Amusement Park Interlude (2p! Italy)

(Rewrite) Part Nine

"What's wrong?" Brian asked Ava, who was spacing out more than usual.

The two of them were hiding in the forest. Luciano and Flavio had attacked Feliciano and Lovino again. That meant Ludwig, Kiku, Lutz, and Kuro were fighting as well. The fight had broken out outside a set of buildings nearby, so the two had decided the best place for them would be in the forest since it wasn't so out in the open. Since Ava had to be there to help with any injuries, Brian had come to protect her from Luciano. They had all learned that any time he attacked Feliciano, he usually ended up going after her as well, after all.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "I'm just anxious, I guess."

"I don't blame you. At this point, you're targeted just as much, if not more than, the first players."

It was true. She never knew when Luciano would show up. The chances were less when it was a fight he wasn't directly involved in, so she didn't worry as much during those. But when he was directly attacking Feliciano, he always managed to find her. And recently, his attempts at capturing her had been bolder...She always managed to get away, but there had been a lot more close calls.

"I'm sorry you always have to protect me..." she mumbled.

It had become his unspoken duty. Even if Alfred wasn't involved, he was coming to every fight with her. And ever since a few weeks ago, when Oliver had drugged her, he was always on protection detail instead of helping with the fights.

"It's fine. I would rather protect you than have something happen and have to rescue you."

"It's still frustrating...to take you away from your duties because I'm being targeted and can't protect myself..." she sighed.

"I know you weren't interested in learning to use your gun before, but circumstances have changed," he pointed out. "I think that you really should-!"

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly let out a cry of pain. His body fell forward towards her. She caught him, preventing him from falling face first into the ground.

"Brian?!"

All he did was groan in response. There was a bloody gash on the back of his head. But before she could take off her bag to get any first aid items out, she froze in shock.

"Luciano...?" She stared, wide eyed.

"It's about time I finally got my hands on you, ragazza," he grinned.

"Run...!" Brian managed to push her away from him.

Luciano began walking towards her. She was frozen for a moment, but then her body registered the threat and what she should be doing in response. She flipped around, shooting to her feet as she ran like a bat out of hell, dodging trees as she went.

"Why...?" She muttered. "Why...? Why?!"

This was the first time Brian had been injured because of her. She had chosen to turn away from the reality of her situation. They weren't the same people on Sundays. On their days of peace, she could be a regular girl who enjoyed her time with her boyfriend. But this moment was how things should be...how they really were. She wasn't a regular girl. She was an Attendant who served the enemy of the man currently hunting her down. That was supposed to make him her enemy as well.

"I don't want to hurt you, ragazza," Luciano called. "Don't you secretly want this? If you didn't, you wouldn't ignore everything and spend your Sundays with me. You want to be with me, Ava."

She grit her teeth. She didn't like hearing that question...or his solid reasoning.

"That...it can't be true...I can't let you catch me...!"