My Hearts Joy - FrUs (yaoi)

Chapter 5 - Missing

"It's from Alfred."

Those three simple words caused a chilling silence to fall over the room. Ludwig paused in the doorway and turned to face Arthur again.

"It's a video." Arthur pressed play on the video and turned his screen so it became full screen. He watched as Alfred was tortured and flinched when the lights cut out, the video stopping along with the lights. "Oh my god..."

Arthur felt sick to the stomach. His best friend, the boy he raised and cared about for years. His confident smiling Alfred was going through hell and they had no idea where he was. Francis stood from the sofa and began to pace, panic and anger evident in his eyes but there was something else. Something Arthur couldn't quite place in the Frenchman's eyes.

"We have to find him. There has to be...some kind of clue in that video that will tell us where he is." Francis paused as he frantically ran his hands through his hair. "The black out. We can find the neighbourhood that had one recently and then look at the warehouses within those neighbourhoods. That could work right?"

Arthur had already began to search for the area that the black out took place. They would find Alfred.

Alfred didn't know how long it had been since he'd seen his torturer. The man had brought him some bread and water just to keep him alive but he was already getting weak. The wounds on his chest had scabbed and began to heal but the electrocution had taken a lot from him. Not knowing whether it was night or day had taken it's toll on the American; he only slept when he passed out. The rest of the time he forced himself awake in case his torturer returned.

The only thing keeping him from insanity was the hope that Francis was trying to find him.

He flinched when he heard the heavy metal door opening once again. His torturer walked in with a cloth and walked over to Alfred. He began to clean him down, not being gentle in the slightest. A few scabs broke from Alfred's chest and new blood began to cover him. Alfred closed his eyes at the small sharp pains that travelled through his chest.

Soon his captor backed away and grinned. "There. All clean. I don't want you dying from disease." He said simply. "Now as it seems you'll be here a while, I thought it would only be fair that you know my name." The smile on the man's face, Allen had learned, meant pain.

Alfred raised his head to look at the man. Finally he would know the name of the man who took him. The stranger picked up a branding iron from the cabinet and grinned. He had carried in a bucket of hot coals when he entered the room, he then stuck the branding iron into the coals and started to wait. "I know all about you, Alfred. I know how Arthur Kirkland raised you, and how you left him coldly crying on the floor. I know how broke Francis' heart when you yelled at him. I know that you're always forgetting and leaving your brother out."

Each word hit Alfred like an icicle to the heart. His eyes never left his captor as he watched the iron become red. The male pulled the branding iron from the coals and walked over to Alfred. "My name will be on your skin forever. You will never forget the man that made Alfred Jones disappear." He said deeply and pressed the burning melting in Alfred's skin.

The scream of pain tore through the silence as the flesh burned and sizzled away around the hot iron. The iron was left there until it grew cold then the man moved back away from his prisoner. Three words had been printed into the flesh just above Alfred's hips.

Property of Allen.

Only an hour passed before Arthur jumped up from the sofa. "I found it! I know where he is!" He yelled proudly.

The group all gathered their weapons, Francis with pistols and a dagger, Arthur with duel swords and Ludwig with a singular black pistol; Feli carried a small white flag and a bowl of pasta. They all piled into Ludwig's van and Arthur immediately began giving directions to the German.

Within ten minutes their van screached to a stop outside the warehouse. The group climbed out of the van, Francis leading the way with angry eyes. He moved with intent to kill anyone who stopped him from getting to his love.

Once they reach two large heavy iron doors, he glared. "These were in the video. He's just behind this door."

Arthur nodded and slammed the hilt of one of his swords into the ID scanner. The doors unlocked and Arthur shouldered them open. The Frenchman thundered into the room and...

Stopped.

Alfred wasn't there. The only sign that the American had ever been there was the torn reminants of his shirt and a large puddled of brown half dried blood. The cabinet from the video was gone and all that remained were the chains where Alfred had been tied up.

Arthur glared and kicked a chair across the floor. "God dammit it all! Whoever has Alfred knew we were coming! They've been one step ahead this whole time and we're back to square one!"

Francis shook his head. "Not quite. Now we know that Alfred is still alive."

Allen grinned and looked up at the unconscious American from the floor.

"Not for long Mr Bonnefoy. Not for long." He turned off the screen he was using to watch the group through his CCTV cameras and stood up. A grin broke out across his face as he ran his thumb gently over the branding he had left on his latest victim.

"Soon, he won't be the Alfred you remember at all."