Chapter 7

Switch

Francis had just hung up the phone when Arthur yawned and woke up. He blinked at the light and looked around, still a bit disoriented. Alfred was sitting on the couch with Matthew next to him while staring at Arthur, waiting for him to wake up.

"What time is it?"

"9.30" Francis looked at the clock. "You should go to your room and get some more sleep, we'll be leaving in a few hours" Arthur looked at him questioningly so Francis added "We're going to Lukas place" Arthur nodded and made his way out of the room.

"I'm not going to sleep because you told me to!" They heard him shout as he left which made Francis shake his head and smile. It seemed like he was finally reverting back to some old habits. As Arthur sat down on his bed he took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the right number. He pressed call and waited.

"Yes hello" Vladimir answered just as he had when Arthur called him a few hours ago.

"Hey it's me, still hanging in there?"

"Very funny Arthur" Arthur tried hard to not laugh at his own joke. Apparently the Romanian was now stuck in the ceiling as gravity had reversed itself for him. "I'm just lucky I wasn't outside"

"You got anything new?"

"No, just same as you. I read here that… Oh shit" Arthur heard a soft thud as Vladimir dropped the book. "Now I'll have to drag myself down there again" A sigh was heard before he continued "Anyway I found the spells that affected me and Francis" As he explained the details, Arthur laid down on his bed and closed his eyes for a moment. He looked forward to when this was all over. "…and as you know, I'll not be able to make it to the meeting" He finished.

"Well, keep looking. I'm going to Lukas place tonight to see if I can get some answers." He yawned as he ended the call and rolled over to the side. He fell asleep almost immediately and did actually get a few hours of sleep.

.

Antonio was laying face down in the cold grass and tried to figure out how he had gotten there. He tried to stand up but something was pushing him down and the pressure only got higher. Soon he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think and as his vision turned darker he heard a soft laugh in his ear. A very familiar laugh. Then he fell. He felt like he was drifting away from his own body and everything around him was dark. No voice came out of him and he lost all feeling of time. How long he fell he couldn't say, it could have been minutes and it could have been years, he only knew that he finally hit something hard and saw a light forming above him. Antonio opened his eyes and felt strange. He was still laying on the grass but now he was on his back and could see how the sky slowly turned lighter.

"Well isn't this nice" a voice said from somewhere around his feet. Antonio tried to sit up and panicked when he couldn't. He couldn't move his legs at all and he couldn't even feel his feet. He tried moving his arms and felt relieved when he could move them, at least from side to side. He heard movement as the person knelt over him and when they came face to face Antonio stopped breathing. He didn't understand a thing as the man slowly put a hand on Antonios cheek. "Poor little thing" Antonio stared into the mans smiling eyes, into his own eyes, as his body stood up again leaving him on the ground. At the realization that someone else was using his body he did whatever he could. He moved his arms up and down, he tried to move the rest of his body too and eventually he started screaming. He saw how his body turned towards him and chuckled "I'm the only one that can hear you"

"Who are you?" Antonio stared at him and waited for an answer. His body shook its head and made a fake disappointed face.

"Don't you recognize me? I've been by your side all your life and you don't remember me, I'm so disappointed" He smiled brightly, with an evil look in his eyes and once again leaned in above Antonio. "I've waited for so many years to switch places with you and finally I got my chance" As his body started moving towards the house and Antonio felt how something tugged at his ankles, dragging him along, he suddenly realized and felt like his heart froze.

"You're my shadow" He was rewarded by a soft chuckle as he was dragged up the stairs and his new body followed the steps perfectly.

"Not anymore" Antonio felt like he was spinning as the light changed and he moved. As they entered the kitchen he was suddenly nailed to the wall instead of to the ground. He was still trying to process the fact that he was a shadow and not just any shadow, but his own shadow. He saw how his body first stretched its fingers, then arms and finally it started jumping up and down. Antonio wondered why he could still move his arms freely, why he didn't mimic the movements of his body but there was more important questions right now.

"What do you want?" His body turned towards him with an evil grin and walked closer.

"Isn't it obvious? All I want is the things you never wanted. Us shadows knows every little detail about our, what should we call it, captors and all we ever want is to get revenge on them" Antonio shook from fear as his body slowly made his way through the kitchen and sat down on a chair. "I know how to act like you and how to speak like you"

"Hey! Antonio, you bastard! Are you okay?" They heard from the front porch. His body grinned and stood up to answer.

"Yes wait a second Lovi!" Once again standing up, they made their way towards the front door. Before opening, Antonio got a cold stare from the thing controlling his body.

"Don't" He couldn't breathe.

"I also know how to hurt you the most"

.

The car radio was playing on a high volume and the atmosphere was good as they drove back towards Lukas house. Berwald was wondering why Mathias and Tino was staring suspiciously at every gas station they passed but figured that it didn't really matter. He opened a bag of candy that he found in the backseat and put one in his mouth. The sweet flavor surprised him, it tasted even better than it usually did. As he quickly reached in to grab another one, they drove through a small bump causing Berwald to drop the candy. He saw it fall onto the floor and stared at it for a while. Why did he feel so sad? It was just a piece of candy and he had plenty left but he had really wanted that piece. While Berwald fought his tears and confusion in the backseat, Tino was looking through the window. "Do you think everyone is okay?" Mathias looked at him and sighed.

"I don't know, we can only hope so." His grip tightened on the steering wheel as the turned onto a smaller road. He knew that everyone would be checked upon and that if someone was in immediate danger they would know but something made him feel uneasy. He couldn't say exactly what but he had a terrible feeling that something would go wrong. "Do you think that-" He looked at Tino that had fallen asleep and clearly didn't hear a word he said. Mathias chuckled and looked in the back mirror at Berwald, blinked and asked "Are you crying?"

"Am not" Berwald sniffled as an answer.

A/N: I would like to give a big thank you to Marzue that has reviewed every chapter so far! I'm having really fun writing this and reviews makes it 100 times more worth it!