Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been ages T_T… I've been so busy lately… My bad, but don't worry the new chapter is a little longer to make up! Thanks for the all the reviews and favouritings! I'm honoured, really I am *blush* In this chapter Francis' sends a text… the phrase he uses is similar to 'home sweet home'… there isn't an exact translated phrase… you'll know it when you see it. Hope you enjoy… as I'm busy at the mo, the updates will take longer, but don't worry! The story will be finished for sure! I guarantee it!
Veneziano was giggling as he stood on the platform at Gard du Nord station. "Woow! Ludwig! It's so cool Don't you think it's cool?"He had thoroughly enjoyed his sleep in the comfy hotel, the cushy flight that had been booked for them and then their ride to the train station. He didn't usually get things done so efficiently, so he usually ended up having to settle with economy class, having Ludwig around sure was handy…
Ludwig on the other hand had been through the most horrible night and trip of his life. But for once, it wasn't Italy that had made it thoroughly unenjoyable.
All the night previous, Ludwig couldn't sleep, he was lying wide awake, almost unmoving, trying to block out the sound of the voice he had heard in his head, but it kept repeating over and over and over, indefatigable and tireless, it's sheer persistence had made Ludwig uneasy. Although it's spiel wasn't particularly persuasive, the sheer monotony and constant noise had been difficult to ignore, and for the whole time, Italy was lying asleep with it under his pillow… The whole night… Why under his pillow? Well, uncharacteristically, his logic had been fairly sound:
'If it's under my head….then I'll know if you try to grab it… so I can stop you.'
Ludwig would hate to admit it, but this was indeed a godsend. The whole trip would have been unbearable had it not been for Veneziano's talking… and even with it, sometimes it was difficult to block out the incessant noise… the tempting and the whispering. He hoped that Arthur would get their soon, because he didn't know how much more he could bare.
"Oh…look it's…errr….that…guy….what's his name?" Veneziano waved at the man he recognised, but whispered to Ludwig in something of a side whisper.
"It's Matthew…Matthew Williams…Canada." Ludwig sighed heavily, he still had the energy to be appalled. "How can you not know who he is? He's in the G8 for goodness sake."
"He's…not very memorable…"
"Oh…. Hi guys…" Matthew said from a distance, with his usual, fairly chilled out demeanour. He walked over to them slowly, carrying just one holdall bag… he travelled light, hoping he wouldn't be there for too long. "How are things?"
"Things are greattttttttt." Veneziano smiled.
"Oh Shut up." Ludwig snapped. "Things arenotgreat at all. Arthur and the others are on their way here now… they should arrive fairly soon… are you aware of the situation?"
"Well Alfred told me a lot of things from his perspective… but I'm thinking that a more neutral account wouldn't go amiss right now… most of the crucially important details were kind of sketchy." Matthew replied.
He was similar looking to his brother Alfred, his hair was slightly longer and waved at the bottom, it did this naturally, because there was no way that Matthew would ever be bothered to do something like that himself. He was a chilled out type of guy, but he certainly wasn't a poser… that reminded him too much of Francis… and he really didn't want to turn out like Francis. He looked a little worse for wear due to his hectic travel plans, he had only got to Paris about an hour ago, and had been standing at the platforms for the trains ever since. Hoping to see a nation he recognised.
"That sounds like Alfred." Ludwig murmured. "It reminds of another person who isn't a million miles away right now." His eyes drifted over to where Veneziano was standing, he was of course oblivious to this and looking at a magazine stand. "12:50… they should be here soon…" He looked at his watch anxiously, as if the concept of them being late was unsettling to him.
"I got a text from Francis not too long ago… I think they'll get here in the next ten minutes."Matthew said, he check his phone and there was a new message.
From: Francis
qu'onestbienchezsoi!
"They're definitely back on French soil…" Matthew said, with a smile on his face.
"Hey…Ludwig! Can I run to the time board and look at when the next train from London is?" Veneziano asked.
"AS IF YOU NEED MY PERMISSION!" Ludwig said. "Of course you can!"
"Veeeeeee…."
Ludwig could just tellthat Veneziano was probably trying to run as fast as he possibly could to get there... and 'have a race' with a train, It was one of those typically childish things that he would do.
Matthew smiled. "Quite the bundle of energy?"
"No…not usually… just when he feels like it." Ludwig said. "When I was trying to get him out of bed he wasn't a bundle of energy… or anything even close to that."
They both looked not 100 yards away, and they could see him bent over double, wheezing.
"Ahh that's more like it." Ludwig said, sighing hopelessly. "This has been the status quo for quite some time… he's useless and then I go and sort it out…it's funny… but I don't really…mind so much."
By the end of the comment Ludwig seemed to be smiling fondly, something that caused Matthew to laugh quietly to himself.
"And the further away he is with that damn dagger the better…" Ludwig mumbled.
"Oh…so it's here then? And Veneziano has it?" Matthew asked, and seemed slightly relieved. "At least someone we know has got it… say… can it affect other nations too?"
Ludwig, in a moment of weakness shrugged. "I don't know… I haven't felt anything bad from it." He didn't even know why he lied, it was as if he would feel weak, admitting it had caused him problems. But something about his delivery didn't leave Matthew entirely convinced.
"Are you sure bro?" Matthew said casually. "You look a little stress-"
"THEY SHOULD BE HERE IN ABOUT 4 MINUTES!" Veneziano interrupted. "I'm definitely not looking forward to it, as it will probably involve lots of scary things, but it does mean that we'll get to see Francis and the others again! That's got to count for something?"
"Hmmm." Ludwig responded. Oh it would certainly count for something, high blood pressure and stress, and that was probably all.
The four minutes passed with Matthew and Veneziano engaging in idle chatter whilst Ludwig clock watched, almost paranoid that the train would be late. Veneziano didn't really understand why Ludwig had probably gotten so stressed out about the time, but he also didn't care enough himself to enquire on it.
Just then, Matthew's ears pricked as he heard the dulcet tones of a familiar American coming off the train at the nearest terminal.
…
"The sun can always be shining inside of you Arthur!" The American chimed in cheerfully, taking a bite of his sandwich. "You just gotta act more upbeat! Then people will want to be your friend!"
"You see Alfred… it's comments like that which make me respect even less than I already do." Arthur added, shaking his head. "Anyway… I thought that society dictated that you thanked someone when they did you a favour?"
"I could care less-" Alfred started and Arthur was quickly cut in.
"No Alfred! You couldn'tcareless! 'I could care less' means you have to care to a certain degree-"
"It's irony man-" Alfred answered.
Arthur wore a facial expression that suggested he might bang his head against the hardest wall he could find. "Irony has an 'r' in it Alfred… I implore that you use it- It's irony as in 'ron' not as in 'iron'"
"Oh yeah! Well when you're drunk nearly all the damn letters go! Dropping 'h's' dropping 'g's'… "
They both stopped their arguing when they saw Matthew watching, rather confused and mildly amused, Alfred wasn't the terrified wreck he had been on the phone, he seemed pretty normal.
"Oh Mattie it's you! THANK GOD!" Alfred hugged Matthew in a typically ouvert and public fashion that made all the passengers around them make noises of approval, and cause Arthur to feel nauseous… thank goodness Kiku wasn't there, he may have been sick all over the platform by the disturbing public display of affection. "I've missed you so much, man, like, I don't even know…"
Matthew smiled weakly as he was smothered by his brother's cuddles and compliments, he was also wondering where on earth they had all come from so suddenly (the compliments and the cuddles that is). Perhaps it was the sheer joy of seeing Matthew, but more than likely, it was the sheer relief of not having to spend his day filled with criticisms from nations who were old (and also weaker) than him. "…Err…thanks…Alfred…can you get off me so I can… breath and stuff?"
"Oh yeah! Sorry about that… I'm just so happy to see you…and otherpeople…any…otherpeople." This suggested to Matthew that his trip on the train with Francis, Arthur and Gilbert was less than perfect. Matthew also knew that Alfred had deliberately left to statement open ended, just so then Matthew would ask 'whyAlfred?Howwasyourtrip?Whatdoyoumean?' It was a pretty poor gambit, but Alfred had used it many times to prove a point in the past.
"Care to elaborate?" Matthew asked (as predicted).
"WELL ACTUALLY!" Arthur butted in. "ALFRED HAD A LITTLE TURN ON THE TRAIN… DIDN'T YOU ALFRED?"
"Err…well…" Alfred looked devastated that Arthur had gotten to answer first. "Yeah…"
"He had a little bit of 'dagger obsession' moment… and I had to put him to sleep… Didn'tIAlfred?" Arthur added with a smirk.
At this point, Francis turned to talk to Veneziano (as he couldn't stand it when Arthur bragged, it was the only thing worse than listening to Arthur do…anything else), and Gilbert smirked at his brother, who was stood, almost like a statue at the ridiculous sight that was before him… His older brother… trying to look fashionable. It seemed that despite the impending doom that was about to ensue, Gilbert wanted to look so cool that he decided to drop into 'Topman'… Gilbert winced, who was Gilbert kidding? Those trousers were horrible... and shades… at Christmas?
Alfred seemed annoyed that Arthur had managed to one up on him and tried to fight back with a cheerful comment. "Yeah…But I feel all better now! Even though I can feel that it's pretty close…" His eyes drifted over to Veneziano who was talking in an almost constant buzz to Francis. For just a moment Alfred had a very dark look in his eyes. Arthur instantly ribbed him in the side so hard that he was left winded. He knew that the others weren't paying attention, only Matthew and Alfred were listening to him.
"Now now Alfred… it's a bit soon to be developing obsessive tendencies for something you only held for sheer moments!" He teased, but then his voice became flat and deadly serious. It was barely above a whisper, but very audible to both Matthew and Alfred. "Leer at Veneziano like that again and I'll do much more than put you to sleep… And no Alfred… I'm not talking to you… I'm talking to that thing… inside you." He ended the comment with a very bizarre smile, that genuinely frightened both Alfred and Matthew.
"Anyway… let's not hang around here, we have important business to take care of! Gilbert! If you'd be so kind as to hold my bag-"
Suddenly, a group of young ladies walked past the group of nations and then took root not too far away from where they were standing, all of them speaking fluently in French. Arthur knew that Francis and Veneziano were already preparing some European chat up line to get their numbers and let out a sigh. "Come on let's not-"
Francis had already made his approach like a hawk swooping down on the group of mice. He'd done his typical moves, swept his hair back, swaggered over and pretended he didn't have a lighter, so that one of them would offer him one. Veneziano had already mentioned that he was lost… and Italian… and a bit hopeless and was wondering if one of the 'beautiful ladies' could help him find his way to the nearest toilets. Arthur, Ludwig, Gilbert and even Matthew and Alfred despaired at the lameness of their chat up lines.
"Youmustbethegreatestthiefeverbecauseyoujuststolemyheartaway." Was the first offending article courtesy of Francis.
"IfIhadastarforeverytimeyoumademesmileI'dhavethewholenightsskyinthepalmofmyhand." Was the second from Veneziano.
"Do you know French?" Alfred asked Arthur suddenly, he too seemed to be blushing at the appearance of the well endowed and rather attractive women. "Coz… could you figure out how to say…Isyourdadanalien?… becauseyou'reoutofthisworld."
"ALFRED… WHAT THE HELL? WHAT GIRLS WOULD FALL FOR A LINE LIKE THAT… AND WHY ARE ALIENS ALWAYS INVOLVED?" Matthew gasped incredulously.
"Fluent actually." Arthur replied brightly, he then switched to French. "After FRANCIS left YOUR BROTHER I had to become fluent in order to communicate with him…"
"YOU'VE STOLEN FRENCH A FEW TIMES OF ME AS WELL MON AMI." Francis shouted back, causing the ladies around him to giggle, despite the fact they had no idea what Arthur and him were talking about.
"I THINK THAT FORCING FRENCH UPON A NATION IS DIFFERENT THAN STEALING YOU ARROGANT-" Arthur shouted back, but then checked himself, remembering what country he was in… He was in France… speaking French had to be avoided at all costs, so he could be an annoying English tourist. He reverted back to English. "I'm sorry Alfred… it's terribly rude us talking in a language you can't understand." He said leering at Francis implying, he should have some more consideration.
"It's alright you were just doing it to show off… probably compensating for how lacking you are in so many other geographical factors." Alfred smiled.
Arthur cursed furiously at Alfred's well meaning comment which had gone awry, as they often did.
"Do… you think we should go over there? Where the girls are?" Alfred said with a glint in his eyes.
Arthur shrugged, already knowing the outcome of any attempt he made to flirt with someone. "I don't believe it will make a huge amount of difference to me anyway."
Alfred walked over, clearly brimming with excitement, it was quite obvious that he was up for any competition, even ones that didn't involve a show of strength. "I'm Alfred… and he's Arthur but you can call him Arty!" Alfred said brightly presenting himself to the group of ladies. "I'm sorry… I don't speak French but-"
"I'm Francis Bonnefoy… and you can call me… anytime…" Francis said, kissing a lady's hand causing her to swoon and all of her friends to crowd around him. "Alfred mon ami… it doesn't matter if you can't speak French…so long as you speak the language of romance…If you can speak the language of romance that's all you'll need for your time in Paris."
Alfred smiled positively at this statement. "Maybe I will be able to manage in France then."
"Show off... seems your fluent in the language of bullshit, Francis" Arthur said folding his arms, looking quite flustered. He looked at the group of 'haripes' as he put it, who appeared to be laughing at him and pointing at his eyebrows, he sighed maligned. "Excuse me… is something the matter?" Arthur snarked abruptly.
"No." one of the women answered.
"Ignore him," Francis said with a cruel curl in his lips. "He is English after all…"
"Oh yeah… now that you mention it… he has the… weirdEnglish speakers French accent." The women smirked as Francis began to whispered rapidly, Arthur couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but saw the explosive reaction of the women wooping in hysterics. Arthur scowled and crossed his arms. And surprisingly enough Canada received a great deal of attention, Arthur took this as a personal blow, even Canadawas getting attention?
"Awww! You're hair! It's so soft!" One girl said, caressing it fondly. Matthew blushed.
"Oh… thank you!" he said sincerely, surprised that people weren't ignoring him.
"Oh? You speak French so well! I'm surprised… your friends have something of a… lilt with their accents…" She looked over to Gilbert, who had decided to join in, but had the worst French she'd ever heard
"But yours is perfect-" One of the women exclaimed but added the second half in something of a slight, Matthew was always amazed at how Francis in general seemed to permeate through the people of France, her disdain for English speakers was quite obvious.
Francis smiled at Francis. "My word! Such a refined group of women! I feel like we might have met before… in my dreams!"
"After all… he's probably shagged half of you already and you couldn't remember… chloroform often has that effect."
That comment didn't go down too well. Arthur continued to ignore the women after this.
"Oh yeah… I'm from Canada… so-" Matthew continued, ignoring Arthur and Francis' little spat.
"REALLY? My auntie lives in Canada…" One women said.
"I love Canada! I go every year! It's my favourite country ever!" Another remarked,
Matthew's life had now been made. Anything that happened from this point onward didn't matter, quite frankly if the world did end of the end of the week then at least he knew… that he was popular... somewhere… He savoured the moment.
"I'm glad it isn't just me-" Arthur started, sounding relieved and referring to Ludwig, until he saw the German being flirted with (not both ways of course, as Ludwig was hopeless in these situations, and couldn't possibly flirt with such a… floozy of a woman… but it was something)… so it was in fact just Arthur who was alone.
"I kind of knew that already." England said, with a smirk that concealed deep disappointment. "It's fine I hate people anyway." His over compensatory laugh made everyone stare at him. He looked away and scowled, envious at the attention. He then proceeded to sit and wait for the sea of cooing women to leave.
"What… does Arthur already have a girl at home? Maybe he has a ship in the port already?" Alfred said, trying to make the situation a little less embarrassing for Arthur.
"If he has a port… then it's been waiting so long that the pier has collapsed and no one can dock." Gilbert quipped, causing Francis to woot in hysterics.
Arthur continued to ignore the crowd of women and decided to get the newspaper, it didn't matter that it was written in French, it had to be more interesting than watching Francis and a swarm and women marvelling at his amazing good looks (yes Francis was marvelling at his own good looks too). Besides, so long as the paper was big enough to cover his face that was fine.
Not that Arthur thought he was good looking either. He had always been reminded by all of his relatives and even France of what a scruffy looking little punk he had been, unfortunately he'd never been able to make his appearance any less scruffy, even his hair rebelled against his scalp. So he stopped trying eventually. He had tried to persuade people in other ways, his intelligence, magical powers and riches. However, these had never really made anyone likehim any better.