*Chapter 2*
The next morning, Ludwig was woken up by some noisy children. He was annoyed and grabbed a branch from the tree, tore it off, and threw it at the kids with great speed and force. But because he was half asleep, he didn't hit any of them. They just ran away, freaked out by the branch that had flown at them from nowhere. Ludwig felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Mmm..." He said, annoyed and tired. But he turned and opened his eyes anyway. The branch might've scared away the kids, but it attracted an Italian.
"Wha...h-how did you...how did you know where I was?" He asked her, rubbing his tired eyes then yawning.
"Easy!" Feliciana said energetically. "I met you in a tree, so I assumed I would find you in a tree! But I didn't know which one until I-"
"Until you saw me throw the branch," Ludwig finished her.
"Yup!" She squealed. "I'm so happy I get to see you again!"
"And I you," he said unenthusiastically.
"Oh, come on! I know you're glad to see a friend!"
'Oh that's right. The other day I has agreed to be her friend.'
"By the way," Feliciana continued, "I was wondering, that is, if you're not to busy, if you would like to hang out with me and meet family...?"
Ludwig tossed the idea back and forth: hang out with friend, stay safe, hang out with friend, stay safe, hang out with friend, stay safe...
"Sure, I don't mind." 'You dummkopf,' he scolded himself.
"Yay!" She pulled on his sleeve. "Come on! You should meet them!"
Ludwig pulled his arm away. "Woah! Hey, when I said 'sure', I meant that I'd hang out with you, not your family. No one should even know I'm here." He mumbled the last part.
"Oh..."
He looked down. "So where did you want to go?" He asked in a bored tone, like he was saying yes to someone after getting "the puppy-eyes treatment".
"Um...you know, I didn't really think about that...heh..." She smiled nervously.
"Of course you didn't."
She ignored him and started thinking. Ludwig took this time to breathe in her scent. Up close, it was easier to smell her. She smelled so familiar, so...warm and...comforting. 'Almost like a mother.' He smiled. 'She'd make a beautiful and wonderful mother.'
"What is it?" Feliciana looked up at him.
Ludwig blinked, realizing that he had been staring at her. He fumbled for an answer. "U-uh..what do you mean?" Smooth.
"You're smiling."
"...and?"
"Well, you haven't smiled at all since I've met you, and I was just wondering what made you so happy."
'You. The way that you smile, the way you smell, the way you look, the way you laugh, how amazing you are...'
"Nothing, it's just...nothing," Ludwig replied with a sigh.
'Ugh, why the hell was I thinking that?! I entertained that idea! Shit...I gotta get my priorities straight: me and my brother's safety first, others' later.'
"Um...okay. But hey, guess what!"
"What," he said flatly.
"I know where we can go! Out for ice-cream!"
"B-but, I...um..." Ludwig stuttered. He's an immortal vampire, so mortal food doesn't satisfy his hunger.
"What is it? Don't tell me you don't like ice-cream!"
"No, I do," he lied.
"Then come on!" Feliciana said before he could say more. She grabbed his sleeve and jumped down the tree with him. Ludwig clumsily landed on his feet next to her, not expecting the sudden leap.
"It's this way," she said, ignoring his slight clumsiness. She led him down the street, taking a couple turns this way and that. Ludwig got some weird stares at him. It was probably his outfit, but after 141 years, he didn't care.
At the ice cream shop, there wasn't much of a line. And while they were waiting, Feliciana asked, "So what're you gonna get?"
"Um...I don't know, I'm not really that hungry."
She smiled. "Well then you can share mine!"
It was now their turn to order, and the cashier asked her in a sweet voice, "What would you like little girl?"
She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "Hey! I'm 18! It's not my fault I'm short!" She suddenly snapped.
The cashier blinked, taken aback and slightly flustered by the sudden force in her words. "Oh! ...I'm sorry! I didn't..."
"Never mind. Orange sherbet, please." She grumbled, crossing her arms.
The cashier, still a bit startled, said, "O-okay. It'll be ready in a second." He turned around and grabbed a cone, then grabbed a scooper. He scooped some sherbet into the cone and handed it to Feliciana. She paid him, then walked outside with Ludwig.
"You don't like being called short, do you?" Ludwig asked her.
"Absolutely not!" She angry licked her ice-cream. "It's bad enough that Lovino calls me 'Pica' at home, and I don't need that in public."
"Lovino?"
"He's my older brother." She licked her ice-cream again.
Ludwig felt a pain in his chest as though someone had just kicked him there. "Older b-brother?"
"Yup. He's annoying and kind of a dick, but he's caring and I know he that loves me and the rest of my family."
"No kidding," Ludwig said, trailing off into his thoughts of his own older brother. 'He's annoying and strange, but he's caring and I know that he loves me and would protect me at any cost. Any...cost...' Ludwig blinked a few times to hold back tears.
Feliciana looked at him. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
She didn't believe him, but she didn't press. Instead, she asked, "Do you want some ice-cream?" She held it up to him.
"Whatever." Ludwig, still trying not to cry at the thought of his brother, held onto the cone, his hand covering Feliciana's, and bent down some to take a lick. This was the first taste of human food he's ever had. At town years ago, someone asked him if he wanted a drink and, knowing it wouldn't do him any good, he told the man that he didn't drink. The man looked at him and said, "You must be a saint!" Ludwig just laughed. "You have no idea how wrong you are." Then he walked off, leaving the man confused. Ah...good times...
Ludwig licked the orange sherbet ice-cream. "This is really good!" He said, smiling. "Really good!"
"Wow, you really like ice-cream, don't you?"
"Oh my God, Feliciana, this ice-cream...this ice-cream, oh my God, oh my God, Feliciana. Feliciana, oh my God, this ice-cream."
She laughed. "I'll take that as a yes! And by the way, you can just call me 'Feli'."
"I thought you didn't like nicknames," he said, letting go of the ice-cream.
She took a lick. "I don't like 'Pica'. But 'Feli' is perfectly fine!"
"Okay, Feli." She smiled at the sound of her name coming out of his mouth, thick German accent and all.
After they had finished the ice-cream, they walked back to the park that Ludwig had been staying in.
"I've been meaning to ask you," she started, "how come you were sleeping in a tree? Wouldn't you get cold, especially without a blanket? Don't you have a home? Where do you live?"
Ludwig put his hands up. "Woah! You said question, not /questions/!"
"Will you please answer them?"
He sighed. "I can't."
"What? Why not?"
He looked away. "I just can't tell you."
"Will you at least answer my first question? Please? Pretty please?"
"No."
"You're no fun."
"I'm not exactly the most enthusiastic person either."
"You were when you tasted the ice-cream!"
"That's an exception." It was the first time he'd had human food.
"Why?"
"Because."
She frowned. "Why are you suddenly so secretive?"
"What do you mean?" He asked in the same tone that she had used.
She put her hands on her hips. "You won't tell me anything! Why?"
"Because I can't," he said.
"Why not?" She asked rudely and loudly.
"I can't tell you the details because I want you to stay safe!"
She stared at him. "Stay...safe?" She asked quietly.
He sighed at himself angrily. "I never said that, forget you heard it and stay away from me. Please." He walked away from her, leaving her confused.
'I'm sorry,' Ludwig thought towards Feliciana, 'but the more I talk to you, the deeper you get into danger. My life is in danger, it always has been. You can't get hurt, I won't let you. I won't let someone get hurt because of me...not again...' Ludwig felt tears start to well up behind his eyes. He blinked them away as he reached his tree and in one swift climb he reached his nook between the base of the large branch and the trunk. He laid there for the rest of the day, thinking about how soon he should move on. When night fell, he stopped thinking and fell into a deep sleep.