Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 37
"Alright," Arthur gasped, coming to a stop. "I think I have a plan."
Lukas stopped as well. Their chests rose and fell, and Lukas grabbed the skein of water and took a few mouthfuls, before he handed it over to Arthur, who took a few grateful gulps as well. He whined when he realised that he drank the last of it.
"So, what do you have?" Lukas asked.
"I was thinking…" Arthur gasped. "I know a de-illumination spell."
"And in the darkness, we can grab Vlad. But, wouldn't we get trapped in its effects too?"
"No. The caster remains unaffected, and if we hold hands, we would both remain unaffected."
"Okay… Will we have enough time to grab Vlad and go?"
"We could use the moments of darkness to cast a stun spell. They should be distracted enough for us to be able to get a good one in."
"…I hope you're right. Because, if this fails… I don't know how we'd be able to get out of this otherwise."
Arthur nodded. He cried out as a sudden onslaught of pain descended on his head and his chest. A cry from Lukas informed him that he wasn't the only one affected by this. They remained like that for a while before the pain dulled. Arthur turned weary eyes towards Lukas.
"What happened?" Arthur asked.
"I-I don't know," Lukas said, before he yelped. He reached into his pocket and removed the jewel, which glowed brightly for a moment before the glow faded. It might have been Arthur's imagination, but he was sure that the jewel was darker than it had been before. "This doesn't look good."
"We need to find Vlad. Something must have happened that affected the jewel somehow."
Lukas nodded, and the two set off. They didn't think about the direction they took, and after a while, Arthur realised that there was something wrong with that. But then, he realised that he felt as though this was the direction that pulled them. This was the way to go.
He hoped that Vlad was alright, and that whatever had happened wasn't a sign of something worse to come.
…
Raj gritted his teeth as he watched the being that was Vlad. At the moment, it was hard to call him 'human'. He was covered inside a red light, and it was hard to see the human figure underneath. But it didn't matter now. All that mattered was that they put as much distance between them and it as possible.
This was not the first time that something like that had happened. There were three other times in their long history that Raj knew of this occurring. Each time, the new heir of the jewel would resort to a primal, unfiltered state. They had never figured out what prompted this to happen, though Raj suspected that it had something to do with the torture they inflicted on Vlad. But he was certainly not the first in his position to be tortured like this. So, there must have been something else.
"Time to go," Tino said, before he set off running. Henri followed soon afterwards.
Raj couldn't blame them. The last time this happened, they each ended up with burns that reached their bones. Whenever a sorcerer linked with the jewels became like this, they became essentially mindless entities that reacted to nothing other than their instincts, with enough power to rival the gods. And they tended to attack whatever had caused distress to them before their transformations.
…Which meant that Raj really needed to get out of there.
Just as he turned to follow Tino and Henri, a wall of flames appeared in front of him. He took a few steps back, only to have the wall circle around him. He turned to Vlad, who, despite not being perfectly visible, appeared to be looking directly at him.
Raj attempted to use magic to get out of there, but the jewel's power was stronger than his. The flames that circled him closed around him, and he screamed as they burned through his skin and flesh.
Times like this made him wish that it was possible for him to die.
…
"Do you hear that?" Arthur asked.
Lukas stopped and cocked his head. They had entered the cave and were allowing their connection to Vlad to lead them. Lukas could hear the echoes of what sounded like… screams. Except, these screams didn't belong to Vlad. That had to be a good thing, right?
Lukas turned towards Arthur, and asides from the panting – he was doing the same thing, due to running – Arthur looked very pale.
"Are you okay?" Lukas asked.
"Just a mild headache," Arthur said. "Nothing like the pain from earlier. I can manage."
"Alright. Just warn me if you think that you need to stop for a moment."
Arthur nodded, before he tensed. Lukas could hear it too. He spun around, listening as the sound of footsteps became louder. He summoned magic to his hands, ready for an attack. He would not assume that it was Vlad running towards them.
Soon, the figure came into view, and then came to an abrupt stop. There was just enough light to see the figure, and Lukas's jaw clenched when he recognised him.
"Tino!"' he spat. "Where's Vlad? What have you done with him?"
"…Oh, great," Tino groaned. "Perfect timing. Normally, I would be happy to see you, but this is not a good… Stay back!"
Arthur had taken a step forward, but upon Tino's exclamation, he stopped and stared at their enemy.
"What's going on?" Lukas demanded. "What did you do to Vlad?"
Tino bit his lip before he sighed and shook his head.
"Our master ordered us to break you," he said. "And to let your luck run out. As long as Lucania's luck is aiding you, we're just wasting our time trying to capture you. And yes, we know about it, and we know that you know."
"…You've been spying on us somehow," Arthur said.
"Of course we have. But, if it's any consolation, we can't do it continuously, only for short periods."
"Oh, that's comforting," Lukas snapped, rolling his eyes. "What have you done to Vlad?"
"…We might have broken him a little too much. He's resorted to a primal state. It's a bit of a side-effect that you suffer from. He's a mindless source of power right now that will viciously attack anyone that gets close to him. This is only the second time I've seen this, but… it's not pretty."
"…Why don't you want us to get closer to you?" Arthur asked.
"Because you're connected, and I do not want to attract his attention right now."
"So, you're willing to abandon your comrade for your own protection?" Lukas asked. "That's what that sound is, isn't it? Someone is paying the price for what you did to Vlad. I should have known that you'd betray those that trusted you."
Tino narrowed his eyes.
"While I appreciate the bitterness, I'm not interested right now," he said. "If you want to help Vlad, go down this tunnel, take two lefts and a right. We wanted you to hear him scream while trying to navigate this place. And now…"
"You're willing to let us go to the danger," Arthur said, his disgust mirroring Lukas's.
"Didn't you hear what I said? You have a connection, so hopefully that means that Vlad won't attack you and that you'll be able to get him back to normal. And I'll back off. Henri is behind me, and I suspect that he agrees. And I'm going to guess that Raj has no interest in hunting you down at the moment."
"Wait, Henri's behind you?" Lukas asked.
The other male came into view from behind Tino. They had no idea how long Henri had been there, and Lukas could sense Arthur's alarm when he saw him.
"Go," Henri said. "Get your friend. We won't be so nice next time. And I recommend that you don't try to use this power in the future. It's unpredictable and very hard to control."
"And you're scared of it," Arthur said. "A pity that Vlad didn't get a chance to hurt you."
Henri's eyes narrowed, but Arthur grabbed Arthur's hand. They were going to get out of this without a fight. Lukas pulled Arthur along, and he was satisfied when he saw Henri and Tino shrink back. But he could enjoy his satisfaction later. For now, they needed to help Vlad.
They followed the tunnel. Lukas marvelled at the fact that the cave wasn't too dark, and wondered if magic was involved somehow, or if it was somehow a natural part of the cave. They arrived at a fork, and remembering Tino's words, Lukas pulled Arthur towards the left. They did the same at the second fork, and at the third fork they took a right. It didn't take them long to see the red light at the other side of the tunnel. At first, Lukas suspected that it was fire, before he realised that the light was the same as the Desert Heart's. He pulled the jewel out of his pocket and stared at it. It was pulsing slightly, going brighter and dimmer, and Lukas frowned. For what was probably the first time, the jewel was cold.
"Do you think that's Vlad?" Arthur asked.
Lukas looked down. It was as though his heart yearned to approach the bright light. He was pulled towards the source of the light.
"Yeah," he said. "I think that's Vlad."
"What now?" Arthur asked.
Lukas didn't answer. He released Arthur's hand and started to walk closer.
"Vlad?" Lukas called out.
The light moved, and it took Lukas a moment to realise that the light surrounded Vlad's body, and that he had turned his head towards him. Lukas took another few steps forward before he stopped.
"Vlad, are you in there?" Lukas asked. "It's us. You're safe now. There's nothing to worry about."
Lukas heard Arthur come up behind him, but he kept his eyes focused on Vlad. There was no response, and he hoped that Vlad could hear and understand them.
"Please, Vlad," Arthur said. "Whatever you're going through, whatever they did to you… It's over now. You're safe. Please."
Vlad took a step towards them. Then another. The light faded from around him, and Lukas felt the Desert Heart regaining some heat again. When the light completely faded, Vlad fell to his knees, his arms automatically wrapping around himself as he burst into sobs. Lukas and Arthur closed the distance between them and wrapped him in their arms.
"You're safe," Arthur whispered. "It's over."
There was a groan, and Lukas looked up. There was a black husk nearby, and Lukas realised that it had to be Raj. To his shock, the charred body moved, pushing itself up. Raj had been burned beyond the point of recognition, and Lukas winced. That hadn't been enough to kill Raj, but it had to be really painful.
"Let's get out of here," Lukas said. "Do you remember the way?"
Arthur looked over to him blankly. Lukas winced when the Desert Heart grew hot again, and he deposited it back in his pocket before he dropped it. He also noticed a green light from Vlad's pocket. And then he was forced to shield his eyes, because the light was too bright. But it was neither a green nor red light. He opened his eyes to see that they were in the sunlight, and that it was nearing sunset. They had returned to the place where Vlad had disappeared.
"H-how are we back?" Arthur asked.
"For all the trouble they cause us," Lukas said, "the jewels can sometimes be a huge help." He turned back to Vlad, noting the bruises, cuts and burns on his face and scowled. "It's a shame you couldn't hurt Henri and Tino too. But at least you got Raj."
Vlad sobbed harder, and Lukas kissed him on the head. Vlad didn't even react, which concerned Lukas.
"We should get away from this area before we even try to make camp," Lukas said. "Arthur, I need your help getting Vlad on my back."
"Are you sure?" Arthur asked.
"It'll be easier to carry him like that. I don't think he's in the mood for walking right now."
Arthur closed his eyes and nodded. They helped Vlad to his feet, but the moment Lukas pulled away so that Vlad could climb onto his back, Vlad shook his head.
"N-no," Vlad said. "You d-don't w-w-want…"
"Vlad, we're getting you out of here," Lukas said. "And of course I want to help you in any way that I can."
Vlad continued to shake his head, taking a few steps back. Lukas noticed that Vlad's shirt was torn, and he had a bad feeling about this.
"Vlad, what happened?" Lukas asked. "Did any of them… touch you?"
"N-no," Vlad sobbed. "R-Raj t-tried, b-but s-something s-stopped him. B-but they… I can't…"
"Vlad, what did they do to you?" Arthur asked.
"…Show us your chest," Lukas said.
"No!" Vlad screamed. "You can't…"
Lukas pried Vlad's arms away. Guilt gnawed at his mind. Vlad was traumatised, and Lukas treated him with force. But he needed to see. Arthur seemed to understand, for he pulled the fabric of Vlad's shirt aside, even as Vlad struggled against Lukas. And then they saw it.
"A slave brand," Lukas whispered.
Vlad went limp, and Lukas had to stop him from falling to the ground. Instead, he managed to catch Vlad in a sort of hug as Vlad dissolved into sobs.
"I'm sorry," Vlad sobbed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologise for," Lukas said. "Don't ever apologise for something that was done to you, alright?"
"B-but… I'm tainted. And they… they were right. No m-matter how hard I try, I-I'll n-never escape this. And you… You don't deserve to have s-something like me…"
"Don't you ever refer to yourself like that again!" Arthur snapped. "Vlad, you are not a thing, and Lukas and I like you. We do not see you as anything less than our friend."
"But more," Lukas said, before he kissed Vlad. He felt his friend tense against him and he pulled away, resting his forehead against Vlad's. "You noticed that calm I've been feeling recently? That's because I realise that I'm in love with you and Arthur. I can't imagine my life without either of you. When they took you… It was painful."
"W-what?" Vlad whispered. "In… No… You can't be…"
"Vlad, he's right," Arthur said. "Almost losing you… It was unbearable. And, while I'm not entirely sure that my feelings are love… I do care for you. Both of you. So much… I don't ever want to be in that position again."
Vlad continued to tremble, shaking his head. Lukas tightened his hold on Vlad, and Arthur joined the hug.
"You will never be anyone's slave again," Lukas said. "We will protect you, even if it means we have to run with you to the ends of the earth. No one will ever make you their property again, alright?"
"And we will heal this brand," Arthur said. "Just like we healed the first one. And we will do everything to heal the emotional damage as well."
"And we don't care how long it takes. You're worth every second, alright? So, whatever they told you… Don't listen to them. They're our enemies. They want to destroy us, so we can't let them."
Vlad continued to sob. Lukas turned towards Arthur and nodded. He released Vlad and turned around. He could feel Vlad climb onto his back, though he wasn't sure how much of it was with Arthur's help. After ensuring that he had a good grip on Vlad, he turned to look at Vlad's face. It was wet with tears, and Vlad's eyes were clenched shut. They opened when Lukas nuzzled his cheek against Vlad's.
"We're here for you," Lukas said. "And if you want to talk about any of it, then we will be there to listen. As soon as we're at a safe place to camp, we'll heal all your wounds. And we will remind you as many times as necessary: You are worth everything we can give you, alright?"
Vlad didn't answer, but his arms tightened around Lukas's chest. They had to take a moment to check their bearings, and soon started to walk north. Now, both of them knew about Lukas's love for them. He only hoped that it wouldn't end up ruining things between them. With any luck, it would help to bring them closer to each other.
…
Vlad had calmed down after a while, and he focused on his chest pressed against Lukas's back. He wasn't sure if the heartbeat he felt was his or Lukas's, but that didn't matter. What mattered was everything that happened.
His body still remembered the pain that Raj inflicted on him with that spell, even though there were no physical wounds. Tino and Henri had their fun with him as well. Those wounds were visible. And to wear that slave brand again…
Vlad remembered the vision he had, but his memories after that were foggy. He recalled a red light and pain, and then Lukas and Arthur speaking to him. But, from what he'd learned, he'd apparently made Raj pay for the things they'd done to him.
And then there was Lukas's confession…
Vlad didn't know if Lukas spoke the truth, though his emotions at that time… He was earnest and serious. The same with Arthur. And, if they were telling the truth…
That warm feeling that he could sense from them… Could it be love? And why would they feel something like that towards Vlad? He couldn't understand why…
But he could understand why Vlad would have something like that towards Arthur and Lukas. They had rescued him, so many times in so many ways. He had a warm feeling towards them too. It was similar to the emotions he sensed from them. Could Vlad be in love with Arthur and Lukas?
He knew, for a fact, that he was confused. How pathetic that he couldn't understand his own emotions.
