There's no ships in this, I swear. ...Seriously. Also I made England sound like Iceland at one point, so sorry for that!


Once again, Arthur woke up with no memory of falling asleep. He saw that he was still in the Fortis temple 'bed room', but it was dark and silent this time. He was confused for a moment, but it all came rushing back to him when he saw the sleeping forms of his companions. The cage, Gilbert's task, the lack of air…

Arthur winced. He must have passed out from lack of oxygen. But, it did look as if Gilbert and Francis had succeeded and saved them. A little too late, Arthur mused, rubbing his suddenly pounding head.

He was wondering if he could get back to sleep when he heard a strange noise. It sounded as if someone was crying quietly.

He was curious as to what he had missed when unconscious that would lead to someone shedding tears, so he carefully climbed off the bed and crawled along the floor until he came to the bed that the sound was coming from.

Against his better judgement (and to be fair, his brain was still addled from lack of oxygen), he clambered onto the bed of the crying person.

He was surprised to see Francis wiping his eyes, and the Docte looked just as shocked to see him.

Arthur was about to scramble back in terror, but Francis grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Francis!" he hissed. "Let me go!"

"Non! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!" Francis cried quietly. "You wouldn't wake up!"

"What happened, anyway?" Arthur asked, trying to free himself.

"We came back just as everyone was passing out, and quickly got the key in the lock. Antonio scared Bonus, and the others woke up, but you didn't, and I thought…" he trailed off.

"It takes more than that to kill me," Arthur said gruffly, trying to act tough.

"Arthur, you must understand. You stopped breathing. I thought you were dead, and I thought it was all my fault." Francis, usually so suave and debonair, was practically whimpering now. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to you."

Arthur tried to scowl. "When did you start caring about me, Frog?"

Francis' eyes widened. "How could I not?" he laughed weakly. "You are the little brother I never had, mon petit lapin."

Arthur felt himself blushing. "Don't call me that!"

"But you hop around and poke your head up from the ground like a little bunny," Francis teased. "It is the perfect nickname."

Arthur turned around and refused to look at him. "I've never had a big brother," he mumbled.

Francis' heart warmed at the words. "I've never had a brother either," he admitted. "But when you explained your situation with family, it made me feel that I should protect you like a brother would do. I know that Alfred-"

Arthur flinched at the name, but didn't say anything.

"I know that he was the world to you," Francis pressed on. "But he is gone, and it is time to move on. What do you say?"

Arthur was silent for a long time. Finally, he muttered, "I'll never forget Alfred. But I know I'll never see him again."

"And?" Francis said encouragingly.

Arthur still didn't look him in the eye. "I suppose you could be my brother…" he said so quietly that Francis almost missed it.

"What was that?" he asked.

Arthur's face turned red again. "You heard me! I said I'd call you big brother."

Francis smiled in gratitude and tried to hug him again, but Arthur pushed him away. "Don't push your luck," he warned.

He left to go back to his own bed to sleep until morning. Really, it was a miracle they hadn't woken up everyone else when they were talking.

Francis watched Arthur settle in, and finally felt relaxed, himself. A knot of worry and fear had loosened in his chest, and he felt as though a huge weight had been lifted.

"Goodnight, Arthur," he called quietly, not expecting a reply.

As he was drifting off to sleep, he thought he heard Arthur mutter, "Bonne nuit, you idiot."


The next morning, everyone was ready to leave the Fortis temple as fast as possible. Lovino and Feliciano packed all their stuff up, and they departed with an air of being glad to be rid of the place. They all walked to the top of the hill that the temple rested on, and looked off into the distance.

"I can't wait to get home!" Feli said enthusiastically.

"Tch. Keep your voice down, idiot," Lovino scoffed.

"Don't tell me you aren't excited, Lovi!" Feli smiled, not to be deterred.

Lovino sneered, but didn't say anything.

Antonio was standing at the front of the group, next to Ludwig, who had the map. He seemed to be locating Viridi-Cana-Rubra (why did it have such a long name, anyway) on the piece of paper.

"Right, we should reach the village in a few days, if we walk at a steady pace," Ludwig announced. "We should get going."

They set off, splitting up into little groups. Antonio was talking and laughing with Lovino, who was scowling and trying to ignore him. Lizzie was talking animatedly with Feli, who was nodding and chiming in at times. Gilbert was teasing Ludwig about something, and Ludwig was smiling good-naturedly. That left Arthur and Francis at the back of the group. Francis was trying to talk to Arthur, but the Omnes was staying silent, lost in his own thoughts.

Francis fell into a pensive silence as well. For the first time in a while, he thought about Matthew, the silver lynx. He wondered why the lynx had chosen to visit him in his dreams, of all people.

Then, he remembered that since he was lonely while everyone was shunning him after pretending to want to leave Arthur behind, he had spilled his life story to the silver animal. Not the best idea, in retrospect. Oh well, he thought grimly. What's done is done, I suppose. Nothing I can do about it now. I only hope it won't come back to bite me.

While walking, conversation slowly petered out. They were climbing some pretty steep hills now, so everyone was trying to save their energy to make it as far as possible. Unfortunately, that also gave everyone much too much time to think.

It was just dawning on Lovino how close he had come to death. He wasn't afraid of dying, he would tell you that any day. But after the events that just happened, he realized that he never wanted to see his fratello so close to death. Feliciano was always the weaker-willed one, and almost dying must have shaken him up greatly, even if he didn't show it. The thought made him want to punch the goddess' face in. After the sorrows that already filled their life, they needed no more interference from the blasted Fortis goddess ever again.

Feliciano was plagued by conflicting emotions. He was still terrified after being trapped in an airtight cage like a wild animal, and from seeing his caretaker so wildly out of control, wielding his axe like a madman. He was happy that they had escaped, but tired from climbing the hills. He liked the travellers and wanted to be friends forever with them, but they would have to leave soon and he would likely never see them again. Finally, after telling the story of he and his brother's journey long ago to the big city, he was now having flashbacks of the nice boy with piercing blue eyes. Eyes just like Ludwig, now that he thought about it. He tried to gather up the courage to ask him about it as they kept forcing their way up the hills.

Antonio was visibly trembling. The climb was no problem, but the worries that tormented his mind refused to go away. All he could see was the image of the lifeless people in the cage, Lovino and Arthur not waking up, and the goddess smiling smugly. He made a fist and promised that one day, he'd get his revenge on the deity that had made his charges' lives hell. All because of that one time ten years ago, when they were five and Antonio was only six… He was young, but he remembered that day like it was only yesterday. The way that Lovi and Feli's parents, as well as his own, told them that they were going on a trip because their goddess had called to them. The elders telling them that their parents weren't coming back. The day that Antonio vowed to always take care of the Vargas brothers and never let anything hurt them.

Lizzie was still shaken up, though she tried to act confident. She merely laughed it off when Gilbert had pulled her aside and asked her if she was okay. She had scoffed at him and told her that she was as strong as any man, and he didn't need to worry about her just because she was a girl. But now, thinking about the worry she had seen in Gilbert's eyes when she had said it, she realized that he wasn't saying it because she was female. He was truly concerned for her, just like she was for him when he took so long to save them. She had thought that Bonus had set up a trap to catch Gilbert and Francis, therefore causing everyone to die. For the hundredth time, she thought about her childhood, and how fun it had been to play with that boy in the woods. She was glad that she met up with her childhood friend again. With that thought, she then remembered that the Bellator temple was next. Bonus had insisted that it was the Bellator goddess that forced her to make the trial more 'death-defying', so Lizzie was sure that no one was looking forward to arriving at her temple. And that includes me.

Gilbert replayed the little task Bonus had sentenced them to in his mind. He berated himself. He told himself that he could have been faster. No one deserved to be stuck in an airtight cage, blindly hoping that the people that have been assigned to whether you live or die will arrive in time. If he and Francis had not taken the time to have a talk, if they had convinced the bartender faster, if they had hurried Toni up when he was getting the key. All the little things they had stopped for was another second of the others slowly dying. Gilbert muttered a curse. He wouldn't be surprised if the others refused to talk to him from now on, seeing as it was basically his fault that Arthur and Lovino almost didn't make it. He hauled himself over another boulder and stooped to help Lizzie up as well. When his red eyes connected with her green ones, he instantly felt a bit more relaxed. She seemed to radiate courage, and it calmed him down. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

Ludwig hated feeling powerless. He disliked it when he could do nothing about his own situation, especially if he or his friends were in danger. He hadn't been with the group as long, but he already knew that these were his allies, and he was bonded with them just as strongly as any of them were to each other. He scowled slightly when he thought about the problem of the missing animal companions. He had lost his own bear, Felix, in the maze back at home, and Ludwig had not been able to find him. He hoped that Felix was with the other captured companions, if only to reassure him that the bear was not alone. Speaking of animal companions, Ludwig mused, it seemed that some knew how to talk and some didn't. All the way back in the Fortis City, the gang Nordic Five had animals that could speak to them, and there was no surprise, so he guessed that they had always been able to. However, the Vargas' animals didn't seem to speak. He wondered if that was because Feliciano and Lovino didn't know that animal companions had the potential to talk. Deep in these thoughts, Ludwig almost tripped over a large rock. Cursing his absentmindedness, he decided to just focus on the hike at hand. And definitely not think about how Feliciano's story had sparked something in him, something he knew he should be remembering.

Francis' thoughts turned, finally, to his mysterious powers. In the wake of all that had happened in the past few days, he had almost forgotten about them, but now it was impossible to ignore. He looked at his still-bandaged arm that no one else seemed to notice and sighed. For good or for worse, he had these powers, and it was up to him to use them properly. He knew that if he revealed his secret, he would probably be shunned even more than he already had, so he prayed that Lizzie wouldn't tell anyone. Her attitude towards him was proof enough that he should keep this particular secret under wraps along with his arm for the time being. If the ombre suddenly attacked, however, he wondered if he would be able to conceal it anymore. He shook his head and tried to dispel those negative thoughts. They would make it through this. They had to.

Arthur was sick and tired of stewing in his thoughts. Five years. That's how long he had no one but himself for company. All he could do was contemplate his own failures. Now, he was reminded of the past as they trudged along in silence. He cursed himself for being weak. He had magic! He probably could have gotten them out of the cage if he hadn't been panicking. Bonus hadn't even disarmed them, for the goddesses' sake! Useless. Utterly useless. He didn't deserve to be the leader of this stupid quest. As if sensing his pessimistic thoughts, Francis looked over at Arthur and smiled in encouragement. Arthur scowled in response, but Francis just winked at him and turned back to face the front. Arthur stuck his tongue out at the Docte's back childishly. He did feel a little better, though. Maybe, with the help of his...friends...he could do this, after all.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of climbing those stupid rocks, the sun slipped below the horizon and Ludwig deemed that they should stop for the night. Everyone flopped to the ground, immensely relieved.

Feliciano fell asleep on the ground immediately, and Antonio started to prepare some food. When Francis approached him, offering help, Antonio replied that since they were kind enough to travel with them, he was going to pay them back with a meal. Lizzie and Arthur prepared a camp as Antonio got a fire going, and the others went to explore the immediate area. Soon, the smell of food cooking drew everyone back around the fire. Even Feli woke up and sat down with them eagerly.

"Dig in, everybody!" Antonio said cheerfully, passing plates around.

There were muffled thanks as everyone ate their food. Of course, it was delicious, and it had them all feeling sleepy as the smoke from the fire curled lazily towards the stars.

Lovino sat on a log farther away. "I'm taking watch," he spat. "The rest of you would probably fall asleep, dammit."

There was no protest as they settled into their bags and dropped off to sleep.


After Francis fell asleep, he once again woke up in the plain cream coloured dream-field. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when not only one dark shape approached him in the fog, but two. As they came closer, he could distinguish Matthew, but couldn't tell who the other one was. They stopped right before him, still wreathed in fog.

"Francis." Matthew's voice was soft and inviting, and Francis felt himself relaxing at the sound of it.

"I've brought someone to see you," the lynx said.

The fog finally cleared, and there stood Beau, Francis' fox.

With a cry of joy, the fox leaped into Francis arms. "I missed you!" Beau cried.

He hugged the animal softly, thoughts too addled to notice that his fox could now speak to him. "I missed you too, mon petit renard! Where did you go?"

Beau nuzzled his cheek with his little nose. "I don't know… But can I stay with you now?"

Francis was confused. "What do you mean, you don't know?" he asked.

Beau blinked. "Well, I was with you one moment, and then it was kinda dark for a while. I think I heard Eros and Kralle somewhere, but I couldn't find them. Then, a glowy thing was coming towards me, so I ran to it! It was Matthew, and he said that if I followed him, I could see you again. So I did, and now you're here!"

Francis stroked Beau's head. "Hmm…" he murmured.

Matthew spoke up. "This is only a dream, I'm afraid. You are not truly together."

Francis' heart dropped, and Beau let out a whimper.

"However," the lynx said, "there is a way to make this a reality. Would you like that, Francis?"

"Yes," the Docte mumbled. "I would like that very much."

Matthew's eyes were sympathetic. "It is very easy to do, really. All you have to do is lead your friends to a certain spot after you're done at the Bellator temple. There, you will find your animal companions."

"That's it? No catch?" Francis asked warily.

"No catch," Matthew promised. "It's perfectly safe."

Now, Francis was a Docte. He was born and raised to be wily. But, those instincts abandoned him as he looked into the lynx's deep violet eyes. He found himself believing every word, because why would Matthew lie to him? Matthew was his friend, right?

"Will you be there?" Matthew asked quietly.

"Oui, I will!" Francis nodded.

Beau jumped down from his arms. "It was nice to see you," he told Francis sadly.

"You too. Au revoir, my friend."

Matthew beckoned the fox with his tail. "Come along now. Francis will be there before you know it." He held Francis with a piercing gaze for a moment, then looked away.

They padded away, growing smaller, gradually being obscured by the mist that swirled around them. Francis blinked, and they were gone.

He opened his eyes just in time to see a pebble hurtling towards his face. He quickly rolled to the side, barely dodging it.

"Who threw that?" he whisper-shouted, seeing it was still dark outside.

"Get up, you damn bastard," came the harsh reply. "I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes! It's your turn for watch!"

Francis got up, seeing Lovino standing at least a metre away. "Why are you all the way over there?"

"Are you kidding?" Lovino snarled. "There's no way I would go close to you while no one else is awake!"

Francis rolled his eyes, but went over to the watch log. "Goodnight, then," he said sarcastically.

There was no reply but a snore. Apparently Lovino could fall asleep as fast as his brother.

One uneventful watch later, Francis decided to wake up Antonio next.

"Toni, wake up," he whispered, shaking him slightly.

Antonio refused to. Francis guessed that he was a deep sleeper.

Francis had no choice but to grab some water and splash it on him. That woke him up in a hurry.

"Antonio, mon ami, it is your turn for watch," Francis quickly said, dodging a reflexive fist before going back to his own spot and lying down.

Unfortunately, he was finding it hard to get back to sleep. He wondered when they were going to get their animal companions back. He would lead the others to the spot, he decided, whatever it may be. The others would surely like and trust him again after he reunited them with their friends.


The next morning, they were ready to travel again. Luckily, they had left the steep climbing behind, and an empty field of grass spread out before them, seeming to touch the horizon.

"Don't tell me we have to walk through the whole thing!" Gilbert cried, aghast.

Ludwig nodded grimly.

Feliciano whimpered.

"Don't worry!" said Antonio cheerfully. "It'll be over before we know it!"

"Stop being so happy about it!" Lovino grumbled.

Francis mustered a smile. "Antonio is right. We shall press on!"

Arthur kicked him in the shin. "I'm with Lovino on this one. Stop trying to be positive."

Francis winced. "Now that you have maimed me, I fear I cannot make it…"

Arthur smirked. "There you go. Good old pessimism."

They made it about thirty metres before Gilbert called for a rest.

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "We've barely even started, bruder. Are you really tired already?"

Gilbert shook his head. "I was just thinking of Lizzie," he blurted. "She must be tired, so I called a rest for her, not me."

Lizzie took out her frying pan that she seemed to have on her at all times. "I'm about to bash your face in," she threatened calmly. "Care to revise that sentence?"

Gilbert put his hand on his axe nervously. "Whoa, no need to ruin my awesome features with your weapon of destruction again."

Francis smirked. "You'd better tell the truth then, mon ami."

Antonio laughed. "You've been found out, mi amigo."

Gilbert crossed his arms. "I'm not tired!" he retorted defensively. "But, uh... Arthur! Arthur is really tired, and he asked me if I could be awesome and ask for a rest so that he didn't have to."

Arthur, who wasn't paying attention, imparted some words of wisdom upon the group: "Say what?"

"See, there we go!" Gilbert crowed. "Now that that's settled, we should get going again, come on!"

Gilbert took the lead and beckoned to everyone. "Just follow the awesome me!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Only follow him if you want to go back the way we came, to the Fortis temple."

His brother abruptly turned around. "Now follow me!"

Ludwig sighed. He turned Gilbert in the right direction. "How about we follow the one with the map?"

Arthur waved his hand impatiently. "Okay, now that you've had your brother moment, can we go?"

Lovino nodded, scowling. "We have to get home, and you oafs are making this journey even worse than it already is."

Antonio pet Lovino on the head, laughing. "But Lovi, don't you think it's fun to travel with friends?"

Lovino violently shoved Toni's hand off his head, shot a few swear words at him, and lapsed into a grumpy silence.

The next hour of the journey was nice, for once. The eight chatted idly as they walked. Their pace wasn't that fast, so they were able to keep going for a longer time.

Feliciano was talking excitedly to Ludwig. "Our home is by a nice vineyard! We grow grapes and make them into wine! We also have a nice tomato patch, but I'm not allowed near that. It's Lovi and big brother Toni's."

"Very interesting, Feliciano," Ludwig said, hiding a yawn.

"When we were forced to go on guard duty, Lovi was really upset! He swore a lot and broke a lot of stuff," Feli said, shivering at the memory. "Big brother Toni was also sad. He didn't want to let us go, but the elders insisted."

"Hnm," said Ludwig, half-listening.

"I didn't want to go either, but now I'm glad I did."

"Why is that, Feliciano?" Ludwig asked.

Feli broke into a wide smile. "Because I got to meet you, Luddie!"

Ludwig felt his face heat up a little bit. "R-really?"

"Of course!" Feli nodded. "You're so nice! Let's be friends forever!"

Ludwig looked down. Not many people liked him because of his strict and seemingly cold personality, but he was really just trying to be friendly. No one had ever asked him to be his friend.

"Ja," he said, smiling slightly at Feliciano. "Let us be friends."

Meanwhile, Gilbert was getting into a fight with Lizzie.

"I could kick your butt any day!" he laughed.

"Ha!" Lizzie snorted. "I'd like to see you try!"

"I would win a fight between us, you know!" he insisted.

"Says the one with their face imprinted in my frying pan."

"Yeah, but who does that?" Gilbert whined. "You just smashed my face in, no questions asked!"

Lizzie shrugged. "You were the one sounding like a crazy person as you wandered through a forest, swearing to yourself."

"Hey, if you stubbed your feet on rocks as many times as I did, you would be swearing too," Gilbert said defensively. The he grinned. "Although, you are a lady...so I guess you wouldn't swear."

"Excuse me?!" Lizzie sputtered. "I can cuss just as much as you!"

"Yeah?" Gilbert smirked. "I bet not."

Lizzie let loose a torrent of swears at him, some so bad that ahead of them, Ludwig covered Feliciano's ears and glared at them.

At the end of it, Lizzie was panting. Gilbert smiled nervously. "I'm just gonna go over here bye!"

He scampered away, effectively ending the conversation.

Lizzie tossed her head haughtily. "Coward."

Behind them, and thankfully out of earshot, Francis and Antonio were exchanging recipes.

"The key is in the amount of time you cook it," Francis was explaining. "It doesn't turn out as well if you leave it too long."

Antonio nodded. "Ah, I see. It sounds like the churros I make sometimes. Oh, how I love churros..." His eyes glazed over as he fell into a daydream of one of his favourite foods.

Francis chuckled. "Not the brightest, are you, mon ami?"

"Sorry, did you say something?" Toni asked, blinking.

"Nothing. Now, I believe you were talking about churros?"

"Oh, yes! Lovi loves my cooking too, although he would never admit it," Antonio said, laughing. "He also likes to go to the local diner/bar and have waffles. To be honest, I think he used to have a crush on the waitress there!"

"How nice it must have been to have little brothers," Francis said wistfully.

"You don't?" Toni asked curiously.

The Docte shook his head. "No. I was born an only child in a relatively well-off family. None of the other children wanted to play with me when I was young because they thought that I was some snobby rich kid. They didn't even take the chance to get to know me." He sighed heavily. "Oh well. I am now getting to go on the adventure that I was craving, and I've even found a substitute little brother."

"Really? Who?"

"Arthur," Francis said, smiling fondly. "He is so lost and alone. He needs someone at his side, supporting him."

"You seem like a great big brother, Francis!" Antonio said happily. "I'm glad your wish is coming true."

"Me as well," Francis agreed. "And I am glad that you are finally getting your little brothers back. Losing them for a while must have been horrible."

"It was," Toni nodded. "I was so mad when the elders chose them. I mean, there were a bunch of other people they could've chosen! You remember Lars? He and his sister Bella would have been much better to choose for guard duty. Have you seen the guy? He's creepy as hell!"

Francis laughed. "I think you are only saying this because you don't like him."

"Details," Toni said offhandedly.

Francis put his hand on Antonio's shoulder. "Sometimes it is the details that count, oui?"

Lovino, a ways behind the rest of the group, saw everyone else conversing. He sighed with relief, seeing that he didn't have to talk to anyone and could stew in his thoughts alone.

"What do you say we introduce ourselves again?" asked a voice behind him.

Lovino inwardly groaned. It was Arthur. "Why would we do that, dimwit?"

Arthur shrugged. "Our first meeting was kind of a shouting match."

Lovino narrowed his eyes. "Why should I? This group is full of imbeciles. Why would I want to talk to any of you?"

"Yeah, these guys are idiots," Arthur agreed.

Lovino scowled. When he tried to insult people, the worst thing that they could do was brush it off and pretend that they were actually holding a normal conversation. The only other person that did that was Antonio, and it was infuriating.

"I mean," Arthur continued, "they thought it was a good idea to just walk completely vulnerable through this wide open field without posting a lookout in the front and back. Anything could sneak up on us now, and we would only have ourselves to blame."

Lovino pretended to ignore him, but had to admit that the thought of that had occurred to him, as well.

"That's why I'm here at the back." Arthur looked at him. "Keeping watch. Are you?"

Lovino shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Arthur smiled triumphantly. "Good. Now we can tell everyone 'I told you so' when we are attacked from behind."

Lovino snorted. "They would deserve it, if they're too dumb to think about the problem in the first place."

Arthur chuckled. "Agreed."

Lovino rolled his eyes. "In fact, I'm surprised my fratello and I stayed alive this long, with Antonio looking after us. He's clueless."

"Except when you're in danger, apparently," Arthur offered.

"Yeah," Lovino said quietly. He thought about it for a second. "You know, he never told us why he's our guardian in the first place. He's practically the same age as us, yet he still got custody when our parents died."

Arthur shook his head. "I guess that's a question you'll have to ask him."

Lovino nodded broodingly. They settled in a comfortable silence for a while, the voices of the others drifting back with the wind. It seemed that someone was arguing up ahead.

Lovino was first to break the silence. "That story that my fratello told in the cage…"

Arthur grinned. "Did you realize it too?"

"How could I not?" Lovino said, rolling his eyes again. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that the only ones who didn't clue in were the potato bastard and my brother."

"It's so obvious he was talking about Ludwig. The look on Ludwig's face when he was telling the story! It looked like he was trying to remember a repressed memory," Arthur recalled.

"I was there, and I can tell you that the boy we met definitely looked like the potato," Lovino said. "His food was bad, too, so I wouldn't be surprised."

"I guess it's just a matter of time until one of them figures it out," Arthur smirked.

"Maybe they shouldn't, though," Lovino said, biting his lip. "I mean...I want my fratello to be happy, but my group and yours are parting ways at our village. There's a pretty small chance that we'll ever see each other again, and if Feliciano knew, then it might hurt him more."

Arthur looked at the distant figures of Ludwig and Feliciano. "It looks like they're getting along. I hope that everything works out."

Lovino nodded silently. After a beat of silence, he sighed.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"Look, I'm sorry," Lovino burst out, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry that I swore and argued and insulted you when we first met. I'm just not very good at communicating with people, I guess..."

Arthur looked taken aback slightly at Lovino's apology. "Oh! Well, I completely understand. I have no idea how to talk to people either, pretty much. So, I'm sorry, too."

Lovino smiled slightly. "Yeah."

"You can smile?" Arthur laughed.

"Hey, I could say the same to you," Lovino chuckled.

Up ahead, they watched Gilbert run away Lizzie, probably in fear.

"So, you can speak Italian, right?" Lovino asked.

Arthur nodded. "Yeah. When you're alone for as long as I was, learning different languages is a fun way to pass the time."

Lovino was impressed. "How many do you know?"

Arthur shrugged. "At least eight."

"Can we talk in Italian?" Lovino asked hesitantly. "I haven't been able to lately, and I miss it."

They continued their conversation in Italian until Ludwig called for a rest stop. The sun was setting by that point, and everyone was awash in a reddish glow.

"Can I cook dinner today?" Arthur asked Francis.

"Sure," he said, surprised. "Do you know how?"

Arthur scowled. "Of course I do!"

The Docte chuckled. "It is all yours, then."

Lovino wandered over to where Arthur was looking at the food they had. "What are you doing, bastard?"

"I'm making dinner," Arthur explained.

Lovino raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how to cook?"

"Yes! Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"I should help," Lovino decided. "To make sure you don't mess up, it's not because I want to," he added hastily.

"Oh, okay," Arthur said absentmindedly.

Behind them, Antonio and Francis watched them curiously.

"Since when are they such good friends?" Francis asked.

Antonio repressed a squeal. "I read about this in a book once! They're so tsundere!"

Francis raised a delicate eyebrow. "Excuse me?" was what he said, when really he was thinking why is Toni acting like a teenage girl?

"It's when they act like you don't like you," Antonio explained, stifling another giggle, "but they actually do. They blush and make excuses and usually are mean towards you, but that's just their way of saying that they care about you. Isn't it cute?"

Francis hid his smile. What book was this, again? "Now that you mention it, Arthur and Lovino do fit that description."

Gilbertsuddenly popped up from wherever he was eavesdropping on them from. "Hey! We should call them the tsundere duo! If you count West, they're a trio!"

"It is not nice to listen in on other people's conversations, mon ami," Francis sighed.

"Why Ludwig?" asked Antonio.

Gilbert smirked. "Just look." He gestured to Ludwig, who had a small blush on his face as Feli hugged him randomly.

Francis shook his head. "I don't know it I'd call that-"

Gilbert barrelled on, ignoring Francis. "If they're a trio, are we a trio?"

"Of course!" Antonio said happily.

"What's the name of our new trio?" Gilbert asked excitedly.

Francis smiled, a glint coming into his eye. "Well, what do we all have in common?"

Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "Don't know about you two, but I'm pretty smooth. I got girls practically swooning at my door."

"Really?" Francis asked, amused. "I have to say that I have attracted my fair share of maidens, as well."

Antonio laughed. "Me too! Are you thinking what I'm thinking? The Bad-"

"Touch," added Francis slyly.

"Trio!" exclaimed Gilbert.

Just then, there was a sound like an explosion near the fire they had made. Arthur and Lovino were waving the smoke away, coughing, while Feli was hiding behind Ludwig and waving a white piece of cloth tied to a stick, blubbering about having relatives somewhere.

"What happened?" Francis demanded.

"Don't let this guy near food ever again!" Lovino coughed, pointing at Arthur. "No matter what he tells you, he cannot cook!"

"I don't know what went wrong!" protested Arthur. "I just put it over the fire like Francis did, and-"

"You need to know how long certain foods can be over the fire, mon lapin," Francis said gently. "Now, tell the truth. Do you know how to cook?"

"No," muttered Arthur, looking away. "The only thing I can make are scones, and A-Alfred always said that they were horrible."

"Don't worry, Arthur," Francis comforted. "Not everyone can be good at cooking."

Arthur scowled and rubbed his face, turning his head away. "I burned a sodding bowl of cereal once."

Antonio looked at the remains of whatever Arthur had tried to cook. "We can still make the food. Lovi and I will do it."

"That would be manifique, Antonio. Come, lapin, let us sit over here," Francis said, directing Arthur to a secluded patch of clovers, well away from the others.

They sat down in amid the tiny blossoms. "What is bothering you, cher?" Francis asked him.

Arthur picked a few pieces of grass and toyed with them. "It's just...I feel useless. I feel like I can't do anything right."

Francis put his arms around the younger boy comfortingly. They were sitting so that Arthur was practically in Francis' lap, and the Docte was putting his head on Arthur's shoulder from behind. "Cher, you should never feel like that. Everyone on this quest wouldn't have made it this far if it weren't for you."

Arthur muttered assent. "I guess." He ran his hand over the bandages still adorning Francis' arm. "How's your...problem?"

Francis winced. "Still present, I'm afraid."

"Does it hurt?" Arthur wondered.

"Non, not usually. Only when we are around the ombre. I hope that when this is all over, the wounds will fade."

"When this is all over," Arthur echoed. "What are we going to do when this is over?"

"Go home, I guess," Francis murmured.

Arthur seemed to shrink a little. "I don't have anything to go back to."

"Relax, lapin," Francis said, hugging him tighter. "You can come live with me, if you like."

Arthur looked up at him, his emerald green eyes sparked with a new hope. "R-really?"

"Of course," Francis promised. "You are my little brother now, non?"

Arthur nodded hesitantly. He picked another clover and looked at it in surprise. The four leaves were mere shadows against the setting sun.

"Is this normal?" he asked Francis. "The others all have three leaves."

"A four leaved clover symbolizes luck," Francis told him, smiling warmly. "Maybe yours is getting better."

Arthur sighed contentedly. He leaned back on Francis. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"It is no problem," Francis replied. "I am always here for you, lapin."

"Always?"

"Always and forever."


Like I said. Noooo ships. Sorry for not updating for a month.