Chapter 11 - Is it the end?
It was already 8 P.M and Berwald called Tino at least ten times. He was seriously starting to panic now and Tino's "last" words weren't helping him at all. Peter had a fever all day and slept most of the time, this was one of those times that Berwald was glad he's work allowed him to stay at home. But what on earth was going in with Tino?! Berwald have done enough work today, while distracting himself from the dark thoughts that were swimming round and round in his head, that he could easily have three or even four days off. He turned his computer off and closed his little office. Before he went upstairs he made himself some tea and called Tino. Once again, just like before, there was no answer.
Berwald walked down the dark corridor and up the heavy, mahogany stairs, his movements slow and clumsy. He was close to falling asleep while walking, this day was way too long and tiring for him. He was so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that when he got to the top of the stairs, he felt like he'll faint any second. The corridor felt cold and unwelcoming, Peter was sleeping, Berwald's bedroom was empty and Tino wasn't answering his calls.
Berwald sat heavily in a chair by his desk, drinking his hot tea slowly. He put his cell on the desk, right in front of him, glaring at it with such intensity, that it seemed he'll make the phone explode by simply looking at it. After a few minutes, he finished his tea and placed his cup by the phone, his eyes never leaving it. Berwald was waiting, patiently, waiting for a call that would either destroy his life once again, or make all his worries leave within a millisecond. He sat there for an hour, two, tree, he lost the track of time... Then eventually feel asleep, no calls have came through.
...
Morning came sooner than Berwald though, actually, he didn't even knew when he'd fallen asleep. The first thing that Berwald did, was grabbing his phone in a panic that he missed a call from Tino, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He sighed, with disappointed and relieve. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to go and check if Tino was home, that was the last thing he could possibly do.
Berwald showered, made breakfast for Peter and brought it up to his room. "H're ya go P'ter," he said, forcing a small smile onto his lips and handing his son a plate of sandwiches and a cup of hot chocolate. "I h've to go out n'w. I'll be b'ck in th'rty min'tes. 'kay?" his smile still in place, he sat next to Peter on his bed and ruffled his hair affectionately.
Peter wasn't fooled, even though he was very young, he knew when something was off with his Papa. He nodded in response and took a bite of his sandwich. "Thank you Papa! They're delicious!" A few more bites later, Berwald was still sitting on his bed, staring into one point, somewhere on the wall. "What's wrong Papa?" he asked quietly, placing his tiny hand on top of his dad's. Berwald looked at the small hand on stop of his, the same delicate, slim fingers that Peter's mother had. Berwald felt as if someone just ripped his heart out of his chest as he looked into his son's sparkling eyes, full of life and happiness, but worry was strongly evident in them too. Sometimes looking at Peter was too painful, he resembled his mother so much it was unbearable. Berwald took a deep breath and answered, his small fake smile back in place. "Ever'thin's fine, P'ter."
Peter shook his head, his father never wanted to tell him anything. "I know something's wrong, stop forcing a smile, please..." he closed his eyes and continued, "It's Tino, isn't it? He didn't contact you since he left." Berwald looked at Peter, "Yer too cl'ver fer yer age, P'ter," he said, chuckling and ruffling his hair again. He smiled once again, a small sad smile, but a true one, and got up to leave. "Be careful Papa." smiled Peter and started eating his breakfast again.
...
Berwald left his home and decided to walk the short distance to Tino's home, and back, if Tino wasn't at home. The streets were wet, it must've rained at night, the roads and pavement cleaned by it. As he got closer to Tino's house, just about half way, an old news paper laid plastered to the pavement, pages spread around, making a gray-white carpet, on the side a few bits of broken headlights, a bit further some more rubbish. It looked as if the rain washed everything down the street and just stopped here.
Few more minutes and Berwald could already see Tino's house, but he didn't know what to think of it. It was there, nothing strange about it, but Tino's car was in front of it, in the exact same spot it was in on Sunday. That seemed a little strange and if Tino's car was there, then he must've been home, but if that was the case, then why wasn't he answering his phone? A mass of dark thoughts clouded Berwald's mind, he quickened his step and got there within seconds. The door was locked, Berwald knocked for a few seconds, then tried again after a moment. No answer. He walked to the front windows and looked inside. It was empty. He jumped over the fence and into Tino's garden, it was beautiful, making it obvious how good of a gardener Tino was. Early spring flowers blooming, making wavy patterns on the well kept grass. Berwald admired the garden for a brief minute, then started searching for a spare key, Tino must've had one.
After about ten minutes of searching, he finally found Tino's house key, hidden in a flower bed, far to the north-east end of the garden. Berwald ran to the door and opened it. The house was cold and empty, the floor dried however, but nothing have changed, everything was exactly as Berwald remembered it. Untouched.
He locked Tino's door and took the key with him. Berwald ran the way home, not wanting to leave Peter alone for too long. All this didn't help Berwald one bit, Tino's last words came down onto Berwald's mind like an avalanche. Crushing him. He got home in under five minutes, sprinting, as fast as he could. All he wanted now, was to hold Tino, smell his sweet scent, touch him, look at him, hear his voice, he wanted to know that he was okay. It was too much for Berwald. Tino disappeared.
...
Peter was waiting for him in he living room, wrapped up in his fluffy, baby-blue blanket, watching some documentary about rainforests. "Did you find Tino, Papa?" Peter looked up, his eyes full of hope. Berwald shook his head, not capable to say it. "If ya'll need an'thin' I'll be in m' room," said Berwald as he turned around and marched upstairs. He flopped onto his bed, curled into a ball and grabbed his phone. He looked at it, half expectantly, hopping to get a call. Yet again, there was none. Berwald started falling asleep again, everything that was happening made him feel like falling into a coma and waking up only when Tino was back.
After a few minutes of restless slumber, Berwald got woken up by a loud sharp noise. It was his phone. He grabbed it and checked the number, it was unknown. His heart stopped for a moment and he answered it. "Hello?"
...
Peter was getting hungry. He turned the TV off and went upstairs. When he was close to his Papa's bedroom door, he stopped. The panicked voice of his father made him freeze for a moment, he was talking with someone on the phone. He waited outside the room, listening to the half-conversation he could make out through the closed door. However, he only got a few "okay"'s and some bitten back sobs. Once his Papa finished talking, Peter lightly knocked at the door. "C'me in" said Berwald, his voice shaking and weak. Peter opened the door slowly and peeked in, Berwald was sitting on his bed, tears rolling down his red cheeks. Peter ran to him and hugged him tightly, knowing he really needed that at the moment. Berwald held his son a little to tight, but Peter didn't complain, instead, he gently rubbed little circles on his Papa's back, trying to sooth him.
"What happened? Is Tino...?" Peter didn't finish his sentence, not daring to say the one word that would easily crush his father's heart. "Nej, he's al've," answered Berwald, choking on each word. "Then what happened? Where is he?" Berwald took a feel deep breaths, trying to calm himself down for Peter's sake. "He's in the hosp'tal..." Peter gasped, he really wanted to know what happened, but didn't want to push it. He waited a couple of minutes till his father calmed down. Then he asked quietly, "what happened?" Berwald took his little, plastered to his chest, son off of his lap, took a deep breath and explained.
"Tino's in the hos'tal. He got hit by a car," as he said that, he remembered the broken headlights half way to Tino's house. His heart felt like it was broken into million pieces and pierced with needles. "The doct'r said he can't give me more inf'rmation through the ph'ne... He said th't his c'ndition's st'ble now." Peter looked probably just as shocked and upset as when he got to know that his Mama wasn't coming back home. Berwald hugged his son quickly, both to comfort him and not to see his pained expression. Though, however selfish it might seem, it was more for the second reason. He just couldn't stand to look at him when Peter looked so broken, but he was sure, he himself looked just as devastated.
He was hugging him for a couple minutes more, then said, "I need to see him. Do ya feel 'kay?" Peter looked up and nodded. "Can I go with you Papa?" "Ja, I can't leave ya al'ne at h'me, can I?" Peter looked a little hurt by that. "You make it sound like you don't want to take me. Like I'm a burden." Berwald frowned and hugged Peter again. "I d'dn't mean it like th't... Yer not a b'rden, but I don't w'nt ya to go. I don't kn'w wh't Tino looks like, he's been h't by a c'r... I h'pe it ain't too b'd. I don't w'nt ya g'ttin' traum'tized." Berwald hugged his son tighter. "Alright," said Peter, pushing away his Papa slightly."We should go now. I know you're desperate to see him." Berwald let go of the little boy and stood up. "Yer right... Get dressed." Berwald ordered. Peter stood up and ran to his own room to get changed, while Berwald stayed in his room, looking at his phone, remembering the call he got not so long ago.
...
Ten minutes after Peter ran to his room to change, they were already in the car on their way to the hospital. Berwlad was forcing himself to focus on the road, the sun shining in his eyes, making it harder too see, the wet surface of the road reflecting the bright sunlight. Peter sat at the back, hugging the blanket he was wrapped up in, humming something quietly, looking outside the window, smiling at how beautiful everything looked while blooming. April was nice, everything was shooting up and growing extremely fast. The days were getting longer and much warmer. However, Berwald didn't notice any of this, his mind overtaken by the terrifying idea of what happened to his beloved Tino. It was almost too much. "Papa!" Berwald snapped out of it, stopping his car immediately upon seeing the red light. "S'rry..." Berwald apologized and focused on the road for the rest of the short trip.
Once they reached the hospital and parked, as on cue, the sky turned gray, the bright sun getting covered by fluffy black clouds. Berwald wanted to cry, cry and curled into a ball, not see or hear anything. Stop feeling everything. Disappear.
Peter pulled Berwald's sleeve lightly, waking him up from his short daydream, an attempt to run away from all this. They walked slowly, making their way into the hospital and up to the floor where he was told Tino was staying. A doctor stopped them on their way, asking who they came to visit, Berwald answered and the doctors poker face turned into a compassionate and a little hurt one. Berwald winced, the pain in his chest deepening at the doctor's reaction.
"C'n ya please tell me wh't happ'ned to h'm? I w'sn't told through the ph'ne." Berwald's voice was getting shaky, his heart pounding in his chest. The doctor looked at him and took a deep breath, he closed his eyes and answered sowly, his monotonous voice drilling into his brain. "Mr. Tino got hit by a car, a drunk driver. His hip got badly bruised, surprisingly not getting broken. However..." the doctor stopped and looked at Berwald again, his eyes more pained and full of hesitation, almost as if he didn't want to tell him. "H'wev'r?" Berwald pushed, needing the information right now. "However... He got two ribs broken. His second and middle rib." The doctor sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, the pain of telling all this to someone who obviously is really close to his patient. He never liked that part of his job. But hey, at least Mr. Tino wasn't dead. He thought, chuckling a little inside. He took another deep breath and continued. "He's second rib pierced his artery and the middle one pierced his lung." At that, Berwald felt his world spin around him. "He had an operation, you should be happy sir, Mr. Tino has a very strong body, if it was anyone else in the same state as he was, for such a long time... They would be dead." Berwald didn't know if he should be happy or just break down and start crying. "He had an operation and his condition is stable. would you like me to walk you to his room?" Berwald was in such a deep shock most things the doctor said washed over him in a sharp painful wave. He managed to nod and follow the doctor. After a few meters, the doctor stopped, smiled and opened the big white door with two blue, horizontal stripes on them. Berwald took a step inside, Peter right behind him, holding his sleeve.
There he was, looking as if... Well, as if he got hit by a car. Which was the case so that wasn't a good thing to compare his state to. Tino's face lit up instantly, his eyes shining, looking as beautiful as ever. The soft, pink lips of his beloved parted and a single word escaped them, one word that made Berwald feel the warmth and safety once again. He heard it many times, said by many people, but when Tino said it, it was different, it held love and passion in it. He said is softly, quietly, smoothly. It was so velvet and delicate to Berwald's ears he almost thought he imagined it. That one word that made everything come back to place and put peace into his heart was his name, that's all it was.
"Berwald..."
~Author Notes
Hello! I know I'm 9 days late! Don't hit me! I know I've hurt Tino... You can hit me for that, I'm ready...
Okay, once again, this is the moment for making excuses, but, this time, I don't really have a good one. I had this chapter done ages ago, but chose not to update it till today. The only reason being, that it's my birthday! I was waiting to upload it on my birthday because, well... I just wanted to, end of story!
Thank you all for the lovely reviews! I was wondering if it was worth continuing this story, I wasn't getting many reviews and that was demotivating me drastically. Now, that I've kinda begged for them in the last chapter, I feel so much more motivated and inspired by you all telling me what you think! I would be more than happy if I got a birthday gift from all my readers in a form of a review, one that tells me what you think of the story and not just saying "Happy Birthday!". Yeah, so, anyway, I'm like, so totally old now! Even though I know some, if not most, of my readers are older than me. It's currently 11:40 P.M. 25/10/2013, in UK which means my birthday will last for another 40 minutes (in UK).
I had a great day, eating in Chinese restaurants and cafeterias! I bought a ton of stuff in China Town in Birmingham... Anyway, goodnight my dear readers. *hug*
I do not own Hetalia in anyway, but I do own this story... I shall see you soon, I promise that from now on my updates will be regular, every two weeks, it isn't the end of the story, don't worry. Bye~
~Alexandrite-Raven
