Magitalia

Chapter Nineteen- Red String

It was rare when anyone was able to see Kiku angry. Really, Ludwig was fairly certain he could count how many times he'd truly seen him get riled up about something on one hand, and he'd known him since middle school.

This was how he knew something was wrong before his friend said a word on the subject. His concern only increased when after Alfred declared his intention to go after his brother, no matter who else decided to come with him, Kiku immediately declared his intention to do the same.

"Our enemies are despicable people," he declared. "And we are forces of light. We must do whatever it takes to end their reign of terror."

"And what makes you say that?", Ludwig pressed.

"I saw them take Heracles because they believe he had powers. There was nothing I could do to stop it alone, but it's likely they took him to the same place as England, don't you think?"

That would be the explanation, wouldn't it? Ludwig wondered if his friend had been taken right in front of him, but could tell it wasn't the time to inquire and further.

"I'm sorry, that's really terrible!", Feliciano quickly exclaimed. "But… well, I still think you need to be careful. I just have a really bad feeling about it!"

A slight voice, one that hadn't said much and honestly he'd forgotten was even there spoke up. "Eh, well, I want to come help my brother, but I don't seem to have any powers yet," Alfred's brother (Matthew, was it?) muttered. "Really, I'd just weigh you all down, and I don't think Arthur would want me to put myself in senseless danger for his sake."

"Don't worry, Mattie, I'll save him for the both of us!", Alfred loudly vowed, and Ludwig continued to dislike being associated with him. He was a complete lunatic, obnoxious, and may God help him if Alfred was the one to drag his friends into the abyss.

No one really said anything for a minute, until Kiku turned to him. "Ludwig, you haven't said what you plan to do about this."

What did he plan to do about this? Simple: nothing. He didn't personally care about any of the people they were saving enough to throw his pleasant life away.

But Feliciano still seemed unsure about the whole thing. As much as he advocated for staying out of it, he still seemed to be considering the offer to some degree. That provided another answer.

"Well, I personally think it's a bad idea, but I wouldn't allow Feliciano to go alone," he admitted. "So if he goes, I suppose I will as well."

He got a few odd looks for this, specifically from Kiku. Had it sounded a bit too sentimental, perhaps? But it was true; he could never let Feliciano do something so very reckless and, for lack of a better word, senseless alone. Such an action would defy a very crucial unspoken rule of friendship.

Feliciano, however, seemed to be made even more nervous by this. "Um, I really just don't know what I'm gonna do," he admitted. "I don't want to let anyone get hurt, but I really don't want to get hurt either."

"Why don't you sleep on it?", Ludwig suggested. "Talk it over with your brother. Whatever you decide is fine."

"That sounds good," Feliciano agreed. "We can meet up at your place tomorrow morning and talk about it more."

He very much wanted to ask why they were going to meet at his house specifically, but quickly remembered that Lovino had reacted rather poorly last time they tried to meet in the morning at his house. So begrudgingly, he agreed to this and gave Alfred the address so they could meet there.

He prepared to leave, but was stopped by Kiku on the way out.

"May I talk to you for a moment," he requested.

Ludwig was fairly certain he knew what this was going to be about. He was going to be chastised for not going along with Kiku's plan to save the friend that had been captured. "Of course. Look, I'm very sorry about what happened with Heracles, but I still-"

Lowering his voice and opening the front door for them to step outside, Kiku shook his head. "No, that is not what I'm saying. I don't question your choice, but I want to know: why is your intent to go only if Feliciano does?"

"Well, he's my friend- and that's not to say you aren't, but I don't think I could allow someone like Feli to go alone."

"Is he truly worth that much to you?", Kiku pressed. "To sacrifice your own morals to follow his?"

Some sort of exasperated sigh left Ludwig. "What- what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that our lives are changing irreversibly. Even if you stay, the fact remains that we are very close to some sort of ending. Can't you feel it? This power is changing us. Time is running out, Ludwig, and I don't want you to hesitate and make the mistake I did. So please, if my suspicions are correct, tell Feliciano how you feel before there's no one left to tell."

Kiku then calmly walked away, as if nothing had happened, leaving Ludwig incredibly confused. He told Gilbert about this conversation as soon as he got home, and was met with just a laugh.

"Really, you couldn't figure out what that could possibly mean?", Gilbert questioned mockingly.

Ludwig sighed. "No. I really can't. 'Tell Feli how I feel'? About what? Not going? But he knows that perfectly well!"

"Look, I'm going to have to tell you something I swore to never tell a soul, so you have to promise never to repeat this, okay?"

The pile of confusion grew. "I won't, but what are you getting at?"

"So, since you and Feli were probably like, five, I've had a bet with Lovino," Gilbert began. "I told him that someday our little brothers would get married, and he told me there was 'no way in hell that would ever happen'. Those exact words. So, we bet a hundred bucks on it, which sort of seemed like a really lot of money back then, and I've been waiting for you two to get together ever since."

That actually explained a lot. "That's not surprising in the slightest," said Ludwig. "But why tell me this now?"

"'Cause when you two started hanging around Kiku, one day, he asked me if you and Feli were dating, because he couldn't figure it out for himself. So I told him about the bet, and we started talking about you two and how you'd end up. We both agreed you'd end up together one way or another, but we sort of had different ways of picturing how it would happen. I said you'd be the first to confess, and he said it'd be Feli. And I made another bet about it."

"So this is all about some years old bet?", Ludwig questioned. That seemed like an awfully petty thing for Kiku to bring up- but wait, he'd bet on it happening otherwise, so unless he'd said something to Feliciano about it as well, it didn't make much sense.

Gilbert chuckled again. "Yeah, no. It's a lot more serious than that, but I was just giving that as an example. Basically, I just want you to answer me: do you like Feliciano in that way or not?"

His first instinct was to shout that he didn't. His second was to tell that no-shouting voice to can it, because it wasn't entirely correct. If he was being entirely honest, he felt something distinctly different towards Feli than he did towards anyone else. He wanted to protect him, he wanted to make him happy, he wanted to be beside him. Was that romantic love? He wasn't too sure.

"Kesese, you're blushing," Gilbert mocked in a sing-songy voice. "Look, like I said, everyone and their estranged third cousin in law can see it. Kiku was trying to tell you that all that Magical Country stuff is dangerous, and either you're gonna die or you'll come out of it different, so you'd better tell Feli that you feel gay feelings towards him soon or you'll never get the chance."

"I could never say something like that!", Ludwig countered. "Even if I did feel that way, the distinct possibility remains that he wouldn't."

With a shrug, Gilbert said "Well, what's the worst that could happen?"

"He could be weirded out by it and not want to continue being my friend. We could actually get together and have some sort of breakup that leaves us hating each other." And those were just the ones off the top of his head.

"You're being stupid," Gilbert bluntly told him. "What, is Feliciano 'Precious Cinnamon Roll That Loves You Unconditionally' Vargas going to reject you harshly? Seriously, the worst possible thing I could imagine him saying is, like," His brother closed his eyes and smiled widely while his voice rose an octave in an impression of Feliciano. "'Ve, sorry Ludi, but I don't feel the homo for you! But we can just be friends, right?'"

Ludwig felt a bit weirded out. "He doesn't sound like that," he muttered.

"And if he does feel the homo for you, and you two decide later it doesn't work, I can't see you two having any sort of nasty breakup. Even when you two fight, it never lasts for long, and you'll put up with a lot more from him than you would anyone else. Regardless of gay thoughts, you two have a strong friendship and something as stupid as a breakup wouldn't change that."

Glancing at the string bracelet around his wrist, Ludwig vaguely wondered if those powers their friendship gave him would disappear if something happened to break that bond. The strings looped around his pinky finger felt unbreakable, like the magic contained within them were stronger than the strings their power produces. And that was the strength of that friendship, that was how much he cared about Feliciano, and how much he cared back. "I suppose you're right," he admitted. "But what if by some miracle he does like me? What then?"

Gilbert gave an odd sort of smile. "Then you slay the monsters, save the princesses, and live happily ever after."

"This isn't a fairy tale," Ludwig scoffed. "People are getting hurt, people are dying!"

"Well, a lot of fairy tales are pretty messed up," Gilbert pointed out. "And an awful lot of them are German."

That was all that was really said on the subject that night. Ludwig somehow felt his convictions were right, though. He'd felt so alone when he'd been afraid Feliciano's powers were making it so he couldn't be there for him, and so relieved when his own powers mandated that wasn't the case. Even as he laid awake in bed, begging sleep to hurry up and take him away, he couldn't get the idea of it out of his mind.

Feliciano was the one he loved… He wanted to be with Feliciano… He wanted to be Feliciano's boyfriend… Those thoughts were new to him, and he was fairly certain that they wouldn't come to fruition, but he liked the sound of them, and he liked the certainty fear gave him in thinking them…

It seemed Germany's awareness was covered in some half-formed fog. Everything was too hazy to make out, but he was acutely aware of Italy standing beside him.

"Are you sure … this?", Germany questioned, unable to hear all of what left his mouth.

The reply was muddled, but it sounded anguished. "... I'm not… don't wanna die … you love me back … remember … Holy Rome ... want to be with you … this is what … Please … can … just … sleep..."

Despite being unable to make out his words, he still responded to them by grabbing onto his hand. How, he was unsure, as he couldn't see it clear enough to do so. "... sounds lovely … have to … other … murdered in our sleep … can't hold them off …"

Faintly, he heard Italy's weeping, and rose his other hand to wipe away tears from eyes he couldn't see. His own voice was even harder to make out of the odd static shielding his view. "Everyth ... fine … meet again … reincar ... and … veryone el ... Romano, Prussia, Fra … ryone … ere."

"...on't want … lose every ... don't … lone like … fore y … apan found me again. "

Clarity began to reappear. He could see Italy's eyes, shining with tears. He could see the hand he was holding with a deathgrip. He could feel the fear radiating from the three people standing in front of a door. He could very clearly hear his vow: "Italy, I promise, next time everything will be fine, and I will never leave you."

AN- Okay, first, I'm actually super sorry. I'd meant for Prussia's transformation to be this chapter, but it ended up running long, so I decided to delay that to next chapter. It might seem a bit short, but with a proper fight scene, it would have ran well above 3K. That's probably for the best, though. After all, I doubted a love confession could carry the chapter on its own. (If you didn't expect me to actually get the GerIta in so quickly, then why on earth would I have listed them as a pairing in the story's character list if it was to be ambiguous for most of the story?)

By the way, have you noticed that in dreams, the characters almost always refer to themselves by their country name? And that this is the first time anyone other than Italy has had a dream like this? And that I pretty much always use the country names in my Author's Notes?

So, for whoever's curious, here's the full version of Germany's dream's dialogue without the cut off parts! Maybe someday I'll let you guys see the context of this conversation...

Germany: Are you sure you're ready for this?

Italy: No, I'm not! I don't wanna die yet! Not when I know you love me back, and you remember being Holy Rome, and really I just want to be with you some more, 'cause this is what I've wanted forever! Please, Germany, can we just go back to sleep?

Germany: That sounds lovely, but no. We have to do this. The only other option is getting murdered in our sleep like my brother. We can't hold them off any longer.

Italy: *cries*

Germany: Everything will be fine. We'll meet again when we're reincarnated, and we'll meet everyone else again too. Romano, Prussia, France, everyone will be there.

Italy: I know, but I don't want to just lose everyone again. I don't want to be alone like I was before you and Japan found me again.

Germany: Italy, I promise, next time everything will be fine, and I will never leave you.

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! -Twilight Joltik