The Black Rose
"Tino, shut up you're not helping," Elizabeta scolded. It was Thursday or as what Tino Väinämöinen, Arthur Kirkland, and Alfred Jones liked to call Prank day. Elizabeta had known Arthur since they were 5. Tino was one of Alfred's friends and the newest to the group. If she remembered correctly he was from Finland. Alfred was full-blooded American, who she was introduced to in 4th grade by Arthur. Arthur was British down to his last drop of blood. How he and Alfred got together was beyond the Hungarian's knowledge.
Tino gave Elizabeta a childish face. Oh my God, I swear I'm the only mature one here she said to herself. She closed her book and checked her watch. Looking up she said, "Why do I hang out with you guys again?" Alfred was walking around on the rim of the fountain in the middle of the school courtyard, with his hands stretched out like a gymnast to keep his balance. "What? Would you rather hang out with your boyfriend Gil," he mocked.
The Hungarian reddened at this. "Gilbert Beilschmidt is not my boyfriend!" she half yelled. Arthur finally spoke up, "You know the twit has a point, you and Gilbert do have quite the relationship." His accent was heavy with his home country's syllables and vowels. Alfred started laughing until he realized he had just been insulted. Tino jumped up out of his seat on the fountain. "Ok, no fighting you two," he said distracting every one for a second. Elizabeta got up and started walking, calling back to them, "Who's hungry?" Alfred popped up out of the fountain and ran after her.
"Alfred, if you keep eating like that you are going to kill yourself," Arthur said taking a sip of tea. Alfred said with a full mouth, "Naw Dude, I'm way into myself for that." Tino and Elizabeta giggled. Arthur sighed, "I meant heart disease, you idiot." Alfred ignored him and began on his third burger. Alfred wasn't fat. He worked off everything he gained, but Arthur did have a point. Elizabeta started laughing when, she looked out the window, and her face fell. "What is wrong, Liz," Arthur asked pushing away his tea. "I cannot believe this is what passes for tea in America," he said disgusted. Tino shushed him and pointed out the window where Elizabeta was looking.
Alfred swallowed hard and said, "Isn't that the guy who's from France?" "Indeed, Francis Bonnefoy, The old frog himself," Arthur said sneering. Tino spoke up quietly, "Rumor has it he's been dabbling in black magic." His accent was light, but he said been like you say bean. "L-let me out," Liz said. Tino got out of the booth and Liz followed. She was about to walk away when she felt her orange shirt sleeve caught.
Alfred gripped the fabric tightly. "You're not going out there, are?" he questioned. Liz gave him a reassuring smile and walked away, out of the diner. She walked up to Francis to see the difference between her and her friends. Liz had light brown long hair with matching eyes. Her accent wasn't heavy, but it still had a lit to her vowels. Alfred was tall with bright blond hair. He had blue eyes that matched the sky and wore glasses. It was also a rare sight to see him without his grandfather's bomber jacket. Tino was the same height as Liz and had white hair with brown, warm eyes. Everyone figured it was from his heritage. Arthur had dirty blonde hair and piercing green eyes. He was just a couple inches taller than Tino.
Liz approached Francis. Francis had long, shaggy, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had a bit of stubble on his chin, but he was extremely handsome. "Bonjour Ma 'dam," he said. If his looks didn't give away that he was French his voice did. It was thick and dripping with an accent. Liz crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "What, might I ask, are you doing?" Francis chuckled. "I am sorry le' Belle if I startled you and your Amis, I did not mean to troublé you," he said with amusement and sincere concern. "You never answered my question," Liz said haughtily. Her whole life she had to deal with bullies, so she became a bit of a tomboy. At least till Gilbert came along and made her think that since she was a lady, she should act like one.
The Prussian may have changed a lot about her, but she wasn't afraid to feed this guy a fist if needed. "I simply wanted to give you a gift," Liz looked taken aback she was expecting a fight, not a gift. "I-I'm sorry, what?" Francis went for the pocket in his satchel and pulled out a beautiful red rose. He bowed slightly, offering it to her. "For you Ma 'Dam muselé," he said. "O-oh," Liz breathed. She was nervous, but slowly reached for the rose. "OW!" she exclaimed. Once she had the rose a thorn pricked her finger. A small bit of blood dripped from it.
"Oh my!" Francis said. He took out a small white handkerchief and wiped away the access blood on her finger, staining the silken cloth red. "There, that should be better, No?" Liz only nodded. Francis handed her the cloth. "Now I must tell you, that rose holds power do not use it I must warn you now," He said darkly. Liz looked up questioning, but found he was already lost in the crowd of people starting to form.
Liz walked back to her friends, who were already mocking her about the gift. "Oh shut up all of you," She scolded. "Let's just head back," She said quietly walking away.
"Just throw it away, it's worthless," Alfred said pacing the room. They all came to Alfred's house to hang out. Alfred's parents were away on business. They were in the living room. It had a big brown couch facing a wide fireplace and windows dotted the room, with the doorway to the rest of the house to the left. "No!" Liz yelped, "I'm not going to throw it away." "Why? Because of this "special power" that it has," Tino said putting air quotes around the words. Liz twirled the flower around in her hand. "Just shut up, God sometimes I wish you would just go away," she said poisoning the words.
Tino got up to leave and went to the kitchen. "Well, no need to get prissy about it," scoffed Arthur as he took a sip of tea. It happened just as fast as it was over. The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the house. Liz shrieked and dropped the flower, running to the kitchen with the others. Liz paled at the sight and almost blacked out. She found herself being caught by Arthur as Alfred ran to the sink and puked.
There lying upon the floor was Tino, bathing in his own blood staining his white dress shirt. Liz wanted to scream, was begging to scream, but couldn't. She couldn't form words, she couldn't cry, or anything. Just stand there in gawking silence as her best friend had just taken his own life by her words. "W-What? H-How?" Alfred stuttered. "It's a little obvious how the question is why," Arthur said. Liz walked over to her fallen friend and closed his eyes and started to cry.
It was 10:15 pm. Four hours since Tino's death. Arthur and Alfred picked him up and carried him to the bathtub and cleaned him up and redressed him in nicer clothes. Liz looked over at his body. "L-Look I-it looks l-like he's s-s-sleeping," she managed. Alfred put his arms around her and spoke softly to her. Arthur stared into the fire, "It was the rose, I'm sure of it." Alfred looked up. "How would you know?" he asked. "Because my family has expertise in black magic for hundreds of years, Francis said the flower held power, Liz made a wish and it turned on her, causing Kyle to take his own life," Arthur said not removing his eyes from the fire. "L-like a g-genie, right?" Liz asked. Arthur looked up and gave her a sad look. He spoke softly, "If so then you have two wishes left, my dear."
"Wait! Two wishes left this is great, Liz you can wish Tino back!" Alfred exclaimed, jumping up. "B-but," Liz stuttered. Alfred begged her some more until she gave in. Arthur stood quietly. Liz picked up the rose and noticed that it had turned a grayish tint. She gripped it tightly even with the feel of her blood on her fingers. "I-I wish for Tino to come back," She demanded. The flower wilted even more in her hands turning completely gray. A leaf fell from it. Nothing happened for a moment. Tino still laid still. CRASH! "THE DINING ROOM!" Arthur screeched. They raced into the room to find a broken vase and beyond it was Tino. He was transparent, but the same. Except his brown eyes burned black and hate, rage, and fear scorched his face.
Liz screamed as he started forward. "Tino DON'T," Alfred screamed. Tino flicked his wrist and a shard of the vase dug itself into Alfred's heart. Liz backed up and tripped on the carpet. Arthur stepped in front of her. "Liz, go run and hide I-I'll handle this," He said. Liz got up and ran turning around up the stairs, but not before seeing blood splash across the carpet. She sprinted as fast as she could until she locked herself in the room farthest from the stairs. She still carried the wilting rose as she backed up into the wall. NO WHERE TO RUN! She cried silently. She looked ahead to see Tino standing 4 feet away from her and blood once again staining his shirt. "Please don't I-I'm begging you please don't," She pleaded. Tino was getting closer when she realized she still had one wish left.
She gripped the rose tight, scraping her hands. I WISH HE WOULD GO AWAY! I WISH THIS WAS OVER! Tino had reached her and gripped her neck, cutting off all air. He lifted her off her feet and before her vision went out she saw the dropped rose turning black and shrivel to dust. She blacked out. "I-"