Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The sunken-in eyes

And the pain in his cries

A shape in the dark

Cry wolf

Time to worry

Cry wolf

Time worry now

Cry Wolf-A ha

Matthew wasn't completely sure why he thought himself capable of outrunning an avalanche, but he sure as hell tried. He had decided that at least attempting to escape his impending doom was better than just standing there and taking it full force. For the first few seconds, he actually thought that he could make it.

The fact that he was now buried under who-knows-how-many feet of snow brought that hope down very quickly.

Matthew was alive, somehow, but he honestly didn't know how long that would be the case. He could barely move any of this limbs (he couldn't tell if they were broken or if it was because of the weight on the snow), and his already small air supply was decreasing with each rapid breath he took. He was going to die here, and they were never going to find his body.

That realization struck Matthew hard. He didn't want to die here. No. He refused to die here. He was going to get out of this, and he was going to give his brother a piece of his mind. It was as if the thought of chewing out Alfred fueled him on, and Matthew began to scream and violently thrash his body around. His range of motion was extremely limited, but he tried his hardest to try to claw his way to the surface.

The air was becoming very thin, and the more Matthew yelled, the less there was. Matthew felt the sting of icy tears on his face. He was feeling very light headed, and his strength was leaving him.

Maybe this really was the end after all.

He didn't think he could stay conscious for much longer.

This was it.

He'd never see Alfred again. He wondered if his stupidly annoying (but amazing and wonderful) big brother would miss him. What about his dad? Would his dad even notice he was gone? Of course he would, Matthew tried to reassure himself. Mom wouldn't though, he thought. She was the one who never saw me. Matthew felt the tears continue to fall down his cheeks.

He thought of everyone at the lodge. Francis, Berwald, Peter, even Mr. Kumajojo; would they miss him?

Matthew hoped they would, because he didn't have the strength to go on anymore.

He was about to give up hope completely, but he heard a noise coming from above him. It sounded a bit like… digging? No, it couldn't be… but I suppose I'm dead anyway, eh. There's nothing to lose. Matthew thrashed around a bit more and filled his lungs with the last bit of oxygen he could take from the air.

"Here! Down here!" he yelled, his head spinning. "P-please! Help! Can't… breathe…" His lungs were screaming at him, begging for air. The pain was unimaginable.

The snow above him crunched as it was (he assumed) being torn away.

The last thing Matthew saw before he blacked out was a painfully bright white.

And a deep blood red.

Matthew was dead.

Or, at least he was pretty sure that he was.

There's no way he survived, so he must be dead.

He didn't expect Heaven to so cold though. Was this Hell? No, Hell wouldn't be cold either. Then this was probably Limbo or something. Limbo could feasibly be cold. Maybe? Matthew didn't particularly believe in Limbo though…

Well, he was somewhere. He knew that much for sure.

And he was most definitely dead.

…

Right?

Matthew groaned as his eyes fluttered open. His whole body ached, and he was still feeling very light headed. Could you feel pain like this when you were dead? He slowly started to sit up, every one of his muscles screaming at him, and he noticed a bandage wrapped tightly around his left arm, which was resting gently in a cloth sling.

"I patched you up pretty awesomely, ja?" an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke up from behind him.

Matthew squealed, flailing a bit, and quickly spun around (which hurt) on the bed he had just realized he was laying on.

He saw someone (a man, he concluded from the voice) standing off in the corner, partially hidden in the shadows.

The man laughed; it was a strange laugh unlike any Matthew had heard before, but it wasn't unpleasant. "You sounded just like a little bird just now! And how you flapped your arms around! That was pretty awesome to watch." The man laughed for a moment longer before taking a step out from the shadows. "So tell me, Vögelchen, what were you doing under a pile of snow?"

Matthew's eyed widened and he couldn't stop himself from gasping.

Beautiful.

Matthew could think of no other way to describe the man before him.

Maybe this was Heaven after all.

His skin was so incredibly pale it was almost translucent. He had on a loose pair of light-wash jeans, a black short sleeve t-shirt (which really stood out against his skin), and no shoes. Matthew wondered how the man wasn't freezing to death. On the man's head was a bright yellow beanie, from under which Matthew could see some startlingly white hair sticking out. But what had Matthew so helplessly captivated was the man's eyes.

They were color of blood.

And they were the most beautiful eyes Matthew had ever seen.

Not that he'd say that out loud.

The man smirked and took another step forward (Matthew thought he saw a flash of something white behind the man for a moment, but it was gone so quickly he assumed he had imagined.)

"I know I'm awesome to look at, Vögelchen, but it's rude to stare."

Matthew blushed furiously and looked away. "S-sorry…" he whispered.

"If you don't speak up, people can't hear you, Vögelchen." The man took a few more steps towards Matthew.

"S-sorry!" Matthew said a bit louder.

The man laughed again. "Gut, that's much better!" He was right in front of Matthew now, and he squatted down, his face inches from the Canadian's. "But you still haven't answered my question. What were you doing under the snow, hm?" His breath tickled Matthew's face, and the Canadian felt a bit uncomfortable, so he scooted back a bit on the bed. The man chuckled. "Well?"

"It's kind of a long story, eh," he finally replied.

He felt the bed dip down a bit as the man sat down beside him (Matthew noticed he shifted his weight around a little awkwardly for a moment, but thought nothing of it). "Well you're in luck, Vögelchen, because I am an awesome listener! So get on with it already!"

Matthew frowned. "Why should I tell you anything?" he asked, feeling a bit brave. "I don't even know you!"

The man smirked. "I am the awesome Gilbert! And you are mein Vögelchen. There, now we know each other so you can talk. Go on!"

Man, this guy is pushy, Matthew thought. "I don't know what the heck a 'Vogel-whatever' is, my name is Matthew, and I still don't know why I should have to tell you anything!"

"Matthew, huh?" Gilbert said. "Alright then Matthew, considering I saved your life out there, I think the Awesome Me deserves an explanation, ja?"

"Y-you're the one who saved me?" Matthew asked.

Gilbert let loose another round of laughs. "Well duh, Vögelchen, who else could've done something so awesome? You should really be thanking me."

"But why?" Matthew asked.

"It would be pretty unawesome not to thank someone who went out of their way to save your life."

"No," Matthew corrected, "why did you save me? What was your reasoning? You could've just let me die out there, so why didn't you?"

Gilbert suddenly became stiff. "It's not awesome to let someone die when it's in your ability to protect them, Vögelchen." His tone was so serious, it honestly surprised Matthew a bit. After a moment Gilbert relaxed. "So! Now that we have that cleared up, how about you tell me your story now?"

Matthew was a bit concerned about Gilbert's sudden personality 180, but he decided to let it go. With a long sigh, he grudgingly began to tell the red-eyed man everything that had happened.

"So let me see if I've got this right," Gilbert said after Matthew had finished. "Your brother asked you to hike out to some frozen puddle in the middle of nowhere and clean it off so he and his boyfriend-"

"Arthur's not his boyfriend," Matthew cut it.

"It's unawesome to interrupt, Vögelchen. Now, where was I? Oh yes. He asked you to go all the way out there to clean off the ice so he and his boyfriend could goof off like a couple of idiots, and you did since you're a huge pushover." Matthew looked like he wanted to interject, but Gilbert shot him a look that made him hold his tongue. "Anyway, you spent a couple of hours out there cleaning the thing off, getting more and more pissed off at your brother, and you decided to go kick his ass when you finished. Then you started following some random tracks through the woods for no real reason and got caught up in an avalanche, from which the Awesome Me awesomely rescued you. Is that about it?"

Matthew nodded, not sure if he was allowed to talk again yet.

"Well you are damn lucky I happened to be out there, Vögelchen," Gilbert said, his tone turning a bit serious again.

"I was wondering about that," Matthew said.

"About what?" Gilbert asked.

"How did you know where I was, eh?"

"I was out walking nearby and I heard you screaming," Gilbert replied immediately.

"I know I was yelling pretty loudly," Matthew continued, "but it must have been hard to hear from above unless you were standing really close by and I don't-"

"I have really awesome ears, ja?" Gilbert interrupted.

Matthew frowned. "But, as I was saying, I don't remember seeing anybody anywhere close to where I was. There was only the wolf tracks." That struck a chord in Matthew's memory. "There was something weird about those tracks," he said, trying to get his mind to work.

He didn't notice how Gilbert paled (well, paled more than normal).

"Oh!" Matthew exclaimed. "I think I remember now! The tracks were weird because they started changing to-"

Gilbert all but jumped from his seat (there was that flash of white again too!). "You want a drink or something?" he asked, sounding a bit urgent.

"Y-yes please," Matthew replied, feeling a bit confused by the man's reaction. He shivered. "Something warm if you have it?"

Gilbert nodded and made his way over to the other side of the room and started rummaging through some cabinets that were there.

Matthew found that entire thing incredibly strange, but chose not to think too much into it.

He decided that Gilbert was just incredibly eccentric.

Matthew took the opportunity to take a look around, something he hadn't really had a chance to do because of Gilbert's continuous badgering from the moment he woke up. The place was very small and rundown, and the bed took up the majority of the space. Honestly, it was more like a shack than anything. The walls were all a faded gray color, and there was a horrible draft. There we no appliances of any kind, only a small stone fireplace with a small blaze going inside it (over which Gilbert appeared to be heating some water). Matthew thought that the place felt horribly lonely. Did Gilbert live out here all by himself? The thought made Matthew feel strangely sad.

"Here," Gilbert said suddenly, surprising Matthew a bit. The Canadian took the worn-looking mug that the pale man was trying to give him. There appeared to be some sort of tea inside.

"Thank you," Matthew said, taking a small sip. It was delicious and really helped to warm him.

"Ja," Gilbert mumbled, taking a sip of his own beverage before joining Matthew on the bed again.

They sat there drinking in an awkward silence until Matthew spoke up.

"So why do you live out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Gilbert smirked a bit. "What makes you think we're out in the middle of nowhere, Vögelchen?"

"It's incredibly quiet, first of all," Matthew explained, "and you said that you were out walking near the ridge, which is far away from just about everything. It would only make sense that you lived far away from everything too."

"You're pretty observant, Vögelchen." Gilbert chuckled. "I don't really… fit in with other people. They can't handle my awesomeness. So I decided to be awesome out here on my own instead!"

Matthew frowned. "But doesn't it… get lonely? Being all alone all the time?"

"I wasn't always alone, Vögelchen," Gilbert replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

Matthew was just about to ask him what he meant by that when he happened to glance down at his watch.

"Maple!" he exclaimed. "Is it really after 5 already?! I need to get back!" Matthew hopped up, cringing at the pain that ran through his body.

"Wait!" Gilbert cried, grabbing onto the Canadian's arm. His mug of tea sat abandoned on the floor.

Matthew stared at him. Gilbert was acting strange, well, stranger than he normally acted. Matthew frowned again.

"I've really got to get back, Gilbert," Matthew insisted.

"But you might get lost out there or something! That would be so unawesome! Maybe it would better if you just stayed here for a while…"

Oh.

Oh.

Gilbert didn't want Matthew you leave. Was he honestly that lonely? Is that why he was acting so strangely? He really wanted Matthew to hang around? Matthew's heart fluttered a little at that thought. Someone actually wanted to spend time with him. With Matthew (he chose to ignore the fact that Gilbert lived in the middle of nowhere and probably had about 0 interaction with any humans other than Matthew). He found himself smiling just a bit. He honestly enjoyed spending time with Gilbert, despite his pushy, egotistic nature (but then again Alfred was Matthew's brother so he was already used to dealing with that).

"I really can't stay now, Gilbert," Matthew began.

"But-"

"It's unawesome to interrupt, Gilbert."

Matthew could've sworn those pale cheeks gained a bit of color just then.

"But," Matthew continued, "maybe I can come back sometime, eh?" Gilbert perked up a bit at that. "Don't worry about me getting lost either," Matthew assured him, "I practically grew up out there, so I'll be fine."

Gilbert's signature smirk returned. "Well, well, well! It seems like mein Vögelchen can take care of himself after all!" Gilbert laughed and released his hold on Matthew's arm. It seemed as if he was back to his old self, but Matthew noticed a hint of uncertainty in those red eyes.

"Of course I can!" Matthew insisted. He began to walk towards the door. He felt Gilbert's eyes on him as he reached for the door handle with his good arm. He turned to face the man behind him. "I'll be back soon, Gil." The nickname just slipped out. Gilbert noticed it and grinned.

"Of course you will! Why would anyone want to stay away from the Awesome Me?" He was definitely back to normal.

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Goodbye, Gilbert. And thank you." Matthew opened the door and stepped out into the snow, pulling the door closed behind him.

"Auf wiedersehen, mein Vögelchen."

Matthew had grossly overestimated his own sense of direction.

When he had left Gilbert's little shack (upon seeing from the outside, he decided that it really was a shack after all), Matthew felt pretty confident in the way he had chosen to go.

Now he had no idea where we was.

Matthew groaned and kept walking, shivering violently from the cold.

The Canadian couldn't keep Gilbert out of his head. He found the man completely fascinating. He could go from being loud, demanding, and full of himself one moment to quiet, vulnerable, and almost childlike the next. Gilbert was an enigma. A loud, kind, annoying, caring, beautiful enigma. Matthew felt warmer just thinking about him.

Now if only he could find the way back to the lodge.

Matthew wasn't sure exactly how long he wandered around before he came across an interesting set of tracks in the snow. They weren't wolf prints this time, or any other animal for that matter. They were a set of continuous parallel lines. If these are what I think they are I will drink a bottle of maple syrup.

Matthew ran alongside the tracks for a few more minutes before the (beautiful and inviting) roof of the lodge came into view.

God bless you, Ivan. God bless you and your skis.

There were two things Matthew needed to do now.

Drink some syrup (he had promised himself that he would after all) and try not to murder his brother.

That evening at the lodge was eventful to say the least.

Matthew, on an intense sugar-high, ran up to Alfred (who was sitting at the game table with Arthur again) in order to give him a piece of his mind. As Matthew approached, Alfred noticed the sling and bandages and started freaking out. He was screaming something about being the hero and destroying whatever villain had dared to injure his precious little brother. Arthur started yelling at him to be quiet and sit down and stop "acting like a bloody idiot." Matthew decided he really didn't want to deal with that right now.

Francis had prepared some sort of salmon dish for dinner, but Matthew was feeling a bit ill from the amount of maple syrup he had ingested, so he decided to go lay down in his bed.

Which is where he was currently, holding Mr. Kumajingles snuggly against him and wanting nothing more than to just get some sleep.

Which he couldn't, not only because he was so hopped up on sugar that he was about to jump out of his bed and run around the room, but because of something else that he could seem to shake from him mind.

Those haunting blood-red eyes.

A/N:

Hola~

I've never tried to write Gil before, so if he seems weird or whatever I'm really sorry. *^*

And I know Mattie's personality seems kind of all over the place, but that is on purpose. I felt that when he's around people he's really familiar and comfortable with (like Alfie), he's a lot more outgoing and outspoken then if he's with people that he doesn't know very well (like when he meets Berwald). And he warms up to Gil so fast because, you know, he's awesome. Does that make sense? I'm sorry if that's weird or anything. My personality is a bit like that, and they say to write what you know, right?

I feel a lot more confident in my knowledge of German than I do with French, since I've actually studied German, but I'm not claiming to be perfect so corrections on anything are always welcome!

I think that's about all I wanted to say, so thanks for reading!

Adios!