Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, because if I did, England would never wear pants. Or a shirt. Or any other fabric that could somehow cover that bootylicious body.

…

Ahem.

"Eh? Why do you live so far from town, Peter?" Antonio asked, his eyes lit with confusion. The goofy smile and untidy hair only added to the utterly puzzled appearance, along with making Peter that much more unsure about Antonio's ability to find his sister. He needed people he could trust and an clueless Spaniard, French frog, German kraut, and noisy American didn't assuage Peters fears at all.

Scowling, Peter glared at the taller man. "After our parents died, Anna moved us out into the woods. She hated that town; but she hated how every single one of the townspeople treated us with pity even more. She claimed it was too stifling and that the faeries were unhappy there."

"...Faeries?"

"Yeah, can't you see them?" Peter asked, his eyes wide with childlike innocence. He didn't know anyone who couldn't see the faeries; Tino, Berwald, and Anna all assured him it was normal. At Antonio's regretful no, Peter clicked his tongue. The man had no idea what he wasn't missing out on; Peter couldn't imagine living without his fairy friends inviting him over for tea in their woodland houses, or frolicking with them through the fields of flowers.

"Anyway, we've lived out here for awhile, only going to town when we need supplies or otherwise. Most of the time the villagers come to us instead though."

"Oh?" Antonio asked, pacifying the boy. The brunet was pleased that the younger man had started to look much more calm and relaxed, instead of panicky and angry. He looked so much cuter this way~ "Why do the villagers come to you?"

Smiling, Peter looked up at the Spaniard, "Mostly they come seeking advice. They want to ask Anna to look into the future and predict how a decision will effect their life. That's what Anna converses with the faeries about, and the villagers pay a lot of money for the telling."

"¿Qué?" Antonio yelled, his face scrunching in alarm. They were going to rescue a witch? A witch! Someone who could look into what was not meant for mere mortals to see! Looking at Francis, Antonio sighed when he saw the slightly older man ignoring both Peter and Antonio in favor of entertaining himself with his thoughts. If he knew that they were going to save una bruja, then the blond would never have agreed, that was certain. Francis had an always been afraid of that which he did not know, much like Antonio, and because of his fear, he loathed magic creatures.

But, they needed to save Anna. Antonio knew that he should tell his friend immediately what was truly going on here, but he knew he could not. Peter needed his sister back, and the only way that would happen was if they rescued her. If Antonio told Francis, he knew that he would be alone on this journey, and it might be his life on the line, not Anna's.

"Peter, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone else about Anna's job. If you do, I'm not so sure that we'll be able to rescue her due to...extraneous circumstances. ¿Bien?" Antonio asked, his green eyes piercing Peter's blue. The seriousness of the man's gaze almost made Peter take a step back, he could not believe that it was the same man.

Hesitatingly, Peter nodded. Maybe his sister was going to be alright after all, maybe everything would just return to normal. The thought alone made Peter smile - normalcy was something he needed now. Life was going to be-

"Ai, you're so cute when you smile Peter~"

Hell.

"Peter, do you always attack the men who are helping you?" Francis asked, his expression annoyed. The British really were barbaric, attacking even the most well-meaning man over something inconsequential. Antonio had just complimented the boy, and he attacked him? Si brut!

"Let go of me you pathetic excuse for a man! Put me down immediately!" Peter wailed, kicking his legs up and down. Francis tsked, but complied with the other's wishes; he didn't wish to be harmed, especially with no beautiful girls around to kiss it better!

Peter growled and stomped ahead, grabbing Gilbert's (the only person who hadn't proven that they were a total idiot, despite the fact that he was a German) arm and began to pull him in the direction of his house. "Come on, my house is just a little while away. We can stay there for the night, and in the morning head off to find my sister."

Ignoring Alfred's shouts that he'd rescue Gilbert from the tyrant's grip (along with Gilbert's yells that no one needed to save his awesome self), Peter led the party to his residence. The sight alone made Francis chuckle, if only to see Gilbert flustered. The Prussian was always and endless source of amusement to Francis, ever since they were young. Gilbert's "awesomeness" was definitely rubbing off on him.

As he was about to catch up with the trio, Antonio grabbed his arm. Turning in question, Francis stopped when he saw Toni's rare serious look. "Quel est votre problème, mon ami?"

"Francis," Antonio began, his voice grave,"be careful. Things might be... a bit more difficult than you originally thought. Things aren't - won't be what they seem."

Staring back at the Spanish man, Francis reflected over how serious Toni was being. If it truly was that bad (the slightest bit of seriousness on the Antonio's face usually meant that things were severely wrong), than perhaps he should heed the other's warning. Nodding slightly, Francis marveled at how quickly Antonio's face changed from serious to utterly silly, as if his face had never sported anything other than a goofy grin.

Antonio threw an arm around the Frenchman's neck and started leading them to the rest of the group, all the while chattering about how cute Peter was and other such things. His job was done; he warned Francis, now it was just time to see what the other man did with his advice.

"Get up, you lazy French Frog! Are you so full with wine that you can't even move?"

Francis rolled around, flipped the quilt up, and scowled at the rambunctious boy who had the gall to wake him. Did he not know that Francis needed his beauty sleep - it was what kept him so popular with the ladies, along with his suave personality. Sticking his tongue out, the tired Frenchman resumed his peaceful slumber, ignoring the pout and irritated look that the young Briton wore.

"Franny, it's almost past ten, and we've got to move our asses," Gilbert called. "The kid says that we need to cover a lot of land today if we're gonna rescue that chick."

Oh yes, that was right. The lovely Anna, the very woman whose bed he was sleeping in, was in terrible mortal danger, and needed to be rescued by her chevalier dans l'armure brillante! Getting up, Francis slowly made his way over to his clothing and began to dress himself. He needed to look his best to save the damsel, non?

Soon after he was done, Francis was greeted with the always pleasant sight of Gilbert standing over Alfred's bloody body. Unfortunately, this wasn't an uncommon sight to the Frenchman. "Did Al do something to piss you off more than usual, Gil?"

"Nein, I just got bored waiting for you," Gilbert grinned, reaching an arm out to the boy beneath him. In the corner Francis could see Antonio ruffling Peter's hair while the young Englishman looked less than jovial at the Spaniard's enthusiasm. "Now that you're awake, we can finally get this show on the road."

Shooting the Prussian an apologetic smile, Francis started to hush the eclectic group out of the Kirkland residence (ignoring Peter's angry calls that it was his house, and he could no possibly be kicked out of it), and into the forest. Looking at the small blond child, Francis waited for the other to take the initiative.

"Why are you staring at me, frog?"

"Do you not know the direction that your sister was carried off in?"

"O-Of course I don't! If I knew that, I wouldn't need your help - I'd go after her myself!"

"Vous gosse impossible!" Francis said scathingly, his face the picture of annoyed. "How do you expect us to find your sister without a clue as to where she is?"

Peter looked wounded, like a little dog who had just been beaten by their master, and his lower lip began to quiver. Sighing, Francis covered his face with his hands; he didn't want to make the kid cry, just tell him how hard this journey was going to be. It wasn't his fault that he just couldn't converse with rude, little, English rosbifs; Francis could handle anyone who wasn't so uppity and utterly British.

"Hey dude, I know this might sound weird, but do you have anybody that you can stay with until this whole thing is resolved? It doesn't feel right to have you come with us or, like, live by yourself," Alfred awkwardly asked, shifting from side to side.

The action made Francis smile, it was something that Alfred had done while he was younger, and it seemed that he hadn't grown out of it. He was also quite proud of the younger man; he was truly growing out of his selfish nature and caring about others. It was actually... enthralling.

"I-I can stay with my friends, Tino and Berwald. They live about a half a days walk that way," Peter said, pointing in an inane direction, "and maybe... maybe they saw Anna yesterday too! I didn't think about going to see them before..." Peter trailed off looking even more downtrodden than before.

That little boy really knew how to make others sympathize with him, Francis would give him that. Antonio looked as if he was about to jump the boy at any moment, with Alfred's help of course, and bombard Peter with hugs and huge crocodile tears. Gilbert, who usually looked as if he couldn't care less, had misty eyes, quite possibly because Peter reminded him of his own little brother, or at least that was Francis' speculation. Himself? Well, he was sad for the boy, but he still had Anna's safety in the forefront of his mind. A lady, albeit an English one, was in perilous danger; she took priority in Francis' mind.

If the German man really did take Anna away, than they could be anywhere. The Germans were meticulous about their plans, and Francis had no doubt that any plan that the man had was already executed perfectly. So, with no other option, Francis clapped Peter on the shoulder, and motioned for the boy to lead the way to his friend's cottage.

They were in God's hands now.

Anna awoke with a killer headache, which although unwelcome wasn't unfathomable, and her face plastered to the cool stone floor. Either she had a very fun night drinking, or something was terrible wrong, and she put her faith in the latter. She didn't reek of alcohol or cigarettes, and nothing about the room was familiar, as it was completely different from any of the decor in the nearby town.

Slowly standing up, Anna placed one hand on her head and another of the wall. The room that she was in was small, perhaps two thirds the size of her bedroom, and clearly elevated. From the window she could see the tops of trees, and the sunlight was freely streaming into the room. Wait, sunlight?

With a renewed vigor, Anna launched herself towards the window, desperately searching the sky for any indication of the time. Before she blanked out, she knew it couldn't have been this early in the morning, or morning at all. The last things she remembered was...

Peter! Ludwig!

If she ever got her hands on that dirty bastard, she'd teach him not to mess with the Kirklands! How dare he come and terrorize her brother, and then kidnap her as if she was some possession to be claimed or owned! She was Anna Kirkland, she was no mere trinket to be gathered, she was a lady, prim and proper.

Fuming, Anna grabbed the nearest item and threw it at the wall, imagining that she was actually aiming it at the bastard's face instead. "God damn that uncultured twat! I swear that I'm going to tear him limb from limb the next time I see that Lederhosen arsehole!"

"Heh, nice shot."

Turning around in alarm, Anna snarled at the young man who had just entered the room. The man was young, perhaps two or three years younger than Anna was, with hazel eyes, reddish brown hair with a fly-away piece. The serious expression and frown were the only things marring the man's lovely appearance. With him, the man had a plate of delicious looking (compared to her cooking anyway) food that made Anna's mouth water.

"Who are you?" Anna asked briskly, her eyes narrowing with caution. If the man was also here, that meant one of two things, he was on that potato bastard's side, or he too was a victim.

The man smirked, and placed a tray of food on the table in the corner of Anna's room, taking his sweet time in doing so. "My name's Lovino Vargas Miss Kirkland, or may I call you Anna?" Lovino gestured to the food, and began to speak again. "I'd suggest you eat up, the potato bastard tells me you haven't eaten in awhile, such a horrible fate for a beautiful girl like yourself."

Glaring, Anna threw the next closest thing (after the item she threw at the Ludwig-Wall), making Lovino cringe and cry out. "Chigi! Watch where you throw those things, goddammit you're gonna kill me! Male cagna!"

"Y-You're Italian?"

"No, I'm a motherfucking Russian, naturalmente io sono italiano!" Lovino snarled, hiding underneath the table.

"Then why, may I ask," Anna drawled, moving her way over to the now cowering Italian, "are you assisting a German man in kidnapping a English lady?" For some reason, most likely because of Lovino's weak behavior, Anna felt more at home than before. She wasn't threatened now, she was the threat.

Lovino, after sensing that Anna was finished heaving breakable and harmful objects, stood up and snorted. Anna was pleased to see that there wasn't much of a height difference between herself and her captor; escape was that much easier. "I'm helping that jerk ass because he's dating my fratellino, I don't have much of a choice. It's not like I'd willingly help such a tool!"

Smiling to herself, Anna reflected over how similar the two of them were. "Perhaps you'd be inclined to help me escape then, Lovino?"

"Normally, I'd do anything to help such a beautiful lady of your caliber, Miss Kirkland," Lovino began, smiling at the use of his proper name. "But I can't make my brother upset, if that happens, he won't stop crying. I'd hate to leave him in the arms of that potato bastard as well." Lovino shrugged, a helpless, but determined expression on his face. Taking a seat at the table, Lovino gestured for Anna to join him.

"No... I understand, I have a little brother myself. If anything was to happen to him, I'd beat whoever hurt him to oblivion," Anna said, coming up to sit beside Lovino. "And please, call me Anna. For some reason, I think we're going to see quite a bit of each other now." Grabbing the fork, Anna began to devour the food given to her by angry Italian. Her eyes widened with joy when she felt a cornucopia of tastes assault her senses.

Chuckling, both at Anna's expression and in bitterness, Lovino smiled. "You and me both Anna, you and me both."

A/N: So this is chapter two, where more character development happens, and no real plot! Am I the only one who can clearly see both England and Romano being BFFs since Spain and France are? I think they'd stick together out of necessity, if not because they're so similar. Tsundere for the win! (I don't have a creepy pretty boy fetish, I don't! *shifts eyes in denial*)

Translations:

Si brut! - so raw, unrefined!

Quel est votre problème, mon ami - What is your problem, my friend?

chevalier dans l'armure brillante - Knight in shining armour

Vous gosse impossible - You impossible rascal!

Male cagna - Evil Bitch

naturalmente io sono italiano - Of course I'm Italian!

Still using an online translator, and probably still sucking (but hopefully it's not too bad). Feel free to correct the grammar or anything, and such. Some phrases, (like bien, nein, or otherwise) I didn't translate. If you need them, I'll add them in later at the end. Thanks for reading, and whether you liked it or not, please leave a review. Feedback = Me not writing chapters at... 1:09 in the morning. Huzzah.

Good day Space Cadets! I SAID GOOD DAY!~