Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 15: His New Plan

"Duh, we go search for Feliciano." Alfred chuckled.

"It wouldn't be that easy to do, you know." Arthur sighed. "Where would we even begin to look?"

It was then that they felt a chill go down their spines. Seyel turned her head and saw her shadow form ripples, seeing two figures levitate into existence. She would've screamed, but then remembered that there were people around them (who apparently hadn't seen this).

"N-Natalya!" Ludwig panicked. "Don't use your powers when there're this many witnesses!"

"We were running late." She answered. "We wanted to be on time. Isn't that right, Ivan?"

He didn't want to argue with her. Everyone understood his fear and let it go. Because of Natalya's presence, everyone stood there quiet until the others were able to enter the building. Even then, they didn't want to say anything.

"So everyone's here then?" Francis peeked inside. "Good, good...what's the problem?"

"Well..."

/=+=/

They stood in front of the Basilica, watching the tourists come in and out as if there were no ghosts going around the place at the time. No one had to say anything at the time, since they saw Roderich stand in front of the door. He touched the air in front of the large arch, and was repelled back by a clear circle.

"You think Feliciano is in here?" He asked.

"Yes." Seyel answered. "There are rumors stating that there is a ghost that bears his resemblance in this building...and we can't go in to investigate."

"In that case, this barrier definitely resembles a block spell..." Roderich nodded. "But I never knew that Holy Roman Empire had access to these kinds of spells..."

Spells... Ludwig blinked. Perhaps he obtained a bit of my abilities that I inherited from father...

Everyone looked at each at other as they turned toward Ivan, curious if he could do anything about it. He took up the challenge with a smile on his face, and then proceeded to stare in front of the door for a while. After a few minutes, the circles were flashing all over the place before stopping.

"Well?" Ludwig asked.

"...they're strong." He answered. "I'll need someone on the inside to break the barrier."

"So much for that thought..." Vash folded his arms. "Hey, what happened to Kiku and Gilbert?"

"They were trying to get inside..." Alfred turned his head. "Maybe they were successful?"

"Wouldn't they have told us?" Lili asked.

It was then that they heard yelling from the side of the building. They all headed over to the hidden location and saw Kiku and Gilbert staring at a small fire escape door. Well, stare was a broad topic. Kiku was watching Gilbert scream at the door in very colorful language. The only thing that they caught was "why won't you let us in, dammit?"

"No luck on your part?" Antonio laughed.

"Don't rub it in..." He spat. "This guy's got all the damn angles!"

"So...he's sealed all the entrances..." Matthew panicked. "What can we do?"

"We're going to get in somehow!" Alfred grinned. "Cause I'm the hero! And heroes always end up victors in the end!"

"Hey!" Gilbert screamed. "I thought we all concluded that I was the hero!"

As the argument came back to life, Germany couldn't help but stare through the fire escape to see anyone inside. Odd enough, he saw a moving figure walking toward the entrance. It stopped just before his face could be revealed in the light, but he slid something out of the building right into his feet. He went to pick it up, seeing that the figure had vanished.

"Who was that?"

He turned his head and noticed that Arthur had seen him as well. Ludwig's attention turned back to the thing that slid and realized that it was a pocket watch that bore the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. He clicked it open, revealing a piece of paper. Slowly, he took the paper and unfolded it. It had the image of a fire dog with a collar that held the same cross he drew for him.

"Feliciano..." He muttered. "This is yours, isn't it?"

"I'll do what I can...for Doitsu!"

I'll find you, Italy. Just wait for us a little longer...

It was then that he realized that Feliks was on the phone the entire time. When he looked up, he had hung up, a smile plastered all over his face. He was always one to be zoning out whenever he had to, so he had no idea what he would be smiling about.

"Hm?" He turned to Ludwig. "What's up?"

"N-nothing." Germany answered. "What can we do now?"

"Well...we just need a plan, right now..." Netherlands stepped in.

"Whatever the plan is, destroying walls has to be our last resort." Belgium added. "This is a human landmark...we can't bring ourselves into massive attention."

"Whatever the case is...we should head back to the hotel for now..." Antonio stretched. "You know...get ready and stuff."

"L-like a video game?" Kiku's eyes seemed interested.

"That sounds great, aru." China grinned. "In the meantime, we'll see if we can get any inside visuals of the building so that Kiku can teleport us in."

"God...we have to wait some more?" Lovino grumbled.

"We have to..." Ludwig held onto the locket. "For Feliciano..."

/=+=/