A note from ME! Here you go, guys; you get this chapter quickly as a gift from me! ^^
Chapter 10
They Rest
Feliciano watched the four men that flanked Arthur curiously while Francis greeted his sisters with a stern words and a weary smile. Arthur's brothers were strange, to say the least. Ian, the eldest, was tall and muscled, with flaming red hair swept back from his forehead and an easy, honest smile. He moved from teasing his younger brothers with playful pushes and ruffled hair to spinning and tossing his son, the blonde haired, blue eyed Peter. Sean and Patrick were less excited and boyish then their brother, and despite being twins seemed uneasy around each other; Sean in particular stood apart from his brothers, his freckled face lighting up with a fierce blush when Peter took him by the hand with a wide smile, urging him to come and play with the family.
Watching this all with a smile while Arthur scowled darkly stood Aled, the same straw-blonde hair and forest-green eyes as Arthur somehow making him seem gentler and kinder then his twin. While Arthur was slim and poised, Aled was built, with wide shoulders and muscled arms.
"Monsieur Feliciano?"
Feliciano started in surprise and looked around at the girl who'd called for him; one of Francis' sisters, Angelique. Her skin was darker then her brother's, and she wore her long black hair in two long bunches tied with red ribbon.
"Si!" Feli greeted with a smile. "You're Angelique? You're very pretty! I can't believe someone as pretty as you came to this horrible place!"
Angelique smiled shyly, twirling a piece of loose hair around her finger. "Mon Frere told me that you saved his life…" She breached quietly. Feli tilted his head, considering the statement.
"Ve? I wouldn't say saved… I didn't do that much, I just shot the Zombie, and-" The Italian was cut off by two slim arms around his waist. Angelique buried her face into Feli's chest.
"Merci…" She whispered. Feli smiled gently, putting his hands on the girl's back and returning her hug.
Ludwig watched this display with a gentle smile; Feliciano had come a long way in the short time he'd known him.
"It's weird…" Gilbert commented to his younger brother as the men started to file into the house, Aled locking the door behind them. "We haven't really known the others that long, have we? But I feel like I've known them for years…"
Ludwig hummed in agreement, following Arthur into a cosy living room. The men piled onto the sofa's, a triad of complaints and grunts of pain rising up until they were eventually comfortable. Arthur, who had claimed an armchair for himself, watched this with a frown.
"Right." Alfred broke the content silence. "Firstly, how did you find each other?"
Aled smiled kindly – an odd look on the face they'd come to associate with scowls and frowns. "Through magic; has Arthur told you about…"
"Da." Ivan replied. "He told us."
"Right; well, mine and Arthur's magic is in sync, because we're twins." Aled explained. "We can pick out and identify each other's magic from miles away, although the further away we are, the harder it is to sense each other. It took me a while to find Arthur's, but the closer I got to him, the easier it got to find him."
Yao nodded, humming.
"So it's like some sort of magical radar?" He asked. Patrick, squashed between Aled and Peter, nodded.
"Yeah, a bit."
Kiku glanced out of the window.
"How come there aren't any zombies?" He asked. Ian grinned, looking a bit proud.
"We set up a magical barrier, about the length of the street." He told the Japanese man. "Because the Zombies are animated purely by magic, they get caught up in it and can't get through. You guys, however, could."
Francis frowned, touching his shoulder. Arthur glanced up, noticing this small gesture, and frowned.
"How's the bite?" He asked quietly. Francis didn't meet his eyes, taking his hand away.
"Absolutely fine." He replied. "No need to worry." Arthur's brow furrowed, and he started to rise from his chair.
"Francis, if it's still hurting-"
"I said it's fine!"
Arthur stared at Francis, mouth slightly open. The Frenchman didn't look up at him, keeping his gaze fixed to the floor. Arthur swallowed, and scowled.
"Fine." He muttered. "Good, that's good." Without another glance at his childhood friend he left the room, the door clicking shut behind him. As soon as he'd left, Francis let out a ragged breath, gritting his teeth. Ian rose, kneeling in front of Francis.
"Let me see." He said seriously. This time Francis didn't protest, taking off his shirt and letting the eldest Kirkland pull the yellowed bandages away from the wound. They stuck, connected by strings of clear, gooey gel. Ian's face darkened.
"How long has it been like this?" He asked. Francis bit his lip.
"A while." He replied. "Can't give you the exact length of time…"
"What was it like this morning?" Ian asked seriously. "Was it anything like this?"
"Non… It was fine… It hurt a bit, but it was fine…"
Ian swore, running his hand through his hair.
"Arthur was afraid of this." He muttered. "He told us everything that happened… This is the real reason he wanted to hunt down the original zombie…" He told the travelling group. Matthew glanced from Francis to Ian, worried.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Ian rubbed his hand over his face, sitting back on his haunches.
"Arthur wasn't strong enough to completely dispel the Zombie Magic." Ian explained. "Only to slow it down. He didn't want to tell you, because panic and fear is likely to increase the speed of the turning." He looked up at Francis with knowing green eyes. "That's also why he didn't wait for you to wake up and take you with him."
Francis stared blankly back at Ian, not letting his face betray what he was feeling.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Surely he didn't think his leaving wouldn't panic me? He terrified me; he could have died. Did he ever think of that?" Sean spoke for the first time now; his voice was quiet, and he didn't look up as he spoke as every pair of eyes turned to him.
"The fear of death and desire to live fuel the turning process." He said, his voice a monotone. "Arthur thought, rightly so, that if you were to go with him into the epicentre of the magic, where the zombies would surely be stronger, this fear would be increased tenfold. However, if you stayed with the others and continued out of America, you'd be safer, less likely to be in the firing zone. Instead you chose to risk your life as well." He looked up now, his bright green eyes drilling straight into Francis' blue ones. "How did you think you could help in any way? With a wounded shoulder; you'd already fainted once. Did you honestly think you wouldn't hinder Arthur?"
Francis prickled, his face darkening as he glared at Sean. Ian frowned at his younger brother.
"Sean, that's going too far; he was worried, that's all."
Feliciano tilted his head, confused.
"Ve~ Francis? Is that why you were annoyed at him?" He asked. Francis sniffed.
"I wasn't annoyed." He replied stonily. Gilbert snorted.
"You were so annoyed." He replied. "And now you can't be annoyed because he was right; he was trying to do what was best for you."
"You'd have done the same if it was the other way around." Matthew said quietly. Gilbert nodded.
"Exactly. So just go to him, kiss and make-up."
Francis gaped at them, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Ivan reached forward and closed it for him. With a pointed look and a determined nod, Francis rose and left.
Aled smiled after him as the door closed, before rising himself.
"We should leave soon." He told the others. "We want to get to the epicentre as soon as possible."
"Ve~" Feliciano stopped the taller man. "Can we wait here? My brother should get to America by tomorrow, and he and his lackeys can help us."
Ludwig paled as Feliciano reminded him of his family.
"H- How will he find us?" He asked, while Aled frowned, looking around and mouthing the word "Lackey?" silently at Patrick, who shrugged. Feli smiled.
"He put a bug on my phone." He replied. "He thought I didn't know. I don't really mind, though, so I left it on." Ivan laughed.
"Your family is very interesting, little Feli, da?" Alfred groaned, leaning forward and resting his head on his knee.
"This is so surreal…" He muttered. "And such a stereotype too…"
Feli tilted his head, offered a little "Ve…" Of confusion, before checking his watch.
"Ve! It's dinner time! I'll make us something!" He proclaimed, scrambling up from the packed sofa. Yao, who'd been wedged tightly between him and Kiku, yelped as he tumbled into the free space.
Arthur grumbled, aiming the gun again. He shot. A click of the tongue in a disapproving tut, another round placed in, and once more the gun was aimed. Across the roof, the can he'd placed remained resolutely intact, mocking his bad aiming with its very existence.
"Stupid…" Bang. "Selfish…" Bang. "Unreasonable, immature, GIT!" Bang, bang, bang.
"That seems a little harsh." A voice called from the stairwell. "It's only a can, after all."
Arthur looked around at Francis. He opened his mouth to retort, but stopped; gone was Francis' normal smirk of self-satisfaction. For once, Arthur could only see sincerity and honesty in his childhood friend's face.
"I'm sorry." Francis said quietly. "I didn't know the cure wasn't permanent."
Arthur scowled.
"My brother's shouldn't have told you…" He muttered, looking away. Francis hummed.
"No. They shouldn't; but they did, and now I can understand. I don't like it, but I understand why you left."
Arthur's eyes dropped, and he lowered the gun.
"I don't want you to die." He muttered. Francis gave a weak smile.
"If it helps, I'm not that thrilled about it either." He thought about his words and winced. "Actually, that doesn't help at all, does it?"
"I… I really don't want you to die." Arthur ignored Francis' feeble attempt at a joke. "I… I think I might care about you… a little bit." Francis sobered, watching the Englishman. When it became evident he wasn't going to say anything more, Francis strolled forwards, past Arthur, and sat on the ledge of the roof, his feet dangling down, and he looked across at the city. They'd reached a familiar, urban section, and he pointed.
"Look; I used to work over there." He pointed at the small block. Arthur looked around, leaning forwards.
"I think it's on fire…" He commented. Francis shrugged.
"They were never too vigilant about health and safety." He replied, the joke strained as he tried not to think about what could possibly have happened to the restaurant; he'd liked the boss there, he'd been friendly and handsome. Without looking up at Arthur he patted the small patch of ledge next to him. Arthur placed down the gun he'd borrowed from his brother and sat down.
"But it was too far away, and so I changed work to that lovely little café down the road from your college." Francis added. Arthur hummed, and tried not to pull away when Francis wrapped his arm around his waist. Instead the blonde rested his head against Francis' shoulder and closed his eyes. The two sat there, watching the sun go down on the hordes of limping, mangled monster kept out by Ian's magical barrier.
Feli sung softly to himself as he busied himself with dinner, stirring and tasting the food. Ludwig watched him from the doorway and strained his ears to try to make out the words.
"Let's haa~ave a toast with our boots, Italia~"
"What's that?" The German asked, making his presence known for the first time, and Feli jumped, almost dropping his spoon.
"Ve? Ludwig! Don't scare me like that!" He cried, tears of surprise pooling in the corners of his eyes. Ludwig was quick to comfort the small Italian, feeling inexplicably guilty.
"I'm sorry! You were singing and I didn't want to disturb you." He muttered gruffly, blushing at his own words. Feli blinked, before beaming.
"Ve… It's okay." He replied, giving Ludwig a hug before returning to his cooking.
"So what were you singing?" Ludwig asked timidly. Feli glanced over his shoulder.
"Ve~ I don't know! I made it up." He hummed a few notes, as if as an example. "I can't remember it very well now." Ludwig frowned, wanting to probe for more information – how could someone just forget their own lyrics? – but he was interrupted by a tinny tune coming from the other room.
In the living room, Ivan cried out in surprise, dropping his gun and scrambling for his coat on the sofa, from which the jumpy notes of Tetris floated. Alfred stopped talking and watched as Ivan answered.
"Privyet…" The Russian man spoke. To all those who watched, he looked perfectly composed, but on closer inspection, Alfred and Arthur's brothers could see the slight shake of his hand that betrayed the nervousness and fear that coursed through him. There was a pause, and then a huge smile split his face, and he was yammering fast-paced Russian into the phone. When he eventually hung up, he looked more content then Alfred could ever remember seeing him.
"Good news?" He asked. Ivan hummed.
"My sisters." He muttered. "They made it out of America; they're in France at the moment. I told them I'd call back tomorrow."
Alfred nodded; Ivan's sister was probably interested less in knowing what Ivan was doing and more about checking up on him and making sure he was still alive. Ian clicked his tongue, clicking his shotgun back together after it's polishing.
"So, they managed to get the phone lines back up." He observed. Ivan nodded.
"Katyusha said that they are setting up scheduled shifts; nine in the morning, one in the afternoon and seven at night, American time."
Alfred hummed.
"That's good to know." The group continued polishing their weapons in silence. Eventually though, Alfred, who Ivan had long since learned couldn't sit still for much longer then a micro-second, broke the silence.
"Ivan, you lived with your sisters, right?" He asked. Ivan' hummed.
"That's correct."
"Then… how did you get separated from them?"
Ivan stopped polishing and frowned, leaning back into the sofa.
"That's a long story…" He murmured. "For you to understand, I'd need to start from the beginning…"
A note from ME! Yeah, no. You have to wait until next chapter to find out Ivan's background, whenever that may come up…
Right, well we're out of what I've fondly been referring to in the safety of my own head the "FrUK Arc", now we're into the "RussAme" Arc. ^^ If that doesn't give you a big hint as to what's coming up next, I don't know what will!