Chapter 10
"Gilbert!" Ludwig screamed. He pointed his gun at Matthew, wiped a tear from his face, and...
BANG!
The gun flew from Matthew's hand. Blood oozed out of his arm. "Ow!" he held his arm, which was now stained red.
"You son of a bitch!" Vash said. He approached Matthew and whacked him in the back of the head with the handle of his gun. He put handcuffs on Matthew's wrists.
"Goodbye Gilbert." Matthew said as he was taken to the stairs.
"Shut up you bastard!" Vash commanded. "Ludwig," Vash said calmly, "if you want some alone time with Gilbert, you can stay."
"Alright." Ludwig said with tears in his eyes.
"Vash." Gilbert attempted to yell, but only came out a raspy whisper.
"Yes?"
"I'll miss you buddy."
Vash smiled, even though tears were streaming from his face. He escorted Matthew to the police car.
"Gil, do you think you'll pull through?"
"Things don't look good. I was shot in the chest."
"Come on bro, don't leave me now."
"Tell Vash to get help."
Ludwig nodded, and picked up his radio. "Vash, get an ambulance."
"I already did." Vash replied.
"Good." Ludwig set down the radio.
"You know, Ludwig, I'll never forget the time when we went drinking. And we brought Vash, Roderiech, and Elizaveta. And Vash got so drunk that he snogged Elizaveta, and Roderiech got so mad he tried to punch Vash, but he's just so weak that it didn't hurt Vash at all." he chuckled.
"We've had some crazy times brüder." as he said this, sirens were heard in the background.
"I'll do my best to recover."
"We'll see what happens."
Gil placed his little yellow canary in his hand. "Gilbird, you've been a good bird, and a great friend. I don't know where I'd be without you. But if I, you know...pass, then I want you to stay home with Ludwig. And whenever you put fake vomit on Roderiech's piano, think of me."
Gil took a notepad, and a pen out of his pocket, and started writing a letter.
'Dear Antonio' he wrote. 'I always knew I would get injured on the job. Today that vision came true, Matthew shot me in the right side of my chest, things don't look to good. If I die, don't let your grieving get the best of you. Even if Francis and I are dead, the Bad Touch Trio lives forever. Cause mischief, get into trouble, just like we did with Francis. You can borrow Gilbird whenever you want to. And I'm sorry if I've been a terrible friend. -Gilbert Beilschmidt.' he tied the note to Gilbird's leg. "Get this letter to Antonio, and then go straight home. Understand?"
Gilbird flapped his wings and flew out of the house with Gil's message tied to his leg.
"Gilbert, you are not going to die." Ludwig fought back tears.
"Gilbert Beilschmidt is invincible." he joked, and embraced his little brother. "When the paramedics take me, tell Elizaveta that I was shot, and that no matter how much we fight, that I still care about her."
"Can do."
Two paramedics carried a stretcher down the stairs. "There they are." one pointed to Ludwig and Gil. They ran over and immediately placed Gil on the stretcher and took him to the ambulance. Ludwig followed them to the front yard, where a big white and red ambulance was parked with lights flashing and people standing everywhere, some were media, some were investigators, and some were regular civilians standing around trying to see what was happening.
"Ludwig, don't worry about me."
"I'll try not to."
The paramedics loaded Gil onto a gurney and placed him in the back of the ambulance. One of the paramedics asked if Ludwig wanted to sit in the back of the ambulance with his brother.
"No," Ludwig answered, "it's not that I don't care, I just need to sit down and think to myself."
"Very well then." the man closed the door, and the ambulance drove away with sirens blaring and lights flashing.
Ludwig sat down on the step to Alfred's porch. When a woman holding a microphone and standing in front of a camera approached him and started questioning him.
"Are you the brother of the officer who was shot?" she asked.
"Who are you?" Ludwig asked.
"I'm a reporter for CNN, my name is Natalia Arlovskaya. Please answer the question."
"Uh, yes, he's my brother."
"Why didn't you shoot the suspect before he shot your brother."
"As an officer of the law, we're not allowed to shoot a suspect unless necessary."
"So your job is more important to you than your own brother?" Natalia pretended to be shocked.
"No! No! I just didn't know he would..."
"Wasn't Matthew Williams already pointing a gun at him? And you didn't know he was going to shoot?"
"I thought he was bluffing!" Ludwig had started crying again. "I should've stopped him!"
"Uh-huh, tragic. Well, you've seen it here live folks, I'm..."
A woman tapped Natalia on the shoulder, she turned around, WHAM! She punched Natalia right in the face. "How could you make someone cry like that? And just after his brother got shot." she said.
"We'll be right back after these commercial breaks." Natalia said as she stood back up, holding her pretty face that was now bruised.
"Just walk away." the girl who punched her said.
"You can't do this to me! I'm Natalia Arlovskaya! I'm way richer, popular, and..."
"You're about to get another black eye if you don't shut up."
Natalia turned around and walked away. Her camera man approached the girl who had hit her, "Thank you so much." and he followed Natalia.
The girl who had punched the reporter sat down next to Ludwig. "The media can be such a pain in the ass." she said.
"Yeah, no kidding." Ludwig agreed.
"My name is Bella."
"I'm Ludwig."
"It's tough getting over something like that."
"Yeah."
"I lost my older brother about four years ago."
"I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, I'm sorry for you. Don't worry about me."
"Gil's going to make it, I know it."
"I heard the gunshot and screaming, so I called for help as soon as I could."
"Well, if Gil pulls through, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you."
Bella smiled. "Thanks Ludwig."
"The man who shot my brother was a serial killer, and he purposely targeted him.
"Well, rest assured that there's a nice little place in hell with his name on it."
"Matthew Williams. He murdered his brother and took his identity. He killed anyone who could have recognized him, that included his own foster father, Francis Bonnefoy."
"That's awful! Did he ever tell you why he did it?"
"He said, he got tired of people mistaking him for his twin brother. It doesn't make much sense, doesn't it?"
"Not at all."
"He'll be behind bars for a long time.
"I hope your brother makes it."
"So do I."
Vash walked through the doors of the jail with his arm handcuffed to Matthew's. He walked up to a very tall Russian guard.
"Vash, what brings you here?" he asked.
"Hello Ivan, I'm escorting this piece of shit to jail."
"What did he do."
"He shot an officer."
"Shot an officer, ла?"
"Gilbert."
"Gilbert?" Ivan looked shocked, "This man shot one of my past employees, ла? Well I can assure you he'll be...most comfortable here."
"Thanks Ivan." Vash unlocked the cuff on his hand and gave Matthew to Ivan.
"Well, Matthew, since you're going to be here a while, we'll give you one of our 'comfier' rooms."
"Bye Matthew." Vash said as he turned around and walked out the door and got into his car. He drove to the police station to tell Elizaveta what had happened.
"Elizaveta?" he asked.
"Oh, Vash, how did it go?"
"Well I actually came here to tell you about it."
"What happened?" she asked.
"Well, we caught Matthew."
"That's great!"
"But..."
"But what?"
"It's terrible. Before we took him into custody...Matthew shot Gilbert in the chest."
Elizaveta froze, a look of horror shrouded her face, "Ó ,Istinem, Gilbert." tears began to stream from her face.
"It's awful."
"Is he okay?"
"Well, it didn't hit his heart, but probably hit his lung."
"Come on, we have to see him, where's Ludwig?"
"I don't know. But I'll call him." he whipped out a cell phone and dialed Ludwig's number.
"Hello?" Ludwig picked up his phone.
"Hi Ludwig, it's me, Vash."
"What's up?"
"Me and Elizaveta are going to visit Gil, and we want you to come."
"I'd like that, very much."
"Where are you?"
"I'm in front of Alfred's house."
"Okay, I'm going to give you a ride."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
Vash put his cell phone back in his pocket. "Let's go."
Translate:
O Istinem, Gilbert- Oh my God, Gilbert (Hungarian)