The Turn of a Feather

Chapter 8

Antonio groaned as someone shook him, and noises began to reach his ears. His head throbbed, red spikes of pain shooting across his skull. His ears finally tuned into his surroundings as someone yelled his name again and smacked him across the face. The Spaniard cried out and say straight up, ready to defend himself. However, he found that there was no need.

As Antonio's vision swam into focus, he saw Belle crouching on her knees in front of him, laying a steadying hand on his shoulder. There were tear tracks running down her face and her eyes were red, telling Antonio that something was very wrong. "What happened?" He groaned. It hurt to speak, but the pain in his head was slowly reducing to a clinging, dull ache.

Belle sniffled. "I don't kn-know. I c-came back a-and you were just l-l-laying on the floor-r. She sobbed. I th-thought you w-were dead! A-and Lov-vi was g-gone and st-stuff was knocked over--"

Antonio stopped her. "Wait, Lovino is gone?!"

The young doctor nodded shakily. She took a steadying breath to calm herself. "When I g-got here, the do-or had been f-forced, and then I saw you on the ground-d."

Here she stopped, making a strangled sound. Antonio brought Belle into a tight hug until she calmed down and spoke again.

"I looked for Lovino b-but I couldn't find him anywhere. Th-then I came and tried to wake you up."

Antonio rubbed her back, worry coursing through his body alongside adrenaline. It intensified the pain in his head, but he ignored it, trying to focus. Something had happened here, he just had to figure it out.

But what? He thought in frustration.

Memories flitted about his mind, something important that he couldn't seem to grasp for the life of him. Finally he took hold of one: one  memory that his subconscious mind had added to the puzzle. The image, right before he had lost consciousness, of a large brute of a man. Not even a second had passed between that and when he had been knocked out, but he'd still recognized that hulking figure from the forest.

"Oh. Oh no." Antonio muttered.

Belle looked at him. "What?" She asked, desperate for answers. Though she'd had quite a scare, as she calmed she began to chastise herself for her weakness at seeing one of her friends harmed and the other missing.

Antonio drew a breath and stood up. "It was the poachers." He said. There was a fire burning in his eyes, one of determination and anger.

Belle blinked, then gasped. "You mean the ones that started all this in the first place?!"

Antonio nodded. He was tempted to say "no, the other poachers." But he figured that it probably wasn't the time, and it was simply his nerves making him irritable. "Who knows what they are planning for Lovi. They could sell him, or give him to scientists or something." He turned and punched the wall. "Damnit, haven't they done enough?!"

Belle gulped. Antonio was a sweetheart by definition, but God help those who hurt his friends. If she hadn't hated the poachers so much, she might've felt pity for them. As it was, she hoped that the filth were ground out of existence.

"Hold on. Don't they realize that they can't do anything?" Belle asked. "Lovino doesn't have his wings anymore, he's just a regular person. It's not like they could try to create some kind of freak show out of him."

Antonio sighed. "That may have been a good point, but just because Lovi doesn't have his wings anymore does not mean that he has the anatomy of a human. He told me that his bones are hollow and that he has different sets of muscles than we do."