WARNING: Spoilers for the ending of episode 8 and beginning of episode 9!
...
Translation notes:
Ja= Yes
Scheiße= Shit
Sono stato stupido= I was stupid

Let me know if anything is incorrect.

Chapter 10: Sono Stato Stupido

"The Walpurgisnacht will appear in this part of the city." Kiku pointed on the map displayed on his laptop's screen. "And…" He paused. Ludwig was staring blankly at the living room wall.

"Feliciano…"

"…Ludwig? Are you listening?"

Ludwig blinked. "Oh, sorry. You vere talking about vhere zee Walpurgisnacht vill be, right?"

"Correct."

"How are you so sure about zat?"

"Research."

Ludwig rose a brow. "Can you show me zee evidence? I'm vondering how you know so much about zis vitch."

"I was wondering the same thing." Tony's voice came from beneath the desk.

The two boys jumped. "You!" Ludwig pointed at the grey alien.

"Am I not welcomed here? I apologize." Tony said. "I just have important information to tell you."

"Vhat is it?" Ludwig asked.

"You were probably thinking about it, Ludwig." Tony began. "Feliciano is becoming cursed now."

"I vonder vhy…" Ludwig sarcastically said.

"Be on your guard." Tony warned. "He might damper your plans to prepare for the Walpurgisnacht's arrival."

"How?"

"Ask Kiku. I'm sure he knows what to expect. He knows information that I don't know."

"That's enough." Kiku said as he picked up Tony and went to the front door. He dumped him outside before closing the door.

"Let's get back to discussing the Walpurgisnacht." Kiku sat down on the sofa.

"Vait." Ludwig immediately spoke up. "Vhat about Feliciano? Vhat's wrong with him?"

"There's no use in helping him now." Ludwig's fist clenched at Kiku's apathy.

"Helping him? Vhat do you mean? Tell me." Ludwig demanded.

Kiku exhaled quietly through his nose before he answered, "His Soul Gem is becoming very tainted. If it is not purified, he will be lost."

Ludwig felt the Grief Seed Feliciano gave him in his pocket. "How much time do ve got?"

Kiku's eyes barely lit when Ludwig showed him the Grief Seed. "We can save him!"

"You're willing to give a Grief Seed to another magical boy for once?"

An irritated vein throbbed on the side of Ludwig's head. "Ja. Are ve too late or not?"

"…We might be able to save him."

"Zen vhat are ve vaiting for?! Let's find him!"

Kiku forced a small nod. How many times had he heard Ludwig say that? How many times did he lie to Ludwig?

"feli im very sorry for the argument two nights ago. really. i was a fucking dumb asshole back there and i forgive you for what you said. i dont care whos right or wrong. all i care about is you coming home safely. mattie and i are worried about you. the whole band is looking for you. we just want you back. pls." -Sent at 10:02 am.

"pls respond. youre not a zombie. no one thinks you are. fuck what tony did to you and said. youre still the feli we love." -Sent at 11:48 am.

"feli?" -Sent at 2:29 pm.

"pls…" -Sent at 5:16 pm.

"This is all my fault." Alfred said to Matthew as he dumped his phone on the floor next to him.

"Al, don't blame yourself." Matthew replied with empathy in his voice. "We already searched for him after school today with no luck. We can only wait now."

"Still, if I chased after him that night, he wouldn't have disappeared!"

"Well, you can blame me. I mean, I was the one who asked you to come in."

"Mattie…" Alfred gave his twin an unhappy smile. "Don't make me feel better, dude."

"And don't stop me from doing that." Matthew stated. He got off his bed, sat next to Alfred, and set a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You did nothing wrong."

"You need to please some imaginary god because you don't have anything better to live for!"

"What kind of a person tells their friend that?" Alfred's fingers dug into the carpeted ground.

Later, Alfred returned to his room. Before he could flick on the light switch, he caught Tony's silhouette in the closed yet red-orange window blinds, colored by the sunset. "God, why is he here?" Alfred exasperatedly asked himself as he shut the door and turned on the lights. Once he opened the blinds, his glaring blue eyes met with Tony's red ones.

"What do you want, dude?" Alfred suspiciously asked.

"I don't want anything from you." Tony answered. "I'm here to give you updates on Feliciano's state."

Alfred's suspicious expression fell as light lit in his eyes. "You know where Feli's at?"

"Not precisely. Though, I know that his mental deteriorating minute by minute." Tony said.

"Deteriorating? Is something gonna happen to him?"

"Perhaps. All I can predict is he will release his anger upon the world that went against him."

"Seriously?!" Alfred's face turned a shade lighter. "Man… I don't want him to be a bad guy… This is my fault! I need to go out and find him now!"

"No need to! There is something you can do to save him!"

Alfred gave Tony a wary look. "Something I can do?"

"You can always make a contract with me." Tony suggested.

"A contract? Like I can wish for Feliciano to become normal again?"

"Yes! It can be possible! Didn't I mention you have potential?" Tony mentioned. "Anything you wish can come true! There is no limit."

"Then…" Alfred paused.

"You saw how Tony is. It has devious intentions. Limit your contact with it." Kiku's warning from days ago echoed.

"But, what about Feli!"

"…Alfred? Is that what you want? Are you ready to make your contract with me?" If Tony had a face, he would be smirking.

"Do not throw away your humanity."

Alfred opened his mouth, stuck on whether he should say "Fuck no!" or "Piss off!", one of his dad's classic lines, to the scheming alien. Before he made a decision, an abrupt "THWACK!" interrupted him.

"Holy shit!" Alfred yelped.

With a glowing arrow lounged in his head, Tony's eyes twitched before he fell off the windowsill and landed on the dirt ground with a soft thud. His hands shaking, Kiku set his bow back on his sling before cautiously approaching Tony's body.

"Kiku?!"

Kiku looked up at Alfred with a sharp, harsh glare. "You were going to make a wish, weren't you?"

"No!" Alfred threw up his arms in surrender. "I was going to tell him off!"

"Really?" Silent tension filled the air.

"Really! He just came up to me!"

After a few moments of silence, Kiku released the tense breath he was holding.

"He told me that Feliciano's in big trouble." Alfred added.

"I know." Kiku said.

"You do?"

Kiku only nodded without a word.

"I want to go out and look for him. It's been two days. I need to talk to him and save him. Do you know if I could do that?"

"…."

"Kiku?"

"…Yes. Ludwig and I are searching for him now."

"Ludwig? Really?" Alfred could not believe that the magical boy who tried to kill his best friend was actively searching for him.

"Yes. He is not here, but he is busily looking for him now."

"Let me join you guys." Alfred offered. "I need to talk to him and save him."

"Alfred…"

"Please." Alfred insisted.

"No. There is not going to be a difference!" Kiku wanted to say. However, he could not resist Alfred's piercing, determined blue eyes. His softened heart beginning to melt, Kiku could only submit to Alfred's demand.

"Yes. Come with me."

Alfred gave a large, beaming smile that caused Kiku's face to flush shyly. "Yes! Thank you, dude! I'll be there in five minutes!"

As Alfred closed the blinders, movement from the ground drew Kiku's attention. Tony unsteadily stood up.

"You know that there is no use in trying to kill me, don't you?" He did not flinch when he jerked the arrow out of his head. "That's the 3rd time!"

Kiku looked at the direction Tony tossed the arrow, which dissipated into luminous dust.

"It took me a while, but I think I figured it out this time." Tony continued. "Did you use time manipulation?"

Kiku did not answer.

"Don't lie to me. I have been theorizing it for a while. You're from a different timeline, aren't you?"

"…Yes." Kiku admitted. "I know what you are and your plans for Alfred."

"Hmmm, I see now. Are you that determined to change Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy's fate?"

"I am. And I will do anything to protect him from you, Tony." Kiku halted. "Or, should I say, Incubator?"

"Ugh… I hate being a teacher."

"You say that all the time! I still don't how you managed to stay in that career."

Feliciano slightly opened his heavy eyes and looked at the two middle-aged men seated beside the exit. The bus rocked and chuffed as it drove over a pothole down the streets.

"Well, it pays the bills and groceries." Feliciano's head began to dip at the teacher's statement. His eyes slowly shut. "Also, I don't want to make my education go to waste."

"That's understandable." The teacher's friend replied.

Feliciano's head nodded with every bump and sway.

"Back then, I thought I could change the world." The teacher continued. "Change the world by educating students one by one. But how can change possibly happen if these shits won't do what they're told?"

Feliciano's eyes snapped open. He turned at the two men again.

"They never turn in their assignments in time and never prepare for their tests! And their parents get pissed at me when their kids fail the class!" The teacher ranted. "I have little faith in today's youth. They are so immature!"

"Yes, I agree. They don't know how good they have it." The teacher's friend added. "These kids never experienced a struggle in their life. Their parents give them everything. They think if they wish for something, it'll come true. And yet, they won't work towards it!"

Feliciano's knuckles whitened in his lap.

"Anything bad that happens to them is because of the world. Nothing is ever their fault. With that entitled attitude, I don't see how they can change the world. They might even worsen it!" The teacher asserted. "These selfish brats only care about their own unrealistic affairs!"

Feliciano stood up from his seat. "Excuse me?"

The two men turned to the back of the bus. Holding the nearest rail and seat handles, Feliciano approached them, burning them with his bitter glare.

"Can you elaborate on your comment, please?" Feliciano asked the teacher, his tone stern and cold. "Why do you think my generation is selfish?"

"Um…" The teacher hesitantly started as color drained from his face. "Young man, this is none of your business!"

"None of my business." Feliciano repeated sarcastically. "Were you just saying that it's wrong for people my age to fight for something to believe in?"

"Now, what I mean to say is—"

"What kind of a teacher are you?" Feliciano interrupted, continuing his angry ramble. "Are you the kind that blame their inability to do their jobs on their students? Aren't you supposed to help them when something's wrong? You expect everyone to perform well, but how can we help ourselves if we aren't given anything?"

"The student who failed to complete his assignment could have had work to support their family. The student who failed your test could have had to spend time taking care of their younger siblings. And the student who you called entitled could have had parents who refuses to accept their sexuality. Do you think they'll just stand around and do nothing to help themselves?"

The bus halted at a bus stop. As the doors opened, Feliciano turned to exit, though he did not break his eye contact with the men.

"This is the world I tried to save." He said shamefully as he went down the steps.

The doors shut behind him.

Cold salty air drifted up Ludwig's nose. Seagulls cried over the waves tumbling beneath his feet. Foamy water bounced as it struck the wooden beams below. Over the graying and darkening horizon, was the orange sun, a weakening orange blob beginning its gradual decent into the ocean.

Ludwig pulled his green coat closer to his body when the wind blew against him. The coldness nipped his ears and nose. There were no other people seated below on the beach or on the pier admiring the sunset. One might presume Ludwig was an idiot willing to tolerate the unbearable chilly weather just to see a sunset, a sunset that happens daily.

Yes, Ludwig would consider himself an idiot, though for a different reason. He was an idiot for letting his guard down around Feliciano.

When he first saw Feliciano, Ludwig was not hesitant to point his blade at him. Not only Feliciano tried to kill one of his precious witch familiars, he also had the hopeful, altruistic views Ludwig used to have, the same views that destroyed Ludwig's family. He was no more different than some of the other magical boys and girls Ludwig barred out of his neighborhood. Yet, Feliciano was the first magical boy to hear Ludwig's past, to know what drove Ludwig to be so harsh and self-centered. While Ludwig's story would have fell on other magical boys' deaf ears, Feliciano listened and put himself in Ludwig's shoes.

Feliciano was right. Ludwig could have continued fighting for a better world despite the tragedy he endured. His misfortune should not allow him to drop his duties and abandon his philanthropical beliefs. Yet, Feliciano never condemned him for his narrow-minded, self-centered choice. He believed that even the most selfish magical boys were still capable of redemption.

In a world that held everlasting grudges, forgiveness was a precious virtue. The moment when Feliciano gave that sweet smile to him, Ludwig no longer had any more reason to blame himself for his family's calamity. Now, Ludwig's heart numbly throbbed whenever he compared that smile to the empty expression the same hopeful magical boy gave him.

A small, thin silhouette sat on a bench at the end of the pier. The curl on the left side of its head made Ludwig excited.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig shouted as he ran towards the Italian with a concerned expression.

Feliciano peered at Ludwig with the same miserable, joyless eyes. "Oh… It's you…"

"I found you!" Catching his breath, Ludwig sat next to Feliciano. "Vhat are you doing?! Everyone's vorried about you!"

"People are worried about me?" Feliciano innocently asked.

Taking off his jacket, Ludwig answered loudly, "YES!"

Feliciano barely moved when Ludwig set his jacket over his body.

"Oi, Kiku! I found Feliciano on the pier! Where are you?" Ludwig asked Kiku through his telepathic voice.

"Alfred and I are around the docks. We'll be there soon!" Kiku replied.

"Good! I'll watch over Feliciano!"

"…You were right. I was setting myself up for disappointment." Feliciano spoke up. "I was stubborn and naïve. I thought that I had someone to fight for, something to live up to, a future to uphold. But if everything I did was for nothing, I… I don't know… Nothing matters anymore."

"It vasn't for nothing!" Ludwig insisted. "Vhat are you talking about?"

"Gabriel…" Feliciano mumbled. "He doesn't know… He will never know…"

"I just wanted to be with you, Gabriel." Ludwig's eyes widened at the pitch-black Soul Gem Feliciano took out of his pocket. "But… Will you want to be with me? Even if you still remembered me?"

"Feliciano, your Soul Gem!" In his magical boy career, Ludwig had never seen a Soul Gem that dark.

"Get the Grief Seed!" Ludwig pulled out his Grief Seed from his right jean pocket. "Scheiße!"

With Ludwig's jacket still on his body, Feliciano walked towards the pier's rails.

"I figured it out now." Feliciano said, taking a seat on the rail and leaning back. Ludwig froze in terror. His wide eyes glanced at his jacket's right pocket before darting at Feliciano. "There needs to be a balance. Good and evil need to cancel themselves out. When I became a magical boy, the good thing is I saved some lives. But the bad thing is I realized how this world is far from being saved. Not even I can redeem myself."

"Feliciano! Stop! You can be redeemed!" Ludwig insisted. "Get off of zere!"

"For a miracle for the world, someone must get cursed with misfortune. And that's what magical boys do. We bare the world's misfortune."

Ludwig dashed forward, the sun's final rays of the day emitting behind him.

A tear rolled down Feliciano's face and landed on his Soul Gem. "Sono stato stupido."

The sun disappeared into the ocean's waves.

A step away from Feliciano, Ludwig was blown back by a powerful shockwave and thrown against the railing. Feliciano's Soul Gem shattered in his hand, floating up in the air as it morphed into a Grief Seed. Bubbling gurgles below the deck grew louder as something began to emerge from the sea's shadows.

"FELICIANO!"

"Something wrong." Kiku suddenly said.

Alfred stopped running and turned at Kiku, whose Soul Gel began to flicker brightly. It barely sparkled when the two left the docks and entered the beach.

"There's a witch's labyrinth nearby. Alfred, stay here." Kiku ordered before running towards the pier.

"A witch? Wait! You don't have to fight it now! We gotta find Feliciano! Hey! Kiku!" Alfred yelled after Kiku.

The wooden planks transitioned into checkered marble tiles as an array of musical bars swirled around the labyrinth. Among the faceless audience watching Ludwig deflecting hurled wheels was a marching band conducted by a certain blond boy garbed in black. Despite Ludwig's heroic act to protect Feliciano, who lied on the ground motionlessly, the cheering audience were not rooting for Ludwig. Rather, they were applauding for the witch, a monster with the body of an armored knight and the tail of a mermaid.

"Ludwig! Get back!" Kiku shouted he shot arrows at the witch's face, blinding it for a few seconds.

"Kiku!" Ludwig threw Feliciano over his shoulder. "Zis witch appeared out of nowhere! The hell is going on?!"

"I'll explain later. Take my hand!"

When Ludwig grabbed Kiku's hand, a click echoed as the labyrinth turned grey. The marching band's music and crowd's cheer were silenced. The witch froze.

"Everything stopped?!" Ludwig exclaimed as he and Kiku began to flee.

"Don't let go." Kiku warned. "If you do, you'll be frozen in time too. Hurry!"

Ludwig nodded as he tightened his grip.

Alfred was in front of the pier's entrance when Kiku and Ludwig emerged from the labyrinth. "Feli!" The relief that shone in his blue eyes was only temporary. Alfred's thrilled expression fell into a worried look when Ludwig carefully set Feliciano on the ground. "Is he ok?"

Ludwig placed his fingers on Feliciano's neck close to his throat. "No pulse… Verdammt…"

Alfred looked like he was struck by lightning. "Wha…What happened?" he asked slowly.

"That witch back there was Feliciano." Kiku answered. "This is the final secret of Soul Gems. When they become too tainted, they turn into Grief Seeds. Then, magical boys and girls are reborn as witches. It's inevitable."

Dryness hitched in Alfred's throat. Hot tears filling his eyes, Alfred nudged Feliciano's shoulder. "C'mon Feli… I'm here for you… Everyone's here for you." he croaked, trying to hold back a wail as he took Feliciano's cold hand. "Please wake up… Wake up…"

Alfred buried his face into Feliciano's still chest and allowed his tears to flow freely. The blond's shoulders shook with every shaky breath. His hands lightly dug into Feliciano's shirt. Ludwig turned his head from the scene, clutching his eyes and teeth shut.

Kiku lowered his head and shut his eyes in respect for a few moments before whispering, "Ludwig, a word with you."

"Vhat is it?" Ludwig asked as Kiku directed him away from Alfred.

"Can you handle Feliciano's body? I need to escort Alfred back home."

"Vhy are you bringing this up so soon?!" Ludwig hissed. "Give Alfred a moment!"

"Can you handle Feliciano's body?" Kiku only coldly reported.

"…Sure, I vill."

"Be careful of getting rid of it. Don't caught with it."

"Ja, I vill."

A faint green light shown through the crumbling building's windows. Inside, Ludwig kneeled in front of Feliciano's body, whose hands were evenly placed on his stomach. Feliciano's auburn hand were brushed out of his resting face.

"Try it again." Ludwig's Soul Gem shone as another green light enveloped Feliciano again. Feliciano remained still as the light died down.

"Are you using your magic to keep his body fresh?" Tony stood on the opposite side of Ludwig.

"Nein." Ludwig curtly answered. "There is no way to bring back his Soul Gem, is there?"

"I'm not aware of it." Tony said. "Though, the existence of magical boys and girls defies logic. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more miraculous things they can do."

"More miraculous things?" Ludwig asked.

"What if…" Ludwig's hand stroked Feliciano's cheek and brushed through his hair.

Author's Notes: I don't really know if it makes sense for Ludwig to fall for Feliciano like that so quickly so... anyone got feedback on that?

Spoilers for the entirely of episode 9 in the next chapter.