Chapter updates: I'm horrible to Romano, Antonio gets a chance to redeem himself, and we all get to know why Gilbert isn't around

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The night before the execution, Antonio had locked himself in his room and refused to participate in any of the festivities the queen had planned. Francis, who had the only key to his room (for 'safety purposes') had let himself in, and was trying to console his best friend as best he could.

He watched Antonio's face in the low lighting, trying to see his expression. He reached out a hand. "Do you want to talk?"

Antonio said nothing. He didn't even move, just sat emotionless on his bed. Despite Francis' best efforts he wouldn't respond. "Are you angry?" Nothing. "Are you sad?" Nothing. "Do you hate him?"

Antonio's head jerked revealing his eyes had filled with tears. "I- I don't know" He whispered.

The sight made Francis' heart constrict. As much as he disliked what Romano did, he hated seeing his friend like this. "If you didn't know then why did you send him to death?" He asked.

Antonio frowned deeper than he had before. "I was angry. Really, really angry. He lied to me, Francis! He had every chance to tell me- I gave him my mother's ring! I trusted him and he was lying about everything"

"I know" Francis said. It was the best he could do to just let his friend be angry. If he had it his way, he would keep quiet and let Antonio find away to move on from this chapter of his life. But, he couldn't ignore how sad and lonely he had been. Ever since the prince, or rather, the imposter, came into his life, he was brighter. He was happier.

"He really did love you." Francis added, quietly. Like putting fuel to the fire.

"Then why didn't he tell me the truth?" Antonio demanded, standing up abruptly. His face held all kind of desperation. "If he really loved me, why did he keep lying?"

'Because I told him to' Francis thought, but he refused to say it out loud. "Maybe it's because you have a tendency to overreact. Antonio, I've known you for years. You've been afraid of treason every since Gilbert returned."

Antonio quieted. That was something he rarely liked to talk about.

"You know, I talked to him." Francis said, starting again. He sat down on the bed where Antonio stood with his fists clenched. "He said that Feliciano was in danger and that he was protecting him. But despite all that, he said he was going to tell you the truth. He loved you so much; he saw so much in you."

That did the trick. Antonio' face slackened and his angry frown evaporated. Suddenly he sat heavily, slumping over as gravity took its toll. "You're right." He chocked out. "I messed up, didn't I? Oh god, what do I do?"

Francis reached out a hand, running it through Antonio's hair. "You can still fix this. His execution is this afternoon. If you hurry you can still do something"

"You're right. I have to talk to him." Antonio moved to stand up, before choosing to crush his best friend into a hug. "Thank you, Francis"

"Go get your happy ending back" Francis said with a small smile. "You deserve it"

[=]

It was his last day to live, and Romano wanted nothing more than to be alone. There were guards all around, watching him to make sure he didn't escape. It was uncomfortable and cold and painful.

Honestly, he had cried out all his tears in the night, trying to get comfortable on the stone floor. It was worse than when he lived in Madame Albetta's.

He missed Feliciano's bed. He missed the food, the servants, and the clothes. He missed the gardens. He missed Antonio.

A chocked sob wretched its way through his throat and Romano found he still had tears to cry. Why did he miss him? Antonio hated him. He ordered his execution. He had thought that he would at least listen to him, and forgive him, and love him like he said.

He guess they both lied about something.

Romano curled into a little ball of sad Italian, something he tended to do when he was sad and just wanted the world to disappear. Soon they would be coming for him, so why act tough?

With his ear pressed to the ground, he could hear them. It sounded like only one pair of footsteps, but they rarely meant anything. Maybe it was the worst guard of them all. Someone with massive arms and a god awful sneer and, and-

"Lovi?"

It was worse than he imagined. Antonio stepped into the light of the torch, with his curly brown hair and beautiful smile. There were bags under his eyes, too, as if he couldn't sleep.

They locked eyes in some sort of silent staring contest. Now that he was close enough to see, Romano felt himself grow angry. "Why are you here?" He yelled. "Come to mock me? Kill me yourself?"

Antonio stopped outside his cell. He didn't say anything more.

"What is your problem? Can I not get one last night alone before I'm brutally murdered? You're got some nerve coming here you son-of-a-bitch. Go rot in hell."

"I guess I deserve to" Antonio knelt down, now eye level with the livid Romano. "I didn't even listen to you"

Lovino sneered. "Damn right you deserve too. You didn't answer me- why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

The laugh was unexpected on both of their parts, and Romano was surprised he could sound so bitter. "Well you certainly missed your chance"

Antonio didn't say anything. With Romano hot headed and angry like this, he didn't know what he could say to calm him down. Suddenly, a flash of light caught his eye. For the first time, he noticed something around Romano's finger. "Come closer" Antonio instructed. He could reach a hand through the bars, but Romano was too far away to touch. "Let me see your hand"

Romano didn't want to, but his body moved on its own accord. He held up his hand.

The ring was still there, rubbed down from years of someone touching at it as a nervous habit. He hadn't taken it off. Now that he realized he hadn't, Romano wondered why. Was this his way of still holding onto Antonio? Was it symbolic? He didn't know what it was, but it brought a smile to Antonio's face and Romano found he didn't give a damn.

"I told you that was my mother's ring, didn't I?" Antonio asked. Romano nodded. "There's a story behind to it, you know. My father made it himself. Imagine, a king taking up gem cutting and metal working! My mother loved the ring and my father more. After he died, though, she couldn't stand to look at it. She took it off and moved to crush it beneath her feet, but it didn't break. Everyone said that it is a symbol of how unbreakable his love was. And that's why I gave it to you"

Antonio looked at Romano shyly. "Because even though I messed up, and I hurt your heart, I still love you. And I'm sorry"

Silence. The darkness of the castle seemed to sink in, but in the little patch of torch light shining on them both, Romano felt like the skies had cleared. "You bastard" He said, taking his hand away. "If you ever do something like this again, I will force this ring so far down your throat-"

Antonio laughed, which was a welcome change. "Come on" He said. I'm going to get you out of here" He held up a ring full of keys, of all different sizes and makes. "Once I figure out which is which that is"

With Antonio preoccupied with the jailbreak, and Romano too busy watching him, neither noticed the sun slowly creeping up into day break. Nor did they hear the sound of the pounding footsteps of the guards coming down the wooden steps. When Antonio looked up, it was too late.

"Hey! You! What're ya doing with my keys?"

It was the castle's most menacing guard, Sadiq. He was fitted in the door frame, blocking the exit. He had traded his usual white mask for a black one- the symbol for execution.

"Run!" Romano screamed, but it was too late. Sadiq had already grabbed Antonio by his shirt collar, lifting him off the ground and cutting off his air supply.

"Looks like we've gotta lover boy. Attempting to thwart the queen's orders, hmm?"

"My... orders..." Antonio panted. He tried to sound strong, but Sadiq had him around the neck, literally. Even if he did get away, there was no way to fight him. He had the advantage ten times over.

"Don't matta" Sadiq said, smiling. The effect was gruesome, with his eyes covered by his mask. "I'll let the queen deal with ya later." He grabbed the keys from Antonio's hand, used them to open an adjacent cell. With a flick of his wrist, Antonio lay crumpled on the hard, stone floor and the door slammed shut.

Sadiq turned to Romano, who was pressed as far back in his own jailblock as he could go. "Don't touch me" He growled as Sadiq pried open the bars and advanced. As Sadiq's hands reached toward him, Romano tried to dash around him. He shimmied through the opening before arms crushed his own, lifting him off his feet.

"Let me go!" Romano screamed. "Antonio, help me! Please, please help me!"

But Antonio could do nothing but slowly lose consciousness from lack of air. Romano's cries fell on deaf ears as he was dragged away toward the sunlight.

A deafening boom echoed in the dungeon as the heavy exit doors were closed. The pain was too much and Antonio drifted out of the waking world

[=]

Antonio dreamed he was in his home castle. Back before his father died, before he was king, before Gilbert left. He and his two best friends were in the knight training room. Gilbert was attacking stuffed dummies with vigor, slashing and stabbing, yelling at his friends to keep working. Antonio hadn't wanted to be there. He wanted to check up on his garden, but Gilbert made him stay. He wanted him to practice with a weapon of some kind.

"Don't be stupid" He had snapped, handing him an ax. Francis raised an eyebrow as he was Gilbert gave him a much lighter sword and was told to deal with it. "Everyone needs to learn how to defend themselves"

"Why?" Antonio asked. "I have people to do that for me"

"What about if you have someone you need to protect?" Francis supplied, understanding where Gilbert was going.

"I've got these!" Antonio said cheerfully, holding up his fists and punched air. "All bad guys are going to run away when they see me coming!"

Francis laughed, amused by his antics. But Gilbert was not. He stopped his sword mid air, turning on him angrily. "Fists aren't going to do jackshit unless you know how to use them. You need to learn this stuff so stop goofing off and learn to fight!"

The mood suddenly changed from the lighthearted fun they were having before. Gilbert had changed since he joined the royal court. Antonio frowned, and reached out a hand to his friend. "You don't have to be so mean-"

Gilbert's look could melt metal. "Someday someday is going to die because you failed. So don't tell me I'm being too mean. I've stood here against you with a sword and haven't killed you yet. That's pretty fucking nice of me."

"Knock it off, Gilbert" Francis said, stepping between Antonio and him as if he was afraid he would change his mind about not running him through.

Antonio glared from behind Francis' extended arm. "I'm not going to fail anyone." His mouth turned to acid, and he whispered one of the only things he had ever regretted saying. "Not like you failed Horem"

The room went deadly silent, and with a start, Antonio woke up.

Coming into full consciousness after such an awful dream was almost a relief. He lay on his side in a single jail cell, his neck and side bruised from their rough treatment.

He remembered what happened next. Gilbert had moved to punch him, kill him if he could, but stopped. His face was unusually white when dropped the sword, and walked away. Ever since that moment, a Gilbert hadn't so much as looked Antonio's way. Antonio would never admit it, but when he finally became a full fledged knight and left the royal court, he was glad.

It took a second for him to get reoriented, but it was one second too long.

Romano. Romano was his priority. The past suddenly made sense and he nearly cried. Romano was on his way to the executions block.

How long had he been out? How much time did he have? What could he do? What-

"God, you take forever to wake up!"

That voice! Antonio rolled over to look up at Arthur Kirkland, now former adviser to the royal family. "What...?" He managed to squeak out.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "It really does figure my knight in shining armor turned out to be you. Honestly, you're stupider than I gave credit for."

"Are you a ghost?" Antonio asked, still trying to piece everything together.

Wow, Arthur sure could scowl. "No, you dolt. I'm trying to break out. Thankfully the queen's henchmen are non too bright and locked me up in my secret lair- I mean, my workshop. I woke you up with my last potion, and we have thirty minutes to stop the execution from taking place."

Sick dread rose threw Antonio. Thirty minutes was practically nothing. But he still had to try. He had to do this for Romano. Not to mention, his dream still haunted him. He had to prove Gilbert wrong.

"So what do we do?" He asked Arthur.

"Oh, we don't do anything. My minions are hard at work knocking down the door."

Antonio frowned in confusion, before peering between the bars. Sure enough, two feminine creatures stood on the other side, each putting all the had into prying open the bars. "There's no way they can-" He started, but was forced to shut up as the doors gave way almost instantly.

"Come on" Arthur said, standing. "Stop drooling and let's go beat the queen. And save your sweetheart, too, of course"