THANK YOU TO ChessecakeKittyCat FOR THE REVIEW. IT MAY HAVE BEEN ONE SENTENCE BUT I PROMISE IT MADE ME SMILE.

Characters to know:
Reinhold - Germania

Warnings: Language (?)

Gil laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, "I didn't mean for everything to get all depressing. Come on, I have to take you to lunch."

Elizaveta grabbed his hand one impulse, "No. I said I wanted you to talk more about yourself and it isn't as if they actually need me in there right now. They'll see me at dinner and we are going somewhere else."

She didn't have to look at his cheeks to know that they had turned pink again, "Wha-What? What if I don't want to talk about it?"

She ignored him and pulled him back towards the kitchen, "You seem to think that I haven't picked up on your social habits. When you don't want to talk about something you avoid the subject at all costs. When you don't want to go somewhere or do something, you resist both verbally and physically. None of the previously mentioned things are true as of right now. So, you either want to talk about it or you are indifferent. Either way: I want to know more."

She heard him sigh behind her, sounding almost amused, as she dragged him through the open door of the kitchen. The rest of their crew was there as well and Eliza had to fight her urge to look at their shocked expressions. She felt her own face heat up as she realized how her request was probably going to be taken, "Benji? Is there any way you can put something together to eat outside?"

He didn't turn to look at her, "For the whole royal family?"

She shook her head despite him not being able to see her, "No."

He looked, curiously, over his shoulder towards her. She saw his eyes drop and then return back to her face with a mischievous twinkle in them, "Oh, I see. Yes, I can fix that."

Eliza looked down to follow his eyes and saw her own fingers intertwined with Gil's. She started to let go but Gilbert's fingers tightened around hers, "Ben stop that damn nonsense that you seem to be prone to thinking. I'm fairly certain Lizzy made it perfectly clear that she wasn't pleased with that last time."

Everyone in the kitchen froze but Eliza couldn't place why. Gilbert had only supported her belief that it was inappropriate for Benji to think Gilbert and she were romantically involved. She saw Francine and Heidi look at each other out of the corner of her eye, mouths open.

"Lizzy?" They whispered

The kitchen staff kept looking back and forth between Elizaveta and Benji, "Last time?"

Elizaveta threw her free arm in the air, "Would you all get your minds back on track and stop making my life difficult?! Whatever you're thinking it's wrong and I don't appreciate it!"

They all jumped at her sudden outburst but followed her instructions, returning to the things they were doing before they froze. However, they all seemed much happier about everything than they were before. Eliza expected the children to pipe up with an embarrassing question or two but they stayed quiet. It only took Benji a few minutes to prepare a basket of food for them and she took it, darting out of the awkward atmosphere of the room. Gil, by attachment, stumbled into a fast-walk behind her and outside of the building. She was going to go around the back of the castle and to the gardens but Gilbert stopped behind her forcing her to stop as well, "Wait."

She looked back at him. He pointed to the almost hidden door of the guards' barracks, "It's a little too hot out for me to be in this metal armor. And I get the feeling we're going to the gardens and I don't really want to crush any flowers by putting it down on top of them."

Eliza laughed, "Yeah, okay. It would definitely be a shame if you killed a couple out of thousands of flowers by setting armor on them. Go change."

He let go of her hand and marched away in mock irritation, "Don't patronize me."

She laughed again and repositioned herself with the basket so she wouldn't be mid-step. She looked up at the sky, watching the clouds go by. What would it take to just float away like they did? What would it take to be as happy as the sky looked?

"So, we heading out or what?"

She looked over at him, out of his armor and for once wearing what seemed to be clean clothing, "Yep."

Then she took off running, laughing the whole time, Gilbert sprinting after her. He caught up to her with ease grabbing her hand again when he did. She kept running allowing him to use her arm as a tether. What could it hurt?


By the time they reached the innermost portion of the maze, she was out of breath and Gil was breathing heavily. She let go of both his hand and the basket, choosing instead to flop into the grass and lay still for a moment. While she was catching her breath, Gil sat down next to her, already fine, "You seem to like this part of the gardens a lot."

She peeked up at him through bright eyes, "What makes you say that?"

He smiled and picked a few of the cornflowers around him, "I heard some of the servants talking about how you got Rod to come through here the first time you guys took a walk together. And it's where we first met. And we're here now."

She looked back up at the skies, "I suppose I do like it a lot. Lilies are my favorite flower but it's interesting that there's this whole section dedicated to cornflowers. It's a little weird, you know, to be surrounded by red and white and then suddenly everything is blue."

He started twisting the stems together, "I always thought that these were the prettiest flowers here. I'm glad that they're over here."

She sat up and leaned forward to get a better view of his face, "So would you say that these are your favorite flowers?"

His smile was soft but confident, "Yeah. Something like that."

She smiled and picked a few of her own to place in her hair, "That's interesting. Roderich seems to hate them. Though, that doesn't make much sense because I can't see why there would be this many if he didn't like them."

Gilbert sighed and stopped twisting the stems for a moment, "He used to love them."

She looked back over at him to find that he was frowning, eyebrows knit together as if he didn't understand something. Her eyebrows followed suit, "He did?"

Gilbert nodded, "A long time ago. I suppose he probably associates them with me. Which makes some sense. It's not really the flower he dislikes it's me."

She bit her lip, "I'm starting to think I'm only ever going to get vague hints about what happened between the two of you and it's driving my curiosity crazy."

Suddenly, his hands were picking the few flowers she had put in her hair out with a practiced ease, "Do you really want to know? Or are you going to be upset if it's not as simple as you seem to think?"

Not as simple? But she didn't think it was simple, to begin with. She reached for the flowers in front of her to replace the ones in her hair, "No, I really want to know."

"You have to promise to not be upset with either one of us. I'm frankly tired of being on the wrong end of your silent treatment and Roderich would hate me even more if you were upset with him because of me."

She peeked warily over at him, heart speeding up just slightly, "I promise."

He smiled, shakily, and then returned to a look of concentration as he focused back on the flowers in his hand, "Are you sure you want to hear that right now? I thought you wanted to know about the previous Captain of the Guard."

"Tell me at the same time. Surely you could manage that?"

He groaned but she could see the splitting grin on his face, "Why do you gotta be so difficult?"


Gilbert Beilschmidt! Get back here and do your chores! I will have no nonsense! Do you hear me?!"

Tiny legs sprinted to get away. He was done with having to clean the floors. He was done with the guards tripping him when he wasn't looking and he was done being told he wasn't good enough to enter the parts of the palace that had sparkling floors and pristine everything. Sure it'd be cool to tell someone he lived in the castle but who was going to listen? At only nine years old, Gilbert had already decided that he was done trying to be everything the world pushed on him. He was going to be himself and that would just have to be good enough.

Angry feet slowed down and kicked at the ground under him, "Don't they know it's hard enough to clean that hallway without them knocking my bucket over?"

He had made his way to the stables so he could sit and not have to worry about anything for a while. After all, the horses weren't going to tell him what to do, no, no, they were not. He climbed into the empty stall at the end of the row and curled up in the leftover hay from the previous horse. His dad just was never going to get it was he? He couldn't do the best cleaning job because he was always being picked on and having his work messed up. How was he supposed to be the best of the best when the odds were already set against him?

The child sighed and lay down in the hay, ready to give up for the day and just take a nap. Instead, he was startled as a baby bird fell from its perch in the rafters and straight onto his face. Letting out a more than surprised yelp, he sat back up again and shifted the small bird into his hands. It looked like it might have been a chicken but the boy couldn't quite tell. All he really knew was that its tiny yellow feathers were tickling the palms of his hands. Gilbert smiled, "I'm not sure I can reach high enough to put you back little buddy. Sorry about that."

"Gilbert."

He looked up into the stern blue eyes of his father, prepared for the scolding that always came when he abandoned his chores. "Where did you get the bird?"

The child grinned, "He fell on me and I caught him. Pretty cool, huh?"

His father frowned and walked into the stall sitting stiffly next to him, "You know... you can't run off like that every time you get upset. I know it's frustrating to be told you're doing something wrong but I hope that one day you'll understand that if you learn to fight and stand up for yourself, you'll be able to tell the difference between the malicious comments and the constructive ones."

Gilbert puffed out his cheeks and pulled the chick closer to his, refusing to look at the man next to him, "It would be so much easier if you'd just tell them to stop. They listen to you."

"I won't"

Red eyes filled with angry unshed tears, "Why not?"

"You'll never learn to deal with it that way. You'll come running to me every time something goes wrong and one day... one day I won't be there to help and you'll be lost with no clue how to survive the world."

"But..."

A large hand ruffled his hair, "No, 'buts', mister. I didn't take you into the guard to raise you to be a little wimpy kid who can't deal with his own problems. You either belt up or find a different job. No son of mine is going to be such a degenerate guard. I won't have it."

Gilbert glared at the man next to him, "You didn't have to take me in you know. Maybe I don't want to serve that stuffy family, anyway."

A blond eyebrow shot up at that claim, "You'd rather grow up in a church then? I can take you back. Now, which streets to turn down?"

Another huff from the younger boy and a deep chuckle from the older man, "Maybe you won't be a guard. That's okay Gil. As long as you are strong enough to live in this world... I'll be happy."

Gilbert grinned, "Then I'll just have to do a lot of push-ups then!"

His father sighed, "That not what I mean."

Before Gilbert could ask about it, another, much older, man came bounding and peeked over the stall, "Captain Reinhold! Some of the new recruits are fighting again."

Blue eyes turned to ice as he redirected his gaze to the guard, "How many time do I have to tell you to address me by my last name?"

The other man cowered, "Sorry sir! I should have said Captain Beilschmidt, sir!"

He turned and left awkwardly while blue eyes melted just slightly and settled back to the red ones below him, "You should head back and finish your chores. I'll be angry if you aren't back by the time I finish with the recruits."

Gilbert nodded, moment broken, and looked at his feet as he was left alone in the stall again.


It took him hours to finish cleaning that single hallway. By the time he was finished with it, he had missed dinner and the sun had long since disappeared out of the sky. He was exhausted and generally in a bad mood, so he decided not to go back to his bed. After all, he'd heard some of the maids talking about how it was bad to go to bed angry. So, he found himself in the gardens look at the mix of blue and white and red at his feet. There were so many different shades of the colors everywhere he looked and to be honest it was pretty calming. What was more calming, though, was the soft melody coming from one of the windows.

Occasionally, pale ears would perk up to hear a few lower background notes; but, for the most part, the melody was the only thing coming through. Someone was playing the piano and even though it was a simple song, it was beautiful. He peeked in the window the sound was coming from to see a boy, nearly the same size as him, eyes closed, hands drifting over the keys. He looked like he was saying numbers to himself but Gilbert couldn't be sure. He was sure, however, that this boy had to be part of the royal family. Which meant that he had to be the prince.

He ducked out of view of the window, sitting in one of the flower beds. He wasn't supposed to be around the royal family. He wasn't allowed in that part of the castle. If this boy saw him... he didn't want to think about the scolding if his father found out. But wait, he was allowed to be in the gardens. Surely, as long as he was bothering the smaller boy there was nothing for his dad to be mad about right?

So he sat and he listened until the moon was in the sky and he was unwillingly dozing off to sleep. His eyes finally betrayed him and he fell asleep in the flowers just outside the window, melody still floating over his head. What's weird was that he wasn't even sleepy.


He woke up in his own bed well past noon the next day. His dad was hovering over him looking almost concerned as he opened his bleary eyes. "Dad? What's up?"

"You're sick."

He didn't feel sick but he sat up slowly anyway, "Who says?"

"The doctor."

A doctor had checked on him? When? But he supposed if the doctor had said he was sick he was probably sick. "What do I have?"

Suddenly, his dad's hand touched his forehead, feeling ice cold, "A fever. You vomited a few hours ago do you not remember that?"

He didn't so he shook his head. His father sighed, "You also have a rash on your back and legs. You're sure you don't remember vomiting?"

Gilbert nodded, "Yes. I don't even feel sick."

His father leaned to the side just slightly looking as if he was trying to evaluate the worth of something, ponytail swaying with the movement, "There's something wrong with you."

Gilbert shook his head again and tried to get out of bed, "But there's not."

But when his feet hit the cold floor, he was suddenly very dizzy, very itchy, and very hot. He swayed a little on his feet; unsure whether or not moving would be a good idea. His father picked him up and put him back in his bed, "No. You will stay in bed until the doctor knows what is wrong with you."

Gilbert nodded and flopped backward, suddenly okay with the idea. His father got up to walk away but a pale hand grabbed his sleeve, "Dad?"

"Hm?"

"How'd you get a doctor to come see me?"

He looked away, "The queen called for one. The Prince said he heard you taking tiny breaths in the gardens. He got scared. He thought you were going to die and he told his mother. His mother called the doctor so that her son could be at ease."

Gilbert swallowed, "He thought I was... going to die?"

His father nodded and continued to the door after detaching his son from his sleeve, "I thought so too... for a while."

It was so quiet he almost didn't believe he had heard it.


It turned out that Gilbert had been asleep for two days and that's why he wasn't allowed to leave the bed. The doctor took nearly a week to determine that whatever was wrong with him wasn't something he knew how to treat. By that time, his rash and fever had gone away and the child wasn't sure there was anything to treat in the first place. The first day he was back on his feet he was flooded with chores.

He wished that didn't make him as angry as it did because it was much harder to actually do the work when he was on the brink of punching something than it was when he was calm. He found himself curled under the window in the garden by noon hoping against all hope that the Prince would be playing the piano. He only stayed for a few minutes that time, calm again.

That became his routine: wake up and do his chores for a few hours, eat lunch, listen to the Prince play for a few minutes, and then return to the chores until time for dinner. Something about the method made it easy to ignore the taunting and teasing of the guards around him. Which made his dad look so much happier when he was around him. Gilbert for the first time was comfortable with life.

There was no need to reach for the friends he didn't have or try to play with the other servant children. There was no need to walk all the way to town just to be told that he was never going to fit in. There was no need to pay attention to the ranting and raving of everyone around him, excluding him from life as a normal child. There was no need because Gilbert didn't need anyone else. It had taken him nine years to determine he didn't need friends; in fact, he didn't even want them anymore. What could be better than the content feeling he constantly had then.

His life turned upside down again just a few weeks later. He had been sitting outside the window, like normal, but the piano stopped the making sound. It took him several seconds to realize he was no longer humming the tune with the assistance of the instrument and he stopped, halfway through making a flower crown out of the ones around him.

"You know it's not nice to eavesdrop."

Gilbert looked straight up in alarm to find dark blue, almost purple, eyes right above his own. He scrambled away from the window, "I... I'm not... I'm not eavesdropping! Yeah, that's it! I'm just sitting here taking a break before I have to go back to my chores."

Roderich narrowed his eyes but he was smiling, "But you were humming my song."

Gilbert could feel his face heating up, "Yeah, so?!"

Roderich laughed, "So, you were eavesdropping. I don't mind I was just checking on you."

Suddenly serious, red eyes searched purple for some sort of joke, "Checking on me?"

The prince nodded, "Yes. You always leave before I finish playing and the doctor said you were okay a month or so ago but I still wanted to come over and make sure. Sometimes mother doesn't tell me things so I won't get upset."

Realization lit up the burning red eyes, "Oh! You mean cuz I was sick earlier? Yeah, I'm fine!"

Roderich nodded looking happier, "That's good. What are you making?"

Gilbert looked down at his semi-crushed crown, "It's a flower crown."

He looked confused, "A crown? Like my dad wears at social events?"

Suddenly the idea of making a flower crown seemed insignificant and foolish. Gilbert looked away, "Yeah something like that."

Roderich sounded extremely happy when he responded, "I think your crown might be prettier though. It's less solid and it will wilt and die with time. It changes as the days change. It's not permanent and you would have to make a new one soon. It's creative... What's your name?"

"Gilbert."

"I'm Roderich. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet... me?"

Roderich laughed, "No silly you're supposed to say 'nice to meet you, too'."

Gilbert shook his head, "That's not what I... Of course, I know that! Don't act like I'm stupid!"

Purple eyes widened in shock and he backed up from the window, "I wasn't trying to upset you. Should I just go back to playing the piano?"

Gilbert sighed, "I didn't mean to yell and yes you probably should go back to playing. I have to go finish my chores."

Roderich nodded, looking almost sad and walked backward towards his piano, "Well, I suppose I should say goodbye."

Gil got up from his place on the ground and discarded his crown in the flower bed, "Bye."

Maybe it was because he had a weird day but his hands itched for the rest of the afternoon.


The next day he returned to his spot under the window half expecting for someone to tell him that he had imagined the entire meeting with the prince the day before. But when he settled into a sitting position on the ground, the music immediately stopped and he heard feet scramble towards the window, "Gilbert!"

He sighed, looking up at the smiling boy above him, "Yes?"

Rod looked embarrassed for a moment before he smiled and look beyond happy, "You came back!"

Gilbert shift his body so he wouldn't have to look straight up, "And? I come here every day."

Purple eyes shifted to the side, unwilling to look into the red ones below him, "I thought maybe that I made you mad enough that you'd stop coming."

White eyebrows furrowed together, "I wasn't mad. I just had to go finish my chores."

Rod perked up again, an enthusiastic glimmer in his eyes, "What kind of chores do you do?"

Gil looked away, "I mostly clean in the servants' wing. But someday I'm going to be the Captain of the Guard! You just wait and see."

Roderich laughed softly, "Okay. I'll wait to see that. Why do you want to be the Captain?"

He hadn't really thought about it, so, when asked, he fumbled for a real answer, "Well... I... That's what my dad does, so..."

"Your father is Captain Beilschmidt?!"

Gilbert looked up in shock, "Ah... not really. Not by blood. He just takes care of me."

Roderich tilted his head to the side in thought, "Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. I thought he was a little old to have a child my age."

"He's old?"

Roderich laughed again, "Of course. His daughter is grown and married. Mom and her talk all the time."

"He has a daughter?"

Suddenly Roderich's face looked serious, "Oh. I'm sorry I didn't realize he hadn't told you that he has a family. I heard his daughter tell mother the other day that he hasn't talked to her in years if that helps. They seem to be fighting over something but I wasn't in the room long enough to know what."

Maybe they had been fighting since before Gilbert had memories. Maybe that's why he didn't tell him about her. Why hadn't he known that his father had an actual family? Suddenly, he felt as if his whole relationship with his father was in jeopardy.

He tried to ignore it and focus back on the child in front of him. Before he could even get a sound out, Rod interrupted him, "Can you make me a flower crown? I want to show my mother."

Gilbert blinked, "You want a... don't you already have a crown?"

"Yeah but it's gold. I like the flowers better. I thought I told you that yesterday."

Gilbert nodded and looked at the flowers around him; he had never given one away. He was furrowing his eyebrows together, trying to decide which of the flowers to use when Roderich came tumbling out of the window and into the garden with him. He couldn't stop the panic that overwhelmed his system. He was going to be in so much trouble. His dad was going to kill him. Oh lord, what if he hurt himself hopping out the window? How was he even supposed to explain himself? Then Roderich's head popped up and he started pulling at flowers, "These are my favorite so you gotta use a lot of them. You still have chores right? We have to hurry!"

Gilbert barely got a hold on the flowers he was being handed before the words set in. If he could make this crown quickly, then, Rod would go back to his piano and he wouldn't have to explain anything. Roderich gripped his pants watching Gilbert's hands twist the stems together, "Those flowers are called Edelweiss. They're the symbol of my family. The blue ones you had yesterday are cornflowers. Those are really pretty too but my favorite is the Edelweiss.

Gilbert nodded; unable to talk and twist the stems fast enough to get out of the garden before his dad came looking. He was in the middle of twisting the fifth flower on the crown when he suddenly felt sleepy. One more and he could barely keep his eyes open. A seventh and everything was black. He thought he heard Roderich call out his name before everything went fuzzy.


When he woke up, he was in a bed again, only this time it wasn't his own. There was no way his bed had ever been that comfortable. He looked up, prepared to see stern blue eyes but instead he was met with the concern purple eyes of a woman. She brightened up a bit as his gaze met hers, "Are you okay? The doctor is fairly confident we know what is wrong with you."

Gilbert sat up slowly only just noticing that he was wearing much nicer bed clothes than normal, "I feel kinda... I don't know... maybe, foggy?"

She nodded, "You mean dazed. My son seems to think that the flowers in the garden are making you sick."

He yawned, still somewhat asleep, "The flowers?"

She nodded, "The Edelweiss."

Suddenly it made sense to him. He must've looked like he had an intense realization because she leaned forward, calculating look on her face, "Do you think it's the flower, too? Roderich said that you started to get sick after you picked them up and had them near your face. Have you ever gotten sick like this outside of the garden?"

He shook his head. She sighed, "And none of the other flowers have bothered you?"

Another shake of the head. She rubbed at her eyes, "Then I suppose we will have to remove the flowers from the garden."

Alarm crossed his face, "What?! No! I'll just stay out of it. My dad would be really angry if you messed up the garden because of me! I don't wanna get in trouble."

She looked confused, "Your father?"

Embarrassment worked its way into his system as he realized he'd have to explain, again, "The Captain of the Guard."

She looked like she wanted to contradict him but she forced the look away with a smile, "Well then, I guess I'll just have to explain that I can't have a future guard unable to defend the gardens properly. I value the safety of this kingdom and the safety of my child- children- much more than I value those flowers. That means you have to be able to guard us when you're older. You understand?"

Gilbert nodded only barely understanding what she said, "Children?"

Her smile got so much brighter, "By the time you are old enough to guard this kingdom, Gilbert, there should be a little prince or princess following his or her big brother down the halls. Can I trust you to take care of my children someday?"

He didn't really understand why it made him so happy to hear that. Maybe it was because the queen was giving him a chance to prove himself. Maybe it was the idea of someone who just met him trusting him so openly. Regardless, he could never have guessed how much his life would change from that point on.


"Wait. But Roderich doesn't have any little siblings."

Gilbert shook his head almost sadly, "She had a miscarriage right when she was starting to show. She was devastated."

Elizaveta swallowed the portion of the sandwich in her mouth, "Oh. That's... I never would've expected that. I mean, she seems so happy all the time."

Gilbert finished twisting the last two stems together of his crown and nodded, "I think... I think might be because she never found out whether or not it was a boy or a girl. I know that doesn't make much sense but I think that's what it is. I know that's why she treats me like she does. She lost a child so she claimed me. But if she had known it was a little princess she would have been devastated until a girl came along that she could claim. Which would be you. She probably thinks of you as her child, too. But your coming here wasn't necessary for her to recover."

She hummed in acknowledgment and set her sandwich in her lap, "You seem to have had a pretty rough childhood."

He sighed and placed the crown on her head, "Yeah I was trying to glaze over it and focus on the main points but some it had to be included for you to understand the importance of things. You shouldn't be surprised. I might refuse to talk about it, but it's no secret that a lot of people have a problem with me. I know you judge on character but the rest of these dumbasses see red eyes and assume I'm some sort of demon."

He finally picked up his sandwich and started eating. She took another bite of her own, not taking her eyes off his face. He seemed caught in between indifference, anger, and sadness. She knew she looked confused but he wasn't looking back at her, "Roderich didn't. You made it sound like he was happy you were around."

Gilbert nodded, "He was, once. So much has happened since then. I'm not even sure whose fault it was. Maybe mine. I don't really know. Maybe you'll be able to tell me when I get to that part."

AHA! AND SO THE BACKSTORY BEGINS! I don't know about you guys, but I love my backstory and I love the child versions of our two male characters. I really hope you love this as much as I do. Thank you so much for reading. Please tell me what you think in a review