"Matthew! Matt!" Alfred shouted, shaking his brother awake. "Get up! We're here!"

Matthew groaned, blindly swinging his hand, and in the process, hitting Alfred in the face. "Ow! My nose! What was that for?"

"Can you please not yell in the morning?" Matthew asked, sitting up, and rubbing his eyes.

"Alfred yelling at you to wake up in the morning won't be the worst thing anymore, Matthew," Kiku piped up, appearing behind Alfred, flattening the wrinkles on his uniform. "There will be bombs, sirens, and superiors yelling; oh, you'll wish it was just Alfred yelling at you instead."

Matthew frowned, putting on his jacket. "That's not very helpful."

"Come along, we must find my friends," Kiku simply said, waving his hand dismissively and walking out of the boat. Alfred stood up, helping his brother put on his shoes before running after Kiku. Matthew simply walked behind, the smell of the salty ocean and the reeking fish wafting into his nose. He'd forgotten how stable ground felt like in the past few days they had spent sailing to France. It had taken them a day to get to a midway point, and they had arrived at France at night, only to learn that the Germans had started to take over it completely. In attempt to avoid death, they changed their course to England, which didn't take too long.

Matthew sighed. He wondered how his mother was faring. Was she alright? How about father? Did he go home to support her while their children were shipped off to Europe? Or did he not go home at all?

"Matthew?" Alfred spoke, waving his hand in front of his brother's face. "Are you there?"

Matt shook his head, blinking twice to remember where he was. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I was thinking."

"Were you thinking about Mom and Dad?" Alfred asked, as they walked through the bustling streets of England. There were several men in uniforms walking around, and the train station was crowded with crying families and children bidding their parents goodbye.

"Where are all those kids going, Kiku?" Matthew asked, turning to the Japanese man as he had just finished speaking with one of the officers.

"They're being sent to the countryside," Kiku answered. "To avoid getting hurt by anything the Germans may send to England. It's a safety precaution, really."

Matthew pursed his lips in thought. He had only turned eighteen; had it been a year earlier when the war started, he wondered if he would get sent to the countryside if he had lived in England. It was a bizarre thought, but Matthew couldn't help but think the bizarre.

"Alright, boys, here's the ride," Kiku said, as a car parked in front of them. "Shall we go and meet my friends?"

The car ride was relatively short; there wasn't much to say about it, aside from the fact that Alfred couldn't help himself with noticing the structures. "Oh! That's Big Ben, right?" "Whoa, Matt, would you look at that!"

Matthew contemplated on finding a gun and shooting himself in the head because Alfred was starting to get annoying. But then again, it was the first time they had gone to England. Matthew hadn't want to come here because of the war, making a mental note that if they made it out alive, they'd bring their mother here.

Once they did arrive, Alfred had gone quiet. For the second they had stepped onto the rocky road in front of the old building, they heard gunshots coming from inside. "Have the French come here too?" Alfred inquired as they walked up the steps.

Kiku shrugged. "Some of them could've fled here after what happened in France. It's more likely they fled to Paris, but we may never know."

They walked through several hallways, passing several officers who simply glanced at them before returning to what they were doing previously. Eventually they reached a desk, where one of the officers, similar to the one back in America, sat, sorting through papers.

"Officer, would you happen to know where might I be able to find Captain Bonnefoy?" Kiku asked, leaning on the table. It was almost impossible to tell Kiku was actually Japanese, Matthew noticed, because of how he spoke such fluent English. If it weren't for the faint accent of his, his name would be the only thing of words that made him not a true English person.

"Captain Bonnefoy?" the officer repeated, looking up from his papers. "Ah, the French captain who... He's outside with someone named Arthur, I believe." Matthew raised his eyebrow at this. The officer had left trailed off mid-sentence, but he decided not to question it as Kiku and Alfred walked down the hallway. He hurried to catch up to them.

Once again, there was the cry of gunshots filling the silent Tuesday morning. Matthew couldn't help but wonder who would be shooting this early. Once they stepped outside, however, he soon found the answer to his question.

Shooting an unidentifiable assault rifle was a man with scruffy blonde hair, green eyes and possibly the thickest eyebrows that Matthew had ever seen. He wore the uniform of the English army, signalling that this was perhaps the English man who Kiku mentioned earlier.

"Ah, this is a surprise!" the other man, who had a bit of a thick French accent and purple eyes, cried out. "Kiku, it's great to see you again."

"Don't treat this like this is some great celebration, Francis," the English man hissed, putting the rifle away. "Hello Kiku. It's a shame we had to meet under such circumstances."

"Who are these two youngsters with you?" the one named Francis asked, finally noticing Matthew and Alfred.

"Alfred, Matthew, these are the friends I told you about," Kiku began, "Captain Francis Bonnefoy and Arthur Kirkland. Arthur, Francis, this is Alfred F. Jones and Matthew Williams."

"So you really did drop by the New World," Francis remarked, nodding.

"Arthur, I'm surprised to see you here," Kiku spoke. "I didn't think you'd be the one to enlist."

"I was the only one in the family who could take the responsibility," Arthur explained. "Or, at least, I was the only one willing to take it."

Alfred cleared his throat, gathering the attention of the three men. "So, what are we doing now?" he asked.

Arthur turned his attention back to the guns, pulling out two of them and throwing one to Alfred. "You're going to shoot." He then threw one to Matthew. "If you can't shoot, I'll shoot you right here."

Matthew saw Alfred furrow his brows and open his mouth to shoot back some witty comeback, but they were interrupted by a voice coming from the building. "We've received word from the Italians!"

Francis suddenly perked up, grinnnig. "Then that must mean… he's here!"