Ciao everybody! How are you all doing? Here's another random update on monday! :D
Also, kind of a short chapter, even if it was a pain for me to write DX I don't know, again, a lot of clues and explanations that I had to organise in a logical way... I think my brain died.
Anyhow! YES! I survived the tests week! This is my last week of school! :D
Anyway, I doubt anyone is interested in my rant, so sit back und ENJOY.
Antonio was soon introduced to the rest of the group and everyone reacted in shock as they heard about how Romano had almostdied at his hands, though things calmed down once they saw that the older Italian was ok. Romano's wound was still there, but had already begun to heal thanks to Arthur's magic. Antonio introduced himself to Gilbert, Francis and Lukas, this time formally and properly, and soon enough, the four men were laughing and talking together, finally relieved of their inner struggles.
Arthur found the willpower and strength to patch up Yao, but only after Antonio had obviously given a long string of apologies and explanations, directed at the Chinese, the Fin, the Belgian, the Spaniard himself and a grumpy Italian. Said Italian headbutted him, regardless of his own or the Spaniard's wounds. Antonio also tightly hugged the other Italian, smiling broadly, to thank him for curing him. Again, this resulted in one of Romano's angry fits.
Alfred was ranting with Mathias about something, and both were purposely pissing off poor Lukas and Berwald. By the end, a very pissed off Norwegian started chasing the duo, brandishing a crowbar he got from somewhere, while Berwald had luckily been restrained from going off on a rampage by a certain Fin, who, even with a broken arm, was stronger than the massive Swede, a fact that was fairly unsettling, to say the least.
Matthew was quietly having an amicable conversation with Kiku, Emil and Yao about their favorite foods from their homelands. However, when Yao mentioned his, the others all made a disgusted face, and Emil started arguing angrily with the Chinaman, who seemed unfazed.
Ludwig talked a bit to Feliciano, whose eyes were still puffy because of the tears. Then he brought him over to Arthur, remembering the scales. Feliciano also had a dreamy look in his eyes, probably still relieved that Romano hadn't died after all. However, he noticed when Arthur frowned, looking at his hand. Feliciano glanced down at it and yelped in fear.
"Ve!"
The scales had spread out even more, as Ludwig had noticed earlier, appearing from under the bandages and going all the way up to his elbow, still in that vein-like pattern. Feliciano started panicking again. It didn't matter that it was inevitable that this would happen. It still scared him.
"Ve, Ludd! I'm scared! What's happening?!"
"Don't panic, Feli. Everything's okay…" Ludwig said soothingly. Or tried to, at least. Feliciano did not believe the German.
"No, it's not okay…! I don't, I-I-I…I'm scared…!" he repeated, at a loss for better words to explain his confusion.
"Feliciano, do you feel different in any way?" Arthur asked, still clueless about what was going on. Many thoughts and theories flashed behind his emerald and tired eyes, but he didn't express them.
Feliciano shook his head.
"No…! Nothing at all! I don't…I don't understand, Arthur…!"
"Me neither, and I'm afraid we never will."
"But-"
"Feliciano, shut up!" Ludwig barked, making the Italian yelp, but he did quiet down, at least. Ludwig sighed. Maybe he had been too harsh. "Uh, I mean, calm down, Feli. There's nothing we can do about it, I'm sorry. And I'm worried too."
"V-ve…"
"…But I agree with what Arthur said some time ago. That hand only did good up until now, so why not trust it?" Ludwig said, forcing a small smile to comfort the Italian.
Feliciano smiled a little. "Maybe…Ve…"
"Try to," Arthur suggested, bandaging the Italian's whole forearm.
"…Okay…" Feliciano sniffled, calming down.
Arthur suddenly stood up and clapped his hands.
"Guys, we need another meeting!"
Ludwig frowned. The Brit didn't look too good…and was he wobbling on his feet?
"Huh?" Alfred asked, popping out from behind a boulder. A loud 'BONK' could be heard as Lukas finally brought the crowbar down on the American's head.
"I finally got you," the Norwegian said with his everlasting pokerface.
"YEOOOOW!"
"Another meeting, I said, you wankers! Right now!" Arthur exclaimed. However, as soon as he said that, he collapsed.
Soon, they were sitting on the ground in a circle in a small clearing of the rubble. Arthur had passed out because of sheer exhaustion, and many others were tired as well, so they had gone to sleep. The ones who were left to lead the 'meeting' were Feliciano, Ludwig, Berwald, Mathias, Francis, Alfred, Emil, Gilbert and Antonio.
"So…why did Artie want a meeting, anyway?" Alfred asked, rubbing his head still and glancing at the sleeping figure of the Norwegian some meters away from them.
"Probably because of him," Emil pointed sideways with his thumb at Antonio.
"¿Qué?" Antonio looked up from Romano's sleeping figure, which was resting on his lap. The older Italian had also fallen asleep after saying, "Good-fucking-night, shitheads."
"He's talking about you, Toni," Gilbert snickered.
"Yeah, I got that, but why?" the Spaniard asked, puzzled.
Ludwig sighed. He understood what Emil had thought. Was the Spaniard really so dense…? Now that he thought about it, Antonio acted like an overgrown child. Not like Alfred or Mathias, full of energy and over-excited all the time, though. He acted more in a Feliciano-kind of way, dumb and clueless, but sweet in some kind of way.
"Antonio, I think we all want to know about…the Sentient, and anything else you know. If you remember…" Ludwig said, folding his arms.
Antonio blinked and swallowed before answering. He started talking, petting Romano's hair softly.
"W-well, of course I remember, but…where do I start…? For all I know, the Sentient might have lied the whole time when he talked to me."
Francis frowned. "What do you mean, Toni?"
"…Gilbert, do you remember when he got all angry because Francis got 'lost', and also when Lukas did as well?"
The albino nodded, and the others listened carefully.
"It was all an act. He never was really angry. In fact, he arranged everything, so that we would all meet our demise as…as REDs," Antonio murmured, looking down.
Gilbert straightened up, rage flaming in his eyes.
"What are you saying?! You mean he lied to us?! He used us?! Well, of course he did, but…Used our…us…uh? But for what?! Why…what…I don't…" his words died to a whisper.
Antonio nodded, and then shook his head.
"I-I don't get it either, but yes, he lied. I heard him laugh in his chamber when he received the news you had lost against the hum-" he coughed, "against them."
"Das verdammt Arschloch!" Gilbert hissed, clenching his fists and glaring at the small oil lamp in the middle of their circle, their only light source. That glare could probably have incinerated anything, but the lamp seemed unfazed by it. Besides glaring at the lamp, Gilbert was actually thinking, and every question he thought up made him more frustrated. So the Sentient had been spying on them? But why make it all so complicated? Why all these fake plots? Those fake orders!? Why eliminate them, one by one…? Why keep Feliciano alive? Why keep all the humans alive?! Why not send the Nightmares?! … Arggggh! It was all so confusing!
It was actually a miracle the lamp still hadn't turned into a pile of ashes.
Francis looked up. "What about the chess boards?"
The others glanced at each other with confused looks. "Chess boards? What the hell, dude?" Alfred asked, smirking, "You think the bad guy has enough time to waste on chess?"
Gilbert quirked an eyebrow. "Actually, he does."
Alfred looked taken aback, but then shrugged. "Whatever."
Antonio inhaled deeply. "Well, after I caught him laughing, I grew suspicious of him, so one time, when he left, I went into his room to look around at anything that could explain something to me. Aaaand I got caught." He smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, but then got serious again, looking at the others who didn't know about the chess boards. "The Sentient has three chessboards, which apparently help him think about his schemes, whatever they are. He usually would never tell us what those pieces meant. However, when I got caught, he somehow started explaining to me what all the pieces symbolized to him."
He paused, looking up to remember. "Obviously a chess game has black pieces and white pieces. He had many black pawns; the simple ones were the normal Nightmares. The Bishops were the most evolved ones. The Knights were Francis and Lukas. Gilbert and I were the Rooks, and the Sentient himself was the King."
Gilbert and Francis snickered. "He really thinks high of himself, doesn't he?" Francis smiled with a weak attempt at humor.
Antonio smiled a little, but then resumed talking. "As for the white pieces, they symbolized you, the…the humans. They were all random, except one." He looked around the circle, and locked his gaze onto Feliciano, who gasped.
No way, right? No way…this isn't about me, is it? the Italian thought.
"…A white Queen symbolized him." Antonio said, cocking his head to one side, a puzzled look on his face, as he remembered exactly the Sentient's words when describing the piece. "However, I don't get why…"
Feliciano hunched his shoulders, uncomfortable with all of the looks on him, and fiddled with the bandages on his hand.
Ludwig huffed, leaning back against the boulder. It was obvious. "Well, it's because Feliciano can cure Nightmares and REDs. It's as simple as that."
"That still doesn't explain why he wants him alive, bruder," Gilbert frowned. "If I were in his place, I'd want someone like him eliminated…"
Feliciano inhaled sharply, and Ludwig took notice, snapping back at his older brother, "Stop talking about him like he isn't here!"
The albino put up his hands in defense. "Whoa, chill, Lutz! I didn't mean anything un-awesome with that!"
Ludwig snorted, glancing sideways at the obviously worried Italian. Dang it. Feliciano was upset again…
The Spaniard blinked, and then shook his head smiling. "You're probably right, Ludwig, that probably is the reason..."
However, he glanced at Feliciano briefly, and then sideways at Francis and Gilbert. He'd have to talk to them about something…
Mathias looked left and right in the circle. "So?"
"S' wh't," Berwald grunted.
The Dane turned to the Swede, wide-eyed. "I don't get it!" he exclaimed.
Ludwig facepalmed, along with the Swede.
"No, really guys, I don't get it! What are we supposed to do now?! I mean, we have this kind of terrifying sonufabitch breathing down our necks, so what now?!" he exclaimed, waving his arms.
Alfred puffed his chest out, hitting it with his fist. "But of course! We fight him, we win and I'll be the HERO!" he flashed his broadest smile, and Feliciano could almost see an American flag waving behind him. He blinked, confused, and the flag disappeared. Well, that had been weird.
Emil knocked him forward with a back-of-the-head slap. "Moron. That would get us killed."
Gilbert shook his head. "And in any case, not one of us remembers the location of that asshole's shelter! He apparently took care of that."
Antonio blinked. "You don't remember?"
Francis gasped, "You do?"
"I do?" Antonio asked with a clueless face, pointing at himself as if he wasn't quite sure.
"The hell Toni, do you or don't you remember?!" Gilbert exclaimed, wide-eyed. It would actually make sense. If Antonio remembered everything when he was a RED, it meant that the Sentient had not been able to suppress his memories. So even if the Sentient had managed to erase his shelter's location from the other ex-REDs' minds, it probably had not worked on the Spaniard.
Antonio fidgeted with Romano's hair. "I-I do…"
"Holy shit, man!" Alfred shouted. "Okay, you'll be our scout! You'll bring us to the bad guy's lair! You, you, you and you will be my sidekicks! I will be the HER-"
The American's exclamation was interrupted by a shoe that flew out of nowhere and hit his head.
"Ow!"
Alfred stared down at the offending object, puzzled, but Francis recognized it. "Quoi? Sourcils, are you awake?"
"I am now, thanks to that git. Quiet down, the lot of ya. I'm bloody tired," a voice grumbled from under a blanket.
They all chuckled, but quickly composed themselves and started talking more quietly.
"Is it true, Toni? You remember that un-awesome Arschloch's hiding place?" Gilbert asked eagerly. Ludwig frowned at this. Gilbert was hot-headed; he obviously wanted revenge. But, as Emil had pointed out, facing the Sentient would result only in their deaths, or all of them becoming REDs or Nightmares. Not anything he dreamed of especially.
"I do, b-but I agree with Emil!" the Spaniard hastily added. "I mean, that guy has an army of Nightmares ready… I don't think we should do that."
"And why would we even do that?" Ludwig asked. "To get revenge? So what, even if we might, and I mean might beat him and his Nightmares, then what? There would be wounded people, possibly dead ones. And then there still would be other Nightmares walking around. It wouldn't solve anything. Our top priority now is finding another shelter, like…like the Rock."
Mathias frowned at this. "Ludwig, you know that isn't possible."
"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that we need a shelter away from the cities. With water. And rebuild from there."
Antonio brought a hand to his chin. "But…if we went to find him, it would overturn his plans."
Everyone froze and looked at him. "What?" Ludwig asked, astonished.
The Spaniard puffed his cheeks, as he thought back at the chess pieces. "He wants to trap us, somehow. I saw it on the chess boards. He wants to lead us to…somewhere. You get what I mean?" He glanced at Feliciano. "Feliciano, do you feel any Nightmares now?"
Feliciano answered after a few seconds, "No. I mean, there are Nightmares, but they are far away…"
"That means he isn't watching us right now, correcto? Yep. So, the Sentient knows about Feliciano's abilities, and therefore positioned Nightmares so we would walk far away and around them, and so he could keep an eye on us at all times. But what if he arranged them so that we are currently standing in a corridor, where there's only one way out? So, as far as I understood this, he wants to lead us somewhere. And personally, I do not like the idea," Antonio paused, earning slow nods from everybody, "However, I noticed that he never wanted us to know his hiding place. He feels safe. He erased the location from Francis, Lukas and Gilbert's minds, so wouldn't it be logic to do it with mine, too?" Antonio started reasoning.
Francis blinked. "…But it didn't work…"
Gilbert looked down frowning. "…So, because he did not predict this outcome…"
"…He'd be unprepared if we showed up right at his lair!" Antonio finished, eyes sparkling.
"It would st'll be a reckl'ss 'ction," Berwald grumbled.
Feliciano muttered something with such a soft voice that Ludwig had to ask him to repeat.
The Italian looked up from his fiddling hands. "H-he's right…there was some kind of corridor, last night, when we went into this city!"
Ludwig blinked, and everyone turned to look at Feliciano. Until it had been a hypothesis uttered by the Spaniard, it had sounded stupid. But if it actually turned out to be true…
"Dude, you serious?!" Alfred and Mathias exclaimed in unison.
Feliciano nodded slowly. "There were Nightmares behind us, and both on the left and on the right, even if far away…so I told you to go straight forward, and we got here…"
"…And then Antonio got here," Ludwig exhaled, glancing towards the Spaniard, who had a guilty look in his emerald eyes.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered, curling a strand of Romano's hair between his fingers.
Gilbert clapped him on the back. Hard. "Toni, don't apologize! It's not your fault, ya know? It's that un-awesome bastard's fault," he said, growling on the last part.
Antonio simply laughed nervously, still fiddling with Romano's hair. An uncomfortable silence fell.
"…Sooo… we go right into the belly of the beast?" Emil asked, unsure.
Francis nodded gravely. "I think it's the best option we have. I personally do not want to know what the Sentient has in store for us at the end of that 'corridor', and I kind of hate the feeling of being steered by somebody, like how he's pulling strings from far away."
"Me neither," Alfred said, serious for once in his life.
Ludwig intertwined his fingers, a thoughtful look on his face.
"…Maybe….Maybe you're right…it seems he dearly wants to do something with us, so this could be the only chance we've got to eliminate him…"
Mathias smiled and stood up, stretching his back and flexing his shoulders.
"It's settled then! We go and kick that røvhul's ass,as soon as we're all recovered!" he yawned, "I dunno about you guys, but I'm tired as hell. I'll see you in the morning!" He walked off to go sleep somewhere.
They all agreed they would tell the others in the morning and then decide what to do from there. After that, they almost all immediately fell asleep.
"Aren't you going to sleep, Feliciano?" Ludwig asked, curious, as he drew the blankets over himself. Gilbert was sleeping beside him, snoring loudly and making smacking sounds with his limbs sprawled everywhere.
Feliciano smiled tiredly as he shook his head and then stood up to go and sit as a guard outside their group circle.
"I…I'm not making the same mistake again. I will stay awake until dawn, and until everybody else is awake…so you will be safe…"
The Italian left, and Ludwig saw him climb clumsily up a boulder and perch himself on top of it, legs crossed.
Ludwig smiled, exhausted, his mind sluggish. Feliciano was so thoughtful and sweet, like a child giving his big brother his favourite stuffed animal so it would protect him.
"Danke, Feliciano," he whispered, and with that, the German also fell asleep.
He faintly heard muttering in the dark. Hushed whispers, not too distant from him. He initially didn't pay any attention to the conversation, it was their business anyway. However, his attention was caught as he heard Feliciano's name.
"…Oui, I agree…"
"…But I don't get it…! I like little Feli, hell, I think everybody does…so why?"
"…I don't know…so it's not only me, huh? We all feel it."
"…I'm sure that if we asked Lukas he'd say the same…"
"…Gott, this is all so confusing and un-awesome. Toni, what did you have to say about that Queen again?"
"…Well, nothing special, really, I already told you why that looked strange to me, there's nothing more…"
"…I don't understand it, but I don't think I like this, guys…"
"…Ja, I agree, francypants."
"…So…?"
"…So nothing."
"…"
Ludwig frowned. What? Why were Francis, Antonio and Gilbert talking about Feliciano like that…? In his sleep-clogged mind, he managed to remember what Gilbert had said to him some nights earlier, in the Rock…Gott, it seemed it already had been years from that moment… What did he say again…? Oh yeah, he got a weird feeling…from being…near…Feliciano…
His mind was too tired to carry on, and he slipped into unconsciousness again unwillingly.
…Somewhere else…
The Sentient was seething, pacing up and down his room. He had received bad news from one of his Nightmares. They had lost, lost, the two humans they had to watch. Not the humans of the big group, he knew pretty well where those were. And that was the part of the plan that was going well.
No, he was talking about the other two white pieces on the almost empty chessboard, set far away from all the others.
But those two weren't just any humans.
He shook his head furiously and sat down on his chair, trying to calm down. He had done his best to keep them far away from the Nightmares. Watched, of course, by his own Nightmares, but still, safe.
His human side, deep inside of him, under layers and layers of the Nightmare-induced madness, still cared for them. This illogical feeling he had towards them prevented him from harming them. So, he had protected them. For years. Years!
But now they were gone! They had killed the Nightmares he had used to watch them, and had disappeared into thin air.
His fists clenched. His control was slipping over things, and he didn't like it. He liked to be in complete control, to be able to see every single thread and string he was pulling. One action from him corresponded to a reaction from the human, so he could manipulate everything, as long as it was in his sight. Kind of like a puppeteer. He smiled to himself. Yes, a puppeteer…
Focus.
Two puppets cut their strings and ran off the stage.
He'd have to find them and tie the knots again. In his hands, they'd be safe from the Nightmares, and, ironically, from himself.
He lightly touched one of the two pieces on the almost empty chessboard, and whispered one single word.
"Cестры…"
Ludwig carefully leaned Feliciano down onto a blanket the next morning. As soon as the Italian had seen them waking up, he had fallen asleep instantly.
Poor boy, Ludwig thought as he covered the Italian. He had been through a lot, they all had.
Arthur was awake and fully operational again, meaning he was being harassed by an American and a Frenchman and he was trying to lead another 'meeting', weighing their options.
"If what Feliciano and Antonio say is true," he mumbled, rubbing his chin.
"…We're as good as fucked, bro," Mathias concluded.
"Unless we break this 'corridor' thingy and surprise the motherfucker!" Alfred exclaimed.
"…We'd have to face Nightmares…"
"Dude, we got a tank."
"…Well, that certainly is a plus point."
"You see?! This annoying story will be over in no time!"
"…But we still have wounded," the Brit stated, folding his arms. "There's no doubting that we shouldn't move until most have recovered at least enough to move around." He glanced towards Yao and Romano, who were still sleeping.
"Alright! We'll go fucking kick Nightmare-ass!" Alfred exclaimed, fist-pumping the air.
Ludwig smiled at this.
Maybe there actually was a light in their world of darkness, now. Finally, something he hadn't felt in years bloomed warmly in his chest as he put a big hand on Feliciano's sleeping head.
Hope.
Aaaaaaaand CUT! I know, it's a short chapter! However, I predict action in the next few ones! I still want to end this before chapter 35, so we're slowly spiralling towards the end...!
Oh-Em-Gee! 13.500+ views! 266 reviews! 64 faves and follows! I love you all! Hug hug HUG HUUUG! Thank you all!
Until next chapter! ;)
[EDIT
EDIT
EDIT!: guys, I finally finished school! However, I won't be able to post the chapter on friday as usual, because it is HUGE and I'm still working on it...! Please have patience, it will be on next week...! For you people who are afraid I might drop this, be reassured. I'm having way too much fun to drop this...! In the meantime, i wish everyone a wonderful weekend!]
¿Qué? : (spanish) What?
Das verdammt Arschloch…! : (german) That damn asshole...!
Quoi? : (french) What?
Sourcils : (french) Eyebrows
Correcto? : (spanish) Right?
Røvhul : (danish) Asshole
Cестры… : (russian) Sisters (pron. 'sestry')