Chapter 22. Bad Wolf.
Alfred knelt on the roof of the target building. It was the middle of the night, yet the building was bursting with life, it was a party. Some of the richest in the country were there to celebrate…something. Maybe a birthday or something. It was somewhat windy, but nothing that would badly affect them. Alfred glanced at the person there with him, who was just standing, looking down at the party guests still coming into the party.
"So, what are we doing here?" Alfred asked. He hadn't been told what this mission was going to be. A few hours ago, Arthur had called Francis into his room and then Francis came out, telling Lovino something. Next thing Alfred knew, he was being dragged into the night onto a mission he knew nothing about.
"Well, dumbass, we're going to cause some trouble," Lovino rolled his eyes. "It's a party, right? Let's go ahead and have some fun."
"Why?" Alfred asked. This didn't make sense. They had a week before they had to move towards the capital and try to take it. Half of Alfred's original team was still there, ready to take them down. They should be focusing on that, for crying out loud.
"I'll make it simple," Lovino groaned. "Everyone knows we're going to do something. Your fucking king is sitting around and waiting for us to make our move against him. We have to shift focus, make it look like we're doing something else. These are simple missions, too. Two thirds of the bastard-trio is doing the same thing somewhere else, along with both of the lug head brothers. We make it look like we're going after nobility instead, shake the foundation up from the bottom. Then we can distract everyone in the capital enough to maybe make another dent in that team of yours."
"It's not exactly my team anymore," Alfred muttered.
"Whatever," Lovino scoffed. "We've got some time, we should wait until the party's in full swing…So…what the hell did you do to our big, bad leader to make him sulk? I've never seen him like that."
"I didn't do anything," Alfred said simply.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Lovino snorted.
"Why are you suddenly so open with me?" Alfred asked. "Last time I checked, you were still moping."
"I've got every fucking right to mope, you shit head," Lovino snapped at him. "I'm still fucking pissed. But the way I see it, I'm not going to accomplish anything going after the wrong guy. You may look like the jackass that killed Feliciano, but you're not him."
"You want to kill Matthew?" Alfred blinked up at him and Lovino nodded resolutely.
"No order or any other assassin's gonna stop me," Lovino said. "I probably won't even fucking get the chance until we attack the capital. In that chaos, what can you do?"
"What do you think'll happen after that?" Alfred asked coldly.
"Who cares?" Lovino shrugged. "I'll have done my job for my brother."
"Kill my brother and I'll kill you," Alfred stated and Lovino was quiet for a short while. Eventually, though, he started to laugh. A small chuckle at first, but eventually Lovino stumbled away from the edge of the building to hold onto his stomach, he was laughing so hard.
"You…" Lovino took a deep breath, trying to control himself. "You really think…" Lovino laughed a little more. "I give a shit?"
Alfred just looked at him while Lovino collected himself, at least slightly. What did he mean? It was perfectly reasonable. Lovino was mad because Matthew killed Feliciano and he wanted to kill him. It only made sense Alfred would do the same if Lovino killed Matthew.
"Feliciano's all I fucking had," Lovino let out a barking laugh and Alfred blinked at him in surprise. "The reason I joined the military, the reason I left it, the reason I'm fucking here is because of him. He's gone. After I get my revenge, who gives a fuck what happens to me?"
"You're only living for one person?" Alfred asked. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Go ahead and look in the mirror, genius!" Lovino laughed. "You've lived your whole life for that fucktard of a king and look where it got you. Sure, I guess the revolutionaries have good ideas and I guess this country sucks. But what's the point? My brother's gone. Like I'd actually live very long without him here anyway." Lovino scoffed and glanced down at the partygoers. Alfred would have never guessed that Lovino's connection to Feliciano was so strong. From what Alfred had seen, Lovino nearly hated him, shouting at him any chance he had and getting mad at him. But was Feliciano all Lovino really cared about? "Let's really get this party started, huh? Don't worry, no orders to kill anyone, just cause some ruckus. Maybe I'll kidnap someone, I guess we'll find out, huh?"
Alfred gritted his teeth, but stood anyway, his gun secure in his hand. He had six shots. Still. No new gun or ammo was offered to him. Like he was getting anything from Lovino anyway. Lovino happily jumped down the ledge, though Alfred could definitely sense that he was holding back his emotions. His smile was tainted with pain. He wasn't mad, but he definitely wasn't happy or content. He just needed to vent and this was his way of doing it. Alfred stood and followed after him, but quickly found that he had lost track of the assassin in the shadows. Right, he and Feliciano were able to sneak up on even him. Surely, Lovino could do this much.
Alfred stayed in the shadows, not going near very populated areas. He had to wait for Lovino to move first. Alfred had no idea what the plan was and Lovino obviously had no intention of sharing. That was when Alfred saw him, near the ceiling. Lovino matched his gaze and then looked to the chandelier. The building had a few floors, though there was a hole in every floor, big enough for a gigantic chandelier that hung at the very top of the ceiling. Lovino wanted to shoot it down.
Alfred sighed and pulled out his own gun as well, pointing it at where the chain connected with the ceiling. He glanced at Lovino and saw that he was ready. Lovino showed him three fingers, then two, then one. They fired simultaneously and all of the partygoers stopped at once, several of the women screaming. The chandelier disconnected and plummeted to the ground and the glass crashed. The chandelier was a major source of light and so now most of the building was shrouded in shadow, giving Alfred more of a chance to move.
Sadly, the second he started to move, he heard someone running right towards him. Alfred ducked down, trying to roll out of the way, and he heard a sword slice into the wall next to him. Alfred gritted his teeth. So this guy was fighting with as sword? That made his life a lot easier, this way he wouldn't waste any bullets. Alfred quickly took a few steps back, storing his gun in the back of this pants. He couldn't see the person in front of him very clearly due to the darkness, but he could see the two, red swords in the man's hands. Alfred moved his arms in front of himself, allowing the swords to come out. What was this person doing here? Who were they? This was meant to be a calm, easy mission, right?
The person in front of him didn't hesitate to run forward and try to slice at Alfred. Alfred blocked the man's sword with his own and he quickly tried to slice at the man, or where he expected him to be, with his other sword. The man blocked him easily, with a speed that Alfred had only seen a few times before. He was starting to recognize the person he was fighting.
A gunshot rang out and the man stepped back to avoid it. Alfred's eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness around him. The man in front of him was definitely familiar, especially the way he was holding his swords. He was small, but definitely not weak.
"Kiku," Alfred nodded to him and Kiku nodded in return. What was he doing there? Did the king know about them and their plans? Was there a mole? What did this mean? Lovino fired another shot and Kiku moved forward this time, moving both of his swords to swipe at Alfred's left side. Alfred blocked him well enough, allowing the swords in his legs to come out as well as he tried to swipe at Kiku's legs. Kiku jumped over his leg easily enough, slamming his heel hard into one of Alfred's legs. Alfred winced as he felt the metal tug at his body where it was connected, but swung his arm at Kiku once again to get the man off of him. Another shot and Kiku ducked down, out of the way. "Why are you here?"
"I can ask you the same question," Kiku said simply. Alfred gritted his teeth. Alfred moved first this time, attacking Kiku with a flurry of swipes from his swords. Kiku was able to dodge most of them, though one swipe got close enough to break some of the skin on his cheek, though it wasn't a deep cut at all. Kiku kicked away Alfred's arms after a short while, stumbling backwards slightly before running forward and trying to slice at Alfred's stomach. Alfred dodged backwards and Lovino fired another shot, forcing Kiku to take a step back as well. "It seems you two have me outnumbered."
Something was off here…Alfred narrowed his eyes. Kiku was moving too easily. Alfred ran forward and tried to slice at Kiku's chest and Kiku moved backwards slightly, blocking Alfred easily. This wasn't like how they usually sparred. Kiku was holding back. Why?
"Seems that way," Alfred muttered as Kiku…waited. He was waiting for Alfred to make the first move, huh? Alfred stepped forward and Kiku stepped backward. Lovino fired another shot, but he had moved since his last shot. Lovino was closer to them now. Kiku stepped backwards again. He was close to a window. "Quit playing me. Why are you here?"
"How are you going to make me answer that question?" Kiku asked simply. This close to the window, there was some moonlight shining through and Alfred could see the small smile on Kiku's face.
Lovino fired two more shots, both aimed at Kiku's swords. Kiku dropped them, feigning surprise rather well.
"It seems you have me outmatched," Kiku said simply, backing up to the window. Alfred narrowed his eyes at him. Kiku nodded to him and swiftly ducked out the window. Alfred ran over to it, only to see Kiku's figure running off in the distance, disappearing in the shadows of a nearby building.
"Fuck yeah!" Lovino cheered happily behind Alfred. "Made him take off running! We can easily take one at a time!"
"Yeah…" Alfred muttered, looking after him. "We should head back to Arthur. To see how the others did."
"Eh, I bet it was quiet," Lovino shrugged. "Just a coincidence he showed up, right?"
"I don't think so," Alfred shook his head.
"Even Lovino's willing to sit next to him for a few minutes," Gilbert rolled his eyes from where he was lounging on top of a building. A party was in full swing below them, but Gilbert wanted to wait for the perfect moment. They were supposed to cause chaos, make it seem like they were shaking things up from the ground up. Distract the king. Easy jobs. Only teams of two.
"I do not want to talk about this with you, Gilbert," Ludwig huffed.
"Whatever," Gilbert groaned. "But you aren't going to keep your emotions bottled up inside of you forever. And you know it."
"I have nothing to bottle up," Ludwig stated.
"Liar," Gilbert stated. "Try talking about it. Just once. Maybe it'll help."
"I don't need help," Ludwig said.
"Yeah?" Gilbert snapped. "And what happens if I say his name? What then?"
"Don't," Ludwig glared at him.
"And how would Feli react if he saw you moping around forever?" Gilbert asked and Ludwig visibly flinched. He looked down, his face growing dark. "Stop it. You wanna remember him? Remember him happy for crying out loud. What would he say if he saw you acting like his because he was gone?"
"Please, Gilbert," Ludwig muttered. "You don't…you don't understand."
"No?" Gilbert scoffed. "No? Please. I felt that loss, too. I broke my cover because of it. You don't think I'm torn up about it, too? But I remember Feli by that smiling happy face that wanted everyone to look on the bright side. And what are you doing? Ignoring his wishes, that's fucking what."
"I can't do anything else, Gilbert!" Ludwig yelled at him and Gilbert glanced down at the party. No one had noticed. "I try to think about him like that and I…"
"Talk about it," Gilbert pressed. "You need to. Hell, I told Franny and Toni all about Birdie. It helps, no matter how much it hurts. That's why I'm here, right? Your big older brother? I'll laugh at you while you're down, but I'll always help you back up."
"We should get moving," Ludwig said, standing up.
"Don't drop this," Gilbert said, standing up as well.
"We should get moving," Ludwig repeated himself. "This is no place to talk. We can try later."
"Now that's more like it," Gilbert smirked as Ludwig jumped down to the next ledge easily. Gilbert followed him and glanced into a window. A bunch of prissy rich people, perfect. He had to look for an opening, some way to cause chaos. It was a quick mission. Duck in, duck out, no harm done to anyone, but the king thinks they're up to something. Gilbert bit his lip and moved further down the ledge, going towards a corner to get a better vantage point from a different window. Just as he reached the corner, however, he was met with a gun staring right at his face.
"Don't move," a familiar voice warned and Gilbert all but froze.
"Birdie?" Gilbert whispered out. Matthew's cold, indigo eyes stared at him from the other end of the gun. What the hell was he doing there? How did he know?
"Gilbert, duck!" Ludwig shouted and Gilbert acted on instinct, dropping down to the next ledge. Two shots rang out loudly and Gilbert winced. The partygoers started screaming. That was one way to do this. Gilbert looked up at the two and saw that neither of them had any wound on them, they had both managed to dodge. Gilbert nodded and ducked into the nearest window, knocking over some nobleman, but Gilbert honestly couldn't have cared less at that point. Gilbert moved to the center of that floor, where most of the party was, though there were quite a few people upstairs, and he pointed his gun to the ceiling. He fired three shots and everyone surged for the exits. Matthew wanted to fight? Well, Gilbert wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt while they dealt with their business.
"Come on down, Birdie!" Gilbert shouted and he saw Matthew duck into a window just seconds before Ludwig followed. Both brothers pointed their guns at Matthew, who just glanced between them. "Is it just you? Who else is here?"
"Why should I tell you?" Matthew asked coldly and Gilbert shivered. He was definitely different. He was the cold-hearted murderer of Feliciano, who was betrayed by his brother and Gilbert. He was no longer the boy that was happy to be alive because of the king. He was a man that was alive for the king.
"So you're alone, then?" Gilbert smirked. He fired a few shots before dropping his gun and running towards Matthew. Matthew wasn't going to leave him alone anytime soon, he wasn't just going to drop it, which meant Gilbert couldn't hold back. If he did, he could risk dying himself. Gilbert pulled out the two knives hiding in his jacket sleeves as he ran towards Matthew, who was recovering from his dodge. Matthew easily blocked one of Gilbert's swipes with his gun. Ludwig fired a few shots and Matthew ducked just barely out of the way. Gilbert raised his leg and tried to kick at Matthew's legs, but the other assassin was faster. He always was. Matthew slammed his foot into Gilbert's knee that wasn't in the air, causing Gilbert to lose his balance and fall. Matthew went down with him, pinning him down and staying close, giving more of a risk to Ludwig. "So you do still wanna be close to me, huh?" Gilbert smirked and Matthew glared at him. There was no trace of the blush that normally would have risen out of him. Gilbert swallowed thickly.
"Release him," Ludwig ordered coldly and Matthew raised his eyes to study him for a moment.
"Or what?" Matthew asked. He easily used his arms to place Gilbert into a choke, but he didn't apply any pressure yet. What was he waiting for?
"You were the one that killed Feliciano, correct?" Ludwig asked and Gilbert winced. Bad choice. Matthew's eyes flickered slightly before a small smile appeared on his face. This wasn't good at all.
"Shame he couldn't get a proper burial," Matthew said. He was purpose fully egging Ludwig on.
"Don't listen to him," Gilbert muttered. Matthew added a little pressure, not enough to cut off airflow, but enough to make Gilbert shut up. Matthew was leaning down very close to him.
"Wonder what happened to the body," Matthew mused. "Burned, tossed to the forest, sunk to the bottom of a lake."
"Shut up," Ludwig growled. Gilbert took as deep of a breath as he could before he slammed his head into Matthew's, causing the assassin's grip to loosen on him. Gilbert rolled out from under him and Ludwig fired a shot. Matthew ducked out of the way easily, picking up the gun he had dropped, before aiming it at Ludwig.
"Don't let him make you mad," Gilbert snapped.
"He's not," Ludwig said simply. Gilbert glanced at his brother and for one found that he was telling the truth. His hand was steady, his face was stoic, his eyes clear. Gilbert nodded.
"Seems I'm outnumbered," Matthew said simply, backing up to the window. Gilbert narrowed his eyes. That had never stopped him before.
"You're not getting away," Gilbert said simply, pulling out another gun he had on him and aiming it right at Matthew's head.
"I know when I can't win," Matthew simply dropped the gun, along with another small object, a tiny bomb, if Gilbert remembered correctly. Gilbert immediately went to his brother, who didn't understand, tackling the larger man to the ground as far from the bomb as he could make it. Gilbert winced at the explosion, though the building remained sound and he glanced at the window, where the smoke was clearing. Matthew was long gone.
"Does that mean we've won?" Ludwig asked.
"I don't know," Gilbert muttered.
Matthew ran quickly. He knew he had to, not only to get away as quickly as possible from Gilbert, who was really testing that façade he put up, but also to get to the next location. Ivan had suspected something and sent Matthew, Kiku, and Roderich to three simultaneous parties going on that night with the nobility. It was a popularity content no one had won. But Ivan was right, at least where Matthew was concerned. Gilbert and Ludwig had been at the party he was staking out. And he did exactly as he was told. Confuse them and make it look like they're winning. After all, their goal was most likely to cause chaos as no one important was at the parties. Matthew had even helped them cause chaos. How would Arthur react to this, then?
Matthew did run, however, as quickly as possible, to the party Roderich was assigned to. They had no idea who had killed Elizabeta, which meant Roderich might want revenge on all of the members of this revolutionary team. If there were revolutionaries at the party Roderich was at, that could only mean something bad. Matthew had to stop him before he did something dangerous.
Matthew only ran faster when he saw the lit up building and heard the screams. He could also hear gunshots and so he pulled out one of his several guns that he had left. He just had to hope that Alfred wasn't there now. He noticed as he ran up to the building that Kiku was also on his way, having finished his own assignment. Kiku ran into the open door, left open from the evacuating nobility, and Matthew followed him soon after.
Matthew nearly sighed with relief when he saw that the revolutionaries there were Francis and Antonio. The bad thing, however, was the fact that Roderich was not allowing them to win, not by a long shot. He was angry, and firing his gun, not allowing them to get close, but also firing to kill. The opposite of the orders the king had given them.
"Roderich!" Matthew snapped, but the man didn't appear to hear him. Matthew gritted his teeth and ran forward, avoiding any stray bullets from the other two that they actually managed to get out, before shoving Roderich roughly. "Roderich! Do you remember the king's orders?"
"Clearly," Roderich looked him in the eye for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the other two. Matthew took a tight grip of Roderich's left wrist, pointing his gun upwards.
"Do you remember what I said?" Matthew snapped at him as he struggled to keep Roderich's arm up. Kiku was fast to take his other arm. Matthew could clearly see the two revolutionaries run for it as fast as they could, clearly confused. "If you do not get a grip, I will not hesitate to kill you myself!"
"Then go ahead and kill me!" Roderich snapped.
"How will you get your revenge, then?" Matthew asked, tossing Roderich's arm down. Roderich pointed his now free hand right at Matthew's chest. Matthew didn't even flinch. "How do you expect to show Elizabeta that you cared about her death if you're dead? What can you accomplish like that?"
"I could…" Roderich dropped both of his arms, looking at the ground, and Kiku stepped back. "I could see her again."
"Then see her again once you've gotten proper revenge," Matthew snapped. "And when it's okayed by the king. His orders tonight were to confuse and not engage seriously. I thought you understood that. If you keep this up, I won't allow you to get your revenge."
"You can't stop me," Roderich glared at him.
"Try me," Matthew said.
Roderich pulled his gun back up and fired a shot. Matthew dodged it easily. Kiku attempted to hold him back, trying to loop his arms around the man's shoulders, but Roderich was fighting back too much. He fired a few more shots at Matthew, who dodged all of them. The last shot that rang out, however, was followed by a different sound. Rather than hearing it clatter to the ground, it struck into something. Something soft. There was a small grunt and then a scream of someone else.
Matthew carefully turned around and saw that a nobleman was on the ground just outside the door, a hole straight through his head.
"You just killed a civilian," Matthew snapped. "Are you proud of yourself?"
"He shouldn't have gotten so close anyway," Roderich said simply, ripping his arms out of Kiku's grip, as the other man was too shocked to hold on tightly. "Go ahead, tell the king."
"Where did your loyalty go?" Matthew growled. "Don't tell me you're dropping this team just because of what happened?"
"You don't understand!" Roderich shouted.
"I don't understand?" Matthew yelled right back. "I've lost my brother and Gilbert to this! You think I don't know what loss is?"
"Elizabeta is dead, not just gone," Roderich growled. "I will stay with the king, as that is the best means for me to get my revenge on the people that took her down."
"What kind of loyalty is that?" Matthew snapped.
"We should all calm down," Kiku said simply. "Wait until morning to report to the king, Matthew." Kiku locked eyes with him and Matthew nodded. "We all need some sleep. Let's go back."
"I won't be sleeping," Roderich muttered darkly, walking ahead of them.
Well, well, another long chapter! Look at me go! Anyway, this was fun to write, I really enjoyed all that went on here, with everyone's interactions and everything. Roderich is slowly crumbling, but the other people that are dealing with loss are doing…a little better. We got a small glimpse at Lovino here, finally. And I'm hoping to crack Ludwig open soon, too, because he's been a loner in the background for far too long! Anyway, fighting scenes are hard, but these were fairly fun to do, especially because half of the fighters, weren't actually full on fighting, which was cool to do. And Roderich's part was lovely as always.
Anyway, thanks so much to all of the people giving me get well soon, wishes! They meant so much to me. And please review! And I'll see ya next time!