Yet another character appears in the story! Who could it be this time? On an unrelated note, my socials class is doing a project on World War One right now, and I'm supposed to research Russia's part of the war. Needless to say, history has never been more fun.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter and find out what Arthur plans to do now that Francis knows about his magical world.

Disclaimer: The characters of Hetalia do not belong to me, as I am not a Japanese man.

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Francis was having almost as much fun as he had last week at the playground. He skipped along the meadow with the unicorns and the fawns. He sang songs in French and twirled around. The magical creatures didn't join in, however, and instead watched him from a distance, open mouthed. It did not get better when he began to take off his shirt.

"Gah! Stop it this instant!" Arthur shouted. He ran forward and grabbed the hem of the French man's shirt and tugged it down.

"Aw, what a spoil sport." Francis pouted. "They were enjoying it!"

"I'm sorry to say that we were not enjoying such a strange and disturbing sight." Came a voice. Francis turned and saw a unicorn staring straight at him.

"D-did you say that?" Francis eyed the unicorn carefully.

The unicorn nodded its beautiful head. "Indeed, it was I."

"EEEEYYYAAAHHHH!" Francis jumped back in fright. "Arthur, the unicorn, it spoke!"

Ignoring Francis, Arthur spoke to the unicorn. "I apologize for his actions. It is his first, and hopefully last, time here."

The unicorn bowed. "It is alright, your majesty. I shall leave you two be and tell the other creatures to treat your friend with kindness and respect." It walked away, leaving the Europeans.

Francis turned to Arthur, his mouth hanging open. "It just spoke." Arthur nodded. "And in full sentences, too. With such…language. He sounded so dignified!"

"More than I can say about you." Arthur mumbled. "Come along, you've been here long enough." He grabbed his wrist and tugged him back towards the closet, Francis still gaping at where the unicorn had stood.

"Wait a second," Francis said. "That talking unicorn called you 'your majesty'."

Arthur turned his head away. "Did he, now? Oh look, we're here!" They stopped in front of a solid wooden door. Arthur turned the knob but the door wouldn't open.

"Oh bloody hell." He pushed on the door but it wouldn't budge. He tried and tried again but it stayed shut. "No, no, no!"

"Why won't it open?" Francis asked.

Arthur grunted. "Someone's closed the door on the other side." He gave the door one great push but to no avail. He sighed and began to walk away.

Francis jogged to catch up. "Where are we going, now?"

Without looking back Arthur replied, "To my palace."

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-Back in the Modern World-

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"Why am I here, Alfred?"

"Because every good hero needs a good sidekick!" Alfred slapped the blond haired man's back.

"Ouch! Don't hit so hard!" he fixed his glasses, which were knocked askew. "What if you had made me drop Kumajirou? Then where would I be?"

"Who?" the polar bear asked.

"Matthew! My name is Matthew!" he sighed. Why couldn't anyone remember his name?

Alfred pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and began walking around the house with Matthew at his heels. "When I came here last night for my dinner with Arthur –"

"Two hours late."

"Whatever." Alfred continued. "When I arrived I couldn't find him anywhere. I looked all over and the house was empty!"

"Maybe he just left. He got tired of waiting and decided to look for you or something." Matthew suggested.

"This is Arthur we're talking about. I've been later. Besides, none of the neighbours have seen him leave the house." Alfred poked through the inside of a drawer.

He looked around some more going from one room to another, carefully inspecting each one. Matthew gave in and decided to look, too, if only to please his brother.

Soon both reached the room where Arthur had been waiting. The table was still set and the dinner cold.

"You see!" Alfred said. "Why would he leave without cleaning up, first? He wouldn't let this food go to waste."

Matthew frowned. Yes, it was very unlike Arthur to do such a thing. "Maybe, just maybe, you're right. But who could've taken him and why?"

Alfred didn't answer. He got down to his hands and knees and crawled around, looking for clues. Arthur kept the floor spick and span so anything on the ground had to mean something. He found what he was looking for under one of the armchairs. "Aha!"

"What? What is it? Have you found something?" Matthew rushed over to where the American was.

"Yup, and it's a huge clue. Look!" Alfred pulled out a red flower.

Matthew took it from him. "It's a rose without its stem. How is this a clue?"

"Who do we know that uses roses a lot?" Alfred asked, getting up to his feet.

Matthew bit his lip, deep in thought. "Francis usually has a rose with him, doesn't he?"

Alfred nodded. "He's the only one I know who uses these flowers without their stems."

Matthew studied the flower in his hand. Yes, it did look like the one Francis always used. "W-wait a sec. Are you saying that this is the rose that he uses to…" he looked at Alfred with wide eyes. Alfred gave one swift nod. Matthew threw it to the ground with a yelp.

"Ew, ew, ew!" he grabbed a glass of water off of the table and poured it all over his hands. "I touched it! I touched the flower and the flower touched his…. So that means that I touched it indirectly! GAAAAARRRGHHHH!"

"And that is why you always wear gloves when doing detective work." Alfred bit back a chuckle at Matthew, who had run to the nearest bathroom to vigorously scrub his hands.

"Hurry up disinfecting." He called out. "We need to head over to Francis' house and find out what's up. I have a feeling that he's up to something that involves poor Arthur."

He wasn't exactly far from the truth.

[End Chapter 3]

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Why yes, I am a proud Matthewian (eh). A new character should be introduced every chapter, so leave a review on who you want to show up! Maybe it'll help me update sooner...