Chapter 34

Have a Lollipop

"You might think that you've won but that's a lie. I'll be waiting. I'll be back, you can't escap-" Antonio did his best to ignore Shade but it was hard since he never stopped talking. The others seemed to have forgotten the fact that Antonio could still hear Shade and Antonio would not be the one to remind them. They worried about him enough already.

"Well then, we've told our side of the story. Who wants to go next?" He looked at Arthur that stood at the end of the table. They were now all back in the meeting hall after being treated and getting a few hours of rest. With only a few exceptions there was a lot of yawning around the table. Antonio stood up, still very sore after the events that unfolded during the night.

"I'll go" Everyone turned towards Antonio. The looks on their faces varied from person to person. It was everything from worry to curiosity to anger. He tried to not notice, they had to hear his story first. He waited until Arthur nodded and sat down.

"Sure, go ahead. Don't leave anything out, you've played an important part in this so hopefully we can get some answers" Arthur pointed at him with his pen before he got ready to take down notes.

"Okay then" Antonio cleared his throat "When I woke up after being knocked out from the spell I was still…Me" He looked down at the table. "I thought I saw something outside so I went to investigate but then I realised it was nothing so I relaxed. That's when he pushed me out"

"Yeah that was pretty fun actually" Antonio gritted his teeth. Ignore him. Ignore him.

"I realised later that he only could take my place because I let my guard down" The stares got more intense "That's why I'm keeping it up all the time now"

"Still, you couldn't have known" Emil yawned and continued "There's not much you could've done" Antonio knew this already but it was hard for him to believe it.

"Then Lovino came over and Shade knocked him out. Then he… it was to convince him that I was dangerous" Antonio took a deep breath. There was some parts they didn't have to know. "After Lovino left we travelled to Lukas house."

"Wait a second, what did he do while I was knocked out?"

"His plan was to take care of Arthur and Lukas since they were two of the few that could stop him."

"Hey! Are you ignoring me? What did he-"

"After the Alfred incident he dragged me over here-"

"Hey!" Lovino stood up and grabbed him by the collar. "What. Did. He. Do?" Antonio tried to look anywhere except on Lovino but it didn't work for long. In the end he just sighed and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Lovino turned red within seconds and let go of him before he sat down, too embarrassed to say anything else.

"Now I got curious"

"Yeah! What did he do?"

"Anyway" Antonio shut them up "We got back here and he pretended to be me. By the way, you all should practise your sign language. It's horrible"

"Maybe it's you that wasn't clear enough!"

"Anyway!" He cleared his throat "We went to bed and while we slept Lovi had a vision. He figured it out. But Shade caught him before he could tell you all"

"I did punch him though" Lovino seemed rather pissed about the whole getting captured thing but, considering that it was Lovino, it was pretty normal. Antonio smiled and patted his head.

"Yes you did, I was so proud"

"Stop that!"

"Then after a while, Emil showed up" Antonio stopped smiling. He didn't know how he would be able to continue without breaking apart. "He'd figured out that my shadow was evil but he also though that I still had control over my body"

"So that's why you didn't wake us up? You could've died!"

"But I didn't, right? Now keep quiet and listen." Lukas frowned but listened to his brother and turned his attention towards Antonio again.

"He did figure it out eventually and that's when Shade caught him too. When he found out that people were looking for Emil, he climbed out the window and left." It got a bit harder to breathe as they were closing in to "that" part. "He left Lovino in some abandoned building and then took Emil to the shore. We went out on a boat and…and…" Antonio was shaking where he stood and his eyes filled up with tears.

"Just sit down will you. We can take it from here." Lovino pulled him down so he got back into his chair. Antonio covered his face with his hands and nodded.

"Then…Then I guess I should continue" Emil stood up, a bit nervous when everyone turned their attention towards him. "We went out on a boat and drove far away from shore. Then he held me over the edge and I think I burned him or something" Emil noticed something that looked like a knowing glance from Arthur towards Lukas but he wasn't sure "I pretty much pissed him off and he finally threw me of the edge into the water. He'd tied an anchor to my feet so I just kept sinking deeper and deep-" He was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking.

"I'm sorry"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, go on" Mathias, that clearly wasn't fine, carefully picked up the shards. He had tightened his grip around his glass of water too much as Emil retold his story and when he came to the drowning part… It had become too much.

"I'm not really sure what happened but the ropes suddenly disappeared but after that I couldn't move, it was as if I was paralysed" This time, the glance was unmistakeable. Arthur and Lukas clearly knew something he didn't. "Then I lost consciousness and woke up on the beach with Gilbert panicking next to me."

"I wasn't panicking! I was just… You know… I…"

"We swam through the water back to shore and then ran to warn you guys" Emil sat down but received some strange looks from the others "What? There's not much more to say!"

"I guess so" Mathias stood up and shook his head "So, now we know everyone's stories right?" An agreeing hum was heard throughout the room. "Then, we should take a break and when we return everyone can ask their questions" A small discussion continued concerning the exact time they should come back and in the end they decided to wait until after dinner. As the nations all stood up one after the other Lukas grabbed onto Emil.

"Are you sure that you're fine?"

"I am" Emil didn't lie, he actually felt fine. Though, he did feel like being alone right now to process everything that had happened but he doubted that Lukas would leave his side even for a moment. Well, it never hurts to try. "I'll go for a walk outside"

"Stay safe" Emil stood frozen in place for a while as Lukas turned around and searched his way back to Mathias. He had expected a certain "no" or at least a "I'll go with you". He would've expected that a normal day as well but especially now after all that happened. He shook his head. There was no use thinking about that now, he got the peace he needed. With a last glance over his shoulder, he left the room.

.

"Look at you, feeling sorry for yourself. I actually pity you, everyone must be hating you by now." Antonio could almost hear the smirk. "Who am I kidding? I love it!"

"I don't really care what you think. I won, you lost." Antonio laid back on the bed. He had a hard time moving around for too long so he'd gone back to his room to rest. Shade sighed deeply.

"You might not care about what I say but you can't ignore it fore-"

"Looooseeeer" Antonio felt how Shade got irritated and couldn't help but smile. He could feel the connection between them and he could somehow sense where the opening that they could pass through was. It was hard to explain it but it almost seemed like a doorway that Antonio could open and close as he wished. He also knew that he could open it by mistake if he dropped his guard so his main focus was always to keep it up. History would not repeat itself.

"Whatever. I'll get through one day." They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"That's weird" Lovino had left the hotel to try to find some place where the visions didn't bother him too much. Apparently it got worse when others were close by but it was okay when he was alone. He'd said that he wouldn't be back until after dinner and besides, Lovino wouldn't actually knock on the door. He'd just rush in. Antonio walked over and slowly opened. "Hello?"

"Can I come in?" Arthur didn't wait and walked past Antonio before he could even answer.

"Sure?" He couldn't help but wonder why Arthur was visiting. They had already told each other what happened at the table earlier and any questions they had would be discussed later. Was there something he couldn't tell the others?

"I have some things that I need to discuss with you" Arthur paced back and forth in the small room and Antonio noticed that he was wondering about something. He got quite curious himself and looked over at Arthur.

"Well then, start discussing" He sat back down on the bad and waited. Arthur paced back and forth a few more times before he stopped in front of Antonio.

"First of all, let me see your hand" Arthur reached out his own and waited. A bit confused, Antonio lifted his hand and placed it in Arthurs. Arthur then took of the newly wrapped bandage and flinched when he saw the hand. Even though he would be fine eventually it did not look so fine right now. The hand was riddled with blisters and it was clear that it must be hurting. "It's healing pretty slowly."

"I know, magic didn't work either" That caught Arthur attention and he took an even closer look. It was healing even slower than it normally did for a nation and if magic wouldn't heal it either there was clearly something weird about this wound.

"Was it really Emil that did this?" Arthur seemed a bit confused but curious at the same time so Antonio answered honestly.

"Yes, I saw it myself. Right before…" He fell quiet without finishing. He didn't want to remember.

"Interesting" It didn't seem like Arthur had noticed Antonios sudden loss of words and was more interested in Antonios hand. This made Antonio himself even more curious.

"What does this mean? You seem to know something" Arthur rewrapped his hand again and backed away to look at him.

"It's nothing you need to worry about"

"But-"

"Now there's another thing I want to talk to you about, well actually not to you"

"What do you-" Antonio realised and his eyes grew wide. "I don't know if that is such a good idea"

"I have some questions that needs answering. You want answers too right?" Arthur took Antonios silence as agreeance and walked around the bed to stand in front of the wall. He reached out his hand until he could feel the wallpaper underneath his fingers.

"Well, I'm honoured. The almighty Arthur pleases me with his presence" The voice was filled with sarcasm but Arthur ignored it. Instead he pressed his hand harder against the wallpaper and smiled a little.

"Hello again Shade"

.

The sun was shining outside but the wind was still blowing strong. Emil shuddered a bit and closed his jacket before he started walking away from the hotel. He didn't really have a goal in mind but he had to get away for a bit, to think. What had actually happened during the night? According to Shade he, Emil, was a mage. Emil chuckled a bit, that was just silly. There had to be some other explanation, there was no way he could use magic. But how could he explain the burn and the ropes? Not to mention the fact that he ran into a ball of fire. Emil shook his head, none of this made sense but it seemed like Lukas and Arthur knew something. He kicked a stone on the ground and looked around, somehow he'd ended up in a park. There was families having picnics, old couples out walking and a lot of children playing everywhere. All of them unknowing of the things that had unfolded the precious night. They were lucky.

"Oh my, how cute!" Emil looked up and noticed a small crowd that had gathered next to the path Emil was following. They were all of different ages and it seemed like they were looking at the same thing.

"Little boy, where are your parents? It's dangerous to be alone out here"

"Want to ride the swings with me?"

"Here have a lollipop!" They were all talking at the same time and as Emil came closer he could hear another voice, all too familiar.

"Uhm… You see, I-I have to go now so…"

"We can't just let you leave! It's too dangerous for you out there alone!" Emil watched for a while before he decided to save Berwald from the crowd.

"There you are!" It didn't seem like the people heard him, they were all too focused on Berwald. Emil put on a fake worried look as he pushed himself through. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Emil" Berwalds relief was unmistakable but the crowd didn't seem as calm.

"Who are you?" They looked at Emil, obviously suspecting him of being some sort of predator despite not looking much like one.

"I'm his… older brother" Emil felt how they looked at him as he made his way over to Berwald. An old lady poked him to get his attention.

"How can we know it's true?"

"It is" Berwald spoke up and their attention was turned towards him. "He'll look after me" They started to leave one after another, everyone obviously disappointed to not have any reason to stay any longer. Berwald relaxed and looked at Emil. "Thank you"

"No problem… Little brother" Emil had a hard time to hold back his laughter but he managed "Let's leave, they are probably still watching us." They started walking next to each other and had soon enough left the park. Emil had returned to his train of thought from earlier and Berwald couldn't help but notice his worry.

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing, really" Emil looked down and smiled slightly before he returned to staring in front of him while frowning.

"Really?"

"It's just" Emil stopped and sat down on a bench "there's a lot I don't understand"

"I see" Berwald sat down next to him and offered him one of the many lollipops he'd gotten from old couples. "What is it?"

"Well, a lot of weird things have been happening lately. All this magic and the spells and Shade saying I can do it too and what if I can? I don't know if I want that" Emil said no to the lollipop offer and leaned back a bit. He wasn't sure why he was telling Berwald this, there wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. It took quite a while for Berwald to answer.

"You know, I've spent a lot of time with Lukas" Emil looked at him. Berwald never spoke much and when he did, he always thought about what to say first. "There was a time when he went through this too."

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't always been able to use magic but one day weird things suddenly started happening" Berwald looked like he was lost in the memories. "A lot of things was set on fire, things broke without anyone touching it and I think Mathias hair changed colour a few times." He smirked a bit at the last part before he looked up at Emil "He was pretty scared"

"Lukas? Scared?" Emil smiled a little "That seems pretty unlikely"

"But he was. There is only one time I've seen him more scared" Berwald nodded "And that was tonight when he realised that you were in danger."

"I see" Emil didn't know what else to say. He had to take a moment to process this. Berwald didn't give him long though.

"Let head back" He jumped of the bench and started walking. He stopped pretty soon though and turned around. "You should talk to Lukas, he knows what to do"

"As always" Emil stood up and followed him along the road.