And here we have another chapter :D

Dear gosh, guys. This is the quickest I've gotten reviews, follows, and favorites EVER (not that I've been here particularly long, but STILL). Thank you so much! :DDDDDDDDDDD Let's play the 'how many times have I used this emoticon' game :D

Ludwig's POV again. Gilbert is next. I do a better Ludwig than Gilbert, so the latter's taking a lil' longer to get right. Alternating weeks I'm working on it with Timeless Mortalities because bbys need equal attention.

"Oh, hurry up, Roderich!" Ms. Elizabeta called. She had Ludwig's hand in hers as they walked down the streets, Mr. Edelstein falling hopelessly behind.

"You walk too fast," he puffed, sliding his glasses up his nose, beads of sweat making them slip down again.

"We're walking at a perfectly appropriate place," Ms. Elizabeta retorted. "You, on the other hand, appear to be imitating a snail."

They waited for him to catch up, though when they started moving again Ludwig was torn between racing forwards and pulling back.

They were heading towards the Wall.

Yesterday, Mr. Edelstein had gone to check it out first, finding it only to be a few cinderblocks high. Just enough to see over.

Ludwig held Ms. Elizabeta's hand tighter. He was determined to keep his composure - his horrible sobbing episode had been humiliating, and he was determined not to cause such a mess again. But he still couldn't help swallowing down the tightness in his throat. How did such a relatively short wall separate Gilbert from him? Gilbert liked to claim Prussian ancestry, but they lived in West Berlin, in the American sector, not in the East and the Soviets! Gilbert only worked at company that shipped out industrial equipment. Didn't he have his identity card with him? The thought hit him like train. Yes, yes, he should have his identity card, right? He should have showed it to someone so they would let him out.

"Don't crease your forehead like that," Ms. Elizabeta chided quietly, studying him. "You'll have wrinkles by the time you're thirteen. Don't worry; I'm sure Gilbert is fine."

"He should have his identity card," he blurted.

"It's for the West?"

"Of course it's for the West. I - We live in the West."

"Have you seen his identity card?"

"I -" he paused. He had to have seen it before. "Yes. See? Look at mine." He brought it from his pocket and showed it to her.

"But you're sure it looked like this. It wasn't another color? Blue, perhaps?" She pointed at the words Bundesrepublik Deutschland, nearly shoved them under his face.

He shook his head. "It looked exactly like mine."

"And your parents? They were from the West, too?"

"Gilbert says Mutti was from the East."

She frowned. "Was Gilbert born in the East?"

"I - I don't know."

She rubbed his shoulder. "We'll figure it out."

He sure hoped so. The thought of Gilbert on the other side of the wall ran in circles inside his head and made him dizzy. He couldn't tell which was worse - this, or the initial murkiness that had dragged him down and threatened to drown him. He was still thinking about it when Ms. Elizabeta came to a halt and gave him arm a small tug.

"Look," she said, pointing.

He followed her finger.

Ah. So this was the wall.

He felt a kind of chill come over him, hairs prickling on his arms despite the strength of the high summer sun.

It wasn't tall - at least, not tall yet. It appeared to be plain concrete and mortar, topped with a crown of barbed wire.

Ms. Elizabeta coaxed him forward. He walked with her step for step, blinking at the monstrous thing as if it was a dragon come to life.

They stopped again, right before it. The sudden halted scuff was all that was left to go. Ms. Elizabeta immediately went to her toes, stretching her neck in an effort to peer over. Ludwig put his hand on the wall. It was warm and rough beneath his fingers. He wondered how wide a wall had to be to separate one world from another, even if they were part of the same solar system.

"Are there -" Mr. Edelstein paused, producing a handkerchief from him breast pocket, removing his glasses and wiping his face, coming up beside them. "- Do you see any soldiers around?"

"There's a few people passing by," Ms. Elizabeta answered, "but I can't see very well. Just some heads." She tried jumping.

Mr. Edelstein replaced the glasses on his nose and made a hum in his throat. He never grunted, Ludwig noticed. Just hummed. "They've built it up a bit more than the last time I saw it. Here, pick me up, Liza."

"Pick you up?" she huffed. "With all that cake you like to eat?"

"Then I suppose you want me to pick you up?"

"Is there something you're wanting to say, Roderich?" She gave him the Glare. Another thing Ludwig had picked up while staying with them: You either answer her or know better than to answer her. Her body went all stiff, hands to hips and chest drawn up, eyes squinting and an eyebrow arched high in expectation. There was no counter for it.

Mr. Edelstein coughed and turned his head away. "Ah. Not at all, dear. In my defense, you are wearing a dress."

She lifted her chin and stood stock-still in front of him. "By the waist, then."

Mr. Edelstein looked both exasperated and frightened. He laid his hands just above her hips and strained to lift her, leaning backwards in the effort, arms trembling like pale, strummed violin strings.

"Ow! Roderich!" She squirmed, and Mr. Edelstein dropped her.

"Did you see anything?" he asked.

Ms. Elizabeta rubbed her sides sorrowfully. "No! You barely lifted me over the barbed wire - I could have smashed my face in it, thanks to you. You nearly pulled the skin of my middle up to my chest. Kevés vagy, mint mackósajtban a brummogás."

"I can't put up on on my shoulders -"

"Well, I have a spectacular idea. Pick up Ludwig instead."

Ludwig ripped his hand from the wall. "What?"

Ms. Elizabeta wasn't looking at him, though. She was staring pointedly at Mr. Edelstein, who only set out a puff of a sigh and got down on his knees.

"Go on, Ludwig," the Hungarian woman said. "See over."

"Is it safe?" he pondered.

"Well, there's certainly no reason for anybody to shoot. Up you go now - that's right. Oh, don't moan, Roderich. He can't weigh more than all the desserts you eat in a single afternoon."

Ludwig clambered onto the Austrian's back. The man rose, grimacing.

"Soldiers?" he asked, face twitching in an effort to keep both his composure and his glasses on at the same time.

Ludwig shook his head, then nodded, looking out onto the East. "Yes. Four of them, two to the left and two to the right...the ones to the left are closer, but they're both some distance away."

Easterners passing by stood taller to look at him, slowing down, a few waving. He flapped his hand half-heartedly back.

"Has it changed?" Ms. Elizabeta asked.

"I don't know. I haven't gone over many times."

"Of course it hasn't changed," Mr. Edelstein snorted. "The Romans haven't come back for revenge on us barbarians, have they?"

"I was just wondering."

"Mr. Edelstein," Ludwig began, "can you hold me up just a little longer?"

"Of course he will, sweetheart," Ms. Elizabeta answered for him. "What do you see?"

He didn't answer. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled one long, shrill note, just like his brother had taught him, and called as loud as he could:

"Gilbert!"

HAHAHAHAHA :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Kevés vagy, mint mackósajtban a brummogás - Okay I gotta be honest here I have no freaking idea. "you're as little as the roaring in a Mackó cheese" or something like that. Supposed to mean "useless" as a Hungarian expression. I dunno. The Internet is a magical place.

See y'all! XD I'm gonna add one more of :D these :D HA I THINK I'M FUNNY.

xxSonoSvegliato

:D