Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 67

"He's not here" Oliver shouted. The comment was directed at Luciano,  who was stood at the head of a table, the rest of the nations gathered around it, all now looking between each other, confused. "You told me he wouldn't get away."

Luciano blinked. "Who're we talking about again?"

Oliver growled uncharacteristically. "Egil. The last of all the Nordic personifications. He said they'd killed Emil."

"Ah" Luciano nodded and didn't say anything to carry on the sentence.

Oliver raised an eyebrow expectantly. "And? What's that supposed to mean?"

Luciano chewed his lip and glanced around the room as though the answer would be displayed on the walls of the conference room. "He must have... got out?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I gathered that, after he isn't here."

"He must have... er..." Luciano made eye contact with Viktor and pulled a face at him. 

"Escaped with those who went for supplies?" Viktor suggested. 

"I did not ask you" Oliver rounded on him, pointing in the Russian's direction. "So shut up."

Viktor held up his hands in defense and sighed. 

"Yes" Luciano's eyes lit up. "Because, how else could he have got out? While they were leaving, he could've easily slipped out with them." Oliver hesitated. "Now sit down. We've gotten over your outburst now Oliver, and in case you hadn't noticed, we're running a meeting here, and it's over a topic that concerns you as well."

Oliver sat down, still deep in thought, and not concentrating on anything that was going on. Of course, the only logical explanation would be that Egil had somehow managed to slip out like Viktor had said - but something didn't seem right about it at all. It was only half way through the meeting that he picked up on it though.

"Wait" Oliver stood up and stared at Luciano.

Luciano sighed irritably and turned to him. "Yes? What do you want now?"

"They left two days ago" Oliver said. "Why aren't they back? They should be back by now."

Luciano was close to waving away the comment, before he froze. Oliver had a point. Not just Egil, but all of them should be back by now: Allen, Francois, Flavio and Henrique too. All of them had been missing for the two days between now and their leaving.

And no one had picked up on it. 

"They're dead aren't they?" Kuro said bluntly.

"No" Luciano threw a pen on the desk in front of him at Kuro. "They're not."

Kuro ducked under the pen and glared down the table at him. "I'm just saying like" he shrugged. "I mean, it's not like they're obviously alive."

Luciano matched his glare. 

"Now, now, now" Lutz patted Kuro's head. "There's no need for negativity like that, is there?"

Kuro swatted him away and leapt from his seat to jump away from Lutz." I'm not being negative" he snapped. "I'm just being realistic."

"Well, who ever liked realism?" Lutz grinned down at him.

"Chiuso cazzo su tutti voi" Luciano shouted, growling at them. He sighed as they shut up and glanced at Oliver. "Okay, so there's a possibility that we might be looking at an extra five of ours, dead."

"We have five of theirs" Klaus muttered from where he was sat. Everyone turned to stare at him, making him shrink down in his seat and turn away. "I mean, I'm just pointing out a fact." 

Viktor leapt up, cracking his knuckles and grinning. "Leave this to me" he said, walking towards the doors and slinking out between them. 

Oliver watched him go. "Is... is anyone going to stop him?"

Luciano shook his head. "Why would we stop him? It's not like it'd do anything. You really think we were going to keep them alive for much longer?"

***

Lida was half watching Yong Soo and Kyung Soo's arm wrestle when she started to feel sleepy. Roderich had been pacing his cell for the past half an hour, and he stopped mid stride to sniff the air, then continue. Wendy was already asleep, having tried to do an all-nighter without knowing when morning would come. Lida was fairly positive she'd gone over forty-eight hours without sleep, but without a clock or any form of window telling them how long they'd been in here, she could only guess. She continued to sit, daydreaming, watching, eyes slowly becoming heavier and heavier. Part of her knew something wasn't quite right - her throat felt too tight for anything to be normal - but she'd think about that later. She'd have plenty of time to do it. Just yesterday they'd figured that no one was coming to save them, and they'd all given up, now just accepting each other's company. It was the best they had. So, realistically speaking, she'd have the rest of her life to contemplate the strangeness of the room. Of course, when she woke, it might not be strange anymore at all, or she might forget why it felt strange, or forget the idea completely, and just go back to trying to picture the Prague. She hadn't seen it in so long, it was starting to become fuzzy, all the lines blurring together like one huge blot on a paper instead of separate buildings and people and trees. Lida shrugged and shuffled down the wall she was leaning against until she found a comfortable spot in which she could sleep for a while. She'd never really thought of it before, but the floor was actually surprisingly comfortable for a slab of stone. It was welcomed, and she curled up against it. As her eyes closed, she was dimly aware of Roderich, not pacing anymore, but sitting casually against the wall, asleep, and Yong Soo and Kyung Soo leaning against the barriers, colouring the room blue, each holding the other's hand loosely. Lida shrugged slightly and sighed, closing her eyes and welcoming the darkness behind them.

***

Viktor walked back into the meeting room as everyone was clearing up. As the doors opened for him, five pairs of eyes looked up at him expectantly. 

"Done" he grinned. "They didn't even know"

Translations:
Chiuso cazzo su tutti voi - shut the fuck up all of you (Italian)

Sorry, this is a pretty crappy chapter, but I was late (sorta) with the update again so this was a 'half an hour rush' chapter again! 
MiddleEarth4eva