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Stray Italian Greyhound

Chapter one: Ein einsamer umherirrender

It was just like any day, Ludwig was walking home from a normal day of school when he heard a strange sound coming from a nearby alleyway. Ludwig was a smart man and knew better than to run off into a dark alleyway, but the strange noise compelled him to enter the alleyway. Despite his better judgment, he cautiously entered the dark alleyway after the strange noise that echoed off the alley's walls. With every step the strange sound began to get louder and louder. As he got closer he felt as though the noise sounded familiar. He began to quicken his pace down the filthy alleyway.

" It sounds like a whimper." Ludwig thought as he continued towards the sound trying not to trip over the various garbage littered on the floor.

At the end of the alley he found the source of the whimpering, a dog curled up into a little ball. It was an Italian Greyhound ,a stray by the looks of it, covered in filth and blood. Whoever or whatever got to it did a bang up job of hurting the poor pup. The sight of it tore at Ludwig's dog loving heart

"Who would've done this to something so defenseless?" he asked kneeling besides the whimpering stray.

Ludwig cautiously reached a hand to the strays head to show that he meant no harm and began to gently rub its head. The stray's whimpering began to lessen by Ludwig's actions, which made Ludwig smile.

"Come let's get you fixed up." He whispered as he gently picked up the thin dog and emerged out of the dark alleyway.

" Thankfully my house isn't too far from where I found you. What do you think about my place?" Ludwig asked staring at the dog in his hands.

The stray simply looked at the tattered house and gave a nudge to the pair of arms that was holding him.

"Yeah I know it isn't the greatest place. It's a bit rundown here and there, but it's what and my brother and I can afford. This is our home." Ludwig said as both he and the stray stared at the home in front of them. "Gil! Are you home?" He yelled as he entered the doorway. When no one responded he decided to take the stray upstairs.

"Okay the first thing we need to do is give you a well deserved bath."

The stray immediately began to squirm in Ludwig's' arms, but quickly stopped and began to whimper in pain.

"Don't worry I'll be right by you. It's just water." Ludwig said with a smile as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

Setting the stray down in the tub he slowly turned on the water .The stray was so frightened that despite his injuries, he tried to escape from the tub. In result, he drenched Ludwig's' school uniform.

"Relax it's not going to hurt you." he said as he started to remove his drenched shirt and began to pour water over the stray.

After a while the stray began to relax allowing Ludwig to thoroughly clean him. When he was done, Ludwig quickly dried the stray and carried him into his room.

" Let me just throw on a shirt and then I'll patch you up." He said gently placing the stray down on the ground and walking over to his dresser, pulling out a black tank top.

After quickly redressing, he pulled out a first aid kit and sat right next to the now clean stray. "Okay now lets see just how badly you're hurt."

Besides a few bruises and cuts, the strays' only major injury was a broken leg.

"Sorry but this is the best I can do for you." He said as he began to wrap the stiff cardboard with torn strips of gauze around the strays' broken leg and taping it in place firmly. "My brother is much more experienced than I am when it comes to first aid. When he comes home he can fix my crappy attempt. Try not to move while I go get something for us to snack on." He said as he disappeared out the door leaving the stray in his room alone .

Ludwig was quickly examining the little amount of food that occupied his refrigerator when he heard a crash from above. He closed the refrigerator door and quickly went upstairs.

"Stray what happened?" He yelled.

As he entered his room he noticed that his glass cup that he had left on his desk earlier was now scattered all over the floor in pieces and the stray was cowering beside the desk.

" Look what you did!" Ludwig yelled.

It was his favorite cup, which was one of the last things he had when his parents were still around. He angrily walked down the hall to get a dustpan and a little brush. Upon returning he noticed that all the shards of glass was put into a neat pile and the strays' front paw was slightly bleeding. At first Ludwig didn't know how to respond to the scene in front of him, but after a couple of seconds he silently began to sweep up the pile of glass.

"Es tut mir leid. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. That glass was just special to me."He said as he dumped the shards into the wastebasket near his desk. "Come lets wrap up your paw." Ludwig said extending his hand. "You sure are accident prone aren't you?" He joked as he wrapped the strays' paw , at which the stray nodded. "I can't believe you just agreed with me." Ludwig busted into laughter.

When Gilbert arrived home he was greeted with the rare sound of his younger brothers' laughter.

" I wonder what could be putting West in a good mood." Gilbert thought as he went up to Ludwig's' room.

Quietly leaning against the door frame, Gilbert watched his younger brother rubbing a dogs' belly enthusiastically.

"Wow West I haven't seen you like this in such a long time." Gilbert said smiling.

"Gilbert? When did you get home?"

"Just now. Who is the house guest?"

"Just a stray that I found in an alleyway. He seemed badly beaten so I decided to bring him home."

"Really? How bad are his injuries?" Gilbert asked getting a closer look at the stray.

"Not too bad besides a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises."

"I see." Gilbert said picking up the injured leg and paw to check Ludwig's work. "Not too bad little bruder! Not as awesome as me, but you did a good job." He said patting Ludwig on the back forcefully.

"Thanks."

"Hey let's get downstairs and eat some dinner." Gilbert suggested. With that being said they left the room with Ludwig caring the house guest in his arms.

"What should we feed him West?"

"Well I was going to give him some wurst. It's not like we have dog food." Ludwig said as he finished up cooking the wurst and placing them on a plate.

"Good point. Here." Gilbert said as he placed one in front of the stray.

The stray only looked at the strange food in front of it.

"Eat up stray. You need to eat if you want your leg to get any better." Ludwig said pushing the wurst closer to the stray.

"Bruder you can't keep calling him a stray he needs a name."

"Does that mean we can keep him?"

"Well I don't see why not he is a stray after all. We can't just throw him back on the streets in his condition." Gilbert said with a triumphant smile. "Besides he makes you happy. The happiest I've seen you in a long time. "

It took everything for Ludwig not to give his bruder a crushing hug.

"Thank you." Was all what he managed to say.

"So what are you going to name him?"

"I don't know."

"Okay! Let the awesome me name him!"

"No offense but the last animal you named was Gilbird."

"What does that mean? Gilbird is an awesome name isn't it Gilbird?" He asked petting the little bird that rested on his head. "How about Gildog?" Gilbert asked the stray who shook his head.

"I guess he doesn't like it." Ludwig said trying not to laugh.

After dinner, Ludwig let the nameless stray stay in his room.

"Don't worry I'll think of a name. For now lets focus on getting your leg healed." He said as he laid newspaper on the floor.

Ludwig watched as the stray cautiously laid on the newspaper bed before he climbed into bed and turned off the lights. Not even five minutes later Ludwig woke to loud whimpering. At first he tried to ignore it, but the sound carried in his empty room. Turning on the light he could see the stray nearly crying in his sleep.

"You're just as bad as a child aren't you?" He asked as he got up to comfort the crying pup. "Come here stray." He said picking him up and placing him on his bed. "You can sleep here tonight so we both can get some sleep." The strays' crying seemed to tone down. That night Ludwig felt more comfortable than he had in a long time with the stray curled by his feet.

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Author notes:

Hey everyone I'm 100% new to the experience of writing on fanfiction so please put up with my horrible formatting and what not. I hope you liked chapter one. It's the new year so I thought it was about time to get back to writing. I have written many original stories and movie scripts, but never got around to publishing anything I wrote. So when you see that my writing style has changed randomly you know why. I will try to update weekly, but being a senior in high school it might be tough. Future chapters will hopefully be longer. Please leave any comments, suggestions, or corrections. I'll try my best to get back to you asap. One more thing, you will notice that languages may change throughout the story I will have translations down here.

German:

Ein einsamer umherirrender - A lonely stray

Es tut mir leid - I'm sorry

Bruder - brother