Really sorry for how long this took to write, but it's a little longer if that makes up for anything. I hope everyone enjoys this, and the story to come, if there really is even anyone still reading it. If you are, Thankyou you crazy person. Anyway, I promise to get the next chapter up quicker, within the week hopefully. So keep an eye out!
"Tomorrow" Feliciano said vacantly wiping the already dry plate in his hands. "Tomorrow" Liechtenstein repeated pulling her bowl from the water, "So Soon?". He nodded, "There's not really anything keeping us here, besides the fact it's a lot nicer than out there. But we need to go find him, and everyone, the longer we wait the less chance we have. So is that okay. You'll come right? I can't leave you alone." Liechtenstein smiled a little pulling the plate from Feliciano's hands and putting his bowl there for him to dry "Of course I'm coming. Can't get rid of me that easily. Plus I still need to pay you back for saving my life Feli". He laughed but was interrupted before he could reply. "So you two coming? You ready for the danger?". Feliciano and Lili nodded in unison and she piped up " The danger doesn't matter Gil, We'll be fine. I can feel it. We made it alive this far."
"Yeah.. but have you guys seen it, outside the city, I mean I know it's bad in there." he rubbed the back of his neck a little, worried he might scare them out of coming, but needing to tell them what they were getting into "Switzerland didn't get hit too badly, compared to a lot of places I've seen. There were people I met who were missing limbs they'd cut from getting bit, people had them 'things' on freaking chains, heck I even saw people being eaten." Feliciano looked at him curiously putting away the last of the plates, "Well yeah Gilbert, they eat people, that's what they do." A moment of silence before he replied "I mean they were getting eaten by other people alive people. Look what I'm trying to say is it might be worse than you think. I don't want you being caught of guard."
"It's fine. We're nations. Those rotters wont know what hit 'em" Liechtenstein exclaimed, though a little more than frightened at the idea she might get eaten. "Yeah you're right…so Feliciano, you don't mind sharing a bed for tonight right? I saw it was you who'd taken the double bed." he chimed, changing the subject with surprising quickness". Feli, who had been off in another world was suddenly pulled back and he shot up straight in his seat "Of course not! I was just thinking it was a bit too cold last night".
The rest of the afternoon was spent mapping out every part of their trip the best they could. Berlin, being the most likely place they'd find Ludwig, was their target and was signified with a large red circle. They decided to sacrifice speed for safety and take the smaller roads, better to be safe then sorry. Gilbert secondary routes in case they were blocked, places they could meet if they were split, and places they were most likely to find supplies. With all the preparation and planning, they all felt a lot more at ease, as though there was no way it could go wrong. By the time the sun was going down they were finished and got to relax a little. They decided to pass on dinner, and have breakfast before they left instead, but Gilbert gave them each a bar of chocolate he'd picked up while he was out.
By seven o'clock they'd all crawled into their beds, but were still wide awake talking about what had happened to them since it all started, obviously there were large gaps of bad memories that they left out. "So Austria and Hungary got hit bad huh?" Feli asked, hoping he wasn't crossing a line by mentioning them. "Yeah it was crazy, and it wasn't just them, I heard the whole area from them all the way to Greece was blasted." He rolled over in the bed away from Feliciano just a little "I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only survivor in the whole god damn region". There was silence before Liechtenstein piped up "What about past them? Poland, Russia, His sisters, the Baltics, even the Nordics. They probably weren't hit as bad right?". Gilbert gave a little nod "Maybe. Thank god if they weren't I guess?". Feliciano didn't reply but he couldn't help wonder if there was really anywhere at all left where people were leading normal lives..or if it could ever go back to the way it had been. He shook his head, if they found Ludwig, whatever they had would be close enough. Not much else was spoken after that, except a few muffled goodnights, but each of them was up for a good while longer worrying about just what might await them the next day.
"That was disgusting" Lili exclaimed taking a few good steps sideways away from Gilbert, who was laughing loudly. Feliciano gave them both a look of curiosity "What? I don't smell anyt- Ah!" he gagged a little, moving his hand to his throat dramatically "That IS disgusting". All three of them laughed after that and moved next to each other once the smell had disappeared. Feliciano felt a little odd laughing and talking so lightly. It was nice, but it felt wrong, and he couldn't help but feel guilty when he imagined how many people were dying at that moment. They weren't safe and this definitely wasn't the situation to be smiling. Though he reminded himself, even if it was somewhat childish, it was a good thing that they could still smile, and he shouldn't take that for granted.
He refocused on reality, realising the others had walked ahead of him, only by a metre but he had to keep an eye on it or it would turn into a kilometre by the end of the day. They'd been walking for 4 hours now without stopping once, his legs were on fire and his breathing was starting to become uneven. However, Feliciano had no intent on showing how tired he was, not when every step took him closer to Ludwig, besides they were stopping shortly at lunch he would just wait until then. "There it is" Lili said, snapping Feli's head up to see what she was talking about "My border."
Gilbert turned around and smiled at him, "This is going well, if nothing gets in the way, we should make it to the German border in a couple of days". Feliciano beamed "That's great. The sooner we get to Ludwig, the better!". Gilbert nodded in return and spun back around to continue walking. The trio had been taking back roads all day, however Liechtenstein had insisted that when they cross the border they take a proper road through. It wasn't extremely big, and that meant it hadn't been crowded when this all began, but there were still cars littering the road and the woods around it. Slowly and carefully making there way past each car took a long time, and the uneasiness just continued to grow in their stomachs. "Why'd we go this way again Lili?" Feliciano whispered looking through the window of an overturned car and the monster trapped within it clawing at the window. "If it's for the scenery, than I think you should be very disappointed" Gilbert added in placing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him away from the car.
Lili was a good five metres ahead of them, her eyes darting all around "Because, this way is easier to find people." Gilbert sped up a little to walk beside her "Wait, Wait, Wait. I thought you said it would be safer. What kind of people are you looking for, those people or us people?". She sighed a bit "Alive people, and I think if we find some it will be safer." "What if they're the dangerous kind, like the ones who shot you, your legs still messed up and I'm surprised your walking" he replied. Feliciano, although wanting to be safe, had no interest in the conversation, he doubted he would be listened to if he spoke up anyway. He drowned them out and began to look around, in case there really was anyone out there. Feliciano didn't care how they did it, he just needed to get to Ludwig, quickly.