Thanks to Yaoi-Is-Life-and-Love, Tokutske, P, Senii, Multiple-Fandom-Writer and Praise's Waterfall for reviewing.

This was a pretty difficult chapter to write.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 63

Lovino's mind was spinning. He knew that he needed to get out of there. His life was in danger this time, and the odds of someone helping him this time were slim. The sky was clear after several days of rain, so he couldn't even count on the environment to help him.

The foot on his back was lifted, before it stomped down again. He yelped as the foot connected with his spine. The others laughed, before they started assaulting him with kicks. He whimpered as he curled up, protecting his head. He started to feel panicked, his mind flashing back to previous encounters with the trio. He'd grown used to not having this be something to be used to, and terror gripped him as he realised that he'd failed to escape them.

He needed to find a way out of this. If he could just get an opportunity…

"That's enough," Gilbert said. "We've got a lot more to do."

He breathed a sigh of relief when the kicks stopped. Hands encircled both of his arms, and he was lifted to his feet. He didn't think he would get a better opportunity, and so he kicked out on one side, catching Francis in the groin, and Antonio's grip also loosened in surprise. Lovino wrenched his arm free and started running. If he could get to the town…

He also pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly dialling his father's number. He silently begged for his father to pick up.

He cried out as pain crashed through his skull, his vision going blurry. He fell to the ground, his mind blanking for a moment, and it took him a moment to recognise the familiar sensation of being thrown with a rock.

"Lovino?"

He gasped when he heard his father's voice, but he could also hear the footsteps approaching.

"The bridge," he exclaimed. "Help!"

"Bastard!" Gilbert shouted, stomping on Lovino's back at a running pace.

Lovino let out another pained cry, and Gilbert reached down and grabbed his phone. Lovino could still hear his father's voice before it was cut off. Lovino whimpered when a handful of his hair was grabbed, and he was once again pulled to his feet. Black spots danced in his vision, since the hair grabbed was located where the rock had collided with his head.

"You're going to regret that," Gilbert spat.

His left arm was gripped by Gilbert's free hand, and Gilbert twisted it. Lovino whimpered in pain, and Gilbert started dragging him back to the bridge. He caught sight of Antonio and Francis, and Francis especially looked furious. He knew that he was going to be punished for it. He just hoped that his father would be able to understand that the situation was dire, and that he needed help immediately.

Francis punched him in the face, before grabbing him by the throat.

"He managed to call his father," Gilbert spat. "Which means the suicide angle isn't going to work."

"So we go with the mugging?" Antonio asked.

"P-please," Lovino gasped. "Why… are you doing… this? What did I do… to make you hate me like this?"

"You're a jerk who hurts anyone that's close to you," Antonio spat. "You even managed to turn my cousin against me. And that's another reason why we need to get rid of you. Before you ruin Miguel's life the way you ruined our lives."

Antonio's fist collided with Lovino's abdomen. Gilbert pulled his hair further back and he pulled his knife out. Francis moved his hand away, and the knife was pressed against Lovino's throat again.

"Hold on," Antonio said. "A mugging would be more of a stab. Slitting his throat might not be a good idea."

"You're right," Gilbert said.

The knife was removed, and Lovino was thrown against the bridge's wall. Francis and Antonio pinned him, and Gilbert raised the knife again.

"Do you two want a turn too?" Gilbert asked.

"Oui, if you don't mind," Francis said.

"Si," Antonio said. "That would definitely make my day."

"Who wants to go first?" Gilbert asked.

Lovino opened his mouth to scream, but Francis punched him again in the throat. Lovino coughed as the three laughed. And for the first time in a long time, something that he'd tried to avoid in front of them happened.

Tears brimmed in his eyes and started to flow down his cheeks.

"Well, well," Gilbert sneered. "We finally got him to cry."

"Please," Lovino begged. "Just leave me alone. Please."

"Not going to happen," Antonio said, as he accepted the knife from Gilbert.

…

Romulus was surprised to see Lovino calling him, but he answered nonetheless.

"Hello?" he greeted. After a few seconds of silence, he decided to prompt him again. "Lovino?"

"The bridge," Lovino exclaimed. "Help!"

Romulus was about to ask him what he meant, when he heard someone in the background shouting 'bastard', and a moment later Lovino cried out in what sounded like pain.

"Lovino, what's going on?" he demanded. "Who's with you?"

There was no reply, and he realised that the call was ended.

Lovino wouldn't prank him. Which meant that he was in danger.

"Toris, call the police!" Romulus snapped as he grabbed his car keys. "Tell them to go to the bridge out of town. Tell them it's urgent."

Toris shakily nodded as Romulus stormed out of the gallery. He knew that he should probably leave everything to the police, but that wasn't an option for him. For too many years, he had been unable to protect his son. That was not going to happen this time.

…

Lovino could only watch in horror as Antonio gripped the knife. He wanted to fight back, but he was outnumbered, and the other three were already really angry at him. His throat also still hurt from the punch, so he couldn't even scream for help.

All he could do was mouth the word 'please' over and over again.

Antonio seemed to hesitate for a moment, and Lovino thought about Miguel again, but then he shook his head and seemed to get over it. Gilbert looked over towards him and arched his eyebrow.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Si," Antonio said. "I'm fine."

Lovino closed his eyes, knowing that he wasn't going to get out of this. He didn't think that anything good could come from his father's call. There simply wasn't enough time. And he didn't want to see the trio as they decided to stab him to death. And perhaps, seeing him in such a wretched state would appeal to what little humanity they had left.

A second later, he was proven wrong. He cried out in pain as fire burned in his lower abdomen. The knife was pulled out as Gilbert and Francis congratulated Antonio.

"My turn," Francis said.

There was a second burst of pain, a bit higher up. This one didn't hurt as much, and Lovino wondered if something like that was good or bad.

"And now it's my turn," Gilbert said darkly.

This time, when the knife sank into him, it felt cold.

The sound of a car horn made Lovino open his eyes. He saw the other three looking to their sides, panicked looks on their faces.

"Shit," Gilbert said. "Run!"

The three ran away, heading towards the copse of trees on the other side of the bridge. A car door slammed, footsteps running closer.

"Lovino!"

He could easily recognise his father's voice, and he turned to face the approaching figure. He realised that he was feeling tired and heavy, and he looked down to see that his shirt was already covered in red.

"The police should be on their way," Romulus said as his hands hovered over Lovino's torso, looking for some way to help. "Who did this?"

"Those three," Lovino rasped. "Papa… I'm so tired."

"Don't you dare fall asleep," Romulus said, pressing his hands against his torso.

Lovino didn't know how long they remained like that before he heard the sound of a police siren, only briefly making its presence known. He lifted his head, seeing a cruiser through the black dots littering his vision. He tried to hang on, but it was getting harder.

"Help, my son's been stabbed!" his father shouted.

The voice sounded as though it came from underwater, and Lovino found his grip on reality slipping away.

…

"Sir, what happened?" one of the police officers asked.

"He… he was stabbed," Romulus repeated.

"We received a call to come to the bridge, but we didn't get any more information," the officer stated. His colleague carried a first aid kit towards them, and Romulus moved aside so the man could work. "Could you tell us more about what happened?"

"I-I'll try. I got a call from my son, saying he was at the bridge and that he needed help. I then heard another voice before he screamed, and then the call was cut off. This… this isn't some random attack. My son knew his attackers."

"Was he awake when you got here?"

"Si."

"The ambulance is on its way," the other officer announced. "I managed to slow the bleeding, but if they don't get here soon enough…"

Romulus fell to his knees. He stared at Lovino, a bruise already forming on his pale face. This was the very scenario he had hoped to never see again. And to make matters worse, this was all due to an attempted murder. This… this was planned.

"You said your son knew the attackers?" the first officer asked.

"Yes," Romulus said firmly. "And I can tell you where they live."

…

The trio took the long way back into town. When they realised that Lovino's father was there, they knew that they couldn't be seen. They just hoped that Lovino wouldn't be able to tell his father who stabbed him, and that he hadn't seen them.

As they made their way back, the adrenaline seemed to fade, and the weight of what they'd done seemed to descend on them. Each of them started wondering if they had really done the right thing, and wondering what would happen if others found out. They had a hard time looking at each other, and speaking to each other was out of the question. They were each wondering if they'd gone too far.

They also found that they couldn't get the image of Lovino crying and begging for them to not go through with it out of their minds.

When they were safely within the town again, they parted ways. They still had to worry about doing homework, and it was getting late. They also hoped that things didn't come back to bite them in the end.

…

Marcello couldn't believe that they were back there again.

When their father came home, blood on his hands and shirt, they were immediately alarmed. He was only supposed to be covering for Amin at the gallery, since the other man had an event that afternoon and couldn't take his usual role. They couldn't imagine how blood would have gotten onto his person.

And then they found out that it was Lovino's blood.

Romulus quickly washed up and got changed, before taking them to the hospital. During the trip, Feliciano and Marcello made sure to interrogate their father.

And now they were waiting.

It was obvious that Lovino would need more than a simple transfusion. They were taking too long.

Marcello couldn't believe that the trio would resort to attempted murder. Wasn't it enough for them that they couldn't see Lovino at school anymore? Wasn't it enough for them that they'd made Lovino's life a living hell?

The three looked up when someone approached them. It wasn't a doctor, but rather Feliks. Feliciano had called him at some point to inform him of the situation.

"Like, any news?" Feliks asked.

"Nothing," Romulus sighed.

Feliks took a seat with them, and they all waited in silence. Marcello didn't know how long they waited there before someone finally came. And as usual, it was none other than Fryderyk.

"How's Lovino?" Romulus asked.

Fryderyk bit his lip before handing a clipboard to Romulus.

"I need you to sign this," he said. "It's a form of consent. Blood loss isn't Lovino's only concern. He was stabbed in the liver, and we need to operate."

Marcello felt himself pale when he heard that news. Romulus immediately picked up a pen and his eyes started to scan the paper.

"There's more," Fryderyk said. "He received a head injury as well, which added to his blood loss, but it also caused severe swelling in the brain. There's… there's a good chance he might slip into a coma."

And just like that, Romulus dropped the pen. His hand was shaking as he looked up at Fryderyk.

"W-what?" he whispered.

"We can place him in a medically induced coma," Fryderyk explained. "That would be far more controllable, and if we can do it before the swelling becomes too much, we can wake him up in a few days. However, if he naturally slips into a coma, then there's a good chance that it might take weeks for him to wake up, if he wakes up at all."

"So either way, he's going towards a coma," Romulus muttered. "This is really the best option?"

"Unfortunately, it is," Fryderyk said.

Romulus reached down to grab the pen again, and he signed the form before handing it back to Fryderyk.

"Please, do whatever you need to do to save my son," Romulus begged.

Fryderyk glanced towards Feliks and nodded, before disappearing again. Romulus slumped in his chair, and a moment later, Marcello heard the most surprising sound.

His father was crying.

Feliciano and Marcello stared for a while. Neither of them could remember when the last time was that they'd seen their father cry. After a few seconds of this, Feliciano cleared his throat.

"Papa, are you okay?" Feliciano asked.

Romulus sniffed and shook his head.

"No, I'm not," he said. "If I didn't have to work today, then I could have taken him to do his shopping. If I'd taken him, he didn't have to walk, and if he didn't have to walk… This wouldn't have happened. H-he wouldn't be…"

"It's not your fault," Marcello said. "None of us had any idea that this would happen. I mean… why now?"

Romulus shook his head, before he laughed bitterly.

"You know, before he passed out, he called me 'Papa'," Romulus said. "I don't think he ever called me that before."

Marcello could hear in his father's voice how deeply it affected him. It showed progress in their relationship that Lovino felt confident enough to call him by a more affectionate title, and here they were.

There was no way those three should be allowed to get away with it this time. This was blatant attempted murder. They needed to pay for their crimes.

…

When Gilbert returned home, he noticed that his father wasn't alone in the living room. There was someone else there. He looked down at his hand, and the hunting knife was in his pocket, within its sheath. He needed to get rid of the evidence before he was noticed. He started to make his way to the stairs when…

"Gilbert!"

He jumped when he heard his father's voice, and he quickly spun around. Wulfric stood in the doorway, looking furious. Behind him stood someone that made Gilbert lose a few degrees of his body temperature.

A policeman.

"Gilbert, where were you this afternoon?" Wulfric demanded.

"I-I went out with T-Toni and F-Franny," Gilbert stuttered. He couldn't remember ever seeing his father this angry.

"And where exactly did you go?"

"W-we were just out on the town. Why, d-did something h-happen?"

"A boy was attacked just outside of town," the officer explained. "Lovino Vargas. Apparently, you and your friends have a bit of history with him."

"That d-doesn't mean that we stabbed him! We have nothing to do with it!"

"Strange. I never mentioned that he was stabbed."

Gilbert's breath hitched. The officer then looked down.

"What's that on your hand?" he asked.

Gilbert quickly hid his hand behind his back, but both his father and the policeman made their way towards him. He yelped when he was forced to expose the blood on his hand. He could also feel something shifting, and he looked down to see his father removing the knife.

"Would you care to explain to me why you took a knife with you if you were just spending time with your friends?" Wulfric demanded.

"I-I just wanted to show it to them!" Gilbert protested. "It's an awesome knife!"

His father removed it from its sheath, and Gilbert knew the moment the blood became clear that he was screwed.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt, you're under arrest for attempted murder," the officer said as he removed a pair of handcuffs and bound Gilbert's hands from behind.

"Wait, 'attempted murder'?" Gilbert repeated. "You mean… he survived?"

"He might not. Last I heard, he's still in surgery."

Gilbert honestly didn't know how he felt about all of that.

…

Romulus looked up when someone else entered the waiting area. He was actually surprised to see Amin and Toris. He had of course informed Toris of the situation, and the Lithuanian must have told the Iranian man in turn.

"Do you have any news?" Amin asked.

"They want to put him in a medically induced coma," Romulus explained. "The chances that he'll enter a coma anyway are strong, and there's no guarantee he'd be able to wake up from the regular one."

"This is horrible," Toris said, as he sank into one of the chairs. "I can't believe kids could be so cruel."

Romulus closed his eyes and nodded. Lovino had told them that his bullies would often get angry at him and punish him whenever they got in trouble. They should have realised that something like that would happen again.

He opened his eyes again when someone else approached, and he felt both relief and dread when he saw that it was Fryderyk.

"Lovino's been taken to ICU," he explained. "There's still a chance his body might reject the transfusion, and we need to monitor him carefully. Only family is allowed to see him." Here, he shot an apologetic look towards Feliks. "And only one at a time."

Romulus thanked the doctor and stood. He wanted to see his son. He wanted to assure himself that he didn't lose him. Even if it would be painful to see him like this again.

No. This wasn't like last time. It was worse.

I did some checking, and heavy blood loss can lead to a possible coma, but only when it's severe enough that the organs are also suffering. Lovino hasn't reached this point, but the concussion he received from the rock made things worse, and the two worked together to get him in this state. A medically induced coma can be used to prevent a regular coma before the swelling in the brain becomes too severe, and it's possible to wake someone up within a few hours or a few days.

Romulus's gallery is a few blocks away from the place where Lovino was grabbed, and by ignoring one or two traffic laws, he was able to get there to help Lovino on time. The police, meanwhile, are a bit further away, and didn't have enough information to know that it was an emergency.