Chapter 7: To Me

Prussia was lying supine with his hands over his face, flat on his bed, just trying to suffocate his thoughts. He moaned in exhausted embarrassment as he replayed the events of the day in his mind for the hundredth time. So un-awesome… So bad… How could I totally lose my cool like that and just… Just tell him I think I know something from his past, why not, Prussia? Nice, just nice, no idea what's going on yourself so just tell him I have some totally random idea and get his hopes up when I don't even understand what I'm thinking, let's just go and do that, great job, Prussia. Great job. So awesome. Especially that second time when you fricking yelled in the middle of a lover's quarrel that wasn't even related to you at all. That was really great. So awesome. Just wonderful timing there and everything. What is my problem? Why can't I just act normal when I know something? Or think I know something? Why is everything so weird all of a sudden?

He could barely think, and just wanted to forget everything that had happened today. He sighed and turned on his side. Why… Why am I acting so un-awesome? His eyes were squeezed shut, but he could sense Gilbird hopping up to him and watching him from his nightstand. There was a concerned cheep, and Gilbert scrunched his limbs up into an exhausted ball. "Don't worry about me, I'm just stupid." Gilbird chirped in disapproval before fluttering onto his head and scavenging his hair for nesting materials. He stayed still and let him, enjoying the familiar avian affection. Gilbird chirped reassuringly, as if to let Gilbert know that even though he was an idiot, he would still always be awesome in his eyes. Gilbert sighed again and slowly lifted his head and curled into a sitting position. Gilbird hopped down onto his shoulder and cooed gently.

"I don't know what to do, Gil." He closed his eyes. "This is all so convoluted and weird. First I see Italy, then I see him hold my brother's hand, then I see some old broom downstairs and suddenly I think…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but he opened his eyes and stared at the wall. "And part of me thinks it's just crazy, but another part thinks I should have known all along, but how could I have known?" He looked over at Gilbird, who didn't seem to have an answer. "You think I should just forget it, don't you?" Gilbird looked away. "That's what I thought. Well, you know what? I'm going to keep obsessing about it until I figure it out, and then I'm going to obsess about how to tell my brother, and if I just figured out that I'm stupid that's exactly what I'll tell him, so there!" Abruptly he realized he was almost shouting at his beloved. "I'm sorry." He cradled Gilbird in his hands. "I just really don't know what to do."

He thought he saw Gilbird sigh and roll his eyes as he cocked his head in the direction of the desk in the room. "What?" Gilbird nodded again at the package from earlier and the phone, and Gilbert suddenly realized what he meant. "I don't feel like calling her right now." This earned him a look of incredulity. "Seriously, I'm tired and she's probably busy anyway."

If Gilbird he could talk, he looked like he would have been screaming at him to call Elizaveta. Gilbert relented and stood up. "Fine, I'll just see if she's home and start looking through the diaries." Gilbird chirped in satisfaction and flew up to perch on the shelf above the desk where he stood preening his wing as Prussia dialed. It took eight rings for someone to answer the phone, and he was about to ring off and try again later when suddenly Roderich's voice greeted him, sounding somehow blasé and irritated at the same time.

"Guten tag. You have reached the house of Austria and Hungary. May I ask who this is and what this call is regarding?" Scheisse*. I don't really want to talk to him right now. Okay, don't worry, I'll just give a fake name or something and say I want to talk to Elizaveta, he won't recognize my voice if I change my speech pattern or something right?

"Hello, sir." He said in his best American accent, which was even worse than his brother's. He tried not to laugh as he remembered that time Ludwig had pretended to be American and it actually worked. "I would like to speak to the lady of the house because it has come to my attention that she has access to a set of some awesome journals that I wish to discuss with her. May I please speak with Liz?" He covered the receiver and started snickering. He's totally going to buy it and I won't have to deal with any awkward conversation. I'm so awesome.

"Prussia, you boorish idiot, I know it's you. Who else describes journals as 'awesome' and calls Elizaveta by such uncouth shortened nickname? And what on earth is that stupid accent?"

"America, obviously."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No. I'm hanging up now."

"Wait, I know you're mad at me." Prussia said quickly. "But I really do need to talk to Liz, and also I'm sorry about the thing that got you mad at me."

"Which was?" Silence. "You have no idea."

"No, I know what it is. You said…" He tried to remember, the details were all so bizarre. "That time… You said you were in love with me and I said… Wait, was that you?"

"I think so." Austria huffed. "I think I would remember the details of that one. Go on, what did you do wrong again?"

"Umm…" He seriously couldn't remember what had happened next. "I know I wrote that down, which is why you're mad at me, what did I say next?"

"'Okay'."

"What?"

"You said, 'Okay' and apparently then wrote it down in this diary which I was not aware you were keeping, which was then found by a person who is now my wife, do you see a problem here?" Silence again.

"Possibly." He said at last. "Did I really respond with 'Okay'? Were those my exact words or did I just basically say it was okay, because I honestly don't remember saying that."

"Your exact words to me on the day of the event were 'Okay, I'm going to go grab a beer because I'm awesome and then go hang out with Liz, see you later,' to which I could find no adequate response." Prussia was startled at how quickly he had found that response.

"Dude, that's really specific, are you by any chance… Reading from the diary right now?" He asked in slight trepidation. I may not remember all of what I write, but I'm pretty sure there's some worse stuff I did than that written there.

"I remembered well enough. But that's not the main point, Prussia. The main point is that you recorded this without telling me and now it has fallen into Hungary's hands. This can only be bad for both of us." Austria sounded legitimately concerned, and Prussia couldn't help laughing.

"How? What could she possibly do with that information? Even though I forgot to tell her when it happened, she pretty much figured it out anyway even though she was mad at me. I think she was mostly mad because she's really into that kind of stuff for whatever reason and thought I was withholding it on purpose, not because she was mad that it happened." He grinned to himself as he thought of Liz's excitement, even fascination, with the romantic lives of those around her. It had seemed disturbing at first, but now he found it oddly endearing.

"Well, be that as it may, it was still embarrassing to have her find out about it after all these years." Roderich sounded annoyed. "I didn't realize you were transcribing the entire conversation."

"Well, I do that all the time, I thought it was just kind of general knowledge that I have a huge selection of awesome diaries dating back centuries." Gilbert shrugged.

"You know our relationship was originally formed as a result of both of us being inconvenienced by you." Roderich sounded both smug and slightly nettled. "This has continued to be a large part of our lives."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm so awesome. Can we please just move on?"

"No."
"Fine. So we're just going to have this between us forever. Think about it every time we see each other. Every time we do anything together, we'll be thinking about this. Is that what you want? Liz to squeal every time we touch, even in casual contact?" There was a long silence.

"No." Roderich said at last. "I can't believe she's enjoying this so much. She still hasn't apologized for reading it."

"Does she have to clear everything she reads with you first?" Gilbert asked incredulously. "You're more controlling than ever."
"It's not proper for a lady to read such things about her husband!" Roderich stammered.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little?" He knew this was the wrong thing to say, but he just couldn't help it. Ever since they got married, Roderich had been getting more and more proper and protective of Liz, proposing all sorts of ridiculous restrictions, and she just let him tell her what to do like she was still a servant in his house. Gilbert couldn't pretend it hadn't gotten worse than ever recently. He was practically tuning in to her phone calls. "Also, isn't it rather inappropriate for the husband of such a lady to do such things?"

"Isn't it rather improper for the friend of a lady to record such things?" Roderich retorted impeccably.

"I'm awesome, your point is irrelevant."

"You're irrelevant."
"Your country's irrelevant."

"At least I have a meaningful romantic relationship in my life."

"At least I'm awesome and don't have a stupid face."

"You're as infuriating, dense, and arrogant as you always were." Austria sounded suddenly bitter.

"Ohhhh, NOW this is feeling kind of familiar." Prussia grinned. "I bet this would be going a little differently if I was there in person now though, wouldn't it?"

"You're disgusting. And an idiot. Elizaveta is so fortunate that she had the good sense to leave you and the hideous fate that had awaited her." Roderich scoffed, and Gilbert felt a rush of genuine anger. Low blow. Low.

"You know what, you're awfully self-righteous for someone who confessed their love for another man when they were already supposedly planning to rescue their future wife from such a 'hideous fate' with me! At least she was happy!"

"She's happy with me!" They were both yelling now. "And she doesn't fight anymore. She doesn't risk her life for no good reason. At least she's safe with me."

"Well, I guess we're both in agreement!" Gilbert snapped, finding himself increasingly flustered and red in the face. He wasn't even sure what he meant, but he hoped Roderich wouldn't pick up on that. "May I please speak to Liz?" There was an icy silence.

"You must address her by her proper name, to show respect for the lady." Roderich said at last. You have got to be kidding me. He's seriously not going to let me talk to her unless I call her 'Elizaveta'. This is getting out of hand. But what can I do? My awesomeness just makes him angry. If I push him, he might do something worse than this. He felt a clutch of panic in his chest as he thought of all the things Roderich could do to him without ever lifting a finger. For all his talk, he had power to hurt him, fatally. And even though they both knew he hadn't done it yet because of his genuine affection for Liz, and maybe lingering feelings of some kind for Gilbert, he still might. He still could.

"May I please speak to Elizaveta?" He said at last. The name rolled unnaturally off his tongue, foreign though he knew it was hers. Elizaveta. That was her name. That had always been her name. He knew it was her name, and it shouldn't be strange to call her that. It was who she was.

"She's not available at the moment." Gilbert felt such a white hot flash of indignation he nearly slammed the phone down, but restrained himself at the last second.

"You could have said that at the beginning of this conversation."

"Well, I didn't."

"Might I inquire as to where she is and when she will be back?" It was all he could do to keep from gritting his teeth as he said this.

"She is busy. She told me she was cleaning out a friend's basement. I'll tell her you called. Thank you for your interest. Actually, that sentence could lead to awkward misinterpretations."

"I understood. I'll call again later." He practically growled.

"Roderich? Who's that on the phone?" A female voice was heard faintly in the background. Liz! That liar, she's probably been in the house the whole time.

"No one, dear." Austria said, sounding distant before he seemed to return his attention to the phone. "Call again later." He hissed.

"No!" Prussia protested. "I can hear her, shouldn't she be able to decide if she wants to talk to me?" There was silence and a sharp click, over which Prussia faintly heard Hungary speaking.
"Was that Gilbert? He said he would call me."

"Why is he calling you so much? What do you even talk about?"

"I don't know, we're friends! We talk about all kinds of stuff!"

"He's such an idiot, though! I honestly don't know why you still consort with such an adamantly juvenile hooligan at your age and station of life." Abruptly Gilbert realized Roderich thought he had already hung up the phone. This is awkward… Do I tell them I'm still here? Would they hear me anyway? Are they going to keep talking?

"He's my friend!" Elizaveta protested. "He was kind to me when I needed it most, and we've known each other for centuries. You can't expect me to forget everything I had before you."

"But you've known me for centuries. We're married, Elizaveta!

"Can't I have friends?"

"Am I not enough? Is the life we have not enough for you? Uh-oh. His awesome ability to detect a fight on the horizon was sensing high levels of tension.

"That's not what I'm saying, Roderich!"

"Well, what are you saying?!"

"That I'd like to talk to my friend once in awhile without you breathing down my neck like you don't trust me!" Yikes, things sound way worse than I thought. I thought they were always so happy! Even though they've been getting weaker, they always seemed happy...

"Elizaveta, please don't lash out at me in this way. It's as if those violent tendencies you used to have are resurfacing. It is most unbecoming of you." There was a horribly long silence, and Gilbert winced in trepidation as he listened for Elizaveta's reply.

"I apologize." She said at last.

"SHE WHAT?" He shrieked, barely covering the receiving end of the phone in time. Gilbird squawked in alarm. "Shh!" He hissed, bringing the phone back to his ear.

"-For thinking it would be reasonable to expect you to trust me. I saved your life, you know that? I saved you!"

"Ohhh, buurrrn!" He exclaimed. "You tell him, Liz! He can't control you like that!" Abruptly he realized that they probably didn't know he was there. Which was probably for the best, because if they knew he was still listening, scrabbling for a pen and his diary as they spoke, the following conversation probably wouldn't end well for him.

"Please don't raise your voice at me!"

"You married her, loser! You get what you're asking for." He muttered, scrawling on a blank page.

"Roderich, you know our life has been full of happiness, but it has come at a lot of sacrifice for me! Case in point, I raise my voice when I feel strongly! But in your house I barely spoke at first. I grew under your rule, of almost every action, until we fell in love!"

"I cared for you! I cared for everyone under my roof as well as I ever could, and you know this better than anyone! It wasn't my fault we lost Italy!" Suuuure, not at all. You never did anything to even make him want to leave, did you?

"Roderich, we have too much baggage. It's been a long reign."

"Wait, what?" Gilbert dropped his pen. This fight is going in a different direction than I expected. Should I let them know I'm still on the phone now?

"Elizaveta, what exactly are you saying?" Roderich spoke slowly.

"I'm saying I think a discussion of our relationship is long overdue. We need some time to sort this out. We need to talk."

"I thought everything was fine!"

"Well, that shows how much you pay attention. You didn't even hang up the phone properly, idiot!" Oh ****************. She knows I'm listening. "There's a ninety-five percent chance Prussia is still listening to our conversation, and you're the only person in the room not to notice the entire time. Are you serious? Did you even notice when Italy started liking that blond kid that used to live with us? Did you even notice all the weird stuff that started happening after the 900s? It's still going on, and Prussia is the only other person who actually has an idea of what it was. So I really need to talk to him!" She made a point of raising her voice for the last sentence and suddenly she came across much more clearly.

"Prussia! I'm so sorry, I don't know why he's acting out so much lately. I guess we're having some problems communicating." Hungary said pointedly, and Prussia got the sense she was shooting a glare at Austria as she spoke.

"That dumbass always has problems communicating, he couldn't even hang up the phone." Prussia scoffed. There was a muted snort, then Hungary hissed back.

"Shut up, he's only just left the room and I swear if we have one more stupid fight this week—" She laughed, but at the same time, her voice kind of broke. "It hasn't been the best day."

Gilbert felt a pang of dismay at the unhappiness in her voice. He was only able to get through his days if he knew the people he loved had a chance of being happy, even if he wasn't there. As long as they were happy and lived well, he could get on with his own life. The last few years, he'd been focusing on making other people happy. Even if it didn't seem that way from an outsider's perspective, that's what he was doing. "Liz, don't worry. I know you and Roderich will be fine, I'm sure it's just a rough patch for everyone." He heard her breathing shakily and feared he'd said the wrong thing. Then she gulped.

"Thanks, Gilbert. I don't know what I'd do without you." She sighed. "Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm sorry you had to overhear my husband being such a little bitch. He's so oblivious sometimes, honestly—don't write that—but it's just been such a stupid day."

"I wasn't writing it!" Gilbert protested. He'd dropped his pen. As he reached under the desk to retrieve it, he assured Elizaveta, "It's been a pretty weird day all around. I was pretty un-awesome a few times."

"Wait, Gilbert Beilschmidt himself is admitting that he wasn't awesome? More than once in a day?" Elizaveta snorted.

"Well, kind of. And Ludwig and Feliciano got in a fight."

"Oh, Gilbert…" Elizaveta sighed. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, I just helped clean the basement!"
"Ewwww, is that a euphemism? What did you do?!"

"What? No! What would that even mean?!" He shook his head to clear whatever image was in Elizaveta's mind from his own as quickly as possible.

"I don't know, it just sounded like something you would say if you did something stupid!"

"Well, I did! Wanna hear the whole story?" She burst into laughter.

"Please. Of course I want the whole story! What were they fighting about?! What's going on over there? I have to know!"

"Okay, so I got up this morning," Prussia began. "And I'm totally keeping my cool even though I feel like I'm carrying around this huge secret that we're researching. I'm totally cool because I'm just so naturally awesome it wasn't even a problem until Italy came into the room—"

"Which is when you totally lost it and started howling like an intoxicated hyena, right?" Hungary interjected.

"Um, no…" Prussia rolled his eyes. "That happened later. Well, sort of. But when he first came into the room I reacted pretty well. I mean, I dropped everything I was holding and a minute later I fell but I felt I handled it rather awesomely."

Hungary snorted. "What could either of them possibly have done for that reaction to be considered 'handling it awesomely'?"

"Liz, Feliciano kisses people when he greets them."

"So?" Elizaveta seemed to be missing the point.

"Ludwig most certainly does not! I have never, in my entire life, seen him kiss someone. But he kissed him on both cheeks like it was a normal thing to do. And he got flustered when I stared at them and I shrugged it off, but it was freaky! He's never that openly affectionate, with anyone. And, wait, did I ever show you that one picture where he's smiling?" He asked.

"Um, no? It's mostly you doing the smiling. Is he self-conscious about his teeth or something?"

"I don't think so, he has an awesome smile, just like mine, but he just doesn't smile that often. At least, I never saw him do it. But as soon as Feliciano comes into the room it's like, he's smiling more than I've ever seen him in his life in the span of two minutes."

"He's happy? That's so adorable!" Elizaveta squealed. "Don't mess it up!"

"I wasn't going to!" Gilbert protested.

"I thought you said you already did!"

"I don't know what I did! Let me finish the story."

"Fine. So Feli came in and you acted stupid, and then what happened?"

"Well, then I had to leave the room because my awesomeness combined with the awkwardness I was feeling was making it too hard for me to act normal, so I made an excuse and left for a minute."

"To go and cackle like a hyena because you have no idea how to handle situations like this." Elizaveta supplied.

"I suppose you could say that. But when I got back, the room felt kind of different. Lud and I decide to go and clean out his basement together."

"Ohhh, a literal…" Elizaveta realized. "I see. I thought something else was going on."

"Again, what would that even mean?"

"I don't know! It just sounds like something you would say."

"You said that already. And since when am I the one who uses creepy euphemisms that nobody else understands?" Gilbert protested.

"Just tell the story."

"Fine. So we go to clean out the basement and he's like, 'I know we're keeping secrets' and I'm like, 'Yeaaaahhhh…. I think I know something about your past, but I don't know what it is so I can't tell you.' and he's like 'Excuse you? If you know something, you have to tell me,' and I just basically panicked and tried to change the subject."

"I'm not surprised he was annoyed! You idiot, why would you tell him when we don't have any idea of this ourselves? I'm still not totally sure what your thinking is." Elizaveta sighed. "That your brother used to be somebody I knew? It just sounds so crazy."

"I know it does, but I bet I can prove it's not. Oh, mein Gott! I haven't told you the most awesome part of the day yet! When we were cleaning out the basement—"

"I'm sorry, I just can't hear that with a straight face." Elizaveta interjected.

"What's wrong with you?" Gilbert leaned away from the phone.

"I can't help it!"

"Whatever, anyway, when we were cleaning out the… Storage area—wait, no, I see the problem—when we were cleaning… When we were cleaning, we found this box full of my brother's really old stuff. Like, the oldest stuff he owns. It was what he was wearing and carrying when I first found him—"

"WAIT!" Elizaveta practically shouted. "What was in the box?"

"Um, a cloak and a shield and some other stuff, why?"

"What did the cloak look like?" Elizaveta demanded.

"Um, it was just a regular long black cloak. Why?"

"I don't know. Sorry, keep going."

"Anyway… Like I said, we found this shield, and get this—it had a combination lock on the back of it."

"Wait, what? How would that even work?"

"Well, it was like, behind the wrist strap, there was a panel, and at the end of the panel there was this little sliding combination lock like for luggage, you know?"

"Oh!" She seemed to have a clearer picture of what he was describing. "I see, so it was… Ah, that makes sense, I couldn't think of where a panel would fit on a shield, I'm assuming one like the kind you used to use."

"Yes, it's like that one." He was grateful that she understood weaponry, and glad she still retained her extensive knowledge of it, even though she had stopped fighting long ago.

"But why was there a panel with a lock? That doesn't make any sense."

"That's what we thought. So we took it upstairs and started entering a bunch of combinations because we wanted to find out what was in there, and we're doing it for like half an hour or something before we give up, and then Feliciano walks in and he's like 'Can I try?' and we're like 'Sure, why not?' because we're so tired of it at this point. And then he tries and the first number he puts in is the right combination."

"Woah, that's crazy! How did he know? What was the combination?"

"1861, the-"

"-The year he was unified…" Elizaveta supplied. "I remember. But why was that the combination? Wasn't this Ludwig's shield? When did he set it, why would he set it to that? I'm so confused."

"Yeah! It was so weird, none of us knew what was going on! Germany said he didn't remember this lock even being there, so we figure he set it before he lost his memory, because he has pretty solid recollection of everything after that and he'd definitely remember this, but before that, nothing. So it was probably before that."

"Right, but… Why was that the combination?"

"That's the part nobody understands. It was set before that year, way before Germany met Italy. It doesn't make any sense. Italy said he thought that would be an important year, but it wasn't really clear why he knew that. It was so weird!"

"Wow!" Hungary breathed. "This is so mysterious. Wait, what was in the panel? What was Germany keeping in his shield?"

"Oh, I almost forgot that part! It was a key!"

"A key?"

"Yes, but we don't know what it was for."

"Well, what did it look like?"

"Um, it was a skeleton key." He described it in greater detail, mentioning, to the best of his recollection, the shape and size of the teeth.

"Huh. This kind of looks like a key I have. I drew a picture based on what your description." She explained. "Interesting. What else happened?"

"Well, I'm still not totally sure. We kept looking at the shield and the key, trying to figure out what they were for, and then my natural awesomeness kicked in and I discovered an inscription on the shield!"

"An inscription? This is so fascinating, I wish I was with you!" There was a charged silence. At least, it felt charged to Gilbert. But he shrugged it off.

"I know, right? It said "Never forget me," in Italian."

Elizaveta gasped. "Italian?!" She took several deep, very audible breaths.

"Er, Liz? Are you okay?" He asked in concern. He'd only heard do that when she was having a very significant realization, and expected everyone else to understand it immediately.

"It was in Italian? You realize what this means? This is practically proof! Did they really not realize?" She exclaimed.

"I'm not sure I realize. Liz, slow down, tell me what you're thinking."

"Ugh!" She sounded exhausted, but took a deep breath and mustered her energy to explain herself. "The writing was in Italian. Who do we know who's Italian?"

"Uh, Italy?" Prussia hazarded.

"Yes, Italy is Italian. But Germany, does he even understand Italian?" Prussia snickered.

"Not at all. At least, I've never known him to be able to speak, read, or write it."

"Well, it's pretty weird then that there's an Italian inscription on his shield, right?"

"Yeah. But maybe…" A realization of his own suddenly dawned on him. "Liz, he doesn't remember anything of who he was before I found him. Or so I thought, but apparently there was a girl he liked or something WHICH HE NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO TELL HIS AWESOME BIG BROTHER. But anyway, there's a lot of stuff that he could have potentially known, but forgotten."

"So you're saying, you think your brother knew Italian but lost the ability to speak or understand it when he lost his memory." Elizaveta said, to be sure.

"If he ever did, he would have lost it." Gilbert confirmed. "It's lucky we both spoke German."

"Did you, though?" Elizaveta asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure that's what he spoke before you took him in? Is that the first language he used to address you?"

"Mein Gott." He breathed. Is it really possible that German isn't my brother's first language? He tried to think back, back to when Ludwig first came out of his coma and tried to communicate. He had a flash of memory, of his brother's blue eyes flickering open dully, listlessly scanning the room and taking in Gilbert's face, blinking in absent incomprehension. As Gilbert addressed him, he blinked and nodded but gave no vocal response. He couldn't speak at first. It was weeks after he woke, before he spoke… Mein Gott. He could have learned it from me. Maybe it wasn't what he spoke before we met. No, I mean, it's possible, I guess even plausible, but what difference would that make anyway? "I don't know, I guess it's possible… If so, that would explain why the inscription was written in Italian."

"Exactly! I think he understood another language, at least similar to Italian, when he wrote that. It said 'Never Forget Me', right?" She gasped again. "I've got to look into this! I'm going to go check something. Wait, no, finish your story first. Was there more?" She asked eagerly.

"Oh, yeah! There was also some kind of drawing above the inscription, but I don't know if it's significant or not. It was like, this box, next to a long line."

"Wait, what kind of box? What kind of line?"

"Um…" How do I describe a line? "A vertical line next to a rectangle." There was a sound of pencil on paper.

"Huh. Thanks. What else happened?"

"Okay, the day was already pretty weird by this point. But this is where we messed up. I'm still not totally sure what happened, I just know that my awesomeness faltered somewhere right here. Ludwig and I got in a silent argument, and then Ludwig and Feliciano got into an out-loud argument. And then in the middle, I yelled something that I probably shouldn't have yelled." Elizaveta dissolved into laughter.

When she finally regained control of herself, she said, "You've had this problem before. Why do you do this? Were you even involved in the argument? What exactly happened?"

"Oh, Liz." Gilbert smiled helplessly and shook his head. "I'm so awesome, my brain doesn't usually filter what I have to say. But sometimes, like today, that's not so good. Because when Ludwig said, 'I don't remember to tell you everything,' I screamed…" He suddenly cracked up and couldn't continue his sentence. "I screamed… In the middle of their argument…" He collapsed into laughter again and fought desperately to regain his ability to speak. "He said, 'I don't remember,' and I screamed 'THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS YOU DON'T REMEMBER!'" He fell forward onto the table, clutching his sides as the full extent of his prior idiocy hit him full in the face. Miles away, he heard Elizaveta practically sobbing in laughter down the phone, and they were both fighting for breath.

"You—Actually—Said—THAT?" Elizaveta gasped between fits of laughter. "Those were your exact words?!"

"Yes," He choked. "Those were my exact words. I literally said, 'There are a lot of things you don't remember'." They finally calmed down, then erupted into giggles again.

"Istenem, mi vagyunk a rendetlenség**." Hungary sighed after they finished. "We've done some of the stupidest shit."

"I have, you stood by and placed bets on it." They started laughing again. There was a bang on the door.

"Hey!" Germany shouted. "Keep it down, there are noise restrictions in this neighborhood! Stop laughing so loudly at what I can only assume is your own idiocy!"

"Sorry, I mean, shut up!" He stammered back. "Oh, wait, Ludwig, actually can you come in a second?"

"What do you want?" Germany slowly and cautiously opened the door and peeked around the door frame before he actually entered the room, a habit he had developed after one too many embarrassing encounters.

"Did your bossy big brother tell you to keep it down?" Hungary sniggered gleefully.

He was suddenly struck with an idea. "Shut up, hang on Liz, I'll be right back." He set the phone down on the table and rushed to his suitcase. Gilbert extracted a camera and repositioned Ludwig against a blank wall in his room. "Smile."

"No. What are you doing?" Ludwig recoiled.

"Taking a picture to send to Liz, she hasn't seen any in awhile." He replied quickly, the excuse conveniently true.

"How different do I look?" Ludwig was skeptical.

"Very. Your smile is awesome, just like mine, so why haven't I seen more of it before now?" He asked as he aligned the camera's lens.

"I don't know, I guess I'm not as much of a smiler as you are." The camera zoomed in on his standard pensive expression.

"That's okay, you don't have to smile for this, I'm just saying, you seem a lot happier lately." He snapped the picture, and the flash momentarily blinded them both. "A few more, just in case." He snapped again and Ludwig huffed and shielded his eyes in irritation. "Alright, you can go. Thanks!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes and left the room. "Keep it down!" He added as he pulled the door closed.

"No problem!" Gilbert rolled his eyes as soon as the door was shut. He picked up the phone again. "Sorry Liz, my brother says our collective awesomeness is going to disturb the neighbors. We have to be quiet." He scoffed. "But I got him to hold still for a picture, I'll develop it and send it to you tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks! I always like to see him growing up."

"He's pretty much grown now." Prussia sighed. "You know, when I first saw him this time I swore he was taller than me. Now he's off, fighting wars of his own, probably about to get a boyfriend, and I'm the same. It feels like just a few decades ago that he was just a kid!"

"It was a few decades ago. Man, he grew up fast." Hungary exhaled.

"He was so small." Prussia found himself reminiscing. "He was almost a teenager, but he barely reached my waist…"

"I think you were a little taller then too." Prussia felt a squirm of anxiety. He himself knew he was a little weaker than he used to be, a little smaller, but he didn't think anyone noticed.

"Was I?" He hoped he didn't sound defensive.

"I think we've all changed a little over the years." Hungary shrugged it off. "I wear dresses now. I guess Italy doesn't anymore. Germany's grown up." She sounded wistful.

Suddenly, Prussia felt sick. "I miss you."

Hungary laughed. "It's been two days, szivem***." Then she stopped as she realized he was serious. "Gilbert? Are you alright?"

"I…" He muttered. "I can't say."

There was a beat of silence. "Me neither." He felt even sicker. Even sicker still knowing he could never explain why he felt so wrong. Not even to his best friend.

And suddenly, he felt a swell of determination rise in his chest. Maybe he couldn't explain his own feelings, but he thought he could do something more. He could explain someone else's, and make two lives complete. If he was right. But he needed proof.

"Hey, Liz." He said seriously. "I know you've already done a lot. But I wanted to ask you: Do you think you might be able to keep helping me investigate this thing with Ludwig and Feliciano? I need someone like you, someone who paid attention." She didn't even hesitate.

"Consider it done."

Translations (may not be accurate)

*Scheisse- shit

**Istenem, mi vagyunk a rendetlenség- God, we are a mess

***szivem- honey, sweetheart