/AN

Well, while I would love to say that my reason for not getting this chapter up sooner was because my flash drive had another freak corrupted-but-not-corrupted incident, that's not the case this time around and the fact is simply that I've fallen in love with making Hetalia Papercrafts. I'll be getting pictures up on DeviantART of all my little ones soon, so if you want to see them, I'm willing to give you a link.

But enough of my Papercraft rambling. Enjoy the next chapter of Edward's Babysitting Service!

AN/

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Envy chucked the dummy of Feliciano at a wounded Edward. Behind him were Arthur, Alfred, and Peter. Arthur was busy chanting, Alfred was holding a musket – that Edward REALLY didn't want to know how he got – and Peter was staying out of the way watching everything play out.

Edward gasped as he caught the ripped dummy. "You should know better than to underestimate me," Edward replied with a grin. Two months had passed since Feliciano had been caught, and rescued from, the Homunculi. Edward told Alphonse once he reached Resembool to try and keep moving with Feliciano and Lovino as much as possible, avoiding someone from seeing the Vargas Brothers, while Edward continued on his quest for the Philosopher's Stone with the dummies and the trio behind him. Two months ago was also the last time Francis' allies Gilbert, Abel, Berwald, Tino, Emil, and Lukas had been seen. Last time Edward heard from Roderich and Antonio, Ludwig was still injured, but they had been able to move him back to his home, and, from what Edward could guess, was very far away from their current location so they wouldn't have to worry about the Homunculi.

Speaking of Homunculi, it appeared Edward's plan had worked perfectly. Alphonse had told him that he hadn't seen any Homunculi on his trail, and here was Envy standing in front of the elder Elric examining his dummies. "Well, we'll learn from this mistake. So the question is where are the little brats?" Envy stalked forward, pulling a bent and shattered pipe out of a pile of rubble that had been a car a few minutes previously and went to stab Edward with it.

The moment was shattered by Arthur asking, "Why did you show up?"

Envy and Edward, caught off guard, looked at him and found that Ivan was standing next to Arthur, again, completely content with the situation. "Why shouldn't I?" he replied, looking around. "Tell me, where'd you bring me to this time?"

"West City," Arthur growled, "Now can you stop showing up whenever I summon you? I could use the help of a real demon right now!"

Envy laughed. "This is the best you can come up with for an army? Pathetic!" As if to prove his point, Envy walked up to Ivan and flicked him in the forehead.

"Kol kol kol…" Ivan muttered.

Arthur, Alfred, and Peter backed away slowly, pulling Edward along with them.

The next moment Envy was lying on the ground with a faucet pipe in Ivan's hand, who was currently beating Envy so hard red lightning was running the length of his body as his wounds tried to heal themselves.

"What the…?" Edward muttered, staring.

Arthur replied, "Why you never want to get on his bad side. Now come on!"

With another shove, they were deposited on a rather busy side street and Edward couldn't ask about Ivan any further.

xxx

Alphonse looked around. "Ok," he said, lifting his head. Feliciano and Lovino jumped out and looked around also.

"Where are we?" Feliciano asked.

Alphonse replied, "We're near West City. There, over that ridge actually. We're going to be stopping here for the night, though."

"Not another night in the forest," Lovino complained, sighing.

"It could be worse," Feliciano stated, sitting down and yawning. "Big Brother Francis could've gotten us a long time ago."

Lovino shuddered. "Wine bastard can go to hell," he stated.

"Can you two stay here and be quiet?" Alphonse asked. "I'll head to West City and get some food, and make sure the coast is clear."

"Ok," Feliciano replied. This was something they've grown use to doing. Normally Alphonse would find a willing family to look after them for a few hours while he 'ran a few errands' and paid them in kind by helping out with things they needed finished.

xxx

Alphonse walked into the city, looking around cautiously before walking to a nearby vendor and buying some food. Knowing Edward would pass that way, he asked the vendor to give his brother a message. The vendor agreed and Alphonse started to head back for where he left Feliciano and Lovino.

"CHIGI!"

"Ah!" Alphonse remembered that sound. That was Lovino, when someone pulled his curl, something Alphonse accidentally did once and caused Lovino to end up with a head injury after Lovino tried head butting him.

"Lovino!" Alphonse cried, running towards where the left the two boys.

xxx

"Come along, mi amore," Francis said, holding his arms open to the two young Italians. "Why don't you join me?"

"We're never going to join you, wine bastard!" Lovino called.

Francis sighed, and kneeled down. "Oh, but you'll both make such great servants." He seemed to swoon at the thought, and accidentally pulled on Lovino's curl.

"CHIGI!" Lovino shouted and head butted Francis into one of the trees.

"Fratello Francis!" Feliciano cried from behind Lovino, but not making any move to help him.

Francis didn't seem harmed in the slightest. If anything, he actually looked even more excited to of found the Vargas Siblings.

xxx

"Ah!" Alphonse managed to duck behind some nearby undergrowth as a mysterious blond stood up, sighing in affection. "Oh, you two will make such lovely servants."

"I already told you, wine bastard! We're not joining you!" Lovino's voice cried out.

"Oh, little Romano, little South Italy, is that any way to talk when your dear Spain isn't here to protect you?" the man asked.

Color Alphonse confused. South Italy? Spain? Romano? What was going on?

"Fratello France, why can't you stop this fighting? Holy Rome's has already gotten hurt! Why must you continue with this!" Feliciano's voice cried out.

'France' replied, "Holy Rome got what was coming to him. Austria and Hungary also have their hands full right now with Prussia, so they're not going to be coming to your aid."

"Well, you've got another thing coming!" Arthur's voice cried out. Alphonse watched as the chibi country jumped out in front of the Vargas Brothers, Alfred and Peter following close behind.

"Nyahahaha! The Hero's arrived!" Alfred cried.

"What?" Alphonse muttered, watching as Edward joined them, saying, "So you're Francis."

xxx

"CHIGI!"

Arthur's head snapped up. "Arthur?" Alfred asked, a little hesitant.

"Well, they're here, but it looks like someone pulled Lovino a little too far," Arthur stated.

Edward didn't understand, but Alfred and Peter must've, because Peter said, "We should hurry, then."

Edward nodded. He ran to a nearby vendor and asked for a few items. The vendor gave the items to him, along with a note. When Edward contacted Alphonse with what he should do, he was very specific in mentioning that in two months from that date, they should be in West City. Edward also explained to Alphonse where to enter and which vendor to use.

Edward ripped open the note and read quickly. The vendor told him, "The one that told me to give this to you ran off quite quickly."

"Thanks," Edward replied, giving him a bit more money than required. "Come on, guys." Edward ran for the forest.

They arrived just in time to hear the mysterious blond tell the Vargas Brothers, "Holy Rome got what was coming to him. Austria and Hungary also have their hands full right now with Prussia, so they're not going to be coming to your aid."

"Francis," Arthur muttered. He ran out of the brush and jumped in front of the Vargas Brothers, saying, "You've got another thing coming." He felt Alfred and Peter join him, and Edward walked out a few moments later.

"So, you're Francis," Edward stated, staring at the blond.

"That's right, mi amore, who would you be?" Francis replied.

Edward said, "I'm the guard for the Vargas Brothers. If you were smart, you would've remained far away. VERY far away."

Francis chuckled. "Mi amore, there's nothing you're going to be able to do to stop me."

Edward clapped his hands together and extended his automail into a sword. "Is that really what you think?"

Francis pulled out his sword. "This is going to be interesting," Francis stated. He jumped forward, slashing at Edward. "Tell me, how long would it take for you to surrender them to me?"

Edward barely blocked his sword, the fatigue from his fight with Envy suddenly overriding him. The shock dislodged his automail and Edward's arm fell limp. "Damn," Edward muttered. He clapped his hands together and slammed his left one into the ground, causing spikes to rise up and stab at Francis.

Francis jumped over them easily. "You're no stranger to combat, it seems," he said. "That's a relief; I wouldn't want to take them from you too easily."

"Edward!" Feliciano cried as Francis went in for another stab. Edward couldn't get himself shielded in time, though.

Edward closed his eyes, waiting for the sword to connect, but it never did. Instead, there was the clang of metal colliding. Edward opened his eyes and found the black-and-gold-clad Ludwig standing in front of him, grimacing slightly. "You're not going to be killing anyone today, Francis," he stated.

"Oh, it looks like your recovery's coming along better than expected," Francis said. "That'll just make things more fun." He snapped his fingers and an army emerged around them.

They were surrounded.

"Sir, we found this one hiding," one of the soldiers stated. They pulled Alphonse up and dumped him at Francis' feet.

"Al!" Edward cried.

"Alphonse!" Feliciano yelled.

"Hello, little spy," Francis said calmly.

Alphonse stared at Francis, asking, "Why do you want Feliciano and Lovino so badly?"

"Mi amore, if I gain them, I gain a whole country," Francis replied smoothly.

/AN

Well, gee, Al! Nice, just sitting there watching the fight play out! And look, Holy Rome's back! (I made him child so Feliciano would recognize him. .)

R&R Please!

AN/