The first thing Lovino registered as he pulled himself out of unconsciousness was that he was
!
Almost immediately, as if emphasizing his realization, a harsh shiver wracked through his body. He groaned unhappily and tried to wake up but his thoughts didn't seem to want to cooperate. He slowly focused on opening his eyes and sitting up, once he was finally upright he opened his eyes and stared at complete darkness.
His mind was still moving slowly, and Lovino now believed it was due to whatever was making his head throb sickeningly. "Fuck," Lovino gasped in pain and brought his hand to cradle his head. He felt some sort of cloth wrapped around it. Bandages?
Why did his head hurt so much?
Why did he have bandages on his head?
Why was it dark? Why did he feel so anxious?
Where was he?
...Where was Feli?
Everything started to come back to him in rapid bursts. Feliciano and him looking at their parents' picture. The fire engulfing the town. Feliciano crying and handing him one of the silver bracelets. Blood, lots of blood. And Corpses. More Fire. Demons. Vash and Lili escaping on their horse. Emerald eyes.
Lovino groaned and felt a wave of nausea as the images assaulted him. Closing his eyes only made them more vivid. His entire body was shaking but Lovino knew it wasn't just the cold now. His hands twitched violently and he balled them up to try and keep them still. Where was he? Where was Feliciano? Did he run away? He had to. Feliciano promised him he would run. He would, wouldn't he?
"So you're finally awake belle au bois dormant?" Lovino's head jerked at the sound of that familiar voice. He turned but couldn't see him through the darkness.
"Fairy bastard?"
He heard a snort. "Oui belle au bois dormant. How are you feeling? This floor is uncomfortable enough on it's own, but I imagine it's even worse for someone injured."
Lovino stared at the direction the voice came from. He gingerly placed his fingers on the bandages. "Did you...save me," Lovino asked slowly, trying to wrap his head around the idea while trying to remember more of what happened. It was silent between the two for a long moment. Then Francis started laughing hysterically.
Lovino scowled into the darkness but stayed quiet as Francis tried to recover from his laughing fit. "Far from it mon cher," Francis breathed out on one last chuckle. "Unfortunately I am not your Prince Charming."
"Bastard," Lovino spat. "Then can you at least tell me where the fuck we are?"
"Hm, I could but I wonder if you would believe me. I wonder if you would want to believe me?"
"Well, we won't fucking know until you tell me."
"Hmm," Francis hummed. Lovino knew he was just being used as entertainment now. Lovino didn't want bother trying to pry that information away, so he asked a different question instead.
"What happened to the village?"
"I knew that would be your next question."
"Then fucking answer it!" Lovino yelled.
"Shh, shh, no need to yell mon cher," Francis muttered.
"Don't fucking shush me asshole," Lovino hissed.
"It was destroyed," Francis finally snaps. "Don't act like an idiot. You were there weren't you? You saw your town being burned to the ground right?" Lovino flinched. He didn't respond to Francis. It wasn't that he was trying to stupidly think everything was fine he had just… Lovino heard Francis give a heavy sigh. "Pardon me mon cher, I'm actually in a bit of a foul mood myself given our circumstances. I apologize for being too harsh about your loss."
"How many?"
"Pardon?"
"How many of them are dead? How many innocent people were killed for no reason?"
"Well, I presume all them. Some did run away but demons were sent out after them."
Lovino clenched his hands tighter, the twitching was starting to go up to his arms now and he felt sick. "Some could have gotten away. It's not possible to catch every single person who ran."
"It's actually very possible," Francis hummed. "Afterall, we did have a reason for attacking your village. The demons have been looking for a particular item for a long time. It was suspected that it was in your village. I'll be honest, though, and tell you that their deaths weren't necessary to actually find it."
"So they were killed for no reason!"
"Mostly yes. The demons did have a reason to kill them, petty as it may be. They were frustrated. They'd been stuck on the other side of that barrier for so long that killing the villagers was almost like revenge in a way. Stress relief may be a better way to put it."
"Stress relief?" Lovino growled out. "How the fuck can you talk about people like their fucking punching bags? You may not be human and you may now even like humans but what those demons did was…"
"Wrong? Sick? Twisted? Evil? Yes, all that and more. It's nothing compared to what I've seen happen to others, though."
"What do you mean?" Lovino questioned Francis, but Francis didn't answer. Honestly, Lovino didn't want him to. They sat in silence for awhile. Lovino's head started to hurt so much he laid back down on the stone floor. The floor was incredibly uncomfortable, but the cold helped soothe his head.
Lovino didn't know how much time had passed. He had been slipping back to sleep on and off for awhile. He had just reopened his eyes again at the sound of shuffling. Probably Francis trying to get comfortable again. Lovino wondered why he didn't just get off the floor and sit in a chair or something. Why were they both on the floor in some dark room anyway? Lovino remembered his first question from earlier.
"Francis," Lovino muttered groggily. "Where are we?" Lovino didn't get an answer. He assumed Francis had no intention of telling him anything.
Lovino was just starting to drift off again when he heard Francis speak again. "We are being held as prisoners for trespassing."
"Trespassing," Lovino repeated. "Trespassing where?"
"The demon realm. We were caught and arrested by the demon general Yao. We were locked in here until the day of our death sentence is decided."
