"Liet… you said we were leaving tonight… why the change in plan…?"

Dressing himself, the man looked over his shoulder at the blonde on the couch. He was meant to be a tailor for the Saviour but he never took his work seriously, and probably spent more time on making elaborate clothing for himself. This was Feliks. And Toris, the man getting dressed, fell in love all over again whenever he saw those green eyes, half hidden by stray golden strands.

"I know I did, but she came back earlier than expected… So just behave until she goes out again… you know she only lets me keep you because I agreed to stay with her… so if I break my promise while she's here then we only endanger ourselves… so be patient already…" Feliks sighed, but said nothing more for a while, drinking in the other's features.

His eyes were green as well, though lighter and not as vibrant a shade. And he wore his unruly chocolate hair back in a ponytail with a green strip of cloth. And his skin, while still pale like his own, was of a more olive complexion. This in Feliks' opinion was unbearably sexy and as duly noted, made for great sex.

"Alright… but you'd better come back later whether she lets you or not. I don't like sharing you…" The Pole pouted and his counterpart laughed softly, bending over as he finished with the buttons on his shirt and kissing him softly. It was sweet and innocent. It wouldn't lead to more, because Toris was pressed for time to go and Feliks had things to do as well.

"I will… I promise…" Toris smiled and kissed his lover once more before turning and leaving. If he didn't he might get into serious trouble as he might not be able to turn away.

He was pretty sure he heard Feliks grumble about lack of unfairness, but then he was gone, quickly tidying himself up as he paced along the long corridors, leaving the south wing for the north of the manor.

In ten minutes he came to a white door with ornate gold lacings of roses and vines that curled around the handles. He sighed and knocked softly before turning the handle and stepping into the room, closing the door behind him. He stood at the door silently, waiting to be answered. As he did so, he watched her across the room.

She stood in an ivory dress, the neckline in an elegant V shape to flaunt her voluptuous breasts. The dress went to the floor, but split down the middle of the front from halfway up her thighs, showing off her legs. She wore gold sandals and there was a green silk sash around her waist to keep the outfit together.

The sleeves of the dress came down to her knuckles in a kind of rounded V shape and she'd painted her nails a lovely metallic olive green since he'd last seen her.

Around her neck was a gold band with a green as forestry emerald sat proud. Golden brown wavy hair fell perfectly across her back, a few curly locks across her chest. Eyes the same green as his made brighter by the black, gold and green eye paints she loved to use. And, in her hair, holding her hair away from her left eye, was a beautiful lily ringed in pink. The same lily as the ones in the vase beside her.

Red lips smiled, knowing exactly how she looked. She knew that he preferred Feliks, so it was one of her greatest pleasures to catch Toris off guard like this.

Even he could not deny her beauty and thus she would have her way with him.

"It's so good to see you my lord…" She smiled again, the way she introduced him humouring her. "You approve?"

"I… those flowers… they're beautiful…"

"You like them…? I brought them back from Egypt…"

Toris smiled… "Did anything interesting happen there…?"

She smiled coyly, beckoning him closer. "Oh… you could say that…"

/

Alexander winced as Mathias helped him up, an irritated hand pressing against his bandages as he struggled with help to get dressed.

"Are you all right…?" Mathias asked, concern forming on his face, along with a frown.

"Y-Yes… I just think part of it reopened…" The smaller of the two said as he yawned a little. He and Mathias hadn't gotten to sleep till very late and Katuyasha had woken them at dawn. It had been the plan to wake so early, but it had been the plan for a night of indulgence to occur.

Mathias sighed as he pulled his shirt on. "We shouldn't have done that last night… so soon after you've been injured…" The Dane had a shameful look in his eye. And he felt ashamed of it, like he'd taken advantage of the other, even though they both knew that wasn't true.

"No… don't worry about it… I wanted it… and if we're going to grasp any sort of normality, bringing it back into our lives, then why not start with that…?" Alexander gave a tired smile, something very out of character for him, but it caused relief to flood through and extinguish a majority of Mathias' fears.

"What… start with sex in some old guy's bedroom…? Completely normal…"

Alexander threw the one pillow they'd managed to share at the taller man who caught it and laughed warmly, setting it back down on the bed. But despite the really weird side of that… they both knew right then and there what the Norwegian had truly meant. Mathias sharing some good Old Danish humour and Alexander finding the remark not at all funny.

It was like any other morning… like the way it should have been…

Mathias smiled, flicking some of that not-so-creepy-any-more black hair out of his eyes and leaned forward to kiss the smaller male softly before pulling his cloak on and help Alexander stand up. "Hey… I'm taking this as a good sign you know…" He said… taking the younger in his embrace.

"What…?" Alexander asked, looking up at him…

"That, and don't take this the wrong way… But if you just survived last night's sex and wake up with your old attitude…. Then you must be destined to live through this…"

Alexander cursed and blushed ferociously, but merely hid his face in the other's chest. "Moron…"

/

The village wasn't as close as Berwald had thought. They had had to stop in a cavern hotel, strange as it was. It had been built there as means for travelling to and from the main city. And they had all stopped there because they were tired and hungry.

So now, it was probably dawn out in the wide world, Berwald was laying on his back, staring at the stone roof and walls. He was having a hard time sleeping. There weren't any windows and the flame in the oil lamp was burning out again. It was making him feel a little claustrophobic.

Again he had been chained to the wall, which annoyed him, but it made sense. And he almost leapt out of his skin when he heard a knock on the door. He wasn't a man easily scared. But he was feeling uncomfortable and his nerves were on edge.

"Wh' 's 't…?" he asked, sitting up and putting his glasses on. The door creaked open and Tino stepped in with a glass of water and bowl of what smelt like something related to soup.

"Just me… A few of them are already up and getting breakfast together before we wake everyone else up and keep going." The Fin smiled a little and carried the glass and bowl over to the Swede, setting them on the bedside table with a spoon. The soup stuff was chunkier, like a stew. Not exactly breakfast, but he wasn't complaining.

He was starving and took the bowl almost immediately, eating it ravenously.

Tino just stood by, looking awkward or uncomfortable or something. He was waiting for Berwald to finish, or so the man thought. He didn't really understand the smaller male. But when he was done, he drank the water and set the empty bowl and cup on the table again.

Tino walked towards them before hesitating and sitting down beside the taller, taking his injured hand and carefully unwrapping the bandage. Berwald didn't object, merely watching him curiously as he traced the edges of the wound with gentle fingertips.

It had healed amazingly, but stung a little at the touch. But at the same time, the touch was soothing, making him calmer than he was before.

"Berwald… Please don't kill the Shadow King…"

The Swede blinked, surprised and frowned a little as he looked at the smaller, who was looking up at him with a sadness in his eyes.

"I see it in your eyes… whenever someone mentions him or something to do with him… You're eyes fill with hate and your face hardens…" The small male bit his lip, before asking, "Why do you hate him so much…?"

Berwald's breath caught in his throat. Again, as always at the thought, the screams of his wife and child being murdered rang clear in his ears. His friends had spent years trying to get him to tell them what happened. But right now, after only the first question of it, he felt the need to make the Fin understand his loathing of the Shadow King.

Some, insane part of him begged him to tell him, make him understand, so he wouldn't hate him for his decisions after. It was a crazy hope… so insane… that he had no idea in the end why he told Tino.

He told him everything… He told him about his wife and child. He told him about The Shadow King standing over their estranged bodies. The blood… burying them… and the words.. the words the Shadow king spoke to him before disappearing.

'I was counting on you being here sooner'

He told him about ready on giving up, but the Saviour had found him at his lowest and given him a reason to continue. Avenging his wife and son was his only purpose.

He thought, after telling Tino all of that that he would have understood. But the Fin merely rewrapped his wound and stood, looking at him sadly.

"Are you so sure it was him…?"

And then, feeling a twinge of betrayal and hurt, Berwald frowned. "Wh' d' y' d'fend h'm?"

"I… All my hopes rested on the Saviour as well Berwald… I thought if I did everything in his will, if I lived to serve him… then all would be well… He'd take the evil out of this world and make it good again… but… he took me away from my home… from my family… he made me a slave… So tell me this… Are your dreams of peace and rest of slaves, torture and rape? Because I've had enough of that life… And if I have to die to escape it… then so be it." Tino was on the verge of tears. A stray one spilling over the edge and running down his cheek.

It didn't take a genius to piece it all together, and once he had, Berwald looked at Tino, a frown forming…

"Th't… h'ppened t' y'… b'c'use of h'm…?"

Tino was so close to breaking down right now, but he managed to not burst out into tears as he nodded before going to turn away.

On a moment of complete impulse, Berwald stood and reached out, grabbing the smaller hand, gripping it firmly with his own. Tino, being completely caught off guard, looked up at the taller man, shaking a little under his gaze.

Remembering that horrible time of his life… where he was so easily used by those in any position… all had power over him… and he felt weak… worthless… dirty…

And Berwald… didn't exactly know what he was doing… he had wanted to make Tino understand him… but he somehow ended up understanding Tino.

"I… I n'ed pr'of th't h' w'sn't th' one who d'd 't… I c'n't st'p h'tin' h'm 'til I kn'w… b't… I do b'lieve y' 'bout th' s'viour…" He didn't need to say the rest. They both knew he wouldn't kill the Shadow King… without the proof he had done the misdeeds… until he had proven who had murdered his family and made them pay… he needed that vengeance for them… Tino knew that… But… turmoiling emotions refused to rest until Berwald knew who it was… he needed this.

Tino nodded, blushing a little before wrapping his arms around him tightly and hiding his face.

"Thankyou…" The Fin whispered.

Berwald just blinked, absolutely taken aback by the smaller man's actions. This embrace… this hug was foreign… How many years had it been since he'd had any form of intimacy. But…

Even if he may have forgotten them… The emotions he'd once known were there, brushing at the fringes of his heart and mind… Slowly… awkwardly and hesitantly, he raised his arms and held them around Tino, lightly at first before his hold tightened. He didn't need words for this either.

He was going to keep him safe. Making sure that such things never happened to him again.

And… with this rush of forgotten emotions… he couldn't deny it as much as he wanted to or tried to… and frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to deny it anymore… he wanted Tino to be his… And he wanted Tino to accept him… He wanted to feel love, trust and family once more… even if it meant never having children again… he wanted to love like he had… he wanted to be his old self…

He wanted… Tino.

/

They had been walking for about three hours in the dark tunnels before a very tiny pinprick of light appeared at the end. And for those three hours, Tino had been walking alongside Berwald silently and holding his hand.

No one questioned this. A few, knowing smiles, it seemed, were cast their way, but that was it. It seemed that it was accepted or in the very least, expected of them. Not even Ivan minded or questioned it, the Russian only a few short steps ahead of Berwald, holding the chain as he chatted happily with Yao.

As the light grew closer and closer, Tino leant his head against Berwald's arm hesitantly, with a little blush. He knew that the older was a man of silence, but so close to the fabled city, he felt the need to at least speak himself.

"I was told we'd be going to England… That that's where the city was… but I saw on the maps that it's too far north to be this warm, even underground… And it didn't take as long as it should have to cross that distance… Where do you think we are?" He whispered softly, looking up at him, a little smile tugging playfully at the corners of his lips.

Berwald, after being so silent for so long, blinked at the sudden start of conversation, and looked down at the smaller male.

"I d'un kn'w… N't f'r fr'm wh're w' w're…"

"So… maybe Greece, or Italy?" Tino giggled softly. "A place nice and warm… but with beaches and grass and fields… Mm…" He smiled a little, a sad look coming to his features. "… It's been so long since I've seen grass… Or a beach… not since I was a child… What about you?"

Berwald frowned. He'd been a soldier, an elite in fact with Mathias and the Norwegian. They travelled all the time. He saw everything. Green fields, farms, mountain ranges, beaches, rivers, deserts, forests, jungles… absolutely any landscape…

However… Tino had been a slave. And even when he'd gotten away, escaped… he'd been confined to a desert city, in the slums… How old had he been since he'd left behind the greenery… the sea… everything so full of life for the deathlike deserts. Six…? Seven?

If it was anyone else, they would have promised to take Tino someday, but Berwald remained silent. Even if he had begun to acknowledge he liked Tino… the death of his family was still a shadow or ghost of a shadow cast over his heart. It wasn't something he could so easily forget. Would any form of relationship with Tino, or anyone else, betray his wife and child?

These thoughts plagued him for the duration of the trek through the tunnels. Why did things have to be so hard?

/

It was about half an hour later that they emerged into the light, and into grassy rolling hills full of farm land. Actually, they stepped right out onto a farm, a few metres away was a man, bent over and pulling potatoes out of the ground. He smiled and waved, standing up straight as he saw them.

"Are you headed to see the Shadow King…?" He asked, eyes twinkling kindly, in a merry sought of tune.

Ludwig, taking charge of the group nodded. "Ja… Is he at home?"

The man shook his head with a soft chuckle. "Last I saw, he was headed down to the southern fields to help with a problem with Alfred."

Berwald frowned at the conversation, not understanding what the hell they were talking about. What kind of Problem?

Ludwig and the man exchanged a few more, brief, words before the man returned to his work and they continued on, taking a path that was obviously headed southwards.

As they walked, Berwald saw mountains, hazily blue in the background. That meant it was snowing there or they were snow capped in the very least. And slightly aside from the mountains, and definitely closer, he saw a sprawling city. It glittered under the sun, and colours of white, gold, red and green, made up the city. But it was too far away to make anything else out.

But he did figure out how no one had ever found it. To run, a city would need to trade with other cities and countries. That's why they had the boat village as an extension. But their enemies would be sure to notice an entire village in the middle of nowhere. Hence it was hidden. And there would have been a land trade route through the mountains. But those mountains looked treacherous and one would have to know them well if they were to survive the journey. Hence a sensible man would turn back or find a way around. It wasn't worth the effort. Or even the risk. Either was it worth it if enemies found the boat village, as the winding tunnels were confusing and they wouldn't know the way, how long it would take, how many tunnels there were, or if there were any traps. As said before, it wasn't worth the risk.

And Berwald had to admit, it was clever on the Shadow King's part… Or maybe he was just bum lucky. Heck, he was ready to believe anything at this point. Maybe aliens brought him here or maybe he was just dreaming.

As he pondered on, so enraptured in his thoughts, Berwald failed to notice a muddy bog amongst some trees come into view. As he did notice them however, he snapped to attention. He knew the beautiful world that the Shadow King had mislead Tino to believe was false. He lived in a bog and no doubt, based on the Swede's horrible vision and biased memory, the Shadow King was some great big fat ugly toad who would eat them all up.

They came through the leaves that hung off the bent branches of a willow tree when he found he was clearly mistaken. There was a weedy looking farmer, clutching a broad brimmed straw hat on the bank of the bog. In the bog, struggling madly was a bull. A prize winning bull no doubt on account of it's size and to lose it to the bog would bring great misfortune unto the farmer and his family.

Now, in the bog with the cow, a rope slung around one of their shoulders, were two blondes, one taller with a more golden blonde blond than the shorter male. The shorter of the two was doing all he could to calm the wallowing beast down, despite being waist deep in the filthy bog water/mud.

The taller appeared to be standing back and waiting. When the animal finally began to calm, the taller blond stepped forwards and slowly tied the rope around the sinking bull's neck. He secured the rope and backed out the way he had come, stepping onto the shore and tied the other end of the rope to the saddle of what could only be his horse, a tan stallion with a black mane and tail, black legs and a black muzzle.

At another time it would have been a creature to admire. But right now, it was going through manual labour and admiring someone in strain and stress is a rude thing to do, no?

The taller blonde walked to his horse's front and began leading it forward by the reigns. The rope tightened and the stallion's muscles strained visibly. Back in the bog, the shorter man was through coaxing the once more struggling bull and took a hold of its horns, pulling with all his might as he walked backwards. With his strength combined with the stallion's, the bull began to rise above where he had once been and closer to the bank he came loose with a great sucking squelch.

Now free, the bull offered no gratitude and bolted towards what was possibly his herd, grazing along a river. The taller blond quickly cut the rope attached to his horse so it wouldn't be taken on an unnecessary adventure and the rest of the rope was lost with the bull. The farmer would probably take it off later.

Said farmer meanwhile was thanking the shorter blonde, shaking his hand with a revered kind of face. He took out a bag of money and tried to give it to the blonde but was refused with a smile.

"I can't take the money of a man who can barely feed his family."

"But you freed the bull that will fetch enough gold to feed us for a year. It's the least I could do. And you lost your rope."

"Please, keep it. Use the rope for whatever you need it for. I don't need the money either. Though I would like for you to cut down some trees with your sons and fence off this bog. We can't afford for any animals or people to be lost to it. Food and good beings are few and far between…"

"As you wish… We shall begin to construct the fencing as soon as noon has passed."

"Thankyou…"

No more words were exchanged and the farmer left. He had been given more work to do, and no doubt it would cost him money and time that he could barely afford to lose as is, especially after the bull taking a large chunk of that, but he somehow seemed honoured that this man had given him more work. Like it was the best thing in the world that could happen to him. No doubt he would return home and tell his family and they would all revere and throw a peasant's banquet to rejoice.

The shorter blonde yawned once the farmer was gone and stretched, climbing back up the slight slope that was the bank of the bog.

"Jesus Arthur, you're pushing yourself too hard… I don't think that you should do any more after lunch, kay…?" The taller blonde said as 'Arthur' approached him and took a canteen from the stallion's saddlebags, taking a drink from it as the taller spoke.

"Nonsense Alfred… It's my duty to help them… besides, what leader can I hope to be if I lock myself away in a palace all my life…"

"You fight battles, plan them, rescue whole villages and take on the rest of the world at the same time… I think you do enough."

"And what about you? You spend all your spare time up in the tower when you're not fighting or doing rounds with me. You think I'm the only one who works over time?"

"I have to go up there all the time… you know you guys are screwed if I don't. And that's different. I'm not hauling ten thousand kilo bulls out of mud all day."

"It was 270 kilos you twat!"

"I'm not a vagina…"

"Mature Alfred, real mature…"

"Does this mean I don't get laid later?"

"Is that all you can think about? I'm filthy and covered in mud and all you can think about is sex?"

"Hey, mud is sexy… and sex makes sweat, so you'll just blush harder this time~"

"HEEEY! I think we can stop here! You're not making a great first impression you guys!" Antonio stepped forwards and Arthur, bright red, turned to him, a little surprised. Alfred just grinned.

"… First impression?"

"JA!… Meet Tino Vainamoen and Berry Swedishfart~" Gilbert laughed and got eyeball daggers glared at his back. Though he was being given crap, he knew the albino was serious about Tino's last name. It was a little odd to think of the Fin as having one.

"If that's his name then I'm changing yours to Dinkleman Pantyhose." Arthur said and frowned a little humourlessly, despite the little giggle here and there at his comment. Gilbert just grinned.

"Alright alright… Berwald Oxensteirna… get over it Sir Kinkland."

"ALRIGHT! We get it… you guys love fucking with eachother's names…" Alfred sighed as though he was the one being given the headache. "Now… can someone tell me why the scary dude is glaring at me?"

/

Bahahahaha! Now we know who the Saviour is, unless you are blind, and Berry has finally seen the guy he hates above all else… pulling a bull out of the mud… yeah, that's real evil, isn't it