A/N So uh I have like four other stories to work on but I'm posting this instead to kill writersblock. Do you think I should keep working on this? On beforehand I'll just give you quick run-through of the names.

Rubert - Bavaria

Freddie - Saxony

Gilbert - Prussia

Hans - Gothic Tribes

Ludwig - HRE/Germany

Gerhart - Germania

Mrs. Weilschmidt - No one in particular.

Enjoy!

Gilbert couldn't help the small smile that grazed his lips when he heard the quiet steps coming down the hall, muffled by the thick red carpet that decorated it. His gaze wandered to the other side of the room where his brother lay, staring right back. He winked at him. He heard his father whisper and his mother's soft voice whispered something in return. There was a quiet giggle from his youngest brother and a chuckle from his eldest. He shut his eyes a little tighter to pretend to be asleep and waited. The steps were nearing his door now and he had to suppress the excited giggle that were threatening to leave his mouth. He listened with a smile as his mother counted from five to one before the family broke out into poorly sung chorus.

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück,
Zum Geburtstag viel Glück,
Zum Geburtstag alles Gute,
Zum Geburtstag viel Glück

With a wide grin, Gilbert opened his eyes and rolled over to face the smiling faces of his family. His mother was standing there in a satin-robe and a lightened cake in hands. She placed the cake on the desk and went over to kiss both brothers on the cheek and hug them tightly.

"Happy birthday my little babies." She said in an adoring voice.

Hans whined in protest but the smile on his face gave away that he clearly didn't mind. His father smiled warmly at them but his movements was limited by their youngest brother Ludwig who was smiling happily in his arms with a box clutched in his tiny fists. The next to congratulate them was their sister Freddie (in actual Elfriede) who hugged them both and showed a perfectly wrapped gift in their arms.

"Happy birthday kiddos." She muttered and ruffled their hair affectionately.

Gilbert smiled and instantly unwrapped the brightly colored paper and revealed a few books he had wished for. Hans had received something similar with the fantasy-series he was so fond of. They both thanked their sister and allowed Rubert to ruffle their hair and give them each a gift-card. That was all he could afford with his current job but Gilbert was grateful. It was his favorite store after all. Next, Ludwig was let down on the floor. The adorable four-year old trotted over to each bed and gave them a piece of paper shyly. Then he ran over to their father again. It was a poorly drawn picture but it didn't take an Einstein to figure out who the silver-haired stickman was supposed to be. A blonde little stickman was standing beside the silver one and there was a heart surrounding them and they look as happy as stickmen could be. Gilbert could feel his heart melt. Seeing as the boy was within reach he scooped him into the bed and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Bruder!"

More gifts were brought and soon Gilbert was surrounded by gift-paper. He had gotten some more books, money from his uncle in New York, clothes, video-games, some more gift-cards and a new pair of sneakers since the previous ones were getting old. Finally it was only two gifts left. The gifts between the brothers and something that their father was hiding behind his back. Gilbert was first to get up and fetch a box in his closet. He pretended not to hear his mother's muttering about the chaos that was inside. He gave the box to his brother and smiled a little.

"Happy Birthday Bruder. Hope yah like it!"

Hans smiled back at him and opened the box. Moments later Gilbert was tackled in a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" he yelled with the gift still in his grasp. In his hand was a plastic dragon baby that Gilbert had seen Hans staring at for months. It had taken plenty of his money but it was clearly worth it. While in the hug, his mother snuck out and fetched something that had been standing in the hallway. She came in again with something huge in her arms and with a red cloth covering it. Hans let go of his twin-brother and hurried over to take the gift.

"Happy Birthday bro"

He handed the gift to his brother who found that it seemed to be a cage of sorts. With a frown he placed it on the floor and pulled away the cloth. His scarlet eyes met tiny black ones, surrounded by yellow feathers. It was a small canary perched up on a stick in the cage. It gave away a happy tweet while Gilbert sat dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I know it's kinda lame, but that's the only pet mom would allow me to buy for you. I name him Gilbird cause he's your pet but it's totally cool if you wanna change to something more awesome…" Hans was cut off by a tight hug.

"You are the most awesome brother in the entire world!"

He heard their Vater chuckle in the background as he finally pulled out what was behind his back. It turned out to be two velvet boxes in a dark blue. He coughed awkwardly as he held the two out to them.

"I know it's perhaps not easy to be proud of your grandfather, but know that he was a good man and he wanted you two to have them."

He handed the two boxes and hugged his sons. Gilbert felt his voice catch in his throat as his eyes landed on the gift. Resting on a silk pillow lay an iron-cross and a silver chain.

"Your grandfather earned those in the war. He asked me to give them to you before he died."

With trembling fingers he raised the necklace carefully, as though it would shatter into pieces if he touched it too roughly, and placed it around his neck. It felt sort of heavy but he liked it. He shot a grin at Hans, who looked just as awesome, before directing the smile at his father.

"Danke Vati."

Mr. Weilschmidt smiled warmly at him and produced a final box from the pocket of his robe.

"I have one last gift for you which is only for you."

Gilbert's eyebrows shot up in surprise, why was he getting an extra gift. Hans smiled at him.

"Don't worry; he's already talked to me about it."

Gilbert accepted the box given to him and opened.

"It's empty?" he said in confusing and looked back at his father's smiling face.

"That's because I hadn't gotten the time to fetch it up yet. Look in the lid and you might find a hint."

Gilbert did as told and found a plectrum stuck to the carbon with tape. He looked up again in shock.

"You'll have a brand new guitar when you get back from school."

Gilbert's smile grew if possible even wider than before and he hugged the man tightly.

"You are the best dad ever!" he yelled out. Gerhart chuckled and hugged him back.

"Happy 15th birthday my son."

All was silent for a while until their mother finally looked at the time.

"Oh dear, you kids have to hurry and get to school!"

The peace was instantly broken and the rest of the family left for the time being.

Gilbert started rummaging through his boxes and pulled on a dark red hoody over a simple T-shirt. He smirked when he noticed that Hans had taken on an identical one in black. Hans smiled back at him and for a moment they just stood there with playful smiles on their faces.

"We look really alike today." Hans commented.

"Yeah, only difference is that you've died your hair black."

"Are you ready to take on the world today?"

"Only if you're with me."

Hans smiled warmly.

"Always."

The moment Hans had run of to his own friends Gilbert was tackled to the ground by his own two best friends. They tumbled to the ground and lay there laughing. People were staring, for sure, but nothing of that mattered to the trio.

"Happy Birthday amigo!" Antonio said once he had calmed down. He produced a small box from his backpack that turned out to be a CD with German music. Francis congratulated him as well and gave him a note-book with the Prussian bird on the front. Once they'd gotten up they headed for class during idle chatter. Eventually, Antonio's girlfriend Bella joined them but she didn't bother congratulating the German boy. This one detail didn't bother Gilbert much though because he was in a super-good mood.

"Excuse me, my name is Gerhart Weilschmidt, I was alerted that the guitar I ordered had arrived."

It was a dimly lit shop with instruments and CD's covering every available surface in the room and with a heavy smell of cigarettes. A girl dressed in a far too revealing shirt stood boredly at the desk and barely even glanced up at the man. She nonchalantly tapped on the old buzzing computer until she found what she was looking for.

"Yeah the special-ordered one. It's in." she said in a bored voice and stood slowly of the counter. She was back a moment later with Gerharts personal master-piece. The body was white while the neck was black with buds and strings in a silver-ish color. Painted on the back of it, the reason Gerhart felt so please with himself, was the black falcon that usually adorned the Prussian flag. His son loved Prussia and this would surely be an awesome gift. Carved into the wood was of course Gilbert's name in his own signature.

"Would that be all?" the girl asked.

Gerhart nodded and paid the girl before leaving quickly. He wanted to get home and give his son the present so he could enjoy for a while before his wife got home. In all honesty his wife hadn't been very happy when he told her what he was buying. She had wished for him to spend their money on gifts that they could actually have any use of in the future and stop encouraging such childish behavior. It saddened him a little that his wife couldn't see just how talented Gilbert was with the guitar and flute and see just how happy Hans was whenever dragons were involved. He'd just made it to his car and put the guitar in when he heard noises coming from an alleyway a little further on. For a moment he hesitated about the noises but then he heard screams and crying. He quickly locked the door of the car and hurried to the source of the noises. It was three men in the alley surrounding a terrified girl barely at the age of 15. The tallest of the men was gripping her wrist harshly and was currently trying to strip the poor girl with the other. The other two men laughed and constantly tried to grab her wherever he could reach. Tears were streaming down her face as she begged them to stop but that only made the men laugh harder.

"Let her go!"

It was the middle of their last class when a receptionist entered the class-room. She had a sad look on her face and she whispered a few things to the teacher. The teacher got a solemn look on his face and look up at the class.

"Mr. Weilschmidt, you are needed at the principal's office."

The solemn look gave Gilbert an uneasy feeling in his stomach and he left almost immediately. Francis and Antonio was soon behind. Principal Vargas, a friend of their father, was sitting at his desk as he entered along with Hans. The moment he entered, Hans hugged him and Gilbert could feel tears soaking his shirt. He held his trembling twin instantly and looked at Principal Vargas.

"What's going on?" he asked, fearing the worst.

Mr. Vargas had the same miserable look on his face as all others had had.

"Perhaps you two should sit down." He began carefully but Gilbert shook his head; he didn't want to sit down. Mr. Vargas sighed.

"I'm afraid that there has been an accident." The uneasy feeling in his stomach was just getting worse. "Your father, Gerhart, was unfortunately shot earlier today." He said gravely. The feeling was getting worse and Gilbert could feel the tears burning at the corner of his eyes. " He…" Mr. Vargas swallowed thickly. "He died instantly and the doctors doesn't think he was in any pain." It took Gilbert a moment to let the words sink in. What did he mean? Vati coulnd't be dead. He was supposed to be with him and watch him grow old and make a life. He buried his face in Hans' shoulder and for a long moment all he could do was cry with his brother.

"Your mother called and asked me to take you to the hospital, is that alright?" Mr. Vargas said kindly.

All Gilbert could do was nod through the tears. In that moment, his life took a new turn.

The funeral was all but a blur to Gilbert. Mostly he had sat with Hans in a corner while people he didn't recognize offered their comfort. People were making speeches about how great he was but it was only the one made by Rubert that sounded like it was about their father. Their mother barely wasted any attention upon the brothers as she was focused on other things. She had changed a lot towards Gilbert after their father's death. Ludwig was mostly at Freddie's side. The raining was falling hard outside and once the family was finally driving back home, it was hard to see the road. Hating the silence Gilbert turned on the radio. Rock filled the car but his mother instantly turned it off.

"Don't you think that it's a little disrespectful of you to be listening to demon's music on the day of your father's funeral?" she snapped angrily. Ludwig whimpered. His mother noticed and shot a glare at Gilbert. "And if you don't care about your own father then at least think of Ludwig. You're making him upset."

Rubert who was sitting next to his mother with his head to the cold window looked at it all tiredly.

"You're the one yelling Mutter. Gilbert just wanted to get rid of this awful silence."

His mother sent a sideway glare at her eldest son.

"So you're choosing, him, your father's murderer, instead of your own loving mother?"

Gilbert could feel the tears burning at his eyes again. Rubert glared back at the woman.

"Gilbert didn't do anything! Vater died, trying to protect an innocent girl. That has NOTHING to do with Gilbert!" he yelling back. Ludwig started crying at the loud noises and Mrs. Weilschmidt momentarily looked back.

"Look what you did, now you got Ludwig upset! Are you all intent on being like demons?"

"Demons?!" Rubert yelled angrily. "You're seriously calling your own son, a demon!"

"If it hadn't been for that ridiculous guitar, my husband would have been alive now!" she yelled angrily. "Do you hear that Hans? Your twin, is a mur…"

Suddenly Freddie screamed in terror as the sound of horns filled Gilbert's ears. The last thing Gilbert remembered before the car crashed into the truck was the words spoken that morning.

"Are you ready to take on the world today?"

"Only if you're with me."

"Always."

So, uh, should I continue?