same to Francis and Matthew quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
They heard gunshots in the distance and screaming.
"LUDWIG!" they heard Feliciano's voice and didn't look at each other before scattering in different directions. Toris ran after Ivan and Yao one way, Matthew ran after Gilbert and Francis in another, and Alfred followed Arthur a third way.
They ran farther and farther into the forest, trying to be as silent as possible. They couldn't be found. They just couldn't! Eventually, after maybe an hour of running, they stopped. Sweat coated them and soaked through their clothes, making them shiver from the cool night air as their bodies cooled down. They knew that they couldn't stop, so they started again, walking this time.
Alfred and Arthur eventually reached a clearing and stopped in fear and nervousness. In the clearing stood two of the five strangers from before; one was tall with blonde hair and cold blue eyes, a scary aura similar to Ivan's surrounded him. He was dressed in jeans tucked into black boots and a black jacket and wore glasses. The other man was shorter than the first, with light blonde hair and purple eyes. He was also wearing jeans, black boots, and a black jacket.
"Who are you?" Arthur asked, stepping forward and breaking the silence. The two strangers looked at each other and Alfred couldn't help but start making comparisons. The first man's eyes and hair color reminded him very much of Ludwig, and he was about as tall as Ivan with the same scary aura. The smaller man's body was similar to Matthew's, with the same purple eyes. He was about 70% sure that they weren't normal people.
Neither of the strangers answered and Alfred wondered if they could even talk.
"I am Tino." the shorter one finally said, the syllables rolling off his tongue uncertainly.
"Hello Tino, my name is Alfred." Alfred said, flashing Tino as smile. Tino blinked before smiling at Alfred.
"Why are you out here?" Alfred asked, Arthur looked at him incredulously, wondering why Alfred was asking that particular question.
"We were ordered to capture you and bring you back." Tino replied.
"Alfred-" Arthur hissed. Alfred shook his head and motioned for Arthur to stay quiet, and Arthur looked on, confused.
"Do you like being ordered and told what to do?" Alfred asked. Tino looked confused and looked at the taller, still unnamed, man in confusion. The other man just shrugged at him.
"What do you mean?" Tino asked.
"Tell me, do you really want to bring us back there? Answer me. If you really truly do want to capture us, I will let you take me without a fight."
"Alfred! You can't be serious!" Arthur shouted.
"I'm 100 percent serious, Arthur," Alfred replied calmly. "I am a hero, right?"
"You idiot! I am not staying around for you to get us captured!" Arthur spun around and fled the clearing. Alfred looked after him; watched Arthur's back leaving him in the dark, and fought back memories that threatened to overcome him.
"So, what do you say? I just destroyed any positive relationship I could'a had with him, so what's gonna happen now? Are the pair of you ready to cart me back?" Alfred asked Tino and the other man.
Tino looked at Alfred and his companion nervously, unsure what to say. Perhaps he had never been trained with how to deal with this kind of situation? Finally, he looked at Alfred with a look in his eyes that could only be apologetic before stepping toward Alfred and pulling out what looked to be a pair of handcuffs.
As Arthur ran, he cursed at Alfred's stupidity. There was no way he would return for the idiot if he did get captured. What was he thinking, trying to get them to switch sides! There was no way that would work! Alfred was probably being dragged through the forest back to the facility, blood dripping from gunshot wounds. The thought made him stop his suddenly in his running, his heart beginning to hurt at the thought of Alfred, the one who almost always smiled regardless of the circumstance, pale and hurt, possibly even dead. The thought brought him more memories similar to the one from just a few hours ago when he ran after a young Alfred through the woods.
When he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, England jumped to his feet and hurried out of his house. He had to get to America as fast as possible. His heart was torn with concern for America and how the war would be affected by the attack, and bitterness knowing that Japan, his friend Japan, was responsible for this.
He used a way of travel particular to the Nations, opening a door in empty space and walking out in America's bedroom. He couldn't help but blush at where the door had opened for he had only thought of getting to wherever America was and realized how embarrassing it would have been had America been in the bathroom…he forced the thought out of his head and hurried to America's bedside.
"America! I heard about the attack! Are you okay?" England said, seeing America lying in his bed, his face pale.
"England, what are you doing here? Why are you worried about me? I'm the hero, remember? And you've been through worse than this. Hell, I've been through worse than this! So yeah, I'm fine. Just a little-" he winced a bit as he forced himself to his up, "sore."
England looked at him for a moment before a fond smile found itself on his face. "You idiot." he said, though there was no ill intention behind those words. What had made him react that way? Of course he knew that America had been through worse. And he himself was also in pain at the moment, from constantly fighting off attacks from Germany. The only idiot there was him.
Arthur looked around, ashamed that he had zoned out like that. That kind of thing would get him captured and he couldn't allow that to happen. He had to find the others. He had to organize them. Then they would all make a plan and get out of here with no more casualties. They had to think strategically. But a part of him couldn't help but wonder what had happened after the event in his provided memories and why he had felt so worried for the idiot once upon a time.
He started running again, listening for any sound that could lead him to some of the others.
"Gilbert, please tell me again why we are in a tree." Matthew asked, looking at Gilbert who was trying to carefully balance the injured Francis on a few tree branches.
"This way the dogs can't get us, obviously." Gilbert replied.
"So in order to escape the dogs, you want it to become easier to shoot us? Francis is injured, we're all in a tree. Personally, I'd rather brave the dogs then wait up here for someone to come shoot us." Matthew said with surprising forwardness. He was usually so quiet and just let things happen, but he really didn't want to die. Especially since he was pretty sure that he had already died before this and the first time hadn't been very fun.
"Fine, if you can't appreciate the awesomeness of my plan, then leave." Gilbert said, turning away from Matthew.
"What? I'm not going out into this mess by myself!" Matthew exclaimed.
"Then you are just gonna have to deal with my plan." Gilbert said smugly. Matthew groaned and leaned back against the trunk of the tree, looking at Francis worriedly for he hadn't made any sound in at least half an hour. Matthew noticed three people walk under their tree.
All three of them had blonde hair. One was taller than the other, his blonde hair was spiky and he wore jeans tucked into black boots and a zipped up black jacket, the same outfit as the other. One of the others had light blonde hair with an odd curl much like Feliciano's sticking out of it. The last had white hair.
"Man, this is so fucking stupid. I don't want to do this. Why do we have to do this? Don't you feel sorry for these guys we're looking for?" the tall on whine. The one with the odd curl sighed.
"Matthias, you have been complained about this the entire time we've been here. You know very well why we have to do this."
"Put I'm tiiiiiired. Can't we at least take a break? We can sit under that tree. Come on Magnus, please. Please please please! For just a little bit. I'm so tiiiired."
"Fine, if it makes you shut up!" the shorter one, Magnus, snapped. The tall one, Matthias, made a noise of happiness and loudly plopped down onto the ground just below their tree. Neither Gilbert nor Matthew dared to move.
The one with white hair looked around before sitting down as well and Magnus joined them soon after.
At that moment, when everything was silent in the forest, was the moment Francis decided to make some kind of noise. He groaned in pain and mumbled something in his pain-induced sleep, causing three pairs of eyes to look up at the people hiding in a tree.
Ivan and Toris walked in silence, Toris cringing at the scary aura around Ivan. Ivan carried Yao carefully, trying to make as little movement as possible. The bite in Yao's leg left him unable to walk and very much in pain. Thankfully, the blood had stopped, but the sleeve of Ivan's jacket that they had tied the wound with was soaked through with blood. It was too easy for the dogs to follow them this way.
Ivan's mind was rushing through ideas. He could leave Yao and save himself, but he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had to bear Yao's death on his shoulders. He already bore his sisters. No, his only option was to untie it and leave it hanging somewhere to distract any dogs in the area towards the seemingly unmoving target.
"Toris, can you untie the rag off of Yao's leg?" Ivan asked, looking at the quiet man. Toris shivered under Ivan's gaze and nodded, taking hold of the parts of what used to be Ivan's sleeve that weren't soaked in blood and untying it. He seemed to understand what Ivan wanted and tied the rag tightly onto a branch before hurrying after Ivan.
Ivan stopped and Toris walked into his back. Ivan looked behind him at Toris and frowned with disapproval before walking a few steps forward. He looked to his left over the bushes that grew there and saw familiar blonde hair.
"Arthur?"
"Ivan! I'm so glad I'm found you!" Toris and Ivan heard Arthur say, and then they heard footsteps muffled by the forest floor. The bush rustled and Arthur emerged on their side, a few scratches from the bush and some leaves stuck to him, a twig sticking out of his hair.
"What happened? Where's Alfred?" Ivan asked.
"I don't know. I left him when we ran into two strangers. I think that he's been captured." Arthur answered.
"That is worrisome. How do we rescue him?" Ivan said.
"We don't, we find the others. I know that a while ago I heard Feliciano and he was with Ludwig then. I'm guessing that everyone else is there too. Gilbert, Matthew, and Francis are most likely together; I believe that they ran in the same direction earlier. So everyone appears to be safe except for Alfred."
"We are not rescuing Alfred?"
"What's more important? Your life and freedom or Alfreds?"
A/N: So what do you guys think? There was supposed to be more to the first part with Alfred, Tino, and Berwald, but I decided to cut it short so it all doesn't happen to quickly.
For people that are confused about how they got outside and stuff, it will all be explained later and I will provide you with flashbacks, which were provided in the last chapter, for you to put the pieces togethor and try to figure it out.
So, I have some questions for you:
What should Berwald do in the first part? Does he stop Tino because he wants free will or does he take Alfred back to the facility?
Do Matthew and Gilbert get shot at or do they get found by Arthur, Ivan, Yao, and Toris just in the nick or time?
What do you think of Norway's name (Magnus) and what should Iceland's name be?
What choice should Ivan make.
Though I have idea's for most of this, I want to know my reader's opinions because they are important to me.
Also, there are some awesome readers of mine that deserve mention and they are Nekoirma, JxxXCara-JoXxxK, 18dustyrose, and Funky Bracelet Chick who make writing this fanfic awesome. So I thought I would mention them.
Now how about some reviews? I makes me very happy when I get reviews! There are some readers that I haven't heard from in a while. Did you guys lose interest?