Madianna- Ehehehehe, thanks for your review! :-D

ComedyMonarchy- I'll focus on York and Neddie soon. I want to get the trip started properly, first. :-)

YorkistGirl- Richard's not the only one who makes sense among this group of wild men. Benvolio does too!

Enjoy!

"Croissants- plain or chocolate?" Loki mused, a hand on his chin in thought. His face then lit up. "Chocolate, of course!"

He placed it on his tray, along with a banana and coffee, and sat down beside his brother at the table.

"Lovely breakfast, brother!" Thor chirped, stuffing a large piece of his own chocolate croissant in his mouth. "This place has really nice food!"

Loki smiled at his brother, amused, before taking a neat, tidy bite of his croissant. He nodded approvingly.

'It is nice, Thor. Very nice, indeed."

Just then, Sigyn came and sat down beside him. Loki grinned at her. "Good morning, my love!" he greeted. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you, Kitten. Though the other girls did not like your prank! Naughty boy!"

Loki laughed. "My dear, it was an artistic experiment!"

"Did you have to put blood on the wall?"

"Fake blood, dear. A mere illusion."

He took a bite out of his croissant again.

"Besides-" he continued, "it wasn't as if I did it on my own. Thor had a hand in it, too."

"Oi!" Thor yelled with a mouth full of food, spraying the contents all over his brother, "I did not! It was all you!"

Loki held up a hand to shield himself from his brother's flying crumbs. "Yes, thank you for that, Thor…" he sighed, wiping himself down. "Thank you for covering me in the contents of your mouth. I'm honoured."

He turned back to Sigyn. "You see what I have to put up with? Anyway, yes, I lied; Thor had nothing to do with it- I just like to see him get angry. Don't worry, Sigyn. I won't prank your room again. I'll prank Thor's bed instead…"

"I heard that!" Thor yelled again, spraying more crumbs. "And no, you won't prank my bed. I'll put my hammer on you while you're sleeping so that you can't get up- even for the bathroom- so there!"

"Whatever, Thor…"

"I will!"

"Sure…"

"I promise you, I will!"

"I'm trembling, Thor, I'm trembling…"

"Boys!" Sigyn interrupted, a hand on Loki's shoulder, "Stop fighting and eat your breakfast!"

"Yes, Mother…" the two princes replied, grinning.

As Thor finished his croissant, Loki winked at Sigyn and flicked his hand. The piece of croissant he had in his hand turned into a snake, but Thor didn't notice it until he placed it near his mouth. He let out a scream and leapt at Loki. However, he went straight through him, and Thor looked up, dazed and angry, to find the real Loki standing by the canteen door, waving and laughing at him. Thor let out a roar and leapt up and ran after him. Loki turned and ran up the stairs, his brother thundering behind him.

Sigyn looked around, confused, when she felt a hand on hers. She looked up to see Loki standing before her, a finger on his lips.

"Sshh…" he whispered. "The oaf will realise that's another illusion after 'I' lock him in the bathroom. He won't be getting out for a while…"

Sigyn opened her mouth to ask a question, but Loki placed a finger to her lips.

"Do not worry, my dear. He won't be in there too long. He has amazing strength, remember? Now. Let's eat our breakfast in peace while we still can."

He sat down and started to eat his breakfast, and Sigyn, too startled to say anything, complied.

While Loki was downstairs, his other roommates were still getting dressed. Harry had long been up, saying prayers, Thor was trapped in the bathroom- pounding to be let out- and Slim and Geoffrey just watched in surprise before opening the bathroom door. Thor sprawled out and grabbed Slim by the shoulders. "By Odin's Beard, Loki shall pay for this trickery!" he exclaimed, and he dashed out of the room and thundered down the stairs like an enraged beast set for the kill. Geoff and Slim exchanged glances at each other.

"I'm surprised that the door didn't break down," Geoff remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Thor's pretty pissed. Loki's gonna get it now," Slim chuckled, before turning round to see if George had stirred from sleep yet.

"I'm off downstairs for breakfast," Geoff said. "I'll see you soon."

"Sure," Slim replied, waiting for the door to click shut before he approached the sleeping teen, "I'll see you soon."

The door clicked shut. Slim went over and reached over with a hand to gently shake George awake when-

"I'm awake," George said, voice monotone and dry. "I'm already awake."

Slim pulled his hand away. "Oh. Well, how long have you been awake for?"

"God knows…"

"Are you coming down for breakfast?"

"No."

"But, George-"

"No."

"For God's sake, man, you have to eat somethin'! Look at you! You're gonna die if you don't stop this now!"

"I don't care."

"George!"

"If it means I can join my mother in heaven, meet the father that I've never met, see Lennie again, then I don't care."

"You've got to snap out of this, George! Your mother wouldn't want you to be grieving like this! She'd want you to live!"

"I don't care."

Slim sighed. He grabbed George by the arm and heaved him out of his bed. "I ain't leavin' until you decide to eat. You need food. Now."

George chuckled a bitter laugh. "Look whose actin like he's the boss."

He mimicked a salute. "Howdy, Sheriff. Howdy!"

Slim got down on his knees in front of him. He shook him by the shoulders.

"Come on, George. Snap out of it."

"What's the problem, officer?"

Slim slapped him around the face, hard.

"Snap out of it, George!" he exclaimed.

George placed a hand on the stinging bruise. He laughed. He laughed so much that he started to cough. His laughs soon turned to sobs and he collapsed on his side and brought up his knees to his chest, clutching them tightly as he sobbed into the carpet.

Slim patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, George. It's okay…"

"So, Warwick, what are we going to do today?" Richard asked as Warwick scribbled in a notepad.

"Well, the competition's not till the 23rd of August, and today's the 23rd of June, so for the next few days we'll just settle into the area and take it easy. You lot have been practising, have you not?"

Richard nodded. "Ever since last November, Sir, when you told us we were coming here."

"Then we don't need to rush. We shall rest for three or so days, and then get started with rehearsals."

"Sounds like a good plan, Sir."

"Right. First thing we'll do is going for a good stroll around the area. See the sights. Maybe even take a little detour into the countryside, perhaps? It's not that far away from here."

"I like the sound of it, but how will you keep Mercutio and Hal away from trouble? You know that Hal hates France."

"I'll make them stay out of trouble, that's what I'll do…"

"How?"

"Leave it up to me, Richard."

"Alright, Sir."

After going out for three hours seeing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame- where Hal grabbed a spear and tried to stab the French tour guide with it behind Warwick's back several times- they stopped for lunch in a local restaurant. Loki was able to trick Thor into eating sheep's brains, saying it was a rare type of chicken, whereas Kate was surprised to find that Hal actually liked garlic snails.

After paying for the bill, Warwick took the group of youths on a train to one of the cities located in the countryside outside of Paris.

The city was called 'Chartres'- known for its great cathedral. Harry loved the cathedral immensely.

The group set off on a trail walk in the forest- surrounded by trees and growing stormy skies. Hal and Mercutio skipped ahead, laughing and joking with each other, while George, Richard and Slim remained at the back.

As Richard and Slim chatted amongst themselves, George slugged along behind them, kicking a stone as he passed it. He didn't want to be here…

As he passed a tree, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye following him. When he turned around, whatever it was had gone.

When he turned around again, something hit him in the back of his head. George whirled around and saw that it was a piece of paper wrapped around a stone.

Bending over, he picked it up and unrolled the note.

It read:

You are not wanted here.

Go home.

Sincerely,

You Know Who.

George tore up the paper and threw it onto the floor. He threw the stone back into the bushes.

"Stupid kids!" he yelled. "Pick on someone from your own country!"

He then turned around and ran back towards the others as the rain began to hail down.

He didn't notice a figure, hair matted and growing wet, step out with the stone clenched tightly in its hand…

By the time the group got back to the hotel, it was chucking it down with rain and everyone was soaked to the bone. After changing their clothes and putting the dripping ones into the dryer to dry, everyone gathered in the crèche area to relax.

Hal and Mercutio were playing air hockey, Richard sat with Anne- reading together in the book area- Loki was playing chess with Sigyn- using magic to cheat, much to her annoyance- and Edward and Tudor were battling it out on the PS3.

Warwick was quietly reading with Isabel in the corner, Clarence was chatting to Edmund, Valmont and Thor, Kate and the other girls were also chatting to each other and Benvolio, Romeo, Geoff, Macbeth and Banquo were making bets on who would be caught sneaking out of their rooms first etc.

George and Slim were playing cards, Harry was praying and Edmund was watching as his brothers played or socialised with the others.

Soon, before they knew it, the time had come to sleep again. After saying goodnight to Warwick and each other, everyone retreated- absolutely shattered- to their respective rooms to rest. Even Mercutio was sleepy!

The night passed by quickly for everyone, but, as the moon shone high in the sky, and the storm continued to hail down blows of sheer strength to the ground, it soon grew to a grinding, sudden halt.

George shot up out of bed as something crashed through his window. Scrambling out of his covers, he bent down to see another stone wrapped in paper glinting in the moonlight on the floor.

He picked it up and read the note.

It read:

I don't find the waste and disrespect of my paper to be very amusing. I am not from this country; you of all people should know that.

If you continue to ignore these notes, I will take action.

Take my advice. Go home.

We won't want to see you hurt now, do we?

Sincerely,

You Know Who.

P.S: Keep your window open. We don't want the window to get smashed anymore, now, do we?

George turned pale. Who was this person? This nutcase? How did he find him? How did he know him?

He turned to the window opposite him, a hole smashed through the middle of it. As the lightning flashed, it lit up again. Slowly, George walked over to it, nothing there at all. He bent forward and closed it. Just then, the room submerged in darkness, and George could hear thuds on the roof.

Then silence.

CRASH!

A flash of lightning brilliantly lit up the room and as George looked around frantically in front of him for a light switch, he didn't notice someone hanging by their feet from the ceiling behind him- looking at him intently.

When George turned around, the figure disappeared.

When George turned around again, the figure hung down again, and as the teen turned again to face the surroundings behind him, the figure didn't move away.

"BOO!" it jeered, waving its hands around in front of George's face before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and swinging him out of the window.

George flew out of the window and into the cold, bitter, stormy air. As he started to fall back towards ground, a hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him up again, laughing in delight.

The figure swung George forward into the air and let go of his hand.

George was in mere inches of landing smack on the concrete before the hand pulled him up again.

"Let me go!" George howled. "Let me go!"

"What's the magic word?" the figure teased.

"Please!"

"Hmm… Okay!"

The figure let him go. George landed on his side, the wind knocked out of him.

The figure landed nimbly in front of him.

"Who are you?" George gasped.

"Your worst nightmare," the figure replied.

"How do you know me?"

"I've known you for a very, VERY long time."

"What's your name?"

"Tsk. You should know my name off by heart, George."

"Tell me your name!"

"I don't hear a magic word..."

"PLEASE!"

"Hmm… My name… is… nope, sorry, not going to tell you just yet!"

"NOT YET?! HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO TORMENT ME FOR?!"

"For the rest of your miserable life."

As George's vision blurred, the figure came over and placed two items in his hand.

"Here. You can let yourself in."

"Please… I need…a…doc…tor."

"Then you can get one yourself."

"Please! I need a doc…."

His grip on the figure's wrist loosened. His head rolled back and he lay still on the concrete ground. The figure sighed and rolled its eyes.

"So it looks like I'm going to have to everything myself. Again."

The figure bent over and picked George up before disappearing into the night.

When George awoke that morning, he was back in his own bed. He looked around. The others were all asleep. The sun was shining through the windows.

The window opposite him still had that hole in it.

A tremor coming over him, George tried to sit up. He gasped as a pain shot through his chest, and, looking down, saw that his entire chest had been bandaged. Feeling around his head, he felt another set of bandages.

He looked at his clock.

7:15 am.

He had plenty more time to sleep, so he went into the bathroom.

When he came out again, he noticed that there was something on his bedside.

It was a key.

And another paper wrapped stone.

Sitting down on his bed, George- with hands shaking- read the note.

George,

I like you. You entertain me. I plan to see a lot more of you; I don't care what you're doing at that point in time, I'm coming to see you- so don't make any big plans. Got it?

Things could be very interesting between us with your cooperation.

See you soon, dear.

Sincerely,

You Know Who.

PS: Keep your window OPEN. Don't make me do this the hard way, Milton, you'll regret it. Also, you'll need the key to get back into your hotel. After all, you'll be out late for a long, long time.

With all my love,

Me.

George shoved the note into a drawer, along with the one he'd received earlier the previous night.

He climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over his head, willing sleep to come.

Why couldn't he just be left alone?