Aftermath: Maple Warriors II

Alfred

"This is Roderich, Elizaveta, Vash, Lili, Antonio, Vlad, and the Vargas brothers, Feliciano and Lovino." Matthew pointed at each Axis gang member as he said their names.

"Vargas? As in Julius Vargas, the legendary Axis member?" I gaped.

"Sí. That was our grandpa." Feliciano chirped excitedly. His brother nodded once.

"Vlad, Matthew told me you were into magic." Arthur spoke up.

Oh great...He was talking fairy tales again.

"Yeah. I am." Vlad declared.

"Would you like to exchange spells?" The two broke into a cheerful conversation from there. The rest of us decided to let them at it.

"Mattie's family needs help getting back in zhe Allies." Gil explained.

"Didn't ve have zhis plan to kill zhen one year ago?" Roderich glared.

"Ja. But zhey promised to ally vith us vhen zhey get zheir power back." Glibert argued. "Having zhe Allies on our side against zhe Nordic gang und zhe African gangs might be a great advantage."

Roderich and Elizaveta looked at each other, considering the idea.

"Anyzhing else?"

"The initial plan we have to getting them back in the gang is non-violent. We're planning on only attacking if Arthur, Francis and Alfred are rejected." Matthew went on to explain.

When did he become such a leader?

"How many do you need?" Elizaveta sighed.

"I've got my Maple Warrior Militants on my side." Mattie declared. "So between them and my family we only need two or three of your members."

"Maple Warrior Militants? When did you get an army?" I asked my twin.

"By militants he means forest animals and Mattie happens to be the head of one of the fiercest gangs there is." Antonio smirked. "They have the element of surprise on their side."

"Forest animals?" Francis furrowed his brow.

"Yeah, I thought I told you I could talk to them." He adjusted his grip on Kuma.

"What? Since when?" Francis gasped.

"Since forever." Mattie groaned.

"Sí. He's also amazing with medicine."

"You can say that again." Lovino smiled. Something told me he didn't do that often.

"I was never supposed to walk again, but Mattie here fixed me up in a few days."

"H-How?" I stammered. Even Arthur had dropped his conversation with his Romanian friend was staring at Matthew in bewilderment.

"Maple Syrup." He shrugged as if it was nothing.

"We've been using the same trick since chu died." Antonio admitted. "But it only worked when chu do it, apparently."

"Might it have something to do with...that incident..." The Brit at the table glanced at the Frenchman standing beside me.

"Per'aps." Francis nodded.

"What incident?" I asked. "What happened to Mattie?"

"When you two were little and Francis had some work to do, I was babysitting Matthew and he walked in on me practising spells. There was a backfire but he didn't seem to be harmed and didn't remember what happened." My guardian explained.

"So 'e 'as 'ealing powers zhen." Francis set his arm over Mattie's shoulders.

"Awesome." Gilbert chuckled.

"Vell...How about ve send you Antonio, Vash, und Liz." Roderich suggested.

"That would be perfect." Mattie bowed his head politely. "We leave this afternoon."