"I wish that you would stop hovering, Bruder," Luddy said the next day. "I need to think."

"I am not hovering!"

"I think that you are hovering, amigo," Tony said, passing by him.

"You're hovering," the princess said, also passing him. Gilbert glared after them.

Kiss-ups.

"I have been thinking," Luddy said at one point. "I am glad that you have told me these things. However… I have something that I wish to ask you."

"Yeah?"

"When all this is over, I want to go up north. I want to see the place we used to live."

Screw it. "Yeah, why not."

"Thank you, Bruder."

Luddy talked to the princess a lot that day. Gilbert wasn't sure whether to be nervous about it or not, but really, he'd basically shot everything else to hell already, so sure, why not let the princess know the family history? Fricking icing on the cake.

He got close enough to hear one of their conversations at one point.

"How do you deal with it?" Luddy was asking. "With knowing that you have hurt people without wanting to hurt them?"

"It's not easy," she said. Her voice was soft. "The best I have been able to do is accept that feeling guilty will not change what I have done. I also have read many books on demons. I wished to gain all the knowledge I could to ensure that it didn't happen again."

"And where you able to prevent it?"

There was a pause.

"The last two were able to escape with their lives," she said. Her voice was a little thick. Embarrassed, Gilbert fell back, out of earshot , and looked about for something else to focus on but not before he noticed Luddy slip his hand into hers.

Luddy stopped and stared at a rabbit as it ran across their path.

"Feliciano used to draw a lot, didn't he?" he said after it had disappeared.

Gilbert looked at him sharply. "Yeah, why?"

"No reason." Luddy hefted his pack higher up on his shoulders. "We should keep going." And he walked ahead, swinging his deck brush as he went.

"We appear to be getting low on supplies," the princess commented as they finished up their lunch.

"Do not concern yourself," Tony assured her. "We will be at Lord Edlestein's castle before we grow desperate."

They'd probably be at the castle by tomorrow. Every time they reached the top of a hill, they could see it looming in the distance. The sight of it made Gilbert feel odd. He should feel happy, shouldn't he? Soon he and Luddy could legally go back to their cabin in the swamp and not worry about being bothered ever again. Were they actually going to though?

Probably not.

It wasn't that Gilbert wasn't capable of the amount of denial it would take to pretend that it was going to happen that way. He just didn't know if he wanted things to happen that way anymore.

"Is there a town nearby?" the princess was asking. "Perhaps we could restock for the last leg of our journey."

"Si, there is one nearby. I am thinking we should arrive there early tomorrow." Tony glanced at Luddy. "Does this seem right, Niño?"

"I think so," Luddy said. He stood up. "We should keep going."

"You've barely eaten anything!" Gilbert protested.

"You may finish it if you wish."

Suddenly Gilbert didn't feel hungry anymore either.

"Gentlemen," the princess announced. "We are going fishing."

They all looked at her.

"What?" Gilbert said finally.

"We have been rather solemn today," she said. "I think we could use a little cheering up."

"I think that is a wonderful idea." Tony said. Gilbert glared at him. You little kiss-up.

"I don't fish."

"That is true," Luddy agreed. "He doesn't."

"Well it's never too late to learn," she said, cheerfully.

"It is if I don't want to."

"Why ever not?" she asked innocently. "Are you afraid to suck?"

"Hey." He glared down at her. "I wouldn't suck. I would be-"

"-awesome?" She smiled sweetly.

That caught him off guard but he covered it. "Obviously."

"Then prove it."

He glanced at the other two. Luddy just smiled at him as if to say "you got yourself into this" and Tony raised his eyebrows. Gilbert looked back down at the princess. She was smirking.

That did it.

"You're on."

He'd show Prissy Princess Lizzie who was boss.

"You'll forgive me for saying so," she called to him. "But you really suck at this."

"Shut up!" He was soaked, he hadn't caught anything and she was standing there, not a hair out of place, looking pretty as you please and she was laughing at him. They were all laughing at him. Jerks.

"It takes patience," she admonished, still laughing.

"I don't want to be patient!"

"You were very patient when we went hunting the other day."

"That's different!"

"How so?"

"Hunting is fun. Hunting is awesome. Fishing is for sissies."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I suppose that means you won't want any of the fish I've caught for dinner then?"

That got him. He scowled at her. She smirked back.

"That's what I thought."

I hate these people, Gilbert thought, only half serious. He watched Luddy place yet another fish on his pile next to hers.

"That's certainly a big one," she said to him. "Did you catch it all by yourself?"

"I did."

"You must be very strong."

"Bruder says I'm very strong for my age."

"Does he?" She glanced at him for a moment before looking back down and Luddy. "Show me your steel then, Ludwig." As she spoke, she flexed her arms to demonstrate and Gilbert stared because the princess was jacked.

Luddy flexed his own arms obligingly and that made Gilbert grin because aw yeah, his little brother was doing the family proud with those arms right there.

"What do you think, Gilbert?" she called as the two of them turned towards him. "Whose muscles are bigger?"

Before Gilbert could respond, Tony said, "Elizaveta, if I may say, your arms are amazing." He flexed his own arm and held it beside hers. "Maravilloso."

"Okay Gil," she said again, looking back over at him. "Who has the best muscles?" The three of them stood in a row with her in the middle, all flexing.

They made such a ridiculous sight that he had to laugh. "Kesesesese, you are all sissies," he said even though they clearly, clearly weren't. "I have better muscles than all of you." He flexed to prove his point.

Tony let out a low whistle. Luddy looked up at the two adults and seeing their faces, he grinned. Gilbert thought he looked really proud of his big brother andthat made Gilbert grin too. He had never been that bulky but he was no twig either.

"I must concede defeat, amigo," Tony said laughing. "You are the champion here."

"For now he is," Luddy agreed calmly.

Gilbert stared at him. Is he talking smack? He traded delighted looks with Tony and the princess.

"You think you're gonna be stronger than me, you little punk?" Gilbert said. He started moving over to him, deliberately casual. Luddy eyed him warily. "You think you're gonna be stronger than your bruder?"

"I think so."

"Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah?" Before Luddy could react, Gilbert had scooped him up and tossed him, kicking and squirming, into the water.

Luddy came up sputtering. "Bruder!"

Gilbert laughed at him. Luddy might get stronger one day but Gilbert was still going to be the big brother.

They were cleaning the fish for dinner. Tony had offered to help Luddy so the two of them were paired up, leaving Gilbert with the princess. Tony could make Luddy smile so Gilbert had resisted the urge to make a fuss, settling instead for glancing over at them every five seconds.

"Niño, if I may say so... you and your brother are two of the bravest people I have ever met."

Luddy stared at Tony. Gilbert started at both of them.

"T-thank you…" Luddy said, almost too quietly for Gilbert to hear. "I appreciate you saying that."

"I am saying what I think," Tony said firmly. Luddy was silent. "Come," Tony said. "I will teach you another song."

Gilbert turned away and saw the princess looking at him.

"What you've done for him is amazing," she said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

When he didn't say anything, she just smiled and said, "How big of a piece of fish would you like?"

After dinner, she asked Tony to help her practice sword fighting again.

"Are you sure about this?" Tony sounded hesitant. "It did not end so well for us last time."

"I'm sure," she said firmly. "This time, things will be different."

"Bruder…" Luddy said, watching them. "Did you ever try to teach me to fight with a sword?"

"You had formal training," Gilbert said. "Our parents raised us that way."

"What about demon training?" Luddy asked quietly. "Did we receive that?"

"You did," Gilbert said.

"Then… Did they teach you nothing?" Luddy look up at him incredulously.

"…They taught me how to kill them."

They were quiet for a moment, watching Tony lecture the princess on footwork.

"Could you find someone to teach me again?" Luddy asked eventually.

"You always had a handle on that stuff," Gilbert said. "You were a genius."

"Nevertheless I would like to learn again."

"…Okay."

"Yes?"

"We can find someone."

"Thank you, Bruder."

"You swing your sword too wide, Elizaveta," Tony called. "You are giving me the time to block you. You must swing like this, see?" He demonstrated.

"I really must request formal lessons when I arrive at the palace," she said, mimicking his motion.

"Ah…" Tony said uncertainly.

"What?"

"I am perhaps giving hasty judgement," Tony said. "But Lord Edelstein does not seem like the type of man to enjoy sword play."

"No? Then what kind of man does he seem to you?"

"He seemed to me, very…" Tony glanced at Gilbert but if he thought Gilbert was going to help him sugar coat Lord Edelstein's suckishness for her, he was wrong. "particular," Tony settled for finally. "He seemed to me a man who knows what he likes."

"Like Gilbert?" she glanced at him teasingly. Gilbert made a face at her.

Tony snorted. "No, he is not so much like Gilbert, Your Majesty. I do not think he is the type of man who wishes to hold the sword."

She smiled. "Well, perhaps he will be content to watch then."

Gilbert scoffed.

"…Perhaps," Tony agreed. "Like this," he said, moving his stick again. "Your movements, they must be controlled, si?

"I suppose that the northern campaign must be the reason we have so many nightmares," Luddy said as he laid out his bedroll for the night.

"I guess." Not one of Gilbert's favorite topics.

"I once had a nightmare that I was trapped in the body of my mother," Tony volunteered. Gilbert wanted to hit him for a moment because that is the exact opposite of the kind of nightmares he and Luddy got but then he actually looked at Tony.

Tony gets it, he realized. Then he felt like an idiot because Tony had always got it. '"Prissy Princess Lizzie" too.

"Really?" Luddy sounded like he doesn't know whether to believe Tony or not.

"Si!" Tony said cheerfully. "I must tell you Niño, I have had many nightmares in my life but that one, it was terrifying. The whole time I was afraid to remove my clothes because I did not want to see myself naked."

Luddy looked at him strangely for a moment but then he gave a little huff of a laugh and smiled. Tony smiled back at him.

"And then there was this other dream," Tony continued as Luddy crawled under the blanket. "That my Lovino and my mother, they were chasing me around with rolling pins."

"You seem to have a lot of dreams about your mother," Luddy said.

"My mother is a scary lady, Niño," Tony said. "I hope that you will meet her someday."

"…I would like that," Luddy said.

"I think to warn you though. Come hungry. You cannot eat enough to satisfy my mother."

"That does not sound so scary.

"You say that now," Tony said. "But wait until you are face with your fifth plate of pulpo a la gallega."

"She must be a generous woman." Luddy sounded sleepy.

"Oh si, Niño. You will not find a woman more generous than my mother. You know, she is something of a local legend. Because she married my father, the two towns between their estates grew into one. She knows everything that goes on in that place."

Luddy hummed sleepily.

"Niño, if you were to come to her home, she would not let you leave until you had put on considerable weight. She would make Lovino wait on you hand and foot. Of course, this would not be a good thing because Lovino's service is… Well, I am thinking you could live without it. I keep saying to her to let him work in the fields. He knows how to garden, Lovino. I wish that you could see what he did for the garden at my home, Niño. Our tomato plants, they are the finest in the countryside."

There was no response. Tony stopped looked to where Luddy lying on his bedroll, asleep. Smiling, he moved to sit on the opposite side of the fire, beside Lizzie.

"Your brother is going to be very handsome when he gets older," she commented softly.

"Obviously. It runs in the family."

"You will have to be careful, amigo, if you don't want all the women chasing after him."

"He is totally going to have women chasing after him," Gilbert said. "I'm gonna teach him how to pick up chicks-what?" because she had snorted.

"Nothing."

"Lovino was always interested in the ladies," Tony offered. "Whenever we would pass by a pretty girl in the street, he would call to her for a kiss." Tony smiled. "One of my friends, she tried to kiss him one time, just on the cheek. I tell you, amigos, I have never seen anyone get that red."

"I never kissed anyone," Lizzie admitted. "When I was little I was convinced that I was going to be a man like my father when I grew up. All the boys were afraid of me because I could beat them up." She smiled with the memory of it. "I was the worst little princess ever."

"That sounds awesome," Gilbert said because the mental image of little Princess Lizzie beating up all the little sissies in the courtyard made him smug. The world could keep its dainty, quiet princesses. Their princess was boss.

She looked at him with a little huff of laughter and said "I don't think my mother thought it was that awesome. I got into a great deal of trouble when I was young."

"Young children are always quite the handful," Tony assured her. "That's what makes them interesting."

"Luddy's not," Gilbert objected. "He's always doing what he's told."

"Forgive me amigo," Tony said. "But your brother is not always the child in your relationship."

"Hey!" Just because it was true, didn't mean Gilbert wasn't going to take offense over it. "It's hard raising a kid okay? I am an awesome big brother."

"I meant no disrespect," Tony soothed. "I know you are."

Uncomfortable with how sincere Tony sounded, Gilbert looked away.

"I suppose every child is different," Lizzie said. "Some grow up faster than others, don't they? Master Ludwig is certainly very mature for his age."

"Yeah he is," Gilbert groused. "This one time, I tried to tell the little brat where babies come from and he just fricking looked at me and went 'I already know that, Bruder.'"

"Really?" Lizzie raises her eyebrows. "How old was he at this time?"

"Nine."

"That seems rather young, amigo."

"Right?" Gilbert scowled. "So I'm like 'who told you?' and he goes 'no one. If dogs and horses make their babies the same way, I do not think that humans get their babies from storks.'"

"You told him babies come from storks?"

He scowled at her. "It was what my grandpa told me, okay? Don't diss my parenting skills."

She raised her hands in mock surrender. "My apologies, Gilbert."

They fell into easy silence for a moment until Tony said "Do you want me to take your shift of the watch, amigo?"

"Why would I need you to take my watch?"

Tony smiled. "I thought I would ask. Good night."

"Good night Antonio."

Gilbert watched Tony leave before realizing that Lizzie was looking at him. "What?"

"Do you mind if I sit up with you? I am not tired just yet."

"Why should I care? Do what you want."

She smiled. "Then I will sit up with you."

Gilbert wasn't sure what to do with the way that sentence made him feel, so he ignored it.

They resettled on top of a large rock a few yards away because Gilbert believed in keeping watch from a higher vantage point. The glow from the fire cast a ring of light on the surrounding area. Gilbert could see Luddy, still sleeping peacefully.

"I suppose we'll be back at the castle soon," Lizzie said, settling herself in.

"I guess."

They were both quiet for a moment, looking off towards the horizon. Then Lizzie said; "What is Lord Edelstein like?"

That caught Gilbert off guard. She was seemed to do that a lot.

"Why would you want to know about that guy?"

"Well, I have already heard Antonio's opinion of him," she said reasonably. "I would like to hear yours."

"He's a tool."

"You think that everyone's a tool," she pointed out.

"Because most people are."

"Why is Lord Edelstein a tool? Is he like you?"

He glared at her. "He is nothing like me!"

"That's what Antonio said too…" she said to herself. He didn't know how to react to that because she sounded almost …sad. What did she have to be sad about? That Lord Edelstein wasn't like him? Why?

He must've imagined it.

"How far is your swamp from the castle?"

"I dunno. We walked there in two days last time."

"It must be fairly close then."

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was thinking I might come visit you and Ludwig when I have time." Through the faint light, she smiled at him. "You and I could go hunting together."

"Yeah… we could…" He kind of liked that idea. Then something occurred to him and he scowled. "Better not bring along your boyfriend though."

"My boyfriend?" she sounded surprised.

"Lord Edelstein."

"Oh." There was a pause. He looked over at her. "Well, he's not my boyfriend yet," she said and it sounded like she was talking to herself again. "I haven't even met him, after all."

"Yeah, why do you think he wanted to get you out of that castle? He wants to put a ring on it."

She snorted. "You certainly have a blunt way of putting things."

"It's true," he said defensively.

"Well, that may be his intention but he hasn't even met me yet. What if he decides I'm not his type?"

"Then he's dumb."

"Now this is a development," she said, smiling. "Gilbert Beilschmidt, was that a compliment?"

Crap. "Maybe." Then: "No." Then he was lost because why had he said that? Was Lord Edelstein dumb if he didn't like Lizzie?

…Well, yeah. Obviously. Why wouldn't anyone like Lizzie? Lizzie was sort of awesome.

He realized that it was silent. He didn't know what to do or say but then Lizzie said, out of nowhere

"You know, I've felt very much myself these past few days. My demon has been very quiet." Before Gilbert could say anything to that she said "I can still feel it in there, you know." After another pause, she added "I hope Lord Edelstein likes me. They told me that whoever got me out of the castle could break the spell."

But I'm the one who got you out of that castle, he wanted to say but didn't because he'd didn't know where that would put them. Obviously it was true, but did he want to kiss her? Sure, she was hot but "I think you're hot" probably didn't break spells. And sure, he liked her but so did Tony.

Wait, did Tony want to kiss Lizzie?

…

Tony wasn't allowed to kiss Lizzie.

He realized that he'd probably been supposed to respond to what she'd said but he hadn't. Eventually she just smiled. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to see."

((Author's Note: Hi guys! We're coming down the homestretch now, so I'd really love to hear your opinion of this chapter. I'm trying to transition to something a little more relaxed. Now that Gilbert's issues are more out in the open, I feel like I can focus on the friendships/relationships more easily but the whole time I was writing this, I was worried that I was moving too fast or laying it on too thick. I know I startled some of you with the last chapter hopefully I didn't scare you guys off. ))