Chapter 28

Don't lose focus

"This. This is your great plan?"

"I said I had a plan. Not that it was great"

"But hiding? You, of all people, hiding?"

"I don't like it either but-"

"Be quiet you two, he'll pass any moment now!" Lovino interrupted Berwald and Ivans bickering.

"Fine" Berwald focused on watching the road. Ivans crashlanding had given him some time to at least calm down enough to think. He still wanted to run off to face Shade straight on but he knew that he wouldn't be able to win. Instead, they were now sitting in the bushes far away from the road but still close enough to watch it. They could see the path but if someone passed, they wouldn't be seen. While they waited, Lovino had explained what he knew about Antonios condition.

"Hey, let go" Berwald felt how Ludwig carefully bent open his fingers. He hadn't realised how tightly he had gripped the branches of the bush. "You'll hurt yourself" His hands bled a little, apparently the bush had thorns he hadn't noticed.

"Don't worry" The pain quickly faded, he had been through worse. "How long?"

"One minute" Lovino swallowed nervously and Berwald frowned. He knew that he wasn't the only one affected badly by this.

"Let's keep quiet then" They waited and felt how their anxiousness grew bigger. Lovino had made it clear to them that he didn't know if this would work or not. He couldn't choose what to see after all. Everyone suddenly tensed when they heard a branch snap further up the road and soon enough they also heard heavy breathing closing in on them.

"Fuck!" They saw Shade trip right in front of them on the road. Berwald clenched his fists, why would he have to fall right here? He had to restrain himself to not run down and ask where Emil was since it seemed like he wasn't there with Shade. Even though he wasn't there it didn't mean that he was hurt, at least that was what Berwald told himself. Shade stood up again and brushed of his clothes. He was just about to start running again as he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at the ground. "What did you say?" It didn't take long for the hiding nations to figure out that he was talking to Antonio though they could only hear one side of the conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes but I would do it much worse than I have to"

"You mean like Emil?" The group tensed at the mention of Emils name and Ludwig had to grab on to Berwald to stop him from doing something stupid. They turned their attention back to Shade that stood smiling on the road.

"Oh, so you'll fight me? You can't do anything"

"So I can't what? Kill anyone else? Like I did with Emil?"

The world went silent. Berwald stared at the road feeling numb all over, he could see Shades mouth move but no sound came out. The wind had stopped shouting and the leaves didn't rustle. He must have heard it wrong, Emil had to be alive. Without Emil none of them would be able to keep going, he was far too important to all of them. To Berwald he was a friend, to Tino as well, to Mathias he was a son and to Lukas he was a brother. They were a family even though they didn't get along all the time. Just as fast as the world had gone silent it came back with full force. He felt the looks from the other nations but he barely noticed them. Shade was still standing on the road but he had stopped talking and seemed to be getting ready to leave. That's when it hit him.

This man standing not far from him had hurt Emil, Berwald refused to even think the word "killed", and soon he would be gone. Shade would be running towards the town where the rest of his family were. Berwald had already started moving when his feelings caught up with him and the realisation hit. An anger, greater than ever before, exploded within him. He had to stop Shade, though he didn't know if it was for vengeance or to protect the others, and he would have to do it now. Then, everything happened very fast. An arm locked around his waist and a hand covered his mouth.

"You have to calm down!" Ludwigs voice was only a whisper but Berwald could still hear it clearly as he was pulled back behind the bush. "He could be lying!" Berwald fought to get loose but it was no use. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, but he still knew for sure that Shade didn't have any reason to lie. He must have…

"Please…" Tears were streaming down Felicianos face as he took Berwalds hand. "You dying too wouldn't help" Berwald didn't relax, it was more as if all his energy was drained at the same moment. He saw how Shade started off in a jog again and had soon disappeared into the forest, too far away to be caught now. Ludwig let go as he felt Berwald stop struggling and he fell down on his knees.

"Dying too…too…Emil can't…he has to…what is…" Berwald kept struggling to make sense of anything, just anything, but right now nothing did. The world spun around him as he held his hands to his head and he didn't know whether or not he was screaming. He felt like screaming at least. He heard the others talking but couldn't make out any words. After a while he felt himself get picked up and they headed down the road again. He couldn't make out who was carrying him, his mind only echoed one thing over and over. One name.

"Emil Emil Emil Emil Emil Emil"

.

"Fuck!" Antonio watched as Shade tripped and fell hard onto the ground. He was getting tired and couldn't keep up the same speed as he had before. He was up pretty fast and was in the middle of brushing off his clothes when Antonio decided to stop following orders.

"Doesn't matter"

"What did you say?" Shade turned towards him and looked down. He seemed angry but Antonio didn't care.

"It doesn't matter anymore" Antonio crossed his arms. He had been told to be quiet but none of that had any meaning any longer.

"What do you mean?"

"Even if I keep quiet you'll still hurt people" All of them. All of them would get hurt and Antonio felt powerless. There had to be something, anything, that he could do.

"Yes but I would do it much worse than I have to"

"But in the end, they'll all get hurt right?"

"You mean like Emil?" Antonio watched how Shade smiled widely down at him and felt a chill run through him. Shade had enjoyed it, he was completely crazy, and he had to be stopped.

"Yes. But I won't let you do that. I'll fight"

"Oh, so you'll fight me? You can't do anything" Shade chuckled and Antonio felt himself heat up.

"I can! I'll stop you so you can't-"

"So I can't what? Kill anyone else? Like I did with Emil?" Shade smiled even wider and Antonio felt sick. Kill. He had killed someone and Antonio hadn't been able to do anything but watch. "You couldn't do anything then, why would you be able to now?" Before he could answer a branch snapped somewhere in the forest next to them which caught Shades attention. He stared for a moment but seemed to decide it had been nothing.

"I'll find a way"

"Good luck" Shade only gave him a last smile before he turned and started running once again.

.

Elizabeta shuddered in the cold wind as the peered between houses and into alleyways to try and find one of the other groups. She was pretty irritated at having to do what Ivan told her but she also knew that something was weird. Antonio should not be that far out in the forest, especially not since he said he had to look after Lovino. If Lovino wasn't feeling well there was no way that Antonio would leave him for so long. She shook her head and continued towards the more central part of the town when she suddenly heard voices. Arguing voices. A smile made its way to her face as she followed them, if they were arguing it was a high possibility she would find the people she was looking for.

"That can't be true!"

"Listen to me! It is true!" Elizabeta was surprised to see that it was Tino and Lukas arguing and not any of the others that just seemed to be in different stages of shock.

"Hey! Guys!" She waved at them and went in for the landing just as they turned towards her. At the last moment she realised that she had too much speed and crashed into Francis so they both fell down on the ground.

"Why me?" While ignoring Francis, Elizabeta stood up and looked at the others while she evaluated the situation. Tino was angry while Lukas and Mathias both wore faces of disbelief. Yao and Kiku only seemed sad, Arthur was lost in thought while Alfred seemed to have decided on something. He held Matthew in a tight grip.

"You all know something" She watched as Mathias walked up to her.

"We know who has been attacking us and we know that he has Emil" He shook his head to clear his mind. "It's-"

"It's Antonio, isn't it?" The others stared at her as she interrupted.

"How did you know?"

"We saw him by a harbour on the other side of the forest" A silence fell over the group for a moment before Tino walked up to her.

"Where?" It was more of a demand than a question. He looked around for a moment before he added "Where's Ivan?"

"Ivan followed him"

"On his own?"

"Yes" She saw how they shook their heads and realised that they probably had to hurry. "Follow me, I'll show you" Mathias that had been standing quietly this far suddenly turned towards her with a look of determination and anger.

"Please. Show us." Elizabeta nodded and lifted just above their heads. She knew they had to take the land route this time but it would still go faster if she flew. The others waited until she set off before they followed in a fast pace.

.

"See! I told you three minutes was too long!" Gilbert shook his head as Emil coughed over and over again. He had insisted that he could hold his breath for at least three minutes and, even though Gilbert had been against it, they had tried.

"S-Shut up, I'm f-fine" He managed to get the words out between his coughs and shudders. Gilbert sighed, Emil was probably freezing by now. Gilbert couldn't feel the cold the same way Emil did which was probably because of the spell. "H-Hurry"

"I will. In a moment"

"L-Ludwig might b-be in danger t-too" Gilbert felt himself tense and glanced back at Emil.

"That won't work twice" That was how he'd agree to try out three minutes in the first place. Emil had stopped coughing but was still breathing heavily. Gilbert clenched his fists, he knew that Emil was right, Ludwig could be in danger too but he also knew that it would only slow them down if they took too many risks. Gilbert suddenly felt his back warm up.

"Go" He looked at Emil again, the colour had returned to his face and he wasn't shaking anymore. His body heat felt abnormally high but he didn't look feverish. Emil met his eyes and stared at him with a determined look. "Go!"

"Oh, yes" Emil held his breath and Gilbert shot forward. They didn't have long to go but too much could go wrong if they weren't in time.

.

"I'm a worthless brother" They ran fast but Lukas could only follow Mathias lead. He felt sick throughout his whole body as shapes that didn't make any sense passed by him. Emil was in danger and Lukas couldn't do anything. He felt useless.

"We're both useless, we were supposed to protect him" Lukas felt Mathias warmth but it wasn't comforting anymore.

"Even though he didn't want it, we should have watched over him"

"If he trusted us, he would've woken us up"

"If only we-"

"Oh, shut up!" They snapped out of it when both of them received a slap at the back of their heads by Tino. "You speak like he's a helpless little kid and, even worse, like you've already lost him!" Lukas could feel the anger radiating from Tino.

"I know but-"

"No buts! Right now just focus on helping Emil, if you want to blame yourselves do it when he's safe!" Tino sped up and left them alone to think over his words. Lukas shook his head.

"He's right"

"I know" Lukas took a deep breath. He could beat himself up over this later, Emil was the only thing important right now. They ran silently for a while but both Lukas and Mathias felt that something had changed. Tinos words hadn't only put the two of them in place but also made the whole group even more determined to make this right again.

"Something's wrong" While Mathias and Lukas got scolded by Tino, Arthur had been thinking. Considering what Kiku had told them it seemed like not only Emil but Lovino was missing as well. Antonio would never do anything to hurt Lovino so none of this made any sense unless…

"It's just through here!" Arthurs thoughts were interrupted by Elizabetas voice from above him. They were closing in towards an opening in a forest just in front of them.

"Let's hurry" Mathias sped up with Lukas and Tino close behind him. Arthur hurried as well, he understood that they were worried but if it got too far they wouldn't be able to think straight. Just as they reached the road that would lead them to their goal two voices rang through the air.

"Stop!" The group actually listened while Kiku and Yao looked at each other. They could both see that the other one knew so they turned towards the group and said it at the same time. "He's coming"

"What? How can you know?"

"These fairy things told me" Yao lifted his hand as if he was holding something. "I'm getting kind of attached to them you know."

"What about you?" Francis turned to Kiku that pointed towards Alfred.

"Matthew told me" Alfred looked down at the cat he was currently holding "He can smell him"

"I can too" Mathias stared into the forest "He'll be here any second"

"What do we do? Do we hide and surprise him or-"

"No, we'll wait right here" Lukas tone was determined "We'll show him how scary we can be"

"I agree" Tino stepped forward "We won't give him a chance" Arthur walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder before he also turned to stare towards the forest.

"Then we'll wait" The tension was high in the group as they stared towards the forest. As promised, they didn't have to wait long before they heard footsteps and heavy breathing closing in on them. Mathias had to restrain himself to not rush in to attack when Antonio got visible and stopped right in front of them. First, only shock showed on his face but he quickly pulled himself together and soon showed a deep worry instead.

"I'm so glad I found you guys! Lovino has disappeared just like Emil and I can't find him anywhere!"