~A Hetalian Roadtrip~ | RomanoxReader {Part Eight}

. :\|~A Hetalian Road-trip~|/: .
{Romano\LovinoXReader}

. : Part 8:.
{Another language warning because of Lovino}

I woke up to knocking on the front door again. I got up and reached the door at the same time Elizabeta woke up. Ludwig was there, all dressed for, what looked like, a war or something. He had on his usual army uniform, the one he normally wore for the events we had learned to dread (many times it was training, or something like that). Today was a hike normally planned for students in the Advanced Science class at our school, one that Ludwig has led for two years. He decided to take us for some exercise and to learn more about our area. Mei was looking forward to the learning, but Alfred, not as much.

“Why are you dressed like that Ludwig?” Elizabeta muttered, rubbing her eyes.

“I did tell you to bring something similar to what we would normally wear out in the wilderness.”

“I know, I know. We’ll get dressed. Get everyone else ready.” Elizabeta closed the door and looked at me. “I think I’ll need some of Victoria’s coffee today. Did you bring what I suggested?”

“You said to bring some kind of military outfit. I had to ask Feli what you meant, so he told me what you are wearing, and he got me a spare uniform.”

“They are all very similar anyway,” Elizabeta mumbled as she turned on the coffee machine.

I went into the bedroom and woke up Mei, who muttered a protest before I pulled on the end of the sleeping bag to get her out. “Just think of the shower.”

“Warm shower...That sounds nice.”

“By the way, what did you get to wear?”

“Oh...You remember Lili, right?”

“Of course I do.” Lili was the sweetest little girl, and the fifth member of our little female group. Of course, she was going on a trip with her brother over the summer, and couldn’t join us.

“Well, she and I spent some time together before break. We bought a uniform similar to her’s for me!” She spread out the uniform on the bed, and I did see the resemblance to Lili’s. It had the exact same style as her’s, the slightly long jacket with long pants and boots along with it. Though while Lili’s was green to match her brother’s, Mei had a deep red colour, with dark blue, almost black pants.

“Let me guess, colours of the Taiwanese flag?”

“Yep! What did you get?”

“Oh, from Feli, as he is the smallest of the group. See?” I spread out my uniform as well. It was a nice {fav. colour} for the coat and the pants that came with it, while the boots I brought with were my normal black ones (the same everyone else had). I realized though that it looked more like Lovino’s uniform than Feliciano’s. “Come on, I want to see what Victoria brought.”

We got changed changed quickly, even slipped into the bathroom and were able to use it before Elizabeta and Victoria. Victoria didn’t have a uniform on, just normal clothes. And of course, when Elizabeta came out of the bathroom, she had on her usual green uniform and was fixing her beret on her head. She had her black gloves sticking out of her pocket, ready to be put on for the trip. She let Ludwig in to start on dinner as she grabbed her first cup of coffee. We were mostly awake as the guys shuffled in. Kiku-san wasn’t wearing his normal white uniform that he normally wore, but his normal clothes, the same with Francis.

“Hey, Kiku-san, aren’t you going on the hike with us?”

“Ah, {Name}-chan. No, I am not. My back and neck are hurting too much to go hiking. I will be reading my book here.”

“And you, Francis?”

“I will not be joining you either, though I am sad to say it. I will only be ‘olding you back, with what Ludwig has planned. I will be keeping Kiku ‘ere company, ma cherie! ”

“Please don’t call me that,” I groaned as I let my head fall to Elizabeta’s shoulder. “Anyone else not joining us?”

“I decided not to. I’m not used to forests, and hiking isn’t very fun for me. Besides, I would probably get lost faster than Roderich.” Victoria announced.

“Hey!” Elizabeta started but was interrupted by Mei covering her mouth.

“Anyway, I’ll stay here and keep Francis from molesting Kiku-san or looking through our stuff. I can take my shower now, along with these two, leaving more hot water for you later. All works out.”

I went over and hugged Victoria. “I’ll take you on a trail hike later the summer, when it’s not raining, okay?”

“Thanks, I’ll like that.” Victoria went over and helped Ludwig serve out the large breakfast. It was a very filling and was made to give us all energy. We ate rather slowly, letting the food digest. Ludwig handed me a second compass, in case we somehow got separated. I helped Mei tie back her hair and made sure both of our outfits were still mostly waterproof.

We left the park, Ludwig leading our group of seven at around ten or eleven. Feliciano followed closely behind, with Alfred next to him. Lovino came next, followed by myself and Mei, and Elizabeta took up the rear. The rain was still lightly falling, but some sucker spots still let the sun through. We crossed the road and trudged up the small hill, past the few trees, until we came to a large open area, which made Mei gasp. It was all sand dunes in front of us, but a large forest was to our left.

“This whole area is or was all sand.” Ludwig explained.

“How?” Mei asked. “I mean, look! We are walking on moss. How does moss grow on sand?”

“{Name}. You took the ecology class with Elizabeta this year.”

I bit my lip, trying to remember what we learned in the beginning of the year. “First, this Scotchbroom plant grows in. It’s invasive, but doesn’t need much to survive, as it makes it’s.....” I looked to Elizabeta for help.

“It makes it’s own Nitrogen, which normal plants get from the soil.”

“Oh, and as they die and put excess Nitrogen in the soil, it makes it able for other plants like shrubs and low-lying plants to begin to grow. Those die and much more organic materials are put in the soil.”

“I see! After those, these trees begin to grow, and it has become a forest!” Mei answered.

“Dudes, that’s awesome, man! So this whole area will become a forest?” Alfred asked us.

“Correct,” Ludwig answered. “Let’s go into the forest now. You can see the sand become soil taking this route. And if we are quiet!” He glanced at Alfred when he said this, before continuing, “We will be able to see wildlife. Let’s go.” Ludwig led us on a very faint path, one that took us down a steep hill, but it cut along the side of the hill instead of going straight down. The sand beneath us slowly became harder as it became soil. Mei stood in awe at the large dune of sand slowly becoming soil. We went on in silence, as even Alfred was in awe of this place. Ludwig stopped after a few minutes, under a large tree. He was taking a path that the Advance Ecology students took, one that Elizabeta and I would take next year. Mei was only going to be in the Early Ecology class in the coming school year (Alfred wasn’t taking any of the Ecology classes, and opted for Sports instead). We were surrounded by many grasses, that went to our hips (and would swallow Mei if she fell down).

“Now we are in an old growth forest. Elizabeta?”

“An old growth is a forest that is, as the name implies, an old forest, what forests were before we came to cut everything down.” Elizabeta gave her almost textbook answer.

“{Name}, finish the rest.”

“This feels like school. Old growths are known for having very large trees, with many lichens and mosses growing on them. It’s like a mature forest. This is as healthy as a forest can get, the best it’ll be, until we come to cut it down.”

“This is a protected forest, and used to study harvesting techniques. Mei, it’s not school, just ask your question.” Ludwig looked over at her.

Mei lowered her hand, embarrassed. “How old is this forest?”

“Hundreds of years maybe. It survived both World Wars intact, survived fires as well, as you see how wet it is in the middle of summer.” He motioned at the ground, which was muddy.

“Older than the Revolutionary War?” Alfred asked.

“He said ‘hundreds of years’ idiota.” Lovino mumbled, not happy with being cold and wet in the summer.

“Vehh~, that’s really old. What if the trees could talk?” Feliciano asked, bouncing a little.

“They would give us the best stories!” Elizabeta announced, with a large smile.

“I want to touch the tree, {Name}!”

I helped Mei clear a path in the high grasses to the tree, next to Ludwig. She placed both hand on the tree and put her ear close to it.

“What the hell are you doing?” Lovino asked.

“The Native Americans believed in tree spirits and many cultures have the idea of forest guardians. I thought if I listed, I might be able to hear it.”

“Let me try!” I went next to Mei and did the same as Lovino rolled his eyes. Even Feliciano tried to do the same. We listened for a bit in silence. Just as we were about to give up, a loud call of an eagle echoed across the valley we were in. Mei looked around in awe. Another call sounded and we all looked up to the the figure of a large eagle flying above the treetops.

“Wow.” Mei and Feliciano were breathless at what had just happened.

“It’s just a stupid bird that happened to pass by as you were all being idiots!” Lovino made to turn around, but stumbled and fell to the ground.

“Don’t make the tree mad!” Mei giggled.

“It was just the mud,” Lovino huffed as he got back up to his feet, his knees and arms covered in mud, which he tried to brush away.

“Let’s go on. We are going to cross a creek and follow another path up the other side to one of the larger trees in the forests.” Ludwig led the way, Alfred following him this time. As we marched through the tall grasses, Ludwig came to a small clearing where a maze of small creeks were all jumbled together. He had to step far to make it to a solid speck of land in between them all. He moved a rock and made a stepping stone to get across the second bit. He waded through a shallow bit to the other side. “Alfred, follow my footsteps to the stone. Lovino, make it to the middle. Help the girls across, and I’ll keep them stable through this part.”

I helped Mei jump across the first part, with Lovino keeping a hold on her hand until she went across to the stone and Alfred took care of her across. Ludwig caught her as she made a last leap, as she didn’t want to wade through the water. I grabbed Lovino’s hand and jumped across the first part. I was blushing as I held onto his hand and was relieved when Alfred was there to help me across, as I didn’t trust my legs to work. I waded only a bit through the creek, as Ludwig then pulled me up and to dry land. Elizabeta made it halfway across and did as Ludwig had, and just waded across. But her boot must have gotten sucked down by some mud, as she suddenly started falling forward. She would have landed flat on her face if Ludwig wasn’t there to catch her. She was kneeling on the dry part of land, her feet soaked in the creek.

“Liz, are you okay?” I asked, and helped Ludwig drag her up to her feet again.

“I’m soaked. And we have barely started.”

“I wouldn’t saw barely. It took awhile to make it down that hill.” Mei added.

Elizabeta found a slightly dry rock nearby and sat down. Quickly untying her boot, she turned it upside down. A good amount of water came out. Lovino laughed a bit as he made his way to our side, Alfred jumping over as well.

“Shut up. At least I didn’t trip over an angry tree,” Elizabeta muttered she emptied out her second boot, which wasn’t as wet as the first.

“It was the freaking mud!”

“Lots of people either trip, fall, or get soaked on this trip. Everyone will get muddy and dirty, no matter what,” Ludwig informed the rest of us as we waited for Elizabeta to finish drying out her boots.

After she was ready to march out again, Ludwig led the path again, this time with Alfred and myself bringing up the end of the line. We hiked on at the bottom of this valley, crisscrossing many creeks and wading through the high grasses. Mei was the third to fall. No-one warned her of a step created by the grassroots, and she slipped out of my sight (though she was barely a meter or two in front of me). After I finally located her on the ground, giggling at the fact that she was small enough to hide completely under the level of grass, we marched on, Elizabeta now telling her every time there was a hole in the ground or a rock in our path. We travelled the bottom of the valley for a very long time (there was no way to tell how much time has passed, other than the sun moving across the cloud filled sky), until a large fallen tree had decided to block the normal route.

“Let’s head up the hill now. Remember, don’t go straight up, it’ll take too much energy. I’ll take a route that’ll wind back and forth, like the path down we took. {Name}, we’ll be taking a break up at that large tree halfway up this slope. If we get separated due to someone falling behind, that’s where we’ll meet up again. It’ll be at a Western bearing, remember that.”

I nodded and we headed up. Ludwig went first as always, and had Feliciano follow directly behind him. Elizabeta followed him with Mei behind her at all times. Lovino travelled in front of me, and Alfred ended our train, though I was the only other person, besides Ludwig, that had a compass.

We went up this hill, and thankfully, no-one had gotten lost, and though we had only made it a few meters up the slope, it felt as though we had hiked for hours back and forth to make it up the slippery hill. Only Elizabeta and Feliciano had slipped and had to be caught before they slid down to the bottom of the valley again. Ludwig crouched down next to this very large tree, as the rest of us found similar places to rest around. Mei and myself had found a low travelling branch which we made ourselves comfortable on, as the rest found rotten logs or other roots. It was then I noticed that both Alfred and Ludwig had been carrying backpacks, which they took off at this point.

“I packed our water bottles with Victoria’s help earlier and brought snacks for more energy. The next part is always the hardest.”

“You mean this wasn’t hard? Bastard...” Lovino panted as he took his water bottle from Alfred. Ludwig divided up apples and trail mix for everyone, as Alfred had brought his own snack of jerky.

“While we are resting, let me explain this tree. What makes this tree important isn’t it’s size, but what was discovered on it last year. As you saw, it takes a lot of effort to get down here and to research the forest. An ecologist that helped lead this section last year found a rare type of lichen starting to grow on it.”

“The teacher told us about this!” I added. “He showed us pictures. On the white flecks on the bark, there were little black organisms growing. He said that the ecologist had asked the students on the trip to be careful when looking, as he and his team wanted to watch the lifecycle of this lichen. They haven’t been able to study it very much from this point onward.”

“Correct. I will not bore Feliciano or the rest of you with the details.”

“This is why I’m not taking that class until next year. You are all too smart!” Feliciano commented from his seat on the root. “Where are we going next?”

“Down the slope a bit. It’s a bit of an obstacle course to head back up the Southern side. That will be the steepest part up, and we will reach the highway a half a kilometer away from the camp.”

“How long will this take, dude?”

“It’s past midday. Maybe around fourteen or fifteen.”

“{Name}, dudette. What’s that in American time?”

“Around two or three in the afternoon,” I answered Alfred as I took another drink of my water, followed by a handful of the trail mix. Mei ate her apple next to me, too busy eating to ask many questions this time.

We finished our noon snacks as the sky was beginning to darken with grey clouds again. Alfred collected the water bottles again as Ludwig gathered the apple cores and the considerably lighter bags of trail mix. He put all the cores into one bag, meaning to dispose of them later in the day, when we returned. Back on the trail we went, going back down the hill and around the fallen log from earlier. The rain had started to come down, making us all pause for a moment, letting the few of us with hoods or hats get them on. Elizabeta had taken this time to put on her gloves, to keep her hands dry. We continued to march on, Ludwig leading us back through large clumps of the waist high grass again, and inching our way past recently fallen trees, trying not to get caugh on the branches. It was near one of these trees where Feliciano, Alfred, and myself had decided to take our turns on the ground. Lovino had laughed again as his brother had fallen, but after falling a second time (due to another tree branch), he decided to stay quiet.

We went past these fallen logs, to an area where a few new and low growing ones where. Alfred had held some of the branches back to let us slip through better, but we stopped when Ludwig had seen a problem in our path. The route that they normally took through an area of high growing shrubs had a large tree going through it. The tree was floating a bit off the ground from the many branches holding it up.

“Can’t we just walk over it?” Alfred asked.

“It’s too dangerous. It’s a perfect place to twist an ankle or fall into the bushes.”

“We all have good balance, let’s go!” Alfred jumped up the tree and started making his way over, balancing on the log and weaving his way through the branches. Not wanting to be left behind, Elizabeta jumped on the log behind him and ventured over. Ludwig tried to get them to stop, but they were already too far over the tree. Feliciano crawled up on the tree, and inched his way across, Ludwig behind him. After they were a ways over, Lovino got up and started his way over. I gave Mei a leg up and got on after her. The trunk was covered in a bit of slippery moss, and many branches had been snapped off, leaving lots of ‘death traps’ that we could have tripped over. The only bad time was when Mei stumbled a bit in front of me, making me panic for a moment, until she grabbed onto a branch and held on for dear life until I could help her get her balance back.

Ludwig was waiting with the rest of the group at the other end of the tree. Alfred was pouting (probably because he had gotten yelled at by Ludwig), while the rest were taking a water break. Ludwig led on again, to the last stretch of the hike, which was the steep incline back up the valley walls. Ludwig kept on going, as the rest of us were starting to tire out already. Mei started to fall behind farther, causing me and Elizabeta to also lag behind. Before we had gotten too far behind, Alfred had joined us in the back and was carrying Mei on his back. I led the two behind me, as Elizabeta went to catch up with the rest of them.

I was climbing over a log when the roots I had my foot on decided to break. I fell to the ground and looked behind at my leg. My ankle had gotten trapped in a trap of vines, and my fall had twisted it around, making it harder to pull my leg free.

“{Name}, are you stuck?” Alfred asked.

“That’s not good,” Mei commented. “Can you get out?”

I struggled harder to try and pull my leg free, but it was stuck fast. I couldn’t move that much, as I was halfway up a near cliff. I was starting to panic when I saw a figure moving over to the log a little farther up the slope.

“You are such a clumsy idiota!” Lovino slid down to the log and took out a pocket knife. “Do I have to be around all the time to save your as-Oi!”

I had chucked a clump of dirt at Lovino to keep him from finishing his sentence. He glared at me before starting to hack through the roots that held my ankle captive.

“Don’t get my ankle with that knife, please. I’d like to walk out of here.”

“Who’s saving you? You should be grateful that I’m getting you out!”

I stayed silent as Lovino cut away the last root. I got up and tested my ankle. “It’s fine.”

“But where’s the other three?” Mei asked.

We all looked up. Ludwig, Elizabeta, and Feliciano were nowhere in our field of vision.

“We’re screwed.”

“No, we’re not.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a compass. “The ecology class taught us how to use the compass. I know which way we have to go now.” I orientated us and started to lead the way.

“Now we’re really dead.”

“Who knows how to work the compass?” I shot behind me. I led us slowly up the slope until we came to a cliff that came up at almost ninety degrees ahead of us.

“You were saving something about how to work the compass?”

“That’s the road above us. Lovino, give me a boost.”

“Why me?”

“Would you like to carry Mei?”

Lovino had his normal noise of disapproval, but kneeled down and held out his hands. I took Lovino’s boost and grabbed the tree branches growing out to pull me up. As I got over the ledge, I saw we were only about a few hundred feet from where we started. I went back to the edge to see Mei crawling up. I helped her up, and then gave Lovino and Alfred a hand up too.

“Now, the question is, where are the other-?”

“{Name}, you made it!” I was nearly knocked over as Elizabeta ran over to hug me.

“Yeah, after you dudes left us behind!”

“Feliciano was talking up an earful about how tired, dirty, and hungry he was. We thought you were still behind us.”

“Liz, I nearly twisted my ankle with some bloody roots. I was stuck! Luckily, Lovino had a pocket knife and was able to cut me loose.”

“I’m sorry! I’ll cook up dinner tonight, okay?”

“After we all shower. It looks like the rain might get worse though.”

After Ludwig and Feliciano had caught up with us, we quickly walked the rest of the way back to the RV, and knocked on the door. When Victoria opened it, she regarded us with wide eyes.

“You all look like you went through hell.”

“Thank you. Can we come in now?”

“No! Shower first! All of you!” Victoria went back inside and rounded up clean clothes and toiletries for the girls, as Francis and Kiku-san did the same for the guys. After taking the bags from them, we rushed over to the shower buildings.

“Ahh, sweet heater! How I missed your warmth!” Elizabeta sighed when we walked in.

“You forgot the dryness. Come on, let’s get cleaned up.” Showers took longer than last time, as we had to peel off our soaked and muddied layers of clothing before we were able to warm up under the shower. After I walked out, I noticed Mei was already out and waiting for me on the counter of the sinks.

“Can we head back now?”

I knocked on the door to Elizabeta’s shower. “Liz? Mei and I will be heading back now, kay?”

“Alright, I’ll catch up with you.”

We walked out to see that the storm was pouring out buckets of rain now. We ran back to the RV, stumbling in as fast as we could. Ludwig was the only one back already, reading from the co-pilot’s seat. Kiku-san was heating up something in the microwave, as Victoria was sitting down in the bench.

“You guys were brave to go out hiking today. Looks like the rain won’t stop until midnight.”

“What time is it now?” I glanced over at our clock. It was around five.

“You came back at three thirty. A five hour hike. You are very brave, {Name}.”

“Can I take a nap?”

Victoria pulled out one of the couches for me. I fell down into the couch, Mei following me less than a few moments later.

|~Timeskipping~ I was lazy, and didn’t really work on this at all~ It is now after dinner, later.~|

After a filling dinner, the guys started getting ready for a night they weren’t ready to face. The rain had made small puddles appear all over the campsite, and they were not looking forward to the cold and wet night ahead. I stood at the door, helping them move their luggage inside for the night, when a loud rustle and the sound of cursing suddenly came from my right. When I looked over with Mei peeking out behind me, we were greeted by both Feliciano and Lovino struggling to crawl out of a collapsed tent.

“Damn it you bastard! This is all your fault!”

“Vehh~? How is it my fault, fratello?”

“This is your crappy old tent, so it’s your fault!”

“Vat happened?” Ludwig has come up to see what Lovino was complaining about.

“What does it look like? Our freaking tent fell apart!”

“Fratello, one of the supports snapped. Maybe it got weak through all the rain...”

“There’s duct tape in the RV somewhere. Don’t know where though,” I offered from my end.

“How the hell are we going to fix it this late? I can barely see you right now!”

“That’s true, even if we can find the tape,” Mei added softly from behind me. She was already looking like she was going to fall asleep on her feet.

“If it’s only for the night, {Name} vould it be alright if they sleep in the RV?” Ludwig turned to ask me.

“What?” My voice almost broke a little when I asked. Today was the day I was sleeping in the living room with Mei.

“I’m fine with it. Feli and Lovino are already tired from the hike. I don’t think they’ll try anything,” Mei commented on it and slipped back into the RV to tell Elizabeta and Victoria about the news.

“Fine, but only for tonight!” I relented. “Try any tricks, and you’ll meet Liz’s frying pan!”

“Si~!” Feliciano seemed happy to be out of the tent, even if it was only for the night. Lovino just turned to collect his sleeping bag and pillow from the flattened tent. Since that was settled, I led them inside the RV.

“How are we all going to fit in here?” I asked Mei, who had already changed and was sitting on the bed.

“We can share one of the beds, and they can share the other,” Mei suggested.

“That works for me!” Feliciano piped up and fell onto the larger bed on the left.

I sighed and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed and get myself changed. When I finished and came out, Mei was curled into her sleeping bag cave again, but I saw a faint light coming from inside. I sat down on my own sleeping bag next to her and opened her sleeping bag. She looked up with a deer-in-the-headlights look. She had a light in one hand and was holding the book open with the other.

I giggled. “Like that book?”

“Yes! It’s awesome! It’s about a girl and a soldier, who is an Undying, meaning he can’t be killed until the thing that keeps him moving, the core, is removed. Kieli, the girl, can see ghosts, and her only friend and roommate can see them too! Because she is a ghost!”

“Alright, I get it, I made a really good choice.”

“It’s part of a series though. Don’t know how many there are though.”

“I’ll buy you the rest, as long as you let me borrow them too. Sounds like an interesting story.” I let Mei go back to her own little world, and saw Lovino sitting on the bed. Apparently, Feliciano had gone to the bathroom after me. He had an iPod in his hand and was playing around with it. I blushed and slipped into my sleeping bag, trying not to think about the guy sleeping less than a foot away.

Both of us were strangely quiet as the seconds passed by. Feliciano finally came out from the bathroom, wearing the only thing the Italian brothers wore to bed.

(Freaking odd habbit of theirs. So embarrassing.) Luckily, Feliciano had gone to bed quickly, sparing Mei. I couldn’t think of anything to do, and fell asleep next to Mei before Lovino had even come back out from the bathroom.