Chapter Nineteen:
I threw open the door, not surprised when I saw Alfred standing there, glaring at me.
"Yes?" I asked, noticing Lars and Ari sitting in his car parked on the sidewalk of our driveway. I wanted to roll my eyes at how Alfred couldn't even come visit me without one of his wolf friends supporting him.
Alfred didn't reply, glancing into my house around me.
"He isn't here right now, if that's what you're looking for," I said as coldly as I could.
"So you're alone?" he asked me. I nodded. "Good," Alfred said, pushing past me into the house.
"I never said you could enter!" I said hotly as he dragged me into the kitchen.
"I need to talk to you," Alfred growled.
"Go on, I don't want to waste your time," I said coolly.
"You have a vampire staying over at your house," he stated.
"Feliciano Paye," I replied. Alfred nodded.
"How long is he here for?" he asked.
"For as long as he wants to," I replied.
"Did you tell him about-"
"I already told him about Yong Soo."
"I hope you realize that since you have a vampire here, we can't guard over you in St. Helens. We have to keep in Riverside," Alfred said and I shrugged. My stomach began to churn in fear of the fact I would be left alone in case Yong Soo ever came for me but I didn't let that show on my face.
"Are the others coming?" he asked. I hesitated before answering.
I sighed. "No, they aren't," I said eventually.
"Oh," Alfred said, his lips forming a perfect little 'o'. He looked away and ran a hand through his hair.
The silence in the kitchen was intolerable. It was hard to believe that this boy I had considered a close friend – my best friend – and I were now like this. What had happened? When had everything gone wrong?
"I should be going now," Alfred grunted finally, pushing past me to leave the kitchen. I didn't watch him go, leaning against the wall wearily.
I waited to hear him close the door shut.
I heard nothing.
"Arthur?" Alfred's voice said finally, from behind.
"Yes?" I asked, rather coldly.
"I miss being friends with you."
When had everything gone wrong? When did the boy behind me grow into someone who looked like a man? As I turned to face him, I could see the kid in his eyes. The light spring afternoons seemed so long ago. What had happened? Why did everything change?
"It doesn't have to be that way, you know," I said finally, staring him in the eye. "I can be friends with you and with Feliciano, you know that."
Alfred shook his head. "You can't. You may like him…but I never can. And the last thing I need is for you to hate me because I killed your friend," he said and I suppressed a shudder. Feliciano's fears made much more sense now.
"Well I'm sorry then," I replied.
"Me too," Alfred agreed.
We stared at each other for a moment, minutes trickling by.
"I'm going to miss being you friend," Alfred finally exclaimed, rushing forwards to throw his arms around me. I blinked in surprise, winded. It was almost funny how alike Alfred and Feliciano were. Perhaps, in a different world, the two of them could've been friends.
Perhaps, in a different world, I wouldn't have to hurt so many people.
Alfred pulled away from me slightly, looking me in the eyes. I could see myself in his blue eyes, looking confused.
"Arthur," he said very softly, leaning forwards.
I didn't want him to kiss me. But I wanted him to.
I didn't know anymore! I felt like giving up, felt like I should stop resisting and just let Alfred kiss me. It's not like true love would ever come back. Feliciano was back for a time, but soon enough he would be gone. At least then I could have Alfred with me, if I let myself.
My thoughts weren't making sense. I wasn't making sense.
Of course it would be easy to fall in love with Alfred. Being around him gave me a temporary happiness and helped me forget him. It wasn't like I would be betraying anyone by loving Alfred. In fact, I could make the first move; lean in and kiss him first and all would be well. Or would it?
Alfred's lips were almost touching mine and I had still not yet made a decision.
RING RING!
I leapt away from Alfred as the telephone's shrill ringing broke the silence. Alfred swore under his breath and stomped away from me, beating me to the phone.
"Kirkland residence," Alfred said into the phone's receiver. I walked towards him to take the phone away; who the hell did he think he was, answering my phone? "He's not here," Alfred said as I walked towards him. He paused, as though listening to what the other person was saying. "He's at the funeral," he answered curtly.
"Give me the phone," I hissed, grabbing the receiver away from him. I pressed it to my ear, only to hear a dial tone.
"Stupid leech," Alfred muttered under his breath. Leech? As in a bloodsucker? It couldn't have been Feliciano; Feliciano knew where my father was. So who…
No.
"Who was that?" I asked, slamming the receiver back into its hook. Alfred blinked at the intensity of my words.
"Dr. Roderich Edelstein," he said with a sneer. I gaped at him.
"AND YOU DECIDED NOT TO GIVE THE PHONE TO ME?" I yelled, punching his chest in my fury. Of course, my punches didn't hurt him at all, but Alfred still stepped back to prevent me from hurting him further.
"He didn't ask for you," Alfred growled back. I opened my mouth to reply. Alfred turned away from me, his hands suddenly shaking. "Gotta go," he said quickly, walking away from me urgently. I ran to catch up to him.
"You're not leaving – I'm not finished yelling at you!" I exclaimed, running into him as he froze on the spot, tumbling to the ground despite myself. Alfred grabbed me by both arms, pulling me to my feet and let go so he could run out the back door. Before he could I grabbed his arm, using all my strength to keep him in the room. "I said, I'm not finished yelling at you!" I exclaimed, and I wasn't. If the wanker thought he could get away by answering my phone and talking to Roderich without giving the phone to me he had something else coming.
Alfred stopped pulling away from me, going dead still as Feliciano walked into the room.
Feliciano froze as well, staring only at me. His eyes were wide with terror.
"Arthur," he managed to whisper out. I blinked at how scared he looked and let go of Alfred, rushing to Feliciano's side.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, holding him by the shoulders as he began to tremble.
"Francis," Feliciano whispered. My eyes widened at the name, fear growing me for reasons I didn't know of. What happened to Francis? Why was Feliciano so scared?
"What happened to him?" I asked as gently as I could, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. Feliciano shook his head, shrugging my hands off of his shoulders, pulling out a small cell phone from his pocket.
"Lovi?" Feliciano said after dialling a number quickly. "Lovi, is Roderich there? I need to talk to him – it's urgent." I could hear Lovino's voice on the other end but I was too anxious to care. "When will he be back? I need to talk to him pronto. Have you talked to Francis at least?" he asked worriedly.
I waited for a response – any response. I watched Feliciano's face as he looked steadily more terrified.
"No, Lovi – how could you do that?" he exclaimed, horrified. "I was wrong – he's alive! I'm here with him – there's nothing wrong with him oh Lovi why did you do that? I knew you didn't like him and Antonio always said you resented him but why did you have to do that?" he wailed. "I don't care if you feel sorry now – it's too late!" he added, a tinge of angry in his voice. Feliciano hung up without saying goodbye, turning to face me with a look of fear on his face.
"Roderich called a minute ago," I blurted out, almost too scared to hear what Feliciano had to tell me.
Feliciano blinked at me. "He did? What did he say?" he asked urgently.
I glanced at Alfred, who scowled at the both of us. "He wanted to know if Arthur's dad was here and I said no and he hung up on me," he replied.
"Is that all?" Feliciano asked, his voice still as urgent and as innocent as it normally was, but I could suddenly hear an undercurrent of coolness under it. Alfred glared at him.
"Of course is it," Alfred spat back.
"You told him he was at the funeral," I interjected and Feliciano whipped his head to stare at me, his expression of horror growing by the second.
"What were the exact words?" Feliciano asked frantically.
"Alfred said that Albert wasn't here and when Roderich asked he was, Alfred said he was at the funeral," I replied, feeling panicked just watching Feliciano.
"No," Feliciano moaned, covering his face with his hands.
"What's wrong?" I said, putting a tentative hand on his shoulder again.
"That wasn't Roderich, ve," Feliciano said, his verbal tic reappearing.
"I wasn't lying, if that's what you're implying," Alfred growled.
"That was Francis," Feliciano said, ignoring him. "Ve, he thinks you're dead!" he exclaimed, wringing his hands.
"Did Lovino tell him that I committed suicide?" I asked, everything starting to make sense again. I could feel my body relax.
Feliciano nodded.
"And when Francis called and Alfred told him my father was at the funeral, Francis supposed he was talking about my funeral?" I asked calmly.
Feliciano nodded again, still looking terrified, but now staring at me with confusion. "Why aren't you upset?" Feliciano asked.
"We can call him, right?" I asked. "We can tell him it was just an understanding and I didn't commit suicide – and not for him either, the wanker…" I trailed off as I saw Feliciano shake his head.
"Francis believed what Lovino said, Arthur," Feliciano whispered.
"And?" I asked, feeling panicked all over again.
"He's going to Russia."
"And how would provoking the Ceemya make you die?"
"You don't provoke them. Ivan…Ivan does not appreciate annoyances. Neither does Natalia. You provoke them, it's the last thing you do."
No.
No.
"NO!" I yelled, startling both Feliciano and Alfred. "How dare he kill himself – he bloody left me to gallivant around the world with sluts and whores and then he goes and kills himself because he thinks I'm dead?" I yelled.
Feliciano shied away from me. "Ve…I don't think Francis planned on outliving you, ever," he said softly.
How dare he?
"Can't we call him?" I demanded furiously. Feliciano shook his head.
"I think he threw his phone away," Feliciano replied.
"Isn't there any way of stopping him?" I exclaimed.
"There is one way…" Feliciano said nervously. "But I don't know if you'll agree to it!"
"At this point, I'll agree to anything," I replied, trying to keep my breathing even.
"Come with me to Russia. That's the only way we can stop him – maybe we can convince him to not go through with whatever he's planning! It'll be easy for us to get tickets and even though Russia's really scary and cold and the people always frown at me and Lovi always says that the Ceemya will take me away and never give me back-"
"What happens if we're too late?" I asked. Feliciano blinked at me.
"Ve, I don't think Ivan would kill Francis because he's friend Roderich and if he upset Roderich then Elizaveta would get mad and attack them with her frying pan but…" Feliciano trailed off.
"But?" I urged.
"But they're really protective of Moscow and if Francis tried to do something to it they probably will kill him. Natalia is the most protective of Moscow," Feliciano said. He shuddered. "You don't want to get on her bad side."
"So we have to stop him before that happens," I stated and Feliciano nodded. "Then why are we still standing here?" I demanded.
"Ve, it's dangerous! If we're in Moscow and Francis does something bad, I'll be considered his partner in crime and you'll be a human boy who knows too much about our kind; they won't hesitate to kill you! You smell really good as it is – they'll probably eat you!" Feliciano exclaimed.
"I don't care; let's just go!" I replied. It was like when I had gone cliff diving. I had no care in the world of my own safety; I just needed to get to Francis. So I could strangle him for being so stupid.
"You write a letter to Albert while I get plane tickets," Feliciano said, already dialling a number.
I gaped at him. Albert. My father. If I left, he'd be all alone with Yong Soo still hunting me down.
"I'll protect him – fuck the treaty," Alfred grunted.
"Thank you," I gasped back, running to find a piece of paper so I could write a note to Albert.
Dad, I wrote the moment I found a pen and paper,
I'm with Feliciano; you don't need to worry about me. Francis is about to do something completely rash and very stupid and we need to stop him. I know its terrible timing and I know how you feel about him but I have to do this. I'm sorry.
Love,
Arthur
"Done," I said, looking around.
"He's still buying tickets," Alfred grumbled as I noticed Feliciano wasn't there in the room anymore.
"Oh," I said, scanning through the letter one more time before placing on the kitchen table; somewhere I knew Albert would find it.
"Please don't go," Alfred whispered feebly, a last chance to keep me here.
"Please take care of my father," I said as Feliciano came running into the room.
"Get your wallet and ID and stuff – maybe some clothes because Russia's far away," Feliciano said thoughtfully, holding a small bag of his own. I rushed away from Alfred, not able to look at his face as I ran to my room to pack.
It was an eerie sort of déjà vu, me trying to pack and run away from home with Feliciano by my side. But this time it wasn't to escape from a vampire but to save one instead.
Hopefully save one instead. I ran back downstairs with a backpack slung over my shoulders full of clothes and important documents. I could hear Roderich's car's engine outside; Feliciano was waiting for me in the car.
"Arthur," Alfred tried again as I attempted to put my shoes on quickly. He grabbed my arm and I shook myself free easily.
"I'm sorry, Alfred," I said, finally looking at him directly. I wish I hadn't; his eyes were brimming with tears.
"Why do you have to die? You can live for Albert – you could live for me," Alfred pleaded.
It hit me that this could've been the last time I ever saw him.
"I'm sorry," I repeated, turning away to run outside and into the car. Feliciano wasted no time in driving out of the driveway, already going much faster than the speed limit, our surroundings a blur.
The last thing I heard as we drove out of St. Helens was a wolf's howl.
A/N: In my personal headcanon, when Feliciano's especially scared or nervous, his verbal tic, 've', is more pronounced and he uses it more often.