Chapter Two

Ludwig

"Why can't you save him?" I ask, glaring furiously across the desk. My hands are splayed flat across the mahogany surface and I'm leaning too far forward to be polite, but I don't care anymore. I'm so angry... so angry...

"I've already told you, Ludwig. He's not on my list. If he doesn't die then his brother, Lovino, will never write the great, life-changing, depressing novel that will revolutionize the way people-"

I stand up straight and run my fingers through my hair. I can't unsee it. I can't unsee Feliciano's beautiful, happy, horribly sad smile. He thought- he knew- he hoped that I would save him. But I can't. Well, I can, but I can't. It's not allowed. But I want to.

...He started crying. He started crying when he was wondering what would happen to his brother once he had died. He didn't cry about himself dying... he cried about his brother's loss.

He doesn't deserve to die.

"Father... why can't I just... I just want to save him."

Father shakes his head, sitting up straight and stretching out his arms. He yawns, eyes closing, then looks at me again. "I said no, Ludwig. You can't save him. That's an order, you hear?"

I carefully make my face, mind, personality- everything -go blank. "Yes, Father." I turn and leave the room, to go to Feliciano, of course.

AYE**LUV**YOU

I peer through the window at the hospital room on the other side. Feliciano is sitting in his bed, flicking boredly through the channels. He coughs suddenly, and it is one of those coughs where you can't help but think that the person coughing is about to die. I wince as he finally heaves to a stop, tears in his eyes. He's breathing heavily, and hoarsely. I can hear him through the window. He looks so terribly lonely... I want to- I want to hold him, but more than that, I want to make it all better.

I pull away from the window a bit and change my shape into a bird once more, then move to tap on the glass. To my surprise, there is a small gap at the bottom of the window that, with a bit of squirming and squishing, I manage to get through. I hop onto the window sill inside of the room and chirp a couple of times. Feliciano jumps in surprise, but when he sees me a big, bright smile crosses his face.

"Ve, you're back, little bird!" he cries, wincing as the words grate against his sore throat. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again!"

I fly across the room and land on his bedside table, then examine the contents. Some water and some bottles of pills that Feliciano's probably not even strong enough to open.

"Guess what, little bird! Lovino is coming today! He's my brother! Did I mention that before? He's going to bring his friend Carmen." He leans forward conspiratorially, even going so far as to check around to see if anyone will hear him. I find myself chuckling innerly at him. "He's actually got a HUGE crush on Carmen," Feliciano whispers. "He's just too shy to tell her." He leans back in his bed almost triumphantly. "I'm thinking of just telling Carmen how he feels about her so that they can just kiss already. I can tell that they both want to, but-" Suddenly he's overtaken but another huge bout of coughing. I hop worriedly onto his shoulder as he coughs, and then inconspicuously touch my beak to his cheek. Instantly the coughing stops.

"Ahem, sorry," he says apologetically. "That happens sometimes. It's a side effect of being sick."

I hold out a wing and brush it gently against his cheek. I feel the wrongness in his blood and I lessen it slightly, just slightly, just enough to make him a bit more comfortable. He reaches up and touches his chest very gently, as if he can feel the difference between his new health and his old health as well as I can.

"Wow... suddenly I feel much better... thank you, little bird." He turns and gives me a smile more angelic than anything I have ever seen- which is a pretty big feat considering I am an angel -and then reaches out and gently rubs the top of my head. "I like you, little bird. You make me feel whole again. That's something I haven't felt in a very long time."

I suddenly want to turn into my natural form and hold him tightly to my chest. I want to make all the hurt go away.

But Father said that I can't... Father said that I had to let him die or else all would not be well in the future.

I flutter off of the boy's shoulder and make for the window. I have to distance myself from him. Father said not to save him and save him I will not do.

But... that doesn't mean that I won't help him. Father never said I couldn't do that. And I won't even be disobeying him.

AYE**LUV**YOU

The next day I wake up bright and early- which is actually how it always is in heaven -and float down to earth. I don the guise of a normal human- my usual form: light skin, pale blue eyes, slicked-back blond hair and a muscular build, just without wings -and walk up to the hospital. I think I look around fourteen or fifteen, which isn't too old to be visiting a bedridden thirteen-year-old boy, is it? Well, let's hope not.

I walk down the street and into the hospital parking lot, then all the way to the entrance. I quickly move down the hall, avoiding all personnel and acting like I'm supposed to be here. What's Feliciano's room number again? Um... 315, I think. There's 309... 311... 313... ah, 315, here it is! I glance around quickly to make sure no one's looking, then open the door to room 315 and slip quickly inside. I turn and glance around the room to make sure that Feliciano's family aren't visiting him at the moment, then turn around and lock the door. Feliciano is asleep at the moment. He looks so skeletal and sick that he could almost be dead, and it scares me so much. I just healed him slightly yesterday, after all. Why does he still look so... terrible?

I step quietly over to him, just barely remembering to have my feet touch the ground. When I reach his bedside, I stare down at him. He should be breathing peacefully, but instead it's slightly ragged, his small chest heaving and jerking unnaturally. I cast a quick glance around to check for my fellow angels, then slowly reach out and press the palm of my hand flat against his chest. He heaves upward suddenly, taking a deep, slow breath, and then slowly lets it out. I keep my hand on his chest for a moment longer, then move it away. He is now breathing peacefully, a faint smile on his face. He suddenly looks much healthier. I hope it's not a noticeable enough difference that Father will figure out what I've done.

I turn around and head back towards the door, then freeze as a face appears in the small rectangular window that's set into the door. It's Lovino, Feliciano's older brother. He looks almost exactly how Feliciano would if he were healthy, except with darker hair and eyes and a pissed off expression that only ever softens around his brother. His dark brown-green eyes meet mine and widen slightly, then narrow. I can almost see as he reaches for the door handle and turns it, finding that it's locked. He turns it a couple more times, glaring furiously now, and I leap forward, turning beginning to fade away even as I unlock it. I transform myself into a spider and scuttle under the door as he turns the handle and runs into the room, looking around for me, mouth open and ready to yell for help. His eyes widen and his jaw drops and he beholds the empty room. Feliciano stirs gently in his bed, then turns on his side and continues sleeping.

"Lovino?" asks a soft voice very cautiously. A girl comes slowly through the door, then reaches out to take Lovino's hand in her own lightly tanned one. She has chocolatey brown wavy hair that reaches just past her shoulders, and it frames her face perfectly, also bringing out the color in her surprisingly green eyes. Even I'm struck by how pretty she looks (even in her random, torn up overalls and t-shirt) and I live with angels. I cast her a suspicious glance, wondering if she is, in fact, an angel, but then she trips suddenly, falling flat on her butt and pulling Lovino down with her, and all my suspicions are banished. Angels don't fall; we float.

"Carmen, be quiet, you might wake up Feliciano!" Lovino reprimands as Carmen giggles. She claps a hand over her mouth and looks around wildly to make sure that she didn't wake up Lovino's brother, even though Lovino was much louder than she was...

...Despite their worry, though, Feliciano stays deeply asleep, snoring in a quiet, endearing way. Lovino cautiously gets to his feet, then pulls Carmen up as well. She still has her hand clapped over her mouth as if she's trying to hold in her laughter, and the moment her green eyes meet Lovino's brown ones they burst into raucous laughter, trying anxiously to control themselves but unable to do so. Feliciano stirs once more in his bed, but sleeps on. I quietly scurry from the room, then turn into my ephemeral form and float back up to heaven. He'll be okay for now. They'll all be okay.

A/N I'M SORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY I'VE BEEN GONE SO LONG. I WAS GROUNDED FOR TWO WEEKS. I COULDN'T EVEN WRITE (well, on the computer, and hand-writing SUCKS) AND YEAH IT WAS AWFULNESS.

Buuuuuuut I'm back now, and I've finished this (sorry if it sucks) and I'm planning to get caught up on my fanfics and post some original stuff on FictionPress and DeviantArt (possibly) and this other site called ReadWave, so that should be exciting. I haven't written original stuff in a while.

ANYWAYS. THAT'S ALL. REVIEW IF YOU WANT. OR NOT.