Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.


Mathias's P.O.V .


The expression on Lukas's face when he looked at his phone was one I had never seen before. It was one I didn't think Lukas was capable of. He actually looked frightened.

"Who is it?" I asked, though I got no response.

Lukas sighed and then answered the call, though he looked reluctant about doing it. "Hello?"

The conversation went on for about five minutes with the caller speaking most of the time, while Lukas merely answered with one word replies of confirmation every so often. Because of this lack of speaking from his side, I had no idea what they were talking about, or who it was on the other line.

I waited silently, though with impatience, as Lukas finished the almost one sided call. When he finally said his goodbye, he slowly brought the phone down from his ear and gave a long sigh.

"So, what was that all about?"

Lukas didn't respond right away, instead he just stood there silently, as if he were debating about what he should say. I waited a bit longer, though still with the same impatience as before, and finally after a few quiet moments, Lukas answered.

"It's about time I told you everything, isn't it?"

I looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? What haven't you told me?"

Lukas just grabbed a chair and sat down, motioning for me to do so as well.

"That call was from my boss, Natalie Braginsky." Lukas said calmly, as soon as I had sat down. "She was giving me orders for a large robbery tomorrow."

Natalie Braginsky? Why did that name sound familiar?

"Mathias? Are you listening?"

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and turned my attention back to Lukas. "Yeah, it's just that that name rings a bell, but I can't remember where I heard it."

"She's the owner of Braginsky Coffee."

That's where I heard it! It was way at the beginning of the whole case when I was researching this company that Lukas was part of. But why was the owner blackmailing him and the others?

"I remember reading that on the company's website," I said. "But why is she blackmailing you? What did you guys do?"

Lukas hung his head and looked down at the floor. "To be honest, nothing really. It was all a matter of power."

A matter of power? What did that mean?

"It's complicated, and a bit crazy, but I'll try to explain." Lukas continued. "Before Natalie took over, her brother Ivan was head of the company. The reason Natalie is the current owner is because her brother died after suffering from a terminal illness for a few months."

I recalled reading that on their website, but apparently the website didn't want to publicize Ivan's cause of death.

"You know, I read about that, but it said that he died of unknown causes." I inquired, as I was pretty confused with the new information that seemed to contradict what I thought I already knew.

Lukas smirked. "That's Natalie's doing. She didn't want anyone to know why he died."

"Why?"

"Because then she wouldn't be able to blackmail us." Lukas said, though I think it just made me more confused. Luckily, Lukas noticed my bewilderment and began to elaborate.

"During Ivan's last couple months, the company was losing money rapidly. Natalie knew this, and she wasn't in any way going to let the company go bankrupt. So, she was willing to build her company back up illegally, using us to hide her tracks."

I was right this whole time. Lukas was never at fault for this, it was all because of this crazy Natalie lady! She was the one responsible for putting Lukas through all of this. But, how was she able to get him to do it?

"You're probably wondering how she forced me." Lukas said, as if reading my mind.

I nodded and he continued. "Well, Natalie is not an idiot. She knew perfectly well that me and the others would never consent to resorting to illegal means of obtaining money. So, she decided to frame us for her brother's death in order to blackmail us into robbing banks for her."

The nerve of that woman! I was ready to kill her. How dare she blackmail Lukas for something he didn't even do!

"So that's why she didn't confirm his cause of death?" I asked, quickly putting the pieces together.

Lukas nodded. "She told us that she made all the fake evidence that we murdered him, and if we disagreed to follow her orders, she would bring a case against us to the police. We obviously complied, for her evidence looked too real."

The more Lukas told me, the more angry I got. I seriously wanted to strangle her, make her pay for everything she put Lukas through. I was so caught up in my anger, I didn't even realize that I was allowing it to show.

"Mathias, are you alright?" Lukas asked concerned.

I probably should have taken a moment to just calm down, but my impulsive nature got the better of me. "No, I'm not alright! I'm pissed, Lukas! I'm going to arrest this psycho for you! Tell me where I can find her!"

"Mathias," Lukas said, trying to calm me down. "just hold on a second. You're not thinking rationally right now."

But I didn't hear him because I was too focused on the matter at hand. "No, Lukas. I can't let this go on anymore. I simply won't allow it. You're not going to rob that bank tomorrow."

"Mathias, listen to me for a minute." Lukas said sternly. My logic was beginning to come back and I slowly began to remember what I had just said. "As of now, there isn't much that can be done. The police are going to arrest me any day now, it's obvious their patience is running out, and I'm sorry, Mathias, but I'm afraid you won't be able to hold them off much longer. Also, Natalie is going to be at the bank tomorrow, so it's pretty important that I do this. And if I get caught, then so be it. It's going to happen eventually."

Was Lukas right? Was the game impossible to win at this point? Surely there had to be some secret move that I could pull to get us out of this, right?

Maybe not. What could I do? Lukas was right about the police, I didn't even imagine that Berwald would be able to wait this long, but there was no way he'd be able to pull it off much longer.

But wait, Lukas said that Natalie would be at the bank tomorrow. What if I were able to somehow expose her to the police? Maybe it wasn't over just yet.

But just before I could come up with a plan, there was a knock at the front door. Lukas and I both gave each other a look before Lukas went to open it. When he did, my eyes widened in surprise when I saw who it was at the door, and Lukas and I both, and I emphasize the both, shouted simultaneously,

"Tino?!"