A/N: Next chapter!

I should go ahead and warn you I probably won't be able to write again until, like, Monday... I share a room with my sister and I hate writing when she's in the room, she's nosy.

Penguin357: Thank you, I'm so glad~!

Another chapter I don't like, but it introduces Gilbert and Ludwig to the Vargas brothers AND Matthew has a small, short confrontation with Gilbert...

SS Out~

Francis read over Gilbert's letter, a bit amused. "It seems to me zat our friend likes ze Island, oui?" he asked Antonio, who was sitting beside him on his bed. Antonio laughed slightly.

"It seems that way. Do Islanders really sound like Mainlanders, though?"

"Some of zem do, oui," Francis confirmed with a nod. "More often zan not zey 'ave Mainlander grandparents or parents, you know, ze Mainlanders who choose to stay on ze Islands and marry or somezing."

"Why would anyone do that, though?" Antonio frowned, confused. "Any children they had would be considered purely Islander and forbidden to leave, si?"

"Oui, zat is right," Francis sighed dramatically. "I would assume zey stay for l'amour~ If a Mainlander falls in love with an Islander, they can choose to stay with zem, or zey can leave wizout. Islanders can't come to ze Mainland, it's against ze law. Even if ze parents are Mainlanders... if a child is born on ze Islands... It is truly tragic~"

Antonio frowned suddenly. "Wait, isn't that what happened to Alfred and his brother?"

"What?"

"Don't you remember?" Antonio sat up from where he was laying back, looking at Francis. "Alfred tells us about it all the time. His parents were taking a trip to the Islands, leaving him home with his grandparents, and his mother went into labor. When they got on the train to go back to the Mainland, they took the child away... remember? Alfred's been plotting ways to "be a hero" and "save his brother" since we were all children."

"Ah, oui, oui, I remember now," Francis nodded. "It is unfortunate, 'e doesn't even know what ze boy looks like..."

"I like to think they'll get a happy ending," Antonio stated with a small pout. "I'd hate it if I knew someone stuck on the Islands..."

"Gilbert, vill you stop zat?!"

"Stop vhat, mein Bruder?" Gilbert snickered, watching his brother from where he was hanging upside down off the side of his bed.

"Sit up right before all ze blood rushes to ze space your brain would be occupying if you had one!"

"Ouch, bro, ouch," Gilbert laughed, flipping over and off the bed so he landed on his feet and straightened up. He stood still for a few moments while the world spun, then wandered over to the window. "Zere's nozing to do here, can ve go home yet?"

"It's only been one day," Ludwig sighed. "Go outside und svim or somezing, it's hot enough for it."

"Only if you come vith me!"

"Nein."

"Ja."

"Nein."

"J-"

"Gilbert, stop being so childish!" Ludwig interrupted. "I'm reading!"

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at his younger brother. "Fine, let's not go svimming. Let's go to the village town thing!"

"It's called a village on the Islands, Gilbert," Ludwig clarified with a sigh. "Fine, I'll come vith you to ze village, but only to keep you in line," he gave in, snapping his book closed.

The albino brother grinned. "Alright."

"Why the fuck are we coming to your house again? I could be at home checking on my tomatoes or some other shit like that," Lovino complained, but Matthew knew he was happy to get out of the shack he sadly had to call home. It was around five o'clock in the evening, about the time Matthew always returned to his own house.

"Because I want to go swimming with you and Arthur," Matthew answered. Lovino knew where Matthew wanted to go swimming. The blonde Islander wouldn't be dragging him to the main Island if he wanted to just swim. "You're the one dragging Feliciano along."

"Like hell I'm leaving this idiot at home alone!"

"Ve...?"

"Don't worry about it, Feliciano," Matthew laughed, stepping off of the track and onto the wooden floor of the little station. "You can talk to Yao while Lovino, Arthur, and I are swimming."

Before they reached the doorway, a rough, German-accented voice reached their ears.

"Come on, Luddy, you never do anyzing fun!"

"Gilbert, if you fall, I vill not be coming to save you."

"Ja, ja, like ze awesome me vill fall unawesomely off some cliff."

"That's the Mainlander I told you about yesterday," Matthew sighed. "The stupid-sounding one..."

"Great," Lovino grumbled, stalking out the door. "And I can't even cuss him into tomorrow because of those fucking soldiers... why are they already looking at me?!"

"Well, last time you did try to attack one of them..."

"They were pointing a fucking gun at Feliciano, what else was I supposed to do?!" Lovino growled defensively.

"Ah! Zere you are!" Matthew winced and looked at the albino. "Gott, zis place is boring vizout you und zat Briton to bozer-"

"I'm not a Briton!" Arthur ran over to Matthew and Lovino, glaring at Gilbert. Then he turned to his friends and whatever he was about to say immediately changed... and he laughed. "Matthew, you look like a burnt lobster."

"Thank you for that observation, Arthur," Matthew sighed. "Come on, you, me, and Lovino are going swimming." Arthur raised a bushy brow and looked at Lovino, who was glaring at the Mainlanders. "Let's just go before he starts a fight," the blonde pleaded, heading towards the brick house. Arthur sighed.

"Lovino, come on," he called, gesturing him to follow.

The dark-haired Islander flicked Arthur off half-heartedly before turning to say something to his brother in rapid Italian. Gilbert was confused by this. Italian was a Mainland language...

"Ve~ Okay!" Feliciano nodded and Lovino huffed before following Arthur and Matthew to the house. As soon as Lovino was out of sight, Feliciano bounded over to the Mainland brothers. "Hi there~! I'm Feliciano Vargas~!"

Ludwig and Gilbert were both astonished by the little bubbly farmer's enthusiasm. Most Islanders looked at them with suspicion and even hatred, but never... oblivious joy. "Ah... I'm Ludwig Beilschmidt, und zis is my brother, Gilbert," Ludwig responded, having recovered first.

"Nice to meet you~!" Feliciano laughed. "Mio fratello, Lovino, told me to stay far far away from you but you don't seem like bad people~! I think you're nice!"

Gilbert frowned slightly. "Your bruder is zat moody creature?"

"Awww, Lovino's not moody! He's just kind of a dick~!"

There was a few moments of silence before Gilbert burst out laughing. Ludwig sighed and hid his face behind one hand. "Do you even know vhat zat means?" he asked the airheaded Italian.

"Of course! I know both meanings, why?" Feliciano tilted his head curiously. Before Ludwig could respond, Lovino tackled him.

"I told you not to talk to those bastards!" he scolded, pulling Feliciano in the direction of Yao's house. "They're fucking Mainlanders, Feliciano!"

"Veeee~ But they seem so nice!"

Lovino shot the Beilschmidt brothers a glare. "That's what they want you to think."

The albino Beilschmidt blinked. "A bit jumpy, zat one," he commented, turning back to look at Matthew's house, where Matthew was standing with Arthur. Both seemed to be facepalming.

Gilbert then noticed all three of those Islanders weren't wearing shirts. He had no idea what they were doing in that house, though; taking your shirt off wasn't that big of a deal. He supposed they were probably talking privately.

When Lovino returned, giving another glare to the Germans, he kicked Matthew's door shut and walked over to the cliffside. "Come on, bastards, let's just go."

The Mainlander brothers exchanged glances then looked around. No one else seemed to be batting an eye at this behavior... or the fact that three of their people were jumping off a cliff- wait, what?

Ludwig watched in surprise and went over to the cliffside, peaking over. He saw ripples in the water where the three had cut through, but he couldn't really see much further down in the deep water. Gilbert peaked over as well.

"Did zey just jump in zere?!" Gilbert exclaimed, staring at the water.

"No," Ludwig answered sarcastically. "Zey valked down ze side of ze cliff."

"You and sarcasm are not a very good match, Ludwig," Gilbert muttered, a bit embarrassed by his stupid question.

"Ai-ya... Why do you two Mainlanders seem so surprised-aru?" Gilbert looked over at Yao, who was also without a shirt now. It was quite obvious he was a man without a shirt on. "Did you really expect Islanders to just sit around during our free time?"

"That's what I do~!" Feliciano practically sang, raising his hand in the air. Yao rolled his eyes.

"Aside from Feliciano, of course..."

"Aww, why aside from me?" Feliciano pouted. Yao looked at him.

"... I would drop you in the water, but then Lovino would kill me-aru," he sighed after a few seconds of silence. "Stop acting like idiot, I know you are just as smart as your brother-aru."

"But Lovi's no fun when he's being smart~"

"And-"

"Um," Ludwig interrupted, "Vhat exactly is going on?"

Yao blinked. "What do you mean? Feliciano always act this way around new people-aru. He lives on the farm Island, he doesn't come here much-aru."

Feliciano pouted and crossed his arms. "I've never met a Mainlander before," he said. "Lovino said Mainlanders are bad so I thought, if I act cute, then they've got to like me~"

"You're still an Islander, Feli," Yao pointed out.

"But they haven't even sneered at us yet!" Yao paused, realizing Feliciano was right.

"Hey, you right-aru..." Yao turned to Gilbert and Ludwig. "Why are you not sneering and treating us like dirt-aru?" The two Mainlanders seemed startled.

"Vhat? I've never treated anyone like dirt," Ludwig answered. "You're human as vell, vhy vould I do zat? I can't say ze same for mein bruder, of course..."

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Zis is stupid. I'm going back to ze hotel. Have fun vith your little Islander friends, Ludwig," he sneered, though it was directed at his brother and not the Islanders. Then he walked off.

Ludwig shook his head silently and looked at Yao and Feliciano. "I'm sorry about him. He usually isn't like zis..."

His voice trailed off as Gilbert got further and further away. When he reached the bridge, he noticed something and looked down. Climbing up the cliffside was Matthew. The albino paused and just stood there, watching the boy expertly climb up.

"Oh!" Matthew seemed a bit startled when he came... sorta face-to-face with the taller Mainlander. "I was wanting to talk to you but I thought you'd still be over there..."

"Vhat ze hell?" Gilbert blinked and looked over the edge again. "Vhere are ze ozer two?"

"Still in the water," Matthew answered. "I just- I want... I want to know why you hate us." Gilbert blinked and looked at Matthew in surprise. "I want to know what makes Mainlanders hate Islanders. I've seen plenty of Mainlanders, like Elizaveta and Roderich. They sometimes help us when no other Mainlanders are here, they don't hate us. But visitors, and the soldiers- why do you all hate us?"

To be honest, Gilbert wasn't sure how to respond. After a few moments, he simply said, "Because you're Islanders."

"That's not an answer," Matthew stated, crossing his arms. "Islanders came from the Mainland anyway. What's so different about us that we're no better than the animals Lovino and Feliciano raise?" When Gilbert didn't answer, Matthew sighed. "That's what I thought. You're simply taught to think that way, eh?" He turned around. "Well, while you're sitting in your hotel room doing nothing, I'm going to do something fun."

With that, Matthew dived back into the water, leaving Gilbert to dwell on his words.

-To Be Continued-