Lovino

Paradise Falls, the Capital Wasteland

Lovino brought the chunk of bread he had been given to his nose.

Ugh.

No way was he putting this vile excuse for food into his body, no matter how hungry he was. It smelled old and unhealthy.

He took a bite.

God, why did he do that. It tasted even worse than it smelled, not to mention that it was probably irradiated, but he didn't bother to check on his Pip-boy, which was still firmly attached to his wrist.

He took another bite, forcing the first bit down his throat.

So disgusting, he was not eating any more of this trash.

He bit into it again.

Dammit! He threw the bread against the chain link fence that he was sitting behind with his legs crossed. It fell in front of him with a soft thud, rolling on the ground and stopping when it hit his leg. He picked it back up, dusted it off, and took another bite.

This is the rough life of Lovino Vargas, he thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he reluctantly scarfed the last bites of putrid bread. He felt like kicking something, or hitting something, or crying, which was most likely to start happening at some point. Maybe later.

He smashed the palm of his hand against the chain link fence, causing it to rattle and clink. As far as he could tell in the dark, he was in a pen, much like what the few livestock were kept in back in Radwater. There was a lump in the corner that might have been another person, but Lovi didn't want to deal with that right now. He just wanted to mope and eat stale bread, and he had literally just run out of stale bread. Where the hell was Antonio.

His forehead connected with the fence, the fingers of both of his hands settling between the links as he gazed through the barrier. He could see the light of the little bar, and he could hear music, but he could only just make out the figures that rested there. He knew that some of them were his captors, and he could identify the shapes of the crazy blond men who had plucked him from his brand new life and stuck him in this pen. His grip on the chain links tightened and his lip twitched into a snarl.

"You could just climb over the fence if you wanted to." The sudden voice behind him made Lovino jump out of his skin, drawing in a quick breath in surprise.

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" He snapped in retaliation, hoping to hide his fear behind his barbed tongue. His neck scratched against the metal of his collar, making him wince as he turned his head.

The boy who spoke to him was nothing more than a child, twelve at the absolute most, with dark blond hair and shaggy patchwork clothing. His eyes were much to bright for him to be in captivation, but otherwise he certainly looked the part.

The boy snickered. "You'd be surprised how many newbies try to escape, only to end up getting their head blown off by that collar," he said cheerfully. "I mean, they tell you it'll happen. They tell you."

"What's wrong with you." The inflection on Lovino's question made it seem more like a statement as he turned his head back to the fence.

"Well I dunno, what's wrong with you? You left out of that vault, didn't you?"

Lovino was hardly shocked that this kid knew, since everyone else seemed to at this point.

"How do you know about that?" He asked anyways.

"Come on, everyone on the wastes knows by now! Well, that's not true. A lot of people don't know. I know because my brother told me, and my brother knows everything." The kid looked really proud of himself.

"Oh yeah? Where's your brother, kid?" Lovino wanted to get to the bottom of this. How did everyone know about him already?

"Mmm, probably DC. He's been over there for a while now. Makes me wonder when we're going to leave, I'm kinda getting tired of this place."

Well that's not any use to Lovino. And quite frankly, that's a rather strange thing for a slave to say. He didn't turn back around to reply, instead he just kept his eyes fixed on the light of the bar.

"Who brought you here anyways?" Lovino didn't reply, so the kid continued. "I doubt it was Ivan, he would have just kept you. And it couldn't have been Vash... Sadiq doesn't trust him, but don't tell Vash that. Since I haven't seen anyone else around here in weeks, that means it was Denmark! Was it Denmark?"

Lovino nodded.

"Right, right, of course it was Denmark. Hey, you're pretty lucky. Denmark and his guys are a bunch of softies."

Lovino still didn't bother replying, but he couldn't help but wonder why this kid wouldn't stop talking.

After a moment of silence, the other slave spoke again. "My name is Aurel." He sat down criss-cross next to Lovino.

"Ciao." Lovino wasn't interested. He just wanted to be alone.

"Oh, do you speak Italian? I haven't met anyone who speaks Italian in years."

This sparked a bit Lovi's interest. "There are other people who speak Italian?"

"Duh, haven't you ever heard of Italy?"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "I mean around here, you little brat."

"Nah, only in Italy. You should go some day. I tell you, it was a lot nicer before the war."

Aurel was a little freaky, and a lot annoying. Apparently he had been to Italy, pre-war. Because that was so likely. Lovino rolled his eyes again, brushing off Aurel's oddities as a child's imagination.

Lovino stayed quiet, pushing his head into the fence. He was tired, but like hell he was going to be able to sleep. The chain link wasn't comfortable against his forehead, but he pressed into it anyways. What was the point in comfort anymore. The Italian took a deep breath.

He couldn't tell that Aurel had left him alone until his eyes flitted beside him, and he couldn't help but feel a little dumb having not noticed him leaving. 'Always be aware of your surroundings,' Antonio had preached. It was one of the golden rules; it was no wonder that Lovino had gotten captured so easily. If he couldn't keep track of a twelve-year-old, then how was he going to look after himself? Had the Spaniard's efforts been for nothing? Would Antonio even bother to come looking for him?

Don't be silly, of course he isn't coming. He thought you were a useless baby. It's survival of the fittest out here, and if you can't even protect yourself from slavers, then you aren't even worth his time.

Lovino could feel tears well up in his eyes. He wrinkled his nose, doing his best to hold them in. However, even his best efforts were declared futile by the single tear that broke through, sliding down his cheek and leaving a salty trail on his tan skin.

You can't even take it like a man, you have to start crying. Why are you such an idiot? Why can't you do anything right?

He sniffled, a few more tears boldly appearing and bravely following their predecessor. The radio still blared from the light where the slavers sat, relaxing after the long trip back from Radwater. The Italian's head perked up when he recognized the song that dared to play over the radio's harsh speakers. Lovino could see them through blurring vision, kicking back and turning up a drink. He would be disgusted if he wasn't feeling so overwhelmed with other emotions, especially once he heard the words that made it to his ears from the radio...

Love me, as though there were no tomorrow,

The swaying melody washed over Lovino, shaking the tears from his eyes. They fell faster as he was encased in his last memory of Antonio, only last night- how close they had been, how Lovino could feel the Spaniard's hot breath on his own lips, how silver and beautiful he looked in the light of the moon...

Take me, out of this world tonight~

Antonio couldn't have felt the same way Lovino did. How could he? At first Lovino had thought that maybe... maybe he could have a chance with him. Maybe Antonio felt the way Lovi did. But not after this. Not after Lovino had proven himself as a waste of time.

Take me, make me forget my sorrows,

If only.

So when I wake tomorrow, I'll know our love was right.

What tomorrow. There was no tomorrow. Lovino is never going to see the love of his life again, and it's all because of this dumb song. 'The love of his life', the statement on its own seemed so petty and invalid. How, after just a week, could Lovi possibly think the Spaniard to be his love?

Kiss me, as though it were now or never.

Fuck this song.

Lovino couldn't even register the next few verses as he broke into gentle sobs, his body shaking as he put his hands over his face to quiet himself.

"Would you look at what I've found, Francis. A pair of Lovebirds!"

Now Lovino was embarrassed and sad. The memory made his face flush light red and his body tingle with humiliation as he sobbed quietly into his hands, wiping away the tears as they cascaded down his face. How pathetic was he.

He hadn't properly known Antonio for a week. He was so much younger than him, he was pathetic and afraid, and he was crying like a child and couldn't stop. How could he even think that he was in love? It wasn't Antonio, no matter how beautiful he was with his shaggy brown hair and bright smile that could cure any ailment, it was what the Spaniard did for him. It wasn't who he was, it was what he was to Lovino that made him feel this way.

"What's wrong?" Aurel was next to him again, squatting to Lovino's level and reaching a hand out to place on his shoulder. Lovi flinched at the contact from the child, immediately snapping at him.

"Don't touch me!" Aurel withdrew his hand, shocked at the sudden outburst, but he didn't comment. He fell back, sitting next to Lovino once again.

"See that guy there?" He pointed to a man with shoulder-length shaggy blond hair. He was holding a rifle, as if here were ready to use it at any moment. Lovino peeked at the man, hardly able to make him out across this distance and through this many tears.

"His name is Vash Zwingli. Watch out for him, he will shoot you if you step a toe out of line, or if you even think about his little sister, Lili. She's a pretty little thing, but don't mistake her for weak. It's a mistake you won't make twice."

Lovino nodded, somewhat grateful for the distraction, but he pretended that he really didn't care. "So?"

Aurel ignored him, pointing to Finland. "I bet you're wondering why that one is a slave."

"Not really," Lovino lied, wiping away another tear as they began to dry up.

"They say that Berwald didn't want to give him up because he loved him too much. Boy did that piss off Denmark. But hey, what was he going to do about it? Have you seen that guy?" Lovino kind of inferred something like that from what he had heard earlier, so this wasn't news. However, he stayed quiet.

"Now those two," he gestured towards Norway and Denmark. "Those two are my favorites. Childhood friends, grew up together they did. Got dragged into this life together, sticking it out together. No one really knows their real names, except each other. Maybe Emil, but who really knows. That's Iceland by the way, but he really can't stand that name."

Okay, Lovino knew most of that as well. However, he couldn't help but ask... "Why the hell do they go by those dumb names? Do they know that those are countries?"

Aurel thought for a moment. "Probably not. But this is the interesting part. Denmark has this really strange paranoia about his real name. He thinks that knowing one's name means having power over that person, so he's gone to extreme lengths to protect that power. Though Norway doesn't exactly share that belief, he supports Denmark completely, and would never betray him."

That wasn't that interesting, that was just dumb. Those guys were insane, and the more Aurel talked, the less he sounded like a twelve-year-old boy. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Aurel smiled. "It's important to know who you're up against, Lovino, and who your allies should be. If you're going to do what we're expecting you to, then you need to know the good guys from the bad guys."

Lovino's face twisted. The child's odd words and change in demeanor sparked fear in Lovino's gut. "W-what do you mean?" He tripped over his words as they haphazardly spilt from his mouth.

"You know, stamp out the real problems before they become a real problem? Keep things from falling apart in this broken world? Come on, this is elementary school stuff. And you are prime prophecy-fulfilling material."

"You're insane." Lovino blotted this child out of his thoughts. He had bigger things to worry about than some sort of game that Aurel wanted to play so badly. Just a moment ago he had been an emotional wreck, what happened to that? Good guys and bad guys had nothing to do with him right now, all that mattered was getting away from this god-forsaken cesspool and finding his way back to his sissy hole in the ground where he belongs. There was no way a useless piece of trash like him could make it on the wasteland, he just wasn't cut out for it like Antonio or Francis or Gilbert.

"Meh, you'll figure it out yourself. They always seem to. Never want my help, oh no. Always so independent and whatnot."

Now this boy was just spatting nonsense. Lovino focused hard on the fence, hoping to distract himself from the strange boy who was speaking unsettling words to Lovi, who was already on edge as it was.

Aurel stood up beside him, stretching and walking back into the pen. "If you ever need any help, simply ask."

Help with what!? He can't do this to me, not when I'm already so afraid...

Lovino wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling them in tightly. Aurel, who seemed less and less childlike the longer he spoke, really had put Lovino into an anxious mood. Who did he think he was. The kid barely even said anything weird before the hairs on the back of Lovino's neck decided they would stand on end. It was like that Russian all over again. Lovino shivered.

He supposed his situation was the best hand he could have been dealt in the slave game, but it still kinda sucked. Elizabeta seemed nice though, if not a little terrifying at first. Lovino pressed his face into his knees. So many thoughts pushed around in his mind, enough to give him a bit if a headache. Turkish bosses, Scandinavian slavers, Russian freaks- the whole situation stopped looking like the wasteland slave trade and started looking like the United Nations.

What if he tried tricking one of those Nordic fellows into letting him free... No, that could never work. Lovino saw the way they submitted to Sadiq so easily, accepting the shallow payment with hardly more than a word.

As much as the thought frightened Lovino, he would just have to wait and see what Elizabeta will be like. Aurel probably knew her. So far, that kid was a walking encyclopedia on people.

He attempted to turn his head to see if he was around, only to have the cold metal of his collar scratch painfully against his skin. Wincing, he turned his entire body instead.

"Hey, ragazzino," he called. Lovi heard a shuffle, but didn't see anything in the dark.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you know anything about that Elizabeta girl?"

Aurel's shape appeared from the shadows once again. "Woah, is she the one who bought you? Wow. Plot twist."

"Yeah, yeah, what can you tell me?"

Aurel made a sound that resembled a scoff. "Pretty much everything. She collects stuff. Pretty unique stuff, actually. She has her entire life, I've never seen any of it personally, but Alex says her house is like a big museum. And to her, people are just another kind of stuff she can get her hands on. However, you're only the second other human that she has found worthy enough to become a part of her collection... You should feel honored."

Lovino rolled his eyes. The day he felt honored for being property was the day hell froze over. "What's she like?" He asked, his accent becoming more and more prominent the more frustrated he got with Aurel's bullshit.

"She's nice I guess. Feisty, determined, a skilled fighter. She treats Roderich more like an expensive little pet than anything."

"Roderich is her other slave," Lovino confirmed, turning his head away.

"That's right. He's a musician. Used to play over the radio, you know, until he got into some trouble with the slavers here at Paradise Falls. Pissed them off real bad, now look at him. It's kind of funny."

Wow, it was amazing how much Lovino didn't care about any of that, but he nodded anyways, tuning back to face the fence, a scowl replacing the frightened look in his eyes. Or at least he hoped it did.

"And Ivan?" Lovino repressed a shiver as he thought back to the terror that was the Russian slaver Ivan. If he needed the scoop on anyone right now, it would be him.

Aurel clapped his hands together, his boyish face lit up and a cute smile spread across his face. "Where do I even start!" Lovino huffed warm air.

"He's not really a slaver, though Sadiq would love to claim him as one of his… it's more like a hobby for him." Lovino didn't fully grasp that statement until a few seconds had passed. But when it hit him, his face contorted to form a sickly grimace.

"Che palle, what kind of sick fuck gets off on this?" The Italian felt like he had already heard enough about the strange man, but at the same time he desperately wanted to know more.

"Ivan Braginski, apparently. He's always been that way, you know... scary. Scary and demented, that one is. He offed his own parents when he was just a kid... Inheriting all of their money and influence over the capital wasteland. It was a pretty big deal when it happened, but it's not like anyone was going to do anything to stop him from rising to the point he's at today. Let's see- He's got a handful of slaves, too. He treats them like animals, really. You are lucky that Elizabeta managed to keep you from him, or that could have been disastrous for more than just yourself." Lovino chose not to ponder on that for too long.

So he was greedy on top of sick. Lovino didn't always get along with his grandfather, but he could never imagine killing him, even if that did mean that he would wind up with a ton of cash and position as overseer... as if he wanted that spot anyways. This Russian was absolutely disgusting. Bad guy material; clearly an antagonist. It's almost a shame that there wouldn't be a final boss battle between the two. Lovino found himself thinking back to his comic books, as if they made things easier to understand. He was also rather glad that no one could read minds in real life, or this would be a little bit embarrassing.

Aurel's tone dropped darkly. "And this could be a rumor, but there is one more thing that you should know about." Aurel's voice made Lovino hang on the end of that sentence.

"His partner, Natalia. Alex says that she's his half sister of just nineteen years old."

Lovino thought for a heartbeat, something was wrong with that statement. "Wait... How could she have been-"

"Apparently, his mother made an escape. How Ivan could have left her alive alludes even my brother. So, she came to him a few years ago, when she was just fifteen years old… of course Ivan was enraged to discover that his mother still lived. And this is the best part- he said he would accept her as his own sister under one condition. That she go and finish the job that he wasn't able to when he was about her age."

Lovino suppressed a gasp. "You mean she..."

"Killed her own mother, yep. Without even skipping a beat. So, with Ivan satisfied with her dirty work, and Natalia hopelessly devoted to her brother, the two of them made an excellent team, and even took up on the slave trade for shits and giggles."

Lovino felt changed by Aurel's account of events. So, it seems like a lot of people just had it so much worse, and the Italian actually pitied that man's slaves.

He shook the thought, his head still swimming. It's been a long, depressing, and rather strange day for Lovino. He figured that maybe he should try and get some sleep, no matter how frivolous that thought seemed. Sleep felt like such a petty need, all things considered. He pulled his knees tighter to his chest. It was going to be a long night.