New chapter! It's short and full of conversation.
"What the hell am I going to tell mi fratello?" Lovino mumbled, already feeling sick to his stomach. He could already picture the pain on Feliciano's face in his mind. "He put all of us through that for the damned potato bastard... Only for the idiota to agree to stay with Ivan. We could have fought our way out. We could have made it out without him having to stay there. We could have-"
"Lovino! Enough!" Antonio said firmly. "Ludwig knew what he was doing, si? Just think for a second. So we fight our way out. Think what would have happened. This is Ivan we're talking about. He doesn't like to lose. Don't you think he'd go to Alfred? Find a way to twist the story until we all looked like bad guys? Not only would Ludwig and Gilbert be punished, but tu hermanito, me, you, Elizabeta, Arthur, even Kiku would be as well. Something tells me that wouldn't go over well with the Germans. So then they'd defend each other, us as well because they'll feel like they owe us all... That's just how Ludwig and Gilbert work. Ivan would get Alfred to declare war on them... Maybe not all of us, but them for sure. That would cause Ludwig and Gilbert to force their people into action. Now I don't know about you, but Arthur and I both told Gilbert and Ludwig if this mess comes to a war that we'd fight alongside them. I'm sure Feliciano and Elizabeta would too... So then-"
"Alright. Alright! I get it Antonio...I get it. It would have come down to a war that no one is really ready to fight..." Lovino grumbled as they pushed into the clearing with the cars and the rest of the group.
Feliciano leapt to his feet and flew at his brother, hugging him happily. "Fratello! You're ok!I was so worried! I thought Ivan had gotten you and when we saw Elizabeta I thought for sure you were in trouble, but Luddy said-" The rambling Italian broke off and looked around curiously, expecting his German to step into the clearing beside Antonio and Lovino. "Luddy!" When he didn't see the man he frowned, a spark of fear and confusion flashing in his eyes. "L-Luddy? Where is he?" He asked. "I have to tell him how brave I was getting Gilbert here! I stayed at Gil's pace and didn't even try to run away! Where is he?" He asked again, growing increasingly panicked and confused with each word.
Suddenly, Gilbert had barreled into Antonio, knocking him over and sitting on top of him, his knife was drawn and pressed harshly against the Spaniard's throat. How the brutalized albino had managed to move at all on his own, not mentioning the ferocity and speed in which he had moved, no one knew. "Ficken arschloch! You didn't! Gott verdammt tell me you didn't!" He snarled, voice holding tangible malice despite the grating harshness in the tone. "Arschloch!" Gilbert wanted to cry and beat the hell out of his best friend all in the same moment. Nein... Nein nein nein... Luddy you better come through those ficken trees... bitte... bitte bruder...
Feliciano squeaked, brown eyes flying wide open. "G-Gil? Ve~ Gilbert what's wrong? What did antonio do?" He asked in a shaken voice as Arthur swept past him and pulled the furious Prussian from his Spaniard. With an exasperated huff, Arthur pinned Gilbert against a tree, at this point not caring how injured the man was.
"Bloody git! Stay off of him!" He threatened before dropping him. Worry clouded his eyes as he made his way to Antonio's side and helped him up. He didn't speak again until he had checked the man over and was satisfied he hadn't been injured by the surprise attack. "Let them talk before bloody jumping to conclusions, you cunt! Killing each other won't help anyone!"
Feliciano turned back to his brother in confusion. "Fratello... I don't understand. Where is Luddy? Why is Gil mad at Antonio? I don't understand!" He cried, heart fluttering in his chest like a bird desperate for escape.
Lovino ducked his head, not wanting to have to see his brother's pain. "Feli... Ludwig... He..." The older Italian blew all the air out of his lungs noisily and ran his hand through his hair. "Ludwig stayed behind... To... To keep Ivan from attacking any of us." He said, voice barely more than an agonized whisper. He hated hurting Feliciano., and as he glanced up at Feliciano, that was all that registered on his face.
Everyone's eyes turned to Feliciano, even Gilbert's. At first Feliciano just stood there, stunned, then after a few seconds a million emotions flashed across his face. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Gratitude. Grief. Guilt. After the initial shock wore off he screamed his little heart out, the high pitched, keening wail holding an unbearable amount of agony. His face crumpled into a mask of unimaginable pain as he sobbed uncontrollably, silently, too choked up to make a sound. He trembled so badly his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. No one dared to move toward him, afraid he would snap under the stress and pain.
Lovino could feel tears of his own prick his eyes as he watched his brother suffering, completely helpless to stop it. He wanted so badly to go up to him, hug him, tell him everything would be alright, but he didn't know that for sure.
Antonio had his arms wrapped around Arthur protectively, trying hard not to imagine what Feliciano was feeling. A shudder ran through him at the ghost of misery that washed through him when he tried to imagine how he'd feel if Arthur was ripped from him, and subconsciously he tightened his hold on his Englishman. He pressed his face against Arthur's neck, face burning with shame, when he thought how glad he was that it was Ludwig who had stayed behind and not Arthur.
Gilbert was in a similar state as Feliciano, quietly crying and trembling. He felt broken deep inside, unfixable, more so than he ever had under Ivan's captivity and abuse. He had just been reunited with his brother, and now they were apart once more, roles reversed. It was cruel, how close they had come to being together again, like it should be. His mind ran rampant with horrifying images of what Ivan would do to his poor kleiner bruder. At least when Ivan held I'm captive, he knew Ivan wouldn't risk doing anything that would permanently damage him. The Russian couldn't risk being caught. Somehow, he didn't feel Ivan would extend Ludwig the same courtesy. Not only that, but Gilbert had been in decent health before hand, Ludwig, most certainly, was not. Bruderchen... Mein kleiner bruderchen... I will svae you. He thought in despair.
Feliciano had curled in on himself in the snow, sobbing harder than ever before. His ribs hurt from the strength of his quaking sobs. No one had realized Elizabeta had regained consciousness until she was making her way to Feliciano's side and pulling the frail man into her arms, ignoring the nauseating pain in her skull. Slowly she rocked him back and forth and her green eyes met Gilbert's, questioning him without words.
"Ludwig..." He rasped, saying nothing more. Just saying his name explained everything Elizabeta needed to know anyway. The woman was silent for a long while more, just rocking Feliciano into oblivion, but after a long while she stopped and cleared her throat.
"This is what we do then..." She whispered softly ad Feliciano snored softly on her chest, crying even in his sleep. "A couple of us will call an emergency meeting with the Nordics, Alfred, Matthew... Only those who will listen to us before jumping to conclusions. We'll tell them everything the stupid wall has lead to from Germany's near collapse to our rescue mission. When Alfred starts an uproar about going against international agreement, we'll show them Gilbert. We'll remind him that the agreement was merely that Ivan would house Gilbert to keep an eye on him, not to beat him into submission and steal his nation. If all goes well, Alfred will agree to tearing the wall down and all of the nations present will aid us in getting Ludwig out of Ivan's... "care"." Elizabeta said, watching the others for reactions to her.
"What if it doesn't work?" Lovino asked quietly, glancing at the sleeping, restless form of his brother in Elizabeta's arms.
It was Arthur who answered, much to Elizabeta and Antonio's surprise. "Then we come up with a new plan and go from there. We won't just leave Ludwig there." He vowed, sounding determined as he leaned into Antonio.
"For now... let's all just go home. Antonio, Arthur... You two call for the world meeting. Set it for a month from today. Eliza, I would appreciate if you would come home with me to help me... and my awesome..." He hadded the last part as an after thought, trying to lighten the mood half heartedly. We'll need to take pictures of my current health state though... I;ll probably heal quite a bit in a month's time. Lovino... you and Feli are welcome to stay with me or go home..." Gilbert offered, sounding exhausted.
"Potato bastard! A month? Why wait so long?!" Lovino barked uneasily, glancing worriedly at his brother.
"Lovino... We all have to get home, formally draft the meeting papers, organize the exact time and date of the meeting, give the two weeks notice and be sure we have all the information completely and with out a doubt ready to go. A month is really pushing it." Elizabeta soothed gently, almost as worried for Gilbert as Lovino was for Feliciano, even though it was the albino that had suggested a month in the first place.
"I don't know if Feli can last that long... Ludwig too. Ivan already had him completely chained up and at his mercy..." Lovino protested, for once actually caring for the German, more for the sake of his brother than anything else.
Gilbert sighed and hung his head, having been worrying about the same thing. "Luddy will just have to hold on... They both will."
The next one is sad guys so... Brace yourselves. As always reviews are nice :)