{Chapter XV "Mardi Gras Parade"}

Feliciano knocked on the door to the guest house and then rung his hands nervously. He and the Prince were supposed to get married today, and the Prince had yet to come out of the guest house since his proposal. Worst of all, Lovino wasn't there. Even if it was a silly thing from when they were children, they both promised that they would be right there at each other's wedding. So what if Feliciano was getting married on a Mardi Gras float! Lovino should be right there standing next to Remus.

"Who is it?" Daan asked nervously through the door.

Feliciano sighed. "It's just me, mi Tesoro. Please hurry up, though, because we need to leave soon."

"Just a couple more minutes, darling."

Feliciano nodded even though Daan couldn't see him. "Daddy, start the car!"

Daan turned around to face Dr. Kirkland, his eyes full of worry. "What are we going to do? I'm doomed!"

"No you wanker, I'm doomed if we don't-" The lights started flickering and suddenly the shadows filled the room, handing Antonio over to Dr. Kirkland. "Well lookie here, our froggie prince."

"Get your hands off me!" Antonio exclaimed as Dr. Kirkland grabbed his arm and pointed what would be Antonio's index finger towards Daan.

Daan laughed. "Hold still now, sire," Daan said mockingly.

"Daan! What are you-?" Then everything went black for Antonio yet again.

People exited the river boat in crowds all chanting "Mardi Gras!" loudly. Lovino watched everyone exiting with a scowl. Where was that damn tomato bastard?

"Mon cher, there you are!" Francis exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"Francis, have you seen Antonio?" Lovino asked.

Francis smirked. "Missing your lover already?"

"What are you talking about?"

So Antonio didn't propose, Francis thought. Well then I'm not telling him. "Nothing, just measly teasing. Why are you looking for him though?"

"Oh shove off, bastard. I just want to make sure the shadows didn't come after him again."

"I bet he's just looking for Feliciano."

Lovino nodded then started hopping towards the direction of the parade. "Probably. Alright, we just need to find the biggest float with an annoying prince about to kiss a…a frog."

"What is it?" Francis asked when Lovino stopped. Lovino pointed to a float that looked like a giant wedding cake with Feliciano dressed in a handsome tuxedo cuddling up to the arm of Antonio in his traditional royal wedding attire. "This can't be right! Mama Lizzie said-"

"Screw what she said!" Lovino exclaimed. Francis noted he was close to crying. "After all, all Antonio wanted was to marry someone rich, remember?"

"No mon cher, Antonio loves you!" Everything suddenly made sense. Lovino crying, his looking for Antonio, the constant state of denial. "And you love him too."

"No, he doesn't Francis. And I can't afford to love him either." Lovino hopped away.

Francis looked up at the sky. "Alright Jeanne, let's go show cher the truth!" Francis flew towards the float.

"If any of you object to the union of these two people, speak now or forever hold your piece," the reverend said.

Antonio banged on the box, trying to get anyone's attention. "Me, I object!"

Francis gasped. "Antonio, is that you?"

"Francis? Get me out of this box!"

"Not sure what you said, but I'll get you out of this box." Francis was easily able to unlock the box and Antonio jumped out right before everything was officially tied. He grabbed onto the string on the charm, somehow pulling Daan down with him.

"Are you alright?" Feliciano called.

Daan picked up Antonio and gave Feliciano a thumbs up. "Just give me a moment to compose myself!"

"Daan, why are you doing this?" Antonio asked once they were inside a church.

"Don't answer that! Just give me the frog and get your royal ass back on that wedding cake!" Dr. Kirkland exclaimed.

Antonio grabbed the necklace again, this time successfully ripping it off of Daan's neck and threw it to Francis. "Take this to Lovino!" Dr. Kirkland gave a high pitched whistle as Francis flew away, summoning the shadows.

Francis flew by the float Alfred was on, followed closely by the shadows.

"Francis?" Alfred asked to himself. He quickly jumped off the float and followed Francis, ignoring the questions yelled after him.

"Lovino, Lovino!" Francis called.

"Francis?" Lovino asked.

Francis quickly handed Lovino the charm. "You need to hop quickly away with that thing!"

"What is this?"

"A voodoo charm. This proves what we saw was fake! It was someone pretending to be Antonio. Now run, Lovino!" Lovino nodded and hopped away as quickly as he could. Francis smirked at the shadows coming closer. "Well, it seems my bum is good for multiple things." Before he could do anything, Dr. Kirkland appeared from out of nowhere and swatted him down, then stepped on him and walked away.

"Oh Francis!" Alfred exclaimed when he found him

Lovino hopped as fast as he could, but eventually he was cornered by the shadows and Dr. Kirkland. "You take one more step and I'll-oh!" Dr. Kirkland snapped his fingers and suddenly Lovino was turned back into a human and wearing an expensive white tuxedo. Then, the walls of what his restaurant would look like built up around him. Lovino looked around in amazement. Everything was as he dreamed.

Dr. Kirkland chuckled. "Isn't this better than hopping around a bayou for the rest of your life?"

"No, this isn't right."

"Come on, Lovino. It's perfect, admit it. Everything could be yours if you just hand over that charm of mine." Lovino shook his head. "Now, now don't be like that. Think of all the sacrifices you made. Think of all the people who doubted you. Think about your grandfather. Wasn't this his dream too? But he never made it. He either worked too much or you never had enough money, and now he's too old. Think of how happy he would be, Lovino. Remember now, you're almost there."

Lovino almost gave up the charm, but then his grip tightened when he remember what his nonno said all those years ago. "My nonno may never have gotten this restaurant, but it was what he wanted. Instead he had plenty of love, which is what he needed. And so have I!" Lovino threw down the charm, but Dr. Kirkland's shadow caught it at the last second and handed it to Dr. Kirkland.

Dr. Kirkland laughed and changed Lovino back into a frog. "You should have taken my deal Lovino. Instead, you get to spend the rest of your life as a slimy little frog."

Lovino smirked. "I got news for you asshole. It's not slime, its mucus!" Lovino shot his tongue out and caught the charm with it. He grabbed the charm and then threw it down, breaking it.

Dr. Kirkland gasped. "How am I ever going to pay back my debt now!"

"Are you ready?" The ghost voices sang.

"No! I still have that froggy prince locked up! I just need more time!" Lovino watched as Dr. Kirkland pleaded for his life until he got dragged into a fading whole of voodoo magic. The clock in the church tower striking fifteen minutes to twelve told Lovino he better start hopping back to find Antonio and Feliciano.

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm sorry I didn't update last weekend like I normally do. My schedule was thrown off a little bit because I updated last Monday and I had a busy weekend. I'll be having a busy weekend again starting tomorrow, so I'll try to get as many updates as possible but don't be surprised if this is the only one.

On a random side note, I'm starting to write a book. When Sons of Liberty came on I instantly became obsessed. Thanks to that amaingful three part miniseries, I am writing a historical fiction book because I may have sorta (a lot) started shipping Samuel Adams x Dr. Joseph Warren. I was going to write a fanfiction but then I changed my mind because a historical fiction novel where two of the Sons of Liberty are in love with each other...yeah, awesome and different and I want it to be out there. Wish me luck writing!

Ciao, Athienath~