Gosh I am so sorry about the wait! My laptop broke and then it got sent in for repairs and then I had to get a new one because they couldn't repair the old one, and everything was just chaos.

So let me tell you this: This fic is not dying. I plan on updating at a more regular pace, about a chapter (or two if things go well) a week, preferably on the weekends like now. This fic is my baby, I can't let it just die!

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

No one really knew how the deal was split up, but it seemed to quickly fall into a pattern. Ivan and Alfred would take over the heavy lifting while Kiku and Matthew would actually reattach the limbs and broken pieces, finally Feliciano and Lovino would scrape away the black spray paint and repair the small damages. It was simply easier for them to split it up into groups this was everyone was doing something and this way no one was laying around.

As they worked through the night and part of the morning the boys managed to get some if not most of the black paint faded until it was almost just a shadow while Ivan and Alfred got all the remaining pieces fitted back into their original spot. It would hold for now, or at least until they could get a much stronger glue. For everyone though just working wasn't enough they all not only felt the need to be actively participating but there was also the strong feeling that they needed to leave, leave and never return.

Kiku, being observant and normally quiet as he is in nature, began to notice things that others in his group of friends would cast off as nothing. He watched as Feliciano passed by the creature with tentacles and fell through the floor of the carousel. Everyone deemed it too dangerous to walk over there again, and so the small area where Matthew said the floor was rotting, was condemned and avoided. Yet Kiku noticed the way that the creature who was probably shined a hue of ebony and jade seemed to have and curve of the lips that wasn't there before. Yet Kiku shook it off without another thought before he was sue the beast was baring its teeth in what one could almost call fear, it couldn't just be smiling now. After that the other monsters of the carousel were avoided like there was no tomorrow. Still anytime that Matthew tripped when he got to close over roots that hadn't been there before, Ivan fell through the floor much like Feliciano did, and everyone grew uncomfortable simply in the presence of those beings, no matter how calming the centaurs were to them.

It was quickly discovered that silence was too difficult to deal with, oppression against their ears that defended everything else. Every night when they left though someone would say how they needed a radio, but everyone would always forget. Since the silence was too much, they would simply take turns singing. Even Alfred's out of tune country songs were better than silence.

"But loving him, loving him was red," Alfred finished off his song. Matthew happily kept humming the song, completely enraptured by the song still playing in his head.

"Are you sure you guys aren't related?" Lovino asked Matthew, teasing him. Matthew scowled at his Italian friend.

"Don't give me that look, bastard, everyone else at school thinks that you guys are related as well so obviously I'm not alone here…" Lovino clarified. Personally he hadn't seen the resemblance until some random girl he was chatting up pointed it out, but then it became way to outstanding how much they were alike.

"We're not related though!" Matthew complained. Lovino smirked, crossing his arms, and raising his eyebrows.

"Really? Because you both have blonde hair, you both like country, and even your hair, while it's in a different styles, has the same shade of color. Then you both are into sports, get along exceedingly well, and hang out all the time," Lovino finished off. Matthew simply gave his friend a harsh, almost burning glare, before he turned back to his work.

"Guys why don't we call it a night? There's nothing else we can do without more supplies and it is growing dark," Kiku spoke up before Lovino and Matthew could actually start fighting. It wasn't often that the two good friends would fight, but right now tensions were high and anything could happen between the friends no matter how well they normally got along. Kiku could almost taste the tension sitting in the air.

"I agree, let's head back before we anything else happens here," Ivan spoke up.

Everyone nodded and began to pack away what little material possessions they brought with them. Alfred lingered longer than the others, glancing around as if he forgot something while he was painting or lifting things or even as he we singing along with Matthew. Yet as much as he thought or as much as he looked through the grass, he simply could not get of the nagging feeling that he was indeed forgetting something, and that if he left right now he would forget it.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up," Alfred finally told the others. Kiku hastily agreed, his own mind urging him to leave now, while the others looked at their friend concerned.

"Are you sure? We can wait for you," Feliciano told him. Kiku bowed his head in shame, having letting his own feelings rule he completely ignored the concern for his friend's well-being.

"Yeah, I'm sure, go on ahead."

They left as quickly as they could, gone and out of the clearing not a minute after Alfred gave them the go ahead. Alfred almost chuckled at the sight of them practically pushing themselves out of the small exit, if he himself had not felt what they were feeling. Alfred was not immune to the oppressive air and even though some say that he could not read the atmosphere, he could read it now. And right now even the atmosphere was screaming at him to get away.

He moved stealthily around, and having already searched the grass went to the wooden boards where the centaurs stood upon. While Alfred had not been there almost all day, there was a brief time where he had visited there to get Feliciano out of the floor when he fell through.

There shining brightly even under the dim light of the moon, was the small star pin that Alfred wore underneath the collar of his jacket. For a moment, just staring at the small piece of metal, he reached up to check where the pin normally rested on his collar bone. There was nothing there except the small dent the pin left from sitting in the same place for years. Slowly, Alfred reached down and picked up the small pin with gently fingers.

"It would have been a real shame if I lost you," he whispered into the night air. Yet with no one there to listen to him, Alfred felt rather silly. He clasped the pin once more to his jacket, before taking off back into the woods.

Creaking make him pause right as he was taking his first step into the woods. Alfred slowly turned back to see the carousel slowly turning in circles, with harsh, aged music notes screaming out from somewhere inside. The creaking and screaming of the ancient wood that had not moved in years almost overpowered the slow coming music notes. Alfred stared, his eyes wide and hands shaking.

Without another thought, Alfred turned and ran into the safety of the woods. Later that night, as he settled down into bed for sleep, he could hear the screams of the wood, and the broken notes of the carousel ringing through his ears.

So what did you guys think? Let me know okay?