And I return with the next chapter!

Enjoy!

I don't own Hetalia!

Chapter 4 : Spies and Plans

Emil was not happy with his brother. Not happy at all! Lukas was actually his half brother. Nearly a hundred and fifty ago, Lukas's parents, full-blooded Fae, ended their union and then his mother met a human man from the Kingdom of Iceland and Emil came along. Emil was apprenticed to the Ice King, Ivan of the Russias, learning how to use his magic and this was the first time in a while he had been able to get time away to visit his brother but when he got to his brother's home, Lukas was not there.

He was so not calling him Big Brother!

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming to Germania?" he demanded. "I finally manage to get a leave of absence from my studies and when I go to visit you, I find out you've gone on a mission without telling me you're leaving Norway."

"If you're that eager to spend time with me," Lukas replied without emotion. "You should call me Big Brother!"

"No!"

"Big Brother!

"Not doing it!"

"Big Brother!"

"NOT A CHANCE!"

"Are they always like this?" Matthias asked.

"Oh yes!" Arthur replied with amusement. "For as long as I've known them when Emil was still a child." That gave Vladimir an idea. Emil was over a hundred but like all Fae he did not look it, in fact he looked …..

"Arthur," he said. "Don't you think Emil could pass for a thirteen year old human boy?" Arthur looked at Emil with consideration.

"Yes, I think he could," he concurred. "Why?"

"Someone on the inside," Vlad replied. "Emil could go in as a new orphan, snoop around, see what he can find out!"

"That could work!" Arthur agreed but Lukas was not happy about it.

"We still don't know what's going on in there," he said. "It's obviously connected to the woods and King Matthias suspects a Dark Fae!" Arthur turned to Matthias in surprise.

"The Dark Fae were banished by the Russian Royal Family more than a hundred years ago," he replied.

"I know," Matthias replied. "But it all fits! Children always disappeared around the full moon when the Dark Fae were still about, consuming young flesh to maintained their strength so maybe the Russians missed one or two."

"It's possible," Arthur conceded. "If I recall rightly, Dark Fae are extremely powerful between full moons so, if it is a Dark Fae, going after them now is too dangerous."

"That's why we think waiting for the full moon would be best," Vladimir said. Arthur nodded in agreement.

"If I go to the nearest large town," he mused. "I can use the royal authorisation to get Emil admitted to the orphanage and he could gather information in the meantime." Lukas shook his head.

"I still don't like it," he replied.

"Unfortunately, it's not your decision!" Everyone turned to Emil.

"If I have this right," he said. "Children are disappearing and are possibly being eaten by a creature of darkness. If I can do anything to stop this, I will. On top of that, I can use my magic to help protect the children in the orphanage."

"True," Arthur concurred. He liked the idea of added protection, especially for Alfred and Matthew and a spy on the inside would yield information they would normally not be able to get at.

"Then I'm in!" Emil said, ignoring Lukas who was shaking his head at him.

"So it's decided," Matthias replied.

Peter climbed through the window of his room, helped by Alfred while Matthew kept watched. Peter had to sneak out because one of the new rules handed down was that children could not go out unattended and Peter was not allowed to visit Berwald and Tino. When Peter was in, Alfred shut the window and Peter threw himself on his bed, dislodging some of the toys and knocking them to the floor.

"What wrong, Peter?" Matthew asked. Peter huffed.

"Berwald and Tino are not allowed to adopt me," he grumbled. "I was going to ask them to adopt all of us because of our pinky swear but if they can't adopt me, they won't be able to adopt you." Matthew sat down next to Peter and let him hug his teddy bear.

"I don't get it," Alfred replied. "Why can't Berwald and Tino adopt when Arthur and Francis can?"

"Who's Arthur and Francis?" Peter asked.

"These guys who were looking round the orphanage," Alfred replied. "Arthur has huge eyebrows like yours and talks like you too. Francis is French and looks a bit girly except he has a beard but he seems okay. They seemed to like us."

"We told them about our pinky swear," Matthew said, quietly. "It didn't seem to bother them. Maybe they'll adopt all of us, eh!"

"Maybe," Peter replied. But deep down inside he wanted his parents to be Berwald and Tino.

The next day, Francis returned to the orphanage alone as Arthur was travelling to the nearest town to set up Emil's cover story. As he made his way up the main street, his mind turned to the twins he had met the day before. Alfred was a boisterous young scallywag with a smile whose brightness rivalled the sun, he could break hearts when he was older. Matthew was adorably shy and Francis just wanted to hug the boy and keep him and his brother safe. Both boys were fatal to Francis's cuteness senses.

They should have a family. He could see them, being called in for dinner after playing all day. The boys sitting down at the table as Arthur put out the food while Francis sat at the head of the …...

Sacred Bleu! What was he thinking! He and Arthur! Arthur could barely stand to be in the same room with him which made it fun for Francis to flirt and fluster the irascible British Fae. Francis might consider taking the boys with him when this was all over but to consider raising the boys with Arthur …..

Even if Arthur was incredibly cute!

He went into the building and the moment he was spotted, Francis was besieged by children vying for his attention, as they sensed that this man could take them away from the unspecified danger that hung over them. Francis felt guilty of the hope they were building in the children but, at the very least, they would make it safe for the children to stay.

"That's enough, children," came a lazy voice with a greek accent. "Take Larry and go play." Francis looked up to see a dark-haired man with green eyes, holding a cat with light-coloured fur. He handed the cat to one of the older children and they all left, understanding that they had been dismissed. Hercules was pleased to see Francis in the orphanage, just as in the book. Things were going just as they should.

"You must forgive them," he said to Francis. "It's unusual for any prospective parents to be allowed in and they're excited. I'm Hercules, by the way"

"I'm Francis," Francis introduced himself. "Why are prospective parents so rare?"

"Nobody knows," Hercules replied. "The final decision seems to lie with the Mayor and he always says no. The carpenter and his partner have been refused three times."

"Why?" Francis could not miss this opportunity to get an insider's view.

"No reason that makes sense," Hercules revealed. "The orphanage manageress seems to know what's going on but everyone else is clueless. Any adoptions seemed to have been handled by her and overnight. We've never seen the adopters"

So the rest of the orphanage staff had no idea what was going on! Just the manageress! That was information Francis could take back to the Fae.

"I must get on," Hercules said. "I'll leave to you to talk to the children." And with that, Hercules, having revealed what he needed to, went on his way while Francis began to walk around.

Alfred, Matthew and Peter were playing Tag and Peter was 'it'. Matthew and Alfred were running down the corridor laughing when Matthew, looking back to see where Peter was, ran into a pair of legs and he fell on his backside. He looked up as Alfred joined him to see the Frenchman from the day before. Francis knelt down beside Matthew and picked him up.

"Are you all right, mon petit ami (my little friend)?" Francis asked, setting Matthew back on his feet. Matthew nodded.

"I'm fine," he said as Peter ran up, tapped Alfred on his back and said, "TAG!" Francis laughed at the little boy taking advantage of their distraction.

"Are you going to introduce me to your little friend?" he asked.

"Oh," Alfred replied. "This is Peter!"

So this was the little boy Francis had been told that the local carpenter and his partner wanted to adopt. He was a little cutie and should have parents. All the children should have parents.

"Bonjour, Peter," Francis said, holding out his hand for the little boy to shake. After a moment, Peter accepted.

"Where Arthur?" Alfred demanded, looking around for the other man.

"Arthur had some business to take care of today," Francis replied. The twins looked at each other.

"He'll be back tomorrow," Francis reassured. The boys visibly relaxed and Francis felt guilty for raising their hopes but maybe when this was all over, he would take them with him and give them the home they so desperately wanted.

Maybe Arthur could be a part of it.

Francis almost laughed at the turn his thoughts were taking. Arthur would laugh if Francis was to even suggest it. Pity, really.

"If you're going to adopt one of us," Peter declared. "We won't go without each other!" Francis smiled.

"I've been told about your 'pinky swear', Peter," he reassured. "I promise all three of you will leave this place together." Francis did not know how he would make good on that promise but he would do everything he could to make it happen.

"So," he said, standing up. "Why don't you show me what you've been doing today!" The three boys dragged him to their room to show him the pictures they had drawn, Alfred had drawn a knight in armour, Matthew had drawn his bear playing in red leaves and Peter had drawn some weird platform at sea. Other children came to join them to try and impress this man who could take them away from this place. He entertained them with stories of the things he had invented like his dog-legged clincher, a tool he used in his other inventions.

Francis enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon.

Lukas and Emil had accompanied Matthias back to the Troll camp and while Emil talked to Lars and Emma about what to expect at the orphanage, Matthias and Lukas discussed battle plans.

"My trolls can surround the woods on the night of the full moon," Matthias promised. "That will stop the creature from escaping and we can prevent any other children from being taken in."

"Good plan," Lukas replied. "I'll research how the Russian Royal Family banished the Dark Fae last time and possible methods of destruction, if it is a Dark Fae and if it should come to that." Matthias frowned.

"If it should come to that!" he exclaimed. "This creature has devoured one of our children, has possibly devoured several human children and you want to let it LIVE! Where's your sense of justice, Norge?"

"Justice or revenge!" Lukas retorted. "We're here to stop this thing, bring it to justice if we can. Destruction is a last resort."

"For you!" Matthias replied. "I have a grieving family, demanding retribution. A life for a very young life. The child this monster killed was three. THREE! She didn't just look three, she was. I don't know the ages of all the human victims but one may have been only four. I can't show mercy for such a crime!"

Lukas began to realise that trolls and humans shared the same disgust and hatred for child-killers and Matthias was hell-bent on making this thing pay.

"You realise, of course," Lukas pointed out. "That if we bring this creature to justice, they'll probably receive the death sentence for their crime, no matter what this thing is."

"They'd better, Norge!" Matthias replied. "They'd better!"

Vladimir and Aleksander were walking back to Berwald and Tino's cottage as it had been decided to bring them in to help. After all, they had a stake in all this.

"Do you think it's wise, bringing in more people?" Aleksander asked. "We have the trolls and Francis."

"The trolls can help with whatever is in the wood," Vladimir replied. "But if they try to come into the town, they might face opposition from prejudiced humans. We need someone to help with the town officials and Francis is already masquerading as an adoptive parent."

"How can they help?" Aleks asked. "Haven't they already been refused adoption?"

"Yes, but this time they going to say something to put the town council on edge."

"Such as?"

"Ya want us to tell th' Mayor we'll write to th' King if th'y don't give a g'od reason fer r'fusing th' ad'ption?" Berwald asked. Tino raised his eyebrows. "B't we've alre'dy writt'n to 'im!"

"The Town Council," Vladimir pointed out. "Doesn't know that! We want to see who gets nervous when that threat is made."

"Might not do any good," Tino replied. "After all, who pays attention to a letter from a carpenter and his 'husband'." Tino emphasised 'husband'. He didn't really like being called 'wife'.

"King Wolfgang!" Aleks pointed out. "Otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"But the Town Council doesn't know that," Tino gave the same response as Vladimir.

"One way or another," Vlad said. "It'll make someone nervous."

"Or desper'te!" Berwald said. "If th'se pe'ple ar' resp'nsible fer disappe'ring childr'n, th'y m'ght do anyth'ng to pr'tect th'mselv's. T'no might b' in d'nger."

"But if we do nothing, Berwald," Tino replied. "The children will remain in danger, including Peter." He turned to Vlad and Aleks. "I'm in!"

Vladimir and Aleksander could not tell if Berwald was upset by Tino's capitulation to the plan, his stern expression did not change. He just nodded.

"We'll be staying with you once it's done," Vlad reassured. "We won't leave you unprotected. I'm a Fae and my partner is a dragon-shifter." Berwald managed to show surprise.

"Yur oth'r two fri'nds?" he asked, referring to Arthur and Lukas.

"Both Fae," Vlad replied. "And we have other friends helping so we're capable of taking care of mortal threats and whatever is happening here, we will stop it."

"And Peter will be safe when it's all over?" Tino asked.

"And with any luck," Aleks replied. "In your home as your new son."

Berwald put his hand on Tino's shoulder as he smiled.

It was early evening when Arthur returned to the inn. Everything had gone to plan. In a couple of days, the orphanage would acquire a new orphan and they would have someone on the inside.

As he made his way to his room, Francis came out of his.

"Welcome home, Rosbif," he greeted. "I have information from the orphanage." Arthur opened the door to his room.

"You better come in," he replied and they went in and sat down.

"What do you know?" Arthur asked, sitting down and indicating that Francis should do the same.

"Most of the orphanage staff don't know what's going on," Francis revealed as he sat opposite Arthur. "They don't understand why prospective parents are kept out of the orphanage. They don't seem to have any idea about the 'night time' adoptions. It all seems to be to do with Greta Eisenberg and the Mayor."

"Well, that narrows things down a little," Arthur replied. "But is it just the Mayor that's involved or the whole Town Council?"

"I cannot say," Francis said. "But he and the orphanage manageress were the only ones mentioned so perhaps it's just them."

"Well, we know who to watch then," Arthur mused. "Emil will be in the orphanage in two days so he might be able to get more information. Tomorrow, if they're willing, Berwald and Tino will issued their ultimatum and we'll see who's disturbed by it."

"So tomorrow," Francis replied. "We'll may find out who's involved." And he stood up. Arthur stood up with him.

"Thank you," he said. "I know we didn't start off well but I do appreciate everything you're doing to help these children." Francis was surprised at a comment from Arthur that was not derogatory. He was even cuter when he was not scowling.

"My pleasure, mon petit lapin," he replied, softly. "I wish we had not made such a bad first impression on each other." Arthur frowned.

"Really," he said. "Why?"

Francis stepped forward and kissed him.

And Arthur responded.

Yay! Something for the FrUk fangirls out there! XD And Hercules is back to keep the story on track and don't worry, Kiku fans, our little Japanese friend will be showing up soon. Berwald and Tino are now on board with the Fae and are going to mess with Mayor Gruber. Let's see where that goes!

To Cardfighter by Maple – The beginning of FACE but certainly not the end! I promise ;)

To themuscialcat – Nobody does pleading eyes like Chibiamerica and Chibicanada! :3 Death by cuteness? What a way to go! XD Yep! Everyone's on the same page now and watch out for DenNor. And Peter is a naughty boy, isn't he! XP

To briana. Schmidt – Yes, Arthur is no match for the twins 'c'te'ness! And we'll just have to wait and see! ;)

To Nightshine315 – Resistance is futile! Give in to the Cute side! Sorry! My inner SciFi geek just surfaced XP. More FACE family! You got it! :)

To ArtemisIsis13 – I know! It's kind of like a tango with Francis's come-hither and Arthur's get lost XP But me thinks the gentleman doth protest too much! And with Vlad matchmaking, it can only end one way XD. Yeah, the full moon thing is very werewolf! Miss Greta's worried because she can't keep Arthur and Francis out of the orphanage like she can with Berwald and Tino so the danger of being found out is greater if she gets this wrong and Anya instils fear into everyone. DX Yep! Alfie and Mattie are a sugar rush on four legs all right! :3 And, as for Lukas and Matthias's first meeting, well at least it's memorable :D

Internet server failure is a bugger, isn't it! Francis and Arthur have been enslaved by the chains of cuteness :3 and won't be escaping any time soon. You were spot on about the trolls helping Lars and Emma and they were gutsy, weren't they! A Fae/dragon vs Trolls war! I wonder who would have won that fight. I guess we'll never know since they've made up and joined forces XD. I kind of think about the trolls being regarded with the same suspicion as Gypsies because people don't know a great deal about them and so make up their own ideas about them, quite often wrong! But now the Fae are learning differently. I think trying to turn France into a frog is something England might consider, in fact in Mon Petit Lapin, he actually tries it! :D. Greta and Mayor Gruber might have felt that they were caught between a rock and a hard place but it didn't seem to occur to them to ask for help like Berwald did and claiming money for the children they sent to Anya was definitely their own idea so I don't feel that sorry for them myself. Lukas would never say out loud that he thinks Matthias is good looking but he'll think it! :) And you can't have Lukas and Emil without the 'Big Brother' argument! XP Unfortunately, Anya does know the Fae are about so she'll be ready for them (she thinks!). We'll how that turns out! :P

To Scarlet Phantom – Hello, Sylveon-of-Melody! Ha ha! Yeah, Arthur was never going to do that without protest and the Big Brother debate was definite must XD Lars and Emma will be more than fine away from the orphanage. They just have to stop Anya now so stay tuned! :)

To EverythingMath – Yeah! Emil is here and he'll be a big part of this, I promise! :D

To Normandy – Wow! Big family! O.O Christmas must be expensive XP And the cute wee ones will be back! :) P.S. I update every Thursday!

To Superwholockingers – If you haven't died from adorableness, read on! :D

To Ishikawa Miki – You're welcome! And Francis's persistence will pay off, Arthur can't hold out forever. and there'll be more from Emil ;)

To Phantomgirl338 – Bribing me with virtual cookies! Yeah, that'll work! XP

Things are finally happening between Arthur and Francis and soon we'll see the beginnings of DenNor. Berwald and Tino make their move and Alfred and Matthew become the centre of some dangerous attention. Arthur has an encounter that ends badly.

Btw, Congratulations, Sweden, on winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Well deserved win! XD

So, till next week,

Hasta la Pasta!