And here we are again! Enjoy!

I do not own Hetalia!

Chapter 6 : Things Heat up!

"So, You're from Iceland, huh?"

Alfred and Matthew were getting to know their new room-mate while Peter played Matthew's teddy.

"Originally," Emil replied. "Then I went to Norway to live with a relative. After that I was sent away to train as an apprentice. I came home to find my relative ….. gone!"

Emil kept as close to the truth as possible. The less he lied, the easier it would be to maintain his story. Arthur had asked him to stay close to these three boys so he needed to keep his story simple, especially as he was staying in the same room as them.

"That's rough," Alfred replied. "All our parents died a year ago of fever. We've been here ever since." This was said with a hint of sadness. Alfred Sr and Amelia Williams were historians who hailed from one of the New World colonies, the one called Canada but came to Germania to study its history when the epidemic hit. Children were sent to assorted orphanages to protect them from the disease. Alfred, Matthew and Peter were sent to Holzstadt to wait for their parents to recover and come for them.

But their parents never came for them. They never saw them again.

Emil felt a pang of sympathy for the three boys. He had a lifetime with his human father before old age took him and his mother still live but these boys would never have the years they should have had with their parents and, to add insult to injury, they were now stuck in this oddly threatening place.

"So, what's the routine around here?" Emil asked.

"Eat, sleep, school, play," Alfred shrugged. "The usual."

"What about the unusual?"

"There's what happens at full moon," Peter said from where he was playing with Mr Puffin. Alfred and Matthew exchanged looks. Emil glanced between the two brothers.

"All right," he said. "What happens at full moon?" Alfred sighed.

"We don't know," Alfred admitted. "It's just that other kids have gone missing after the full moon."

"Gone where?"

"We don't know," Matthew whispered. "We get told they've been adopted but ….."

"But?"

"No one believes it," Alfred replied. "Even the warders don't know what really happened to them. Everyone's scared, Emil!" Emil smiled.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm here now. I won't let anything happened to you, I promise!" Alfred looked at his brother and Peter.

"Should we let him into our pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear?" Emil asked.

"We did a pinky swear promise that we would leave the orphanage together," Peter replied. Emil smiled again. He could see why Arthur and Francis were smitten with these kids. They were too cute for words.

He held his pinky finger out to the boys.

"I promise we'll leave here together too," he swore and they joined him in the promise.

He also swore to keep these boys safe.

No matter what!

Emil lay in the darkness, waiting for the soft breathing that would tell him that the three boys were finally asleep. Alfred, in particular, seemed to fight it and kept the others awake but, finally, he succumbed and Matthew and Peter quickly followed.

Emil took out his wand from where he had hidden it and cast a Sleep Spell on the boys so he would not wake them when he began his night-time excursion. He climbed out of his bed and moved to the door, turning the door knob slowly so reduce unnecessary noise that might alert anyone out in the corridor. However, the corridor was deserted and Emil began to make his way to the Manageress's Office.

Being a half-ling, Emil did not have wings like Lukas or the other Fae but he was very light on his feet so he made no sound as he came up to the door of the office. He listened at the door for a moment and, when he was sure there was no one inside, he opened the door and went in.

The room was dark, the fire had long since been extinguished and no longer cast light but that did not impeded Emil who's eyesight was just as sharp at night as it was in the daylight and he immediately moved to the files behind the desk. He found the file for adoptions, put it on the desk and opened it.

Adoptions had been normal up until eight months earlier then suddenly, adoptions within the town had stopped. Instead, children were being adopted outside the kingdom with no record of the adopted parents.

Then he opened a file with a list of the children currently within the orphanage and he noticed something. The names of the children adopted with the last eight months were still on the list of orphans. These had to be the children that were 'adopted' at full moon and Fraulein Greta kept the adoption file just in case she needed it for anything official but why were the children still on the books anyway?

And if these children were not really adopted, just what had happened to them?

Emil had the horrible feeling that Matthias was right!

Francis lightly dozed in the chair he had been in all night, holding Arthur's hand as Arthur lay in the bed next to the chair. Francis woke when he heard Arthur stir and he got out of the chair and knelt beside the awakening Fae.

As Arthur regained consciousness, he felt strange as if slightly detached from reality. At first, he saw what looked like a canvas roof and then a head appeared in his line of sight. A beautiful head, framed with long, blonde hair, stubble peppering the chin and the most wonderful blue eyes. Arthur's perusal of this delightful vision focused on the lips. The very kissable lips.

"Are you feeling better, mon ami?" Francis asked. Suddenly, Arthur's arms wrapped around his neck as he pulled Francis down and crushed his lips to his.

Francis was taken by surprise at first by this romantic assault from the usually abrasive Brit but soon lost himself in the feeling of the Fae giving in to the feeling of Amour! Arthur groaned and pressed his lips harder to Francis's mouth. Francis gathered Arthur up in his arms and held him tight.

Unfortunately Arthur's head chose that moment to clear.

He ripped his mouth from Francis's and pushed him away.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Frog?" he demanded. Francis could not help but smile at Arthur's embarrassment at throwing himself at Francis.

"Ah but, mon petit lapin," he replied. "It was you who kissed me!"

"After a head injury," Arthur huffed. "I'd have to be addled to kiss you."

"You didn't have a head injury, last time!"

"Why don't you go find someone else to molest?" Arthur stormed. "Go on, get out!"

Far from offended because he knew Arthur was just covering his embarrassment, Francis smiled and left the tent but not before blowing a kiss in Arthur's direction and ducking away as Arthur threw a pillow at him.

A moment later, the tent flapped move again and Lukas came in.

"He's been here all night, you know" he said. Arthur turned to see the Norwegian Fae sit in the chair Francis had vacated. "How are you feeling?"

"A little woozy," he admitted. Lukas nodded.

"Margrete, the troll healer said you would," he told him. "She also said it would pass soon. What happened? Francis said you sensed something and went to investigate."

"I was careless," Arthur replied. "I ran straight into a trap. I caught a glimpse of someone in a cloak just as they threw dark magic at me. I only just managed to protect myself but the spell threw me into a tree."

"Frances went looking for you when you didn't come back," Lukas said. "When he couldn't find you, he came to get us. We brought you to the troll camp because you needed aid immediately. Francis refused to leave your side for the whole night. I think he only fell asleep a few hours ago."

Arthur thought back to how Francis had looked. Tired, with dark shadows under his eyes.

"I think you should give him a chance," Lukas ventured. "I know you like him really."

"But he's such a flirt," Arthur replied. "Can I trust him to be faithful?"

"I think he flirts because he's lonely," Lukas reasoned. "If he's no longer lonely, I think the flirting would stop." Arthur thought about it.

"Do you really think so?" Arthur asked, a little hopefully.

"You won't know unless you try!"

Francis stood outside the tent listening to Lukas and Arthur talk and he became intrigued by their conversation. Lukas was actually right about his lonely life. Inventing took up a great deal of time with no one around so whenever he met people, he flirted outrageously. Sometimes he scared them, sometimes they responded but he never felt the urge to go further.

Until he met Arthur.

The British Fae had got under his skin in a way no one else ever had, the only one he had ever considered a future with. Perhaps even a future with twin sons. He just hoped Arthur WOULD take the chance.

Francis was willing to.

A life with Arthur, Alfred and Matthew would be worth the risk.

Matthias had enjoyed having Lukas in the camp overnight. The more time he spent in the Norwegian Fae's company, the more he wanted to. They had spent the night, drinking. At least he had, Lukas had one while Matthias had quite a few after which he began singing troll songs. Badly.

Lukas might have called him an idiot at one point but he found the Troll King's antics a little endearing and, he had to admit, Matthias was rather good-looking and something about him drew Lukas to him. As Lukas left the tent after seeing how Arthur was, his heart sped up when he saw Matthias coming toward him.

"Godmorgen! (Good morning!), Norge!" he greeted. "How's your friend?"

"Fine," Lukas replied. "A little shaky but fine."

"I'm glad," Matthias said. "I'm sorry about last night. I act a little stupid when I've had a drink."

"I noticed," Lukas replied, almost with a smile.

"Well, you should know I do like a drink," Matthias admitted. He could tell Lukas was confused by what he was telling him.

"Why should I know that?" Lukas asked. Matthias suddenly put his hand around the nape of Lukas's neck, pulled him forward and thoroughly kissed him.

Lukas was taken completely by surprise by Matthias's impulsive move although it was not impulsive at all. Matthias had deliberated over his growing attraction to the Norwegian Fae and decided to act on it. Lukas might knock him back but he would regret never knowing if he and the Fae could have had something.

After the shock had worn off, Lukas found himself responding to Matthias's kiss, leaning in to the troll's embrace and giving as good as he got. Matthias wrapped his arms around Lukas and pulled him tight against him as if he would never let Lukas go. When the kiss finally broke, Matthias looked down at Lukas's passive face.

"I take it, by your response," Matthias guessed. "You're not against this, despite my love of a drink!"

"Not entirely although I'm trying to decide whether or not to strangle you," Lukas replied. "You're still an idiot!"

"Your idiot, Norge!"

Tino had awoken early to make breakfast for himself, Berwald and their two guests. He could hear sounds of movement upstairs Berwald came down while Tino called in Vlad and Aleks who had been been taking turns guarding the property.

"Breakfast is ready," Tino announced, indicating that they sit as he began putting food on the table and everyone sat. The plates were passed round and everyone tucked in, unaware of what was happening outside.

He should have done this last night but there was always someone around. Sometimes it was a man with strawberry-blonde hair, sometimes a dark-haired man. It was like they were on guard but then they were called in by the carpenter's 'wife' and he made his move.

The Mayor crept into the carpenter's workshop and looked around. Without a workshop, the carpenter had no livelihood and no livelihood meant they were ineligible to adopt so he opened the bottle of oil he had brought with him and began to spread it over the wood, tools and worktops. When the bottle was empty, the Mayor took out a flint and struck it. After a couple of strikes, the spark took hold and the oil caught fire. As the flames spread, the Mayor made good his escape to watch the fire from a distance.

As he watched the smoke begin to rise, he smiled. If anyone did question his refusal to allow the carpenter and his partner to adopt, he would use this to high-light the 'Financial Instability' he had quoted.

The smoke increased as the fire grew.

Tino collected the empty plates and moved them to the wash basin, looking out of the window as he did so. He gasped and dropped the plates into the basin.

"Berwald!" he cried. "The workshop's on fire!" Berwald shot out of his chair and ran outside, followed by Vlad and Aleks. The flames had really taken hold now and were licking the outer edges of the door. For the first time, Vlad saw emotion on Berwald's face. Horror and devastation were plainly visible as he watched his workshop going up in flames.

But Vladimir could stop this in its tracks. Taking out his wand, he waved it at the burning workshop. Inside the building, a rainstorm was created that produced a massive amount of water that made quick work of the fire. When the fire was out, the Swede and two Fae went into the workshop to survey the damage which was extensive but Vladimir would deal with that too.

He cast a Time Spell over the damage and the burnt wood unburned and regained its workable structure. The tools and work surfaces were repaired and the workshop was as it was before the fire.

Vlad turned to Berwald.

"Looks like we forced someone to make a move!"

The Mayor had seen everything!

The blonde man had magic which meant he was a sorcerer or a Fae. What did that mean? Was he a friend of Oxenstierna? Or was he here for another reason? He did not like this new development and he felt that everything was closing in on him.

He returned to the Council Chambers to think about this new development.

When he got there, Greta Eisenberg was waiting with more bad news.

"The Dark Fae's demanding the Williams Twins two days before the full moon," she told him when they were alone.

"So!" he huffed. "Give them to her!" He did not need this right now. He decided that he had better not move against the carpenter again. He might be caught next time and he did not want to be on the receiving end of another magic user's wrath.

"But it looks like Sir Kirkland and his husband may want to adopt one if not both of them," she revealed. "What will they do if we say no? They could go to the King!"

"Give me time to think," he replied. "If the Dark Fae wants the boys, she has to take priority. Sir Kirkland won't destroy the town, she will! I'll think of something!"

But Greta was still worried. The situation was imploding.

She did not want to implode with it!

Arthur, Francis and Lukas returned to the inn and freshened up and Arthur and Francis went back to the orphanage as usual. The orphanage manageress was nervous for some reason but still lead them to the children. Alfred, Matthew and Peter ran up to them, eager to introduce their new friend.

"Arthur, Francis," Alfred called out. "This is Emil. He arrived yesterday!" Arthur turned to look at Emil, keeping all recognition from his face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emil," he greeted. Emil nodded.

"Thank you, sir," he replied and gave Arthur a look telling him he needed to talk to him. Arthur gave him a slight nod of acknowledge. He looked toward Francis to catch his eye then he looked toward the twins and Peter and gave a slight indication that Francis should keep the other boys occupied while he moved away and Emil followed him.

"What have you found out?" Arthur asked.

"Several children over the past eight months had been 'adopted'!" Emil replied. "But there's no record of who adopted them. And they're still on the orphanage books as still being here. What I don't understand is why?"

"Money from the crown!" Arthur said. "They get compensation for every child they have. So they're not only doing something with the children, they're robbing the royal purse. King Wolfgang won't like that!"

"So what's the plan?" Emil asked.

"For now," Arthur replied. "We keep our eyes and ears open. We have a few more days until the full moon so I need you to stay alert for any information you can find out. Talk to the children, the warders, anything could be important!"

"Will do," Emil promised. "And the twins and Peter?"

"Stay close to them!" Arthur said. "Watch out for all the children but stay close to them!" Emil got the feeling that, after all this was done, Alfred and Matthew's life in the orphanage was over. Peter's too.

"I will!"

Arthur and Francis spent time with Alfred, Matthew and Peter and when they went outside, Arthur made daisy chains for the three boys. Alfred thanked Arthur for his but it was too girly for him so Matthew took his and put in his pocket with his chain. Peter kept his to give to Tino when he saw him next.

When they got back to the inn, Francis wanted to talk to Arthur. He decided to make his intentions clear to him. That he wanted both the Fae and the boys in his life. But he had to convince Arthur that he would never cheat on him.

"Arthur," he began. Oh! How to do this! "Do you like me? I mean, really like me, not this facade you put on!" Arthur opened his mouth to deliver a blistering retort but Francis held up his hand.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth!" Arthur gazed into Francis's blue eyes and gave a sigh.

"I do like you," he admitted. "I mean I 'like' like you but I'm not sure if I trust you!" Francis nodded.

"Because I'm a flirt." It was a statement, not a question. He cupped Arthur's cheek with his hand. "I only flirt when I'm not serious. I'm not flirting now." He leant forward and kissed Arthur lightly on the lips. As he pulled away, Arthur moved forward to maintain the contact for a few second more.

"Arthur," Francis said. "I just want you to know that I want a life with you. And I want to bring Alfred and Matthew into that life too." Arthur was bemused.

"Are you asking me to marry you?" he asked. Francis smiled.

"I think I am," he replied. "Would you consider it?"

"I don't know," Arthur replied, honestly. "We haven't know each other very long and we spent a lot of that time fighting." Francis laughed.

"Correction," he said. "YOU spent a lot of that time fighting. You're not easy to get close to, you know!" Arthur had to laugh at that.

"That's what my brothers say," he revealed.

"You have brothers!"

"Three of them," Arthur replied. "They're all in the United Kingdom at the moment. Allistor's in Caledonia, Rhys is in Cymru and Patrick's in Eire. I'm usually in Britannia when I'm not working with Lukas and Vladimir."

"I would like to meet them, one day," Francis replied.

"Maybe," Arthur replied. "If I decide to marry you!"

"So you'll consider it!"

"I'll think about it!"

That was the best Francis could hope for right now!

The next few days followed the same pattern. There were no more attempts on Berwald and Tino's home and Arthur and Francis continued to visit the orphanage, growing closer as they did, keeping up appearances and seeing if Emil had discovered anything else. He learnt a great deal from two of the warders, Kiku and Hercules who were willing to say a great deal. Including a rather unusual detail which, on the surface, did not seem important but Emil told Arthur any way.

"One of the warders, Hercules said something about the next full moon," Emil told him, two days before the full moon. "He mentioned that it's a blue moon. What could that mean?"

"A blue moon is the second full moon in the same month," Arthur replied. "It doesn't even happen once a year, hence the saying 'Once in a blue moon'."

"I know that," Emil said. "But what's the significance? The way Hercules said it, it sounded important!"

"Well," Arthur mused. "Magic cast on a blue moon can be unusually powerful, more so than at any other time."

"So if Mathias is right," Emil replied. "And this is a Dark Fae, then what would devouring a child on a blue moon mean to it?" Arthur gave that some thought and came up with one conclusion. A horrible one.

"Damn!" he cursed. "We need to talk to the others, now. And I need you to stick by the twins, don't let them out of your sight for an instant!"

"Arthur, what's wrong?"

"If it wasn't enough," Arthur replied, worriedly. "I think we have more to worry about than disappearing children!"

Everything was ready. The iron oven in Anya's cottage was big enough for her purposes now all she needed was magical fire and the two boys. Magical fire she could provide herself, the boys would be given to her tonight and she had cages ready to hold them until the blue moon. Once she devoured them and their youth and vitality, she would have the power to force the gateway to open both ways and allow access from the other side.

In two nights time, she would bring back her people!

You might have had suspicions about Anya's plans but now you know. One Dark Fae is bad enough, a whole tribe of them doesn't bear thinking about, does it! A blue moon actually is the second full moon of the month and the last one was 2nd August 2012 and the next one is 31st July this year. After that, it will be 2018 and there will be two in that year which is even more rare than a blue moon. The next double blue moon won't be until 2037. There is another another, more complicated definition about the full moon being the third full moon of a season containing four but I'm too lazy to work that one out (-_-) zzzzzz

To themusicalcat – Does he! Good boy! I think Arthur's slowly coming round now ;) and poor trolls haven't been well-treated, have they :(. When I thought about trolls, I thought about the tale Three Billy Goats Gruff with the troll under the bridge and it shows that Matthias is comfortable enough with Lukas to make a joke of it :P Anya is scary and everything will turn out …... weeeelll! ;P

To AriaYuuki – Lol! I had to get them close somehow and at least Francis got a kiss out of Arthur's head injury (or was it the head injury? :P). I'm glad you're enjoying this story and I hope you enjoy the rest and the showdown is coming! ;)

To Nightshine315 – Someone's a Kiku fan! :D and you will hear from him again, I promise! And I agree! LEAVE OUR CHIBIS ALONE! DDX

To briana. Schmidt1 – It would be nice but, unfortunately, Anya doesn't want them but I can promise a confrontation and, just maybe, a hero or two might emerge ;)

To Superwholockingers – I'll be giving it some thought, although I think Arthur would definitely have to be the Blue Fairy, right, and Berwald as Geppetto and maybe replace the Figaro character with Tino. It might be a while though so be patient! :)

To Normandy – Ha Ha! You should see one of mine. You sound sweet and, out of curiosity, do you have to hide when you steal Scotland's shirt? XDD!

To Pandoala – I must admit Queen Margrete sounds cool! But then, when you look at most royalty in any country, ruling Queens (which are few and far between) tend to be bigger achievers than Kings (Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria to name two others) and I want to thank you for this little glimpse into Nordic history. I'm not that cool with children being hurt, either (who is!) but from what I've read, the Hansel and Gretel story most of us are familiar with is the Sunday version and as for a HEA! Do trust me! ;)

To ArtemisIsis13 – Lol! I bet he is! I'm sure the image of Francis kissing Arthur is burned into everyone's brain ;P and Lukas and Matthias are cute :3 A lack of understanding can make villains of the best of us and some people are just too lazy to learn any better. Emil will be a big part of the next chapter and (spoiler alert) Lukas is right to worry. Emil will refer to Lukas as Big Brother soon (and eventually wished he'd kept his mouth shut ;P) It was evil of me to do that to Arthur but I wanted Francis to be able to show that he did have feelings for Arthur (and that he wasn't just a flirty, touchy-feely Frenchman. And get a snogging scene in there XD. Btw, can you let go of that knowledge now, it's turning purple! :D) It's probably a good thing that the Mayor doesn't suspect that King Wolfgang knows something's up, who knows what he'd do if he did D: True, Anya's still unknown to most but you can bet she won't be a secret for long and, trust me, people won't be happy! :C I do have the power to hug and hide Alfred and Matthew but, unfortunately, that would make for a boring story so I'm sending lots of heroes their way instead. I have to say that Anya scares me too and, if even 2p!s are frightened of her, I'm wondering what kind of monster I've created DX Thank you for the praise, I do try and we will see more of Hercules and Kiku, including a little surprise at the end of this story ;)

Another chapter finished! Remember the daisy chains, they're important! Everybody's getting ready for the final showdown and danger awaits as the battle lines are drawn!

See you next week!

Hasta la Pasta!