Please sit back,und ENJOY!

Feliciano surprised himself with his ability in running: he was stunningly fast and good at it. And luckily so, because in the exact moment he shoved Ludwig out of the way, the Nightmare jumped, landing with a heavy thud and skidding on the rocky surface of the rock on which the German had been sitting just moments earlier.

The two rolled on the ground a bit before coming to a halt.

"Scheiße!" Ludwig swore, before realizing the identity of who had shoved him to the ground so brutally but not registering the presence of the monster behind him. "You?! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he snapped at the Italian.

That was when the Nightmare snarled in frustration for missing its target, its large, compound eyes finding it again almost immediately, not too far away.

Ludwig and Feliciano turned their heads to look at the monster, feeling a jab of fear. "Oh, Gott…" the German muttered, as he quickly got to his feet, realizing the severity of the situation. He cursed himself for forgetting his trusted hammer, and he did not even have a gun on him. He and the Italian were out in the open, without any weapons to defend themselves. He quickly scanned the area around him to find something, anything that could be used to defend themselves, but the only things surrounding them were sand and rocks. Well, wasn't that just swell.

Then he noticed Feliciano, looking pale as a ghost but holding a considerable-sized rock in his hands. He was obviously terrified, but he was not running away, his eyes locked onto the deformed monstrosity that was the Nightmare. Ludwig had to admit that a rock would be better than nothing.

The Nightmare was calmly preparing its next attack, not yet knowing which one of the two humans it should attack first. Feliciano was observing it, ready to jump or run at its next sudden movement. The first – and last – time he had seen a Nightmare he had not had any time to actually look at it. Now he had, and he had to conclude that the thing was hideous. It was very hard to conceive that nature had spawned such a repulsive creature, it looked like it should belong to a generic pit of Hell. Not even the moonlight managed to make it less ugly or fearsome, instead it added a more frightening shimmer to the black armoured body, and enhanced it every detail. Viscous drool dripped from its disgusting insect-like jaws, its toxic green eyes and wide weak spots glowed menacingly, the continuously shifting paws were covered in hairs as thick as wires.

The Italian felt a shiver run down his spine, as the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach only kept growing. He was downright terrified of this thing, but he couldn't muster the strength to run away. He felt the rock weigh heavily in his hands, his only defence against this car-sized creature. He hated fighting, he would rather run away screaming, but he knew that in this case he would not be able to get away. Furthermore, Ludwig would probably not run, and he had more chances of surviving if he stayed with him. He thankfully remembered Arthur and Kiku's lessons: this was a newbie, he had aim for the glowing green spots, including the eyes.

The Nightmare roared and after what had seemed an eternity to Feliciano, but probably had only been a couple of seconds, it jumped, deciding to target him. Feliciano ducked sideways, avoiding the sprawling paws by a hair's width, and noticing a bright, wide weak spot. As the monster landed, skidding on the ground, the creature exposed its flank and that weak spot. Feliciano took this chance and threw his stone at it.

He missed.

The rock bounced on the Nightmare's armoured back with a dull sound.

"Oh, porca miseria..." the Italian whispered, his feet nailed to the ground as the Nightmare turned its head around to glare at him. It looked furious.

Feliciano sprung behind a boulder to find shelter and another stone he might be able to throw, before hearing the Nightmare screech in pain.

Ludwig had hit another weak spot on the other flank with well-aimed rock. Hissing, the monster scrambled away from the German, one of the many paws trying to stop the thick green liquid from oozing out of the ruptured wound.

Already weighing a second rock in his hand, the German taunted the monster as to get it away from Feliciano. "You're a bit tougher than you look, huh, Alptraum? Come and get me!"

Apparently it worked, because the monster roared and charged Ludwig, who expertly dodged to the side and hurled another stone to another weak spot, unfortunately missing because of the Nightmare's erratic and unpredictable movements. Ludwig growled, looking at the bleeding wound he had inflicted earlier. Stones were obviously less effective than bullets, it would take more time for the wounds to actually take effect.

The Italian was still hiding behind the boulder, but started throwing stones randomly at the Nightmare, hoping that at least one would hit. He kept missing the spots he was aiming for, but he succeeded in being a distraction and making life more difficult for the monster, who had to dodge attacks from multiple projectiles now. The creature kept screeching bloody murder as it leapt here and there, trying to tackle or slice them open with its long clawed paws. Feliciano briefly wondered how the others Rock inhabitants had not heard the ruckus and come out already. Maybe with some weapons, that definitely would have been nice.

The Nightmare was starting to slow down, wearing tired as the inflicted wounds began to take their toll on the monster's body: Ludwig had managed to hit another spot, and the creature was dripping thick green blood everywhere. The Nightmare was beyond furious, and in an anger-fuelled jump, it finally managed to tackle Ludwig down, making him knock his head against a boulder.

"Gah!"

"Ludwig!"

The Nightmare pinned the blond to the ground with its enormous weight on its paws, and a terribly sharp set of black jaws snapped centimetres from Ludwig's face: his legs were free, and he was pressing the soles of his shoes into the Nightmare's neck with all of his might, in a way impeding it from biting his head off.

The Italian started panicking, leaving his hiding spot behind the boulder. What should he do, what could he do?! How could he possibly solve this situation?!

And he did the only, stupidest thing he could think of at that moment.

He picked up a rock and jumped on the Nightmare's hind paws, climbing up on its armoured back. The monster obviously did notice, and tried to shake him off, but Feliciano held on for dear life. He managed that, but lost his precious rock in the process, because he needed at least two hands to not be flung off the Nightmare's back. The shaking subsided a little, apparently the monster had decided it preferred to concentrate on the meal right in front of it, ergo Ludwig. Feliciano, panting heavily, spotted a weak spot, right in front of him, positioned on the back of the Nightmare's head: big, bulging and glowing with that toxic green colour. He didn't have his rock anymore to bash it in however, he had lost his weapon.

A yell coming from under him warned him that the Nightmare was probably only millimetres from the German's face, and Feliciano did not have the luxury anymore to properly think things through.

His hand balled into a fist, he lunged forwards and bashed the weak spot in directly with his right hand. Before it ruptured, the weak spot felt like a thin water balloon, but soon the thin protective layer got torn open, the sticky green fluids spilling out as his fist sunk deeper into the wound. The green blood however had another effect, other than being sticky: it burned Feliciano's skin as if it were the nastiest of acids. The Italian screamed, and at the same time the Nightmare reared up, wailing in pain.

That did it. The monster staggered, unbalanced, on its many but now unorganized paws, before slowly tilting to one side and finally toppling to the ground. Feliciano's hand was still stuck in the wound on the back of the Nightmare's head, and therefore fell together with it, hitting the ground just as hard.

The impact knocked the air out of him, and he stopped yelling, feeling faint as the corners of his vision turned dark. His hearing was muffled, the only thing he heard was his heartbeat, ringing in his ears. The green blood was still burning his arm, but he could not even find the strength anymore to stand up. He felt nauseous, burning and exhausted at the same time: he just did not see the point in moving anymore.

He followed with his eyes a single drop of green liquid, slowly travelling down his forearm until it reached his elbow. He then closed his eyes, losing consciousness. He just hoped Ludwig was still alive.

He woke up with a killer headache and a sore throat. He must have been unconscious for some time, because when he tiredly opened his eyes, he discovered he was lying on the mattress of his room.

He groaned, his features scrunching up as he tried to move. Everything hurt.

"Feli...?" He heard someone's muffled voice ask.

Blinking the blurriness away, Feliciano moved his eyes in the direction of said voice, and made out the figure of Tino, sitting cross-legged on the ground near his mattress, a book resting in his lap.

"...Ti...no?" he croaked.

"Oh, kiitos jumalaa, you're awake!" He quickly sprang to his feet, poking his head under the curtain that functioned as a door out of his room. "Hey everyone, he's awake!"

Suddenly, his room was crowded with people. Tino was smiling brightly, Mathias tried to crush him with a hug but was luckily stopped by a relieved-looking Berwald, Kiku knelt near him and patted him reassuringly on his shoulder. Arthur entered as last, also smiling. "Oh, what a relief, you're awake. You gave us quite a scare there, lad, we thought we lost you for a moment." He said, sitting down on the ground near Kiku.

Feliciano was still too weak to answer properly, but he was soon bombarded with questions by everyone present.

"How are you feeling?"
"Do you want to drink something?"
"I'll go get some water, you just wait here!"

"Wait, I have a bottle of water here, you can drink this."

"Maybe he needs something to eat, or some sugar, look at how pale he is."

"Do we have anything left, then?"

"Everyone j'st shut up. Ah th'nk all he needs 's j'st some rest." Berwald stated curtly, interrupting everyone's ramblings and effectively shutting them up.

Feliciano nodded, thankful, towards the understanding Swede, who simply nodded back. No words were needed.

"Ugh, you're right, Berwald. Sorry Feliciano, we were all just very worried about your condition." Tino bowed his head guiltily.

"We all apologize, sorry." Kiku echoed, nodding.

Feliciano cleared his throat, trying to find his voice again. "Don't... worry, it's okay. But Berwald is right, I'm just tired."

"You heard the man, everybody out!" Mathias exclaimed, putting his hands together before pointing towards the door. Everybody slowly shuffled out, but not before leaving the previously mentioned bottle of water, making really sure that Feliciano was completely okay, and telling him to just shout out if he happened to need anything.

Arthur was leaving as well, but felt something tugging at his sleeve: he turned, surprised to see that the culprit was the tired Feliciano. "Could you please stay, Arthur?" he wanted to ask the medic some questions.

Arthur's green gaze softened. "Of course."

They both ignored the disappointed 'What!? Why can he stay while I can't?! No fair!' coming from far away, the voice clearly belonging to a known Dane.

Arthur sat himself down again near the mattress, while the Italian did his best to sit up, the headache thankfully slowly ebbing away. He absentmindedly noticed he was basically covered in pillows, he guessed that everyone in the Rock had given up their own as to maximise the Italian's comfortable recovery. Feliciano made a mental note to himself to thank everybody later for their kindness.

The medic picked up the glass bottle, showing it to Feliciano. "You should drink this. You're dehydrated, it will help with your sore throat."

The Italian nodded, realizing he was surprisingly thirsty, and took the bottle with his left hand, before chugging down the water with slow, long gulps, his sandpaper-y throat already thanking him.
"Take it easy." Arthur warned him. "Don't drown yourself."

Feliciano exhaled deeply after drinking almost the whole bottle, thanking the medic as he took it away an put it beside the mattress. "I didn't realize I was so thirsty." He admitted. "I'm already feeling better."

"Well, that is definitely good. Now, what did you want to talk about?" the Brit asked, going straight to the point.

"I... I don't... Wait, what happened?" Feliciano scratched his nose, frowning.

The medic raised a bushy eyebrow. "Now that is a surprise. That is what you should be telling me. From my part, I only know that you were brought in here unconscious and bruised. I had to take care of them, plus your right hand. The bandages you already there had acted a bit as protection, but only until a certain point. I knew that Nightmare blood was toxic, but I did not know it caused that kind of dramatic reaction when it came in contact with human skin: you now have a nasty burn there, I suggest you don't move it around too much. Now, would you mind explaining to me why on earth you two went outside?"

The Italian gingerly cradled his right hand, now covered in even more bandages, and then glanced up at the stony ceiling above his head, recollecting his memories. "Well, I suddenly woke up, and I wasn't feeling well..." he swiftly told the whole story, without omitting anything. "... And then I just... blacked out."

Arthur had propped his chin on the palm of his hand, looking thoughtful. There was something quite strange about the story, that did not convince the medic completely. "You said you had an uneasy feeling the whole time. Do you still have it now?"

Feliciano looked down at his own abdomen. "Now that you mention it, I don't! Well, that is weird. I really did feel sick."

Arthur folded his arms over his chest."I have a theory, Feliciano. It sounds ridiculous, but it might just make sense." He looked dead serious. "What if you happened to... 'feel' that the Nightmare was nearby?"

In any other situation, Feliciano would have burst out laughing. It did sound ridiculous. What if it had just been his stomach, rejecting that evening's dinner? But then again, if giant black insect monsters could suddenly start to prey on humans, infecting them in a way not too different from that of a zombie, he guessed that such a statement could make sense in the world left broken after the Disaster.

So Feliciano took Arthur serious.

"I don't know, Arthur. I just felt sick and naueous, I did not feel anything 'special'. I just needed fresh air, so I had to go outside." Feliciano stopped for a second. "Or was it? I have to admit, I did feel like I really needed to go outside. I just assumed it was because of fresh air. And now that the Nightmare" he swallowed thickly, not liking the taste of the next word he was about to say, "...died, I don't feel sick anymore. Maybe, just maybe, you're right." It still sounded ludicrous though, even in his head. A power to 'feel' Nightmares? This wasn't some fantasy story, this was reality.

"I don't know, it's just a wild guess, but maybe it could be possible. Who knows? At this stage, nothing would be able to surprise me anymore. Nature doesn't work like we would expect it to anymore." Arthur shrugged.

"Oh well." Feliciano mirrored the Brit's shrug, not wanting to dwell on the bizarre subject. "By the way, where is Ludwig? I didn't see him before..." his eyes suddenly widened. "He's not dead, is he?!" he was not sure he had stopped the Nightmare in time.

The medic shook his head, reassuring him. "Of course he's not dead, he's going to pay you a visit as well, but when everyone is gone, me included. He was actually the one that carried you back inside."

Feliciano blinked, surprised. "He did?"

"Yes. However, I'm still puzzled as to what on earth a Nightmare was doing, so far away from the cities and so deep into the desert. But then again, it was not very smart of you two to go outside without any means to defend yourselves now, was it?" He said, admonishing him with a disapproving look. "Not only you, but also Ludwig. From what I've heard from you, he was a sitting duck, he was very lucky that you happened to come by. But you both made it out alive, so I guess you both learnt your lesson." He stood up, sighing, "I'll now leave you alone. You still need your rest, and Ludwig won't come unless I'm gone. I have a new theory about your hand, but I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. Rest now, alright?"

Feliciano once more examined his hand. It was covered in twice as many bandages as before, mostly because of the burns, but apart from feeling as if it had to be delicately handled with the utmost care, it did not hurt. He felt he had been patched up in other places as well, mostly plasters covering general bruises. Arthur had taken good care of him, again.

"Thank you , Arthur. You're an amazing medic." He thanked him honestly, as he was almost out of his room.

"You're welcome, lad. Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." Arthur smiled, before lifting the curtain's flap and leaving him alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts wandered back to the Nightmare. As soon as the hideous image of it materialized itself in his mind, a shiver ran down his spine. He had been unexpectedly brave, he had to admit it. He usually was not brave, in fact, he knew he was a coward. A coward that when given the choice between fight or flight, would usually run away as fast as the wind without thinking twice.

He blinked. How did he know that? Staring down at his hands, he realized he had just remembered something from his previous self. If he had to base himself on just this night's events, he should think he was pretty brave most of the time. But no, his brain told him otherwise: he had been unusually brave, his knees had been shaking but he had stayed and fought the monster, actually delivering the finishing blow. Saving Ludwig.

Ludwig. The one that had never really accepted him at the Rock. The one that always thought that he was suspicious, the one that never trusted him from the very first day. What would he say? He wanted to talk to him, but alone. Would he be angry with him again, would he bash his head in without having anyone around to stop him? No, that would not make any sense, why would he carry him back to the Rock if all he wanted to do was punch him. Would he thank him? That also seemed unlikely, especially considering this is Ludwig he was talking about. Would he be as cold as ice, distant, simply acknowledging that he tolerated his presence now? He did not know, but it could be a possibility. All he could do was wait for the inevitable to come.

Talk of the devil, after a few minutes, the curtain of his room was lifted, and the tall blond entered. Feliciano looked up from his lap, trying to decipher his intentions from his expression. But he could not find anything in those ice blue eyes, and Ludwig's face was blank. He was bruised as well, and had been patched up by Arthur just as much – a plaster on his temple being the only visible proof. He just stood there, not taking another step into the room, his shoulders touching the fabric of the curtain behind him – as if wanting to intrude less as possible, maybe. Or possibly just stay as far away as possible from the Italian.

"You are awake." He stated. Must not have been a surprise, because of all the ruckus caused by the others earlier.

The Italian nodded, before cracking an unsure smile. "Hey there! I'm glad you're alive, Ludwig. For a moment I thought that the Nightmare might have gotten you..."

Ludwig's glare lost a bit of its harshness, and after a moment of hesitation, he took a step forward, closer to Feliciano's bed. "You saved me." He stated, his voice flat. He took another step, and due to the fact that the room was so small, he was already beside the mattress.

Feliciano did not know what he should be expecting next from the unpredictable German, so he thought it was better to be safe than sorry, and started apologizing. "Uhm, I'm sorry Ludwig, if I made you mad in any way. I realize you probably wanted to be left alone, and didn't want to see anyone – especially me – but I wasn't feeling well so I had to go outside, and-"

Ludwig silenced him by moving one hand. He opened his mouth, tried to say something but no sound came out. He closed his mouth, waited a few seconds and tried again. "I am... I'm truly... I wanted to..." He was mumbling, stumbling on his own words, clearly not sure of what he was about to say, or how. He found the right words after some agonizing seconds. "Look, I don't do this very often, but what I'm trying to say here is: I apologize. For everything. For my behaviour, for how I treated you so far, for everything I've said up until now. I misjudged you, I didn't trust you and looked at you as if you were an enemy. Tonight I had proof that I was wrong all along, and for that, I am truly sorry. I apologize."

Feliciano blinked, baffled. He had not expected him to be sorry, of all things. But he was glad that he did not have an enemy anymore in the Rock. "Thank you Ludwig, I really appreciate this. Don't worry about what happened, I'm just happy that something good happened out of this horrible night, and that you don't think I'm an enemy anymore." He smiled.

Ludwig mirrored his previously surprised expression. He probably had expected that the Italian would hold a grudge against him, he definitely had not anticipated he would be forgiven this easily. "I mean it, I truly am sorry. There's no excuse for what I did, I was the very definition of an asshole. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like you and your happy-go-lucky attitude towards everything, and I still don't understand how easily everyone accepted you here, but I insulted you without a good reason, I treated you like dirt-"

"Again, it doesn't matter! Are you trying to get me to hate you? Because that's not going to happen." Feliciano interrupted him, "I admit I was scared of you. But Arthur told me you had trouble trusting people, so I'm just happy I overcame that obstacle already. There must be perfect coordination within our group in a dire time like the end of the world, don't you think?"

"Arthur said that?" The blond asked, raising an eyebrow. "He sure talks a lot." He tried to chuckle, in an attempt to lighten the mood, or just himself.

"Yes, and that's good, he is the one that teaches me most of the stuff, together with Kiku. Since I lost my memory, I don't know a lot of things, and it can be quite frustrating sometimes." The Italian admitted honestly. "But they still refuse to tell me some things." He finished, muttering more to himself than intending it to be heard by the German.

Ludwig frowned slightly, having heard the last words nonetheless. "Like what?"

Feliciano hesitated. "Like..." he remembered it was a very touchy subject. Did he dare to bring it up in this conversation, where an armistice had just been declared between him and Ludwig? "... the REDs."

A deadly silence fell in the room, and Feliciano felt like he had made a horrible mistake.

"I'm sorry! They told me it was a touchy subject, just ignore me, I didn't say anything!"

But Ludwig actually smiled a little, and that made Feliciano stop apologizing. He smiled. Feliciano had never seen him smile. It was a bittersweet one, but it was still a smile. "Ah, yes. Of course. It is a touchy subject for some of us, indeed. But, count this as a way of paying you back for saving my life tonight. I could tell you what they actually are."

Feliciano had not expected that outcome, and therefore did not answer. Ludwig simply sighed, and sat down near the mattress. Then he took a deep breath , as if mentally preparing himself.

"REDs are people that have been infected by Nightmares. However, it is a different infection from the usual one, the one that turns you into the thing that attacked us tonight. More specifically, REDs are humans that are willing, choosing to be infected by Sentient Nightmares".

Feliciano tilted his head to one side, confused at the mere thought. How could anyone be willing to become infected? But he did not ask anything, he did not want to interrupt Ludwig, not now that he could get some answers.

And Ludwig continued, his eyes focused on something far away in time.

"Fourteen months ago, the Sentient Nightmares launched one of their attacks against one of the last big cities that had still been resisting up until that point. I just happened to be in that city, together with my brother."

…Fourteen months earlier…

"Oi West! Take a look at that shit!" a man shouted, calling for his brother's attention with his silly nickname.

"What is it, Gilbert?" Ludwig asked, not sure if it could be one of his brother's usual shenanigans or something serious: it was never possible to know beforehand. Furthermore, he was tired, the sun was already setting.

Gilbert pointed out of their shattered window, towards a slightly darker line that had appeared at the darkening horizon, slowly closing in.

This was definitely serious, and Ludwig was suddenly alert. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If my eyes don't deceive me, what I see right there is a whole buttload of Nightmares heading straight for us." The elder brother answered. The pet chick he had rescued chirped, trembling in his chest pocket. Gilbert stroked the little bird's yellow head, in a reassuring gesture. "Don't worry Gilbird. Everything's going to be just fine. We'll walk out of this alive, just like we did until now."

"I don't think so, we'll have to run. Get your weapon and let's get out of here, fast!" Ludwig pushed his brother away from the window with sudden urgency.

"Ack! Yeah, yeah, I'm going already, chill out West. They're still far away, we have all the time in the world. And I just said 'buttload' because I thought it was a funny word, they can't be that many." Gilbert replied in an attempt to calm down his younger brother, grinning and brimming with confidence.

"You might want to check again, idiot."

When Gilbert glanced out of the window again, he saw that the dark line had already come much closer, and had extended and thickened considerably in size. That was no simple Nightmare horde, that was an army. The alarms of the city started blaring. "Scheiße! West, let's get the hell out of here!"

Ludwig simply rolled his eyes and quickly followed him out of the building, their few belongings bouncing on their backs. They ran through the streets, passing through the already swarming and panicking people. Most people were armed, some were leading other people to hiding places, others were simply running while screaming or yelling names, children cried while clinging to their fathers or mothers. To finish it all, every sound was at least partially covered by the blaring sirens, installed to warn everyone in the city, especially the army. But the army was not going to come, not anymore at least. They were on their own, the armies had been decimated not too long ago, and this was not a new sight, it had become an usual occasion ever since the Disaster. Ludwig and Gilbert had gotten used to it, and expertly made their way through the alarmed crowds. They both ran towards the edge of the city, opposite to the Nightmare's line of attack. It was protected by a very high and massive concrete wall, reinforced with anything that could be used and topped by electrified barbwire. Not visible from their point of view, the other side of the wall was protected for hundreds of metres by land mines, ditches and anything useful to slow down an oncoming attack. The walls themselves were just high enough for no normal Nightmare to be able to jump over them.

Nobody was in sight around this part of the city, excluding the occasional scurrying human figure far away. Ludwig and Gilbert immediately identified the heavily reinforced steel doors that led to the outside.

Gilbert immediately went for the computer panel that had been installed not too far away from the door, ready to type in the password.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute Gil. Don't you think there's something not quite right about this? Why is nobody here?" Ludwig muttered, looking around. It was completely deserted, this definitely did not feel good. Ludwig could feel all the hairs on the back of his neck rise up, and his instincts were seldom wrong. "It's too quiet."

Gilbert rolled his eyes as he started typing the first digits. "Nah, you're being paranoid like always. As soon as I type in this code we'll slip out faster than you can say 'Nightmare' while those freaks tear the city apart-"

A loud 'BOOONG' echoed through the streets, the sound originating from the very door in front of which they were standing.

"Ludwig, please tell me I imagined that." Gilbert's eyes were wide, staring at the door with in fear, as he took a silent step backwards.

Ludwig, a few metres behind his brother, was half crouching, ready to either back away slowly or make a fast run for it. "Gil, get back here. They surrounded the city, we can't get out." He whispered urgently. There were only two exits: one in the direction where they had seen the line of Nightmares earlier, this was the only second one.

"Shit. Well, that sucks." The older brother tried to grin, but the blond could clearly see he was scared, even paler than usual.

A second 'BOOOOOONG' sounded from the door, stronger and louder. There was even a dent now in the four-metres thick metal.

"Gilbert, get back here NOW." Ludwig ordered, and Gilbert did not have to be told twice, as he bolted away as fast as he could, Ludwig already on his heels. "We need to find a place to hide, maybe fight back somehow!"

"Sure thing, if I'm going down, I'm bringing some of those abominations with me to hell!" Gilbert half growled, half cackled. He then pointed at one of the buildings. "That one looks good! If we could get high enough we could prey on those things from above, they'll never know what hit them!"

The blond nodded, for once his brother had a logically sound plan.

They ran as if the devil were biting at their heels (and it might very well have been), and in no time they were in one high floor of the building. The sirens had stopped blaring, the people had stopped screaming, the streets were empty: the city was unnaturally quiet, eerily so, as if it were holding its breath – the calm before the storm.

Gilbert and Ludwig peered out of the windows of the abandoned flat, and felt their hearts gripped by the familiar hand of fear.

The army of Nightmares had surrounded the city, and it resembled a thick, enormous, grotesque black ring moving around the city walls as if it were one single organism. They were slowly breaking through the enormous walls of solid concrete, the electrified barbed wire keeping the brave jumpers at bay for the moment. But it would not last long, the Nightmares that possessed wings were already flying over the city, screeching horribly and announcing that the worst was about to come soon.

"Now, we're taking some of you ugly birds down first." Gilbert muttered, shattering the window with the butt of his rifle and quickly taking aim at the flying monsters. Ludwig joined by his side with his weapon, and they both worked together like a perfectly oiled machine, not a single shot missing its target. It was somewhat easy to identify where the Nightmares were, because even though their black armour made them blend in with the darkness, their glowing coloured weak spots were dead giveaways. The brothers changed floors and sides of the building every now and then, as to cover more area and to avoid being spotted – not that flying Nightmares happened to be very smart or anything, quite the contrary, but it was still safer. Other brave souls had joined in the shooting as well, from other buildings, helping them to considerably thin out the population of flying Nightmares.

At some point however, a loud crumbling sound reached their ears. Both brothers stopped shooting, glancing at each other with evident worry. There was no need for words, they both knew what had happened.

The walls had crumbled. The Nightmares were already swarming inside with their triumphant and distorted screeches.

The elder brother swallowed thickly. "Listen, West, however this might end-"

"Shut up, we're going to survive this!" Ludwig interrupted his brother, snarling.

They kept shooting, but they knew that the battle was already lost. The Nightmares had increased much more than tenfold, and they were everywhere. In the streets, on the buildings, in the underground sewers and in the sky, every single one being uglier than the other. The monsters were being severely reduced in numbers by the crossfire of course, thick blood of all colours was splattered everywhere, but so were the humans, driven out of their hiding places by packs of those abominations. The Nightmares weren't only attacking the humans, at least half of them had started to attack the base of buildings, working through the concrete and bricks as if it were soft wood. Soon entire flats were toppling down before crumbling into a million pieces, like colossal trees near a lumberjack mill. The only difference was the lack of 'Tiiiiimbeeeerrrr!' shouts, substituted by the terrified screams of the people inside or nearby. Long plumes of smoke and clouds of debris were beginning to block the already dark view.

"Hey wait a second, look at that thing down there! What is it?" Gilbert suddenly asked, pointing at something down in the streets.

Ludwig looked down, and saw that indeed there was something odd, visible even in the semi-darkness and chaos. It was definitely a Nightmare, the black armour covering it from head to toe was the clear trademark, but its form was... human. Not like the Nightmares that had once been humans, those things still had one or two extra sets of arms or legs. This one clearly had only four limbs. Could it be a human trying to camouflage himself? It would not have been the first time he had seen similar attempts, with different degrees of success. But this was not one of those cases, this was a proper Nightmare, and it was mildly disturbing that it was walking around through the smoke, debris, screams and massacre as if it were taking a lovely afternoon stroll through the park. It was even holding its hands joined behind its back. The only thing missing from the whole picture would be the Nightmare whistling.

"I have no idea what it is, but I don't like it. It's creeping me out, look at how calm that thing is. Let's show it that we mean business!"Gilbert pointed his rifle at the creature, narrowing his eyes as he took aim.

Ludwig had a very, very bad feeling about this. The Nightmare did not have any weak spots in sight, which meant it was far from being a newbie – it could very well be one of the most dangerous around, even. "Wait Gilbert, don't-!" he tried to stop his brother so that he would not draw any unwanted attention towards them, but he was too late. The elder brother had already pulled the trigger.

The bullet bounced right off the monster's head, without it even slightly flinching. It did, however, stop walking. It unfolded its hands from behind its back and turned, scanning the general direction from which the bullet had come from.

"Oh shit!" Gilbert and Ludwig quickly moved away from the window, leaning their backs on the walls beside it.

"...You think it saw us?"

"I don' know."

Ludwig slowly moved his head closer to the edge of the windowsill, trying to look around the corner without being noticed. He looked down, and saw that the Nightmare had seen exactly where the bullet had come from: it was looking up directly at their window with its glowing eyes, and Ludwig had the strangest feeling that it was smiling at them. Like a parent that had found a badly hidden toddler at a game of hide and seek.

Ludwig reacted quickly. "Get down!" he pulled his brother away from the window, backwards towards the centre of the room. Just in time: something shot big and fast through the window, destroying the window and creating a gaping hole in the ceiling above them. And in the one above it. And in all the floors above them.

The ceiling started creaking ominously, chips of concrete and dust falling on their heads.

"Move, Gilbert!" Ludwig shouted, running for the stairs. Gilbert scrambled on his feet and hurried behind his brother before the whole building could collapse on their heads.

They almost literally flew down the stairs, and managed to get outside of the building just in time: it crumbled behind them, imploding on itself as it caused a small earthquake. A gigantic cloud of dust and smoke surrounded them.

They panted, behind a big hunk of debris they used as cover, trying to catch their breaths and not choke on the smoke. That was when they noticed something.

Silence.

Complete, sudden, and utter silence.

That was never a good sign.

When had the fight ended? Ludwig felt a chill run down his spine, knowing what this silence meant: the Nightmares had won.

He could not see a thing through the dark smoky haze, except an occasional flame or spark far away, leftovers of the fight. He glanced over to his brother, and they both nodded. They had to run away, they still had a chance of surviving this, as long as they avoided every direct contact with a Nightmare.

They scurried through the crumbled buildings as fast as they could without disturbing the deafening silence. A silence that was occasionally broken by softly crumbling debris, or a few isolated gunshots, or a scream of a person being snatched by a Nightmare. They even heard faint sobs at some point, but they were crudely interrupted by a monster's screech. The brothers shuddered whenever they felt their feet step onto something slippery, it usually being coloured Nightmare blood but often being dark red human blood as well. Mangled bodies of both sides littered the place, they being either crushed by the concrete, or shot, or half eaten – those unlucky humans would surely come back as Nightmares. That was how they had managed to spread so fast. Ludwig forced himself to look away, knowing that that had been the fate of most of the people he had known. The lucky ones had died permanently. The unlucky ones had either come back as a Nightmare or had slowly become one will still being alive. One wound, that was all it took.

After what seemed like an eternity, they found the city walls – or what was left of them. There was still hope, and Gilbert turned to grin at him.

Gilbird left the safety of Gilbert's pocket, perching himself on his shoulder, and let out a small, scared, barely audible chirp.

"Don't worry buddy, we're almost safe." The elder murmured to the bird. That was when the bird screeched bloody murder, and Gilbert yelled. "Gilbird!"

The small feathery animal had disappeared, a single floating feather and a drop of blood on Gilbert's shoulder being the only proof it had even existed.

Ludwig felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up again, remembering the bizarre Nightmare from before. Too bad for the bird, but they were in terrible danger. "Gilbert, forget the bird, we need to get out of here!" He whispered urgently at his brother, pulling him away by grabbing his shoulder.

Gilbert ignored him, and let his brother pull him while he frantically looked around for the culprit. He then seemed to notice something, and a strange expression washed over his face. He suddenly stopped struggling. "I'm sorry, West."

"What?" Ludwig asked, turning around to look at him, but the only thing he saw for a split second was the butt of Gilbert's rifle, hitting him hard on the temple.

The blond slumped to the ground, his consciousness slipping away.

"I am so, so, sorry." Were the words Ludwig last heard before blacking out.

He regained consciousness soon after. He sat up, but hit his head. He grumbled profanities under his breath, feeling the bruise on his temple as he tried to discern where he was. He was in some very cramped and dark place, but he could still smell the scent of destruction: he deduced he had to be in the city still. He touched the walls of his confinement, and discovered from the texture that it was concrete. Pushing in every direction amounted to no result at all, he was clearly stuck. Was he buried under some debris? How? Why? What had happened, where was his brother?! He hit the wall of his confinement with an irritated fist, and other than bruising himself, the only result he achieved was that a minuscule piece crumbled away: he now had a microscopic window, just big enough to peek through with his eye. He glanced outside, and saw something that confirmed his suspicions: he was indeed still in the city.

Suddenly he heard someone talking. He recognized his brother's voice, but not what he was saying. Ludwig shifted a little and put his ear on the hole, so he could hear better and understand what on earth was going on. A second voice joined, but it was the most unsettling voice Ludwig had ever heard, as it sent shivers down his spine. It definitely was not human: it was distorted and grotesque, similar to how Nightmares sounded. Ludwig's eyes widened, realizing it must have belonged to that human-like Nightmare from before.

"So…will you join me?"

Gilbert said something again, but once more Ludwig could not hear what he was saying.

"I am glad you made the right choice." The Nightmare answered ominously.

There was a yelp of pain and the sound of ripping cloth, followed by ragged coughs. Ludwig's eyes widened, as he realized his brother had been stabbed. But then, more disturbing sounds reached his ear. Horrible snapping sounds, and something that was being torn, ripped. To top it all off, there were the agonizing groans of Gilbert, which slowly escalated into a loud scream.

Ludwig found himself wildly pounding at the walls, yelling his brother's name over and over again. What was happening? What had he done?! What was that thing doing to him?!

"GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The elder brother screamed at the top of his lungs, and to Ludwig's horror, the end of the scream became distorted. He stopped calling his name, and the screaming stopped, together with the sickening sounds. Ludwig sat, frozen by fear and anguish for Gilbert.

"Stand up." The Nightmare ordered.

Ludwig heard something shifting, and bizarre clicking sounds, like stone scraping on stone.

"Good. Now, we can leave. There is nothing more to be done here, this city has been successfully eradicated. How do you feel?" The blond felt his blood boil, he hated that abomination with all of his being.

But he shuddered when he heard the voice of his brother. It had become distorted like the Nightmare's.

"I feel…awesome. Let's go."

He tore his ear from the hole and glued his eye to it instead. He had to see. But maybe he should not have done that.

Not too far away from his spot, in the small area he could actually see, he saw the arm of the monster, the polished black shell not even remotely affected by the dust and smoke. From this distance, Ludwig could even see some purplish blue hue within the black. The arm was raised, and the Nightmare was holding its clawed hand out, as if waiting for someone to take it. A similarly clawed hand appeared from the left, equally armoured but in a different colour. It was white. And it took the black hand.

Ludwig's heart sank. One tear formed in the corner of his eyes when he saw what his brother had become. He was partially covered by a pearly white substance that clearly resembled a Nightmare's armour, except for the colour. Even his face was partially covered by it, the white of the armour blending in perfectly with the pearly white skin and hair of his albino brother. But the most unsettling things were his wicked expression, and especially his eyes. They had been milky red, the eyes of an albino, but now they were blood red, and they clearly showed the madness behind them.

The Nightmare and the creature that had once been his brother disappeared in the dark smoke, leaving a grieving Ludwig behind.

"He was snatched by one of the Sentient Nightmares, and turned into a RED." Ludwig finished.

Feliciano felt incredibly sorry for the blond. He felt this dull ache in his chest, right where his heart was, and he could relate completely with Ludwig about the loss of his brother. Even if he himself did not have a brother... right?

"But…why? Why did that Nightmare take your brother?" he asked.

Ludwig sighed. "I learnt that some time later. Arthur explained it to me. That Nightmare was a Sentient Nightmare, even if I didn't know it at the time, I could somehow feel that it was dangerous. And indeed, they are the most dangerous kind of Nightmare around, as they can still think rationally, more or less. And they are somehow intelligent enough to also feel…alone, in their own twisted way. All other Nightmares are just stupid pawns in their game, mindless and obedient goons. Apparently they want someone to talk to, or simply possess minions that can at least talk and think. That's why they make REDs, and as far as we know, Sentients are the only ones that can create REDs. However there are not many REDs around, because the Sentients only select certain people, choosing them based of a particular sin they have."

Feliciano frowned. "What…? A sin? How?"

Ludwig shook his head. "I don't know how. No one knows. But that Nightmare detected the Pride in my brother, at least that is what I think, it cannot be anything else. Arthur also had a friend who got turned into a RED, but because of his Lust. Mathias, Berwald and Tino's friend was apparently selected because of his Sloth. You know," Ludwig closed his eyes, "they are given a choice. It is either death, or become a RED and serve the Sentient Nightmare for eternity. So they choose to become REDs, they choose to betray and turn on their friends, family, and the whole human race with that gesture. Also, they call themselves REDs because it is short for 'Redeemed'. As if they had been freaking gifted with a privilege. I know it might be too much to ask of everyone, but I knew my brother, he should not have been this selfish. I'll never forgive him for making that choice, to become a monster. When I'll see him, I will end what is left of him, because... because that RED definitely is not by brother anymore." Ludwig's hands were balled into fists, and they were shaking slightly.

Feliciano did not dare to ask anything, so he remained silent.

Ludwig relaxed, exhaled and continued explaining. "In appearance, REDs vaguely resemble Sentient Nightmares, in the sense that they maintain their human forms – more or less, at least. To be more precise, they are something in between a Nightmare and a human, like some sort of hybrid: they cannot spread the Nightmare infection, but they are able to develop a supernatural ability. They even have an armour that protects them, similar to Nightmare armour, but of different colours, not only black. In addition, I heard from Kiku that REDs apparently..." Ludwig had to make a long pause at this point, looking infinitely sad and disgusted at the same time, "... have to feed on human flesh, just like proper Nightmares."

Feliciano felt a cold shiver travel down his spine at the simple thought. It was horrible. There was another long pause, during which Ludwig grabbed his head for a moment, undoubtedly remembering Gilbert, before sitting up straight again and continuing. "I never saw my brother again, so I do not know what happened to him. Tino told me their friend developed the power to create ice out of nowhere, and they know that because they fought him. I had been lucky that my brother had just walked away, just like Arthur had been lucky with his friend, but Mathias, Berwald and Tino were forced to fight their own friend, who had also chosen to become such a monster. And you know, that friend still recognized them all, but did not think anything of them anymore, except that they were just 'weak, worthless human beings'. Berwald almost lost his eyesight due to the RED freezing his eyeballs, while Mathias has a big scar as a reminder. Somehow, Tino managed to fend him off, and they were able to make their escape." Ludwig sighed and looked up. "And that's it, I told you all I know about REDs... I hope you're satisfied now."

Feliciano felt incredibly sad, and wondered how the blond could manage not to cry. What a horrible, horrible thing. REDs were horrible, Nightmares were horrible, the Sentient Nightmares were the worst and scariest of them all. "Thank you, Ludwig. I really appreciate that you shared this... burden with me."

The German weakly smiled. "I'm glad that you listened. It is sometimes good to have someone to talk to. You know... you might be not half that bad after all." He admitted, surprising Feliciano. After that, he stood up. "It's late, I'll be leaving now. We both had a heavy night, you should rest and recover from your bruises." He said, as if Feliciano were the only wounded one in the room. The German was already half out of the room, when he heard a "Grazie, Ludwig. Buonanotte."

Ludwig closed his eyes. "Gute Nacht." Then, he left.

Feliciano turned off the oil lamp that had lit up the room until then, and laid down, making himself comfortable between all the pillows. He thought about the whole RED story, about the Nightmare, about how Ludwig had finally overcome his prejudice towards him, and about how brutal the world had become after the Disaster. The Rock was a paradise, a wonderful exception to that world. He had not realized it at first, but he now was more than grateful to be here.

He slowly drifted asleep, for once without nightmares.

That's all, folks!

I hope you're enjoying this re-writing as much as I am :) I'm especially tweaking the general aspects of the world they're now living in, remember, this is a world-wide apocalypse, the kind that brings out the worst side out of human beings. The situation is nothing short of desperate, and that is also one of the reasons why Ludwig has so many problems with trusting people.

...

Scheiße! : (German) Shit!

Oh, Gott... : (German) Oh, God...

Oh, porca miseria... : (Italian) Oh, dang it...

Alptraum : (German) Nightmare.

Kiitos jumalaa : (Finnish) Thank God [Please correct me if I'm wrong, I could not find a reliable source for this]

Grazie, Ludwig. Buonanotte : (Italian) Thank you, Ludwig. Good night.

Gute Nacht : (German) Good night.