Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 6

Alfred watched Francis. Based on the surprise from his companions, he hadn't told them anything. Camille leaned forward.

"Are you sure, Papa?" she asked. "Was that servant really…?"

Francis nodded. Alfred was starting to feel really sorry for him. He thought that only a real monster would buy another human as though they were an appliance or a decoration. He didn't think that he would hear the story about a father who was so desperate to find the son that had been taken from him. And then…

"You found him," Alfred said, "and lost him again."

Francis chuckled, though it was breathy and sounded more like a sob.

"After all that time…" he said. "And then he was murdered. I will admit, when I saw him afterwards… I felt numb. There is a point when you feel so much despair that you stop feeling everything else."

"So, you definitely didn't kill him then?" Marcello said. "Not even for his affair with Feliciano being a disgrace or…"

Francis glared at Marcello, who immediately grew silent.

"As I said, in my family, we don't care about things like that," Francis said. "Just ask Camille and Lili."

Alfred's attention snapped to the two girls. Lili stood behind Camille's chair. Her hand was on the back of the chair, and Camille reached up to take it. Camille looked up to smile at Lili, and Lili returned the smile.

"There was some time between you winning the auction and the servant – um, your son – being discovered," Lovino said, looking uncomfortable. "What happened afterwards? You went off with him, and…?"

"I took him somewhere we wouldn't be disturbed," Francis said. "He was trembling, and he couldn't look at me. I hated Romulus Vargas at that point. I could see that he was in a bad state. But when I told him who we were to each other… the light returned to his eyes. I had never seen so much joy. So much hope. He started crying, and I held him. I held my son for the first time in seventeen years. He was safe with me. And we started talking about what would happen now. We discussed trying to convince Romulus to allow Feliciano to marry Camille, in order for the two of them to be together again, and to allow both of my children ways to safely hide their relationships. My family had no problem with it, but the others…"

"You were hoping for Camille and Feliciano to be each other's beards so that people would leave them alone," Alfred said.

"Exactly. I left him alone afterwards to allow him some time for himself, and because he told me that he and Feliciano agreed to meet each other at the party. I was only gone for a short time, but in that time… My son was dead, and Feliciano was screaming at everyone to help him. I just… I couldn't feel anything at that moment."

"Why didn't you reach out to Feliciano?" Jason asked. "You might have prevented what happened, and you might have caught the person that killed your son."

"Shock," Francis said. "I was in too much shock to think clearly about anything, or to react to anything. And there was no way for me to know what would have happened with Feliciano. It's possible that I might have been able to recover eventually, and I might have offered my aid to Feliciano, but… Well, now we might never know."

"So, you don't remember anyone else around him that night?" Alfred asked. "Like… Wait, who lost the auction? Someone that was eager to win?"

"Gilbert Beilschmidt, Lars Janssens and Mathias Kohler," Lovino listed. "They were also pretty interested in that servant."

Francis nodded.

"All three of them have their own problems," Francis said. "My family has a reputation for being free with our love, and those three are similar, with one difference: my family and I value consent. I can only imagine what they might have been planning to do with my son."

"That's sick," Alfred said. "But I guess that we can ask them. Where can we find them?"

"Kohler is going to be hard," Lovino said. "He doesn't like to be in one place, and he likes to wander around. His friends like to stick together at the same place, but I don't know if they knew what went on that night. As for Beilschmidt… He's going to be easy to find. He and his brother spend most of their time drinking. They like to hang out in the cellar."

"Then that's where we're going next," Alfred said. He turned to Francis. "Um, I'm sorry about everything that happened with your son. I wished that none of it had happened."

Francis smiled softly.

"Thank you," he said. "I hope that he was at least able to find peace after his death, and he doesn't have to exist in this limbo. He doesn't deserve that."

Alfred's throat tightened, and before he could say something that he might end up regretting, he turned to Lovino.

"Lead the way," he said.

Lovino nodded, and they made their way back to the door. When Alfred looked back towards Francis and the others, he saw Francis with his head bowed and his shoulders shaking while the others reached out their hands to place them on his shoulder or arms. The more Alfred found out about what went on in the Vargas house, the more disturbed he was.

…

"H-how is this even possible?" Matthew gasped, looking at the garden around them. It was nighttime, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Feliciano frowned.

"That's strange," Feliciano said. "I don't think it's ever done something like this before."

"Where is this place?"

"It's our garden, at the back of the house. It used to be my mother's garden, but when she died… I don't know why the house brought us here."

Matthew looked over towards Feliciano, who looked genuinely confused. At least he knew that Feliciano wasn't lying.

"Was this place special for you?" Matthew asked.

Feliciano cocked his head to the side, and a wistful look appeared on his face.

"Yes," he said. "We used to spend many afternoons here. He would accompany me for walks, and then we would just lie here and bask in the sun and each other's company." Feliciano's face then turned sad. "It was one of those times when we were caught. My father never came over here, but he did that day. He saw us kissing, with me lying on top of him. We were just kissing, that time. But my father, he got really mad."

Matthew swallowed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It must have been horrible for you."

"…It was the last time that we really spent time together," Feliciano said. "I was locked in my room, and the servant passages were sealed."

"Servant passages?"

"Yes. It was so that the servants could do their jobs in different rooms without attracting attention. It was really unfair, if you ask me."

"I think so too."

"He was able to sneak messages to me, by stuffing a sheet of paper through the cracks in the door. I couldn't do the same for him, because I never knew if it would be him that comes. But when I saw the piece of paper, I would always tell him something. I don't know if he heard me half the time. He wasn't allowed to be around my door for too long. My father found him there once, and he got really angry. I don't know what he did to him when that happened. That night, we managed to arrange to meet in one of the rooms. My father couldn't keep me locked in my room, not with guests coming, and he needed to work. It was the perfect time. But when I went to meet him… He was already dead. Someone got there before me. If I had been a little earlier, then he would still be alive. I was hoping to convince him to run away with me. We needed to get somewhere away from my father."

"Fate can be cruel sometimes."

"It's not Fate that's cruel. People are cruel. If they see happiness, then they always need to snuff it out. And then they try to be happy too. Other people's happiness means nothing to them, and if they can't be happy, then they crush the happiness of others." Feliciano swallowed. "That's all that went through my mind when I…"

"…When you killed everyone else."

Feliciano flinched, before he nodded.

"I don't know what happened to me that night," he whispered. "I was never like that before. But I got so angry, and… I lost myself. I just wanted everyone to know how I felt. And when it was over, I was all alone. And I didn't want to be alone. I went to the room where he died, and I killed myself. I had hoped that we would be reunited in death. But that didn't happen. And everyone else is either scared of me or angry with me." Feliciano scoffed. "They should be. They didn't care about my feelings, so I'm not going to care about them."

"That's not a very healthy way to think," Matthew said. He looked around, spotting a bench. "Could we sit down for a moment?"

Feliciano nodded and guided Matthew to the bench.

"Matteo, do you know what it's like to feel as though you're insignificant?" Feliciano asked.

"All the time," Matthew said. "Alfred's a year older than me, so I was kind of in his shadow. Teachers would see me and think that I'll be exactly like my brother. And people always say we look alike, and they confuse me for him a lot. But never him for me."

"I'm sorry, but how can anyone mistake you and Alfred? I mean, you look nothing alike!"

Matthew stared at Feliciano, who cocked his head.

"Did I say something wrong?" Feliciano asked.

"It was just… surprising, that's all," Matthew said. "I mean, even my parents sometimes confuse me for Alfred."

"I think you're surrounded by idiots."

Matthew burst out laughing, and Feliciano gave a small smile of his own.

"I've also always been quieter than Alfred," Matthew said. "People tend to forget about me then. It's as though I'm invisible."

Feliciano sighed.

"Lovino was the heir to the family," Feliciano said. "My father was grooming him to take over for him. And Marcello was a very sick child. He spent a lot of his time in bed until he was about ten. People were either teaching Lovino or taking care of Marcello. I was ignored most of the time. And then there was another boy my age among the servants. He couldn't do his work at first because he was still pretty small. I managed to convince Arthur to let him be my playmate, and that was his new job. Until he grew older and my father and Arthur expected him to do actual work."

"Why was he even hired if he was too young?" Matthew asked.

"Because his parents sold him. My father… Almost all of his servants are actually slaves, but we're not allowed to call them that. He thinks it makes it right."

"…That's horrible."

Feliciano nodded.

"We were all too scared to stand up to him," Feliciano said. His mouth twitched. "And now, he's scared of me."

Matthew looked around at the garden again. It was as though everything had taken on a darker tone.

"By the way, we saw that graveyard earlier," Matthew said.

"It's supposed to be farther away," Feliciano said. "But after that night, it moved closer, almost as though it's trying to tell everyone about what happened here. But everyone that's here already knows."

"Do you know what's going on with the house?"

"…I think it kind of… reacted to everything that happened. I know that it sometimes responds to my moods, but no one else's. But the house isn't behaving properly tonight." Feliciano looked around. "It doesn't usually take me to my mother's garden."

"…Feliciano, what was his name?" Matthew asked. "I don't think I've heard you refer to him by name at all."

"I didn't want to confuse you."

"Why would it confuse me?"

"Because you have the exact same first name."

…

"There they are," Lovino said, his face twisted in distaste.

Jason looked at the two in some surprise. The first was a tall blond man. The other was a shorter man with white hair. But according to Lovino, they were supposed to be brothers.

He looked over towards Alfred, specifically looking at his blond hair and blue eyes. Alfred and Matthew took after their mother, while Jason took after their father. He supposed that he didn't really have a place to say anything about it.

Lovino walked over towards the two, sitting at a table near a barrel with a tap, two frothy mugs in front of them. Jason wondered if ghosts could get drunk.

"Hey, albino bastard," Lovino spat. "We have some questions for you."

The two turned towards them, before immediately focusing on Alfred and Jason.

"I heard we have guests," the one with white hair snickered. "Are you giving them the grand tour before they join us?"

"We're here to talk about the auction," Alfred said.

The white-haired one arched an eyebrow while his brother just looked confused.

"I didn't think you were allowed to say anything about that, Lovi," he said.

"Don't call me that," Lovino snapped. "You were pretty eager to get that servant, and you bid pretty high. We want to know why you were so desperate."

"Wait, you did what?" the blond asked, turning towards his brother. "Auctioning humans was illegal!"

Jason recalled that the one that participated in the auction was called Gilbert. That had to be the one with white hair, who waved his brother off.

"Please, we weren't going to get caught," Gilbert said. "Lighten up, Ludwig."

"…How many of our servants were actually hired legally?" Ludwig asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Okay, as entertaining as it is to see this family squabble," Marcello said, "we need to focus. You lost the auction, but you placed some pretty high bids."

"You looked desperate to win," Lovino said. "And then he ended up dead."

"And you think I killed him?" Gilbert snickered. When no one said anything, his smile faltered. "Wait, you actually think I killed him?"

"You took part in a shitty system," Jason said. "You'll have to understand why we'd come to that conclusion."

"Listen, I did not kill that guy! I thought he was cute, wanted him, but then I lost. I'm not enough of a sore loser that I would actually kill someone. It's not the first time I lost a bid I wanted. And when that happens, I drink. I was drinking the whole time before the scream came. Ludwig was with me the whole time."

"…I think I can confirm that," Ludwig said, though his face was pinched. "Gilbert returned from a meeting with Mister Vargas, looking upset, and we were drinking together until there was a scream. Feliciano was crying over the body of a servant. I'll admit, I heard rumours that he had gotten too close to one of the servants, but to see it… He didn't seem bothered that he was embarrassing the family."

"So what?" Alfred asked. "Who cares about what a bunch of strangers thought about a family? All that matters is that the members of the family feel that they're safe among each other."

All four of the ghosts looked startled at Alfred's words. Marcello looked away, clenching his fists.

"It must be nice to be poor," Gilbert sneered.

"We're not poor," Jason snapped. "And he's right. It's always disgusting, when there's a family that cares more about what other people think about them than they care about the people in the family. Maybe, if Feliciano didn't feel alone among his family, then he wouldn't have killed all of you. And you're just as guilty for having the exact same thought process."

"Enough. You don't know anything, so just shut up."

"I may not be the smartest person, I'll admit that, but even I can understand it. Feliciano felt alone, and the one person that he felt cared about him was taken away. I wonder what he would have done if he knew about that auction. Hey, can he still hurt you?"

Gilbert's eyes widened, and he looked as though he grew even paler than he already was. Ludwig also looked sick.

"Yes," Lovino said. "Feliciano still has a way to hurt us. When he grows unhinged or angry, then… things happen. And we get hurt in the process. But he has a point. What's going to happen if Feliciano finds out about the auction? What do you think he's going to do to you then?"

"…What do you want?" Gilbert asked.

"Do you know anything about what happened that night?" Alfred asked. "Anything that happened before or after the servant was found?"

Gilbert frowned, and this time, he actually looked as though he was trying to cooperate. Jason supposed that fear was a good motivator. And it showed that everyone was still scared of Feliciano.

"I saw Mathias Kohler stomping away after the auction," Gilbert said. "He looked extremely mad. Like, it wasn't just being mad about losing the auction. He looked really mad. And there was another servant around. When Mathias walked past this guy… I swear, I've never seen anyone look at someone with that much hatred."

"Kohler's a lot harder to find than most of the others," Lovino sighed. "What does this servant look like?"

"…He had dark hair. Well, I guess most of the Vargas servants had dark hair. It was long enough to tie in a ponytail."

"That sounds like Yao," Marcello said. "He's usually near the kitchen, along with some of the other servants."

"Then we're going to talk to him next," Alfred said.