Never Leave Me

(AN: Hello. I had some formatting errors during this chapter, so if something seems massively screwed up, please tell me and I'll fix it as fast as I can. Thank you.)

The man with the square jaw grinned cruelly at the pair, watching their expressions as they calculated the situation. Antonio had pulled away from Lovino cautiously, now only holding onto his hand as he whispered quickly to the other man in an attempt to comfort him. "Shh, Lovi…don't worry, I understand…" he said quietly. How could he have forgotten South Italy's problems with the mafia? They had been plaguing him for decades, since the modern gang came to be. Lovino had confided in him all the problems he had gotten into, all to protect his identity as a country. Antonio shuddered at the thought of having the mafia find out who he really was; if he was killed, what would become of him? Would he disappear like Holy Rome, or would he just die like a human? Antonio didn't want to find out…he'd vowed to protect Italy centuries ago, and even though he was no longer a territory, Antonio refused to break that promise.

The man stepped defensively in front of Lovino, ready to face the armed man. He was prepared for anything—he was a former pirate, after all. "Tell me what you need from Lovino," he said, attempting to remain calm while still being stern, unyielding in his attempts to protect his lover, who was shaking: whether it was out of anger or fear though, he wasn't sure.

"Isn't it obvious?" The man laughed, shaking his head as though the situation were funny…but the gun in his hand showed that this was clearly no laughing matter. "I'm here for the money he owes to the mafia…of course, if he won't be paying up at this very moment…" With his free hand the man snapped his fingers casually, and suddenly three more men appeared, blocking the doorway and looking smug and self-assured. "Well then, neither of you will be leaving. And I wouldn't recommend doing anything rash if I were you…" The man smiled, raising one eyebrow as he re-aimed the gun at Lovino. "Or else things could get a bit messy. And we wouldn't want that, now would we boys?"

Without warning, Lovino stepped forward, standing next to Antonio and putting one arm out as though to block him. "You…you won't have to hurt anyone," he said bitterly, moving forward slowly. "Antonio…" he turned his head slightly, a tiny smile crossing his face briefly. "I love you." With that, he turned his head back to the man and nodded. "I'll go quietly, just don't do anything to him. You understand? …Antonio, promise me you won't tell Feliciano."

Antonio's mind went blank as he processed Lovino's words. There was no way he would let him go without trying to protect him. He could pay Lovino's debts—his boss would be furious, but he didn't care. He was the one in charge; He was Spain, and he would do anything to shelter his former territory, his best friend, his lover. Debt was a small price to pay in exchange for Lovino's safety. Antonio looked up to make eye contact with the man, now wary of his…assistants.

"Lovino won't be leaving with you. I can pay back his debts...Just let him go."

Lovino whipped around suddenly, eyes wide with shock and horror. "Antonio, no!"

"Oh?" The man's lip quivered, as though he were about to smile. "Are you quite certain? Your little friend here owes us quite a lot of money…are you sure you can take that sort of debt onto your shoulders?"

"Antonio!" Lovino yelled again, cutting the other man off and possibly causing him more anger. "I'm not worth that! Don't you dare do it, you bastard!" There were tears in his eyes, but if Lovino noticed, he made no effort to wipe them away. Smiling faintly, Antonio embraced his lover's cheek in an attempt to stop the tears.

"Lovi, mi vida…you are worth everything." He thought back briefly to when Lovino was still a child- how much money he and his bosses had poured into wars with France and Turkey in order to keep him, how happy he was when his former partner had given Lovino to him…yes, he was worth it. For the past five hundred years, the other man had become his life, his reason to live. Even after being defeated by Kirkland, after losing all the power and prosperity he had gained, he always continued to fight because of Lovino. He turned around to address the stranger.

"Tell me how much he owes you, I'll pay as much as I can right here, right now." He tried not to let the worry show on his face as he realized how much money he had located in his house. The safe he kept only contained so much, and these men wanted the debt paid back immediately.

"Oh, only about fifteen million."

Lovino blanched.

Francis and Matthew traipsed through the foreign streets, exhausted from a long night of wandering the city in search of their friends. Francis hadn't meant to scare Lovino off— actually, he had expected him to run away from Antonio's house the moment he noticed France. He had just hoped that the sight of Canada, one of Lovino's closest friends, would keep him from leaving in a fit of rage. Unfortunately, Matthew's modest demeanor caused the Italian to fail to notice his presence.

After Spain had run off after Romano, Francis and Matthew had both agreed to go looking for them; the last thing they needed were two oblivious idiots running about freely.

It was only after two long hours of wandering the streets of Madrid that the two blondes decided to head back two Spain's house. Estimating that the quarreling lovers had returned home by now, Francis had let himself in, familiar with the estate as if it was his own. He walked through the large house with Matthew following closely behind him, searching for Antonio and Lovino. He paused suddenly as he heard an unfamiliar, threatening voice coming from the living room. Matthew's eyes widened in fear as he recognized the man's accent. His thoughts raced back to the last time he had seen Lovino—about two weeks ago—when the other man had confided in him the debt he owed to the mafia. Matthew had tried to help his friend, but Lovino had insisted that he had the situation under control. Lovino had only asked that Matthew kept it a secret until he had sorted everything out.

Matthew grabbed Francis by the shoulder and urged him upstairs while signaling for him to be silent. Francis, understanding the situation, followed his lover cautiously, making as little noise as possible. Locking themselves in Antonio's office, which was conveniently the room farthest away from the living room, Matthew whispered Lovino's peculiar situation to Francis, hoping the older man would be able to come up with a plan to help Antonio and Lovino escape. After a few minutes of debating with himself, Francis turned to Antonio's desk and pulled out a small handgun that his friend had kept there for protection. He then proceeded to open a large, wood cabinet, and after sorting through boxes for a few short moments, retrieved identification, and put it into the briefcase, along with some money that he had pulled out of his coat pocket.

The Canadian had been watching him intently through all of his packing, not saying a word. He was somewhat relieved when his lover finally turned to him and said, "Cher, I have may have a plan, but first you must tell me everything you know about this man and his associates."

Lovino stared in horror at the men – he could tell that they were nearing the end of their rope waiting for Antonio to get the money, which he hadn't yet, and he could do absolutely nothing about it: he didn't have the money right here, and he was sure Antonio didn't either. There was no getting out of this situation without—

"Antonio! Tenemos el dinero, abre la puerta!"

Lovino jumped when he heard this. Who the hell could…it was the accent that gave it away. Francis. "A-ah! That's my...that's my...a-associate! He has the money for us!" Lovino attempted to step forward to open the door, but within moments the leader of the band had the smaller boy in a headlock with his gun against his head. "So you snitched about it then?" he said, a sneer in his voice. "I should have known. Doriano, get the door!"

"Right Boss." The one called Doriano moved to the door as Lovino fell completely still, his face blanching once more as he registered just how much danger he was in. He barely managed to turn his face a degree towards Antonio to mouth the words 'I love you' to him before the man had forced him to look forward, the gun pressed hard against his temple.

"Eyes on the door, Lovino," the leader spat through clenched teeth, watching with caution as Doriano opened the door...

Lovino watched in complete shock as Francis grabbed Doriano by the shoulder, pulling him in close and punching him hard in the face. Dropping his unconscious body to the floor, he strode into the house confidently, swiping up the gun from the stranger and smirking. "You should learn to be more careful with who you let into your house, Antonio…" he said confidently. Lovino stared at Francis with some awe as he turned to face him and the man. "You're here to collect a debt, I presume?" He laughed softly, shaking his head. "It couldn't be half as big as the one he owes us. Let me guess—is it twenty million? That would be nothing!" Francis began lifting the hand which wielded the gun, and within seconds someone outside had shot the remaining two henchmen. With that, Francis pointed the gun at the boss, who still had his gun pointed at Lovino. Lovino wondered who the hell he had outside, and on such short notice…?

"I have people waiting outside, waiting for me to bring these two with me. Think about this before you do anything brash. If you shoot Lovino, you will never get your money—and neither will I. I'll have to kill you, maybe even your family, in order to pay for the losses. You wouldn't want that, oui?" He tilted his head as though to get a better view of the man. "I suggest you take your disgusting hands off of him before I get angry."

Lovino watched as the man stared Francis down, the look in his eyes dark, cold and calculating as he tried to decide what to do… "I believe we can talk this over," he said slowly, removing his gun from Lovino's head and holding it away about an inch. He pulled his arm back slightly, giving Lovino a bit more room to maneuver…just a little more…slowly, the man continued to move his arm, pulling it back slightly more…

Without warning, Lovino elbowed the man in the nose, throwing his foot back and dragging it down from the man's knee all the way to his foot, making sure to stomp on it hard before breaking away from him. The man cried out and lurched backwards, barely able to keep his balance as he stumbled. That was when Lovino struck again, whipping around and grabbing the gun from the man without a second thought. Kicking the man in the shin, Lovino forced him onto his back and smirked. "Ciao," he said darkly, before firing the gun straight at the man's head. The bang resounded throughout the room, and Lovino grimaced as the mafia man's blood spilled out onto the floor.

"Sorry about that, Antonio," he said sharply. "I'm sure that'll be hard to get out of the carpet..." Then, without warning, Lovino shot again, this time at the man's heart. "That's for threatening my lover, by the way," he said, spitting on the man's corpse with disgust, before swiping up the man's gun holster and attaching it to his belt, replacing the gun and turning to Antonio with an angered look on his face. "They aren't going to be happy that I shot one of theirs," he said coldly, before taking Antonio's hand and pulling him forward. "We have to get out of here...Francis, we've got to get to a hotel, and fast. They're going to be expecting an answer soon, that you can be su- ...sure of," he managed. There were tears forming in his eyes now as he realized just what he'd done...

Lovino had just shot a man in cold blood in front of his lover.

What would Antonio think of him /now/?

Lovino stood under the shower head, allowing the hot, steaming water to wash away his tears and guilt. He was staying in the same hotel room as Antonio, but he hadn't said a word to the other man since the incident had happened...he was so scared, and so afraid that Antonio would hate him now that he had done those things in front of him...he'd never done those things in front of Antonio before. And his mafia debt…now he was sure he had a bounty on his head...now that he was alone, Lovino sunk to his knees, naked and shivering, and cried hard into his hands.

A few minutes later, he heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Lovino? Is everything alright in there?"

"D-don't come in!" Lovino hiccupped from behind the door, wrapping his arms around himself as he tried to control his crying. He wasn't able to however, and a loud sob escaped his mouth as he turned up the heat on the water. He would just burn himself to death, that was what he would do. He couldn't look at Antonio after doing what he'd done…

"Amor, I need you to open the door for me…" Antonio said lovingly, trying to coax Lovino out of the bathroom. But no…he couldn't look at Antonio. Not like this.

"N-no! Just go away Antonio!" He turned his back to the door, his voice quivering as he tried not to shout. "I'm not coming out! Just let me burn in here!"

He heard the door opening and ducked his head into his knees, slouched over and defeated. He flinched slightly as Antonio's hand reached through the steaming water to turn it off, wrapping a towel around Lovino's shoulders. "I need you to tell me what happened…" Antonio said, putting one hand lightly on Lovino's shoulder while looking into his eyes. Lovino couldn't take it however, and jerked away from the other man's hand fearfully.

"Don't look at me Antonio!" he snapped. "This isn't worth it! I'm not worth this! Don't you see that?" He sobbed again, burying his face into his hands and shivering. "I shouldn't have done it…now there's a bounty on my head and yours and…oh, God, I shouldn't have done this…I should have just gone with them, I should have just made you let me go…" He finally looked up, his eyes wide and teary. "H-how could you stay with me? After everything I've done?"

He jumped again when Antonio pulled him into a tight embrace, his arms around the other man's back protectively. He pulled his head back a small amount, looking Lovino in the eyes. "Don't you ever tell me that you are not worth anything, because you are worth everything to me, Lovino. I don't care if I get sent to hell, if it means protecting you, being with you, I'll take anything. A bounty is such a small thing compared to what I feel for you, the happiness that you bring me…I love you so much, mi vida. Please never forget this again."

Lovino stared in wonder at his lover, surprise and love clouding his mind as he wrapped his arms around Antonio and pulled him closer. "A-Antonio…" he whispered. "Please…please never let me go…I know you love me, I don't forget, I just…I don't see how I deserve it…but I love you, so, so much…" he mumbled into his lover's ear, before suddenly wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him in close. "Kiss me," Lovino whispered. "Let's just forget…forget about this…just for tonight, Antonio…I just want to forget it happened, just for a little while…help me forget…"

"I won't let you go as long as I live…I promise…" Antonio whispered gently as he leaned his head down. "Come now, Lovi…let's forget it together…" He kissed Lovino and, in that moment, the two were one.

(AN: Hi again. Today I learned how to italicize here! I'm doing my best, but constructive criticism is always helpful! As you can see, I'm not the greatest at fight scenes or…romance scenes, but I'm really going to do my best because my co-author has inspired me to really give it my all and to not give up. So please, enjoy! And reviews are always welcome, be they good or bad. Thanks!

-BNG)