– CHAPTER 4 –

On the Run

Antonio knew he was no genius, though he was certainly not as stupid as Lovino seemed to think, and he was all too familiar with the feeling of being at a loss because he didn't understand what was going on around him. Usually, he wouldn't even mind that feeling. But he had never felt more lost than now, and for once it made him really anxious, because this time it was different. This time, it seemed pretty dangerous.

He understood that Natalia had somehow found out about Lovino's infidelity, much sooner than he had ever thought possible. He had no idea how she had done it. Or maybe she hadn't found out about it at all and had simply lost her mind and gone on a mindless rampage. Lovino had always claimed she was insane, after all, so it didn't seem like such an unlikely possibility. Or maybe she had been planning to kill him from the very beginning, so she could inherit her father's property and fortune and not have to share it with a man she had always disliked. Antonio wouldn't put it past her.

Her reasons for being after Lovino's blood were not important, though. The point was that she was after Lovino's blood and Antonio had no idea what to do about it. Once they had escaped from the manor, Antonio had assumed they would head to the church. Lovino had told him the Russos were a powerful family with a little army of their own and that either Natalia or her father would surely send them after him.

Again, Antonio was not a complete idiot. He realised they would probably stand little chance against the Russos' private army. He knew those men would search the entire town after them very soon, so they didn't have much time. He also realised that Lovino was wounded and needed to take care of it as soon as possible. So, naturally, Antonio had assumed the church would be their destination, where they would surely be granted sanctuary. No matter how powerful the Russos were, they would never violate that. Besides, Father Vinicius was very knowledgeable in the field of medicine and would nurse Lovino back to health, like he had done many times in the past. And then, well, they would have figured out what to do next once they'd got there.

But no, Lovino had adamantly refused to go to the church, much to Antonio's utter surprise and confusion. He had insisted no place in the town was safe, not even the church – especially not the church, he had stressed – and he had wanted to get as far away as from it possible right away. Antonio had thought his young friend had some kind of plan, but that turned out to be yet another wrong assumption. Lovino had absolutely no idea what he was doing; he was just running wildly in blind panic. That was stupid, Antonio thought; now they had wasted a lot of time and, by the time Lovino recovered his wits and realised the church was the best and pretty much only escape, it wouldn't be as easy to reach it.

Antonio tried to point all this out to Lovino as they left the town and ventured into the woods, but Lovino refused to listen to a single word, and Antonio's questions about his motives were either vague, nonsensical answers, or were ignored altogether. So, Antonio started to resign himself to this insanity. One couldn't reason with Lovino when he was in one of his moods. Antonio was quite used to it by now.

"It doesn't look that bad," he sighed as he examined the wound on Lovino's shoulder again. "The bullet just grazed it. It's just a flesh wound. You'll be all right." Though he said that, he was still a little worried. It really didn't look bad, and he had done his best to clean it and wrap some makeshift bandages around it, but he would be much more at ease if they could be somewhere civilised, in better conditions, with someone who had some experience with healing. Not only because of this wound, but also because Lovino still looked kind of sick. He was frightfully pale, sweating, shaking, cold to the touch, short of breath, and he looked like he might throw up any minute. Antonio thought it was too early for the wound to cause all this, so he must be coming down with something, right?

He watched his troubled friend for a while. Usually, when he did this, Lovino would soon notice he was being stared at and snap at him for it, since he hated being stared at. But this time, nothing happened.

"What now?" he prompted. "What do you want to do? Where are we going?"

"I don't care, as long as it's far away from here!" Lovino said for what had to be the millionth time today. Then, maybe realising how repetitive he sounded, he seemed to think a little more about it and, in a more subdued tone, added, "The nearest town is to the north. Let's go there."

"But we don't have a horse!" said Antonio, dismayed and disappointed. When Lovino had looked that contemplative, Antonio had expected him to have seen reason at last. "We have no provisions, either. We're completely empty-handed!"

"I don't care! We're going to make it!"

"The church—"

"Will you shut the fuck up about that goddamned church already! I told you, I'll never go back there! I don't ever want to see Father Vinicius, ever again!" yelled Lovino, a hint of hysteria entering his voice.

"Fine, fine, just calm down," Antonio sighed. He shouldn't have insisted on the subject and got Lovino all worked up. He was just making things worse. "Look, I'm starving, and you should probably eat something, too. I'll go and see if I can find us anything to eat. And firewood, too."

"What? You're leaving me here all by myself?" Lovino looked utterly terrified at the idea.

"J-just for a little while!" Antonio hurried to reassure him. "I'll be back in a moment, I promise. Don't worry, no one will find you here. And anyway, you still have the gun we took from Natalia, right?"

"Y-yeah, but... what if something happens to you? You won't be able to defend yourself without a weapon," said Lovino, with that expression he always wore when he was genuinely worried and tried to hide behind a mask of annoyance. Antonio was touched, but knew better than to voice his thoughts and risk being shot.

"I'll be all right!" was all he said, laughing in good humour to break the gloomy atmosphere and cheer his friend up. Lovino looked annoyed, but at least the irrational fear that had been tainting his eyes all day faded. Certain now that Lovino was feeling a little better, Antonio set off in search of food and firewood.

As he often did when faced with a problem, Antonio decided to get his mind off it and allow himself to relax and focus on more mundane tasks. Thinking about problems would only make him fret, and if he fretted, he couldn't think straight and come up with a solution, so it would get him nowhere. If he just let his mind rest, an answer would eventually come up somehow. That was how it had always been with him. Not at all like Lovino, who would rather worry himself sick than relax for one minute. His poor friend, he wouldn't have a very long, healthy life if he kept up with that kind of mentality.

Nevertheless, he wasn't foolish enough to lower his guard, even though he presumed the chances of getting caught in this place were still quite small. He was attentive to any strange, suspicious sound and kept an eye open for any sign of danger. After a while, he thought he was maybe overdoing it and had got his imagination to play tricks on him, because he could swear he was hearing a distant, high-pitched voice shouting for his and Lovino's names. That was impossible, though. Even if Natalia had somehow guessed they were hiding in these parts, she wouldn't be shouting for them; she would search for them in silence and creep up on them.

The voice was becoming louder and louder, though, so before Antonio could begin to fear for his sanity, he decided to follow it and see if there really was someone out there looking for them and who it was. As he came closer, another sound could be heard, a sound like a horse's trot. As it turned out, he wasn't just hearing things; he found the owner of that voice riding on a horse along the road that cut through the woods. His jaw dropped at the unexpected sight.

"Bella?" he shouted without really thinking. The girl glanced around until she finally located him, then made her horse turn around and go over to the dumbstruck Antonio.

"Antonio, I'm so glad I finally found you!" she said, dismounting the horse, a relieved grin on her face.

"What—What are you doing here?" he stammered.

"I've been looking all over for you!" said Bella. "As soon as I heard about what happened—"

"People already know what happened?"

"—I knew you might need help, so I brought you some food, water, fresh bandages, a cloak, a map—"

"That's... pretty helpful, actually, but—"

"—but I couldn't find you anywhere! I thought you were going to the church for asylum—"

"That's what I was trying to—"

"—but you weren't there, so after a quick search around the town, I assumed you'd fled it—"

"Bella, slow down—"

"—and I was afraid that you'd gone too far for me to catch up, but I'm so glad I was able to find you here after all!" She took a deep breath for the first time in a while. Antonio took this opportunity to interject before she got started on round two.

"Bella, I really appreciate all the trouble you've gone through to help us. Really, I do, and I'm sure Lovino will be, too," he said, holding her shoulders gently. "But don't think you think that was a little reckless? What if you'd got hurt? I'd never forgive myself!"

"It's okay, Antonio!" She grinned. "I'm fine, see? And I see you're also all right. Now take me to Lovino. I want to make sure he is all right."

oOo

Lovino had been jittery from the moment Antonio had left him alone in the woods. Not that he hadn't already been more than a little jumpy before that, what with knowing that Natalia's men would be coming after him sooner or later and all, but he hated being alone. Even more so, he hated being alone and in danger. So, thanks to his already frayed nerves and progressively paranoid thoughts, he almost had a heart attack when he heard Antonio come back with another person in tow.

But as soon as he and Bella explained how she had reacted to the news of their escape from Natalia's clutches and how she had come looking for them, he just about had a stroke.

"You did what?" he hollered, effectively frightening all wildlife in a radius of several miles. "Do you have any idea how reckless and—and stupid that was? What the hell were you thinking? I can't believe you were looking for us by yelling our names around! What if there was someone following you, expecting you to lead them to us?"

"Well, in that case, you're not helping yourself any by yelling like that, either," Antonio pointed out in his infuriatingly calm way. "If no one heard Bella, they've certainly heard you now."

Lovino lifted the gun that he still held in his hand, contemplating if he should shoot Antonio for that cheeky comeback. Fortunately for Antonio, Bella diverted his attention by whimpering, her bottom lip trembling.

"I-I'm sorry, Lovino... I just wanted to help you... I-I even—I even b-brought you a horse. I was just so worried, I—" she rubbed her eye and quickly faced away from both men, her shoulders heaving. Lovino panicked.

"No, no, no, don't cry! Please!" said Lovino, his tone softening right away. "I-I'm—I'm sorry for being so harsh and rude to you. It's just that... well, you worried me, too! If you got hurt while trying to help me, I would never be able to forgive myself!"

"Oh, Lovino, that's so sweet of you! I'm really touched that you care so much about my well-being," said Bella, giving him a watery smile. Next to her, Antonio frowned.

"That's what I told you! And I didn't even have to be a jerk before I said it!" he whined, but he might as well be part of the landscape as far as Bella was concerned, for he went completely ignored. He pouted and glared at Lovino, who just shrugged (and then winced when the motion made his shoulder hurt). It wasn't his fault that Bella couldn't care less about Antonio.

Bella must have noticed his wince, for she quickly came to kneel down next to him and asked to take a look at his wound. She fussed over him and set about cleaning and bandaging it properly. Lovino soaked up the attention for all it was worth. It was so much more pleasant to be tended to by a pretty girl, after all.

"Is it really painful?" she asked him.

"No, it doesn't hurt at all," he told her.

"Then what was all that whining about how badly it hurt when I was taking care of it?" muttered Antonio sullenly, but once again, he was ignored.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Bella asked Lovino.

"We're heading north, to the nearest town."

"Oh..."

"Yes... I'll really miss you."

"I'll—" She shook her head. "Then I'm coming with you!"

"What?" shouted Lovino and Antonio in unison.

"What are you talking about? Of course you can't come with us!" said Lovino.

"He's right! It's too dangerous!" said Antonio. "Besides, your grandmother would be worried sick about you!"

"She'll be fine on her own! Grandma isn't helpless!" said Bella. "I told her it might be a while until I came back right before I left, and she was okay with that. And I'll go back or send her a letter as soon as I can so that she won't worry too much. It's no problem."

"Bella. No. Don't be silly," said Lovino. "Just... be a good girl, take your horse and go home. I can't have you dragged into this mess, too."

"But you'll never make it to the next town without a horse!" she argued. "I want to help you!"

"You've done enough and I'm very grateful. Now you can only help us by going back to safety."

"But—"

"Bella! You're not coming with us, and that's final!"

oOo

Neither Lovino nor Antonio could believe it, but Bella was coming with them, after all. She might seem like a docile, weak girl at first sight, but she could be really strong-willed and tenacious when she thought it was necessary. She was coming with them whether they wanted her to or not, even if she had to follow them under the shadows. She wouldn't give up no matter what they said. If anything, everything they said only made her even more eager to come with them.

So, after a very long, exhausting, and frustrating argument, they finally gave up and decided to set off. And then another argument was born. The problem was, they only had one horse. Bella insisted that Lovino should be the one to ride it, since he was injured and still looked quite sick – a fair point. On the other hand, Lovino didn't think it was right to make a lady walk when she could very well ride – also a very valid point. In the end, they agreed to ride together. A little awkward at first, but they got used to it, despite some grumbling on Lovino's part.

They actually made good progress for one day, all things considered, but it also became more and more obvious that the provisions Bella had brought would not be enough for the whole trip if they were going at this pace, especially if they were avoiding the road and taking the longer way. The fact that Lovino had become quieter and quieter also made Antonio nervous. On the one hand, it was a relief to his ears that he didn't have to hear his grumbling or insults any more; on the other hand, it was very unlike Lovino to be so quiet, so it did not bode too well.

"Maybe we should stop by some village halfway?" Antonio suggested.

"No, it'll only slow us down," replied Lovino, not nearly as vehemently as he would have been if he were feeling like himself. He looked exhausted, even though he had been riding for the whole trip so far. "Besides, they could be expecting us there."

"You're being paranoid," Antonio sighed. "I don't think anyone has been following us. Even if Natalia has sent someone after us, they can't possibly know where we're headed."

"She wouldn't send amateurs, idiot. Tracking us would be the easiest thing for them." He couldn't even muster the energy to sound remotely annoyed; now he just sounded tired.

Antonio looked back at him, noting how pale he was, and considered suggesting that they stop to rest a little, but then he thought he had heard something. Before he could even worry about it, however, Bella saw something ahead that made her gasp. Antonio returned his gaze to the trail and saw it, too – a small band of men in black uniforms, all wielding swords. Not exactly an army, for there was only half a dozen men, but Antonio and his companions were still severely outnumbered.

"Hi!" said Antonio, because he didn't know for sure if these men were really after them, and there was no reason not to be polite yet. "Um. Excuse me, but who are you?"

"We were sent by the Russos to arrest Lovino Vargas and Antonio Carriedo and bring them to Lady Russo," said the leader of the group.

Antonio could hear his two friends' breathing getting more and more frantic behind him, but he himself kept his cool. "I'm sorry, sir," he told them kindly, "but I'm afraid I've never heard of those people. We're not from around these parts, see? If I find out anything about their whereabouts, though, I'll let you know."

The leader of the group blinked once, his expression never changing, and then he brandished his sword and ordered his men to attack.

"You moron, did you really think for a moment they'd fall for that?" yelled Lovino. While it was reassuring to see his weakened friend acting more like himself again, this really wasn't the time for his insults. Antonio fumbled for the gun they had taken from Natalia.

"Where's the gun? Where is it?" he asked. He frantically searched for something – anything – that could be used as a weapon or at least as a shield.

One of the soldiers charged at Antonio, who saw the attack coming just in time to dodge it. The horse, not being a war horse, got frightened by the sudden commotion and reared back, throwing both of its riders off. Lovino ended up partially cushioning Bella's fall and nearly got trampled when the horse fled the scene.

The soldier who had attacked Antonio obviously had never expected him to be able to dodge, since he lost his balance a little when his sword hit nothing but empty air. Three other men advanced. Antonio took advantage of the first man's momentary distraction to knock him out with a solid punch to the jaw and then borrow his sword. Even if he wasn't an expert swordsman, it was much better than facing three armed men empty-handed.

As it was, he knew he couldn't possibly hold his own against the three of them at the same time, so he ran away. That way, the three men would catch up with him one by one, making it a lot easier to deal with them. He had no time to see what Lovino or Bella were doing; he could only hope they had been sensible enough to run away and keep themselves well hidden until Antonio could go back to them.

oOo

Once back on their feet, Lovino and Bella had run in a completely different direction, hoping that by splitting the group of soldiers up they would have better chances to fight them off. The problem was, Lovino wasn't much of a fighter, and Bella even less so. Lovino still had Natalia's gun, though. He was so glad he had had the idea to take it, because it just might save his life now. Unfortunately, he only had one bullet. Only one chance. He couldn't miss it. He couldn't!

"Bella, get away from me!" he told her. "It's not you they're after! You'll only get hurt if you stay with me!"

"Never! I won't leave you! Hey, I just had an idea!"

"Oh, God, no..."

"Tell you what, I'm going to distract that man who's right behind us, and you use that opportunity to shoot him, okay?"

"No, no, Bella, what are you going to? Don't—"

Bella ignored him and came to an abrupt stop, then turned on her heels and ran straight into the closest pursuer, all the while screaming bloody murder. The soldier was naturally surprised by this turn of events, and yet could still have easily fended her off, but since she was a woman, he hesitated and, in the end, couldn't stop her from crashing against him. Inwardly, Lovino was a little impressed. Outwardly, he shouted a vile curse and aimed the gun at the preoccupied soldier, his hand shaking and vision going slightly blurry at intervals. No, no time to let fear take over, he couldn't miss it, he needed to focus!

Just when he thought he was ready to shoot, Bella got in the way, the soldier struggling to get a hold on her.

"Get out of the way, damn it!" yelled Lovino.

"Get off, woman!" yelled the soldier at the same time, finally managing to grab her by the hair and shoving her to the ground.

The scene made Lovino's blood boil; that was no way to treat a lady! At once, his sight focused on his target and he pulled the trigger. The bullet didn't hit the man in any vital organs, only his leg, but it was more than enough to incapacitate him. Unfortunately, Lovino didn't even have the time to rejoice at this small victory, for the second pursuer had just caught up.

"Stop right there!" he shouted, aiming the gun at the man while Bella backed away, apparently unnoticed by the newcomer. "Don't move a muscle or I swear to God I'll shoot your fucking brains out, bastard!"

"You're bluffing," sneered the soldier. "I didn't see you reloading that gun. You don't have another bullet."

Lovino laughed. "You're the one who's bluffing! Just try and take a step closer if you want to bet your life on it, moron!"

Unperturbed, the soldier charged full-force.

Well, shit.

Lovino screamed, dropped the gun, and turned tail.

"Damn you, Antonio?" he wailed. "Where the hell are you? Come and help me, you bastard!"

Then, proving once again that he was too useless to even run for his life, he tripped and fell face-first on the ground. Well, even if this hadn't happened, it would have been a matter of time – very little time, in fact – until he was caught. He looked at that brute of a man standing over him, cackling at how pathetic and helpless his prey must look, and screamed again.

However, the man's laughter was cut short when the gun Lovino had been holding previously came flying out of nowhere and hit him on the head. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell forward limply. Lovino yelped in shock.

"Wow, I did it!" said Bella, joining Lovino once again. "I just threw the gun at his head and I actually hit him! Wasn't that great, Lovino—My God, Lovino, you look like you're about to pass out! Are you all right?"

He shook his head to clear it. "Let's get out of here before these two bastards come to, or before their reinforcements arrive!" he shouted, struggling to get back on his feet. Bella began to say something, but Lovino didn't want to hear it; he just grabbed her hand – firmly, but not painfully – and dragged her along as fast as his wobbling legs would allow him.

oOo

Antonio's plan to fight off the three men after him one by one had worked rather well. Really, these guys weren't that strong, or even that smart. So, after taking care of them, Antonio went off in search of his two stray friends. It was a little difficult without a horse. He eventually found two unconscious, bleeding men, one of them lying next to Natalia's gun, but there was no sign of either Lovino or Bella anywhere. Still, Antonio was sure he could find them soon. Without a horse, how far could they get?

Apparently, he had once again underestimated Lovino's talent for running away from danger. He wished he could shout out their names to make his search easier, but given Lovino's reaction when Bella had tried this exact method earlier, Antonio gave up on the idea and resigned himself to doing it the hard way.

About two hours later, he found them in a small, relatively secluded clearing. Quite a good hiding place. He was immensely relieved to see that Bella was unharmed, but his relief was short-lived, as Lovino seemed to be in an even worse condition than before this ambush. He had grown ominously quiet again, and wasn't alarmed in the least when Antonio announced that they were staying right here till tomorrow – two hours ago, he would have insisted on going on lest they were found again. To make matters worse, they had lost their horse and almost all their provisions.

Their only meal consisted of fruits that Antonio had found nearby – he dared not leave the other two alone to hunt – and some bread that Bella had fortunately kept in her bag during the whole ordeal. Lovino was the only one who didn't eat at all, claiming that it would only make him sick, despite his friends' objections that he needed to eat something. Then, as night fell, they made themselves as comfortable as possible on the ground, around the fire that Antonio built. There was only one cloak – Bella's – which Lovino had insisted Bella wore. She complied, at least until he fell asleep, then she tiptoed over to him and carefully covered him with the cloak.

As Bella, too, fell asleep soon afterwards, Antonio kept watch almost the entire night, praying that things would get better the next day.

A/N: A short chapter, but it needed to end here. Oh, and those were the first hints of Conquistador!Spain. I love that side of him.