It looks like a HERO's work is never done.

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me and I make no profit from this whatsoever.

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Alfred had never been one to give up when he set his mind on something, so even after getting very little information on Arthur's whereabouts he was determined to find out more. Matthew just happened to get dragged along for the ride.

After leaving Asia, Alfred and Matthew continued their information gathering in Europe. First they tried Lithuania, hoping that since Toris and Alfred were on good terms he'd be willing to tell them what they needed to know. However, Toris had simply muttered something about having a pie in the oven and hastily shoved them out the door. The other Baltics were no help either; Raivis just stood at the door shaking and while Eduard had let them in he tried to hide his blushing face behind his computer screen the entire time.

Next they tried their luck in Italy, but the moment Francis' name left Alfred's lips the two had to run off to avoid being hit in the head by the potatoes Lovino was throwing at them (since "throwing them at perverts is the only they're good for, dammit!").

Matthew thought they were crazy for even thinking of asking Vash for help since they were soon running off his property with bullets whizzing past their ears.

Heading to Greece had proven fruitless as well, as they were greeted by a sleeping Heracles on his porch. After convincing Alfred that waking him up would be rude, Matthew suggested they tried asking Roderich next.

And so the two found themselves in the Austrian's exquisite sitting room, sipping tea from a delicate cup. "Tea again, huh? At least Toris offered us coffee." Alfred took a loud sip from his cup and grimaced. Roderich frowned at his poor manners.

"What a lovely sitting room you have. It's beautifully decorated." Matthew commented, trying to cover up for Alfred's rudeness.

"Thank you, I've had a lot of the furniture for decades. Why buy new ones when these are still perfectly fine?" Roderich took a sip of his own tea.

When he didn't say anything else, Matthew shifted nervously on the old-fashioned couch he was seated on. He looked around the room, trying to find something to talk about. His eyes fell on the grand piano behind the Austrian. "You play the piano, don't you?"

"Yes, it's my favourite past time." Roderich let a small smile slip onto his features. "Would you like to listen?"

"Oh yes, please." Matthew replied.

"Sure!" Alfred nudged Matthew's side and whispered "Great job, now he'll be in a better mood to tell us what Francis did to him!"

Roderich got up and walked over to the piano bench. He stretched his arms, closed his eyes, and placed his fingers on the keys. Soon Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata filled the room. Although Alfred and Matthew had heard him play at parties and social gatherings, the two were still in awe by his talent. His fingers seemed to glide over the keys effortlessly.

"That was amazing!" Alfred clapped his hands when the song ended. "You must not do much else but play the piano if you can do that with your eyes closed!"

"Thank you; it is a hobby of mine." Roderich turned to face them fully and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "So, neither of you have told me why you're really here."

"We told you, we wanted to improve foreign relations." Matthew laughed nervously.

"Idiots," Roderich looked at them from overtop his glasses. "You're obviously here for another reason. Ludwig was visiting when he received a call from Feliciano about his brother kicking you out of the house."

Matthew paled, horrified that they'd been figured out so quickly. Alfred, however, simply laughed and gave Roderich a thumbs up. "Good detective work, we should have asked you to help us out!"

"Help you with what?" Roderich asked as he returned to his seat across from the two.

Alfred leaned forward and looked him in the eye. "Do you know what Francis has been up to lately?"

"Francis?" Roderich asked "How should I know? He lives too far north for me to care what he does in his spare time."

"Actually he lives in the west." Matthew said and Roderich blushed lightly at his mistake.

"Right," Roderich cleared his throat "Well in any case I have no clue what he has been doing lately."

"That's odd, since you're on his list." Alfred hummed, trying to act nonchalant about the whole deal.

"List?" Roderich asked "I had no idea I was on anyone's list."

Digging around in his pockets, Alfred smiled triumphantly when he pulled out a single sheet of paper. "We're talking about this list. We found it while searching through Francis' house."

Roderich took the list and skimmed it, blushing a faint pink when he saw his own name crossed out. "This is utter nonsense." He scoffed, handing the paper back to Alfred. "I have no idea what this list is about. Yes, Francis has come over, but I can assure you that nothing scandalous has happened."

"Are you sure about that, Roderich?"

The three men turned to the doorway at the sound of the voice to see Elizaveta standing there, carrying a box tied with a ribbon and grinning mischievously at her neighbour.

"E-Elizaveta!" Roderich choked out "What are you doing here?"

The Hungarian pranced over to him and handed him the box she was carrying. "I came over to give you this cake I bought at a new bakery. I hear it's very good."

"Thank you, Eliza. You see I have guests at the moment so if you could take this to the kitchen…"

But Elizaveta pushed him aside and turned to speak to the North Americans. "So you want to know what Francis has been doing lately?"

"Yes, we think he may have Arthur and we're kind of worried." Matthew replied.

"I think he's kidnapped Arthur and is holding him prisoner somewhere! Probably so he can molest him anytime he wants or something." Alfred slammed his hand down on the oak table.

Elizaveta tapped her chin with her finger and hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know why, but I can show you what he's been doing."

Roderich paled and placed a hand on her arm "Eliza, I don't think this is the time –"

"Of course it is!" she shrugged him off and clasped her hands together "I knew putting those cameras around your house was a good idea!"

"What!"

"We don't need any visuals." Matthew interrupted, blushing. "It's fine if you just tell us."

Elizaveta pouted. "Fine, I'd have to run home and get the tape anyway."

"So tell us what happened." Alfred urged her.

Completely ignoring Roderich's protests, Elizaveta leaned forward and told them in an excited voice "Francis visited here some few weeks ago. From what the footage showed me, he and Roderich were just chatting when Francis suddenly pounced on him. Roderich tried to fight back but Francis somehow managed to overpower him and soon his shirt was unbuttoned. You can be sure that I dealt with him later on for touching Roderich like that. Then Francis, that bastard, he –"

"Elizaveta, could you please try not to get any blood on my 18th century rug? It's almost impossible to get that cleaned off properly." Roderich cut in. Elizaveta brought her hand to her nose and was startled to find blood.

"Here," Matthew handed her a tissue. She took it and hastily wiped off the offending blood.

"Thank you," she said, tucking the tissue away in case she needed it again. "As I was saying, Francis dragged Roderich off into the hall closet and shut the door. I didn't have a camera set up in there that day so I don't know what happened in there, but…"

Roderich stood up abruptly, effectively silencing the woman. "It's not what you think!" He exclaimed.

Matthew, his face pink, said "I don't think we need to know the details of what happened there anyway."

"No! I insist you know exactly what happened instead of just assuming –"

"It's fine, really. We just needed to know if he took you out of the house or anything. Right, Alfred? Alfred?" Matthew waved his hand in front of his face but got no response.

The American was staring into space, deep in thought. Francis took Roderich into the hall closet without his shirt on. The hall closet. The closet…

"SHIT!" Alfred cried and leapt up, startling everyone in the room.

"Alfred?" Matthew asked worriedly. But Alfred just grabbed his wrist and started to drag him out of the house.

"The closet! I shut the closet door in Arthur's house! They could've been somewhere in there; it's bigger than it looks. Why didn't I think of it before?" He turned to Elizaveta and Roderich, who were staring at them in stunned silence. "Thanks for your help! I won't forget it! We've got to go, a hero is needed!" The door slammed shut and the two were left alone in the house.

Recovering from his initial surprise, Roderich picked up the box of cake he'd put on the table and turned to Elizaveta. "Now that they're gone, would you like to have some of this cake in the kitchen?"

"Oh yes, please." She smiled at him.

"Fantastic. And while we're eating you can tell me all about the cameras you've placed around my house, hmm?"

Elizaveta giggled despite the angry look he gave her. "Of course Roddy, darling, whatever you say."

[End Chapter 16]

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I figured Roderich needed more time in the spotlight, while Elizaveta needs to send out copies of that video. Yeah, I know you're thinking it too. I hope I got Roderich's character right, I don't think I did him justice as a fawn.

Leave a review and tell me what you thought!