A/N: Hey guys, thank you so much for reading this, you really don't know how much that means to me :). I will try to finish up the chapters soon and get them posted. Hopefully the next few chapters will be a luggage longer. As always, I wrote really love to hear what thou think so please feel free to message me. I always love to hear from people. Again thank you so much and, enjoy.

Morning found Arthur sitting in a pile of crumpled papers. It occurred to him that he barely knew anything about his fellow countries. His plan was to have a starting point, to have something to compare them to who they were now. That way he could easily point out what was different, then he just had to learn why things were different. Arthur figured he could talk to Matthew to find out about them now.

While he was cleaning up the papery mess there was a gentle knock at the door. Arthur glanced through the peep hole, hoping to see Matthew. It was Kiku. He stood facing away from the door wiping what Arthur really hoped wasn't blood off his sword.

When Arthur answered the door, Kiku sheathed the sword and turned around. 'Mr. Kirkland.' He said, politely nodding.

Arthur tried to return the gesture. 'Hello.. uh, Mr... Honda... I think. Can I help you?'

Kiku handed an envelope to Arthur. 'From Mr. Williams.' Kiku said, turning to leave.

'Uh, wait.' Arthur flipped the envelope around awkwardly in his hands. 'Sorry, um, Mr. Williams is.. who?'

Kiku sighed, rather annoyed, and didn't turn around. 'Matthew Williams, Alfred's brother. He said you left it in his car yesterday.' Still facing away from Arthur, Kiku ran his hand over the hilt of the sword. 'Oh, Mr. Kirkland, there is another meeting tomorrow. Don't be late.' He walked away, leaving Arthur confused and possibly angry. He knew he hadn't left anything in Matthew's car, he didn't even have anything with him. Closing the door and sitting at the kitchen table, Arthur opened the envelope.

It was a short hand written letter from Matthew and twenty dollars. The letter said,

Arthur, I'm not sure how long you plan to stay here, or how you intend to get back to your time, but I fear the longer you are here, the more you will arise suspicion. So I suggest you get what you need and get out of here soon. If I was you, I would start with Ludwig. He's not really much for opening up and talking but he seems to be the least complicated, just buy him a beer and see what you can do.

¬Matt

Ludwig's address was written at the bottom of the page. Arthur had expected to just ask Matthew about everyone, that way he wouldn't have to actually talk to them. He dropped the letter and hit his head on the table a couple of times in frustration.

Then he remembered Kiku with the bloody sword. Arthur thought about Kiku from his time, he didn't know the Japanese man to well, but he always admired him. Calm and peaceful. This future could not happen. Arthur stood, grabbed his jacket, and ripped the address off the letter.

Ludwig didn't live to far away, but Arthur didn't know where his car was, or if he even still had one, so he ended up walking. The house was dark and quiet, Arthur wasn't even sure if Ludwig was home. But he rang the door bell anyways, silently hoping no one would answer.

Ludwig opened the door looking tired and bleary eyed. He wasn't wearing the hat or jacket he had at the meeting, Arthur could now see that he had more scars than the one on his face. The three running down his arm were especially noticeable and made Arthur shutter. He remembered at the end of yesterdays meeting Feliciano had been holding three knives between his fingers. Ludwig's scars were about a finger length apart.

Ludwig dropped his cigarette on the concrete and crushed it with his boot. Does everyone here smoke? Arthur thought. Ludwig looked back at Arthur and raised his eyebrow. Arthur realised he had been staring at Ludwig's arm since he answered the door. 'Uh, hey, Ludwig. Um, so I have had a long day and I know we don't really.. uh, hang out... to much but I was on my way to a pub and I just thought you might want to join me? Maybe?'

He expected Ludwig to close The door. Instead the German sighed and grabbed his coat. 'Sure.' He mumbled.

Ludwig stood in his driveway looking around, a bit confused. 'Where is your car?'

Oh yea. Arthur rubbed the back of his neck nervously, hoping this wouldn't discourage Ludwig from going. 'I thought we could walk to the pub? It's a nice day out and I know how much you like fitnessy working out sorts of things.'

Ludwig felt his pockets for keys, opening the door to his truck. 'Not anymore I don't. We can take my truck.'

Arthur scrambled to the other side of the truck and climbed in. This would be a good opportunity to get Ludwig talking, but Arthur realised how difficult it was to get someone to talk about a topic that they wanted to avoid. Then he reminded himself that by getting Ludwig to talk about it, Arthur could prevent it. 'So, you don't work out anymore? Why not?'

Ludwig sighed again, 'because, no matter how much I trained, how much I fought, I couldn't save him.' His voice caught a little but his expression was unchanged.

Arthur made small notes in his little notebook. 'Your brother right? What happened?' He tried to sound casual, but it really wasn't his thing, Arthur was afraid he was just sounding nosey.

'Why do you act so interested in this? You know what happened.' He stopped in front of the pub and rested his arms tiredly on the steering wheel.

'Yea well, I kinda...' Come on Arthur, think of a good lie already, he thought, Ludwig was talking don't lose him now. 'I did know, yes, but I hit my head on something... yea, and I don't remember a lot. Just remind me what happened.'

Ludwig got out of the truck and started to walk towards the front door. Arthur followed, not sure what sort of answer that was, and kicking himself for the lame excuse. Ludwig didn't say another word until he had his first beer. Arthur got bits and pieces of information out of him, but the more questions Arthur asked, the more uncomfortable Ludwig looked.

He finally stood up and grabbed his jacket. 'You want to know what happened? I was fighting alongside my brother, Gilbert. The battle was getting pretty bad and he was so worn down. I knew I needed to get him out of there, but I didn't get to him soon enough and when I finally did, I wasn't strong enough to protect him.' He drank half his beer in one gulp and just stared at the glass. The look in Ludwig's eyes was murderous.

'And you know what,' he rubbed at his eyes, 'I'm glad I stopped fighting, stopped caring. Because no one relies on me anymore. Gil always taught me to be strong, but look where it got him? Look where it got me. Lost my grandpa, my brother, I almost lost Feliciano too and Kiku. If I can't protect the ones I love, why bother trying.' He turned and walked out of the pub, forgetting Arthur rode with him.