Umm okay, can't say much because, well...a lotta you nearly died because of last chapter. I'm sorry :( But! Just a note, in the future, if Iggy dies, there will be no story :3

Anyways, short note, I own nothing here besides the plot. All characters go to Hidekaz Himaruya. Enjoy a bit of happiness :)

Chapter 25:

Plan

Arthur woke up to a cold compression against his forehead. His still-closed eyes were heavy with fatigue, his throat sore, body weighed down by how tired he seemed to be. His stomach and heart were the only things that hurt him. His stomach, because that had been the location of the wound. His heart, because he was recalling the entire memory of losing his lover.

He didn't know where he was or how he had gotten there, or even why. He could only see his Darling, his Dear, his Poppet, being taken away from him. He tried to reach out but his hands were too hefty. No matter how many times he called out or cried or begged, he never returned to him, and he felt his heart break all over again.

"Wǒ bù rènwéi tā huì dédàole ā lǔ," a familiar voice mumbled, a warm hand patting against the cold cloth on his head. He winced at the memory that surfaced from back before he had been brought to Hell. That time, the time he spent in Heaven, was a blur. He could barely remember what it looked like, what the clouds and platforms felt like; all taken away from him to make room for the feeling of gently hardened hands and smooth lips, and the swelling of the heart when he would speak and compliment him.

"Can you watch him, please?" Another voice asked. It sounded strangely like Matthew's, but he wasn't quite sure. There was something inside his mind, a large iron-and-steel block that he couldn't get through, that sheltered him from knowing anything else beside his lover. His lover… Where was Alfred now? Where did the Harvesters take him? Was he still living? Maybe he even escaped them and was trying to get back to him. But even that thought seemed too unlikely.

A gentle hand started to drag itself through his bushy blond locks and the bangs that dangled on his forehead, "Arthur…you got too careless, didn't you aru…"

There was only one person that the Brit knew said that one little word at the end of every other sentence. And if that wasn't Yao, then he absolutely hated Alfred. But that was his Chinese friend, and he was madly, head-over-heels, arse-over-tit, deeply in love with his American demon. And so, very cautiously and slowly, he let his eyelids lift upwards, emerald eyes still showing him a blurry world. The demon in front of him, with horns pointed downwards and wings folded neatly against his back, was staring at him; he could tell by the blurrily-seen, claret red eyes that gazed at him. Most of the figure's jet-black hair was backwards, and his skin was that of a china doll.

"Arthur…? Can you remember anything aru?"

He blinked to readjust his sight, griping and moving his shoulders slightly. When everything focused again, he noticed that the only thing separating this Yao from past Yao was the fact that he was in demon form. Nearly everything, to the very last detail, was the same about him. It looked too good to be true, and he hesitantly reached out his hand. "Y-Yao…?" His voice was hoarse and his throat felt raw, and he grimaced.

The Chinese demon sighed, and flattened his hair down again, taking the outstretched limb in his other hand. "Arthur aru… You're going to kill me one day," he smiled.

"Wh…whot happened?" The texture of the bed beneath his body felt foreign, and the arrangement of the room wasn't like Alfred's. The room was nearly empty and spacious, just like the events of last night. Or maybe it was longer ago.

"That's what we're trying to find out aru." He placed a hand on the angel's stomach, and his long, thin fingers comfortingly rubbed the spot. Slowly and surely, the spot wasn't hurting as much anymore. "What we do know, is that…a team of Harvesters led by Ivan broke into your house last night, and they…stabbed you in the stomach, and brought Alfred to the Boss."

Tears pricked at the Brit's eyes as he tried to gulp them down but found he was unable to, and sniffed. It almost sounded as if he was hearing the story about someone else. He could imagine the events, and he couldn't remember. He wished it would stay like that.

"Duìbùqǐ ā lǔ." He meant the words, too, as he gazed at him in pity. "I didn't want to tell you, but there was no other way."

He shortly inhaled through his stuffy nose, ignoring the water track that slid down his cheek. "Whot else do you need to tell me?"

As soon as he had asked it, the Chinese angel started shaking his head again. "I can only tell you so much aru. All we know is what I just told you, and that we have to do something to help Alfred."

If he wasn't in so much pain from his stomach and heart, Arthur would have sat up in shock. "Why does he need help?" The demon shut his eyes and mumbled something in Chinese, but the angel tugged on his wrist. "Tell me, Yao. Please. I need to know." The blood red eyes looked at him, glistening in worry. The Brit used the words that he knew would get him what he needed to know. "Yao, I love him. Please…just tell me whot's going to happen to him."

Yao's hand wavered back to the blond bush of hair, tangling his fingers into it and sighing. "Demons hold trials for those who have done wrong, or who they think has done wrong aru. The Boss resides as the judge, and they discuss what to do with him. I had to sit through one when I first came here with Kiku aru. And it was the most unjust scene I've seen in my lifetime."

"P-please tell me…that that won't happen to him." The words lacked any hope. Why would Yao tell him something like that without telling him a reason?

The demon gulped inaudibly, and looked away. "It's scheduled for tomorrow aru."

Arthur screwed his eyes shut. This was too much to hear, too much to take in all at once. "Please, just stop, Yao."

The Englishman could recall everyone calling Yao the "mother" of their regent in Heaven. He had always wanted the angels they guarded to get along, to make sure the kids and others were okay. His touches were always light and feathery, as if he had been a maternal parental figure when he was still alive. And now, despite his physical change, he still had that same touch, the barely-contact touch that was filled with love and care and worry. "There's nothing to be upset about aru. Okay? We know what we're doing. We're going to go to that trial tomorrow aru. And we're going to rescue him."

By what he had been told, Arthur had been found by Yao just before the end of the night. The latter didn't know how long his friend had been out, and neither of them wanted to know. If it weren't for the recovery system inside of his body, he might not be there. The injured angel had been brought back to Kiku's house, where the lovers had patched up his wound and made sure he was given water and some food thoroughly. By now, it was the end of the day, and Kiku and Yao snuck up with Arthur to the library that was hidden inside the Mountain of the Three Fates. They let him throw on Alfred's jacket over his clean, white robe, and had draped a blanket over his head to not only keep him warm, but to hide his halo and wings.

The Chinese demon carried him upwards to Francis', since his wings were now halfway gone, and when he arrived at the cliff edge, he stopped in his place and stared at the home. With his knees locked, he found himself unable to go on and continue to their destination. He knew why they were going here; Yao had said some demons had been exiled from the Harvesters, specifically the ones Alfred had talked to, the ones Arthur knew well, and they were planning to gather inside the Library to come up with a plan to save Alfred. The Brit only hoped that they could perhaps start something similar to an uprising as revenge against the Boss, whoever he was.

"What's wrong aru?" Yao wondered, the two Asians having stopped when he had.

Arthur nuzzled himself into the large blanket and fluffy collar, and inhaled the comforting scent of his lover's jacket. He wanted to drown inside the leather and lay undisturbed until they had his dear Alfred returned to him, as handsome as always and unharmed. "Nothing much…just a bit skittish, is all," he mumbled, eyes averting down to his shoes, and started to walk again.

The three made their way into the house and through the corridor that led to the center of the mountain, where the blond Brit then returned the blanket to around his shoulders for comfort. The more he went down the hall, the more he dreaded going to this meeting place. He would be fine if he and Yao (there was no way he was going to abandon any demon on their side now) went to the main courthouse, did some investigating, and were able to save Alfred before the trial started. But he knew to get the Mandarin-speaking demon to agree with him, that wasn't unlike trying to potty-train a stubborn toddler. He would have to make the best of this, for now. If anything involved rescuing Alfred, directly or indirectly, he wasn't going to stop at the chance.

The demons slipped into a hidden structure of the wall at the end of the passageway, before helping Arthur through cautiously. The couple had started to descend the stairs, but the English angel stayed on top, watching the scene below and realizing how much he had missed in the past couple of days.

He hadn't known Feliciano and Lovino Vargas would ever become demons- the loud, Italian brothers that had fought for the Italian Resistance with their grandfather during the Second World War and died accidentally because of it (they had been sent to attach a bomb to an Axis information room, and blew up the entire structure, but had gotten lost and perished in the explosion). He wouldn't ever expect them to commit themselves to their lovers.

Suddenly, he felt a bit out of place being here. Matthew, the Vargas brothers, Yao, even Tino who was quietly chatting and kissing the demon beside him, had all changed because of love. Arthur wanted to be changed now.

"Ciao, Arthur~!" Feliciano waved, eyes a bright scarlet now and hair a brilliant white color, similar to Francis. He rushed over and pulled the wounded angel into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you~! It's been so long, I feel so bad!" The perky Italian held him out at arm's length. "Mi dispiace per il tuo amante."

Arthur smiled softly. "Thank you, Feli," he managed to say in a steady voice.

"I know it feels to be apart from someone you care for very much." His eyes, filled with sadness, looked at him from his bowed head position. "If you need to cry, I'm here."

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll be fine." Of course I won't be. I feel so empty without Alfred.

"Well…that's good!" The demon's energy instantly bounced up to its original place. "That makes me so glad!" He tightly embraced the other, laughing, before he skipped back to his lover. Almost silently, the only angel in the room made his way over to Yao and Kiku, and sat down in a spare chair beside them. His stomach was in knots and he resisted the urge to nibble on

"Alright," the strong, controlled voice of Ludwig entered the room. "if everyvun is here und accounted for, zen we may begin."

The chatter silenced down in respect, attention on the German demon. Arthur was amazed at how much power and control he had, almost as if everyone had great respect for him. Either that, or everyone knew the consequences of disobeying him.

"Now, I'm sure you all know zat one of our own has been taken from us for, eh…unknown, complicated reasons." A glance in his direction told him that the wording was so as not to make it any harder for him to deal with. He was grateful for that. "Ve have lost ze original starter of zis group, and ve intend to get him back. Agreed?"

A collected, approving rumble spread throughout the demons there, and the blond had to suppress a grin. Everyone there was present for one, and the same, reason as him: to get Alfred back as easily as possible.

"So far, it has been confirmed zat we are all going tomorrow, two of us to escort and protect Arzur, Alfred's lover." A few of the demons glanced over at him, but others greeted him with a smile (Matthew, the Spanish demon that was in love with Lovino) or a kind hand gesture (the Danish demon Mathias, Tino, Feliciano). "After za trial, ve vill have to find a vay to ze jail und get him out, acting as if ve are escorting him to a new division. Bervald," Ludwig turned on the taller demon beside Tino, the English angel recognizing him, "I assume you und your Scandinavian companions vill be able to get us in?"

"Ja," he nodded, voice rumbling deep and low. "Th' b'ss d'sn't kn'w 'bout 's d's'b'ying h'm."

The German Son of the Dark looked over at Tino. "Could you please, eh…"

The Finnish demon smiled with a light laugh. "The boss doesn't know about us disobeying him," he translated. "But if you think, I don't think he would even notice us gone."

He nodded. "Sehr gut. Und, as for ze prison aftervards?"

"That's not a problem, Lud," Mathias chuckled. "Ehrfürchtige*, Lukas, Emil, og* I will distract the guards long enough for Frannie og Mattie to get in, get Alfred og get out. Then, you, Feli, Antonio, og Lovino will be destroying the defense, while Berwald, Tino, Kiku og Yao will try og find the files og destroy the joint."

Arthur blinked in shock. Just how much were they planning to do tomorrow? They couldn't possibly think that they would get all of that done, did they? Rescuing Alfred while providing a distraction and wrecking the security was good enough, but what was that thing about files? Whatever it all meant, Ludwig agreed to every word.

"Sehr gut," the German demon nodded, running a hand through his jet-black hair before he looked over at Yao and Kiku. "Have you explained anyzig to him yet?"

"Only that we were saving Alfred aru," the Chinese male answered, twirling a finger around the end of his hair absentmindedly. "Nothing more, just like we were told."

"Gut, I didn't vant much questions being asked, but it seems like somevun has already caused that." The scarlet eyes (since when had they changed from pale red to ruby?) wavered over briefly to the clueless Dane before going to the angel. "I suspect you have questions, ja?"

Arthur was silent for a moment. There was so much he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to know. His mind was a whirlwind of questions and thoughts and processes and wonders, and it took a moment to process the thoughts into what he wanted to comprehend. He wanted to know what Mathias was talking about, why he was even here, if he could go rescue Alfred himself—too much to know, and yet not enough time to know of it. "I want to know…a few things," he began, and shuffled a bit in uneasiness at the pairs of eyes that looked at him. "First…I want to know. Whot is the exact plan to save Alfred?"

Ludwig seemed to contemplate on this for a bit, rubbing a hand through his hair and sighing through his mouth before he leaned against the table with his arms crossed. "Tomorrow, vhen ve go to za trial, ze only vuns who vill have access to Alfred are ze five from Scandinavia: Bervald*, Tino, Emil, Mazias** und Lukas. Zey vill give us access to ze prison yard for vhen Francis und Mazew** go in and save him. Mazias, mein bruder, Lukas und Emil vill provide distractions. Meanvhile, Bervald, Tino, Kiku und Yao vill be searching for files zat contain information of zeir plans to continue to ransack Heaven, za Surface, und ze plan to continue to accuse demons of crimes zey have not committed. At za same time, Antonio, Lovino, Feli und I vill vork on destroying za defense zat is around ze area. Ozer demons zat are a part of zis group vill be keeping a lookout or vill be doing anozer task assigned to zem."

The only angel in the room was silent, keeping the blanket closer to him than before. That was a lot to do. Distract the guards, rescue Alfred, gather information on attacks and trials, destroy the protection that the area owns, and even more than that. "That sounds like quite a lot," he whispered. "Is there anything I could do? I mean…I can't quite go to the trial looking like myself."

"Zat is taken care of. Lukas has a tonic zat vill disguise you so zat your outer appearance vill make you appear to be a demon. It vill last for about twelve hours, but it can be broken if physical contact- in vhat vay, ve don't know- is made. Aftervards, you vill go viz Yao und help zem zere."

Arthur's heart stopped in its place. He wasn't going to be able to get his lover back. Of course. He should have known that it would turn out to be that way. But that wasn't fair. It was his lover that was kidnapped. It was his lover that had been taken away from him. It was his responsibility to be the one to go and rescue him. He didn't mind someone else accompanying him to save him, but if someone else wasn't taking him, he had a right to say something about it. "No."

The German demon's face took one of mild surprise. "Pardon?"

"If I'm going to be going anywhere besides the trial tomorrow…then I want it to be with Matthew and Francis."

"Ohohohon~ I only make l'amour wiz mon l'amour vrai, Mathieu," Francis chuckled, rubbing his nose into Matthew's neck, humming and giving it a lick with his lips. The Canadian laughed.

"Francis, I don't think he means it like that," he replied with a grin, petting the side of the Frenchman's face gently, looking at the Briton. "Arthur wants to help us save Alfred, eh?"

The blond nodded. "Exactly," he murmured, and smiled back at his friend.

Ludwig looked from one to the other with a look of skepticism upon his features. "Nein, ve can't do zat," he denied the offer. "It's already risky to bring you along viz us. If you go to za prison, you could be found out or killed."

"Francis will watch him," Matthew responded, shrugging his puzzled lover off of his neck gently. "He won't let him get out of his sight."

"It's still too risky. I can't. I'm sorry."

"Luddie, pull za stick outta your ass und let him go," Gilbert rolled his eyes, leaning on his back against the table top.

"Sì, I agree with Gilbert, Ludwig," Feliciano added. "Arthur wants to see his lover. You can't let him wait to see him!" He grabbed the taller male's hand and gave him a pitiful look that was too heartbreaking to ignore.

The German's stern exterior faltered for a bit. "Eh, ja, but it's not safe. Zere vill be demons around za area, watching zem. Zey have to be very secret about it."

"But Luddie, if you were in Alfred's place, wouldn't you want to see me when you get rescued?"

He opened his mouth to protest, opening his mouth but not making the correct words. Finally, he gave up with a sigh, and rested his forehead against the Italian demon's own. "Vhat makes me love you so much?"

Feliciano laughed, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Ti amo~."

Ludwig glanced back up at Arthur, and the latter saw how less-stressed he appeared. "You may go viz Matthew und Francis if you vould like. I von't hold it against you."

Even though he was expecting it, he felt himself lose his breath, and he nodded. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you so much."

As the demons continued with the meeting, a light hand bumped into his. He didn't have to look to know who it was. "Are you sure that you want to do that aru? It will be difficult," Yao spoke softly into his ear. "The tonic may not cover smell aru."

The English angel leaned forward to his ear; "If I was unsure, Yao…I wouldn't have said something against it."

The Chinese demon sat back, contemplating on this it seemed, and then pulled the angel into a hug. "You're so faithful aru. I'm glad to be able to call you my friend."

With Yao as his close friend and Alfred as his lover, Arthur couldn't disagree.