"Da, that looks sturdy. Well, come on Gilbert," the Russian said. The man was taller than Gilbert. No surprise. He towered over many of the people he communicated with. It was another factor that made Gilbert shudder when he felt the Russian's hand on his shoulder. Gilbert was in awe at the wall in front of him. He wanted to yell, "Hang in there Ludwig! The awesome me will return even more awesome and powerful than before! Don't you worry mein Bruder1!"
He couldn't. He just couldn't get the words out as the Russian guided him away. How could he be so happy, that Russian? Gilbert only frowned at the man's smile. He looked behind him. He wasn't the only one trudging behind miserably. He could recognize some faces following behind the three soviet siblings and the three trembling Baltic males. Two faces he knew better than most were the ones belonging to Roderich Edelstein and Elizabeta Héderváry. They didn't seem even one bit happy about the situation either. Gilbert slowed down to walk beside Elizabeta.
"G-Gilbert?" she mumbled, a bit surprised to see the albino next to her. He tried his best to smile at her but his face was just as sad as hers, maybe even more after having to leave his litter brother behind.
"So Ivan came all the way down there, huh?" he said in a sad, cocky whisper. Only a fragment of his normal self showed. He tried to show he was fine to the brown haired female next to him but it pained him still, this separation from his brother and the people and things that made him himself. The chuckle he gave even sounded sad. "It's no surprise that aristocrat was defeated. All he can really do is played those useless instruments of his."
"Gilbert, please, not right now," Elizabeta said in reply to his attempts to cheer her up. He turned back around to see the wall pass by him and the group. He really didn't see much of the two after that encounter. They were childhood friends (in Roderich's case, childhood enemies) but Ivan, the Russian who brought him to the frozen wasteland didn't see them like that. Ivan was oblivious to any kind of feelings that others had around him. He tried to care about what his people and the group thought and felt, especially about him but he scared too many of them to actually get the truth. After taking control of the group, Ivan had gone about assigning them all jobs. Gilbert didn't like it. Why had he and his brother tried to take on Ivan after Feliks? He knew it was most his fault for jumping the gun and going after Ivan. He was known to get caught up in the trill of victory but wasn't his pay back enough for him. Hadn't his defeat been enough? His little brother would have to make a life for himself by himself now. Gilbert didn't want that. He doubted after getting out of this situation (if that ever happened) that he would be that strong figure people saw. Already, it seemed like Ivan had weakened him too much. He didn't want to admit. He was awesome and great! He didn't want to admit that Ivan had defeated him so badly that he, Gilbert Beilschmidt, had become nothing more than a servant to the great soviet army.
"Ich will dich wieder sehen. Keine Sorge, Bruder!2" he said as he leaned against the broom. He winced as an officer yelled at him. Many of them did not approve of him speaking German but Ivan's group was so diverse, even before Gilbert was forced to join. Only Natalia was fond of speaking Russian. Even the small frightened Baltic men did not fully keep up with Ivan's language. None of them could really do anything about the German albino speaking German anyway. He had been taught various Russian things but it was not like he tried to remember them. "Дай мне!3" he shouted loudly to the officers in a language and tone that he thought they might understand. It was a mistake of course. He would have been better off shouting it in German at them. Ivan was use to controlling protesters, rioters, and the like. One little, cocky German was something Ivan could handle easily like had done before.
"Поговорите с боссом. Немецкий надо учить еще раз.4" the lead office said as he turned away from Gilbert to face one of his men. The lower ranked officer nodded and walked away from the German and the Russian officer. Gilbert gulped. All he really knew in that sentence was "босс5" and that wall all he needed to know. From that, he knew he was in trouble from Ivan. "босс" is what the officers used to reference Ivan. He was not sure what it meant but he knew it was not good news.
The scars and pain Gilbert received from acting up only made him laugh louder when he stood next to his younger brother, Ludwig again. He finally managed to take down take down that wall and go against the ever frightening, towering Russian. "The awesome me is back! You can't do anything about it, you psychotic snow man!" he laughed. He had heard how Elizabeta had tried to get Roderich and herself out not too long ago. It was probably because of her that Gilbert had managed to get through but things had always been bloody and violent under the Russian's control. It was hard to say if it was thanks to her or his great bravery and genius that he had returned to his brother's side. It had only been 28 years or so that he had survived under Ivan's control but now, as he expected, he was no longer that great figure he use to be. He was no longer Gilbert Beilschmidt, conqueror of Europe. His existence seemed to fade into the rest of the people around him. He would not sit around crying over it though. He was the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt of course! He was not pathetic.
Only one person could Gilbert really go about calling pathetic and he watched that man walk past him. The injured brown haired female was limping at his side. Roderich was forced to carry the one person he seemed to care about back home. Before, the two had been perfectly fine. Depressed, like everyone else, but fine. Gilbert was sure Elizabeta would be fine but he knew things would be different for the two, much like his brother and him. "Don't you mess up again, you pussy musician!" he called to Roderich. The man whom Gilbert thought as pathetic only turned to nod at him. His lovely dark purple suit was torn and filthy. Blood and dirt, along with the tears of it, made it obvious that he had not been fit to work under Ivan's control. Elizabeta had only gotten the worse end for trying to escape, obviously with his help. Still, Gilbert knew that this whole incident would ruin the two's relationship. He wasn't that arrogant.
"Are you all right, Gilbert?" his brother asked. Gilbert turned to his brother now. He had grown so much over the years.
His frown quickly turned to his cocky grin as he wrapped his arm around his brother's shoulder. "Ja, of course I am! What did you think the awesome me could be taken down so easily? Come on. There's something I missed while with Ivan."
1 "Mein Bruder" means "My brother" in German.
2 "Ich will dich wieder sehen. Keine Sorge, Bruder!" means "I will see you again. Don't worry brother!" in German.
3 "Дай мне!" This is translated to "Make me!" in Russian.
4 Поговорите с боссом. Немецкий надо учить еще раз." Translated from Russian: "Speak with the boss. The German needs to be taught a lesson again."
5 "босс" means "the boss" in Russian.