As (Name) walked into the Chemistry classroom, she felt the eyes of several students land on her. Still, she didn't bother trying to meet any of them since she still had class to go to.

She also noticed Kiku gather his things and quickly leave the room, but join Alfred and Arthur as the two waited for him. Seeing as the three of them had the next class with each other, it was student mentality to walk to class with your friends.

"Hey, (Name)." She heard a voice from the front of the class room.

(Name) looked up from picking up her book bag to see the Scottish Substitute sitting at his desk, his head resting on his chin. She pulled her book bag on then walked over to him. "Sir?"

"Ah, cut the 'Sir' crap. Makes me feel too old." He replied gruffly. "Especially considered the fact that I've known you and your brother since I was in Middle School."

She shuffled her feet slightly. "You were closer to my brother than me... Allistor." Mumbled the girl.

Allistor shrugged. "Maybe, but Louis wouldn't ever shut up about you, so it isn't like any of his friends didn't know about you."

(Name) looked up, quirking an eyebrow at the Scott. "My brother... Talked about me?"

"Aye! 'Oh, my sister is the sweetest kid!' or 'Geez, she's too cute.' or 'no matter what, I'm gonna do what's best for my little sister!' Your brother seriously wouldn't ever stop." Laughed Allistor. "But I can see why, helping a class mate like that..."

"I just did what anyone else would have done." She replied quickly, glancing down at the floor as blood rushed to her cheeks. She knew Louis used brag about her during school, but never like that.

Allistor tipped his head at the younger girl. "Don't sell yourself short. After everything you and Louis went through... You two are pretty amazing considering..."

She nodded. "My brother... He's the one who's amazing."

The Scott nodded, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, you better dash to class. Don't want to be late for Mr. Beilshmidt's class."

Taking the chance, (Name) turned on her heel to quickly walk out of the room. "See you, Mr. Kirkland." She mumbled as she walked out of the room.

"Oi! I told you to cut that crap! Also, tell your brother to come by the bar! I need his company now and again!" Yelled Allistor as she made her way down the hall.

~~~

(Name) made it into the class room before Mr. Beilshmidt even arrived. She heard a call from Feliciano, but quickly made her way to her seat next to Matthew just as the sound of the 7th period bell echoed through the building.

"How come you're coming in so close to the bell?" Asked the Canadian.

She sat down in her seat with a sigh. "I got caught up in a conversation with an old friend of my brother." She explained with a sigh.

"Did you know that friend?" Matthew asked.

"No... But I knew his brother."

The small talk continued until Mr. Beilshmidt came in with several different stacks of paper. "Alright, looks like everyone is here... So, as I've announced, there is going to be a group project.

Several sounds of distaste sounded around the room, but were quickly silenced by the vice principle's harsh stare.

"So, this is a group thing?" Asked Gilbert.

"Ja." Replied his grandfather as he picked up a stack of papers and moved around the room to hand them out. "As you know, we're studying wars that enveloped the entire world, centering around the World Wars. We finished the French and Indian War two weeks ago and now we're focusing on the major World Wars, both World War I, and World War II."

"Oh yeah, the wars that changed history," Alfred spoke out.

"All wars change history, Jones. They all makehistory." Commented the vice principle as he placed the rubric for the "Anyone want to name some advancements from World War I?"

"Aviation advancements." Alfred chirped.

"Hydrophones in the use of U-Boats." Matthew spoke.

Francis looked up. "Mobile X-Ray machines and sanitary napkins."

"Use of trench and gas warfare." Ludwig added.

Pleased, Mr. Beilshmidt nodded. "How about advancements thanks to World War II?"

"The use of radar." Arthur answered.

"Synthetic rubber." Lovino added.

The blond adult nodded in agreement. "Wang, Honda, you two have any ideas?"

"Er... Rockets, right?" Yao questioned.

"Correct. Honda?"

"The use of atomic energy." Kiku answered.

The blond adult nodded, walking back to his desk after finishing passing out the papers. "Now, I've already assigned the groups. Each group will represent either the Allied or the Axis powers. The entire project will relate to both wars, one third of the grade will come from the work you do on World War I, the second third will be from your World War II work, and the final third will be the overall effort that was out into the project."

(Name) glanced down at the rubric, and the entire project was made up on six parts, like he said.

Each person within each group have to create one of these presentations:

A poster
A timeline
A slide show
A written report
An oral presentation
A short video presentation

Each person will choose one of the sub-topics to cover

Leaders of the assigned alliance
Relations between each country of the alliance
Military advancements from the alliance's side
Battles won and lost on the alliance's side
Advancements made from the alliance's side that aren't military
Outcome for the alliance after the war ended

Each person will be graded on their part of the project and their overall work and effort put into their part of the project.

"So, for the Axis Powers: Ludwig, Gilbert, Kiku, Lovino, Feliciano, and (Name). Allied Powers: Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Yao, Ivan, and Matthew."

(Name) could feel her face visibly pale as her heart fell to her stomach. The ringleader, his brother, and one of his goons were her project partners. She looked over at Matthew, and she could see the alarm in his eyes.

"Matthew..."

"D-don't worry too much... I think you'll be fine. Ludwig is kind of a stickler about this kind of thing, so I don't think he'll let anyone cause you any trouble." Explained the Canadian.

The girl wasn't convinced. Despite the fact that she was only slightly friendly with Feliciano and now Kiku, she couldn't see the two of them being much protection from the other tree males of the group.

Great. Not only did she have to worry about getting a good grade, she had to focus on not getting beaten to a pulp.

~~~

The rest of class went on without a hitch, the teacher went on giving out examples of resources to use for research. When the bell rang, (Name) wanted nothing more than to run out of the room, but the sound of the blond German calling her name made her freeze. She turned her head to see Ludwig standing by his desk, Kiku, Feliciano, Lovino, and Gilbert with him.

Carefully she weaved her way through the desks over to the group, clutching her binder to her chest.

"We've distributed topics and parts of the project. You'll be covering the outcomes of the wars and will be making the slide show." Explained the tall German, his cobalt blue eyes meeting her (e/c) orbs.

(Name) responded with a stiff nod. "A-Alright."

The blond watched as his grandfather left the room, and as soon as the adult had gone, Ludwig's brows furrowed in a deeper scowl as he turned back to the small female. "Now, I will not tolerate a grade that is any less than satisfactory from anyone in this group, and that includes you. Understood?"

His deep voice and threatening tone shook (Name) to her core, causing the female to tremble slightly as she nodded.

"Gut." He said curtly before pushing past her, his brother smirking at her as he did the same. Lovino pushed Feliciano out of the room before the perky Italian could say a word to the girl. Kiku walked past the girl, giving her a look of acknowledgement before leaving the room.

(Name) sighed as she trudged out of the room. She didn't mind the work, it really didn't seem too difficult to do. The outcomes of both World War I and World War II, not hard at all.

The walk down the halls was quiet, and (Name) was glad for that. Making her way to her locker was the last stop she had to make before going home. As soon as she turned the corner to get to her locker, what she saw made her stop walking altogether.

Leaning against the lockers, stood the tall and sullen Dane. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his eyes were fixed to the floor. He certainly didn't carry the cheerful and energetic façade that he would usually carry while at school.

Cautiously, (Name) approached Matthias. She didn't want to, but seeing as he was standing by her locker, she didn't have a choice. The sound of her footsteps caused the blond to look up, his blue eyes, which were strangely red, meeting hers.

"Uh... (Name)..." He tried to say. (Name) could hear the crack in his voice as he spoke.

Red eyes.

Cracking voice.

Holy hell, the Danish teen had actually been crying.

Never, not a chance in hell did she ever expect that from the cheerful and energetic Matthias. Whenever she saw him with his friends, may it be Tino and his group or Gilbert in Latin, she always saw him with a happy smile plastered to his face.

She stopped when he stood up to his full height, looking down at her slightly, his hands still in his pockets.

"... What is it you want, Matthias?" She questioned the tall blond.

He said nothing. He didn't raise a fist. He just stood there quietly, almost afraid to meet her gaze. When he did move, he removed a hand from his pocket, holding out a small photograph. "I'm pretty sure this is yours."

(Name)'s eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the photo of her with Louis wasn't in her locker where it should of been. She gingerly took the photo and looked up at Matthias questioningly. "H-how...?"

"It must have fallen out of your locker when I... You know." He explained, replacing his hand back in his pocket.

She looked down at the photo, seeing that it was still in one piece and pretty much intact. He had this in his procession... The entire day? "How come you're just now returning it?"

He shifted his weight on his feet. "You were always with someone, and I never got the chance to return it face to face with you... Plus... I wanted to do it so we could be alone."

"Well, we're alone now, I suppose..." She answered him, moving to open her locker and place the picture back in its original place. She grabbed her English binder along with her Geometry binder and placed them in her book bag. Soon, she closed her locker and looked back up at Matthias who was waiting patiently for her.

"Could we take a walk? I know a place where we could get something to drink... If you're interested." Matthias suggested quietly, keeping his hands in his pockets.

The girl nodded, slinging her bag on her shoulders. "Sure... Lead the way."

Matthias gave a slight nod and turned, leading the way out of the school at a calm pace. (Name) kept his pace and walked steadily next to him, keeping her gaze towards either straight ahead or the ground.

"So... Lukas talked to me after lunch today." Matthias began, causing the girl to shift her gaze over to him. "He... He yelled at me for what I did. I tried to apologize, but he wouldn't give me the chance..."

She nodded quietly. "I'm... Sorry to hear that."

"He said... I shouldn't bother trying to just apologize and expect to be forgiven right off the bat... Hell, I should know that doesn't work more than anything."

(Name) glanced over at the Dane, noticing how low he was hanging his head. She opened her mouth to say something, but Matthias continued.

"I mean, I can't count how many times I was apologized to as I grew up... And I never could let go of a grudge so easily... I... I fucking turned into a person that I swore I should never become. I promised myself that... But I broke it." He mumbled, sighing quietly.

The two soon reached the same café that Tino had taken (Name) to the day before. Matthias had opened the door for her, letting the girl in ahead of him. When the two reached the counter, Matthias had ordered himself a bottle of water and payed for (Name) as she ordered a piece of the strawberry cake that Tino had gotten her to try.

When seated, Matthias shyly met (Name)'s gaze. "... How much did they tell you... If you don't mind my asking?" He asked.

"Well... Tino told me about when you all met... Your backgrounds... And the promise you all made when you were kids." She replied, playing with the hem of her shirt.

He nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "When I said I became what I promised I didn't... I meant that I became like my old man." He spoke, rubbing the back of his neck. "He was a jerk to me when he was drunk... He would yell, bad mouth me, tell shit tales about my mom. And around high school he tried to get help, but he still has his episodes."

"... And you needed someone to take it out on." She concluded, looking at the Dane, noticing him visibly flinch at her words.

"Yeah..."

(Name) nodded, understanding the issue. "It's common for kids, any age, to do that... Not controlling their anger and taking it out on other people... Just using others as a punching bag."

Every time she hit the nail on the head, Matthias flinched, realizing his mistakes. "Look... I know that no apology could ever amount up to what I did to you, but I just... I want you to know that I don't ever want to be that person that I was."

The girl blinked her (e/c) eyes in slight surprise. Was this really happening, or was it some kind of cruel joke that everyone was in on?

"When I heard what happened to Tino, I talked to Gilbert about it... That asshole, I thought that jerk was my friend! But he helped Ivan beat up... I should have been there to help Tino... But I just got mad at you and didn't think about who was really at fault. He was just being Tino, helping you in the first place."

The Dane kept going on and on about how stupid he was for hurting the girl all those times, (Name) tried to get a word in, but he never gave her the chance. Letting him continue his rant, the girl pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message out to someone she knew would come running. Even after sending the message, another ten minutes had gone by before (Name) even tried to speak.

"Matthias--"

"I should have realized my mistake so much earlier than this... I shouldn't have been such a jerk to you..."

"Matthias you can stop--"

"No, I can't! After everything I did, I can't even look you or my brothers in the face because of what I did to you and them..."

"No, Matthias, really--"

"I just want things to go back to the way they were, the five of us being together all the time, no assholes like Gilbert and his pals..."

"Matthias..."

"Look, (Name), just let me finish please!"

"Matthias!"

"What?!" He exclaimed, looking up from his clenched fist, but immediately regretted shouting.

Behind (Name) stood the blond Finn, almost smiling in amusement at his friends at the table.

"So... Can I sit?" Asked Tino with a soft laugh.