After Hours(Based on Axis Powers Hetalia)
"So this was the historical palace of Prussia, the Berliner Dom. The fanatics of shows featuring characters who personify nations, territories, states, cities, towns, and provinces are sensitive to a strange presence there. The main reason the site isn't listed on any database concerning haunted areas is because the other folks don't believe the fanatics' tales. I myself am a fan of a satirical anime and webcomics, Axis Powers Hetalia. This comes in handy since I have a job as a night guard at a place haunted by the ghost of one such character who embodies the dissolved Kingdom of Prussia. I have with a plan to catch this spook which will bear fruit," schemed the new night guard, an 18-year-old female named Amelia.
After hearing from fellow fanatics that a translucent albino has been spotted and reports of disembodied hissing and raspy laughter in the halls, Amelia decided to take up the position, investigate the cause, and find a way to catch the specter. After reading the records and asking the fans of the Hetalia series, she noted that ghosts of personifications, during the night, are more corporeal than ghosts of humans, which means that the hazards these ghosts face includes different kinds of powder and dust, sticky liquids, sharp objects, and corrosive chemicals.
At closing time, when she was the only person there, Amelia set up her trap. Armed with her flashlight, a video camera, and a coil of wire, she filled a bucket with some mummy dust and floor dust to track the spirit's footprints and to increase the visibility; she smeared a path to a cage with butter and strew oil-coated ball bearings onto the butter slide to trip up the ghost. To make sure that the figure would not escape the cage, she coated the inside of the cage with a sticky mixture of beeswax, gum arabic, pine sap, and liquid resin. In order to hoist the cage, Amelia attached ropes to the roof of the cage and trailed the ropes to the legs of her desk and chair. Knowing that sometimes the figure can disappear through walls, the night guard also surrounded the device with panels coated with rubber cement.
Amelia patiently waited at the security monitors for the spirit. Suddenly, one of the computer screens showed the pale figure in the main corridors. The monitor picked up the figure's distinct hissing laugh. The vision suddenly tripped on a wire that sent the mixture of powder onto the figure as well as the floor. The powdered figure slipped on the greasy ball bearings and fell into the cage trap. The door of the cage closed with a loud "CLANG!" Amelia, snickering, pulled on the ropes to drag the cage towards the office. The figure's shouts of, "Get me out of here! I am the awesome Gilbert! This is undignified" rang out, but Amelia responded only by drawing the cage closer to her.
For a fanatic like her, Amelia was unnerved by such a loud tirade. Sure, she recognized the dusted figure as the anthro version of the now dissolute Kingdom of Prussia, but she didn't expect a ghost to scream up a storm.
Just as the furious and gummed Gilbert broke free of the cage, Amelia, armed with her flashlight, began to ask the albino spirit why he returned to the Berliner Dom when he should've passed on. Turns out, the apparition of Prussia had an extant brother. Amelia, lowering her flashlight, realized that to have the ghost pass on, the brother must be contacted. The brother lived in an apartment in the government section of Berlin.
When the sun rose, Amelia asked Gilbert if he could still walk around in daylight. The ghostly Gilbert explained he chose not to do so because people might react negatively or with fear towards him. Amelia agreed to meet Gilbert in the same place the next evening. Gilbert then disappeared through a wall, leaving behind slivers of dusty resin to the wall, which Amelia scraped off.
When he did show up, still partly covered in dust from the previous night's episode, Amelia explained that her boss allowed her to take time off from work and considered this mission part of her duties as the night guard of the museum. They left for the government section of Berlin.
Once inside the apartment, Amelia saw, with a mix of shock and intrigue, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, and muscular man with a slight beer belly clean up a few dishes. Once done, he plucked a tissue from a nearly empty tissue box and continue to sob bitterly over a scrapbook. Only the name on the picture frames prove the identity of the man: Ludwig. How could an albino have a blond-haired and blue-eyed brother? Amelia knew that question was invalid because Gilbert and Ludwig were personifications, and familial personifications defy many laws of genetics.
Gilbert's brother, Ludwig, turned out to be a lonely man. He simultaneously showed traits of perfectionism and ruined pride: he chose plain clothes over standard, green army fatigues. Most of his apartment was neat and organized, but there was little to no evidence of trophies, medals, or any flags in the apartment. His ruined pride was in evidence via a dartboard with a perforated picture of you-know-who-with-the-weird-little-mustache. His own grief was still evident; his cheeks and eyes were streaked with tears and his shoulders slumped. Empty bottles of German beer were piling up in the glass disposal container, and crumpled up tissues filled a wastebasket. Amelia tried her hardest not to laugh; even a pining German still keeps his home in meticulous fashion.
Ludwig was shocked at seeing the ghost of his dead brother. He remembered that the last time he had seen Gilbert as a spirit, it was a decade after the Berlin Wall fell and his weakened brother died in bed from the years of torture and dissolution that caught up to him; had some of his memories absorbed into Ludwig; and was left to rot in a restricted area under the Brandenburg Gate. And who was next to Gilbert? The grief prevented Ludwig to ask. Amelia turned to Gilbert and whispered to him, "Tell him why you were haunting the Berliner Dom."
"Bruder, ignore her. Understand that I am here to stay next to you before I pass on. I decided to pay one last visit to the Berliner Dom. Unfortunately, I could not leave the museum because the nostalgia was just too much. However, thanks to her, I was able to see you again. Do you miss me?" Gilbert said. Ludwig nodded and turned to Amelia.
Amelia, facing Ludwig, spoke, "Ludwig, people may want to bring back Prussia, but he wouldn't keep his original personality if he did. Besides, his own corpse may be a rotten skeleton by the time they unbury his body anyway. Can you accept that?"
Ludwig looked at the ghost of his brother and Amelia. He soon spoke to himself and Gilbert, "She is right. Can you accept that you won't keep your original personality if you were brought back? Can you do more for me?" Gilbert gave one last look and spoke to Ludwig, "You mourned for me ever since I left to go to the Berliner Dom. And with the help of her, I can finally see you again. You can commemorate me by visiting the Berliner Dom. But if you want you, I can stay with you. Do you want me to stay with you?"
Ludwig could say no more. He suddenly realized that he didn't need to weep enough tears to fill the Dead Sea to remember Gilbert. He could simply visit historical sites to remember him. The Berliner Dom was one of them, and it was a museum dedicated to Prussia, his brother.
"And if you do cry, just bring tissues. Its okay to weep. Just don't leave salty puddles on the floor. The janitors are busy enough." Amelia said. Ludwig smiled through the tears and gave a small chuckle. Ludwig washed his cheeks and cleaned his face with a washcloth Amelia had offered him. When he did so, he threw his arms around Gilbert, smothering him with hugs, praise, and wishes for Gilbert to live peacefully in the afterlife for personifications. Amelia, watching the entire scene, silently stood as Gilbert nodded and faded away, just when Ludwig's smile began to grow. By the time Ludwig had finished, Gilbert was gone. In his place, a small yellow bird holding a note flew up. Ludwig read the note, and showed it to Amelia. "Gilbert had passed on to the afterlife. He is in peace. From: Gilbird, loyal and awesome pet of Gilbert."
Days later, Ludwig payed a visit to the Berliner Dom with bunches of tissues. After his ticket was collected, Ludwig stepped in. The museum contained many information about his brother, Gilbert and when Ludwig walked into the gift shop, he noticed a T-shirt with him and his brother, smiling. Ludwig gave one last wave to the Berliner Dom and left the museum, now happy that he could finally remember Gilbert without fear of crying out.
Amelia, who have been collecting her paycheck, spotted him as she walked to her car. "So, how was the museum?" Amelia asked. Ludwig said nothing, but Amelia knew he enjoyed the experience. She whispered an "Auf Wiedersehen." to him and drove off to her apartment in a residential district. Within the museum, the pride of Prussia still remained, even without the haunting.