"Hey, Mattie, you hear that noise?" Allen glanced away from Matthew for a moment, cocking his head as he tried to listen to the sound that had apparently come from below. The sleeping Canadian lifted his head off the desk and yawned.
"...What...?" Matthew followed Allen's eyes and looked at the trap door. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, it's just they had been locked up for a very long time at that point. He had heard the sound Allen was referring to, though. "It sounded like someone crying, maybe?" He wiped the sleep from his eyes.
"Yeah..." Allen stood up and got on the floor next to the door, and put his ear to it. There was no doubt about it, someone was sobbing about something. He just wasn't quite sure what or who.
Matthew followed, but stayed standing. "You don't think Oliver got a hold of anyone else, do you?" He rubbed his neck nervously. If Oliver had found Alfred... no, he couldn't think like that. He shook the thought out of his head.
"Hold up... they're getting closer-"
A sudden burst of wailing and random french curse-words made them both jump.
"Allen, what-"
"Listen to me, Matthieu! You will let me up there or I will- I will... I will do something very bad to you!"
"It's Francois." Allen pushed his ear harder onto the cracks.
"Yeah, I can hear him now... What happened to him?"
"He sounds like a fucking drama queen..." Allen smirked, but then he sat up slowly, looking at Matthew. "You don't think Oliver..."
"But Papa is still in my world. I hope at least..." Matthew gulped and knelt down to to listen.
Allen stared at Matthew for a second more, realizing how worried he must have been. Then he looked back down at the trap door, below which the yelling had not ceased.
"-Why won't you answer me, you imbécile? I am talking to you!"
"Now he really sounds like he's crying." Matthew commented. If Francis really had learned about the 2ps existence, what did Francois's behavior say about Francis? What did Francis hate about himself so much that it manifested itself inside Francois? So far, all Matthew could gather was Francois had been reduced to a whiny cry baby who was trying desperately to get at Allen and himself. He racked his brain trying to remember anything that might give him an idea of what they had to expect.
Allen apparently had the same idea. "So uh, Mattie, you have any idea what exactly this guy will be like?"
"Well..." He hesitated. Francis liked his secrets, and he usually covered up any negative emotions as best he could. But Matthew knew his Papa well enough to know that one of his worst fears was hurting the people important to him. And there was also the whole 'losing wars' thing.
Allen again watched Matthew intently as he thought it over. He continued to listen downstairs.
"Matthieu, please! Just say something to me? I want to 'ear your voice..."
But of course Matthieu did not respond.
"You 'ave to say something! What 'appened to you?"
Looking back up, Allen saw that Matthew was now listening as well to Francois. And he had tears welling up in his eyes.
"Mattie? What is it?" He was shocked.
Matthew wiped his eyes. "Oh, it's nothing... sorry..."
Allen put his hand over Matthew's. "There's something. What's wrong?"
"It's just... He seems so worried about Matthieu. I wonder if Papa's that worried about me."
"Why wouldn't he be?" Allen smiled softly. "C'mon, Mattie. I'm sure if Francis knows, he's doing everything he can to find you. And Arthur, too." Then he had an idea. "Y'know what, I'll bet those two old guys are together right now. They might've even taken care of Oliver already."
He knew Allen was tying to make him feel better, but Matthew was still nervous, and the way Francois was acting didn't help. It mostly had to do with the whole fact that the others were trying to kill their respective 2ps, which upset him a great deal. Sure Oliver was evil in every aspect, but Matthieu and Francois, and especially Allen, weren't really. Matthieu followed orders without showing any form of expression, which meant he could do some terrible things, but Matthew didn't think he could actually kill him for it. Those actions were the same things that he most hated about himself. He couldn't condemn someone else for his own shortcomings.
And Francois, he seemed so worried about his family. Yeah, his loyalties most likely lied with Oliver, but that was family still. Even Oliver, with his sadistic attitude and world domination complex, only acted that way because he didn't have any other choice.
Matthew wasn't sure what he even thought anymore. Sometimes he hated being a nation, having to make decisions based on protecting his people and not based on what he felt was right. But it was what it was, regardless. Taking a deep breath, he spoke to Allen.
"How do you feel about me having to kill Matthieu?"
"Wait, what?"
Matthew was about to explain himself when he realized the silence from below. They both stopped talking, and listened. As they leaned lower, they could just barely make out what Francois was saying.
"Fine, be like that. See if I care. I just wanted to 'elp. We need to discuss 'ow we're going to deal with these countries. Before they deal with us."
ABOOT FUCKING SHIT. It took me like... 10 days to update. That almost constitutes a hiatus, I think.
I am so sorry though, and there really is no excuse. I've written different versions of this chapter over the past couple days, or else I would've updated maybe 4 days ago, but before that I just couldn't stop working on a new concept for a fanfic I just started laying the rails for. I got an idea in my head and stuff has just been exploding from my brain for it. So instead of writers block it's more like an avalanche blocked a road that this fanfic uses... yeah I don't usually do metaphors.
Anyway, I'm back now, and hopefully won't be disappearing anytime soon!
Thanks as always for reading and reviewing and following and favoriting! It really means the world to me when people do. Also, thanks for not giving up on me when I just stopped updating out of the blue... I *promise* it won't happen again.
