Chapter 27

Make a Wish

"No" Shade fell down on his knees to pick up the pieces of rope laying on the ground. "This can't be" He had already figured out that something like this had probably happened when he had arrived and seen the door wide open. As he looked around in the room he could see multiple footprints in the dust that had recently settled again on the floor. Antonio still kept quiet but Shade could feel the relief that radiated from him. He stood up and leaned against the pillar while he rested his head in his hands. Everything was falling apart. Lovino knew too much to be allowed to run around freely. "I can fix this… I can fix… I…" Shade was breathing heavily and fought hard to not lose control. He got back on his feet and walked out the door and took a few deep breaths. The air calmed him down a bit and he could focus again. To make up a new plan.

He could easily increase his speed and catch up to Lovino if he wanted to, but considering the many footprints it didn't seem like he would be alone. There was too big of a risk that he would be caught. Also, he couldn't waste any more energy on silly spells like that. He looked up and down the road, if he was correct, there was a high possibility that Lovino and whoever he was with would've followed him to save Emil. They were probably taking a shortcut through the forest towards the harbor since Lovino would have seen Emil falling into the water. That meant that the rest of the nations should be split up all over town searching for Emil. He looked at the sky that was slowly getting lighter as the sun rose in the horizon. He still had time. Shade sat of in a jog towards the town with a plan forming in his head. A smile spread across his face.

"It's not too late"

.

Ivan followed him at a safe distance as "Antonio" entered the building. He wasn't noticed at all as he saw the small breakdown in the room with the pillar and as they left the building he could easily follow. When they got out again, Ivan had a decision to make. He could keep following this person to see what he was up to but since he couldn't do anything he didn't see the point. If he instead hurried back to town and told the others they could gather together and fight him. Ivan didn't really like that option either since that meant he had to admit to needing help. Still, as he saw whoever-it-was starting off in a jog towards the town, he decided on the latter option. The wind was picking up but Ivan managed to pass the person below him and slowly but steadily increase the distance between them. He could see the town from up here but it was still quite a distance to go.

"I wish I could go faster" A tingling sensation spread through his body and before he knew it, a wand appeared in his hand. Something sparkly flew out of the end and surrounded him for a moment before he shot through the air, twice as fast as before. He stopped and stared at the slightly glowing thing in his hand. "For real?" He looked around, a bit embarrassed about what he was about to do, and waved around it for a moment. "I wish I got my normal body back" Once again, sparks flew out from the wand but instead of surrounding him it wrote a message in the air.

"Whishing rules:
1. Only one whish per day.
2. You can not wish for death of another living creature.
3. Your wish can not break other types of magic.
4. The wand can refuse to grant your whish.
5. Be polite"

"What kind of rules are these?" Ivan looked down at the wand that was slowly heating up and he noticed how the sparkles shifted to form new words.

"My rules" He looked at the wand again, it seemed like it had a mind of its own.

"They doesn't make any sense" The words shifted again.

"That's your problem, not mine" Ivan had to blink a few times as he reread it multiple times. Then he smiled and clenched his fist around the small handle.

"Didn't you just break your own rule? I don't like when people – or things – are rude to me" He knew that anyone would have backed off by now, it would be instinctive to apologise and listen when they pissed him of. The words shifted again.

"I do what I want" So childish! He tried to snap it in half but the wand disappeared.

"Oh, so you are scared." Ivan looked around but couldn't see it anywhere. "Figured" He saw how the words changed again but not to anything Ivan wanted.

"I make the rules so you have to listen to me" Before Ivan could answer something about throwing a certain stick into a fire a new sentence was shown. "You asked for speed right? Doesn't that mean you're in a hurry?"

"Right" Ivan looked down and saw that he had been passed. He damned himself for getting distracted and once again, he started moving towards the town. The words stayed floating in the air behind him for a moment before the disappeared. Ivan sighed, a bit relieved. He finally got rid of that cocky wand. "I'll deal with it later" he muttered to himself as he shot through the air. At this speed he would be back within 10 minutes.

"One last thing" The small voice surprised him enough to almost fall out of the air.

"You can talk?"

"Of course, A little slow are we?"

"Get out here so we can… have a nice little conversation, okay?"

"No, no. I just wanted to do one last thing before going back to sleep" The sparkles surrounded him again and he couldn't see anything. "Just a little whish of my own"

.

"5 minutes! No more!" Lovino slid of Felicianos back and sat down. Feliciano joined him on the ground, seemingly unbothered by the running. Ludwig almost collapsed next to him with Berwald still in his grip.

"So" He managed to say while regaining his breath "What's going on?" They all turned to look at Lovino that refused to look back at them while he tried to figure out what to say. He glanced at Berwald for a second. How was he supposed to tell them that Shade had taken Emil and was probably planning to hurt him? Lovino didn't know what to do, right now they were only running away from their problems but they wouldn't stand a chance if they confronted him.

"Lovi…" Feliciano patted his back. "Is it Antonio?"

"No!" Lovinos eyes shot open for a moment before they were filled with something similar to defeat. "But yes" He shook his head "It's him but not him"

"What do you me-"

"Emil, what about Emil?" Berwald was suddenly very close to Lovino and stared at him intensively. Lovino tried to look away but couldn't.

"Emil is…" He didn't know what to say, he didn't know where Emil was or what had happened. "He got Emil" Lovino saw how a mix of despair and anger quickly filled Berwald. They had a stare down for a moment before Berwald backed off and started walking back the same way they had just ran.

"Wait!"

"Berwald, we can not win this fight!"

"You all go back, I'll get Emil" Berwald didn't stop. Somewhere he knew that he would not win against anyone when he was like this but he couldn't think clearly. All that ran through his head was the image of Lovino hanging from the wall. The same person had Emil. Unforgivable.

"I can't let you go" Ludwig suddenly stood in front of him with his hands reached out to block his path. "You're walking towards a powerful enemy we know nothing about"

"Doesn't matter."

"We'll have to go to the others. Regroup."

"There's no time" Berwald took a deep breath and looked up at Ludwig "Move"

"What?" Ludwig felt himself move to the side and saw how Berwald passed him. He couldn't control his movements, only felt the need to comply to Berwalds demands. Suddenly, Feliciano zoomed past him and threw himself at Berwald before he could get any further. He managed to grab on to his feet which made him trip and fall.

"Don't go! If Ludwig says it's dangerous then it really is!" The look he received almost made him loose his grip but it wasn't until Berwald spoke that he actually did.

"Let go" Feliciano felt how his hands opened, he felt guilty about holding down this small child. Ludwig had regained his senses and stood in front of him again.

"We can do this a long time"

"So can I" Berwald took a deep breath again and looked up at Ludwig "Mo-"

"Move!" The shout came from above them but before they could react something crashed into Berwald and caused him to fly back, almost all the way to Lovino.

"Berwald!"

"What are you guys doing? He's almost here!" Ivan stood up on top of Berwald after his crashlanding. Ludwig and Feliciano took an instinctive step back. Ivan was mad, really mad, and they could suddenly see why.

"Ivan, what are you wearin-"

"I didn't choose this. One comment and…" Ivan shook his head "Never mind, you have to get going!" He looked behind them and added "He can't be more than 5 minutes behind"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?" Lovino stood up and stared at Ivan. He clenched his fists and started walking "Come on, we have to hurry!" He suddenly stopped and put his hands over his head before he fell down on one knee.

"Lovi!" His brother was there in seconds but he only got waved away.

"It's no use, we won't make it." Lovino blinked a few times, this was the first time he had actually seen something while he was awake. It had not been good. "I don't want to see this"

"Lovino! What did you see?" Ludwig was there too now. Lovino gave him a look of distraught which told him more than he wanted to know.

"We won't make it" Lovino closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. It had been too clear, he couldn't take it anymore. These images, it didn't matter if he was awake or not, they never showed anything good. If they ran, they would die. Lovino knew, he had seen it and he also knew that he would be the only one to survive.

"I've got an idea" Berwald seemed to have regained his senses and sat up which caused Ivan to fall down on the ground. "Also" He looked down on Ivan "Nice dress"

"Shut up"

.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert looked back at Emil that was taking deep breaths. This was the fifth time they paused so Emil could breathe and they were slowly but surely closing in to the mainland. It was still quite a while to go but he was confident they would be back within 20 minutes.

"Yes, let's go"

"No, breathe a little more first" Gilbert shook his head. Emil has pushing himself too hard, he barely took any time to recover after being underwater for so long. He got a glare as an answer and sighed "I know we need to hurry but it'll take much longer time if you pass out or something"

"I'm fine! But we need to get going!" Emil pouted when Gilbert glared back at him "They're in danger"

"Fine! Just don't put yourself in danger too" He waited for Emil to hold his breath before he once again shot through the water. It went much slower with Emil on his back than when he swam alone but he was still fast. Gilbert focused on swimming and counting but somewhere he couldn't help but worry. About his brother, about the other nations and about Antonio. He hadn't been there when all of this happened but none of that mattered, he was on his way now and he was going to save them.

.

"Emil!"

"Emil! Where are you?"

"EMIL!"

"If you scream all the time you won't hear him if he answers" Arthur sighed and looked at Lukas and Mathias that seemed like they could break apart any minute. It was obvious that they cared about Emil and would do anything to protect him.

"If we don't scream he won't have anything to answer" Lukas gave him a cold stare. He had only minutes ago started seeing shapes again but still depended on Mathias to get around, and probably to keep it together. At least he had started to recover. Arthur shook his head and decided to back off, he looked up the building next to him.

"Can you see anything?" Arthur saw how Alfred shook his head from the rooftop. He wondered how he'd managed to get up since there wasn't any ladders but decided to ignore that too. Their focus had to be Emil right now.

"Hey Arthur" Mathias caught his attention "Can't you do some magic thingy and just find him" Without even noticing he clenched his fists and answered, a bit angrily.

"Don't you think I've tried that?"

"Take it easy, just wondering."

"It's a stupid question"

"Stop it you two" Lukas interrupted just as Mathias was going to answer something probably extremely rude. "Emil is the priority here" He looked around as well as he could and sighed. His mind was spinning and his thoughts only repeated Emils name over and over. He couldn't think clearly. The two backed off but the tension remained.

"Lukas! Mathias! Arthur! There you are!" When he heard Tinos voice Lukas first felt relief but it quickly turned to a fear so great he almost fell over. Only Mathias hand gave him enough support to remain standing. Tino was mad, and worried. It couldn't only be heard in his voice but could also be felt in the air as he closed in. If he was mad it meant something had happened, if they had found Emil and he was alright, Tino would also have been fine.

"No"

"Lukas" Mathias called for his attention "We don't know yet" Lukas nodded and took a deep breath. He had to be prepared so he could act in anyway helpful for Emil. "Tino, what-"

"We know who it is. We know who the fucking bastard is." Lukas had to take a few more breaths. Tino was swearing. This was not good at all.