A/N: Hey all! Another week has just flown by, in my opinion! I'm forecasting a relatively relaxed weekend for me! Also, it tried to snow in England, but didn't quite manage to successfully do it... It was snowing a lot in Norway, though! Hope everyone (who experienced snow) made the most of it, because it was about a centimetre thick for me and was gone by the time I left school...

Without further ado, the next chapter of Gakutalia!

A.K.

He was squashed in between Peter and Ivan in the back, whilst Francis remained in the front with some kind of chauffeur.

"Francis, what are you doing here?" Arthur asked, alarmed.

"I was on my way to the meeting point, when I saw that car trying to run you and Peter down," he explained. "We needed to get the car round, whence our late arrival. What was going on? I didn't know you had mobsters chasing after you, Arthur."

"Honestly? I have no idea," he sighed in response. "They wanted information, but I don't know what kind. As far as I'm concerned, my family's not involved with anything."

"I've been informed that some shady characters have been in the area," Francis said. "I'm usually one of the first to know, since I could be used for monetary blackmail. However, I'd have never expected them to come after the three of you."

"Thanks," Arthur said drily, but then glanced to the side. "He seemed to know you, though, Ivan. Have you met him before?"

"Never in my life," Ivan swallowed. "However, I'm definitely bringing this up to my dad. I like to think he's not making enemies with gangs and whatever…"

"Maybe our parents have both wronged the Mafia," Arthur joked, and Ivan returned his smile. "We'd have to go into hiding in some miserable little island in a cold place like Scotland and become shepherds."

"It needs to be a place with no internet, as well," Ivan replied. "Peter would have to come, and probably Francis, too, since they've seen too much."

"This isn't funny," Francis said seriously. "Ils sont dangereux! They could easily make you disappear."

"What do you suggest we do, then?" Arthur rolled his eyes. "Take up arms against them?"

Francis threw his hands up in frustration. "I don't know! You need to hide yourselves, that's what! Or find protection from someone."

The car suddenly swerved to the side and Francis sat bolt upright and faced forward. The Hummer had appeared out of nowhere, and was tailing the Maybach closely.

"Merde…" Francis hissed under his breath. "Can you go any faster? Can you keep going for much longer?"

The chauffeur nodded, and accelerated the car considerably further. However, the Hummer remained close, never out of sight. In the rear mirror, England saw the window of the passenger seat start rolling down.

"They're doing something," he said, and Francis glanced over his shoulder.

"Everyone duck!" he cried.

Rather than argue, Arthur threw his head down, just as a loud cracking filled his ears. Shards of glass sprinkled across his back and head, but also showered the front of the car. The front mirror exploded into broken glass, spilling into the front seats as the Maybach continued along its path. The chauffeur drove on, remaining completely still, and seemed unaffected. Arthur was slightly awed that Francis was expert in some situation like this.

"They're shooting at us!" Peter wailed, unable to fight back further tears.

"It'll be fine, Peter," Arthur tried a smile, but he really wasn't sure what their survival chances were.

The Maybach took a swift turn down a narrow street designed only for walking. They bumped, jostled and even scraped the sides of the car, taking one of the side mirrors off. It was evident that there was little concern for money in Francis' family, considering the car alone cost nearly nine-hundred grand. The scraped and battered Maybach Landaulet crawled out of the pedestrian street, and turned, ruined, into yet another open street.

"If you can just keep it up a little longer," Francis urged, and his chauffeur nodded.

"Do you have something planned or something?" Arthur stressed.

"I don't know," Francis glanced over his shoulder, hair whipping around from the wind that now reached them. "It depends if we survive or not…"

"It's one of those plans, then," Arthur sighed. "I really hope we live to see it."

"I'm so scared," Peter burst out crying. "I don't want to die."

Arthur looked at his brother in pity, and then ruffled his hair awkwardly. "You're not going to."

Just then, Ivan's phone began to ring.

"Oh, it's Alfred," he said, and answered it.

A.J.

"Took you long enough to answer," Alfred ranted. "Where the Hell are you guys? You're so late even Matthew left."

"Hmm, I think you should go without us…" Ivan sounded uncertain.

"What the… dude, what?" Alfred gawked down the phone. "Is there any reason for your excessive lateness, or are you just gonna do a no show?"

"It's not that," Ivan protested. "It's more like the forty per cent – no? Thirty? Lower? OK, the twenty-five per cent chance of survival we've got at the moment."

"What are you going on about?" Alfred frowned. "The longer you take, the less chance you have of surviving, that's all you need to know. Now, get your asses to the place where we're meeting the Axis Chocolates. You've wasted enough of our time, and it's nearing five minutes past, which is so close to their final final deadline."

"Alfred, I don't care what you're going to do," Ivan said. "I'm concerned about the car chase I'm currently in, da?"

"What?" Alfred blinked and laughed. "Nice, dude, but if you're going to make excuses for being late, at least try to be believable."

"Oh, I'm being serious," Ivan said. "We're being chased down by a bunch of mobsters in a Hummer, and I can tell you, their guns are not something I want to face right now."

"You're saying 'we'," Alfred pursed his lips. "Who's with you?"

"Francis, Arthur and Peter," Ivan replied.

"Should've known," he sighed irritably. "Well, you know what, guys? Thanks. Thanks for ruining our chances of winning."

Alfred held the phone away from his ear and hung up.

"Whoa! What's going on, aru?" Yao asked.

"Bunch of assholes – pissing around and then making up a lot of bullshit," Alfred muttered. "Let's just go… Might as well be man enough to be there for our defeat…"

I.B.

"He hung up," Ivan said, unimpressed. "Oh, well, I have bigger things on my plate right now – like living."

"Just leave Alfred to his own," Arthur said. "He'll be mad over nothing and then get over it."

"I thought he'd believe me," Ivan admitted. "I thought he loved all that conspiracy shit?"

"He usually does," Francis replied. "Perhaps he's stressed because he'll lose for sure, now?"

There was another gunshot from behind, but no bullets reached their car. In terror, all in the Maybach ducked or lowered their heads enough to remain safe. There was another gunshot, but the chauffeur had opted for driving in a curved line – this second bullet missed the car.

There was a third gunshot, but once more, the bullet missed completely.

"One of you take a quick look to see if they're gaining," the chauffeur mumbled.

Ivan raised his head briefly, but ducked quickly when he heard another bullet. The Hummer was gaining on them, and was much closer than he'd thought. There was a stinging on his cheek. He touched his face and found it hot from where the bullet had lightly brushed against his skin. He wiped his trembling hand on his jeans with a grimace, but the adrenaline pumping through his body stopped him shutting down in fear.

"No more of that," the chauffeur decided, seeing him in the rear mirror.

In one swift movement, the chauffeur spun the wheel of the Maybach, turning the car around completely. The Hummer skidded and veered to the side, crashing through a fence and hitting a tree. It stopped clumsily whilst the Maybach sped away down the road, once again successful of outmanoeuvring the Hummer. Francis wore an anxious expression on his face as the chauffer calmly drove on. Ivan wiped the blood from the minor wound, but glanced and saw Peter staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"It's OK," he smiled.

"See? Ivan's fine, so we'll be fine," Arthur wiped his brother's tears away gently, clearly concerned for his brother's life.

There was a terrifying roaring of an engine behind them. Ivan dared to look at the rear view mirror, and saw the Hummer furiously powering towards them as they entered another main road, deserted for the night. The chauffeur skilfully turned the Maybach with no effort, but the awesome speed of the Hummer eradicated their chance of using any more tactical movements – they'd only cause a car crash that the Hummer, being the bigger vehicle, would survive from.

"What are they doing now?" Francis looked horrified as the Hummer began to speed after them.

It rammed the back of the Maybach, forcing the boot to dent and crumple. Another hit sprung the boot open.

"They're breaking us up!" Ivan cried.

Just then, a police siren sounded.

"Police?" Arthur frowned. "Wait, Francis – you called the police?"

"Yes," Francis looked relieved. "Thankfully, they're here."

The police car, smaller than the other two, could move faster, and did so, rounding up towards the Hummer. The menacing black car insisted on going faster at this stage, until it ended up sandwiched between the police car and the Maybach. With vicious power, the Hummer's driver swerved the vehicle to the side, connecting with the side of the Maybach and sending them spiralling off in the other direction. The chauffeur struggled to keep control of the car as the Hummer sped off out of sight.

Rather than try and keep driving, the chauffeur allowed the car to reach a stop. They sat there in silence. Nobody said a word.

Y.W.

"Looks like we win, you bastards!" the older guy jeered, juggling their candy buckets in his arms. "No candy, no party – losers."

"C'mon, Lovino," Fel smiled. "Let's be a little nicer?"

"Fuck no," Lovino answered. "We won this fair and square as well! We didn't even need to cheat!"

"Yeah, well, whatever," Alfred rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't want to go to your lame party anyway…"

"Total lie," Lovino pulled faces at them. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked in the first place! Most of your members bailed out in fear of the amazing Lovino Vargas. You suck, bastard losers."

"OK, can you stop now?" Yao scowled.

"Suck, suck, suckers!" Lovino continued.

"Well, we're leaving," Ludwig mumbled. "I'd say good game, but I don't think it went very well for you."

"No," Alfred replied sourly.

Kiku flashed Yao a slight smile that he interpreted as 'I won, and you lost, but neither of us will speak due to our past and our natures, therefore, this smile is a token of my boasting'.

He watched the others turn and walk away before facing Alfred. "That was miserable."

"Too right it was," Alfred whined. "Let's just go the fuck home."

"I agree," Yao sighed. "What a waste of my time!"

A.K.

They sat in the police office, miserable, cold, tired and desperate to go home. There had been no serious injuries – they were extremely lucky. He and Ivan had just undergone extreme police questioning, and whilst Francis was going through his turn, the pair of them were trying to cheer up Peter.

"This has been the worst day of my life," the boy sobbed. "Not only have I lost a little competition, as well as all my candy, we all nearly died!"

"It's fine, Peter," Arthur tried to soothe him. "We're all alive, and everything's fine."

"Eh, I gotta return this to Alfred," Ivan looked at the hockey mask in his hands. "He was super pissed at me, and I don't think my responses helped."

Peter swallowed, but continued to look miserable. The mobsters had escaped, and none of them had so far been able to provide sufficient details or how they were involved. All they'd earned was police protection, which Arthur thought was really good, considering his situation.

"Look, try not to be too disheartened," Arthur said to his brother as Ivan chose to call his father and explain where he was. "Here."

He stood and approached a vending machine. He used some of the coins he had to pay for a bag of chocolate buttons, which he brought back to his brother.

"Cheer up – we got through today, and we'll get through tomorrow," he promised his brother. "Have these."

Peter sniffed. "For me?"

"Of course," Arthur sat beside him, just as Ivan returned sighing.

"My dad will be here soon," he explained. "What about you guys? You want a lift?"

"Eh, I'm sure-"

"I insist," Ivan smiled. "Take a lift."

"Well, OK, then," Arthur said, just as he received a nudge in his side.

He turned his head and saw Peter offering a button towards him. He allowed his mouth to turn upwards as he took it, and watched Peter do the same to his friend, sharing the buttons around.

They were alive, and that was what mattered. It wasn't important that they'd lost a competition, and it definitely wasn't important that they couldn't go to some party none of them had ever been particularly riled by. It only mattered that they had lived through that ordeal, and it even made sense when Francis told them to "keep quiet" about it.

Arthur was just glad to put it all in the past, and he was just as glad that Peter was fine…

A/N: I love heart-warming ends, and I hope everyone else loves them, too! Thank you very much for reading Gakutalia and hopefully everyone liked it! If you want, leave a comment because I love hearing what people have to say! Until next time!

Peter Kirkland: Sealand
Matthew Jones: Canada
Lovino Vargas: Romano