A/N: Hello! :) Here I bring you my latest work, though there are a few things I must tell you.

First, you know and I know and we all know that Ludwig isn't really that emotionless and cold and serious, but I had to do him like this so he would fit the story. So yeah, beware a little OOCness.

Second, I haven't really decided if this will be a short story (less than 10 chapters) or if I can come up with something else to add to my current ideas. However, the first two chapters are to introduce the characters in this story. Here is Ludwig's, next will be Feliciana's, and probably they'll both be short compared to the rest.

And finally….enjoy! I hope you like this. R&R! Tell me your opinion. Constructive criticism please ;)


If Ludwig wasn't such a proper and polite man, that Jones kid would already have quite some time as a rotting corpse.

His day had started normal; he'd arrived early in the morning to the building, opened his so dear, peaceful office, staring proudly at the golden plaque that read 'Floor Secretary' and started right away with the pending paperwork. Some hours later the floor's manager had knocked on his door and told him the director was calling for a meeting of high staff. After answering he'd be done in a minute, the manager left and Ludwig ended with his morning duties before heading for the elevator and to the sixth floor, to the meeting room. He spotted some of his colleagues from other floors already occupying their seats. The General Director, Mr. Kirkland, was on his chair at the head of the table, and next to him was a young looking man with blond disheveled hair and blue eyes behind glasses. He was looking around with a grin on his face. Ludwig took his place next to his manager and waited for the meeting to enter in session.

After everyone had arrived, Mr. Kirkland raised from his chair and greeted the presents, thanking them for their assistance and proceeded to explain the reason of the meeting. As they all knew, he said, the company was merging with another group within the next year and they'd need more working hands for the process. So for that, and he didn't sound very pleased about it, he wanted to introduce his nephew Alfred F. Jones, who would be working with them for that matter. Just being introduced, the guy started to greet everyone excitedly and mumble things about the place being "awesome" and "totally cool to be working with uncle 'Artie'".

Ludwig's left eye twitched as he watched Mr. Kirkland burry his face in his hands and sigh exasperatedly. He glanced at the rest of the room. Most of the presents had met the director's nephew before, so they shook their heads and seemed more interested in straightening their ties or tapping their pens on the table. But Ludwig, being the naturally polite man he was, kept sitting straight on his chair and, though deeply mortified, listened at him ramble on about some nonsensical business strategies and slip now and then into the topic of hamburgers and how they were the best food ever created by mankind.

"Okay that's enough!" Mr. Kirkland broke in. Everyone lifted their eyes as if they'd just awoken from a night's sleep. Ludwig checked his watch. He couldn't believe it had been two hours.

"Aw, but Artie…"

"Enough!" he stated strongly. The guy glared at his uncle before going back to his seat. Mr. Kirkland turned to his employees.

"I'm deeply sorry gentlemen," he apologized "that I had you lose so much time here. That's all I wanted to communicate, you can go back to your work now, and thank you again for coming" as soon as he said it they were all raising from their chairs, and after nodding politely at Mr. Kirkland they headed to the door and back to their respective floors. Ludwig went into the elevator with his manager and some other partners. Seeing it was already lunch time, the men went all the way down to the first floor and to the exit. Ludwig was invited by his manager and co-secretary to join them. Since he was little sociable, they were his only "friends" at work.

After an enjoyable meal at a nice restaurant, Ludwig found himself back on his office. He was waiting for the co-secretary to finish with the week's reports so he could check them and give them to the manager. While he waited, he decided to order his office. It's not like said office wasn't always sparkling neat, but he needed something to do. He started with a pile of papers at the edge of his desk and unintentionally dropped them. He cursed and leaned down to pick them. Between some papers he found a picture. He looked at it.

It was an old picture, back from when he still lived at Germany. How odd. He could've sworn that very picture didn't exist anymore. It was a family shoot. His father, Alaric, stood straight and impeccably dressed on his black suit, looking as serious as ever. Next to him was a short blonde woman, Ludwig's mother, Figenia, with a small smile on her face. At their feet stood Gilbert, Ludwig's older brother, a tall, albino kid that looked at the camera and smirked as if saying 'Hey, I'm awesome'. Next to him, holding his hand was Ludwig himself, though a much younger version of him. He couldn't have been more than six when that picture was taken.

He sighed. It seemed like so much time.

He still remembered. He was twelve. One day he'd gone back home from school as always. When he stepped out of the bus he found his brother at the door, looking deadly serious, which was completely unlike him. He asked what was wrong and instead of an answer he only got a 'Go get your things Luddy'. Never having been one to question orders, he'd entered the house and ran upstairs to his room, taking out a suitcase and stuffing on it all his belongings. Not that he had much anyway. They were a rather poor family. Going down stairs he saw Gilbert, with his own suitcase, standing by the living room. He took the house's keys and motioned for Ludwig to go out. Once outside he locked the door and let the keys under the 'Willkomen' mat, and then both of them walked in silence to the bus station.

The bus took them to the airport and Gilbert bought two tickets for a flight. Ludwig didn't say anything. He never even asked where they were going. He just followed his brother into the plane. Twelve hours later they were arriving to their destination and Gilbert called a taxi from that new airport. The taxi rode them through crowded streets that shone with thousands of lights and were full of huge skyscrapers, a view Ludwig had seen in many of his school books. They were dropped off at an apartment complex and, after Gilbert paid for the taxi, they made their way inside and took the elevator to the last floor, where Gilbert took a key out of his pocket and opened the door to a small apartment.

Sitting on the couch, he asked Ludwig to sit next to him and then he told him everything. How short after Ludwig left for school he was startled by the phone and forced to get out of his bed, in which he was due to a bad cold he'd gotten. The person calling had informed him of their parent's death during a bad car accident. The man, who introduced himself as his father's lawyer, said that Gilbert, being the eldest son, had now right over everything their parents had, including a special bank account with a considerable amount of money they'd been saving. At the news, Gilbert had spent all morning signing documents, since he'd just turned eighteen, and had gone to check on the money at the bank. He'd scanned through dozens of American pages and bought a small, cheap apartment at New York, where his father had told them to go if they ever had problems, and arranged with the house's owner the devolution of the house.

The next day Gilbert went to look for a job and Ludwig to an American school. Ever since that day Ludwig had never been quite the same. Sure, he'd always been the serious type, just like his father, but he'd become even quieter and stoical. His attitude changed and he became even less sociable, drowning himself on his work and never allowing anyone into his peaceful and stable life. When he was twenty two and had just graduated from college, Gilbert got married and went back to Germany. Ludwig had decided to stay and he started to work at a small sales company, climbing on the hierarchy until he reached the post of Floor Secretary, a post he'd earned with a lot of hard work, within a considerably short time.

Now he had his own apartment, better than the one he and Gilbert shared. His economical situation was quite good and his life was all in order. But he still needed to work a bit more, because he now had someone he wanted to take care of…

"Ludwig" the mention of his name made him snap out of his remembrances. Looking at the door he found the co-secretary, holding the reports. He put them on the desk and left. Ludwig put the picture aside and got to work. After checking on the reports and giving them to the manager he looked at his watch. Seven o'clock. Picking his stuff and turning off his computer, he got out of the office and closed the door. Some of his partners would be staying late to complete tasks, but he was always in time with his work so he rarely had pendant things.

He said goodbye to a few of them and took the elevator to the first floor, before walking out of the building and to the subway station.