Chapter 16

Once I opened the door, Ludwig ran into the hallway at the sound of our clumsy entrance, and stopped at the top of the stairs. "Kiku, I can't find Feliciano. I thought he was with you, so I called your cell phone, but you left it here. I then called my brother, and he said you were staying over, but Feliciano was not with you-"

"Breathe, Ludwig-san. We have Feliciano-kun," I ducked out of the way so Heracles could enter the home.

Ludwig's eyes widened at the sight of our friend dangling lifeless in his arms. He descended as if in a trance. "Is that blood?" He reached out and pressed his fingers to his forehead. "Cold. He's..."

"I am sorry, Ludwig-san. He was running after-"

"It was an accident," Heracles put in. "We were in the stadium, and the snow was slippery. He was at the top, and there was no way we could have stopped him from falling..."

Ludwig's hands trembled, and he took his body from Heracles' arms. He went up the stairs, eyes lost as I felt. I may have imagined the low wail slipping out of Ludwig's throat.

Heracles and I exchanged a wary look before following him. Ludwig set the body on Feliciano's bed and was wiping the blood off of the forehead. He glanced up at us. "I did not even get to say goodbye. I did not tell him... I-I..."

"It will be okay," I started.

He leaped up. "It will not be okay! Feliciano is dead!"

I sighed. "I can fix it."

"Fix it?" Ludwig scoffed at my offer. His voice dispersed with grief, "He has a gaping hole in his head. How can you fix it?!"

Heracles put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "We should leave him alone for a little while."

I grimaced, and reached for the door handle. I saw Ludwig fall to his knees beside the bed, and put his face in his hands before I closed the door. For a moment where his muffled weeping slipped from the cracks, I stared down the clock perched on the wall at the end of the hallway.

"What now?" Heracles asked, breaking my gaze.

"Feli-kun was not supposed to die. I almost killed him before, but he managed to survive. I should have felt relieved, Heracles-san! But I was terrified! I lost myself."

"All right, all right. We all have our moments," he murmured, and held his arms out.

I squeezed my eyes shut as he brought me against his chest. He had no clue about what happened, or what did not happen before. What I did know, was that if I used the spell to save Ludwig, I could use it to save Feliciano. Just once more. Arthur warned me if I did it again, he would take the spell away. I would deal with that when the time comes. He was my friend. If he gave me the spell in the first place, then he would listen to me to keep it.

I glanced to the clock on the wall again, waiting to be used once more. "It is getting late," I murmured.

"I'm sorry I killed your friend."

I looked up at Heracles. "You said yourself it was an accident."

He whispered, "I still feel bad about it."

I slipped from his grasp. "You will not need to much longer."

"You been saying those kinds of things. What do you mean?"

"You will not remember if I told you," I entered the guest bedroom and fumbled through the dirty wash pile for the paper. It was badly wrinkled, bumpy, and had no more crisp to it. It reminded me of myself. We both went though this journey together, and it would help me once more, because after the next rewind, I did not know if I would be able to make it through another one.

Through another chant, I realized that if I learned anything, it was to learn to take the phrase 'knock you on your ass' seriously. I could not recall if I finished the incantation before I blacked out. I awoke on the guess bed. There was a glass of water on the dresser across the room, and I spotted the tattered paper sticking up beside it.

I tried to sit up, but my body would not move. There was no pain. There was nothing. It was as if I was not there. Perhaps I was not; I could not move to check. Instead, I imagined little patterns from the paint strokes on the ceiling. I grew too tired to keep my eyes open and fell asleep.

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

"Kiku! Wake up! Your chicken is going to get cold!"

"I do not have a chicken," I murmured, and peeled open my eyes.

A great weight fell onto me, and the air was knocked out of my lungs. Feliciano was blurry as he poked my face and pulled me into a hug. I feebly protested, and closed my eyes again, like that would block him out.

"What's wrong?" He let go, and I flopped back on the bed. The bouncing motion made my head whirl. I flexed my fingers, relieved that I could move again.

"Just tired," I said, rubbing my eyes with shaky hands.

"More than tired! We found you in the hallway passed out!"

"We?" I echoed.

"Luddy and I!"

"Where is Ludwig-san?"

Feliciano grimaced. "He left a few hours ago for work. He wanted to talk to you, but you were sleeping, and he had to go before you ever woke up." I did not say anything, so he slipped off the bed and pulled my arm. "Let's go eat! I made you lunch!"

My teeth gnashed together as a sharp pain seized my back when I was lifted from the bed. I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall before turning my attention to my friend who was humming, his hand still clutching my wrist. My bones felt brittle against his grip.

The scent of food drifting from the table made my stomach flip. I yanked away from his grasp to cover my mouth. Feliciano turned around, eyes wide. "Are you okay?!"

I straightened up, my hands dropping to my sides. "Ah, yes, of course. I am just taken back from this generous meal."

Feliciano beamed, and threw himself at me. I flinched as he squeezed my sides into an overbearing embrace.

I choked out, "I-is that really necessary?"

Several thumps on the door reverberated through the floor. We both jumped, and Feliciano released me. He spun around to investigate, but I caught his shirt sleeve.

"Allow me to go first." And please do not whine.

He did not say anything. Only his wide eyes showed his distress. I carefully descended the stairs, gripping the railing until my hand hurt. The thump on the door sounded again, this time more impatient. My fingers danced around, hesitating near the knob. I threw open the door before the next bout of rapping could destroy Ludwig's door.

"Kiku!" Alfred and Arthur were on the other side, both having opposite reactions to seeing me.

"I like your house, man!" Alfred chriped. "It's all country style."

I told him, "It is not my house."

Arthur tipped his head to look behind me. "I need to talk to you. Alone."

I glanced over my shoulder. Feliciano was posed at the top of the stairs, gazing down at us in worry. "I do not think Feli-kun is keen on the idea of being left out."

Arthur snorted, and turned to the young man rocking back and forth on his heels. "Alfred, why don't you be a doll, and take Feliciano out?"

His face scrunched up. "Like as in a date?"

"Will there be pasta?" Feliciano called.

Arthur barked, "Like out to eat! Go!"

Alfred held his hands up and pushed by me. "How's McDonalds, dude?"

"K-Kiku?" Feliciano glanced between Alfred and me.

"It will be all right, Feli-kun. Arthur-san just needs to exchange a few words with me."

"What about the chicken I just made?"

"I will clean it up. Go on, now."

He let Alfred take his arm, and pull him down the stairs. We made room for them to leave, even though both of their heads followed us as they passed by. Feliciano gave me one last pleading look as Alfred towed him down the sidewalk. Arthur kept glaring until I sighed. "Come on, then."

Arthur's boots clamored up the wooden stairs behind me. I stopped in the middle of the hallway and laboriously asked, "Would you like anything to eat, or drink? I can brew some tea."

"No, but I appreciate the offer."

He did not sound appreciative at all. Arthur looked down the small corridor. He neared the clock hanging off the wall. "Is this the clock you have used?"

I clenched my jaw, and nodded. He turned around when I did not say anything. "Yes, that is the one."

"Hm. It is not brilliant, that's for sure. Just an old, regular clock doing its job," Arthur murmured, and reached up to press his fingers to the glass face.

My nails dug into the palms of my hands. "A lot of ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things."

"Yes, you would know, of all people." He ran his hand down to the wood casing that dipped below the six on the face. He glanced over his shoulder. "Does it make you nervous when I am close to it?"

Does it matter? Is he trying to rile me up? Gritting my teeth, I lied. "No."

He had the audacity to smirk. "I think it is time for you to say your farewells to the spell paper. Where is it?"

I glowered at him.

"I will break this clock if you do not tell me. Since you choose to play dirty, then so will I."

"There are other clocks around."

"Not like this one. It traveled with you as you leapt back in time, just like the spell paper. Remember what I said about all the ingredients? Sometimes, you cannot substitute the staple ingredient, or the recipe will not come out right. Oh, what am I saying? Of course you do not remember. That is the spell's doing. It eats away the caster's mind. That I am sure you have noticed."

I did not reply, so he sighed and pushed open the guest bedroom's door. I stalked after him. Arthur glanced around the room. His eyes landed on the dresser. He swiped the crumbled paper, and waved it in the air "That was not hard, was it?" He sneered as he slipped pass me. "Let us be over with this nonsense at last."

My mouth popped open, and a small noise of protest escaped my throat. As strange as it seemed, I felt attached to the paper. It helped me more than anybody ever had. It had my blood on it!

Arthur stopped and spun around. "What?"

"That spell is important to me," I simply said.

He put his hands on his hips. "Our friendship is important to me!"

"Why can we not have both?"

"Have you not been listening at all?" Arthur scoffed. "It will destroy you! Think of it was a toy that has outlived its purpose."

"What if I mess up again?! I need it!" I reached out for the paper.

He drew back, his eyes a fierce verdant fire. "Enough, Kiku. I gave you chance after chance to fix things. If these tragedies keep happening despite anything you do to stop them, then don't you think they should happen?"

"You think Feli-kun should kill our friend?!" I spat.

He shrugged. "Perhaps it is inevitable. It happened before."

"And the spell helped me-"

"No, further before that! This is not the first time your freaky friend went crazy! He murdered the both of you! I had to rewind time, and summon you earlier than you visited last time. That is why I gave you the spell when you came to my house! I thought you could help your friend before he lost his head, but apparently I was wrong! I have to do everything myself!"

"Give it back!" I snarled, launched after him. He gasped, and scrambled backwards. My legs gave out, and I collided with the floor. It sounded painful, but I did not feel anything pass the numbing zing running through my limbs.

"You still insist it can help you, but you are beyond help!"

I snapped my head up to glare defiantly at him, and grabbed his ankle. He grunted and ripped from my grasp.

"Give it back," I repeated.

"Or else what?"

I bunched up, and leaped at him again. The red haze only urged me on, "I will kill you!"

We fell to the floor, and I growled in irritation at his relentless squirming. Arthur shoved a hand at my face as I grabbed for the paper he clutched onto. He spat, "Look at what you have done to yourself!" He wiggled out from me and delivered a powerful kick to my stomach. "You've lost your mind!"

The air flew out of my lungs, and I smacked the wall. The clock trembled, and fell down on my head. My vision disorted from the force, and the glass shattered on the floor.

"No!" I croaked, grabbing at the clock, but my body thrashed with pain. I flopped to my side and wreathed on the ground in attempt to salvage the mess.

Arthur wiped his forehead and gawked at me with a disgusted face. "It's worse than I thought."

My voice was hoarse as it broke, "I do not ask for your pity!"

He clamped his mouth shut and rose to his feet. "None the less, you are my friend, and it is painful to see you so astray." He stepped toward me.

"S-stay away," I hissed, trying to shield the clock, but found no strength to move.

Arthur knelt down, and took the clock from my weak grip. "You will be destroyed if you rewound the clock once more. You may never wake up again. Even so, if you cast the spell, it would do no good for you." He leaned in closer. "Kiku, tell me, if you are still there, whatever what happens, you will accept it and move on?"

I felt the heat of the battle fade away into tight knots of pain. "Hurts..."

"I know. I will fix this. For real this time. You do not have to worry about it anymore. Are we still friends?" He offered a smile.

My eyes fluttered and I struggled to keep them open. "A-are we?"

Arthur let out a short chuckle. "This is a real pain, I hope you know that." He tipped the clock over and peeled off the backing. "Expect a phone call from me in a few days."

"Arthur-san...what...?"

"Deal with what happens this time, and take care of yourself, Kiku." Arthur glanced down to begin to rewind the clock.

A.N. FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- I am going to burn in the deepest and hottest fires of hell. I accept my fate. I just hope they have Doritos.