A/N: Also, admittedly, this part of the story is not proofread or edited. I'm just too tired to do that at this hour. So, I sincerely hope that it's quite all right. Enjoy this latter part.
(Edit) Well, now, it has been fixed. Or, rather, attempted to be fixed. I'm not a hundred percent sure if the pacing got better, but I tried. Enjoy~
It wasn't like she was going to do heavy labour, no. She was in a holding center. A small cell amidst several others, where Jews were held for crimes they did not commit, but for being born who they are born as. It was much worse than her little apartment, barely with any essentials, just a hard bed with a pillow, a sink and a table with two chairs. They were escorted to bathrooms upon request. And upon orders, she was being fed three meals a day, and given water whenever it was necessary for her.
But that was just her.
The rest of the people in cells next to hers were being starved. Or harassed and picked on. Some suffer both. And during some nights, she could hear soldiers have their way with a couple of them, and fear was in her heart that she could be next. What would stop soldiers if she couldn't stop them, right? She was powerless, and she was downright terrified. She repeated the words she had first said to herself when the war broke out only a few days earlier: he'll come back, he'll come back, he'll come back.
As though an answer to her prayers, in the next morning, the person who had brought in her food was her beloved, white-haired, red-eyed Prussian, and he looked like he had cried even more than she did.
"Morning, love."
"Gilbert." She said his name breathlessly, and in relief, and with as much love as she could utter, "You came for me."
"How could I not?" He set down a tray on the only table inside her cell, opened up a chair for her to sit into and pushed it lightly in before sitting on the chair in front of her. The act made her chuckle lightly.
"After all that's happened, you still are the same," she smiled a little, although her face showed paleness, and her sunken eyes told him that she hadn't gotten sleep.
"Just because the world is changing, doesn't mean I should too," Gilbert smiled and pushed her meal towards her. It was a full meal, with an appetizer and chocolate cake for dessert, most likely baked by the Prussian himself. He was quiet as she ate, before he said, "… I'll get you out, I promise."
"Gil, you'll-"
"I'll already get into trouble by just being here," he said with a small laugh, "I'd rather push it to my limit."
She smiled at the thought of getting out. But then, it faltered when she thought of the cost of her leaving. People would be dying. In those cells next to hers, people would be suffering. And if Gilbert does get her out, he would be condemned to treason, and would suffer as well. So she shook her head lightly, and tears began to stream her face.
"I can't do that to you."
The Prussian now stood and knelt on the floor beside her chair, taking her hand in both of his, "Don't give up on me, love." He pleaded, "I want you and only you, even if we don't have eternity. I'm not as strong as I used to be, but I promise I'll be strong enough for both of us. I'm not a great nation as I always thought I'd be, and I don't have that many people believing in me like old Prussians do, but I'm ready to give you anything, and I'll do anything, just to get you out."
His little speech got tears falling down her face faster, and she hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand. Then, she attempted to choke her sobs as she said the next few words, causing Gilbert's eyes to widen:
"Our child would have been Prussian."
"I can't believe you!"
Ludwig groaned. He'd been trying to do the paperwork for both himself and his big brother before he led his soldiers to war, and that was certainly a nice way of being repaid. It was the first words of his beloved elder brother the moment he got home and into the study in their house, and boy, did it get his blood boiling. He'd grown tired of being the understanding one. "You wouldn't understand." growled the German.
"Hell yeah, I don't understand!" argued the Prussian, crimson eyes burning with anger as he faced his brother at a stance, "I already told you to save her! I could handle anything they could give me, I won't die! But you just had to-"
"Yes, I had to!" Ludwig shouted. The albino was usually the more level-headed one, so he knew this would be a very heated argument between them, "She's human! She'll die anyway."
"She would, but she could have had more days than you sentenced her to!" Gilbert continued to fight for it, "She could have had decades, years. She could have graced us with her presence. She's charming, patient, understanding and kind. You know that I can't find someone who'd put up with me for this long, what more love me?" At these words, the German clenched his fists, "… I love her, Lud! Did that ever cross your mind?! I love her! And now…" His voice began to hitch, "… I don't know what to do without her."
"You don't know what to do without her?!" demanded the German, "You live! You eat, you breathe, you take more steps forward. Mein gott, brother!" Ludwig had never been so frustrated in his entire almost two hundred years of existence, "She's just one woman, and a human at that! Don't turn yourself into the people we know who broke themselves because of a loss that had been pre-destined for all of us!"
The Prussian's breathing got deeper. His eyes shone in pain. It was evident that he cared about the young Spaniard so much, and somehow, it got on Ludwig's nerves even more. He knew what this feeling was. He knew what it was called. But somehow, he couldn't resist his jealous rage. Not when his brother was so blind to the fact that he'd only been trying to do what he thought was best for the both of them. After all, Gilbert was the only thing he knew for a long time. Italy and Japan were his only other friends. Where would he be if he lost them?
"Did you ever think of what I would have done without you?!" before he could stop himself, Ludwig let the words loose, and immediately, his brother's brows furrowed.
"What… What are you talking about?" Gilbert was now curious and worried.
Ludwig sighed, and sat down on his desk, running a hand desperately through his slicked, blond hair, "I… I know you love her. I know she was different," he said quietly, "I see the way you look at her. The way she looks at you. But… I love you." He looked up at his brother, "After… After what has happened to you, being reduced to East Prussia after being one of the greatest Kingdoms in the world, I know that you aren't as strong as you used to be, and I'm scared that if you get too attached to her…" He couldn't continue.
"You think I'll leave you for that reason?" Gilbert asked his brother. Ludwig didn't answer.
The Prussian sighed, "Look." He cupped his brother's face rather harshly, somewhat playfully, and met his gaze, "You're my brother. I love you. That's a given." Ludwig nodded in understanding here. "But just because I love Alicia, it doesn't mean I love you less. I love you the way the stars love the moon, or the way a mother loves her child, because they should never be seen too far apart from each other. It's a constant love." A played upon the albino's lips, "But my love for Alicia, is the way the oceans meet the shore, or how angels fall from heaven for humans, or the way the earth forever looks for the sky. She's the other half of me. I can't deny the feeling that's settling in my heart. And I know that some nations, like France, have seen their beloved live again and walk the earth, but I don't know if she'll reincarnate and remember me when she does."
Ludwig looked torn still, but he was allowing his brother's words to sink in, "S-So…" he started to say, "You're not choosing between us, but both of us?"
"I don't think I have to choose." Gilbert said with a small smile.
The German seemed relieved but he pulled his brother into an embrace nonetheless.
"… We're going to get into big trouble, you know that."
"I know that." The albino smirked, "I'm ready for it."
Ludwig let go of his brother, and sighed, "We can't just save her, you know. We'd have to bring the rest."
Gilbert nodded to that too, "Yes, I am also quiet aware of that. Maybe the resistance will like us this time." He joked, but the German didn't seem pleased.
"It'll be very dangerous." Added the blond, making sure his brother knew what would happen.
"Danger? Hah!" He laughed hollowly, "Try getting burned at the stake first, then talk to me about danger."
The German cringed at the thought, "Still. I never thought you'd do this for a woman. We aren't Romantics." Ludwig's icy-blue eyes looked at him, searching for an answer.
At that moment, Gilbert realized that he had to tell his brother. It shouldn't be a secret.
"Alicia is pregnant, Lud. She's carrying my child."
"Everybody in."
A day after Gilbert visited her, everyone was brought into a large hall. It was worse since Alicia had started to feel nauseous, first at the feeling of heat in her body, but also from the amount of people who were in the hall with her. She was joined by several children and mothers, and when she threw up in a corner, they were the ones in concern for what could happen to her. It wasn't a place where a woman carrying a child should be placed. She was starting to look weak. When they were all given loaves of bread to eat and water to drink, some mothers handed her pieces of theirs, because they knew she was feeding more than one person within her body, and some children offered to pass their waters to her, because her body was burning up. And she was eternally grateful to all of them.
However, that night, they could hear screams from a distance. Shots were fired, and cars revved up.
Mothers were cradling their children with all their might, and Alicia found herself being huddled into a circle, as though being protected, when the doors that were supposedly locked from the outside burst open. At first, only moving shadows were in sight. Then fire in the background, and then several raised arms, but the soldiers were not facing them.
Then, a soldier walked in. With snow-white hair, and crimson eyes, "You've all got to go out now."
Not one dared to move. He didn't speak in their native tongue. They were all still terrified, and didn't move an inch. Not until Alicia stood up, "… Gilbert?"
A smirk played upon the Prussian's lips, "I told you I'll get you out."
One look at the people she shared the room with and they were ushered out.
"You'll be met by resistance members and assisted by each one. Some are Italian, others German soldiers," explained the albino, "You'll be carried into a safe-house by three separate trucks on the other side of the land. Stay in the shade, and stay together." He instructed them briefly, like he would his own men, "You," he looked at Alicia, eyes strewn with worry. "Come with me."
And they ran stealthily across the land, "When all of this is through," the Prussian said, shooting a nearby soldier in the leg, making Alicia wince as she got dragged off the opposite direction, "I hope you still stay-" he made her duck as bullets were fired at them, and then stopped when some of their allies threw what looked like knives from behind, "-with me." He chuckled lightly before taking her hand, waving with gratitude at whoever protected them and kept running across the lawn. They were nearly there, and a car was waiting, with a good-looking Italian soldier waving a flag at them. "So…" Gilbert was panting, and Alicia was sweating and nervous and terrified, "Marry me."
All of a sudden, the war didn't seem so terrifying. And even though something exploded behind them, she felt more exhilarated than ever. Although she was still blatantly scared, with Gilbert holding her hand, she thought it could get better, "Yeah," she breathed out, running with all her might but smiling as they approached the Italian at the end of the lawn, "I will."
"Stop! Or we'll shoot!"
Gilbert froze.
"I'm sorry." The next voice was Ludwig's, and the Prussian cringed. They got his little brother.
Alicia looked up and saw that the cars had begun to drive off. There was a good ten meters to run before they can get to them. And they were surrounded. There was nowhere else to go.
"Put your gun down, and put your hands behind your head."
But Gilbert didn't move an inch.
The Spaniard's eyes met Ludwig's in the dim light. Both of them had fear in their eyes. They knew he could get shot, and get hurt. And it even looked to Ludwig like the albino was ready to get hurt. The blond, on the other hand, was bound by at least five soldiers, still struggling to keep him still, and one of them began counting.
"One." Gilbert's grip tightened upon his gun. "Two." She could hear several other guns being raised their direction.
"Three."
"No!"
And before he could do anything about it, the next thing Gilbert saw was Alicia falling to the ground, and blood staining her chest. He had been knocked down by her, and Ludwig had knocked out half the soldiers that had caught them, but she began to cough out, making the Prussian terrified beyond belief.
"No… No, no, no!" He pressed a hand over the wound, praying to help stop it from bleeding as the she began to cough out that red liquid, her amber eyes losing focus.
"I… I didn't want you…" She tried to say, but tears filled crimson eyes as Gilbert shook his head.
"I'm immortal." He said, tears falling from his eyes. He knew she meant well. But he didn't want to lose her.
"Doesn't mean you can't feel pain."
Gilbert's eyes snapped open. A dream. It was a dream. A terrible dream. He tried to calm himself down, attempting to bring his hands up to rub his tired eyes, when he realized that his hands were bound in chains.
All of a sudden, the temperature in the room was ice-cold. With every breath he took, he saw a puff of white smoke rising from his mouth. He looked at himself and found himself half-clothed, and thinly wrapped. He looked up and found the night sky, and snow fall, and that he was waist-deep in snow in a temperature unbearable, even for him. He shuddered, knowing just where he was. He could feel his skin numbing, attempting to retain whatever warmth there was left in his body. He tried to free himself from the metal chains, tried to pry himself away from the frozen prison, when he heard a high-pitched scream from somewhere in the house, with the lights flickering open. Then, crying. He heard children crying.
Wait. Children?
Just then, a tall, looming figure tossed something out of the house. Someone out of the house, out of the very front door.
The snow began to be tainted a vibrant shade of red, and Gilbert's face was drained of colour. Eyes wide, he watched as the woman he loved was dragged closer towards him, a trail of blood from a slit down her neck making her tears dry in the ice-cold weather.
The Prussian could barely stand the sight of it. He couldn't believe it, "… Alicia?"
Amber eyes lacked luster as they looked up at him one last time, "Gil…"
He could take any sort of pain. He'd rather take any other form of physical pain. Just not this. Not with her blood staining the freshly white snow, and her eyes in tears with her own helplessness. He couldn't stand to see her die. Not her. He'd rather take her place.
"G…Gil…"
"Gil… Gil! Gilbert! Gil!"
"N-No… Please don't, no… Don't hurt her, please…"
"Gil!"
One last call of his name and the Prussian woke up with a start, tears streaming from his eyes. She flicked the lights open and Alicia looked at him worriedly. The moment he set his eyes on her, however, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, and protectively, "Oh my God." He breathed out.
Alicia looked slightly shocked, but embraced him nonetheless, "Gil?" she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, "Wh-What happened, love?"
"It's a dream. It was all just a dream." He said softly, burying his head in the crook of her neck.
She gently caressed his hair, "Yes, love. Whatever it was. It's just a dream. Nothing can harm you here."
"Or, harm you." He pulled away from her and held her firmly by the shoulders, "All right. What's your name?"
"What?" she looked confused, "Alicia." She replied shortly, "Alicia Beilshmidt. I'm your wife. Is this a trick question?"
He chuckled a little, "No, I know that," he said, kissing her lightly on the forehead, "What I meant was, what did you call yourself before?"
"Alicia Fernandez-Carriedo," she replied with a raised eyebrow, "Or, Alicia Aragon."
"No, even before that." He wanted to make sure. He didn't want to be dreaming again. He wanted to make sure he was living the life that he knew he had.
"Reino de Aragón," And with that statement, Gilbert embraced her again. They were both personifications. He was still the old, dissolved nation of Prussia, and she was still Aragon, Spain.
"Ah, I'm glad it's you. And you're here."
With that, tiny hands grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, "Vati, are you okay?" And a little girl, with golden blonde hair and bright amber eyes looked up at him, making his grin even wider.
"Azula." He picked up his daughter, "Yes, I'm fine now."
Then, a little boy with black hair and icy-blue eyes, wore determined expression as he waddled towards them with a glass full of water between both his little hands. He handed it to his father, who nodded proudly at him, "Danke, Dietrich," He took a gulp and set it to their side-table, "I'm sorry. I must have scared all of you."
But one look at Alicia beside him brought the life back into him. He was out of his nightmares, she had brought him out. Once again, it almost looked like she had saved him. Even in his dreams, all he's ever wanted to do was protect her, do something for her, return what it is she had given him. But it seemed like it had been her all along who had put all her energy into being the stronger one, for both of them. And that was something Gilbert will forever love her for, because not once had she ever acted like a damsel in distress. She was a fighter. And he loved her for it. And she fought time with him to have the most beautiful children in the world.
He didn't lose what he thought he did. Life was good. All was well. He knew that it was finally okay to love and be loved in return.
A/N: Pacing is slightly better now, and I am proud of my day's work. Hey, seven thousand words in two days isn't so bad. Good night!
