Thanks to ToolboxHDR, Mondmaedchen, Zaaze, Youngbountygirl, Kattie, Olivia Kirkland, Elizaveta Hedervary – Hungary, StuffyJinx, ScandinavianTrash and 2 anons for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 20

The weekend had gone by quietly. Matthew's mother and Lovino's grandfather had allowed them to stay at Vlad's house. Megan had told her son that Officer Kirkland had come by, and that the atmosphere there was tense. It would be a lot safer for Matthew to stay with his friend for a while.

But Alice Kirkland had called them to inform them that she could no longer cover for them with a sick note. Unless something happened during that week that confirmed that they would need to be excused again. But there was also the risk of them being hospitalised due to being sick so much. So they would have to endure the week, and hope that things didn't go horribly wrong.

But when could things ever be that easy?

…

Vlad and Matthew were aware of the eyes staring at them during homeroom. They had already heard some of the new rumours that had been circulating due to their absence, but they were trying hard to ignore them. If they didn't respond to them, then eventually they would simmer down.

They knew that Feliks and Lovino would more than likely be suffering from the same thing. They would also be accompanied by stares in their own classroom, and they would also have the ambient sounds of the rumours in the background.

The two were aware of the empty seats in their classroom. And they couldn't help but feel the guilt like a punch in the gut. They knew that they were the ones responsible for the empty seats. That they were the ones guilty for killing their classmates. That at least some of what the rumours were saying was true.

But they couldn't say that. They couldn't acknowledge their guilt. They couldn't share their pains with anyone else. Only six people knew the truth, and four of them were the reason why all of that was happening.

…

Feliks and Lovino didn't have the same problems that their friends were suffering from. They still had the stares and the rumours, but when they looked at the empty seats, they didn't have the same amount of guilt that their other two friends were bothered with.

If anything, they felt relieved at the sight of the empty seats.

Feliks would often glance at Lovino out of the corner of his eye. He knew that he wouldn't be able to bring an end to it until Lovino had killed again. Until his friend had tainted his soul again.

He didn't want them to suffer. Only six of them were left now, after all. Six more empty seats just waiting to happen.

…

Lovino was on his way to his next class when he felt someone grab his arm. He panicked, pulling away from the person that grabbed him, ready to run at a moment's notice, and for a moment he almost did. Those green eyes and tanned skin…

He relaxed, however, when he saw brown hair pulled in a low ponytail. It wasn't Antonio.

It was Miguel.

"What do you want?" Lovino growled.

"Easy," Miguel said, holding his hands up. "They've really fucked you up lately, haven't they?"

"Not just me."

"Right. I heard about it from Arthur's dad. I'm really sorry about Antonio."

Lovino averted his eyes.

"You're not the one that should be apologising," Lovino said.

"I know. But listen: Antonio's on the warpath. And I think the others are on the same path. So I suggest you and your friends be careful, alright?"

Lovino nodded his head. Miguel gave a small smile before he walked away, going towards his own class. Lovino's eyes darted around, and he shuddered when he realised that Antonio was watching him. Glaring at him.

He needed to get away. He needed to get to safety.

…

"Where the hell are you?" Alfred growled.

Matthew was crouched on one of the toilets. He had seen Alfred making a beeline for him and had ducked into the nearest bathroom, hiding in one of the stalls. But he knew that it was only a matter of time before Alfred found him. And he knew that what would come would be more than horrible.

Matthew had his hands clasped over his mouth, and he gasped in horror when the stall flew open. Alfred was glaring at him, but it looked as though Alfred was looking through him. And soon enough, his brother turned away to throw open the next door.

Matthew was confused, but he didn't dare to be relieved. He didn't want to tempt fate. He didn't move until Alfred had left the bathroom.

What just happened?

"I said it before," Death said. "Invisibility."

Matthew's eyes widened, and he felt grateful to the demon. While he didn't like the fact that they were killing, at least the demons were protecting them.

"No matter what, I am on your side."

And Matthew believed him.

Slowly, the teen left his refuge and approached the mirror. It was true. He didn't have a reflection.

He was invisible.

…

Feliks gasped in pain as someone dragged him by his hair. The hand that gripped him was large, and could only belong to one person.

Feliks was pushed against the wall. He had to hold in a whimper when he looked into Ivan's eyes. There was no smile on his face for once. With the smile he only looked creepy. Without it, however, he looked completely menacing.

"Hello, little Feliks," Ivan said. "So, I heard you went to the police."

"Th-they c-came to us," Feliks said. "P-please…"

"You made my sister upset. She was really sad. I can't let you get away with it."

Feliks's eyes widened when he felt Ivan's fist connect with his stomach. Another punch connected with his chest. He was bracing himself for the third punch when someone placed a hand on Ivan's arm.

Ivan turned his attention to the person that interfered. He released Feliks when he saw his sister staring at him.

"Katyusha," Ivan said.

"Don't," Miss Braginskaya said.

Ivan threw one last look towards Feliks before he stalked off. Katyusha Braginskaya turned to Feliks with a sad smile.

"Would you like to go to the nurse's office?" Katyusha asked.

Feliks nodded his head, and with Miss Braginskaya's escort he made his way to the familiar office, where he knew he would be safe.

…

Vlad gasped as he was pushed to the wall, and he could see a familiar head of blond hair storming away. At least Mathias didn't make things worse.

"You alright?"

Vlad turned to see Lukas, and he hastily nodded his head.

"Someone's upset," Vlad said.

"He didn't like the fact that Arthur's dad came to speak to him," Lukas said.

Vlad nodded his head in understanding.

"Any luck yet?" Vlad asked.

"No," Lukas said. "Nothing so far." Lukas yawned. "I personally hope that we can find something soon. I'm losing too much sleep over this."

"I hope that everything would end soon. I've really had enough of all of this."

"You came here to attend the best school in the world. But so far, it's been nothing but hell."

Vlad nodded his head.

"Exactly," he said.

…

Lunch couldn't come fast enough. The four were at their table, and they could see all of their tormentors at another table. Most of them were glaring. None of them were smiling.

It didn't bode well for them.

"So, Ponytail Jerk told me that Tomato Bastard is on the warpath," Lovino said. "Looks like he's not the only one."

"No kidding," Feliks said, rubbing his stomach. "Like, Ivan was actually violent."

"You mean he isn't usually?" Vlad asked in surprise.

"I know it's surprising, considering his bulk," Matthew said. "But Ivan achieves more through threatening than through violence. An implied threat is enough."

"But, like, when he does get violent," Feliks said, "he can totally do a lot of damage."

"Alfred chased me into one of the bathrooms," Matthew said. "If it wasn't for Death…"

"What did he do?" Vlad asked.

"Alfred or Death?"

"The demon."

"He made me invisible," Matthew said, smiling slightly. "He protected me from Alfred."

"It's seriously fucked up," Lovino said. "Needing to be protected from your own brother."

"At least your brothers are harmless."

"They're idiots. Feli more so than Cello."

"Like, I wouldn't call them 'idiots'," Feliks said. "They're just totally too nice for their own good."

"What do you think they're going to do?" Vlad asked, looking at a certain table.

"Let's just get through the day," Matthew said. "And we need to hope that nothing else happens."

…

"We need to do something about them," Mathias said, glaring at the four.

"I'm in so much trouble with my parents," Alfred said. "I'm grounded. I can't go anywhere after school. And it's all Matt's fault."

"At least you could get Matvey after school," Ivan said.

"Nope. My mom told him that it would be best if he stayed at the vampire's house."

"Too bad," Natalia said. "You won't get to have any fun with us."

"So, you planning something?"

"Not yet," Ivan said. "We need to wait for a while. The police are keeping an eye on them. Why else would they be interested in what happens to them?"

"Why are they interested in the first place?"

"Where's Gilbert?" Mathias asked. "He could have told us what's going on."

"Where is he?" Natalia asked, looking towards Antonio and Francis.

The two had been quiet the entire time. Antonio was fuming in rage, and Francis… Francis looked as though he didn't get a lot of sleep. But both shook their heads.

"We couldn't get in touch with him at all," Antonio said. "It's like he just… disappeared."

"Do you think they did anything?" Alfred asked.

"Non," Francis said. "I think… After Lizzie died, Gilbert was… He wasn't himself. He was almost desperate. I think that… another possibility might exist."

"And that would be?"

Francis sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It might be suicide," Francis said.

The others were quiet for a moment.

"It's all their faults," Alfred spat.

"I don't see how it can be," Francis said. "She died by natural means."

"There's nothing natural about it," Antonio said. "They did something. I know it."

"Has it ever occurred to you that we're the ones ruining their lives?" Francis snapped. "That for us to blame everything bad that happened to us on them is just…"

"Dude, what's gotten into you?" Alfred asked.

"The officer was right. We've gone too far."

"And when did you decide this?"

"We forgot about Lizzie's camera. It was still at my place, and the officer found it. If we do anything else to them, then it will only make things worse for us."

"…Did he see the photos?" Alfred asked.

Francis nodded.

"Every time she was involved, she would take a picture," Francis said. "She said that she didn't want to forget it. That they were some of her fondest memories. But with those photos… the least we could hope for is expulsion."

"So, we're screwed," Mathias said, paling slightly. "We could always bullshit our way out of those messes. But with those pictures…"

"We're dead," Antonio said.

They were all silenced. None of them could argue against that. They all knew that whatever they did would only make things worse for them. And most of them were thinking that, since they were screwed anyway, they might as well leave all reservations behind.

However, Francis was looking towards the table that their four victims called their own. It had been empty the last two days of the previous week, but now it played host to its owners again.

He had been thinking about it all weekend. And he realised that they had been treating those four unfairly for a long time. That what they did was nothing short of cruel. Francis had always seen it as them having fun, and that their victims were blowing things out of proportion. That they were being little children for acting the way they acted.

But when he saw the expression on the officer's face… the look of pure disgust, he realised that what they were doing wasn't the simple fun that he had thought they were. That Lovino was right.

They were bastards.

And Francis was aware of everything that had happened lately. That everyone that had been killed were among those that liked to torture the four. That it was how the police had learned of the bullying.

Francis didn't believe that they were the ones responsible for the murders. The murders were too brutal. They weren't the ones that tortured other students. They didn't even have the strength to do that.

Allen, Carlos and Sadiq had all been murdered. Elizaveta had died of an aneurysm. Gilbert and Kyo were missing… It didn't make sense for them to do things methodically. And if they were responsible for the deaths, then why would Kyo and Gilbert be missing?

Francis had taken the time to do a little research over the weekend. Things involving 'murder' and 'bullying'. One of the possibilities was that the bullies could take things too far and end up killing their victims, even accidentally. And looking around at his 'friends', Francis couldn't help but think that that was something that could happen very easily. Another possibility was that the victims could snap. That they could snap and start a killing spree, and people would mourn the loss of the victims in the shooting (or any other possibility for the spree), ignoring the fact that the shooter was a victim as well. That the shooter would have to face punishment for standing up for himself the only way he knew how.

Nothing about the four being behind the murders made sense. If they did snap, then they would have done it all at once. They wouldn't have done it over the span of a week. And as for Vlad… He hadn't been around long enough to reach that level of snapping. And for all these rumours, and all of them blaming those four for everything…

It was misplaced. There was no reason to think something like that. But in the end, it was just another way to hurt them.

And Francis has had enough of it.

He saw Vlad leaving the table, and decided to go after him.

"I'll be back in a while," Francis said, before he darted away, going after the Romanian student.

He knew that the others were aware of where he was going, and who he was going after. But they wouldn't interfere. Francis knew what they were thinking, and it disgusted him that that was the first logical conclusion that they would reach.

It was the first conclusion that everyone made.

Francis was aware of all the eyes fixed on him. Part of him wanted someone to try to stop him. He was disgusted by the fact that no one was trying.

He found Vlad in the bathroom. The police had finished there, and it was open for the students again.

Vlad turned to the door and froze. Francis could feel his stomach drop slightly when he saw Vlad's reaction.

"Don't worry," Francis said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why don't I believe that?" Vlad snapped.

Francis sighed, averting his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Francis said.

"For what?" Vlad demanded.

"For… everything I've done to you. I'm sorry."

Vlad was silent for a moment, but then his face hardened.

"'Sorry'?" Vlad repeated. "After everything you've made us go through, you think that a 'sorry' could fix everything? I had just gotten here. New school, new town, new country. And already, I was marked as a target. You got a little upset because I defended the only people I've met so far, other than Alfred. The people who were nice to me. You humiliated me, you attacked my house, you attacked me at my house. The one place that was supposed to be safe for me, and you took it away from me. You all took it away from me. You think that a 'sorry' can fix things? When did that start, anyway? When the police started questioning you? Are you so desperate to save yourself? You think that you can apologise and we can forgive you and you wouldn't have to worry about the consequences?"

Francis wanted to feel angry, but he could see the pain in the Romanian's eyes. Pain that he was responsible for. Vlad was right. He, Antonio and Gilbert had gotten a little upset at the Romanian when he first arrived, and when Alfred had called to arrange for them to prank the new Romanian student, they were the ones that suggested to go farther than the normal pranks.

Francis was responsible for more pain than even Vlad seemed to realise.

"We went too far, and I'm sorry," Francis said.

"'Too far'?" Vlad repeated. "Why? Why did you even do it in the first place? Was it some sick thrill?"

Francis averted his eyes.

"I… I don't even know why I did all those things," Francis admitted.

"Get out," Vlad said. "Leave me alone!"

Francis was quiet for a moment before he nodded. He had to leave. He didn't want to distress the other teen more than he already was.

And so he left the bathroom, and he faltered when he saw the other three hovering nearby, waiting for a chance to interfere. Francis turned away, going in the opposite direction of the cafeteria. He wanted to apologise to them as well, but if Vlad, the person that they had hurt the least, wouldn't accept the apology, then why would the ones they had hurt for a long time accept that apology?

…

Vlad was gripping the sink, his knuckles white. He didn't know what to feel.

The door opened again, and he glanced towards it. He was relieved to see his friends there.

"Are you alright?" Matthew asked. "What happened?"

Vlad pursed his lips together, unsure of what to say. Finally he sighed.

"Francis apologised," Vlad said.

So, Francis is sorry, but the damage has been done. It's a bit late, and it would take more than just a word of apology to fix things.

A lot of bullies aren't aware of the amount of damage they cause. They think that it's some sort of joke. Others are just so arrogant, and when their egos are damaged they lash out at the ones they see as inferior. They also like to remind those people that they're 'inferior'. Then there are those that lash out due to a bad home environment, or they could be the victims of bullying themselves. None of it is excusable, though.

This entire chapter was written while watching 13 Reasons Why. A group of people unaware of how much damage they caused until someone killed themselves… And when they're made aware, they would do anything in their power to hide the truth. I read the book two years ago, and when I saw that there's a series of it now… I'm not someone that gets excited too easily, but that was a definite exception.