Ah! Um, thank you for reading! Seriously, I appreciate it!

Geez, you know when you're writing fanfiction and you look at the clock and realize that it's 2 am and you have an early class? But then you're like, "Noooo, I just got to the good part!" And you decide to just pull an all-nighter and drink a gallon of coffee in the morning?

This chapter focuses mostly on Gilbert and Liz. But it does open it up for the next chapter or so.

Warning! There's a lot of disturbing stuff going on. But you know that already, don't you?

Hungary watched the basement door, shaking in anger. The screams made every inch of her body ache in helpless despair and she clutched the spatula to her chest, eyes filling with impotent tears.

Gilbert… Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?

Lithuania came into the kitchen to find Hungary digging holes into the back of her hand and watching the door.

The screams.

"LIZ! Fucking SOMBODY! HELP! HELP!"

Hungary's knees buckled and Lithuania ran to catch her.

"It's okay," he whispered into her hair. "It's okay…."

Hungary sobbed and held onto Lithuania's neck. "S-stop him!" she cried. "Please, make him stop!"

Lithuania could only helplessly hug the woman back.

The basement door shook again. "AUGH! STOP!"

Hungary's nails dug into Lithuania's neck, but he didn't care. The woman sobbed into his neck.

"We… we h-have to get o-out of here," she trembled.

Lithuania stroked Hungary's hair and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. It will stop when he gives in. It always does."

Hungary looked up at Lithuania, her green eyes spilling onto her dirty face. "Gilbert will never give in! Don't you understand?"

She broke into a fresh wave of sobs and Lithuania clutched her to his chest helplessly.

…

A little while later, Russia came out of the basement door, looking troubled. Hungary violently kneaded dough for their supper and focused every ounce of her energy into making the little balls suffer. Russia came up to Hungary and watched her, silently. She turned red in fury and avoided his gaze.

"Elizaveta," he said. Hungary's breath hitched in her throat and she closed her eyes.

"Elizaveta, I am worried about Gilbert. I do not think he is happy."

Hungary bit her lip and braced herself on the counter, silently. Russia patted her shoulder.

"I would like very much if you would talk to him. And make him something he likes for supper. I am not saying it is your fault, but he has not been eating well."

Hungary let out the breath she'd been holding. "Okay."

"And take some cough syrup down to him, da? He is getting sick."

Russia left a key on the counter and walked quietly out of the room. Hungary's flour-covered hands flew to her face to stop the tears. She bit her lip and forced them back.

There was some leftover strudel on the counter from breakfast and Hungary grabbed it and wrapped it in a cloth. She found the least bruised apple from the fruit basket and stuffed it in the pocket of her apron with a bottle of foul medicine. There wasn't any meat to speak of, but there was a large hunk of bread meant for Hungary's own lunch. She shook as she filled a metal cup with water from the pitcher. She grabbed everything and bolted to the basement door, slamming the key into the lock.

She heard the soft sobbing before anything else. Hungary ran to the end of the hall, to the Bleeding Room, and fumbled with the lock.

"G-Gilbert, it's me."

The sobbing stopped abruptly and Hungary threw the door open.

Prussia lay, naked, against the dripping concrete wall, arms tied behind his back. His shoulders shook and he buried his face against the wall.

Hungary set everything down and grabbed the wool quilt from the corner. She wrapped it around Prussia's limp body and held him to her chest, rocking back and forth.

"It's okay. It's okay, I'm here." Hungary rubbed the wool into Prussia's skin and felt her eyes fill. His breath was shallow and rattling and he didn't move.

Hungary buried her face in Prussia's back and sobbed. "Gilbert… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…."

"It's okay, Liz."

"I'm so sorry, Gilbert!"

"Liz," Prussia said soothingly. "It's not your fault."

Hungary wrapped her arms around Prussia's shoulders and cried. He winced in pain and Hungary jumped back.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked frantically. "Tell me where."

"Just untie me."

Hungary moved to take the blanket from Prussia's shoulders but he panicked.

"No! Don't look!"

Hungary closed her eyes and threw the blanket around Prussia's waist. She fumbled with the knots and Prussia sighed in relief, pulling the quilt back around his shoulders.

Hungary untied Prussia's feet and he sat up, trembling. She offered him the water. He drank greedily and she smiled.

"I brought strudel."

Prussia looked like he wanted to refuse, but his eyes softened when he saw how eager she was.

"I like your strudel," his voice strained. He coughed violently and Hungary frowned.

"I've got cough syrup too. It's foul, but-"

"I don't want it."

Hungary watched as Prussia tore into her food, confused. "I know it's horrible, but it'll make you feel better."

Prussia swallowed half the bread. "I don't want it, Liz. Take it away."

Hungary suddenly saw the dark blood matted in Prussia's silver hair. "Gilbert, you're bleeding."

Prussia paused and reached his hand to his head. He seemed to be surprised.

"Lovely," he said. He coughed.

Hungary reached for the bottle of cough syrup, but Prussia slapped her hand away. "Liz, no. I'm not taking it."

"Stop being so fucking stubborn, you idiot. Look at where it's gotten you!"

Prussia's eyes steeled and he glared at Hungary. She averted her eyes and blushed.

"Gilbert, please," she whispered. "You're going to die."

"I know," Prussia said.

"So stop! Ask Russia to stop! He'll listen, I swear! Remember when I first came here?"

"I won't beg, Liz. I can't."

"You can't win," Hungary cried. "He's not even playing the same game as you! Gil, his brain works differently than yours! You can't win!"

Prussia took a chunk out if the apple and sighed. "I can't show weakness."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Prussia stared at his feet. "I refuse to break down any more. I'm already weak enough."

"Surviving isn't weakness, you idiot! Just ask him to stop! Say please, you stubborn fucking asshole!"

Prussia met Hungary's eyes and she almost yelled out in shock. His crimson eyes were so… empty.

"You did the right thing, Liz," he said. "And no matter how bad it gets for me, it was worse when I knew he was doing it to you, too."

"How do you think I feel?" she whispered.

Prussia licked the last of the strudel off his fingers. "Stop. It's worse for you and you know it. You have people waiting for you to come home. You have Specs and Feli and Poland and even West. You have people that care what happens to you. I have no one."

"That's not true!" Hungary shouted. "Estonia's been watching the mail! Every single day there's a new message from Berlin! Every day!"

"Stop," Prussia said harshly. "Don't do that to me. We both know West handed me over. And why not? I'm nothing."

"Don't say that," Hungary sobbed. "Please, please don't say that."

"I'm nothing, Liz. I used to be so big and so strong. I used to make the world tremble. Now look at me." Prussia held out a thin arm. "I'm pathetic. And I'm not even allowed the honor of dying in battle."

Hungary wrapped her arms around Prussia's neck and held him to her chest. "You're not nothing, Gilbert. Please don't say that."

Prussia laid his head on Hungary's shoulder and sighed, lungs rattling. He coughed lightly and Hungary kissed his forehead.

"Do you remember when we were kids?" she whispered.

"That was ages ago, Liz."

"I don't care how long ago it was. You're still that obnoxious dick who taught me how to protect myself. Remember how long it took for you to teach me how to ride a horse?"

Prussia sighed. Hungary persisted.

"I fell down, like, thirty times. And you laughed so hard!"

"I was pretty cute."

Hungary offered a shaky laugh. "How about when we tried beer for the first time? When we snuck into Grandpa Germania's brewery? We ended up beating up Switzerland for no good reason."

Hungary took a cloth from her apron pocket and patted at the blood in Prussia's hair. "You were there the day I got married, telling me it was an awful idea. I almost kicked you out, but you were such a huge part of my life I just couldn't. And you were there when the divorce was finalized, singing 'I told you so, I told you so!'"

Prussia closed his eyes and Hungary looked at him fondly. "But that night, after I had drunk myself into a stupor and thrown myself at you like an idiot…. You carried me up to bed and took off my shoes. I was pretending to be asleep so you wouldn't try to talk to me. You pulled the covers over my shoulders and you played with my hair. And just when I thought I was going to fall asleep, you spoke."

Prussia turned red. "You were awake?"

Hungary smiled and kissed the top of his head. "Do you remember what you said? 'I missed you.' You kissed my hair and told me you missed me. And for the first time since Roderich and I started having problems, I felt safe. You did that for me, Gil. You made me feel like everything was going to be okay."

Hungary felt Prussia's hands on her hips. She laughed. "Haha! Okay."

Prussia began to tremble and he took his hands away. Hungary frowned.

"Gil?"

"Th-thank you, Liz. Really. Thank you."

Liz smiled and hugged Prussia. "I love you, you idiot. And we're going to get out of this together. Okay? We're going to find out way home."

Prussia was still. "I love you too, Lizzy. I do."

Hungary heard her name being called from upstairs. She'd probably burned something, judging by Estonia's annoyed tone. She didn't care. She wanted to stay down here with Prussia and hold him until he fell asleep. She owed him that much after what happened.

"Go," Prussia whispered.

"No way," she smiled. "I'm staying down here with you."

"Liz, you're going to get in trouble."

"So what? I haven't been in trouble in a while. It's getting boring." Hungary's cocky laugh died in her throat when she saw Prussia's face.

"Please," he murmured. "Go."

Hungary squeezed his hand. "I'll be down in an hour to bring you dinner. Okay?"

"Okay."

Hungary reluctantly stood up. Prussia grabbed her hand suddenly and she started.

Prussia's eyes stayed glued to the ground. "I-I mean it, Liz. I love you. You were my best friend growing up, and I'm glad you've been with me."

Hungary felt tears spring to her eyes and she fell to her knees to hug him once more. "I love you, Gil. And I swear to God, we're going to get out of this. I'm going to get us out of here."

"Promise?"

"On my life."

Prussia reached up and kissed Hungary on the forehead. "I don't want you to wait for me. If you have a single opportunity to make it, you take it, okay? You can always come back for me later."

"I'm not leaving without you, stupid. Germany would kill me."

"Liz. I need you to promise."

Hungary tugged Prussia's ear playfully. "I'm not promising that, Gil. I'm not going to leave without you."

Prussia's eyes suddenly turned desperate. "Liz. Please."

Hungary was taken aback by the word. "What?"

"You have a better chance to make it without me. I don't want you to stay a single night more just because you're waiting for me to get stronger. You can always regroup when you're safe and come back for me, right? Please. I need you to promise."

Hungary felt her chest constrict. "Gil…"

"Please."

Hungary hugged Prussia to her chest. "No matter what, I'll always come back for you. Okay? I'll never abandon you."

"Thank you," Prussia breathed.

Hungary stood up and headed walked out, closing the door gently behind her. She walked up the steps and reached for the key in her pocket.

It wasn't there.

"Huh," she said. "I could have sworn it was in here."

Mystified, she walked back to the bleeding room and opened the door. "Gilbert, have you seen the- oh my God!"

Prussia was slumped in the corner, covered in blood. He held the blood-stained skeleton key in his unmutilated arm. Malevolent dark blood spurted from the gashes in his wrist and he looked up at Hungary, exhausted.

"TORIS!" Hungary screeched as she ran to Prussia. "E-EDUARD! HELP!"

Hungary put all her weight on Prussia's arm, but the blood wouldn't stop flowing. It mocked her, spurting between her fingers.

Prussia turned his head in mild curiosity. "Dinner's burning," he whispered. Go… you'll get in trouble."

"TORIS!" Hungary screamed. "HURRY! FUCKING HURRY!"

There was a pounding on the basement door. Hungary realized with horror that she had the only key to get in or out of the basement, and it was covered in blood. They were locked in.

"Elizaveta!" Lithuania's voice yelled, terrified. "What's going on?"

"BLOOD!" she screamed. "THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD! HELP ME!"

Prussia gave a weak little laugh. "It feels just like I thought it would. Who'd have thought I'd be right after all, huh, Lizzy?"

"Fuck you, Gilbert," Hungary sobbed. "Fuck you so hard. Don't do this to me."

The basement door pounded and Lithuania screamed something unintelligible. Hungary took off her apron and tried to tie it around the gushing black wounds, but it was soaked too quickly. She laid on Prussia's arm and sobbed.

Prussia stroked Hungary's back weakly. "I'm so happy I had you in my life," he murmured. His eyes closed and Hungary wept deliriously, clutching the ripped wrist to her chest.

There was a smash. The pounding of footsteps. Hungary was torn from Prussia and thrown to the wall.

"N-NO!" she screamed. "Don't touch him! DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM, YOU MONSTER!"

She tried to leap at the white haired figure, fingers burning to tear Russia's throat out of his neck. But she was restrained.

"Elizaveta, ELIZAVETA! Calm down!"

Hungary tried to rip herself from Lithuania's grip. "Toris, don't let him fucking touch him! Stop him, goddammit! Get him away from Gilbert!"

Lithuania slapped his hand over Hungary's mouth. "Sh! You'll alert Russia!"

Lithuania's words didn't register completely with Hungary. She thrashed and bit and struggled violently to get away, to murder the white haired figure that bent over her best friend's lifeless body. It wasn't until the figure spoke that Hungary stopped fighting.

"Toris," Ukraine said. "It's bad. You need to get Estonia right away."

"Elizaveta," Lithuania said, "I'm sorry. You need to stay down here with Katyusha and Gilbert. I'll be right back."

"Hurry," Hungary sobbed.

Lithuania ran out of the room.

Ukraine worked quickly. "How did this happen?" she asked as she ripped the blood-soaked apron.

"H-he must have stolen the key while I wasn't looking!"

"Then you untied him?" Ukraine's eyes turned steely with resolve as she leaned her weight to stop the bleeding. "Elizaveta, you know what happened last time!"

"I'm sorry!" Hungary cried. "It's my fault, it's all my fault!"

Footsteps pounded down the hall and Lithuania and Estonia ran into the room, breathless. Estonia ran straight to Prussia and Ukraine and brandished his needle and thread. Lithuania pulled Hungary's face to his shoulder and hushed her sobbing.

"Don't look," he murmured. "Don't look."

Hungary shook and wept. "It's all my fault…."

"No, shh. It's not your fault. You didn't do this. Don't watch, Elizaveta. Close your eyes."

Hungary collapsed into Lithuania's lap and sobbed. Lithuania bent over her protectively.

"He's not breathing!" Ukraine's voice panicked.

"No pulse! Hurry, get on his chest!"

Hungary silently passed out.

…

Hungary came to on the cold concrete, and the first thing she did was panic.

"Gilbert!" she yelled. She looked around the concrete prison. The only sign of Prussia was the enormous puddle of blood in the corner. "Gilbert!"

There were footsteps and Lithuania ran into the room. "Elizaveta?"

"Toris," Hungary cried desperately. "Gilbert!"

"He's alive," Lithuania said, getting on his knees. "Barely. He's still unconscious, though. Eduard says there's no guarantee."

Hungary choked and tried to stand up and run out to find him, but Lithuania held her shoulders.

"There's nothing you can do right now. You need to calm down."

"W-where is he?" Hungary stammered. "I need to find him!"

"Ukraine took him to her room. She and Estonia are doing everything they can. But he really did a number on himself, Elizaveta."

"He's been through worse," Hungary said. "Hell, I've put him through worse. He can make it."

Lithuania looked sadly at the Hungarian woman. "Elizaveta, don't get your hopes up. Even if he makes it, he's seriously depressed. He'll need to be under 24 hour supervision, and restrained even more."

"That's not going to make him less depressed!" Hungary shouted. "That's going to make him worse!"

Lithuania looked sadly at Hungary. "I don't know how much longer he can stay here. He needs to get out."

Hungary stood up, eyes flashing steel. She brushed past Lithuania to the basement hall.

"Elizaveta? Where are you going?"

"Where's Russia?" Hungary asked coolly.

"U-um, he's still in China. Katyushka has Natalia stalling him for as long as possible."

"Good." Hungary stomped up the stairs and through the rubble of the door Ukraine smashed. She went to her room and stuffed everything she could fit into her bag. Lithuania appeared at the door nervously.

"What are you doing?" he said.

"I'm going home," Hungary said simply. "I'm going to find my way home and get Austria and Germany to help me get Gilbert back."

"Y-you're just going to leave?"

"There's no other choice," Hungary said, slinging her few possessions over her shoulder. "Gilbert can't stay here any longer. He's going to die. And he's too weak to move right now. I need help."

Lithuania stared in wonder as Hungary made her way to Ukraine's room.

Estonia sat beside Prussia's bed, holding his limp, stitched wrist. Ukraine bustled around, placing wet rags on his head, taking his pulse, making sure he was still breathing. Estonia sensed Hungary at the door and jumped in shock. Hungary looked down and realized she was still covered in Prussia's blood.

Ukraine looked at Hungary sadly. "We're doing the best we can," she said.

Hungary wordlessly sat on the bed and leaned over Prussia.

"You horrible idiot," she whispered. "Don't you dare die. I'm coming back for you. You hear me? I'm coming back for your ungrateful ass. And if you're dead when I get back here, I will find my way to the gates of Hell so I can drag you back home by your ear."

Hungary kissed Prussia on the forehead. His skin was so cold…

.

"Elizaveta?" Estonia said.

Hungary stood up and tied her hair back. She looked up at Ukraine.

"Thank you for taking care of him. You too, Eduard. Please keep him safe. I swear to God I'll be back for him."

Before either could say a single word, Hungary burst into a sprint. She ran out of the house, away from the nightmares within.

It was going to be a long, long way back to her home. But Hungary kept running as if the devil was chasing her. Tears sprang to her eyes as she saw the golden sun creep over the horizon.

"Hang on, Gilbert!" she yelled into the wind. "I'm coming back for you!"

Er… hello…

I know you're wondering where Latvia was. The short answer is he ran downstairs after Liz passed out and saw the carnage. Lithuania rushed him out of the room because he's too young to see an attempted suicide.

Um, review or something. I get scared in my brain all alone.