A/N: There may be some Germancest themes later on; not quite sure yet. Just warning you.

1.

Of Broken Families

Once upon a time, as stories should begin, there lived to two brothers. The eldest of the two was tall and lithe with silvery hair, and eyes like rubies in set snow. A perpetual grin was his face and he was known amongst the people of Hanau, Germany as Gilbert Weillschmidt. The younger of the two was starkly opposite; he stood taller still than his brother, and he was more often than not seen with a line for a mouth and a furrowed brow. His blue eyes were cold like the river that flowed past their once-sweet cottage and his hair glinted yellow like the rapeseed flowers that bloomed in the fields. His name was Ludwig.

The two brothers had lost their dear father. Well, truth be told, they had always been losing him. They weren't exactly sure when they had begun to lose him, but Gilbert remembered more than Ludwig and that was all he would say on the matter. Ludwig was too much of a good boy to question his older Bruder; loved him too much to even hint at any doubt. But it wasn't to say, of course, that they were alone. They lived with their mother who worked and cooked and cleaned. And, in her sorrow was rarely home and when she was, there was a man with his arm around her waist to help her stand in her drunken stupor.

The man was always different.

And the eldest grew to hate their mother while the younger stood by and watched as the always-different-man made his brother's blood flow with his fist. Behind his door and under his sheets, Ludwig wept. Perhaps it was then that the cottage lost its sweetness.

Every day, Gilbert would prop Ludwig up on the kitchen counter, make a breakfast of porridge and wurst, and they would say their prayers. They would eat in silence until Gilbert broke it with the same thing:

"One day, Ludwig – we'll get out of here. You'll see,"

And Ludwig would nod and eat his porridge like a good boy while his brother ruffled his hair and stood to open the door for the man that he hated and woman that he loathed.