Inside the house, Belle marvelled at the furnishings. Each item seemed to have been a genuine Italian artifact. Of course, there was no way Belle could actually verify this, as she had never seen genuine Italian work, or if she had, she couldn't remember.
Feli had rushed into the kitchen the moment they all had entered, and now the delicate aroma of Alfredo was drifting about the residence. Gilbert took the time to frown the slightest bit in Belle's direction as she awed over the urn that stood near the door. So quiet, polite as ever, but she didn't seem to retain that soft, knowing smile that made Gilbert doubt his self-proclaimed awesomeness for even a fraction of a second. It made him ache that she couldn't recall the tiny, vivid details after he had been working for so long to inch their relationship forward even marginally.
Alfred noticed the normally loud albino's quiet frown and walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder, "What's up bro?"
Gilbert couldn't help but jump at the sudden contact, not to mention how uncharacteristically quiet and sincere Alfred was being. "Nothing's up. Just being awesome," he grinned, hoping the clueless blonde would buy it. He didn't.
"Dude, I totally saw you bawling 5 minutes ago. Something's definitely up."
Great. Even the clueless one noticed. But the awesome Prussia never admitted to anything. Nothing. It was the least he could do after…
No. Gilbert refused to zone out and resort to self pity. Who would buy his awesomeness then? No one awesome pitied themselves. And Gilbert was head honcho of awesome people.
Alfred stared at the boy he had thought he had known well, but seriously? Did Alfred really know anyone well enough to judge that? Even he could tell something was off. Gilbert, in all his self proclaimed 'awesomeness' was surprisingly serious in a lot of what he did, Alfred had at least noticed that at work. It wasn't like him to drift off mid-sentence. It was almost like his motivation had been, Alfred didn't know, wiped? No. That was a crazy idea! That could never be what was up.
The sound of the metal lock sliding into place jolted the 3 visitors, who had since taken their seats back into reality.
"Feli. I'm home. Are you making pasta again?" A booming voice called from the hall, the source making it's way to the living room.
"Ve~ Ludwig!" The italian cheerfully greeted her significant other from the kitchen. "Say salve to our guests!"
"Guests?" a tall man in uniform with startling blue eyes entered the living room, said eyes widening as they took in who currently occupied the tidy room.
"Bruder?"
The occupants in the room were silent for all of 5 seconds before Gilbert stood, laughing nervously, "Well… Bruder… Hallo…".
Ludwig looked round at the occupants of the room,"Ja, hallo… Hallo to you as well Alfred…And who is this?"
Maddie looked uncomfortable, she just found those bright blue eyes so unsettling.
Gilbert simply swung an arm round the small girl's shoulder, having seemed to have lost all nervousness in a matter of seconds.
"This is Belle, she's a newbie." He smirked, the girl herself providing no input.
Alfred looked as though he was about to say something, no doubt to do with Belle's amnesia but the crackling of the television in the corner turning on cut him off. It seemed that when Feli sat down, she accidentally pressed a button on the remote, turning the mounted screen on.
The brunette went to turn it back off but something had caught Belle's eye,"Wait! Um... Could you please turn up the volume?"
On the screen played current news of a cottage that had been found in the woods and had seemed to have been left in disarray. As Felicia turned up the volume, a reporter's voice stated that the cottage showed signs of being vacated not 12 hours earlier.
Belle froze as the camera panned over a familiar room, with a tan jacket on the bed and a maple leaf collection strewn about the room.
"Hey Birdie?" Gilbert noticed her tense stance,"Are you alright?"
The others turned to look at her in confusion and worry as the reporter continued,"... Mike has spoken with the residents of neighbours, and it has been revealed that Arthur Kirkland and his charge, who has yet to be named resided in this cottage..."
Belle had tuned out everything around her, allowing the murmured questions to become white noise in the background. That jacket had definitely been hers, she just knew it. Her hypothesis on being Alfred's sister really had been correct.
But there were more pressing matters to discuss, such as the question as to why Arthur had left his cottage now and why. And the first question Francis had posed, why exactly had she been in the snow so far away from home?
Could it be possible that she had run away and Arthur was looking for her? Or maybe he had sent her away and was afraid of getting caught by the authorities?
Or maybe, thought Belle to herself, he's looking for something. It would make sense, given the state of the house.
"Madeline Belle Williams?!" Alfred called, waving a hand in front of her face, breaking her from her trance. Gilbert tensed the slightest bit in the corner and her little bear, who had been so dutifully silent, pawed at her leg.
"Y-yah," she stuttered softly, still getting over her internal realization,"I'm fine."
The station had moved onto some new topic and for some reason, Gilbert sat up straighter..."Ivan's been spotted."
Alfred whipped around to face the screen, but Belle really couldn't see what was so important about the image on the screen. Wait- No, Gilbert was right. There, in the far left corner, hidden in the foliage, was an unmistakable tan scarf.
The reporter continued their story, a new image appearing on the screen. This was the 'Ivan' everyone was talking about, decided Belle. She knew for certain this was not one f the shadows of her past.
Lavender eyes, a creepy smile, a thick scarf and a mop of white blonde hair. He looked slightly menacing, but more broken than anything else.
Belle wondered why.
She planned on finding out.
