Entering the cabin area again, Matthew spotted Tino as he cradled a sleepy Alfred to his chest, the Finnish man apparently telling jokes to Alfred while they waited. Tino gave a small wave to the others as they laid out the stretcher on the floor and began to try and rouse Alfred. But he received only a groan of disapproval at being asked to move, Matthew looking on in sympathy as his twin fought against giving in to his body's natural reflex to dealing with these sorts of situations.
"No way dudes." Alfred said once he recognized what they planned on doing. "I don't need to be carried. I…I can walk on my own." Alfred said, holding the blanket tightly around him with his left arm, keeping his right covered as he pushed himself into a sitting position at the end of the bed, ready to stand. Tino was instantly upright as well, pleading with Alfred not to make any sudden moves.
"Nghh…I'm good. Watch" Alfred said, taking a deep breath before rapidly standing up with a determined look on his face, Matthew sighing as he knew what would happen next. He could tell his twin had decided to give his all and stand as quickly as he could to get it over with, like ripping off a bandage to keep the stinging to a minimum.
And so he watched what little color had returned to his twin's face drain out, Ludwig and Tino catching Alfred as he pitched forward. With some difficulty, they all managed to turn him onto his back and lay him on the stretcher, Matthew draping the ends of the blanket still clutched in his brother's hand onto the stretcher and onto his twin.
"I think he's ready to be moved." Antonio said, grabbing one end of the stretcher while Matthew hovered nearby. Tino stood behind Ludwig, also insisting to help.
"Nein. Not enough room and he'll be too heavy for you." Ludwig said, counting to three in German to signal to Antonio to lift his end. The Spaniard did so, but Matthew could see him already panting from his brother's weight.
"Switch with me Antonio." Matthew said, Antonio giving a nod as Ludwig and he lowered Alfred back to the floor.
"Los siento amigo. I did not realize your brother would have so much to him." Antonio said, shifting around to give Matthew room to bend down and pick up his end of the stretcher.
Matthew laughed at that, knowing that while the other personifications likes to toss around words like 'fatty' to his twin, they had no idea of what really was going on with the American. "Yeah. You should try being on bottom when he decides he wants a piggy-back ride." He said, Antonio's eyes widening at the thought.
But nothing else was said aside from Ludwig counting to three again as he repeated the process with Matthew this time. Antonio and Tino helped to make sure things were pushed out of the way so that Ludwig and Matthew could navigate their way out with Alfred, their actions as hurried as possible in case Alfred woke up and decided to try walking out on his own again.
"So…" Gilbert called out from the deck of Ludwig's boat as the group made their way back out onto Alfred's deck. "How many arms has he got?" He asked in a tone that could've passed as disinterested yet still curious to a stranger, but Ludwig could hear the underlying worry for one of their own.
Matthew could only imagine what things looked like if his reaction was anything to go by, since Alfred was more or less wrapped up with the only parts of him visible underneath the blanket from below the knees and from the shoulders up. The fact that Gilbert probably could only see his exposed left arm probably added to the image that Matthew knew he'd conjured up in his mind of his twin.
"Still two." Tino answered as the group headed over to Matthew's ship, despite knowing that Antonio's was probably the better choice. The albino man just nodded, the only one without enough tact to keep from outright shouting out the question that the others had refrained from asking but listened intently for the answer.
"Awesome." Gilbert said. "Then hurry it up Ludwig so I can head back inside before I do my awesome impression of a lobster." He said in a rare show of acknowledging that he wasn't exactly meant for long stretches out in the open sun. Ludwig grunted out a quick 'ja' to his older brother as he and Matthew slowly carried Alfred onto the other boat, the group entering the cabin to find a place to carefully set Alfred down.
Kiku, who probably also could've benefitted from the stretcher if they'd had one earlier, was still being cared for by Hong Kong as they passed by him. The Japanese man looked over at his friend in unspoken worry, Matthew grateful that he and Yao didn't choose to comment on their method of treating him just yet. But Matthew found Arthur to be, predictably, a different story as the injured British man met them almost as soon as they' gone to place Alfred on a bed in another area of the ship to be cared for properly.
"Have you gotten him up yet?" Arthur asked as he helped to untangle Alfred from his blanket. Ludwig sidestepped to make room for the intrusive man, Antonio rolling his eyes at the expected behavior.
"Arthur, let them get him situated before you go criticizing how they go about it." Antonio said, heading back out of the room. "I'm sure they can handle it. But if that's all that's all I can offer, I'm going to see if Francis is able to explain what happened to Romano." He said, taking off before Arthur could say anything about that, the British man closing his mouth and halting whatever response he was going to give in favor of getting back to Alfred.
"You are injured as well. There is no further need for you to push yourself to treat him since we are here now. Go rest." Ludwig said, placing a hand on Arthur' shoulder to push him toward the door, clearly not leaving room for debate on his comment.
"Excuse me? I am more than capable of realizing my own limitations, sir." Arthur said, brushing off the taller German's hand. "And I am plenty qualified to look after…." He began to say, Matthew sighing in response to seeing Arthur getting riled up like he did, although the other would claim he never lost his 'keep calm and carry on' attitude.
"If you don't look after yourself, how can you look after your bruder?" Ludwig interrupted, stopping the rant Arthur was about to go on. Matthew looked back and forth between the German and British men before sending a pleading look to Tino.
"Okay. Why don't you help Matthew get something up here for him to eat when he wakes up?" Tino said, attempting to infuse the situation with a lighter tone with his forced cheerfulness. "I'll just start seeing what we can do for him and wait until you get back." He said, motioning with his head to Matthew for the other to grab ahold of his older brother and lead him out of the room. The Canadian nodded and gently tried to maneuver Arthur out of the way of the small sick bay in favor of possibly getting him to head to a bed of his own to get some rest.
"Please, Arthur. You're all in need of a rest. Alfred's alright, eh." Matthew said, Arthur sighing at being made aware of his own state of health thanks to the others. "We'll let you know when he wakes up. You know, if he doesn't do it himself." Matthew said with a smile, easing the tension evident in the British man's stance.
"Yes, well, so long as the git stays still long enough for you. I suppose then my babysitting shift is over." Arthur said, attempting to look disinterested now in wanting to look after Alfred. Matthew just nodded along with him to avoid accidentally prompting either more vocal denials of caring about Alfred or further arguments to let him stay and contribute.
"I'll stay here, Arthur. No need to worry." Tino interjected, Matthew internally wincing at that as the Finnish man did exactly what he was trying to avoid. He knew that Tino hadn't had as much experience with Arthur in a one-on-one situation, but Matthew realized that he was only trying to be comforting.
"What gave you the impression I'm worried about him? The bloody fool decided to wrestle with a shark! It's his own fault he's like this." Arthur said, Tino looking taken aback at the sudden emphasis in the British man's voice. "No, I'm more concerned with being there to smack some sense into that thick head of his once he's awake. It's a bloody miracle we managed to get by with him taking charge…" Arthur said with a huff, Matthew rolling his eyes and continuing to urge him out of the room.
Ludwig looked like he had no more patience with the situation either and Matthew wondered if there was going to be an outright brawl with the way Arthur was clearly becoming more agitated – he may have prided himself on being an accomplished sailor, but even the best got tired of being cooped up after a while, especially if stuck in such an uncomfortable and hazardous situation with a bunch of other equally frustrated men. But it seemed that Alfred could sense the atmosphere better while unconscious than awake, the American stirring as he laid out on the bed.
"Hmmm? Wha…" Alfred said, blearily looking around as he tried to wake up. He locked onto Tino again, the Finnish man comfortingly smiling at him and offering a rushed whisper to encourage him to just rest now that he was safe. "What's up with Iggy?" He asked, Tino trying to keep him from getting up by pushing gently against his shoulders.
"Arthur is merely concerned for your wellbeing. Now that there is no immediate danger, I suggest he look after his own health and we will proceed to tow your boat back to land." Ludwig said, Alfred looking up at him in confusion as he tried to figure things out on his own as he visibly looked to be attempting to recall his last memory.
"Nggh…I'm fine. Lemme up and I can…" Alfred began, Tino practically laying on him to keep him from getting up as he attempted to peacefully persuade Alfred to just let them take care of him. "The hero doesn't rest until the job's done. I'm good. I can…" Alfred continued until Ludwig, sighing in frustration in a manner most often used for dealing with either Gilbert or Feliciano, walked over and flicked him on the forehead. While not enough to really do any damage or have any real impact, Alfred was sufficiently distracted enough for Tino to push him back down onto the bed.
"Ja. I can see the family resemblance." Ludwig said as he shot a scowl over to Arthur, the British man furrowing his brows as he stood by the doorway with his arms crossed, Matthew still not letting him go in case Arthur decided to go back over to Alfred. "Can you handle them all? Including Mr. Independence?" Ludwig said to Tino with the attempt to joke, the Finnish man giving the barest of nods as he briefly looked over to Ludwig from tending to Alfred as the taller man continued to insist that he be let up to steer the boat back to land. The German man gave a stiff nod as well before exiting the room, leaving Matthew to deal with a still irritable Arthur.
Quickly making his way back out onto Alfred's deck to cross over to his own ship, he checked the ropes once more to be sure that they could begin heading back to land. As much as he'd prefer to leave it to the rescue ships likely more capable of that, the German knew that Alfred would've been even more uncooperative if he'd realized that they were leaving his boat behind. "Germany! Germany!" Feliciano called out, Ludwig with barely enough time to brace for the tackle that surprised him with the Italian's hidden strength to cling to him. "You brought me pasta! Ve~. You're such a good friend." He said, nuzzling his friend's shoulder.
"You came out here to tell me that? Why aren't you with your brother?" Ludwig said as he dragged Feliciano back aboard his ship, smelling the unmistakable scent of Feliciano having readily started a batch of pasta. "You don't normally leave your food either once you start…" He said, trailing off in a questioning tone.
"Oh, well, Elizabeta said I shouldn't be doing anything like that right away. Doesn't she know how healing pasta is? And you were taking forever so I thought I'd come find you." Feliciano said, proud of his apparent logical reasoning. "Antonio's on board right now too. He's been so nice! Don't tell him I told you, but Romano's been sitting awfully close to him…ve~, I knew he missed him too. I don't want him to go with Antonio but he seems happy…well, you know, happy for Romano…" Feliciano continued to ramble.
"I doubt your brother will be fleeing to Antonino's ship, no matter how happy he is to see him." Ludwig said as he tried to bend down and undo the rope connecting Matthew's boat to Alfred's so that if need be, they wouldn't have to be slowed down by tugging the additional weight of the damaged boat.
It was a difficult task with Feliciano attached to him, but internally he tried to just think of it as muscle building. "Francis is heading back with Antonio rather than staying on board with Arthur any longer than he has to. It is a wonder that the two of them didn't kill each other before we got here." Ludwig said, Feliciano just shrugging as though he hadn't really paid much attention to that while they'd waited for help to arrive.
"Does that mean you'll have pasta too?" Feliciano asked, Ludwig wondering how he'd transitioned to that question, but he just shook his head.
"Sure. But I didn't bring much." Ludwig said, a slight blush tinting his cheeks at his friend wanting to share food with him. While not unusual, he just knew Gilbert would tease him relentlessly while Elizabeta shot knowing smirks and took pictures as Roderich sat off to the side with a criticizing look on his face at the whole ordeal.
"That's alright. We'll mix it with wurst again." Feliciano said, the two of them climbing back aboard Ludwig's boat. Almost as though they'd triggered it, Romano's shouting could be heard as he demanded that Antonio stop pinching his cheek.
Feliciano giggled as his brother's usual display of gruffness that Antonio completely ignored as he laughed until Romano chased him off the boat and nearly knocked himself and Feliciano into the water again. Ludwig reached out a hand to steady them, wondering why neither Gilbert nor Roderich were around to actually do something to help him.
"I will see you as soon as we get back to land and there will be many churros to be had. I promise, mi tomate, and I will make them myself for you." Antonio said as he climbed aboard his ship, Romano blushing again and grumbling under his breath as the Spaniard gave a final cheery wave.