Even after all these years, after four decades, the pain and desolation still felt like a fresh, open wound. The feelings had never left him. Especially today.

Sure, he would ignore them and carry on with his daily business. He would attempt to busy himself one way or another, whether it be pouring over the mountains upon mountains of paperwork his boss had given him, trying to maintain control over another World Meeting, watching Feliciano, or simply reading a book. They were all just a means of escape. In the end, it was all futile.

Today was one of the days he loathed most of the year. It really didn't have anything to do with the fact that it was still cold out, which in turn made the iron cross charm on his necklace cold to the touch. He could deal with that. In actuality, it constantly brought back too many memories. He remembered when the announcement was made. The final verdict that would end up ultimately not only dissolving the country of Prussia, but also his brother's very existence.

He remembered the silence and astonishment that filled the room. He remembered the sharp, sudden, intense pain of his already remorseful and burdened heart shatter into trillions of pieces. He remembered is brother's shocked face. He remembered his brother's last moments. He remembered his brother's last words. He remembered everything as if it were yesterday.

~*~*(flashback)*~*~

"And now," an Allied officer stated, "the Free State of Prussia, as of today, February 25, 1947, is officially dissolved."

A stunned silence filled the entire room. No one had been expecting this. Specifically him.

From where he stood, wearing his usual military uniform, he whipped his head around to face the slightly shorter albino in the Prussian blue military attire beside him.

His brother had a look of utter disbelief on his face, a strained, faraway gaze in his red-violet eyes. His face morphed into a look of pure grief.

"A-After all this time… after all those battles and wars…," the Prussian mumbled softly, his voice cracking and tears threatening to overflow. "…I…I never expected this day to come…."

"B-Bruder...," he managed to say. He felt a strong pain tighten its grip around his already fragile heart. "I…"

"J-Ja, Lutz?" his older brother blinked, tears finally rolling down his pale cheeks.

"I…I…" the younger German stepped forward, a sudden spurt of anger and defiance taking over.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! GILBERT DID NOTHING WRONG! HE WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!" he shouted in rage. " YOU—!"

"Lutz…" the Prussian reached out to touch his shoulder.

He looked down at the floor. "If…If you need to dissolve someone….then…dissolve me."

The whole room was shocked into silence once again. No one had expected this either.

"Please," the blond German pleaded, "dissolve me instead. Don't dissolve mein bruder. I deserve it more than he does."

Tears began rolling down his face. He knew he appeared pathetic and broken, but at that particular moment, he didn't really care. He didn't want his brother to disappear.

"Please…"

"Ludwig." He felt a hand placed on his broad shoulder. He glanced up, his ice-blue eyes meeting red-violet. "Please don't do this. You don't need to…"

"Gilbert… I'm so sorry!" He began crying more, his brother gingerly wrapping his arms around his taller sibling.

~*~(one month later)~*~

He had hoped and prayed with all of his being that his beloved brother would stay with him for the rest of his life while he could. Sadly, he knew that that would never be the case. Gilbert would soon disappear without a trace.

After the announcement, Alfred (he had been against the whole idea to dissolve Prussia) had been able to pull a few strings that allowed the two Germanic personifications to return to the Prussian's residence outside of Berlin.

For the past month, he had spent almost every single waking moment he could with the Prussian. To some people, it might seem creepy, but Gilbert didn't seem to mind very much. The two would spend time reading stories together, like they did when the elder of the two was raising the younger one. They would bake pastries together, take his dogs for a walk, go to some cafes that were open, and spend time with anyone else that happened to be with them, which usually seemed to be Alfred, Roderich, and/or Elizabeta, and occasionally Francis, Antonio, Lovino, Feliciano, Arthur, and Vash and Lilli would tag along.

Gilbert would tell stories from when he grew up, when he was raising the younger German, when he served under Old Fritz, or just something random. He would listen intently, laughing along with his brother and everyone else. He somehow found a way to record a majority of them for the future.

One night, a little while after Elizabeta, Roderich, Alfred, Lovino, and Feliciano had left, the pair were in their separate bedrooms getting ready for bed.

He had finished putting on his nightshirt when he heard a light knock at the door. "In a moment, please," he said. He walked over to the entrance of his room and opened the old door. In the doorway stood the albino, dressed in an old T-shirt and boxers, Gilbird perched in its usual position on his head.

"Something wrong, Gil?" he asked.

"Mind if I come in for a minute, Lutz?"

"Nein," he replied, gesturing the Prussian to come in.

Said Prussian waltzed in and took a seat on the younger's neatly and precisely-made bed, patting a seat next to him. The German sighed slightly, but complied.

"Is there something bothering you," he asked after getting situated on his bed.

Gilbert nodded. "Ludwig, we both know that it's only a matter of time before I….dis—"

"Don't say it!" He held up a hand for his brother to stop. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

He looked down. "It's just… I don't know how much time I'll have left. And I want you to know…"

The blond arched an eyebrow. "Know what?"

"How proud I am of you, Lutz. You're almost as awesome as the awesome me!" He laughed nonchalantly.

The younger brother blinked. "What…?"

"I'm proud of you, Lutz," the albino smiled. "I'm proud of the person you've become. You may A hard-working, stubborn individual, but I also know how caring, compassionate, and strong-willed you are. I did raise you after all.

"I trust you more than a lot of people I know. I know that you will work hard in order to protect and take good care of your people and mine." Gilbert moved quickly on the bed so that he was fully facing his brother. "Ludwig, I want you to promise me that you will always, always, stay true to yourself. That you will learn from your past mistakes and other's past mistakes in order to make for a better future. That, if need be, you won't dwell in the past. Everyone has made mistakes that they wish they could change, but I want you to instead think of them as learning experiences, and continue to learn what is right from wrong. And, promise me that you will protect our people and do what's right…. Please, promise me that."

He gazed in awe at his brother. He thought for a quick moment, the room silent except for their breathing and some soft snores from Gilbird. "I promise, Gilbert. I promise I will do all of that anything more if need be."

"Danke. That's pretty much all I wanted," he smiled his usually cocky grin and laughed. He stood up and was about to leave when his younger brother grabbed his hand. He paused for a second and turned around, noticing the taller of the two with some tears in his eyes.

He smiled knowingly, seeing the younger revert back to some of his old antics from when he was younger, and pulled the other into his embrace. The two stood there for a few short moments and they broke apart.

"Try to not to be such a wuss, either, okay?"

"Ja, okay," the blond replied.

Gilbert laughed and ruffled the younger's short blond locks and left the room, Gilbird circling his head. "Guten Nacht! Ich liebe dich, Ludwig."

"Guten Nacht, Gilbert," he called back. He closed his door, wrote a quick entry in his "journal" (like older brother, like little brother), and went to bed. Within a few minutes, he fell asleep.

The next morning, when he went to go wake up his brother, the only thing he found was a certain yellow chick staring at an unoccupied mound of blankets and bed sheets.

~*~*(end flashback)*~*~

He hated having to do this. It brought back too many memories.

He sighed and continued onto his current destination through the cemetery to his brother's memorial, Gilbird sleeping on his shoulder.

He remembered back to when he had tried so, so, hard to find his elder sibling. He recruited the Vargas siblings, Alfred, Matthew, Elizabeta, Roderich, Francis, Antonio, Kiku, even the Nordics. But, to no avail, he couldn't find Gilbert. He was gone. After a couple years, he had been able to arrange to set up a memorial headstone for the Prussian. He had been visiting it every year on this date and his brother's birthday or any time he wanted to ever since. He never missed a single date.

He sighed again, remembering Gilbert's last words to him, as he reached the site. It was something not very elaborate, but it worked. The headstone was made of granite and had the Prussian flag chiseled into it. In German, it read:

In loving memory of

CAPT. GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

January 1, 1922 — March 25, 1947

Beloved friend, brother, and soldier

He shall never be forgotten.

He knelt down beside the memorial and placed his bouquet of fresh flowers along with the other ones that were placed there recently. (He wasn't the only one that visited the memorial.)

Later, he rubbed the iron cross charm on his necklace, attempting to warm it a little, on his back to his car. He passed a family that was on their way back as well.

As he exited the premises of the cemetery into the parking lot, he felt small arms gently wrap themselves around his hips. He blinked in surprise and glanced down, seeing a little girl of around five-years-old. She smiled sweetly at him with a pair of glittering amber eyes matching her hair. She wore an emerald green jumper-dress and white shirt worn with her winter coat and hat. For some reason, with Gilbird on her head, she looked ever so slightly like Gilbert.

"Aubrey!" the girl's mother called.

Aubrey beamed at him once more, cracking a childish, semi-cocky grin, and dashed off towards her family.

The German smiled to himself as Gilbird flew back and perched itself back on his shoulder and got into his car.

Maybe these days weren't particularly as bad anymore.

A/N: Ciao! It's been quite a while, huh?

I'm really sorry that I haven't been updating anything for a while. School's been going on for the past month or so with its bloody homework, and then I've had a lot of writer's block and I've just haven't had any interest in writing lately. Sorry about that.

I've been feeling under the weather the past couple days, and I guess it takes a sick day for me to write something. Hehehe….. *coughcough*

Anyways, this has been one of the plot bunnies that has been keeping house in my mind for a while, so I thought I'd just type this up. This was supposed to be part of the basis for a possible multi-chapter story, but I just thought I'd go with this instead since I still have some other fics to finish and some other new ones I'll be working, too.

Still, I hoped you all enjoyed reading this! I worked hard on this, so please tell me how I did in a review! And please watch out for some more updates soon. I won't make any promises, but we'll see.

Thanks again!

~Azami