Start: Chapter Three

I.

I don't know what I was expecting of the cafeteria. But I do know I wasn't expecting it to look so… Normal. Like the cafeteria in the school I had gone to when I was younger. The one I had used to follow Gilbert around in and fade back like a distressed shadow when he waved me off to sit with his friends.

There were some subtle differences. The people who would have been the equivalent of teacher aides were armed guards marked as lower than the creepers only by their brown uniforms. That and the fact that there were no windows. And that amazingly the food looked… Edible. This I had not been expecting at all.

"Lovi!" A tan, brown-haired figure launched himself at the angry guide we had. His arms quickly wrapped around the boy. "I missed you!"

Strangled noises come from Lovino as he struggled to get away. "Damn it, Antonio you bastard! Get off me!" He quickly turned red and I could feel the anger radiate off of him into the room. But this Antonio didn't seem to be affected.

If anything, he appeared happier, laughing at Lovino's struggles. "You're all red! Like a little tomato!"

I could just hear Lovino start to protest that he was not a tomato when Arthur pulled me away. "They do that every mealtime," he said, rolling his eyes. "But everyone knows that they are really snogging in the lavatory, no matter what that crazy Italian says."

Not being quite sure what 'snogging' meant, I decided to just nod and follow Arthur to the line for food. I grabbed a tray and moved to the containers of what seemed to be macaroni and cheese.

"Hey Arthur!" a pretty girl with long brown hair said to my roommate. She flashed a smile and held out a spoonful of the overly-cheesy pasta to his plate. "You want some glop?"

He laughed quietly and nodded. "Sure Lizzie. What did you do to get on food duty?"

She opened her eyes innocently as she spooned the food onto his plate. "Oh, nothing much. I certainly didn't use my speed to see how many times I could hit Francis over the head with a frying pan in a minute. If you want something bad, you should have seen what he was doing to poor Lilli!" She shook her head, smiling a little. "It's two hundred fifty times in sixty seconds, in case you were wondering."

A sort of malicious grin appeared on Arthur's face. "Oh please tell me you got him in the infirmary. Please."

The girl sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately no. The creepers got me before I could do too much damage. Stuck me with this job. He's right over there in his usual corner, eying you and…" She turned towards me and her bright green eyes widened. "Who is your friend?"

Arthur had been in a sort of cower when she had said that this Francis was in watching him, but quickly stood up straight and waved his hand in a sort of introductory gesture between us. "Lizzie, this is Roderich. Roderich, Elizabeta."

Her face turned shy and she twisted the spoon in front of her. "H-hi," she stammered. There was an awkward silence for a moment, then she stuck out her hand. "W-would you like some mac n' cheese?" she said, practically shouting.

A little taken about by this change of attitude between her conversation with Arthur and talking to me, I slowly nodded and handed my tray to her. I watched as she shakily measured just the right amount of pasta, then gave it back.

Arthur looked amused and moved his plate down the line. "Bye Lizzie," he called, grabbing an apple and a juice box and stepping away.

"Bye Arthur…" She blushed scarlet. "Roderich." And then she was quickly busied by Feliciano and Lovino, the latter now holding hands with Antonio and staring pointedly at the ground. I grabbed an apple and juice of my own and followed Arthur, quickly placing these items on my tray.

The Briton went toward en empty table and put his tray down. The instant he was about to sit, however, he started laughing hysterically, twitching. Then his face went blank and a dark sort of anger dawned on it. He turned slowly towards a long-haired blonde boy with a bit of beard stubble, now looking enraged.

"STOP IT NOW, FRANCIS, BEFORE I COME OVER THERE AND MURDER YOU!"

The entire room, which had been keeping up a dull of chatter, fell silent and turned to look at the pair. Francis stood and leaned against the wall, a small pout about his lips.

"Well, mon ami, at least then you would be over here with me. We can speak of unpleasant things like murder at some later time, non?" But I could tell he had stopped whatever he had been doing, because Arthur relaxed from a tense position he had gone into.

Arthur raised his eyebrows, which was quite a sight to see. They were both incredibly thick and moved upwards like several caterpillars stretching towards the light. "Unpleasant things like murder? I find what you do to me every time I walk into the same room as you unpleasant!"

Francis chuckled. "But you know I cannot help it. When I see you I simply must. It brings me a little bit of joy in this terrible place."

I leaned forward a bit to speak in Arthur's ear. "What exactly does he do that bothers you so much?" There had been nothing visible, so I wasn't quite sure what they were going on about.

My roommate moved his head quickly to glance at me. "He molests me. From a distance." He spoke with gritted teeth and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.

"Molests? Do not be giving him the wrong opinion of me!" Francis tilted his head, looking upset. "I merely have the talent to make people feel like someone is touching them without me physically having to do anything."

Arthur stamped his foot. "Merely? Perverted frog, you know exactly what you do!"

I stood in silence, watching them bicker for a moment, then sat down at the table that Arthur had put his food at and began eating mine. This entire place was merely a small school with no way out. And with my limited school experience, I knew it was always best to keep as low a profile as possible.

II.

It was easy for Alfred to get around. Gilbert watched jealously as the other teenager dipped and swerved in the air. He was silent too. He didn't make any of the tap-tap sound that Ludwig and Gilbert did when they walked. And Gilbert knew that, in an emergency, Alfred could be gone in an instant while he and his younger brother would be stuck running and hoping. Their luck hadn't been that great recently.

But it was odd. They didn't see even the slightest hint of a creeper anywhere along their way. They walked all night, and through breakfast the next day –a quick thievery job – and then kept on going. Closer and closer they were getting to the creeper's headquarters, and never once saw the black clothed people.

"You don't want to go in do you?" Alfred asked, finally setting foot on the ground. It was after supper on the second day of walking and the flying boy had been saying for a couple hours that they were close.

Gilbert shook his head. "No, just get close enough to see it. Not in. Yet." He curled a small bit of flame around a finger. It had been with him most of the journey, and to him it seemed that it had grown stronger the closer they grew to Roderich. It had started pulsing with a familiar rhythm. Triplets, Roderich called it.

Alfred nodded, looking relieved. "Good, because I'm not sure I could get you in. The way I got out was really high."

Out of the corner of Gilbert's eye, he could see Ludwig smile a little. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," the blonde boy said. "I was just thinking that I could get you up to wherever it was."

Laughing nervously, Gilbert rubbed the back of his head. "You wouldn't…" He stared at Ludwig for a moment, then blinked his red eyes. "You would. You would throw me up to the top of the building and break every single bone in my body."

"You aren't that desperate, are you?" Ludwig leveled his gaze to look at his older brother, the merest spark of curiosity lighting in the blue depths of his eyes. "If that were the only way to get him back, would you go that far?"

Silence fell over the trio, broken a few moments later by Alfred coughing uncomfortably. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but it had definitely been awkward for him.

"The containment building… It's just over this ledge," the flying boy said, pointing in the direction he meant. "They'll all be sleeping now. Curfew is very strict." He shifted a little, waiting for the other two to stop staring at each other.

Gilbert turned his head towards Alfred and nodded his head a little. "I figured. Thanks." He walked away from the other two and sat on the ledge, in shadow by an overhanging rock.

The albino's breath caught slightly as he looked down at the building. It was huge and circular, surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire. If he looked closely enough, he could tell that cameras were everywhere. A quiet groan escaped him. How was it going to be possible to get in and out of there?

His eyes were drawn to the most heavily guarded portion of the building. He could just make out a large hole high up on the wall, just below the roof. Gathering that this was how Alfred had gotten out, he stared at it curiously, still absentmindedly playing with his little flame.

Sighing, he leaned against the rock and thought back to what Ludwig had said. The accusation behind those words. He had already known that his younger brother blamed him for losing Roderich… But he hadn't known that the boy had seen…

Again he groaned, putting a hand over his eyes to hide them. This was brilliant. He already felt bad enough about it all without a sense of guilt for more.

III.

Heracles could feel the frightened looks he was getting from the people around him. He refused to look back, instead staring at the map spread out on the desk in front of him. Holding it down, one hand on each side, he tried to ignore the leg iron attaching him to the ground. It certainly was a step up from what he had before.

For the first time in years his eyes were unbound. They were green, but seemed to have a thin layer of film over them. He could see perfectly, but to him it was almost as if everything was at a distance.

Glancing up from the map for a moment, the boy scanned the room, eyes finally lighting on his mother's body. Occupied by a murderess, he thought bitterly. The Parasites were a type of muttie all their own, nearly immortal as when they were close to dying, they could swap the body they were born into for another. Just so long as they killed the person first.

Parazita, the abomination inside of his mother that he had allied himself with – not without lots of thought and much deliberation on the outcomes of all other possibilities – was not the only Parasite here. The other head creeper was one as well. A much… Simpler life-form, Heracles had already come to think. He did not use his brain as much as Parazita did. But he liked to think that he was very bright.

Loinen was the name of the man. The Dreamer found it interesting that all of their kind seemed to have names that translated into the word "parasite." As if their parents had been proud.

He couldn't imagine why. Parazita had brutally killed his mother before entering her body, right in front of him. He had been no more than eight at the time. And the body that Loinen was in… That man had been a grandfather of two boys, both now stuck here.

Sitting down, Heracles pulled open a drawer in the desk he was stationed at. He had been granted access to all of the files collected on the other mutties, so long as there were others in the room while he looked at them.

Most of the information he knew already. There was a list of the known mutties in America, placed in their different categories. He noticed his name in a category of its own. Heracles Karpusi – Dreamer. Parazita and Loinen were in their own spot as well. It came as a bit of a relief to know that there were no others of their kind in the country.

His eyes scanned the names there, knowing them all. The Neuros were all geniuses in some way, their minds so sharp that they were almost impossible to fool. It was the most common category in the world, but not the most common in America. Of course, it was hard to tell if a person was one, as they could be ridden off simply as nerds. They also, more often than not, were physically weak. Every name on the list was marked as in custody.

The Tricksters either had talents that could be found in magic shows, or they influenced emotions. This list of names was the longest on the sheet, the range of things done the most unusual. One of his fingers ran over the list, stopping on three. Those three were still out there, free. Looking at their powers, it was obvious why.

There were only four names under the heading of Enhanced. These were people who had some sort of physical or mental ability become stronger as a result of their mutation. If Heracles' talent had to be given a category, this would be it. Out of the four names there, only one was free. Ludwig Beilschmidt, the younger brother of Gilbert and Roderich.

Under Sensory there were also four names. These people could fully manipulate one of the five senses to their wants and desires. Three out of the four were here, the fourth being somewhere a few states over.

The final category, Elemental, consisted of three people. Not one of them was in custody, though of course Alfred had used to be. These three boys could do almost anything they could think of with the element they controlled. Not one had realized their full power yet, but when they did, it would be spectacular. And incredibly problematic for the creepers.

Heracles looked away from the files, sighing softly. He was certain that there were more mutties in America. He had seen a few in his dreams. But these were the ones whose lives he'd followed, who he had cringed should they get captured – the great majority of them, really. And though he had an alliance with the creepers, his true colors were always with the other children of his kind.

Putting the files down, Heracles reviewed his plan in his head. Everyone would get out of here. He would make sure of it. But first he needed the three Elementals where he could contact them. In this containment ward.

Alfred and Gilbert were so close… He could feel that they were close. And with them, he was sure that finding and bringing the last one here would be no problem. After that, it would not be long before they were all free.

His eyes flicked to Parazita. Catching her watching him mistrustfully, he put the files away. It wasn't as if they could tell him anything he didn't know. Beckoning her over, he lightly tapped the map, finger landing on a spot not two hundred feet from the building. A look of surprise crossed the Parasite's stolen face, then she smiled. As far as she was concerned, Gilbert Beilschmidt had just made a grave mistake.

End: Chapter Three

Authors Note: Gahh, it's been so long on this one too! My apologies. I know I've probably lost readers... I only got two reviews on the last chapter. But I love writing this story, so I'm not stopping.

This chapter was for introducing characters, themes, and explaining a bit about things. It is probably the most important one yet, and definitely the longest. In the future they should be longer, but never trust me on that. I throw whatever length I feel like up.

And I'm just going to warn you now. If you do not like boy x boy pairings, or have a problem reading implied incest (or not so implied), you may not want to read. The rating will never go up, but if you can't handle kisses and stuff, the next few chapters may not be for you.

Till next time,
Twizard.