And the next victim is born. Maybe I'll add music. Maybe not.

/=+=/

The minute Rizal landed, he found himself in 1920s attire. Gilbert was admiring his mafia attire as Ivan turned to the others wearing his Soviet suit. He had to admit that he was a little uncomfortable with seeing it, but compared to Gilbert it was oddly mild. Ivan could only laugh at the reaction before pointing forward.

"Is that where we're supposed to go, Rizal?"

"Yeah, looks like it." He stood up. "It's pulsing…"

"Sure looks like it, da?"

"How the hell are you guys figuring that out?"

They turned their heads and saw a rather surprised Gilbert staring at them. That's when they realized that this was Gilbert's first time in a Shadow's realm. Rizal pointed toward the path.

"Do you notice anything strange over there?" He asked. "Like a pulse in your glyph or a strange light?"

"No, not that I can see." Gilbert squinted. "Though…I can hear something that sounds like squishing footsteps if everyone shuts up…"

"Ne~~~Kaliningrad is learning fast, da?"

"Hey-"

"Ivan. Just call him Gilbert, all right?"

"…all right…just lead the way."

Gilbert froze at just how submissive he is to Rizal's statements. As they headed through the strange city, he ran up next to Rizal and saw as his gaze was consistent and frozen. He had seen him being serious before…not anything out of the ordinary. But still…this was getting a little creepy.

"Hey, Rizal. How in the world is Ivan listening to you?"

"Hm? He just does." Rizal stared at him. "I don't question it."

"You should! Ivan barely listens to people! He might just be using you!"

"Well…if he is, he had a lot of opportunities to take care of me." Rizal folded his arms. "And he didn't."

"Well…what's that about?"

"Um…hm…" Rizal smiled. "Let's just say that I know how to handle myself."

It was then that Gilbert dropped the subject. Rizal paused for a minute before Gilbert turned his head and saw a few Shadows rise up from the ground with long tongues and mafia rifles. Gilbert froze for a second as Rizal crouched down. He saw Ivan trotting up next to him with a giggle.

"So we fight now?"

"Yep…we fight now."

"HEY! What do I do?"

"You're gonna know, Gilbert!" Rizal turned to him with a grin. "Trust me!"

Gilbert was about to question that when he saw a Shadow reaching out and screaming for an attack. He was about to shield himself when he heard a familiar scream of pain and a shadow casting over his eyes. He pried his eyelids open to see a familiar figure blocking one of the attacks with a pained look that hurt him right where his heart should've been.

"…I-Italy…?"

"…G-Gilbert…!" He coughed up blood, but smiling at the same time. "Are you…alright?"

"What about you! You're hurt!"

"I'm…I'm not the real Feliciano…I'm fine…" Feliciano smiled. "I can't be hurt…"

"…what…?"

"Look at me…it's going to be OK…I swear by it…please…?"

It was then that he turned and saw that there were two swords in his stomach, reaching out to him as if they were begging to be taken. Gilbert had no choice, he pulled the swords out of his body and held them in his hand, watching as the figure turned into a rather old man and a third sword, which he was all too willing to grasp in his mouth. Rizal watched as the two of them started dashing through everything in a strange sense of fury, almost as if he was trying to extract revenge. Ivan and Rizal opted to stay back and watched as he cut down all of them with his own hands. He turned with a grin.

"Take…that!" He yelled to them. "Too awesome for your tastes!"

"…sure, why not." Rizal shrugged. "At least you got rid of all the Shadows!"

"Eh?" He turned his head before laughing. "HELL YEAH I did!"

Wow, he's an idiot.

Before they knew it, they heard a roar. They turned their heads before seeing that more Shadows have erupted from the ground, all calling for blood. The three of them jumped into the fray, but seeing that they were quickly getting outnumbered. Rizal knew that there was only one option they can do…

"Ivan! You're going to have to use that move of yours!"

"Ne~?" He smiled at him as he whacked away a Shadow with his hand. "But you know the consequences of me using it, da?"

"Of course I do! But we don't have any time here!"

"All right." Ivan pulled the pipe in front of his face before turning upward. "очистка"

The whole room was erupted with a bright light, blinding Gilbert for a few minutes before the light faded. He opened his eyes and saw that all of the Shadows had been eliminated, and Ivan had collapsed onto the ground. While he didn't want to do that, he took a deep breath and headed toward Ivan.

"Hey, Ivan." He walked just one step closer. "You…you OK, man?"

He didn't say anything, so much as moved, and as much as he didn't want to think about it…that worried him just a little bit. After a few minutes of silence, he heard slow shuffling. He turned his head and saw Rizal walking toward him with a limp, covering part of his face with his hand. He looked like a mess.

"Whoa…" Gilbert blinked. "The hell happened to you?"

"Couple of Shadows. They got me before Ivan cleared them." Rizal turned to Ivan's body. "Hey. Ivan. Get up."

"…ne, good morning~"

"HOLY FUCK!"

Gilbert flung himself back as Ivan turned to all of them with a smile and quietly went into a standing position. He didn't bother to say anything as he saw Rizal turn toward Ivan with a sigh even though his hand was covering his entire left side of his face, shaking his head.

"Could've done it sooner."

"But I didn't want to suffer another headache, da?"

"…fine." Rizal turned to Gilbert. "Do you have any bandages?"

"Eh? Uh…" He dug into his pocket. "Stole it from the nurse."

"Good enough."

Gilbert turned and saw as Rizal turned around and covered the burns with the bandages, and then going on to wrap around his leg. He leaned in with curiosity and could've sworn that he didn't see any type of meat on his bones…

"Ne, are you OK?"

"GAH!" Gilbert jumped away. "H-hell yeah I am! The Shadows didn't so shit on me!"

"Which means you got lucky." Rizal turned them, still having that limp on him. "Now you know what happens when you get cocky."

"…yeah…just lead the way."

"Fine."

Rizal gestured for Ivan to go first and for Gilbert to follow him, and he had to do so. Throughout the whole thing, Gilbert couldn't help but turn back to Rizal, who was rubbing the burn on his face. He turned his head back to Ivan with one thing in mind: if he knew anything about this Filipino, it's that he's never cocky about anything.

"Hey, Ivan…about what you did back there…"

"Oh, Purification?" Ivan turned to Gilbert. "It basically concentrates all the magic that I have in my body and destroys all the Shadows in the area."

"Oh…and you don't use it often?"

"It makes me very dizzy, and if any Shadows are around they are free to attack me."

"Huh…"

Gilbert knew that this is total bullshit, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to get any information out of him. All he could gather was that these two were hiding something from him, and whatever it is could threaten what was going on. But then again, Shadows here are going to kill him, so what else is new?

/=+=/

Gilbert – "Ramuh"

"Очистка" – Purification

You're going to figure out what that is in…god knows how many chapters.