I have nothing to say for my tardiness except sorry.

Main characters this chapter: France, Canada, Kumajiro, and America (the four characters thing is a super nice addition, yeah?)

Pov this chapter: Canada/France (you'll see where it switches. Trust me.)

"Please stop ignoring me, Mr. Mathieu."

Mathieu's fingers tightened around the edges of his book as he tried to keep his focus off the ghost child currently sitting on his bed. Most of the children who had materialized after Kiku's incident did little more than laugh and run around as though they were playing an innocent game of tag.

"Ignoring people is mean."

The child currently in front of Mathieu did neither of those things.

For a long time, all the boy did was stand before the red door leading to the library, and while it unnerved Mathieu, he always made sure to avoid contact with the ghost and all was fine. Five days earlier, after Mathieu's "argument" with Lovino, he had forgotten to be careful and their arms brushed. Perhaps nothing would have happened if Mathieu hadn't jolted away and looked directly into the boy's smog-filled eyes, but Mathieu had reacted instinctively, and the moment the two made eye-contact the boy gave a knowing smile, a smile Mathieu knew sealed his fate.

The boy never entered the library, but he also never left Mathieu's side outside of it. Mathieu, for his part, had done a very good job of not only ignoring the boy's constant pleas for Mathieu to take him past the library door but also avoiding the living inhabitants of Mother Earth's. Mathieu had been pursued by ghosts before and he had learned that it was best to simply stay away from people to avoid any chance of the ghost possessing an innocent bystander as it got increasingly bored with Mathieu's lack of response. No one seemed to notice his purposeful avoidance of interaction, so, thankfully, it wasn't hard keeping everyone away.

Five days with the ghost, however, was getting to be too much. It feared nothing while keeping Mathieu awake at night in fear of what it would do if he lowered his defenses. Mathieu just wished the ghost would give up before he passed out from exhaustion.

"I can't go alone."

Mathieu finished the last page and closed the book. It was the last of his pile, which meant he would have to go to the library to get more reading material so that he'd be able to keep himself awake that night. Mathieu probably would have just stayed in the library at all times if he didn't have class to attend. He had considered skipping a few times, but with only six students his absence was bound to be noticed by someone, and he didn't want anyone to get worried about him.

With a quiet sigh, Mathieu gathered up the stack of books and headed for the library. The boy on the bed jumped down without making a sound and quickly followed.

"I really can't. I need help. Won't you please help me Mr. Mathieu?"

The boy looked to be about eleven, but sometimes his pleading made him sound like he was five.

"Once you help me through, we'll have so much fun, Mr. Mathieu! You're the one I've been waiting for, I know it! The other children don't say anything, but they know it too! That's why they've been having so much fun lately; we're all waiting for you and we can hardly contain our excitement!"

Mathieu's shaking hand had a hard time turning the doorknob of the first door leading down to the library. The boy said scary things, but Mathieu had heard worse. It was the lack of sleep that was getting to him. That had to be it.

"All you have to do is grab my hand and I can enter too! Please Mr. Mathieu, I've been waiting so long and I've grown impatient!"

The boy held his hand out and tried to grab Mathieu's elbow, but Mathieu jolted away and entered the library, leaving the ghost to stand unhappily on the other side of the doorframe. The little bear by Mathieu's feet was all puffed up and ready to attack, and Mathieu petted the thing to calm both of them. That was the closest the child had gotten since its stalking began, and the way it said "impatient"… well, the tone wasn't very childlike at all.

"Shhh… we're safe now," Mathieu assured the polar bear as he got down to his knees to hug the animal close, his books discarded on the ground. "I won't let him in."

"Mathieu?" The teen's head shot up and his eyes locked with the friendly blue irises of Monsieur Bonnefoy. "Mathieu, is everything alright?"

"Oh…um…" His bear was replaced by the books he came to return as he stood to greet his teacher. "Yeah, my… my polar bear got a little spooked and I was trying to calm him down." Monsieur Bonnefoy nodded, but he didn't look convinced by Mathieu's half-truth. By glancing back at the doorway, Mathieu made his half-truth even harder to swallow, but he had to be sure the ghost wasn't a threat to Monsieur Bonnefoy.

The boy stared silently into the library, his expression impossible to read.

So the boy was acting like he usually did. Good.

The next thing Mathieu had to concern himself with was why Monsieur Bonnefoy was in the library. Mathieu had never seen him there before, and it was even stranger to see the proud Frenchman holding books with English titles. "What are you doing with those, Monsieur?"

"These?" Monsieur Bonnefoy gestured at the books, caught momentarily off-guard by the change in the conversation's focus. After Mathieu nodded to confirm the focus of his curiosity, Monsieur Bonnefoy grinned. "They are for tomorrow. Everyone will get a book and write a report on it." He leaned in close and whispered as though he were communicating the most important of secrets. "Do not tell anyone else, but as long as something is turned in, the student will pass. It does not even have to be about the book I give them!"

Mathieu smiled, his fear slowly getting pushed to the back of his mind in Monsieur Bonnefoy's presence. Honestly, how could he not be amused by his teacher's total lack of interest in the subject he was supposed to teach?

Monsieur Bonnefoy stood back up to his full height, pride shining in his eyes. What the pride was fueled by, Mathieu was unsure. "If that makes you smile," the Frenchman grabbed the book at the top of his pile and presented the front cover to his student. "Look at the book I have picked out for your brother."

Mathieu found himself laughing almost instantly. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? It sounds perfect!"

"Doesn't it?" Monsieur Bonnefoy was laughing as well. "It is about a man going back in time to King Arthur's court and posing as a magician using his knowledge of future technologies. I cannot imagine finding a better book for your brother in the entire library!"

Mathieu's laughter died down, but his heart stayed light. "You have six books, so does that mean you expect Feliciano to return?"

It would have been nice if Feliciano returned to class soon. Lovino's mood swings had been completely unpredictable since the younger, bubblier twin disappeared with a mysterious stranger during English. One day Lovino brooded silently, the next he snapped and stormed out of Math and wasn't seen again until the following morning. It made the overall air of their classes tense as everyone tiptoed around Lovino to keep from setting him off.

Everyone except Alfred, of course, but Mathieu could tell his brother was just trying to make Lovino feel better. Alfred had tried the tactic on Mathieu many times in the past, and no matter how awful Mathieu felt he'd end up caving to his brother's charms. It didn't seem like Alfred was having any positive affect on Lovino's mood, but that didn't stop Alfred from trying.

Monsieur Bonnefoy put Alfred's book back on the stack and shook his head. "No, I do not. Antonio told me not to expect him back for a while."

"Then why…?"

"Just in case," Monsieur Bonnefoy explained with a shrug and a smile. "I have found that everyone here is quite unpredictable, so I have six just in case. If Feliciano does not show up, I will simply assign two books to Lovino."

"Oh…" There was a pause as Mathieu's eyes traveled down the books' titles. On the top, of course, was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, followed by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Giver, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Crime and Punishment, and, on the very bottom, The Little Prince. It was an interesting collection that didn't seem to fit together at all, yet there they were in his teacher's arms as a set of six. "Which one will be mine?"

Monsieur Bonnefoy responded, but his words were overpowered by an ear-splitting scream from the boy at the doorway. Mathieu was instantly reminded of his poltergeist problem, and the reminder killed his temporary sense of ease.

He slowly turned his head and found the boy smiling and waving excitedly. "I did it!" He exclaimed. "I got your attention, Mr. Mathieu! But…" His form blurred and warped into something…something wrong. The little bear at Mathieu's feet bristled its fur in response, but Mathieu could not move to calm it like before. "You really shouldn't have been ignoring me in the first place. It was mean."

Then the ghost was back to its little boy form with its little boy face smiling in an innocent little boy way, but Mathieu was not fooled. Whatever invisible barrier kept the ghost from coming into the library would not keep him safe for much longer.

"Mathieu?"

Said student's heart dropped. Mathieu wasn't alone with the dead. Monsieur Bonnefoy was still in the library. Monsieur Bonnefoy was in danger. Monsieur Bonnefoy was in danger because he was still in the library.

"Monsieur." Mathieu turned to face his teacher, his gaze strong despite the paralyzing fear that squeezed his heart. "Do you trust me?"

"…What?" Monsieur Bonnefoy was understandably confused, but there was no time for explanations! "Mathieu, what is going-?"

"Do you trust me?"

It was a question that could not be ignored a second time, not when the strength in Mathieu's eyes had traveled down to his voice.

And after only a moment's hesitation, Monsieur Bonnefoy said, "Yes."

"Alright, I need you to leave the library right now." The older man's mouth opened to interrupt with a question or objection, but Mathieu never let the words come out. "Please. I lied earlier. Everything is not alright. There is a ghost at the entrance of the library and he or it or whatever-"

"Mr. Mathieu! That was mean! Why have you been so mean lately?"

"Whatever it is, it is not safe!" Mathieu's heart was thundering in his chest. Though the child hadn't moved from the doorway, its words felt like they were being whispered directly into his ear by a slippery tongue. The feeling made him even more desperate to get Monsieur Bonnefoy out of there. "I-It's not safe, so please…"

His teacher was already heading for the door. "I shall go and get Mére immediately. Try not to do anything until I return!"

Mathieu watched his teacher go, waiting to jump to Monsieur Bonnefoy's aid when he approached the ghost. However, the ghost showed no interest in the older man, even as Monsieur Bonnefoy walked right through him. Instead, the ghost kept his clouded gaze straight ahead as though Monsieur Bonnefoy was the unseen specter.

"Mathieu…" The familiar and warm voice came from behind Mathieu as a hand with gentle strength squeezed his shoulder. He did not even need to turn around to know that the spirit behind him was his dead French teacher and Monsieur Bonnefoy's dead love, otherwise known as Jeanne. "I pray that you are not thinking of doing what I think you might do."

The thing about Jeanne was that, despite the burns that marred most of her body, she always gave off the affectionate aura of a mother. Even when Mathieu was smaller she would lull him to sleep with soft French songs and a charred fingers running through his hair when other ghosts tried to keep him up at night. He had always appreciated her caring ways before, but when he had already made the decision to do something reckless her voice of reason was the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Je suis désolé Jeanne," he murmured as he stepped out of her grip. "But I must. There are certain ghosts you just can't ignore sometimes…"

"But Mathieu-!"

"Jeanne. I will be fine." Both Jeanne and Mathieu knew what he said was a lie, but she didn't try to stop or follow him as he began to approach the ghost at the entrance of the library.

The little bear, on the other hand, was ready to charge. It growled by Mathieu's side and followed each of his steps, forcing Mathieu to stop and get down to its level.

"Hey…" Again he put his books down on the ground and again he scratched the bear's ears. "I need you to stay here with Jeanne, okay? That… boy over there clearly wants me, so I'm going to take care of him. Alone."

The bear responded with a blank stare and a whine.

Mathieu sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to defend myself this time. You can't follow me."

He gave the bear one last big hug before standing back up. He stepped forward, and so did the bear. Another foot forward, two more paws followed. Clearly, the message hadn't gotten through.

"Stop!" Mathieu hated snapping at the bear that wanted to do nothing but protect him, but Mathieu felt he had to be the one to protect those he cared about this time. The bear wasn't used to being yelled at and instinctively backed up, its pitiful whines stabbing into Mathieu's heart. It took quite a bit of mental convincing to get him to finish the walk to the ghost in the doorway instead of turning back and apologizing profusely to the spirits that had always taken care of him.

"Mr. Mathieu?" The ghost boy tilted his head curiously as Mathieu stopped just short of the entrance to the library. "What are you doing?"

Mathieu took a deep breath to gather up any courage he could find. This was a terrible, terrible idea, but he wanted to choose to go through with it rather than be forced to later by the unstable ghost before him. "You want to come into this library, right?"

The ghost perked up. "Yes! Yes, I do!"

He released his deep breath in a deep sigh and crossed the barrier between the library and the stairs. "Then I'll take you in as long as you promise not to hurt the other ghosts in there."

The ghost looked like a completely harmless child as it jumped up and down. "I promise! I promise! Oh, thank you Mr. Mathieu, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Mathieu forced a small smile and held out his hand. He hissed in pain when the ghost grabbed his hand because, though its touch was cold, it seared Mathieu's skin as though it were fire.

"Mr. Mathieu…?"

"I-I'm fine. Completely fine. Now let's get you into this library." Mathieu got in without a problem, but the boy hit an invisible wall and, as usual, couldn't get past the doorframe. Mathieu would have been lying if he said he wasn't a bit relieved.

The ghost, however, looked devastated. "What…? But why…? I thought… with you I thought I'd…" Its eyes flicked all around as it tried to figure out what had gone wrong with its plan. When everything clicked inside the ghost's head, his eyes locked into their usual straight ahead position. "Oh… of course…Mr. Mathieu has to take my place before I can join everyone else…"

Mathieu's whole body went cold. "Wh-What?" He tried to tear his hand away from the ghost's, but it was too late. The ghost pulled Mathieu back out of the library with strength that did not belong to an eleven-year-old body, once again shattering the image that he was dealing with a harmless child spirit who had lost its way.

"Don't worry Mr. Mathieu! You can still help me get through!"

The other children materialized around Mathieu in a circle, their smiles and laughter offering him no comfort. There had to be at least thirty of them of all shapes and sizes crowded into the small space before the library, and when the original ghost boy released Mathieu's hand, all of them swarmed inward to latch onto a part of the terrified teen.

Mathieu screamed.

"I'll see you soon, Mr. Mathieu!" The ghost boy stayed by the base of the stairs and waved goodbye as the children surged forward with Mathieu trapped in their grips.

Jeanne and the bear rushed forward, seeing clearly that things had gotten out of hand and that Mathieu needed assistance.

Both groups closed in on the doorway, but the children had the advantage of being closer so they arrived first. Each child that entered disappeared as soon as they stepped on the library's green carpet, though their laughter stayed. Mathieu fought to be free, and Jean and the bear sped up even more, but all of their effort was wasted.

As soon as Mathieu entered, the door to the library slammed shut and silenced the children's laughter.

The boy ghost jiggled the door's handle and found it was locked. His mouth spread into a large, toothy grin as he, too, faded away.

"I knew we were waiting for you, Mr. Mathieu."

The next afternoon found Francois waking up to the dreary gray light of a cloudy day. He groaned and sat up in his bed, though he had little motivation to do so. The previous night he had had trouble sleeping because he kept feeling like he had to do something, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what that something was. He ended up passing out around five in the morning, but even then his sleep was weak and dreamless.

Luckily for him his class was the last of the day and, unlike the rest of the teachers, he didn't have an assigned student to look after, so getting up at twelve-thirty wasn't a problem.

His mind was still focused on figuring out what he had forgotten as he took his time getting ready for what remained of the day. By the time he got dressed, his endless circles of thought were on the verge of driving him crazy. Whenever he was nervous or stressed (or both), he lit up a cigarette and puffed away to calm down, and this time was no different. The nicotine in the smoke wrapped his head in a fog that put him at ease like nothing else could.

It was an adult safety blanket, really. One that slowly killed him.

He dragged himself to class five minutes before it started and flipped on the lights. The artificial flickers from the ceiling did little to rid the room of its gloom. The gray sunshine from outside still dulled everything, including Francois, which didn't help his mood at all. When the four students filed into their seats, all the Frenchman wanted to do was crawl back into bed.

"Bonjour students," His voice held none of the music it did in his youth. His voice fit the mood of the day, which was, to put it simply, dull. "Today you are all getting an assignment."

He picked up the books he had placed on his desk the previous day after ending his phone conversation with Mére. He couldn't quite recall why he had called her or what it was they talked about, but he figured if it was important it wouldn't have slipped his mind in the first place, so he didn't let himself get too bothered by it.

"You are each getting a different book that you must finish and write a report on by next week."

Ludwig raised his hand and Francois gestured with his head for him to speak. "What exactly should the report be about?"

"Um…" Shoot. Francois probably should have thought about that. He really hated teaching English. He couldn't wait until he taught French next semester. "Write the paper on… your reaction to the book and how it may impact your life in the future."

"What if it doesn't impact your life at all," Alfred blurted. He always blurted. What Francois wouldn't give for a quiet Alfred…

"Then you would write that in your paper," Francois replied with a strained smile as he handed Alfred the book from the top of the stack.

Alfred squinted at the title. "…I ain't never heard of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. What's it about?"

"Read it and find out." His words were a bit harsh, but all the teachers in the school spoke to Alfred in the same manner.

In fact, Arthur encouraged it because "the bloody idiot won't listen if your voice has any wiggle room in it".

Whatever.

The next book in the pile went to Kiku.

"Bonnefoy-sensei?" Francois stopped and lifted an eyebrow to show he was listening. "I am afraid that I have already read many versions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"Have you ever read the original?"

Kiku paused to seriously consider the question. "…No, I do not believe I have."

Francois shrugged and continued towards Ludwig's desk. "It might not be such a bad idea to read the original then, oui?"

Ludwig was given The Giver without complaint (not that Francois expected anything out of the fifteen-year-old, anyway), but Lovino was immediately up in arms when he was given both The Portrait of Dorian Gray and Crime and Punishment (which was exactly what Francois expected).

"Why do I get two?! This is completely un-fucking-fair!"

"You get two because your brother is not here." He sighed. Lovino before his brother left was hard to handle; Lovino after his brother left was impossible to handle. "The Portrait of Dorian Gray is for you and the other one if for Feliciano. Since he's not here, you have to do his work as well as your own."

Lovino slammed his hands down on the desk and stood up. If he was trying to intimidate Francois, it wasn't working. "This is bullshit! None of the other teachers give me double the work!"

"I will do Feliciano's assignment."

All eyes turned to Ludwig. Francois had never heard him talk without raising his hand first, and judging by the looks of the other students they hadn't heard it happen before, either.

"Are…you sure," Francois asked.

Ludwig nodded. "I do not mind."

Francois looked at Lovino for confirmation and was instantly given Crime and Punishment back. "I'm too fucking busy to read one book, and I sure as hell won't be able to finish two!"

And that was how Ludwig received his second book without complaint.

"Alright," Francois stood at the front of the classroom, ready to teach (sort of). "Today I'll-"

"Hey!" Again?! Why did Alfred always have to interrupt?! "Who's the last book for?"

"Last book? What are you…?" Francois lifted his left hand to see that he indeed had one last book. The green-clad little prince stared from his meteor up at Francois, forcing him to question his own sanity. Why would he grab six books when there were only five students? He certainly didn't grab The Little Prince for himself…

"I…I do not know who this book is for…" He confessed, more to himself than the students.

The book was for someone, he knew that. It wasn't a mistake that he grabbed it, but when he tried to think back to when he grabbed the books from the library he realized a big chunk of his memory was missing.

His memory loss was becoming an increasingly-irritating problem. What on Earth had happened the previous day? Did he bump his head while in the library or…?

Francois was snapped out of his thoughts by the high shriek of nails against his chalkboard. He whipped around to the sight of phantom claws carving into the black slate screwed into the wall.

At a time when keeping a level head was necessary, Alfred was jumping out of his seat and screaming. "Holy fucking shit it's a ghost. Oh my fucking god it's a ghost. We're all going to die. We are all going to die!"

"Alfred!" Francois barked. "Calm down! We are not-!"

The scraping stopped suddenly, forcing a stiff silence over the classroom.

Then desks and chairs got pushed over by an invisible force. Francois called the students to leave their seats and come to the front of the room, and all instantly complied. As he directed them to the door, he noticed that in the reflection of the windows there appeared to be a tiny polar bear charging through the aisles and making a mess of the classroom.

He rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what they saw, but when he opened them again he saw something even more unbelievable.

The whole classroom had gone up in flames.

"Alfred!" He shouted desperately for the students, but he feared his voice was muffled by the crackling of the fire. "Lovino! Kiku! Ludwig! Anyone!"

He grabbed his throat and coughed into his hand. The smoke was everywhere and it was smothering. He felt forced back to a time he had spent half a lifetime trying to forget, the time his heart had shattered beyond repair.

Francois forced his gaze up and saw through the flames the silhouette of a blond his heart had been longing to find for as long as he had been trying to forget. He couldn't move as happy memories from his youth washed over him and forced a gross amount of tears from his eyes.

Memories from the first time they met.

Memories from their first date.

Memories from their second, third, and hundredth date.

Memories of their promises to be together forever.

Memories of those promises burning to the ground along with their shared home.

All of it was too much, but when he realized the silhouette was getting farther and farther away, his feet moved by themselves.

"Jeanne!" Francois cried out desperately for her, his tears cracking his voice. "Jeanne! Come back! Do not leave me again!"

The silhouette stopped and turned around, but the face did not belong to Jeanne. Francois did not know who it belonged to until the person spoke.

"Monsieur Bonnefoy? Wh-What are you doing here?"

New memories overpowered Francois.

Memories from the opening ceremony months ago.

Memories from the previous day.

Memories of Mathieu.

How could he have ever forgotten about Mathieu?!

"Mathieu!" Francois outstretched his arm and continued to run forward. He still wasn't sure what was going on, but there was no way he was going to let Mathieu slip away from him.

"Monsieur! Please! Help me!" Mathieu also held out his hand and also looked to be crying.

Just as their fingers brushed, tiny hands pulled Mathieu back at the same time strong arms wrapped around Francois' waist and hauled him away.

"No!" Francois hit and tugged at the arms around his waist, demanding to be freed.

"Monsieur!"

Francois stopped his fight to look at Mathieu's desperate form one last time. "Mathieu!"

"Francois!"

"Francois…Francois…Francois, you bloody git, wake up!"

Francois bolted straight up into a sitting position. His breath came out in heavy pants and his heart was pounding so loudly in his ears that he couldn't hear anything else.

He knew people were talking to him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He didn't really care about what they were saying. He was much more interested in his classroom and its lack of choking smoke, blinding flames, and Mathieu.

Mathieu… how could he ever have forgotten about Mathieu?! Oh, what did it matter? The most important thing was that Mathieu was in danger and needed his help!

Francois tried to stand, but he was forced back down to the ground by whoever had been talking. He thrashed against their hold, but he still wasn't released. This only made him panic more.

"Let me go," He screamed. "Let me go! I have to save Mathieu!"

"Francois!" Francois was silenced by a hand gripping his cheeks painfully. Arthur's face came into view, looking as annoyed as ever. "Calm down! You passed out during the sudden attack on your classroom and so you are in no condition to be standing up or fighting me right now!"

Blue eyes fiercely locked with green as both men fought for dominance in the situation. Arthur ultimately won, but only because whatever Francois had just gone through had been very emotionally draining.

"Good…" Arthur sighed and dropped his hand from Francois' face. "Now take a few deep breaths and explain to us slowly what is bothering you…"

Francois skipped the "deep breaths" part of the instructions and jumped right to explaining himself. "Mathieu! We have to save Mathieu! He is in danger!"

Arthur turned to the students and teachers standing around them. Most of them shrugged and shook their heads in response to the Briton's silent question.

"Francois," Arthur started softly to keep the Frenchman from freaking out again. "None of us know who 'Mathieu' is."

Francois' previously pounding heart stopped completely. "N…No…"

"I am afraid so, mate."

"…No…No!" Francois went back to thrashing about, and his movements got so violent that Antonio had to come and help Arthur hold him down. "No! How could we all forget?! Alfred! Alfred, how could you forget?!"

Alfred tensed defensively. "Me? What the hell? Why should I know who Mathieu is?!"

Francois cried out in frustration. "He's your twin! How could you forget your twin?!"

"You're friggin crazy," Alfred shouted back. "My twin died during birth along with my mom! He didn't even have a name!"

Francois froze in Antonio and Arthur's grip as his eyes went wide. "…What?"

"Yeah, he or she never even made it out of the womb, dude!"

"…N…No…M-Mathieu… he…"

"That is enough," Arthur stated. "Antonio, pick Francois up and take him to his room. He's clearly delirious."

"I am not! Mathieu is real! I remember! I remember him! He was my student! He was quiet and kind and the sixth book was for him! The Little Prince was for Mathieu!" Francois kept screaming as Antonio took him away, but his words were regarded as nonsense by everyone present.

Well, almost everyone.

There was a little more muttering and mulling about before people left Francois' shredded classroom. They held pity in their hearts for the man they thought had lost his mind and hoped that tomorrow would bring him some sort of relief from his psychotic episode.

Alfred stayed the longest, Francois' words running through his head on repeat. A brother? Him? No…How could he have a twin brother? It just didn't make any sense…

The Little Prince lay on the floor, its cover bent from when Francois fell with it still in his hand. Alfred picked it up looked it over.

"So this book was for 'Mathieu', huh…?" A faint something flickered at the back of Alfred's mind, and though he dismissed it as nothing he held the book close to his heart when he left the room.

He thought it would have been nice to have a brother…

Translations (Always let me know if I miss something!):

Monsieur(French)- Mister

Mére(French)- Mother

Je suis désolé(French)- I'm sorry

Bonjour(French)- Hello

Chapter notes:

-And thus the plot thickens!

-Every book I picked was picked with great care. I'd suggest looking up the summaries of the books on sparknotes if you haven't read them before, because you might catch a bit of foreshadowing for this story in their stories. Might~

So, um, I give you all a thousand apologies for the months-long hiatus. You've come to expect it from me now, though, I'm sure… Still, I hope to update again soon. Maybe if you cross your fingers and wish on a shooting star you'll get a chapter before Christmas. ^^;

What's real? What's imaginary? What does that little boy ghost want with Mathieu? Only time will tell.

See you next time!