The next morning, Antonio was woken not by his alarm, but by the insistent tones of his mobile phone. Blearily, he blinked and rubbed his eyes, wondering who would be texting him so early. Still with his eyes closed, he scrabbled around on his bedside table for his phone, locating it on the third haphazard grasp. Having already hit the screen by accident, the message was open across it as he lifted the device closer to read it.

[Toni! Im really sorry about yesterday! I didnt want Ludi and everyone to be mad at you! But you are coming to school today arent you? Please! :)]

Still groggy, Antonio wondered why Feliciano – for it was obviously he who sent it – thought he wasn't coming into school. He wasn't pleased about it, sure, but he was fully intending on going.

Then he spotted the display at the top, with the time reading 08:21. That woke him up faster than a bucket of ice water, and he leapt to his feet in a panic. Damn it! The delay in going to sleep meant that the pills had kept him asleep for longer than he'd meant to. He practically tore off the T-shirt and shorts he'd slept in and snatched up his uniform off the floor. He really was going to be late; school started in ten minutes and it took him twenty to run there full pelt, and he wasn't even dressed yet!

Well, if he was going to be late, he may as well be later and hygienic. He leapt into the shower and blasted himself quickly with the nozzle, back arching at the freezing water's painful grip. After speedily rubbing himself with a towel, he scrambled into his uniform and sprinted downstairs to find his bag, almost crashing down the stairs in his haste.

As he raced down his driveway two minutes later with a crooked tie, damp hair chilling his head in the cool air, he hurriedly texted Feliciano back.

[Thanks for texting! I overslept! Please tel Francis or Gil to make excuse for me! Be there in a bite! :)]

XxxxX

Antonio pelted down the corridor, painfully aware of the deserted area around him and the loud echoes of his footsteps off the bare magnolia walls. Panting hard, he almost slammed into the door to his destination, and stumbled into class almost fifteen minutes after the bell with a breathless "Sorry I'm late!".

The entire class looked up to stare at him like he'd grown an extra head since yesterday.

His teacher turned around, one eyebrow raised, but her expression passive. "Ah, Mr. Carriedo. So nice of you to join us. Gilbert informed me that you'd be a bit delayed. Take your seat and try to catch up with where we are." She turned back to the board and carried on writing up notes for the class to copy.

Relieved at his escape, Antonio collapsed into his seat next to Gilbert and mouthed a quick "Thank you" at his friend. Gilbert just grinned and winked at him. He obviously didn't hold a grudge for the previous evening, for which Antonio was enormously grateful.

Wanting to keep a low profile in the silent classroom, he bent his head over his work and scribbled down the notes he'd missed until the teacher assigned them questions out of the textbook twenty minutes later and he could look up.

Gilbert smirked at him from the seat next door and prodded him in the arm. "You owe me one, man. The awesome me told her there'd been a roadblock near your house and you had to go the long way 'round. Awesome excuse or what? Didn't even get you detention."

Antonio laughed. "Only you would have had so much practice at coming up with excuses for being late, Gil. But thanks. My alarm didn't wake me up this morning and I thought I was completely screwed."

"Heh. Not always a good idea to sleep, huh, Toni?" That was Gilbert; tactful to a fault.

Antonio sighed. "I guess. Hey, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I guess I kinda overreacted a bit."

"No worries, man, it's cool. We're just lookin' out for ya, ya know? Probably still would be a good idea to sort it out and stuff, but I think we just went about it the wrong way and stuff. Plus West's completely tactless and shit."

"Yeah, Ludwig's tactless," Antonio laughed, more out of relief than anything.

"Shut up, Toni," Gilbert grinned, bouncing his rubber off Antonio's head. "I'm not the mad one here."

"My point proven," Antonio replied, handing Gilbert back his eraser. "And I'm not mad, either. I've got to talk to you guys about that, by the way. Not now; I don't really want to go through it twice. And we're in the middle of class too, so that's probably not a good idea. But yeah, if we can find everyone I'll tell you at lunch, ok?"

Gilbert shrugged nonchalantly, but was obviously intrigued. "Cool. By everyone you mean, like, me and Franny and Feli and West, right? Unless you want to involve the whole school in this, which is probably a real bad idea."

Antonio nodded. "Yeah, it is. Just us five is what I'd prefer."

"Awesome. I'll find 'em at the start of lunch, then. Wanna see if I can hit the whiteboard with this sharpener from here?"

XxxxX

By the time lunch rolled around, Antonio was completely starving. He hadn't had time for breakfast that morning, and his wallet was probably hiding somewhere among the chaos of his bedroom floor, so buying lunch wasn't an option. The smell of food was driving him mad, even if it was school food.

Gilbert was already sat at one of the Formica tables with Feliciano and Ludwig, trying to mooch some money for food off his younger brother and, by the scowl on his face, evidently failing.

Antonio slid into the seat next to him, immediately earning himself an excited smile and wave from Feliciano, who was sitting opposite him. "Hiya, Toni! You are at school after all! I was hoping you would be! I'm really sorry about yesterday. Are you still mad at us? I don't want you to be mad. Please don't be mad!"

Antonio smiled warmly at his younger friend. "Don't worry, Feli, I'm not mad at anyone. If anything, it's me who should be sorry for kicking you out of my house when you were only looking out for me. But don't worry, I'm fine now, and I've got some great news for you. I'll just wait until Francis gets here so I can tell everyone."

"Yay~!" Feliciano threw his arms in the air delightedly. "I'm so glad. Also, I have time to eat my pasta before you explain!" He pried the lid off his lunchbox and pulled a knife and fork off the clips on the inside of the lid, before happily digging into the pasta stowed within.

Next to him, Ludwig was giving Antonio a guarded look. Even for the slightly clueless Spaniard, it was easy to tell what he meant. You'd better be careful. Don't upset Feliciano again. Clearly, he didn't quite trust Antonio at the moment.

"Yo, West, can I have some money anyway?" Gilbert interjected. "The awesome me is completely starved."

Ludwig gave his brother a hard, unrelenting look. "No, Gilbert. You need to learn to be responsible for yourself sooner or later."

"Aw, man," Gilbert pouted, but wasn't dissuaded and quickly turned to Antonio. "Hey, Toni, you can pay the awesome me back that favour you owe me by buying me lunch!"

"Sorry, Gil," Antonio replied. "but I forgot my wallet this morning. I don't have any lunch either."

"Mm-mhm-rrghff-mmff-affrrgh!" interrupted Feliciano, waving his fork around with his mouth full of pasta.

Ludwig sighed. "Feliciano, how many times do I have to remind you not to speak with your mouth full?"

Feliciano swallowed forcefully. "Sorry, Ludi. I keep forgetting~. Ve, you guys can have some of my pasta if you like. I have lots! I'll go get you some more forks from the canteen!" Without waiting for a reply, he sprung up and raced off to find aforementioned cutlery. A minute later he was back, proudly waving his stainless steel find.

Gilbert grinned. "Awesome. Cheers, Feli." He snatched one of the forks off the table and speared a piece of pasta out the box. Antonio glanced at Feliciano for permission, then gratefully followed suit. He couldn't recall a time when pasta had tasted so good. Well, except for that once he'd managed to persuade Lovino to cook for him.

"Excusez-moi, but are you two scoundrels meant to be raiding dear Feliciano's lunch? He has to eat too, non?" A distinct voice sounded behind them and a second later Francis swung his legs into the seat next to Antonio.

"It's ok, Big Brother Francis!" Feliciano chirped. "They forgot their lunch and Ludi wouldn't lend Gil any money to buy some, so I said they could have some of my pasta!"

"It's not my fault," Ludwig protested, obviously not wishing to sound completely heartless to his brother. "Gilbert needs to learn not to be irresponsible, and at the moment the only way that he's going to learn is the hard way."

Francis raised an eyebrow suggestively and smirked. "Kinky. Anyway, un petit oiseau told me that Antoine has something to say?" There was a short cheep and Gilbird poked his feathery little head out of Gilbert's bag before fluttering up onto his master's shoulder.

Antonio nodded. "Mmm. Yeah, well, don't get mad at me for bringing this up again, but I've got proof that it's actually Lovi I've been visiting."

Ludwig closed his eyes, his expression clearly saying Gott, not this again. The smile had once again vanished off Feliciano's face and he was trembling slightly. "Toni-"

Swallowing the panic rising in his veins, Antonio continued. "It's ok, please bear with me. See, I was talking to Lovi last night about you guys not believing me, and he's written a letter to prove to you that it's really him. I haven't read it because he asked me not to, but I think it say something that only he'd know, to let you know that he's really there."

Gilbert gave him a sharp look. "Really? Then show us already."

"I can't, Gil. I haven't got it with me now. I was intending to bring it, but since I overslept, I completely forgot to. If you guys come over to my house after school, I'll show you it."

Ludwig tentatively put his arm around the shoulders of an uncharacteristically silent Feliciano. "It's your call, Feliciano. If you want to go read the letter, we'll go with you after school. If you don't want Antonio to mention this again, I'll get him to stop, ok? Lovino was your brother, so it's up to you to decide how far this goes before we call help."

That sounded just a tad more than ominous. Antonio bit his lip, wondering if Ludwig was threatening violence or just calling in a psychiatrist. He wasn't really sure which was worse, either.

A tense silence later, Feliciano twisted his fingers and softly said "I'll go."

Ludwig nodded tersely. "Alright. Are you two coming as well?" he said, regarding Gilbert and Francis.

"You bet, West," Gilbert replied. "I wanna know what Toni's come up with."

"Tact, mon cher," Francis chided him, waving a finger under Gilbert's nose. "And I'll come as well. We're going to stick this through until the end."

"Very well," Ludwig concluded. "Antonio, what class do you have last?"

Antonio scratched his head in thought. He never was very good at remembering his classes, much to the chagrin of his teachers. "Uh, Chemistry, I think. In S106."

Ludwig nodded again, his face wearing a stony expression that Antonio didn't like much. "Then we'll meet you at the South Block entrance after last lesson, then. And until then, I suggest we do not speak of this matter further." He turned towards Feliciano in concern. "Feliciano, are you alright?"

The Italian nodded, forcing his lip to stop trembling. "Ve. I think so, Ludi."

"Good. Gilbert, provide us with a change of conversation topic, please. Something that's preferably not you, or how Prussia should be declared a country again, or how cute your little bird is."

Gilbert folded his arms in disgust. "Aw, West, you've taken away all the good topics. No fair. Uh, well, I was thinking about sticking Specs in a locker before next period?"

"No, Gilbert."

XxxxX

Just as prearranged, Ludwig and Feliciano were waiting for the Bad Touch Trio as they came out of Chemistry later that afternoon, and together the five walked the mile and a half back to Antonio's house, chatting amicably about random topics. But each noticed the underlying tension in the others about their upcoming discussion; Feliciano's overly forced smiles, Ludwig's taut facial muscles, Francis twisting a lock of his hair about his finger. Except for Gilbert, that was, who wasn't put off by pretty much anything, and was larking about like he usually did. For which Antonio was glad – they rather needed a friction-reliever.

"So, Antoine," Francis began, once the five were sat across Antonio's front room some time later. "This note of yours. It is real, you say?"

"Of course!" Antonio replied, slightly incredulous at how many times he was having to repeat himself. He thought he'd established this at lunch earlier.

"Yeah, well, it's gonna take a bit more than that to convince the awesome me of something completely impossible, yanno," Gilbert interrupted, quickly resorting to his favourite seating position with his legs over the arm of the chair.

Ludwig butted in before the conversation began going in circles. "Why don't you just show us the note, Antonio, and then we can comment on its existential feasibility?"

Gilbert nodded. "Yeah, go fetch. Note or GTFO. Or something like that."

Relieved, although somewhat jittery, Antonio jogged upstairs to find the note. He quickly crossed the untidy room, snatching up the shorts he'd slept in off the floor and ferreted in the pockets for the note. Nothing. Trying to quell the bile rising in his throat, he tossed the empty shorts to one side and scoured the room with panicked emerald eyes, the déja vu of yesterday coming back to haunt him so many times worse.

He looked about the clutter covering his floor, the carpet only partly visible, and sighed. He really had been lax on the cleaning lately. But, so very thankfully, the folded piece of paper was sat there on the floor; presumably it had fallen out of the pocket. He picked it up, smiling once again, and headed back downstairs to the three expectant – and one skeptical – faces waiting in the lounge.

Antonio extended the still folded paper to Feliciano. "Here, Feli. It's from your brother, so it's only fair that you get to read it first. I haven't yet; Lovi asked me not to."

Feliciano took the paper like it was a ticking bomb, tears threatening to spill from his golden-brown eyes and tentatively unfolded it, eyes locked firmly in the paper's ensnaring grip.

There was a heart-stopping pause as Feliciano stood motionless and the other four held their breath.

Feliciano choked back a sob. "It...it's blank. There's n-nothing here." The paper fluttered gracefully to the floor as his limp fingers lost their shaky hold.

Antonio felt like he'd just been shot through the heart.

"What?" Ludwig leapt to his feet and snatched the note from the floor. His eyes widened. "He...he's right. It's just a blank piece of paper."

Antonio opened his mouth to protest, to ask Ludwig to prove it, anything. But words wouldn't form. He gasped for breath fruitlessly like a goldfish out of water, and collapsed to his knees, mind spinning in disbelief. It...it was impossible. Did this mean...

...he really had gone mad?

Heh. I am so very very evil. And no, I'm not going to tell you if it is real or a fantasy.

Sorry this chapter's a bit later than I intended it to be. I was midway through writing, and I thought; I really don't like where I'm leading this. But honestly, it was completely...impossible, bordering on the fantastical, and I thought that it was the wrong way to go. So I've completely rethought where I'm leading this, and what I've got before is now that alternative ending. Which is not going to get published, unless it's really requested or whatever. 'Cos its not that great of an idea. Much prefer this, even if it is evil.