Just a Little Push

Part 9

They hadn't let her go to the hospital.

Both Ludwig and her grandfather had said that she should stay here and just wait—wait for the phone call that would tell her if her sister was okay. The phone call that hadn't come yet, even though it should have come. At least in her mind it should have come. It wouldn't take that long for her sister to wake up, right? What if she hadn't, though? What if she never woke up?

And she was suddenly startled out of her thoughts by a warm hand gently pushing something into her hand. Her fingers automatically clenched around it, feeling warmth slowly begin to seep into her fingertips as she breathed in the rather familiar scent of tea.

"Drink it, Feli. It'll make you feel better."

She glanced up at the remark, meeting Arthur's concerned eyes. She'd almost forgotten that he was even here... Feliciana attempted to force a smile for him. "But I don't like tea."

He rolled his eyes at the statement, motioning toward the tea cup that she was holding between her hands. "Just drink it. You're shivering; you should drink something warm."

Feliciana frowned slightly, glancing down at the light brown liquid, before she finally nodded and took a sip. Almost choking at the unfamiliar taste.

Arthur watched her for a moment; expression slightly worried, and then turned to the rest of the cabin's occupants. Kiku, who had been sitting next to Heracles on his bed, stood up at the look and walked over to sit beside Feliciana on Antonio's bed. "Ah, Feliciana-san... You shouldn't worry. I'm sure that Lovina-san will be fine."

She smiled up at him, taking another sip of the warm beverage as she looked over the room's occupants. Francis was leaning against one of the beds, frowning to himself as if deep in thought; Arthur was heating up more water in the electric kettle he brought with him pretty much everywhere—she wondered for a moment how it had fit in his little suitcase; Heracles was still sitting on the bed, his eyes intent on Kiku. And Kiku blushed slightly when he noticed the gaze on him.

If only Lovina was here. She missed her sister. If her sister were here, she'd be sitting beside her, complaining about the 'leaf-water' and telling her about how much of an idiot Antonio was, while blushing in a way that made it obvious that she didn't mean a word she said.

Feliciana really wished that Lovina wouldn't be so mean to poor Antonio. He was so nice! He'd make them churros and teach them how to do dances like the Tarantella. And he was like a perfect big brother!

She was suddenly startled from this train of thought, however, when the front door suddenly slammed open, just managing to miss hitting Francis in the face by a couple of centimetres.

Feliciana immediately sat up straighter when she realized who it was. Gillian and Ludwig. A very irritated Gillian and a very confused Ludwig...

"Ludwig!" Feliciana chose to ignore the murderous glare that Gillian flashed everyone in favour of running up to the taller German. "Did Grandpa call yet? Is Lovi okay?"

He shook his head distractedly, most of his attention captured by his furious sibling. "Gill, I don't understand what's—"

"That Allison Jones! She's a fucking bitch!" The albino girl whirled around, flashing her brother a furious glare that scared Feliciana into clutching onto his arm and hiding behind him.

Scary! Why was Gillian being scary? Although she did feel a lot safer when she was holding onto Ludwig. He was so big and strong and she knew that he could protect her from absolutely anything. Including a scary Gillian.

Who now spun around and climbed up onto Arthur's bunk, placing her muddy combat boots on the mattress amidst protests from the bed's rightful owner. She just flashed him a glare in response that actually worked to quiet him.

Feliciana had hardly ever seen Gillian angry like this before. Not since one of the boys in middle school had called Francis a not-nice word that Ludwig refused to repeat for her. Gillian had been really angry then, and ended up getting another week of detention added onto the five weeks she already had, when she punched him in the face and broke his nose.

It was the first time that Ludwig didn't scold her for getting a detention, actually.

"What happened with Al?" Arthur moved slightly closer to the irritated girl, although far enough away that she couldn't kick or punch him if she felt so inclined. "She was supposed to go up and get you so we could tell you about—"

"She found out about me and Mattie."

Francis hissed in slightly at this, the only one in the room who actually knew what she meant by that. And who also could guess what sort of reaction Ally would have to finding out about the relationship...

Arthur just blinked in confusion. "What about you and Mattie?"

Gillian rolled over onto her stomach, kicking her feet up in the air so her soles almost touched the ceiling. "Mattie and I are dating."

For a moment, there was complete silence in the room. Feliciana could feel Ludwig stiffen in shock, his jaw dropping as he just stared at his sister in amazement. Arthur blinked once, obviously rather surprised, although not as much as Ludwig. Kiku froze as well, staring at her for a moment in obvious shock. Heracles was asleep.

Arthur was the first to actually react. As he shook his head slightly and finished making his tea, taking a sip before remarking, "I guess that explains some things."

"Was?" And Ludwig was the next to react. "You—but—I—"

"Mattie wanted to keep it a secret, but since that idiot Jones knows, I don't see the point in not telling everybody. Yes, Mattie and I are going out. Have been since the end of March. Mattie didn't want her sister to find out, but she ended up walking in on us when we were about to—"

"You and Mattie? But—but—" Feliciana found it vaguely amusing how Ludwig was stuttering like a motorboat. "But you're both girls..."

Gillian's eyes narrowed slightly at the statement. "Yeah, your point?"

And the Italian girl was pretty sure that things would have gotten a lot scarier if they hadn't suddenly been interrupted by...

"Pasta, pasta. I love pasta! It's a wonderful food..."

Every eye instantly turned to her. Most expressions either expressing amusement or sending her a 'you have got to be kidding me' look.

"Ve~ that's my phone! Ve~!" Now where was her phone... Did she have it? She must have it. She heard it. Oh, no! What if she'd dropped it somewhere and she'd miss this call and what if it was from her grandpa and...

Ludwig sighed, as he recognized the completely overwhelmed expression that crossed the younger girl's face. And walked over to the dresser where a small pink phone was vibrating like crazy, picking it up and answering with a "Ja?"

Feliciana was pretty sure that those next few minutes were the longest of her life. Every single eye in the room was fixated on Ludwig. No one moved or spoke or did anything except stare... And Ludwig wasn't helping anything, as his expression didn't change at all...

Was Lovina okay? What if she was dead and he was trying not to show it? She could feel tears already start welling in her eyes...

"Ja... Ja... Nein... Nein... Ja, she's fine... Ja... All right. Danke..."

He barely had time to hang up before he was tackled by an already sobbing Feliciana, who immediately clung to his shirt and stared up at him with huge, frightened, teary eyes. "Is she dead? Was that Grandpa? I don't wanna be an only child!"

Ludwig just stared at her, his own expression now obviously overwhelmed by the fact that he had a hysterical, sobbing girl clinging to him. "Ah, Feli, don't cry! She's fine. She's awake."

There was an immediate sigh of relief from the rest of room's occupants. Except for Heracles, who was still asleep. "Antonio's in with her now... Your grandpa apparently forgot to call you when she first woke up because he was distracted by one of the nurses..."

She stared up at him, her expression now switching from heartbroken to hopeful. "Ve~? Grandpa does like pretty nurses..."

"They're going to keep her in the hospital for the rest of the day, but he said that they think she should be able to come back sometime tomorrow. I guess they said that she could stay here instead of going home, since your grandfather can watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything too strenuous..."

"Ve~ that's great!" And now she was all smiles again, staring up at Ludwig with blatant adoration, before she nuzzled her nose against his chest. Not noticing the blush that immediately spread across his cheeks... Earning a smirk from Francis. "Grazie, Ludwig."

"Uh..." He was turning beet red. Like one of Antonio's tomatoes...Now attempting to push her off without her noticing.

"You saved my big sister! You and Arthur!" She turned now, releasing him (to his relief) to run over to Arthur and give him a huge hug too. "Grazie!"

Arthur blinked for a moment, then smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "You're welcome, Feli."

She jumped back, smiling happily. "We should celebrate, ve~! And I should make Lovina something for when she comes back. Maybe if I ask the nice ladies in the kitchen, they'll let me make pasta!" She didn't wait for a response, already turning and racing outside and toward the dining hall.

Her sister was okay! Her sister was okay and she was going to make her the best dinner of pasta ever!


A/N: ...Filler again. Sigh. Oh well. So interestingly enough, I feel like Feli is one of the hardest characters to write in the POV of. Especially when she's being all sad in the beginning.

But I'm now done with my first cycle of point of views, yay! ;D The ones that I've done will probably be the only ones I'll use, although it is possible that a minor character might sneak in at one point or another... (Probable, actually, since I have a pretty good idea for a much later chapter that would be in the point of view of a minor character). So yeah...

Over 100 reviews on this story! I'm so happy! Especially since it's a gender!flip, I wasn't expecting that many! *hugs for everyone!*