Authorcomment:Hi everyone! I have to say I've had some lovely reviews, compliments and faves from people… thank you very much! You've all really kept me going… truth to tell I was never going to publish this story… so glad I did now, everyone seems to be enjoying it… additionally, there was one review that I couldn't reply to… I'm very sorry you've wasted so much paper… I hope I can reimburse you in enjoyment. Thank you everyone who is reading… every favourite and comment makes me happy ;) so enjoy. 3
As Francis and Arthur had been talking in the bar about the dagger landing in Italy, they couldn't anticipate the rather twee (If not a tad predictable) consequences that ensued. The effects of the dagger have already been explained in quite a lot of detail… it seemed that it's perverse nature could tempt anyone…well…almost anyone.
It had been a long day for Ludwig. The German had been in so many meetings that even he would admit he was getting a tired, when the meetings were done he had shouted at his personal assistant, demanding to know why some of the meetings couldn't have been merged into one, or why they couldn't have been held in the same building. Travelling around the capital was a pain at the best of times. Never mind when it was Christmas and the traffic was horrendous. Such bad organisation often made him irate… His personal assistant had started crying, and it all got rather awkward, he tried to calm her down…saying it wasn't her fault, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being judge. Ludwig was a tall and well built man with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Some would call his appearance severe, whereas others would simply say he was very 'German' looking. His PA eventually calmed down…and said she would do better next time, but this had involved Ludwig taking her for coffee, buying her dinner and then persuading her not to leave… admitting that his outburst may have been a little extreme.
But the work day was over and it was 11 o'clock at night, Ludwig was sat at home enjoying his own quiet company whilst reading a book and a nice cold beer and nothing could go wrong, but like most of Ludwig's 'quiet evenings' in, it was short lived.
The phone rang… but not just any normal ringtone oh no, Ludwig had assigned a particular ringtone for a particular person who rang far more often than he should have. The ringtone was a rather understated beeping noise. But as he heard it Ludwig winced. He hoped it was a wrong number and the caller would put the phone down…
But no… it kept ringing. With a deep despairing sigh Ludwig took the phone in his hand and very slowly accepted the call by pulling down the accept interface as slowly as possible.
"GERMANY GERMANY!"
"Italy… what is it now?" Ludwig asked.
"Ahhhh Germany! It's not nice!" Veneziano waited for Ludwig to ask for clarification.
Ludwig cringed at the inappropriate word 'nice'. "What does that mean?"
"Something got picked up at border control at Leonardo da Vinci Airport! And they called me to come and check it out… it's some antique thing… I don't really know what it is… but apparently… it was brought in the country in a suspicious way! Like… I don't know the mafia or something! I don't know what to do." Veneziano then repeated that he didn't know what to do several times, then Ludwig interrupted.
"I don't understand why on earth border control would call you." he snapped. "I mean you are the last person I would call when in need of assistance, and surely they know that as well…"
"Well… I don't get it either! But they did!" Veneziano sounded slightly troubled. "They said some British guy had called through and told them to call me."
"Some British guy? That's a completely redundant thing to say if you don't know who the British person is. But that does sound like your lot." Ludwig sighed and rubbed his face in despair.
"Maybe it's Arthur!" Veneziano smiled.
"THEY ARE HUNDRDS OF THOUSANDS OF BRITISH MEN! DON'T BE STUPID ITALY!" Germany yelled down the phone. "IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ARTHUR!"
"It's kind of scared Germany… apparently this British guy said I need to go to Paris… but I don't want to go alone…" Veneziano continued, discarding the insults all together. "If it's not Arthur…it could be a murderer…"
Ludwig made a noise of disapproval. This is what Veneziano's mind was like, if it wasn't Arthur… then it had to be a murderer, or a thief, or a crazy lunatic who hates Italians (all of these were hunches that Italy had said in the past whenever somebody he didn't know called him).
"I'm sorry, I'm not understanding this, you've got some kind of suspicious object… but you don't know what it is…apparently your people got a call from a man… but you don't know where or who heis… and you've been told to go to Paris…please tell me you know wherethat is-" Ludwig pinched the ridge of his nose as he could sense a headache coming on.
"…Yep… It's where Francis lives!" Veneziano said brightly.
"Well done Italy." Ludwig mumbled, it wasn't even complete sarcasm; it was something between sarcasm and genuine surprise.
"But Ludwig… I don't know how to describe it… It's like a dagger thing…but it has a weird kind of vibe… it's really scary…It's like an evil magicy thing… I got given it in a plastic bag… but I don't really want to take it out of the bag…"
"Well, don't take it out of the bag then. Problem solved." As Ludwig didn't really understand the power of this dagger or the intimidating air it carried, he thought this was one of Veneziano's typically pathetic comments. "So…You're…?" Ludwig started to look at what things he would need to take with him if he was going to go to Paris… and he knew that he would be going… because Veneziano was that useless that he couldn't possibly do anything on his own.
Veneziano sighed as if impatient. "I'm at border control now at the airport…"
"Yes we've established that." Ludwig murmured sarcastically.
"…but I'm sure I could catch a flight to Paris on my own…" but he didn't sound one hundred percent convinced that he could. But wanted to at least show willing, he could at least kid himself he didn't need Ludwig's help for a little why "…If you tell me exactly what I need to do, how to book at ticket… how to change euros… how to-"
"I'll come over and we'll go together." Ludwig murmured as he had already began to pack his bag,
"YAY! You're the best Ludwig!" Veneziano smiled. "I didn't really think that I would be able to get there on my own!"
"Reserve your judgement for when I see you. I'm going to have to book time off work and everything-" Ludwig started to flick through the pages of his diary, already trying to calculate the number of days he might need to book off… with Italy… it was probably a minimum of three to do anything even vaguely useful, then if they needed to do anything in Paris…that would be be another three for Italy to sort himself out. When he thought about it, he might as well book a week off… Well not 'off' exactly, Ludwig never takes time off, he's just 'out of the office.' Nations shouldn't take time off in his opinion.
"Oh yeah! Me too!" Veneziano smiled. "Maybe I should call my boss…"
"AS IF YOU HADN'T THOUGHT OF THAT ALREADY?" Ludwig shouted.
"Well I don't do anything useful anyway." Veneziano smiled.
"DUMMKOPF! THAT'S HARDLY SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF! ALRIGHT…I'M COMING TO THE AIRPORT. DON'T MOVE! DON'T EVEN GO TO GET A COFFEE. TELL ME WHAT SIGNS ARE NEARBY SO I CAN FIND YOU WHEN I GET THERE AND KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE."
"Well…there is a cute sign of a man with a hat on… he's got a passport in his hand I think… but it's only a pictogram… so maybe it's a book…maybe it's a pizza box… I'm not exactly sure… in fact looking at it… that square shape is too big to be a passport… there's a big exit sign…I think it's a fire exit sign… it's yellow and black and the man looks like he's running really fast-"
"SIGNS WITH WORDS ON ITALY! NOT PICTOGRAMS! I'M LOOKING FOR DIRECTION SIGNS!"
"Ahh…right! How about…Border control…"
"YOU TOLD ME THAT ALREADY!" Ludwig was losing his temper rather quickly.
"Ahh….There's an ice cream cart!" Veneziano smiled. "Yayyyy!"
"FINE GET AN ICE CREAM AND DON'T MOVE FROM THAT SPOT!" Ludwig finally gave in. This conversation was going nowhere, but logically speaking. There couldn't be that many places near border control with a exit sign andan ice cream cart nearby. It must have been on the way out of the airport, rather than near departures.
"But you're going to be hours!" Veneziano whined. "I'll be bored."
"Yes but your attention span doesn't inspire much hope… so stay there. I'll be about… 3 hours."
"OKAY! Thanks Germany you're the best."
Germany put the phone down and shook his head as he packed his bag. "Mein Gott…this is ridiculous."
3 hours later (2:00 GMT)
"Yaaaaayyyy! Germany you found meeeee!" Veneziano waved. "I was on my third ice cream just before you got here!"
"Yes sorry I couldn't get here faster."
"Oh no you've done it in breakneck time! Well done!" Veneziano appalled a little and then stopped as he heard his phone going off. "Oh! I'm getting a call….Ciao…Arthur it's you! Bonjourno!... I knew you were the man who called…the people who called me said they didn't know…well…oh you did tell them?... Sorry… But it's like two o clock in the morning so maybe they were tired...Oh it's urgent?...Sure...I see… Did I get this object thing? Yes… I did!...I got it… it's quite creepy though…the thing is in a bag… no I haven't touched it!"
Ludwig's mouth almost dropped to the floor, one of Veneziano 's ridiculous notions was correct, it seemed Arthur had called rather than just a random British person.
"mmmm…. Yeah Germany's here!...I called him… how did you know? Oh!... Cause I'm useless… can't disagree really." Veneziano smiled. "You want him? Oh…well… okay…"
Veneziano passed the phone over to Ludwig.
"Gutenmorgen… I'mgladyouwentovertosorthimout… Iwashopingyouwoulddojustthat"
"Gutenmorgen you say? Not especially." Ludwig sighed heavily as he saw Veneziano going for anotherice cream. "What is this all about Arthur?"
"Ah…well… it's about that artefact… and about… your brother…"
"My brother? What about him?" Ludwig instantly clammed up at the mention of this.
"Let's discuss the dagger first…That object is tremendously powerful…and tremendously dangerous… it is a magical object-"
"Veneziano suspected something might be wrong with it, and for him to notice it must be terrible."
"Itisterrible." Arthur continued. "InthemorningweareheadingovertoParis… wemightbeabletodisposeofthedaggerthere…oratleastkeepsitpoweratbay."
"Arthur, has something happened? Who is this 'we'? You're making this sound like we are running out of time."
"Weare." Arthur added bluntly. "Alfredhasdonesomethingstupid… andthatdaggerispracticallyatickingtimebomb… Idon'twanttogointothedetailsbut… itbringsoutthebadin… people…innations… ineverything… it'salreadystartingtoeffectAlfred… Iamtellingyou… donottouchitGermany… Idon'tcareifitpromisesyouworldpeaceandapeacefuleconomyfortherestofyourlife…Itwilluseyourgreatestweakness' totryandpersuadeyou… butyoucannotgivein… youcannottouchit… ifyoudothenyouwillbecomeanothercatalystforit'spower…"
"…A catalyst for what?" Ludwig would usually be sceptical about this kind of thing, but Arthur seemed far too serious for this to be a joke.
"Theworld'sdestruction." Arthur explained."Thatdaggerhasanevilforcewithinit… aforcethatwantstorule… butifit'spowerbecomestoogreat… thentheworldwillbedestroyedasthewielderwilllosecontrolofit'stremendouspower… anditwillenveloptheworldindarknessanddeath…ItwilltryandtemptyoumorethanVeneziano… itoftentriestotemptthestrong…youmustnotevencarryit,evenifheasks… youmustsayno…youdon'twanttoputyourselfinapositionwhereyouarealonewithit-"
"How will I know that it's trying to tempt me?" Ludwig didn't really quite understand what Arthur meant.
"You'll know." Arthur said simply.
"…Oh-" Ludwig hadn't expected a comment with such finality, it also made Ludwig realise the severity of the situation. "So, what must we do?"
"We'llbesettingofftoParisinthemorning…whenwegetthere… apparentlyMatthewwillbejoiningus…IwouldappreciateitifwecouldallbeinGareduNordbynolaterthan1oclocktomorrow… You'llbestayingoversobookahotel. "
"Right, I understand, I'll come to Paris with Veneziano otherwise… he'll never get there."
"Iappreciateitverymuch…" Arthur answered. "ThisishardlywhatIanticipatedthisChristmas."
"No, neither did I…" Ludwig nodded, and stumbled over his next few words. "And…what about… Gilbert?"
"Ahh…yes…well…IthinkIneedhimforprotection.Hewillbeimpervioustothedagger'seffectyousee.Ithinkhewillbeagoodassettobringalong…So… IamaskingifIcanbringhimback?"
"You…you can bring him back?" Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. This was so out of the blue that he walked away from Veneziano for a moment, forgetting that leaving the Italian alone for a second was usually a recipe for disaster. "From the dea-"
"…Yes…do you consent? I mean I wouldn't do something so drastic in normal circumstances… I don't like using my magic so casually…but… I need him… and I… will find someone else if you are-"
"Do what you must." Ludwig said, he was a mixture of nervous, happy, confused and troubled all at once. "Well then, I'll make arrangements. We will meet you at the platform where your train is due to arrive, send us the details as you get them…See you tomorrow." Ludwig sighed as he finished the call and gave it back to Veneziano. "So, we will be going to Paris in the morning. In the meantime let's check into the hotel and book flights for tomorrow."
"Okay…Germany… is that dagger thing really bad?" Veneziano looked troubled and patted the satchel bag he was carrying. "It's in my bag right now… but I don't like it… it's making me feel uneasy…"
"Things…will be alright…" Ludwig said in a less than convincing manner.
"Ludwig…can you carry it for me?" Veneziano asked.
…GoonGermany… takethebag
Ludwig heard a voice, but he didn't know where it was coming from. His eyes widened and his breathing quickened slightly, his eyes were fixed on the bag for a moment.
…It must be such a burden for Italy… do him a favour…and take the bag...take the dagger…
"No." Ludwig answered simply. "I can't…I'm not…strong enough-"
"It's not heavy…" Veneziano smiled. "Even I can carry it!"
"No, that's not what I mean, Italy. You have to do this… for me."
Italy could see that how distressed Ludwig was. "Ludwig…" He nodded. "Okay! I can do this! I can do this for you!"
"Th-Thank you." Ludwig's cheeks flushed.
Veneziano smiled. "You get us a hotel and I'll hold this heavy…heavy bag here, you come back when you've got us a room-"
"I knew there was some form of catch." Ludwig sighed with a faint smile as he followed the directions to the hotel in the airport.