Yao and I felt quite awkward watching all this from the sidelines. Neither of us were really a part of this family, but we were a part of MAGIC and thus, weren't really sure what to do. So we watched.
"You mean to tell me," Mathias said, "that vampires and demons are real?"
"Vampire and demons are just the beginning of it." Lukas replied.
Mathias stared at him.
"This is crazy."
"Look at the coffee table, Mathias." Lukas said, gesturing to the frosted-over piece of furniture.
Mathias shook his head.
"I must be hallucinating."
"Then we're all sharing the same damn hallucination." Lukas said calmly.
"You're joking."
"I don't joke."
"This isn't a very good time to be kidding around, Lukas." Mathias said, looking desperate. "Berwald is dead, and you're telling me he was killed by fairies?"
"Fairies wouldn't do such a thing. Hobgoblins, maybe, but not fairies.
"This... you're all crazy... I... I can't deal with this."
With that, Mathias hurried out the door and left the house. Lukas stared after him.
"See? Mortals are nothing but trouble... I warned Tino about getting too close..."
We all pretended that there weren't any tears in his eyes.
"I should probably go get him before he gets himself killed." Lukas sighed, getting up. "Yao, could you go get Emil and Jia-Long and bring them here? They should be at your house."
Yao nodded.
"What about me?" I asked.
"Do you think you could try to get Tino to calm down?" the Norwegian asked as a crash was heard from upstairs. "I don't want the house frozen over again."
"Why me?"
"Because you understand what he's going through best." Yao told me, putting a hand on my shoulder. Somehow, Yao was right. I nodded, and we all got up to perform our respective duties.
As I walked upstairs, I began to see how terrible the wrath of an ice demon really was. Pictures were smashed, the banister was covered in snow, the air grew steadily colder as I continued my ascent...
I could immediately tell which room Tino was in, as it was the only room with a door that shuddered like a cold wind was passing behind it.
I knocked on the door.
"Tino? It's Arthur."
"Go away."
"If you continue like this, Britain shall have a snow day in July." I said.
When no response came, I opened the door.
As I walked inside, I realized that it was Berwald's room Tino had taken refuge in, and not his own, judging by the Swedish flag on one wall and the general neatness of the room.
The Finnish man was lying on the bed, hugging a pillow. The entire room was snowy and very cold.
What am I doing? I barely knew Berwald, and was only recently introduced to Tino! This is a bad idea...
"I need to be alone right now." Tino sniffed.
"I understand-"
"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND?" he yelled, and the temperature in the room dropped by ten degrees.
"The love of my un-life died twice, and both times were my fault."
Tino blinked.
"Oh... I didn't know..."
"There's no way you could have."
Gingerly, I sat down next to him.
"I'm not gonna try to cheer you up, because I know what you're going through." I told him. "But listen, I had a dream recently, which is odd because vampires don't dream. In it, the man I loved told me that I was preventing him from entering the afterlife. I was holding on to him too tightly, and thus, holding him back.
"So try to let Berwald move on, alright? For his sake. I know a couple angels, and I'll put in a good word for him."
Tino stared at me, as if trying to figure out my reasoning. He had this tired, heartbroken look that Alfred might have been making in the dream, but I had been to angry to notice.
"That's easy for you to say." he said at last.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't think I don't see the way you look at Yao when you think he can't see." Tino said with a sad laugh. "Ah, don't give me that look. Who do you think you're kidding? He's the earth and heaven to you. I've lived with Lukas long enough to tell when someone is hiding feelings for someone else. Moving on is easy for you, because you've got somewhere to move, but I don't think there will ever be anyone else for me."
"There doesn't have to be." I told him.
"I'm well aware of that. Will you leave if I promise that I won't freeze all of Europe?"
I nodded, and gave him a sort of awkward pat on the shoulder before leaving.
Iggychu. Everyone can see it but them.
As I said, Tino's handling this pretty well. Well enough to make a Disney song reference, at least.
