I finished it just in time! I had to write this in one day due to me being lazy and getting distracted all the time... Hehehe

But here it is! My last story of 2014!

\(0.0\) HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! (/0.0)/

After the battle with yet another country he would forget the name of within a few weeks, the Prussian army returned to their homeland. Mauled and bruised, broken and tired, with yet a new scar to look at in the mirror, their leader returned home to be greeted by his little sibling.

Ludwig, a feisty boy who never turned down a dare, had been sitting in the same position for days, perhaps weeks. He refused to eat more than an apple and slept for three hours max until his brother returned from war. He looked tired, sitting on the porch of the massive house they lived in. His usually bright blue eyes seemed to have darkened, accompanied by dark bags under them, giving him this dark aura. His lips were chapped, his skin even paler than it normally already was. He looked like he had been wearing those clothes for weeks. They were dirty, even ripped at some places and full of stains of earth and grass. To be honest, he looked like a dead person.

When the young boy saw his older brother, it seemed like a little fire in his eyes was lit. His expression turned from almost depressed, to a kind smile and eyes full of love. He ran towards his brother, who almost jumped off his white horse and did the same, opening his arms for his brother to run into. He lifted him up in the air above his head, spun around while laughing happily and hugged him tightly afterwards.

They went inside, the younger of the two still hiding his real condition. He couldn't tell him the truth, not now. But eventually the Prussian would find out himself and it would be even harder for him. Ludwig couldn't help but think he held his older brother back. He was some sort of bump in the road Gilbert couldn't get over. He had lost people because of Ludwig, he knew that. But he also knew his brother loved him too much to tell him that. So far he'd managed to keep everything hidden from his brother, but after no less than ten minutes he began coughing, his face started to look only paler and his eyes seemed to turn grey. When Gilbert asked him what was wrong, he said it was nothing. He couldn't disappoint his brother.

As the day progressed Ludwig started to feel worse and worse. His stomach seemed to implode and his head was pounding.

That night Gilbert woke up from a strange sound coming from a room near him. Wondering if someone had snuck into the house, he tiptoed into the hallway.

It was completely dark safe from a few lit torches on the walls of the mansion that made certain areas visible for the human eye. The sound led him to Ludwig's room. He pushed against the door with just the tips of his fingers. It make a creaky sound as if it was going to fall of its hinges any second from now.

Gilbert found his brother asleep but rolling around in as if he was in major pain. The moonlight from outside showed tears rolling down the blondes pale face, the bloodstains on his pillow from a recent nosebleed and the bags under his eyes. If he hadn't been moving when Gilbert found him he would've though he was dead. Shocked by what he saw, Gilbert rushed to his brothers side and picked him up bridal style.

Ludwig's emotionless eyes opened. Gilbert couldn't make out if his brother was looking at him or just staring in front of him.
''Where are we going?'' he asked softly, his voice faltering slightly. The younger tried to protest, but his attempt to convince Gilbert he could walk by himself was in vain. The older only seemed to get more worried every time he made a little noise, coughed or sniffed. To be honest, he knew that it had no use to protest. Gilbert wouldn't believe him. But even now, when things got serious, he felt bad about it. Gilbert couldn't focus on more important tasks and it was all his fault. The little blonde was too far gone to realize that Gilbert didn't care about anything but his brother and would do anything for him any time he needed to.

Gilbert gave him a concerned look, pulled him closer and kissed his forehead softly. ''Don't hide it, Luddie. I know you're sick,'' he said, his voice tender and broken at the same time. It broke his heart to see his brother like this, weak and hardly alive. He himself didn't know what to do. He didn't even know what illness Ludwig had, but it looked worse than anything he had seen so far - and he had seen a lot - . The way his little brother felt like a ragdoll in his arms almost made him sick. It felt so unnatural. It also made him furious. All servants in this house had done a terrible job at looking after Ludwig. Apparently they didn't even know how bad his condition had gotten in the past few days. If it wasn't for Ludwig's condition, he would've shown them why many people feared him.

He almost ran down the stairs with Ludwig still in his arms. As fast as he could, he grabbed the olive green blanket that was often used for when it was winter and wrapped it around his little brother when he ran outside. Careful not to let him slide off, Gilbert lifted him on his horse and got behind him so he could hold his little brother when they made way to Roderichs and Elizabeta's home.

''Hold on tight, Luddie...'' he whispered, although he knew Ludwig probably couldn't even hear him. ''You're going to be fine..''

To be continued...

I hope you like it so far! I have no idea if I'll write another chapter of this tomorrow or another chapter of Battle Scars... Maybe I'll even write a PruCan one-shot because PruCan deserves to be my first story of 2015 hehehe. I'll make sure to write a Spamano and FrUK story too because they're just awesome

And again...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

(Although it's around 18:00h when I'm going to upload this where I live hahaha)