CHAPTER ELEVEN

Smile

The struggle began, fight swerving into an alleyway, much to Luciano's advantage. No one could witness them being stabbed. Antonio faced off against the other alone, saying it was far too dangerous for Lovino to try and intervene. Luciano was in control, that's how it seemed at the least. But the fight turned around quickly. With minor aid from the other, Antonio overpowered the attacker and disarmed him.

The battle was somewhat easy, as he quickly learned the cause for this was due to the fact that Luciano was forced to use, what was assumed to be, his bad hand. The other was bandaged tight, small amounts of blood seeping through the wrap and becoming visible, as well as a couple of other minor wounds. Despite this, they didn't question it. They had a lead now, something that could help them. Especially after most of their previous research was trashed.

Through massive amounts of teamwork and sneakiness, Luciano was escorted back to the World Building without another word. Obviously, the two took the back streets to avoid the assumptions of kidnapping. They hauled Luciano in front of their designated room and threw open the door. Dragging him inside, all eyes fell upon them with plenty of questioning gazes and glares. "C-ciao." Lovino muttered between breaths. A brief minute of quick explanations was spouted out before everyone understood the situation relatively well. Alfred and Ludwig helped them tie Luciano to a chair, more than happy that someone managed to catch him.

But Ludwig saw this as also being suspicious and couldn't help but wonder. Two appearances in the same day? It's barely been five hours since we last saw him... He thought of this as a possible ploy of some sort, but pushed the thought to the side as Luciano's chair was put in the center of the room.

His head began dipping forward, eyes closed. It was as if he had fallen unconscious. Antonio and Lovino shrugged, not really thinking they had done that much damage to him. The group shuffled to another section of the room, debating on what to do next. "We should get information out of him, da?" Ivan said, smiling with his pipe in hand. Though it was a nice idea, they needed Luciano to be alive and comprehensible. "We should have a non-lethal interrogation." Arthur stated, eying the Russian. Majority won vote-wise and they decided that they would just see if they could get this guy to talk.

Yao went off to fetch Kiku since they figured, if anything, he would be able to help getting some information out of their prisoner. Despite the two missing they still began, compiling him with questions of all sorts. But, as they had expected, Luciano refused to answer any of them. Every so often he would glimpse in the direction of the door, and then back at the crowd around him. Arthur quickly took note of this, and questioned what he was going to do. It was nearly impossible for him to escape. His weapons had been confiscated, and even if he did manage to remove the ropes he wouldn't be able to fight through everybody. What are you planning Luciano? Arthur wondered.

He looked around the room, scanning on all the faces. He frowned. They were all full of anger and agony. All of them, sad and disturbed. A pang of guilt erupted in his chest. It was his fault that they were all like this. He had brought these monsters into their world, their universe. He was the reason that Feliciano was suffering. He hadn't seen them all like this since... since 1939.

World War II.

That war was a dreadful one full of pain and suffering. It had torn apart friendships and families. Arthur considered himself lucky. His family was, if anything, one of the least affected. If anything, their bonds grew greatly and he felt much closer to his brothers. But others weren't as fortunate.

Yao was one of them. His family was nearly split in half thanks to his brother's betrayal. He remembered after the attack, Im Yong Soo had a major outburst, enraged and wanting to get revenge on his older brother. Mei had cried, her family was just about destroyed now. She always liked Kiku, and was glad that they were related, even if it wasn't blood wise. She looked up to him and cared for him, and what does he do?

He attacks their eldest brother. The others had been quiet, far too shocked or confused to have any major reactions. They couldn't believe that Kiku would attack the man that raised and cared for him when no one else would.

Ludwig was also hurt greatly. His older brother was torn away from him, stolen away by the Allies and, specifically, the Soviet Union. They couldn't see each other, they couldn't talk to each other, they couldn't even mention each other. Gilbert was gone, and no one could do anything about it. His country was abolished, became nothing more than a piece of history.

Alfred and Kiku's friendship was demolished as well. Though, they did become friends again afterwards, the bombing of Pearl Harbor as well as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki tore holes in the fabric. They couldn't look each other in the eyes for a good couple of years, and it took just as long for their people to recover. But... the war was over and things changed drastically.

Arthur remembered it like it was yesterday.

The taxi driver pulled to the side of the road and peered into the back seat. Arthur handed him the specific amount of USD and stepped out of the cab. He had been driven all the way from a nearby airport and stopped about a block away from his destination. It was the first World Meeting since the war had ended and everyone was excited.

The meeting was being held in New York City, it was time for everyone to see old friends and what not. They had all been focusing so much on repairing their own countries, that they hadn't taken the time to visit others. It was time to put the past behind them and get back to the ways things used to be, if that was even possible. Kiku would likely be shunned in the United States for a good bit of time, many never being forgiven for his actions. But it just didn't seem to make much sense to anyone, how could such a calm country do such a vulgar act?

So he began his walk down the street. He hadn't seen anyone else at the airport, but then again he had arrived early so he would be able to take his time to walk. He wanted to see the scenery, and see how his former brother was doing. When he had heard of the bombing he was devastated, and heavily worried along with the rest of the Allies.

But it seemed that it only increased Alfred's determination to finish it all, so the innocent lives and families wouldn't have to suffer anymore. So he had two bombs flown over Japan and dropped before anyone could stop him. That sure did it, and Kiku convinced his bosses that it was time to surrender and that they had lost.

When the news arrived that the surrender was official, everyone was ecstatic. The pain and misery of thousands of lives was over. The Nazis were gone, along with their leader and everyone was safe again. At least, as safe as they could get. Arthur continued down the road, humming to himself. He kept his head up, watching out for any fellow countries that may wander by. But then again, he heavily doubted it. Then he stopped in his feet, figuring he heard familiar voices. Not behind or in front of him, but to his side. He looked to his right, raising an eyebrow as he heard laughter not to far from where he stood. Across the street to be specific, at the park.

Checking his watch quickly, he was glad to see that he was ten minutes ahead of schedule and this quick stop wouldn't harm him from being able to get there before most, if not all of the others. Crossing in an intersection, he walked into the park and scanned for anyone he knew. He could still hear the laughter, just couldn't locate its source. So he kept searching. Then he stopped abruptly. A few yards ahead of him was a sight that made him smile.

There they were, the former axis, sitting under a large oak tree. Kiku sat in the middle between the two, laughing and smiling with the rest. They were all bandaged up, a cloth was patched to Ludwig's cheek and a couple of teeth were knocked out. Feliciano had two crossing bandages on his forehead and on his nose. Kiku's forehead was wrapped tightly, as well as his arm. Despite their wounds, they were still smiling and sharing jokes with each other. It lightened Arthur's heart.

They didn't seem to notice him, too lost in their conversation to bid him any attention. Arthur shrugged it off and left, continuing and eventually arriving at the building.

He stepped inside, and searched the halls. He had expected them to be barren, but instead caught glimpse of a familiar figure. His eyes lit up when he saw the retreating back of his friend. "Alfred!" He blindly called out, rushing up to him. The other turned around and smiled, waving a hand. Arthur slowed down as he neared him and spotted the other's arm. "Hey Artie!" He turned to fully face him. His right arm was wrapped in a cast and pressed up against his chest. Ignoring the nickname as well as he could, he continued. "How are you doing? Your country seems to be prospering... well." Alfred nodded.

"We're recovering quickly I suppose. I'm just glad that everyone's safe. That war really stressed out everybody." Arthur couldn't help but agree. "I hope everyone is able to fully recover. Friend or enemy, they are in the same predicament as the rest of us." Alfred's large smile turned to a small smirk. "War's finally over... thank goodness." He murmured. He didn't seem to be talking to anyone, and his gaze turned towards the carpeting.

"We can finally smile again."

Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts by two arms shaking him furiously. "Arthur! Arthur are you okay?!" Alfred was behind it all, what a coincidence. Arthur pushed him away. "Get off of me you bloody git!" The other stepped back and gave the much required personal space. Arthur cleansed himself of the non existing dirt and realized that he must of zoned out, causing everyone to panic.

Yao had returned, hauling behind him a conscious but weakly dazed Kiku. "My apologizes. I seem to have been elsewhere." He muttered, assuring everyone that he was fine and that Luciano hadn't used some sort of "mind trick" on him. He sighed in disappointment that they would even consider that as a possibility but didn't comment.

Arthur sat down at the table and watched as the others continued their interrogation. Kiku sat quietly in the back, a bored expression on his face. He used another chair to support himself. He was still weak, despite the large amounts of sleep he had obtained. Talking of sleep, he was getting tired as well as the rest of the group. They had been up for far too long with little to no rest. If they kept this up, they wouldn't have enough energy to save Feliciano. Or themselves. Ludwig took a seat not too far from him, dark and heavy bags under his eyes. It would seem enough was enough.

Arthur stood again, interrupting the interrogation that wasn't getting anywhere. He cleared his throat to draw the attention of any stragglers before starting. "I think it's time that you all should get some sleep. You've been up for far too long. I'll stay up and watch our prisoner while everyone else sleeps. Whether you choose to go home or not is entirely up to you." He returned to his seat and waited for the other's replies. Most decided to go to their houses, since it would be best for them to clean up and sleep in a real bed.

The only that decided otherwise was Alfred, who wanted to stay and help keep watch. Kiku also decided the same, already wide awake anyways.

"Then it's settled. I'll see you again at sunrise tomorrow. Then we'll continue this... meeting." People quickly began piling out of the room, leaving the three to sit in their chairs and watch Luciano, who was more or less interested in it all. But once the hallway cleared of boots stomping against the floor, and the front door closed for the last time, a smile crept on him face. It was a devious one, and the fact that his violet eyes seemed to glow and make their appearance from under his bangs just added to the devious appearance.

For the first time since he had arrived, he sat up straight and tall. Despite the fact that his arms were restrained to his sides, he still was just as menacing. The three stared at him, confused and nervous at what his motivation may be. Luciano met the stares of each and everyone one of them for a split second before locking eyes with Kiku. The smile grew bigger, causing the other to shrink in his seat. "So, teste di merda."

"Let's play."

Teste Di Merda = Shit heads (Italian)

A/N: Moar flashbacks. Hope it helped give you an idea of the emotional state that most of the countries were in during WWII. I haven't forgotten that there are a LOT more 1ps that I haven't talked about, and I plan to change that in the next few chapters. More characters, more mayhem, and more seductions for the win. c: