A/N: Surprise! A new update! So half of my terrible two weeks are over and aside from a faint green glow in the dark caused by exposure to too much radioactivity I'm fine. Have fun with this chapter, oh and most importantly: Don't try this at home!

I cursed under my breath as i saw the red and swollen skin around the wound. The last time we checked everything seemed to have been fine, but something in between must have gone wrong and now Berwalds life was in serious danger. The wound was close to his heart and the lungs so there was not much time left before his condition would reach a critical level.

But what to do?

We were in the middle of nowhere, I didn't know how far it was to the next settlement where maybe someone would know what to do, but since doctors and good one at that were scarce upon the countryside, there was no guarantee that anyone could help us there. I felt panic rise in my stomach, time was running and I didn't know what to do.

Tino was outright hysterical, his hands dug painfully in my arms, but I didn't complain since I could very well understand how he must have felt in that moment. At some point Tino could no longer bear the awful sight of the wound that was now oozing sickly yellow pus as Arthur prodded the wound with his finger, he pressed his face in my shoulder, sobbing, as his tears soaked into my coat. Berwald was moaning in pain, his forehead was sweat soaked and his eyelids were fluttering as he tried again and again to focus on the people before him.

Mathias was holding him down as he tried to get away from Arthurs none too gentle examination. Francis was doing his best to calm him down with soothing sounds, but Berwald was too far gone into his fever to register what was going on around him, he tried to shove his way out of Mathias' grasp, a heavy grunt on his lips, but he was held down with unrelenting force so that Arthur could finish his work.

"I'm sorry, I should have said something, but he told me that he was fine and I believed him." Tino was clutching the fabric of my sleeves in between his fingers, pulling and tugging at the piece of clothing, almost as if he wanted to beg the item for forgiveness. I gently pried Tino's hands off me to get him to look at me. Emil had stepped beside me to help calming the hysterical man down and together we were able to seat Tino on a dry patch of forest floor. Emil retrieved the water he had used on Berwald earlier and now tried to get Tino to drink a bit.

"How long has Berwald been like this?" I asked as Tino had calmed down enough to breathe evenly and not rip my clothes off of me. "I don't know, I think it started shortly after we departed from that clearing. At first he just sweated a bit but then he stumbled over small things, but when I asked if something was wrong he insisted on being fine and that his shoulder would hurt a bit but that was nothing unusual. He then asked if he could lean on me for support and I agreed, but after a while he was almost entirely shifting his weight on me and then I noticed that he was feverish." Tino hiccupped and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears that were dwelling there, now was not the time for crying and he had done enough if that already. "I wanted to take a break but he said that it was nothing and I shouldn't be worried. I thought he knew what he was doing so I trusted him and said nothing."

I rubbed small circles on Tino's back to sooth him further, trying to emanate a calming aura, but inside I didn't feel calm at all. Denying that he was in pain or trouble was something I rather suspected Mathias of doing but with a sudden pang of guilt I realized that I did it myself by hiding my cough as much as possible. Sure it felt noble and I was more or less convinced that I was in no serious danger, but maybe Berwald had felt the same and now he was close to dying. I looked down on Tino who was trying his best to not dissolve into tears again and my heart clenched at the thought of Mathias looking like this, only because I had been so stubborn. But no was not the time for this, right now we had to focus on Berwald.

Arthur was finished with his examination, his expression a mixture of anxiety and alertness, his giant eyebrows furrowed as he seemed to be deep in thought. "Tante Jeanne!" Francis suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone around him to look in confusion. "Arthur, remember when my cousin stepped on that rusty nail and I was sure he would die of blood poisoning, but Aunt Jeanne used bread to get the poison out." Arthur's face lit up immediately as he recalled the event. "Bloody brilliant."

Francis grabbed the first bag in range and rummaged through it, throwing all the contents out on the floor, when he didn't find what he was looking for he proceeded to empty the next one until he got his hands on a leftover piece of dry bread.

Mathias, who was still holding Berwald in check, looked rather dumbfounded as Francis was preparing the bread. I was sure that Emil, Tino and I looked much the same, since none of us had the slightest clue what was going on. "Wait." Arthur yelled before Francis could place the bread on the wound, "Jeanne added water to the bread, didn't she?"

Okay seriously, now I really was confused, bread and water to treat blood poisoning? That sounded more than insane.

Arthur took the water skin from Emil and placed a few drops in the middle of the bread piece. Francis produced a clean shirt from one of the bags and ripped it in shreds to wrap around the bread that was pressed on the wound by Arthur. "What are they doing?" Tino asked, eyes still glinting with a bit of moisture, but all he got was a helpless shaking of head from Emil. "I don't know." I whispered, watching the almost surreal scene before me. Berwald had lost consciousness somewhere during the whole ordeal, his face hiding any sort of pain he might be in.

"Can you kill someone with bread?" Mathias wondered, he had let go of Berwald after the man had stopped struggling and was now standing next to our small group that was watching the spectacle like the audience in a theatre. Tino squeaked in fear at Mathias' words and I was quick to hiss an 'of course not' and smack my idiot lover over the head. "They're helping him." Emil was watching every move and gesture of the two with peaked interest. "I think the bread is supposed to suck the poison out."

I frowned, "how is that possible?" I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the idea Emil had just proposed. That wasn't possible, was it? "There, all done." Francis seemed please with his handiwork and even Arthur was smiling as he said: "I think that'll put him out of danger."

"But how exactly does it work?" Mathias demanded to know, all the while kneading his hands into my shoulders, to relieve a bit of his tension, and mine in the process. Francis just shrugged. "I don't know."

"What?" Tino stood up and glared at the wavy blonde, "you just treated my lover without a clue what you were doing?" Despite the height difference, Tino managed to stare Francis into the ground. "Well…" Francis started, but was interrupted by Arthur.

"As far as I know the pores create some kind of suction effect that pulls the water deeper into the bread, which causes the poison in the wound to flow out and follow the water." Arthur wiped the back of his hand on his forehead even though there was no sweat there that needed to be cleared off. "At least that is what Jeanne told me."

"And that works?" I asked, skepticism still evident in my voice. "Yes, my cousin once stepped on a rusty nail and got a nasty infection but after he limped around a while with a piece of bread in his shoe he was fine again." Francis explained with an apologetic smile. "But I never bothered to ask how it works."

"It will take some time though." Arthur pointed out, "the poisoned blood needs time to drain out of the bloodstream. And I don't know if the removal of the poison will be enough to calm the fever down." "Can he walk?" Mathias asked, brows furrowed as if he was thinking really hard about something. Arthur sighed, "I don't think so."

"We can't stay here." Emil pointed out; making a wide gesture that encompassed our surroundings, the outskirt of a forest, floor covered with old leaves and fallen logs, wide and empty fields on the other side of the dirt path, a few white clouds hanging in the sky. He was right, these weren't the best circumstances for Berwald to recover and we had almost no food left. But like Arthur had said, Berwalds was in absolutely no condition to walk on his own, sweat was beading on his pale forehead and he kept grunting something unintelligible in his fever induced sleep. Tino had moved over to his side and was cooling his heated skin with a piece of cloth that he had poured water over, but thus far the effect seemed little at best.

"I'll carry him." Mathias offered a determined look on his face. "Are you sure you can handle that?" Francis asked with raised eyebrows. "Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your strength but Berwald is… heavy." Mathias ran a hand through his already messy hair, his eyes darting from Berwald to the horizon and then to me. "That's true, but we have no other choice, have we?" "He's right." Arthur agreed, although looking not at all happy as he said it. "I'll help you, Francis you'll carry the bags with the others." For a moment Francis looked as if he wanted to protest but one firm look from his lover and he complied, taking up the bags that had been discarded previously and hoisting two over his shoulder, Emil and I following his example.

"We shouldn't waste any time, there could still be soldiers around." Arthur mused as he gently helped Tino to stand up and escorted him to Francis who pushed a bag in his hands. At least Tino seemed to have calmed down a bit and was cooperative enough to do as he was told.

With Arthur's help Berwald was heaved up on Mathias' back, a thick blanket wrapped around him to protect him from the cold. The blonde was obviously staggering under the weight but he gritted his teeth and didn't complain. We did not really have a choice after all, if Mathias wasn't able to carry Berwald, no one was and I didn't really want to know what that would mean for us.

But there was still one problem left, one that was not that easily solved. With Berwald out, we had no clue where we were or where the next area of human habitation was. "Tino, do you know where Berwald was going?" Emil asked, trying to get Tino to focus on something else than Berwalds motionless body on Mathias' back. "Did he tell you anything, which direction he was going and why?"

For a moment Tino looked lost, not sure what was asked of him but then he frowned and shook his head as if to dissipate the dark thoughts that were circling through his mind. "He said that if we followed this path we would eventually reach the main road that leads to the capital. But I'm not sure if he wanted to use the road or just follow it, because he said that the road might be dangerous with all the bandits and soldiers in the area."

Good, that was at least something we could work with.

"Okay, let's go then." Mathias announced and took a shaky step forward, at first it seemed as if Berwald would proof too much of a burden but after another few steps, Mathias posture straightened and he grew more surefooted.

And so we trotted once more along the forest's edge, in pairs one after the other, Arthur and Francis taking the lead, Mathias with Berwald on his back and I in the middle, and Tino and Emil took up the rear. But this time we were much slower than before, Mathias could go only that fast and we all had to adapt to his pace.

There was no real point in trying to strike up a conversation; Mathias was too focused on setting each foot in front of the other without losing balance to be able to do anything else, talking included. So I enjoyed the rare silence between us, not that I really minded Mathias' endless talking, no I had actually grown rather fond of it, but from time to time I preferred to listen to my own thoughts instead of Mathias' endless rambling.

Only a few days or so had passed since Mathias had entered the brothel for the first time on that fateful evening, yet it seemed as if an eternity had passed. And after every problem we had solved another one had arisen, bigger each time and more threatening. And each time I had thought that we wouldn't be able to overcome the hurdle, but each time we did. Sometimes it was a close call, sometimes it was almost easy, and at this point I really thought that love would conquer all eventually.

Maybe it was delusional and maybe one day we would face an obstacle that we couldn't overcome, but I felt as long as we were together there was nothing that could stop us. Berwalds ailment had just proven that, hadn't it? Blood poisoning was a serious threat and he was still not out of danger, but even in this seemingly hopeless situation Arthur and Francis had thought of something, and from my position next to Mathias I could see that even though Berwald was still out cold, he definitely looked better now, he had gained some color and the sweat on his skin was drying.

As I was watching Mathias carrying on stubbornly, despite the obvious strain it put on his body I was confident that no matter what happened we would always find a solution or a way out. After all we had proven more than once that we were capable of it.

It was hard to stick to such a slow pace when I'd much rather walk with swift strides towards our goal, but there was no helping it so I sought distraction in the views around me. The sky was no longer clear, heavy clouds were amassing, but they didn't look like rain at least. A cold wind had picked up that toyed with the few lonely leaves that still clung to their trees, it snuck through the openings at my sleeves and collar and bit into my skin, no matter how much I tried to huddle into the fabric of my coat.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets and wiggled them around to reclaim as much warmth as possible but my efforts hardly paid back. I couldn't imagine how tough it must been for Mathias, who had to keep his hands on Berwalds legs to steady him, but I figured that at least the exertion of carrying someone as heavy as Berwald would keep him warm a bit. But still Mathias face was as red as mine, the cold biting into his nose and ears as the hood of his coat had been blown down by the wind and his hands were not free to readjust it. My hood was up, and it kept the wind away from my ears but my nose felt as if it were an icicle. I stepped over to Mathias and pulled his hood back up and tied the strings under his chin to keep it from sliding down again and Mathias threw me a thankful glance, his breath was too labored to form a coherent sentence. He wouldn't be able to go on much longer, despite the long way that still lied ahead of us.

The others were freezing too; Arthur and Francis were walking close together, arms slung around the other in an attempt to share the warmth but the wind blew away almost all of the body heat. Fortunately we had thought of the blanket around Berwald, else he would have surely frozen to death up there. But even with the blanket it was dangerous, the muscle movement was essential to gain warmth. So I kept out an eye on Berwald for signs of frostbite or any other hint of cold induced damage.

Occasionally I would throw a glance backwards to check on my brother and Tino, but both seemed to take the cold surprisingly well. They were chatting amiably, and I noticed to my surprise that Tino was carrying the puffin. So far I had never seen that someone else than Emil held the bird, but then again I had never once asked if I could take the bird.

The wind picked up a bit, causing the tree crowns to sway in the wind, almost as if they were waving to us, the pale green grass on the fields was bowing to the ground and I was thankful that the wind came from the side and not the front, the last thing we needed was a storm that tried to blast us back to where we had came from.

And then it started, so calm and slow that its beginning slipped our consciousness completely, the first flakes of snow danced with the swirling wind, and only when one pesky little flake dared to land on my nose did I realize that it was snowing.

At first it were only a few tiny crystals that melted the moment they reached the ground but soon the air was full of white and it wouldn't be long until the snow would cover the ground with a thick snowy layer.

And as if the snow had been a signal, I felt my chest constricting and I had to fight back another fit of violent coughs that left me with a deep ache in my lungs and sides.

Fate surely didn't seem to get tired of making our lives harder than necessary.

...