CHAPTER 2

:o:

It had been so many long years since Gilbert left my house. I never bothered to count. As my dream that night before I received that letter from Ludwig predicted, my life became empty, emotionless, and colorless.

I missed the old times. I didn't let anyone bother me. And I fell into a depression.

Sometime after he left, I heard that Gilbert had died. No one ever gave me a "how," I only heard that he did. I refused to believe it. I fell into a deeper depression.

I hated myself for not saying anything to him that day at the airport. I hated that he could say good bye to me in Russian and I didn't even know what 'Dummkopf' meant.

I devoted myself, after I heard about his so-called death, to learning German. I wanted to learn what 'Dummkopf' means and more importantly, how to say 'good bye' in German.

I devoted all my time, soul, and energy into learning German. When I wasn't doing that, I was drinking. I drank all my sorrows about Gilbert away, but they only seemed to come back stronger. I did not know how to deal with Gilbert being dead.

:o:

One day, I received a call at my house. It was the first call I had received in a long time. Needless to say I was surprised my phone still worked. I answered the phone, "Да?" I was very curious to hear who was calling me.

"Hello, Ivan," Ludwig's gruff voice greeted me.

"Ludwig. Why do you call me?"

His voice hesitated a brief second. "I… have something you need to see…. It's about Gilbert."

My whole body instantly straightened at the albino's name.

"But, you need to come over here to Berlin to see it," Ludwig continued in a rush.

"I see…." What could it be that Ludwig wants to show me in Berlin? Perhaps something that Gilbert was once close to? "When should I leave?"

"There is a flight out of Moscow tonight, if you want to catch that. Sooner is better."

"Okay. I will be on the evening flight tonight. Good bye, Ludwig."

"Good bye, Ivan." The phone call was ended. It was such a short phone call, but made a huge impact on me. I had something I had to do now, I could not sit in my house all day anymore.

:o:

Precisely as I said, I boarded the plane for Berlin. I did not know how long I would be staying there, so I only took a small bag with clothes and vodka in it. The trip took longer than I wanted. I wanted to be in Berlin as soon as I could to see whatever it was that Ludwig wanted to show me.

Ludwig had never been particularly fond of me, so why does he want to show me something after Gilbert's passing? I contemplated these things during the flight.

Ludwig was waiting for me when I got off the plane. Neither of us said a word. I wondered if he had what he wanted to show me on him, but did not ask for fear it was a private something. My curiosity was starting to get the better of me. I held it in check as long as I could.

The drive to Ludwig and Feliciano's house was also silent. I could tell that Ludwig was tense. He had still not said a word to me since the phone call earlier in the evening.

We arrived at a large wooden house set apart from its neighbors by quite a distance. Ludwig parked his truck in the driveway and started getting out. I followed him inside the house, still silent.

There were flickering lights inside the house, which made it seem somewhat beautiful. I could not help but think it would be even more beautiful if there were sunflowers growing behind the house.

Feliciano opened the door to us and greeted Ludwig with a gigantic hug.

He stammered out, "C-Ci-Ciao, I-Ivan." I assumed he was afraid of me.

I smiled at him to try to calm him down, "Πривет, Feliciano." He hid behind Ludwig.

Ludwig sighed. "Let us go in, ja?" He led the way inside his house with Feliciano still trying to hide behind him. I followed after the two thinking they were cute together.

Ludwig led us to a room filled with nice, big, red couches and a big flat screen TV across the room. "Wait here. I will be right back. Feliciano," he yelled at the male who jumped in response. "Take care of our guest while I am gone." And with that Ludwig left the room.

Feliciano hesitantly stood by couch nearest the door. I strolled into the room and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. I placed my bag of vodka and clothes down on the floor next to it. I was somewhat enjoying this trip to Ludwig's house, but I was still worried about what Ludwig wanted to show me.

"Um… Um…," Feliciano stuttered. I smiled at him which only got another jump from the shaky Italian. "Wo-Would you… like some pasta?"

His question made me realize that I had not eaten before I had left for Berlin, nor had I eaten on the plane. I was just about to reply that I would very much like that when Ludwig returned to the room.

Both Feliciano and I looked up as he entered. Ludwig avoided both our eyes and scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. He looked apprehensive and unsure of himself.

"Ludwig, are you okay?" Feliciano bounded over to his partner with worry in his eyes.

"Ja, I will be fine. Ivan," he turned his attention to me, "Come with me."

Ludwig started down the hallway he had disappeared to before. Feliciano and I followed him. Ludwig stopped, "Feliciano, you stay here."

"But-"

"Stay here!"

Feliciano whimpered but slowly made his way back to the couches.

Ludwig and I continued on our way. He led me to a door at the back of the hall. He opened the door to show stairs. I looked at him questioningly. He nodded. I started down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs there was another hallway. Ludwig took the lead and led me to the end of this hallway where there was another door. He looked at me as he took the doorknob, "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what," I asked as he opened the door.

:o:

My vision was greeted to the sight of an alive albino sitting up in bed looking over towards us.

"Gilbert?" I was more than surprised.

"Hey, Ivan," he coughed. It was so good to hear his voice, but for the cough.

I rushed over to the bed. "Are you okay? What's wrong? I heard you were dead!"

Ludwig slowly entered the room as well, closing the door behind him. "Gilbert has some kind of sickness that will never leave him. It is going to kill him soon…."

Gilbert took over hoarsely, "I told Lud to tell everyone that I was dead to see if they would miss me. I especially wanted to see how to would react, Ivan." Our eyes met. His were still a beautiful crimson red, but slightly clouded with sickness. "Ludwig told me how you were doing. That's why I wanted you to know I was still alive, for now."

"But how did you know…?"

"Word spreads fast when there is a crazy Russian spending all his time drinking and learning German," Ludwig said.

"Ja," Gilbert smiled at me, it was more beautiful than a whole field of sunflowers. "Did you learn anything useful, Ivan?"

I thought for a moment. I had learned a good portion of German, but one of the phrases were not appropriate now. I desperately wanted to say another phrase to the beautiful Gilbert.

"I missed you a lot, Gilbert!" I embraced him in a gigantic hug. Gilbert let out a surprised squeak, but did his best to hug me back.

Ludwig smiled awkwardly from behind me. "Well, I will leave you two alone. Who knows what Feliciano could be getting into while I'm not watching him." He turned to leave.

"Wait, Ludwig," I stopped him. "Thank you for letting me see Gilbert one more time."

"It was his idea, not mine. Don't thank me." Ludwig left the room, closing the door behind him again.

My attention turned back to Gilbert. I checked him over, he looked good physically, but I knew he was deathly sick.

"Thank you for letting me see you again."

"Ah, it's nothing! I couldn't let you go on drinking without me! I'm too awesome for that!" He finished his sentence with a harsh cough.

"You shouldn't be working so hard!" I rushed to help him anyway I could. Concern flooded my eyes. His skin felt hot and feverish against mine.

"You feel nice," he said as his eyes slowly closed. "Stay with me until I go, okay, Ivan?" Gilbert was almost asleep.

"Of course I will, Gilbert. Ich liebe dich." I was not afraid to speak the truth.

Gilbert smiled with his eyes still shut. "Ich liebe dich auch, Ivan." His breathing slowed until he was asleep.

My heart felt happier than it had been in a long time. I had never been happier in my entire life. I grabbed both of Gilbert's hands. There was a chair placed near the edge of the bed that had not been there when I first entered the room. "Ludwig must have put it there," I thought as I sat in it, thankful. I watched Gilbert sleep for a few hours then fell asleep by his bedside, our hands still held together.

:o:

When I woke up, Gilbert was still sleeping. Or at least I thought he was, his hands were ice cold. I stood up and looked at his face. He had a small smile at the corner of his lips and his face was turned toward mine. As I slept, they could only be mere centimeters apart.

I stood over Gilbert for a few minutes trying to decide what I should do. During that time Ludwig came down the stairs and saw me over Gilbert. He stepped closer and saw Gilbert's appearance.

"He's dead," I whispered.

Ludwig stood there. "He had been in a lot of pain the past few days. I was surprised he was still alive when you got here. The doctor said he should have died a few months ago. That was the time when he told me to tell everyone that he was dead." He paused. "I think he waited until he could see you again before finally letting go."

I nodded mutely, I could feel tears starting to roll down my cheeks again.

Ludwig noticed and said awkwardly, "I, uh, should go phone the cemetery…." And he left me alone with my Gilbert.

I sat back down on the chair by the side of the bed and tried to wipe away the tears from my eyes, but noticed Gilbert's and my hands were still interconnected. That realization just made my tears fall faster.

I leaned over Gilbert's perpetually smiling face and softly kissed him on the forehead. "Abschied, Gilbert. Ich liebe dich," I said as tears rolled down my face.

:o:

Translation Notes:

Dummkopf = Stupid (German)

Да = Yes (Russian)

Ciao = Hello (Italian)

Πривет = Hello (Russian)

Ja = Yes (German)

Ich liebe dich = I love you (German)

Ich liebe dich auch = I love you too (German)

Abschied = something like "final farewell" or just "good bye" (German)

(Abschied is the one I'm most worried about if it's correct or not!)

Author's Note:

I feel like crying. *cries* That was sad. I think I'm getting pretty good at this story thing. Don't you wish somebody would do that for you? I want somebody to say "I love you" in a foreign language too!

Please send me a message or review or something if my German or Russian is off. I'm not fluent in those languages _

There is an epilogue for this story in the next chapter. I really hope you like this story and will write me a review (reviews make me happy ^-^)

I failed to say it in the last chapter (oops) but, I DO NOT OWN HETALIA! There would be a whole lot more Prussia and Russia than that **** Amerika if I owned Hetalia. (says the American)

By the way, You are Awesome. :') Miss you Prussia/Gilbert.