Shades of Innocence (A GerIta FanFic)

Chapter 6

WARNING: This chapter has mention of murder.

Feliciano had never thought himself to be a poor judge of character. Admittedly he could be very susceptible to trickery and misinterpretation, however once the Italian's mind had been set he found his assessment of people very unwilling to change. But as the young man took in the sight of his supposedly rampant, savage, cold-hearted German cellmate, he found that his perception was indeed once again being tested.

Ludwig was in his usual spot in the middle of his own personal table, breakfast was sat under his nose however he made no move to eat it. The German's strict composure and dominant stance was slumped into what Feliciano could only describe as a broken down man. His eyes were red raw and face sickly pale; no doubt a consequence of last night's intrusion, a clearly horrific nightmare. Yet Ludwig somehow still retained some of his power, no one else seemed to have picked up on these subtle declines in the German's pristine presence except the Italian. He wondered why that was.

Feliciano himself knew he must look a similar, though not nearly as rough, state to the German. Ludwig's hollowing cries and spine-chilling screams had prevented any slumbering he wanted to fall into last night. If it wasn't for the German's disarray appearance and his unfathomable silence when they awoke early that morning, Feliciano could have almost convinced himself he'd dreamt the whole thing.

He hadn't of course; it was all too real, and Feliciano was dying to know what had caused the German such pain, such twisted, emotional pain.

"Arthur..." Feliciano abandoned his breakfast tray on the serving station to sidle up to Brit, he thought it perhaps in Ludwig's best interest if the Brit knew what was going on.

Arthur looked up, smiling kindly, "Oh hi Feliciano, are you doing okay? I noticed you were getting along a lot better with Ludwig yesterday." he said, thinking back to the day before where he'd witnessed what could almost be described as a friendly conversation between the two inmates in Elizaveta's office.

Feliciano nodded, smiling slightly himself, "Sì, but I think that's just because he's tired of being mean to me..." he said with a shrug, gazing over at the German at the other end of the cafeteria.

Arthur gave him a brief glance as well. "Perhaps, but that's not necessarily a bad thing." he said with a shrug.

The Italian nodded slowly. "Sì...um, Arthur..." he said quietly, turning to the Brit.

"Yes?"

Feliciano bit his lip, hoping he was making the right choice. "Last night...Ludwig was making really strange noises...and moving around a lot." he said delicately.

Arthur sighed slightly, "Oh yes I heard it happened again from Alfred this morning, he was on night watch last night." he informed him without so much as note of surprise in his voice.

Italy stared at him. "Again?" he asked in astonishment.

The Brit nodded, quite despondent. "Recurring night terrors, it happens quite a lot actually, scares some of the other inmates half to death the way he wails like a demented psychiatric patient in the night."

"That's awful..." Feliciano gasped, covering his open mouth. He bit the top of his knuckle, eyes drifting over to the melancholy German. "...he kept saying weird things." the Italian murmured softly, he had a sudden brain wave. "...hey...it wasn't anything to do with why he's in here, was it?" he asked the Brit thoughtfully.

Arthur suddenly looked quite awkward. "I...I wouldn't know." he muttered.

Feliciano's gaze shifted from Ludwig to the Brit, biting his bottom lip as desperate curiosity was getting the better of him. "Arthur, do you think you could tell me...why Ludwig's in here?" he asked slowly.