Wow look at that I updated so soon! Enjoy! Also longest chapter yet!

Chapter 18

Matthew rushed back, trying to put distance between him and the…thing standing before him. It didn't work though, since he was already so close to the center of the carousel in the first place, he ended up backed against a plank of wood that had way too many splinters. Matthew tried to yank himself away and turned to run, but his sweater caught on the sharp splinters of the wood, and Matthew ended up with a large scrape and a torn sweater for his haste.

"Hey! Stop running I'm not going to hurt you," Gilbert tried to say, but it was no use. Matthew wasn't listening to him. The Prussian sighed, reaching out one hand that Matthew noticed no longer looked of aged wood and looked very much like a real hand, but then Gilbert retracted it. Matthew didn't get up from his spot, instead he looked at Gilbert and tried not to freak out. There were still tears marks on his skin.

"Gilbert, we all had one rule. One simple rule, and somehow you manage to break even that," another voice suddenly sounded.

The other boys jumped from their spots, trying to get away from the fixtures which should have just been that, fixtures. Instead everything was coming alive, their dream was coming true, but the boys had no idea how to react to it. They all crowded around Matthew, helping the poor boy to his feet and staring with something akin to fright in their eyes.

"He was crying, what was I supposed to do!" Gilbert almost pouted, trying to defend himself. Everyone shot him withering looks.

"Shut up, Mr. Awesome. We have one rule, and of course you manage to break that. Look at them! They're freaking out and it's all your fault," Arthur finally spoke. Gilbert opened his mouth to snap back, but one look at the scowl Arthur wore, and Gilbert's jaw snapped close. He had been on the receiving end of many lectures, and the last thing he wanted was to be yelled at right now.

The men of the carousel quickly began to argue, with Antonio, Gilbert, and Heracles on one side and arguing that this was the right decision. While on the other side Ludwig, Arthur, and Yao argued that Gilbert should have kept his mouth shut. Arguing like adults quickly got boring and soon they were all yelling at each other. Unbeknownst to them, the boys in the circle of boys was quickly whispering to each other, wondering if somehow they had maybe gotten high or if they got into a car crash while they were on the way over here.

"We couldn't have gotten into a crash, Kiku drove way too carefully for that," Lovino broke through that thought quickly.

"So we were all slipped drugs then?" Ivan asked skeptically. Lovino shot him a withering look, but said nothing.

"This can't be real, this really can't be real," Matthew simply kept muttering. Lovino got fed up with his friend, and wacked him on the side, eliciting a whine. Matthew however did return back to normal, though he did not join the conversation. He stared at Gilbert, who was still arguing.

"Did you wish really, really hard Matthew?" Alfred asked sarcastically. Matthew shot his best friend a glare, yet said nothing.

"Look at them! Huddling all together, I bet their scared half to death, what are we going to do? They're going to spill everything about this place, and we're going to be torn down, just like they threatened they would," Arthur ranted.

"There's no guarantee that they will tell, is there?" Antonio snapped back.

"We can't know they will keep it a secret now can we?" Ludwig retorted.

"Well that do you think we should do?"

The threat was obvious there. There would never be a guarantee that the boys wouldn't go and run their mouths, but at the same time, they couldn't do anything short of killing them if they were so desperate to keep their secret. Silence reigned down, even the boys quieting to hear what their fate would be.

"Take a risk," Heracles finally broke the silence with three simply words. Ludwig frowned, Yao muttered to himself, and Arthur chewed on his lower lip. Finally though, Arthur sighed.

"I guess we have to," he relented.

The boys released the breath they didn't know they had been holding. And again, they were discussing how any of this could be real. Eventually though, the reason that they seemed to approach was that they must have gotten into an accident and on the way here, and maybe they were all dead and in heaven.

"Bene," Feliciano interjected, "if this is heaven, can't we enjoy it?"

The boys all contemplated the thought. Maybe they were all in a coma, simply waiting to wake up. If that was the case, then this dream wouldn't last forever. Feliciano didn't wait for his friends to get the same positive attitude that he had. He literally skipped over to Ludwig, who looked at the small Italian in shock.

"My name's Feliciano! Is this real life?" he asked, rocking back on his heels. Ludwig looked at his own friends in wonderment, inquiring what he should do. His centaur friends were of not help though.

"Ja, this is real life?" he asked back. Feliciano smiled happily, turning back to his group of friends, who were all beginning to go out and talk to the others.

"See! Now we can enjoy ourselves," Feliciano told them. His brother, who was staring to walk towards Antonio, stopped in his tracks.

"That's just what he would say if he was a fucking pervert! Stay away from my brother you bastard, or I'm going to kill you," Lovino threatened. Ludwig wasn't really that phased, but Feliciano seemed to lose his chipper attitude.

"Big brother why can't you just be happy?" he whined. Lovino scoffed, and moved away.

"Being happy is for suckers," he muttered.

Yao and Ivan were awkwardly standing next to each other. Ivan was perfectly happy just standing by and staring at Yao, but the other man was quickly getting annoyed with the staring.

"Aiyah, quit staring! You got taller, aru," he noted. Ivan smiled, walking around Yao to observe him.

"I like staring at Yao though," Ivan replied. Yao just rolled his eyes.

"Well, I don't like your staring," Yao bit back. Ivan raised a brow, but then he started laughing. Yao stared at him like he was crazy, but didn't say anything to the Russian man who looked like he was having a heart attack.

"Not many talk to outwardly like you do Yao," Ivan eventually calmed down enough to say. Yao rolled his eyes.

"You expect me to be like most?" For emphasis he stamped one of his hoofed feet on the ground. Ivan looked at Yao's feet, before turning back to looking at the man's face.

"No, you are not like most," Ian agreed.

Next to them, Kiku and Heracles weren't conversing as much. They were both silent people, and despite how curious Kiku was about Heracles and everyone in general, he thought it would be too rude to ask. Heracles on the other hand, simply asked what he felt like asking.

"Kiku….is that a Japanese name?" Heracles asked. Kiku nodded a bit, staring down at his own feet.

"Hm, I always liked Japanese culture. Could you tell me about it sometime?"

"…Yes, I think I can."

"You don't talk a lot do you?"

"….No, not really."

"That's okay."

They simply sat in silence, absorbing the atmosphere and hardly talking beside a few words about the scenery. There was nothing to be said, as they were still trying to accept the truth of what was happening.

"-And so then, I had more pasta, and played with my cat pookie. Oh! And then I took a siesta, it was really nice and warm and comfortable-"

Ludwig didn't have to say anything, Feliciano was talking enough for the both of them. Plus, he was sure that he wouldn't even get through Feliciano's own long, steady stream of speech.

"Hey, isn't Ludwig the name I gave you? How did you know?" Feliciano asked. Ludwig almost fell in relief at the sudden relief of silence that graced his ears.

"Ludwig has always been my name. How did you think of it?" he demanded. Feliciano flinched though at the harsh tone the German suddenly took.

"Ve, I'm sorry! It just came to me and it seemed to really fit you. Please don't be mad!" he begged. Ludwig stared at the small Italian in surprise, before sighing.

"I'm not mad…it's just isn't any of this a surprise for you?"

'Finally,' Ludwig thought with relief, 'I get to ask my own question.'

"Not really," Feliciano replied, "I'm not worried, because if you meant to hurt us, you would have by now."

Ludwig felt guilt nip at his heart at those words. He had sided with Arthur, possibly doing something horrible to this tiny boy who seemed to be completely harmless. Ludwig barely took another breath before Feliciano launched himself into another speech about how he loved pasta.

"That wasn't a nice thing to say to your brother," Antonio chided Lovino as soon as he made an intent to talk to him. Antonio could almost see Lovino seethe with rage at the statement.

"Why the fuck do you care? He's not your brother!" Lovino hissed, a blush coming across his features. Antonio simply grinned at Lovino.

"You're so cute when you blush!" Antonio cooed, reaching out and poking Lovino in the forehead.

Lovino flinched away, not because of the contact, but because he expected splinters that had not been sanded down yet and harsh wood rubbing against his skin. Yet when Antonio's hand made contact with his face, Lovino was met with warm flesh instead of the harsh wood he expected. A hurt look crossed Antonio's face when Lovino flinched away, and Antonio took his hand away from Lovino.

"Stupid bastard, you're so weird," Lovino muttered, scowling at Antonio. Antonio smiled though, knowing that Lovino didn't really mean it, he just didn't know what to say.

"You are so cute!"

"Shut up! I am not!"

Gilbert and Matthew stood awkwardly together, neither really knowing what to say. Matthew still embarrassed over his display earlier, and Gilbert just awkward in general.

"I'm sorry for screaming," Matthew eventually muttered, looking at the ground. Gilbert grinned, silently pleased that he wasn't the one who had to speak first.

"It's fine. I think I would have screamed too," Gilbert said to ease the other boys embarrassment. Matthew looked up, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Really?"

"No way, I am much too awesome for that." Gilbert bragged, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're an ass," Matthew replied back, crossing his arms.

And so the great argument of whether Gilbert was awesome or not commenced.

Alfred himself stared for a while, staring at the sight of Arthur. Mainly at his eyes, because for a long time he wondered what color they were. Now, Arthur was finally looking and seeing Alfred for one of the first times, and Alfred couldn't help but notice how Arthur had green eyes.

"What's your name?" Arthur finally asked. His arms were folded in front of him, and he was scowling at Alfred. Alfred grinned at the centaur, sticking his hands in his pockets to avoid doing something he might regret.

"Alfred F. Jones," he easily said. Arthur looked at him, before seeming to give a small nod of approval.

Alfred's hands clenched in his pockets. He waited so long for this moment, and it wasn't really going like he planned. He imagined hours of talking and celebration, not awkward questions and silence among most of them. He couldn't take it anymore. Alfred had been glancing around, wondering what the others were doing, and they were all the same as him, asking questions and having theirs answered. Well, except for Feliciano, who was talking Ludwig's ear off.

"Do you-" Arthur began to ask, but was cut off.

Alfred took two steps forward, and enveloped Arthur into a hug. He was met with warmth and a person emotions that he couldn't even identify himself. His arms were around Arthur's waist, holding the centaur there, while leaving his arms free to escape the hold he wanted to.

For a moment, Arthur tensed, and it seemed the hug would end rather abruptly. Then Arthur relaxed, and his arms were around Alfred's neck. Alfred could hear the other taking his breaths, panting against his neck. Arthur could count the beats of Alfred's heart as it pounded in his chest.

Alfred may have regretted some things in his life, but a simply split second decision to hug Arthur was not one of them.

Finally USUK am I right? Omg please review you guys motivate me so much to update.