Let's just say, the helicopter ride from New York City to Berlin, Germany? Not fun. That ride itself was about nine hours long, plus we had a layover in France. But once we got to Berlin, everyone was so relieved that we piled off that helicopter…

… and then we drove for another five hours. Imagine being packed into a small space with people you don't necessarily like for fourteen hours!

So now we sit in the back of this van-truck-hybrid thing and wait as we're driven to the safe house. Some Nazi descendant is in the driver's seat, and I think my brother recognizes him, because Feliciano freezes up between me and Ludwig whenever the driver looks through the rear-view mirror. I lean closer to him and whisper, "Feli… You okay?"

He doesn't answer. Just stays frozen.

Ludwig touches Feliciano's hand. "Liebling, go to sleep." My brother nods and closes his eyes, resting his head on the German's shoulder. Ludwig closes his eyes too and leans against the metal wall behind us. I look at Elizaveta, who spoke to Gilbert earlier and obviously knows where we're going. She glances my way and I meet her eyes, which are filled with ice and fear and dread. "What is this place?" I whisper.

Elizaveta looks at her lap and drums her fingers on the frying pan lying there. "You should get some sleep, too."

I hate not knowing things, so it's hard for me to fall asleep as I lean on Feliciano, but eventually I drift off.

The last thing I remember is wondering why the driver has golden eyes.

...

"Everybody out!" the driver shouts at the top of his lungs. "Ich meine es!"

My eyes fly open and I see that everyone is huddled around a corner of the car, frowning at a sleeping Vash. "What's going on?"

"Vash won't wake up," Kiku says simply, turning to me. "And he is lying very still."

That can't be good. I sit up and crawl over to everyone else. "We have to get out the car," I remind them as the driver begins to yell in perfect German.

"Can't you, like… carry him outside?" Feliks asks. "We can, like, totally wake him up then."

Everyone agrees, and Ivan carefully picks up Vash as we climb out of the opened door. He stays completely still the entire time. Ivan puts Vash down against a tree as the van speeds away. He still doesn't move. Roderich's voice catches in his throat. "Is he…?"

But none of us answer. Because we really don't know.

Until he starts muttering. "I-Italy… Get off of my lawn…"

Everyone sighs simultaneously. Vash is only a heavy sleeper. But we have to wake him up. Tino takes a few steps forward and pokes him. "Vash? It's time to wake up and… uh… patrol the border!"

"Oh, that is pathetic!" Gilbert scoffs. "You'll never wake him up like that!" He smirks at us, then kneels next to Vash and yells in his ear: "HEY! YOU'RE MISSING THE YAOI!"

I've known Kiku long enough to know what that word means, and so has mostly everyone else, so we open our mouths to tell him to shut up. But Gilbert gets silent on his own as Vash, eyes still closed, pulls out a Walther PPK gun and holds it to the Prussian's head. Vash's eyes flutter open. Everyone takes a step back. "Whoa!"Alfred shouts. "Dude, chill!"

"Holy shizer, Vash!" Gilbert says through gritted teeth, sitting completely still. "But the gun away!"

"You could have let me sleep," the Swiss man replies simply.

I take a small step forward. When Vash doesn't react, I kneel in front of him. "Listen to me. You don't want them thinking you're the one responsible for all this, do you?"

He frowns. "I could never do that much damage."

I scoff lightly. "You're holding a gun to your ally's head."

Vash considers this, then slowly lowers his gun. Gilbert jumps up and runs to stand by his brother, both looking horror-stricken. The gun drops to the ground and I pick it up, holding it away from Vash, who only repeats, "You could have let me sleep."

"But we're here," I reply. The others snap out of their surprised states and look over to their right, remembering the reason we came. Vash looks in the same direction, only the focus is to his left. I follow his gaze…

… and find myself staring at the largest building I have ever seen.

It's huge; about seven stories tall and each story several hundred feet high and wide. The building would take up a whole street-block if we were in the city and not in the middle of the country. A gate surrounds the building—with space between it and the front door for fieldwork—with a metal net on top, charged with electricity, creating a permanent cage around the camp. We can't stop staring. "It's so…" Yao whispers, tilting his head as he searches for a word, " … tall, aru."

Gilbert nods, smirking like he's done all day. "And there's ten more floors underground."

Still, we can't respond. Peter is the first to break the silence. "Well, let's go, desu yo!" He runs forward toward the gate, his speed stopping us from running after him. But Ludwig snaps into action when he hears the familiar buzz of the gate. He runs, faster than Peter, and grabs the boy's waist, pulling him away from the metal he'd been mere inches away from.

"Nein!" Ludwig snarls, turning the boy to face him. "That side of the gate alone has six thousand volts of electricity flowing through it. You know what happens if you touch it?" Peter shakes his head, so Ludwig leans down and whispers, "You touch that gate, and 'roasted twelve-year-old sailor boy' is our dinner's main course."

Peter gulps. "So what do I do?"

Ludwig pokes Peter's forehead, something I've seen him do to Feliciano many times. "Don't touch it." He turns to us. "Here's what you do. None of you touch this gate, ever. If you need to leave, you flip that switch," he says, pointing to a small black box hanging next to the front door. "That switch starts a forty-second timer, and until the time runs out, the gates will turn off."

Gilbert nods and steps forward, pulling a small credit card-like object out of his uniform pocket. "This is the key to the gate," he announces, showing it to us. The two brothers motion us over and we go to stand closer to the buzzing gate. Since I'm closer to it, I can see there's another box, much like the switch, only this one has a thin slit. Gilbert points to it. "Ya see that? Watch this awesome magic. You slide the key—" he shows us, swiping it in credit card action— "and wait three seconds!"

Literally three seconds later, the gate's buzz gets silent and Gilbert opens the gate's entrance without hesitation. He leans against the open "door" and continues, "As long as this door is open, the gate is off. So you don't have to rush and worry about the electricity."

"Just take your time," Ludwig adds.

Gilbert nods, but frowns impatiently at us. "But seriously, hurry up. We haven't got all day!" He cracks a smile and enthusiasm takes over everyone, and they run through the gate into the yard—into their safety. I walk through the gate but hand behind and watch them. So many people run around, jump on each other's backs, the younger ones even fall on the dusty ground and stare up adoringly at the sky.

Ludwig closes the gate behind me—since Gilbert had run off when Elizaveta began to chase him with her frying pan—and the gate turns back on. Even though my back is turned to him, I can practically see him cross his arms. "Look at them all… So happy, so carefree. As if they've forgotten why they're even here!"

I shake my head and watch Katyusha sit behind Emma on the dirt, braiding her short blond hair. "No. They haven't forgotten." Gilbert attacks Antonio in a hug and Francis joins in soon after, causing all three to fall to the ground in laughter. "They're just enjoying the safety, while they still can."

"Lovino… This place can't keep them safe forever."

I clutch Vash's gun tighter in my hand. "But I can."

...

It takes a few minutes to round everyone up and bring them inside. Gilbert unlocks the front door using another key, promising to give us all copies eventually. Eduard comments at how bad of an idea that is, glancing especially at Feliciano, Feliks, Natalia, and Ivan. Gilbert nods, and everyone goes off to explore the main room, which as a wall-sized television and an open doorway leading to a restaurant-sized kitchen.

It's ridiculously large and near-impossible to describe, so use your imagination and visualize a theater-sized living room. I glance at the barred, one-way bulletproof window and see that the sun is beginning to set. So I clap my hands and everyone starts to surround me, paying close attention.

"Listen up," I announce. "Tomorrow we decide on how we will train. But tonight, we rest. Ludwig, how many bedrooms are there?"

"Eleven," he answers automatically. "Seven two-person, three three-person, and a single one-person. The other rooms have been altered into different things. But the single is the nicest—it has the most space."

"Lovino should get the singre bedroom," Kiku pipes up. "He's the one in charge, after all." Everyone agrees, and although I don't want to be seen as "in charge," I also don't want to disagree with them. So I hesitantly take the lonely room.

"So that leaves ten rooms," I add. "Three triples, seven doubles. That adds up to… twenty-three people. Perfect." That's how many we have, not including me.

"Do we get roommates?" Peter asks enthusiastically. "I call Raivis, desu yo!" He bounces over to the young Latvian and grabs his hand. Raivis smiles timidly.

But apparently Eduard doesn't agree with this idea, because he walks up to the two children and places a hand on Raivis' shoulder. "You two will try and sneak out if you don't have a guardian." He looks at Ludwig. "We'll take a triple."

"So will we," Tino says, gesturing to Berwald and Lukas with a smile.

"And Gilbert, Kiku, and I will too," Ludwig nods, "so one of us can control security at night and there will still be two people in a room."

Gilbert gives his brother a huge thumbs-up. "All right. Everyone, pair up!"

It's not total chaos or anything, but I can tell how many things will go wrong. For example, Feli runs over to hug and pair up with Feliks. Roderich and Vash glance at each other, since they stand together, and nod simply. And I see the most troublesome pair of all team up: Antonio and Francis.

Other than that, it's not so bad. Alfred jumps to pair with Arthur, and Yao goes with Ivan. When Natalia sees this, she glares at Yao and settles with her sister. Elizaveta grabs Emma's arm, and soon everyone has a roommate.

Except me.

I would have chosen Matthew.

...

I'll be nice and translate. XD

Ich meine es! : "I mean it!"