We leave Pratilux a few days later. The people are sad to see us leave, but wish us luck on our journey. Several spirit animals follow us for a while, but they eventually go back to the village. Things finally seem to have gone back to normal.
Our spirit animals walk with us as we head toward the heart of Wolf Territory. The two wolves, Italy and Romano, prance around in the tall grass, enjoying being back in their homeland. Hungary and Kiku's partner, Japan, fly above us and keep an eye out for anything that looks like trouble. It's been peaceful so far, so I'm not too worried. Germany and Prussia, the two bears, pad heavily beside me as I walk through the waist high grass.
The white bear, Prussia, keeps sniffing at me playfully, and I shoot him fake annoyed looks. The other bear rolls his eyes at our banter. He picks up his pace to walk by Ludwig, who is leading our group. I snicker softly. It's funny how alike those two are.
"So, what's the Wolf Temple like?" I ask Feli. The younger Wolf twin grins at me as he hops around with his spirit animal.
"I've only been there once, but it was really pretty," he tells me. "It's built out of the only hill in all of Wolf Territory."
"There's only one hill? Are you serious?" I ask a little skeptically. "There's gotta be more than that."
"Nope! Just one!" Feli answers. "Legend says the Wolf Mother made the hill just for the Temple. Before that there were no hills at all."
"Wow," I say. It's hard for me to imagine the entire Territory is flat. Eagle Territory is full of hills and the Bear Territory has whole mountain ranges on it.
"Yup! That's why it's hard to spot the rivers from a distance," the Wolf explains. "Sometimes you don't see them until it's too late!"
Suddenly, a panicked scream breaks the still of the air. It's coming from the front of the group, and I can't help but think it sounds like Gilbert. Feli and I run to where the yelling is coming from. As we get closer, the sound of splashing can also be heard. That can only mean one thing.
"My idiot brother fell in the river," Ludwig says to us with one hand rubbing his temple.
"Serves him right for not watching where he was going," Lovino grumbles from next to the Bear.
A rather large river stretches out in front of us, and true to Feli's words, it would have been almost impossible to see unless it was already too late. Gilbert is floundering around in the middle of the river with a very unhappy look on his face.
"It's freezing cold!" he shouts. "Stop laughing at me and help me out!"
"Why can't you get out yourself?" I ask him through giggles. Feli and I are the only ones who seem to find this situation humorous.
"Fine! But then I'm going to throw you in!"
I run away squealing when the white haired Bear emerges from the river dripping wet. He shakes himself off like a wet dog, which gets Ludwig and Lovino wet too. The two complain loudly at the laughing Gilbert, who doesn't see the large, light gold bear approaching him. Germany uses his forepaws to push the Bear back into the river, then nods once at Ludwig before disappearing. The other animals also disappear to avoid any trouble that could yet come.
"Not...cool..." Gilbert pants as he drags himself out of the river for a second time.
"That's what you get for being a brat," Ludwig says matter of factly. "Well, since we're already wet we may as well enjoy it." He starts to strip off his shirt, and the others take it as a cue to do the same.
"W-what's going on?" I call from my hiding spot, far, far away from the river.
"We're going swimming, idiot! What does it look like?" Lovino shouts back. I look away as he takes off his trousers, leaving him in just a thin pair of undershorts.
Feli and Kiku also begin to strip down for a swim. They both look excited to do something other than trudge through grass. I approach the river cautiously, but refuse to get too close. The sounds of splashing and laughter reach my ears, but instead of getting excited, I fight the urge to turn back to my hiding nook.
"Come one, Liza!" Feli shouts. "It's a lot of fun!"
"I-I'll just watch from here," I tell him. I try hard to keep my voice from wavering, but I can still hear how nervous I sound.
I take a deep breath and scoot closer to the edge of the river. Sitting next to it won't hurt, right? The others in my group splash around loudly in the cool water. I watch the two sets of brothers chicken fight while Kiku referees. It looks like a lot of fun, and I can't help but wonder if there wouldn't be any harm in getting just a little wet.
Hesitantly, I roll up my pant legs and take off my shoes to slowly dip my feet into the water. It's so cold that a slight shiver goes up my spine, but it's refreshing at the same time. I start to relax a little bit and slide more of my legs into the water. The current isn't even that strong, so I kick my legs and watch the bubbles swirl underwater from my movement. A few small fish dart away from my legs, no doubt frightened by my sudden appearance.
That's when I feel something cold grab onto my leg. I scream and try to scramble away from the edge of the river, but whatever clamped onto my leg won't let go. Desperation and fear claw at my heart as I'm pulled closer to the water, little by little. I pull and kick as hard as I can with both legs, but to no avail.
My mind floods with scenario after scenario of me falling into the cold, unforgiving water. I can almost feel it rushing into my mouth and filling my lungs until I can't breathe. Part of the feeling is produced by my imagination, and the other part is a horrible, vivid memory. With a final scream I wrench my leg away from whatever was pulling me toward the river.
I jump to my feet and run as far away from the water as I can. I keep running until my sobs make it hard to breathe. I don't remember ever starting to cry, but I don't try to stop the tears. It seems like all I've been doing lately is crying. Slowly, I drop to the ground and focus on breathing. The water is a long ways behind me, so I have nothing to fear. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
Something wet touches my shoulder and I flinch from it in surprise. I look up to see a concerned looking Gilbert standing over me. He sits down on the ground next to me in one fluid movement before reaching out to wipe away my tears.
"What's wrong, Lizzie?" the Bear asks. "It was just Lovino. He being a loser and trying to prank you."
"Who was being a loser?" Lovino growls from behind us.
We turn around to see the Wolf standing awkwardly with his arms folded across his bare chest. He shifts his weight uncomfortably and refuses to look at me.
"What are you doing here? Don't you think you've done enough?" Gilbert growls with a hint of a threat in his voice.
"You don't have to act like a bastard! I just came to apologize!" Lovino shouts. He looks up at us for the first time, then looks away again. "That Eagle kid told us how afraid you are of water after you took off."
"You're afraid of water?" The white haired Bear looks at me with surprise.
"Yeah," I whisper with a slight nod.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know," Lovino grumbles.
"What kind of apology is that?" Gil challenges.
I put my hand up to keep the Bear from doing anything dumb. "It's okay. You didn't know," I tell the moody Wolf. "Let's just not do that again."
"Yeah, sure," Lovino says with the hint of a smile. "I'll just leave you two alone then." The usual snobbiness has returned to his voice. He turns and walks back toward the others at the river.
"You really are afraid of water?" Gilbert asks again, as if he didn't believe me the first time.
"Yes. I fell into a lake once when Kiku and I were living on our own. I didn't know how to swim, so I just kept sinking until Kiku pulled me out. Haven't spent time near any kind of water since."
"Until today," the Bear says.
"Until today," I repeat.
We sit in silence for a while as the world moves on, unaware of what had just taken place. I feel Gilbert slip his hand into mine, and I give it a gentle squeeze. That's when I notice for the first time what he's wearing.
"Gil!" I yell. "You're not wearing anything!"
"Yes I am," he says. He points to the shorts he wears under his pants.
"That hardly counts," I tell him while keeping my eyes up. The situation gets more awkward as he scoots closer to me. I quickly cover my face with my hands to hide my embarrassment.
"Aww, don't be that way, Lizzie." Gilbert places light kisses on each of my fingers. "I'm going to have to get rough if you don't come out."
I spring up with my face still covered and start walking away from the white haired Bear. "We need to get back!" I shout back to him. "I'll bet your clothes are dry by now!"
"Humph, ruining all the fun," he says in my ear.
I can hear him start running, and I uncover my eyes so I won't trip. I also start running, and I make it back to the group a little after Gil. Everyone else is fully clothed and ready to move on. We have to wait a few moments for the elder Bear to finish changing, but we're soon on our way.
A few downward thrusts of each of our wings gets us across the river, and I feel much better after leaving it behind. We continue on our way, but the fun atmosphere from frolicking in the river has been dampened by my little outburst. I feel a little guilty, but there's not much I can do about it now. We keep walking until Ludwig puts his hand up for us to halt.
"Do you feel that?" he asks us.
"Feel what?" Kiku asks him.
"Exactly," Lovino says loudly enough for all of us to hear. "The wind has stopped."
"The wind almost never stops," Feli says nervously. "Something's not right."
I start to get a really bad feeling about what's coming. That's when I hear a clapping coming from my left and my heart begins to pound in my chest. We all turn to see where the sound is coming from, and my suspicions are confirmed.
"How very observant of you," Kirkland says with a wicked looking grin. "Too bad you didn't see this coming."