Chapter 17
Lost: Cat and Pie
"His eyesight should return when his energy is fully regenerated, he was really lucky." Arthur flicked off the flashlight he had been using to check Lukas eyes. He looked around the room which was pretty much chaotic. A few shelves had fallen down where Emil was thrown into the wall, Alfred had been moved over to the bed and was sleeping peacefully while Berwald and Tino were treating Mathias wound. Emil sat next to him, obviously worried about his brother. Arthur moved his hands to his neck and felt how it still was sore.
"Are you okay?" Emil looked at Arthur and saw how bruises were already forming on his throat in the exact shape of Alfreds hands. He nodded and looked around the room at all the gathered nations.
"Listen, I don't want any of you to tell Alfred how close he was" The others blinked in confusion but when they saw the look on Arthurs face they nodded and decided to let him have his way. They heard how the door on the bottom floor opened.
"Hello?" They heard Francis worried voice from the downstairs.
"Up here" Steps came up the stairs and Emil saw how Arthur pulled up his collar to hide the bruises as well as he could. Francis rushed inside and when he saw the scene before him he got more questions than answers.
"What happened?" Just as he asked that question they heard a groan from the bed and saw how Alfred sat up. There was a moment of silence before everyone except Lukas and Mathias stood up and walked over to him. Francis was confused but it was not even close to Alfreds confusion. He looked around and met their eyes one by one before Arthur sat down next to him.
"Do you remember anything?" Alfred looked at Arthur before he thoughtfully leaned back against the wooden bedframe. Tino reached out a small notepad and a pen to help him and Alfred grabbed it with a thankful nod. He took a few moments before he started writing and then passed the notepad to Arthur.
"What does it say?" They heard from Mathias on the floor so Arthur cleared his throat and read out loud.
"I was taking a walk and then everything was dark but it felt like someone was there and then suddenly I woke up here." The message seemed a bit confused but Arthur nodded. "It's as I thought. Someone controlled him to do it." Alfreds eyes grew wide and he grabbed the notepad before he wrote angrily and passed the note to Arthur again. "What did I do?" Arthur read out loud and averted his eyes.
"I would like to know that too" Francis sat down on a chair next to the bed and waited patiently.
"Well…" Arthur begun and sighed. "You came in here while I was sleeping and attacked me but Mathias stopped you before you could do any actual damage" Mathias gave him a quick glance at the lie but decided to let it pass. He saw how Alfred leaned to the side to get a look at him and actually seemed quite worried.
"I'm fine! I'm still pretty strong you know!" Lukas poked him in his side which made him wince.
"Tell that to your broken ribs" Mathias rolled his eyes and laughed. He had lived through much worse wounds and knew that he would be healed again in just a few days. Alfred looked even more worried so Mathias gave him a dismissive wave and motioned for Arthur to continue.
"Then Lukas came in and broke the connection between you and whoever was controlling you." Arthur stood up and walked through the room. "I still don't know who could have done it." He jumped, a bit startled, when Alfred suddenly slammed a fist into the wall. He looked furious when he stood up and stormed out of the room. "You can't go out alone!" Alfred stopped and turned around before he walked to his own room. They could hear the sound of things breaking as Alfred took out his anger on the only things he could.
"It's fine" Lukas stood up as he heard the crashes and felt his way to the wall. "I don't think I have anything valuable there" He felt his way out of the room and started walking. "I'm tired so I'm going to bed"
"Let me help you" Mathias stood up and walked over but Lukas shook his head and kept walking.
"It's my house, I think I can handle it on my own." Mathias waited for a few seconds and after glancing at Emil that looked pretty worried he walked over to Lukas.
"But your room is the other way." Lukas stopped and was quiet for a while. Mathias could almost swear that he saw a faint blush on his cheeks before he turned around again.
"Fine. Take me there then" As the two nations passed the room again the remaining ones looked at each other. They heard another crash from the other room and Arthur shook his head.
"He really hates to lose a fight, doesn't he?" Arthur sat down on the bed again.
"You think that's why he's angry?" Arthur looked up at Francis that furiously walked towards him. "Sure, he hates to lose but this time his failure could have cost you your life. Even if you didn't get hurt he hates putting you in danger! You think he doesn't care but he does, he does!" Arthur backed away as well as he could.
"It doesn't seem like he cares" Francis sat down and sighed. How would he explain this to make the grumpy Englishman understand?
"But he does, he always has." Francis looked at him with a smile that quickly fell since Arthurs collar had slipped down again, revealing the bruises. When he noticed Francis stare, he quickly pulled it up again but it was too late. "Arthur, what happened?"
"Nothing"
"Stop this nonsense and tell me!"
"I think we should leave" Berwald and Tino nodded at Emil and the three of them carefully closed the door and snuck downstairs. Tino looked at the clock and yawned.
"It's really late, we should probably go to sleep since we'll need the energy tomorrow" He looked down at Berwald that was swaying where he stood while he fought his eyes that were closing on his own. Tino chuckled and picked him up which startled him before he gave Tino a questioning look. "You get tired more easily in this body, you can barely stand straight!" He walked towards the room the two of them were supposed to share before he glanced back at Emil. "Go get some sleep"
"Goodnight" Berwald mumbled, already half asleep.
"Night" Emil was suddenly alone. He could hear the two arguing nations in Arthurs room and he could still hear how things would break in Alfreds room. Mathias hadn't come down yet so he decided to just go to bed. As he walked towards the stairs again a thought suddenly came to mind. "I haven't seen Matthew in a while" He stopped and felt his face get pale "Not since before dinner" He rushed upstairs to ask the others if they knew anything while he prayed that the thing that had gotten Alfred hadn't gotten Matthew too.
.
He was a hunter of the night. Matthew snuck through the bushes while he followed the smell of a mouse that couldn't be far away. He had left the house hours ago to get some fresh air and clear his mind but somewhere along the way, his instincts took over. He wasn't Matthew anymore, he wasn't anybody. Only a dangerous predator hunting smaller creatures, at least that was how he saw himself right now. He felt another smell interrupt his track and started following that one instead but it only lead to a person laying down on the ground. If Matthew would have had his human mind at that moment, he might have recognized him and questioned why Antonio was laying unconscious in the middle of the Norwegian forest but instead he turned around and walked back the same way that he had walked before. If he was lucky, he could find that mouse track again.
He got pretty upset when he realized that the mouse had disappeared for good and to relieve his frustration, he ran. He almost flew through the forest and felt his body stretch, he was free. A new smell stopped him and he looked up. There, he could see a birds nest carefully placed on a big branch. The parents were there feeding their children but the cat on the ground knew that they wouldn't be a problem. Matthew backed a few steps before he jumped and clawed himself to the tree before he quickly made his way to the closest branch. Then he climbed to the next, jumped to another and carefully made his way up. He was only two branches below the nest but he would have to jump quite a distance to make it to the next one. His newly gained confidence made him carefully back up as far as he could before he leapt gracefully through the air. But not far enough. He managed to grab hold of the branch with his front claws and was hanging in the tree before he struggled until he had pulled himself up again.
'Where am I?' The shock of almost falling made Matthew regain his senses. He looked around and tried to figure out where he was. He only remembered leaving the house and then suddenly, he was here. Here up high in a tree. He felt himself tense as he looked down and saw the ground really far below him. Matthew stood up and looked for a way to climb down but when he didn't find one he sat down and realized the irony in his situation. He was a cat stuck in a tree. Maybe he would have found it funny if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't know when or if he would be found and saved.
.
"So, no one has seen him?" Emil sat in the living room with Francis, Alfred, Mathias and Tino. The remaining three had been forced to stay in bed and rest. They had tried to make Alfred stay too but he refused and no one really wanted to argue with him when he was pissed like this.
"No, how could we forget about him?" Tino rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost midnight and they were all really tired. "And how can we find him?"
"I guess we just go out and start looking" Francis stood up and walked towards the door. Mathias shook his head.
"I'll stay here, we can't leave these guys alone" Mathias leaned back and stretched. "Don't worry, I won't fall asleep" Tino suddenly got an idea.
"What if…" He hesitated for a moment before he turned towards Mathias "What if we use your nose to find him?" The nations looked confused for a moment before they realized.
"Yes that might just work"
"No, no, if we do that I'll just hurt him" Mathias looked down on the ground and sighed. The plan was good but he didn't know if he would be able to control himself or not. Tino looked thoughtful for a moment before he light up in a smile and pointed towards the door.
"Meet me outside in five minutes!" He hurried away into the house while the others looked at each other and shrugged before they walked outside into the cool night air. It took a bit longer than five minutes but Tino finally made his way outside. In his hands he had a rope that he held up to the others. "If we tied this around Mathias waist, we can stop him from hurting Matthew when we find him!" Tino was obviously very happy that he had found a solution and since the plan actually wasn't too bad, they agreed. Emil walked up the stairs towards the front door and sat down.
"Then I'll stay here to keep an eye on these guys" Emil saw how Mathias narrowed his eyes, he obviously didn't like that idea. Emil pouted at him "I can handle it." Mathias still didn't seem at ease but he nodded carefully. Francis ran into the house and came back outside with a blanket.
"Matthew slept on this on our way here so use this" He gave it to Mathias that sighed and took a deep breath into the blanket. He dropped it on the ground and looked around.
"Guys, I don't think this will work-" The smell from the blanket suddenly hit him and he could feel it, the same one that trailed into the forest. It was so clear, it was almost ass if he could see the track that would lead him to Matthew. He noticed how the scenery went foggy and he tried to fight his way back to reality but it was too late.
"Mathias! Wait!" Tino grabbed the end of the rope and tried to make Mathias slow down. "Stop!"
"It's no use, he's already lost. Let's just follow him." Francis had also grabbed the rope with Alfred close behind and together they slowly made their way through the forest. Emil saw them leave and sighed before he stood up and walked back into the house. Once again it was quiet and he wasn't sure of what to do so he decided to do a quick check up on the other people in the house. He begun with Berwald. Slowly, he opened the bedroom door and looked inside. He saw the small bundle that was laying all curled up on the right side of the bed. He was just about to close the door when he heard a small voice.
"Give it back" Emil saw how Berwald turned around in the bed and wondered if he had noticed him. He snuck closer and when he was right next to the bed he saw that he was still asleep, just sleep talking.
"Give what back?" Emil was curious about what Berwald could be dreaming about.
"My pie" Emil had to cover his mouth and slowly back out of the room to not burst out laughing. Just as he left the room he heard how Berwald turned around again and mumbled "Damn Mathias, Always stealing my pie." Emil closed the door and stumbled towards the stairs were he sat down and burst out into giggles.