Sorry for the delayed update, but...Uhh man, I haz a cold.

Not good.

Not good, at all.

Just a head's up, this chapter's gonna be in Lili's POV, so don't get confused just because I wrote this in first person.

Disclaimer : I own nothing.

Chapter 2 - Lili Zwingli, Renatus of Gretel

I was scared.

I never thought something like this might ever happen. I couldn't even comprehend half of what actually happened, and I still don't even now. All those events all happened so suddenly and with such intensity that I wished I hadn't been there when it happened. I'm not sure if I had been grown up enough take in everything without losing my sanity. The death, the destruction….. Everything. I am not sure if I could handle it.

But what really made my knees wobble was what my brother told me later on.

I didn't even believe in that supernatural phenomenon known as magic that nearly drove me to the gates of death, just until six hours ago. I felt the floor cracking to become deep crevices below me, the ceiling above breaking down into a thousand pieces, collapsing its foundation and whatever it held above onto rubbles beneath. People suffered death by the minute – be it either from deadly curses cast by that heartless magicians or crushed due to the immense weight of the broken walls and pillars falling down, and I couldn't bear it. The very thought unnerved me to no end.

As I tried to calm down by reassuring myself the fact that we at least got to escape, I found out that my brother was passing through the same state of agony right now. I was not sure that he was just shaken up due to the fact that we just nearly escaped the clutches of death, or desperate due to the fact that he hadn't the least of an idea what we'd do after the plane landed in America. One thing was sure – We weren't safe, and no matter how far we will try to be away from them, Vargas and his cronies will find us. The question is only the matter of time in which we would plan on getting help from anyone, just anyone.

Brother kept staring out of the window towards the fire-stricken building that raged violently, and I placed a hand on his shoulder. It was the least I can do, and although I received a reassuring smile, I could say he too, was scared.

After the plane had taken off, brother still chose to continue this deathly silence that consumed most of my impatience but didn't do one bit to relieve my ever-growing doubts and questions. After a while, the impatience which was suppressed in my mind due to sheer etiquette, began to now express visibly. I began to rub my palms onto my sleeves to wipe the never-ending sweating, and I fidgeted in the seat. The constant buzzing of the plane only worsened my edgy mind.

Brother apparently noticed this, for just fifteen minutes after the plane took off and was soaring in a normal, comforting speed, he took a deep breath, made sure that the people near them weren't eavesdropping on them and faced me. With immense seriousness. This might've actually been the most serious face that I've ever seen, considering that it came from my very brother who wore a permanent face of disapproval and save for that very rare moments in which he'd actually smile, you would understand the depth of the situation.

"Listen very carefully, Lili. What I'm about to tell you is no child's play, nor is it any silly fairy tale that you have read while you were young. This is harsh, very harsh and gruesome from reality, if I may add. It concerns our lives, and while you may think this all is very similar to a horror game, except that in this you will actually die."

The words he emphasized were like stones inflicted upon me. I winced visibly, but allowed him to continue.

"We, that is, people like me and Lovino and you are reincarnated spirits of fictional characters in folktales." He said patently.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him. He somehow understood that he was being a bit too straight-forward, and decided to explain the whole thing to me.

"That lockets we wear now," He pointed towards my bread-shaped ornament and took out his pebble-shaped one at the same time while he spoke, "These are something very crucial. They contain our souls, and if we were to lose it, well….. I can't quite say how it would happen, but you'd die for sure."

I gulped hard. Was this really my brother talking? How can he say something so ghastly in a normal tone?

He paid no mind and continued, "Our kind call them Magus Phylacterium. I'm sure you've known enough Latin to guess what that means."

I nodded, though still not understanding the whole thing. "I can see that it means an Amulet of a Magus, but…."

"I know what you are so eager to find out. The whole Magi thing, am I right? Well, to answer that Lili, I guess we will have to start from a very trivial issue that we have mentioned earlier."

An airhostess interrupted his speech by asking if we needed any refreshments. He took a towel from the platter she was holding and thanked her.

"All this time you've been taught to believe that Fairy tales and magic are nothing but mere aspects to provide entertainment which are not real. Well, this is in fact, false. The fairytales DID happen once, and their tales were propagated by the people over the ages, and now you know the typical stories of Cinderella and Snow White because of that. What you really need to know, is the fact that the spirits of the characters in a story after they die, irrespective of whether the story contains magic or not, gets implanted in the body of 'a destined one'.

"They might be anyone, and it's not necessary that this new person possessing the spirit should show any resemblance to the real character. A person may hold the spirit of Red Riding Hood, and at the same time be of any ethnicity, any color, or may come from any nation which bears a culture different from that of German ones."

These 'destined ones' are known as Magi, or more specifically 'Renatus Magi'. I am the Magus of Hansel, and you are the Maga of Gretel from the German story you've read quite so often. And these spirits of their respective characters gets trapped inside certain objects of relevance to the story, which the Magus or Maga should sustain during every second of their life time to prevent death."

"How is that causing our deaths?" I asked blatantly, fingering my bread-shaped locket when he spoke of the 'object of relevance' part.

He wiped his sweaty brow with the towel he had earlier bought before continuing. "We are not completely human, Lili. Technically, unlike the single soul in humans which is contained in the heart, counting the character's soul in the object and the mortal soul in our heart, we have theoretically two souls in our body."

My eyes widened at this.

"Now, if someone were to fatally wound us, our mortal soul will disintegrate but we will still be able to live with the character's soul, although not as us." He said, gravely. "And once our mortal soul has been destroyed when our body succumbs to its wounds, we will no longer be visible to the humans and our presence from the real world will be cut off. It'll be like if we were ghosts, with no option other than to witness the world without having the ability to interact and respond. No one will notice our presence, except to other magi, which is absolutely terrible because I know a person who is suffering from the same condition."

The only other option we have once this happens when we can't bear to suffer the feeling of being ignored, is to abandon Earth and enter your realm."

My eyebrows furrowed together. Brother wasn't making complete sense to me. "What is a realm? And how can we…."

"Will you at least let me finish?!" He said sternly, before answering my question, "A realm is something like a parallel universe where the character's story takes place. The magus can enter this universe by activating their Phylacterium and continue his life there until about two centuries pass, upon then his/her phylacterium will chose a different bearer to the spirit of the character. Once this happens, we vanish and our existence is ceased from the realm and the Earth, and a new person becomes the character."

"Vanish?" I asked. "Just like that?"

He nodded.

"Oh." I folded my hands and stared at my lap, a mixture of disappointment and horror overcame my other emotions like a large wave in a tsunami. But I knew he wasn't over yet, and the worst was yet to come.

"Now comes the tricky part. Remember when I told you to sustain your phylacterium during every second of your life? Well, after you shed your mortal soul, a Magus is extremely vulnerable wherever he is except in his realm. Another magus can easily destroy the character's soul, thus killing the poor fellow and the other Magus can get away with the murdered one's magical power.

"This is precisely why I wanted to get you out of Liechtenstein in the first place, Lili. So that those pathetic, heartless clan that consists of Vargas, Beilschmidt, Braginski and others can never find and kill you to increase their strength of magic."

"But why do they want to increase their magic?" I asked, before realizing that may have sounded like a stupid question.

"They want to rule the Earth, Lili." He said in staccatos, as if this was something drastic and he was afraid to tell her, "They are frustrated because their lives are contained to their realms only, and they have bigger ambitions in mind. They somehow feel weak against the humans, unable to hold in the feeling of being ignored in Earth. And since every single one of them has enormous superiority complexes, they feel that they should rule the Earth since they can control magic. In order to do so, they should have more power. It can only be done by….."

"…. Killing other weak magi." Lili finished for him, horrorstruck.

Vash nodded gravely.

"But their leader, who goes by the name of Lord Vladislav Tepes Dracula, has something bigger in mind. You see, when a Magus has gained the capability to control such powerful magic that can destroy the Earth, he can control a certain primary emotion in a particular person too. In fact, he can create and manipulate an emotion, be it negative or positive, inside a particular person, and can amplify it to such a level that the person is overwhelmed by it, and eventually dies after he begins to see hallucinations, overcome by that particular emotion.

Now, there was this era, where it was certain in some point, that the present Magus of Dracula, or better known as the Magus of Fear, would conquer the Earth and kill every single human and weak Magi using this method, and would establish the reign of their powerful Magi clan. And then came the fated prophecy, that the Magus of Happiness, someone with an actual heart, who could be considered the exact opposite of Mr. half-Vampire here, (I wanted to giggle at this point) will prevent that from happening, and will destroy the Imperium clan once in for all. Needless to say, we were more than elated to hear that, but to…"

"Let me guess," I interrupted his long speech, and lightened his mood by flashing a smile, "Mr. Vampire got angry and now wants to kill the Magus of Happiness to prevent the prophecy from happening."

I realized that my attempt in humor actually worked, since I could see a ghost of a smile twitching onto the lips of my beloved brother. He still managed to regain his strict composure though, and nodded as to say 'Precisely.'

"And don't you want to know where we are going right now? I suppose you wouldn't know the least of a plan on what we'll do after we land in New York?" He asked suddenly, out of the blue.

I looked at him curiously.

He smiled in response. "We're going to see the Magus of Happiness, and ask for his help."

Somehow I had the oddest sense of nostalgia rushing through me, that feeling of the young, 7-year-old child being told that they were going to see a celebrity by her guardian. I don't know why, but suddenly, the horrid memories of people dying and ruthless magi ruling the world with an iron fist, was replaced with an image of a reassuring protector, lending a hand in a time of need and danger. One that actually gave me hope.

But all-of-a-sudden, it dawned on me. Who exactly was this 'Magus of Happiness'? Wasn't he a reincarnated spirit of a character? What did he look like?

Most importantly, how on earth are we going to find him, now since that his spirit has passed onto a different Magi?

I asked Vash, to which he smiled reassuringly. "I presume you've heard of Peter Pan?"

Imagine how I felt at that! We were going to see Peter Pan! I felt like a 7-year-old child again!

Except that I should keep reminding myself that he wouldn't be the Peter Pan I've seen in the movies, or the version I've always imagined in my mind; he might actually be a different person altogether. A sinking feeling began to develop at the bottom of my stomach.

'Oh.

Now what're we gonna do if we can't recognize him?'

"We'll have faith, Lili." I keep forgetting the fact that my brother could read minds, "We'll have extreme faith till the end. I've been told that the boy-who-never-grows-up is an extremely energetic and considerate person, and would be willing to risk his life to save his loved ones. Even though that's a really daft filter to reduce the number of possibilities among millions of people, we'll just carry on. We're bound to meet him one day.

After all, I have you and you have me. That's what family is for, right?"

I smiled at my brother's reassuring and felt a sudden desire to hug him. I didn't resist, and before long, I comforted myself in the strong grip of the only person I could call 'family'. Vash kissed my forehead, laid me down onto my seat, and picking up a blanket from a hostess who'd come to distribute the clothing towards sleepy travelers, draped it over my chest, wished me good night.

And before I succumbed to the sweet delight of being able to sleep again, I heard my brother speak again to me.

"We'll find him, Lili. I'm sure of it. Don't you worry…. Take your rest. We've got a long day tomorrow…"

Switzerland's so OOC, it actually hurts. :c

Anyways, any confusion regarding the explanation of this chapter can be asked without any hesitation! Feel free to say anything – be it flames or praises. Just…. Gimme feedback, kay?

Until next time!