The next few days were a blur of tears, sleepless nights, and sobbing from his parent's room. His mothers wailing often kept him awake at night. Or it would have, if he hadn't already been awake reading late into the night. He was sure that silver line had been what killed Matthew. He had seen it himself in the seconds before Matthew died! Apparently no one else had, though. Others were convinced he had been holding his glass a little too tightly, and that when it broke, one of the shards had sliced the pale blond's throat.

Alfred, of course, believed differently. He knew what he had say, and even if he was forced to keep quiet about his own ideals, he at least knew the truth. For now, that was enough, though that led to his current situation. Staying up late at night reading books on different mysterious happenings. There seemed to be a few relating to what had happened to his sibling, though they all had truly ridiculous reasonings.

One woman, a few years before, had reported seeing a man following behind her for several weeks, and every week, someone close to her would die. Eventually, the man started getting closer and closer to her every time she turned around. At one point, she turned, and he was right in her face, teeth gleaming in the light. She had reported him as some sort of monster, though after she saw his face, he never showed himself again.

It was a strange situation, and there were several newspaper articles the woman had been interviewed in, where the woman had claimed the man to be a demon, and that he still came to her at night, standing in her window and whispering to her. Of course, most people these days had ignored the old woman's ramblings, or made fun of her.

Alfred himself had heard the story when he was about twelve, and of course his over-active imagination led him to believe he was being followed for several days, until his young mind found something else to occupy it. He sighed, leaning back in his chair. He had managed to find a book on demons within his father's library. Even with the incredibly large amount of books in the doctor's study, he never expected to find such a book. His father was a religious man, and had never tolerated a single word of such things, why would he own such a book?

"Alfred! Alfred!" he heard his name called out from where he was sitting in the garden, the demon book propped opened on his lap. He had been sitting at a pavilion in the middle of their garden all day, the white gazebo-like structure being one of the only places he could find privacy throughout the day. Daniel ran up to him, waving the morning's newspaper. "You're in the news paper!" he said, clearly excited. The young boy seated himself on the bench next to Alfred, holding the paper out to him.

Alfred smiled softly and took the paper from him, looking over the front page. There was a picture of Matthew, as he looked before his death, obviously. There was a brief description of him and the accident, and then beneath that Alfred's own picture smiled up at him, and there was the same beneath for him. The paper claimed him as a hero for rushing to help his brother.

Alfred sighed, feeling a slight wetness build up in his eyes. It was painful to even see the picture of his twin, and something in his chest held the paper back out to Daniel, a weak smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Hero, huh? Do you think I'm a hero, Danny?" he asked, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately. He'd have to look out for his younger sibling much more now, since Matthew had usually been the one to look after him before the accident.

Daniel nodded enthusiastically, jumping up from the bench and giving his older brother an almost choking hug. "Of course, Alfred! I hope I grow up to be as cool as you!" he exclaimed, a dazzling smile on his face. Alfred couldn't help but smile at that, getting up and following the younger man into the large house. A young woman had been quickly hired in place of the older nanny, though she wasn't nearly as accepted by Daniel, and especially not by Alfred himself. The brunette gave him a weary smile as Daniel raced over to her side, and she ushered him away to greet his tutor.

Alfred was pretty sure her name was Emmaline, or something along those lines. Daniel often called her Emma, for lack of motivation to use her proper name. It was something Alfred himself was used to. The blond sighed, going up to his room and falling back onto his bed with a slight 'oof', the air being knocked out of his chest.

As he stared up at the ceiling, thoughts raced through his mind. Thoughts of his nanny's death as well as his twin's, and where the future might lead. He was knocked out of his reveries by a rapping at the door, and quickly shot to his feet as the bubbly blonde young woman peeked in the door. "Alfred, sir? There's a young miss at the door asking for you,"she gave him a knowing smile. "Would you like me to lead her to the garden, and prepare some tea?" she questioned. Alfred nodded, looking back at her solemnly. "Yes, please...I'll meet her outside in a few moments," he said quietly, assuming the young woman would most likely be Francine, coming to console him over his loss.

It was a smart move on her part, to attempt to comfort the young man she was told to aim for. With Alfred being the 'hero' he now was, there would be some competition, so the French woman's mother was likely pressing the matter of catching Alfred's eyes. Said American sighed and headed for the door, gathering his coat in his arms around the way and making his way down to the garden. He let the small smile tug at the corner of his lips when he spotted the young woman, admiring the appearance of the wonderful pale flowers in front of her.

The pale lavender and lilac petals almost matched the pale purple, almost pink color of her dress, making her skin seem less pale than it had before, though her auburn hair fell over her slender shoulders in lovely cascading tresses.

He felt something in his chest alike to a breathlessness, smiling and approaching the French woman with an almost fully genuine smile. "I've hear admiring things that much your own beauty ruin the appeal; whom ever said that was a fool and a liar. You look even more beautiful than usual," he smiled, bowing slightly and gently grabbing her hand to press his lips against her knuckles.

"Are you just here to grace me with your beauty, or have you got news?" he asked, straightening and smiling at the young woman. Francine's face flushed and she smiled softly in return. "I thought it might be a good idea to see how you were handling the whole ordeal... maybe cheer you up, if they're were anyway I could," she said softly, tilting her head a bit to look up at Alfred.

He smiled faintly, nodding and leaning forward to gently brush his lips against her cheek, his own flushing a bit. "I appreciate it, really," he said softly, gently taking her hand in his and leading her out further into the garden, giving her a sudden tour of the area. Perhaps this whole marriage thing wouldn't be too bad, if it was with a woman like Francine.

I am so sorry this has taken me so long to update. and the same apology extends to all of my many fanfictions here, and elsewhere. Things have been heptic for me lately, and with school starting, there's just no telling how long it's going to take me to get back in the swing of writing these 3000 word chapters that I usually write. This one is just barely even half-that, and this is mostly just a filler chapter, for now. I'm trying to reaqquaint myself with my thought process for this story, so right now I have no idea where I will be taking this, I only have one specific goal in mind at the moment, and that is to finally get Alfred and Arthur to meet.

Again, I'm so sorry this took so long, and I hope to get back into the swing of updating all my fics regularly, but I really can't make any promises yet.

Thank you.

Please Review, Everyone's wonderful comments (and even the not so wonderful ones) are what keep me going.

-Aaron 3