Chapter 21

INFORMATION
I am very sorry for the slow updating but I kinda lost my beta as she is no longer interested in Hetalia anymore and also busy with university and life. To not keep you guys waiting even longer I will publish the end of the story without a beta reader. I hope you will still like the story and that you'll be happy with the end. Thank you so much for reafding this far and bearing with the slow updating 3

Hong Kong – Leon
Canada – Matthew
USA – Alfred
Seychelles – Shelly
Australia – Kyle
England – Arthur /Artie
France – Fran / Francis
Denmark –Mathias Normann
Norway – Lukas Normann
Sweden – Berwald Oxenstierna
Finland – Tino Väinämöinen

It is already dark when the blue and a bit rusty van halts in front of the motel the Bonnefoy family is staying at. Berwald's stare hardens and Arthur frowns his dark eyebrows at what they can't see anymore. The parked car is gone. Just as the van comes to a halt, the door in front of which they halted gets thrown open and three very upset boys storm outside.
"Arthie!"
"Dad!" they yell and huddle then together in front of their father who has climbed out of the vehicle with two plastic bags. Kyle immediately grips on Arthur's sleeve and Matthew looks up at him with fearful eyes. Leon, almost towering over the boys, manages to lock his eyes with his father's and explains quickly what happened.
"It's Fran. He took Shelly and Alfred and pulled them out and now he's gone!" His speech is quick, underlining the stress and worry he desperately tries to keep under control. Arthur looks up into the open door and walks inside, handing the bags with food over to Leon.
"What do you mean he's gone?" He looks hastily around, not finding anything out of place beside of the coats on one chair.
"We don't know! He just took the car and left!" says Leon, frustrated at his father's questioning.
Arthur turns around and looks for Berwald. The tall man nods and already climbs back into his van, signalling that he can leave as soon as Arthur is ready.

The engine of the car is humming busily as it moves in a fast and constant speed over the street. Nothing illuminates the forest around them or the inside of the car. Only the two white poles from the car's headlights show a small section of the dark grey street and even smaller patches of the dense forest.
Alfred and Shelly sit huddled together in the backseats. Shelly looks outside with round eyes; her small hands are clasping Alfred's shirt. He himself has got his arm wrapped around her and looks at his father.
"Where are we going Fran?" he asks worriedly but he doesn't get a reply. He only sees his father's eyes locked onto the street in front of him through the backmirror.

The telephone rings through the whole house and Mathias, knowing that at this hour it could only be few people daring to call, hurries to take it. Lukas, just having checked on the now again sleeping Emil follows on his heels.
"Hello?"
"Arthur here. Something happened with Francis." The voice at the other end takes deep breath before continuing as calmly and collected as possible.
"Leon told me that he took Shelly and Alfred with him into the car and drove off. The boys also told me that he smelled like rotten meat."
Lukas, who stands on the side where Mathias holds the phone, lowers his face and frowns. He has heard everything. His mind quickly puts the pieces together:
"She possesses the parent to kill the child. That's what she does, she's taking them back to the house." He states that as a matter of fact and lifts his head to meet Mathias' eyes. He nods.
"Arthur, go back to the house. We'll meet you there."

Arthur turns around and runs outside, the remaining boys trailing after him.
"Close the door and the blinds kids!" He yells as he opens the door to the van. "Don't answer the door unless it is us!" He jumps inside and the van already rolls as he closes the door with a slam. The boys slowly walk back inside, Leon having his hands full with comforting Kyle and Matthew.

"I'm coming with you." Lukas just wants to walk out of the kitchen and towards the door but Mathias blocks his way.
"No." He grips on the doorway, creating a physical barrier. "You're staying here with Emil."
Lukas halts and glares first at the arm and then at Mathias. But this time, Mathias' face stays serious and he meets Lukas' eyes with his own stubbornness. To spare time, as he knows how long fights of stubbornness' between them two can last, he turns to logic.
"The only way we can protect Emil is fighting it all at the root, where it started. Otherwise she will just latch onto us."
"That's why I am going!" counters Mathias louder and still keeps his eyes fixed on Lukas' fierce ones. Suddenly Lukas' shoulders sack in, his eyes change into showing something else. Something weaker, younger and vulnerable. As does his voice.
"You think I will let you walk into this alone?"
Mathias taken aback lowers his arm. He steps backwards, then forwards again. But his eyes never look away.
"I can't lose you" he says finally, his voice raw, speaking from his heart.
"You won't." Lukas' steps forward as well. "Let's finish this together."

Blue, red and white light illuminate the forest and the siren of the police car leading the way rips through the silence of the forest at night. Both cars come to a screeching halt beside the already dark blue van. Mathias and Lukas jump out and bolt towards the house. Tino first assesses his surroundings as his instinct as police man tells him to do. As he sees how Mathias and Lukas get stopped by the locked door he walks around his car and opens the trunk. With one grab, he takes out his rifle.
"Francis!" yells Lukas as Mathias bangs on the door.
"Open the door!"
Tino walks up the porch with determined steps and makes the two men turn around.
"Get out of the way." He commands as he sets the rifles against his shoulder and in a matter of a second targets the lock.
Just as Lukas and Mathias got out of the line as the shot falls and the lock gets burst open with sparks and bursting wood. Tino switches to hold the rifle in only one hand and steps inside the house. Lukas and Mathias follow closely and as soon as they pass the outside walls of the house they hear a devilish scream from down the hallway and the groans and yells of two struggling men.
"Berwald!?" asks Mathias as he hurries through the seemingly narrow corridor towards the infamous door leading to the cellar. Tino already hurries down the stairs and the inhuman sounds of a fight grow louder.
"We're here!" comes the deep and strained voice of Berwald from downstairs. As Tino hurries down the creaky old stairs he gets greeted with a far too familiar sight.

Two men fighting down an aggressor. But these men are no strangers, trying to hold down their drunken pal. Berwald and Arthur both struggle hard to keep Francis from moving any further which seems to be harder than anticipated as even Berwald is out of breath and sweats, eyes glaring down on the smaller man.
With a glance of an eye Tino sees how Shelly stands aside, her back pressed against the working bench and her feet scrunching over the pebbles and broken pieces of insulation. Her eyes are wide open and her little hands look for something to give her security. But no matter what the men tell her to do, she cannot look away.
In the middle of it all is Francis. But his everything is so different that Tino would not have recognized him if it weren't for Arthur calling his name over and over again. His hair is messy, his eyes are those of a wild animal, his hands clutch a pair of rusty scissors which he tries with all his force to bring down onto a scared Alfred that is caught between the fighting men. His other hand digs its claws into Arthur's shoulder and his mouth is pulled in an angry grimace showing his teeth as he growls and shrieks in protest. He was no longer human.

Immediately Lukas and Mathias jump into the fight to get Alfred out without harm. Lukas pries the scissors out of Francis' right hand which Berwald holds above him, having until now effectively hindered the scissors piercing through Alfred. Arthur finally gets help rescuing Alfred from the tight clutch of Francis' arms, with Mathias opening the arm wide enough so Arthur can push Alfred out of the hold.
Tino places his rifle securely beside the piano to have both hands free to help getting a hold on Francis. With both children in security, Berwald, Mathias and Tino grab Francis on the arms and legs and carry the struggling and kicking and gargling man upstairs. Lukas runs in front to open each door in their way, the shivering and sobbing Alfred at his hand. Upon walking out on the porch he turns around, assessing the situation. Everyone is there, except for…
"Berwald, where is Shelly?"
Berwald who was holding Francis' legs looks behind him but the little girl has vanished. Through his second of lost concentration Francis can kick his legs free and starts to rebel against the two remaining men even harder. Both Mathias and Tino groan in exertion but they will not let go of him. Finally, they reach the main door and push and pull as hard as they can but it seems as if they have hit an invisible wall. Francis howls in agony as his skin starts to burn up in an invisible fire as red and brown marks grow over his arms and his cheeks. Lukas' eyes widen in a realisation.
"She won't let him go. She won't let him leave this house alive."
Mathias and Arthur look at Lukas with wide eyes and despair starts to sink down their chests.
A destressed "What?" was all Arthur could force out as he almost gets toppled over by Francis. A force has pushed the man out of the hands of the two men and he gets pushed even further down the hallway, hitting his head hard on the floor. The blue eyes of Francis look up tearfully as the worn-down hands hold onto the fillet at the wall.
"Arthur!" he cried before he gets pulled down, turned around and dragged down the stairs towards the cellar. Lukas storms inside and rushes down the stairs, closely followed by Mathias. Arthur who has never heard Francis like that in this agony, sadness and helplessness followed after, leaving Berwald and Alfred on the porch.
The tall man makes quick process and simply picks up Alfred in his large arms and carries him over to the police car. This would be the safest place around here. He opens the back door and gently sets him down.
"Stay here."
"Don't leave me!" Alfred cries and grips on Berwald's shirt.
"I have to find Shelly."
"Please no," Alfred sobs but lets go.
Berwald shuts the door an runs back inside. From the cellar he could hear things break and Francis scream but his priority is Shelly. He looks up the stairs, to his left, right in front of him. Where to start?