"Tell me about him."
"Hmmm?"
"You rarely go into detail about him," Ludwig said to his brother. "All you every talk about is how 'awesome' he was."
"He was awesome," Gilbert retorted, looking from the TV.
"He was one of the greatest kings in the world and all you have to say about him is that he was 'awesome'? You knew him better than anyone. I know it's difficult, but it would be good for you to tell someone about those days."
Gilbert rolled his eyes and turned away from his brother.
"He was important to you. Is important to you," Ludwig said with as much of a pleading tone as Gilbert would ever get from the powerful nation. "I just want to know about the man who made you strong. The man who built the foundations for the country that I am today."
That caught Gilbert's attention. "You want the details? Fine. I'll start at the beginning. I'm warning you know, though; there may be things in this story that you might wish you hadn't heard."
Ludwig sat on the couch next to his brother, listening intently.
"It was cold that day…"
Of course it was cold. It was January. He remembered everything about that day. He should too, since it had turned out to be the most important day of his long life. The Royal Adviser had announced the previous night that the wife of the Crown Prince had given birth to a son. Though the other two boys had not lived long, Gilbert took this as an opportunity to "celebrate" with the soldiers. He hadn't even thought about the child until he was awoken by piercing screams that did nothing to help his throbbing head.
Deciding that he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep, Gilbert rose and dressed and made his way toward the princess's room. He figured that he couldn't disturb the child anymore than he already was, so he knocked on the door and was let in by one of the servants.
"Gilbert! I'm surprised you're here," Sophia Dorothea said with a smile. "I heard that you were out rather late last night."
"Just celebrating, my lady," he nearly shouted over the wailing.
"I suppose you came to see your future king," his princess said, turning the bundle in her arms towards him, allowing him to see a tuft of blond hair and a scrunched red face. "He seems much healthier than the other two."
"Hard to believe that all of that noise can come from something so small."
Sophia grinned at him. "Do you not remember Wilhelmina? She was much worse."
"My lady," a servant interrupted. "We must get you fitted for your new gown."
"Oh! I had almost forgotten. Could you hold him for a moment, Gilbert?" Without giving him time to protest, Sophia had fitted the baby in his arms and moved into the next room. He had to admit that he liked his princess better than the crown prince most of the time, but this was not one of those times. The continued wailing brought his attention back to the baby in his arms.
"Come on, kid. It's not awesome to cry."
As if those had been the magic words, the wailing stopped. A pair of ice blue eyes stared up at him from the bundle of cloth. The child seemed perplexed that he was with this strange person instead of his mother and Gilbert was waiting for the screaming to start again. Children didn't care too much for him. They were usually terrified by his gruffness and red eyes. Even Wilhelmina, who was almost four, was still skittish around him.
His worries were unwarranted, however, as the babe just yawned, gripped his cravat, and fell back asleep. After he was forced to stand there awkwardly for a few more minutes, Sophia returned and retrieved her baby from the nation.
Gilbert would have liked to say that he saw greatness in the child then and there, but all he had seen was a sleeping baby and he couldn't say that he was excited for him to become king, since he would be raised by his tyrant of a father. He was not looking forward to the death of his current king Friedrich, for all he had to look forward to was the oppressive rule of his son. Gilbert had no idea at the time just how horrible it would be.