Feliciano quietly sat in Ludwig's car, waiting for the blond German and Roderich to come back. He tossed the blanket he had brought with himself over his head, becoming terrified of the sounds he was hearing.

"M-Maybe I should have gone with them….then again Ludwig said I was going to be dead weight on him," the boy grumbled.

"Why do we have to rescue that jerk Gilbert? The mean things he did to my brother!"

The Italian kicked at the leather seat in front of himself.

It isn't fair. It just isn't fair. Does nobody care about his brother Romano's feelings at all?

"No! Get away! Stay away!"

Romano acted frightened of him when he tried coming back to his brother's aid. Why was that?

Was Romano angry with him? Maybe because he never noticed Romano being forced to doing things he didn't want to just as Gilbert had said ad hurt Romano's feelings.

"…maybe I should stay with my brother no matter what he says! I'll cheer him up and we can talk about this whole mess and I can make him feel like his grumpy old self again! That's great! Wait till I tell Ludwig!" he exclaimed.

"We have to look for Gilbert. I don't care what he did. He's my brother and I don't believe for a second he did all those things to your brother. I don't know why he lied or ran off like that, but I'm getting to the bottom of this."

Feliciano then frowned.

Maybe I shouldn't tell him. After all, he's defending a criminal.

"Argh, what do I do! This is the first time Gilbert's ever been mean to Romano! He's always bringing him flowers and food! And there was that one time Romano told me he was practicing how to dance with Gilbert cause I went in big brother's room and the two were on the ground panting and half naked! Well….I'll just wait and see what he says when Ludwig makes him talk! Oh boy this is so exciting!"

Feliciano then turned to his left window to see a long streak of red light shooting up into the dark sky.

"Gee I wonder what that was…."

It was followed by a faint scream. He pulled the blanket farther over himself and began to tremble.

"Oh Ludwig get back here soon!"

It was nighttime elsewhere, more specifically at Arthur's home where he had invited Alfred and Matthew over for the meeting that was going to be held at Antonio's home in a couple weeks. Two to be exact. The American blonde was already asleep after playing his video games for about five hours straight, to Arthur's disgust, while the quiet Canadian sat by a long living room window taking small peaks outside every once in a while. Across from him sat the Brit who just stared at Matthew in curiosity.

"Hey Matthew, are you alright?" asked England pouring himself another cup of tea. Said man in question took about ten seconds before he turned his head from the window and at Arthur.

"Alright? Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"Smiled the Canadian nervously.

"Well call me crazy, but I think you've been staring at that window since you got here. It faces the European countries you know? If you had a telescope you could probably see Germany border. Speaking of which do you know why Gilbert and Antonio broke into a fight? I've heard rumors."

"Rumors?" murmured the Canadian raising a brow.

"Indeed. The most frequent one is that Gilbert and Romano are having a relationship. Can you believe that? Matthew?"

The blonde Canadian clutched tightly on his cup of tea, the warm tea inside it shaking.

"Yes, that is very impractical," laughed the boy nervously as he got up from his seat, "may I use your bathroom? I think I'm still a little drowsy from the plane ride here."

"Oh, sure. Upstairs third door from your left," said Arthur raising both eyebrows. Matthew quickly walked off and almost stomped upstairs to the second floor. Arthur only sighed to himself as he turned back to his cup and began stirring sugar in it.

"What is wrong with that boy?" he asked aloud. Matthew hadn't been acting normal, in his opinion, since about two months ago when he had held a world meeting here at the UK. He remembered finding his magic books all thrown around in his basement, and more specifically his wish granting spell book, when he had invited some of the countries over for some dinner. Matthew had been one of the people he found running down the hallway leading to the basement that particular night. Arthur asked him what was wrong and to his surprise the Canadian just smiled.

"We were playing and your book suddenly threw itself at us. I guess you do have ghosts in your home!" the boy smiled nervously and ran off with the others who seemed to be trying to get away from the basement as if they'd spooked themselves with something down there.

"Must be my imagination." The spiky blonde comforted himself as he continued mixing his tea with the little baggie.

Meanwhile Matthew stepped out of the bathroom, just going in to wash off his sweaty hands.

What's wrong with me?

As he quietly stood outside the bathroom door he was met with Alfred stepping out of his bedroom rubbing his sore eyes.

"Oh, hey Matty! What are you doing up at….whatever time it is?" smiled the American.

Something feels weird. I feel sick under my own skin….why…?

"Oh, I was just freshening up. I feel a little under the weather," he mumbled in response giving a nervous smile.

"Ah I see. Speaking of which, did you see the weird butler guy Arthur has? I love his hat! I wonder why he looks so much like-"

As Alfred ranted on, Matthew began to touch at his face, beads of sweat coming down. Why was he sweating? He was wearing such light clothing despite the cold outside.

"-and you should have seen his face! I was so up close!"

Matthew looked up, interested on the new topic his sibling was talking about.

"Up close?" he repeated.

"Mhmm! You should have seen how Gilbert punched Antonio! He was so pissed! I don't think I've ever seen him so pissed except for that one time when he pushed his brother during a meeting a few years ago. Remember when Roderich punched him? Ludwig tried to tackle him down and Gilbert just came out of nowhere and defended him [Roderich]!"

"Will you SHUT UP?" growled the Canadian. Alfred looked up at the boy confused.

"E-excuse me?"

"You heard me you brat. Rambling on and on? So what if Gilbert punched someone? So what if he got mad? So what if the damn rumors are true about him and Romano? I don't care! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR I-!"

"Matthew?" asked Arthur panting heavily as he reached up the stairs, "what's going on? I heard screaming and rushed over."

The Canadian was grabbing at a baffled Alfred's pajama collar. The blonde Canadian then turned to Arthur and immediately looked at him horrified.

"AH! I-I'm sorry Alfred!" the young man squeaked letting go of his sibling's clothes. He then dashed towards his guest bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"W-what was that all about?" mumbled Alfred staring off into the direction his brother Matthew had run off to.

"I don't know. Did you see the look in his face? He looked at me completely mortified," said Arthur raising a brow, "what's he got to be so afraid of me?"

Antonio began to laugh silently as he let go of his axe's handle. A loud thud hit the ground as the Spaniard let go of his weapon and smiled brightly at Roderich, who held a pistol up to his face just at the bridge of his nose.

"What are you doing here?" Antonio grinned as he raised both hands to his waist and looked at the Austrian almost in a playful manner.

"Did you do this to Gilbert?" mumbled Roderich in an enraged and desperate tone motioning with his pistol, "did you make him bleed like that?"

Antonio raised a brow.

"What if I did? What then? Are you going to shoot me? Nations can't die so easily you know. And," he suddenly grabbed at the pistol and without having to take a step forward pushed Roderich to take a step back as he coyly smiled, "since when did you become so bold?"

Roderich's small frown began to tremble in place as he was forced further back, Antonio pointing the gun away from him and at the sky.

"Y-you beast! I'll tell everyone you tried killing Gilbert and-!"

"I'll tell everyone you tried killing me, simple as that little man," he whispered as he finally shoved the Austrian to a tree. He pushed the man against the trunk with an arm pressing against his chest, causing Roderich to drop the weapon to the ground.

"Listen here, I don't appreciate you trying to be a hero here. The point of the matter is that you've irritated me long enough. And," he turns back to see Ludwig picking his brother up in his arms, "you've made me lose my chance to get rid of those two."

Antonio then tackled the Austrian brunette down to the ground and began to choke him.

"But I can still kill you."

Roderich raised both hands on Antonio's wrist as the man tightens his hold on the brunette's neck.

"St-stop! P-please stop!" whispers Roderich as he tries to wriggle from Antonio's grasp. The Spaniard only cracks a dark smile.

"You bastard. Why did you dump Gilbert huh? If you hadn't I wouldn't have to kill him! Then maybe I wouldn't have to get Romano to like me! It's all your fault! This is all your fault!"

"N-no! I…I d-did it b-because-!"

"Stop talking! You are wasting my time!" he said shaking at the man under him, "just hurry up and die already!"

Roderich began to cough ferociously as his struggles seemed to weaken.

"Ugh, choking you won't be enough. We're my axe?" mumbled the man turning past his shoulder looking for his weapon. Just then he felt Roderich's neck warmen up sharply. He turned back to see the Austrian lying there unmoving, just staring up at Antonio with a darker shade of eye color than usual. They seemed empty and hollow. Antonio cracked a smile.

"Dead already? Geez that was easier than I tho-"

He was then smacked in the back of the head with the end of a rifle. Antonio lands with a soft thud on Roderich's body as he let's go of his neck.

Behind the Spaniard stood Vash, panting quietly and holding tightly at his rifle.

"What the hell…," the blonde breathed giving the two a puzzled glare. Just then Antonio shifted himself off of Roderich and gave Vash a leer.

"Oh, you'll wish you hadn't done that," he muttered with a deep frown. The Spaniard raised his right arm shakily.

"I suggest you start to run away now," he smiled. Suddenly something flew past the Swiss, his thin blonde bangs fluttering. His eyes grew wide as he stared down at an axe Antonio now held in his hand.

"How did you-?" he raised his rifle up, ready to shoot at Antonio. The Spanish man just laughed as he raised himself up slowly. He glanced back at Roderich.

"He's still alive. Still got a heartbeat," mumbled Antonio, "but not for long."

He then raised his axe as high as he could.

"Antonio, I don't know what's gotten into you but if you come at me, I will shoot you," said Vash raising his gun.

"Is this your place we're at? Close to the Swiss border?" asked Antonio. Vash raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yes, what of it?"

"Good," grinned Antonio as he swung his axe at the blonde's head.

"Just hold on brother. Just a little more," whispered Ludwig as he readjusted his brother's body over his shoulder. The blonde German was terribly sleepy, after not having slept for almost two days too busy worrying over his brother. He was growing wearier with every step and thick tree root he had to walk over.

The woods were very thick, and it was growing very cold, being the middle of October. It was very dark out here and surely wild animals were going to start popping up. He wondered if he should have stayed to wait for Roderich to come back, but the Austrian had taken such a long while to return. He could hear his brother's breathing dying down, pushing him to make the decision of leaving Roderich behind.

Ludwig could feel the blood from his brother's head rubbing off on his clothes and hair. He wondered what his brother had done to have received such an injury. Did he fall form a tree? Get attacked by an animal? Self inflicted?

"R-Roma…..,"uttered the Prussian weakly as groaned. Ludwig winced.

"G-Gilbert? Are you awake? Gilbert!" cried his brother as he stopped and pulled his brother off his shoulder and into his arms.

The albino quietly breathed, both eyes closed, as he cracked a faint smile.

"Oh Roma, it was all a bad dream. Heh, I don't have to leave you anymore. We can stay together forever now….." the man uttered.

Roma..? As in Romano?

Ludwig began to rub at Gilbert's platinum-bloodied hair.

No way.

"Ach!" the man squeaked.

The German pulled his hand out to see fresh blood on his leather glove. He then shot his head up at hearing a gun shot.

"Must be Vash," he uttered. They were around the Swiss border. Ludwig picked his brother back up only this time carrying him in his arms, and headed back down the path he and Roderich had took to try and find his brother. He finally walked out of the thick forest too see his black vehicle sitting at the side of the one-lane road.

"Feliciano!" he called out as he stepped towards the car. The Italian inside peaked out of his covers too spot Ludwig carrying his sibling in arms.

"Ludwig!" cried the Italian.

"Please open the door!"

"Ludwig! Please hurry! Hurry!" cried the brunette.

"Calm down Feliciano, my brother is really heavy and-"

"HURRY!"

"Feliciano stop shou-!"

Ludwig turned around to hear several more rounds of gun shots being fired at the dirt behind him.

"Oh would you look at that, it still has some bullets in it," grinned Antonio as he descended from the thick woods, blood smeared on his khaki coat. In one hand he pointed the rifle at Ludwig's direction and with the other he dragged Roderich's body. He let go of the blue collar, the Austrian's body falling on the rocks and dirt with a loud thud.

"A-Antonio...?" uttered Ludwig as his face darkened in horror. The man seemed to be bleeding terribly from his right shoulder, but didn't seem to mind the injury.

"Hmm? Oh, that's right. I'd like to trade. Give me the albino in exchange,"Antonio pressed the pistol at Roderich's forehead, "for his life."

A/N: What is happening to Canada? Where'd Switzerland come from? Is Spain's crazy-self getting contagious? Such questions will be answered shortly ... summer reading homework...ugh.