It was quiet in the small cell.
The Frenchman sighed and continued to soothe the sick man lying next to him.
"F-Francis…?"
The older blond looked down.
"Oui, mon cher?"
"D-Do…d-do you th-think…w-we'll d-die h-here…?"
Francis shook his head quickly.
"Non. Et do not think that way. We need to think about how we'll get out of here and back to nos enfants. Just because they tried to take them away does not mean that they can."
"Y-You're right…" Arthur smiled weakly up at him. "Th-Thank you, Francis…"
Giving a fake smile back, Francis internally broke. He didn't believe what he had told him. Arthur should have been getting better by now, he was a nation after all, but he wasn't. He actually seemed to be getting worse and it was scaring him. If Arthur died he'd be heartbroken for the second time in his long life. He would have lost a parent to his children as well; Matthew, Alfred, and Peter had already gone through that before and he never wanted that to happen to them again. However, if Arthur died due to this horrible place, and especially if he died within this place, he would be furious. He would kill them all.
"Bonnefoy!" a voice barked at them. "Kirkland! Get over here!"
A guard with a hat pulled low enough to hide his eyes was standing impatiently by the cell door.
Scowling, Francis got up, gently laying Arthur's head back down, and walked over to him.
"What?" he spat. "What do you possibly want to do to us now?"
The stoic guard slowly raised his hat to meet Francis' eyes, revealing dark red eyes and a familiar mocking grin.
"Is that any way to greet your awesome rescuer?" the guard asking, smirking at him.
"Gilbert?!" Francis asked, shocked. "What are you doing here? How did you find us?"
"Hallo Franny," the other man replied, still having a blast with the current situation. "But I'll explain later. Now get Artie and I'll get you out of here.""
Giving a quick nod, Francis hurried over to the sick man and scooped him into his arms, returning swiftly. A key card was pulled out of the 'guard's' pocket and used to open the door.
"Follow me. Only talk if I give you a signal to," Gilbert said as he pulled the hat back down to hide his red irises.
The Frenchman gave him another nod and followed the Prussian down the hall. As they walked they passed empty cell after empty cell. None of them appeared to have held anyone, or anything, for decades. The lights flickered, some burned out completely, over their heads. No sound was heard besides their soft footsteps.
It was eerie and sent shivers down Francis' back.
"Gilbert, where-?"
The man held up his hand to stop him, eyes narrowed and listening closely.
Footsteps that didn't belong to either of them echoed down the hall and slowly another person appeared at the end of the hall in front of them.
"Keep quiet," he whispered to him. "Let me deal with this. If it doesn't go well, run. I can take care of one guard."
The real guard walked slowly toward them and finally reached them.
"Where are you taking this filth?" he asked, glaring at the two convicts.
"Permanent transfer," Gilbert replied easily, not missing a beat. "They're being moved to Lake Urteil."
The guard grinned.
"I hope that finally works. We have tried many different tactics but hopefully drowning will finally do the trick."
"Quoi?!" Francis yelled before he could stop himself, eyes going wide. "Drowning?! I thought we were just being moved!"
"Shut it, Frenchy!" Gilbert hissed, punching him in the stomach and making Francis double over, holding tightly to Arthur to avoid dropping him.
The grin on the guard's face widened.
"I wondered if you would need some help handling them but you seem to be able to do fine by yourself. That's rather impressive. They used to be so full of fight but it seems they've finally broken."
Gilbert grinned as well.
"I am good at that. They called me in because I heard you were having trouble dealing with them."
"You did well." Gilbert bowed his head a little in thanks. "Carry on."
The Prussian started to lead them out. "I don't think you'll see them again," he said with a sly smile and a wink. The door shut behind them and Gilbert dragged them over to a waiting van.
"Traître!" Francis shot at Gilbert, struggling to pull out of the Prussian's strong grip on his arm. "I thought you were here to get us out but you've been working with them the whole time!"
"Be quiet!" the other yelled, gently throwing them into the back of the van and locking the door before Francis could get up and try to escape. He slipped into the front seat and turned the vehicle on, shooting down the road. "You need to trust me!"
"Trust you?! We've been tortured for who knows how long, locked in jail, put through a trial, and had our children taken away from us! Then we learn one of our fellow nations is the reason for it and tells us to trust him?!"
"I didn't betray you! And you're not the only ones to go missing!"
Francis' eyes widened.
"Quoi…?"
The van suddenly jerked to a halt and the door was yanked open by a large man with blond, slicked back hair.
"It's about time, Gilbert. I was about to come after you but it seems you got them out."
The albino man smirked.
"Of course I did. I can't believe you wouldn't trust me to do my job."
Francis struggled to sit up.
"L-Ludwig…? W-What is going o-on…?"
Reaching inside, the German man picked him and Arthur up, carrying them over to another van off to the side of the road. After laying them down carefully he pulled back. "We will explain when we get there. For now you two need to rest. You two are probably in the worst shape of everyone. It will take us a long time to get to my home but try to hold on. Roderich and Elizaveta are taking care of the others and they will help you both too." He went around the side of the car to get in the driver's seat, Gilbert slipping in beside him. "We need to leave this place as quickly as possible though. We are almost out of time."
"O-Out…o-of t-time…?"
Gilbert grinned.
"Just wait. Oh, and hold on."
Quickly shifting into drive, Ludwig tore down the road. Francis hadn't had enough time to process the warning lurched forward and was only saved from a nosedive into the floor by Gilbert's fast thinking.
"Wh-Why…do w-we h-have…to go so f-fast…?"
"So we aren't killed!"
"Quoi?"
"Look!" Gilbert pointed behind them at the facility which they could just barely see. "Three…two…one…"
BOOM!
A huge explosion ripped through the ground and a monstrous fireball shot out of the building. Pieces flew off it from all sides and were rocketing down around them.
Dodging like an expert, Ludwig maneuvered through the falling debris until it could no longer reach them before slowing down to a more reasonable speed and heading for home.
AN: Francis and Arthur are finally free! And they're going to be taken care of so they can heal! Soon we'll see the other nations and figure out who else was hurt.