"All right, we'll examine this room before the others get here." Arthur glanced around. At least that won't take very long. The room was white and sparsely furnished.

Matthew nodded, looking around as well. "Ah, well, first, this piano…" He gestured at the keys, prompting Arthur to take a closer look at them. "It has these numbers, you see."

And there they were, an odd splash of color in this whitewashed room. The keys were numbered in a seeming random order—a five next to a one, seven next to two, all crudely drawn as if by a child.

Arthur reached out to touch a key and then hesitated. "I'm not sure what they're supposed to mean," he admitted, matching Matthew's quiet tone. The room seemed to eat their voices. "Was there something we needed numbers for?"

"No," Matthew replied, shaking his head slightly. He ran a hand through his hair and looked thoughtful.

Arthur wandered off, leaving the Canadian to puzzle out the numbers. He began rifling through the bookshelves. Maybe there was a code in the books? But they all seemed untouched.

"Numbers….they must be a code for something," Matthew murmured, lightly placing a hand on the keys. "Something that uses numbers…Numbers, puzzles, security…So, security breach. But this house isn't that high tech, at least, it doesn't seem to be, so…a safe? Or…"

Arthur replaced the last book and sighed. "The books in this room are nothing special," he announced. "Wait here while I go to the room next door. There were a lot of books there so I'll leaf through those."

"Okay, just be careful." Matthew flicked his eyes over to Arthur for a second and then turned back to the piano. "What was I thinking about again? I forgot when I talked to England…"

The door clicked softly behind Arthur as he left the room.

Matthew took to pacing, muttering to himself as he tried to sort out the various puzzles this house presented. "First, the piano. God, America is always getting us into trouble. Why can't he be a little more considerate? I mean—"

The door clicked again, and Matthew waved a hand absent-mindedly towards it, not turning his head. "I'm sorry, England, I haven't looked here yet. Also! We were told not to do anything alone, remember? I'm coming with you this time." He fixed his glasses and turned around, annoyed at having forgotten that important fact.

That's not England.

Too close, the thing was too close! He stumbled back, tripping himself up and almost tumbling to the floor. The air grew cold, painful in the lungs like a winter morning. He backed up more, untangling himself and hitting the wall behind him. Nowhere to run, now what? Fight? Die?

Thud.

And there it was, that alien heartbeat, making his own pulse race with adrenaline. Why now? Why when I'm alone? His hands scrabbled at the wall behind him, unable to think, unable to find a way out. And it was just standing there, making the white room a threat, no light reflecting in its black eyes.

Thud.

Maybe everyone else is dead? Matthew reached a shaky hand up to fix his glasses, trying to ground himself and stop his rising panic. No, can't think like that, that's how it will win—and why was it just standing there? It stared, not moving, not lifting a single claw to attack him, just a promise of pain and an uncertainty of continued life.

Thud.

Stay still. Still. And then the thing moved, and it took all of his willpower not to flinch or react. Still, calm…calm, damn it, stay calm! But it wasn't reaching towards him. Instead, it moved itself around the room. Matthew watched, unsure if it was walking, or gliding, his eyes sliding off of it as it moved. Can it even see me?

Thud.

"So, can you see me?" he asked, and then he clapped a hand over his mouth. Talking? To a creature that didn't seem to live the way creatures should? But the creature just…left. One moment there, the next gone, and without it, the air grew warm and Matthew could breathe again.

So maybe being ignored can be a good thing. It was rare that he felt himself lucky to be so…unnoticeable. But if it kept that creature away from him he would gladly accept it. Kumasanrou who is watching the house, something rather bizarre happened to me today. He took deep breathes, slumping down to sit against the wall. I don't know if I should be happy or sad. Happy for life, perhaps, but…

The door slammed open.

"It's no use. There was nothing there that could be even slightly helpful," Arthur complained, stomping his way into the room. Matthew's heart went racing and he gasped, the sheer volume of the other man's voice startling.

"Really?" he asked weakly, watching Arthur.

Arthur frowned down at him. "Did something happen?" Why was Matthew sitting down, looking like he had just run a marathon?

Matthew stared at Arthur, frowning. Slowly an idea came to him. "I see," he said slowly, standing up. "Since the flow of time is odd here, you didn't run into it."

Arthur just continued frowning, annoyed at the other man's cryptic tone.

"I don't think the creature will be coming here for a while," Matthew continued. "That's all I'm going to say."

Arthur shot him a confused look, but didn't press the issue. And so they settled into to wait.

Author's Notes:

First off, I apologize for that, like, year-long gap between updates. I honestly have no excuse, I just hope I kind of made up for it with how quickly I got these past three updates ready to go.

The last bit of episode five is going to be tacked on to episode six, seeing as how it's a good transition point. With any luck, I'll be able to get a few big chapters up and stop this small-chapter business.

Thanks for all the follows and subscribes, and I'll do my best to update a bit more regularly from here on out!