Look for symbolism in this chapter!

Warning: Angst, revolting scenes.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA. I have fun manipulating their characters, though

Just One More Reason

Kiku woke at the break of dawn. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and grabbed his katana, swinging it over his shoulder, deciding to explore more of the house.

He stopped by the kitchen first, opening the cabinets and not being surprised to find that most everything had been taken. As soon as he opened the fridge, a smell so foul hit him that he would have vomited if he hadn't closed it shortly after. The combination of rotting meat and putrid fruits and vegetables lingered in the air for a good while.

The good news: there was a gas stove, which Kiku considered incredibly lucky, seeing as most Americans had long since moved on to electric. The surface and the burners were a little charred from use, but when he turned it on, he could smell the gas, so it still worked.

Upstairs, the damage wasn't much different. There were two children's bedrooms and one master bedroom. The pictures around the house and the torn posters on the wall indicated that a family of five lived here: with two daughters who couldn't have been older than eight with their parents and an infant brother. The sight made him sad. He picked a stuffed rabbit from off of one of the daughter's beds, the material torn and the toy gutted, the stuffing bulging out through the slit. It looked as if the family had left in a hurry, not bothering to grab anything on the way out.

We never had any warning either. Kiku mused. And we never knew it would be this bad.

Feeling somber, Kiku made his way back downstairs, going down a hallway to a door that led to the basement. He opened it and headed slowly down.

It was dark and damp, and looked to be empty. But halfway down the steps, a smell hit Kiku's nostrils, so strong and fetid that he scrambled to cover his nose and mouth with a cloth, but he could still smell the odor.

Something must be dead down here. Kiku thought as he made it to the bottom. Perhaps a wild animal that had gotten in or the family dog. He took a flashlight out of his pocket and clicked it on, only for him to drop it on the floor a moment later.

It came so fast that Kiku couldn't stop it; bile forced its way up from his stomach and soon he was throwing up, his throat burning, tears coming to his eyes from the shock. When he was finished, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, breathing hard, breathing in the stench of death and decay. He didn't bother retrieving the flashlight as he ran up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind him, hand going over his mouth, his heart pounding.

Yao and Arthur were groggily making their way toward him. Their eyes went wide when they saw him, rushing forward.

"What is wrong, Kiku?" Yao asked, concerned.

"You look as pale as a ghost." Arthur said, examining the door suspiciously. "What happened? Did you find something?"

Kiku swallowed, the bitter taste of bile in his mouth. His stomach was cramping and he felt like if threw up again, he would vomit his very insides. He looked up at both of them, shaking like mad. "The family who lived here," he said, his voice tremulous and raspy. "I do not think they ever left."

"This is so horrible." Francis said as they all stood gathered in the basement. The light of the flashlight was shaking as it shined on the rotting corpses of the family. Lovino handed it off to Ludwig.

"I can't… I can't look at it anymore, dammit." he said quietly.

Ludwig took it and directed it at the bodies, feeling terrible just standing there and staring.

"Ve~What is it, Lovi?" Feliciano called from upstairs. "Can I come down? It smells icky…"

"No," Arthur said. "No, stay up there, Feli." He then turned to Kiku, who looked shell shocked. "Who were they?"

"A family," Kiku replied with effort. "I do not know their names, but they were young. The two girls were around six and eight. And the baby…" He inhaled deeply and shook his head. "Who would do this?"

"I bet you this Organization did it." Alfred growled. "Bastards would do anything for power and killing off the opposition is one bloodthirsty way to do it."

Ivan stepped forward to examine the bodies. He used his scarf to cover his mouth and nose as he crouched down. They had been dead for a while, it seemed. Their skin was practically melting off their bones. Maggots were moving beneath the loose flesh, feasting. He stood and confirmed, "They were murdered. There are bullet wounds in them. Whoever came across this house took the family hostage and kept them in the basement. It looks like they starved them for a while before finally killing them. And the baby… he died long before the rest of his family was killed, yet the murderers thought it fit to give him a bullet as well."

"What has this world come to?" Wynston muttered somberly.

"Turn off that light." Matthew told Ludwig. The Canadian had insisted on being brought down here once he had heard the news, no matter what Francis said. He was determined to be an important player in this group, not to be forgotten like he had so many other times. "I can't look at them anymore."

Ludwig did so, all of them standing in the dark. The only source of light came from the cracked door up the stairs.

"What should we do with them?" Yao asked.

"I don't know," Arthur sighed. "If we bring them up, their stench will attract who knows what and linger for days. But I would feel like a monster if we didn't give them some sort of funeral."

"We will leave them down here." Ludwig said what everyone was thinking, but were too scared to announce. "Board up the door and carve a memento into it."

They didn't say a word as they made their way back up the stairs, Alfred helping Matthew along as he hopped along on one foot and Gilbert trying his best to console Lovino, who looked to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.

When they reached the top, Feliciano darted forward to interrogate his brother, only to frown when he found that Lovino looked pale and sick. He gave Arthur a quizzical look. "Ve~What happened? What was down there?"

Arthur shook his head. "Some dead animal. It got in and now it's rotting. We've decided to board up the door so that it doesn't smell quite so bad." He felt guilty referring to the family massacred downstairs as a bothersome animal carcass, but he didn't want the Italian to end up like his brother.

Feliciano looked sad with the announcement. "Poor thing." And he was led by Wynston back into the living room with Lovino.

They used the their firewood (aka, the loose floorboards or other pieces of wood they could find around the house) to board up the door. Ludwig and Ivan found some nails in the garage and a hammer, and they watched as Ivan pounded them into the door.

When they were finished they took a step back.

"What should we say?" Francis asked.

Arthur looked at Kiku. "Kiku, are you sure you found no information on who these people might be?"

"One," Kiku replied. "There was a Christmas card that they sent out… they are the Anderson's."

"Right," Gilbert said, taking out a pocketknife and carving into the wood. "The An-der-son Fa-mil-y… there." He moved away so everyone could see.

The Anderson Family

R.I.P.

"Well," Matthew sighed. "I guess there really is nothing else we can say about them."

"Yes, there is." Alfred said and snatched the knife from Gilbert's hand, proceeding to carve more words into the board. When he was finished he folded the blade and tossed it back to Gilbert, who easily caught it.

We Will Change This World For You

A Promise

"That's a hefty promise." Arthur said, giving Alfred a small smile. "But I will undertake it with you, whatever the cost."

"Da," Ivan agreed. "This is not just survival anymore. This is war."

No translations

A Word From the Writer: This house is sinister in more ways than one, and this is just the beginning. It will quickly lose its title of 'safehouse' shortly, I can tell you that. And, no, I do not take joy in writing scenes like this one. It was just to emphasize the fact that humanity has slipped to a whole new low (yes, it can go lower than some people go today, and that's pretty damn low)(like, almost HELL low)(haha "hell-low, Devil, we just decided to visit you early!" hell-low)(I'm punny)(no, really, that's how low)(they're playing limbo with the Devil)(... okay, I'll stop now).