It was a quiet, cool night. He and his brother were resting in their tent in a campsite, which seemed to be all but forgotten by the locals, who lived a long ways away from where they were.. Little did anyone know how well known it would become throughout their city as being in the most dangerous of woodland regions of the entire country.
But, of course, the older albino brother didn't know or bother to care when he drove himself and his seventeen-year-old brother out aimlessly into the wilderness. Gilbert had reassured Ludwig repeatedly that they were out of harm's way since he had his "awesome big bruder" with him. He also distracted him with hunting and fishing, which seemed to take the blonde's attention off of "unimportant" matters. Soon, he would regret not listening to his younger sibling.
In their small, stuffy, one-man tent, the German and the "Prussian" slept soundly. Gilbert snoring and Ludwig breathing deeply, right cheek buried into his pillow. His furrowed eyebrows twitched as his ears caught the faint sound of some of the bushes rustling around their campsite. Ludwig's eyes suddenly fluttered open as he heard heavy steps. It took a few seconds to register the sound as he rose drowsily from his sleeping bag. Gilbert's snores drowned out the sound, so Ludwig wasn't sure if it was just his imagination or not. But then they got heavier as he heard the large thing making the steps draw closer to their campsite, or more importantly, their tent. The blonde's eyes widened and he grabbed the flashlight by his pillow. "Who's there?" he whispered. When he recieved no response, he repeated it louder. He heard a grunt. A shiver of paranoia traveled down his spine and raised goosebumps on his arms. "Oh mein Gott..." he choked out as he saw the outline of the beast outside of the tent. He gulped, frozen with fear.
He heard it sniff the air around the tent and he forced himself to breathe, though he was panicking inside. "Gil.." he murmured as quiet as he could, trying not to be noticed by the bear looming over their tent. He turned to the albino and shook him. "Gil!" he whispered loudly. "Hm?!" The older man turned in his bed, his snoring interrupted. His silvery white brows furrowed as he opened his blood red eyes sleepily. "What is it, bruder?" he asked grouchily, turning to Ludwig. The blonde was trembling. "I-I forgot our guns in the truck.." he muttered under his breath, cussing as he heard the bear nudge the edge of the tent. Gilbert sat up as he heard the animal. "Was zür Hölle..?!" His blood ran cold when the beast heard his outburst and responded with a deep growl. "Sheiße! Get out now!" The albino grabbed his brother's arm and yanked him out of the tent. The bear flattened half the tent with its front feet, bellowing out a loud growl when it saw the humans. "The mace! Where's the bear mace!?" Gilbert demanded, as they backed away from the tent and the animal climbing over it. "There was..there was one in the tent u-und one in the truck." "Right." Gilbert shuffled quickly to his truck as the bear was distracted in tearing up their tent.
Unfortunately, Ludwig was still frozen in place, eyes wide. He had never seen a bear up close and fear was coursing through his veins at a rapid speed. His legs trembled and his flight response took hold of him.
It was the worst mistake he had ever made in his life. The bear had been done with tearing up the tent and charged after Ludwig.
Gilbert slammed the truck door closed and ran back to his campsite with mace in hand. "Lud-" All that was left of their camp was scattered ashes and a torn-up tent. The albino looked around frantically for a sign of the bear. He could only hope his brother had hid- A scream rippled through the stillness of the night and pierced his eardrums. "SHIEßE! LUDWIG!"
The blonde could still hear his name echoing faintly through his mind as he slowly rose from unconsciousness and squinted weakly as his eyes barely opened. He heard the beeping of the monitor next to where he laid, but it sounded too loud. He exhaled deeply and turned his head, trying to ignore it. It was annoying even after only a minute. He winced and whined softly as a throbbing ache tortured the back of his head. Ludwig froze suddenly in thought and he looked around him at the white room. He was in a hospital room. But why?
He took a deep breath and tried to sit up. His back was stiff, his chest stung with fresh bandages and disinfectant, and the side of his face hurt when he tried to contort any emotion onto it. He groaned as pain shot through his shoulder. Ludwig turned to look at the small bump next to him in the white, sterile sheets. It was starting to bleed through the bandages. "Sheiße.." He lifted his left arm, which was attached to some tubing, to hold his shoulder, since he couldn't find any feeling in his right arm for some reason.
He soon found out the reason. As he felt over the bleeding stitches on his shoulder, the color and heat drained from his body . With a trembling hand, he reached over and felt the space on the hospital bed where his right arm would have been laying, if he had one anymore.
"M-Mein G-Gott..." he choked out. He was so shocked he couldn't even scream. Ludwig couldn't hear anything but white noise and his eyes rolled back into his head and closed their lids. He collapsed on his bed again, drifting out of consciousness in an instant.