/= "Servant of Evil [Instrumental]" =/
Matthew had to lead the way again. For some reason, Kiku was in a panic and it was leading them through a forest filled with Shadows. Of course most of them were easy peasy stuff but they ended up getting tired in a few hour's time. Arthur had to slow down for a minute and shake his head.
"What is wrong with you, Kiku?" He exhaled. "You have enough time to panic!"
"No, you must please hear me out!" Kiku finally stopped. "This world, this realm…I didn't take too much into consideration, but this is Charice's realm."
"Yeah, we know that already." Alfred blinked.
"It's not just that…I am aware of the fact that Charice likes my form of animation…I just think that…this realm is a product of my creation."
"…say what now?" Gilbert rubbed the back of his head. "You got me lost back there."
"All right then…you see, everyone's likes and dislikes shape a person's 'world', as we see here. Charice likes my animation, and hence her world here, right now, is a realm based off a realm of my people's creation." Kiku stated. "And I just remembered what this realm's story is."
"This realm has a story? Like…something we can follow?" Antonio asked.
"Yes! But please, we have no time! We must get to the city before the next role is fulfilled!"
"Ve~? W-what role?"
"…the one where Ludwig dies."
The whole group tensed before getting their energy back and zooming through. Matthew and Kumajiro were turning their heads, trying desperately to find anything that might get them a lead; the others were stuck wondering just what was going to happen. After a few seconds, Matthew turned his head.
"T-that way!"
"All right, let's go!" Alfred grinned. "LEERRRROOOOYYYYYY-!"
"JENKEEEEENNNSSS!"
"Alfred, will you-?" Arthur sighed. "Great, now both him and Gilbert ran off…"
"Both of them seem to like Internet memes, huh?"
"Shut up, Antonio."
The entire time, Li Xiao was looking at Kiku and Feliciano the entire time. The word that his boyfriend might die in this realm all over again got the Italian worried (no doubt about that), but the fact that Kiku seemed to know everything going on here…he turned to him mid-dash.
"Kiku."
"Hai?"
"Why is Ludwig being killed?"
"…the queen of yellow falls in love with the prince of blue, but he is engaged to the woman in green." He began.
"Prince of blue and woman in green…" Feliciano's curl bobbed slightly. "Was I…?"
"You were most definitely supposed to be the prince of blue." Li Xiao stated. "That I'm sure of."
"Yes, it would make the story have more sense into it…" Kiku looked around before continuing. "You see, the blue prince and green woman were deeply in love, driving the yellow queen to jealousy. After that, she commands her servant to murder the green woman so that she could be with the blue prince."
"W-w-wait…" Feliciano's eyes watered. "C-Charice…w-wants to murder Ludwig…to be with mi fratello…?"
"In this world, that's most likely the case." Li Xiao looked up. "But it can't be true in the real world."
"W-why's that?"
"Because…" Li Xiao had to say this. "She has me."
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"W-what are you…?"
"This is…this isn't supposed to be happening…"
"G-gah!"
"This wasn't the plan at all…none of this was supposed to happen!"
"Y-you…?"
"But…this is what she wanted…I…I'm here because of…!"
"C-can't…b-breathe…"
"I'm…I'm sorry this has to end like this. In another life, you probably would've never learned the truth…or at least, in my hopes…talked about it over a cup of Einspänner…"
"…you…"
"I'm…I'm sorry…but your judgment has come…you will pay for what you did to my sister."
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An explosion caught all of their attention. They turned their heads to see that one of the buildings that just towered over the trees had caught on fire, and there were screams echoing throughout the area. Gilbert hid behind the trees and noticed how there were the same soldiers swarming the area with their yellow swords.
"Hey…t-that prophecy of yours is starting!" He panicked.
"We must find Ludwig immediately!"
/= "Coup de Grace" by Tales of Destiny =/
There were flames all over the place, taking down everyone in sight. What traumatized Antonio was that all the people here were Filipino, his fear clearly showing on his face. Gilbert had to grab his hand just to drag him through the wreckage. Soldiers were attacking them, one plot in mind, but they were no match to their Personas. They vanished like Shadows.
"I can feel him…" Matthew pointed upwards. "In that building!"
"Shit! He's probably on like the highest level or something!" Alfred spat. "All right, who has an idea?"
"All I know is that I have to get up there." Li Xiao stated. "I'm the only one who can stop it."
"How do you know?" Gilbert spat.
"I just do, all right? I'll explain once we get Ludwig out." He looked up. "Can we climb the stairs?"
"No. That's going to take too long." Arthur looked at Li Xiao. "I do, however, have an alternative route."
/=+=/
"Since when did you have wings?"
"It's a long story, all right? I don't use them often, and I sure as hell don't use them as carriers! So stop squirming!"
Li Xiao decided to do just that as Arthur's wings carried him up onto the top floor, just as a window blew out. The two of them jumped into the hallway, covered with smoke and flames, but nothing that Arthur's magic could handle. Just as they were about to run forward they heard a gust of wind coming from behind them. They darted their heads around to see that Feliciano had just jumped the entire length of the way in front of them, his eyes glowing a strange god-like color.
"Geez, you couldn't bring anyone else with you?" Arthur asked.
"We don't have time!" The god colors faded. "We have to get to Ludwig!"
"Right, right." Li Xiao sighed, leaving Arthur confused. "Let's go!"
The three of them dashed through the big halls just as they heard a grunt of pain. Li Xiao kicked the door open just to reveal a huge black mechanical Shadow holding Ludwig into the air. Feliciano screamed and launched a thousand lightning bolts at him, making the Shadow dodge and allowing him to get to Ludwig.
"Shit…this isn't supposed to be happening."
"Believe it." Li Xiao walked forward, dragon knife in hand. "That's what a Shadow gets when he tries to manipulate the mind of his owner! No matter how hard he tries, he cannot change reality."
"Li Xiao…"
"Arthur. Get Feliciano and Ludwig out of here. I'll handle him."
"Are you crazy?"
"If I can't defeat him, I'll at least expose him." Li Xiao stated. "Now go!"
Arthur paused but did as he was told, leading the other two as far as he could before levitating them to safe ground. Li Xiao watched them before turning back to the mech Shadow that was looming in front of him, robotic blade in his hand.
"So that's why this is happening. You're doing this because she doesn't…what she denies, you feel…" Li Xiao nodded, holding his blade to his forearm. "The only way to let it go is to let it out."
The Shadow charged.
"So this is why you did all this…isn't that right…Rizal?"
/=+=/
The whole building collapsed as the others fled the city with barely their lives. Kiku turned his head and saw as the whole city continued to crumble, screams echoing by the people trying to flee the blades of the soldiers left behind. His breath was ragged; his mind panicked.
"W-where's Li Xiao?"
The roof the building exploded, revealing a bright white light shooting across the sea. Another bright light shot right in front of them, revealing a rather strange looking Shadow. Everyone tensed as the light faded, revealing that the Shadow was taking on another form…that of Li Xiao. Antonio came forward.
"You OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. The Shadow was powerful…and it definitely confirmed some suspicions that I had." He stretched out his arms, oblivious to the people wondering just what the heck happened. "He's heading back to Charice, that's all I know."
"So the Shadow we saw was the yellow servant that Kiku talked about…" Arthur rubbed his chin. "We have to go back there, right?"
"Yeah." Li Xiao stated. "We may have averted a huge changing point in the ultimate plan of things, but for the most part we have worse things to worry about. First of all, there's a chance that Shadow's going to be after us."
"T-then why does going back have anything to do with averting the Shadow?"
"We're not averting it." Gilbert realized. "We're confronting it."
"Just like any other Shadow." Li sighed. "But be warned: he has a mind of its own."
Everyone was about to say something when they heard Feliciano whimper in shock. They turned their heads to see that Ludwig was regaining consciousness, seeing everyone and sitting up in a panic like normal people would at this time.
"W-what's going on?" He turned his head. "What was that just now?"
"L-Ludwig!" Feliciano leaned forward. "Are you OK? Does anything hurt?"
"Eh? You are…Feliciano?"
"…yes." The Italian looked down. "That's me…"
"You're confused." Antonio chuckled, somehow getting what was going on.
"That thing…whatever that thing was…he was trying to kill me! What was he after?"
"You." Kiku looked down. "He was after you."
"M-me?"
"Just you, man. We'll talk later, but really we have bigger things to do." Alfred turned around. "Such as getting a freaking boat back!"
/=+=/
Obvious plot is obvious.