Thanks to Xoshi, Yaoi-Is-Life-and-Love and Praise's waterfall for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 66

Romulus sighed. There was something that he needed to do, and it certainly wouldn't be easy, but it was absolutely necessary. He took his phone and scrolled through his contacts before he found the number he was searching for. He selected it and brought his phone to his ear.

"Ciao Roma. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Ciao Mama," he sighed. "I'm sorry, but we can't make it next week."

"What? And why not? What could possibly excuse you from coming to visit your poor mama that you only get to see once a year?"

"Lovino's in the hospital. His bullies attacked him again."

"What? Is he alright?"

It was odd to hear her tone shift from blaming to worried. And it was also interesting to note the change that had come about regarding her opinion on Lovino. She had been critical and disapproving, until Romulus clarified that Lovino was being bullied. He even gave her a list of Lovino's injuries and gave the doctor's explanation for why Lovino couldn't be a delinquent that was always picking fights. Since then, she became far more understanding, and it only improved whenever Romulus would share something new they'd learned about Lovino.

"No," Romulus replied. "The bullies… they actually stabbed him. He lost so much blood. He's in ICU, in a coma."

"Dio mio!" she exclaimed. "Those monsters! I hope you're doing something about it!"

"The police are involved, and they've already been arrested. I'm making it clear that I'm pressing charges, and even if I don't, the police aren't going to allow an attempted murder to slide, especially since they found the weapon in one of their hands. They called to confirm that the knife found on one of the boys has Lovino's blood on it."

"Good. I hope those barbarians rot in jail. And the moment something happens to Lovino, you call me, understand? I don't care what time it is, you are going to call me!"

"I understand, Mama."

Romulus massaged his temples as soon as the call ended. Knowing his mother, she would tell every relative, and they would call to ask about the true nature of Lovino's condition. Some things tended to become a bit twisted when he spoke to his mother. He was going to be kept busy by the demands to know what was going on. That was why he already called the travel agency to inform them that they would no longer be taking that flight, and hopefully they would get a refund.

His conscience would never allow him to live with himself if he simply left Lovino in the hospital while the rest of them went to Italy.

…

The majority of the group had been taken to the Hassan residence. Only Miguel was left to go to the hospital to check on his hand, with Eshe offering moral support. While they were waiting for the radiologist, Eshe took the initiative to call all their parents, explaining what happened and where they were and why.

Miguel looked down at his hand, which was already starting to become blue. He couldn't believe that he'd allowed his emotions to get the best of him. And he couldn't believe that he'd resorted to violence. He was not Antonio. While Antonio used his hands, Miguel's weapon was his tongue. When angered, he tended to use words. But in that moment, words failed him, and he could only imagine that the wall in the principal's office was Antonio's face.

Because honestly, what could he even say about this? What could Antonio say? How was he going to blame Lovino for Antonio stabbing him? What sort of twisted logic was his cousin going to use to make Lovino the villain and himself the victim?

Couldn't he have just let Lovino go? Was it really that hard to ignore Lovino and just go on with his life? What could possibly have caused Antonio to hate Lovino in that way?

Honestly, Miguel knew Lovino. He knew how scared he was of upsetting them in some way. Even if he was sarcastic, he would watch them carefully to see if he accidentally offended them. And the gentle smiles that Lovino would have when he was at peace. When he was happy about being around them. Someone like that… There was no way he could have possibly done something that would have earned hatred like this. Especially considering Antonio hated him since they were little children. There was nothing that justified any of this.

He looked up when Eshe approached him, smiling apologetically.

"Your mother wants to talk to you," she said.

He grimaced, before accepting the phone from her.

"Ola Mai," he sighed.

"What is this I hear about you hurting your hand?" she demanded.

"Sorry. Did… Did Miss Hassan say what happened to Lovino?"

"Sim. Miguel, I'm so sorry."

"Antonio. He was one of the people involved."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because Feliks said that Lovino was awake long enough to tell his father who attacked him. And he said that it was the three people that bullied him. Which includes Antonio. But apparently they've been arrested."

"…I'll ask your aunt about it. Now… how did you hurt your hand?"

"…Because I punched the wall."

"Miguel…"

"I know. No one regrets it more than I."

He looked up when the radiographer finally arrived.

"Okay, got to go," he said. "I'll call later to say what the doctor said about the hand."

He handed the phone back to Eshe while he went inside to get the x-ray done. And he had to explain the reason why he had to punch the wall.

Well, at least the radiographer was sympathetic.

…

Antonio knew that he was in a lot of trouble. His mother wouldn't even look at him, and he had a feeling that the punishment that would come was going to be very harsh. He wasn't even allowed to go to his room, and he had to stay in the living room with the TV off.

He looked up when his mother returned, glaring darkly.

"Your aunt asked me about this," she said. "Do you hear? Your aunt Isabel knows about this. And so does Miguel. Now, can you imagine how Miguel must feel, knowing that his cousin attempted to kill his friend?"

He bowed his head. He remembered the cold treatment he received from Miguel the last time they saw each other. What would Miguel do or say now?

"By the way, Miguel is at the hospital too, getting his hand checked out. He punched a wall when he heard the news. He was probably imagining your face. Not that I blame him."

Antonio flinched and attempted to sink lower. He'd tried to apologise to his mother, but she snapped at him that, first of all, it wasn't her that he needed to apologise to, and second, 'sorry' wasn't going to get Lovino out of the hospital bed. She'd shown him the photo, and didn't allow him to forget that he was one of the reasons why he was in that hospital bed in the first place.

He jumped a bit when the doorbell rang. His mother quickly went to answer it, and he stared after her, wondering what it was about. He didn't go after her, knowing that she probably wouldn't appreciate it. So instead he listened and tried to see if he could find out what this was about.

To his surprise, his mother returned with two men. One of them was wearing a police uniform. He turned to his mother and swallowed.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Until your trial, we decided that it would be best to place you under house arrest," the police officer said.

"T-trial?"

"That's right. The three of you worked together, and only two of you confessed. This complicates things a bit. And we have to wait for the trial because the main witness is comatose."

Antonio gulped as the other man opened his briefcase. He'd seen enough movies to know what at least one of those things was. This went beyond grounding. They were treating him like a criminal.

Nothing compared to the sick feeling in his stomach when he realised that it was exactly what he was.

As he was fitted with the ankle cuff, he tried to think of ways in which he could make things right again. The first thing he could think of was to call Miguel. Perhaps his mother would allow him to use his cell phone for that at least. It wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, but he could at least attempt to clear the air between them. And he was worried about Miguel's hand.

…

"Toris, pay attention."

Toris shook his head, before he turned to Amin. His boss was watching him intently, and he turned his attention back to the accounting he was doing.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm worried about Lovino."

Amin sighed, before leaning against the desk.

"I understand," he said. "But we can't afford to be distracted. There's nothing we can do right now, except offer our support. You can call Romulus when you go on a break, but for now, I need you to focus."

Toris nodded his head. He could understand it, but he didn't have to like it. Being reminded that there was nothing he could do didn't help him at all, especially since it was Lovino that needed help, which only made him feel worse about all of this. This was apparently caused by Lovino's bullies. Most likely the same people that made Lovino stand in front of a gun without fear.

He couldn't believe that anyone could be so cruel towards another person, especially considering they were still kids.

He really hoped that Lovino could get through this. The boy still had a lot to live for. He had a lot of potential. It would just be cruel if this was the end for him. That was one of the reasons why he froze when Lovino stood in front of his gun. His unflinching gaze when he faced death… It scared Toris to the core, and he couldn't understand how someone so young wanted to end his life. But after hearing some of the things that Lovino had gone through, he couldn't blame him for wanting to escape.

This all happened too fast. One minute it was business as usual, and the next he was told to call the police. He'd been worried while waiting for news, even calling Amin to explain that Romulus had stormed out while ordering him to call the police. They waited for news, and when they finally received the news, it was worse than they could have imagined.

He seriously hoped that Lovino would turn out okay.

…

The friends couldn't even bring themselves to converse with each other. What could they even talk about? Any conversation would feel too cheerful for the situation. The only thing on their minds was Lovino's condition, and without enough information, there wasn't anything to say.

They were also worried about Miguel. It was unusual to see him do something like that, but they couldn't blame him. He actually knew the attackers, with one of them being a family member. Not only that, but his relative knew that Lovino was Miguel's friend. They also couldn't imagine what was going through their heads that caused them to attack Lovino like that.

Feliks had stepped out a moment ago, but they all looked up when Feliks returned to the room. He sighed.

"Like, I asked my dad if he could tell me about what's happening to Lovino," Feliks explained. "Like, except for a bit of an allergic reaction during the night, Lovino's body isn't rejecting the transfusion."

"That's at least some good news," Gupta sighed. "Does he know anything about how long Lovino's going to be in a coma? It's a medical one, so he should be able to wake up from it, right?"

"Like, my dad said it's not going to be soon. There's still a lot of swelling in the brain. Like, it's too dangerous for him to wake up now."

"This is really scary," Vlad said. "Not knowing if Lovino's going to be fine. There's a chance that he's going to wake up, but there's also a chance that something might go wrong, and he could get worse and even die."

"Please don't talk like that," Yao said. "I don't want to think about it."

"But think how bad it must be for Lovino," Heracles said. "What was he thinking before he passed out? Did he believe that he was going to die? How scared do you think he was? What was he thinking when he ran into them? What was going through his mind when he realised that they wanted to kill him? And what about now? Is he aware of the state he's in? Is he dreaming? Is he in a nightmare?"

"Hera, you are not helping," Yao said, looking considerably paler than earlier.

"I agree," Gupta said. "And I agree with Vlad. This… This is scary."

Their parents were also aware of what happened by now, and they had already called each of them to ask them how they were taking the news. None of them were taking it well.

They snapped out of their current state when they heard the front door open. A few seconds later Miguel and Eshe entered, Miguel's hand looking very similar to Lovino's for the first few weeks the majority of the group knew him.

"Are you boys alright?" Eshe asked.

"Asides from a pretty depressing conversation, we're managing," Gupta said. "How's your hand?"

"Broken," Miguel sighed. "My mom is not very impressed. And she had some doubts about Antonio being involved."

Eshe handed Miguel a packet, and he blushed a bit as he accepted it.

"Drink those painkillers right now," she instructed. "I need to head back to the school. I trust you boys can manage your own lunch? And I'll call to make sure that you actually remember to eat."

"We will," Gupta said. "Thank you."

…

Romulus had gone to visit Lovino. Marcello and Feliciano were both too uncomfortable to come along, so it was only Romulus that would be there for Lovino. To be honest, Romulus also couldn't bear to see Lovino like that, but he also didn't want his son to feel alone.

He'd read somewhere that patients in a coma could hear what was said around them, but he didn't know how accurate that information was. However, if there was some truth in that statement, then the last thing that Romulus wanted was for Lovino to feel alone again. It was through believing that he was alone that Lovino lost the will to live. The last thing they needed was for him to want to die after escaping death.

"Hey, Lovino," he said gently. "You'll be happy to hear that… those three have been arrested. They're under house arrest now, at least until they can go to trial. But to do that, they'll need your testimony. They need you to tell them what happened, and then they'll be sent away. So we need you to get better soon, okay?"

He didn't expect a response, but it was still heart-breaking to see his son lying so still. He knew that the doctors were keeping him under, so at this point he wasn't trying to wake him up. He at least just wanted him to recover until he reached the point where he could safely be awoken. Until then, as long as his condition didn't worsen, Romulus was content to be patient. He didn't have to be a doctor to know that rushing the recovery wouldn't do any favours.

"Feli and Cello want you to wake up too," Romulus said. "I hope you don't get mad at them. They can't handle seeing you like this. But I'm sure that they would come visit you again once you wake up. They're scared. Your friends are also worried about you. They want to come visit you too, but they can't visit you while you're in ICU. So you need to get better before they can come to see you."

It was silent for a few minutes, with only the sounds of the heart monitor to break the silence between them.

"Romulus."

He looked back to see Fryderyk standing at the doorway.

"Hey," he greeted. "So, is there any news? When can he leave ICU?"

"Feliks wants to visit with him too," Fryderyk said. "His body didn't reject the transfusion, so that's a relief. If there are no complications for the next twenty-four hours, then we can perhaps move him out of ICU. Have you heard anything from the other friends?"

"Nothing really," Romulus said. "Just what Feliciano could tell me."

Feliciano was the only one that had a cell phone number for someone from Lovino's circle of friends, and it was only Feliks. According to Feliciano, Feliks and the others were excused from school and they were all in a state of shock. But everyone wanted to see Lovino. Everyone was worried about him.

"Those boys are extremely close," Fryderyk said. "One of them even managed to hurt himself when he found out about Lovino. I just hope they don't overwhelm him if they're able to visit him."

Romulus turned towards Lovino and smiled softly.

"No, I don't think he'd be overwhelmed, exactly," he said. "I think it would be good for him to know that he's not alone."

Lovino had so many people that cared for him now. It was no longer the same as it had been a few months ago. Lovino no longer had a reason to feel as though it would be better for everyone if he were to die. He knew now that many people enjoyed his company. He'd even started exploring new interests, and they'd already sent in his application to a university for him to study literary studies. Lovino had much to live for.

He was not going to forgive those three boys for putting all of this in jeopardy.