Guess who isn't dead? Sherlock. Guess who else isn't dead? Me. Guess what else? This story is year old at the end of this month. Have aniversary me! Sorry for only giving you nine chapters in a year. I wish it had been more, at least once a month. But I am a lazy ass. BTW everything that happens happens for a reason. Even though sometimes the curtains are just blue because I wanted blue curtains. AKA is the fairy tale a foreshadow or just a fairy tale I wanted to add? You choose… For now...
Two Months later, same place.
"Once a long time ago there was a kingdom, it's name lost to the ages, that was ruled by three brothers. Each called themselves king yet none of them knew true power. Every year on the first day of snow the brothers gathered in the great hall of their capital to decide who was going to rule for that year. Every year their arguments were always the same. The first brother always argued that it was his birthright to rule over the kingdom and that he should be the one in charge. The second brother always argued that he had the strength to protect their kingdom for any threat that could have possibly threatened their realm. The third brother always argued that he was the smartest of the three and could outwit any of them in a single conversation. Thus the three brothers went no where and simply went in order of their age; the eldest ruled one year then the middle and then the youngest.
"Each year the kingdom grew more and more restless with discontent at having a new ruler every year. Change was on the horizon and it did not look good for the brothers and their rule.
"As the years went by the eldest brother found a wife in the form of a young countess. She was a young woman with skin like ebony and hair the color of fire. Her husband claimed that she was the most beautiful in all the world and she was too shy to agree or disagree.
"As the yearly spat came around her husband grew restless at the thought of loosing his crown for another two years.
" 'I grow tired my love,' he confessed to his wife one day. 'The people hate my usual spats with my brothers that go no where. Every year is the same arguments over and over again. The people can sense our weakness and I fear the worst.'
"His wife sighed and clicked her tongue as she took his hand. She gave him a simple idea that blossomed in his head into what would bring an stop to this unending fighting. 'All I ever hear in your meetings is endless talk. You never prove your points.'
"As the day of the first snow came around the brothers sat down in their throne room and began their usual arguments.
"'I am the smartest so I will lead us,' the youngest brother said.
"The eldest brother smiled at his brother and said, 'I agree with you. Never once have I seen such talent and skills as I have seen with your tongue brother.'
"The second brother was silent as he watched his awe at had just occurred.
"'So you do believe that I should rule,' the youngest said.
"'But of course!' the eldest said. 'I think that the crown belongs on the head of the smartest of us. But it also belongs on the strongest of us. And the most honorable of us. Thus I have devised a test for us to take on who is the strongest, smartest and most honorable of us all.'
"This put a silence on his brothers mouths for only a moment before their roars of disapproval echoed throughout the halls of their castle.
"The eldest held up a single hand and spoke the truth. Of the rumors that were spreading in the kingdom's walls of anarchy and distaste among the people. They wanted a stable rule not laws that changed every year because three brothers couldn't choose who was going to be king. The two brothers begrudgingly agreed to the test without realizing what the test actually was.
"The brothers went to their rooms to sleep and prepare for the unknown test to dream.
"As the two youngest brothers couldn't fall asleep in their rooms for obvious reasons. During the night each was visited by the king's wife.
"She offered each of the brothers a glass of wine to help them get to sleep. She told them that her husband tired of the crown and planned to throw the competition. Both brothers laughed and took the drink. She backed out of their room quietly and warned them that only one brother would survive the test.
"When the king came to get his brothers he found both of his brothers dead. He turned to his wife for comfort but she told him that wine would calm his nerves from his shocking discovery. The king fell over dead the instant the wine touched his lips.
"She laughed at her husband's dead body and said, 'It appears that I am the smartest for coming up with this plan, strongest for having the strength to kill you and honorable by saving the kingdom for you tyrants.'
"The queen ruled an era of peace and stability, the first the kingdom had ever known."
"Well that was a lousy fairy tale," Feliciano complained digging his nose into his pillow taking comfort in the softness. "Why did you pick that one to read to be? There wasn't a happy ending."
Felicia groaned and slammed the book in her hands and set it down on the bed next to Feliciano. "Apparently Henry is more interested in nonfiction than fairy tales. Not even a Brothers Grimm book was in the endless stacks of books in his library. This was all I could find in there that was fantasy related."
"It was a story of a wife betraying her husband to get power," the bedridden man groaned. "There wasn't a happy ending at all."
"Have you ever read the original Cinderella? The step sisters cut off their toes. Not all fairy tales have happy endings. Besides the queen had a happy ending."
"She killed her husband."
"She could have been unhappy with him. A woman doesn't need a man to keep her happy. Besides she ruled the kingdom in peace. The people must have been happy."
Feliciano sighed realizing he wasn't getting anywhere with Felicia. "What was it called again?"
"The Test of the King," Felicia said shaking her head.
There was a knock on the door as Lili opened it. "Hello Felicia," she said. "Elizaveta was looking for you. You should get going before she finds you in here again."
Felicia nodded and picked up her book before turning to Lili. She waved good bye to Feliciano before leaving to go and help Elizaveta before Elizaveta got mad at her.
Feliciano looked at Lili and sighed. "Can I get up yet?" he asked.
"You know the answer to that Feliciano," Lili said shaking her head. "I don't have the key. Henry does. When he comes to dismiss you from the bed you will be able to get up and start working."
"It's been two months since I got tied to this bed."
"You had to heal from the injuries that you inflicted on yourself. Not to mention Henry is a very busy man."
"Please let me out Lili," Feliciano said fluttering his eyes and Lili hoping that she would give in one of these days.
"No," she said going over to her book stack and pulling out a green book and flipping to a seemingly random page.
Feliciano busied himself by counting the ticks from a clock on the wall. It was one of those really old analog clocks with the swinging bronze pendulum. It was always half a minute off by his count. However it wasn't that far off as it could have been.
He counted 19,637 seconds before there was a loud knock at the door. Lili looked up from her book with a start. She instantly got the door and pulled it open with a loud bang, slamming the door. Feliciano wondered in the back of his mind if there was going to be a dent in the wall.
"Get him on the cot next to the bed," she said, the soft rabbit tone in her voice was replaced by that of a wolf. Mad and deranged, Feliciano had to stretch to make sure that he was still listening to the same person speak. Lili held herself up straight as she looked at the person being hidden from the door frame.
There was a loud thump as a silver faced man was dropped on the cot. Feliciano was overwhelmed by the metallic smell of blood.
"He was shot at the park," the man said. Feliciano could only make out the man's hair color because the man's back was to Feliciano. The man had dark locks curling outward in a messy bundle.
"Which park?" Lili asked removing the silver mask from the man on the cot. A sweaty, pale face looked up at Lili with a grin on his face even though his eyes said he was feeling a much different emotion. The way his jaw was set told Feliciano that he was in pain. He would recognize that emotion on anyone's face.
Lili began pulling her short hair into a ribbon to keep it out of the way as she worked. She stood up and walked over the sink pulling out a grey bottle. Feliciano could smell the antiseptic from where he was laying.
"You know the one," a third man that Feliciano hadn't seen said. "We're wearing our uniforms in case you didn't notice." He point to his face, his eyes covered by a golden mask with red embroidered swirls covering his eyes. "We were trying to sell off the snake I bought. The one that wouldn't sell." The man let out a loud groan before turning his back on the cot and walking towards the door. "Call me if Gil dies, I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Where are you going?" Lili growled, barely above a whisper as she washed her hands in the sink, putting on plastic gloves even though she had just washed her hands. She reached into a cabinet and pulled out a metal bowl, tongs, a curved needle and long string that oddly looked like fishing line.
"Where do you think? Lutz should know that his brother is in his ward," the man said swearing in French at the top of his lungs.
The guy blocking most of Feliciano's view sat down on the ground and held onto his friend's hand… The one that wasn't covered in blood.
The silver haired man was clutching his gut with red goop falling out. That must have been where he had been shot.
"Hey Lili no rush," the man on the cot said. "But can I get some pain killers? Or maybe some beer? I could use a little pick me up right about now. Or maybe something to dull the senses."
Lili nodded and reaching into a cabinet pulling out a syringe and vial.
It was interesting watching the meek little rabbit turn into the hungry wolf. In the two months that he had been in this room he had only seen Lili reading. But now she was in control of a chaotic situation. She had steady hands and a stone face. Feliciano had never thought of her as a doctor until now.
Lili tipped the syringe upside down and pushed up on the plunger until it began to cry some of the clear syrup. She felt up the man's arm before taking a cotton swab and pushing the needle into the man. She removed the needle and cleaned the tiny dot of blood away before turning to the gaping wound in front of her. She pulled his hand away and put a glove on it in a skilled motion.
"Don't you dare touch anything with that bloody hand," she muttered.
He nodded slowly for a moment of recognition before closing his eyes.
She shook her head and ripped open the man's shirt and reached for a bottle next to her. She cracked the seal on the cap and poured it all over the wound. A loud hiss of pain echoed in the silent room.
She opened a white envelope and removed a short blade. She cut a small "X" over the wound and looked inside the wound.
"You are so lucky that the bleeding is already slowing down Gil," she muttered.
"Yeah yeah," the man said in a hazy tone. He looked up and met Feliciano's eyes for a moment. "Toni your boyfriend is in the bed next to you." The man coughed out a laugh.
The man turned around with pine green eyes meeting Feliciano. The mask was a navy background with golden accents around the edges. It covered his entire face minus his mouth. His had a head of coal black hair, something that Feliciano felt like he should have remembered what it meant.
Feliciano looked deeper into the man's eyes and saw something he had never seen in such a big man before. Fear. This man was afraid of Feliciano for some reason that Feliciano didn't get.
"What's wrong?" he asked without realizing.
"Dios Mio," the man murmured. "Eso no es Lovino. Ese es su hermano. Dios mío. Feliciano está vivo ... mierda tengo que decirle a Lovino ahora?" That isn't Lovino. That's his brother. My God. Feliciano is alive... shit do I have to tell Lovino now?
"¿Cómo diablos voy a saberlo? Kes Kes Kes. Mi hermano está saliendo con él." How the fuck should I know? Kes Kes Kes. My brother is dating him.
Feliciano was confused, not remembering his spanish from the eighth grade. He knew he had taken a class or two but he hadn't had to use it in the past ten years so it was definitely rusty. His Italian he wasn't sure about.
The man stood up slowly and walked out the door mumbling something in English about needing some air.
Lili shook her head and pulled out the tongs that she had just cleaned off. "You're cruel Gil," she said reaching inside the man. "You know his boyfriend is a cop."
He groaned loudly as he felt something probing his insides without actually being able to actually feel it. It was unnatural and foreign to the man. He was unable to answer for a moment before he said, "Toni had to see Feli was alive. Toni is actually starting to fall in love with his boy toy. He needs to figure out where his loyalties lie in private."
"Henry won't hesitate to kill your friend you know," Lili said.
"My brother would totally hesitate. He would hesitate long enough to offer me the gun," Gil said with a cracked laugh.
Lili pulled out the tongs and dropping them in the dish next to her. She pulled out another white package and opened it to reveal a cotton swab covered in a piss colored swap. She put the swab in the wound before putting it back in the package. She took out the needle and fishing line and started to sew Gil shut.
Gil laughed and laid his head back on the pillow is slight comfort. He looked over at Feliciano and grinned at the man. "Why is Feli bound up on the bed?"
"Your brother's orders," Lili said not looking up from her work.
"Why'd he do that?"
"Feliciano came to us injured and in need of immediate medical attention," Lili said. "He wasn't a willing participant so I had him restrained for his and my own safety."
"Oooooh," Gil said extending the vowel in his mouth. He closed his eyes. "Can I go to sleep Lili?"
"So long as you haven't had a head injury," Lili said.
Not a minute later there was soft snoring coming from the cot.
"So he's Henry's brother," Feliciano said after a minute.
"Yes," Lili said getting out a cotton swab and covering it was a golden sap and rubbing the cut.
"I've seen him before," Feliciano said thinking about it. "He gave us clothes that very first day."
"Probably," Lili said. "He knew who you were now didn't he?" She removed put the equipment she used in a yellow bucket along with the gloves. She put on a new set of gloves before starting to clean off Gil's blood covered hand.
There was a soft knock at the door before a large man entered the room. "Is it true?" a deep voice asked. Feliciano stiffened recognizing it instantly. It was Henry.