A/N at bottom

1754

Matthieu awoke in his bed to the sound of a bloodcurdling scream coming from Francis' room. When Frances had nightmares, which happened often when he was at war, he would always scream in his sleep. As much as it horrified him, Matthieu tried to focus to focus on what he was saying.

"Non- I'm sorry- Italy I- I had to-"

Oh. It was that dream. While Matthieu had dreamt his share of weird dreams (just what happened before Francis found him, anyways?), he knew how Francis' screaming would end (inevitably in alcohol) and decided he had to get out of there.

Matthieu didn't have a set destination in mind when he set out. He let his feet and mind wander, eventually coming to the spot where he had met Ludwig and Romano so many years ago. Without thinking about it, he lay on his back and looked up at the stars. He sighed. The war had just begun, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was in for a disaster.

"Can't sleep?" Matthieu looked up to the sound of a distinct German accent.

"Ludwig, what are you doing here?"

"Oh- erm, dreams I guess. You?"

"Francis." Ludwig instantly knew what he meant.

"Oh, one of those nights." He lay down next to Matthieu as the two sat in silence. Matthieu returned to his thoughts, and he believed Ludwig to be asleep. He even started to doze off until he heard a voice behind him.

"Is this grass taken?"

Matthieu didn't bother to ask Romano what he was doing there. Ludwig didn't even open his eyes. He lay down next to the other two, and Matthieu returned to his thoughts until Romano broke the silence.

"Matthieu, are you nervous?"

"... about what?"

"The war." Ludwig cracked opened an eye. Ever since the start of the war, they hadn't really spoken about it.

"I... I don't know." As much as Matthieu hated to admit it, he had a lot of doubts about fighting England. In fact, while he always had faith in Francis, he had to admit that even that was dwindling.

"Matthieu," Ludwig cleared his throat. "Are you all right?" The Canadian didn't answer. His mind began to race. Francis will win. Francis won't win. I'll have to leave him and I'll never see my friends again and- Matthieu rarely got worked up like this.

"Matthieu," Romano began. "Are you-"

"Promise me something." Matthieu needed to calm down. "Promise you won't leave me."

"Matthieu, what are you-"

"Just promise. Please."

"Yeah yeah, I promise."

"Ludwig?"

"... I promise."

"...Thank you." The three were left to ponder their futures under the stars, and Matthieu wrestled his doubts in silence.

A/N

Thank you for reading! As always, criticisms are greatly appreciated. A huge thanks to LuckAndHope and ZeroInfinity24 for helping me realize the issue with the last chapter! See ya next Friday!