Gilbert turned around quickly, half expecting it to be Alfred behind him. But, when his eyes connected with violet, he took a step back in surprise.
"Mein Gott, when the hell did you get here?" Gilbert snapped at the man in front of him. It was that one from the town… The one he kissed… And all he was doing was standing there, grinning at him. What was his name again…? "Have you been following me?"
"You did leave quite a trail running away," he smiled. "I've had my work cut out for me trying to keep you hidden."
"I don't need your help, thank you," Gilbert snapped.
"You do know you picked the worst place to hide," the man quirked an eyebrow. "Those seven are wanted dead almost just as much as you are."
"I'll be fine," Gilbert glared at him. He didn't know why he was so angry, he just was. Ivan. That was his name.
"Says the cut on your forehead, your broken wrist, and your gunshot wound," Ivan stepped forward so that they were close to each other. Gilbert moved to step back, but his foot just splashed the water behind him. "And might I add the sprained legs?"
"How the hell do you know all that about me?" Gilbert demanded.
"Looking at you," Ivan stated bluntly. He reached forward and cupped the side of Gilbert's face. "And seeing the way you limp when you walk."
"Okay, I know I kissed you," Gilbert stated, batting away the hand with his left hand. "That doesn't mean I like you that way."
"You touched me before you kissed me, da?" Ivan asked.
"What does that have to do anything?" Gilbert snapped, swatting another one of Ivan's hands away.
"With your abilities, when you make skin contact with someone, you learn everything about their past," Ivan stated simply. Gilbert looked down at his hands and noticed that he was wearing gloves. "Apparently, you saw something you liked. But you obviously forgot it."
"How would I forget learning about someone's whole entire life?" Gilbert asked.
"When someone sees something that is scarring enough," Ivan said, taking another, small, step so that they were touching each other, "their mind decides to hide that memory from them. It's instinct. That is why you forgot the first five years of your life. You forgot it because you didn't want to remember it."
"Why wouldn't I want to remember something like that?" Gilbert's eyes narrowed.
"Probably the same reason you forgot my memories," Ivan said softly. "You do have the power, so you must have been taken like me." At this point, he just sounded like he was talking to himself.
"What do you mean by taken?" Gilbert asked. He remembered that memory Ludwig gave him. His vati…What happened to him?
"You really can't remember," Ivan said disappointedly. "I figured you meeting Ludwig might bring something back…"
"How do you know about him?" Gilbert snapped.
"He's going to be killed soon for what he did for you," Ivan sighed sadly.
"He's what!" Gilbert yelled, eyes going wide. In his surprise, he leaned back, away from Ivan. He felt himself falling backwards slightly before Ivan wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back towards him. "He can't die."
"At least you treat him like a brother," Ivan smiled. But it disappeared soon. "He was found soon after he tried to run away. You know, he only worked on this side because it meant he had the slight chance of meeting you again."
"Why the hell is he getting killed?" Gilbert snapped. He couldn't care less he was being held up against someone he barely knew. His brother couldn't be on death row.
"Because he was given a very important job, and he ran away instead," Ivan stated. "He was supposed to put a bullet through your head and another in your heart. The man that wants you dead thinks of you as the most important thing in the world. Ludwig had a chance to kill you, but he didn't. In this world, that is grounds to kill someone."
"Well, then, what kind of fucked up world is this?" Gilbert demanded. He thought he knew the world from what he saw on television. Obviously that was hidden from him, too.
"One you are supposed to save," Ivan said.
"How the hell am I supposed to…" Gilbert stopped and felt his face heat up when he finally realized the position he was in. "Let go of me."
"But you might fall again, da?" Ivan tilted his head.
"Let go of me," Gilbert repeated himself. It felt weird, being shorter than Ivan. Normally, it probably wouldn't bother him much. But, being pressed against him like that made him feel…weak. "Now."
"But you look so cute with your face turning red," Ivan grinned and Gilbert felt his face blazing hot.
"Fuck you," Gilbert looked down, closing his eyes. This was just embarrassing.
"I think you have the potential to save the world," Ivan said, but Gilbert still didn't look up.
"Let go of me," Gilbert said again.
"I will make sure you stay safe until you do that," Ivan offered. "Even if that means I have to die."
"Don't," Gilbert said quickly. He finally looked back up at Ivan. "No one needs to die for me."
"I believe you are wrong about that," Ivan stated. And then he leaned down and kissed Gilbert.
At first, Gilbert tried to lean away, but that just led him to nearly fall into the pond again. But Ivan held him still. And then Gilbert found himself kissing back. He had no clue why, but it just felt right. One thought did continuously go through his mind, though. Please no memories. Please no memories. Please no memories. None came.
Ivan separated them, staring back down at Gilbert. "You know, the memories don't come if you don't want them to."
"Right," Gilbert sighed. He couldn't quite get over the fact that he had just kissed a stranger. For the second time.
Ivan turned his head slightly to the side, glancing over his shoulder. "That American is back," Ivan said, sounding disappointed.
"How can you tell?" Gilbert asked.
"Yo, Gilbert!" Alfred's voice announced loudly and Gilbert could hear him stomping through the forest. "Where'd you go, dude?"
"You can't stop people trying to die for you, Gilbert," Ivan stated, looking back at Gilbert. "They've been doing it for a hundred years now."
Ivan tore off running into the forest.
Alfred hated having to cut wood. Mostly because it was just plain boring. He should have had Gilbert at least stand with him when he cut wood. He was good for at least a laugh. On the bright side, though, he was done in just a few minutes. With a couple logs in in his arms, he went back to the spot he left Gilbert. But he wasn't there.
"Shit, Gilbert," Alfred sighed. He looked around, through the trees and he couldn't find him. "Gilbert?" he called out and started walking around in the forest. He could see footprints on the ground and decided to follow them. Eventually, he could hear people talking. One of them was Gilbert. And the other was something Alfred had never heard. Was that…a Russian accent?
Alfred followed the voices until he came up close to a place he knew had a clearing and a pond. He stopped walking as soon as he could see through the trees and into the clearing. He saw Gilbert with another man with white hair. They were extremely close to the pond and it looked like Gilbert was about to fall in, but the other man held him close. And they were kissing.
It didn't take long for them to separate and the man said something to Gilbert that Alfred couldn't hear. Alfred froze when he saw the man tilt his head towards him. But it didn't look like he was looking at him. He said something else and Gilbert looked like he asked a question.
Without thinking, Alfred yelled out, "Yo, Gilbert!" and then he started stomping around in a circle, trying to make as much noise as possible. "Where'd you go, dude?"
Alfred continued stomping, but looked over at the two. The man said something to Gilbert that made him freeze and widen his eyes. And then the man ran off into the forest, on the side of the clearing opposite Alfred. Gilbert stayed standing right in front of the pond, just teetering on the edge. He looked like he was digesting what the man just said.
Alfred took a deep breath to calm himself down and then stomped into the clearing. "There ya are, dude!" he announced happily to Gilbert. He just realized he was barely holding onto the logs and tightened his grip on them. Gilbert blinked a few times before it looked like he really saw Alfred.
"Hey, Alfred," Gilbert said emptily.
"You know, you shouldn't stand so close to the edge of that pond," Alfred walked closer to him. He resisted the urge to look over to where that man ran off to.
"Right," Gilbert said but he didn't move.
Alfred looked down at the small pile of sticks that were on the ground right next to Gilbert's feet. "That all the kindling you got dude? That's pathetic," Alfred tried to force out a laugh, but he didn't really mean it.
"I'm sorry," Gilbert's voice quickly switched back to his regular one. It was thick with sarcasm. "I just happen to have two sprained legs and a broken wrist. Pardon me if it's a little hard for me to pick up sticks in the woods."
"Hey, dude, not blaming you," Alfred chuckled, the mood lightening slightly. He wasn't sure if he should ask Gilbert about the man. Should he even tell Arthur? "I'm just cooler than you, so I can get the rest by myself."
"Whatever," Gilbert rolled his eyes. He knelt down to pick up the pile of sticks.
"Don't worry, dude, I got it," Alfred said and he knelt down, too. Which wound up with the two hitting heads. Which led to Gilbert falling backwards and, since he was still on the edge of the water, into the pond. Before he fell all the way, though, he grabbed onto Alfred's wrist, pulling him in, too.
The water was cold, so Alfred stood up as soon as possible. The pond was pretty shallow, though. So it just came up to his shins.
"Dummkopf," Gilbert glared up at Alfred. He was sitting down in the pond.
"I have no idea what that means," Alfred laughed. "But I'm pretty sure it's not nice, dude."
"Just help me up," Gilbert held up a hand to him.
Arthur woke up from his fifth attempt at sleep from someone violently jiggling the doorknob at the front door. He waited for a second to see if anyone else in the bloody house would go towards it. When no one did, he groaned and sat upright from the couch.
He slowly started walking towards the door when he heard someone pounding their fist into it. And then he heard Alfred's obnoxious voice. "Since when do we lock this door? Artie! Artie! You There?"
"Bloody hell, Alfred!" Arthur snapped as he flew the door open. "Would it kill you to be quiet for two seconds?"
"Yes," Alfred nodded and Arthur noticed that there was water dripping off his clothes and his hair was soaked. The same went for Gilbert, who was right next to him. Luckily, the logs in Alfred's arms were dry.
"What did you do, Alfred?" Arthur stepped aside so that the two could get into the house.
"He freaking shoved me in a pond," Gilbert snapped, glaring at the American.
"Hey, he pulled me in, too!" Alfred laughed. "You're lucky I dropped the firewood in time or I would have had to chop some more wood."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Gilbert sighed and shook his head like a dog, obviously trying to dry it off.
"You shouldn't do that with your concussion," Arthur scolded and then realized that the bandage that went across his head was now gone. "Where did that bandage go?"
"Oh, right," Gilbert laughed. "I realized I looked lame with it on, so I tore it off."
"Right," Arthur sighed. He was far too tired to care enough at this point. They all walked into the living room next to the kitchen."Just go take a shower to wash off and I can figure out a way to bandage the cut on your forehead."
"Right, shower," Gilbert nodded numbly.
"You should find it just fine," Alfred smirked. "It's not that hard to find a bathroom in a house."
"Right," Gilbert sighed and headed upstairs.
"You shouldn't have taken him with you without telling us," Arthur scolded as soon as Gilbert was out of sight.
"Relax, dude, he was fine," Alfred rolled his eyes. But he seemed...off... Something was wrong.
"We were worried," Arthur said bluntly. "We didn't even know if he was with you until I sensed you two together."
"Relax," Alfred said. "We're fine."
"Just don't do it again," Arthur sighed.
"Hey, Arthur," Alfred said just as Arthur turned around to go back to the couch. This surprised Arthur. Alfred only used nicknames when addressing him. Arthur looked back at him, and he actually looked thoughtful. Like something was really on his mind.
"Yes?" Arthur asked cautiously.
Alfred stared down at the ground for a while, like he was contemplating something. "Um, just hand these to Antonio, kay?" Alfred handed the logs over to Arthur. He started awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "I think I'll go help Gilbert, he looked pretty awkward when you mentioned a shower. I think I'll help him figure out how to work it."
Alfred started up the stairs.
"Alfred," Arthur said and Alfred stopped. He turned around towards Arthur and stared at him. "Is something bothering you?"
"No," Alfred chuckled. But he replied a little too fast.
"You can tell me if something's bothering you," Arthur said. "You can tell any of us."
"Sure," Alfred smiled, but it seemed fake. And then he ran up the stairs, after Gilbert.
"Something's wrong," Arthur muttered to himself. What happened in that forest?
I'm so sorry this chapter came out late! I've been trying my hardest! Oh, and I won't be able to update for a few days. Not because of a hiatus, I wouldn't do that to you guys. But it's because of camping and vacationing and all that crap. But I will try to update as soon as possible.
Please review! You guys are so nice and that's all that keeps me going!
And I do not own Hetalia or Snow White.