A/N:
I thank all of you who are willing to put up with my random updating schedule! ^^ you're all amazing!
Spain once again padded down the deserted hallways of Sadik's manor in search of his master, or at least another cat to deliver the news for him. He had to return to Romano before he missed something important…
Caught up in his thoughts, the spotted feline tripped over the dozing form of another cat with white fur and strange black markings covering him.
"Eh, Spain?" the sleepy, forest green-eyed tom yawned, looking over at the messenger-cat who was hastily trying to right himself.
"Hola my little Pharaoh." Spain nudged Egypt's ear affectionately, earning a quiet purr from the little nickname. "Would you mind helping me with something?"
Egypt flicked his tongue across Spain's nose and nodded. The poor green-eyed cat was always so overworked; Egypt wouldn't mind taking some of the load off of him.
"I need you to find Master and tell him that the Host had returned," Spain said hurriedly.
Egypt blinked. 'He has?' his eyes questioned. Maybe Spain was overworked and tired, hallucinating about the past Host. Hosts never returned… At least, they hadn't before…
Spain nodded, easily understanding the self-chosen-mute cat. "I don't want the masked human to know, though, so only tell Master. If the masked one finds out, we put Romanito in danger, got it?"
Egypt nodded again. 'I understand'
"Gracias," Spain nuzzled the quiet tom again before bolting away, back to the grown Host (or who Egypt could only assume was the Host grown up)
Egypt stretched and got to his feet, going over the information in his head as he walked. The Host had returned? Didn't he know how dangerous this world was for him now?
Then again, perhaps that was why Spain needed to leave so quickly. Maybe the Host didn't know the danger.
Still curious about the Host, Egypt found Heracles sleeping by one of the manor's many fireplaces. The cat stared jealously at his human and his comfortable-looking nap spot before prancing over and jumping on his stomach.
Heracles grunted sleepily and cracked his eyes open at the unexpected weight on his stomach. A lazy smile unfolded on his lips. "Ah, my quiet little friend, are you the one who must give me the latest bad news?"
Egypt nodded, leaning into Master's hand and letting the man scratch his ear; saddened that the brown-haired human assumed all news from them to be bad. "Spain says that the Host has returned," he reported quietly.
Heracles sat up, holding Egypt in his lap. "Is he safe?"
The cat nodded. He must be safe; Spain would never leave him somewhere dangerous just so he could report back.
"Then we'll keep him that way," Heracles decided. The cat-lover saw no point in putting another innocent soul into the hands of the masked bastard of a tyrant he was forced to serve.
"Keep who what way?" asked a human voice from behind them.
Heracles froze before turning to see the masked frown of Sadik. "I don't know what you're talking about," he denied, holding Egypt in his arms as he got to his feet.
"Lies; your pet just told you something," Sadik was unable to understand the cats, but he knew what the exchange between them and their master looked like. The masked man stepped closer; Heracles stepped back. "It told you something that you weren't going to report."
"I don't need to tell you anything, Adnan," Heracles bared his teeth, allowing his nightmare side's fangs to show. (His nightmare side was a cat-like beast. Cats were looked down upon nowadays. It made him sad…)
"Silly boy, you think you have a choice!" Sadik laughed, lunging forward and pressing a knife to the younger man's neck, allowing Egypt to fall to the safety of the floor with an angry hiss. "Have you forgotten that you are mine, boy? You work for me; your life and everything you know is mine."
"Just kill me," Heracles glared. "You've already taken my heart from me and my life is meaningless without him. I don't want it to be yours anymore."
"Ah, but what will spilling your worthless blood give me?" Sadik smirked. "No, death is too kind for you. I need you and your pets for information."
"You can't make me talk," Heracles spat.
"I can't?" Sadik faked surprise. "Why not? After all, I do hold your heart captive." He smirked at Heracles' gasp. "Wouldn't it be a shame if something were to happen to him?"
Heracles glared at his masked owner, helpless. He couldn't allow anything to happen to his love! He had to keep alive-!
If he wasn't already dead…
No! Heracles mentally smacked himself. His heart had to be alive! It was that last shred of hope that kept him going.
Heracles sighed, defeated, and sent an apologetic look to Egypt, who looked away sadly. "…The lily-and-carnation Host has returned to Sogno…." He mumbled.
"See, was that so hard?" Sadik grinned. "Now where is he?"
"I don't know-"
"Liar!" Sadik's momentary grin was replaced by a scowl as he pressed the knife closer, causing Heracles to choke. "Tell me or I kill that little wretch of a retired Host you call your heart!"
"I don't know!" Heracles yelled back as loud as the knife would allow, eyes for once awake and sharp, filled with emotion and glittering with the threat of tears. "I don't know anything else, I swear!"
Sadik huffed, pulling away. "If I find that you're lying to me, boy…"
Heracles stepped away, hiding his eyes with his bangs as he responded in a monotone. "I know nothing else, Lord Adnan."
"Thank you, my boy," the vile man smirked and pet his hair once, making him shiver, before leaving him alone again.
Egypt wrapped himself around Master comfortingly as Heracles fell to his knees. He just put his planet's only hope of survival into the hands of the man who wouldn't hesitate to murder it.
.~.~.~.~.
Sadik walked down the stone steps to his manor's basement-turned-dungeon and unlocked the door at the bottom of the stairs to reveal a dimly lit bedroom. A low wooden table sat in one corner, polished top spotless while a pile of scrolls and empty ink wells and pens were scattered around it, spilling ink onto the rug. The walls, and in some places, the ceiling, were covered in perfectly straight columns of symbols – reality symbols, symbols that Sadik couldn't understand – all written in beautifully inked calligraphy. In the farthest corner sat a comfortable looking queen sized bed that would have looked untouched if not for the small body lying on top of the comforter.
The young man's eyes were hidden behind powder-pale eyelids, sunken into a just as pale face. Black hair, shiny and unkempt by lack of washing, hung limply around is head and face and his hands were folded across his chest in some vague semblance of peace, fingertips dyed a probably permanent black from the ink that decorated his room. if not for the steady rise and fall of his chest, someone might have believed that Sadik's porcelain doll to be dead.
Sadik knew better, however.
"Rise and shine, my butterfly," he cooed as the man continued to sleep, undisturbed by his appearance in the doorway.
Slowly, unreadable coffee eyes flickered open to look at the ceiling above him.
"Kiku, my darling butterfly, why do you never greet your master?" Sadik's voice dropped with poisoned honey as he watched his reality-born prisoner slide from the bedspread and kneel before him, painted mask of a face trained on the ground.
The old Host didn't react to Sadik pulling him to his feet or to the fingers caressing his marble-shaded face. His eyes continued to stare straight ahead and he no longer trembled under the vile man's touch. Years ago, he would have reacted, would have fought against the disgusting man's embrace, would have tried to escape through the door left wide open behind him, but not anymore. This shell that remained trapped in this room was no longer the cherry-and-laurel Host, Kiku.
Sadik's fingers traced the smaller man's cheekbones as he murmured in his unresponsive ear "You know, your precious kitten has given me word that the lily-and-carnation Host has returned," no visible response.
"You have proven to be less than useful in helping me gain that power I desire. Perhaps this Host will be a worthier prize?" a blink. Was this registering in his butterfly's mind?
"I will find this Host and replace you. I have no need for two dolls," the threat of his own death yielded no reaction
"And, with the Host under my control, I will no longer need the brat or his felines either. I'll have so much fun exterminating them. After all, they're just disposable pawns," he laughed darkly. Kiku's eyes widened; the best reaction Sadik had gotten in months. "Ah? So you don't want me to kill that shadow of yours? Well you can prevent that, you know. I'm always open for negotiation. All you have to do is tell me how to take the Host's powers from him and give them to me~" all Hosts knew how to give away their powers to another, whether they knew they knew or not, but Kiku had always refused to tell, no matter what the threat.
Kiku seemed to hesitate, but kept his silence. Sadik growled. "Even at the price of your lover's life, you refuse to speak!" he whipped his hand across the smaller man's face, sending him to the ground and opening up a shallow cut across his cheek. "You disgust me," he sneered, pulling Kiku back to his feet and placing his knife at his neck. "If I were to kill you now, the brat would never know. Hell, he's probably given up on you already. But death would be too merciful."
He pushed Kiku away, letting the silent man kneel on the floor again. "I'd rather watch you suffer than see your blood staining my floor."
Only when Sadik's footsteps faded back up the staircase did Kiku allow silent tears to track down his face. He had prayed that he would be the last Host to fall under Sadik's control; that their secrets would die with him. When the young Host had escaped back to reality all those years ago, he was overjoyed and filled with hope that this was all going to end.
But now he was back, and him being here was a threat not just to Heracles and Kiku, but to himself and the rest of the world if he didn't learn of the dangers that he would face.
But Kiku wasn't crying for the safety of himself or his lover or even for the safety of the Host and Sogno.
He was crying for the tiny glimmer of hope that lived because of a Host; that spark that lived for the Host to beat Sadik
He cried that the knowledge that this hope was probably worthless.
.~.~.~.~.
"You heard me, where's my damn cat?" Lovino frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I just told you that you're in a parallel dimension because of a book, and all you care about is your cat?"
"…He's a good cat," Lovino defended himself.
Alfred stared at him. Was this guy right in the head? No, probably not. That would explain how he got here in the first place…
The blonde sighed. "I don't know-"
"Meow!"
Both men turned to look at the open kitchen window, where a brown and white spotted, green-eyed cat sat, almost like he was requesting permission to enter the cottage.
"Spain!" Lovino sighed in relief, going over to the window to pick up his cat. Spain purred and cuddled in his arms as Lovino held him close, taking comfort in something familiar in this strange place.
Alfred looked warily at the cross-wearing feline. "Apparently this is your cat?"
Lovino nodded. Spain looked up at Alfred, understanding why the human was weary of him. Cats were taboo; spies for Dictator Adnan. They brought nothing but trouble and the forest angel would pop a blood vessel if he found one in his house...
Spain's eyes shifted up to Lovino's face, taking in his closed eyes and his worried eyebrows, wishing he could do something to comfort him, but this was all unavoidable, really…
The bang of the front door jolted all three of the room's participants. The sound of bickering male voices grew louder as Arthur and three newcomers entered.
Spain panicked at the sight of the one who wore his eyes and wiggled away from a frozen Lovino to take cover under the table.
Lovino didn't notice; too busy staring at the three newcomers, once again flickering in and out of reality and dreamed-up memory.
All three were changing, morphing out of those hideous shadowy-muck forms that made Lovino want to scream, cry, and puke all at once but wouldn't allow himself to do.
The first figure's ears were moving down to their correct places, changing from pointed cat ears back to the rounded ones of a human. Sapphire eyes gained pupils and whites as his skin changed from shadows to light porcelain, chin covered in a barely-there cover of light facial hair. Wavy blonde hair cascaded down to his shoulders and a black cattail disappeared entirely.
Francis smiled at the younger man, but Lovino's eyes were already trained on the second figure, where black flesh gave way to a sickly white. Red sockets changed to red irises above a receding bird's beak, revealing a slightly hooked nose and a feral, crooked grin. Messy black feathers changed into wild platinum hair and a small yellow chick flew down and landed on his head.
Gilbert reached up to grab his chick as Lovino's wide eyes moved onto the third and final figure.
Black flesh faded into a deep tan, muscles remained but now hid behind simple clothes. A tail tipped with a halberd-styled blade dissolved along with large, sharp bull horns. Hoofed legs changed into booted feet and moon pale, Cheshire cat fangs rounded into a gently stunning white smile. Curled chocolate locks appeared and grew untamed across his head and uncut bangs moved to reveal green eyes – emerald green, deep green, dark leaf green, summer green, Lovino's favorite green. The green held captive by his cat's too-human irises. The green that plagued his nightmares with the memory (because just maybe he was starting to admit that it was true) of pain and tears and betrayal and tearing, bloody claws somuchblood,hisownblood but it was in his dreams as well, softened by a loving smile, a comforting embrace, encouraging words, the beautiful feeling of belonging and being wanted, being loved, being held. It was the green of a friend, a lover, a betrayer, a monster. The green of Anto –
"N-no!" Lovino stared at the tanned man in horror. "No! Y-you're not real! They told me you weren't real!"
Antonio watched Lovino – Romano, his precious Romanito – fall into hysterics and stepped closer "Romano-"
"No! The younger man screeched. "No! Don't call me that! S-stay away from me!"
Antonio ignored his request, inching forward again in the hope of comforting his long lost love, but only succeeding in scaring him more.
Lovino bolted past him before the green-eyed monster could grab him, ignoring Arthur's panicked calls of warning as he disappeared into the danger-infested woods.
"If a patrol finds him, they'll kill him!" Arthur's words sent Antonio into action and echoed in his head as he chased after the Host. There was no doubt that Romano was beginning to remember everything, and if the patrol realized that the Host was nearby…
Antonio refused to lose his boy again.
Lovino ran, stumbling over rocks and trees and bushes, eyes clouded with tears and head fogged by terror and suppressed memories. He tried desperately to block them out; he didn't want to remember, wanted to just disappear, let him disappear-
The sound of marching feet was lost to his ears, unheard over his inner turmoil. One of Sadik's patrols was coming and Lovino was coming right towards it-
A black shape tackled the reality-born brunette to the ground, covering his mouth to stop him from screaming and curling up around him, hiding him in the underbrush. Lovino struggled desperately, but some part of him couldn't help but feel comforted by the strong arms and the scent of musk and dirt and tomatoes…
Antonio felt Romano slowly relaxing underneath him, his shadow form blending in almost perfectly with the dark brush and his own scent hiding Romano's human smell. Poison-dipped emeralds watched as the patrol approached, lip slightly curled in disgust.
Six tar-like creatures marched through the woods along a tradesman's path, making their way toward the heart of Sogno. They looked like a strange mix between gorillas and giant pit bulls, height reaching up to Antonio's shoulder if not taller. Their bodies were almost blocky with muscles and short back legs, front legs much larger and muscular and their fingers were thick, tipped with dirty, giant claws. Their lower jaws stuck out past their upper lips, mismatched, crooked, and broken teeth fought for space within their cavernous mouths, reaching up toward flared, giant nostrils and tiny, beaded and blind eyes. The patrols relied mainly on their senses of smell and hearing to locate their prey.
The shadow tensed as the lead creature stopped, sniffing the air awfully close to where he and Romano hid. Its muscles twitched before it continued on, confused by the shadow's camouflage.
Only when the last marching echo died down did Antonio move off of Lovino, nightmare form fading away again. He rubbed his eyes tiredly; too many transformations in one day were exhausting.
Lovino had curled up into a ball, sniffing and twitching every so often as Antonio moved away. Wiping tears away, he looked up at the tanned man, watching the last of the shadow disappear and reveal Antonio's humanoid form.
Antonio looked down at the younger man, watching him closely. It didn't look like he was going to run away again…
Slowly, gently, he reached out toward him and pulled him against his chest, heart twisting painfully as he flinched, but smiling as he slowly relaxed against him.
Silent tears tracked down Lovino's face again as his mind began to slow down and accept everything. So, this place was real, his burning lungs and stinging scrapes from the trees proved that he would not be waking up anytime soon. Because this place was real, so were the people, no matter how creepy they could appear. This meant that this place had always been real, making those delusions that doctors had convinced him to be dreams caused by some sort of drug were actually memories (showed how much doctors really knew, hah). He had been here as a child, then. He had been able to control the weather, the colors. He had been able to make objects appear out of thin air and create shields and use spells! Hell, maybe he still could!
As he looked up into the comforting green – summer green, a happy green – eyes of the man holding him close, another memory struck him.
If this was really not a dream, he had fallen in love with this man. To this man, he was-
"Romanito," Antonio breathed, holding the quiet man tight, afraid to close his eyes and wake up in Vash's bar like so many times before.
'Antonio,' the name danced over the hazel-eyed man's lips, but the word spoken aloud was "Lovino."
"Huh?" Antonio frowned, holding Romano at arm's length to look him over.
Lovino's eyes swam with unshed tears. "My name is Lovino. I'm not Romano." Not anymore, at least.
Antonio pulled his boy close again. "As I told you years ago, Romano is not who you are, it is what you are; mi Romanito."
Lovino let out a quiet sob as Antonio pressed a kiss to his hair. Why wasn't he trying to get away? He had accepted that his dreams were memories, so his nightmares (of this man, no less) were real, too. Shouldn't he still be horrified? Shouldn't he be trying to get away from this monster that had hurt him all those years ago, that he still bore both the physical and mental scars from instead of taking comfort in his possessive embrace?
But then again, his brain argued, it wasn't Antonio, this tanned, kind man, which he feared. He feared the black, minotaur-like monster that he could become. So why not once again find safety within Antonio's arms?
Lovino moved closer to him, hiding his face in the older man's shoulder. "A-Antonio…" he mumbled, brain finally shutting down after all that had happened to him in such a short time "I'm sorry… For leaving before…"
Antonio felt him become a dead weight and kissed his hair again before picking him up, getting to his feet. "I forgave your years ago, mi amor," he whispered lovingly to his sleeping heart.
The shadow-turned-human began to quickly walk back to the angel-demon's cottage. If Romano had admitted to leaving once, that meant that he remembered everything, including Sogno, including Antonio and their love…
Including being the Host.
At this thought, Antonio picked up his pace. If Lovino remembered being the Host, then he was in more danger than he could possibly imagine.
A/N:
...I'm not sure what to think about this chapter at all. Too rushed? Too slow? Too hard to understand?
Leave a review and tell me what you think?
Oh, and did anyone pick up where I threw my favorite crack pairing in~? It's small, but I had to lol
Ciao~!