Lily sat listlessly on the loveseat in the living room, staring at the phone on the opposite wall, as if willing it to ring. Her dinner sat on the table, uneaten, and cooling. "Vash is just really busy." She told herself quietly. "That's why he hasn't called yet."

A loud knock on the door shook her from her thoughts, and a muffled voice shouted from the other side. "Lily! I've come to kidnap you, so get out here and make it easier on me girl!"

"Liz…"

The Hungarian was beaming as she opened the door, wearing a denim mini skirt, and a bright green shirt that flared out anywhere it could. "We're going dancing, so get changed, better yet, let me pick something out for you!"

Lily allowed herself to be dragged back into her small bedroom, and watched as her friend went digging through her closet. She really wanted to say no, to tell Elizaveta to go home, that she wasn't up to going out tonight. But years of experience taught her that Elizaveta only did these sorts of things when she was worried. It would be selfish of her to let her friend worry about her while she wallowed in her own concern.

"Put this on!" Liz was holding up a pair of black skinny jeans, and a shimmery purple top. Lily recognized them as a gift from the very woman standing in front of her. She was still surprised that her brother hadn't complained about them being 'too showy'.

"O-okay."

Once she was changed, she was once again dragged out of the apartment, barely getting the chance to lock the door behind them.

"C'mon! Gilbert's waiting, and you know how impatient he is!"

"Yeah, yeah!" She called back with a small chuckle, despite herself. Both Liz and Gilbert had that way of making her smile, no matter how depressed she was. When the two arrived at the car, the albino was already rocking out to the very loud music pouring from his speakers.

"Turn it down, would you!" Liz yelled as she slid into the passenger seat.

"Aw but Lizzie! You know I'm so fly like a G6!" He yelled back with a grin. "Hey Lily! Lookin' good!"

She blushed, and stammered out a 'thank you', watching with growing amusement as Elizaveta smacked Gilbert upside the head. "Why is it that everything you say sounds perverted?"

"It doesn't, you just aren't awesome enough to tell the difference. And don't hit the driver! If we crash and burn, it's not my fault."

"It's always your fault."

Deciding to break up what could rather quickly evolve into a playful, but violent argument, Lily cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the lovers. "S-so, where are we going?"

The brunette smacked her hand to her forehead. "I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you! Gil found this really cool club a couple weeks ago. We're going to go dance our cares away till dawn!"

"A c-club? Like a bar?"

"Hells yeah, like a…" Gilbert stopped mid-cheer when he saw Lily chewing her lip fretfully. "You're 21, right?"

Blushing in embarrassment, the blonde shook her head slowly. "My birthday's still a few months away. Besides, Vash wouldn't approve…"

"One, screw what that stiff approves of, he's worse than Roddy sometimes. Second, what the hell Lizzie? You should know these things about your friends before taking them out drinking!"

"Don't worry about it!" Elizaveta said with a dismissive wave of one hand. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Jedi mind tricks don't work in real life."

Lily slumped back in her seat, no longer listening as Gilbert began going on in a mock-cryptic voice, 'you don't need to see her identification.'

'It's only been two days.' She thought sadly. 'He said it'd be a few days, so he might be back tomorrow. But the way everyone's going on about keeping it quiet makes me think that it's really serious. What if he gets hurt?'

"Hey. Lil' you okay? You're looking distant again."

"Huh?" She looked up to see Elizaveta turning to look back at her in concern. "No, I'm fine, I was just thinking again. So… how are you going to get me in?"

Green eyes sparkled with excitement as she answered, "The club has a glass roof! We're going to sneak in like ninjas, and drop to the middle of the dance floor to make the coolest entrance ever!"

"She's kidding!" Gilbert yelped when Lily's face contorted with confusion and slight terror.

"I know a guy." Liz explained, and the two began nodding sagely as if that explained everything.

"I need new friends."

{}}{{}

Sure enough, when the three arrived at the front of the line leading to a noisy club, the slight Japanese man allowing people in greeted Elizaveta with a smile, and didn't question any of them as he let them in.

"How could a guy that small ever get a job like that?" Lily wondered aloud as they walked in. "Don't they have to be strong to break up fights?"

"Oh Kiku's a total badass. He can handle himself." The Hungarian explained. "Now come on! Let's go dance!"

They left Gilbert at the bar, and dove into the crowd, weaving in and around people until they were near the centre. "C'mon girl! Let's show 'em how it's done!" Elizaveta shouted, already starting to swing her hips to the beat.

Lily nodded, and started moving too, albeit a bit more shyly. She wasn't totally comfortable with all these people around. Both Liz and Gilbert were so much more open, and just better in crowds. She still felt as awkward as she had as a freshman in high school.

Vash would've been furious with her if he knew where she was.

{}}{{}

"How long do you plan on staying here?"

Alfred looked up at Vash's sudden question, and pondered it for a minute before replying. "I dunno. A week, maybe two if I'm lucky…"

"I can't stay that long." He replied shortly.

"Look, if it's about your colleagues, I'm sure they'll understand if…"

"This has nothing to do with my job! I could care less if I get fired, I can always go back to Switzerland if I lose my job in the States. It's my sister."

"Oh yeah, you did say something about her. But so what if she worries a bit? You're still gonna get home in one piece, and have a happy reunion. Everything will turn out just fine…"

"You idiot! Didn't I tell you that'd she'd have a panic attack?"

"Well, sure. But I thought you were-"

"Kidding? Far from it!" He was starting to look a bit scared, which wasn't an emotion Alfred ever considered seeing on the man's face. "She's got severe abandonment issues since our parents left us. I'm all she's got left, and if I'm gone for too long, she has these attacks! I told her I'd be gone for a few days, a week, tops. If I'm not home by then, there's no telling what kind of state she'll be in. You have to understand, I need to get back!"

{}}{{}

Somewhere in the middle of a song, Elizaveta had been swallowed up by the crowds, and it was only now dawning on Lily that she was surrounded by people she didn't know. "L-Liz?"

Of course, her thin voice didn't even reach her own ears over the noise. The other people just kept on dancing, not even noticing the small blonde who stood frozen to the spot, blue-green eyes wide with fear.

"Bruder, where are mom and dad?"

Ever so slowly, she crouched down, wrapping her arms around her knees, and hugging them closer to her slight form.

"It's going to be okay. We didn't need them anyway. From now on, I'm all you need, and I promise not to leave you, okay?"

"Okay!"

Tears started to fog her vision, and she didn't even notice when people accidentally kicked her as they danced. Vash was gone. Liz had disappeared. She couldn't remember where they'd left Gilbert. She was completely alone.

"I… don't want… Ich will nicht alleine sein!" She continued screaming in German, covering her ears with her small hands, and crying.

"A-are you okay?"

She couldn't see who it was through the tears, but she was too hysterical to see anything but the fact that the person crouched beside her had blond, chin-length hair. "Vash! You came!" And she hugged him fiercely, crying into his shoulder as he lifted her off of the floor of questionable sanitary conditions.

"O-okay. Let's get you a drink eh?" Not exactly the most comforting thing Matthew Williams had ever uttered.

{}}{{}

"I'm sorry! But I can't do anything about it right now!"

"Then take me to town, and I'll take care of this myself!"

"Are you insane? Didn't you see the place when you drove through? It's crawling with cops!"

"Then I'll walk!" Vash huffed, getting to his feet. It would have been dramatic –his walking towards the door- if it weren't for the fact that he had to hike up his borrowed jeans as they threatened to slide down his hips as he went.

At the sight of that, Alfred started snickering, attempting to muffle the sound with his hand. "You won't get far if you keep on having to do that every two minutes."

Face slightly pink, Vash reached for the door handle, and paused. "I don't have time to deal with you. I hope you can get out of the country without too big of a deal. But unlike you, I've got more than just myself to take care of."

"Sure. Hey, Vash?"

"Hm?"

"Tell… tell Mattie, next time you see him, that I'm okay? And thanks for the food and clothes…oh! And the beer too."

"Sure."

"And… tell him to stop trying to prove my innocence. It'll just get him in over his head. And to make sure he calms down, and stops making everyone think he's kind of insane. And…"

"Alfred."

"What?"

The blond turned around to face him with an amused smirk on his lips. "Do you wanna write all that down?"

The American grinned, and scampered off to find some paper and a pen.

"Lily still has Gilbert and Elizaveta." He murmured to himself. "As bad of an influence they are, she won't be alone. I'm sorry."

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading~!

Well, me and heavy stories… it's getting bad now. On a lighter note, guess who's rockin' pigtails at 16! They're like, the fem!England kind too! If I were blonde, I might actually look like her.

As of Sunday the 7th, I will be at camp for two weeks without Internet, but with power. So, don't expect anything during that time, but if I do a lot of work, I may have a massive fic overload when I get back. But under the condition that I have an extremely full inbox of reviews when I get back, okay?

I kind of wanted to give Liechtenstein a stronger character in this seeing as a lot of people hate on her so much, and I just find her too cute to hate, so expect a bit more of her, especially now that I have a really good idea of where I'm going with this… it involves awesome chase scenes… that's all I'm giving away. Oh, and as to who the real killer is... it won't be Russia. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'd never go with something that obvious. It's way more fun to write stuff that makes no sense, and make it make sense. :3