"Ugh…. What fucking day is it now…?" Lovino groaned as he stretched. "How long have we been on this damn ship….?"
Feliciano grumbled tiredly, shoving his face deeper into his pillow. It had been another long day, and night, of cleaning for the Italian, and he had yet to finish at a reasonable time that would allow him to get a good rest. The teen had deep bags under his eyes and had grown quite snappish and irritable in the eight days they had been aboard the ship.
"I don't know, and I don't care. Now stop talking, some of us are trying to sleep," he growled, sending an exhausted glare at his brother before hiding his face once more.
Lovino shot him a glare but carefully got up and walked out of the cabin to go look for Antonio.
The captain was on the deck, speaking to Ludwig. "How much longer until we reach our destination?" he asked.
"I'd say about half a day sir. We're making very good time," the German answered, then blinked when he saw Lovino.
"I need to talk to you, sir," Lovino spoke up from behind them, stopping a good few feet away.
Antonio glanced back, then waved Ludwig away and turned fully to face the Italian. "Yes, Lovi?" he asked.
"I want you to switch my workplace with my brother. He's fucking exhausted and needs rest. A lot of it."
The Captain stared at him blankly for a moment, then snorted and began to laugh.
Lovino jumped back, startled. "W-What's so fucking funny?!"
"As if I would let YOU try to clean again! After what happened the last time!" Antonio howled, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Man oh man, Lovi. You crack me up sometimes." He smiled at the Italian. "No. Now get to the kitchen. Besides, speaking of your brother, it's time for him to get up and began his cleaning duties. I'll send someone to wake him."
Before Lovino could argue, the Spaniard left the deck, heading back down into the ship. He went to the navigation room and found Ludwig. "I need you to go wake up that other new crewman, Feliciano. And watch out. I hear angry dogs bite." Order given, Antonio retired to his office to plan raids.
Lovino glared and followed after Antonio. "You're going to fucking kill him with the way you're going! He's supposed to be a member of your fucking crew but you're treating lower than a sack of fucking meat! Why the hell are you such a coldhearted asshole?! What's your fucking problem?!"
Antonio rubbed his eyes then turned back to him. "Get out of my office. Unless I call you here, you aren't permitted."
"Fuck no. I'm NOT fucking leaving!"
The Spaniard narrowed his eyes. "Get. The Fuck. Out." With a heavy hand slammed into his chest, Lovino was sent flying backwards and the door was shut and locked behind him.
Back in Feliciano's room, Ludwig slowly made his way over to the sleeping Italian and gently shook his shoulder. "Wake up."
Feliciano growled softly, warningly, but didn't get up.
Ludwig frowned and shook him harder. "I SAID to wake up!"
The Italian snarled and opened his eyes, glaring up at the German, his eyes glowing brightly. "Leave. Me. Alone."
The German vampire glared back. "Nein. The captain wants you to wake up and clean. Now."
"I'm SICK of cleaning." Feliciano slowly sat up, his teeth barring at the vampire, his canines elongating slightly. "I'm TIRED of staying up at all hours. I'm DONE with this!" He screamed the last word, then jerked forward and sank his sharpened teeth into Ludwig's arm.
Ludwig yelped/grunted before tightly grasping Feliciano's hair and yanking the Italian off, throwing him into a wall before darting forward with his sword blade pressed to Feliciano's neck, a hard look in the German's eyes.
Feliciano snapped at the blade, his eyes narrowed, the golden glow bright enough to illuminate the room. His nails sharpened and fur began to grow on his body. The Italian threw back his head and let out a loud howl.
"Calm down," Ludwig growled and bared his fangs. "Or I WILL run you through."
The teen's breaths grew ragged as he tried to calm down. Slowly, very slowly, the fur disappeared, but his claws and sharp teeth remained. "Just leave me alone," he rasped out, his voice barely sounding human. "I need rest or I will die. Unlike you vampires, I actually need sleep."
"It doesn't matter what your species is. You will do as your captain orders you to do. Without question."
Feliciano snarled. "Make me."
Ludwig frowned more and grabbed Feliciano, then began dragging the werewolf out of the room.
The Italian instantly began to thrash and growl, the fur reappearing on his body as he snapped at Ludwig's arms.
Ludwig quickly yanked his arms back and shoved Feliciano harshly to the ground. "Stop that!"
His back slamming into the ground, Feliciano rolled onto his hands and knees, his appearance looking far more wolf-like than human. He trembled with anger, his emotions easily getting the better of him in his exhausted state.
"Get up and change back," Ludwig ordered. "You need to get to work."
Feliciano lunged at Ludwig, exploding into his full wolf form in mid air. He landed heavily on the vampire's chest and stomach, knocking him to the ground. He howled loudly and bite the German's shoulder, then ran out of the room.
Ludwig winced with pain as he jumped to his feet and chased after the wolf.
The Italian was already a good distance ahead of him, running to the stairs to get up onto the deck were most of the crew currently was. Feliciano raced towards the steps but stopped in the hall, a familiar scent catching his attention. The cleaning supplies.
With a furious barking/growling sound, the Italian wolf ripped the closet door off and snapped the mop in two with his teeth, his powerful hind legs smashing the water bucket to pieces. Everything in the closet quickly met a similar fate.
"Stop it!" Ludwig ordered as he grabbed onto the wolf and threw him into the deck wall.
Feliciano's body was heavier than Ludwig had expected, and the wolf went crashing through the wall into the next room. Which happened to be Antonio's office.
The vampire jumped up, his eyes widening upon seeing the wolf. He had never seen a werewolf in their actual wolf form before. He whistled lowly. "Wow."
The Italian turned on the Spaniard, snarling. He lunged at him, forcing the pirate back.
"I'm sorry, sir," Ludwig quickly apologized. "He suddenly flipped out before I had the chance to stop him. I'll take care of him now." He lunged forward and tackled the wolf to the ground. "Do you want me to throw him overboard?"
Antonio watched Feliciano thrash wildly under Ludwig for a moment, then a small smile crept onto his face. "No. No, I don't think so. It seems to me like these brothers are rather interesting, aren't they?" he said.
"E-Excuse me, sir….?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Hold him here, I will be back." Antonio swept from the room and made his way towards the kitchen. Going in, he looked around until he spotted Lovino.
"Lovino, come with me," he ordered, pointing to the door.
"… why?" Lovino asked warily, slowly following after Antonio.
"Feliciano seems to have changed into a wolf and attacked first my navigator, then myself. Get him under control," Antonio said firmly.
"Fine. Where the hell is he?" Lovino asked, then added, "And I'm doing it for my brother's sake, dammit. Not yours."
"He is in my office and being held down by Ludwig to keep anyone else from harm, and to keep him from destroying anything else. Don't hurt Ludwig, but you better get your brother under control, or I'm throwing you over board."
Lovino glared at him and ran past Antonio, ducking into the office, approaching his twin. "Feliciano! Fucking stop it right now!"
The wolf howled and struggled harder.
Lovino growled, then, with his eyes glowing gold and speaking in the commanding alpha tone, growled, "Knock this shit off. Right. NOW."
Feliciano whimpered and instantly stilled.
Antonio, who was standing in the doorway, narrowed his eyes slightly. "Interesting," he murmured.
Lovino tensed up and paled when he remember who exactly was behind him. "S-Shit…."
The wolf whimpered again, nuzzling Lovino's leg.
Lovino sighed and he gently started petting Feliciano, sitting down at his side. "Sorry, Feli…"
Feliciano laid his head on Lovino's lap, whining softly, looking at his side where had been throw through the wall. His fur looked slightly matted and darker than it should have been, and it was filled with splinters. He whined more, then turned his head and licked weakly at the spot, his cries sounding painful.
Lovino shot an angry glare at the pirates, then gently moved Feliciano's head away as he started pulling out the splinters.
"So, how do you get him to change back?" Antonio asked.
"You don't. You have to fucking wait it out," Lovino spat back.
When the last of the splinters were gone, Feliciano got up and limped weakly to the ruined wall, then collapsed in exhaustion, now emotionally drained along with being physically worn out.
Lovino watched, then slowly stood up and walked over to Antonio before trying to punch the pirate in the face. "You fucking asshole! I warned you, dammit! I fucking warned you he was exhausted!"
A second before the Italian's fist could touch him, Antonio grabbed his wrist. He yanked Lovino close. "Watch. Your. Fucking. Mouth." He threw Lovino down on top of Feliciano, causing the wolf to yelp in surprised pain.
"Take him back to the sleeping quarters," the Spaniard ordered.
Lovino glared and twitched as his eyes glowed gold and his own teeth and nails began to sharpen.
Antonio pointed at him. "Stop. If you change too, then I'm throwing both your asses over board."
Lovino growled and bared his teeth, but helped Feliciano up and led him out of the cabin.
Back in the present, the boys were doing whatever Arthur asked as quickly as they could, trying desperately to find ways to keep their two friends alive, at the very least long enough to get to Yao and let the nature spirit take over.
"I'll need to take a visit to Yao's store," Arthur sighed. "I'll need to use some of the herbs to create a window into the past…. It'll act like a computer in a way, scanning for the brothers until it locates them and show them in the window. Then we can work to pinpoint exactly where they are by what we see in there."
"Okay, but how do we get out of this place?" Alfred asked. "We've been trapped here for over a week now, Ludwig and Antonio can't exactly be moved..." He leaned closer to his boyfriend and whispered softly. "How much longer do you think they have?"
The mage sighed as he made his way over and checked the two. "…. I'd say a month or two at the most.. And that's if we're lucky." He sighed again. "But… I believe that we can escape through a transportation spell. I should have enough energy to be able to cast it now. And it will allow us to appear right in Yao's store. Absolutely no movement involved."
"Are you sure you have enough power for that? I'm not doubting your ability, but what happens if the spell needs more energy than you have?" the merman asked. "You had so much of your magic drained by these assholes, how much do you have left?"
"I'll be fine Alfred. This spell doesn't take that much energy and I've been making sure to take care of my body to prevent problems."
"..." The American sighed. "Alright. I trust you. Be careful and don't over do it. If you can only send back a few of us and not all, make sure it's you, Ludwig, and Antonio. Don't worry about the rest of us, we can find a way out on our own."
"Absolutely not!" Arthur snapped as he stomped his foot on the ground. "If you think I'm leaving your stupid arse out here then you can bloody well forget it! I am perfectly capable of transporting us all!"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Alfred said quickly, his voice soothing. "I mean only do that if it turns out you can't get us all. I have faith in you, Artie."
Arthur sighed and nodded. "Very well… I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'll get started on the spell if that's alright with all of you."
The teens looked at each other, then the two sick vampires, and nodded.
Without another word, Arthur walked off and started drawing out a magic circle, and, after finishing it up in about fifteen minutes, took a step back and looked at the rest of the group. "There. It's done. Thankfully I've made the circle large enough so we don't have to move either Ludwig or Antonio. Are you all ready? You have to be prepared for it."
The boys nodded. "We're ready," Alfred said.
Arthur nodded as well, then closed his eyes and began the spell, the room glow brighter until they all disappeared, leaving the circle behind.