Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.
-Sholom Aleichen

***Fallen Stars***

Arthur froze when he heard the scream. Matthew nearly did, but he continued to fight, though slightly distracted. Arthur looked over in the direction of the scream and nearly screamed himself. Gilbert was being held by a man he hadn't seen before, though it was obvious he was a thief. A knife had just been forcefully dragged across his neck. Gilbert's mouth opened in a silent scream as blood poured out of his neck, the same color as his eyes. The man let go and Gilbert fell to the floor, his dead face staring in the direction of the fight.

Someone gripped harshly onto Arthur's arm and forced him to look away. Arthur thrust his hand forward, causing ice to push out and slam into the man. He wasn't dead, but he would be if he continued to bleed, so Arthur used his mediocre healing arts to close the wounds. He looked back at Gilbert and could see Francis and Lili just beyond them. Lili was sobbing and Francis was muttering something under his breath.

Arthur couldn't believe it. Gilbert couldn't actually be…dead.

"What is it?" Matthew asked, barely blocking attacks from five Raiders at once. Arthur made a few of them knock into each other, leading Matthew to have to fight only one, which he easily took down. "What happened?"

"It's Gilbert," Arthur muttered. He was so shocked, he could almost feel his other personality creeping in. He was equally shocked, though he was almost feeling a sense of happiness.

"What about him?" Matthew's eyes went wide and he took a punch directly to his face and stumbled backwards. "Tell me; what is it?" Matthew asked, attacking the Raider in turn.

"He's…" Arthur muttered, looking back to the man, his blood pooling around him. The odd part was, the man who had killed him, as well as Francis, were not taking their eyes off of him, as if they were waiting for something. Arthur almost gave the news when something happened. A massive amount of magic energy burst out of Gilbert's body and he spasmed. His red eyes shimmered gold and the magic in the air nearly made Arthur topple over. The magic was so thick that Arthur could practically see it and it centered completely around Gilbert, as if it were a protective barrier, before all of it entered into his wound on his neck. It closed almost immediately. "He's alive."

Gilbert gasped for air, his eyes blank as the gold disappeared. He looked in the direction of Matthew still and Francis looked almost relieved. The man that had tried to kill Gilbert smiled.

"What's going on?" Matthew asked, panting from exhaustion as he continued to fight. Arthur found that he couldn't look away from the scene unfolding before him. Only a few of the Raiders were smart enough to run away from it.

Suddenly, Gilbert turned onto his side, his back to the fight, and his hands gripping hard onto his neck.

"Arthur!" Matthew snapped. "Tell me what is happening!" It was the loudest Arthur had heard his voice and it startled him. He noticed that tears were streaming down Matthew's face, bruises covering his body completely as he panted.

"Wait just a moment," Arthur muttered and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Not only was there left over magic energy from what happened to Gilbert, but Francis was also there to boost his own magic abilities. His arm moved on its own, in a magic circle, before his hand moved forward at the same moment that Arthur opened his eyes. All of the Raiders dropped to the ground, unconscious. Then, Arthur dropped to his knees, nearly all of his energy depleted in that one moment. "Gilbert is just behind me. Ask the people around him what has happened."

"What did you do?" Matthew asked, stepping backwards slowly, as if to make sure no one was attacking him.

"Don't worry about it," Arthur mumbled and Matthew nodded before running in the direction of the group behind them. Arthur cursed silently, punching into the stone below him. In that one moment of surprise, the other personality had nearly taken over. He couldn't allow himself to be so careless. The amount of times he'd allowed the personality to come out were weakening his resolve. He couldn't allow himself to disappear.

***Fallen Stars***

Gilbert wanted to scream in pain, but he knew better. This had happened to him enough so that he knew what to do. He had been killed by a wound to his neck, if he screamed, he would only make things worse. He looked at Matthew as he fell to the ground, the last of his breath leaving him with his blood. He knew from the moment that Antonio cut into his throat that he would come back. He didn't know how to explain it, but he just got this feeling when he died.

He watched as Matthew fought, taking hit after hit.

Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. You must… that one word was always omitted from his memories… but not yet.

Gilbert still couldn't move after he gasped for breath. His brain still wasn't fit to function. Arthur was looking directly at him, as if he was mesmerized. It took a few more seconds for Gilbert's brain to begin functioning. First, the pain came, but Gilbert couldn't move. Despite the fact that he knew his neck was completely healed, he was in searing pain. It was almost too much for him to bear.

The moment he could move, Gilbert turned onto his side, his hands immediately going to his neck as he fought against screaming in the pain. He wasn't fit to talk, so he knew better than to say anything to Francis as he knelt beside him. He gasped for breath as he laid there, recovering from his death.

"...alive?" Lili muttered, her muddled voice finally getting to Gilbert's ears.

"No one knows how it happens," Francis explained, his voice slowly becoming clear in Gilbert's mind.

"So, he just doesn't die?" Lili asked.

"He does," Antonio said. "He just comes back."

"What's going on?" Matthew asked, panting as he came closer to them. "Arthur's not explaining anything to me. What happened to Gilbert?"

Gilbert couldn't help but smile slightly. He had died while looking straight at Matthew. That kid actually turned out to be his last thought before he died. Through the rush and everything that had just happened in the last few seconds, Gilbert was sure of it now. He was in love with Matthew. Now he just had to hope that the kid would like him back.

"He died," Antonio explained. "But you shouldn't worry, he's completely back to normal now."

"It'll take a while to get there," Gilbert muttered, his voice mangled slightly and he winced at the pain in his throat.

"Who are you?" Matthew asked.

"That is Antonio," Francis explained. "He came here through our thieves' guild to kill Gilbert and myself."

"And since I failed, I'm now a target of the guild as well," Antonio said happily and Gilbert sighed slightly. Gilbert had no idea how the man could go from killing someone to being so perky all the time. "So now I have to ask why a group like you is travelling together."

"Gilbert," Matthew muttered and Gilbert felt someone's hands on his arm. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Gilbert muttered. "Don't worry about me, Birdie."

"But you just died," Matthew muttered.

"And I came back," Gilbert assured him. "Just give a few minutes and I'll be fine."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Matthew asked quietly.

"I've been through worse," Gilbert muttered. That was true. There had been people that tried to kill him several times in a row, in fact, generally anyone that tried to kill him in the past and failed tried to kill him several times in a row. That was why Gilbert usually went with other people on dangerous missions that could cost him his life…again. The day Gilbert figured it out, he'd been as terrified as the other people around him. Now, it was just a fact that he couldn't avoid, that he just had to try to live with.

"Did it say the same thing again?" Francis asked, bringing Gilbert's attention back to the main conversation.

"Not yet," Gilbert muttered, quoting that damn voice in his head that followed him into his dreams and into death. "Not yet."

"What?" Matthew asked.

"We don't really understand it, either," Antonio said.

"If we want to get out of here, now would be the time," Arthur muttered tiredly. "Every Raider that was even nearby this hideout is knocked out. With any luck, some of them won't even have memories. We should leave now."

"I can't move," Gilbert muttered. It took quite some time for him to be able to walk after dying and coming back. Francis and Antonio knew it all too well. They'd had to carry him out of many situations before.

"We'll help you," Antonio said happily.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Arthur asked coldly.

"I failed to kill a person that left my guild," Antonio said as Gilbert felt two pairs of hands pull him onto his feet by his arms. "You take my word that I will join your group. I have nothing else to do and it seems that Gilbert and Francis are in your group, so it can't be that bad."

"No one can take a thief's word for anything," Arthur stated.

"Antonio is the only person I've ever met that's never lied," Gilbert stated, looking at the ground since it took far too much effort to try to look up. "I'd trust him with my life."

"But he just killed you," Matthew argued.

"That just proves it more, doesn't it?" Gilbert smirked. He could barely stand on his feet, but his two friends moved his arms over his shoulders in an attempt to help him.

"In any case, I'm not sure how long my spell will work," Arthur sighed. "Alfred can decide if he trusts you enough to keep you around."

"Again, I'd like to point out the fact that I never participated in that vote for him being the leader," Gilbert muttered.

"Yet you don't bother to take control when I know you can," Francis chuckled.

"How are we going to find them?" Lili asked quietly.

"As long as they're not idiots," Arthur sighed and they started walking. Gilbert's legs were wobbly and didn't work very well underneath him, but he stayed up thanks to his friends, "they'll be at least trying to find us. And it's not like Raiders keep themselves hidden. They'll at least get the town right. Were any of you awake when they took us?"

"We're near the next town after where the temporary one was," Gilbert reported, his breath returning to him. Still, his legs refused to work properly.

"So we're close to King Mathias," Matthew muttered.

"What are you going there for?" Antonio laughed. "I doubt he'll listen to you."

"Alfred wants to change the world," Francis mused. "Ivan told us that Mathias would be our best choice to go in order to change something, if anything."

"What's your plan to get into the protected town around his castle?" Antonio asked.

"There isn't one," Gilbert shrugged.

"You should turn left up here," Francis advised and Gilbert remembered that Francis had been into more than a couple Raider hideouts on a couple of jobs. "All Raider hideouts are the same."

"I am not going to ask why you know that," Arthur muttered. Gilbert attempted to stand on a foot by himself, but he failed and nearly fell if it weren't for Antonio's iron grip on his arm.

"Just take it slow, my friend," Antonio advised queitly. "You don't need to protect your love yet."

"How do you know?" Gilbert looked up at him.

"He was who you looked to when you died," Antonio smiled. "I can tell these things. I'm sure Francis already noticed it."

"Oh, I could tell when I first joined the group," Francis chimed. Gilbert was thankful that they were talking quietly, to the point that no one could hear them. That was one thing they had mastered when it came to the thieves' guild.

"Well, shut up about it," Gilbert grumbled.

"So, what's up with the wizard?" Antonio asked curiously. Gilbert noticed that Matthew was busy talking innocently with Lili, and Arthur was busy walked ahead of them, staying quiet. "He was a prostitute, right?"

"Yeah," Gilbert nodded. "He's one of those with two personalities."

"That explains a lot," Antonio nodded. "That's why he's so reserved."

"His other personality is quite the opposite," Francis laughed quietly. "He was obviously very highly ranked as a prostitute. His magic is also quite impressive. Far more so than the original."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Gilbert smirked. "I'm sure his pride alone would be enough to kill you."

"You lot can stop gossiping now," Arthur sighed and pushed open a door ahead of them that Gilbert hadn't noticed before then. Outside, the trees of the nearby enchanted forest was turning red with the setting sun.

"Oh, yeah, figured I should warn you," Gilbert laughed slightly. "We like to travel through the forests."

"Are you guys crazy?" Antonio's eyes widened. Gilbert couldn't help but laugh at that. Hardly any of the thieves were brave enough to go into the forests. They apparently didn't like thieves and there were way too many horror stories about thieves that were killed in the forest. Gilbert was antsy about it in the first place and he had no idea how Francis had the guts to follow them into the forest himself. But Antonio tried the best he could to avoid the forest, even going through paths that some wizards had made through the forests.

"There are plenty of people that we travel with that the forest appears to like," Arthur assured him, looking around. "Where would the town be?"

"Raiders are idiots," Francis chuckled. "There's probably a thin barrier of forest between us and the next town over."

"Then we should get moving," Arthur stated and walked towards the forest. The small group of thieves were uneasy and moved at the back of the group, Matthew and Lili in the middle with Arthur in the front. Gilbert continued to try to test his legs to see if he could move properly, but found that he really couldn't. It might take a whole day this time. Hopefully he'd be okay after he had a night's rest.

"How many more people are in your group?" Antonio asked curiously.

"Two," Gilbert smirked. "They apparently weren't worth anything to the Raiders."

"One of them has a working gun," Francis said and Antonio's interest grew.

"You seem to be getting very good people in your group," Antonio smiled. "A powerful wizard with two personalities, a blind man that can fight, a man with a gun, a man that can't die, and a man that can boost magic."

"What can I say?" Gilbert shrugged. "We're lucky."

"What about this Alfred?" Antonio asked. "Does he have something special about him?"

"He has a beautiful, enchanted sword," Francis mused. "But the only ones that can touch it are himself and Matthew."

"Don't forget we also have Ivan and his sister," Gilbert stated. "They're just not in our group now."

"Do you just get every person you meet to join your group?" Antonio laughed.

"Blame our almighty leader, Alfred," Gilbert smirked. "He's the one that's roping in every person that has feelings."

"His ideal is interesting, I will give him that," Francis shrugged. Arthur turned after a short while of being in the forest. Gilbert assumed that it was because he was trying to find where the town was. "But it is not very realistic, especially to accomplish in one lifetime."

"What is this ideal?" Antonio asked curiously.

"We'll let him explain that," Gilbert said. "He's our group's little preacher. I can't wait to see him try to explain it to Mathias."

Finally, Arthur turned out of the forest and the thieves were given a chance to relax as they stepped out and towards the nearby town. Already, Gilbert could see the small group of prostitutes that Arthur notably avoided and people rushing around for no reason in particular. A town so close to a castle with a king in it had to be busy, but not so late in the day. People this close generally had the luxury of being able to sleep at sundown, but they had to wake up even before the sun rose.

"Think you could stand on your own yet?" Francis asked.

"I've been trying," Gilbert shook his head. "God, I hate dying."

"Well, most people don't come back," Francis laughed. "You should be a little thankful."

"Toni, why did you kill me if you knew that I was going to just come back?" Gilbert asked Antonio, who shrugged simply.

"There's always the chance that you won't," he said without much hesitation.

"I could not kill you was for that same reason," Francis sighed slightly.

"Don't I just have the best friends?" Gilbert laughed, looking over at Matthew, who was innocently smiling as he looked absently over at Lili, who was talking about nothing in particular. Anything that would distract them from the world as it was now. Gilbert envied their ability to do that, he would give anything to be able to just forget about all the shit going on for even a few minutes.

"We could always be better and help you get your boy," Francis teased quietly and Gilbert rolled his eyes. They walked into the town, hardly anyone paying any mind to the people in front of them. All of them looked at Gilbert, though. There wasn't a single person that he'd seen with white hair and red eyes, so every town, without fail, would stare at him.

"Don't worry too much about it," Gilbert muttered. The way he saw it, there was no room for love or anything like that in this fucking world. He wasn't about to distract himself or Matthew with something stupid like love, anyway.

"The way I see it," Antonio whispered as someone loud and obnoxious began forcing his way through the crowd, "everything's so fucked up, you need something nice like love in there to make everything bearable. If you keep letting him go, you'll lose him eventually."

"Why the hell are you so positive?" Gilbert couldn't help but smile. He'd never thought about it like that. He saw Alfred break through the crowd, several angry people yelling and snapping at him. He pulled Matthew into a hug, which Matthew returned with a simple laugh. Alfred looked him over, yelling at every bruise he found. Gilbert saw Arthur glancing back at Alfred and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Why not be positive?" Antonio chuckled as Alfred looked over at them. It took the idiot a few moments to register what was going on before he stormed on over to them.

"Look out, preacher's coming," Gilbert snickered.

"Wow, I've never seen twins before," Antonio muttered, tilting his head slightly as he finally noticed the likeness between Matthew and Alfred.

***Fallen Stars***

God, I had no idea what to do with the ending. They had to get somewhere and get back to Alfred, but I seriously was at a loss of what to do, mainly dialogue wise. Luckily the dynamic between Gilbert, Antonio, and Francis is so good… Oh, and Gilbert's actually not dead. Who saw that coming? (Practically every reviewer.) Hehehe…I like messing with people… Anyway, there were a few things in this chapter and the last chapter combined that go towards that plot twist in the future. Next chapter, there will be a few more and I think we'll get around to meeting Mathias, or at least getting close.

And please review! It's totes awesome!