A note from ME! Nihao! Next chappie! There is a lot more angst then last chapter, I'm afraid. I was gonna stop it half way through, but I decided not to be that mean… XD
Chapter 3 – They forgive
Feliciano gave a sigh as he put down his heavy bag, and smiled at his worried friends reassuringly. As they had left the house, they – or Ludwig – had decided that in order to assure their security, they would take with them as much food as they could carry. This turned out to be quite a lot, with the monsters that were Ivan and Alfred travelling with them. Even carrying the bag of weapons Ivan managed to carry another two filled with canned food with ease, while Alfred, not to be outdone, followed with a further four bags. At several points, the group noticed Feliciano starting to lag – he was an artist, not a heavy lifter, after all – but when any of them offered to help he would refuse, sending them a happy grin.
Ludwig frowned as he noticed this. It looked like Arthur's words had really hit the Italian where it mattered. The German was glad he was trying to work harder, but at the same time… it was worrying. Every time Feli lagged behind, it alerted Ludwig to the danger facing the shorter man if he was ever left behind.
"He's the mage." Ludwig's head shot round, and he looked at Alfred, who was sitting on the garden wall next to him as Arthur started picking the lock of the house they'd chosen. Alfred smiled at the older mans confused face. "Feliciano. Arthur's wrong, I think. Not everyone can be physically strong, or brave." Seeing this didn't clear anything up for Ludwig, he continued.
"It's like RPG games!" He said. "The best group will have a variety of players. There's the tank, which draws all the heavy fire, and is the strongest, there's long-distance fighters, there's close fighters, and there's the mage who heals everybody!" Ludwig raised an eyebrow as Alfred started gesturing.
"Me and Ivan are the Tanks. You, Gilbert and Matthew are long-distance fighters. Yao, Kiku, Francis and Arthur are the close fighters, and Feli's the mage! Except Feli doesn't heal us… he only cooks our food…" He trailed off, watching Feliciano as he talked to Kiku, making the extravagant hand gestures that always accompanied his speech. Ludwig smiled. Alfred was more right then he thought. The preppy Italian may not physically heal them but emotionally, when they were tired and scared, Feliciano was there with his contagious smile and bubbly personality to make them feel better.
"I've done it." Arthur said, standing up as the door swung open.
The next few seconds seemed to stretch out for the others. One of the undead slammed out of the house, teeth bared. Its face had started to come away from the bones, rotting, or maybe it tore its own skin off. Arthur's eyes widened as the zombie went straight for his throat, and reached for his sword, his hand moving too slowly.
"ARTHUR!" Francis barrelled into his younger friend, shoving him onto the floor in a sprawling head. Arthur's head shot up, and he stared in horror as the undead sunk its teeth into Francis's shoulder, and the blonde let out a guttural cry of pain. There was a shotgun, and the monster staggered back, its teeth wrenched from Francis's shoulder as its head snapped back. Feliciano felt his hands shake as he slowly lowered his gun, staring at the Zombie he'd shot.
"F- Francis!" Arthur's panicked cry broke Feli out of his reverie, and he looked around as Arthur caught Francis, saving him from falling. He was suddenly very pale, his breath shallow.
"He's been infected!" Yao exclaimed. Arthur growled at him, and tugged Francis to his feet, trying to support the taller body. He swore, and Ivan stepped forward, lifting the Frenchman up easily, bridal style. The smaller man flopped in his arms, his head rolling back as he drew in a ragged breath.
"It's too late, da?" He told the wide-eyed Arthur. The sandy-haired man stared up at him, and Ivan felt an unexpected pang in his heart at the pure terror in Arthur's eyes, the very thought of loosing Francis too much to bear.
"N- no!" He said. "T- there's time… I can help…" He looked around. "My satchel…" Feli picked it up from where it had fallen with Arthur.
"I've got it." He said. "Let's take him inside." Arthur nodded shakily.
Feliciano had been surprised by the weight of the bag, but hadn't said anything as the group walked into the house, Yao and Kiku taking the front, weapons raised warily in case there were more of the undead. Ivan laid Francis on the kitchen worktop where Arthur shakily instructed him to.
"Feliciano, can you start washing out the bite?" He asked, taking the satchel and putting it on the table. Feli nodded, walking to the sink and running the water as he undid Francis's shirt to expose the weeping wound. Arthur opened his bag, revealing piles of old looking books, the covers unmarked. Gilbert raised an eyebrow.
"This is what you were lugging around all this time?" He asked. Arthur nodded, picking out a black tome.
"I couldn't leave them behind…" He answered, flipping through it. "Here…" Gilbert and Alfred leant over his shoulder to read, but was met with unfamiliar words.
"It's in Latin." Arthur explained, tracing the words with his finger.
"You can read Latin?" Matthew asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who exactly are you two?" Arthur shushed him, reaching a complicated circle, and nodded.
"Right. I need something to draw with – chalk or something…" Feliciano looked up.
"I've got some charcoal with my art stuff." He said. "Will that do?" Arthur nodded and hurried to the bags Alfred and Ludwig had brought in, searching through them until he claimed the charcoal. He looked at the others.
"This is complicated." He said. "So you'll have to be quiet while I work." The group watched in confusion as he knelt, starting to sketch lines across the floor, creating a large, complicated circle. Whenever one of them moved, or drew breath to speak, he'd shush them impatiently. Eventually he was tip-toeing his way through lines, sweeps and words, moving to start on the outside of the circle.
"How long has it been since he was bitten?" He asked, glancing at the book for reference. Ludwig looked at his watch.
"About twenty minutes…" He told Arthur, who's mouth tightened to a thin line.
"I don't have much time left…" He whispered. "If I don't make this within the next ten minutes, there might be no turning back…" He sped up his writing, crawling around the circle.
"There!" He stood up, ignoring the charcoal marks littering his clothes. "Quickly! We don't have much time! Put him in the circle!" Ludwig checked his watch again as Ivan lifted Francis, softly depositing his body within the circle.
"Five minutes." He said, and Arthur swore, rustling through the drawers in the kitchen.
"Candles, candles… Candles!" He scooped up a packet of tea lights, tossing them to Ivan. "Place those in a pentagram around him and light them." Not checking to see if he was being obeyed, Arthur grabbed a bowl, running the water from the tap before hurrying over, placing it next to Francis, who was now deathly pale, and had started to twitch, beads of sweat running down his face.
"Feli, I'll need your help!" Arthur called, stripping his top off. "I need paint, any colour, and two paintbrushes!" Feliciano hurried to grab the requested items, and soon returned. Arthur pointed to a separate circle in the book.
"I need you to paint that on the base of my neck and the small of my back." He said, taking a paintbrush and dipping it in the paint as he knelt down, and carefully started to paint on Francis's exposed chest.
"This requires the caster to bond with the target." He told the Italian as they worked. "The entire spell depends on the strength of my feelings and the bonds between us. That's why I need to be marked as well." Ludwig looked at his watch.
"Two minutes!"
"Done!" Feli said, putting down the paintbrush. Arthur nodded, straightening as he finished Francis's chest.
"You guys might want to get out." He said. "This won't be pretty…"
Two minutes later, the kitchen door opened. Everyone stood, looking at the door expectantly.
"A- Arthur!" Alfred grabbed the man as he collapsed, the still wet green paint smearing onto his clothes.
"I- It's done." The blonde said, panting hard. "He's safe…" Arthur smiled as he closed his eyes, listening to the relieved sighs around him. He heard voices softly babbling around him. He heard Matthew talking to Gilbert with relief evidence in his voice, and Ivan offer to take Arthur from a grateful Alfred. He heard Feli chattering quietly to Ludwig, the occasional 'Hmm' earned. He smiled. Maybe he could get used to a group so full of life and love…
A note from ME! WOOOO! Go Feli! XD, yeah, this is the chapter where Feli redeems himself in Arthur's eyes. And yeah, Arthur knows magic. And Latin. Go figure. XD