The inside of the mansion was large and sparsely decorated, which made Lili wonder why. Alfred had seemed like an energetic man who would no doubt invest his money in things like iron-clad knights, or at least a few posters, and Matthew's own office was decorate very nicely. So why was the mansion so bare?

"This way," The man said, and led her to a room off to the side. The inside of it contained only a few couches, a rug, and a cabinet full of what seemed to be alcohol. There were already many people inside.

"The eleventh guest has arrived," The man said, opening the door wide for Lili to enter. She felt many pairs of eyes train upon her, and for a moment she considered turning around and leaving. She was the youngest one here.

"Sweet," A woman nearby with wavy brown hair said. She was grinning at Lili, and unlike most of the guests, was dressed very casually-a flannel T-shirt and jeans.

The red-haired man closed the door behind Lili, and she shivered at the cold draft of air that followed.

"That guy gives me the creeps," Commented a brown-haired boy sitting on one of the couches who seemed to only be a few years older than her. He stood up, stretching his arms, before shaking his hair out of his hair and holding his hand out to her. Lili reached out hesitantly and shook it.

"I'm Leon," He said, before the brown-haired woman from before elbowed him out of the way, smirking.

"Don't prey on young girls, Leon, you'll only scare her away," She teased, before flipping her hair over her shoulder and patting Lili's shoulder, "I'm Elizabeta."

"I'm not, like, preying on any girls," Leon remarked, fidgeting with the ends of his suit-it was clear he was uncomfortable with it, "Boys are my style, Liz."

"You learn something new about people every minute," Elizabeta booped him on the nose, before turning to Lili, who had been standing there, unsure of what to do, "So, what's your name and story?"

"What?" Lili blinked. Elizabeta leaned against the cabinet full of alcohol, before saying,

"You know, what you're here for. Me? I have a load of anger issues. Long story short, I wrecked my neighbor's house, and he's suing me. I lost my house. I'm in debt."

"And me," Leon said, gaining Lili's attention, "Me and my older brother are both here. We're both playing for a higher chance to win. We want to pay for our sister Mei's leukemia treatment."

"Oh," Lili said as she settled herself nervously down on the couch, noticing that while a few people had gone back to whatever they were doing, a few were still watching her curiously-this included a woman with curly brown hair, a stoic-faced man with dead blue eyes, and a shockingly white man. White hair that was almost silvery, white skin, even grinning white teeth. He had sharp red eyes and gave off a boisterous air.

"I'm Lili, and I'm here because my brother needs a heart transplant."

"Same here," The woman with the curly brown hair said, and she leaned forward to shake Lili's hand, "I can't run or anything. I'm at the risk of heart attack basically every day, but..."

She pursed her lips, before shaking her head and smiling once again.

"I'm Bella!" She introduced herself, "They flew me all the way from Belgium to be here!"

"I thought your accent sounded familiar," Elizabeta said appreciatively, "I've got a few cousins there."

"Really?"

The door behind them opened them, and this time it was of a man with brown hair and thick eyebrows. Lili noticed that he and the red-haired man shared similar faces and green eyes, and wondered if they were possibly related. He scanned the room, before bowing his head slightly and saying,

"The twelfth and final guest has arrived."

He stepped aside so a young man of maybe twenty two stepped inside, with auburn hair and bright eyes, slightly curly hair, with a single flyaway curl that stuck out amusingly from the side of his head.

"Ciao!" He greeted cheerfully, waving enthusiastically, "I'm Feliciano!"

The man behind Feliciano opened the door a little wider, and in stepped Alfred. For a moment Lili nearly mistook him for Matthew-he was wearing a white jacket that Lili had mistaken for Matthew's familiar lab coat-but it was, indeed, Alfred.

"Welcome!" He announced brightly, and there was a chorus of greetings, "I see everybody has arrived safely and all in one piece. Now, if you please, my dudes-Dinner is right through that door, and into the dining room!"

There was a shuffling noise as everybody got to their feet, and entered the aforementioned room. Lili awkwardly followed Elizabeta into the dining room. A long oak table awaited them, with name cards set at every seat. Lili found hers as the first chair on the right side, and sat down in the seat, next to a slightly older man with brown hair and across from Bella.

There were plates full of food already on the table-Spaghetti, chicken, and mashed potatoes.

"Ooh, pasta!" Feliciano cheered from the opposite end of the table, and Lili could not help but smile-his joyous tones were infectious. Alfred slid himself into the seat at the head of the table, grinning at them all, before saying,

"Now, let's have a little small talk while we're all here. Name, age, reason. I like all my guests to know about one another before our game...Begins."

He pointed at Bella, who hastily slurped the noodles hanging out of her mouth into it, chewed, and said,

"U-uh, Bella. Bella Maes. I'm twenty, and uh...Here because I need money for a heart transplant."

"How long have you been waiting?" Lili asked. Bella glanced at her in surprise before answering,

"Nearly a year."

"Oh," Lili quickly took a bite of mashed potatoes as to appear occupied.

"Gilbert, introduce yourself, my bro," Alfred nodded to the white-haired man Lili had noticed before. Gilbert smirked before turning to them, saying,

"I'm Gilbert, twenty-four, here because-"

"Wait," Feliciano's voice interrupted, "Gilbert?"

"Feli, it's about time you noticed me," Gilbert grinned down the table, "I assume we're here for the same reasons?"

"Probably!"

"And what are these reasons?" Alfred encouraged.

"We're here because my brother Ludwig is sick with terminal cancer," Gilbert explained while Feliciano gushed, "Oh my gosh, I didn't notice you were here!"

"My awesomeness is disappointed," Gilbert laughed. Lili realized suddenly his accent was German.

"Why else are you here, Gilbert?" Alfred pressed on, and Gilbert's smile slowly disappeared. He rubbed the back of his neck, face flushing a bit with pink, and Lili realized he looked ashamed.

"I...I used to gamble," Gilbert muttered, "A lot. And I'm a recovering alcoholic, I've been drinking since I was fifteen. But I've been nearly a year sober!"

Alfred's eyes were cold and icy. Gilbert cleared his throat before he turned to the young woman next to him, who had been very quiet the entire time.

"I'm..." She trailed off, swirling spaghetti onto her fork, before continuing, "Linh. I'm eighteen, and since my family moved from Vietnam, we haven't been..."

Linh did not continue, so nobody tried to pressure her into speaking any more, but Alfred's face was full of disappointment as he pointed to the man with the dead blue eyes next to her.

"Lukas?"

Lukas did not answer for a while, jaw working furiously. He was wearing an old hand-me-down blazer and pinstriped dress shirt. Lili had become very good at identifying what was new and what was not after spending so much time in Goodwill, trying to figure out what was hand-me-down and what wasn't.

"Lukas. Twenty one. Brother dying," Was all he was willing to pay. He did not seem to be the sociable type, and he left the air feeling awkward and uncomfortable as the brunette girl next to him introduced herself.

"I'm Tereza Novak," She said formally, "I'm nineteen, and my boyfriend Matus and I are both in debt. A lot of debt. We both got loans for an entire ride to college and a house, and now they're threatening to evict us from it. So we need to pay back."

"How long have you guys been dating?" Elizabeta asked with a look of interest as she cut her chicken into perfectly square pieces. Lili herself had not touched the chicken, as she was a vegetarian. She'd been ever since her class did a field trip to a meat factory two years ago, and couldn't handle the thought of eating something with a face and a previous life now.

"Almost three years," Tereza answered, "I'm from the Czech Republic, we both met while I was on vacation in Slovakia. We live in England now."

"You flew all the way from England?" The man next to Lili asked, setting down his fork as it had been halfway to his mouth, "For this?"

"Well, we need the money," Tereza said defensively, before shoving a large piece of chicken into her mouth, signifying she would not talk anymore. The Asian man next to her sighed, wiping his mouth, before saying,

"I'm Wang Yao. Twenty eight. We're from China, and even though we're legal immigrants, a lot of people won't hire us. We need to pay for our sister, she's suffering from leukemia right now, aru."

Lili wondered what 'aru' meant, but before she could ask, Feliciano was already introducing himself (his plate had been wiped clean).

"I'm Feliciano Vargas-Beilschmidt, twenty two, and my husband Ludwig is really sick," Feliciano twirled his fork in midair, a smile on his face, "We want to adopt one day, and we're also trying to help someone-" he suddenly shot a glare into Gilbert's direction- "pay off their gambling and alcohol debt."

"Sorry," Gilbert said in a sincere voice, and once again he nearly looked ashamed of himself. Elizabeta introduced herself, explaining about her anger issues in great depth, before turning expectantly to Leon. Leon repeated what Yao had said (but with an added "I'm from Hong Kong. Hong. Kong.")

The woman next to Leon did not say anything for a while. Lili thought she was rather pretty, with a sheet of silvery hair and dark blue eyes, snowy skin. She, like Elizabeta, was not dressed formally and was wearing a simple black sweater and skirt.

"Natalya," The woman said after a very long, very awkward silence, before chewing on her chicken. When Alfred raised an eyebrow, she rolled her eyes and said, "Seventeen. My brother, Ivan, is in need of a liver. He has damaged it from drinking."

"Do you not like alcohol, Natalya?" Alfred asked her, and Natalya shook her head. "Is that why you haven't touched the wine?"

"I'm also underage," Natalya spat, before jerking her head to the man next to Lili, who gave a small jump, nearly dropped his fork, and sputtered nervously,

"I'm, I'm uh-I'm Toris Lorinaitis. I just turned nineteen...I, I uh..."

He looked helplessly from Lili to Alfred, then back down at his plate, swallowing nervously, before seemingly gathering his thoughts and taking a deep breath.

"I'm here because I'm in debt," He said, reaching across for the glass of water near his plate, "My parents died two years ago, and I'm in a lot of debt due to hospital bills and mandatory therapy. My best friend's house burned down recently. I want to make enough money to buy Feliks a new house and for us to both go to college, but I'm in a lot of debt."

"What were you in the hospital for?" Alfred asked conversationally, but Lili noticed there was an ice-cold glint to his eyes. She suddenly became aware that her hand was shaking, so she set her fork down before glancing towards Toris, whose fists were clenched in his lap.

"I, uh, I was in the h-hospital for," Toris stammered out, before looking up at the ceiling and saying, "I was in the hospital because I tried to kill myself, and in therapy for depression."

The air went very still, and everybody's faces either look shocked or stricken, but Alfred threw his head back and laughed, clapping his hands together gleefully like a child on Christmas.

Toris actually seemed ashamed to himself as Alfred continued to laugh, and Lili found herself thinking that she did not like him very much. Turning her attention back to Toris, she said,

"I'm sorry that happened. I hope you're better now."

"I am," Toris nodded, as if desperate to prove he was, "Feliks helped a lot, I feel indebted to him."

Alfred only laughed harder, but stopped when a voice sounded.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Elizabeta demanded angrily, red in the face, and Alfred stopped laughing. He straightened up in his seat, grinning.

"I just find matters like that hilarious," He answered, resting his hands on the table, "I mean, sure, I feel bad for people with stuff like breast cancer, things they can't prevent. But I laugh at people who caused things to themselves, like diabetes or suicide attempts. The way they demand attention for it is so funny to me."

"I wasn't dema-" Toris said weakly, but he was cut off by Alfred narrowing his eyes at Lili and asking sharply,

"Why haven't you eaten your chicken?"

"Oh, I-I, I..." Lili looked down at the forgotten piece of meat, before looking up, "I'm a vegetarian, I'm sorry."

"Oh," Alfred said, before laughing once again. "Well, Lili, introduce yourself."

"I'm...I'm Lili Zwingli," Lili said quietly when everybody's attention turned to her, except Toris, who was staring into his lap, and Elizabeta, who was glaring in Alfred's direction, "I'm fourteen, and my brother needs a heart transplant."

"How long has he been waiting?" Bella asked, and Lili remembered that she also needed one.

"Nearly three years," Lili said, "But things with money only became tight about two years ago, when he had to stop working."

"That's too bad," Tereza said sympathetically, "I had an uncle once, who-"

"I'll give you five thousand to eat the chicken," Alfred's voice cut Tereza's off. He was staring at Lili intently, sky-blue eyes shining. Lili was taken aback.

"Excuse me?"

"Five thousand dollars to eat it," Alfred nodded to the untouched chicken on Lili's plate, "Three bites, and it's yours."

"I-I can't," Lili sputtered, staring at him in shock. Was he being serious? "I'm a vegetarian, I-"

"Don't care," Alfred interrupted her, before leaning forward, smiling, "Five thousand for three bites, dear."

"Now hold the hell-" Elizabeta's voice sounded angrily, but Alfred held his hand up and she silenced, though her face was steadily getting redder. Everybody's eyes were on her, except for Natalya, who was glaring at Alfred with a look of distaste on her face.

"I...I really can't," Lili said, feeling very sick. What was up with this man? Why would he try to pressure her into eating meat?

"Well, I guess that's too bad," Alfred sighed, before smiling again, "But will can be shattered very easily."

He turned to Gilbert, who had been scraping bits of mashed potato off his plate, "Five thousand for the wine, Gilbert."

"I-What?" Gilbert looked shocked, "What are you talking about?"

"Five thousand dollars to drink this entire glass of wine, it's not much," Alfred said, tapping the rim of Gilbert's glass. Gilbert stared at him, before snickering, and saying,

"Very funny joke, Al. Did Birdie tell you to do that?"

"Mattie didn't," Alfred said, and with a start Lili realized he must have meant Matthew, "I'm serious. Five thousand for the wine."

Gilbert stared at Alfred for a very long while, an unreadable look on his face, before saying in a flat voice,

"I can't. Recovering, remember?"

"Alright, then," Alfred looked over his shoulder and called, "Rhys!"

The man who had introduced Feliciano, with the longish brown hair and bright eyes, leaned down next to Alfred while he whispered in his ear. Lili could not hear what he was saying, but she had a cold feeling in her stomach. Whatever he was whispering, she would probably not like it. Rhys nodded, straightened up, and walked over to a cabinet identical to the one in the room they'd all been in before. Rhys returned with two bottles in his hand, but he hid one behind his back, and handed the first one to Alfred.

Alfred examined it with raised eyebrows, before slamming it down in front of Gilbert, saying in a loud voice,

"Ten thousand if you can drink this whole bottle of beer!"

Gilbert's face went from pink to red in a matter of seconds. He angrily pushed the bottle away from him, spitting out,

"This isn't fucking funny, Al. Did Matthew put you up to this? Did-"

"No, I am," Alfred said in a smooth voice, tapping the bottle with his finger. Elizabeta's face was redder than Gilbert's, and so was Natalya's. Lili remembered her brother's own problem with alcohol and associated the anger in her face with that subject. Lukas was the only one still eating, but he was staring at his plate as he did so, chewing slowly and without feeling.

Gilbert glowered at the bottle as he spat out,

"I'm not gonna do it. I've been working for sobriety, Al. I've put aside my pride and attended Alcoholics Anonymous. I've got myself a job. A hobby. I've gotten myself Birdie. I'm not going to throw it all away for some money-"

"Your brother is forever in debt because of you," Alfred said loftily, picking up the bottle of beer and rolling it in his hands, and Lili found herself hating him more and more by the second, "Forever. Your gambling and drinking problems left you guys struggling. He's dying, now. In the hospital, and you and his husband are here playing a game for money."

"Yeah, but not-" Gilbert said angrily, but alcohol cut him off with that smooth, and yet gritty, voice of his.

"What if you don't win? I think ten thousand dollars would certainly help, Gil. It's the least you could do for your brother," Alfred stared, long and hard at Gilbert, whose jaw was working furiously and angrily, before nodding to Rhys, who set down a larger bottle in front of Gilbert.

"Twenty thousand for the bottle of rum, Gilbert," Alfred handed the beer back to Rhys, and Lili watched him set it on a small table nearby, next to a an expensive-looking base. "It's the least you could do. Repay him. You love him, don't you?"

Gilbert's eyes were trained on the bottle, fingernails digging into his skin. Lili realized her own fists were clenched so tightly her fingernails were cutting into her palms. The air was deadly still, broken only by Gilbert and Elizabeta's angry, heavy breathing.

Linh suddenly opened her mouth as she did, "Gilbert-" but Gilbert reached over, popped the cap off the bottle, and drained it with seconds. All of the blood left Elizabeta''s face and she stood up, looking furious, but whether it was directed to Alfred or Gilbert, Lili did not know, because Gilbert suddenly smashed the bottle against the table, and Lili was shocked that it didn't shatter into pieces. His eyes were dark, face white, an across the table, Feliciano looked close to crying.

Arthur nodded, satisfied, as Rhys pressed a wad of hundred dollar bills into Gilbert's hands. Gilbert did not look at the money, but continued to stare dejectedly at his plate.

"Alright then," Alfred said, before getting to his feet and cracking his knuckles. He looked very enthusiastic, and Lili was suddenly dreading what was coming.

"It's time for our game!" Alfred clapped his hands together, "What you all came here for!"

"Finally," Bella said in a relieved voice, and Lili noticed the other participants had relaxed a bit, though some were still very tense. Alfred glanced around at all of them, before smiling and saying,

"Now, in case any of you decided now that you don't want to play the game, for whatever reason, we have cars waiting outside to take you to the airport, or home. Does anybody want to leave?"

He spread his hands wide, and Lili, for a moment, considered actually leaving. Many of the people here did not look very pleasant, and she did not like Alfred, but her own thumping heart reminded her of Basch. Her own living, beating heart constantly reminded her of her brother, suffering, waiting for a donor, and her fingers curled into her palms.

Enough money to pay for a new heart. A donor as soon as she won. An opportunity for Basch to attend school with a normal heart, and have a normal life.

Repaying him for everything he's done for her.

So Lili did not say that she wanted to leave, and neither did anybody else, though Tereza looked as if she was seriously regretting her decision as Alfred clapped his hands together once again and said,

"That's good. The game we will be playing tonight is one perhaps many of you are familiar with. A game, of Would You Rather?"

Lili raised an eyebrow, and she heard a few sounds of curiosity. She had expected a game that involved a bit more, maybe, trivia, or even athleticism, but no, it was, apparently, simple.

She did not trust, however, that it would be simple.

"For those of you unfamiliar with it, let's see..." Alfred's eyes scanned the table before he smiled and pointed at Natalya, "Natalya. Would you rather kiss Lili or Yao?"

"Lili," Natalya answered, and Lili felt her face flush, and she brought her hand up to fan herself. Alfred gave a delighted noise before nodding.

"That's the game. Except, in this game, you will have to act on what you choose. So, Natalya, you would have to kiss Lili right now, if that was your choice."

The door behind Alfred opened, and two men wheeled in a strange looking device on a cart. The men were the redhead who had driven Lili here and a smaller, blond man with bright eyes focused on what he was doing-Alfred, Lili noticed, was hungrily raking his eyes over the blond's body.

"What's-Uh, what is that?" Leon asked. The device on top looked like a very weird, very large and old-fashioned radio, with gauges where the speakers would be. Strange belt-like objects and a remote control were on top of it.

"That, my friend, is a device that Cameron used during his interrogation days," Alfred pointed to the redhead, who gave them all a rather unsettling smile. 'Interrogation' and 'device' in the same sentence was not something good, Lili thought to herself.

"Oh," Elizabeta's voice sounded furious, "I know what that is. That's a fucking-"

She did not even finish her sentence. Her face was, once again, extremely red, and she stood up, knocking her chair aside, and picked up her emptied glass.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She shouted, before chucking it at Alfred, who dodged it smoothly. Rhys caught it carefully in his hand, and set it down next to the bottle of beer.

"It's part of the game," Alfred said, traces of laughter in his voice, and Lili's stomach plummeted. She suddenly recognized the device, and felt as if she were going to be sick.

"Yeah, but..." Elizabeta's green eyes trained on it, before shaking her head, "No, that's...That's so wrong. Oh my god."

"But it's part of the game," Alfred said, smiling, but Elizabeta shook her head even more rapidly.

"No, no, not playing," Elizabeta said, stepping over her fallen chair, "You're insane. I'm not doing this, no matter how much debt I'm in."

"Sit down," Alfred said, still smiling, looking down at her. Elizabeta's fists curled, and her face was steadily going from red to maroon.

"Let her go," Lukas said suddenly, looking intently at Alfred, "It's illegal to keep her here against her will. I study law. I know how this works. She can sue you."

"How ironic," Alfred laughed, before reverting his attention to Natalia, "Sit down, girl."

"Fuck no," She raised her fist to punch Alfred, but he caught her wrist, smiling, though he did look a little surprised at the sudden action. Both Lukas and Linh looked ready to get to their feet, and Lili herself had a very, very bad feeling in her stomach.

"Sit. Down." He said in a cold voice, and his smile vanished, "The opportunity to leave has passed."

"You can't keep me here," Elizabeta shouted angrily, "That's a fucking torture device, and I'm not going to stick around for this."

She pointed at everyone sitting at the table, eyes flashing. "You're all crazy if you're going to stay here. I'm leaving."

Elizabeta turned and stomped towards the closed door, raising her hands up to shove Rhys out of the way, but Arthur smoothly slid an object from the waistband of his pants, raised it, and fired at her head.

It took Lili a moment to realize that her ears were ringing, and there was blood spattered on the walls, and Elizabeta's body was crumpling to the ground. She shrieked, jumping to her feet in horror, and she was not the only one to do so. Nearly the whole table, save Bella, who was staring at the body in shock, and Feliciano, who started crying, leaped out of their seats, screaming or gasping.

The panic was immediate-Gilbert threw the bottle still in his hands at Arthur, looking paler than possible, and both Leon and Tereza shrieked as Cameron and Rhys, too, pulled guns out, pointing them at them.

"Sit down," Alfred commanded, voice powerful and hostile, "Sit down, now!"

Gasping, eyes wide, shock and panic still coursing through her veins, Lili sat down in her chair as Arthur pointed the gun at her head, following her movements. Natalya had to be shoved down in her seat, and Toris had his head down on the table, making gagging noises.

Alfred leaned against his chair, eyes ablaze, a look of fury on his face.

"That," He said slowly, looking at each and every one of them, "is what happens, when you try to leave. Nobody will be leaving tonight, unless you win."

Eleven contestants left.

For those of you possibly unaware-

Lili-Liechtenstein
Natalya-Belarus
Leon-Hong Kong
Bella-Belgium
Elizabeta-Hungary
Lukas-Norway
Tereza-Czech Republic
Matus-Slovakia
Feliciano-N. Italy
Ludwig-Germany
Gilbert-Prussia
Linh-Vietnam
Yao-China
Alfred-America
Toris-Lithuania
Arthur-England/Britain
Cameron-Scotland
Rhys-Wales