23- Lovino Vargas

21- Feliciano Vargas

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

~ Spain 15 Years Later ~

Feli stifled a yawn as he stretched. Blinking the sleep away, he rolled out of his futon and stumbled over to his makeshift bookshelf where he kept a box and his microscope. He pulled it down and carefully walked over to his bench near the window.

The Vargas brothers lived in a modest apartment hidden away from the city of Madrid. This was partly because Lovino had insisted on leaving the orphanage when he was fifteen. And of course where Lovi went his little brother was sure to go. Mostly though, it was because the older Italian's prophecy of everyone knowing their name came true.

In as little as a year, Lovino and Feliciano became notorious con men. Their first heist had been simple, Feli pretended that he had broken his leg and Lovino had managed to convince the local healer to help them. While the healer had been preoccupied with his younger brother, Lovi had stolen as much medicine as he could. They dropped some off at Magyar's orphanage and sold the rest. Later, Lovi had bought paint and blank canvases for his brother so that he could recreate some of the more famous paintings and sold them as originals to unsuspecting nobles.

Their favorite con, however, had been the time when they posed as girls and gone into a prep school where they stole the headmaster's prized golden bull horns. That same year they also posed as traveling musicians and where hired by an alchemist as entertainment for his fellow scientists at a convention in his villa. Feli had been enamored by all the ideas they had and the tales they told of a legendary city of gold in the new world. He remembered asking questions to which a young noire haired herbalist was a little too eager to answer.

Much to Lovi's dismay Feli had fallen in love that night. With science. And for that love, his brother often insisted that they to do heists in much more secured places for materials for him to tinker with in attempt to make gold. Of course, he hadn't been able to conjure the precious metal but that hadn't deterred him from making other things.

And that, Lovi found him liking a lot more. Not that he would openly admit it but he did like that Feli had developed a hunger for knowledge. So he accommodated his plans to make sure that Feli would always come back with at least a new book or material to play with.

As the years came and went, the duo was found by Gilbert, who had gone into the military, in Barcelona. Instead of turning them in however, he offered them the attic of his apartment. Lovino hadn't wanted to at first but soon gave into the albino's pleas. Gilbert's logic was that they would be safe because no one would ever suspect that two wanted criminals would be housed by a member of his majesties guard.

Gilbert knocked on their door before letting himself in, "Morning, guys! How did you sleep?" He chuckled softly at Lovi's grumbles and walked up to Feli, "You're up earlier than your brother. Kesesese~ that's a first."

"Don't stand too close, Gil," said Feli as he pulled out small rounded plates, "These are bacteria samples I grew."

At that Gilbert jumped back and wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Why the hell are you growing that shit still? Didn't I tell you to stop?"

"No, it's ok. Look it, this green stuff stopped the bacteria from growing. Oh, this is so exciting!" Feli quickly reached out for his journal and pen before scribbling down notes.

Curious, Gilbert sat aside the tray and peered over Feli's shoulder, "What is it?"

"I have no idea but whatever it is, kept the bacteria from growing."

"Well, where did you get it?"

"Ve, it must've flown in through the window while I was trying to grow this other thing." He pointed to a thick green book, "Could you get me that please? I want to finish this up before the gel starts to melt completely."

From across the room Lovino stirred awake, "Ngh…what's with all the damn noise?"

"What exactly are you doing, Feli," asked Gilbert as he handed the book to his friend.

"Remember that time Lovi and I conned this herbalist? The one who claimed that he had a healing elixer?"

Lovi huffed, "That was the lamest thing ever."

His brother continued as if he hadn't heard him, "Well turns out that he wasn't completely wrong. I borrowed some books from the book store and—I'm going to return them Gilly!—and I read about all these neat things called fungi and microorganisms. Did you know that people think that's what makes people sick?"

"Yeah go figure."

"Well anyway, I read that and this other book on herbal medicine from east and thought well…fungi are kind of like plants, right? So I'm thinking that whatever this green goo is must be a fungi based on it's growing habits."

Gilbert sighed and sat down next to Lovi so that he could eat his breakfast, "That doesn't really explain what you're doing, Feli."

Swallowing a slice of orange, Lovi said, "He's making a salve. That green muck keeps that gross smelling shit from growing which means if you put it on a wound, it could keep that gross smelling shit from growing on you."

"Ew."

"Yup."

Feli pouted as he scraped the goo into a jar filled with premade generic salve. He couldn't help but think how Ludwig wouldn't have thought he was gross. He threw the plates into a bucket of concentrated whiskey and washed his hands before joining his brother and friend. They quietly munched on their breakfast, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I'm leaving today," said Gilbert finally. He looked at both Italians and smiled, "I was picked to go on the voyage to the new world with Cortes. Well, technically I'm not on his ship. I was put under his second in command but –" He stopped talking as soon as he saws Feliciano's lip tremble. Reaching out, he patted his arm, "H-hey, don't cry. It'll be ok."

"You don't know that," whispered the young Italian. He played with the golden ring he still wore around his neck, "Don't go, Gilbert."

"I have to, buddy. Don't worry. Things are different from back then. We've gotten smarter with our navigating and we'll—hey, look at me—we'll be fine."

"Can't we come too, then? I've always wanted to go on an adventure! Think about all the neat things I can find out there. All the different plants and herbs to make medicines!"

"You know you guys can't go anywhere near the militia." Gilbert reached out and patted Lovi's shoulder as well, "Don't worry, I'll be back to bug you guys before you know it!"

Lovi shrugged, "Whatever." His eyes lit up suddenly, "Hey! If you guys are leaving, does that mean that you guys are taking the losers from that lame nautical school with you as the crew?"

"Excuse you," huffed Gilbert as he stood up with the tray and made his way downstairs, "I was one of those losers that went to that lame nautical school, remember?" He stopped half way and looked over his shoulder wryly, "Why? You're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?"

Putting on his most innocent face, Lovi smiled stood up and stretched showing off his family's seal tattooed onto his hip, "I wasn't aware you had the gift of foresight."

"With you two, one doesn't need it." Gilbert shook his head with a sigh and continued down the stairs so that he could feed Gilbird, "Just, whatever you do, try not to get yourselves into trouble. I won't be here to watch over you."

Feli smiled, "Ve, don't worry, Gill. I promise that Lovi and I won't get into trouble." His smile turned sheepish when Gilbert looked at him with a single raised eyebrow. He nudged at his brother who was pulling on his shirt, "Right, Lovi?"

"Hah? Oh! Yeah, we'll be on our best behavior."

"You better be," said Gilbert. He took out his canary and let him stretch his wings before letting him nestle in his hair, "Well, I'm off. See you two dorks when I get back."

Lovi waited until Gilbert was well down the street before tossing his brother a shirt, "Here, hurry up and get dressed!"

"Ve? But we told—"

"Do you seriously think that we're going to let those sailor geeks leave Spain with their pockets full?" The older Italian dug through his chest, tossing clothes and nick nacks aside until he found what he was looking for. "They love to gamble before setting sail. You know it and I know it. Besides, it's not like they're going to need money in the new world."

"If you say so…"

"Of course I do, idiot. Come one, lets go."

Feli pocketed his salve after tugging on a dark blue shirt and followed after his brother, "But what are we going to do?" He gasped when Lovi jiggled the small leather pouch before smirking, "We'll leave it to the fates to enrich our lives then, shall we?"

"Fates? Fratellino, no one can enrich our lives better than we can. Come on, I have a plan."

A large crowd had gathered by the docks just as the sun had made its way to noon. They watched as crew members loaded supplies onto the ships that would take Cortes and his men across the Pacific. Gilbert leaned against a water fountain and listened with the rest of the crowd as a large commanding man rode a black stead into the center of the square.

He dipped a silver chalice into the water fountain and raised it to the people, "Today, we sail to conquer the New World. For Spain, for glory, for gold!" The black Andalusian neighed when the crowd cheered at his rider's words. Cortes pulled at the reigns, "Johan, eyes forward."

Gilbert felt his lips twitch at the sight of Cortes struggling with his horse when. He heard Francis snort next to him and grinned, "You ready for an adventure?"

"Of course, mon ami." Francis smirked, "Do you think we'll find anything of value?"

"Who knows," said the shorter man with a shrug. He pushed himself off the fountain and motioned for his friend to follow, "I don't really care but for our crew's sake, I hope so. Cortes is a heartless bastard on his best of days. I'd hate to see him if we have to come back empty handed."

"He's not so bad. I haven't seen him discipline his horse so perhaps he's not all that horrible."

"Which ship are you on?"

"…his."

"Kesesese~ Sucks for you! I'm stuck with his second in command-Mr. Only-Gold-Will-Remove-The-Stick-I-Have-Wedged-In-My-Ass."

"Oh, you mean Lars?"

"Ja, I swear that kid grew up to be a real hard ass."

Francis chuckled, "To be fair you did hit on his sister."

Gilbert grumbled half-heartedly, "That was once and I was only a kid myself. Whatever, come on, let's go get some real food while we still can. The crap we're going to be eating for the next few months is going to be a real freaking nightmare. They're not packing wurst at all!"

"Come, mon ami, it'll go by fast. You'll see."

They walked past a wanted sign for Lovino and Feliciano. Francis shifted his knapsack to his other shoulder as he pulled the sign off, "Are they going to be ok?"

"They should be. I made them promise to stay out of trouble." Lifting a brow, his best friend gave him a look that made him chuckle, "I did the same thing. Well, even if they do get into trouble, I'm sure it won't be something that they won't be able to get themselves out of. Those two are many things but let me tell ya, they're pretty damn resourceful."

In an alley just next to the restaurant Gilbert and Francis walked into, Lovi and Feliciano were playing against a group of sailors that were going to head out with Cortes later that day. Lovi tossed his red dice and called out, "Seven!"

When the dice slowed to a stop on his number, Feli whooped in joy, "All right!"

"Yeah!" The older Italian high-fived his brother before laughing, "That's how we do it, bastardi~" He snatched his dice back up and danced around Feliciano as the latter played on his newly acquired bandolin.

"Tons of gold for you," sang Feliciano as he sashayed his hips to his tune.

The sailors looked to each other in confusion. How the hell were these two bozos beating them?! A dark haired sailor, Bernardo, huffed, "Hey."

But the Vargas brothers were too far into their celebration to pay him any mind. Lovi flicked his hips to the side and made Feliciano lose his balance momentarily before the younger retaliated with a side kick to the older one's rear, "Tons of gold for me~"

"Hey!"

"Tons of gold for we," sang both at the same time before finally giving into Bernardo's insistent calls.

"One more roll," demanded the sailor. His friends around them glowered at the Italian duo who exchanged glances before bursting into a fit of laughter. "What's so funny?"

Lovino spoke through his giggles, "Boy, are you stupid. You're broke! What the hell are you going to bet with?"

The sailors dug into their pockets in hopes to find a coin or anything else they could spare for their comrade. Bernardo raised a hand to halt their rummaging before smirking and reaching into his pocket, "You bet your sweet ass I do." He pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, "I've got this!"

"Psh, what's that? A map?"

"Si. It's a map to the wonders of the new world."

"What the hell do I want that for?"

But at the mention of the new world, Feli's eyes lit up. He tugged his brother forward and took the map from Bernado, "Wait a minute now, let's take a look." With another hard pull, he managed to bring Lovi closer.

Groaning, Lovi glanced over the map, "Excuse us, for one moment, please." He watched as his brother's eyes flitted around the details, a finger pad running along the intricate designs painted onto the parchment.

Feli scraped a flake of paint and tasted it before grinning, "Lovi, I want this!"

"What the hell for?"

"It's real, fratello. Remember that job we did for the alchemist? What that guy said about El Dorado? And how he said if anyone could find it, it would be me?"

"That asshat only said that because he wanted to get in your pants." Lovi's face darkened, "And if memory serves me correctly, he did."

Waving the thought away, Feli shook his head, "No, he didn't. I just took him to his bed room and gave him warm milk with mint and sleeping powder. Then I took his money and microscope but that's beside the point. Fratello, this could be our destiny! Our fate! "

"Feli, if I believed in fate I wouldn't be playing with loaded dice," hissed Lovino. He shook his head, "How the hell would we even get there?"

"Details!"

"I'm sorry but I'm not going to risk our earnings on this stupid thing."

"B-but…" Lips drooping down in a pout, Feli widened his eyes and made his lower lip tremble, sniffling as if where—

"Don't do that!" Lovi glanced away but it was as if Feli's whining was forcing him to look back, "Stop with the faces, fratello, my answer is still no." The younger Italian batted his eye lashes and smiled before pawing at his brother's shoulder in a way that he knew that would get him to bend. They yelped when Bernardo suddenly ripped the map from their hands.

"So," said the Spaniard, "what do you say? My map against your cash."

The Italian brothers exchanged glances, Feli a hopeful one while Lovi simply rolled his eyes with a sigh. He pulled out his dice again, "Fine, Bernard. You're on!" He ran his tongue along his lip in mock concentration as he rolled the small red cubes in his hands.

Bernardo reached out and stopped Lovi's hands, "Not with those." He snapped his fingers and his fellow sailor pulled out a leather pouch with blue marbled cubes, "This time we'll use my dice. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uh…n-no, of course not." Lovino pocketed his dice again and shot a glare over his shoulder to Feli, mouthing, "I'm going to kill you."

Feli smiled sheepishly, "Ve~" Clearing his throat he started to play on his mandolin again to rev up the suspense. He pranced over to a couple of girls and winked playfully rousing giggles from the group who were already well aware of how flirty the Italian could be.

The older Vargas went up to another cluster and offered them the dice, "Will you do me the honors, bella?" When the leader of the clique turned her nose up at him, Lovi's grin fell. Clicking his tongue, he blew on them for luck and shot another glare at his brother, "Stop that!" The dice clicked softly as he rolled them in between his palms once more, "Alright, show…me…seven!"

As soon as the dice leapt from his hands, Lovi covered his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the outcome. He would have to come up with a new scam to get money for their months without Gilbert. The albino had said that he had left some money in the emergency jar but Lovi refused to touch it. It was bad enough they were living with the guy.

Beside him Feli watched anxiously as the dice bounced on the cobbled ground, rolling teasingly between faces until one of them landed on a three. The sailors held their breath as the last one seemed to teeter between a four and another three until it finally settled and four little white dots signified that the Vargas siblings had won yet again.

Lovi peeked through his fingers, "S-seven?"

"All right," cried Feli as he dove in for the map. He pocketed it with smirk, "Ve, grazie, bello." He played his bandolin merrily as his brother dove in for the coins

"Well, there you have it, bastardi," cooed Lovi through his laughter. He collected all the coins into a bag, "It was such a pleasure doing business with you. Don't worry; I hear you don't need gold where you're going."

Bernardo glared as he pocketed the money, his glare turning almost murderous when Lovi's red dice rolled out of his shirt and landed on seven. Before the Italian could get them, the sailor picked them up and threw them on the floor, his comrades gasping when they landed on seven again. He repeated the action over and over again before growling, "I knew it. Your dice are loaded!"

"Merde," cursed Lovi under his breath, the clogs in his mind rolling as he worked to come up with a plan. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw more people gather around to see what the ruckus was about. He reached out and plucked the instrument from his brother's hands, "How could you? I thought we were going to do things differently from now on!"

Feli cocked his head in confusion, "Ve? What did I do?"

"Don't be coy, bastard! You know what you did. You gave me loaded dice!"

He winked at his brother and Feliciano instantly knew what game they were going to play. Tossing the instrument aside, he pushed his brother out of the alley, "You dare blame me? It was your idea!"

Lovi landed into the buff chest piece of a local guard. Tensing at the stern expression, the elder Vargas pushed himself away and pointed at Feli, "He gave me loaded dice! Guard, arrest him."

"Me? He was the one who was cheating. Arrest him! He tricked these sailors and took their money."

Scoffing, Lovi pushed Feli back, "Oh, so I'm the thief? Take a good look in the mirror, fratellino."

Feli shrugged his brother's hand off his arm and reached out to pull the guard's sword loose from its sheath, "Give the money back, fratello, or I'll be forced to use this. En garde!"

"En garde yourself. I will give you the honor of a quick and painless death." Lovi reached blindly behind him and griped at a handle, tugging triumphantly only for his smirk to fall at the sight of what he got. Clearing his throat, Lovino put the mall dagger back, "But not with that."

His brother chuckled and tossed him another sword, "I prefer to fight fairly, Lovi." He rushed forward and parried with Lovi's blade, "Well, any last words, fratellone?"

"I will cut you to ribbons, fool!"

Pushing himself off, Feli ran edge of his sward along Lovi's, "Such mediocrity, Lovi."

"Enough! Let your sword do the talking." Lovino launched himself in offensive lashing while Feli easily defended his blows.

"I will, fratello and it will be loquacious to a fault!"

"Careful, Feli. What did I tell you about using big words?"

"Not to because your tiny brain can't handle it?"

"Oh, you fucker!" Grinning, Lovi chased his brother around the small courtyard, "You stupid, mincing, fencing, ass! You fight like Elizabeta!"

"I fought Elizabeta and I beat her!"

"Sure you don't mean Roderich?"

A larger crowd started to form around the two arguing Italians, hungry for a fight to break out. Curious patrons from the restaurant glanced over from their meals, Gilbert and Francis being two of them. The albino widened his eyes before face palming, "Those two, I swear."

"Honhonhon," chuckled Francis, "I guess fighting each other must be one of their resourceful tactics, huh?"

"What are you—oi!" Gilbert and his bird jumped out of the chair when the two squabbling brothers jumped onto his table with blades swinging at each other. He watched as they climbed up a stack of cargo boxes and onto the roof.

"You're an ass, Feliciano," shouted Lovino without heat, his eyes shining brightly in the setting sun and the corners of his mouth lifted.

Feli grinned back, "Well, I learned it from the best, Lovino." He dug his sword into the red tile on the roof to loosen them.

As Lovi fell on his back, he deflected his brother's attacks the best he could. He hissed under his breath, "Watch the curl, you idiot. The curl!"

"Oops," whispered Feli back, "Mi dispiace, Lovi." With a flick of the wrist, he disarmed his brother and pointed his sword to his neck. The crowd shouted at the young auburn haired man to kill his opponent but Feli simply helped his brother up and smiled cheerfully down at them, "Signiori e Signire, we've decided it's a draw."

Lovi took the swords and tossed them back down, "Grazie for coming. You've all been great," he said as he pulled out several more pouches of gold he managed to pickpocket while sparring with his brother. Shaking them a few times to annoy the crowd he let Feli pocket them before waving, "See you fuckers soon!"

"Ve~ Ciao!" The Vargas brothers jumped off the roof and landed in a fit of giggles when they heard the crowd howl curses at them on the other side. Feli leaned back on his arms and smiled at Lovi, "That was great, fratello!"

"Yeah, it was alright, wasn't it?" Lovi reached over to ruffle his brother's hair, freezing when he felt hot breath slap the back of his neck followed by a snort. He shuffled closer to his brother as slowly as he could, "Fuck me, this is bad." Just a foot away from them was a full grown bull. It's massive horns gleamed dangerously in the setting sun and it's golden eyes glimmered threateningly.

"W-we probably should've kept our swords."

"Ya think?"

"What do we do?"

The bull snorted again, tail flicking back and forth in irritation at having his lunch disturbed. Lovi tried not to look at it in the eye, "Uh, yeah, ok. I've got a plan."

"What is it?"

"You pet him."

Feli nodded and reached out slowly, "Right, and?"

"And I'll… run!" Lovi pushed himself up and leapt over his brother.

The bull looked from him to Feli and back again before digging at the dirt in preparation to charge. Feli yelped and ran after his brother, "No fair, Lovi! Wait for me!"

Lovi bent forward to let Feli climb up his back and over the gate, reaching up after him so that he could pull him up as well. They were just over the edge when the bull crashed with the wooden gate. The older Italian gripped his brother tightly and pulled him back down, "Run, Feli! Come on."

They raced down the coble stoned alley towards the courtyard hand in hand so to not lose each other. Bernardo and his fellow sailors came around the corner with scowls on their faces. The dark haired Spaniard caught sight of the brothers, "There they are, boys. Get 'em!"

"Oh, boy." Lovi spun around and tugged Feli into smaller alley to their left.

The bull dug its feet into the ground as the group of sailors nearly collided with him. He snorted at them, watching with unamused eyes as they quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Gilbert and Francis walked past them and shook their heads before making their way to the docks. The bull snorted again and followed after the Italians instead.

"I-is he still after us, fratellone," gasped Feliciano.

"I aint looking! Shut up and keep run—oh come on!"

A group of guards blocked them off and drew their swords out, "Halt, in the name of the king!"

"Yeah, no. Fratello, engage evasive maneuver number twenty-three," grunted Lovino before ducking through a kitchen door to his left.

"Okie dokie." Feli did the same into his right, winking at the girl stirring at a pot. Outside he could hear the guards crying out in fear and the sound of metal clashing followed by the bellow of an angry bull. Grinning, the Italian ran out through the front door at the same time Lovi rushed out of the home he'd had entered.

"I got that girl's pigeon info."

"I got some herbs~"

"Jesus, Feli, seriously?"

"Ve~"

Shaking his head, he pointed to a low roof and Feli leapt onto it. Together the grabbed onto a rope being used to hang laundry and jumped, using the momentum to get to higher ground. Arrows narrowly missed them as more guards attempted to bring them down. Feli clutched his arm with a whimper, "They got me, Lovi."

"What? Let me see." The older Italian pulled up his brother's sleeve and tsked before patting it, "You're ok. It's only a scratch. Now come on!" He pushed his brother forward at the sound of the guards approaching.

They ran to the edge of the roof and cursed. Behind them the guards were getting closer. Feli looked below them in hopes to find something soft to land in but only saw twin barrels filled to the brim with water. Biting his lip he nodded to myself, "I bet we can make that."

"Uh…" Lovi shook his head, "I'll give you that girl's pigeon info if we don't."

"Ok!" Feli grinned and jumped, pulling his brother with him. To Lovi's dismay, they did in fact make it safely into the barrels. Cursing his luck, he balled up the piece of parchment and threw it into his brother's barrel before closing it with a lid. He tossed his lid over his own barrel just as the guards looked over the roof.

The water inside barrel taste so sweet to Feli so he gulped as much as he could. Next to him he could hear his brother gag. Smacking his lips, he asked, "You ok?"

"There's fucking fish in this damn barrel…"

"Really? Mine is really yummy." Feli dipped his face back into the water and blew bubbles, "Ve, I like it, when we get out we should take one back to the apartment."

Lovi was about to roll his eyes but stopped himself knowing that it wouldn't be worth the effort. He'd just say yes like always. Sighing, he folded his legs up and tried not to breath so deeply let alone speak more than he had to less the disgusting flavored water make its way into his mouth. He leaned his head back and wondered if the guards had left yet. Perhaps they did.

"Oi, Feli, are you—" Whatever Lovi was about to ask was cut short by a mouth full of fish tasting water. He sputtered in disgust but more kept splashing onto his face. It wasn't until he heard the panicked whimpers of his brother that he realized that his barrel wasn't the only one that was causing a shift in the water.

"Lovi, what's happening?!"

"I don't—Oof!" They two brothers grunted as they felt the impact of their barrels landing on something hard, groaning in displeasure as their bodies were forced to tumble inside the small cramp place while the sailors rolled their barrels further onto the ship. When the movement stopped, Feli and Lovi pushed out the cork and took a deep breath of fresh air. Lovi gulped down the air before peeking out, "Ok, I think if we move quickly, we can jump out and make a run for the deck without anyone noticing."

"Ok, ok, good. That sounds good, fratello."

"On the count of three. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Ok. One-two-three!" Bernardo and Gilbert placed a heavy chest on top of the barrels just as the brothers tried to lift their lids up. The albino frowned at the barrels before his companion tugged on his sleeve so that he would follow. He dismissed the voices and went back down to get the last of their supplies.

The ships groaned as it sat sail, following after Cortes'. Gilbert waved goodbye to Elizabeta and Roderich who had come out to see him off, admittedly, a little saddened that his housemates hadn't shown up. He gently ran a gloved hand down Gilbird's feathery spine, "Those two…I hope they don't get themselves into too much trouble while I'm gone." Smiling, he turned on his heal to put his things away below deck before starting his chores.

Hours later, just as the crew was beginning to feel the summer chill of night, Gilbert and Bernardo moved the heavy chest from the barrels to take it below deck. Lovi sighed tiredly and whispered to his brother, "On three, fratellino."

"No," said Feliciano grumpily, "I'm tired and sleepy. We've been doing this for hours."

"Let's just try. On three, ok?"

"Ve…"

"One."

"…two."

"Three," they cried as they pushed on their aching legs, popping out of their barrels with happy grins that they were finally able to get out. They weren't met with the same expressions, however. The crew regarded them indifferently until they realized that they were the same Italian duo that cheated them out of their money.

Exchanging dark smirks, a group of sailors cracked their knuckles as the approached the brothers, making them cower back to the safety of their barrels. Before they knew it, Lovino and Feli were roughly pulled back out and clasped in heavy shackles before their pockets were searched for the sacks of gold. By the time Bernardo and Gilbert had made their way back onto the deck, Lovi and Feli both sported bruised faces. Gilbert forced himself not to react despite the angry twist in his belly, "What the hell is going on here!"

Bernardo snorted and took a sack of gold from a fellow sailor, "Thieves from the looks of it."

"Why are they bleeding?"

"Sir," said one of the sailors, "he bit us, sir. So we retaliated."

"I bit you," hissed Lovino as he tried to kick the one holding him up, "because you tried to take our rings!"

Feli struggled as well, "Those are ours! Our grandfather gave them to us!" He gasped when a sailor reached into his pants pocket and withdrew his salve, "Put that back!"

The sailor lifted the jar to his comrades in silent question. They shrugged in response so he took aim to toss it over board but Gilbert held him back, "Don't." He turned back to the younger men and glared, "You don't take disciplinary actions without the consent of a superior officer. Seeing as I am your superior officer, I order you to follow protocol."

Bernardo jerked his head, "Your heard the man. Let's take them to the Lieutenant Commander." He ushered the duo towards a room glowing with a soft golden light. Gilbert followed behind them and sent a silent prayer to anyone who would listen to help him and his friends through what was about to happen. He walked around the group, schooling his face into a stoic state before whispering something into his commanding officer's ear. Standing silently next to him, he watched as Feli and Lovino stared up at the imposing blonde.

"Lars," whispered Feli. He could hardly believe how much the kid who used to live down the street from Elizabeta's had grown. He towered well over most of the crew present and his uniform stretched over defined muscles. His was hair styled so to keep it away from his cold green eyes as he looked at them coldly. Maybe he would remember that Elizabeta would set up play dates so that they could play with each other...Maybe he would remember the time when Emma had said that Lovi and him made an adorable pair. Maybe he wouldn't be as hash as Cortes…

"My crew was as carefully chosen as the disciples of Christ," said Lars lowly. He lowered himself to meet their eyes, "And I will not tolerate stow aways." Standing back up, he crossed his arms over his chest, "You will be flogged and when we pull into Cuba to resupply, god willing, you will be flogged some more. And then you'll be enslaved in the sugar plantations for the rest of your miserable lives." Lars curled his lip in disgust, "I don't care who flogs them just take them to the brig when you're done."

…or not.

Feli tried to find a bright side to the situation he and his brother found themselves in. well, he'd never been to Cuba before so there was that. Grinning, he looked at Lovi, "Alright! We're going to Cuba, fratello!"

Lovi twisted around to look at his brother incredulously before being forced back up. As oldest, he was the first to be stripped from his shirt and tied to the whipping post in the brig.

Gilbert's jaw was tight as he watched the crew fight amongst themselves to see who got to whip the foul tempered Italian and his cute brother. He opened his mouth to say something but Lars cut him off, "On second thought, Gilbert, why don't you do it." He handed the albino a whip and gave him a meaningful look before retreating to his cabin for the night. Gilbert watched him go with gratitude.

"Ok," he said as he approached Lovino, "the rest of you get back to your chores." Only a couple of sailors actually had chores to do so the rest stayed. If they couldn't do the deed they could at least watch. Sighing, Gilbert pressed against Lovi in pretense of tightening the rope around his wrists. He whispered, "Lars did us a favor in letting me do this. I'm going to hit you hard so that they others won't be ordered to hit your harder." He took a moment before wrinkling his nose, "No offense but you reek of fish."

Lovi gave a stiff nod, "I know. Let's just get this damn thing over with." He felt Gilbert step back and braced himself for the first whip.

Bernardo: *gasp* I would never treat Feli and Lovi like that! Oh sweet merciful sun, my brother is going to kill me!

Me: Yup

Bernardo: *cries* Don't say that so nonchalantly!

Lol for those of you who don't know, Bernardo is my OC and older cousin of Feli and Lovino. He's actually a quadruplet with two identical brothers and one that came out with blonde hair. He's a real sweet heart but for the sake of this fic he's a bit of a butt. Fun fact: inspiration for those four came from my cats who are in fact quadruplets. Three are black and came out black and white, he kind of looks like he's wearing a tux.

Eh! Poor Feli and Lovi, but Gilbert is right. Lars did them a favor I think. Hate to imagine what the sailors would've done if they'd been the ones allowed to punish our two Italians. Thanks to everyone who has put this story to their favorites and follow lists =3 I'm going to try and be quick with the updates but I really want to get The Conjuring finished by Halloween. Hopefully this pace is good, yeah?

Feli being interested in Alchemy/medicine is something that came to me when I was trying to figure out if I should put Matthew in here too. I'm not but only because I'm going to do something awesome with him in the end. Feli's medicine actually Penicillin but he has no idea. lol Something is going to have to prevent them from getting sick over in the new world right?

Ps-has anyone seen the Hetalia updates? So gosh darn cute! Germany and Italy are on a "date" with Feli showing Ludwig around Italy. He complimented a girl and Germany got jealous X3

~Until Next Time

VivaAmerica: I'm sorry T_T Although I am happy that you were excited to see this story uploaded :3 lol, your Mexico sounds awesome! I like how she related to America and Canada! Well, half related but still. North American sibs for the win! Also I don't mind long reviews (your BATB one) as a matter fact I love them ｡◕ ‿ ◕｡I also don't mind advertisement lol, I'm honored actually :)

Fallen heavens: hehe ^_^ Thanks!

mimi-chan and aliling-chan: I will try my best to update frequently. I'm actually working on the second chapter as we speak :) I'm sorry about the names. I'll see what I can do ^_^ Was just the high priest's name or all of them?

guest: thank you!

QuinnStormTwilight: Than you! I can't wait to hear more from you (✿◠‿◠)

pastaaddict: ooh! I'm glad to hear that! Don't worry, they'll see each other again real soon. I'm worried about Lud too but maybe a certain god will save him from a bad fate. :D Also, *blush and sweats nervously* I-I have no idea what you're talking about...lol (≧ω≦)

HeroinOfDarkness: Yay! I'm glad to hear that (◕‿◕✿) I actually had trouble with this chapter. I hope it came out alright. As for The conjuring, thenext chapter is already brewing. I will be sure to check out your Russia poem :)

zoewinter1: oh no worries! I understand perfectly. Bless you for taking that class. I remember taking it in high school and it was a nightmare, college even more so. I'm glad you made it though (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ. I'll see you soon!