Hello~ so this is part II of chapter two. This was updated on the same day as part I simply because it was already written.

Disclaimer: As we all know I do not own Hetalia or any of its characters. Warning: Contains strong language and a little violence for anyone who would be disturbed with reading such material for whatever reason. All the characters listed in part I is also in part II so no need to say it again, right?

Please enjoy and review those of you who would like to, please? ^.^

Ch. 2 Stand Together

Part II

~Flash Back~

And so they slowly walked the empty hallway side by side, no words were spoken between the friends. They knew that if they simply took what The Group had to offer they would be better off. Sure enough Arthur could feel their approach and soon enough both boys felt the back of the collars of their shirts being pulled. Ivan on Feliciano and Simon on Arthur.

"Well well, caught you two trying to scurry out of the cafeteria. Kirkland, Vargas. You know that's not permitted unless you have a teacher's pass~" a blond French teen came into view as well as one Austrian Roderich, both allowing smiles to appear on their face. One Korean known as Im Yong Soo stepped behind the two weaker bullies as if in protection. Feliciano looked like he was about to have a panic attack at this point.

"And what about you? What the hell do you want?" Arthur muttered then cursed himself for opening his mouth.

All the teens around him frowned in disapproval, "Now Eyebrows, we came here to inform you of your behavior that could get you into trouble. We're only trying to help." Francis rose his forearms mid chest in feigned helpfulness. He walked up to the green eyed punk, slapping down his tray of food and stepping on the wasted chicken tenders. He smiled as the shorter blond was still being held back by the Danish teen. Roderich soon followed suit, stepping in front of Feliciano, slipping up his meal of spaghetti, the meat sauce covering the poor Italian, strings of pasta hanging from his hair and clothes. This was their statement.

"Useless," the Austrian stated as tears began to well up in Feliciano's eyes. Arthur's blood boiled, no one could hurt his friend in any way.

"You bastard!" he yelled as he tore away from Simon's currently weak grip, lurching to pounce on the pansy boy but soon his shirt collar was grabbed again to hold him back, the dark brown eyes of Im Yong Soo stared into emeralds as the Brit was punched hard in the gut. He coughed in agony but nonetheless he tried to move forward. Against his silent promise to his Italian friend he decided that if he was going down then he wasn't going down without a fight.

Simon pulled his back against his body, he noticed in his fit that Feliciano was thrown to the ground by the scary Russian teen, only furthering Arthur's anger. However he had bigger problems at the moment. Said Russian now stood in front of him with a wide and happy smile with his eyes closed. Arthur's heart stopped within his chest cavity.

"Now, you would like to apologize, da?" he questioned, smile only growing wider if that was even possible. Green eyes looked down at a scrambling Italian. That's not right. He didn't deserve this.

"You can go ahead and kiss my ass you communist bastard," Arthur collected snot in the back of his throat and spat in Ivan's face. A frown began to form on the silver haired teen's face, not even bothering to wipe the gunk that was slimming its way down his face. The Brit could clearly see the dark and ominous aura that now surrounded the Russian teen. He made a mistake.

"Is that so Kirkland?" the Russian said too calmly for any of the teens' comfort, "Shall I oblige you? Though of course I will not be kissing your so called ass." he stated grabbing onto Arthur's throat and shoving him against the wall whilst Simon pulled out from behind as to not cushion the Brit's blow against some lockers. Ivan glared angrily at the prey that stood in his clutches, raising him up slightly off the ground.

"Please don't!" Arthur heard an Italian voice call and witnessed as Feliciano's auburn brown hair popped up behind Ivan's shoulder, at the same moment Ivan swung his arm back preparing to punch the blond. The Russian's elbow collided with Feliciano's face throwing him off balance and again back onto the floor. This weak attempt of saving his friend was for nothing as the momentum of the punch did not falter but instead came into contact with Arthur's face, once... twice... three times and the Russian was done, each blow being harder and more excruciatingly painful then the last as he threw all of his weight into his shoulders, down his arm, and into his knuckles.

"Ja~ Look at you two standing up for each other. How pathetic. Hehe~!" the well known Frenchman called out. The Englishman slid to the floor watching the Russian step back, smile back in place. His vision was blurry but he wasn't done. He tried to get back up and throw himself into the fight only to be given a swift blow to the solar plex by a certain blond Danish. After that one kick all but Ivan joined in giving Arthur kick after kick to his body. All he could think about was the pain he would be in the next morning waking up. He might not go to school.

He felt one hit his chest and slowly he opened one eye only to have to look up at shadowed faces with the grins mirrored to the Cheshire Cat and a French teen's eyes glowing wildly at his misery, "Was that a high heel I felt Francis?" he threw that insult at the teen only to be rewarded with a kick to the face. He didn't know how long he laid there receiving blow after blow but the group eventually dissipated from the scene, walking back to the cafeteria.

Once safe the blond Brit sat himself against the lockers looking at Feliciano with worry. During the elbow to the face scene apparently the Italian had fallen onto the ground losing consciousness momentarily. "Feli..." he mumbled quietly as he scooted towards his friend, blood was still pouring from his friend's face but from what he could see it wasn't broken. Brown eyes slowly opened as the brunette sat up from being woken up.

"Arthur! Are you all right?!" he began to freak as soon as he saw his friend, black, purple, and red staining him all over his body. The Brit had received a busted lip, a bloody and possibly broken nose, a black eye, and nasty gashes along his forehead and cheeks where the skin had stretched too far for the comfort of the skin and decided to split open.

"Hey is your nose all right?" Green eyes stared as he touched the Italian's nose who winced from the sudden pain. It wasn't broken thank god. The poor teen was covered in blood and spaghetti along with the sauce. He looked like a mess. "Well," the blond said as he stood up and helped his friend, flinching from the pain that coursed through his body, "It's not broken, it'll be painful for awhile and you might get light bruising on the bridge of your nose and around your eyes. Now let's go clean you up."

"But-" Feliciano didn't finish his sentence as he was being dragged back to the Out Of Order bathroom that they had managed to keep secret for another day, the trashed food forgotten and left for a janitor to clean. Feliciano kept his head down in sadness as his more injured friend was helping him. Once in the bathroom Arthur began taking wads of toilet paper, wetting them lightly so they did not dissolve and rung them out before dabbing it on the Italian to get the blood off his face and handing some to the brunette himself to get him to stop the bleeding. Once cleaned Arthur sat his friend down on the ground, Feliciano looked up worried, "Arthur-"

"Stay here," he cut him off, "I'll go get us some more lunch. No reason to go hungry right?" he smiled lightly as he walked towards the exit, Feliciano getting up but stopped midway as the door to the bathroom closed shut. Slowly he sat back down, curling into himself, allowing tears to fall and cries to choke out. He hated America.

So Arthur went in search of food. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back into the cafeteria the way he was now, but he knew that his Italian friend had a bottomless pit of a stomach and he did not want to see his friend go hungry after having his face smashed nor did he want to hear the brunette complain about starving the rest of the lunch period.

This wasn't the first time the blond Brit had to get a meal outside of the cafeteria so it took him no time at all to navigate through the school hallways till he stood in front of a door. The lights were off and the sign that once said 'Teacher's Lounge' had long been scratched off as it was replaced by an even larger room. This is where the food will be. In his pocket he pulled out a quarter, sliding it under the door and calling out 'tsundere' alerting whoever lurked behind it know that he was here on business.

Sure enough the door creaked open to reveal brown Asian eyes. Only when the Japanese student recognized the other did he open it enough for him to show his full face, "Hello Kirkland. What happened to your face?" he asked genuinely to the blond that stood before him.

"What do you think happened to my face Kiku, now are you going to let me in or what?" he demanded getting agitated as he was left exposed to the barren walls of the high school. The door opened enough to allow the Brit to move in, motion sensor lights coming on to allow the two teens to see.

"Wow they did a number on you. Anything happened to your Italian friend?" he questioned as the Japanese teen lounged against the table that lied in the center of the very small room.

"Only a bloody nose," he answered not really knowing what Kiku saw as he hadn't yet passed a mirror to assess his own damage, just running out to shake off his nerves. Kiku nodded. The Japanese student transferred to America sophomore year and had ranked the smartest student then too. He was another target of The Group, but unlike Feliciano and Arthur, he was able to hide beneath the shadows, skulking around his predators without being caught. Today, like any other day, he wore his dark gray hoodie with black pants. All the better to hide in. He knew the high school like the back of his hand, knowing every secret back room and how to pick every single locks. If you needed anything- that means ANYTHING- you went to Kiku Honda. He was a master of all things mischievous.

"So I am assuming that you want lunch this time around?" Kiku finally stopped the minor chitchat as he wanted the room to fade back to darkness.

"Yes," the blond answered as he opened up his wallet to assess what little money he had left. Damn only enough for one instant ramen. he thought. "Gimme one instant ramen please?" he said as he handed Kiku two bucks. The Japanese teen nodded, taking the money and leaned back as he pulled out a Styrofoam cup.

"Water and microwave are in the back, please hurry." Arthur nodded as he went to go make the meal. After the water was added and the microwave made its final beat he moved to the door to exit, Kiku tossing him a fork to go with the food. They waved goodbye as the blond left. He walked cautiously through the still empty hallways, eventually making it to the bathroom. When he walked in he saw Feliciano hunched over crying and his heart ached at his friend's pain. Feliciano was a lot more sensitive, especially when it came to words. They hurt him the most. It wasn't easy for either teen and that's why they stood together so that when they got injured they would be right next to each other to lick their wounds. He heard the brunette's stomach growl and he chuckled at the noise.

He kneeled down before his friend, shaking his shoulder until the Italian looked up to see steam rising from a ramen cup, "Eat up. You shouldn't starve." green eyes smiled as the teen handed the other the cup and fork, sitting beside him looking up at the ceiling.

"What about you Arthur?" the smaller teen questioned, feeling guilty to be taking the food now.

"Don't worry about it. I lost my appetite anyway. Plus you gave me breakfast this morning so I owed you one. Just eat up and don't ask questions." Feliciano nodded solemnly as he began to eat his lunch mumbling a 'thank you' to his blond friend.

Today wasn't all that great.

The two friends quickly entered the school lockers before the bell to leave lunch even rung. They figured that if they got dressed quickly then there would be no other mishaps with lone bullies that liked to nit pick at them, especially at fifth hour. They had dashed to their lockers that were in a far corner that lied past the school's team lockers. Both looked down as they quickly got undressed and redressed in gym clothes, hearing as they finished the bell to leaving lunch. At least they made that in time.

"Ve~ do you think coach is going to force us to run?" Feliciano asked Arthur with worry. Besides running away from bullies, he was never good at any form of exercise which made the Brit wonder how the brunette could eat so much without exercising and not get fat. It was unrealistic in his eyes.

"Yeah, it's track day. You should know this, every Wednesday is cardio day." he stated feeling a little upset too. Though he was more athletic than his Italian friend that still did not mean that he enjoyed doing it.

Once dressed, they entered the gym before the coach did. True to their accusations the pair along with the class went out to the track after warm ups to run the entirety of the dreaded track over and over until the class was done, of course having to run at least a mile (four laps) before walking the rest.

"Come on dude! This is the last lap! You don't want coach assigning you another, do you?" the blond Brit yelled back to the Italian who was running at an decreasingly slow pace.

"Ve~ but this is hard Arthur!" he yelled as he desperately tried to make his legs move faster all the while having his lungs feel like they were about to explode.

Arthur slowed down dramatically until he was behind his friend, "It'll be worse if you have to run another," the blond said as he started pushing his friend into a faster sprint, Just one more straight away.

They made it and moved to walk on the outer ring for the rest of the class time until the coach blew his whistle, "Kirkland!" the blond looked back at the tall bald man who looked like he was on steroids. "What did I just see right there?! Run another lap!" the green eyed teen groaned before waving back to the brunette and began running again. A few snide comments were given by his peers who ran beside him.

The rest of gym class went like that. The injured friends were obviously ignored by the coach who's motto prevented him from getting into his students' business: They don't ask me about my life so why should I ask them about theirs'?

The steroid induced man blew his whistle signalling for his class to go to the lockers and dress out. Feliciano and Arthur both ran ahead of the group as to not be stuck in there with various tormentors like their first year. They had learned from their mistakes and made every movement in assurance that it would not occur again.

They dressed quickly dashing threw the halls before it could be filled with the stampede of other teens trying to make it to the last class of the day. Just before they reached a corner at which the friends part for their classes, Feliciano stops wide eyed.

Arthur continues until he realizes his friend's pause turning around and quirking a thick eyebrow he asks, "What is it?"

"Ve~! I left my cellphone in my locker!" the brunette began to panic, "We don't have enough time to go back!"

"Hey hey Feliciano it's alright. We're staying after school for Art Club so we could go beforehand and get it back all right?" the blond tried to calm the Italian down.

"B-but the football team will be in there won't they? I can't go alone!" he started to spazz out some more.

"Then I'll meet you at the locker room and go in there with you okay? I don't think they'll hurt us, there are a few teammates in there who don't condone such things." green eyes met brown ones as Arthur rested his palms on his smaller friend's shoulders. He nodded in response and he smiled lightly, "Good, then see you in front of the locker room." he patted his shoulders once more before turning to walk around the corner. Feliciano stood there nodding to himself that everything would be all right.

Arthur had stood for about a minute outside the lockers waiting for Feliciano's arrival. He knew that the Italian teen's class was father away and up stairs but what is taking him so long? He let out a sigh, some how he had managed to hide from the football players that were going into the locker room also noting the same tall German blond walking in. That dude's first day and he was already on the team. Popular, arrogant bastard.

Arthur turned into a small cut out that on both ends of the wall had a boy's and girl's bathroom that both had doors to the locker rooms from inside. This cut out also had a water fountain in which Arthur bent down to lap up some cool water. Straightening his spine he let out a happy sigh. He heard running down the hall and thinking that it was Feliciano he walked into the hall only to be hit by a large and fast moving object. Hard.

He slid across the tiled floor, his eyes closed as he rubbed his head that had made contact with a shoulder in the process. "Oi watch where you're going you bloody wanker!" he yelled at the object that was still standing, letting out his British heritage.

"Woah hey I'm sorry dude. I didn't see you there, but then again you popped out of nowhere. Hey are you all right?" green eyes slowly opened to look into sky blue orbs, a hand outstretched into his face. It couldn't be, it's that damn Alfred Jones. "I don't think I hit you that hard did I? Your face looks awful, what happened?" What's with all of your stupid questions? the Brit wondered.

The shorter blond glared at the hand that was still in his face, refusing it and helping himself up instead, though showed a tad difficulty. "Keep your nose out of other peoples' business." he grumbled, "Go play your dumb testosterone filled game, Alfred. You're known as the star aren't you? Stupid git." he spat.

"Huh? Wait you know my name?" the well built teen looked honestly surprised at this information and seemed stumped for a second for an unknown reason before a wide and bright grin covered half of his face, "Awesome! I didn't know I was so popular! My full name's Alfred F. Jones if you want to know! Nice ta meet ya!" he said with a slang and hung out his hand to be shook, "What's yours?"

"Piss off." the Brit said folding his arms a walking past Alfred to lean against the lockers, not looking at the school star. The blue eyed teen's face withheld a dejected shadow before turning away and going into the locker room.

Arthur huffed as he heard the door shut. What an idiot. Of course he knew his name. The whole school never stopped talking about him. Moron. Egotistical asshole. 'Your face looks awful', he mimicked in his head. It was then that Feliciano made it to the locker rooms looking at Arthur.

"Ve~ Arthur are you alright? Sorry I was late, a teacher held me after." he said feeling guilty that his friend had to wait for him.

"Yeah I'm fine dude. It's all right, that makes sense. Ready to go get your phone?" he asked as he pushed off the lockers, he really didn't want to go in there and possibly be seeing that Alfred kid again.

""Ve~ Yes but you don't have to go in," Arthur quirked an eyebrow at this, "Well, well you know I hate to point this out, but I'm faster at running away then you so I think it would be safer if I just go in..." he trailed of.

"Oh," he said, his lips mimicking the sound, "That's all right man, just hurry so we can get to Art Club."

"Ve~ Okay be right back!" the brunette called as he moved to the boy's bathroom.

Feliciano walked in a little shakily. Good, no one in the bathroom section he thought although he could hear the jocks loudly converse in the other room. He slowly moved to the back door of the bathroom, the noises growing exceedingly louder now that the door that shut out the noise was opened. The Italian sighed heavily as he stepped into the room. In front of him was his locker but to get there he had to pass the aisles of the sports lockers. Now most hid in the back, as he could hear the voices but you never know if one brute would catch sight of him. He breathed in running at full speed to his locker that was dead in front of him, looking to the side as caution to see if any football players were out and open to see him pass by. That was when he paused slightly in his path.

In front of him stood an extremely tall and muscular teen whose bright blue eyes bore into his tiny frame. Not once had he ever seen this teen in school before. Who is he? he pondered. The much larger teen stood in mid stripping, he was motioning to pull off a grey gym shirt, his torso in full view. For some reason Feliciano's face heated up at this view. The rippling abs and slightly wet skin slicked with sweat made the Italian uncomfortable in many places. The blond still was paused staring deeply at the brunette, cheeks slightly flushed. Feliciano saw another football player going into that aisle and remembering his mission he ran to his locker, opening it up and retrieving his phone, he sprinted out without looking at the peculiar German again.

Feliciano ran out with a gust of wind trailing behind him until he stopped dead in front of Arthur who was waiting patiently for him. The brunette lunged down to catch his breath, short and sharp portions of air entering his lungs and circulating through his veins. His face was still flushed in a way that told the blond it wasn't just from running.

"Feliciano, they didn't go after you, did they?" he questioned, his thick eyebrows contorting in the fashion of worry for his friend.

"Uh? W-what? N-no!" he stuttered causing the Brit to frown questioning what had gotten the little Italian's feathers all ruffled up. By the look on his face Feliciano wasn't going to tell him and he decided to drop it, not wanting to push his friend further.

"All right, if you say so. Anyways, let's get to Art Club before it's too late." he said as the friends headed up to Mr. Zinger's classroom for Art Club. Both smiling all the way.

To say the least Arthur was glad he went to club that day, in fact, he debated whether he should continue and go every Wednesday with Feliciano. Mr. Zinger had just gotten a new camera and let Arthur have some fun with it, in turn finding out that he had a knack for photography. Mr. Zinger had told him that if he kept going to the club meetings he would be willing to let him use his camera. Awesome.

Mr. Zinger did ask the boys about their injuries but eventually dropped it when the two were determined to keep their lips zipped and their voices silent.

Feliciano had a great time as well, he was finishing up his painting of a plate of spaghetti and while that didn't seem all exciting it had a highlight. The focus was not supposed to be on the spaghetti even though it was on the center of the canvas and seemed to be the main focus point. No. It was the background that was supposed to be noticed. In the smallest of details the back showed the streets of Italy at night, the lights shimmering like the stars and the natives and tourists bubbling about. The canvas became alive and if you stared at the background long enough you felt like you were there, feeling the cool night air against your skin, hearing the voices of various languages, and even smell the aroma of mouth watering food that can only be deemed the true Italian cuisine. Feliciano had true and powerful talent in capturing the streets of his homeland.

Watching him paint was like watching a magic trick and while all the other students ignored the two friends, they didn't care. They were in there own little world. Arthur took a photograph of his friend painting as keepsake.

It was now well into the night, Feliciano did stay at his place for awhile, Arthur's mom being no where in sight. They finished their homework together and ended up playing a videogame or two, though neither were junkies to it like most of their peers. Feliciano got really excited and even showed Arthur a new anime about basketball that the blond Brit promised he would watch seeing as a third season was on its way.

The little Italian had been picked up by his guardian, Tim, a few hours ago. The Dutch boy ducking into the house for awhile to properly greet the younger blond, stealing a can of beer and leaving with the Brit's only friend. He then found himself alone.

The teen was downstairs grabbing a midnight snack before tucking in for the night when he heard the dreaded lock begin to jiggle as keys were thrown into it. Green eyes widened frantically seeing as he had no time to run back upstairs and hide in his dark sanctuary.

The front door opened wide as fits of laughter entered the room, Arthur's ears pricking at this horrendous sound. Oh god, she's here.

He was now stuck as the woman's path cut him from the kitchen to the staircase. He was officially trapped by that blasted woman. The laughter continued it's way into the kitchen until it stopped at the sight of Arthur. That was when the blond was given the face of the second voice he had heard enter into his home. The mysterious and unknown man as well as his mother were frozen in their tracks, smile erased, his mother's face contorting with one of hatred and disgust. Arthur was disgusted as well. Though his mother was rather large, that wasn't the problem. She was only large because of her drinking problem, her body contorting to bloat over like a bubble especially at her liver and her face was swollen. The woman's pudgy fingers were curled around the stranger's waist as he tried to hold her up as well as himself.

"Who's he?" the man slurred, a finger pointing almost accusingly at the teen.

"That's just my bastard son, don't mind him." she spat in his general direction.

"It's true, you know," Arthur began as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Arthur, don't start." his mother gave him a warning tone, letting go of her one night stand to tower over her son who noticeably shrank below the looming drunkard woman.

"You said it yourself didn't you? Now if you'll excuse me..." he tried to move around her so that he could skulk back to his refuge.

"Oi, did I say you could leave?" she took one large paw and shoved the blond back.

Once physical contact was made, Arthur's whole demeanor had shifted to one of rage, "The hell?! Don't you just want me to get out of your sight so you can go fuck this bastard?" he said the latter of his sentence quieter, almost timidly to avoid further punishment.

"How dare you!" she screamed, raising her hand and throwing it across the Brit's cheek, the skin resting with a pink shade. He didn't flinch, it was so common it didn't matter any more. He face became shadowed as he cast his gaze to the floor. He knew this would be a short spat before she tossed him to one room or another. "But you're right, I want you out. Now. Not even in this house you little fucker, so do us the kindness and grace us with your absence for the night." she said as she pointed to the front door. Unlike Arthur, she had brown eyes which glowed a dying ember.

"I have school tomorrow, I need a bed." he mumbled.

"I don't care." she spat.

"Of course you don't," he said as he shuffled past his mother as she permitted him access. He was walking past the strange man but stopped when he heard a light chuckle escape the man's throat.

"Damn, Elizabeth. You told me that your son was a weak link, but I didn't know he was this bad. Look at 'im, his face is beaten to a bloody pulp." he laughed with a hearty chuckle. "'ere son, take this mirror and take a good look at your ugly self while you're out." he said as he reached into Arthur's mother's purse that he had been carrying, taking out the woman's black makeup mirror and tossing it at the teen. The woman named Elizabeth gave a nasty drunken chortle, feeling proud of the man she hardly knew.

For whatever reason the blond took it, growling and staring daggers at the man before turning on his heel and walking out the front door, slamming it as he left. He stomped off into the cool night, it being October he shivered at the slight cold, clutching the mirror in his hand. He didn't know where he was going, he just let his angry feet saunter him off to a distant land. In a few hours he would sneak back in just to get perhaps an hour of rest though right now it was only probably twelve o'clock at night.

His feet eventually led him of to the side of a road, a railing cutting off possible accidents as there was a cliff beside it. Arthur stood there, holding the mirror up he flipped it open, never once glancing at a mirror all day since the incident. Indeed the strange man was right, the Brit's face was as swollen as it was sore. The cut lip, the black and blue, and the left over dried blood made his face look hideous, not that he wasn't already, In truth, the teen was extremely self conscious about his looks though most would say he was handsome he saw nothing but a freak. Green eyes shimmered with fresh tears and his already broken nose stung ten times worse now that his face was injured. In anger he threw the mirror out over to the cliff and as he did this the depths of his mind thought he wanted to do the same. This wasn't knew, he thought about this everyday. But... Wouldn't that be easier? To be flown out there and forgotten. He wouldn't have to hold Feliciano back and get into more trouble than he already was. His mother wouldn't have to see him anymore either. And his dad? Well when his dad died on death row then they would certainly reunite in hell. The world didn't need a kid like Arthur Kirkland. He breathed in deep as he climbed over the road railing, his arms holding him back over the cut off cliff.

All it takes is one step. Right?

a/n: Guess what? Cliffhanger! Ha, I love those. Depressing ending right? You'll have to wait till the next chapter to find out. I want to thank those again who are bothering to read this.

And thank you to my first two reviewers that I got just tonight ^.^ it means a lot.

To Monica Honda- you're my first reviewer thank you so much! Your review has told me that not all is lost with this story.

To .143- I really don't know where I'm going with this fic or how I'll be changing up the characters, I'm just hoping that my late night adrenaline and caffeine induced brain is not making a fool of itself. And now you know what has happened, but there is still more to come :3 . Thank you for taking the time to review.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter and please, I implore you to review. I love hearing all forms of criticism. ^.^