Chapter 20

Little Fairy

It seemed like Antonio quickly noticed the tension in the room because his smile fell for a second. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, nothing" Arthur crossed his arms and gave the others a look to tell them that this conversation was over. The other nations decided to oblige for now but they all knew he wouldn't be able to hide it forever. "What's wrong with you then?" Arthur tried to shift the focus to the newly arrived nation and succeeded.

"Well, I'm fine but my shadow seems to have gotten a mind of its own" He pointed behind him at the wall where they all could see how the shadow waved at them franticly. Arthur frowned and stood up before he walked around the table to get a closer look.

"I've never heard about anything like it before" He felt certain that something was off about this, he had never even read about this before. Before his hand reached the wall, Antonio grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

"Don't. Lovi got hurt when he touched it before, he can tell you when he gets here" When Arthur still didn't pull back he added "Wait until we know some more at least"

"He's right" Lukas suddenly spoke up "Don't mess with things you aren't sure you can control" He frowned and mumbled "Apparently I don't listen to myself very well" Arthur backed away and nodded just as the door once again opened and a very tired looking grumpy Italian passed through. Antonio lit up and ran up to him.

"Lovi! You're here!" Lovino easily avoided the hug and sat down. He was so tired, the plane ride had felt so slow and he hadn't been able to sleep anything either. While ignoring the disappointed look on Antonios face he looked directly on Arthur.

"So, what's going on?" It was more of a demand than a question but before Arthur could even answer he did himself "Oh, I guess we should wait until the rest gets here. Who's left? Feliciano, Ludwig, Gilbert, Ivan and Kiku right?" The others stared at him and he groaned before he placed his forehead onto the table. "Don't ask, let me sleep" A sudden shriek turned their attention towards Yao. He was standing up looking pale and devastated at the same time.

"I've made a terrible mistake."

.

The wind was too strong and Ivan tumbled through the air until he crashed into a tree where he finally stopped and got a look around. He had already blown far away from the meeting hall and was unsure of how to get back there. Patiently he managed to get his scarf, which had gotten caught up in the branches, loose from the tree and climbed out to the edge to look down. The ground was far below him but he had never had any problems with heights, especially not now that he knew he wouldn't fall. The wind shook his branch gently as he thought back to what had just happened only 20 minutes ago.

Ivan had arrived a bit early since there wasn't so many planes flying to Copenhagen that day and had quickly made his way to the meeting hall. Since he had been so early he was quite surprised to see that Yao was already there. Yao had also seemed surprised to see him but that was pretty expected since his looks had changed quite drastically. "Hello Yao!" Ivan had gotten quite concerned when he didn't get any answer, instead it seemed Yao was ignoring him. "Hmm? What's the matter? I don't like when people ignore me you know." He didn't realize until afterwards that it could have sounded a bit threatening but he couldn't take it back.

"Creepy, too creepy." Yao had stood up and walked over to a big window before he opened it wide. Of course, Ivan had followed still a bit annoyed at getting ignored. "Not real" Yao kept looking out the window and took deep breaths of the clear air.

"What is not real Yao? Me? I'm very real you know, just a bit different" Ivan sat down on the window ledge and looked at Yao that still seemed to try his best to not see him. He sighed and added "I'll be here even if you don't want to you know" Suddenly, Yao had turned towards him and before he could react, he was grabbed around his waist.

"Then I'll make you leave" Ivan couldn't fight back as Yao threw him out the window and he was caught by the wind to tumble through the city. Now he was sitting on a branch in a tree trying to figure out which way to go. After deciding to just start flying in a random direction, since the building was taller than the others anyway, he stretched out the thin wings and lifted. It had taken him a while to get used to but eventually he did, both the wings and the small size.

Being a fairy could apparently be tough sometimes.

.

"YOU THREW IVAN OUT THE WINDOW?" It was an understatement saying that the nations, with a few exceptions, was freaking out. Yao was pacing back and forth through the room while the others stared at him.

"I didn't think it was actually him! He was so small and sparkly and creepy and weird and I didn't know what to do so I panicked and threw him and he's probably pissed right now and I didn't know so I just…"

"Wait, wait." Mathias interrupted "It can't be that bad right?" The stares he got was enough to make him rethink. He sighed and went up to Yao "I wish you luck"

"THAT IS NOT VERY COMFORTING!"

"Hey, hey, let's calm down. I'm sure he'll understand!" Tino tried to calm them down "Besides, if he's as small as you're saying then he can't do much right?"

"That's true" Berwald agreed and the tension lifted a little bit from the room. Yao stared and crouched down to Berwalds eye level which made him take a step back.

"I feel compelled to trust him" As Yao reached out to touch him, Berwald quickly snuck away to hide behind Tinos legs. It wasn't a very good hiding spot though since Elizabeta was quick to sneak up from behind and pick him up.

"It's because he's adorable!" She hugged him tightly while he looked at Tino with pleading eyes. Tino sighed and decided to save Berwald from being squeezed but just as he walked over, Berwald was taken away from Elizabeta by Yao.

"I guess so" Elizabeta frowned when she looked at the two.

"I was holding him"

"You'll have to share"

"Then it's my turn now"

"But I just got him!"

"Please calm down!" Tino stepped between the two nations and managed, with a certain amount of force, get Berwald loose from their grip. "I guess your 'Use Bers cuteness to our advantage'-plan might fail after all" He looked at Mathias that nodded.

"I guess so" It seemed like he was doing his best not to laugh "It's still pretty fun though- Ow!" The comment earned a kick to his leg from Berwald that had just gotten down on the ground again. There was still tension between the nations on Tinos both sides so Berwald sighed and walked over. He closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at them one by one while trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Please don't fight over me, let's sit down and talk instead. 'kay?" There wasn't a chance that they would be able to resist that so, almost in a daze, the two nations sat down at the table. Meanwhile, Berwald had turned around and tried to get through his embarrassment. Emil and Tino seemed mostly impressed while Mathias had to once again try his hardest to not break out into laughter. Lukas must have felt him shaking from suppressing it because he elbowed Mathis in his side as a distraction.

"I want to sit down" Mathias led Lukas to the table, relieved to get something to do, and let him sit down. Everyone except Alfred followed his example and sat down one by one. Berwald decided to sit in Tinos lap since he could barely see over the edge of the table otherwise. Soft snores was coming from Lovino that apparently had managed to sleep through the fight, though it didn't seem like he slept very well.

"So, should we just wait?" Antonio smiled while his shadow seemed to try out very poorly performed sign language. Arthur nodded.

"There's not much else to do right now, though they should be here any minute" As if that was some sort of cue, the door suddenly flew open and Ludwig twirled inside.

"What the-"

"Feliciano!" As Feliciano walked through the door with a frown on his face the others were pretty confused on why he was shouting his own name. "I told you to wait for me!"

"But it's so much fun! I can walk so much faster since your legs are much longer than mine!" Ludwig turned towards the stunned nations "Ciao! We're here now!" The realization settled in with them but it took a while before they could speak.

"You switched bodies?" Feliciano smiled and nodded which looked pretty creepy on Ludwigs body. Lovino finally woke up and sat up to look at them before he narrowed his eyes.

"What took you so long? You live right next door." He stood up and walked over to Ludwig which, for once, was at eye level with him. "You were probably too busy thinking perverted thoughts inside my brothers body"

"I wouldn't! I don't like this any more than you!"

"Please don't fight! We were busy looking for Gilbert!" Feliciano turned towards the others that had finally gotten used to the change. "He has disappeared!"

"Weren't he with you when it happened?" They all sat down and Ludwig sighed.

"No, he sometimes goes to the beach to be alone" He rubbed his, or technically Felicianos, temples in an attempt to think clearly "We went there but all we could find was his torn up pants and I'm not sure if I want to know anymore".

"I'm sure he's fine!" Feliciano patted him comfortingly on his back. Ludwig groaned and waved dismissively with his hand.

"Lets just get this meeting started" Mathias shook his head.

"We can't, we're still waiting for Kiku. Gilbert too I guess even if we can't really count on it" He saw how Ludwig nodded and leaned back instead, there wasn't much else to do. Feliciano on the other hand seemed pretty excited.

"While we wait, why don't we share some stories from these past few days? Like how yesterday I had to help Ludwig open a jar because the lid was stuck and I just popped it open really easily." He made a movement with his hands as if he was opening a jar "I mean, Ludwigs muscles are very firm! There's so many things I could lift and it was so much fun! I'm not kidding, here you can feel if you want-"

"Feliciano, that's enough." Ludwig actually seemed a bit flustered but at least Feliciano calmed down a bit. Arthur turned towards Lovino.

"You're the only one we don't know about yet" A disagreeing cough came from Francis but he managed to ignore it. "So, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know! I feel calm all the time, I do stuff I wouldn't normally do and I have these weird dreams that I barley remember when I wake up" His eyes suddenly locked onto Berwald. "Wait, you were there! In my dream!" Berwald frowned and tried to become invisible, he felt like he had gotten enough attention for one day. Or for a lifetime.

"I see" Arthur looked very lost in thought which spiked the others interest.

"Do you know what this is?" Lovino rose from his chair when Arthur nodded. "What?"

"I have to check first but I think I read about this." He searched through his bag until he found a book. "You can all talk about something so I can focus on my reading" Lovino sat down as he realized that he wouldn't get any answers anytime soon and Feliciano was quick to come up with a subject. Alfred was leaning against the wall close to the door, right behind Lovino, and was thinking about how weird it sounded when Ludwigs deep voice had an Italian accent when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He picked up the phone and saw that he'd gotten a text but was confused when he saw that it was from Arthur.

From: Eyebrow Dude
'Attack Lovino when he isn't ready'

His confusion only increased when he saw the content of the text and he looked up towards Arthur. It really looked like he was reading but Alfred managed to meet his eyes for a second, he was serious about this. Before he could do anything else, he got another text.

From: Eyebrow Dude
'You owe me one'

Alfred sighed and put away his phone. He'd have to trust Arthur on this one and it would be fine as long as he didn't use too much force. Lovino seemed to be quite distracted by the conversation right now so, with only a moment of hesitation, Alfred charged forward.