Happy (very late) New Year! I

Chapter Ten

"Who are you?" It was not Milen, nor anyone he could possibly know. Not with the gun between them. The guard's face was half-obscured by his cap, but Lukas could easily sense the hostility and bloodlust as the guard took a pressing step forward, the muzzle of the rifle digging into his chest. "I asked you a question, pretty boy."

Lukas's chin lifted in indignant defiance. "That is none of your business."

The guard was grinning, but it wasn't friendly. "The fact that you are here but I've never seen you before makes it very much my business."

"You can't take us."

"We didn't say we were going to." There was an ugly click, and Lukas tensed, his hands useless in the air with no weapons or anything to defend himself. "Although if you're being so insistent, we can always do that."

But there was a weight in his pocket, and it wasn't much in a life-death situation but it was small ray of hope.

The guards began to advance in Lukas's silence, and Emil, half hidden behind him, pulled on the back of his shirt urgently and frightfully. He did not dare move, not when he was so vulnerable to the killing machines in the guards' hands, but as he panicked his brain gave a sudden click, and when he spoke it was in a language that he hadn't thought he remembered and he knew Emil would only be able to understand him through context, but he used it anyway.

"Lillebror," he called softly, and there was another tug on his shirt in response. "Pust og løp."

Breathe and run.

There was a strangled cry behind him.

Pictures flashed in his mind: low stance, feet poised; mysterious words, strange warnings.

The moment the guards shifted, his weight dropped, knees bent, body balanced on the pads of his feet the way he had seen Mathias do before. His hand grabbed something cold and hard in his pocket, and in one simple motion, Lukas tossed his phone towards his brother, and barreled right into the nearest guard.

From the corner of his eye, he watched his brother vanished.

-toppled the pillars holding up the sky-

And then the world crumbled.

Once again, it was white walls, white floors, disgustingly clean air with a tint of disinfectant.

The UDW hospital was very high-class, very expensive, relatively small, but mostly empty. To most it was because it was too expensive for common people to afford, but anyone remotely associated with the Underworld knew better.

Lovino mildly pitied the actual patients of the hospital, who were completely clueless about what was hidden behind white curtains and blankets and smiles. The Californian lab had existed for a longer time than the Australian one, and for one morbid moment he wondered how many people had died and been disposed of in this place.

There was an eerie silence blanketed over the section they were in, hushed voices whispering from somewhere too far away. The only person they've met so far was the receptionist, a gentle, smiling lady with a forgettable face who had cheerfully pointed them towards a hallway with an offer of a room number when Vash had passed her a slip of paper that somehow distinguished them from normal patients.

There was nothing special about the room: the same white walls and tiles, a narrow hospital bed pushed to one side, and three chairs next to it, but there was a tiny red eye peeking at them in one corner, and although he knew nothing of him would show up in the cameras, he felt the back of his neck prickling from that awful sensation of being watched.

Vash led them to the room, but stopped outside the door. "I can't stay here for long. They know my sister is here, so they'll be keeping an eye on me. Remember: get Lilli and get out. If you want to save the Prussian, this is the best chance you've got. Good luck." The guard spoke militarily and solemnly, and for one moment, Lovino was tempted to click his heels with a salute and a "Yes sir!" just to mock him a bit, but decided against it. The eye was still watching, and Vash talking to them was suspicious enough.

"Just go," he urged him.

Vash gave a curt nod, and turned to leave, only to be met by a small, wide-eyed boy in the white hospital staff uniform. The blonde gave a start, but composed himself, tipping his head at the newcomer in acknowledgment, and marched out of the hospital.

The boy entered the room, large violet eyes darting between the two men. He closed the door, but didn't lock it, choosing instead to stand by it as if that would be able to prevent the two prisoners from escaping. He had a head of light caramel curls that he kept tugging anxiously at, and he looked fifteen at the very most, his small stature nearly drowned in the stiff white coats, small hands fumbling with an oversized clipboard. However, when he spoke, he sounded anything but fourteen. "Welcome to the Californian laboratory, where you will be inspected and tested for any disorders or diseases before being sent back to the Prison. You are expected to sit quietly in the chairs until the assigned time of appointment, where you will be escorted to an available doctor. Please do not try to do anything: we have cameras and guards all over the hospital. Any sudden moves or attempts of escape will be detained, and you will be immediately terminated. Thank you for your cooperation."

Mathias did not seem to be listening, but Lovino could feel ice creeping up his spine. It wasn't the result of the warning – he knew he could handle the guards just fine – but it was that steady confidence the boy spoke despite his fidgety actions, and the way those violet eyes remained fixed on them throughout his entire speech: hard, cold, unwavering. A young life brought to ruin by the Underworld. They always knew how to find the best monsters.

Silence breathed into the room. Lovino felt immobile in his spot, it took nearly all his effort to sit down on one of the chairs that he had drawn out earlier. Mathias, seeing him, quickly followed his actions, but did not seem at all perturbed by what the boy had said. He stretched out his legs, nodding in beat to some tune only he could hear, and let his eyes wander around this boring room.

The boy remained in his spot before the door, still fidgeting slightly; but there was a serene expression on his face that gave him the semblance of a steadfast pillar in a silently raging sea of thoughts. Until that was broken by one quick glance towards the camera in the corner.

Then another.

Lovino followed the boy's careful glimpses to see the camera's red eye blink out of existence, then return, pausing for a second before disappearing again. This repeated two more times before a longer pause, and then it restarted. Except this time, after the first blink, it gave one rapid blink, then another slower one, before the light winked out and did not return.

A quick clearing of the throat drew Lovino's attention back to the boy, who was suddenly very nervous again. "Um…" When he spoke, there was much of that confidence lacking as well, and his voice and actions suddenly matched his physical age. "So… I heard from Mr. Zwingli and he said- he told me- you're looking for Lilli?"

"You know Lilli?" Mathias was suddenly paying attention. "We're looking for her!"

Lovino was half-tempted to kick him – you never knew when somebody in the Underworld was actually trying to root you out – but paused when the boy leaned forward slightly and began to speak quickly in a hushed voice, "You are Lovino Vargas and Mathias Køhler. My name is Raivis Galante. Now that we've got our introductions over and done with…" He took a deep, shuddering breath, as if making up his mind and steeling his nerves. "I am going to help you find Lilli Zwingli."

Emil had forgotten how it felt like. He had forgotten that there was always this momentary flash of pain that never grasped him completely before it ebbs away, but was uncomfortable and disconcerting nonetheless. He had forgotten that feeling of separation, like you were being torn apart by your own will and how he was no longer something physical but drifting atoms barely held together by an overpowering fear and conscience that refused to let them separate completely. He had forgotten the feeling of being squeezed through a crack when he passed through something physical, and he had forgotten how strange it was to feel something grasped in your hand, but look down to see nothing.

He had forgotten, and that was why when he burst through the walls with Lukas's phone clasped in a transparent hand, he had to stand there for a moment and remember just how strange it felt to use this cursed ability. He had to remember what had happened and what will happen and how he could return, but then he remembered what he had left behind the gray metal walls and what he held and what he had done, Emil felt his heart clench and throat tighten, and with a sob fighting its way up his shuddering chest to his shapeless mouth, he fled from the Prison and into the forest around it.

The trees provided good cover from the sun, and although every time he ran through a tree it felt like his breath was being knocked out of him, he did not try to avoid them. He had to get out, get as far away as possible from that metal box in the middle of nowhere, from the guards with their guns and black uniforms and bloodhound grins, from his brother's pleading eyes and desperate voice speaking in foreign tongues and he just needed to get away from him always protecting him acting like some kind of hero because he didn't need this- he didn't deserve this-!

Emil was sobbing, but his tears vaporized from his eyes and disappeared as if his grief was worth nothing more than vapor; his lungs were burning as he fled through the dense forest and every gulp of air was desperate and painful, every breath released with a gasping sob or hiccup. There was a fire crawling up his arm, and he didn't realize that he was no longer drifting apart with every step he took until he slammed headfirst into a tree.

Stars exploded in his vision, then faded into patches of black and red that throbbed with the pain that clutched his entire body. His thoughts were a mumble-jumble of senseless words, the grass was pricking through his clothes, the ground was uncomfortable hard, and-

Emil's eyes snapped open and he abruptly sat up, but a bout of dizziness accompanied with mild nausea made him groan and flop back down, trying not to empty his churning stomach.

The phone.

Where was the phone?

He slowly propped himself up again, scanning his surroundings and trying to ignore the fact that his surroundings seemed to be spinning and out of balance.

There-

Lukas's old iPhone was battered but still usable – barely – and the sudden motion sent another wave of nausea crashing over him but he lunged for it anyway, scrambling to check to see if it was still functional after its atoms had been disassembled then reassembled only to be tossed several meters into the air.

At first the iPhone did not react to his frantic poking, but after a while, the screen lit up, and Emil let out a huff of relief that did nothing to ease the tension from his body. He clutched the phone and felt the overwhelming misery rise again. Because Lukas was still in the Prison, Mathias was still gone, and he was all alone.

"You don't need to worry. Your appointment is not due for twenty minutes, and the cameras are being controlled by Eduard, but even so, it's best if we hurry as much as we can." Raivis spoke everything in a breathless rush, the words tumbling into each other. "The plan is simple. I'm going to take you out, we'll track down Lilli. If we meet anyone on the way, we'll tell them I'm escorting you to the doctor because the appointment schedule has changed so you might have to wear some kind of restraint – sorry. It's okay though, because you're supposed to put some on anyway, so it'd only look like I'm doing my job. After we find Lilli we'll head towards—"

"Whoa, whoa, calm the fuck down!" Lovino shouted, and the room fell tensely silent as the three occupants stared anxiously at the door, half expecting another scientist to barge in at the sudden outburst of noise.

"Wow," Mathias commented casually. "Intense."

"Thank you, Mathias. My point exactly." Lovino knew that that wasn't what Mathias had been referring to, but it could apply to both situations. He scrutinized the scrawny boy in front of him, whose nervous eyes darted back and forth between the two fugitives. "It's cool that you're trying to help us, but why?"

Raivis blushed for no apparent reason, and began to stammer. "Well, I- you know- Lilli- I know Lilli and I thought maybe- I thought maybe I can help? I mean!" His face flushed brighter. "Um… I- Lilli is… Lilli is very nice, and her brother is really scary and I think- um… I think it'd be for the best," he finished lamely, not really answering Lovino's question. He obviously did not know how to answer to that, and for the sake of time, he did not push it.

So he addressed another problem. "There are several flaws in your plan. So maybe you know where Lilli Zwingli is, and let's say that we successfully get her out. How are we going to do that under the time limit? You said that we have twenty minutes – probably fifteen by now – and that cannot be enough time to help her escape. What if we don't even reach her when the time runs out? When we don't show up to the appointment, people will investigate, and things will get very messy very fast. And unless you're willing to sacrifice your apparent loyalty to the Underworld to help us, I'm guessing you wouldn't want your innocent cover blown." He paused there, gauging for a reaction. Raivis blinked owlishly at him, seemingly speechless.

So he continued, "I propose this: If this Eduard guy is controlling the cameras, tell him to keep it up. You get Lilli out of whatever cage she's trapped in with your scientist status and bring her to us. We'll either be in here or with the doctor, doesn't really matter. Just hand her over, I'll get the three of us out of here, and you don't need to worry about anything else."

Raivis' eyebrows furrowed in concern. "That sounds good. But how are you going to get out—"

"I said that it's none of your business," Lovino snapped, making the boy jump. "Now scram! Find the girl, we're waiting."

Raivis nodded frantically, and slipped out the door. Mathias stood, moving to follow him, but Lovino held him back, much to his puzzlement because – of course – he either wasn't listening, didn't understand, or simply didn't remember the plan. "What do we do now?"

Lovino sighed and slumped back in his chair. This was not part of the plan. Part of Vash's plan, maybe, but not his. He did not agree to sit in a chair and wait for a risky delivery; he had wanted to get to the lab for much more selfish reasons. He stared at the door, fighting the urge to simply whisk himself away to where he could track down a slim chance of achieving his goal. Even if the person he was looking for was still in some Australian lab halfway across the world, they should have some kind of file on him, right? He hated that feeling of being only part of a whole, stranded with no clue of where the other half may be, but Lovino settled deeper into the hard, wooden chair and clenched his jaw against the bitter emotions he was so terrible at battling. "Now, we wait."

He didn't even know why he tried. Lukas must have had some kind of plan in mind when he tossed him the phone, but he didn't get it. Mathias didn't have a cell phone – there was no point when he wouldn't remember where he placed it anyway – and he was still missing, so he couldn't call him for help. Bella and her brothers are on the other side of the country, even if they have more handy contacts up their sleeves, and who knew what Alfred and Matthew were doing at the moment? They might not even hear the phone ringing if Alfred was still partying while piloting.

Even so, he tried, because what else could a phone do? They weren't in some kind of superhero movie where he could track people by this little metal box, and he definitely couldn't fight either, even with his… abilities. Come to think of it, what use was there for those abilities other than to flee?

The constant beeping from the phone's speaker was grating on his nerves, but when it stopped, his heart soared…

Then plummeted right back down when a brisk female voice informed him that the area he was in had no signal whatsoever, which made long-distance calls much more difficult. Disgruntled, he tried again, with the same discouraging results. He walked around a bit, hoping to pick up a bit of signal for a quick phone call, and just when – out of desperation – Emil decided to dial one more time, he heard a sound that did not quite belong to a forest.

It came and went at an incredible speed, but there was no mistaking it. It was the sound of tires crunching over gravel, bouncing over an uneven road, engine huffing and puffing in the effort.

Suddenly, Emil had an idea. It was very vague, definitely not well thought out, but it was a chance. Determined not to think of all the thousands of ways this could go wrong, Emil pocketed his phone, and began to follow the direction where the sound had come from. Now hopefully the phone does not run out of battery before he reached civilization. And hopefully with the direction he decided to follow, the crude road he remembered travelling through in Milen's car actually leads him to the city instead of back to the Prison.

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