Hi guys! Sorry for taking so long, BUT I have a legitimate reason. THIS IS SOOOO LONG. LONG ENOUGH TO NEED TWO CHAPTERS. THIS CHAPTER IS ALMOST 4000 WORDS! *keels over an dies* Anywho, this is kind of a double request since elizabeta H. Austria wanted USUK and a guest wanted RoMexico and Romano and Mexico managed to sneak in here soooooo... (it's officially a USUK request though so shhh, don't tell Romano or Mexico. XD)

Song: A Whole New World

Maria cocked her head around the tree she was hiding behind, taking in the chaotic scene before her. A small circular castle surrounded by a wall at least ten feet thick stood higher up the wooded hill, besieged by a large army. Flaming arrows streaked across the late evening sky from both sides, and Maria could see smoke coming from somewhere inside the castle grounds. The attackers had brought a catapult since they couldn't get a battering ram across the deep moat, and they were loading large rocks into the sling. Shouts and the sound of metal against metal permeated the air, making Maria's headache worse.

"Alfred?" she asked.

Her half-brother looked at her from his hiding place place behind a nearby tree. His eyes were hidden by large black goggles and he wore a special gray suit from his neck to his wrists and ankles. Black boots and gloves covered these outer appendages so that only the lower half of his face and his thatch of dirty-blond hair was visible. Maria wore a similar suit, and her long black hair was tied up in a severe bun at the nape of her neck.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Why exactly did you send us to a time when this castle was being attacked by Normans?!" Maria growled, her voice rising dangerously.

Alfred scowled back at her. "Hey, it's not my fault your precious boyfriend got trapped in a time when England was under attack! You're lucky I was able to find out where he travelled to only two days after he got captured!"

"It may be two days to us, but to Romano it could've been a month!" Maria hissed.

Alfred jerked his thumb towards the castle. "Yeah, well, hopefully he's not dead yet and we can rescue him and get back here before the portal closes."

Maria groaned at this. "I didn't ask you to come along! Besides, if we don't make it back in time Matthew can just open another portal back home."

"Yeah… about that..." Alfred pointed to a spot just over her shoulder and Maria spun around. Matthew, Alfred's twin, stood just behind her. She squeaked in alarm and stumbled backwards.

"G-great! Now what'll we do if we get stuck here?!"

Matthew shrugged and patted the gun on his belt. His voice was weak and whispery from a childhood accident, so Maria had to lean in to hear him speak. "We'll just have to make sure we don't get stuck here, right? We should get going."

Alice flinched and several maids around her screamed as a loud crash came from outside. The servants in the large kitchen paused in their work and listened fearfully to the commotion.

"Damn Normans…" one older man cursed.

His wife smacked his arm. "Shame! Speakin' so in front of milady!"

The other kitchen helpers, reminded that their lord's daughter was in their midst, quickly set back to work counting up all their supplies and preparing food for the men defending the castle. Alice sighed and twitched the hem of long green dress irritably. Ever since she'd turned sixteen the people she'd grown up with, played with, and learned from, had taken to keeping a distance and calling her Lady Alice or milady. This was, quite frankly, very annoying.

Still, now was not the time to worry about something so trivial. Their castle was under attack after all. She nimbly grabbed several slices of bread, an apple and a small wedge of cheese, wrapping it all in a handkerchief. The head cook eyed her but said nothing. Alice nodded once and headed for the door. She peered out cautiously. A large courtyard separated the kitchens from a tower in the back right corner and enemy arrows were raining down sporadically.

A loud scream startled her and she gasped when she saw one of the men fall from the wall with a crossbow bolt lodged in his chest (thank God it wasn't her father). This was followed by yet another crash, and Alice assumed that the Normans had fired their catapult at the wall again. If you don't go now, you'll never get the chance! Alice thought. Taking one last deep breath, she hitched up her skirts and dashed into the courtyard.

"Ugh! What's that smell?" Alfred hissed as he crawled from one bush to another.

Maria wrinkled her nose as the stench hit her nose as well. Following Matthew's lead, they'd slowly picked their way up the hill to the precariously rickety drawbridge. Surprisingly, the attacking army hadn't tried to attack the front gate. This seemed kind of stupid to Maria, since the gate was probably the weakest point of the whole castle.

Matthew shrugged and whispered, "In medieval times the sewage in the castle often emptied out into the moat."

"You mean-? Aw gross!" Alfred eyed the murky moat distastefully.

A laugh bubbled its way out of Maria. "You have to admit, it's kind of clever. The smell alone could probably drive away an army."

"Can we just get inside now?" Alfred whined. "No one's guarding the gate, it's wide open!"

To Maria's surprise, it was! Just beyond the drawbridge the heavy wooden doors were wide open. It was an obvious trap, not to mention very arrogant. What was beyond those gates…? She glanced over at Matthew, but he shrugged.

"I only know a bit about old castles, my speciality is the Renaissance. Romano was the medieval expert, remember?"

"Yeah, a lot of good it did that idiot," Alfred chuckled, eying the castle ramparts.

Maria instinctively grabbed the machete that rested in its sheath at her waist. "I swear, I will stab you in the throat! ….Look at me when I'm threatening you!"

A grin spread over Alfred's face and he stood up, exposing himself for anyone to see. "The Normans aren't looking, and neither are the Brits! Let's go!" He dashed over to the drawbridge and a quarter of the way across before the other two managed to get to their feet.

"That idiot!" Matthew cursed as loudly as he could before running after him with Maria hot on his heels. A shout came from the castle and Maria saw an archer aim his bow at them.

"Look out!"

Matthew ducked as an arrow whistled over his head and Maria dodged to one side, avoiding another arrow that lodged itself into the wooden planks. Alfred was waiting for them just inside the gate. Instead of opening up into the keep, beyond the front entrance was a large tunnel with another heavy wooden door at the end.

"Do you want to get us all killed?!" Maria gasped between breaths. Matthew just leaned his arms on his knees and tried not to pass out from the adrenaline-fueled sprint.

To Maria's annoyance, Alfred just laughed. "We got inside okay, didn't we? Come on, the sooner we get your boyfriend the sooner we can get out of here." He headed for the door at the end of the tunnel confidently. Maria and Matthew followed, looking around cautiously as they did so.

"Something isn't right," Matthew murmured.

As if in reply, a booming metallic crash rang from deep inside the walls, making all three time travelers look up in alarm. Maria was the first one to notice the checkered shadow that fell across them. She spun around.

"The gate!" she screamed. Matthew and Alfred turned around just in time to see a portcullis fall across their entry with a crash. They were trapped inside the tunnel. Alfred swore and raced to the heavy door, pushing against it furiously.

"It won't open!" he yelled.

Matthew motioned for him to be quiet. "Listen!"

Maria and Alfred fell still, listening intently. Above the din of battle they could hear faint laughter from above. Following the sound, Maria saw a shaft of evening sunlight shine through the ceiling.

"There's a hole in the roof," she whispered looking at her brothers. Without warning, a jet of boiling water shot from the hole and landed directly on her left arm.

Alice paused to catch her breath. She'd been lucky; no arrows had landed in the courtyard and the entrance to the south tower was unlocked. No guards were up there, as they were busy on the ramparts. Alice lifted her cumbersome skirts again and started up the spiral staircase.

Her father would kill her if he found out she was going to talk to a prisoner.

It couldn't be helped though! Two weeks ago a strange man had been captured in the woods, and now there were Normans on their doorstep. If that wasn't suspicious, she didn't know what was. Her father's men had tried multiple times to get information out of the man, but he'd refused to say anything other than that he wasn't a threat. Alice hoped that asking him in a more civil manner, and possibly bribing him with food, would make him more inclined to talk.

She paused in front of a heavy door halfway up the tower. Looking around and blushing slightly, she pulled out a key- which she had stolen -from the front of her dress and fit it in the lock. She impatiently swiped some of her long blonde hair out of her face (some had escaped from its braid while she ran) and turned the key. It made a satisfying clunk as the lock disengaged and she tentatively opened the door. The room was bare except for a figure huddled in the far corner. Light from a narrow window revealed one of his strange black boots.

"What do you want?!" the man asked, his voice sharp and bitter. With a grunt he got to his feet, his efforts hindered by the strong leather cords binding his wrists.

Alice quickly grabbed the key and shut the door behind her. "I just want to talk."

"That's a first."

The man stepped into the light, allowing Alice to get a good look at him. He was a couple inches taller than she was, with auburn hair and goldish hazel eyes. He'd come to the castle cleanshaven but now he had a thin beard, and his hair was matted and snarled. His bizarre grey suit was torn in one knee and his lip was puffy and split in the middle. For the first time, Alice noticed a wayward curl on the side of his head and got the insane urge to tug it. She couldn't really explain why, though…

She blushed when she realized she'd been staring at him and held out her handkerchief. The man eyed it suspiciously before snatching it and awkwardly unwrapping the food. A grin slowly unfurled itself across his face and he bit into the apple eagerly.

"Grazie," he mumbled around the mouthful. "What do you want to talk about?"

Alice thought for a second. "Well, first of all, what's your name?"

"Romano. Romano Vargas."

Before she could stop herself ,dozens of questions sprang unbidden to Alice's lips. "Where are you from? Why are you here? What on earth are you wearing? Do you have anything to do with the Normans attacking us? How-"

Romano held up a hand. "Slow down! Jeez, you're worse than my brother!" He took a bite of cheese and Alice had to wait for him to swallow before replying. "I don't have anything to do with the Normans. As for the rest, you would never believe me if I told you."

Smirking, Alice crossed her arms. "Is that so? I saw faeries when I was only six years old. I think I can believe anything you could possibly say."

"Alright then. I'm a time traveler. I came-"

"Wait, what?!"

The worst thing about having her entire arm scalded, Maria decided, was the fact that she was left-handed, thus limiting what she could do. While her suit had protected most of her arm from severe burns, the force of the water had literally ripped the glove from her hand, and now painful blisters were popping up all over her palm and fingers. After the first of these many attacks, Matthew had grabbed Maria by her good arm and dragged her towards the door. Still with her good arm, she tried to help Matthew and Alfred push the door open.

It wasn't easy, but the door was budging millimeter by millimeter, though boiling water was still pouring out the holes in the ceiling. None of it was directly above where they were standing, but they could feel it lapping at their boots. It wasn't until the first arrow just missed Alfred's hand that they realized there were slits in the sides of the tunnel where archers could easily pick them off.

"Alfred, I think there's something behind the door that's preventing us from opening it," Matthew whispered.

"YA THINK?!" Alfred shouted back. "How do we get out?!"

An idea popped into Maria's head and she blurted out, "Set the door on fire!"

"What?!" Her brothers eyed her like she was crazy.

"Do you have any better ideas?" she asked. After a moment of silence both of them shook their heads and Matthew pulled a box of matches from his belt pouch. He lit one, but it spluttered and went out: the air was turning damp from all the steam billowing off the water (which was now up to the tops of their boots). Matthew tried again, and by some lucky chance the match stayed lit long enough for him to place it next to the door. The dry wood quickly caught fire and a small blaze grew. The three siblings withdrew as smoke joined the steam, making it harder to breath.

This, unfortunately, left them more exposed to the archers.

Maria felt pain explode in the back of her left shoulder and she sank to her knees with a scream.

"MARIA!" Alfred shouted, pulling her up into his arms.

Matthew waded over to them and grabbed the shaft of the arrow. His other hand found Maria's chin, making sure she was looking him in the eye. "Maria, I need to break the shaft." Maria nodded once and bit her lip. With a jerk, he snapped the arrow in two, eliciting another scream from her.

"Pinche! T-today's not my lucky day, is it?" Maria asked with a weary chuckle.

Alfred's eyes hardened as blood welled from his sister's shoulder and stained her suit. He handed her over to Matthew and started kicking the burning door viciously. Matthew and Maria watched in amazement as he ignored the flames and kept attacking the door until a large hole appeared in the wood. Alfred reached in with both hands and, with a final heave, shoved the large wooden beam that had been keeping the door closed out of the way. There were shouts of alarm as the beam fell with a giant crash into the castle beyond.

Grinning, Alfred pushed the door open. Hot water rushed past his legs and mingled with the dirt of the courtyard beyond. "C'mon, let's get out of this hellhole."

Matthew placed a hand on Maria's wound, trying to apply pressure and stop the bleeding. "We need to bandage up her shoulder."

Maria waved him off impatiently. "I'm fine. We need to go before those guards catch us." Taking the lead, she pushed past Alfred and ran out into the open. The castle itself was very impressive and she would have gawked at it for a while if she could. Instead, she was spurred into action when she heard a deep male voice say, "Take ten men and go after them!" followed by the sounds of people running down stone steps. Her eyes darted around the courtyard frantically. Where would they keep prisoners? A tower in the south corner caught her eye and she pointed it out to Matthew and Alfred. Without waiting for their opinion, she started for it, ignoring the jab of pain that came with each step.

Her brothers followed dutifully, though Matthew eyed it doubtfully. "If we're wrong, we'll be trapped up there…" he panted.

Alfred shrugged. "It's better than waiting around to get caught."

Indeed, when he looked over his shoulder he could see eleven men carrying very large swords chasing after them.

"So, what's the future like for women?"

Romano eyed Alice curiously. "What?" he asked.

Alice waved a hand in the air impatiently. "You know, what's it like being a woman in your time?" She'd heard so many strange things about the future already, like cars, microwaves, and pasta, that she felt nothing else would surprise her at this point.

"Oh, well, it's a hell of a lot better. Men and women are equals and women don't have to wear dresses and they can vote-"

"Vote?"

"Yeah." Romano ran a hand through his hair and let out a puff of air. "How do I explain? Where I live, our country isn't ruled by a king or some noble. People vote for a person and they're in charge of the country for four years, then a new person is elected."

"You mean peasants decide who the ruler is? How ridiculous!" Alice scoffed.

"Whatever. Untie me before my wrists fall off, will ya?"

For a moment, Alice was tempted to say no and leave him there. After all, he'd answered all of her questions and eaten all of the food. In the end though, she decided against it and undid his bindings. Romano hissed in pain as he rubbed circulation back into his arms.

"So, are you going to help me get out of here too?" he asked.

Alice rolled her eyes and sarcasm practically dripped from her lips. "No. I planned on untying you just so you could stay here." Her face turned serious and she leaned a hand against the cold stone wall. "How am I going to get you out of the castle?"

A loud commotion from the bottom of the tower made them both jump in surprise. Alice quickly opened the door and poked her head out. "What on earth is- AHHH!"

Three strangers rushed up the stairs and shoved their way into the room. Alice stumbled back and pressed herself against the back wall of the cell in fright as two of the intruders slammed the door shut and leaned against it. Two of them were blond-haired, blue-eyed men and looked to be twins. She could also hear some of her father's men banging in the door and shouting for them to surrender. The third stranger, a woman, let out a gasp and wrapped an arm around Romano.

"Romano! You're here!" she squealed, kissing his cheek.

Romano blushed a bright red and returned the kiss. "Yeah, yeah, I'm- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR SHOULDER?!" Alice leaned closer and noticed a large bloodstain on the woman's left shoulder.

The woman scoffed and brushed some black hair out of her face. "It's fine. Just an arrow wound." She smiled brightly before her eyes rolled back and she fainted. Romano caught her and looked to the two other men for explanation.

"Yeah… we tried to get in through the front gate," one of the men said. Alice noticed that his hair was shorter than his brother's and a lock near the front stuck up.

"YOU TRIED TO GET IN THROUGH THE GATEHOUSE?!" Romano yelled.

"Is that what it's called?"

Alice spoke up. "You went into the gatehouse and survived?!" she asked, her voice just as incredulous as Romano's.

The man look her up and down, making Alice uncomfortable. He grunted as the knights on the other side tried to push the door open before replying. "Yup. Your front door is kind of ruined."

"Oh…. are you time travelers as well?"

The other man glanced at her sharply. "You know?" he whispered. Alice nodded, and the twins glared at Romano.

"Hey, it couldn't really be helped!" Romano spat. "And at least I wasn't dumb enough to try and get in through the most dangerous part of the castle, you bastard!" Alice noticed with some amusement that he held the woman in his arms a bit closer as he said this.

"Well, if you hadn't gone time traveling alone we wouldn't have had to- WHOA!" Something large crashed against the door and caught the twins off guard. They stumbled forward a few paces before resuming their positions against the door.

The noise startled the woman into wakefulness and she almost punched Romano in the nose. "What happened?!"

"You fainted like a girl," the twin with the cowlick snickered.

"I am a girl, pendejo!"

The dark haired woman squirmed in Romano's arms. "Eesh, put me down already!" Romano reluctantly set her back on her feet and she looked at the door. "So, how do we get out?"

"Let me talk to the men," Alice suggested. "My father is lord of this castle. Once he knows you were only trying to retrieve your fiance, he'll let you go once this battle is over."

"You'd help us? Really?" the (obnoxious) twin asked in amazement. "Wow, that's so nice…. um, what's your name again?"

Alice blushed and straightened. "Alice Kirkland. And you are?"

The man placed a hand on his chest. "I'm Alfred F. Jones! The tall, blond, silent one is my bro Matthew, and the lovebirds are Maria and Romano."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Al-"

"Your plan would never work," Maria interrupted. "We can't wait until the battle's over, the portal will have closed long before then."

"Portal?" the noblewoman asked.

Maria glared at her. "How do you think we got here? Magic? If we don't get to the portal in time we'll be stuck in this godforsaken time period!"

"How was I supposed to know that? I didn't know time travel was even possible before twenty minutes ago!" Alice snapped. The absolute nerve of this woman! How could she talk so to her when dressed so shamelessly?

"Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess!"

"I'M NOT A PRINCESS!"

The clamor outside the door suddenly quieted, making Alfred and Matthew freeze. Finally, a voice from the other side of the door called, "Lady Alice? Are you in there?"

Alice flinched. What should she do? Pretend she wasn't there? Try to carry out her plan and hope her father would let these people go in the midst of battle?

Maria took the decision out of her hands by shouting, "Yeah, we've got your lady in here and unless you let us go you'll never see her again!"

"Maria, what the hell are you doing?!" Alfred hissed.

"She said she wanted to help, right? I'm letting her help."

Alice heard one of the men say, "Inform Lord Kirkland at once!" followed by the sounds of someone running down the stairs. She shivered at the feral grin on Maria's face.

Editor's Note: Somehow, Romano and Mèxico is okay. Don't ask me why.

I did a ton of research on medieval castles for this and yes, gatehouses really were that scary. Going in there was almost guaranteed suicide. O_O Anywho, this will be continued~

ALSO, PLEASE, NO MORE REQUESTS. I HAVE NO MORE ROOM FOR REQUESTS AND I WOULD FEEL TERRIBLE IF I COULDN'T WRITE OUT YOUR REQUEST.