CanaDERP: *screams and flails* A GEEEE! You wrote more awesomeness!
AG: *backs up against a wall* ... Please don't tackle me... *turns to the readers* Happy New Year, guys! I'm glad I could get all this written and updated again so soon! ... *slaps self* CANADERP, I'M STARTING TO ACT LIKE YOU, WHEN YOU'RE NOT DERPING!
CanaDERP: *runs around on all fours* Rawr, I'm a Kumakiku! *growls and then runs off to read the chapter*
AG: Oh, no... *facepalms, goes to the end of the chapter*
"Are you serious? Vhy?!" Ludwig was in his room again; it had been two days since his incident with Felicia, and Valdemar was insisting upon keeping him locked up for a while.
"You know fully vell vhy zhis is necessary, Ludvig. I zhink I've managed to push it back, zhough, und it shouldn't be able to surface und take over for a vhile. I hope." Valdemar seemed completely unconcerned with Ludwig, who was sitting on his bed with one arm shackled to the wall with a magical seal to prevent the chain from breaking. He could tell that Ludwig's anger with him was building, but outwardly he showed no concern.
"Ludvig, zhis is also an excellent opportunity for you to practice keeping yourself calm, und not acting on your anger. If you vould actually put forzh an effort to reform your attitude, maybe zhis whole experience vould be easier on you!" His gaze shifted to the window, though he did not seem to really be looking outside.
"I know zhat look! Vhat are you zhinking about?" Ludwig glared at Valdemar, who still seemed to be ignoring his young friend. Trying to be patient, he waited for a reply from Valdemar for quite a while, when he was certain that the older man had no intention of answering his inquiry, his anger surfaced. "VHY DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME ANYZHING?!" He stood, trying to approach the man, but the chain on his wrist tugged him back. A growl could be heard from deep within his chest.
Valdemar chuckled. "Vizh zhe charm I put on zhat chain, it should hold up at least a monzh, as long as I don't remove it. You could get to know zhat girl vizhout zhe risk of hurting her." He looked at Ludwig out of the corner of his eye.
"Valdemar… Vhat zhe hell? Vhat are you zhinking?! You really vant to try und trust me to be around anybody… much less her?! After vhat I did? Who are you und vhat have you done vizh zhe real Valdemar?!" Ludwig's face was turning red.
"Now, now, Ludvig… You can't just stay in your room forever. You could use a little sociality, und my presence is not helping you much. Zhe only reason I'm around most of zhe time is to keep you from hurting anyone. As long as zhat chain holds up, you can be around anybody, as long as zhey aren't too close, heheheh…" He finally faced Ludwig now. "Und being around her vhile it can't take over might help to keep it down longer."
"Have you alvays been like zhis, or have you just been hiding zhis side of yourself from me all zhese years?" Again, a chuckle escaped the lips of the other man.
"I vas young vunce, too, you know. I may not be anymore, but I still remember vhat it vas like. Trust me on zhis, you'll be better off if you get to know zhat girl. Vhezher you und her hit it off is not zhe current issue. You have time left. I'll go get her now." He was already at the door when he finished his last sentence.
"I can't just do zhat! You're going to force her to sit und talk vith me? Don't you zhink zhat vill just make zhings vorse?!"
Again Valdemar didn't seem to care at all. "Maybe it vill, maybe it von't. Zhe only vay to be sure is to try it."
Ludwig was starting to get the idea that Valdemar was actually serious.
"You're really going to do it, aren't you…?" Ludwig's eyes widened with horror. "You can't! Please, no!" He struggled to find an excuse not to see her. "Vhat if… I… er... Umm… Damnit, I said no! Zhat's an order!" He was furious now, and quite serious; no longer thinking that what Valdemar said was just a cruel joke drove the point home.
"My, my, Ludvig… So demanding. But, really, vhat makes you zhink zhat I vas ever one of your staff to follow your orders? I am no servant of yours, nor am I your underling. You'll do vell to remember zhat, boy. Und, you'd do vell to remember vhy you've survived zhis long." His hand touched the handle on the door. "I could have very easily just let you alone und allowed you to destroy yourself. Don't forget zhat."
You can get through it. This could be a good experience for you. Give it a chance; as long as that chain keeps you from being able to hurt her, what's the harm in talking to her for a while?
"He's never outright defied me before…"
Considering all that he's done for you, why are you so surprised? He's earned a little break from having to follow your every order. He knows what's best for you better than you do. Haha, I know that's hard for you to comprehend, but it's true.
"I'm terrified… of a girl! I've never been scared of anything before…"
What you're afraid of is change. You're so much like a child inside, but you never let anybody know it. Maybe that's why Valdemar is doing this. He knows you better than you think he does.
"Maybe… I guess I'll just have to get through this. I don't think Valdemar will let it go. He's already gone, he'll probably come back… with her."
Just keep calm. It'll be over before you know it. You might even enjoy the company. Make the best of it, because fretting about it the whole time will only make it much worse.
Shortly after her talk with Berwald, Felicia ran into—though not literally, as she had with Berwald—the young man with white hair and red eyes. He looked like he had just climbed out of bed; his hair was a disaster, and his clothes looked slept-in.
"Hey, you're zhe one I vas looking for! But of course, I alvays find vhat I'm looking for, because I'm zhat awesome!" The grin on his face gave Felicia the feeling that he acted like this on a regular basis.
"Um… you were looking for me? What for? I don't even know your name…" What could he want her for anyway? They'd never even been introduced. For some reason, he put his arm around her shoulder, as though it were the most natural thing to do.
"You've been looking for answers, huh? About Ludvig? Vell, I can tell you a few zhings… Kesesesese!" That strange laugh of his made him touching her all the more uncomfortable. She tried to push his arm off her shoulders, but he still persisted, while walking her up the stairs to her room.
"How did you know that I wanted to know more about Ludwig?" She looked into those creepy, red eyes, and felt a chill go down her spine. He didn't seem like a bad guy, but those eyes…
"Kesesese! Vord travels fast in zhis place! Und I know Eliza doesn't like to say anyzhing about Ludvig vizhout his permission, but I know him better. He may look all mean und scary on zhe outside, but he's just a big softy on zhe inside! KESESESESE!" Feli held back the urge to cover her ears when he laughed; it was such a sharp, loud noise.
"So you can actually answer the questions I asked Eliza?" She had changed her clothes shortly before running into Berwald earlier, and was now wearing an old outfit of Eliza's. Apparently, the young man took notice of it. "Um, you still haven't told me your name yet…" This seemed to snap him out of whatever weird daydream he was having.
"Oh, right. I'm Gilbert." His grin widened, and he put a hand to his shoulder, returning it with a little yellow bird in his hand. "Und zhis is Gilbird!"
"Where did he come from?! He wasn't on your shoulder before, was he?!" Following her initial reaction, Felicia had a sudden urge to pet the little bird. "He's really cute…" She reached out to pet it and it hopped onto her hand.
"Awh, he likes you! Don't be getting any ideas, zhough; he's still mine, no matter how much he likes you." Feli was too busy fawning over the little bird to listen to what Gilbert was saying now, however. She just smiled at Gilbird blissfully, while Gilbert kept trying to snap her out of her daze.
"Hey, girl, you vant to know about Ludvig or not? … Gilbird!" He snapped his fingers and the little yellow bird flew back onto his shoulder. At first Felicia was disappointed, but then she remembered Gilbert was going to tell her about Ludwig, and she smiled again.
"So you can tell me what this curse thing of his is all about? I want to try and help him…" She looked down thoughtfully.
Ja, so do I. Heheh, that's where YOU come in. He opened the door to her room and let her in first, still smiling. "Heh… Let's talk."
Gilbert started by telling Felicia all about how Ludwig had come to be cursed, by whom, and why. The way he told it took a lot longer than Feli had been expecting, though, since he kept stopping in the middle of talking about it to talk about what HE had been doing at that time, or something about himself that had nothing to do with anything she had asked about.
"Alright, I get it, but how can the curse be broken?"
"… Uh…" He knew very well how the curse was to be broken. But how could he just tell her that he was giving her this information about Ludwig so she could break the curse herself by falling in love with him? How was he supposed to break it to her that he was just doing this to play matchmaker with her and Ludwig? Now that he thought about it, it was rather awkward, and he should have expected her to ask that question from the beginning. But he couldn't answer it truthfully, or he'd have to tell her EVERYTHING.
"… I have no idea, honestly." Obviously that was a lie, but hopefully she wouldn't be able to see through it. "He never told me. He had a letter from zhe guy zhat cursed him, but he never showed it to me, so I have no idea. I just know vhat he's told me himself. I vish I could tell you, if I knew, I probably could have broken it myself by now!" For some reason, the lie came easily to him. He didn't feel entirely guilty for lying to her either.
Now that the awkward part of their conversation was out of the way, Gilbert started to tell her about Ludwig; his likes and dislikes, favorite things and all that.
If she knows him a bit more personally, maybe she'll want to talk to him herself! Kesesese! I'm such an awesome genius!
For the next two days, Felicia and Gilbert did almost nothing around the mansion; all they did was talk about Ludwig all day. Eliza found it surprising that Felicia and Gilbert got along so well. Roderich found it sickening that Gilbert was always in Felicia's room with her… alone. Thereafter voicing these thoughts to Eliza, Eliza beat Roderich for having such a dirty mind.
"Zhey're not doing anyzhing in zhere, you sick pervert! You know Gilbert is too naïve to even know vhat zhat is anyvay! Zhey've only known each ozher three days! How could you zhink anyzhing like zhat?!" She loomed over him; he was covered in bumps and bruises from her violent scolding, and he cowered against a wall.
"I'm sorry! I just don't zhink it's appropriate for a young voman und a young man to be in zhe same room togezher vizh zhe door closed!" He held his hands in front of his face, anticipating another blow.
"Oh, but you zhink it's ok for US to be in zhe same room togezher vizh zhe door closed?!" He cowered more now, shrinking under the weight of her harsh words.
"No! But it's different vizh us…" He knew he said the wrong thing instantly, because the room seemed to get darker. He dared to look up at her, and regretted it immediately.
"Please! Don't hit me again, Eliza! I meant nozhing by it, really!" He was on his knees, bowing his head. His words were a never-ending babble of noise; he was utterly incoherent as he begged her not to cause any more bodily harm. Eliza was quite terrifying when she was angry, because she always carried out her threats.
"Maybe you should start zhinking before you open your mouth, huh?!" Someone knocked at the door right as Eliza was lifting her frying pan into the air for another blow. It was Valdemar, and he opened the door without waiting for anyone to say anything from inside.
"Vhat zhe holy hell is going on in here?! Elizabeta, ve don't need you putting Roderich out of commission already, so knock it off." He took the frying pan out of her hands, and helped Roderich off the floor with his other arm. "I vas vondering vhere zhis pan vent! So you've had it all zhis time? Ve can't just go into town to replace zhings anymore, you know zhat! Und zhe next nearest town is ten miles avay, zhat's at least an eight hour trip on foot zhere und back! Unless you vant to be zhe one to make zhat journey, I vould recommend you don't randomly destroy zhings by beating Roderich vith zhem."
Roderich looked up at him, his eyes full of joy. "You saved my life!"
"Oh, shut it." When they were out of Eliza's room, Valdemar dropped Roderich on the floor. "Felicia hasn't been in zhe kitchen at all today, und she's not in her room. Do you know vhere she is?" His tone was greyer than Roderich would have liked for the person that just saved him from the beating of a lifetime.
"All I know is zhat Felicia und Gilbert have been talking vizh each ozher a lot lately. Maybe zhey're in his room." The look in Valdemar's eyes made Roderich wish he was still stuck with Eliza.
"Vhy vould zhey be in his room?" Though his voice was calm, Roderich could tell he was raging on the inside; it would only be a matter of time before it came to the surface.
"Zhey've just been talking! Ever since zhe incident vizh Ludvig two days ago, zhose two have been togezher a lot." He knew if he didn't do something to change what Valdemar was thinking, he would be the one to get the repercussions of his anger.
"You know zhat Gilbert is too young und naïve to do ZHAT! Und zhey couldn't have gotten zhat close in such a short period of time, please don't kill me!" Eliza had violent tendencies, but when Valdemar was angry—which wasn't very often, and it took a lot to make him angry—Roderich knew that he should stay clear of him. However, at that moment, he didn't see any possible ways of escape, for he was injured, and Valdemar had magic that he could easily use to make him even more miserable.
"Just talking, hm? I'll see about zhat." He dropped the frying pan on Roderich's lap, and Roderich let out a yell. "Go put zhat avay."
Roderich nodded, his face twisted in pain, and hands holding the spot where the frying pan hit him. Valdemar walked down the hallway without a backwards glance to Roderich.
"Oh, und don't ever give him tips zhat might give him zhe idea he looks like crap, no matter how much he DOES look like crap, because he doesn't take zhat very vell at all." Gil was starting to think that he was smarter than most people thought he was; he'd never really thought about just how well he knew Ludwig until now.
Again, as all the times before, Felicia nodded, taking mental notes of everything he told her. Gilbert sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know… I zhink zhat's all I can really say about him. I'm sure zhere's more, but I can't zhink of anyzhing else right now." He yawned; they had been talking all day, and most of the day yesterday.
"Thanks, Gil! I'm so glad that you've been here to tell me more about Ludwig; I don't think I could have figured all this out about him on my own. It's kind of nice to know a little bit about him! He definitely doesn't seem as bad as I made him out to be at first." Felicia stood up, and Gilbert followed suit.
"I'm glad I could help!" Before he knew it, Felicia had her arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him tightly. "Heheh, you're velcome, Feli!"
Just as Gilbert put his arms around Feli to return the friendly hug, the door opened, and Valdemar stood in the door threateningly.
"Oh, hey Valdemar! Vhat are you doing in… here?" The glare Valdemar shot at Gilbert shut his mouth immediately. That glare was enough to scare a man even taller and broader than Valdemar himself. "Um… Vhat's… wrong?"
Valdemar approached Gil with two quick strides, and pulled him away from Felicia, pushing him against the wall.
"Vhat in zhe hell do you zhink you're doing? I vasn't expecting zhis from you, Gilbert. She's zhe first female to be brought to us, und you're already getting all touchy-feely on her!" His eyes said murder. Felicia was pretty sure she understood what Valdemar was so mad about.
"Umm… Valdemar, right? Please don't be angry at Gil! He wasn't doing anything! I hugged him; he wasn't trying to do anything, really!" She tugged at his arm, trying to pull him away from Gilbert. "Don't hurt him! He doesn't deserve it!"
Valdemar kept one hand on Gilbert's shirt collar, but he allowed his other hand to drop to his side. "You hugged him? Vhy?" His gaze was softer now, but he still seemed angry.
"He… He was just telling me some things about Ludwig, and I was grateful for it, so I hugged him! I was just about to leave…" Valdemar turned back to Gilbert.
"Is zhis right? You two have been togezher all day for two days und all you've been doing is talking about Ludvig? Zhat sounds suspicious to me. I know zhat Gilbert hardly ever talks about anyone ozher zhan himself." Gilbert never even dared to try and pry his eyes away from Valdemar's gaze.
"Yeah, until I got mad at him, mostly what he talked about was himself… Every two minutes, he'd talk about how awesome he was, and it got kind of annoying." Felicia was still trying to remember everything he'd said; she wanted to make sure that she could use it when she got the chance to talk to Ludwig herself.
Valdemar smirked. "Zhat is much more believable." He let go of Gilbert, who then slid down to the floor, and may have wet himself; it's hard to say for sure.
"I vant you to come vizh me." He was indicating Felicia, and he turned away, heading for the door. After taking a glance at Gilbert, Felicia followed after Valdemar.
"I hope Gilbert's ok…"
"Vell, since you've been learning about Ludvig from Gilbert, maybe you'd like a chance to talk to him for yourself now." He was walking toward the stairs to the third floor.
"What?! ...Something gives me the idea that I don't have a choice in the matter…"
"You're correct about zhat. But don't vorry, because since zhe ozher day, he's been quite calm. An incident like zhat von't occur again for a very long time. Hopefully not ever again, vizh your help." He stopped in front of the door to Ludwig's room, and turned to face her. "I vant you to know zhat Ludvig's behavior zhe ozher day is not how he acts on a daily basis. But zhe curse has left him… a bit disturbed. I have no doubt zhat Gilbert did not fail to mention zhat Ludvig is under a curse, hm?"
All Felicia could manage was a curt nod. Valdemar continued.
"I assure you zhat zhere is no risk of injury to you zhis time. Zhere is a magic seal on a chain zhat vill keep him from being able to get close to you, in case… it… resurfaces. Zhough it should not." Felicia had a look of curiosity and confusion on her face now.
"Gilbert mentioned 'it' too. What is 'it'?" Valdemar had been about to open the door, but he stopped and looked Felicia straight in the eyes.
"'It' is vhat ve call zhe beast zhat haunts Ludvig's thoughts. Zhat is vhat caused him to go berserk, und it provides for some very… unvanted behavior from him. …Anymore questions?"
"That sounds… terrible. Hey, Gil wouldn't tell me how Ludwig's curse is supposed to be broken. Do you know?" She smiled up at him, which made it all the harder for him to have to lie to her and tell her no.
"…I'm sorry, but Ludvig never told me how to break zhe curse. I don't know if he knows eizher." He opened the door, and motioned her in, closing the door behind her. "Ludvig vill be in zhat room on zhe left." Valdemar directed her to the double door to the left of the door they entered though.
Felicia swallowed back the lump in her throat. "…O…okay… I have to go in alone?"
"You vant me to tell him you're here? He already knows zhat I left to get you, but I'll tell him you're here anyvay." He went ahead of her and opened the door, disappearing into the dark room. Felicia heard someone strike a match, and then there was light in the room, but she didn't hear any voices. Valdemar emerged shortly after.
"Go on in." He let out a short laugh. "Don't vorry, he von't bite." He opened the door wider, and pushed her in gently, once again closing the door after she was fully in, but not joining her inside.
Ludwig was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. She noticed he was tentatively scratching the back of his hand. He certainly looked like hell, she didn't recall him looking quite this bad the last time she saw him. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was matted, and his clothes were torn up and wrinkled. His left wrist was shackled to the wall. Even after she had been standing there over a minute, he still didn't look up at her. She had a feeling Valdemar wasn't going to let her leave so soon, so she took a seat at a small table a few feet from the bed.
"Ludwig?" No response. Maybe he was afraid of losing control if he looked at her. After all, that's what had happened last time. She noticed there was a tray of food that had been left untouched on the table in front of her; it was still hot.
Felicia saw Ludwig move, as though he were about to get up off the bed, then he stopped. I knew there was something a little different… He looks like he's starved. Why hasn't he eaten, then? She took hold of the tray, stood, and set the tray on the end table right next to Ludwig. Surprised by the sudden movement in front of him, Ludwig glanced up just in time for Felicia to look down at him.
Ludwig felt his face redden when their eyes met. For some reason, he found it impossible to shift his gaze from hers. She was smiling at him, and his face felt hotter, and his heart beat faster. He pried his eyes away, and looked back down at the floor, but her feet weren't there. He felt his weight shift on the bed; she was sitting right next to him.
Felicia's smile became a frown of concern. "You should eat… You don't look well."
She's worried about me… He glanced at the food. I am starving… But I can't eat in front of her… I don't need to make an ass of myself! He nearly choked trying to talk. It hadn't been this hard to talk to her before, so why was it now?!
"Nein… I'm alright." His breath was shallow.
Of course it's harder to talk to her now. You're back to your normal self; you don't have to worry about it taking over for a while. And how long has it been since you talked to a girl besides Elizabeta?
"Alright… If you insist. But you better eat it when I leave—you shouldn't be starving yourself." And just like that, she was smiling again. He noticed that his heart almost went back to normal when he saw her smile, and he involuntarily smiled back, and nodded.
"At least you're not being forceful about it, like Valdemar…" He looked back down at the floor again. "I don't know how much Valdemar told you… but—" Suddenly her hand was on his, and she smiled at him again.
"If you don't want to talk about it, it's alright, I understand. You can talk when you're ready, ok?" Felicia began running her fingers through his… hair? Fur? Whatever it was, it looked terrible. "No offense, Luddy, but you look like you could use a bath…" His ear twitched.
"You've been talking to Gilbert, haven't you?" Ludwig crossed his arms over his chest, "He's zhe only one zhat calls me Luddy… Und I vouldn't recommend you make a habit of it." He was trying not to lean into her hand as she scratched out a knot behind his ear.
"Yeah, I talked to him…" She giggled, "He told me you're not as scary as you look, and that you're just a big softy inside." He shot a glare at her. Even though he hated how Gilbert talked about him behind his back, he couldn't stay mad at her for saying it, too. Ludwig was starting to get the feeling that what Gilbert said about him was true.
There was silence between the two for a while, and Felicia started to feel uncomfortable.
"So, you have any family here? Is Gil your brother? He sure acts like an annoying little brother to you." She could hear him growl softly, and she scooted away. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you mad, I just wanted to know. …I haven't been here very long, but I miss my sister… and she thinks I'm dead. Everybody does." Ludwig felt his heart convulse. It was his fault that her family was grieving for her now. It was because he wanted to protect himself that six others' families still grieve every year, along with all their close friends…
Thinking about it, Ludwig was unconsciously digging his claws into his arm, and biting his lower lip. How many people had he caused such pain? He ignored the blood dripping down his arm, and played back memories in his head, starting with the night he had been cursed. That night was still very vivid and clear in his mind, and so were the several days afterward, when he saw the first sacrifice at his doorstep. His memories became more vague, then vivid again, as he tried to play through every week since that day. It seemed that his memories became more unclear the more he'd allowed the beast in him to control his actions, and then became vivid every year at the same time, when another sacrifice was brought to him. He knew every face, and which face belonged to which year, even if he never spoke to them or saw them again.
His most recent memories were the vaguest, he came to notice. The last week or so he could remember almost nothing, which was odd, and it worried him. Was he slowly losing himself? Whatever Valdemar had done to him two days before had helped to clear his mind, but how long would it last before the beast inside him came back? Ludwig had completely forgotten that Felicia was sitting right next to him, and didn't notice when she started trying to talk to him. His jaw was clenched tight, and he was still clawing into his arm. Felicia's voice was just a droning noise in one ear; nothing was coherent except his own thoughts, which weren't completely coherent either.
"Ludwig?! Ludwig, stop doing that! You're bleeding!" She tugged at his arm, and slowly his consciousness returned and he heard Feli's voice. "What's wrong?! Ludwig, you're scaring me, please stop!" He turned to look at her, and he had no idea how long it had been since she had started talking about her family to begin with, but she was no longer smiling. Tears were streaming down her face, and Ludwig was afraid that he'd blacked out and the beast had taken over. Had he hurt her?
"Vhat happened? Vhat's wrong?!" Felicia was pointing to his arm, which was by this time soaked in blood, as was his hand. The delayed feeling of pain rushed through him instantly, and he took hold of his arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Despite the pain, he smiled at Felicia to try and reassure her. He was feeling a little light-headed. How long had he been bleeding? His leg was covered in blood that had dripped from his arm.
Before he knew what was happening, Feli tore a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her ankle-length dress and began wrapping his arm in layer after layer of the makeshift bandages. Every new layer was quickly soaked through with blood, and Felicia's dress went from ankle-length to knee-length in a matter of minutes.
Ludwig watched wordlessly as Felicia carefully tended to his self-inflicted wound. She looked a little sick, but anyone in her situation would; seeing that much blood is enough to make most people feel quite nauseous. Regardless of how she was feeling, however, Felicia continued to meticulously wrap strip after strip of cloth over his arm, until she could no longer see the blood seeping through.
Though the whole event was quite grim, Felicia quickly perked up. "Well, now you really need a bath!" She was smiling again, and laughing, and it made Ludwig feel better overall. He looked down at his arm, and then smiled at her. It was a sad smile, though, for he still thought about all the families that were mourning over people that weren't dead. He tried to put those thoughts out of his mind for the time being.
"Zhank you." Ludwig could do nothing but stare at his arm.
Felicia looked at her torn-up dress. "I hope Eliza doesn't want this back…" Ludwig looked up.
"You borrowed zhat from Eliza?"
"Yeah… Is that a big deal?"
"…You really better hope she doesn't vant it back… She can be really violent…"
"I'm sure if I explained what happened she would understand!" Feli wore a blissful smile. Ludwig grimaced.
"Ja, she'll understand… Zhen instead of taking it out on you, she'll blame me for it und take it out on me."
"She won't if I have anything to say about it! You don't deserve to be treated badly." Her confident beam was enough to reassure Ludwig that Eliza would not take her rage out on him. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about Elizabeta, alright?"
There was a knock, and Valdemar entered promptly.
"Still talking, hm? I zhought he'd annoy you und you'd have left by now…" His eyes were on Felicia when he entered the room, and he noticed her dress was half gone up to the knee, leaving nothing but the slip underneath. From the door, he couldn't see Ludwig's injured arm, and his immediate thought of the events that transpired while he was gone was not pleasant. He was at Ludwig's throat in a matter of seconds, demanding to know what he had done to Felicia.
"I-it's not vhat you zhink, really, Valdemar!" Ludwig seemed genuinely afraid of Valdemar at that moment. Felicia wasn't putting up with it though, and grabbed Valdemar's shoulder.
"He's hurt, can't you see that?! He didn't do anything to me, he just hurt himself and I had to use something to wrap up his arm, that's all!" It suddenly occurred to her what he had been implying when he became angry with Ludwig, and she slapped him. "How could you think that anything like that had been going on?! You're sick! And you were thinking something was going on when you walked in when I was hugging Gilbert, too!" Another slap, then silence.
Ludwig was astounded that she'd not only talk to Valdemar that way, but also SLAP him. It took real guts to stand up to Valdemar, and she did it like it was nothing.
Valdemar stared at Felicia for a while, and at that moment took the time to examine Ludwig's injury. He felt rather stupid for falsely accusing both Ludwig and Gilbert of the same thing in the same day. It was awkward for him, but he took it like a man and tried to stop acting like an overly protective father.
Felicia tried to be patient, but after Valdemar looked at Ludwig's arm and did nothing about it, she started pushing him out of the room. "Come on, I think we both need to leave." She flashed a quick smile at Ludwig and waved before giving Valdemar one last shove out the door, and closed it behind her.
Still trying to get over the shock of almost getting beaten to a pulp by Valdemar, Ludwig sat staring at the door in silence for several minutes. How long had they been talking? He noticed the food she'd moved to the end table beside his bed. It was still warm, so it couldn't have been that long. But Ludwig knew fully well that things weren't always what they seemed, especially when Valdemar was around.
CanaDERP: *sits on pile of dictionaries, listening to music* *sees AG* A GEEEE! *tackles* LISTEN! *pops headphones on AG's head and plays "Das Tier in Mir"*
AG: Ugh! Not right now, CanaDERP! *switches headphones with earbuds, leaves one earbud in while going over the chapter* It seems that CanaDERP derped something up and I didn't realize it until now. Everybody's thoughts are supposed to be in quotations, the only "dialogue", as it were, that was not supposed to be in quotations are Ludwig's conscience, which talks to him and about him in the second person, and the beast, which is represented in bold. Apparently, I didn't make this clear, and when she edited it, she took out all the quotations for everybody's thoughts. *grabs CanaDERP by the hair and makes her bow to the readers* Now apologize for your derp.
CanaDERP: *weeps piteously and begs for forgiveness* Hurrplexinogrofklinepsikinz! ;A;
AG: *sighs* I guess that's it... Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm going to be working on like, three other fanfics as well, so I might not get anything updated for a while, sorry.
CanaDERP: Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! *leaps out window and runs off to TARDIS* I'm goin' back to 2012~! :3