Dec 9:
"What do you mean your car was stolen?"
Both Lilly and Gilbert looked up in surprise form their puzzle at the sudden yell from Vash.
"Yes I understand that but how did that happen? Did you just leave the doors open with a sign saying *I'm in a rush, please take my car so I'm stuck in some place called Eskilstuna.*?
Gilbert and Lilly snickered.
"Then how the hell..." Vash paused a little when he remembered Gilbert being in the room. "...hellvetian mafia in Eskilstuna managed to steal your car I suppose I will never know."
Gilbert and Lilly who were both in reality somewhat familiar with the cursings had to fight hard not to laugh out loud and disturb the already agravated man.
"Fine but I'm still sticking to Elizaveta's plan. Why? Because she's right! Also this place is far too dangerous for a young boy. No he didn't get in any kind of danger! Why would I shoot him?! I'm glad you trust me that much. " The last part was said very sarcasticly. " NO! I did not lock him up in his freezing room! What do you think of me! Yes Blackie is here to protect him." the conversation kept on in a similar manner of a couple of more minutes before Vash sighed in annoyance. "I'm hanging up on you now good luck with the car."
Before the person on the other line could protest Vash put the reciever back in place. He didn't explain the conversation to either Lilly or Gilbert but chose to just go outside instead. As soon as the door had been slammed shut the two remaining nations looked at each other and broke into a fit of giggles. Blackie barked happily by the noise and skipped up and down in the room solely to show that whatever pleased his master, was pleasing him as well.
" A day with only puzzles would be extremely boring for a young man, I'm guessing. Is there anything you want to do today? " Lilly asked when they had finally calmed down a little bit.
Gilbert chewed on his lips in thought for a while before breaking into a wide grin.
"Let's play hide and seek!"
And so they did although Lilly insisted that they played inside just in case. Lilly was the first to count while Gilbert and Blackie sped of down the halls. The house was perfect for hide and seek. There were a multiples of halls filled with various items to hide behind. The quiestion was simple. Where to hide first? He finally settled upon letting Blackie decide. Not much later he found himself crouching behind a drawer of sorts in an empty hall. He could no longer hear Lilly counting. It was a little scary being alone in a hall filled with scary things. He secretely prayed there were no monsters in the house.
"You'll protect me if something scary comes up right? " he whispered to Blackie and hugged him tigthly. Blackie simply licked his face in confirmation.
Blackie would indeed protect Gilbert from anything. These days had been tiring to him. Finding his master as a child perhaps had not seen like a big deal to a dog but his master looked much more fragile now and it worried him greatly. The hour he had spent waiting while his masters were gone shoping could have been days as he worried for his master. Then there was the matter with Mr Austria in the park. By then Blackie had sworn to his 'brothers' to protect Gilbert no matter what yet he had failed. Gilbert had been in danger and threatened by that large angry man and he had been powerless. It had scared him as well. He was happy to hear his master playing the shiny instrument again as he had almost completely stopped a few years back and it seemed to joy his master as well. Then Elizaveta had turned up and made things complicated. For some reason she had taken Gilbert from the fairly safe home to her own house. A decided to stay quiet and rest that night in the car so he had the energy to fend of any danger once they reached the new place. Even in his sleep he made sure he was as close as humanly possibly to the boy. The first danger they encountered came during breakfast when something Elizaveta did scared Gilbert. He didn't understand exactly what it was but it made his master cling to him like there were no tomorrow. Whatever it had been had then somehow cleared out and Blackie found himself relaxing for the rest of the have the woman forcing him to bath, was one thing, but to have the same annoying Hungarian woman pull you away for a walk while Gilbert was talking to stranger was just plain rude. All throughout the walk his only goal had been to get back to the house. When he finally succeeded in this, he found stranger boys throwing snow at his master. Gilbert had explained to him previously that this was nothing dangerous but then it had been his two friends. These were strangers and were throwing with much more vigor than they would do. Also these boys weren't smiling. WIth a loud bark he had did the first thing that came to mind, attack . And now he was in this new place, one hundred percent confused. Gilbert had climbed up in a tree with help from the woman and the man had climbed up to get him. Now they were hiding for whatever reason in a dark hall and not doing anything. And for some reason his master was scared. All of this was really too much to handle for a single dog.
Gilbert smiled at the dog and kept waiting. Soon footsteps could be heard in the hall along with a female's sing-song voice.
"Oh Gilbert? Where are you? " the voice sing-songed and Gilbert giggled. Before the dog could really react, he bolted further down the hall. Blackie followed as well as possible. Soon they found themselves in a new room filled with old weapons and various cluttered items. He guessed this was a storage room. He scanned the room curiously . There were clothes from various aspects of times, included a pink pyjama wrapped in a silk cloth. Arrows, guns, swords and daggers hung on the wall as a reminder of old and more dangerous times. In the corner stood an iron bucket that looked like it had been hit repeatedly with a fist.
"Are you surprised I have one of these?"
Gilbert swirled around to find Vash standing against the doorfram with his arms crossed.
"I didn't know what was in here." Gilbert muttered a little appologetic. Vash gave him a semi-smile.
"I hardly do myself." he admitted . "Most things are just I can't bare to throw away even if I should." He went over and picked up the pyjama.
"I still use this frequently." he said with a hint of pink tainting his cheeks. "But it's too cold to wear in the winter so I put it here in the meantime. "
Gilbert giggled a little and Vash send him an only slightly serious glare.
"Kid or not you are exactly the same guy I know. "
"Is that good or bad?" Gilbert asked earning him a ruffle his hair.
"Don't ever change."
They found Lilly in the kitchen with another nation that Gilbert recognized well. Both were seemingly looking for him.
"Goodday Belgium." Vash said stiffly and the two turned around. Bella instantly started to swoon over Gilbert.
"Oh my god he's adorable!" she said while crouching in front of his and pinching his cheek in a way very similar to an old lady. Gilbert swatted the hand away. Bella only giggled and kept talking.
"When Liz told me Gilbert was turned into a kid I did not believe him for a second but here he is."
Gilbert whined a little in annoyance as Bella kept pinching for a long while later. Finally she stopped and turned to Lilly.
"So why did you call me over here?"
"Well..." Lilly began, " Liz said that he should be on various places and this place clearly isn't safe for him so I was wondering if you had any suggestions."
Gilbert was a little annoyed that they were talking about him as though he wasn't there but he was also curious of what was to come. Bella thought about for a moment before lightning up.
"I know just the place!"
Antonio rubbed his eyes tiredly and stared at the guests at his doorstep. This didn't even make sense.
"Gilbert?"
