The tall granite building loomed over the young children playing in its grounds. From through the bars separating the laughing youngsters from the outside world, Roderich Edelstein watched them, and decided rather quickly that he most certainly did not like this school place he was being sent to. He shuffled back a little, which caught the sharp eye of his elderly caretaker.
"What's wrong, young master?" She asked him. In the playground, just a few feet away, a boy with white-grey hair turned to look at Roderich curiously.
"I do not want to go in there," Roderich whispered to her, his eyes fixed on the staring boy.
"Why ever not?" She replied kindly. Roderich's bright, amethyst eyes turned up to her soft, lavender ones. She was a sweet, dumpy old woman, with wispy hair and a kind heart. She doted on Roderich, and he absolutely adored her.
"I am scared," he admitted. "What if no-one likes me?" His caretaker sighed, and bent down to his level gingerly.
"Roderich," she started, startling the boy a little at her informality. "You are a polite, lovely young gentleman, and it is always a pleasure to be in your company. If anyone thinks otherwise, then you do not want to be associated with them, because it is they who will be missing out, not you." Roderich smiled; it was something that only she had seen, and her heart melted. "Now, off to school with you."
"Yes, Nana," he giggled, hugging the old woman before entering the schoolyard.
The white haired boy approached Roderich almost immediately, and as he got closer, Roderich couldn't help but notice that the boy had brilliant red eyes. "Excuse me, not to be rude, but are yo-"
"Why did your Grandma call you 'master'?" The assumed albino interrupted. Roderich chose to ignore the interruption, and answer his question anyway.
"She is not my Grandmother, she is my caretaker," Roderich explained, causing the albino to tilt his head to the side.
"Caretaker?" Roderich nodded. The other boy had a thick German accent, whereas Roderich, although Austrian, had been brought up to speak with as little of an accent as possible, so he could be understood well by everyone.
"My mother and father were too busy to raise me, so they hired Nana to care for me." The albino seemed to accept this.
"Okay, but why did she call you master?" Roderich shrugged.
"All of the house staff call me master," he replied matter-of-factly.
"But why?" The albino demanded. Roderich considered this for a moment, before shrugging again.
"I do not know." The two boys stood in silence for a moment before Roderich held out his hand. "My name is Roderich Edelstein, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you." His hand was ignored as the albino put his hands on his hips and grinned wildly.
"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt, of the awesome country of Prussia!" Roderich drew his hand back, and gave a confused look.
"I am sorry, but was the nation of Prussia not dissolved by the Allied Powers in 1947?" Gilbert glowered at him.
"No, it wasn't!" He snapped at the slightly smaller boy, who simply nodded his head of chestnut hair.
"Yes, I believe it was. It is in one of the books in the library in my house; the land was split between Russia, Lithuania and Poland," Gilbert opened his mouth to argue back, but quickly shut it and looked around before spotting another victim.
"Hey, you with the ponytail!" He yelled, prompting a light brown haired child with a short ponytail to look round at them. "Come here!" They looked a little confused, but walked over to Gilbert and Roderich regardless. "Sure Prussia is a country?" Gilbert grinned at them, nodding not very subtly.
"Prussia?" the green eyed child asked. "You mean Russia?" Gilbert glared at them.
"Prussia is an ex-nation," Roderich explained kindly. "It stopped being a country after World War Two." The other child looked at Roderich and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, aren't you a smarty-pants?" They smirked, causing Gilbert to snort with laughter.
"He is, isn't he?" Gilbert grinned. "I'm Gilbert, what's your name?" The child hesitated for a moment.
"I'm Eli," Eli said with a smile, looking to Roderich.
"Roderich Edelstein," he said softly. Eli frowned a little.
"That's too long. You're Roddy, okay?" Roderich didn't care for nicknames, or the shortening of 4wwwwwwwwwwnames, but one should always be courteous, especially towards women.
"That is quite alright," he nodded. "Is 'Eli' shortened from any name, or is your name just Eli?" Eli shook her head.
"My name's Elijah, but Eli is easier." Roderich and Gilbert looked at each other in confusion. "What's wrong?" Elijah asked.
"Elijah is a boy's name," Gilbert said with a frown, with Roderich nodding next to him. Elijah laughed a little.
"Igen, did you think I was a girl?" Gilbert's head shook frantically, while Roderich cleared his throat a little.
"I am terribly sorry for my mistake, Elijah," he apologised. "And I am quite sure Gilbert is too." Elijah giggled softly as Gilbert huffed, scowling at Roderich.
"I didn't think he was a girl," the albino growled at the brunette, getting aggressive. "Are you saying tha-"
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Gilbert had began to close in on Roderich when another boy steppe between them, his green eyes burning in a scowl that was almost permanent, as would be discovered through the course of the years these four five year olds would spend in school. Gilbert frowned right back at this new, mysterious blond boy.
"And who are you to tell me what to do?" He spat.
"I'm Vash, and you shouldn't be picking on others already. School hasn't even started yet!" The two boys stared each other down for a while before Gilbert tired, and huffed again, looking away.
"Whatever. No point to this if the little prissy boy needs a bodyguard," he snorted, rolling his eyes as Elijah watched the other three boys with concern etched onto his face.
"I don't need a bodyguard, thank you very much," Roderich said softly. "But thank you, Vash, for helping me." Vash turned to face Roderich as the school bell rang, giving a short nod in reply to the others smile.
The classroom had been organised to that there was a large circle of chairs, one for each new student as they gave short introductions to their classmates, before they were ordered to take their chair to a table. Each table had room for four chairs, and it was hardly a surprise when Roderich, Gilbert, Eli and Vash came to be sitting at the same table.
After school, in the car that had brought them to the building that morning, Roderich told his Nana that she had been right, that he had enjoyed his first day of school, and asked whether or not he would be eating with his parents that evening. He wasn't surprised by the negative answer, only disappointed.
After school, as he walked home with his father, and his little brother, Gilbert excitedly gave a hyperbole ridden account of his day. He hugged Ludwig tightly, laughing, and telling the blond four year old that he couldn't wait until he was in school too.
After school, when Eli closed the front door, he explored the house, finding that he couldn't tell his father about his day. He went to the kitchen to make dinner.
After school, Vash got home as quickly as he could, kissing his young sister on the forehead before going straight to his mother's bedroom, to ask her how her day had been, and if she needed any chores done.
The four children would grow up together, and through their years, would become friends, enemies, lovers, and other things too complex for simple words. All there is to say is that their lives would intertwine, and they would be bound to one another for life. None of them are an exception to this rule, and though one may break free from the bond, he will always be bound by one, solitary thread…