So how did you like the two chapters before? Hope you like them, cause this story gets a whole lot…weirder, I think?

/=LOADING…=/

/="To Zanarkand (Music Box Version)" by Final Fantasy X=/

Feliciano felt nothing but warmth all over his body. He couldn't help but panic at first, wondering if he was dead and if this was the afterlife where all you could feel was warmth. After a few minutes, he felt a warm hand on his cheek. He twitched his own fingers, and realized that it wasn't his hands. Someone was with him.

A…guardian angel…? He paused. Veneziano…?

All his nerves tingled, telling him exactly what was going on around him. He was in a sitting position, cuddled together in a ball as if he was a young child on someone's lap. As he took control of his fingertips, he could feel warm cotton on his palm and his head was leaning on something hard…a shoulder?

"Feliciano…"

Someone was calling him…he sounded like an angel. His eyes twitched and opened slowly, the image blurry and hard to see. The first thing he saw was the blond hair, a common trait for angels (at least, what he believed was common). Then he saw a shine of blue and green, combining together to form that of a face. It was a familiar face…one all too familiar.

"…L-Ludwig?"

"You're awake…and the fever's going down…"

Feliciano felt Ludwig's hand rub his cheek, and all the air just zoomed out of his body. His eyes widened, his cheeks flushing red and his fingers twitching over Ludwig's shirt. The blush alarmed the blond man, who lowered his hand onto his neck for a temperature. Feliciano could only shiver and expose his neck to him, ragged breaths coming out of his mouth.

"Nothing…you're still all right…" Ludwig concluded.

"Ludwig…" Feliciano shivered again, keeping his head on Ludwig's shoulder. "W-why are you here…? I thought you were home…safe…"

"I couldn't just leave you and Lovino alone. I wanted to see you off, but Madre kept me back. She was telling me how much of a danger that you are and that since we were created to fight the Iniquum, I should be the one to kill you…" His fingers were trailing his neck, still seeing if there was any change in temperature.

"Ah…is that why you're here…?" He whispered, the touch completely subduing him as if he was pulling his curl. "To kill me…?"

"No…I couldn't bring myself to do that. Not to you." Ludwig answered, his eyes narrowed. "I followed the mob toward your location…they seemed to know where you are the whole time. Most of them gave up after Mt. Overview, but I knew that you would be able to get through. I followed your footsteps into the woods, and then I heard you fall down the cliff…and…"

"…Ludwig…"

Feliciano kept shivering, unable to respond any other way. He felt like melting in his touch, just staying here for the rest of his life. Through his muttering and shivering, he thought he saw Ludwig leaning in closer to him. W-was he going to…?

Ludwig paused, noticing that he was still shivering. After all that, he finally got why: his fingers were (SOMEHOW) actually mixed in with his curl. He blushed and muttered an apology as he slowly pulled his fingers out of it. Instantly, his shivering stopped.

"…eh?" Feliciano blinked, confused. "W-what happened?"

"My fingers…they got caught in your curl…"

"O-oh…I didn't notice."

Odd enough, he actually didn't. The pulling didn't hurt him as much as what happened last time. Maybe it was because Ludwig was doing it gently, without hurting him with sudden jerks. He blushed and tried to cover his face when he suddenly coughed rapidly and jerked forward. Ludwig jumped in shock and moved out of the way to hold Feliciano's shoulders as his coughing got worse and worse. His hands lowered, and revealed something terrifying.

"…blood…"

/="Haritsumeta Kuki" by Shaman King=/

Feliciano looked at the blood and started to shiver in fear. Tears were forming from his eyes, showing his fear. Suddenly, his gaze shifted toward another figure. Ludwig turned around and caught another man at the entrance of the cave. He was blond with glasses, and had a strange blue hat and uniform. Feliciano hid behind Ludwig, holding onto his arm.

"I-It's Alfred…" He sobbed. "I don't want to die…"

Ludwig held him close, stones slowly moving around him. After a few minutes of nothing but staring the man turned toward the scared Feliciano, who was trying desperately to hide behind Ludwig's arm. He then cocked his head over his right shoulder.

"I found him."

Ludwig looked up in confusion as another figure ran into the cave. He blinked and realized it was Lovino, who looked pretty mad at his presence right now. Feliciano looked up and saw his brother, smiling and trying to stand before coughing up more blood and started gasping for air.

"Fratello!" He glared at Ludwig. "Dammit, potato bastard! What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" He answered. "He just started a few seconds ago!"

"Tino." The tall man called out. "We need you."

Instantly, a smaller man with silver blond hair and a light blue uniform ran into the cave. He gestured Lovino to get out of the way and looked at his brother as he shivered, coughing up more blood. He held his cheeks for a few seconds and then got Feliciano to look at him.

"Where were you cut?"

Feliciano blinked in confusion before he slowly lifted his shirt, revealing the scar that was there. Everyone gasped: the scar was turning an odd shade of purple. Feliciano gagged again, and started coughing up more blood. The young man caught him.

"It's anthermine poisoning." He concluded. "Looks fresh…"

"Irunya." Lovino concluded. "It was her."

"You've met Irunya Braginski?" The young man gasped. "That's not good. She's an expert with botanical poisons…we have to do this quickly. Feliciano, right? I'm going to need you to lie down."

He quickly complied, suddenly feeling how rigid his body was becoming. The young man kept his head down as he brought out a small pocket knife and slowly nicked him twice in the stomach, around the wound. He clapped his hands together, Vitula symbols completely surrounding his hands and fingers, and then placed them on the cuts.

"This is going to hurt a little bit, so bear with it."

Feliciano slowly nodded as the young man's hands started glowing. Suddenly he cringed as the young man started pushing one of his hands in his stomach. His other hand started to move away from it, and they saw a strange purple liquid come out of the cut. After a few minutes, one of his hands stopped glowing while the other one held the liquid.

"Done." He smiled. "You should be grateful. Most of the poison didn't get absorbed into your body."

He slowly sat up into a sitting position, holding his stomach but still pushing himself up. The young man held him in place, slowing his pace and locked eye contact with him. He couldn't help but notice his shining purple eyes looking back at him.

"There's still some traces of it, though. Don't push yourself."

"…thank you…" Feliciano answered. "For me…and for taking care of my brother…"

"Of course. Anyone who gets lost in the woods deserve our care." He smiled. "My name is Tino Väinämöinen, and my friend here is Berwald Oxenstierna. But you can call him Berwald for short."

He just nodded a small hello back at them. Lovino quickly got his brother and pulled him to his feet, much to his surprise, and saw how much he was stumbling on himself. It looked kinda funny, but nonetheless Lovino didn't like it one bit.

"My god, just walk forward!"

"I'm…trying!"

"Anthermine poisoning does have some muscle paralysis." Tino explained. "It's temporary, so don't worry about it. Anyway, you two must be hungry. You should come back with us to our home. Lukas is making some good breakfast, and you need that energy for wherever you're going."

"Ve~~~thank you!" Feliciano exclaimed, still stumbling on himself. "Um…but how do I get there if I can't walk?"

"Can someone carry you?" Tino asked.

Lovino instantly tried it out (for what reasons, no one can figure out) and failed. Again. And again. Until it just got funny. After he went in for a break, Ludwig quickly got in and lifted Feliciano off the ground like he was a light weight. Lovino cursed a little bit.

"I'll carry him."

Of course, Feliciano was too shocked to reply. Nonetheless, they walked out of the cave.

/="Garden" by Pandora Hearts=/

The "home" that Tino was talking about turned out to be another cave, which turned out to be a set of caves. Feliciano just stared ahead as Ludwig followed Berwald and Tino into their home cavern. There were three people there, one that Lovino called "Lukas". One of the men had a black trench coat and a strange hat on his head, the other one had silver hair and purple eyes. For some reason, his eyes reminded him of Matthew.

"This your brother?" The trench coat man asked. "Whoa, he looks just like you!"

"Shut up, Magus [1]." Lovino spat back.

"Haha! He's just jealous that he couldn't protect his brother!"

"Shut up, Magnus…"

Magnus laughed as Ludwig carried Feliciano to a small bench next to the silver-haired man. He quickly straightened himself in his presence, fixing his jacket and his tie before sighing and giving up at that point. He was still being a little stiff from the poison.

"My name is Emil, by the way. Emil Steilsson [2]." The silver-haired man stated. "Feliciano, am I correct?"

"…yes, that's my name." He answered.

"I see…" He stood up. "Goodness me, I'm…getting tired already."

"Tired? Isn't it the morning?"

Magnus and Tino stared at him, but it didn't look like it was out of concern. Emil only nodded, patted Feliciano on the shoulder, and then headed toward one of the tents Lovino and Ludwig stared at each other with a look that seemed to say "what was that for?"

"Don't worry about him." Magnus waved his hand. "He gets tired easily and likes to sleep."

"Ve~~~that's interesting…" Feliciano blinked. "What's wrong with him?"

"I think it's hypersomnia [3]." Tino explained. "I've been trying to treat it, but it's a little hard at my level…"

"That sucks. You can save Feliciano but not him?" Lovino spat.

"I-I'm still trying!" Tino said, flustered.

"Fratello…" Feliciano leaned forward. "Don't be mean…"

Ludwig paused for a minute before looking at Feliciano for half a second. After a few minutes, he leaned forward and glared at everyone in the room. None of them made a move to say anything else, though Lovino had no idea what's going on.

"You actually got me there for a second." He stated. "I actually thought that everything was perfectly fine."

"What are you talking about, potato bastard?" Lovino spat.

"Well then…" He turned to Feliciano. "Care to explain it to him?"

Everyone stared at Feliciano with a panicked look on their faces. After a few seconds of silence, Feliciano smiled and leaned back. He blinked once, and his yellow eyes were replaced by shining purple ones. Of course, Lovino panicked a bit.

"You're not bad. And I wasn't even using my full power." He stated. "You must be a seasoned warrior."

"What did you do to Feliciano?"

"He's fine. In fact, listening to us as we speak." He tapped the back of his head. "He seemed pretty willing, so I figured I might as well let him listen in."

"OK, I'm confused!" Lovino sighed. "Who the hell are you?"

"It's Emil, by the way." Feliciano(?) stated. "It's my power."

"Why would you do that?"

/=[MENU]=/

/=[CHARACTERS]=/

[1]Magnus Densen is Denmark. Yes, this is another possible name that Himayura has given him. For those of you who read my Tales fanfic, you'll see how attached I am to the name "Magnus".

[2]Emil Steilsson is Iceland. Again, this is a possible name given by Himayura and all of my Tales followers will know my attachment to the name "Emil".

/=[MEMO]=/

[TINO]- Healing abilities. Vitula: Palms of hands

[EMIL]- Body possession. He can do complete possession or semi-possession (a state at which he allows the man he possesses to observe and interfere with actions), and can only do it once he learns of someone's name. Vitula: Ears

/=[NOTES]=/

[3]Hypersomnia is the opposite of insomnia, affected when you sleep during the day and yet feel like they still haven't gotten enough sleep. It's a medical condition and usually is treated with months of therapy at a sleep clinic.

/=SAVE YOUR GAME?=/

[YES] [NO]

…

…

SAVE COMPLETE. NOW RETRIEVING A MESSAGE FROM MITSUKI HORENAKE…

/=+=/

I finally got the Nordics in. See? I promised and it came true! Don't worry, the whole cliff hanger thing is going to be solved by the next chapter.