Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 12

"We can't just sit around here doing nothing!" Arthur shouted, his voice echoing around the large, stone room. Next to him sat Vladimir who, for almost the first time ever, looked blank. Next to Vladimir was an empty chair.

"Well what do you propose we do then?" Vladimir looked at him in a disbelieving way. "There's only so much that we can do. We're not that strong on our own really. We have our strengths, our weaknesses, but the three of us could do almost anything that we wanted to together. We're weaker now Lukas is gone."

"That's not the point" Arthur sighed. "We can still at least try something. If we don't try anything, then nothing will work."

"Well what do you think we should try?" Vladimir raised an eyebrow.

Arthur hesitated for a second, thinking. "Um... I don't actually know."

"Wait, wait, wait" Vladimir retrieved some of his old bravado and ecstatic looks. "Would a portal work?"

"How would a portal work?"

He shrugged. "If we could find another dimension, maybe without any personifications at all, we could send them there."

"Does a dimension like that even exist?" Arthur was the one now with a blank look.

Vladimir nodded. "I've seen it. It's kinda weird, but they seem to get on fine without them, so maybe with one they'd be better off? Maybe they wouldn't even notice."

"Would the 2ps actually do anything to the people there though?" Arthur gave him a disbelieving look. "They're violent, easily angered and could trigger anything."

"How do you know that?" Vladimir stood up. "Personally, I know they're going around killing everyone, but I think they're misunderstood. They're still personifications, which means that illegibly, they should care for their people. If that's true, they won't do them any harm at all will they?"

"The key word in that sentence was 'illegibly'" Arthur stood up to face him and glared at him. "We know next to nothing about them, so how do we know that they're the same type of personification? How do we know they won't go on a killing spree?"

"How do we know they will?" Vladimir mirrored his glare. "Think about Viktor. He didn't go on a killing spree at all. If anything, I've never seen Russia prosper more in all my years, and that's a lot of them. He helped people, he helped Germany while Ludwig and Gilbert were gone."

"But that's not going to prove that they won't do anything while we're not there" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Viktor didn't remember anything until they returned. That doesn't prove anything, so we can't be sure that the people we send them to at the other end of the portal will be safe."

Vladimir stared at him for a second and then sighed. "I guess."

"And anyway, how would we get them all here?" Arthur pressed.

"I said I get it" Vladimir snapped. "That means you win Brows."

"Thank you for accepting, Fang."

For a moment, they glared at each other. Normally, when this happened, Lukas would be there to break them up and stop them from killing each other. He'd yank their ties or slam their heads together and shout something they would never quite understand, and then they'd go back to sitting at their circular table in the middle of the large, stone room like knights at the round table, trying to be civilised.

"This isn't getting us anywhere" Arthur sighed and sat down again.

"We need to find an idea that will work without any consequences" Vladimir nodded and leaned against his chair, propping his feet up on the table.

"What about..." Arthur started excitedly.

"No Arthur, we're not summoning the devil" Vladimir huffed. "We tried that once all three of us. I don't want to again. It took ages to get him to go back to the under world, and he wasn't what you expected was he?"

"At least he wasn't Ivan" Arthur shrugged and they returned to their silence. "What about if we found other magic nations?"

Vladimir stared at him in shock. The thought had never occurred to any of them that there might be other nations with magic. "That... could work. As a group we'd be stronger too. But are you sure there are any?"

"Absolutely positive" Arthur nodded.

"What makes you so sure?" Vladimir eyed him carefully. "What have you been hiding?"

Arthur sighed. "Well, I guess he could help. I'll call him." He waved his hand through the air and a message appeared, hovering for a moment before disappearing. "He'll be here in a minute."

Vladimir blinked and then mouthed an 'okay' before staring at the table. "Allistor had magic didn't he."

Arthur flinched and nodded. "They all did. Dylan and Ronan and Bridget. All of us did. What about Aurel?"

Vladimir shook his head. "Nothing. Do you think maybe Emil?"

"It's possible" Arthur nodded. "I mean, it wouldn't be strange for younger siblings to have the same or similar magic."

"Anyone else you think?" Vladimir asked. "You still haven't told me who you sent that letter to."

"All in good time" Arthur smiled. "But there has to be others. Yao's too old to haven't picked up anything, which means that his siblings should have some sort of power too. I'll see about Leon later. If Yao has anything, there's the possibility of Leon having something, which means that I'll be able to help him. Make sure to double check on Aurel though. There's a high possibility with him."

As Vladimir nodded, there was a flash of light and Peter appeared, unsteady on his feet, falling over almost instantly.

"Sorry" he said. "Wendy literally wouldn't let me get away."

"That's fine" Arthur helped him to his feet and turned to Vladimir who was half out of his seat, peering over the edge of the table. You probably already know of him, but meet my little brother, Peter Kirkland, the personification of Sealand, a White Magic user."