BOO!

Miss me?

...No? Just curious If Arthur is dead or not? or...what will happen? Hmm~?

Well.

THE ANSWERS BE DOWN THERE GO GO GO CHECK IT OUT NAOWWWWW.

Note: First scene...yeah. Hmhmhm~

Cool water suddenly began to flow out through the metal shower head protruding from the manila colored tiles that made up the bathroom walls and floor. The cool water that made constant pitter patter sounds against the hard plastic bottom of the shower was soon heated and warm. It went as it was for another minute, just water falling with light force to the bottom of the shower and flowing down to the drain at the opposite end.

Then he decided it was warm enough and he stripped of his clothes. He discarded his baggy super-hero pajamas and slightly over-sized T-shirt on the floor. They were soon followed by his mismatched socks(he never cared to look if they were a pair or not, it's not like anyone cared) and his boxers.

He parted the rubber shower curtains and stepped in, tensing up slightly at the sudden hot sensation on his slightly toned skin. He wasn't a very tan person, but he didn't exactly come under the description of pale. He had olive skin that was probably due to him to always going outside for exercise. He had to keep in shape because he was on his school's football team. He went out and did things pretty often besides sports, but they didn't keep him from passing his classes with decent grades. They could be better though, he wasn't the smartest person. People told him he was often a ditz and couldn't 'read the atmosphere', whatever that meant.

Alfred let out a slight sigh of relief when he got used to the warm liquid splattering against his skin, cleaning him of any dirt or grime he had on him, and wiping his mind of any unpleasant thoughts. He loved hot showers, he could sit in the shower for hours on end (and he would, but Mattie would constantly get annoyed with him for using all the hot water if he did). It was his place to think of whatever he wanted, and plan things out for the day. This shower was no different. As he massaged his shampoo into his blonde hair he tried to think of some things to do.

It was Saturday today and Alfred had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted. He could party, laze about, or actually get work done, but the last one seemed unlikely. On other days during the week he barely had time to even take nice showers like this in the morning. He usually got hounded by Mattie to wake up and get dressed because they had classes. He regretted letting his brother handle his class schedule, if he had done it himself he would have made sure there were no classes before 11 AM, but he had simply brushed it off. Now he had to pay for it every day of his sophomore year of college.

"Mhh...I love showers.." he slurred to himself as he let the shampoo wash off his head by the warm water. He soon repeated massaging his hair with conditioner once it was all down the drain and waited a few more minutes before letting his head back under the stream of water and grabbing the soap to clean himself with.

A few lagging moments later he turned the water off and parted the curtains again. He stepped onto the cool white tiled floor and yanked the towel from the rack on the wall behind him. He ran it gently over his limbs so he wasn't dripping everywhere and then fastened it loosely around his waist. He then rubbed the condensation from the mirror that had accumulated due to the steam in the small bathroom so he could fix up his hair before he started his day.

He grinned at his reflection when he was finished and went to his normal post-shower routine: Brushing his teeth, use the toilet, go back into his room to get changed, find his glasses. Once he had gone through the motions he headed downstairs into the kitchen of his and his brother's small home in the college town they went to. His stomach was grumbling and begging for food, and he needed to satisfy it before it became unbearable.

"Ahh, what is there..." he blurted out to the fridge before opening it and looking in. Mostly leftovers, milk, fruit, chicken...Nothing breakfast worthy to him. He quickly took out the milk carton and headed over to the small disheveled counter to grab a random box of cereal and a bowl. He began to dump the Frosted Flakes into his bowl when his eyes skimmed the front page of the news paper that had been left out on the kitchen table.

'Ooo...a new bar in town?' he thought to himself as he read a small paragraph about someone's thoughts about the place. It was right next to a restaurant that was owned by the same person. Alfred thought it was strange they didn't just make it all one building, but that wasn't really important. He thought the place was interesting. He put the box of cereal back on the counter and sat down, spooning cereal into his mouth and munching as he fished his cell phone out of his pocket in order to call someone.

"Hola?"

"Toni! Dude, did you know that there's a new bar that just opened up in town?" Alfred got right down to the point. He heard murmuring on the under end under Antonio's response.

"Si, it sounds pretty nice huh? Lovi said that they were hiring too. Apparently the place is too low on employees for the amount of people it brings in." He told Alfred, who grinned.

"We so need to go tonight! Check the place out!"

"That sounds great and all, but we can't exactly order anything. It seems like a waste. Well, for you and I anyway." He reminded him. Alfred, Antonio, Mathias, and Mattie were still under the drinking age around here, which was 21.

"Yeah but we can still go, right? C'mon dude I wanna go!" Alfred whined. He heard Antonio sigh on the other end.

"We would need someone above the age to come wi-"Alfred heard the cell phone snatched out of his hand.

"Oi! Alfred! I hear ya need someone 21 years old Eh? Kesesese, I have no problem going and getting drunk off my awesome ass! I am after all, awesomely twenty one years old! Kesesese!" Gilbert's raspy voice shouted through the other end in place of their Hispanic friend. Gilbert had just turned 21 a few weeks ago, and he was gloating about it still. It had become as regular as gloating about how 'awesome' he was. Gilbert used to drink even under the age, but now that he was 21 he could drink without being bothered. Unless he tried to feel someone up-

"Dude, really? Hell yeah! Me, you, Toni, Mathias...maybe drag along some other people too!" He exclaimed. He and Gilbert hadn't known each other for long, but they had become pretty close friends after both ending up sprinting down the streets towards the same mathematics building. They end up in their class on time, but sprawled over each other in the front of the room after tripping through the doors. They couldn't help but laugh, and they had been friends since then.

"Kesese, like Feli, his strange brother, and my bruder?" Gilbert added. Alfred heard Antonio squirming at the mention of Feliciano and his brother, Lovino. He couldn't help but grin.

"Dude, yes! Get Luddy and Toni some action! You know?"

"Yeah-"

"You two n-need to but out of others affairs of amor! Not like you two don't have your own crushes, Right? Hm, Gilbert? What about-"

"You shut up! I'm awesome by myself; I don't need to be in a relationship." They went back and forth arguing for a few minutes until Antonio became the bigger man and dropped it.

"Anyway. We'll all meet up outside the place at er...8? Something?" He asked. Alfred was about to nod, but remembered he was on the phone.

"Yeah dude, sound good!" He said. After a few more minutes of talking he told them he suddenly remembered he had to go out and do something so he hung up. Alfred finished off his cereal and dumped the empty bowl in the sink. He snatched his keys off the corner of the table and headed over to one of the kitchen drawers before yanking it open by the handle. He dug around in a few different colored envelopes for what he needed before finding one labeled "Withdrawal slips". He always wondered why Mattie insisted he use the slips they had at home when he was already going to the bank, which already had slips there if they needed them. He did it anyway, because he rather not hear the strange explanation from Mattie later.

After filling out the slip for withdrawal of money from their savings he chucked the pen over his shoulder and headed out the front door of the small house, almost forgetting to lock it. Almost. Mattie would have killed him if he forgot. Last time he did someone came in and went through their stuff. Who exactly? They never really found out, but Alfred thought they had a pretty hilarious sense of humor. They left a lava lamp on their kitchen table with a note that read.

Here, have a lava lamp!

Love,

The Lava Lamp Genie.

Mattie was too busy looking for things that might have gotten stolen to be as amused as he was.

He walked down the very short drive way and looked over his red 1995 Dodge Ram. "Man, I love this car." He really did too. He had it since he turned 17. The car before this one was short lived, getting into a bad car accident that destroyed the whole back of the car when he was pulling onto a busy street. The person who had rear-ended him had ran a red light at 70 mph, so he had to pay for the expenses, though there wasn't any point, it was ruined beyond repair. After many months of having to walk to his job, his Uncle Sam gave him the red tank he had parked before him.

He contemplated taking his car to the bank, but waved it off. 'It's only a ten minute walk. Plus I could use the exercise.' he decided starting to make his way to the side walk in the direction of the bank.

As he walked along the streets and sidewalks he thought about random things. He wondered if he was already guaranteed a spot in the line up next year. He had been doing really well on the team so far. Although it would be much more fair to have everyone try out again. He wondered if it was the same for Mattie and the hockey team. Alfred was the quarter back this year for football, and Mattie was captain of the hockey team. They were pretty good in both their respective sports, and whenever it didn't conflict with anything else they would always go to each other's games and cheer each other on.

Alfred smiled, he was glad to finally have Mattie back after years of being apart. They hadn't been this close since they were 7 or 8 years old, and it was tough to actually meet in person when they had to keep going through the American-Canadian border each time. He remembered when he was still young and had overheard his parents fighting. Something about jobs, and demanding...he couldn't really remember, he just remembered feeling scared. He knew at that point his parents wouldn't stay together for much longer. He had started to think it was his fault, but then he started getting that feeling. He didn't really notice as much back then, but he remembered it was similar to those feelings he would get, like someone was looking down on him. Even back then it always seemed to reassure him. Except that night was a more special time than usual. He remembered hearing someone singing to him. It was soft, but he heard it. He could never forget that song.

He began to hum the small tune as he neared the bank. Come to think of it, he hadn't had that feeling for a while; not in the past few years actually. He wondered why. It had been happening randomly throughout the years, but why would it suddenly stop for two years or so? Maybe it just wore off.

He walked in thought for another minute before that familiar feeling struck him. 'Well, that was right on queue. Haha.' Could whatever caused it had known what he was thinking? Nah, no one was probably causing it anyway. It was probably just his subconscious. He thought it was strange, but it was comforting so he never made a point to mention it to his mother or to John.

"Git! Stop walking to the bank. If you do you'll get shot and die! You can't die yet..."

He stopped in his tracks, the sudden voice startling him half to death. His face scrunched in confusion. Whose voice was that? It sounded like it had an accent. Also, what the hell was a git? He don't know what possessed him to speak out loud, he didn't even know whose it was or where it had come from, but he did it anyway.

"W-Who? What the hell...Am I hearing things?" He asked himself.

"Run away from the bank, you dolt! You can hear me can't you?"

"Run away?...Why?"

"Just do it-"

Before he could tell what had happened two guys dressed in black were running through the light crowd of people clutching brief cases. By their appearance they looked like they had just robbed the bank; they were wearing ski masks. Each had a gun with them and Alfred's blood boiled and froze over at the same time. He wanted to stop them; the heroic side of him itching to stop the bad guys, but there was that small voice telling him not to or he'd be dead. Before he could do anything the shorter of the two had shoved him into the brick wall of the restaurant he had read about in the news paper, the one with the new bar. He slid to the ground and watched in a cold sweat as the two robbers jumped into their getaway car, fired off two rounds(that thankfully didn't hit anyone), and speed off down the street with police cops soon following.

He slowly got up, still staring at the street corner where the two had made their escape. 'If I had gotten to the bank...Oh God. I-How did that...? Who?' His brain was full of two many questions, and his gut was slightly clenched from the passing event. He decided to head straight back home, unaware of what had just happened to that unknown voice from above.

"Seriously guys! It was freaking scary!" Alfred waved his arms about, trying to emphasize his point. Antonio was about to say something but Gilbert burst out laughing.

"What, is the little hero scared of a few bank robbers now? Kesesesese!" He took another swig of his third beer. He wasn't exactly drunk yet, but definitely tipsy. His brother who was sitting between Gilbert and Feliciano (the bright bubbly Italian boy they had dragged along with his brother to the bar with them), spoke out of his conversation with the brunette to quiet his brother down.

"If you get this crazy on only three beers bruder, I'm going to tell them not to serve you anymore." The albino nearly choked on his beer, Alfred and Antonio laughed.

"B-But West!" Gilbert really acted like the younger sibling sometimes. The contrast between the two brothers was astounding.

"I mean it, Gil." Ludwig then turned back to his conversation with Feliciano and Kiku. As the friends had planned over the phone, they had all gone to the new bar in town, dragging a few choice friends along. Mattie couldn't come, he had some serious studying to do, but Mathias, Antonio, Gilbert, Ludwig, Feliciano, and Kiku had all managed to come, though some were forced to (Lovino).

Gilbert looked back to Alfred while Antonio was busy pestering Lovino playfully. Mathias continued the conversation. "So, you're sayin' you heard a voice, right before you got uh..".

"-shoved to the side like a muschi?" Gilbert finished the thought, and took another drink of his beer. Alfred knew enough about Gilbert and German to know the albino was insulting him again. He just continued after taking a sip of his coke.

"Yeah! This voice, -I think it was a guy's; I couldn't tell- just spoke to me outa nowhere! Also, you'd be shitting bricks if you were in that situation, Gil. They had guns man, don't call me a pussy."

"Aww, someone is being bitter, Whatever. Anyway, maybe it was someone around you?" Gilbert offered the idea. Alfred shook his head.

"I don't think so, sounded like it was coming from...above me. Weird I know."

"Beyond weird. Maybe our little Alfie is hearing things? Do we need to send you to the crazy house?" Mathias poked at him. Alfred laughed.

"No way! I'm too awesome and heroic to be crazy!" He jumped up on top of his chair. "Also, it's Alfred, not Alfie!" Gilbert slammed his glass on the counter top.

"Oi, there is no way you're more awesome than ME!" He jumped up on his chair as well, coming face to face with the blonde. They started having a shouting contest, claiming that they were more awesome than the other and cracking hilarious, but barely understandable inside jokes, until the bartender called Alfred out for starting it.

"Aw c'mon man! We were just joking. You're really kicking me out?"

"Get out; I'll let you back next week, Kid. You wouldn't be getting off so easy if you were drunk. Now get." The bartender went back to serving the customers at the bar. Alfred sighed half irritably, but grabbed his favorite bomber jacket off the back of his seat and headed out the door.

The cool air hit him straight in the face as soon as he stepped outside. It was raining down pretty hard. It would be alright, he had taken his car with him, he could just drive home until he needed to drive back to bring some of his friends home. He would just leave them here, but he bet Gil, and possibly Antonio(he knew about him having sangria once in a while) would be too drunk to drive, or even walk back to their dorms.

He started down the wet side walk towards where he had parked a few blocks down. He had only taken a few steps before he noticed what seemed like a small stream of blood tricking down to the sewer drain from the alley in between the bar and the restaurant. He took a few steps closer out of curiosity and took a look into the alley.

A pale, drenched man lay on his side facing Alfred. His hair was wet and clung to his skin. Blood trickled down his forehead, and the stream of blood he had seen was coming from the blood slowly flowing down the man's back and legs. His hands were handcuffed together, and he wasn't wearing much for clothing except a simple white robe like tunic. He looked like he was dressed from the distant past, from the time of the Romans. His was even wearing sandals that were strapped all the way up on his ankles.

Alfred quickly knelt in front of him and shook him by the shoulders.

"Hey...Hey! Can you hear me?" Alfred got no response. He looked into the man's half opened eyes. They were a very dull green, almost lifeless and unblinking. Like the man wasn't even looking at him. Alfred felt panic rise in his throat as he looked at all the heavy bleeding out from his back, and his blood stained clothes.

"Dude! Wake up!" He shook him harder. The only reaction he got was the man cringing, and closing his eyes from the twinge of pain Alfred had caused, but it was enough. He hoisted the man up - he was much lighter than Alfred thought - and carried him bridal style to the front door of the bar. He kicked the door open and shouted.

"K-Kiku! Help!" The short Japanese man looked over and quickly came to Alfred; checking the wounded man for a pulse and other things. Kiku was studying to be a physician, and even started an internship at a local hospital. It was actually a miracle he could even come and hang out with them tonight.

"He's lost quite a lot of blood. He needs attention. Do you know who he is?"

"N-No. I just found him lying in the alley." Alfred was nervous. "He doesn't have any ID on him at all. Not any money either." What the hell were they going to do? If they didn't act quickly he might die!

"Your home is closer. Let's take him there and I will treat him. I may need to call my older cousin Yao for help." Kiku explained. "Hurry, the more we wait the worse the situation gets Alfred-san." The blonde nodded. They made their way to his truck quickly. Kiku got into the driver's seat and started up the car. Alfred would have done it, but it would take time to place the man, who now that he noticed couldn't be much older than them at all, in the back seat. So Alfred simply held him as he sat in the passenger seat, driving hastily to his and Mattie's home.

He could feel his clothes become damp as he lay there limp in his arms. His head resting against his shoulder, and his still bound wrists lying in his own lap. How had he ended up like this? How long had he been there? Was he going to be okay? Alfred didn't doubt Kiku's ability as a medical student, but he seemed in very bad condition. His back was still bleeding as he sat there holding him. Most likely his clothes would be stained and ruined now, but he didn't seem to care. He just hoped he and Kiku would be able to save a life to night.

DR. JAPAN.

AN AMERICAN HERO.

Ahaaa..gotta love him.

NEXT TIME. ON...IHROF!

Dream sequence...

REVIEW.

BYE~!