The forest encaved them in darkness had belatedly subsided when Francis had felt a small shake on his shoulder.

"Wake up frog and wake up the other wanker with you..." Francis had opened his heavy purple orbs and glanced at Arthur who had leaned over the sleeping Italian to wake him up.

"Iggy..." Francis groaned and sat up, he had noticed that the Italian had leaned his head against Francis' shoulder, which caused a small smile to paint itself onto his lips.

Arthur hunkered up in the carriage, his body leaning forward, catching up with Matthew about how long it would take to get to the Italian's farmland.

"Don't worry sir..." Matthew chortled softly, he obviously noticed the hatred in Arthur's voice as he spoke about Felicano. “We are close."

"Hey Matthew," Francis shifted forward a bit, which caused the male to slump forward a bit, his eyes closed tightly as he slept. "Do you think we could stop here ...?"

"FOR WHAT -?" seethed Arthur, his eyes were sick of the male dragging out the one day trip to a trip that could take a prolonged time. The bruise on his eye seemed to be getting better and better than it was when he had received it, which was a plus.

"I crave to talk to you... In private." Francis had openly stated, his voice sounded level, even though his nerves were tingling in fear.

Arthur raised one of his heavy eyebrows and turned towards the door. "Okay…" in his voice, Francis knew that Arthur didn't know how he felt about talking to him, especially with all that transpired.

The carriage had come to a halt as the two gentlemen dropped out of the carriage and intruded into the small forest they had just left.

"So frog, what do you crave to talk to me about?" the male's voice was sharp ridged as Francis could sense the cold developing from the words.

The leaves above their heads danced in the breeze that trickled by, the moist earth was soft underneath their black boots. Francis seized the male's cold, shriveled hand.

"You should surely moisten your hands, Chéri."

"What in hell's name do you want to talk about?!?" Arthur's patience thinned as he grasped for something in an opening in his jacket. "We are on a tight schedule."

Francis felt his heart squeeze tightly as he fixated himself a bit closer to the more short-tempered male. "After all of this..., what are you fancying of doing...?"

"This is the question you drag me out to talk about-?" He paused when he observed Francis shift away from him and he inaugurated his mouth again, "Probably go back to England since this underground market will be done when I slice the leader in two. Hopefully I can handle my fear of water."

England...?

"Wait, you wouldn't want to stay...?" Francis' voice felt faint as his heart seemed to stop, he didn't want the male leaving the small island of Pierre... he didn't want the shorter male to leave him. "Really? Pfft... why would you want to leave-"

Arthur cut him off as his eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth, disgust written so clearly over his face. "After I end the crisis that's happening over here, there isn't a reason to stay."

Those words...

Those words caused Francis' heart to stop as he veered his head away, did Francis not mean anything to him?

"What about …?" 

"What about what…?" Arthur asked and his green eyes darted when he realized what the male could've said. "Francis, I—" 

"FRANCIS! ARTIE!" Felicano's high-pitched voice yelled thru the forest as his small figure could be seen waving his hands like a baboon, creeping towards them as Arthur criss crossed his hands.

"Great…" Arthur yawned sarcastically, his eyes loomed on the small Italian as the smaller silhouette got closer and closer.

"COME MEET MY BROTHER GUYS...!" the cheerful male shouted and the male's legs traveled him towards them. When Felicano eventually met up with the two taller figures, he placed his hands sassily on his hips and giggled, "Matthew told me where I could find you guys, and I guess he was right- just stay on the path!"

"Great..." Arthur groaned as he glared at Francis for a split second and turned back towards the rambling male.

"I guess after this, this is where our journey ends together…" Felicano murmured quietly to himself. He glanced down sadly at his faded colored boots and Francis reached out to the male's shoulder.

"Don't worry mon Amie, we will always be here for you. Right Arthur...?" He glanced towards the British male who only gave a small,"yeah, we will." his voice monotone as he didn't want to be placed in this conversation. "Now can we go...?"

Felicano grasped the Frenchmale's hand, the Italian's hand was warm and enticing. Francis veered his head towards Arthur and held his hand out to the bitter male, their eyes locked in a heated battle until lastly, Arthur took Francis' hand. 

~.~

They finally made it towards the small tomato field and noticed a taller italian with darker brown eyes and a frown carved deeply onto his lips.

“Oh thanks,“ the male huffed, he had his hands crisscrossed in front of him. “Someone managed to finally come and get you from the woods and haul you back here, Felicano." 

Felicano had a large smile engraved onto his face as he clutched his older brother’s arm, his eyes finally opening and taking in the harsh sunlight. “These are my friends !“ 

"What happened to bruise eye over there?" Romano asked, pointing at the Brit, who bristled at the nickname.

"He got beat up! Can we patch him up??" Felicano asked as Romano huffed, crossing his shoulders as he gave out a puffy "fine".

"Must have lost real bad," Romano noted as Arthur shrugged.

"Try beating up an entire mob. Can't kill them all."

"Cant kill them all," Romano responded back as Felicano jumped in front of Arthur and began to clean his dirty and open wounds. It took painfully long for Felicano to finish; however, when he did, Arthur looked like brand new —

... All except his eye tho.

"Thanks," Arthur responded, glancing at the Italian and giving a sheepish smile when he noticed Mattie off in the distance. "However, we REALLY should be off."

"Awww man... Do you have to??" Whined Felicano as Francis gave a small smile.

"Yes but it'll be okay.." Arthur stood up and trotted outside while Francis squeezed Felicano's hands reassuringly.

"I'll visit sometime when this is all over, okay?"

"Promise?" Felicano frowned, his fingers refusing to release Francis's hands.

"Promise." Francis was finally released when he joined Arthur outside and noticed his emerald eyes watching someone in the distance.

“YOU!!!!" he grabbed his sword and ran towards the male that was a blob to Francis. Francis chased after Arthur, for the male to have a wound in his abdomen, he could sure run fast.

Felicano didn't treat the wound in his abdomen. As he began to get closer and closer to the blob, he realized who it was, Antonio. Arthur was about to slice at the shaking Spaniard until Francis pushed the angry British man to the ground. 

“I- Thank you—“ Antonio cried as Francis sucker punched the male hard in his gut. The male's legs caved in on him as Romano raced towards them, his eyes angry and then noticed the male. 

“Thank god someone also hates this son of a -“ 

“You know him…?“ Francis asked, his head cocked to the side as the italian let out a groan and then responded, 

“He’s my neighbor. Literally can hear him SNORING through a closed window…“ 

Arthur gripped Antonio’s shirt and growled deeply. “Now what do I have caught up in my net…?" 

“Do whatever you want. I won’t talk!" 

“How long can you stand torture ?“ Arthur asked, his voice dropping into a threatening snarl, his sword was right under the spanish male’s neck and the spaniard only gave a weak smile. 

“I -" 

“Maybe you can be bound by ropes and dragged under water for several hours, or what if-.“ Romano joined in on the blond male's scheming as the Spaniard began to physically shake in his left boots.

"Why are we talking about torture..?" Francis asked, breaking his conversation from Romano, who only shrugged. 

"Thank God. Take that good for nothing tomato sucker out of here!"

"Because," Arthur unleashed venom as his sword lightly dug into the male's precious skin. "He had worked on the black market. Talk you filthy waste before I gut you myself in front of everyone." 

“I’ll talk ! I’ll talk !“ The spanish male cried, he shut his eyes and then whispered. 

“The dark side of Pierre, the corrupt are rising.“

“What do you mean by that…?“ Francis asked, his purple orbs curious as Arthur gave the male a dark scowl for interrupting. 

“What’s happ- ?“ Felicano rushed towards them and then quieted down when he spotted Antonio in tears. 

“Yanno that one good restaurant named… Polnoch…?“ 

Arthur pressed the sword closer to Antonio’s neck and then the spanish male began to yelp a bit, “I… It’s happening there… !“ and just like that, the male was free from the male’s grip and Arthur turned towards Felicano and Romano and gave a sheepish smile. 

“We must get going.“ He grabbed Francis’ right sleeve tightly and began to drag him back to where Matthew was waiting for them. 

"We aren't going to stay for dinner..?" Francis whined as Arthur shot him a glare. 

"We will have dinner when we get to MY house." Annoyance bubbled in the British male and seemingly calmed down when Francis intertwined their fingers and responded gently. 

"Alright, that's fair."