"Well, what shall the choice be?" Natalya asked, staring at Gilbert and Feliciano calmly. "Hand over the Pope, or watch your dear friend and brother get shot?"
Gilbert glared at her. "Like I'd ever-"
"Okay," Feliciano said. "I-I'll go…just, please, let me heal him…"
Natalya blinked, looking at Lovino before looking back to them. "Fine, but don't try anything."
"Feliciano," Gilbert said, grabbing Feliciano's nightshirt sleeve as he turned to slide out of the car. "I can't let you do this."
Feliciano looked at Gilbert, and the fierce determination in his eyes shocked Gilbert. "You will let go of me, Gilbert," Feliciano growled.
Gilbert hesitated, but after a moment he finally did. He wouldn't go against the Pope's orders.
Feliciano got out of the Jeep and walked over to Ludwig and Lovino.
"Feliciano," Ludwig growled. "You should run right now!"
Feliciano shook his head, stopping mere inches in front of Ludwig. "You know I can't do that," Feliciano told Ludwig.
Ludwig knew even before Feliciano held his hands up that they had started glowing with Feliciano's power.
Ignoring Ludwig's pleas to run, Feliciano held both his hands up and placed one on each temple and closed his eyes.
Ludwig gasped as he felt the power flow through him. His cuts were disappearing, the bruises had vanished, and even as it happened he could feel himself taking bigger breaths as his ribs were repaired.
In front of him, Feliciano crashed to the ground, all the bruises that had been on Ludwig had appeared on Feliciano, the worse cuts spilling Feliciano's own blood onto the pavement. What horrified Ludwig was the fact that Feliciano's breathing had become labored and, even as the German bodyguard watched, regretted that he didn't try to stop the little Italian who was now lying unconscious in front of him.
Lovino nodded and there was Yao with Ivan not far behind. "Grab him and let's go," Lovino said, stepping back. A black car appeared at the curb and the door opened to reveal Matthew sitting in the driver's seat.
Natalya joined them as Lovino slid into the car. Yao and Ivan grabbed Feliciano and went to put him in the car.
One more chance. Ludwig managed to come to his senses and, just as they were about to push Feliciano into the car, tackled Ivan.
Ivan's grip on Feliciano loosened, causing Yao to drop him.
Natalya didn't waste a moment in trying to lodge some of her throwing knives in Ludwig's back, but as she went to throw them, found a bullet piercing her hand.
She turned and saw Gilbert pointing the gun right at her, smoke pouring out the barrel.
"Ludwig! Grab Feliciano and let's get out of here!" Gilbert shouted, turning his gun towards Yao and firing a warning shot at him.
Yao stopped in front of the car.
Lovino clapped, standing on the other side of the car. He said, "Very valiant effort, but you seem to realize you've just broken your end of the deal." He pulled his gun out and pointed it at Ludwig. "Prepare to die."
Lovino fired, but gasped when he found that his arm had jerked to the side, causing the bullet he fired to miss Ludwig.
"You will be the ones to leave," the Japanese standing on the lamppost said. He was wearing a dark blue kimono and, in his hand, were three throwing stars.
Lovino looked at his sleeve and found that a fourth throwing star had torn through it, causing it to rip.
"Kiku," Yao stated in dismay. "And what do you think you're doing here?"
Kiku jumped off the lamppost, landing mere feet away. He looked at Yao and said, "You know I'm part of Arthur's guard, and when Arthur received the call saying that the Pope was in danger, he had me dispatched to help the situation."
Lovino glared at him, looking like he was ready to say something, but the screeching sound of another car stopped everyone.
They looked and a silver Prius pulled to a stop next to Kiku. The window on the driver's side slid down to reveal Alfred sitting there. "Hey, grab the Pope and let's go!" Alfred shouted, revving the engine.
Ludwig was the first to take advantage of this change of luck and grabbed Feliciano, holding the Pope like he was a delicate flower. "Gilbert, let's go!" Ludwig shouted, making a dash for the car.
Ivan shook his head and said, "You're not leaving." He jumped after Ludwig, but stopped when Kiku threw another one of his throwing stars at him.
Gilbert had launched himself over the front of the Jeep and dashed for the car, firing warning shots at any of the Mafia that tried to pursue them.
He reached the Prius at the same time as Ludwig and wrenched the door open. He jumped in and helped Ludwig get Feliciano in next, Ludwig jumping in and closing the door.
Kiku had run over to the passenger door and jumped in, tossing a few more throwing stars at the pursuing Mafia.
"Drive!" Ludwig ordered the moment Kiku's door had been closed.
"On it!" Alfred shouted, looking like he was enjoying this entirely too much. He threw the car into reverse and sped off, back the way he had come.
Lovino jumped into the car again and barely waited for Yao, Ivan, and Natalya to join him before shouting, "Follow them!"
Matthew hit the gas pedal hard, and the car jumped forward in hot pursuit.
Gilbert knew full well Kiku and Alfred were the two captains for Arthur's guard, just like Ludwig and Francis were Feliciano's guard captains. But that left one thing unanswered:
"How'd you know where to find us?" Gilbert asked with one hand on the roof above him so he didn't bounce as the car reared down the uneven road.
Alfred replied, "The sweet power of tracking! When Arthur got Feliciano's second call, he told Kiku to track the phone's signal. Kiku was able to pinpoint the phone's position and we came as fast as we could!"
"What happened to the Pope?" Kiku asked, looking at Feliciano in concern. "Surely that was not the work of the Mafia."
Ludwig winced. "The Mafia did inflict those wounds…but they inflicted them on me."
No more had to be said. "We must get to Arthur's residence," Kiku muttered after a moment.
There was an unspoken, but grim, agreement. Ludwig looked down at Feliciano, who was now lying down with his head in the German's lap, and sighed. He could handle injuries like the ones that had been inflicted on him. Feliciano, though, wouldn't be able to survive from such wounds long. He couldn't even handle someone's broken limb for long before he was restricted to bed rest.
"So what's going on? Why is the Mafia after the Pope?" Alfred asked, swerving as they heard gunshots from behind them.
Gilbert growled, "Drive now. Explanation later!"
"We're not far," Kiku said as Alfred turned.
They had gotten on a paved road; but said road was full of cars and people.
Alfred muttered, blasting the car horns at everyone in the way.
When it was clear they weren't going to move any faster, Gilbert growled, "Open the sunroof." He shifted forward. "You've got a gun somewhere, right?"
Alfred grabbed a pistol out of his belt and handed it to Gilbert while the sunroof was opening. "There aren't many shots in there. Make them count," Alfred told Gilbert. His eyes never left the road.
Gilbert nodded, lifting himself up so he was standing half out the car, keeping the pistol concealed for the moment.
Behind them, Matthew had just turned onto the same street and Natalya was halfway standing out of their own car, her rifle firing off another shot at the Prius.
As the rife fired, there were a series of screams from the people on the street and everyone running for the buildings in an attempt to escape the gunfire.
"We're not going down that easily!" Gilbert cried, aiming the pistol and returning fire.
Alfred was clearly cursing now as he tried to weave his way through the abandoned cars with little success.
Natalya fired one more shot, but paused and slid back into the car.
"That's not good," Ludwig muttered, watching through the rear-view mirror.
Lovino appeared next, his hand held up and glowing like he was about to attack.
/AN
School has kept me supremely busy as of late. It really bites but there's little I can do about it. Sorry about the slowness of chapters! (And the slowness of editing.)
R&R Please!
AN/