Chapter 4: Surprise

Feliciano opened his eyes as a sigh escaped his lips. He wasn't sure how he had ended up in this mess or why. All he knew was that he was injured and held in this house. He couldn't say he was a prisoner, because the stranger who owned this house was helping him. True the man was the one who injured him, but he said that he hadn't meant to. Maybe he was telling the truth. All the angel could do was hope that he was. After all, his wing wasn't going to heal on its own and he would be hard pressed to find a doctor who wouldn't call national security when he saw him. Heaving another sigh, he slipped out of bed and walked over to the window.

The sky was gray and a light drizzle was covering the darkening land scape. It looked too gloomy for the angel so he turned away and looked around the room. It was small, or at least it looked that way. In reality it was a rather spacious room, but so much furniture was crammed in that he was surprised anyone could live properly. A desk sat in the corner, paper neatly stacked on top and a lap standing next to it. A bookshelf stood on each side of the desk and both were filled with history books and poems. The Italian giggled. The man didn't seem like the type of person to read poems. Turning to observe the rest of the room, he found a dresser with small items placed carefully around the top.

Curious, he walked over to it and picked up a small round object. The top was a lid that Feliciano opened slowly, fearing that any sudden movements would break it. A click sounded as a soft tune began to play from the small container. The tune sounded familiar, but the name escaped his lips. The brunette closed the lid of the music box and turned it upsidedown. On the bottom were the words written 'To my dear sweet heart, Ludwig.'

The angel stared at those words, running his fingers over them, studying them carefully. Evidently, the man who was taking care of him had a lover. Feliciano smiled and placed the music box back on the dresser where a newspaper clipping lay as well. He picked it up and read:

'Karry Beilschmidt, wife of Ludwig Beilschmidt, died tragically early yesterday morning during a shootout at Country Bank. After being ru-...'

The brunette could barely read the rest of the article because water stains, that he could guess were probably tears, dotted the the paper. He felt his heartstrings being pulled and his legs felt momentarily weak. He sat back on the bed as tears threatened to surface. Voices downstairs interupted him and he stood. He replaced the newspaper clip and was about to walk out of the room when he realized that maybe Ludwig wouldn't appretiate him walking around naked. He quickly dug through the drawers of the dresser and pulled out a pair of pants and a t-shirt. Both of the items were way to big for his thin frame, but he made do and went downstairs. As he approached the room where the front door was located a child's voice spoke.

"Daddy, you drive too fast. Mommy told me to tell you that!" Feliciano smiled at the enthusiasm that came from the voice. Then it spoke again. "Uncle Ludwig!"

There was a series of tiny squeals of joy and thats when the angel decided to walk in and announce his presence. As he walked, the floor creaked under him and all eyes turned towards him. That when he saw it. The other man from his dreams. The albino that Ludwig had called brother. Then the man spoke.

"Is this the person that needed a place to stay?"

"Yes," Ludwig answered.

Before anything else could be said, Feliciano bolted past the both of them and out the door.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig called out.

The angel didn't answer. He was too afraid that the albino was real. He decided right there that neither of them could be trusted.

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"Dammit! Feliciano!" Ludwig called out again. No use, the angel was gone. "Shit! Gilbert grab some flash lights out of the drawer."

"It's still bright outside."

"Not for long, the sun is setting fast."

Gilbert peeked outside and saw that his brother was right. Soon it would be dark and they would be blind if they didn't have flash lights. Elizaveta held her hands over Matthew's ears, angry about the language used around their sons. She stood back as she watched the two brothers ran frantically wanting to ask what was going on, but held her tongue. After grabbing the light sources, he and Ludwig grabbed their jackets and ran out the door. Because of the light drops of water they had to be careful and not slip. They came up to a thick group of trees and hoped that this was the way that the small Italian ran. Gilbert decided to break the silence and ask Ludwig a question.

"So, who is this guy? Is he Karry's replacement?"

Ludwig's footing faltered at the mention of his former wifes name, but didn't stop. Instead he became angry. "How dare you think that I would replace Karry."

"Why was he wearing you clothes?"

"He needed something to wear. His clothes weren't usable. And besides, it's nothing like that."

"Well, what I see says differently."

Ludwig said nothing, realizing that he wouldn't say anything to make his brother believe something else. As they continued running, he caught a glimpse of the brunette.

"There he is!" Ludwig said, pointing.

Gilbert whipped his head towards the direction the Italian was running and turned. They were slowly, but surely gaining on the angel.

"Quickly, brother! He's getting away!" Ludwig yelled.

"I'm working on it, West!" Gilbert replied.

The albino saw that the brunette began to favor his left shoulder and blood began to seep through the t-shirt. Gilbert's eyes widened and looked at Ludwig with questioning eyes. The blonde looked at his brother and quickly looked back to what was ahead of him. He felt guilty all of a sudden.

"Feliciano, wait!" Ludwig called out, reaching his hand out and barely grabbing on to the small angel's shoulder.

The brunette lost his footing and fell to the ground in fear. The shirt had caught on a branch and tore open, revealing his concealed wings. Gilbert stopped in his tracks at the sight.

"What the hell is going on, West?"

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Another chapter done! Kesesesesese! Wow... sorry. I had a moment. Anyway, don't forget to review~!