"You need to make a choice sometime." The demon spoke harshly. Rosita was surrounded by exact replicas of Luciano.
"I-I don't know which one is which." She stammered. The demon hissed.
"You have to choose. One will grant you freedom, the rest will banish your soul to hell now choose!" The demon commanded. Rosita snapped. She fell down to her knees and cried.
"I don't know which one is him." She cried out. That was the last thing she remembered before she woke up. She looked around at her surroundings and yawned. Yet another nightmare. She prayed that they would stop sometime soon. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, but she refused to get out of bed.
Rosita sat alone in her room, too nervous to leave. She hadn't understood a word that was said to her since they arrived four days previous. The only language she had heard them speak was German. All she could speak was Italian and a bit of English. She hoped Luciano would decide that they needed to move on before they realized she couldn't understand them. Then again, Luciano obviously didn't care. He hadn't come looking for her since they arrived. He spent all of his spare time with the hosts. She had been alone the entire time.
"Rosita?" Luciano called out. Finally, he began to show interest. She poked her head out of her room. He walked over to her quickly. She had never seen him smile like he was at that moment in her life. He seemed so abnormally happy. He quickly hugged her and lifted her into the air.
"L-Luciano, are you alright?!" She cried out. He squeezed her happily and laughed.
"Of course I am. I have never been better." He put her back on the ground and laid on her bed excitedly.
"Y-you are clean. Did you take a shower too?" She asked. He nodded like a small child and rolled around on the blankets. "Why are you acting like this? Are you drunk?" She questioned.
"In a way, yes, I am drunk. Drunk with the power of emotion." He said blissfully.
"Well, that's it. You have gone insane. I didn't think we would get far in our travels but this is ridiculous." She crossed her arms and looked down at him.
"No, I mean, I... Rosita, I don't really understand many emotions yet, and this one is completely new to me. 'Tis like a spring day full of life has erupted into my soul!" He cried out.
"Hmm, yes, you are quiet the poet, now, what kind of drugs did they slip into your drink?" She questioned. Luciano shook his head and rolled around in the blankets.
"They didn't drug me, I'm just... happy... That's it. This must be what happy feels like. I love it." He laughed and hugged a pillow. Rosita ripped it away from him and shook her head.
"You are obviously sick." She sighed. She was about to lecture him when the door opened. Gilen walked into the room.
"Excuse me, I hope I'm not intruding." He said quietly. Luciano sat up and shook his head.
"Not at all, is there anything you need?" Luciano stood up and walked over to him. Gilen pointed to Rosita.
"I was just going to show her the gardens." He turned and looked at her with a small smile. "Would you like to go see them?" He asked kindly. Rosita just sat, confused. What did he ask her? She couldn't understand him. Luciano looked at her, expecting a quick response.
"I-I don't know." She said quietly. Gilen walked over to her, the smile growing a bit.
"I forgot that you aren't a nation." He spoke in fluent Italian. "I was asking if you would like to see the gardens." He extended his elbow towards her. Rosita blushed from embarrassment.
"Oh... well... yes, that sounds nice." She smiled and took his arm. The two left Luciano alone in the bedroom. He guided her out to the back pasture. Luciano got up and walked across the hall to Lutz's room. He knocked on the door nervously. Why was he nervous? Lutz liked him a lot, and he liked Lutz a lot, so what was there to be nervous about.
"Yes?" Lutz cracked open the door and smiled when he saw Luciano. "Hey, what can I help you with?" he opened the door all the way. Luciano blushed with embarrassment when he saw that Lutz had just gotten out of a shower. The only thing covering his waist was a small towel.
"I-I just... came to say hello." Luciano was trying to look for other things to keep his eyes off of Lutz. Nothing was working though. Lutz pulled him into the room and sat on the bed with him.
"Well then, hello." he grabbed Luciano's hand gently. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Neither of them knew quite what to say. Finally, Lutz thought of something to start a conversation. "Listen, I know you want to go out and find others like us, but I think it would be best if you both stayed through the winter. It's not like you have to do this before the world ends, that already happened." He put his arms around the other gently.
"Yeah, I think we can do that." Luciano looked up at him. He blushed when he felt Lutz kiss him. It was longer and more passionate than the ones from the day before. Luciano put up his hands and began to rub his bare chest. The two kissed for a few minutes before Lutz picked him up and laid him down on the bed. He kissed at the others neck and shoulders as he ran his hands up his shirt, exploring his body gently.
"L-Lutz, are we about to do... something?" Luciano whispered. He ran his fingers through Lutz's wet hair, slicking it back. His body shivered and burned with desire under his touch.
"Do you want to do something?" Lutz asked in between kisses. Luciano nodded slightly and closed his eyes. He relaxed when he felt Lutz remove his shirt and kiss at his chest. He blushed when he felt Lutz's hands wander down to the belt around his waist. There was a soft thud as it hit the floor, along with his pants, underwear, and the towel. "I love you." He whispered. The words rung in Luciano's head like morning bells. He kissed the other gently.
"I love you too." He whispered in response. Lutz grabbed a small bottle off of the nightstand, and within a few moments, Luciano felt him. He pushed in with a soft moan and began to kiss and nip at his neck again.
There was a vast garden, about an acre of various flowers sprouting up into the sky. They were giving their final bursts of life before going dormant for winter. Rosita looked around the garden with amazement.
"The old Austria liked to keep his house tidy, and his gardens neat." He said quietly as he picked a daisy.
"Gilen, how do you know so much about the old nations?" She asked quietly.
"Well, it turns out that the old me kept a diary for centuries. It tells about all of the many different nations of the world. However, the downside to it is my old self was conceded and his perspective on things wasn't always a real reliable source, but my little brother's other self kept a diary too. His is a bit less biased, so we go off of what the diaries say for the old nations." Gilen explained. He walked her over to an old fountain where they sat.
"What was Luciano like, back before when he was Feliciano?" Rosita asked with awe.
"Hmm... He was sweet... He was a very kind nation to everyone. He was adored by all who met him. In a way, he was like a little kid. So innocent and gentle. My old self had a bit of a crush on him." He laughed. "But Lutz's other self was way worse about it. I read his diary about the old Italy. He kept calling him things like idiot, moron, and in one entry he even called him a little bastard. But in the end, he always said something like, I can't believe I am stuck with him, but I guess he isn't too bad once you get used to him. And from there, it seemed like after a couple entries, they got a bit more heartfelt. In one of the last ones, he said that he started to feel funny when he was around him. He couldn't explain it, but he started to get nervous around him, he would get sweaty and his heart would race. He even started to feel happy." Gilen laughed. "I guess Ludwig loved him a lot."
"That explains more than a few things." Rosita rolled her eyes. "This morning Luciano came into my room and acted like he was drunk. He said it was happiness and something about spring time and his soul. I have no idea what he was talking about." Rosita sighed and held her head in her hands.
"The same thing happened to me. Lutz walked into my room and laid on top of me while I was trying to take a nap. No matter how much I tried to get him to move, that idiot just laid on top of me laughing and trying to tell me about his night, but it ended up being a bunch of unrecognizable mumbles. Do you think something happened between them?" Gilen said with a knowing smirk.
"There is no doubt in my mind, but Gilen, they can't be in love. We need to leave soon to find more nations. We were hoping to find as many as possible before winter set in. We have already gone off schedule enough. We can't stay much longer." Rosita said, a hint of sadness in her voice. She didn't want to leave. They finally found a heaven on the destroyed earth. She loved spending time with Gilen and Derik. Even if she never understood them up until this point, they had been very kind to her.
"I'm sorry Rosita, I will see to it that you leave tomorrow morning if that is what you wish. I can lend you some supplies to make the long journey a bit easier for you both. We have plenty of food to lend you." He smiled and hugged her. "But promise me someday you and Luciano will come back to see us all." He looked at her. She smiled and nodded.
"I promise." She laughed. Gilen gave her a friendly kiss on the forehead.
"Come on, its getting chilly out now. The sun is going down and it is getting deeper into fall. It's going to start getting colder." He looked up at the clouded sky. They stood and went indoors to sit by the blazing fire. Derik sat playing his organ loudly in the library. Each note rang through the house. "Derik, where are Lutz and Luciano?" Gilen asked. The tall man turned his head and tilted down his red sunglasses.
"I believe Lutz and Luciano are in their room." He answered, then turned back to his music. Gilen walked towards the door.
"Wait, I will go get them. You sit here and warm up." She said with a gentle smile. Gilen returned it and sat back down. Rosita left the warm music room and walked up the stairs. She couldn't remember which room was which. She wandered the hallway, looking for the two of them. She passed many beautiful paintings on the way there. One particular piece of art caught her attention. It was a small child with light brown hair in a little green maids dress. She smiled when she saw the child's happy face, then, something stuck out in the piece. There was a random curl in the same spot as Luciano's. she gasped a bit and looked closer at the child. It was old Italy when he was a kid. She let out a quiet laugh and kept walking.
After many long minutes of searching, she was about to give up. The house was too big, it would be nearly impossible to find them. Finally, she heard Luciano's voice. She followed it's echo down the hall. They were behind a big, dark brown door. She put her ear up against the heavy wood, trying to listen in on any conversations they might be having, but it was strangely quiet. Slowly, she opened the door. When she saw the two of them, she couldn't tell if she wanted to scream, puke, or both.
Luckily for her, the blankets covered from their waists down, but that didn't stop her from knowing what was going on. The blankets moved up and down rhythmically, their hands exploring each others bodies. Their quiet moans of pleasure were the only sound in the room until she started screaming and yelling at the two of them. Lutz stopped kissing at Luciano's neck to look up at her shocked. Their faces were both bright red. Rosita finished ranting to them, then stormed off downstairs. She walked back into the library and slammed the door.
"Rosita, are you okay?" Gilen said nervously. He wasn't very good around people who were angry. He shrunk back in his seat a bit. Derik just turned around and looked at her curiously. After a few moments of thinking what to say, she exploded out at them.
"I walked into their room, and they were... LUCIANO AND LUTZ WERE HAVING SEX!" She screamed. Derik smacked his face on the organ to keep from laughing. At the same time, the two lovers ran into the room.
"Rosita, it's not what you think" Luciano began. He didn't have time to give his explanation. Rosita ran over and slapped him hard across the face. He stumbled back a bit into Lutz. The side of his face burned where her hand struck her.
"Whoa, that's a bit uncalled for." Lutz said quietly. Unfortunately for him, she repeated her actions. The next moment, the two of them were on the ground holding their cheeks. Gilen was looking down at them straight-faced, but in reality, he was dying of laughter on the inside.
"YOU ASSHOLES!" She screamed at them. "How long have you two been fucking behind our backs?" She put her hands on her hips angrily. Finally, Luciano got up the nerve to stand up to her.
"We have only been here for four days Rosita, so we couldn't have been doing much." He said in a mocking tone. She slapped him again, putting him back on the ground.
"And it wasn't behind your backs... at least not all of you... Derik knew." Lutz said quietly. He joined Luciano back on the ground.
"I can't fucking believe the two of you." She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the scared religious girl back in Milan?" Luciano asked quietly.
"She got pissed off by a couple of inconsiderate assholes!" She yelled at him. He shut his mouth and shrank back down. "And you," she turned her attention back to Lutz. "some host. Do you just fuck anyone who walks through those doors?!" She screamed at him. He shook his head and scooted away like a scared child. "This is such bullshit. Luciano, we leave first thing tomorrow. It was already decided while you two where fucking in the fucking bedroom. Fucking shit! I can't fucking believe this load of shit! God damn son of a bitch!" She yelled. Finally, she couldn't take it. She stomped out of the library and up to her room.
"... She is quite explosive." Gilen said to break the silence. Lutz stood up and helped Luciano to his feet.
"You know, I'm glad she did that." Luciano laughed quietly. Lutz looked at him hurt, misunderstanding him. "She spent her whole life being a good girl. Going to church every Sunday, never saying a single swear word, hell, I bet she has never even been on a date. She is probably saving herself for marriage and everything." Luciano laughed and grabbed himself a scotch. "I really am a bad influence on that poor girl." he said with a smirk. Lutz was still rubbing the red spot on his cheek.
"Well then, since none of you boys are going to step up and talk to that poor sweetheart, I guess I have to." Derik sighed. "I hope you are happy Lutz, you may have just broken her fragile heart." He strode out of the library and up to her room. The other three sat in silence. Gilen wasn't quite sure what to say to his brother, and Lutz felt the same way. Luciano felt out of place at the moment. It was as if he shouldn't even be there. Finally, Gilen stepped up to break the silence.
"I suspected something like this would happen." He said quietly. Lutz glared at him.
"Shut the hell up. Stop acting so high and mighty, like you know everything." Lutz grabbed a beer and began to drink it quickly.
"I was just saying that... never mind, you wouldn't understand." Gilen shyly walked towards the door, but stopped when confronted by his larger younger brother.
"Try me, asshole." he looked down at him, fury burning in his eyes.
"Lutz... You are a child still. Even your other self was still too young to understand how the world works. You don't think about things, you just do them, including him. You must stop being so impulsive." Gilen said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. Lutz's mind was clouded with rage. He swung his fist. There was a loud crack when it his Gilen's jaw. The older brother flew sideways and landed on the ground with a hard thump. Lutz was about to throw another punch when Luciano grabbed his arm firmly.
"Do not take your anger out on him." He ordered. "We got caught, big deal."
"Luciano, because of that mistake, you have to leave in the morning." Lutz was holding in tears.
"... So that was a mistake?... All of it was just a misunderstanding?" Luciano glared at him. "Saying you loved me was a mistake?" He looked at the ground hurt. "I guess people will say anything to get something they want." He murmured as he left the room.
"No, Luciano I didn't mean-" Lutz watched him leave. It wasn't long before Gilen followed him, leaving him alone in the library. He sat in a chair and poured himself a glass of vodka and topped it off with a cigarette.