Chapter 12. Kill Your Heroes.

The sun was setting and it was almost time for him to meet back up at the hotel with Matthew and Gilbert. He knew without a doubt that Feliciano was still in the forest, which was exactly why he had decided to go to that area. He couldn't risk Gilbert getting close to him on the chance that he was actually against them and he couldn't risk Matthew coming by and killing him, due to the fact that Feliciano might be good for information gathering on Alfred's part. He glanced into the forest before glancing back to the city. A lot of people were still out and about, oddly enough, despite it getting dark out. In fact, it seemed like more people were out and about than they were earlier that day.

He entered the forest when he was sure no one had seen him. He could guess Feliciano might be around the same place as he was last time. He walked around carefully and quietly, listening carefully to any sound that might have come from a person around him. Luckily, he didn't find anything until he came to the place where he had seen Feliciano the last time. This time, he was in the same place, leaning against a tree and waving at him.

"You're still here," Alfred sighed heavily. This time, he had no gun to protect him. He did have the swords in his prosthetics and he hoped that he could be faster than Feliciano, but he was never able to test his reflexes and speed when he was with their group.

"Yup!" Feliciano nodded proudly. "I haven't gotten any orders to leave yet!"

"Have you slept at all during your time here?" Alfred asked.

"While you were arrested, for a few hours," Feliciano shrugged. Alfred sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Why are you back?"

"You should get out of here," Alfred said. He honestly didn't know why he was doing this or why he was talking to him, but it wasn't like he could take it back now. "We're leaving sooner than we anticipated."

"Why are you warning me?" Feliciano asked curiously.

"Just…just fucking go," Alfred shook his head. "If Arthur sent you to change my mind, it's not-" Alfred stopped when he heard a footstep, followed by another one. "Shit," he muttered under his breath before quickly and silently moving behind another tree. Feliciano, however, didn't move, simply looking at him curiously. He couldn't hear the footsteps. "Get down."

"Why?" Feliciano asked simply. "You came yourself, right? And all of your group should be separated, I watched it happen myself…"

"Get down," Alfred hissed. He didn't know why he was protecting Feliciano like he was, but he figured it was mostly due to the fact that, if he was found together with him, his brother might suspect him of something.

"You're too nervous all the time," Feliciano laughed. The footsteps stopped. Alfred felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

A single shot fired and Feliciano tensed too late, unable to move in time. Alfred saw the man's face, frozen in shock, as the bullet easily passed from one temple and out the other. Feliciano fell over with a quiet thud and Alfred felt his breath catch. He couldn't make a sound, couldn't signal where he was. Shit, this was bad.

"Whoever else is there, move out now," Matthew ordered coldly. Alfred glanced around minutely to find a way out. He had to predict his brother's moves. He could do this. He heard Matthew start to move, but there was another pair of footsteps, too. Gilbert. That was perfect. He had to act quickly, if he was going to get out of this safely.

Matthew probably didn't know where Alfred was, considering how large the tree was. Alfred quickly picked up a twig with his foot and easily kicked it over to his right. Both pairs of footsteps stopped. Alfred knew Matthew would look to the left while Gilbert looked to the right, giving him plenty of room right where he was to climb the tree. He clamored up quickly and silently, crouching high up in the branches. He looked down to see Matthew looking forward again, but he couldn't have heard Alfred.

He could see Feliciano's corpse easily from his position, his head still bleeding out onto the dirt on the ground. He couldn't understand the emotions swirling inside of him in that moment. He wasn't even that close with Feliciano, so why did he feel a slight pang in his heart when he watched the man die right in front of him?

"Shit, Birdie, what the hell happened?" Gilbert asked, running towards him once he discovered that there was no longer someone moving around. Alfred watched carefully. He was sure, if Gilbert was aligned with the revolutionary group, that he would react in some way to seeing Feliciano's corpse. "You fired your…" Gilbert stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Feliciano on the ground. Alfred narrowed his eyes as he saw Gilbert's widen.

"This is one of the people from that revolutionary group," Matthew mused, looking at Feliciano in interest, relaxing his gun for the moment. Obviously, he thought that the person hiding had run. But he was still on edge. He didn't look back at Gilbert, obviously too focused on what was in front of him. "I saw him talking to someone. They couldn't have gone far, we should look around for them." Alfred made sure he didn't move even a muscle.

Matthew finally glanced at Gilbert, who didn't even spare him a glance, staring at Feliciano's corpse.

"Gil?" Matthew asked. "You okay?" No response. Matthew tentatively took a step towards him. "Do you…recognize him?" Shit, now Matthew was suspecting something. This wasn't good. What would Gilbert do now? Matthew took another step forward and this time Gilbert flinched, immediately running in the opposite direction.

Alfred followed after him quickly, allowing his sound to be covered up by Gilbert's. Matthew didn't even seem to move at all and Alfred didn't allow Gilbert to leave his line of sight. Alfred followed him to the end of the forest and dropped to the ground behind him as soon as Gilbert left the trees. Gilbert was at least shocked enough by the sound to stop running. Matthew still hadn't followed them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Alfred snapped and him and Gilbert blinked, seeming to only now be coming to terms with the situation.

"I'm leaving, now," Gilbert said, his demeanor and stance as sure as ever, but his voice was trembling. Feliciano really had affected him a lot. He looked about ready to break into tears. "Do what you fucking want, attack me, follow me, I don't give a shit, but do it now."

"Follow you?" Alfred all but scoffed. But a very small part of him, the part that played ball with those children, found him actually wanting to go. He glanced back to where his brother was. He had no idea what he was doing, if he wasn't following them.

"I'm not waiting," Gilbert muttered, glancing back at the forest. Alfred could see a little bit of rage rise in his eyes, but they softened. He was extremely conflicted. Was it because Matthew was the one that killed Feliciano? Did he really care for Matthew, then? "You've seen enough to make your own fucking decision."

Alfred stared at him. Why was it hard to make this decision? Of course, he was with his king, that was only natural. But…what he'd seen recently, regarding not only the town the revolutionaries showed him, but also the one he'd been in the past few days…No, he couldn't sway his decisions so easily. He had to stay strong…But he could tell something was wrong. Even just the way that these country leaders carried themselves was different.

Why was he debating this?

Gilbert shook his head and turned around to start running. Alfred looked to the forest. What was he doing?

At first, Alfred's feet moved without his permission, shuffling after Gilbert, then it turned into a sprint to catch up with the man in front of him.

What the hell was wrong with him?

"Shit…" Alfred muttered under his breath once the two of them finally stopped. They had run for a few miles and they were far enough away for it to be impossible for Matthew to follow them. Gilbert glanced back at him, but he was different. There was no cocky air about him, he had no remark to give him, he just looked at him coldly, if not a little interested. "Why the hell did I...?"

"Too late now," Gilbert said simply. "You left, it's as simple as that. Would he really take you back now that you even thought about betraying Ivan?"

"You were a fucking spy!" Alfred snapped at him. "This whole time?"

"I knew you were on to me," Gilbert almost smirked, but the small tilt in his smile disappeared soon. "Figured I'd have to leave soon anyway. Didn't figure the catalyst would've been…" Gilbert glared at the ground.

"Everything you told us," Alfred growled. "It was a lie? Everything you did?"

"I did what I had to do to get information," Gilbert said. "That's all there is to it. I tried to kill as little as possible. But don't think for a damn second I lied the whole time."

"How the hell did you get into our group if you were just going to betray us the whole time?" Alfred asked. "How the hell did the king let you into our group?"

"I pulled a lot of strings, alright?" Gilbert asked. "Drop it. It's not important anymore."

"It damn well is important," Alfred snapped.

"So what?" Gilbert scoffed. "I was supposed to tell you? I was supposed to warn you that I was gonna fucking betray you? Get over it, you did it too."

"I…" Alfred muttered, running a hand through his hair. He did, he betrayed his brother, everyone on his team, and his king. Oh, God, what did he do? Alfred dropped to the ground, looking at the grass around him. He didn't know how close they were to the capital, but he was sure that the grass and the trees would all disappear eventually.

"Don't beat yourself up," Gilbert sighed. "But don't fucking blame me, either, got it? Ya don't think I'm distraught about this shit, too? You don't even fucking know what Feliciano meant to me."

"My brother means a lot to me, too," Alfred snapped. "And you just betrayed him…I did, too…" Alfred ran a hand through his hair to try to collect his thoughts. Everything he knew, he had just abandoned. And why? Because someone he barely knew was dead? God, he was so fucking stupid!

"Don't beat yourself up," Gilbert said, shaking his head. "You made your decision, I made mine, let's move on. We can wait just a little bit, but we've gotta keep moving. Who knows if Matthew's going to chase us, we have to be ready."

"Where are we even headed?" Alfred scoffed.

"I've got a little information, I can sometimes communicate with Arthur," Gilbert sighed, kicking lightly at the ground. "They've got a temporary base in the capital for now. We'll probably move the second we get there, if they haven't moved already. I've got a few ideas if they're not there."

"And then what?" Alfred asked.

"We keep going," Gilbert said. "Our goal is to kick the king out of power and put someone else in, change things for the better. With or without you, we'll keep going, but you're welcome to join us, as long as you're staying."

"So I can't be like you?" Alfred muttered.

"Drop it," Gilbert snapped. "That way I won't bring up your fuck ups, alright?"

"We should keep going," Alfred sighed, standing up. He didn't even have a single gun on him and he had to wonder if Gilbert had managed to sneak one on him. He wasn't really keen on getting caught without any way to defend himself. Nor was he keen on seeing Matthew again, especially considering his recent, stupid decision.

"Think you can keep going?" Gilbert asked.

"I'll be fine," Alfred muttered. He just had to turn off his emotions. He'd been able to do it before, every time he killed someone or saw them get killed. Now he just had to switch them off and hope they wouldn't turn back on.

Matthew couldn't bring himself to move, honestly. He had just looked at Gilbert…he knew he should have suspected something, done something when he saw the man's face after looking at the corpse. He knew something was wrong…he knew it! Gilbert recognized the corpse, that was all there was to it. He hadn't seen any of the pictures Alfred had made of the people in the revolutionary team. If he recognized the corpse, that must have meant…something, Matthew wasn't sure.

Gilbert had ran, but Matthew couldn't get himself to run after him. He was also able to see the person moving above him, in the trees. The person the corpse had been talking to. Matthew recognized him clearly, the way he snuck and moved, and the way he looked. Alfred.

Matthew was frozen in place for a short while, not sure about what he was supposed to do. Alfred had been talking to the man…Feliciano. And he ran after Gilbert. He had no idea how long he just stood there, but he eventually took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. He lifted his gun and, for a moment and pointed it at the corpse beside him. His hand trembled as he pointed it, but he eventually turned to the nearest tree and fired shot after shot after shot, until he ran out of bullets. He dropped the gun easily before pulling out the other one he had hidden, firing more shots at the same tree. Even after he had ran out of bullets, he kept trying to fire, hitting the trigger more and more violently as he kept trying to shoot. He ignored the fact that tears were pooling in his eyes as he finally dropped the second gun and pulled out his knife.

He let out some kind of strangled, angry noise as he stabbed into the tree violently. He knew he should have followed them, but this was all his body could think to do. He pulled the knife out of the tree and stabbed it back in. He grew more and more feverish as he continued, moving to slashing the tree eventually, as that was faster. Alfred left with Gilbert? Why? What purpose did that serve? Alfred would have told him if he was going to follow them or something else so…so what did that mean?

Matthew panted as he finally dropped the knife, staring at the carnage of the tree in front of him. He could feel his hands trembling as he tried to think clearly. He would have to tell the king about this. Where would they have gone? He had to give some kind of guess…What was he going to do? He was…he was alone now.

Much emotional chapter, mans, sorry 'bout that. But I am very happy with how it turned out, not gonna lie. Feliciano is, sadly, dead, by Matthew's hand, and Gilbert has officially revealed the fact that he is a part of the revolutionary team, but I've been dropping a lot of hints about that so it shouldn't be a massive surprise. What should be the surprise is Alfred's split-second decision. I'm really excited for what's coming next!

Please review!