Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Part 6: Battle without Honor or Humanity
Summary: As Elizaveta realizes that the police have lost Gilbert, it's a race against time to get back the now remembering young man.
A/N: Thanks for the great reviews! I just finished with my extended essay this week, so I should have this story finished soon, I think. I should also have a one shot about Arthur and his human lover. Who do you guys think it is?
Summary: as Gilbert reels from his partial memory loss, Erzébet and Roderich race to see who will find him first.
Gilbert felt like he had been run over, multiple times. He felt like a carcass left to rot in the streets. He groaned, and rolled over. His head was absolutely pounding.
Where was he? Why was he here, on the couch whose owner he knew not, and not at home, in bed? Where was home?
He didn't know. A woman in tight metal armor around her bust and middle, with a long skirt that revealed powerful legs appeared next to him. "Drágaságom, I knew you'd keep fighting." She said, kissing his forehead lightly. He smiled, knowing her somehow. Maybe she knew what was up. "You must trod on, my love. I'm sorry I'm not here with you."
"Why?" He spoke the first English word in days.
"I will find you soon, I'm sure." She said, and disappeared. Gilbert was left lying on the couch, curled up. He sat up, and rubbed his forehead. "Where am I?" He asked, stumbling to his feet.
A man came in. "Gilbert? What's wrong?"
"Where am I?" He asked again. So Gilbert was his name. Hunh. Weird feeling.
"Wow, you can speak in English? They must not have finished the treatment. You're in my apartment, Gilbert. I'm a friend. I'm Matthew."
"Matthew." He repeated, dumbly. "Okay. That's good to know. My head hurts." He mumbled, rubbing it.
"I'll get you some pain reliever. I'm not surprised your head hurts; you probably had your memory only partially erased. So I'm betting it feels like you're splitting in two." Matthew was being quietly conversational.
"Wow. That's really complicated. So I got my memory erased?" Gilbert asked, not really hearing him. Matthew patted his head, and sighed.
"Yep, definitely did. Otherwise you wouldn't be like this. I figured, since you took care of me when I was erased, I should take care of you when it happened to you." He thought for a moment. "I wonder if you still have your powers, since they're based in you copying things you've seen. If you don't remember seeing them, can you still use them?" He shrugged, and left to get Gilbert some pain relievers.
Gilbert was left to think about this himself. His powers? What powers? Vague images of fire came to his mind, and he snapped his fingers out of a half-remembered habit, forming a small flame.
Hunh. That was interesting.
"God dammit, the police don't know where he is and we've been wasting all this time on finding him!" Erzébet yelled, smashing her hand on the keyboard. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"
"Find him." Ivan said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's all we can do, yes? He's a Super on the national TV with a half erased memory. He can't have gotten too far."
"Which half did they erase though? What gives them the goddamn right to erase someone! They were a person too! And they just erased their entire life! What is that person left with but a dead end job and no personality?!" Erzébet screamed in her frustration, making Iryna jump a little, bewildered at her outrage.
"Calm down, Erzébet." She said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We know it's wrong. That's why we fight it. You don't need to yell. We'll definitely find him first." She smiled at her, and Erzébet sighed.
"It's hard, knowing this could have been avoided if I had just left with him immediately. It could have been avoided if I put the dots together and figured out he was the White Knight. It could have been avoided in so many ways."
"Could of, would of, should have." Iryna said, smiling. "There's nothing you can do about it now, but move forward. You must do this for the sake of Gilbert. He's probably lost, scared, and reeling from this right now. And a scared Super makes a dangerous Super. Well, so do angry and upset Supers. But that's beside the point." Iryna put a hand on her shoulder. "Raivis and I will do a comb through of the area. Maybe he was found by a kind soul and was taken off the streets. Ultimately, we just need to find him first, not fast. We also must be careful not to scare him into joining the other side."
Erzébet nodded. "Right. We just have to find him first. The police have no idea where he's gone either."
XXXXX
Gilbert was working on standing up. He had been asleep for two days, according to Matthew, and according to the girl who let him out, he had to find someone named Erzébet.
"I think she was talking about Elizaveta." Matthew said, thoughtful. "Although, you said after they caught her, she changed so dramatically that she hated you, so I don't know why she would let you go only to send you into the person who would capture you again."
"I don't remember much about her, either." Gilbert added unhelpfully.
"We know that Gilbert. You don't remember much of anything." He ruffled his hair, and Gilbert threw him a slightly annoyed look. He stood, finally, his back cracking.
"Ow." He mumbled, rubbing it.
"That's what you get for sleeping in such an awkward position." Matthew laughed, and Gilbert grumbled lowly. "Maybe she changed? Found out about it somehow?" Matthew was thinking now. "Why would she send you to Elizaveta?"
Gilbert shrugged, and walked over to the window, before Matthew pulled him back down to the floor.
"Oh no you don't, mister. I know you're probably really damn curious about the outside world, but right now, your face is all over the news. Probably not the best idea." Gilbert only stared at him blankly, not really understanding what the news was. Matthew groaned. "This is harder than I thought it would be. How did you put up with me?"
"Probably because you're nice to me." He answered truthfully, and Matthew smiled grimly.
"I could be a right asshole when I was still rebuilding my personality." He said, patting Gilbert's hair, making Gilbert give him a look again. "But it looks like you've retained some of yours, so it probably won't be a problem for you."
Matthew got up and Gilbert stayed where he was. "I'm hungry." Gilbert announced, face blank.
"Right, I'll get you some food." Matthew said, and went off to the other room. Gilbert took his chance to sneak a glance outside. It was bright, far brighter than it was inside, and Gilbert had to squint.
No one was there, and so Gilbert let the curtain drop, and sat back down on the floor. That was boring. Matthew had made it seem like a big deal. He got up, and stumbled back to the couch, waiting for Matthew to come back in.
It would be a long day for the both of them.
Erzébet gently shook Ludwig awake. "Hey, get up. You should eat something." Ludwig grumbled about it, but awoke quickly.
"Did you find Gilbert?" He asked, immediately, to which Erzébet only shook her head, sadly.
"I'm afraid we've lost him. But the police have no idea where he's gone either, so there is a chance we can find him first." Erzébet told him, smiling softly.
Ludwig only tightened his grip on the pillow in his arms. "I want to see him." He mumbled. "Can I go to school anymore?"
"I'm sure you'll be able to, once this all settles down." Erzébet said, trying to comfort him, but in reality not knowing what he would do. School would be a messy affair for the young boy, now that his peers knew his big brother was the White Knight. But there was little that she could do about that. They just had to pass legislature that legalized being a Super. It wasn't fair, nor was it right to have a person be considered illegal.
"I dunno. I think they're going to make fun of me for being the brother of a Super."
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen, and I'm sure your brother will do everything in his power to keep you happy, even if it means homeschooling you."
Ludwig frowned again, and looked generally unhappy. "How will he remember me if he gets his memory erased? What will happen then?" He looked up to her, worried. "What will happen to us if that happens?"
"I don't know." Erzébet mumbled, and pulled him up into a hug. "I don't know." He nodded despondently.
"I thought so. He's probably already erased, and Roderich left him out on the streets to die." He muttered.
"Then we'll find him, and we'll bring him back to you." She smiled. "You know, I have a secret."
"What?" He looked up, a little curious. "What secret?"
She didn't know it, but Ivan was eavesdropping.
"Well, I've had someone by my side the moment I woke up as a registered Super, once my memory was erased.
"Who?" Ludwig put down the pillow, and got closer to her.
"Well, I didn't know it, but it was your brother's memory. It was my memory of him." Erzébet confessed. "I always was told he was a hallucination, but he always just told me what to do when I was in times of need. So I suppose, strong emotional memories never really fade."
Ludwig looked bewildered. "It was the memory of my brother? You must have loved him a lot."
"I did." She agreed. "And I still do."
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