DISTANT
by: muffle-kun
"You there?"
"Yes."
"Ha! Thought so. I am awesome."
"…"
"Sooo…what brings you here?"
"I'm joining the army."
"Whoa! Cool! Where will you be stationed at?"
"Poland."
"Oh."
"How about you?"
"France…I think."
"Oh."
"Too bad."
"…"
"Well, we better get going then and kick some unawesome ass!"
"…Ahem, yes, I think I'll be going—"
"Hey! Come on, say it with me!"
"Uh, no, thank you."
"Come on! You're being unawesome!"
"I think I couldn't care less."
"COME ON~"
"…*sigh* L-let's kick some unawesome a-ass."
"AWESOME! Now give me five!"
I sighed once more before complying, slapping my hand against the wall that kept us apart, hoping our hands met at exactly the same place even with the distance, and envying the cheerful grin or smirk or whatever he wore on the face I drew for him in my imagination.
"See you, West."
"Yeah…See you."
"We lost."
"…"
"We already had France and Poland. We had England on his knees. Russia did not care. Why did we lose?" *slam!*
"…"
"…"
"…it's because of balance, West."
"…"
"Now we have peace. Like last time."
"The idea of peace is subjective. It means 'you and I chained down' to those bastards."
"We had been bastards, ourselves, West."
"…"
"Let it go."
"…"
"…"
"They'll want this wall torn down."
"…"
"I have always…wanted to see…my brother from the other side of this wall."
"Nothing good will come out of it, West."
"But it will happen nonetheless."
"Yeah, give them what they want and they'll leave us alone. Hopefully."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"But this wall is…"
"…East?"
"Sorry, gotta go. See you, West."
"…"
"…"
"See you."
The wall had come down at last.
Cheers erupted, people celebrated, long-awaited embraces were exchanged.
Nothing separated them anymore.
The blond man registered platinum-white hair and bright red eyes.
The man before him chuckled at the sight of blond and teal, as if remembering something.
He recalled what his older brother looked like, smelled like, felt like, in his dreams.
The other man saw who his younger brother would have grown into had he not died.
"Yo! I'm Gilbert!"
"I'm Ludwig."
They exchanged, not moving from their places.
"Nice to meet you, West."
"Nice to meet you, East."
They exchanged small smiles, Gilbert's looking a tad more painful.
"Sorry, but the awesome me has to go."
"Won't forget you though…little brother."
The image of the other man—his cheeky smile, a hand in his pocket, the other in a mock salute, slowly, painfully, disintegrating, vanishing, dissolving into thin air remained clear in Ludwig's mind.
He regretted not saying anything then.
"I remember you, big brother."