Disclaimer: Don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 11

The cheers he heard as he entered the Capital sounded miles away. All he could see was the face of the child crying as he tried to talk, to have his words heard by a group of strangers. Alfred squeezed his eyes shut, trying mentally to shake the sensation he felt of having a body grow limp in his arms.

"Look up and smile."

"I know Yao Yao." Alfred forced a small grin towards the man on his left as Yao grimaced, before putting the widest smile he could muster on his face, occasionally waving towards the cheering on-lookers even though his eyes were as hard as stone.

The escorting soldiers filtered through the crowd up a winding sloop and almost as soon as they entered the Capital, they were standing in front of the heavy iron gate of the fortress like castle. The gate slowly creaked up as they dismounted their neighing Faris.

"We sincerely apologise for having Your Graces to walk the rest of the way to the door. But there is a lack of room in the castle's stable. We hope that it is of no inconvenience to Your Graces." The captain of the escorting soldiers bowed down low as a few of his men led the clearly reluctant Faris over to a make shift stable by the side.

They walked pass the raised heavy iron gates as the captain continued. "Unfortunately His Majesty Emperor is busy right this moment and is unable to welcome you. As such, His Majesty Emperor has instructed us to give you the best rooms in the inner parts of the castle as an apology."

Arthur didn't know how tired he was till he stepped into the room. He wanted more than anything to just lie down on the soft fluffy armchair right in front of him and sleep, but forced himself to remain standing as the representatives from Sanctus knocked and entered the room.

"Still thinking about the village?" Arthur stared wearily at Alfred as the blue eyed man gritted his teeth.

"Who wouldn't? Those people, they would most likely have started turning by now, and we didn't do anything. We should have helped them!"

"And how would you propose to do that? Blighted or not, no king would like his people killed by another nation even out of mercy. If we did it more problems would arise. We came to discuss about this threat so let's do that. This isn't a time to allow your emotions to take over."

"Even so Emperor Roma has clearly abandoned that village. Look at the state it was in! We should have done something!"

"He might not have heard that the village has been wiped out. Furthermore do you really think you would have had the resolve to kill them? You couldn't even move when the boy turned. Ivan had to step in and kill him, no it, before it attacked you."

Alfred stiffened at the words spoken by the man in front of him. He clenched his hands tight, as Arthur continued to stare at him, waiting to see how he would react.

"At least the people in the Capital are safe and cheery." Feli suddenly butted in. "But some of them seemed a little sad. Maybe they haven't had pasta for a while."

"It seemed more like fear to me. I've seen those looks before, the hopelessness and panic in the eyes of street beggars starving to death in a corner." Antonio murmured, as silence fell down upon them.

They stood in such a silence that one could hear his own heartbeat for a long time, each with thoughts running through their weary minds. All still unable to comprehend what they had seen in the morning.

"Strange why there's such a large number of soldiers in the Capital. Wonder what they're planning." Ivan finally spoke up, breaking the deafening silence.

Yao shrugged. "It may be possible that Emperor Roma is fortifying the defence of the Capital. Moreover representatives from all four nations are here. It would be bad if something happened."

"Hmm~ Maybe. I'm going to take a walk around."

With that, Ivan left humming before anyone could say a word. "Well I guess we should head to our room. We will see you tomorrow." Yao bowed as he dragged Alfred out of the room with Antonio following close behind.

Arthur sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily before turning towards the coffee table while activating his magic portal, summoning a bunch of books and notes out.

"It's been a long day, go get some rest." Arthur addressed everyone while flipping through the information on the Monte once again and see if there was anything he might have missed on why they would attack a village and leave it so. They were known for their monstrous ways of ripping anything living to shreds.

"I'm sure that we have covered everything, but I'll be happy to help Arthur-san, there might be something that could help shed some light on today's events."

Arthur gave a slight nod, but something about what Kiku said threw him deep in thoughts.

"Ve ve~ we'll help too!" Feli jumped in cheerfully, dragging Ludwig along.

Alfred slumped down on the armchair as he stared hard at an old book in his hands, as if the answers he was looking for where hidden somewhere within. The book as a keepsake from his father. King Roderich had given the already worn out book to Alfred when he was a child, not long after his mother had died. He had told him that it was important, to keep it close and that this was a task only he could do. At first he was overjoyed and proud to be given such a task, but now he had little doubt that it was all just a trick to keep him at bay. The words in the book made no sense to him at all, but still it was precious to him.

Alfred finally jumped up after a few seconds, closing the book and putting it back into a pocket underneath his coat. "Ah screw this, Yao is there anything else I should know before tomorrow?"

Determined eyes looked straight at the Chinese as Yao smiled in response, taking out a small notebook from under his jacket. "Lots."

Antonio helped out for a while, adding in what he had heard from the streets until he couldn't help but notice Yao glancing at the door once every few seconds.

"What's up?"

"Ivan's taking a long time to come back."

"He's fine, probably just walking around having a blast on his own." Alfred waved off, eyes totally focused on Yao's small notebook.

"I'll go look for him. It's getting pretty late and he has a habit of shaking off his guide."

"Guide…" Arthur's eyes widened, "If they were obeying—"

Bewildered with Antonio's hand pausing at the doorknob, Yao asked as he crossed the room for the door.

"What's wrong?"

"The door," Rigid clinking noise echoed in the room. "I can't open it, it's locked."