A/N: Hello everyone, I apologize for the relatively short chapter. I must say, when I first started this story, I only had a vague outline in my head of how this would go. I write on impulse, thus everything pretty much goes unplanned. And when I had this idea, I didn't think the plot line was too serious. I honestly just wanted to write fluff and a little bit of drama but damn. I'm hoping for more fluff to come up while Alfred lives with Arthur, but it's doubtful *sigh* I am so so sorry.

Thank you to those who followed and favorited, and those who reviewed: JollyBigSis, Amelia F, avv90, and paulidracik.

Enjoy!

It was amusing how Francis and Gilbert exchanged victorious grins, and Alfred realized that they had just ganged up on Arthur. It was new to him, and he couldn't quite believe he'd taken part in it. It was always him listening to Arthur and doing whatever the older man said. But not this time. Not anymore.

"Fine, but you do realize that Alfred will have to live with me for awhile."

That broke through Alfred's inner celebration and he looked at Arthur with surprise, "Wait, what?"

Francis sighed as if that had just occurred to him. "Ah, that is correct. We can't have him on the loose after the activation."

Arthur looked pretty smug when he turned to Gilbert. "What will you tell his family?"

"Wait, wait, wait." Alfred waved a hand at the three to get their attention. "What do you mean I have to stay here? Why do I have to stay here?"

"That's because you need to learn control." Arthur replied, sipping on his tea. "It takes time to take control over your ability, and if you're around other people before learning control, then you'll probably harm them. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Alfred frowned. "No."

Francis suddenly snickered, pulling the attention to him. "I remember the time we had our activation. It was a disaster."

Arthur smirked while Gilbert shook his head, a grin playing on his lips. "No, it was fantastic." Arthur said.

"Everyone just about hated Arthur at that time." Francis told Alfred, speaking to him. "Arthur might've enjoyed it too much and went around without even bothering to control his ability. He didn't even want to control it, did you, mon ami?" He briefly looked over to Arthur, who evilly grinned. Alfred stared. "I thought so. Arthur even lied and said he couldn't control it when in fact, he already could just a few days after the activation. This lasted for a few weeks until Adam had had enough and made him stop. Arthur only ever listened to Adam, and even then, it was a struggle for Adam to make him listen."

Arthur shrugged and downed his tea. "What could I do?" He said after, "He threatened to leave me for my brother who just positively adored him. It was not worth it."

"Wait, you have a brother?" Alfred asked with surprise. It never occurred to him in the past that Arthur had any family members. Now that he thought about it, he realized he really didn't know much about Arthur's family.

Arthur just waved a hand dismissively as Gilbert cackled and pointed at Francis. "Yours was the best, Franny! You also pretended that you couldn't control it until Adam threatened to castrate you!"

"Ah, oui, best time of my life." Francis sighed wistfully and raised his wine glass in a toast then downed everything in it.

Alfred tucked it in his mind to ask more about Arthur's family later as he looked at the three other men. "Okay, so I know Gilbert can access memories with his ability and shit, but what about Arthur and Francis? What about my father? What about me?"

Francis smirked and opened his mouth to speak but Arthur cut him off with another wave of the hand. "Never mind that, we should be focusing on the matters at hand at the moment."

"I want to show him my ability!" Francis protested.

Arthur shot him a glare as he reached for the table to pour himself some more tea. "You will not. Now, Gilbert," he looked over at the Prussian. "Tell me what you're going to tell Alfred's family."

Alfred noticed the way Arthur emphasized the word "family" and could almost hear a twinge of bitterness in his tone.

Gilbert wasn't quick to reply and seemed to think for a moment before he slowly shook his head, "I have no idea."

Alfred gaped at him in disbelief but Francis just sighed and Arthur rolled his eyes as if they'd already expected that answer.

"We could just, I don't know, tell them the truth or something."

Three heads whipped to look at Gilbert.

"Not the truth truth. I can just tell them that both Alfred and Matthew might have vampiric abilities and that if they're activated, then they can help."

"My being here in London will not have to be mentioned, will it?" Arthur asked a bit worriedly.

Gilbert shook his head. "Nah. I can just say that I'm activating them myself and then teaching them how to control it."

Arthur still looked a little hesitant, but he eventually nodded. "So, I'll activate both Alfred and Matthew's abilities then?"

"Oh, oh!" Francis suddenly exclaimed, the three looking over at him. "I want to activate Mattieu's ability!"

"Why?" Arthur asked with a frown.

"Why, so you won't have to lose so much blood, mon cher! I also volunteer to teach him how to control his ability. Two would be too much for you to handle, don't you think?"

"I can handle them both perfectly!"

"I don't think I want to leave Mattie alone with you, Francis…" Alfred added.

"Yeah, let's go with Francis' idea." Gilbert said, the attention turning to him now. "Arthur can activate Alfred's and teach him. Francis can activate Mattie's and teach him. Then I'll stay with Francis and Matt to make sure that my little birdie stays innocent."

"I don't under—" Arthur started saying but Francis interrupted him.

"A brilliant idea, mon cher!" He clapped. "Let's go with this."

Gilbert proudly smirked. "I know I'm awesome."

"How long do we have to stay to learn how to control the ability?" Alfred asked.

"A week or so, more or less. Two weeks at most." Arthur replied. "However, I still don't understand why we must separate—"

"Then it's settled!" Gilbert loudly declared, his voice overlapping Arthur's. "I'll be informing Alfred's grandparents about the abilities and get them to agree or something, and make sure that in three days, Alfred will be returning here with the intention of staying for two weeks. Mattie and I will be staying with you, Francis."

Francis grinned, and Arthur's narrowed eyes flitted between him and Gilbert. "Of course."

"So here's the plan, Alfie." Gilbert started as he and Alfred walked towards their house which was only a few more blocks away from where Francis had dropped them off. "You talk to Mattie and tell him all about the abilities and stuff, and maybe tell him about Francis and that we'll be staying with him for two weeks. Don't mention Arthur, got it? Just tell him that we're staying at Francis' and that's that."

Alfred obediently nodded, looking up at Gilbert. "What are you going to tell grandma and grandpa?"

"That you and Mattie might have abilities and that I'll have them activated so you can use them. Don't worry about it, I'll get them to agree. Just talk to Matt."

Alfred just nodded again, looking up at the sky and squinting a bit from the brightness. He thought back to what just happened, his reunion with Arthur especially, and decided that it all went rather… nicely. Granted, he wasn't expecting that kind of reunion with Arthur. Heck, he never thought about how they would've reunited at all. He didn't know what he was expecting. But what happened earlier was kinda anticlimactic and awkward. Really, really awkward, and he's supposed to live with him for two weeks.

"Shit." He couldn't help murmuring as that finally sank in. He was going to be living with Arthur again. After everything that had happened three years ago, after everything he'd done, they'd be living in the same house again. He didn't know what to think or feel about that.

"What is it?" Alfred looked over at Gilbert questioningly, and the albino added, "You just said 'shit'."

"Oh." Alfred scratched at the back of his neck, not really sure what to say. "It's just that… um… I'm gonna be living with Arthur again. I just… I don't…" He sighed, not really knowing what he wanted to express.

"You don't know what to do." Gilbert suggested.

"Yeah…"

"Me neither."

"What?" He looked at Gilbert, but the albino was looking up at the sky, an expression on his face that Alfred couldn't quiet describe.

"I also don't know what to do."

"About what?"

Gilbert didn't answer straight away and just continued looking at the sky. A moment later, he huffed and ruffled his platinum hair. "A lot of stuff. But for now, let's focus on your training and shit then think about what to do with that fucktard Braginsky."

Alfred decided to let go of his questions about both Gilbert and Arthur, and asked instead of this Braginsky he'd been hearing about. "Who's this guy anyway? Seems like you don't like him."

Gilbert snorted, "Yeah, no, I don't. He's an extremist, thinks that only pureblood vampires should exist. The idea is not uncommon, but he's very open about his ideas. He hated me solely because I'm a half-blood."

"Why do the purebloods hate half-bloods so much anyway? Just 'cause they have human blood?"

"It's stupid, I know," Gilbert spat bitterly. "But according to my father, it's like humans breeding with pigs, then having children that are half human, half pig."

Alfred cringed. "Okay, that's disturbing, but still…"

"Yeah, humans and vampires aren't that different. It's just that vampires are much stronger, has really cool abilities, and feed on blood. I don't think there's much difference between the intelligence part, so my father's analogy with humans and pigs is just stupid."

"Are half-bloods really rare?"

Gilbert laughed humorlessly. "Not at all! There are a lot of half-bloods, though most of them are hiding their identity. And when they're found out, they'd be most likely killed. There are no laws that says half-bloods should be killed, but there's no law that says otherwise either."

Alfred looked at Gilbert, and he couldn't quiet imagine what it was like for Gilbert to be in a society like that. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Did they… did they ever… you know…"

"Tried to kill me?" Alfred only nodded, and Gilbert grinned darkly. "They totally did."

Alfred swallowed and looked down on the ground. "Now I know why you left."

Gilbert's grin vanished, and his face took on a solemn, and little wistful look. "That wasn't entirely it, but I guess it's part of the reason."

Alfred wanted to ask more but before he could say anything, Gilbert was already speeding up to their house, and was climbing up the stairs. Alfred ran after him and they both went inside, Mary looking up from the couch when they entered the living room. The television in front of her was running a movie.

"Alfred, Gilbert, where have you been?" She asked.

Gilbert waved a hand. "Out. Where's Tom?"

"The garage, cleaning up some stuff. Why? Did something happen?" She sat up straight, her face taking on a worried look.

"Nothing like that, but I have to talk to you both."

"What about?"

"Where's Matt?" Alfred interjected, his grandmother's eyes flickering to him.

"Upstairs, in his room. Alfred, is something wrong?"

"Nah, it's nothing. I'll leave you to talk with Gilbert." He ran up the stairs and headed straight to Matthew's room, throwing open the door without bothering to knock, and kicking it close behind him.

Matthew audibly sighed but he didn't look up from his desktop, left cheek cradled on his hand with his elbow propped up, and his index finger scrolling the mouse. "Alfred, please learn how to knock."

Alfred ignored this and walked to Matthew, eyes looking at the computer screen. "God, Matt, is that tumblr? Grow up already."

"Shut up, I'm bored. Where have you been, abandoning me?"

Alfred pursed his lips, and looked at the door, making sure it was closed. When it was, he turned back to Matthew, who was still not looking at him. "Uh… Matt? I have something to tell you."

Sensing the hesitance in Alfred's voice, Matthew stopped and looked up at him. Seeing his expression, he turned his seat to face Alfred and frowned. "What is it?"

"Uh…" Alfred looked around him and grabbed the chair by Matthew's study table. He sat down on it, facing Matthew, and scratched at the back of his head, "Um… I don't know where to start."

"Okay. Let's start with where you've been today."

"Um… okay." Alfred took in a deep breath and just blurted out quickly, "Gilbert and I went to see Francis."

Matthew's eyebrows shot up, then his eyes widened behind his glasses. "What?"

"Matt, don't freak out, 'kay, but Francis is here in London, and Gilbert is friends with him, and Gilbert knew where he lived, so we went there yesterday and today, and we talked about this thing called abilities, and it's so awesome, Matt, like Gilbert can freaking—"

Matthew waved both his hands to stop Alfred from talking. "Wait, wait, wait, Francis is here?"

"In London, yeah, and Gilbert and I went to see him both yesterday and today because of this ability thing, and Matt, listen, Gilbert can—"

"He's here?"

Alfred frowned with impatience. "Yeah, he is, how many times—"

"So Arthur is here too?"

Alfred's mouth clamped shut, not knowing what to say. He contemplated telling Matthew even though Gilbert told him not to, because he could trust Matthew, right? But what he stammered was, "w-well, no, I-I don't know—"

"Alfred, you know you suck at lying."

Alfred heaved out a frustrated sigh, and ruffled his hair. "Ugh, Matt, just listen for a minute! Let me explain, dammit!"

Matthew fell silent and stared at him with a frown, waiting for him to continue.

"Okay. So. Gilbert brought me to Francis' house the other day— no, I didn't know they knew each other," Alfred quickly said when Matthew opened his mouth, "and I was really surprised too when I found out. Well, I mean, Francis said that he mentioned Gilbert to me before—"

"Get to the point, Alfred."

"And they started talking about abilities. Vampires have abilities, Matt, and Gilbert says we might have them too."

Matthew's eyebrows shot up again, but this time with interest. "Abilities?"

"Yeah. Like Gilbert can just, like, touch you, and then he would see your memories and shit, then he can send those memories to another person."

Matthew's mouth popped open. "Really?"

"Really, I'm not shitting you. Gilbert showed me how it works."

"What about us? What's our ability?"

"Well, that's the thing! The bastards won't tell me!" Alfred whined. "They say that the ability depends on the bloodline, so we'll have the same ability as our father, but they won't tell me what it is, and that I should wait until it's activated."

"Activated?" Matthew frowned. "How's it activated?"

"Blood. Vampire blood."

"Ohh."

"Pureblood vampire blood. So yeah, we have to go to Francis and activate our ability. But thing is, we'll have to stay with him for two weeks at most to learn how to control the ability."

Matthew's face scrunched up as he asked, "What're we gonna tell grandma and grandpa?"

Alfred smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, about that, Gilbert will be talking to them— actually, he might be talking to them about it right now. He told me he'll convince them."

"Oh-kay."

Alfred grinned at Matthew with excitement, and gave him his puppy eyes. "So, you'll come, right?"

Matthew hesitated, but he nodded. Alfred beamed with relief, until Matthew asked, "Will Arthur be there?"

Alfred's grin was gone in an instant, and he vehemently shook his head. "No. No, he won't be."

"Alfred, I already told you you suck at lying."

"But I'm telling the truth!" Alfred insisted. He knew he could trust Matthew, and that if he begged, Matthew wouldn't tell their grandparents about Arthur. But he suddenly felt so scared about telling him that yes, Arthur was also in London and that he'd even seen him already. He was afraid of what might happen.

Matthew must have seen the fear in his eyes, because Matthew's expression softened and he leaned close to reach out and put a hand on top of Alfred's. "Alfred, you can tell me."

Alfred looked down and shook his head.

"Come on, I'm your twin. Don't you trust me?"

Alfred wanted to say yes, that he did trust Matthew. Instead, he asked, "Don't you want him dead too?"

"Don't you?"

Alfred stilled, running the question in his head. Did he? He already had his answer to that question three years ago, and it was a no. It remained a no even now, somehow stronger than before as he'd just seen Arthur again after three years of separation. And honestly, instead of feeling a raging anger towards Arthur for killing his parents, all he felt was happiness and how much he'd missed the man.

He shook his head.

"Why not? He killed our parents." Matthew said it softly, without the usual venom that accompanied that statement whenever it came out of their grandparents or Elizaveta.

Alfred breathed out loudly through his nose, and ran his finger through his hair. "I… I don't know, Matt. I mean, when I first found out, I was really angry, you know? But then, I just… I don't know. Gilbert said that maybe Arthur didn't actually kill our parents. He said that our grandparents are lying."

"And you believe Gilbert why?"

"Because… because he saw their memories. So Gilbert might be telling some truth."

Matthew hummed thoughtfully and leaned back, his hand leaving Alfred's. After a few seconds, he tilted his head to the side. "So Gilbert knows Arthur too?"

"Err… yeah." Alfred replied hesitantly. "They're childhood friends. With our father, too. The four of them are childhood friends. I even saw—" he quickly shut his mouth, remembering that he shouldn't tell Matthew anything about Arthur, even though Matthew might've already figured that Arthur was in London.

"Saw what?" Matthew prompted.

"Saw… saw… um… saw a picture of the four of them together in Francis' place."

Matthew's eyes brightened with interest. "A picture of our father?"

Alfred couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corner of his lips as he nodded. "Yeah. A picture of him, Matt. We look just like him. And I think it was Gilbert who said that he's got your gentle personality."

A happy, and a bit smug, smile also pulled at Matthew's face. "Really."

"Really." Alfred nodded enthusiastically.

"All the more reason to go to Francis' house then. I want to see what our father looked like."

"Yeah." Alfred agreed, and they both smiled at one another. "Yeah, it'll be great."

The atmosphere during dinner was a tense one, and that's how Alfred knew that Gilbert had already talked to his grandparents about the thing with his and Matthew's ability. Elizaveta's expression was also rather grim, which meant that she, too, had been told.

It was heavy and awkward, and the sound of the silverware clinking as they ate was far too loud for Alfred's liking. He glanced at Gilbert, but the albino was pretending to not notice the awkwardness, and a glance at Matthew told Alfred that his twin brother was feeling uncomfortable but not doing anything about it.

Alfred sighed to himself and thought of what to say, but there was the final clink from when Thomas put down his knife and fork, signaling that he was done eating. Alfred waited.

"So, Alfred, you've told Matthew?"

Alfred unconsciously straightened up, and nodded at his grandfather. "Yeah, I did."

Thomas turned to Matthew. "What do you think?"

"I think it'd be fine." Matthew replied readily. "I mean, Alfred and I would certainly be more help if we really have this ability thing."

Mary frowned worriedly. "Oh, but I don't want you two to fight at all. It's way too dangerous, and I cannot stand to think of losing you both too. Learning self-defense should already be enough."

Alfred sighed as Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Gran, come on. Mattie and I want to help, right, Matt?" Matthew nodded firmly. "And if there'd be a war, it's not like Matt and I would just be able to sit. We might as well have the ability to protect ourselves and everyone else more."

"And there would be a war." Gilbert muttered.

"Gilbert says you'll have to stay with a pureblood vampire for two weeks after the activation." Elizaveta chipped in lightly. "Would you really be fine with that?"

"I already told you the pureblood vampire is a friend of mine!" Gilbert exclaimed exasperatedly. "I can trust the guy, and he won't hurt these two fledgling!"

Elizaveta glared at Gilbert. "I can't believe you would do this. I thought you had cut off ties with the vampires!"

"And I have! I have not had contact with them for over twenty years, but with this fucking Braginsky and his stupid wedding, I had to get back in touch!"

"No, you did not have to do that, we're not even sure yet what will happen!"

"You hunters may not know what might happen, but as someone who grew up in that society, I can very well predict what the bastard is thinking, and a war will be breaking out, you stupid little girl!"

Elizaveta gasped indignantly, and she would've stood up from her seat to maybe hit Gilbert, but Thomas stopped her, and pushed her back to her seat by the shoulder.

"Enough." He commanded with authority.

Mary had closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead while Alfred and Matthew just watched the argument with wide eyes.

"You two are getting sidetracked. We're not talking about Gilbert going back to the vampire society, Elizaveta, we're talking about Alfred and Matthew having their ability activated."

Elizaveta glared at Gilbert, and the albino glared right back before turning to Thomas. "Seriously, I don't see the problem. In the end, their abilities will only benefit us all."

"But they have to stay with a pureblood for two weeks! Actually, shouldn't we be hunting down that pureblood by now?" Elizaveta said.

Gilbert sneered at her. "Yeah, why not, you know, make the hunters' relationship with the vampires even worse so that when the war comes, the purebloods will happily wipe out humanity."

"Stop it, both of you." Thomas chided. He turned to Gilbert and said, "you've been with us for a long time, Gilbert, and we trust you. If you think that the ability will help, and if both Alfred and Matthew agree, then we also agree that the ability should be activated, and we'll let these two stay with the pureblood vampire for two weeks."

Gilbert nodded appreciatively. "Don't worry, I will be there with them, and I won't let anything bad happen to them, I promise."

Thomas also nodded. "Then we have a deal."

Elizaveta threw her hands up and shot up to her feet, briskly walking out the room. The occupants of the table watched her.

"What the fuck is her deal? This has nothing to do with her!" Gilbert angrily exclaimed.

Mary sighed, looking so tired and worn. "Gilbert, please. You know her. She hates the vampires and everything that has to do with them. She only tolerates you because you've cut off ties with them."

"Yeah, and she thinks that she can use me as proof that the vampires are oh-so horrible because I'm a fellow vampire who walked out on them."

Mary stared at him for a moment, then just shook her head, and also stood to clean up the table. "We're done here. When will you be leaving?"

"Tomorrow, or the day after."

"And you'll keep us informed on the boys?" Mary gestured at Alfred and Matthew.

Gilbert nodded.

"Very well then." Mary looked at Alfred and Matthew, and sadly smiled. "Then I guess I'll have you boys help me with the chores while you're still here."