CHAPTER 3

He would have rather stayed and dealt with all the costumers himself. He would have rather thrown himself off a building four times then shaved his head and gotten a nipple piercing. Okay, sure when he was in high school he had done the piercing part but even reliving that dreadful time would have been better than that. The car came to halt and Arthur all but threw himself out of the car. If had to listen to Gilbert burp the alphabet, or have Gilbert ask him if something smelled foul one more time, Arthur was going to vomit. The five hour trip they had taken had been silent other than Gilbert's antics and his boss's retorts.

When they arrived, Arthur was surprised to find them so far in the country. Around them were fields and more fields. The temperature was slightly warmer but the breeze kept it cool. The house in the middle of the fields seemed to be a small ranch from the front but Arthur knew as soon as he got inside he was going to get lost. The light golden paint on the house matched the dried field grass. A breeze rippled over the grass as cows could be seen grazing. One of the small calves look up at Arthur and without realizing Arthur waved to it with wide eyes.

Cute, aren't they?

Arthur tensed up at the sudden arrival of thoughts. He turned his head to see a girl had been standing next to him. She was wearing an overalls-type dress that stopped at her knees where her muddy boots hiked. A yellow apron was tied to the front. Her hair was cute short with a purple ribbon tied to the side in a simple bow. She gave a small smile.

"Hi," Arthur said finally.

"Hi," the girl replied back simply.

"My n-name is Arthur," Arthur said gripping the bag strap that was across his chest.

"I know," she said in the same cheerfulness. She held her hand out. "My name is Elsie."

Arthur shook her hand. He raised a suspicious eyebrow and checked his chest. He wasn't wearing his name-tag by accident was he? "How do you know my name?"

Her smile faltered a bit. She seemed disappointed in having to explain herself. "Oh, well I…"

"Elsie!"

Both heads turned as they saw a man with a similar bob hair cut standing near the house. He had his hands crossed and for some reason glared daggers at Arthur. He was wearing a white shirt and khakis rolled up to his knees with boots similar to Elsie's.

"We should probably go inside," she said quietly. Without waiting for Arthur to follow, she made her way to the house.

Oh I hope big brother isn't too mad.

Arthur winced and took a chance to glance over at the other man. The glare only grew harsher and quickly walked past him.

Who the fuck are you…?

Shit. Arthur had barely met these people and now it seemed he had just given the worst first impression one could give. He walked into the house and was quickly ushered into a large room. It was similar to a conference room but the wooden table and homely wallpaper took away from its seriousness. Not only that, but there were doilies. Arthur looked around the table briefly before sitting down next to Ludwig. Elsie took a silent seat next to him with quiet composure.

At the head of the table stood an empty chair, everybody was already seated. It seemed the host of the evening was still missing. They all sat in a strangely tense silence. Well maybe it was tense because Mr. G was glaring at the empty chair as though there was a person already there.

He stood abruptly, "Where is…" his sentence being cut short by the loud honking of an obnoxious car horn.

Arthur felt himself jolt at the sudden loud noise but other than that tried not to look surprised. Everybody in the room didn't seem to have been phased. They all sat silence when the double door burst open revealing a very tall and tan Italian with extremely curly hair. He laughed obnoxiously and walked into the room and slapped Arthur's boss in the back. Hard enough that even Arthur winced.

As the man's laughter died down, two more Italian followed in. They were both younger with matching hair curls on opposite sides of their heads. Though their faces looked similar, the attitudes were completely opposite.

The one with the brighter attitude quickly made a bee-line path to Ludwig. Something felt odd about their interaction. They were a bit too close and touching a bit too much.

Elsie leaned over, her thoughts clear and calm.

They are…kind of… together, if you know what I mean.

Arthur turned to her and raised a curious eyebrow.

"Don't worry," Elsie said aloud, "You'll get used to their coddling."

Arthur nodded distractedly, "Who are they?"

Elsie pointed to the one next to Ludwig. "That's Feliciano Vargas," she explained, "His ability is Death-warning. He gets visions of a person's death before it happens. His brother, "Elsie turned to the other young Italian, "is Lovino Vargas. He's a spirit medium."

"So he can talk to the dead?" Arthur said slightly impressed.

"No," Elsie said with a wave of her hand, "He can only channel them through his own body. Mr. Vargas is their grandfather."

Arthur wanted to ask more questions, specifically at what Mr. Vargas's ability was, but the meeting began. The meeting seemed to stem issues that Arthur had no interest in: the Vargas's suspicious activity, the inactivity of the other members of the group, the addition of another into the group…wait...

That was him.

Arthur looked up at Elsie tapped him on the arm. Everybody in the room was looking at him; some with distain. He hadn't done anything and yet he was already hated. It was like high school all over again. He didn't have to read their minds to know they didn't trust him.

"We can't have him just going out in the world! He isn't properly trained."

Disgusting.

"He has yet to bring suspicion to us…"

"That doesn't matter! We don't know anything about him!"

"Well we could kill him?" Lovino said nonchalantly.

It had taken Arthur a little by surprise. Were these people so used to execution that the mention of killing him didn't faze them? Arthur shook his head and in an attempt to defend himself he cleared his throat. "That's not necessary," Arthur said drawing the attention of the entire room, "I may not be as experienced as the rest of you but I can learn more."

"I agree."

Arthur turned his gaze toward Elsie. This was the first time she had spoken up since the meeting had started. She had the same pleasant smile. Her brother on the other hand looked appalled, but before he could counter-argue, she continued. "And, if it's okay with Arthur, I will teach him. We have the same ability, as you already know," She motioned to the head of the table, "Thus making it very easy to teach him."

Arthur couldn't tell if he was grateful or worried. Everyone was quiet as Romulus scratched his chin in thought. This was probably the most intense five minutes of Arthur's life. Finally the youngest Italian spoke up. Although he was still wrapped around Ludwig's arm, his voice was clear with demand.

"I think that is a great idea!" Feliciano said, both of his family members giving him a shocked look.

Arthur sat across Elsie. They had moved to her bedroom which was incredibly huge. The light cream walls complimented all of the light touches of pink that seemed to pop in the room. It smelled of flowers and honey but Arthur could tell where it came from. Elise has also changed into a simpler pink dress; different from her previous work clothes. It suited her nicely.

They now sat across from each other in front of the big bay window that opened to the side of the house. Elise smiled but her eyebrows where furrowed.

"You're probably nervous, huh…?" Elise said worriedly.

"Just a little, dear," Arthur said trying to keep his hands from sweating.

"It's alright," Elsie said. She held out her two hands. "We are just going to practice."

Her hands held out with her palms faced up. Arthur stared at her confused.

Place your palms on mine, please.

Arthur nodded and complied. He placed his hands on Elsie's. "What am I suppo—"

Just as Arthur was about to speak a flood of thoughts flew into his mind. From place he never knew and with accents he couldn't decipher, the languages piled into his brain. He quickly took his palms off of Elsie and retracted into the soft chair he was sitting.

"What… the bloody hell was that?" he said, sweat dripping down his face. His whole body was nauseous. He could feel the bile rise but forced himself to calm down. His body was shaking slightly as he let out a slow breath.

Elsie looks just as distraught. "It's what happens when you combine powers," She said trying to catch her breath, "Our powers maximize each other, thus the reason we could hear… everybody. You can't control who you hear yet, that opened the gate for all the voices."

Arthur sat back up slowly. He didn't say anything for a moment before asking, "What does that mean?"

"It means until you can zero in specific people and block more efficiently," Elsie said back to her pleasant demeanor, "We won't do that again."

Arthur nodded. Arthur paused for a moment. He needed to ask something that had been on his mind since the meeting. Something he had found out during by accident and was still bothering him. "But why did my powers work not work on Feliciano and his insufferable brother"

Elise smiled a bit at the mention of the Italian brothers. "Don't ever read their minds."

"Why?" Arthur said confused.

"It's just best not to."

Arthur nodded, deciding not to ask again. There really was something off about those brothers.

Elsie smiled. "Okay, let's try translating!"

Arthur groaned as he made his way to the book store. The drama and constant testing of his powers had drained him to a point where he just didn't care who he heard this morning. He had been so tired when they got back he hadn't done his laundry like he always did. Leaving him with the clothes his mother bought for him and occasional hand-me-downs, all of which were too large. But the sweaters were warm and in this weather, Arthur didn't mind the size. The weather had gotten much colder and the first snowfall began. Arthur could deal with rain, but not snow.

He shuffled through the snow that had blackened in the streets before almost running into the warm confinements of the bookstore. He breathed a sigh of relief as the heater pumped. He made his way to the back. He took off his jacket and hung it on the hook. As he reached up, he felt his midsection being exposed. He shivered. He had forgotten that this sweater was short on him for some reason and had only chosen it because it was the warmest. He pulled it back down before grabbing his green apron and making his way back to the front of the shop.

It was odd; it seemed like his boss wasn't there. The door had been open and the sign had been hung but there was still no sign of his boss. Arthur shrugged it off. When he thought about it, the reason could have been anything.

He walked to the out of the back. There, Arthur saw it. It was taunting him. Sure, Ludwig was the neat-freak but Arthur had his pet-peeves as well and this happened to be it. A book pushed out, on the verge of falling, grabbed Arthur's eye mockingly. He hated when people pushed books too far and this ended up happening.

Sighing he put his apron down on the counter for a second. He walked over to the bookcase and reached up on his tippy-toes. Barely brushing the bottom of the spine, Arthur was barely able to push it back in. He sighed as he let himself drop back down to his feet.

HOLY SHIT…!

Arthur spun around to see Alfred staring at him with wide eyes. Well not his face, Alfred was staring at his midriff which had been exposed when he had reached up. Feeling a little self-conscious Arthur pulled his sweater down.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo," Alfred said bluntly.

Arthur's eyebrows rose slightly. "I don't have a tattoo," He countered quickly.

"Yeah, you do!" the blonde said with a wide grin. He inched closer.

IS IT, LIKE A SKULL OR SOMETHING?

Arthur took a step back. "No," He said more firmly, "I don't."

Alfred's grin turned smug. "Then what was that blue spot on your hip?" Another step forward.

I BET IT IS A SKULL! HOW CRAZY WOULD THAT BE?!

Another step back. Arthur whole body tensed."I don't know what you talking about."

"Can I see it?" Another step forward.

"You most certainly can't!" Another step back.

YUP IT'S DEFIANTLY A SKULL

Thud. Arthur's back hit the bookcases. Although he was technically trapped in the corner, Arthur didn't show any sign of giving in. He stood his ground with a glare that made the other physically flinch.

"AH-HA!" Alfred let out with a snap of his fingers. "So you do have a tattoo."

I WIN!

Arthur blinked with a confused face. Had he just been tricked? Had this really just happened? What was the world coming to?

"Move," Arthur let out bitterly, but despite the warning tone, Alfred kept his approach.

"C'mon I want to see?" Alfred said getting too close for Arthur's personal space.

Instinctively, Arthur turned and punched Alfred square in the jaw. Hard. Shit.

I would be a fucking liar if i told you I knew I what I was writing. I honestly think I will discontinue this story. I have no idea what to write next for this and I've been such a poop-fart and started writing, like, 4 other stories and planning even more. Uhh... I just done know anymore. Anyways, Happy Holidays.