I'm a little freaked out because Guest, how the holy hell did you know/guess that Lovino was the third one? (the third and, as of right now, final one before I get to... part II) (oh and thanks for the review!)
Anyway, enjoy the third chapter. I do not own hetalia.
Lovino had never felt such fear swirling through his body before. Not during the fights over Italy, not when Antonio had gotten deathly sick, not when Feliciano had disappeared for a month with nothing to go off of. Because right now, he was staring into the dark red gaze of his counterpart. Initially cheery, the italian had delved into torturous territory while maintaining a sickeningly cheerful appearance.
And what made it all worse was that Antonio was there, and so was his counterpart. The other Spain was much more terrifying than Antonio on a daily basis. It reminded Lovino of-
No, he couldn't think about that. They made a pact to never let it happen again. All the countries buried it deep inside them, never to be drawn to the surface.
"You're so ugly, Lovino," Flavio mused, turning his counterpart's face this way and that. "You have all the perfect features but you wear drab clothes and probably only spend ten minutes in front of a mirror."
Lovino scowled viciously but said nothing. He couldn't- his throat was sore from screaming and from the scalding liquid they had poured down it, all with Antonio strapped to a chair, forced to watch the italian go through torture. Lovino went through plenty of it while in the mafia, but these freaks took it to a whole new level.
"Santiago," Flavio snapped, gesturing with his hand jerkily. The other Spain grabbed some scissors and handed them to Flavio, who turned the tool over in his hands with a murderously thoughtful expression on his face.
"Mm… no, I'll just carve," Flavio tossed the scissors behind him and ignored the muffled grunt of pain from Antonio, who was hit in the shoulder by the exposed blade. Flavio grabbed a knife that was next to him and traced Lovino's neck thoughtfully, not quite piercing the skin but enough to leave a puffy red line. His former wounds had healed and Lovino was determined to not let the freakish fashionista get to him this time.
"Lovino-" Antonio gasped, Santiago instantly wrapping his meaty fists around the spaniard's throat before he could get another word out. But that was enough and Lovino's eyes flashed to Antonio's frantically.
"Or I could just…" Flavio turned around and plunged the blade through Antonio's knee, not bothering to take it out and leaving Santiago to draw the blade in the most agonizing way possible. Antonio scrunched up his face. He tried not to scream, but he failed when Santiago cut through a large nerve ending in his leg. Lovino froze at the unnatural sound.
From all of this torture, Antonio had not screamed. He had grunted, huffed, and yelled unintelligible words, but never had a scream torn from his throat. It must have been the last straw and Lovino was very, very afraid.
"Antonio~" Flavio purred, a different knife in his hands- god forbid he got blood on his clothes- and a morbid smile curling across his face. Antonio glared at him but blanched when he saw Flavio make a thin cut on Lovino's arm. Lovino gritted his teeth in preparation.
"Lovino, Lovino, Lovino," Flavio's voice was smooth as silk. "So fiery, so weak. Completely unable to protect those you care about, hmm?"
"Sh-shut up!" Antonio rasped out. Santiago stood behind his counterpart but did not restrain his tongue this time. It was time to resort to a different kind of torture.
"Antonio, but darling, wasn't it you who always protected him? But not this time, oh no." Lovino snarled silently and Flavio laughed. "You two have such an unbreakable bond, it's almost adorable! But no, I think it's more… disgusting, don't you think so, Santiago?"
Santiago grinned darkly and reached behind him, revealing red-hot chains. Antonio's counterpart then stuffed wax- most likely still-hot wax- into Antonio's ears, and the normally-cheerful spaniard's eyes widened. He would not be able to hear anything said or done.
Flavio continued, "Perhaps it's time to put an end to this relationship, hmm?"
Lovino froze yet again. He couldn't mean-?
"Oh yes, Lovino~" Flavio purred, stroking Antonio's face as one would do to a beautiful, but temporary, object. "Aren't you excited to see the dead eyes of your lover on top of a burning neck?"
The words did not have the desired effect and Flavio frowned. Lovino, however, was caught in frozen time, eyes darkening as he felt very close to committing the one crime among nations that nobody dared break. Antonio saw the look in his eyes and tried to stop him with his voice, his eyes, anything at all, but Lovino was passed the point of no return.
The dark-haired italian moved his darkened gaze, his back straightening as he stared into Flavio's disdainful eyes.
"Have you ever heard of the italian mafia?"
Snap.