Arthur didn't answer him. He simply walked into the now spotless kitchen to make a fresh pot of tea.

"Was I not supposed to ask?" Alfred questioned aloud, following along.

"Well, it's not so much you weren't supposed to." He said, trying to relax as he mixed the milk and sugar. "It's just business."

"So what do you do for work? I mean, you probably get a ton of money if you live here right?"

"Alfred, for the last time, money talk is for adults. And anyway, If I told you what I did for a living," he continued, turning his face ever so slightly to peer at his brother."...it would scare you." Alfred tipped his head. "It really would terrify you. I don't get paid by a boss or anyone either. So when I say 'way of living', I really mean it."

"I still don't get it." Arthur patted his head as he passed him, carrying a steaming cup.

"That's just the way I like it. Now," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Take this, it's a map. I'll meet you near the edge of the trees when you come home. Are you ready?" Alfred gave a small, nervous nod. He clutched the map tightly in one hand and Arthurs' hand in the other as they left the white trimmed house.

Walking home from school, the sun shining brightly and a cool Autumn breeze blowing his blonde locks back, Alfred watched his feet disappear and reappear below him. He looked up, a wide grin spread across his features, and picked up his pace until he saw the edge of the trees. No one was there. Alfred stopped in this tracks and whipped his head around. He'd been going to the Elementary school about a mile into town and when he came home Arthur would always be waiting for him in the shadow of the forest.

But no one was there to greet him. He was all alone again. Sucking in a breath, he trudged into the wood, passing trees and stumbling over high roots until he found the dirt trail leading to the large white house. Arthur had told him it used to be a church before it was abandoned and trees and ivy grew around to cover it. "One of natures little gifts," he would say.

He began to run, immediately yanking the door open and dashing inside. The windows were open wide, letting the breeze kiss the furniture. The only sound in the house were Alfreds' panting breaths as he moved through the hallway into the sitting room. Empty. He glance over to the kitchen and began to creap over, keeping low, until he entered the dark dining room. A small whimper made him jump a foot in the air. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he ran to the large form on the floor near the table. He knealt down, realizing who it was. Arthur winced in pain and was sucking in air like a fish out of water.

"Arthur?" The man opened his eyes wide and swallowed dryly at the sound of his name. He reached out a bony hand to him and Alfred grabbed it tightly.

"Al..." with the same hand he cupped his cheek and Alfred realized he'd been crying the entire time. "No more tears now..." Instead of stopping the continuous river on his face, the dying mans soft words caused him to choke on his sobs. "...hey..." Arthur coughed. "Come...here."Alfred obeyed and he brought his head down till he could feel the mans heavy breathing tickle his neck. "This might hurt...don't scream..."

"Wha-" Arthur clamped his mouth down on the boys delectable thorat. Alfred immediately felt drained, tired. With his hand , the Brit clutched the small boys' hair tightly but not hard enough to harm him. Nothing hurt, but Alfred was crazed and hysterical by this strange, new discovery. He whined and smacked Arhurs' chest hard enough to break a rib or two. With a gasp, the man stopped, pulling away , his head falling aside and his tongue a deep red. Alfred trembled on the shaky chest, tears flowing hard and harder. Arthur blinked and gathered his baby brother in his arms, a look of deep guilt shrouding his face. Al whimpered in the embrace as the moisture reddened his cheeks.

Then he began to sob again and grabbed the sweater Arthur was practically swimming in. The elder rubbed his back gently, desperately trying to calm the young boy down above his chokes of "why?" and other sentences he couldn't quite make out. After what had seemed like hours, Alfred had calmed down as his brother rocked him and hushed his hiccups.

"Athur," he croaked, looking up with puffy eyes and beet-red features. "Why did you do that?" Arthur brought his lips to his forehead in such a small, gentle, gesture to show how sorry he was. Alfreds' cerulean eyes fluttered closed, taking his apology and locking it up in his mind. He ended up falling asleep and had to be awakened by soft shoving from the worried Brit.

"Come now, don't sleep just yet." The boy rubbed his eyes sleepily and stared at Arthur. "Do you remembered when I first saw you? Not here, but back three weeks ago int the alleyway." Alfred looked down at his hands before clenching his eyes shut, thinking hard. "Do you remembered the man?" His voice was quite, a whisper. "What happened to him?" he continued. Alfred opened his big, blue orbs to see Arthurs' forest greens. Something was odd about them, like the trees behind his irises were on fire and the flames were licking out to burn him.

He didn't want to think about it anymore. The boy tumbled out of the elders' arms, calmly walking to the spice cabinet across the room. His brain was screaming inside his head.

"Al?" Was that his voice? "Please don't..." Maybe I'm only imagining it. "Get away from there!" He sounds a little angry..."Just, p-please..." Did he just stutter? What should I do? Alfreds' thin wrists were caught midair and the container of garlic fell from his fingers, spilling its' contents across the tile floor. "P-please.." The boy turned his face to look at Arthur. Tears beaded his eyes as he dropped to his knees. He let his head fall onto Alfreds' shoulder, letting his hands free.

"Why?"

"I-I didn't want to..." his voice was barely audible. "Usually...usually I would only hurt bad people- criminals."

"Am I a bad person?"

"No, no of course not," he tried to grin but he wasn't sure anything actually happened to his face. "I've been running out of people to feed from. I was dying Alfred, don't you see?" Alfred stood still, expressionless, staring strait into Arthurs' eyes. Besides the tears, they almost had returned to normal. A single drop of blood remained at one corner of his mouth. Cautiously, bringing his face closer, Alfred kissed the crimson liquid off his brothers' lips.

Okay, just wanted to say: THIS WAS SPOONS IDEA, NOT MINE XD

~Scarfy