I walked into my Bruders bedroom. He heard the door creak and looked over. He seemed displeased until he saw it was me, then he beamed before his smile faltered. "West? Didn't I put you to bed? What happened? Are you okay?"
"I can't sleep. I had a nightmare." I said, looking down, fidgeting with the hem of my night shirt. It was all I had on for night clothes. He stood up and I saw his Prussian blue silk pajamas. His shirt with long sleeves and pants with long legs. His hands were covered and he walked almost on his pants. My night shirt was striped with red, yellow, and black and made from silk. He scooped me up and sat on his bed.
"Wanna sleep with me? I won't bite." I smiled weakly at his joke. He frowned. "Do you wanna talk about it? It might help to talk about it." I looked up at him.
"But Gilby, what if they hear me?"
"Who?"
"The angry men? I dreamed that they finally got to me and that Austria helped them to kidnap me. I'm scared. I know I shouldn't be but their so angry and so many of them and their their their-" He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly.
"Shush Luddy. I'm here. I will always be by your side. I won't let those mean men get to you or that verdammt Österreich. I promise, you have my word. I love you Luddy. I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Especially something like that." He kissed my forehead and held me tighter. I laid my chin on his shoulder and cuddled close to him. I wiped my tears away and soon I was sleepy again.
"Gilby, I'm tired."
"You can sleep with me tonight. My sword is in the corner so we will be safe." I looked and noticed it was close to his bed. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. Gilby kissed my forehead before laying us down in his bed with me in his arms. I snuggled closer just in case.
…
I woke up later in the night, feeling terrible. I couldn't explain it. Gilby's arms were still around me even though he was fast asleep. I tried to wriggle out of his arms but he twitched and he held tighter. I tried to shake him awake and it worked quickly. He yawned.
"What's wrong Luddy? Did you have another nightmare?" I shook my head.
"Uh uh. I don't feel good."
"What do you mean you don't feel good? You need to go to the restroom or do you feel sick? Wait. You've never been sick before… um… describe how you feel. Are you in pain?"
"My tummy hurts." I could get sick?! "Gilby what does sick mean? Am I going to die?" I ask worried. He shook his head.
"You can't die. You're a country." He picked me up and got out of bed. I calmed a bit until I became scared entirely.
"But Roman Empire died or disappeared." He began bouncing me in his arms.
"Shush Luddy. I have some medicine that will take the pain away." He carried me out of his room. I cried into him. Then I heard him singing. "Don't you cry my sweet, I'll be there until the end of time. Ready to catch you if you may fall. Trust in me and I will guide you through the dark when all seems lost, my awesome little bruder, one day you will grow to be strong and big. That is your dream, I tell you to give it time, great things such as those, they will come in time. Don't you cry my sweet, I'll be there until the end of time, ready to catch you if you may fall. Trust in me and I will guide you through the dark when all seems lost until the end of time I shall be here." He had made up that song on his own, winging it like he said. Mein Bruder was awesome. I calmed as he opened cabinet after cabinet as he started singing a German lullaby in German. He smiled and handed me a bottle. "Two gulps. No more." I did as he told me and he took it, cradling me now. I was falling asleep as he began another German lullaby. "Tomorrow I'll take you to the doctor, the best doctor in the land. Good night Luddy."
"Night Gilby." He kissed my forehead before I fell back to sleep, a peaceful sleep.
…
"Brohas, today we're going to the doctor." Gilby said, putting a plate of wurst and potatoes in front of me. I shook my head.
"No thank you. I would prefer to stay home and play with you."
"Well after we get back we can play. All day if you want."
"No thank you. If you need to go you can leave me here with Fritz."
"What if I get Fritz to come with us?"
"Nein!" I shook my head.
"We need to go to see if you're sick. Do you feel better or worse?"
"Just pretend I didn't say anything about it."
"No West, I can't do that." I got out of my chair and ran back to my room, slamming the door. I heard a knock on the door. "Luddy! Come on! Don't you want to get better?"
"If you can't fix it, they can't fix it!"
"I don't know as much as they do. Come on West! Where's my brave knight at?"
"Hiding from a dragon."
"Let's go slay the dragon!"
"Nein! Stay out!" I started blockading the door to keep him out.
"Come out!"
"Nein!"
"Ludwig! Come out now!"
"Nein!" There came a bang at the door.
"Are you just going to say no to me on everything I say?"
"Nein! Say I don't have to go and I'll say yes."
"You don't not have to go to the doctor."
"Nice try Bruder." He seemed to have left a few minutes later. I ran to the window and started trying to open it. When I finally managed, there came a delicious smell… right outside my door. Gilby was back.
"Good boys get biscuits. You want a biscuit don't you West? Please make this easy brohas."
"Nein!" Be strong Ludwig. Don't fall for the sweets. The pumpkin biscuits smell so nice though. I'm upsetting Gilby. Well he upset me first. How does that make sense? "I'd rather face my angry men alone head on than go see the doctor. If you can't help me, they can't help me." I heard Gilby say something that I didn't want to hear.
"I am going to count to three and if you are not out here, Ludwig Beilschmidt, you will be a very sorry little country." I gulped. Gilby's angry. "One!" I ran back to the window and looked down. Nope. Too high up. "Two!" I ran to the corner and hid under the blanket and some clothes. "Two and a half! This is your last warning!" I took a deep breath. A minute later and Gilby finished counting. "Three!" He actually got the door open. "Ludwig!" I waited, watching him. He walked in and looked around. He headed for the closet. I crept toward the door and when I reached it, he looked over. I turned and ran but he was faster. He picked me up and sat me on my bed. I looked down. I heard him sigh.
"Es tut mir leid."
"Ludwig. I don't know what to do with you. Actually I know what comes next but I really don't want to. We'll… go to the doctor first. Then handle what happened here. Here's some biscuits." He gave me five of them out of ten. "Breakfast is still waiting for you."
"Why are you giving me biscuits? I… misbehaved. I disobeyed and I'm sorry but I really believe if you can't help then they can't." He bent to my eye level and had me keep eye contact with him.
"You're a kid, you're supposed to misbehave every now and then because otherwise you'd be too mature for your age. I'm proud of you and the only reason I punish you is because it is needed and procedure. I would rather just let you get away with everything but then you'd probably have to deal with Fritz. I'm proud of you, you almost got away. In battle you would have succeeded. However it would be the other way around. People will run from Germany." I smiled. He wasn't angry.
"I don't want people to be afraid of me."
"Not people, other countries."
"Like Austria?"
"Yes!"
"I think I might like that. Then no one would try to kidnap me or conquer me."
"Exactly! And with Prussia by Germany's side no one would dare challenge us! Then we could have all the battles and wars we want with the other countries!" I began chewing on one of my biscuits, smiling. He picked me up and carried me to the table to eat breakfast.
…
We were at the doctor's office and there were many more people than I thought there would be. Gilby had did paperwork, which I was proud of him for, and he had brought two sets of my army men and two sets of marbles. I was sitting… between or behind Gilby's legs under the chair as I played.
Gilby smiled down at me. He pushed me forward. "West would you like to play with some of the other kids?" I silently shook my head. "What about with me?" I nodded, smiling. Then I heard a woman's voice.
"Prussia?" Gilby looked up. Then he dropped his coat on top of me. I giggled.
"What do you want Ungarn?"
"I'm not here to take Germany. In fact I'm here to apologize for Austria trying to kidnap Germany again. I told him he has enough to handle since he already has a small country under his control. I'm sorry." I poked my head out from under his blue coat. She smiled at me. I smiled back. Bruder picked me up.
"You… Austria is forgiven."
"Thank you. Why are you two here?"
"My tummy hurt last night and Gilby's being a dummie and overreacting."
"Yes, Gilbert is a dummie. But I think he's doing the right thing."
"Kesese. You should ask Spain or France if I'm a dummie."
"Well their both dummies too. But I should go now. I'm going to come with Austria next time. We can hold the meeting then. Austria's still heading home. I headed here as soon as I got your letter." Wait. Did Gilby lie? All Austria did was talk. I looked up at Gilby, he'd put me on his lap.
"But Bruder-"
"Bye Ungarn."
"Bye Prussia. Bye Germany."
A few minutes later and they called. "Beilschmidt." Gilbert picked me up and picked up the packs of toys. He'd quickly put them in the bag again. He walked to where they told him and placed me on a weight thing. They took my weight and then had me go wait again in a room after they did some other stuff to me. At least Gilby was here.
"Bruder? Can we leave? All their going to do is make us wait. Not very efficient if you ask me."
"While I agree with you on the note that this way isn't efficient, you do have to consider the fact that they have more than one patient. If you are a good boy you will get a lollipop and a tank of beer." I smiled and took my toys to play.
After a while a doctor came in. Gilby placed me on the table they wanted me on before he gave a small group of men to me. He took some tests and soon he left again. I saw Gilby on the edge of his seat. He looked at me, smirking.
"What's up West?"
"Nothing. Are we done?"
"No, no we're not. He's supposed to come back with a report. Let's hope you get an A+. Want to play with your toys?" I picked up my soldiers and began to play. Gilby joined and soon the doctor came back.
"Well Ludwig is healthy, nothing physically wrong but he did eat a bad piece of meat. What has he eaten recently."
"What do you mean bad food?! I cook great!… Ludwig? Did you eat with someone else?"
"I took some food from… Österreich." I whispered his name. Gilby sighed.
"What do you want to do about it?"
"It will pass through his system. However if you wish to hurry it out of his system I might suggest prune juice, coffee, or tea." Ew. Prune juice. I looked at Gilby, worried he'd take the doctor up on his offer.
"There's nothing else you can do?"
"I could give him some pills to help."
"I guess." He walked out and came back a few minutes later. He handed Gilby a bottle.
"Have him take one of those each day this week. He should be better in no time."
"Thank you doctor." Gilby gathered my toys before picking me up. "We'll go home now." However before we could leave I was handed a lollipop. When we got home, Gilby took me to my room again. He set me on my feet and put the bottle on my chest drawer. Then he… whined?… at me. "Bruder! How could you not tell me about Austria giving you food? On a worse note, how could you accept food from Austria?"
"I'm sorry Gilby. I thought it would be okay. Austria doesn't seem like such a bad guy."
"Yet he let a child eat bad food! What have I been telling you about Austria? Did you ignore me?" I shook my head vigorously.
"Nein! Nein! Not all all! I would never ignore you!"
"Then… why?"
"I thought… I would give him a chance."
"After he tried to kidnap you?"
"…" I just looked at him. "I'm so sorry." I felt myself start to tear up. He held me instantly.
"It's fine brohas. You're just a kid. I shouldn't expect you to know better."
"Okay so there's three things I should punish you for, even if I don't want to. Do you know what they are?"
"Um… I accepted food from Austria, I disobeyed, and… I'm sorry Gilby."
"I'm thinking… scolding and a time out. What about you?" I hugged his leg. He was being generous. Even if he said he didn't want to punish me.
"Thank you Gilby." Usually I got a few smacks for disobedience.
"I've already scolded you so all I need to do is ask you to go to the corner for five minutes." I smiled and ran to the corner. "That's a good boy, West." He sat down and started whistling and then tapping the floor. Then a few minutes after that he spoke. "Okay! Come here and give me a hug! I don't want you in the corner anymore!" I ran to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped me tightly in his arms.
